Deaths on 20 December
2000s
Casey Chaos
2024
American singer (1965–2024)
George Eastham
2024
English footballer (1936–2024)
Rickey Henderson
2024
American baseball player (1958–2024)
Franco Harris
2022
American football player (1950–2022)
Fanny Waterman
2020
English musician (1920–2020)
Ezra F. Vogel
2020
American sociologist of East Asia (1930–2020)
Per-Ingvar Brånemark
2014
Swedish anatomist (1929–2014)
John Freeman (British politician)
2014
British politician and army officer (1915–2014)
Pyotr Bolotnikov
2013
Soviet long-distance runner
Stan Charlton
2012
English footballer & manager
Robert Juniper
2012
Australian artist (1929–2012)
Victor Merzhanov
2012
Russian pianist (1919–2012)
Barry Reckord
2011
Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (1926–2011)
K. P. Ratnam
2010
Sri Lankan Tamil academic and politician
Brittany Murphy
2009
American actress and singer (1977–2009)
Arnold Stang
2009
American actor (1918–2009)
Adrian Mitchell
2008
English poet, novelist, and playwright (1932–2008)
Robert Mulligan
2008
American director, producer (1925–2008)
Igor Troubetzkoy
2008
French aristocrat and athlete (1912–2008)
Anne Rogers Clark
2006
American dog breeder and trainer (1929–2006)
Raoul Bott
2005
Hungarian-American mathematician (1923-2005)
Léopold Sédar Senghor
2001
First president of Senegal, poet, and cultural theorist (1906–2001)
1900s
Riccardo Freda
1999
Italian film director
Hank Snow
1999
Canadian musician (1914–1999)
Alan Hodgkin
1998
English physiologist and biophysicist
Denise Levertov
1997
American poet (1923–1997)
Dick Spooner
1997
English cricketer
Dawn Steel
1997
American filmmaker (1946–1997)
Carl Sagan
1996
American scientist and science communicator (1934–1996)
Madge Sinclair
1995
Jamaican actress (1938–1995)
Dean Rusk
1994
American statesman (1909–1994)
W. Edwards Deming
1993
American engineer and statistician (1900–1993)
Nazife Güran
1993
Turkish composer
Simone Beck
1991
French cooking author and teacher (1904–1991)
Samuel Rabin (artist)
1991
English artist, actor and wrestler (1903–1991)
Albert Van Vlierberghe
1991
Belgian cyclist
Joe DeSa
1986
American baseball player (1959–1986)
Stanley Milgram
1984
American social psychologist
Dmitry Ustinov
1984
Soviet politician (1908–1984)
Arthur Rubinstein
1982
Polish pianist (1887–1982)
Dimitris Rontiris
1981
Greek actor and director (1899–1982)
Richard J. Daley
1976
Mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976
Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo
1976
Indonesian politician (1890–1976)
R. Palme Dutt
1974
British communist and journalist (1896–1974)
André Jolivet
1974
French composer (1905–1974)
Luis Carrero Blanco
1973
Spanish Navy officer and Prime Minister (1904–1973)
Bobby Darin
1973
American musician and actor (1936–1973)
Adolfo Orsi
1972
Italian businessman (1888–1972)
Roy O. Disney
1971
American entrepreneur (1893–1971)
John Steinbeck
1968
American writer and novelist (1902–1968)
Moss Hart
1961
American playwright, librettist and theater director
Earle Page
1961
Prime Minister of Australia in 1939
Juhan Simm
1959
Estonian composer
Ramón Carrillo
1956
1st Argentine Minister of Health
James Hilton (novelist)
1954
British novelist and screenwriter (1900–1954)
Enrico Mizzi
1950
Leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party and Prime Minister of Malta in 1950
Igor Severyanin
1941
Russian poet
Sarita Colonia
1940
Peruvian folk saint
Hans Langsdorff
1939
German naval officer (1894–1939)
Annie Armstrong
1938
Lay Southern Baptist denominational leader (1850-1938)
Lida Howell
1938
American archer (1859–1938)
Erich Ludendorff
1937
German general and politician (1865–1937)
Martin O'Meara
1935
Émile Loubet
1929
President of France from 1899 to 1906
Frederick Semple
1927
American golfer and tennis player
João Ferreira Sardo
1925
Portuguese presbyter who founded the parish of Gafanha da Nazaré (1873–1925)
Julius Richard Petri
1921
German microbiologist (1852–1921)
Linton Hope
1920
British sailor
Philip Fysh
1919
Australian politician (1835–1919)
Lucien Petit-Breton
1917
French cyclist (1882–1917)
Arthur Morgan (Australian politician, born 1856)
1916
Australian politician
Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury
1915
Bengali writer and illustrator
1800s
George C. Magoun
1893
Gaspar Tochman
1880
American lawyer
Robert Knox (surgeon)
1862
Scottish physician, anatomist, geologist and ethnologist (1791–1862)
Francesco Bentivegna
1856
Kyai Maja
1849
Indonesian cleric, rebel and war commander (c. 1792 – 1849)
John Bell (farmer)
1820
American with unusual death (1750–1820)
Sacagawea
1812
Native American explorer (c.1788 – 1812)
Before 1800
Antonio Soler (composer)
1783
Spanish composer
Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni
1768
Italian poet (1692–1768)
Louis, Dauphin of France (born 1729)
1765
Heir to the French throne (1729–1765)
Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon
1740
British army officer and politician
Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
1723
German physician and botanist (1652-1723)
Kangxi Emperor
1722
Emperor of China from 1661 to 1722
Jean Jannon
1658
17th-century French typographer
Ambroise Paré
1590
French barber surgeon (c. 1510–1590)
Katharina von Bora
1552
Wife of Martin Luther (c. 1499–1552)
Johannes Lupi
1539
Franco-Flemish composer
Stefan Dušan
1355
14th-century Serbian king and emperor
John I, Duke of Bavaria
1340
German duke (1329-1340)
Peter of Moscow
1326
Russian bishop and saint
Margaret of Provence
1295
Queen of France from 1234 to 1270
Fujiwara no Kanemichi
977
Japanese statesman, courtier and politician
Alfonso III of Asturias
910
King of Asturias from 866 to 910
Pope Zephyrinus
217
Head of the Catholic Church from 199 to 217
AD 69
69
Calendar year