Deaths on 21 December
2000s
Michelle Botes
2024
South African actress (1962–2024)
Art Evans (actor)
2024
American actor (1942–2024)
Andrew Clennel Palmer
2019
British engineer (1938–2019)
Bruce McCandless II
2017
American aviator and astronaut (1937–2017)
Udo Jürgens
2014
Austrian singer and composer (1934–2014)
Sitor Situmorang
2014
Indonesian poet
Billie Whitelaw
2014
British actress (1932–2014)
Edgar Bronfman Sr.
2013
Canadian-American businessman (1929–2013)
John Eisenhower
2013
United States Army general, military historian, diplomat
Enzo Bearzot
2010
Italian football player and manager (1927–2010)
Edwin G. Krebs
2009
American biochemist (1918–2009)
Christos Lambrakis
2009
Greek businessman
Saparmurat Niyazov
2006
President of Turkmenistan from 1991 to 2006
Autar Singh Paintal
2004
Indian medical scientist (1925–2004)
1900s
Ernst-Günther Schenck
1998
German SS surgeon
Stella Adler
1992
American actress and acting teacher (1901–1992)
Albert King
1992
American blues musician (1923–1992)
Nathan Milstein
1992
American violinist (1904–1992)
Nikolaas Tinbergen
1988
Dutch zoologist and ethologist (1907–1988)
Paul de Man
1983
American literary theorist (1919–1983)
Hafeez Jalandhari
1982
Pakistani poet (1900–1982)
Richard Long (actor)
1974
American actor (1927–1974)
Ásta Sigurðardóttir
1971
Icelandic writer and visual artist
Vittorio Pozzo
1968
Italian football manager (1886–1968)
Claude Champagne
1965
French Canadian composer, teacher, pianist and violinist (1891–1965)
Carl Van Vechten
1964
American writer and photographer (1880–1964)
Jack Hobbs
1963
English cricketer (1882–1963)
Rosanjin
1959
Japanese artist
H. B. Warner
1958
English film and theatre actor (1876-1958)
Lion Feuchtwanger
1958
German writer (1884–1958)
Eric Coates
1957
English composer (1886–1957)
Kaarlo Koskelo
1953
Finnish wrestler (1888–1953)
Kenneth Edwards (golfer)
1952
American golfer
Władysław Witwicki
1948
Polish polymath
George S. Patton
1945
United States Army general (1885–1945)
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1940
American writer (1896–1940)
Violette Neatley Anderson
1937
American lawyer (1882–1937)
Ted Healy
1937
American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor (1896–1937)
Frank B. Kellogg
1937
American lawyer and statesman (1856–1937)
Ted Birnie
1935
English footballer (1878–1935)
Kurt Tucholsky
1935
German journalist, satirist and writer
Knud Rasmussen
1933
Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist (1879–1933)
I. L. Patterson
1929
18th Governor of Oregon
Muḥammad ibn 'Abdallāh Hassan
1920
Somali Jihadist and anti-colonialist leader (1856–1920)
1800s
Friedrich August von Quenstedt
1889
German geologist and palaeontologist
Francis Garnier
1873
French explorer and colonial administrator in Indochina (1839–1873)
Friedrich Ernst Scheller
1869
German jurist and politician
James Parkinson
1824
English surgeon (1755–1824)
John Newton
1807
Anglican cleric, hymn-writer, and abolitionist (1725–1807)
Before 1800
Sir Hugh Paterson, 1st Baronet
1701
Scottish baronet and landowner
Sophie Axelsdatter Brahe
1646
Danish noblewoman (1578–1646)
Catherine Vasa of Sweden
1610
Countess consort of East Frisia
William Davison (diplomat)
1608
English diplomat and secretary to Queen Elizabeth I
Peter Canisius
1597
Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest (1521–1597)
Jean de la Cassière
1581
Grand Master of the Order of Malta (1502–1581)
Marguerite de Navarre
1549
Queen of Navarre from 1527 to 1549
John Seymour (1474–1536)
1536
English courtier
Berthold von Henneberg
1504
Giovanni Boccaccio
1375
Italian author and poet (1313–1375)
Constantine III of Armenia
1362
King of Armenian Cilicia from 1344 to 1362
Thomas Hemenhale
1338
14th-century Bishop of Norwich and Bishop of Worcester
Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse
1308
First Landgrave of Hesse
Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid
1215
Yemeni Ismaili leader from 1209 to 1215
Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany
1001
Margrave of Tuscany from 969 to 1001
Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
975
Fatimid caliph from 953 to 975
Sun Sheng (Southern Tang)
956
10th-century Chinese politician and general
Hincmar
882
Archbishop of Reims
AD 72
72
Calendar year