Did you know
Lucille Ball was recognized by Time in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for her work in all four of these areas.
Notable Deaths on April 26
1989 — Lucille Ball
American model, actress, comedian, and producer (born 1911)
April 26 has 91 recorded notable deaths across history, from 499 to 2023. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
91 source records
499 – 2023
Today in history
Major events on April 26
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1925 Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic. Source
- 1994 South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. Source
- 1962 The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1. Source
- 1915 World War I: Italy secretly signs the Treaty of London pledging to join the Allied Powers. Source
Did you know
Carmine Coppola is the father of film director Francis Ford Coppola.
Did you know
Phoebe Snow was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals on Paul Simon’s "Gone at Last".
Did you know
Shankar also worked extensively with lyricists Shailendra (lyricist) and Hasrat Jaipuri, with whom they created some of the most memorable songs in their career.
Did you know
When police investigations uncovered that the couple had defrauded the public with their supernatural fertility by 'hiring' and kidnapping babies, she and Rascher were arrested in April 1944.
More major people who died on April 26
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1991
Carmine Coppola
American composer and conductor (born 1910)
Carmine Valentino Coppola was an American composer, flutist, pianist, and songwriter who contributed original music to the films The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, The Black Stallion,…
2011
Phoebe Snow
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950)
Phoebe Snow was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals on Paul Simon’s "Gone at Last".
1987
Shankar
Indian composer and conductor (born 1922)
Shankar–Jaikishan, consisting of Shankar Singh Ram Singh Raghuvanshi and Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal, also known as S-J, were an Indian composer duo of the Hindi film industry, who worked together from 1949 to 1971.
1945
Sigmund Rascher
German physician and SS member, conductor of human experiments in the concentration camps (born 1909)
Sigmund Rascher was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) doctor. He conducted deadly experiments on humans pertaining to high altitude, freezing and blood coagulation under the patronage of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, to…
1957
Gichin Funakoshi
Japanese martial artist, founded Shotokan (born 1868)
Gichin Funakoshi was the founder of Shotokan karate. He is known as a "father of modern karate".
1910
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Norwegian-French author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1832)
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the…
1192
Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (born 1127)
Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.
1716
John Somers
1st Baron Somers, English jurist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1651)
John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, was an English jurist and Whig statesman. Somers first came to national attention in the trial of the Seven Bishops where he was on their defence counsel.
2010
Mariam A. Aleem
Egyptian graphic designer and academic (born 1930)
Mariam A. Aleem was an Egyptian artist and art professor specializing in printed design.
2015
Marcel Pronovost
Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1930)
Joseph René Marcel Pronovost was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach.
2005
Augusto Roa Bastos
Paraguayan journalist, author, and academic (born 1917)
Augusto Roa Bastos was a Paraguayan novelist and short story writer. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, and he later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor.
2003
Rosemary Brown
Jamaican-Canadian academic and politician (born 1930)
Rosemary Brown was a Canadian politician, social worker, and human rights advocate.
2005
Mason Adams
American actor (born 1919)
Mason Adams was an American actor. From the late 1940s until the early 1970s, he was heard in numerous radio programs and voiceovers for countless television commercials, the latter of which he resumed in the 1980s and…
1986
Broderick Crawford
American actor (born 1911)
William Broderick Crawford was an American actor. Known for his "bulldog face and barking voice", he was initially a character actor often cast tough-guy or slob roles, but gained widespread acclaim for his portrayal of…
2014
Gerald Guralnik
American physicist and academic (born 1936)
Gerald Stanford "Gerry" Guralnik was the Chancellor’s Professor of Physics at Brown University. In 1964, he co-discovered the Higgs mechanism and Higgs boson with C. R. Hagen and Tom Kibble (GHK).
1944
Violette Morris
French footballer, shot putter, and discus thrower (born 1893)
Violette Morris was a French athlete and Nazi collaborator who won two gold and one silver medal at the Women's World Games in 1921–1922. She was later banned from competing for violating "moral standards".
1968
John Heartfield
German illustrator and photographer (born 1891)
John Heartfield was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements.
1984
Count Basie
American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1904)
William James "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer.
1915
Ida Hunt Udall
American diarist (born 1858)
Ida Frances Hunt Udall was an American diarist, homesteader, and teacher in territorial Utah and Arizona.