Did you know about V. C. Andrews
V. C. Andrews was best known for her 1979 novel Flowers in the Attic, which inspired two movie adaptations and four sequels.
Notable Deaths on December 19
December 19 has 91 recorded notable deaths across history, from 401 to 2024. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1986 — V. C. Andrews
American author (born 1923)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
91 source records
401 – 2024
Today in history
Major events on December 19
See what else happened on this day in history.
Did you know about Dock Ellis
In his MLB career, Ellis accumulated a 138–119 (.537) record, a 3.46 earned run average, and 1,136 strikeouts.
Did you know about Sally Ann Howes
Sally Ann Howes was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in Brigadoon in 1963, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for James Joyce's The Dead in 2000.
Did you know about Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil was an Indian poet, writer, and revolutionary who fought against British Raj, participating in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori Conspiracy of 1925.
Did you know about Abbas II of Egypt (born 1874)
As the latter became sultan of Egypt, the deposition of Abbas II marked the de jure end of the nearly four-century long era of Ottoman Egypt, which had started with Ottoman conquest in 1517.
More major people who died on December 19
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
2008
Dock Ellis
American baseball player and coach (born 1945)
Dock Phillip Ellis Jr. was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1968 through 1979, most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won five National League Eastern Division titles in six years between 1970 and 1975 and won the World Series in 1971. Ellis also played for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers and New York Mets. In his MLB career, Ellis accumulated a 138–119 (.537) record, a 3.46 earned run average, and 1,136 strikeouts.
2021
Sally Ann Howes
English-American singer and actress (born 1930)
Sally Ann Howes was an English actress and singer, whose career on screen, stage and television spanned six decades. She was best known as a leading lady of musical theatre, both on the West End and on Broadway. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in Brigadoon in 1963, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for James Joyce's The Dead in 2000. She was also known for portraying Truly Scrumptious in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
1927
Ram Prasad Bismil
Indian poet and activist (born 1897)
Ram Prasad Bismil was an Indian poet, writer, and revolutionary who fought against British Raj, participating in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori Conspiracy of 1925. He composed in Urdu and Hindi under pen names Ram, Agyat (anonymous) and Bismil (wounded), becoming widely known under the latter. "Bismil" was not his real surname; it was his pen name. Pandit was an honorific title rather than a family surname conferred to him due to his specialised knowledge on several subjects. He was also a translator.
1944
Abbas II of Egypt (born 1874)
Abbas Helmy II was the last Khedive of Egypt and the Sudan, ruling from 8 January 1892 to 19 December 1914. In 1914, after the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in World War I, the nationalist Khedive was removed by the British, then ruling Egypt, in favour of his more pro-British uncle, Hussein Kamel. As the latter became sultan of Egypt, the deposition of Abbas II marked the de jure end of the nearly four-century long era of Ottoman Egypt, which had started with Ottoman conquest in 1517.
2008
James Bevel
American minister and activist (born 1936)
James Luther Bevel was an American minister and a leader and major strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its director of direct action and nonviolent education, he initiated, strategized, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, the 1965 Selma voting rights movement, and the 1966 Chicago open housing movement. Bevel suggested that SCLC call for and join a March on Washington in 1963 and strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches which contributed to Congressional passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
1946
Paul Langevin
French physicist and academic (born 1872)
Paul Langevin was a French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an anti-fascist organization created after the 6 February 1934 far right riots. Being a public opponent of fascism in the 1930s resulted in his arrest and being held under house arrest by the Vichy government for most of World War II. Langevin was also president of the Human Rights League (LDH) from 1944 to 1946, having recently joined the French Communist Party.
2004
Renata Tebaldi
Italian soprano and actress (born 1922)
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. Often considered among the great opera singers of the 20th century, she focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini called her voice la voce d'angelo, and La Scala music director Riccardo Muti called her "one of the greatest performers with one of the most extraordinary voices in the field of opera."
1385
Bernabò Visconti
Lord of Milan (born 1319)
Bernabò or Barnabò Visconti was an Italian soldier and statesman who was Lord of Milan. Along with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo II, he inherited the lordship of Milan from his uncle Giovanni. Later in 1355, he and Galeazzo II were rumored to have murdered their brother Matteo since he endangered the regime. When Galeazzo II died, he shared Milan's lordship with his nephew Gian Galeazzo. Bernabò was said to be ruthless towards his subjects and did not hesitate to face emperors and popes, including Pope Urban V. The conflict with the Church caused him several excommunications. On 6 May 1385, his nephew Gian Galeazzo deposed him. Imprisoned in his castle, Trezzo sull'Adda, he died a few months later, presumably from poisoning.
1813
James McGill
Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded McGill University (born 1744)
James McGill was a Scottish-born businessman, politician, slaveholder, and philanthropist best known for being the founder of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Montreal West and appointed to the Executive Council of Lower Canada in 1792. He was an honorary lieutenant colonel of the 1st Battalion, Montreal Militia, a predecessor unit of The Canadian Grenadier Guards. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique and one of the original founding members of the Beaver Club. His summer home stood within the Golden Square Mile.
1899
Henry Ware Lawton
American general (born 1843)
Henry Ware Lawton was a U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, the Apache Wars, and the Spanish–American War. He received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the American Civil War. He was the only U.S. general officer to be killed during the Philippine–American War and the first general officer of the United States killed in overseas action. The city of Lawton, Oklahoma, takes its name from General Lawton, as does a borough in the city of Havana, Cuba. Liwasang Bonifacio in downtown Manila was formerly named Plaza Lawton in his honor.
2015
Greville Janner
Baron Janner of Braunstone, Welsh-English lawyer and politician (born 1928)
Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, was a British politician, barrister and writer. He became a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leicester in the 1970 general election as a last-minute candidate, succeeding his father. He was an MP until 1997, and then elevated to the House of Lords. Never a frontbencher, Janner was particularly known for his work on Select Committees; he chaired the Select Committee on Employment for a time. He was associated with a number of Jewish organisations including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, of which he was chairman from 1978 to 1984, and was later prominent in the field of education about the Holocaust.
1807
Friedrich Melchior
Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (born 1723)
Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm was a German-born French-language journalist, art critic, diplomat and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. In 1765 Grimm wrote Poème lyrique, an influential article for the Encyclopédie on lyric and opera librettos. Like Christoph Willibald Gluck and Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Grimm became interested in opera reform. According to Martin Fontius, a German literary theorist, "sooner or later a book entitled The Aesthetic Ideas of Grimm will have to be written."
1940
Kyösti Kallio
Finnish politician, the 4th President of Finland (born 1873)
Kyösti Kallio was a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 1937 to 1940. His presidency included leading the country through the Winter War; while he relinquished the post of commander-in-chief to Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, he played a role as a spiritual leader. After the war, he became both the first president of Finland to resign and the only one to die in office, dying of a heart attack while returning home after submitting his resignation.
2012
Robert Bork
American lawyer, judge, and scholar, United States Attorney General (born 1927)
Robert Heron Bork was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A law professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General from 1973 to 1974 and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1982 to 1988. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Senate rejected his nomination after a contentious and highly publicized confirmation hearing.
1741
Vitus Bering
Danish-born Russian explorer (born 1681)
Vitus Jonassen Bering, also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish-born Russian cartographer, explorer, and officer in the Russian Navy. He is known as a leader of two Russian expeditions, the First Kamchatka Expedition and the Great Northern Expedition, exploring the northeastern coast of the Asian continent and from there the western coast of the North American continent. The Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Glacier, and Vitus Lake were all named in his honor.
1989
Stella Gibbons
English journalist, author, and poet (born 1902)
Stella Dorothea Gibbons was an English author, journalist, and poet. She established her reputation with her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm (1932), which has been reprinted many times. Although she was active as a writer for half a century, none of her later 22 novels or other literary works—which included a sequel to Cold Comfort Farm—achieved the same critical or popular success. Much of her work was long out of print before a modest revival in the 21st century.
1997
Jimmy Rogers
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1924)
Jay or James Arthur "Jimmy" Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several popular blues songs, including "That's All Right", "Chicago Bound", "Walking by Myself", and "Rock This House". He withdrew from the music industry at the end of the 1950s, but returned to recording and touring in the 1970s.
2003
Hope Lange
American actress (born 1933)
Hope Elise Ross Lange was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Selena Cross in the 1957 film Peyton Place. In 1969 and 1970, she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Carolyn Muir in the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.
1819
Thomas Fremantle
English admiral and politician (born 1765)
Vice-Admiral of the Blue Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle, 1st Baron Fremantle, was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During his career, Fremantle fought in three separate fleet actions, formed a close friendship with Horatio Nelson and was granted an Austrian barony. He was the father of Sir Charles Fremantle, after whom the city Fremantle in Western Australia is named.