Did you know
Henry's contributions to film included his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols's The Graduate (1967) for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Notable Deaths on January 8
2020 — Buck Henry
American actor, screenwriter, and director (born 1930)
January 8 has 107 recorded notable deaths across history, from 307 to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
107 source records
307 – 2025
Today in history
Major events on January 8
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1547 The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg. Source
- 1972 Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh. Source
- 1811 Charles Deslondes leads an unsuccessful slave revolt in the North American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana. Source
- 2002 President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act. Source
Did you know
was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.
Did you know
Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages.
Did you know
Andraé Edward Crouch was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor.
Did you know
Clokey's career began in 1953 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, which was influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California.
More major people who died on January 8
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1825
Eli Whitney
American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (born 1765)
Eli Whitney Jr. was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.
1337
Giotto
Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto's Campanile (born 1266)
Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic and Proto-Renaissance period.
2015
Andraé Crouch
American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (born 1942)
Andraé Edward Crouch was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor.
2010
Art Clokey
American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1921)
Arthur Charles Clokey was an American animator, director, producer, screenwriter and voice actor.
307
Hui of Jin
Chinese emperor (born 259)
Emperor Hui of Jin, personal name Sima Zhong (司馬衷), courtesy name Zhengdu (正度), was the second emperor of the Western Jin dynasty.
1994
Harvey Haddix
American baseball player and coach (born 1925)
Harvey Haddix Jr. was an American professional baseball pitcher and pitching coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St.
2007
David Ervine
Northern Irish politician and activist (born 1953)
David Ervine was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who served as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 2002 to 2007 and was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast…
1958
Mary Colter
American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (born 1869)
Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was an American architect and designer. She was one of the very few female American architects in her day.
2017
Nicolai Gedda
Swedish operatic tenor (born 1925)
Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, better known as Nicolai Gedda, was a Swedish operatic tenor.
1952
Antonia Maury
American astronomer and astrophysicist (born 1866)
Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Maury was an American astronomer who was the first to detect and calculate the orbit of a spectroscopic binary.
1707
John Dalrymple
1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Scottish Secretary of State (born 1648)
John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair PC was a Scottish politician and lawyer.
2015
Patsy Garrett
American actress and singer (born 1921)
Virginia "Patsy" Garrett was an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a radio performer at the age of seven, Garrett is best known for her seven years on Fred Waring's Pleasure Time radio show during the…
2000
Hilary Smart
American sailor (born 1925)
Hilary Hurlburt Smart was an American sailor and Olympic champion.
1941
Robert Baden-Powell
1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general and founder of the Scout movement (born 1857)
Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, was a British Army officer, writer, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and its first Chief Scout, and founder, with his sister Agnes,…
1874
Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg
French historian and archaeologist (born 1814)
Abbé Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg was a noted French writer, ethnographer, historian, archaeologist, and Catholic priest. He became a specialist in Mesoamerican studies, travelling extensively in the region.
1934
Andrei Bely
Russian novelist, poet, and critic (born 1880)
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian and Soviet novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic.
1976
Zhou Enlai
Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1898)
Zhou Enlai was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from October 1949 until his death in January 1976.
1938
Johnny Gruelle
American author and illustrator (born 1880)
John Barton Gruelle was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book and comics author, illustrator, and storyteller.
2007
Arthur Cockfield
Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (born 1916)
Francis Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield PC, was by turns a civil servant, a company director, a Conservative Party politician, and a European Commissioner.