Notable Deaths on June 11

June 11 has 102 recorded notable deaths across history, from 573 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

John Wayne

1979 — John Wayne

American actor, director, and producer (born 1907)

By · Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 102 source records 573 – 2026

Major events on June 11

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1963 John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights. Source
  2. 1776 American Revolution: The Second Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence. Source

Did you know about John Wayne

Nicknamed "Duke", he became a popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies.

Did you know about Thích Quảng Đức

Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph of the monk's death.

Did you know about Henry the Young King of England (born 1155)

In 1170, he became titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and of Maine.

Did you know about John Franklin

During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June 1847.

Did you know about Ron Moody

Ron Moody was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in Lionel Bart's 1960 stage musical Oliver!, originating the role in the initial London production and reprising it in the 1968 film adaptation and in West End and Broadway revivals in the 1980s.


More major people who died on June 11

Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.

1963 Thích Quảng Đức

Thích Quảng Đức

Vietnamese monk and martyr (born 1897)
Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who is best known for his death by self-immolation at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Quảng Đức was protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government of Ngô Đình Diệm, a staunch Roman Catholic. Photographs of his self-immolation circulated around the world, drawing attention to the policies of the Diệm government. John F. Kennedy said of one photograph, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one". Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph of the monk's death.
1183 Henry the Young King of England (born 1155)

Henry the Young King of England (born 1155)

Henry the Young King was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. In 1170, he became titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and of Maine. Henry the Young King was the only English king since the Norman Conquest to be crowned during his father's reign, but he was frustrated by his father's refusal to grant him meaningful autonomous power. He died aged 28, six years before his father, during the course of a campaign in Limousin against his father and his brother Richard.
1847 John Franklin

John Franklin

English admiral and politician (born 1786)
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, during the Coppermine expedition of 1819 and the Mackenzie River expedition of 1825, and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1837 to 1843. During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June 1847. The icebound ships were abandoned ten months later, and the entire crew died from starvation, hypothermia, and scurvy.
2015 Ron Moody

Ron Moody

English actor and singer (born 1924)
Ron Moody was an English actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in Lionel Bart's 1960 stage musical Oliver!, originating the role in the initial London production and reprising it in the 1968 film adaptation and in West End and Broadway revivals in the 1980s. Moody earned a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for the film, as well as a Tony Award nomination for the stage production. Other notable projects include The Mouse on the Moon (1963), Mel Brooks's The Twelve Chairs (1970) and Flight of the Doves (1971), in which Moody shared the screen with Oliver! co-star Jack Wild.
2015 Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (born 1930)
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms; instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. Thom Jurek of AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history", noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."
1984 Enrico Berlinguer

Enrico Berlinguer

Italian politician (born 1922)
Enrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician and statesman who was the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). He led the PCI as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a tense period of Italian history, which was marked by the Years of Lead and social conflicts, such as the Hot Autumn of 1969–1970. Berlinguer was born into an upper-class family; his father was a socialist who became a deputy and later senator. After leading the PCI's youth wing in his hometown, he led the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI) at the national level from 1949 to 1956. In 1968, he was elected to Italy's Chamber of Deputies, and he became the leader of the PCI in 1972; he remained a deputy until his death in 1984. Under his leadership, the number of votes for the PCI peaked. The PCI's results in 1976 remain the highest for any Italian left-wing or centre-left party both in terms of votes and vote share, and the party's results in 1984, just after his death, remain the best result for an Italian left-wing party in European elections, and were toppled, in terms of vote share in a lower-turnout election, in the 2014 European Parliament election in Italy.
1927 William Attewell

William Attewell

English cricketer (born 1861)
William Attewell was a cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and England. Attewell was a medium pace bowler who was renowned for his extraordinary accuracy and economy. On the many sticky or crumbling pitches encountered in his prime Attewell could get on a great deal of spin so as to always beat the bat, whilst his accuracy would make slogging – the only way to make runs under such conditions – very difficult. He was responsible for the development of "off theory" – bowling wide of the off stump to a packed off-side field to frustrate batsmen on the rapidly improving pitches of the 1890s. At times Attewell was a useful batsman for his county, and he scored 102 against Kent in 1897.
2014 Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

Spanish conductor and composer (born 1933)
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military service in the Spanish Army before graduating from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Frühbeck was principal conductor of various orchestras around the world, starting with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra from 1958 to 1962, then moving on to the Spanish National Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo and many others. Throughout his career Frühbeck de Burgos recorded on a number of labels. He was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts and History Institución Fernán González. His honours include the 2011 Conductor of the Year award from Musical America.
1965 José Mendes Cabeçadas

José Mendes Cabeçadas

Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (born 1883)
José Mendes Cabeçadas Júnior, OTE, ComA, MPCE, commonly known as Mendes Cabeçadas, was a Portuguese Navy officer, Freemason and republican, having a major role in the preparation of the revolutionary movements that created and ended the Portuguese First Republic: the 5 October revolution in 1910 and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926. In the outcome he became the minister of finance for one day only on 30 May 1926, then becoming interim minister for foreign affairs for two days between 30 May and 1 June, after which he again became the minister for finance on the same day. He served as the president of Portugal and prime minister for a brief period of time.
1982 H. Radclyffe Roberts

H. Radclyffe Roberts

American entomologist (born 1906)
Howard Radclyffe Roberts Jr. was an American entomologist known for his work on grasshoppers. His 1941 University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. dissertation was an early work highlighting the role phallic structures could play in grasshopper taxonomy. While serving in World War II, he and Edward Shearman Ross cowrote The Mosquito Atlas, used by the armed forces to identify malaria-transmitting mosquitos. Roberts worked for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP), serving as its managing director from 1947 to 1972. He described dozens of grasshopper species from North and South America, and also is the eponym of several taxa named in his honor.
2024 Majed Abu Maraheel

Majed Abu Maraheel

Palestinian long-distance runner and football player (born 1963)
Majed Abu Maraheel was a Palestinian long-distance runner, football player, security officer, and athletics coach, who was the first Palestinian to compete at the Olympic Games. Born into a refugee family in the Nuseirat refugee camp of the Gaza Strip, Abu Maraheel took part in athletics and football as a child. Before his international sporting career, he self-trained as a long-distance runner on Gazan streets and beaches, becoming locally famous after winning a variety of local competitions. After winning an eight-kilometer race in 1995, he was recruited by Palestinian National Authority leader Yasser Arafat into Force 17, his personal security force.
1345 Alexios Apokaukos

Alexios Apokaukos

chief minister of the Byzantine Empire
Alexios Apokaukos, also Latinized as Alexius Apocaucus, was a chief minister and head of the navy in the Byzantine Empire, during the reigns of emperors Andronikos III Palaiologos and John V Palaiologos. Although he owed his rise to high state offices to the patronage of John VI Kantakouzenos, he became, together with Patriarch John XIV Kalekas, one of the leaders of the faction supporting Emperor John V in the civil war of 1341–1347 against his one-time benefactor. Apokaukos died when he was lynched by political prisoners during an inspection of a new prison.
1560 Mary of Guise

Mary of Guise

queen of James V of Scotland (born 1515)
Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.
1970 Frank Laubach

Frank Laubach

American missionary and mystic (born 1884)
Frank Charles Laubach, from Benton, Pennsylvania was a Congregational Christian missionary educated at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, and a mystic known as "The Apostle to the Illiterates." In 1915, while working among Muslims at a remote location in the Philippines, he developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program. It has been used to teach about 60 million people to read in their own language. He was deeply concerned about poverty, injustice and illiteracy, and considered them barriers to peace in the world.
2024 Howard Fineman

Howard Fineman

American journalist (born 1948)
Howard David Fineman was an American journalist and television commentator. In a career that spanned nearly five decades, Fineman covered nine presidential campaigns as a reporter, writer, and analyst. For 30 years, he drove Newsweek magazine's political coverage. At the height of the publication's influence, Fineman was its chief political correspondent, senior editor, and deputy Washington bureau chief. His "Living Politics" column was posted weekly on Newsweek.com. After his tenure at Newsweek, he was named global editorial director of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group.
1986 Chesley Bonestell

Chesley Bonestell

American painter and illustrator (born 1888)
Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. was an American painter, designer, and illustrator, best known for his realistic-looking paintings of space exploration, including future spacecraft and scenes set on moons and planets in the Solar System. His work helped inspire the American space program and appeared in popular magazines and books from the 1940s into the 1970s. He is considered one of the founders of "space art" for scientific illustration and his style has been influential in science fiction art, illustration, and cinema.
1998 Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson

English author (born 1906)
Dame Catherine Ann Cookson was a British writer. It has been estimated that, as of 2003, over 100 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide while she retained a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields, North East England, the setting for her novels. With 104 titles written in her own name or two other pen names, she is one of the most prolific British novelists.
2024 Françoise Hardy

Françoise Hardy

French singer-songwriter and actress (born 1944)
Françoise Madeleine Hardy was a French singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in French yé-yé music and became a cultural icon in France and internationally. In addition to her native French, she also sang in English, Italian, and German. Her musical career spanned more than 50 years, with over 30 studio albums released. She also represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963.
1882 Louis Désiré Maigret

Louis Désiré Maigret

French bishop (born 1804)
Louis-Désiré Maigret, SS.CC., served as the first vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands, now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Born in Saint-Pierre-de-Maillé, France, Maigret was ordained to the priesthood as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on September 23, 1828, at the age of 24. As part of his missionary work, Father Maigret sailed to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to help build its Catholic community of native Hawaiians.

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