Notable Deaths on May 14

May 14 has 114 recorded notable deaths across history, from 649 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Tim Conway

2019 — Tim Conway

American actor, writer, and comedian (born 1933)

By · Wikipedia

Notable Deaths 114 source records 649 – 2026

Major events on May 14

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1948 Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Source
  2. 1961 Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle. Source

Did you know about Tim Conway

Conway is perhaps best known as a regular cast member (1975–1978) on the TV comedy-variety series The Carol Burnett Show where he portrayed his recurrent iconic characters Mister Tudball and the Oldest Man.

Did you know about Robert Stack

Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Captain Rex Kramer in Airplane!

Did you know about Frances Perkins

A member of the Democratic Party, Perkins was the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Did you know about August Strindberg

August Strindberg is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room (1879) has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel.

Did you know about Grumpy Cat

"Lolcats" and parodies created from the photograph by Reddit users became popular.


More major people who died on May 14

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

2003 Robert Stack

Robert Stack

American actor and producer (born 1919)
Robert Stack was an American actor and television host. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over 40 feature films. He starred in the ABC television series The Untouchables (1959–1963), for which he won the 1960 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series, and later hosted/narrated the true-crime series Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Written on the Wind (1956). Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Captain Rex Kramer in Airplane! (1980).
1965 Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins

American workers-rights advocate, U.S. Secretary of Labor (born 1880)
Frances Perkins was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of the Democratic Party, Perkins was the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her longtime friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped make labor issues important in the emerging New Deal coalition. She advocated for immigrants’ rights as well. She was one of two Roosevelt cabinet members to remain in office for his entire presidency.
1912 August Strindberg

August Strindberg

Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist (born 1849)
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography, history, cultural analysis, and politics during his career, which spanned four decades. A bold experimenter and iconoclast throughout his life, he explored a wide range of dramatic methods and purposes, from naturalistic tragedy, monodrama, and historical plays to his anticipations of expressionist and surrealist dramatic techniques. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room (1879) has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially novelist and playwright, but in other countries he is known mostly as a playwright.
2019 Grumpy Cat

Grumpy Cat

American cat and internet meme celebrity (born 2012)
Tardar Sauce, nicknamed Grumpy Cat, was an American internet celebrity cat. She was known for her permanently "grumpy" facial appearance, which was caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. She came to prominence when a photograph of her was posted on September 22, 2012, on social news website Reddit by Bryan Bundesen, the brother of her owner Tabatha Bundesen. "Lolcats" and parodies created from the photograph by Reddit users became popular. She was the subject of a popular Internet meme in which humorously negative, cynical images were made from photographs of her.
1968 Husband E. Kimmel

Husband E. Kimmel

American admiral (born 1882)
Husband Edward Kimmel was a United States Navy four-star admiral who was the commander in chief of the United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was removed from that command after the attack, in December 1941, and was reverted to his permanent two-star rank of rear admiral due to no longer holding a four-star assignment. He retired from the Navy in early 1942. The U.S. Senate voted to change Kimmel's permanent rank to four stars in 1999, but President Clinton did not act on the resolution, and neither have any of his successors.
964 Pope John XII (born 927)

Pope John XII (born 927)

Pope John XII, born Octavian, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 16 December 955 to his death in 964. He was related to the counts of Tusculum, a powerful Roman family which had dominated papal politics for over half a century. He became Pope somewhere between the ages of 17 and 25. If he was 17 then he may have been the youngest Pope in history; if not, that title may belong to Benedict IX, who was between the ages of 11 and 20 when elected.
1998 Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

American journalist and environmentalist (born 1890)
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an American journalist, author, women's suffrage advocate, and conservationist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to drain it and reclaim land for development. Moving to Miami as a young woman to work for The Miami Herald, she became a freelance writer, producing over one hundred short stories that were published in popular magazines. Her most influential work was the book The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp. Its impact has been compared to that of Rachel Carson's influential book Silent Spring (1962). Her books, stories, and journalism career brought her influence in Miami, enabling her to advance her causes.
1918 James Gordon Bennett

James Gordon Bennett

Jr., American journalist and publisher (born 1841)
James Gordon Bennett Jr. was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father. Among his many sports-related accomplishments he organized both the first polo match and the first tennis match in the United States, and he won the first trans-oceanic yacht race. He sponsored explorers including Henry Morton Stanley's trip to Africa to find David Livingstone, and the ill-fated USS Jeannette attempt on the North Pole.
1994 Cihat Arman

Cihat Arman

Turkish footballer and manager (born 1915)
Cihat Arman was a Turkish football goalkeeper and manager. He represented Turkey at the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was the coach of the Turkish national football team throughout 1949, and Turkey qualified for the 1950 World Cup as a result of victories in the qualifiers under his management. However, Turkish national football team could not participate in this tournament due to financial difficulties caused by the World War II. He was called "Yellow Canary" by the fans as he wore his Yellow Sweater in every match without exception, and this led to Fenerbahçe adopting the "Yellow Canaries" symbol.
1987 Vitomil Zupan

Vitomil Zupan

Slovenian poet and playwright (born 1914)
Vitomil Zupan was a post-World War II modernist Slovene writer and Gonars concentration camp survivor. Because of his detailed descriptions of sex and violence, he was dubbed the Slovene Hemingway and was compared to Henry Miller. He is best known for Menuet za kitaro, describing the years he spent with the Slovene Partisans. In Titoist Yugoslavia he was sentenced to 18 years in a show trial, and upon his release in 1955 his works could only be published under his pseudonym Langus. He is considered one of the most important Slovene writers.
2014 Emanuel Raymond Lewis

Emanuel Raymond Lewis

American librarian and author (born 1928)
Emanuel Raymond Lewis was the longest-serving and final House Librarian for the United States House of Representatives Library in the U.S. Capitol Building. He was appointed House Librarian in 1973, and served in this position until January 1995, at which time the library, along with the House Historical Office, was reorganized and placed under the new Legislative Resource Center, a division of the Office of the Clerk. The House Library predated the Library of Congress, serving as the official repository of Congressional documents generated by the U.S. House of Representatives since 1792.
1610 Henry IV of France (born 1553)

Henry IV of France (born 1553)

Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France, as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in Paris in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.
1906 Carl Schurz

Carl Schurz

German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1829)
Carl Christian Schurz was a German-American revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He migrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent member of the newly-forming Republican Party. After serving as a Union general in the American Civil War, he helped found the short-lived Liberal Republican Party and became a prominent advocate of civil-service reform. Schurz represented Missouri in the United States Senate and served as the 13th United States Secretary of the Interior.
1847 Fanny Hensel

Fanny Hensel

German pianist and composer (born 1805)
Fanny Cäcilie Hensel née Mendelssohn was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era, also known as Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Her compositions number over 450, and include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, more than 125 pieces for solo piano, and over 250 lieder. Most of these were unpublished in her lifetime. Although lauded for her piano technique, she rarely gave public performances outside her family circle.
1878 Ōkubo Toshimichi

Ōkubo Toshimichi

Japanese samurai and politician (born 1830)
Ōkubo Toshimichi was a Japanese statesman and samurai of the Satsuma Domain. Regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan, he was one of the "Three Great Nobles" who led the Meiji Restoration in 1868, alongside Kido Takayoshi and Saigō Takamori. His policies, often characterized by realism and a focus on national strength, has led some historians to compare his role in Japan to that of Otto von Bismarck in Prussia.
2018 Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe

American author (born 1931)
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. was an American author and journalist widely known for his association with New Journalism, a style of news writing and journalism developed in the 1960s and 1970s that incorporated literary techniques. Much of Wolfe's work is satirical and centers on the counterculture of the 1960s and issues related to class, social status, and the lifestyles of the economic and intellectual elites of New York City.
1959 Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet

American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (born 1897)
Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, first recording in July 1923, a few months after trumpeter Louis Armstrong's recording debut with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. His erratic temper hampered his music career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France.
1987 Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth

American actress and dancer (born 1918)
Rita Hayworth was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films over 38 years. The press nicknamed her "The Love Goddess" during the peak of her fame in the 1940s. She was the second favorite pin-up girl for GIs during World War II, after Betty Grable.
1980 Hugh Griffith

Hugh Griffith

Welsh actor (born 1912)
Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh actor. Described by BFI's Screenonline as a "wild-eyed, formidable character player", Griffith appeared in more than 100 theatre, film, and television productions in a career that spanned over 40 years. He was the second Welsh-born actor to win an Academy Award, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur (1959), with a second nomination for Tom Jones (1963).

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