Did you know about Jim Brown
Brown won an NFL championship with the Browns in 1964.
Notable Deaths on May 18
May 18 has 106 recorded notable deaths across history, from 526 to 2026. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
2023 — Jim Brown
American football player, civil rights activist, and actor (born 1936)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
106 source records
526 – 2026
Today in history
Major events on May 18
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1652 Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced. Source
- 1955 Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends. Source
Did you know about Gustav Mahler
After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.
Did you know about Charles Grodin
Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies.
Did you know about Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption: was the first to report the eruption, transmitting "Vancouver!
Did you know about Mary McLeod Bethune
Shortly after joining the National Youth Administration in 1935, Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of a department within the NYA.
More major people who died on May 18
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1911
Gustav Mahler
Austrian composer and conductor (born 1860)
Gustav Mahler was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.
2021
Charles Grodin
American actor and talk show host (born 1935)
Charles Sidney Grodin was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) where he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Grodin also starred in 11 Harrowhouse (1974), for which he also wrote the adaptation.
1980
Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
David Alexander Johnston was an American United States Geological Survey (USGS) volcanologist who was killed by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in the U.S. state of Washington. A principal scientist on the USGS monitoring team, Johnston was killed in the eruption while manning an observation post six miles (10 km) away on the morning of May 18, 1980. He was the first to report the eruption, transmitting "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" before he was swept away by a lateral blast; despite a thorough search, Johnston's body was never found, but state highway workers discovered remnants of his USGS trailer in 1993.
1955
Mary McLeod Bethune
American educator and activist (born 1875)
Mary McLeod Bethune was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, and proceeded to establish the Aframerican Women's Journal, which was the flagship journal of the organization. She presided over other Black American women's organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. Shortly after joining the National Youth Administration in 1935, Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of a department within the NYA.
2004
Elvin Jones
American drummer and bandleader (born 1927)
Elvin Ray Jones was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Ascension, and Live at Birdland. After 1966, Jones led his own trio, and later larger groups under the name the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. His brothers, Hank and Thad, were also celebrated jazz musicians with whom he occasionally recorded. Elvin was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1995. In his The History of Jazz, jazz historian and critic Ted Gioia calls Jones "one of the most influential drummers in the history of jazz". He was also ranked at Number 23 on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time".
1963
Ernie Davis
American football player, coach, and manager (born 1939)
Ernest R. Davis was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen and won the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He was the award's first black recipient. Davis was selected first overall by the Washington Redskins in the 1962 NFL draft but was almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns. He was diagnosed with leukemia that same year, and died shortly after at age 23 without ever playing in a professional game. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and was the subject of the 2008 film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story.
2009
Dolla
American rapper (born 1987)
Roderick Anthony Burton II better known by his stage name Dolla, was an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. Burton embarked on his music career in 2003, with hip hop group Da Razkalz Cru, under the pseudonym Bucklyte. The group quickly disbanded, and Burton went on to work as a model for the Sean John clothing line. In mid 2006, Burton signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik label. Burton released three singles from 2007 to 2010. The first, his commercial debut single "Who the Fuck Is That?", featuring T-Pain and Tay Dizm, charted on the Billboard Hot 100, along with his second single "Make a Toast", featuring Lil Wayne charting on the charts Hot 100 as well.
1909
George Meredith
English novelist and poet (born 1828)
George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.
2024
Tony O'Reilly
Irish rugby player and businessman (born 1936)
Sir Anthony John Francis O'Reilly was an Irish businessman and international rugby union player. He was known for his try scoring in rugby, his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009, and as CEO and chairman of the H.J. Heinz Company. He was the leading shareholder of Waterford Wedgwood and a founder and major supporter of The Ireland Funds. A citizen of both Ireland and the United Kingdom, he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor for his services to Northern Ireland.
526
Pope John I
Pope John I was the bishop of Rome from 13 August 523 to his death on 18 May 526. He was a native of Siena, in Italy. Pope John I played a pivotal role in standardizing how the Western Church calculated the date of Easter, with the help of the monk Dionysius Exiguus, in 525. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople by the Ostrogoth King Theoderic to negotiate better treatment for Arians. Although John was relatively successful, upon his return to Ravenna, Theoderic had him imprisoned for allegedly conspiring with Constantinople. The frail pope died of neglect and ill-treatment.
1550
Jean
Cardinal of Lorraine (born 1498)
Jean de Lorraine was the third son of the ruling Duke of Lorraine, and a French cardinal, who was archbishop of Reims (1532–1538), Lyon (1537–1539), and Narbonne (1524–1550), bishop of Metz, and Administrator of the dioceses of Toul, Verdun, Thérouanne, Luçon, Albi, Valence, Nantes and Agen (1538–1550). He was a personal friend, companion, and advisor of King Francis I of France. Jean de Lorraine was the richest prelate in the reign of Francis I, as well as the most flagrant pluralist. He is one of several cardinals known as the Cardinal de Lorraine.
2017
Chris Cornell
American singer (born 1964)
Christopher John Cornell was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a solo career and contributed to numerous movie soundtracks. Cornell was the founder and frontman of Temple of the Dog, a one-off tribute band dedicated to his late friend, musician Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Several music journalists, fan polls, and fellow musicians have regarded Cornell as one of the greatest rock singers of all time.
2020
Ken Osmond
American actor and police officer (born 1943)
Kenneth Charles Osmond was an American actor and police officer. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of four, Osmond played the role of Eddie Haskell on the late 1950s to early 1960s television situation comedy Leave It to Beaver and reprised it on the 1980s revival series The New Leave It to Beaver. Typecast by the role, he found it hard to get other acting work and became a Los Angeles police officer. After retiring from police work, he resumed his acting career.
1692
Elias Ashmole
English astrologer and politician (born 1617)
Elias Ashmole was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer, freemason and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, serving in the artillery of Lord Astley's Regiment of Foot. He held the military rank of a captain. At the restoration of Charles II, Ashmole was rewarded with several lucrative offices. In his later years, he collected notes on his life in diary form to serve as source material for a biography. His diary was posthumously published in 1717.
2009
Velupillai Prabhakaran
Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (born 1954)
Velupillai Prabhakaran was an Eelam Tamil revolutionary, guerrilla leader and a major figure of Tamil nationalism who founded and led the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government. Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.
2009
Wayne Allwine
American voice actor, sound effects editor and Foley artist (born 1947)
Wayne Anthony Allwine was an American voice actor, sound effects editor, and foley artist. He was best known as the third official voice of Mickey Mouse in English and the first official casting following the establishment of Disney Character Voices International in 1988. To date, he holds the record for the longest-running voice actor to play Mickey Mouse, having performed the role for 32 years. He was notably married to Russi Taylor in 1991, who voiced Minnie Mouse until her death in 2019.
1909
Isaac Albéniz
Spanish pianist and composer (born 1860)
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish virtuoso composer, conductor, and pianist. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also exerted a significant influence on his contemporaries and younger composers. He is best known for his piano works that incorporate Spanish folk music idioms and elements. His compositions, particularly his suite Iberia (1905–1908), are considered masterpieces and have influenced both European classical music and Spanish nationalism. Isaac Albéniz was close to the Generation of '98.
2017
Roger Ailes
American businessman (born 1940)
Roger Eugene Ailes was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and for Rudy Giuliani's 1989 New York City mayoral election. In July 2016, he left Fox News after allegations of sexually harassing female Fox employees, including on-air hosts Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros.
2026
Tom Kane
American voice actor (born 1962)
Thomas Kane Roberts was an American voice actor. He was known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the Star Wars franchise, voicing established characters Yoda, Admiral Ackbar, Boba Fett, Qui-Gon Jinn, and C-3PO. Other notable roles include Professor Utonium in The Powerpuff Girls, Darwin Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys, Mr. Herriman in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and Woodhouse in Archer, taking the role over from George Coe following his death in 2015.