Did you know about June Lockhart
June Lockhart became most widely known for her work on two television series, Lassie and Lost in Space, in which she played mother roles.
Notable Deaths on October 23
October 23 has 108 recorded notable deaths across history, from 42 BC to 2025. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
2025 — June Lockhart
American actress (b. 1925)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
108 source records
42 BC – 2025
Today in history
Major events on October 23
See what else happened on this day in history.
Did you know about Alvin Stardust
Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately successful career in the pre-Beatles era, hitting the UK top 40 with four singles in 1961–62.
Did you know about Jessica Savitch
Savitch was one of the first women to anchor an evening network newscast alone, following in the footsteps of Marlene Sanders of ABC News and Catherine Mackin of NBC News.
Did you know about Edward Smith-Stanley
Edward Smith-Stanley is one of only four British prime ministers to have three or more separate periods in office.
Did you know about W. G. Grace
Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 44 seasons from 1865 to 1908.
More major people who died on October 23
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
2014
Alvin Stardust
English singer and actor (born 1942)
Bernard William Jewry, known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately successful career in the pre-Beatles era, hitting the UK top 40 with four singles in 1961–62. However, he became better known for singles released in the 1970s and 1980s as Alvin Stardust, a character he began in the glam rock era, with hits including "My Coo Ca Choo", the UK singles chart-topper "Jealous Mind", "Pretend" and "I Feel Like Buddy Holly".
1983
Jessica Savitch
American journalist (born 1947)
Jessica Beth Savitch was an American television journalist who was the weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News and daily newsreader for NBC News during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Savitch was one of the first women to anchor an evening network newscast alone, following in the footsteps of Marlene Sanders of ABC News and Catherine Mackin of NBC News. She also hosted PBS's public affairs program Frontline from its January 1983 debut until her death in a car crash the following October.
1869
Edward Smith-Stanley
14th Earl of Derby, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1799)
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, known as Lord Stanley from 1834 to 1851, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served three times as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. To date, he is the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party (1846–68). He is one of only four British prime ministers to have three or more separate periods in office. However, his ministries each lasted less than two years and totalled three years and 280 days. Derby introduced the state education system in Ireland, and reformed Parliament.
1915
W. G. Grace
English cricketer and physician (born 1848)
William Gilbert Grace was an English cricketer who is widely held to have been one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 44 seasons from 1865 to 1908. Test cricket originated during his career, and he represented England in 22 matches from 1880 to 1899. In domestic cricket, he was mostly associated with Gloucestershire, the Gentlemen, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and the United South of England Eleven (USEE).
2023
Bishan Singh Bedi
Indian cricketer (born 1946)
Bishan Singh Bedi was an Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a total of 67 Tests and took 266 wickets. He also captained the national side in 22 Test matches. Bedi wore a colourful patka and was always known for his outspoken and forthright views on cricketing matters. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 1970 and the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
1921
John Boyd Dunlop
Scottish businessman, founded Dunlop Rubber (born 1840)
John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish inventor and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he invented the practical pneumatic tyres for his child's tricycle and developed them for use in cycle racing. He sold his rights to the pneumatic tyres to a company he formed with the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey du Cros, for a small cash sum and a small shareholding in their pneumatic tyre business. Dunlop withdrew in 1896. The company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, was not incorporated until later and, despite its name, was Du Cros's creation.
2002
Adolph Green
American playwright and songwriter (born 1915)
Adolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright, who with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for musicals on Broadway and in Hollywood. Although they were not a romantic couple, they shared a unique comic genius and sophisticated wit that enabled them to forge a six-decade-long partnership. They received numerous accolades including four Tony Awards and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. Green was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. Comden and Green received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1991.
2012
Michael Marra
Scottish singer-songwriter (born 1952)
Michael Marra was a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician from Dundee, Scotland. Known as the Bard of Dundee, Marra was a solo performer who toured the UK and performed in arts centres, theatres, folk clubs and village halls. While mainly known as a songwriter, he also worked extensively in theatre, radio and television. His songwriting was rooted in Scottish life and he found an audience within and beyond the folk music scene, which led to him working as a support musician for performers including Van Morrison, The Proclaimers, Barbara Dickson and Deacon Blue. His song "Hermless" was somewhat humorously suggested as a potential Scottish national anthem.
2011
Herbert A. Hauptman
American chemist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)
Herbert Aaron Hauptman was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in determination of molecular structures of crystallized materials. Today, Hauptman's direct methods, which he continued to improve and refine, are routinely used to solve complicated structures. It was the application of this mathematical method to a wide variety of chemical structures that led the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to name Hauptman and Jerome Karle recipients of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1852
Georg August Wallin
Finnish explorer, orientalist, and professor (born 1811)
Georg August Wallin, also known as Abd al-Wali, was a Finland Swede orientalist, explorer and professor at the University of Helsinki, remembered for his journeys across the Arabian Peninsula in the 1840s. He was the first Western scholar to study spoken Arabic systematically, the first European to record Bedouin poetry and dialects in the field, and among the first Europeans to reach several locations in northern Arabia. Internationally he has been ranked among the most capable European explorers of Arabia, and was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1851.
1550
Tiedemann Giese
Polish bishop (born 1480)
Tiedemann Giese, was Bishop of Kulm (Chełmno) first canon, later Prince-Bishop of Warmia (Ermland) whose interest in mathematics, astronomy, and theology led him to mentor a number of important young scholars, including Copernicus. He was a prolific writer and correspondent, publishing a number of works on the reformation of the church. Tiedemann was a member of the patrician Giese family of Danzig (Gdańsk). The Giese family ancestors originated from Unna in Westphalia, near Dortmund. His father was Albrecht Giese and his younger brother, the Hanseatic League merchant Georg Giese.
2011
Marco Simoncelli
Italian motorcycle racer (born 1987)
Marco Simoncelli, nicknamed Sic was an Italian professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the MotoGP World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He started in the 125cc class before moving up to the 250cc class in 2006. He won the 2008 250cc World Championship with Gilera. After four years in the intermediate class, he stepped up to the top MotoGP class in 2010, racing with the Honda Gresini Team. He died in an accident at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
877
Ignatios of Constantinople
Byzantine patriarch (born 797)
Ignatius of Constantinople was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 847 to 858 and from 867 to 877. Ignatius lived during a complex time for the Byzantine Empire. The Iconoclast Controversy was ongoing, Boris I of Bulgaria converted to Christianity in 864, and the Roman pontiffs repeatedly challenged the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Eastern Church in Bulgaria. As patriarch, Ignatius denounced iconoclasm, secured jurisdiction over Bulgaria for the Eastern Church, and played an important role in conflicts over papal supremacy.
1984
Oskar Werner
Austrian-German actor (born 1922)
Oskar Werner was an Austrian stage and cinema actor who reached international fame. His most prominent roles include two 1965 films, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and Ship of Fools. For the former, Werner won a Golden Globe Award. For the latter, Werner received an Oscar nomination. Other notable films include Decision Before Dawn (1951), Lola Montès (1955), Jules and Jim (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), and Voyage of the Damned (1976).
2005
William Hootkins
American actor (born 1948)
William Michael Hootkins was an American actor, long based in the United Kingdom. He was known to film audiences for his supporting roles in several blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s, notably as Jek Porkins / Red Six in the original Star Wars (1977), Major Eaton in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Lt. Max Eckhardt in Batman (1989). He also worked on the West End stage, originating the role of Alfred Hitchcock in Hitchcock Blonde.
2024
Gary Indiana
American writer, playwright and poet (born 1950)
Gary Hoisington, known as Gary Indiana, was an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the Village Voice weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best known for his classic American true-crime trilogy, Resentment, Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story, and Depraved Indifference, chronicling the state of "depraved indifference" that characterized American life at the millennium's end. Former Artforum editor David Velasco called him "the greatest living writer."
949
Yōzei
Japanese emperor (born 869)
Emperor Yōzei was the 57th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Yōzei's reign spanned the years from 876 through 884. Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Sadaakira Shinnō (貞明親王). In ancient Japan, there were four noble clans, the Gempeitōkitsu (源平藤橘). One of these clans, the Minamoto clan (源氏) are also known as Genji, and of these, the Yōzei Genji (陽成源氏) are descended from the 57th emperor Yōzei.
902
Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya
Aghlabid emir (born 850)
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim II ibn Ahmad was the Emir of Ifriqiya. He ruled from 875 until his abdication in 902. After the demise of his brother, Ibrahim was endorsed as emir where he took steps to improve safety in his domain and secured the development of commercial activities. He improved public works, such as building a vast reservoir, erecting walls as well as the development of mosques and his Raqqada palace.
1910
Chulalongkorn
Thai king (born 1853)
Chulalongkorn, posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was characterised by the modernisation of Siam, governmental and social reforms, and territorial concessions to the British and French empires. As Siam was surrounded by European colonies, Chulalongkorn, through his policies and acts, ensured the independence of Siam.