Did you know about Johnny Cash
Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career.
Notable Deaths on September 12
September 12 has 99 recorded notable deaths across history, from 640 to 2024. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
2003 — Johnny Cash
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1932)
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
99 source records
640 – 2024
Today in history
Major events on September 12
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1992 NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47 which marked the 50th shuttle mission. On board are Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spaceship, and Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space. Source
- 1959 Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color, is launched in the United States. Source
Did you know about Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell's most successful and most identifiable role was that of Richard Sherman in The Seven Year Itch, a character he played in the Broadway production (1952–1954) and reprised for the 1955 film adaptation.
Did you know about Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet.
Did you know about Lewis Stone
Lewis Shepard Stone was an American film actor, best known for his 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular Andy Hardy film series.
Did you know about Stanley Turrentine
Stanley William Turrentine, nicknamed Mr. T, was an American Grammy nominated jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer.
More major people who died on September 12
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1994
Tom Ewell
American actor (born 1909)
Tom Ewell was an American film, stage and television actor, and producer. His most successful and most identifiable role was that of Richard Sherman in The Seven Year Itch, a character he played in the Broadway production (1952–1954) and reprised for the 1955 film adaptation. He received a Tony Award for his work in the play and a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the film. Although Ewell preferred acting on stage, he accepted several other screen roles in light comedies of the 1950s, most notably The Girl Can't Help It (1956). He appeared in the film version of the musical State Fair (1962) and in a small number of additional ones released between the early 1960s and 1980s.
1977
Robert Lowell
American poet (born 1917)
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the Mayflower. His ancestors and contemporary family were important subjects in his poetry. Growing up in Boston also informed his poems, which were frequently set in Boston and the New England region. Literary scholar Paula Hayes argues that, particularly in his early work, Lowell mythologized New England.
1953
Lewis Stone
American actor (born 1879)
Lewis Shepard Stone was an American film actor, best known for his 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular Andy Hardy film series. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, in 1929, for his performance as Russian Count Pahlen in The Patriot (1928). Stone was also cast in seven films with Greta Garbo, including Grand Hotel (1932) in which he portrayed Doctor Otternschlag.
2000
Stanley Turrentine
American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (born 1934)
Stanley William Turrentine, nicknamed Mr. T, was an American Grammy nominated jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touching on jazz fusion during a stint on CTI in the 1970s. He was described by critic Steve Huey as "renowned for his distinctively thick, rippling tone [and] earthy grounding in the blues." In the 1960s Turrentine was married to organist Shirley Scott, with whom he frequently recorded, and he was the younger brother of trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, with whom he also recorded.
2017
Edith Windsor
American LGBT rights activist and technology manager at IBM (born 1929)
Edith Windsor was an American LGBT rights activist and a technology manager at IBM. She was the lead plaintiff in the 2013 Supreme Court of the United States case United States v. Windsor, which overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and was considered a landmark legal victory for the same-sex marriage movement in the United States. The Obama administration and federal agencies extended rights, privileges and benefits to married same-sex couples because of the decision.
1919
Leonid Andreyev
Russian author and playwright (born 1871)
Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of expressionism in Russian literature. He is regarded as one of the most talented and prolific representatives of the Silver Age literary period. Andreyev's style combines the elements of realist, naturalist, and symbolist schools in literature. Of his 25 plays, his 1915 play He Who Gets Slapped is regarded as his finest achievement.
1982
Federico Moreno Torroba
Spanish composer and conductor (born 1891)
Federico Moreno Torroba was a Spanish composer, conductor, and theatrical impresario. He is especially remembered for his contributions to the classical guitar repertoire, becoming one of the leading twentieth-century composers for the instrument. He was also one of the foremost composers of zarzuelas, a form of Spanish light opera. His 1932 zarzuela Luisa Fernanda has proved to be enduringly popular. In addition, he composed ballets, symphonic works, and piano pieces, as well as one-act operas and one full-length opera, El poeta, which premiered in 1980, starring tenor Plácido Domingo. Moreno Torroba also ran his own zarzuela company, which toured extensively, especially in Latin America.
1991
Bruce Matthews
Canadian general and businessman (born 1909)
Major General Albert Bruce Matthews was a senior Canadian Army officer and businessman. Although not a professional soldier, he nevertheless rose to be the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division during the final months of the Second World War, after having served with distinction in campaigns in Sicily, Italy and Western Europe from 1943-1945. He became noted for his personal bravery and the accuracy and reliability of the artillery under his command. Post-war, his business career continued. In addition, he was active in the Canadian Liberal Party.
1869
Peter Mark Roget
English physician, theologian, and lexicographer (born 1779)
Peter Mark Roget was a British physician, natural theologian, lexicographer, and founding secretary of The Portico Library. He is best known for publishing, in 1852, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, a classified collection of related words (thesaurus). In 1824, he read a paper to the Royal Society about a peculiar optical illusion which is often (falsely) regarded as the origin of the ancient persistence of vision theory that was later commonly, yet incorrectly, used to explain apparent motion in film and animation.
1779
Richard Grenville-Temple
2nd Earl Temple, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (born 1711)
Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, KG, PC was a British politician and peer who served as Lord Privy Seal from 1757 to 1761. He is best known for his association with his brother-in-law William Pitt, serving with him in the Pitt–Newcastle ministry during Britain's participation in the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1761. He resigned, along with Pitt, in 1761 in protest over the ministry's refusal to declare war on Spain.
1500
Albert III
Duke of Saxony (born 1443)
Albert III was Duke of Saxony from 1464 to 1500. Known as Albert the Bold or Albert the Courageous, he founded the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. Initially, he ruled jointly with his older brother Ernest, Elector of Saxony, but upon division of Wettinian lands by the Treaty of Leipzig (1485), he became a sole ruler in his own domain, known is historiography as the Albertine Duchy of Saxony.
1927
Sarah Frances Whiting
American physicist and astronomer (born 1847)
Sarah Frances Whiting was an American physicist and astronomer. In February 1896 Whiting founded both the physics and astronomy departments; and was the first professor of physics and astronomy at Wellesley College, where she taught for over 30 years. At Wellesley College, Whiting instructed several notable astronomers and physicists, including Annie Jump Cannon. Whiting was one of the founders and the first director of the Whitin Observatory.
2009
Jack Kramer
American tennis player and sportscaster (born 1921)
John Albert Kramer was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, and a pioneer promoter who helped drive the sport towards professionalism at the elite level. Kramer also ushered in the serve-and-volley era in tennis, a playing style with which he won three Grand Slam tournaments. He also led the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team to victory in the 1946 and 1947 Davis Cup finals.
2019
ʻAkilisi Pōhiva
Tongan politician and activist, Prime Minister of Tonga (born 1941)
Samiuela ʻAkilisi Pōhiva was a Tongan pro-democracy activist and politician. A key leader of the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands (DPFI), he served as the Prime Minister of Tonga from 2014 to his death in 2019. He was only the fourth commoner to serve as Prime Minister, and the first commoner to be elected to that position by Parliament rather than appointed by the King.
1544
Clément Marot
French poet (born 1496)
Clément Marot was a French Renaissance poet. He was influenced by the writers of the late 15th century and paved the way for the Pléiade, and is undoubtedly the most important poet at the court of Francis I. Despite the support of Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême (1492-1549), the king’s sister, his strong leanings toward the Reformation led to several imprisonments and two periods of exile.
1683
Afonso VI of Portugal (born 1643)
Dom Afonso VI, known as "the Victorious", was the second king of Portugal of the House of Braganza from 1656 until his death. He was initially under the regency of his mother, Luisa de Guzmán, until 1662, when he removed her to a convent and took power with the help of his favourite, D. Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 3rd Count of Castelo Melhor.
1995
Jeremy Brett
English actor (born 1933)
Peter Jeremy William Huggins, known professionally as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes from 1984 to 1994 in 41 episodes of the Granada TV series. He also played the smitten Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 Warner Bros. production of My Fair Lady. His career spanned stage, television and film, to Shakespeare and musical theatre.
2010
Claude Chabrol
French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1930)
Claude Henri Jean Chabrol was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues and contemporaries Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Chabrol was a critic for the influential film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma before beginning his career as a filmmaker.
1712
Jan van der Heyden
Dutch painter and illustrator (born 1637)
Jan van der Heyden was a Dutch Baroque-era painter, glass painter, draughtsman and printmaker. Van der Heyden was one of the first Dutch painters to specialize in townscapes and became one of the leading architectural painters of the Dutch Golden Age. He painted a number of still lifes in the beginning and at the end of his career.