Notable Deaths on September 27

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen spanning eight decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for six Olivier Awards. Smith was one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.

Sir Michael John Gambon was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career, he received three Olivier Awards, four BAFTA TV Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 1998, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.

Hugh Marston Hefner was an American magazine publisher and businessman. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with sexualized photographs of women, articles, and fiction, and lengthy interviews with politicians, musicians, artists, and writers. Hefner extended the Playboy brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmates shared his partying lifestyle, fueling media interest.

Clifford Lee Burton was an American musician who served as the bassist for the thrash metal band Metallica from 1982 until his death in 1986. He is renowned for his musicianship and influence.

James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his raid on Japan during World War II, known as the Doolittle Raid in his honor. He made early coast-to-coast flights and record-breaking speed flights, won many flying races, and helped develop and flight-test instrument flying. According to the FAA, he was the first pilot ever to perform a successful instrument flight.

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the 1927 film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol.

Robert Montgomery was an American actor, director, and producer. He began his acting career on the stage, but was soon hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Initially assigned roles in comedies, he soon proved he was able to handle dramatic ones, as well. He appeared in a wide variety of roles, such as the weak-willed prisoner Kent in The Big House (1930), the psychotic Danny in Night Must Fall (1937), and Joe, the boxer mistakenly sent to Heaven in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). The last two earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western Marxism, and post-Kantianism, he made contributions to the philosophy of history, metaphysics, historical materialism, criticism, and aesthetics, and had an oblique but overwhelmingly influential impact on the resurrection of the Kabbalah by virtue of his life-long epistolary relationship with Gershom Scholem.

Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English feminist, socialist, activist, artist and writer. The youngest daughter of two founding members of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), she with her mother and sister Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) at their home. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, Sylvia worked to organise working-class women in London's East End. This, together with her refusal in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with the government, caused her to break with the suffragette leadership of her mother and sister. Pankhurst welcomed the Russian Revolution and conferred in Moscow with Lenin. But as an advocate of workers' control, she rejected the Leninist party line and criticised the Bolshevik regime.

Slinger Francisco ORTT CM OBE, OCC, better known as The Mighty Sparrow, was a Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he was one of the best-known and most successful calypsonians. Francisco won Trinidad's Carnival Road March competition eight times, Calypso King/Monarch eight times, and twice won the Calypso King of Kings title.

James Anthony Traficant Jr. was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. A staunch economic populist known for his flamboyant personality, he represented the 17th congressional district, which centered on his hometown of Youngstown and included parts of three counties in northeast Ohio's Mahoning Valley.

Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson, also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian-born American Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson pioneered the use of broadcast mass media for wider dissemination of both religious services and appeals for donations, using radio to draw both audience and revenue with the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch.

Hassan Nasrallah was a Lebanese Shia cleric, a militant, and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian social reformer and writer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinent. He has been dubbed the "Father of the Indian Renaissance." He was given the title of Raja by Mughal emperor Akbar II.

Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.

Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the fifth president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen's takeover of Kabul. He was also the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1986 to 1992. After a failed attempt to flee to India, Najibullah remained in Kabul, and lived in the United Nations headquarters until his assassination during the Taliban's first capture of Kabul in 1996.

Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru, known professionally as Herbert Lom, was a Czech and British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegant elocution saw him cast as criminals or suave villains in his younger years, and professional men and nobles as he aged. Highly versatile, he was also known to legions of comedy fans as the beleaguered Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther film series.

Russell Marion Nelson Sr. was an American religious leader and surgeon who was the seventeenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2018 until his death in 2025. Before becoming church president, Nelson was a member of its Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for nearly thirty-four years and was the quorum president from 2015 to 2018. As church president, Nelson was recognized by the church as the prophet, seer, and revelator.

James "Jimmy" McCulloch was a Scottish musician best known for playing lead guitar and bass and singing backing and occasional lead vocals as a member of Paul McCartney's band Wings from 1974 to 1977. He was also a member of the Glasgow psychedelic band One in a Million, Thunderclap Newman, and Stone the Crows.

Martyn Jerel Buchwald, known as Marty Balin, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.

Braxton Bragg was an American military officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War. He later served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War, seeing action in the western theater. His most important role was as the commander of the Army of Mississippi, later renamed the Army of Tennessee, from June 1862 until December 1863.

Knyaz Felix Felixovich Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston was a Russian aristocrat from the House of Yusupov who is best known for participating in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin and for marrying Princess Irina Alexandrovna, a niece of Emperor Nicholas II.

Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American stage, film and television actor who rose from a supporting player and B-movie lead early in his career to featured player status after creating the role of Captain Queeg in Herman Wouk's play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in the mid-1950s. Nolan won a Best Actor Emmy Award reprising the part in 1955 TV play based on Wouk's tale of military justice. Additionally, he starred in the Mike Shayne detective films, and the groundbreaking sitcom Julia starring Diahann Carroll.

Ewell Doak Walker II was an American football player who was a halfback and kicker. He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, winning the Maxwell Award in 1947 and the Heisman Trophy in 1948. He then played professionally for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1950 to 1955. Walker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. The Doak Walker Award, awarded annually since 1990 to the top running back in college football, is named after him.

Lorenzo Ruiz, also called Lorenzo of Manila, was a Filipino Catholic layman and a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. A Chinese Filipino, he became his country's protomartyr after his execution in Japan by the Tokugawa shogunate during its persecution of Japanese Christians in the 17th century. Lorenzo Ruiz is the patron saint of, among others, the Philippines and the Filipino people.

Dame Gracie Fields was an English actress, singer, and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest-paid film star in the world in 1937. Fields was known affectionately as Our Gracie and the Lancashire Lass and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979.

Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball, and track and field. She won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships.

Hilda Doolittle was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the avant-garde Imagist group of poets with American expatriate poet and critic Ezra Pound. During this early period, her minimalist free verse poems depicting Classical motifs drew international attention. Eventually distancing herself from the Imagist movement, she experimented with a wider variety of forms, including fiction, memoir, and verse drama. Reflecting the trauma she experienced in London during the Blitz, H.D.'s poetic style from World War II until her death pivoted towards complex long poems on esoteric and pacifist themes.

John Edward Mack was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor of psychiatry. He served as the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from 1977 to 2004. In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book A Prince of Our Disorder on T. E. Lawrence.

Major David John Croft was an English television comedy screenwriter, television producer and director. He produced and wrote a string of BBC sitcoms with partners Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd, including Dad's Army, Are You Being Served?, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi! and 'Allo 'Allo!

Adela Juana Maria Patti, commonly known as Adelina Patti, was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914. Along with her near contemporaries Jenny Lind and Christina Nilsson, Patti remains one of the most famous sopranos in history, owing to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the unmatched quality of her bel canto technique.

Maximilian I, occasionally called the Great, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Duke of Bavaria from 1597. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War during which his title was elevated to that of prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire at the 1623 Diet of Regensburg.

Douglas Albert Munro was a United States Coast Guardsman who was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor for an act of "extraordinary heroism" during World War II. He is the only person to have received the medal for actions performed during service in the Coast Guard.

Gerald Raphael Finzi was an English composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata Dies natalis for solo voice and string orchestra, and his concertos for cello and clarinet.

Ellen Ann Willmott was an English horticulturist. She was an influential member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a recipient of the first Victoria Medal of Honour, awarded to British horticulturists living in the UK by the society, in 1897. Willmott was said to have cultivated more than 100,000 species and cultivars of plants and sponsored expeditions to discover new species. Inherited wealth allowed Willmott to buy large gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex. More than 60 plants have been named after her or her home, Warley Place.

John Thomas Lang, nicknamed "the Big Fella", was an Australian politician who served as the 23rd premier of New South Wales from 1925 to 1927 and from 1930 to 1932. He was the state leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1923 to 1939 and his Lang Labor faction was an influential force in both state and federal politics, breaking away from the official ALP on several occasions.

Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov was a Russian novelist best known for his novels The Same Old Story, Oblomov (1859), and The Precipice. He also served in many official capacities, including the position of censor.

Felice della Rovere, also known as Madonna Felice, was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II. One of the most powerful women of the Italian Renaissance, she was born in Rome around 1483 to Lucrezia Normanni and Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere. Felice was well educated, became accepted into close courtly circles of aristocratic families, and formed friendships with scholars and poets through her education and genuine interest in humanism. Through the influence of her father, including an arranged marriage to Gian Giordano Orsini, she wielded extraordinary wealth and influence both within and beyond the Roman Curia. In particular, she negotiated peace between Julius II and the Queen of France, and held the position of Orsini Signora for over a decade following the death of her husband in 1517. Felice further increased her power through a castle that she bought with money received from her father, the Castle at Palo, and through her involvement in the grain trade.

Pope Urban VII, born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was head of the Catholic Church, and leader of the Papal States from 15 to 27 September 1590. His papacy is the shortest recognized in history.

Emperor Go-Nara was the 105th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from June 9, 1526, until his death in 1557, during the Sengoku period of the Muromachi Bakufu. His personal name was Tomohito (知仁).

Karl (Carl) Christian Friedrich Krause was a German philosopher whose doctrines became known as Krausism. Krausism, when considered in its totality as a complete, stand-alone philosophical system, had only a small following in Germany, France, and Belgium, in contradistinction to certain other philosophical systems that had a much larger following in Europe at that time. However, Krausism became very popular and influential in Restoration Spain not as a complete, comprehensive philosophical system per se, but as a broad cultural movement. In Spain, Krausism was known as "Krausismo", and Krausists were known as "Krausistas". Outside of Spain, the Spanish Krausist cultural movement was referred to as Spanish Krausism.

Julius Wagner-Jauregg was an Austrian physician who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1927, and is the first psychiatrist to have done so. His Nobel award was "for his discovery of the therapeutic value of malaria inoculation in the treatment of dementia paralytica".

Balaji Sadasivan was a Singaporean politician and neurosurgeon. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Minister of State for the Ministry of the Environment (2001–2003), Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport (2001–2004); and subsequently Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Health (2004–2006), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006–2010) and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (2004–2008). He was also a Member of Parliament representing the Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency from 2001 to 2010.

Robert Arnauld d’Andilly was a French conseiller d’État, specialising in financial questions, in the court of Marie de' Medici. By the elegance of his language, he was among the major poets, writers and translators of 17th century French classicism. A fervent Catholic, he played an important role in the history of Jansenism and was one of the Solitaires of Port-Royal-des-Champs. He was also renowned for his part in the development of the pruning of fruit trees, to which he was devoted.

Wilfred Graham Burchett was an Australian journalist known for being the first western journalist to report from Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb, and for his reporting from "the other side" during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Pugu Huai'en, formally the Prince of Da'ning (大寧王), was a general of the Chinese Tang dynasty of Tiele ancestry. He was instrumental in the final suppression of the Anshi Rebellion, but rebelled against Emperor Daizong in fear that he was being accused of treason. After an initial defeat by other Tang generals, he led his own forces, allied with forces of the Uyghur Khaganate and Tibetan Empire, to attack the Tang capital Chang'an, but died on the way.

Dale & Grace was an American singing duo consisting of Dale Houston and Grace Broussard. They had two Billboard chart hits. The first was the No. 1 gold record "I'm Leaving It Up to You" in 1963. "Stop and Think It Over" reached No. 8 in 1964. The duo broke up in 1965, but they reunited onstage on several occasions. Their recordings are highly regarded examples of the Louisiana-Texas style known as "Swamp Pop".

Pope Innocent XII, born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 until his death in September 1700.

Frank Holmes Tyson was an England international cricketer of the 1950s, who also worked as a schoolmaster, journalist, cricket coach and cricket commentator after emigrating to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press, he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets at an average of 18.56 in 17 Test matches.

Syed Ahmed Alinki was an Indian politician, author and a member of the Congress Party. He was sworn in as the Governor of Manipur on 16 May 2015, but only served four months before dying in office on 27 September. During his short tenure as governor, the Manipur Tenants, Visitors and Migrant Workers Bill, 2015 was passed by the Manipur Assembly on 15 March.

Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen, German: Johann VII. der Mittlere Graf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was since 1606 Count of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau, and the progenitor of the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.

Thomas Joseph Byrnes was an Australian politician and barrister. He was Premier of Queensland from April 1898 until his death in September of the same year, having previously served in several ministerial positions in his parliamentary career. He was the first Roman Catholic Premier of Queensland and the first to die in office.

Abdelmajid Lakhal was a Tunisian theatre and film actor and theatre director. He was considered to be a professional and versatile interpreter. Recently, he performed classical pieces translated into Arabic, at the Municipal theatre of Tunis, which were well received. He was known on Arab Television for acting in many telefilms.

Silvio Frondizi was an Argentine intellectual and lawyer, brother of President Arturo Frondizi and of the philosopher Risieri Frondizi. He became active in leftist groups, and was assassinated in 1974 by the Triple A right-wing death squad that operated under the Isabel Perón government.

William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He founded New College, Oxford, and New College School in 1379, and founded Winchester College in 1382. He was also the clerk of works when much of Windsor Castle was built.

Remy de Gourmont was a French Symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling Rémy de Gourmont is incorrect, albeit common.

Zhang Leping was a Chinese comic artist born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. He played a key role in the development of modern manhua in China, and is mostly remembered for his creation of the manhua Sanmao.

Kallen Pokkudan (1937-2015), also known as Kandal Pokkudan, was an Indian environmental activist and writer from Kerala. He was known for his efforts for the protection and proliferation of the mangrove forests in Kerala, since 1989.

Peter Artedi or Petrus Arctaedius was a Swedish naturalist and collaborator of Carolus Linnaeus. He is sometimes known as the "father of ichthyology" for his pioneering work in classifying the fishes into groups.

Vincent de Paul, CM was a French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor and is best known for founding the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity.

Piotr Skarga was a Polish Jesuit, preacher, hagiographer, polemicist, and leading figure of the Counter-Reformation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Due to his oratorical gifts, he has been called "the Polish Bossuet".

Hugh Boulter was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death. He also served as the chaplain to George I from 1719.

Pietro Ingrao was an Italian politician and journalist who participated in the Italian resistance movement. For many years, he was a senior figure in the Italian Communist Party (PCI).

Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj, Princess of San Martino, , was the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X (Pamphili). She was perceived by her contemporaries as having influence regarding papal appointments.

Bonfilius was an Italian saint, monk and bishop.

Raymond VII was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death.

George Smalridge was Bishop of Bristol (1714–1719).

Laurence Eusden was an English poet who became Britain's youngest Poet Laureate in 1718.

Étienne Bézout was a French mathematician who was born in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France, and died in Avon, France.

Bernard Courtois, also spelled Barnard Courtois, was a French chemist credited with first isolating iodine, making early photography possible.

Auguste Michel-Lévy was a French geologist. He was born in Paris.

Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.

Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer of opera. He is best known for his opera Hansel and Gretel (1893).

Alan Gray was an English organist and composer.

Sir William Arthur Stanier was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

John Fraser MacPherson CM was a Canadian jazz musician from Saint Boniface, Manitoba.

Mary Lee Settle was an American writer.

Ronald Golias was a Brazilian comedian and actor.

Kenji Nagai was a Japanese photojournalist who took many assignments to conflict zones and dangerous areas around the world.

Henri Pachard, Jackson St. Louis and Crystal Blue were the pseudonyms of the American film director Ron Sullivan .

Ivan Vladimirovich Dykhovichny was a Russian film director and screenwriter.

Imre Makovecz was a Hungarian architect active in Europe from the late 1950s onward.

Edward Joseph Bertolatus, also known as Eddie Bert, was an American jazz trombonist.

Oscar Castro-Neves, was a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in bossa nova.

Gabrielle Aghion was a French fashion designer and founder of the French fashion house Chloé. She is said to have coined the phrase prêt-à-porter.

Walter Edgar Hergesheimer was a Canadian ice hockey forward.