# What highly prominent individuals died the same day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375 "2007-08-04T01:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/1 "2007-08-04T01:16:38Z")
Preferably, they have some other connection to each other (nationality, discipline, occupation, etc.). This is inspired by the recent deaths of Antonioni and Bergman. I’m not talking about mid-level celebrities, but highly visible, household names. Ones I have so far: John Adams & Thomas Jefferson C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley (plus JFK) Yul Brynner & Orson Welles Joseph Stalin & Sergei Prokofiev Sammy Davis Jr. & Jim Henson I’m sure there are a lot more, but I was hoping to limit things to really big names. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/2 "2007-08-04T01:32:03Z")
Well, if you want to research it, maybe this will help: > **[Lists of deaths by year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2007)** > > This is a list of deaths of notable people, organised by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in November 2023) and then linked here. You could start there and work backward! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/3 "2007-08-04T01:55:23Z")
Cervantes and Shakespeare died on the same date but 10 days apart. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/4 "2007-08-04T02:16:50Z")
Princess Diana and Mother Tressea Jefferson? and Adams? ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/5 "2007-08-04T02:29:59Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] Cervantes and Shakespeare died on the same date but 10 days apart. [/QUOTE] 😕 Am I being whooshed? Is this some kind of barroom bet? How does this work? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/6 "2007-08-04T02:36:03Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] 😕 Am I being whooshed? Is this some kind of barroom bet? How does this work? [/QUOTE] Spain and England adopted the Gregorian calendar in different years. When they made the change they had to adjust by 10 days (11 by the time England did it) to get back on track with solar time. In the 17th century, there was effectively a 240-hour time-zone difference between Spain (or France, for that matter) and England. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/7 "2007-08-04T02:44:36Z")
Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997. Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/8 "2007-08-04T03:36:20Z")
Mother Theresa and conductor Sir Georg Solti. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/9 "2007-08-04T03:57:45Z")
Director **Cecil B. DeMille** , and actor **Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer** , January 21, 1959. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/10 "2007-08-04T04:09:54Z")
\*\*Mahatma Gandhi \*\* and **Orville Wright** , January 30, 1948 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/11 "2007-08-04T04:17:13Z")
A few I was able to come up with: Actress Mercedes McCambridge and crazy woman Marge Schott - March 2, 2004 Chicken farmer Frank Perdue and political football Terri Schiavo - March 31, 2005 Nazi General Franz Halder and baseball player Gil Hodges - April 2, 1972 Author Barbara Cartland and actor Sir John Gielgud - May 21, 2000 Documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty and Vichy collaborator Henri Petain - July 23, 1951 Musician Duane Allman and Nobel laureate Arne Tiselius - October 29, 1971 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/12 "2007-08-04T04:21:11Z")
Actor \*\*Dennis Weaver \*\* and actor **Don Knotts** , February 24, 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/13 "2007-08-04T04:29:52Z")
Weiner magnate **Oscar Mayer** and penicillin discoverer **Alexander Fleming** , March 11, 1955. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/14 "2007-08-04T04:37:59Z")
Actor **Dudley Moore** , actor/comic **Milton Berle** , and writer/director **Billy Wilder** , all three on March 27, 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/15 "2007-08-04T04:46:50Z")
Benny Hill & Frankie Howerd died 19th April 1992 ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/16 "2007-08-04T04:59:26Z")
Raymond Massey & David Niven both died on 29 July, 1983. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/17 "2007-08-04T11:53:50Z")
Doug Sahm died on my birthday - does that count? ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/18 "2007-08-04T19:27:04Z")
Buddy Holly, Richie Valenz and The Big Bopper. Or are we excluding accidents like that? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/19 "2007-08-04T19:32:34Z")
Internet Movie Database, [On This Day in History](http://us.imdb.com/OnThisDay). The deaths are on the lower half of the page. Change the date with the drop-down menus on the left side of the page. Have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375/20 "2007-08-04T22:28:08Z")
As you noted, John F. Kennedy and C.S. Lewis both died on Nov. 22, 1963. Lewis’s death didn’t receive nearly the attention it would have otherwise. Hadn’t known about Aldous Huxley. Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, and Joseph Goebbels, his wife and family, all died on the same day in the Fuhrerbunker, April 30, 1945. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-highly-prominent-individuals-died-the-same-day/414375.md?page=2)