# Who famously died while you were in utero? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2016, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158 "2016-04-04T09:41:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/61 "2016-04-05T20:55:15Z")
February, 1962 1961 July 2 Writer Ernest Hemingway shoots himself to death in Ketchum, Idaho, USA. July 17 Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers’ hall of fame baseball player, dies at age 75. September 21 Earle Dickson, inventor (band-aid), dies at age 68. 1962 January 26 Charles “Lucky” Luciano, New York City, New York Mafia gangster, dies at age 65. January 30 Two members of ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/62 "2016-04-05T21:45:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My 6-months-pregnant mother was at the doctor’s office and he was listening to my heartbeat when the nurse came in and told them that JFK had been shot. > > She saw Lee Harvey Oswald shot on live television on the first day of her maternity leave (my dad made her stop working at that point because he believed, and still does, that women should not work during late pregnancy). > > ETA: On a lighter note, I was due on February 29, 1964. I solved that problem by not being born on that day. You’re only a month older than me. JFK is the only one I know without looking. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/63 "2016-04-06T14:32:49Z")
Apparently, the average is 268 days from conception to birth. So, statistically speaking, Boris Karloff was already dead when I was concieved. Here’s a sample of people who died while my mother was pregnatnt with me: Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. Conrad Hilton Jr, hotel heir, socialite, and first husband of Elizabeth Taylor. (I get two different dates for his death, March 31 or Feb 6, so he may bave died before I was concieved.) Do Hoak, noted third-baseman. Walter Hagen, pro golfer. Dwight Eisenhower, former US President and WWII general. Frank Lawton, Engligh actor and husband of Evelyn Lane. Gabby Hayes, actor of film, television, and radio. Jeffrey Hunter, who played the Captain in the original pilot for Star Trek. Judy Garland, Leo Gotcey, actor and member of the Bowery Boys. Rocky Marciano, former heavyweight chanmpion of the world. Jack Kerouac, author of On The Road Sharon Tate, actress unfortunately best known for having been killed by followers of Charles Manson. Mob Boss Vito Genovese died on the day on which I was most likely concieved. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/64 "2016-04-06T15:31:11Z")
Kitty Genovese ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/65 "2016-04-06T19:37:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Born Mid June 1967, so: > > Walt Disney > Jack Ruby > Donald Campbell > Robert Van De Graaff > Gus Grissom > Robert Oppenheimer > Alice B. Toklas > Edward Hopper > Claude Rains > Dorothy Parker > Spencer Tracy Same here. I would add to Grissom - Edward White and Roger Chafee - the Apollo 1 crew that all died in a cockpit fire. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/66 "2016-04-06T20:54:57Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Those who shuffled off this mortal coil whilst I was baking in the maternal oven: > > Albert Einstein > James Dean > Cy Young > Charlie “Bird” Parker > **James Mann** > Dale Carnegie > James Agee Do you mean [Thomas Mann?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann) The date of his death lines up with the others on your list. > [@Johanna](#): > > Wolfgang Pauli > Cecil B. DeMille > “the music” > Lou Costello > Lester Young > Frank Lloyd Wright > John Foster Dulles > Ethel Barrymore > George Grosz > Billie Holiday > Blind Willie McTell > Wanda Landowska Baseball great Tris Speaker died right around the time I was conceived, predeceasing Pauli by a week. Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů passed away two days before I was born. Looks like you beat me into the world by seven days or so. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/67 "2016-04-07T02:58:08Z")
Jack Ruby James Bedford (assuming he wasn’t correct) Gus Grissom Edward White Roger Chaffee J. Robert Oppenheimer Alice B. Toklas ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/68 "2016-04-07T03:04:28Z")
Louis Armstrong, Jim Morrison and Duane Allman. I kill musicians. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/69 "2016-04-07T03:59:44Z")
A couple of people have “scored” Winston Churchill. I – born August 1948 – can claim a guy who was very much not WSC’s favourite person: Mohandas Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/70 "2016-04-07T04:23:52Z")
Edgar Rice Burroughs Kurt Weill Wichasa Wakhan Jan Smuts ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/71 "2016-04-07T05:32:14Z")
The ones I found interesting… Che Guevara Alice B. Toklas Jayne Mansfield René Magritte Otis Redding Langston Hughes Jack Ruby Carson McCullers Brian Epstein Spencer Tracy Carl Sandburg Dorothy Parker Woody Guthrie ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/72 "2016-04-07T06:05:51Z")
I missed one of my favorite actors, Errol Flynn, by a few months. He actually died in Vancouver so I ce pretty close! ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/73 "2016-04-07T19:01:56Z")
Victor Fleming Wallace Beery Ropert L Ripley (Believe It or Not!) Margaret Mitchell Richard Strauss ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/74 "2016-04-11T13:21:25Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > Kitty Genovese And I’ll bet you just laid there and did nothing! The only one I knew without looking it up is Ike Eisenhower. The one with the most noteworthy manner of death is probably Mary Jo Kopechne. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/75 "2016-04-11T14:13:11Z")
Made May 19, 1967 (only time my parents saw each other in a three-months period, unless y’all wanna call me a bastard and that’s unlikely unless biodad had a lot in common with dad), born March 13, 1968. The gynecologist couldn’t count. So, hi **faithfool**! Claude Rains Spencer Tracy (I’m feeling a bit graverobber right now, he’s been one of my favorite actors for decades and I never knew this) Jayne Mansfield Vivien Leigh President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco of Brazil Brian Epstein Ernesto Guevara Emperor Puyi of China Otis Redding and a lot of people in Vietnam and other, less famous wars Not requested but one I know by heart: [born in that period](http://www.casareal.es/EN/FamiliaReal/ReyFelipe/Paginas/biografia.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/76 "2016-04-12T03:32:41Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Cole Porter > Sam Cooke > Winston Churchill > Nat King Cole > Malcom X > Trigger (Roy Roger’s horse) My list is similar to Omar’s, except that I am older than Trigger’s corpse(?). To justify my post I will add Herbert Hoover and also the pair Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, of “In Cold Blood” infamy. By the way, the Waldorf Towers (residential wing of the Waldorf-Astoria) lost three famous tenants in 1964: Douglas MacArthur (too early for my list), Hoover and Cole Porter. I don’t know what any of this proves, except that I must not be the reincarnation of any of them, not even allowing for the pre-ensoulment first forty days of gestation. Also, that none of their deaths affected my mother enough to miscarry. She probably didn’t know Sam Cooke, though. ---
**Author:** ![dizzee\_dee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dizzee\_dee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dizzee_dee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/77 "2016-04-12T14:37:51Z")
JFK ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/78 "2016-04-12T23:47:24Z")
Mine isn’t that exciting… Kurt Godel John Cazale Aldo Moro (assassinated Italian Prime Minister, and my parents were in Italy at the time) Robert Menzies (Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister) Bob Crane (on my birthday) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/79 "2016-04-13T00:50:49Z")
Close to\*\* stillownedbysetters\*\*. I’ve got: Einstein, Carmen Miranda, Thomas Mann, James Dean, and Dale Carnegie. Not a very good band, I’m guessing. Also, 200 people killed by Hurricane Diane and hundreds of people killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Albert Einstein – something I’ve been aware of for a long time. > > Although if I’m any sort of reincarnation of him, I’m obviously an extremely low-grade version. Or he split himself up between a bunch of us. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158/80 "2016-04-13T23:25:18Z")
Let’s see I was born tail end of 1986, in December. People who died anywhere from March to December 1986. This excludes the Challenger crew as that happened in January, 11 months before I was born. Desi Arnaz- **I Love Lucy** Lung cancer Gia Carangi-Fashion model, AIDS, among first high profile women to die from the disease Georgia O’Keeffe-Painter, died aged 98 Wallis Simpson-Duchess of Windsor, woman who King Edward abdicated the throne in 1937 Perry Ellis-Fashion designer, AIDS Cary Grant-Actor, cerebral hemorrhage Benny Goodman-Jazz musician, heart attack Felix Mitchell-convicted drug dealer, stabbed to death in prison Tony Spilotro-organized mobster, murdered Roy Cohn-Lawyer, prosecution team for Rosenbergs, McCarty protégé, AIDS [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-famously-died-while-you-were-in-utero/751158.md?page=5)