Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor

Great Britain

1915 – 2011 (96 years old)

Renowned British travel writer and World War II hero who walked across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933 and abducted German General Kreipe in Nazi-occupied Crete.

Dumbleton, United Kingdom

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M. F. Husain

मक़बूल फ़िदा हुसेन

India

1915 – 2011 (95 years old)

Iconic Indian modernist painter dubbed the 'Picasso of India', co-founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, celebrated for his dynamic galloping horses and monumental mythological epics.

Woking (Surrey), United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

14

Jorge Semprún

Jorge Semprún Maura

Spain

1923 – 2011 (87 years old)

Spanish novelist, French Resistance fighter, and Buchenwald concentration camp survivor who wrote screenplays for Costa-Gavras (Z) and served as Spain's Minister of Culture.

Garentreville, France

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Claudio Bravo

Claudio Nelson Bravo Camus

Chile

1936 – 2011 (74 years old)

Renowned Chilean hyperrealist painter influenced by Spanish Golden Age masters like Zurbarán, celebrated for luminous still lifes, wrapped packages, and his palatial studio in Morocco.

Taroudant, Morocco

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Dimi Mint Abba

ديمي منت آبا (لولا منت سداتي)

Mauritania

1958 – 2011 (52 years old)

Immense Mauritanian singer and ardin (harp) player hailed as the 'Diva of the Desert', who won the 1976 Pan-Arab Youth Music Prize in Tunis and brought Saharan music to world festivals.

Nouakchott, Mauritania

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James Arness

James King Aurness

United States

1923 – 2011 (88 years old)

Towering 6-foot-7 American actor and decorated World War II veteran who starred as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke for twenty seasons, one of television's longest-running roles.

Glendale, United States

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Humanitarian & Peace

39

Albertina Sisulu

Nontsikelelo Albertina Thethiwe

South Africa

1918 – 2011 (92 years old)

Revered as 'Ma Sisulu' and 'Mother of the Nation', prominent anti-apartheid leader, nurse, and co-president of the United Democratic Front.

Johannesburg, South Africa

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Clarice Taylor

United States

1917 – 2011 (93 years old)

Pioneering African American stage and television actress, founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company, beloved as grandmother Anna Huxtable on The Cosby Show and Harriet on Sesame Street.

Englewood, United States

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Music

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Alys Robi

Alice Robitaille

Canada

1923 – 2011 (88 years old)

Pioneering Quebec vocal star of the 1940s who popularized Latin-American music with smash hits like Bésame Mucho and Tico-Tico, and courageously rebuilt her career after a forced lobotomy in an asylum.

Quebec City, Canada

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Resistance & Human Rights

Jeff Conaway

Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway

United States

1950 – 2011 (60 years old)

Charismatic American actor remembered as Kenickie in the blockbuster film musical Grease, struggling actor Bobby Wheeler on Taxi, and Security Chief Zack Allan on Babylon 5.

Los Angeles, United States

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Gil Scott-Heron

United States

1949 – 2011 (62 years old)

Influential American spoken-word poet, soul musician, and activist hailed as the 'Godfather of Rap', famous for his scathing social satire The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

New York City, United States

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Leonora Carrington

Mary Leonora Carrington

Great Britain

1917 – 2011 (94 years old)

British-born Mexican Surrealist painter, sculptor, and novelist celebrated for her enchanting, alchemical dreamscapes steeped in Celtic mythology, occult lore, and female autonomy.

Mexico City, Mexico

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Edward Hardwicke

Edward Cedric Hardwicke

Great Britain

1932 – 2011 (78 years old)

Distinguished English stage and screen actor celebrated worldwide as the definitive, intelligent Dr. John Watson opposite Jeremy Brett in Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series.

Chichester, United Kingdom

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Sports & Athletics

Ron Springs

Ronald Jerome Springs

United States

1956 – 2011 (54 years old)

Dynamic Dallas Cowboys running back who played eight NFL seasons and whose extraordinary friendship with teammate Everson Walls inspired millions when Walls donated a kidney to save him.

Dallas, United States

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Snooky Young

Eugene Edward Young

United States

1919 – 2011 (92 years old)

Master American big band lead trumpeter celebrated for his powerful tone, impeccable plunger-mute technique, and decades of trumpet leadership with Count Basie and The Tonight Show Band.

Corona del Mar, United States

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Politics

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Wadal Abdelkader Kamougué

Gabon

1939-05-20 – 2011-05-09 (71 years old)

Prominent general, leader of southern Chad, and Vice-President in the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) who served as President of the National Assembly from 1997 to 2002.

Sarh, Moyen-Chari, Chad

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Sports & Athletics

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