| | 1041 - Michael IV, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010) |
| | 1198 - Averroes, Arab physician and philosopher (b. 1126) |
| | 1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451) |
| | 1603 - William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (b. 1544) |
| | 1618 - Giulio Caccini, Italian composer |
| | 1626 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581) |
| | 1665 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer |
| | 1736 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663) |
| | 1831 - Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770) |
| | 1850 - François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (b. 1787) |
| | 1865 - King Léopold I of Belgium (b. 1790) |
| | 1896 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (b. 1833) |
| | 1911 - Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist (b. 1817) |
| | 1917 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823) |
| | 1920 - Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturing pioneer (b. 1868) |
| | 1928 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, British architect, designer, and illustrator (b. 1868) |
| | 1936 - Bobby Abel, English test cricketer (b. 1857) |
| | 1936 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867) |
| | 1941 - Colin Kelly, American pilot (b. 1915) |
| | 1945 - Theodor Dannecker, SS officer (b. 1913) |
| | 1946 - Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887) |
| | 1946 - Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884) |
| | 1951 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (b. 1869) |
| | 1953 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872) |
| | 1967 - Otis Redding, American soul singer (b. 1941) |
| | 1968 - Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915) |
| | 1968 - Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886) |
| | 1968 - George Forrest, Northern Irish MP (b. 1921) |
| | 1969 - Carlos Marighella, Brazilian politician |
| | 1978 - Ed Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924) |
| | 1979 - Ann Dvorak, American film actress (b. 1912) |
| | 1982 - Freeman F. Gosden, American actor (b. 1899) |
| | 1986 - Susan Cabot, American actress (murdered) (b. 1927) |
| | 1987 - Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist (b. 1901) |
| | 1990 - Armand Hammer, American industrialist and art collector (b. 1898) |
| | 1991 - Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901) |
| | 1994 - Alexander Wilson, Canadian and Notre Dame athlete (b. 1905) |
| | 1994 - Keith Joseph, British politician (b. 1918) |
| | 1996 - Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932) |
| | 1999 - Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band) (b. 1942) |
| | 1999 - Franjo Tudman, President of Croatia (b. 1922) |
| | 2000 - Marie Windsor, American film actress (b. 1919) |
| | 2001 - Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911) |
| | 2005 - Eugene J. McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1916) |
| | 2005 - Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (b. 1940) |
| | 2006 - Augusto Pinochet, Chilean Dictator, President of Chile (b. 1915) |