Notable deaths in 2018
Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose 1972 movie "Last Tango in Paris" shocked audiences with a notorious sex scene that came back to haunt him in his later years, died at the age of 77. "Last Tango," which starred Marlon Brando, was banned in...more
Stan Lee, who dreamed up Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Panther and a cavalcade of other Marvel Comics superheroes that became mythic figures in pop culture with soaring success at the movie box office, died at the age of 95. As a writer and...more
James "Whitey" Bulger, who lived a double life as one of Boston's most notorious mobsters and as a secret FBI informant before going on the run for 16 years, was killed at the age of 89 at a federal prison in West Virginia. Bulger was convicted in...more
Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen, the man who persuaded school-friend Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard to start what became the world's biggest software company, died at the age of 65. Allen left Microsoft in 1983, before the company became a...more
French singer Charles Aznavour, who stole the hearts of millions with decades of haunting love songs, died aged 94. The singer, who sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries, began his career peddling his words and music to the Paris...more
Burt Reynolds, whose good looks and charm made him one of Hollywood's most popular actors as he starred in such films as "Deliverance," "The Longest Yard" and "Smokey and the Bandit" in the 1970s and 80s, died at age 82. At the peak of his career,...more
Former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who rescued the Italian and U.S. companies and built them into the world's seventh-largest carmaker, died at the age of 66. Marchionne rescued Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy after taking the wheel of the...more
Trinidad-born British author V.S. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2001, died aged 85. Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, who began writing in the 1950s, won numerous coveted literary awards during his career during which he wrote...more
U.S. Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran for president in 2008 as a maverick Republican and became a prominent critic of President Donald Trump, died at the age of 81. Alternatively affable and cantankerous, McCain had...more
U.S. playwright Neil Simon, who became one of Broadway's most prolific and popular playwrights as he combined humor, drama and introspection in works such as "The Odd Couple," "The Goodbye Girl" and "Lost in Yonkers," died at the age of 91. Simon...more
Aretha Franklin, the preacher's daughter whose powerful voice made her the long-reigning "Queen of Soul" with such hit songs as "Respect" and "Chain of Fools," died at the age of 76. Franklin's father was a Baptist preacher in Detroit, and the gospel...more
Former U.N. Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan died at the age of 80, after decades of championing efforts to try to end protracted conflicts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. After rising through the ranks of the United...more
Chef Joel Robuchon, who at one point had earned more than 30 Michelin stars across nearly two dozen restaurants on three continents, died at the age of 73. Named the "chef of the century" by the Gault et Millau cooking guide in 1990, Robuchon was...more
Ed King, a former lead guitarist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd who co-wrote one of the group's best known hits, "Sweet Home Alabama," died at age 68. King joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1972 not long after the band formed, and with two other...more
Joe Jackson, the patriarch of an American musical dynasty who started his son Michael and his Jackson 5 brothers on the road to stardom but also verbally and physically abused them, died at the age of 89. Jackson, who lived in Las Vegas and had been...more
U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, host of CNN's food-and-travel-focused "Parts Unknown" television series, killed himself in a hotel room near Strasbourg, France, where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his program. He was 61....more
Kate Spade, the designer who built a fashion empire on the popularity of her signature handbags before selling the brand, was found dead at the age of 55. Born Katherine Noel Brosnahan in Kansas City, Missouri, Spade was a former accessories editor...more
Tom Wolfe, an early practitioner of "new journalism" who captured the mood and culture of America across five decades with books including "The Bonfire of the Vanities," "The Right Stuff," and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," died at the age of 88....more
Actress Margot Kidder, best known for playing Lois Lane in the "Superman" films in the 1970s and 1980s, died at the age of 69. Canadian-born Kidder appeared in more than 70 movies and TV shows, including "The Great Waldo Pepper," "The Amityville...more
Verne Troyer, the diminutive actor who starred in the Austin Powers movies' as "Mini Me," died at the age of 49. Troyer, who was 2 feet 8 inches (81 cm) tall, is best known for Austin Powers movies "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "Austin Power in...more
Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii, one of the biggest stars of electronic dance music (EDM) in Europe, died at the age of 28. Avicii, whose real name is Tim Bergling, was known for international hits like "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother". He...more
Former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush, the only woman to see her husband and son both sworn in as president, died at the age of 92. Bush was the wife of the 41st president, George H.W. Bush, and mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush. Dubbed "The Silver...more
Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain the origins of the universe, the mysteries of black holes and the nature of time itself, died aged 76. Hawking's formidable mind probed the very limits of human understanding both in the vastness of space and in...more
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who emerged as a combative anti-apartheid campaigner during her husband Nelson Mandela's decades in jail but whose reputation was later tarnished by allegations of violence, died at the age of 81. Madikizela-Mandela...more
U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years in the pulpit, died at the age of 99. According to his ministry, he preached...more
Actress Sridevi, arguably Bollywood's first female superstar, died at the age of 54. Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, she started acting at age four, appearing in several Tamil films in the 60's and 70's,...more
A powerful orator from humble beginnings, Morgan Tsvangirai was arguably Zimbabwe's most popular politician and came within a whisker of unseating Robert Mugabe only to be outmaneuvered and ultimately outlived by his long-time nemesis. At the peak of...more
The eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on aged 68 after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported. The nuclear scientist was also known as "Fidelito",...more
Dolores O'Riordan, the lead singer of Irish rock group The Cranberries, died at the age of 46. O'Riordan's distinctive Irish lilt and yodel helped fuel the Cranberries' rapid rise in the early 1990s with global hits "Linger", "Dreams" and "Zombie."...more
French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, an aristocrat who founded the house of Givenchy in the 1950s, becoming famous for dressing the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Grace Kelly, died at the age of 91. A commanding presence in fashion...more
Mark Salling, an actor who played a supporting role in the TV show "Glee," died at age 35, weeks before his March 2018 sentencing on child pornography charges. Salling pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography, admitting he...more
Denmark's Prince Henrik died at age 83, taking to the grave his resentment at playing second fiddle to his wife, Queen Margrethe. Resenting never being named king, in 2016, he renounced the title of prince consort and spent much of his time at a...more
Singer Yvonne Staples (L, seen here with her sister Mavis, R) died at the age of 80. She was part of gospel and soul group The Staple Singers, known as "God's greatest hitmakers." The group was formed in 1948 with Pops on guitar and siblings Mavis,...more
Roger Bannister, who died aged 88, will live forever in the annals of athletics history as the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. The record-breaking run was on the Oxford University track during a local athletics meeting with only a few...more
Democratic U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter, a Kentucky blacksmith's daughter who became a leading progressive voice in Congress from New York, died at age 88. Born in Kentucky, Slaughter was first elected to Congress in 1986. She served as chair...more
Actor John Mahoney, best known for his role as Martin Crane, the cranky father of two psychiatrists on television series "Frasier," died at age 77. The British-born actor trained at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago as he was nearing age 40....more
Rusty Staub, a beloved slugger dubbed "Le Grand Orange" by fans of the Montreal Expos and later embraced as a team leader of the New York Mets, died at age 73 after a 23-year Major League Baseball career and a retirement devoted to charity. Staub was...more
Actor Reg E. Cathey died at the age of 59. He appeared on television shows such as "The Wire," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and played Freddy on "House of Cards," a role for which he won a 2015 Emmy for outstanding guest actor. REUTERS/Danny...more
Canadian mining magnate Peter Munk, who built Barrick Gold Corp from a single mine into the world's largest producer of gold, died at the age of 90. Munk forged Barrick to dominate the global gold mining industry via a string of canny acquisitions...more
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