In 2024, the dissident Alexeï Navalny, the singer Liam Payne, the actress Maggie Smith, the writer Paul Auster and the producer and musician Quincy Jones disappeared.
FEBRUARY
– 3: Victor-Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Naples, 86 years old, son of the last king of Italy Umberto II
– 4: Hage GEINGOB, 82 years old, Prime Minister of Namibia (1990-2002 then from 2012-2015) then president (2015-2024), ardent opponent of apartheid
– 5: Jean MALAURIE, 101 years old, French ethnologist and tireless defender of the Great North
– 9: Robert BADINTER, 95 years old, lawyer and former Minister of Justice, father of the abolition of the death penalty in France
– 16: Alexeï NAVALNY, 47 years old, main opponent of Vladimir Putin, died in prison in obscure circumstances
MARS
– 1: Iris APFEL, 102 years old, “geriatric starlet” and eccentric icon of American fashion
– 1: Akira TORIYAMA, 68 years old, Japanese designer of the globally successful mangas “Dr Slump” and “Dragon Ball”
– 23: Maurizio POLLINI, 82 years old, Italian virtuoso pianist of Chopin and Beethoven, one of the great pianists of our time according to La Scala
AVRIL
– 2: Maryse CONDE, 90 years old, French writer of Guadeloupean origin, great voice of French-speaking literature
– 8: Peter HIGGS, 94, British physicist, Nobel Prize winner in 2013 for his work on the Higgs boson, an elementary particle, keystone of the fundamental structure of matter
– 10: OJ SIMPSON, 76, former American football star, acquitted in 1995 of the murder of his ex-wife and a friend of hers during a highly publicized trial, then, in 1997, convicted in civil court for the death of these two people. Arrested in 2007 for armed robbery and kidnapping, he is serving 9 years in prison.
– 30: Paul AUSTER, 77 years old, American novelist, screenwriter and director, whose works, “The New York Trilogy” in the lead, have enjoyed enormous success, particularly in Europe
MAY
– 9: Roger CORMAN, 98 years old, figure of American independent cinema and king of the B series
– 13: Alice MUNRO, 92 years old, Canadian novelist, Nobel Prize 2013
JUNE
– 5: Akira ENDO, 90 years old, Japanese microbiologist, discoverer of statins who revolutionized the treatment of cardiovascular diseases
– 11: Françoise HARDY, 80 years old, French singer and one of the last icons of the sixties
– 18: Anouk AIMEE, 92 years old, actress, heroine of the legendary film “A Man and a Woman”
– 20: Donald SUTHERLAND, 88, memorable Canadian actor in Fellini’s “Casanova” and President Snow in “The Hunger Games”
JULY
– 1: Ismaïl KADARE, 88 years old, Albanian writer author of a monumental work under the communist tyranny of Enver Hoxha
– 13: Shannen DOHERTY, 53 years old, leading American actress in the series “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Charmed”
– 27: Edna O’BRIEN, 93, internationally renowned Irish writer
– 31: Ismaïl HANIYEH, 62, political leader of Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist and nationalist movement, killed in an attack in Tehran attributed to Israel
AUGUST
– 14: Gena ROWLANDS, 94 years old, figure of American independent cinema, muse and wife of John Cassavetes
– 18: Alain DELON, 88 years old, hero of “Cheetah” and “Samouraï”, icon of French cinema around the world
– 19: Michel GUERARD, 91 years old, three-star French chef, one of the leaders of nouvelle cuisine
SEPTEMBER
– 5: Rebecca CHEPTEGEI, 33 years old, Ugandan athlete set on fire by her partner a few weeks after the Paris Olympics marathon
– 11: Alberto FUJIMORI, 86 years old, president of Peru (1990-2000) sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity
– 27: Maggie SMITH, 89 years old, British actress, known worldwide for her roles in the series “Downton Abbey” and the “Harry Potter” saga
– 27: Hassan NASRALLAH, 64, leader of Hezbollah, Shiite Islamic political party, killed by an Israeli strike in Lebanon
– 28: Kris KRISTOFFERSON, 88, American actor and “Country” music star
OCTOBER
– 9: Ratan TATA, 86 years old, Indian industrialist at the head of the Tata group
– 16: Liam PAYNE, 31, former singer of the boy band “One Direction”, fell from the 3rd floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires
– 16: Yahya SINOUAR, 61, political leader of Hamas, killed by the Israeli army which considered him the architect of the attack of October 7, 2023
– 20: Fethullah GULEN, 83 years old, Turkish imam, inspiration for the “Hizmet” network, sworn enemy of President Erdogan
NOVEMBER
– 3: Quincy JONES, 91 years old, legend of American music, trumpeter, composer and producer notably of Michael Jackson
– 24: Breyten BREYTENBACH, 85 years old, considered one of the best writers in the Afrikaans language, white champion of the fight against apartheid, a fight which earned him seven years of imprisonment
– 28: Prince JOHNSON, 72 years old, figure in the bloody civil war in Liberia renowned for his cruelty, responsible for the death of President Samuel Doe
– 29: Silvia PINAL, 93 years old, Mexican actress, muse of Luis Bunuel and figure of the golden age of Mexican cinema from the 40s to the 60s
DECEMBER
– 12: Martial SOLAL, 97 years old, French jazz pianist and king of improvisation with international fame
– 17: Marisa PAREDES, 78 years old, Spanish theater and cinema actress who played six times for Pedro Almodovar
– 27: Olivia HUSSEY, 73, British actress, winner of a Golden Globe for her role as a teenage Juliet in the film “Romeo and Juliet” by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968
