List of pneumonia deaths explained

In alphabetical order, this is a list of famous people who died of pneumonia.

Name	Profession	Date of Death	Notes
Charles X Gustav	King of Sweden	1660-02-13	Died at age 37 in Gothenburg.
Tamerlan Aguzarov	Russian governor of North Ossetia-Alania	2016-06-19	Died at age 52 in Moscow.
George Allen	Football coach	1990-12-31	Died at age 72. His death may have been indirectly caused by a Gatorade shower following a season-ending victory.
Arthur Anderson	Actor/Voice Actor/Film/Radio/Television	2016-04-13	Died at age 93 in Manhattan, New York. He was the voice of Eustace Bagg on Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Melanie Appleby	Singer/Dancer/Model	1990-01-18	Died at age 23. One-half of the famous British sister duo Mel and Kim. Appleby was diagnosed with spinal cancer in 1987 and died from pneumonia due to her immune system being weakened by chemotherapy treatments. Interred at St Marylebone Cemetery in East Finchley, London.
Sudirman Haji Arshad	Famous Malaysian singer, lawyer, actor and businessman	1992-02-22	Died at 37 at his sister's house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fred Astaire (born Frederic Austerlitz)	Actor/Singer/Dancer	1987-06-22	Died at age 88 in Los Angeles, California.
Jim Backus	Actor	1989-07-03	Played millionaire Thurston Howell, III on the TV show Gilligan's Island; died at St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica CA.
James Matthew Barrie	Scottish novelist and dramatist, author of "Peter Pan"	1937-06-19	Buried at Kirriemuir next to his parents and two of his siblings.
Jyoti Basu	Politician, CPIM, West Bengal	2010-01-17	Died at age 96 in Kolkata, India.
Barney Battles, Sr.	Scottish footballer	1905-02-17	Died at the age of 30.^[1]
Jean-Dominique Bauby	French journalist and author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE	1997-03-09	Died at age 45. On December 8, 1995 at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless; he could only blink his left eyelid. This rare condition is called locked-in syndrome, a condition wherein the mental facilities remain intact but most of the body is paralyzed. Despite his condition, he wrote the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking when the correct letter was reached by a person slowly reciting the alphabet over and over again. Bauby had to compose and edit the book entirely in his head, and convey it one letter at a time. The book was published in France on March 7, 1997.
Jeremy Beadle	British television presenter and prankster	2008-01-30	Died at the age of 59, leaving behind his partner Sue and two daughters. He was best known for his hidden camera show "Beadle's About", and "You've Been Framed".
Joséphine de Beauharnais	Empress of the French	1814-05-29	Died at age 50 at her home, Château de Malmaison
Bix Beiderbecke	American musician	1931-08-06	Died at age 28 in New York City of untreated pneumonia during a period of heavy drinking. One of the most important figures in early jazz, he played cornet with notables like Paul Whiteman and Jean Goldkette.
James Best	American actor, musician and college professor	2015-04-06	Died at the age of 88 in Hickory, North Carolina.
Sir Donald Bradman	One of the best cricketers of all time.	2001-02-25	Died at the age of 92
Christian Brando	Actor, Son of Marlon Brando	2008-01-26	Died at the age of 49. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of the boyfriend of his half-sister Cheyenne.
Charles Bronson (born Charles Buchinski)	Actor	2003-08-30	Died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
James Brown	Singer	2006-12-25	"The Godfather of Soul", died at age 73 in Atlanta, Georgia, hospitalized the previous day with "severe pneumonia".
Trevor Byfield	Actor	2017-10-11	Died at age 73.
Calamity Jane (born Martha Jane Canary-Burke)	Sharpshooter, Wild West Show Entertainer	1903-08-01	In accord with Jane's dying wishes, she was buried next to Wild Bill Hickok.
Chris Candido	Professional Wrestler	2005-05-28	Died while in surgery to drain his lungs.
Katrin Cartlidge	Actress, (Career Girls)	2002-09-07	Cartlidge died at age 41, due to complications from pneumonia and septicaemia, stemming from a pheochromocytoma.
Herbert Chapman	Association football player and manager	1934-01-06	Chapman died aged 55 after attending a football match in the rain while nursing a cold.
Roscoe Conkling	Politician	1888-04-18	Died at age 58. He contracted pneumonia attempting to travel during the Great Blizzard of 1888 and died several weeks later.
Allen Collins	Musician	1990-01-23	Died at age 37. Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar player. Was paralyzed in 1986
Dick Curtis	Actor	1952-01-02	Died at age 49. Character actor best known for his villainous roles in Three Stooges films such as Crash Goes the Hash and Yes, We Have No Bonanza.
Doris Day	Actress	2019-05-13	Died at the age of 97.
Nicole DeHuff	Actress	2005-02-16	Died at age 30. DeHuff had visited a hospital twice shortly before her death complaining of chest pain and flu-like symptoms, but was sent home both times. She collapsed in her Hollywood Hills home gasping for breath and arrived at the third hospital unconscious. She died of sepsis caused by viral pneumonia and a staph infection.
Guillaume Depardieu	French Actor	2008-10-13	Died at age 37 from pneumonia contracted on set in Romania.
René Descartes	French philosopher, mathematician and scientist	1650-02-11	Died from pneumonia contracted in Stockholm, where Descartes was required to teach Queen Christina of Sweden philosophy in the early hours of the morning during the harsh winter.
Chi Chi DeVayne (born Zavion Michael Davenport)	American drag queen, dancer, and reality television personality	2020-08-20	Died at age 34 following a bout of pneumonia he contracted after a hospital stay for scleroderma-related kidney failure.
Betty Driver	Actress	2011-10-15	Died at age 91.
Bernard Edwards	Musician	1996-04-18	Bassist for the disco group Chic and producer for songs by Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Sister Sledge died in Tokyo at age 43.
Blake Edwards	Director	2010-12-15	Producer of Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies.
R. Lee Ermey	Actor/voice actor/drill instructor/United States Marine	2018-04-15	Died at age 74 in Santa Monica, California.
Kate Belinda Finn	Chess player	1932-03-08	Died of pneumonia at the age 67.
Thomas Fletcher	Arkansas politician	1880-02-25	Died at age 62 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Bruce Forsyth	Presenter, actor, comedian, singer, dancer, and screenwriter	2017-08-18	Died at age 89 in Surrey, England.
John Forsythe	actor	2010-04-01	Died at age 92
Donald Paige Frary	Professor, Author	1919-04-08	Died at age 25 while attending the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.
Janice Freeman	Vocalist	---	Died at age 32 from pneumonia complications and a blood clot.
Debbie Friedman	Jewish liturgical singer/songwriter	2011-01-09	Died at age 59 in Mission Viejo, California.
Arthur Gamgee	Physiologist	1909-05-29	Born on 11 October 1841. Died at age 67 during a visit to Paris.^[2]
Geronimo	Leader of the Chiricahua Apache	1909-02-17	He fought against Mexico and the United States and their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades. Died at the age of 79.
Kathi Goertzen	News Anchor (KOMO-TV)	2012-08-13	Died at 54. She was a long-time news anchor for KOMO-TV. Contracted pneumonia because of a complication with recurring meningiomas.
Nathan Goodell	Politician	1883-06-02	Died at age 84
Frank Gorshin	Actor, Impressionist	2005-05-17	The show biz veteran best known as The Riddler to TV's Batman and as Bele on Star Trek also succumbed to lung cancer and emphysema.
Devendra Prasad Gupta	Indian botanist and academician	2017-12-26	Died at age 84 in India. Diagnosed with sepsis and pneumonia after surgery of Femur fracture.
Merle Haggard	Singer	2016-04-06	American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Corey Haim	Actor	2010-03-10	Died at age 38. The Canadian actor broke through in the 1980s as a teenager and was best known for License to Drive and The Lost Boys. He had been ill with flu-like symptoms for a few days before collapsing in his apartment in the early morning hours of March 10, 2010. Official autopsy reports showed Haim died of pneumonia. He also suffered a pulmonary edema and an enlarged heart.
Paul Halmos	Mathematician	2006-10-02	Died at age 90.
William Henry Harrison	9th U.S. President	1841-05-04	Died at age 68, one month after taking office.
Jim Henson	Puppeteer/film producer	1990-05-16	Creator of the Muppets and founder of The Jim Henson Company; died at age 53 in New York City.
Christopher Hitchens	Writer/Journalist	2011-12-15	Prolific intellectual writer and speaker; author of God Is Not Great; anti-theist; was diagnosed with metastasized esophageal cancer in 2010.
Bob Hope	Actor	2003-07-27	Best remembered for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO tours entertaining American military personnel. He died at the age of 100.
Bob Hoskins	Actor	2014-04-30	Died at age 71.
Derek Hudson	Conductor	2005-12-20	Died at age 71.
Rochelle Hudson	Actress	1972-01-17	Best remembered as: Natalie Wood's mother in Rebel Without A Cause (1955); Richard Cromwell's love interest in the Will Rogers showcase Life Begins at 40 (1935); and the daughter of carnival barker W.C. Fields in Poppy (1936).
William Hughes	Farmer/politician	1899-02-04	Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Josef Issels	Doctor	1998-02-11	Holistic doctor who treated Bob Marley in Bavaria; died in California.
Claiborne F. Jackson	15th Governor of Missouri	1862-12-06	Died at age 56 in Little Rock, Arkansas.^[3]
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson	Confederate general	1863-05-10	Mortally wounded at age 39; died in Guinea Station, Virginia.
Trish Keenan	Singer	2011-01-14	Lead singer of the band Broadcast; died of pneumonia relating to complications from H1N1.
	Actor	2005-04-16	Died at age 62
Koichiro Kimura	Professional wrestler and mixed martial artist	2014-10-28	Died at age 44.
Ante Kovačić	Writer	1889-03-10	Died in mental hospital in Vrapče.
Kevin Laffan	Writer, creator of Emmerdale	2003-03-11	Died at age 80.
Bert Lahr	American Actor	1967-12-04	Died in New York City at age 72.
Jack LaLanne	Fitness Expert	2011-01-23	Died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at his home in Morro Bay, California.
Jake LaMotta	Professional boxer, former world middleweight champion, and stand-up comedian	2017-09-19	Died at age 95 in Aventura, Florida.
Lee Kuan Yew	Former Prime Minister of Singapore	2015-03-23	Died at the age of 91 in Singapore General Hospital in Singapore.
Stan Lee	American comic-book writer editor and publisher (Chairman of Marvel Comics)	2018-11-12	Died at age 95 in Los Angeles
Will Lee	American Actor	1982-12-07	Died of pneumonia at age 74. He was best known as Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street. After his death, the character was killed off.
Shari Lewis	Ventriloquist and puppeteer	1998-08-02	Diagnosed with uterine cancer as well, the combination proved to be fatal. Died at age 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Rosalia Lombardo	An Italian child who died of pneumonia. Her body was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily.	1920-12-06	Died of pneumonia at almost 2 years of age.
Franz Liszt	Musician	1886-07-31	Died in Bayreuth aged 74 after contracting pneumonia during a festival held there in honour of Richard Wagner.
Bernie Mac	Comedian	2008-08-09	He suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but was reported that the pneumonia was not related to the disease. He died in a Chicago area hospital at the age of 50.
Diosdado Macapagal	President of the Philippines	1997-04-21	He died due to complications with Heart failure and Renal failure at age 86 in Makati. He was the 9th President of the Philippines (1961-1965)
Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France	Princess	1851-10-19	Died at age 72. She was the eldest child of King Louis XVI of France and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette.
Magic Alex (birthname: Yanni John Alexis Mardas)	Electronic Engineer	2017-01-13	Died at age 74.
	Musician/Composer	1911-05-18	Died at the age of 50 in Vienna, Austria.
John Marmaduke	25th Governor of Missouri	1887-12-28	Died at age 54 in Jefferson City, Missouri.
John Martyn	Musician	2009-01-29	The British innovative and influential folk, rock, jazz musician died in Ireland of double pneumonia.
Miyu Matsuki	Voice actress	2015-10-26	Died at age 38. She been hospitalized for acute pneumonia since the previous July.
Freddie Mercury	Musician	1991-11-24	A little over 24 hours after issuing a statement to the press he died at his home in Kensington, London, England at the age of 45. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.
Léon Minkus	Famous Czech composer of ballet music for the Russian Imperial Ballet	1917-12-07	Died at age 91 in Vienna, Austria.
Kenji Miyazawa	Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature	1933-09-21
Mary Tyler Moore	Actress	2017-01-25	Died at age 80 in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Kary Mullis	American biochemist, credited for development of PCR	2019-08-07	Died at age 74 in Newport Beach, California, USA from complications of pneumonia.
Brittany Murphy	American actress and singer	2009-12-20	Died at age 32 in Los Angeles, California. Although pneumonia and multiple drug overdose has the official cause of death, there are some hypotheses that claim that deadly mold entered her system, or that there was foul play usually involving her late husband.^[4]
Leslie Nielsen	Actor/Comedian	2010-11-28	Died at the age of 84.
Bruce Paltrow	T.V. and film producer	2002-10-03	The father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and husband of actress Blythe Danner, died from complications of oral cancer and pneumonia. He was best known for his work on The White Shadow, St. Elsewhere, and Duets.
Alexandros Papadiamantis	Greek writer	1911-10-03	A very influential writer of the 19th century who never married and was referred to as the worldly monk.
Pieter Paulus	Dutch lawyer and politician	1796-03-17	One of the main ideologues of the Dutch Patriot movement for democracy, he was elected unanimously to become chairman of the Batavian Republic's National Assembly, the first democratic Dutch parliament. At the inauguration on the first of March, he caught a serious cold from which he died.
Luciano Pavarotti	Italian tenor	2007-09-06	Died in Modena, Italy of pneumonia resulting from pancreatic cancer.
Afonso Pena	6th President of Brazil and 4th Vice President of Brazil	1909-06-14	Died at 61 in the Catete Palace, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was the first President of Brazil to die in office.
George Peppard	American actor	1994-05-08	Heavy smoker most of his life contributed to his condition, but official cause of death was pneumonia.
House Peters Jr.	Actor, best known for Mr. Clean ad	2008-10-01	Died in Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital at the age of 92.
John Pettus	20th and 23rd Governor of Mississippi	1867-01-28	Died at age 53 in Pulaski County (present-day Lonoke County), Arkansas.
Ferenc Puskás	Hungarian footballer and manager	2006-11-17	He scored a remarkable 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary and 514 goals in 529 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues. Died at the age of 79.
Tony Randall	Actor	2004-05-17	Died at 84 in New York City.
Ronald Reagan	40th President of the United States	2004-06-05	Died at the age of 93 from complications from Alzheimer's disease in Bel-Air, Los Angeles.
Charles Nelson Reilly	American actor, comedian, director	2007-05-25	Died at 76 in Beverly Hills, California.
Carlos Eugenio Restrepo Restrepo	Colombian President, journalist	1937-07-06	President of Colombia from 1910 to 1914. He was born in Medellín, Antioquia, he was a lawyer, professor and journalist, and also served as Ambassador to the Holy See. He died in Medellín alongside his family.
Ed Roberts	Inventor	2010-04-01	Died at the age of 68. Credited as the "father of the personal computer" by inventing the Altair 8800, a machine that sparked the home computer era, kick-starting the careers of Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen.^[5]
Oral Roberts	Evangelist	2009-12-15	Died at the age of 91.
Fred Rogers	Television Personality	2003-02-27	He died from pneumonia in his hometown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at age 74. He was best known as the host of the PBS kids show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Wayne Rogers	Actor, director, screenwriter, investor and television personality	2015-12-31	Known as Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre in the 1972 CBS television sitcom M*A*S*H. Died at the age of 82.
Carl Sagan	American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator	1996-12-20	Died at age 62 in Seattle.
Carl Schlechter	Chessmaster	1918-12-27	Drew a match for the world chess championship vs. Emanuel Lasker. Pneumonia was brought on by privations following World War I; according to some sources, death was due to starvation.
Chuck Schuldiner	Band Leader for death metal band Death	2001-12-13	Schuldiner was diagnosed with brain cancer and received a chemotherapy drug to help with his therapy. As a side effect, the drug weakened him; he died the same year he was diagnosed with cancer.
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.	American general	2012-12-27	Died in Tampa at the age of 78.
Will Shade	Musician	1966-09-18	Died at age 68 at John Gaston Hospital and was buried in Shelby County Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.
Neil Simon	Playwright, screenwriter and author	2018-08-26	Died at age 91 in Manhattan, New York.
David Smyrl	African American actor, singer, and producer	2016-03-23	Died at the age of 80 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was best known as Mr. Handford on the PBS kids series Sesame Street
Beatrice Straight	Actress	2001-04-07	Died in Los Angeles at age 86.
Johann Strauss II	Composer	1899-06-03	Died at age 73 in Vienna.
Irving Thalberg	MGM's "Boy Wonder" Movie Producer of the 1920s and 1930s, husband of actress Norma Shearer	1936-09-14	Afflicted with a weak heart, he died at his home on Palisades Beach Road in Santa Monica.
Jim Thurman	American voice actor	2007-04-14	Cartoon voice actor. Best known as the Teeny Little Super Guy on Sesame Street. He also played MathMan on Square One Television as well as the three baby monkeys on an episode of Marsupilami.
Leo Tolstoy	Russian novelist	1910-11-20	Died at Astapovo Railway Station, during an attempt to satisfy his wanderlust.
Paul Tsongas	Greek-American US Senator and a one-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination	1997-01-18	Died at the age of 55.
Harriet Tubman	Abolitionist and humanitarian	1913-03-10	Buried at Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY.
Thomas W. Wallace	Lieutenant Governor of New York	1943-07-17	Died at age 43. Began suffering from pneumonia two days after contracting chicken pox from his two children.
Marcia Wallace	Actress, Voice Artist, and Comedian	2013-10-25	Died at age 70. She was the voice of Edna Krabappel on The Simpsons. After she died, the character was killed off.
Tetsuya Watari	Japanese actor	2020-08-10
Lawrence Welk	Big band leader	1992-03-17	Died at his home in Santa Monica. Buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, CA.
Billy Wilder	Writer and director	2002-03-27	Died at age 95 at his home in Beverly Hills.
Robert Shaw Wilkinson	Educator and South Carolina State University president	1932-03-13	Died at age 67 in Orangeburg, South Carolina
Chris Wood	Rock musician	1983-07-12	Died at age 39 in Birmingham, England.
Hiroshi Yamauchi	President and Chairman, Nintendo (1949–2002, 2002–2005)	2013-09-19	Died at 85 in the hospital.
Akira Yoshizawa	Origami master	2005-03-14	Died in hospital in Ogikubo, on his 94th birthday.
Louis Zamperini	Olympic Athlete and World War 2 prisoner of war	2014-07-02	Died at his home in Los Angeles, California, at age 97.

Notes

^[6]

External links

• World Pneumonia Day

Notes and References

1. Book: Lamming, Douglas . A Scottish Soccer Internationalists Who's Who, 1872-1986 . Hardback . Hutton Press . 1987 . 0-907033-47-4 . .
2. Power D'A . Davies RE . 2004. Gamgee, Arthur (1841–1909). 2010-06-28. 10.1093/ref:odnb/33317.
3. News: . Death of Governor Jackson . Natchez Daily Courier . XI . 56 . Natchez, Miss. . December 16, 1862 . 1 . sn84020290 . 10561000.
4. Web site: 2021-10-14 . The True Story of Brittany Murphy's Tragic Death . 2023-08-29 . Esquire . en-US.
5. News: Tributes to 'father of computing' . BBC News . 2010-04-02.
6. "Empress Josephine's short biography in Napoleon & Empire website, displaying photographs of the castle of Malmaison and the grave of Josephine". Napoleon-empire.com. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2012.