1953

January 1

• Hank Williams, country singer ("Cold Cold Heart"), dies at age 29. [1] [5]
• Ludomir Rózycki, Polish composer/conductor (Casanova), dies at age 68. [1]

January 4

• Arthur Hoyt, actor (Gold Rush Gertie, Lost World), dies at age 78. [1]

January 8

• Heinrich Kaspar Schmid, composer, dies at age 78. [1]

January 9

• Hans Aanrud, Norwegian author (Storken), dies at age 89. [1]

January 10

• Theo Mackeben, German pianist/composer (Golden Cage), dies at age 56. [1]

January 11

• Ernst H Ridder Rappard, Dutch Nazi founder (NSNAP), dies at age 53. [1]
• Marcel Canneel, Flemish painter, dies at age 58. [1]
• Noach Zjordanija, Georgian Premier (1918-21), dies at age 84. [1]

January 12

• Simeon Roncal, composer, dies at age 82. [1]

January 15

• Viktor Patrick Vretblad, composer, dies at age 76. [1]

January 27

• Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch poet/interpreter/linguist, dies at age 58. [1]

January 30

• Louis H N Bosch van Rosenthal, Dutch resistance fighter, dies at age 68. [1]

February 2

• Gustav Strube, composer, dies at age 85. [1]

February 4

• Alexander Loudon, Dutch diplomat (League of Nations), dies at age 60. [1]

February 8

• Cliff Clark, actor (Golden Hoofs, Kid Glove Killer), dies at age 63. [1]

February 24

• [Karl R] Gerd von Rundstedt, General-field marshal (Normandy, Ardennes), dies at age 77. [1]

February 25

• Jesus Garcia Leoz, composer, dies at age 49. [1]

February 26

• Elisabeth "Ilse" Kuyper, Dutch/US (opera)composer, dies. [1]
• Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch poet/linguist (spelling), dies at age 58. [1]

February 28

• Jim Thorpe, decathlete (Olympics-gold-1912), dies at age 64. [1]

March 1

• Anton GO Ridder Van Rappard, painter/lithographer/etcher, dies. [1]

March 4

• Sergei S Prokoviev, Russian composer (Peter and the Wolf), dies at age 61. [1]

March 5

• Josef V Stalin, Soviet leader responsible for 11 million murders, dies at age 73. [1] [226.49]
• Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev, composer, dies at age 61. [1]

March 10

• Charles Gordon Curtis, inventor of Curtis-steam turbine, dies at age 92. [1]

March 14

• Klement Gottwald, premier/President of Czechoslovakia, dies at age 56. [1]

March 17

• Conrado del Campo y Zabaleta, composer, dies at age 73. [1]

March 20

• Graciliano Ramos, Brazilian author (Vidas Secas), dies at age 60. [1]

March 22

• James Anderson II, actor (Jo - Northern Exposure), dies. [1]

March 24

• Felix M Abel, French dominican/biblical scholar, dies at age 74. [1]
• Mary [Victoria of Teck], queen of Great Britain/North-Ireland, dies at age 86. [1]

March 26

• Albert Spalding, composer, dies at age 64. [1]

March 27

• Narciso Garay, composer, dies at age 76. [1]

March 28

• James Francis Thorpe, decathlete (Olympics-gold-1912), dies at age 64. [1] [5]

March 30

• Roderich Mojsisovics-Mojsvar, composer, dies at age 75. [1]

April 2

• Jean Epstein, French director (Vive la Vie), dies at age 56. [1]

April 4

• Carol II, King of Romania (1930-40), dies at age 59. [1]
• Rachilde [Marguerite Vallette-Eymery], French author, dies at age 93. [1]

April 14

• Emmanuel K de Bom, Flemish writer (Scheldelucht), dies at age 84. [1]

April 20

• Erich Weinert, writer, dies at age 62. [1]

April 22

• Top Naeff [Anthonetta van Rhijn-N], Dutch writer, dies at age 75. [1]

April 29

• Moïse Kisling, Polish/French painter (La souris boiteuse), dies at age 62. [1]

May 4

• Edward B B Shanks, British poet/critic, dies at age 60. [1]
• Thomas Tertius Noble, composer, dies at age 85. [1]

May 7

• Ormerod Pearse, cricketer (55 runs and three wickets in three Tests for South Africa), dies. [1]

May 14

• Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Japanese/American painter/etcher, dies at age 59. [1]

May 17

• Eric De Lamarter, composer, dies at age 73. [1]

May 18

• Tom Killick, cricketer (at the crease two Tests for England 1929), dies. [1]

May 19

• Damasco Berenguer y Fuste, Spanish general/minister of War, dies at age 79. [1]

May 22

• Vaclav Klicka, composer, dies at age 70. [1]

May 24

• Cor Hermus, actor (Bleeke Bet, William of Orange, Jantes), dies at age 63. [1]

May 30

• George Barnes, cinematographer, dies at age 60. [1]

June 5

• Bill Tilden, tennis champ, dies at age 60. [1]

June 19

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. [1] [129]

July 22

• Cy Kendall, actor (Mysteries of Chinatown), dies at age 55. [1]

July 31

• Robert Taft (Senator-Republican-Ohio) (Mr Republican), dies in New York at age 63. [1]

September 12

• Lewis Stone, actor (Prisoner of Zenda), dies at age 73 of a heart attack. [1]

September 28

• Edwin P Hubble, astronomer, designer of telescopes, dies at age 63. [1]

November 9

• Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa'ud, founder of Saudi Arabia, dies (born about 1880). [1]
• Dylan Thomas, author-poet, dies in New York at age 39. [1] [5]

November 27

• Eugene O'Neill, playwright, dies in Boston at age 65. [1] [5]

December 2

• Ernest Hayes, cricketer (Surrey bat played five Tests for England), dies. [1]
• Francis Picabia, French painter/illustrator, dies at age 75. [1]

December 4

• Daniel Gregory Mason, composer, dies at age 80. [1]

December 6

• Konstanty I Galczynski, Polish poet (Zielona Ges), dies at age 48. [1]

December 15

• Kishio Hirao, composer, dies at age 46. [1]

December 19

• Robert A Millikan, American physicist (Nobel Prize 1923), dies at age 85. [1] [5]
• Rudolf Leonhard, writer, dies. [1]

December 23

• Lavrenti P Beria, soviet minister of internal security, executed. [1]

December 31

• Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer/founder (KLM), dies at age 64. [1]

1954

January 10

• Fred Raymond, composer, dies at age 53. [1]

January 11

• Edgar Tytgat, Flemish painter/etcher/drawer, dies at age 77. [1]
• Emmy Arbous, Dutch actress/cabaret performer (Boefje), dies at age 56. [1]
• Death of Oscar Straus in Vienna, Austria; composer, Der tapfere Soldat (1908), Ein Walzertraum (1907) Rund um die Liebe (1914). [1] [37]

January 13

• Roland Diggle, composer, dies at age 69. [1]

January 16

• Michail M Prishvin, Russian writer, dies. [1]

January 19

• Sydney Greenstreet, actor (Conflict, Maltese Falcon), dies at age 74. [1]

January 20

• Fred Root, cricketer (England pace bowler in three Tests vs Australia 1926), dies. [1]
• Warren Bardsley, cricketer (41 Tests for Australia, 2469 runs), dies. [1]

January 26

• Carl J Eldh, Swedish sculptor, dies at age 80. [1]

January 27

• Paul-Marie Masson, composer, dies at age 71. [1]

January 31

• Edwin H Armstrong, US radio inventor (FM), commits suicide at age 63. [1]
• Florence Bates, actress (Kismet, I Remember Mama), dies at age 65. [1]

February 1

• Julius P Hoste, Belgian minister/newspaper publisher, dies at age 69. [1]

February 2

• Theodor Rogalski, composer, dies at age 52. [1]

February 4

• Vaclav Vackar, composer, dies at age 72. [1]

February 5

• Vittorio Gnecchi, composer, dies at age 77. [1]

February 7

• Jan Adam Maklakiewicz, composer, dies at age 54. [1]

February 8

• Mabel Paige, actress (Lucky Jordan), dies at age 73. [1]

February 12

• Dziga Vertov [Kaufman], Russian director (Three Songs of Lenin), dies at age 58. [1]

February 17

• Evert Gorter, children's artist (Kindergeneeskunde), dies at age 72. [1]

February 26

• William R Inge, English theologist/philosopher, dies at age 93. [1]

March 4

• Georg Gohler, composer, dies at age 79. [1]
• Noel Gay [Richard Moxon Armitage], composer, dies at age 55. [1]

March 5

• Julian Lowell Coolidge, mathematician (Study-Segre school), dies at age 80. [1]

March 6

• Jan Kalf, Dutch literature/art historian, dies at age 80. [1]
• Louis Zimmermann, violinist, dies at age 80. [1]

March 8

• Percy Twentyman-Jones, cricketer (pair in only Test for South Africa), dies. [1]

March 14

• Ludomir Michal Rogowski, composer, dies at age 72. [1]

March 15

• Arthur Fickenscher, composer, dies at age 82. [1]

March 17

• Victor Rousseau, Belgian sculptor, dies at age 88. [1]

March 18

• Walter Mead, cricketer (one Test for England 1899), dies. [1]

March 19

• Walter Braunfels, composer, dies at age 71. [1]

March 21

• Harry Lawrence Freeman, composer, dies at age 84. [1]

March 25

• Gertrud Bäumer, writer, dies. [1]

March 28

• Francis B Young, British physician/writer (In South Africa), dies at age 69. [1]

April 5

• Claude Delvincourt, composer, dies at age 66. [1]

April 9

• Philip Greeley Clapp, composer, dies at age 65. [1]

April 10

• Auguste Lumière, French photograph/movie pioneer, dies at age 81. [1]
• Ludwig Curtius, German archaeologist (Die antike Kunst), dies at age 79. [1]

April 12

• Pim [Willem JH] Mulier, Dutch journalist/sports-organizer, dies at age 89. [1]

April 15

• Juan Vicente Lecuna, composer, dies at age 54. [1]

April 19

• Joe Laurie Jr, comedian (Can You Top This?), dies at age 61. [1]

April 25

• Joseph Hergesheimer, novelist (Java Head), dies. [1]

April 29

• Ernst Heldring, Dutch merchant/ship owner/financier, dies at age 82. [1]

May 1

• Tom Tyler, actor (Lost Ranch, Coyote Trails), dies at age 50. [1]

May 2

• Pauline de Cock-Manifarges, singer, dies at age 82. [1]

May 10

• George Hirst, cricketer (36,323 first-class runs, 2739 wickets), dies. [1]

May 16

• Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (Vienna State Opera), dies at age 61. [1]
• Werner Bischof, Swiss photographer, dies accidentally at age 38. [1]

May 19

• Aart A van Schelven, church historian (Willem of Orange), dies at age 73. [1]
• Charles Edward Ives, American composer (Unanswered Question), dies at age 79. [1]

May 21

• Janos Hammerschlag, composer, dies at age 68. [1]

May 23

• H R Bromley-Davenport, cricketer (batted in four Tests for England), dies. [1]

May 26

• Franz Pfemfert, writer, dies at age 74. [1]

May 27

• Herzmanovsky-Orlando, writer, dies. [1]

May 28

• Achille Longo, composer, dies at age 54. [1]

May 30

• Ahmad Amin, Egyptian historian/author, dies at age 67. [1]

June 4

• Harold Hoffman (Governor-New Jersey), dies at age 58. [1]

June 22

• Don Hollenbeck, newscaster (CBS Weekend News), dies at age 49. [1]

June 28

• Red deer dies in Milwaukee Zoo at age 26; oldest known deer. [1]

July 20

• Blair Moody (Senator-Michigan), dies at age 52. [1]

July 24

• Mary Church Terrell, educator/civil rights leader, dies at age 90. [1]

August 3

• Colette France, novelist (Claudine), dies at age 81. [1]

September 28

• Bert Lytell, actor (Henry - One Man's Family), dies at age 69. [1]

October 20

• Willie Shaw, race car driver (Indy 500-1937, 1939, 1940), dies at age 51. [1]

December 3

• Enrique Soro Barriga, composer, dies at age 70. [1]

December 4

• Nina Vasar, wife of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, dies. [1]

December 8

• Gladys George, actress (Roaring Twenties), dies at age 50. [1]

December 20

• Emilis Melngailis, composer, dies at age 80. [1]
• James Hilton, English author (Lost Horizon), dies at age 54. [1]

December 25

• Johnny Ace, ballad singer, dies at age 25 in a game of Russian Roulette. [1]
• Liberty Hyde Bailey, US botanist (Plantbreeding), dies at age 96. [1]
• Rosario Scalero, composer, dies at age 84. [1]

December 31

• Peter Van Anrooy, conductor/composer (Piet Hein Rhapsodie), dies at age 75. [1]