10 Famous people to die in 1995

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Dean Martin

(Singer/Actor)

7 June 1917 – 25 December 1995 (Aged 78)

Martin was an American actor and singer best known for being part of the famous ‘Rat Pack’ with Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis Jr. He also formed a popular comedy duo with Jerry Lewis.

Martin was a popular television host, fronting The Dean Martin Show. Among his most famous songs are “That’s Amore”, “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?”, “Sway”, and “Everybody Loves Somebody”.

Nicknamed “The King of Cool”, Martin was one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century.

He died of respiratory failure on Christmas Day 1995 at the age of 78.

Jonas Salk

(Doctor/Scientist)

28 October 1914 – 23 June 1995 (Aged 80)

Salk was a hugely influential American medical researcher famed for developing the first effective vaccine for polio.

Until Salk developed the vaccine in 1955, polio was seen as one of the biggest public health dangers in the world, with outbreaks of the disease killing thousands each year.

Salk was also given immense credit for putting public health over profit, choosing not to patent the vaccine.

After his success, he founded the Salk Institute in California and focused his efforts on researching and finding a vaccine for HIV.

In 1977, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Salk died of heart failure at the age of 80.

He has gone down in history as the man who stopped polio.

Rory Gallagher

(Singer/Musician)

2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995 (Aged 47)

Gallagher was a hugely influential Irish blues singer and musician who recorded solo albums, as well as forming the band Taste during the late 1960s.

His albums have sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Gallagher underwent a liver transplant in early 1995 but died after contracting MRSA infection after having been in intensive care for over three months at the age of 47.

Lana Turner

(Actress)

8 February 1921 – 29 June 1995 (Aged 74)

Turner was a renowned Hollywood sex symbol, known as much for starring in over 50 films as for her well-publicized private life, during which she was married seven times.

Among her most famous films are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Imitation of Life, and Peyton Place, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

In a high profile case in 1958, after having a brief romance with gangster Johnny Stompanato, an associate of Mickey Cohen, Turner’s 14-year-old, Cheryl, daughter stabbed and killed him.

The inquest heard that Stomponato had threatened Turner’s life, as well as her daughter and mother’s before Cheryl stabbed him in the stomach. It was judged to be justifiable homicide.

Throughout her life, Turner battled with depression and alcoholism, no doubt influenced by suffering three stillbirths.

A heavy smoker, Turner died from throat cancer at the age of 74.

Having had a career spanning nearly five decades, Turner is fondly remembered as one of the most glamorous actresses of all time.

Ronnie Kray

(Gangster)

24 October 1933 – 17 March 1995 (Aged 61)

Ronnie was a notorious British gangster who, along with his identical twin Reggie, ruled London’s East End in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Kray Twins were known to have been involved in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, and murder.

They also enjoyed a brief celebrity status during the 1960s.

In 1969, they were both sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ronnie was diagnosed with mental illness and sent to Broadmoor Hospital where he remained until his death from a heart attack at the age of 61.

Eazy-E

(Rapper)

7 September 1964 – 26 March 1995 (Aged 30)

Eazy-E was an American West Coast rapper, who co-founded the controversial gangsta rap group N.W.A. along with Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube.

The group enjoyed huge success, particularly with the release of their 1988 album, Straight Outta Compton. 

Real name, Eric Wright, Eazy also became a Los Angeles radio show host.

In 1995, after a brief illness, Eazy-E died from AIDS at the age of 30.

Howard Cosell

(Sports Broadcaster)

25 March 1918 – 23 April 1995 (Aged 77)

Cosell was a famously opinionated American sports broadcaster for ABC. He was a part of the original broadcast team for Monday Night Football (MNF).

Never afraid of speaking his mind, Cosell defended Muhammad Ali for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War, while he memorably broke the news of John Lennon’s death to MNF viewers in December 1980.

In 1994, Cosell was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

In his final years, he suffered from heart, lung, and kidney cancer, before dying from heart problems at the age of 77.

Yitzhak Rabin

(Israeli Prime Minister)

1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995 (Aged 73)

Rabin was an Israeli politician, who served two terms in office, from 1974–77 and from 1992 until his assassination in 1995.

After signing the historic Oslo Accords in 1993, Rabin won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize along with Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

In November 1995, Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv by an Israeli extremist, Yigal Amir, who was in opposition to the terms of the Oslo Accords.

Rabin had been the first native-born prime minister of Israel.

Mickey Mantle

(Baseball Player)

20 October 1931 – 13 August 1995 (Aged 63)

Mantle was a famous American Major League Baseball (MLB) player who played for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968.

He is recognized by many as the greatest switch hitter in the history of the game.

In 1956, he won the Triple Crown, leading the major leagues in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. 

To date, he is the last Triple Crown winner to have led all of MLB in all 3 Triple Crown categories.

Mantle was an All-Star for 16 out of his 18 seasons in the game. He was also named the American League’s Most Valuable Player three times.

In 1974, Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. After being a heavy drinker, Mantle developed cirrhosis of the liver and received a liver transplant in June 1995.

However, Mantle died from cancer only two months later at the age of 63. He was a hugely popular person off the field and goes down as one of baseball’s greatest on it.

Donald Pleasence

(Actor)

5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995 (Aged 75)

Pleasance was an acclaimed English stage and screen actor.

He is best known for playing the villain Ernst Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and Colin Blythe in The Great Escape.

Pleasance was also nominated four times for a Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a Broadway play.

During World War II, he served as aircraft wireless-operator with the Royal Air Force, flying over fifty raids across occupied Europe.

On 31 August 1944, his plane was shot down during an attack in Agenville, France, after which he was captured and imprisoned in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I.

While imprisoned here, Pleasance produced and acted in plays until the war ended. He was discharged from the R.A.F. in 1946, going on to gain fame as an actor.

Pleasance died from heart failure at the age of 75.