Kobe Bryant

(Basketball Player)

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23 August 1978 – 26 January 2020 (Aged 41)

Kobe Bryant was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Born in Philadelphia, the son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he spent part of his childhood in Italy before returning to the United States.

He entered the NBA directly from Lower Merion High School in 1996, becoming one of the youngest players in league history at the age of 17.

Bryant won five NBA championships with the Lakers, in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010. He was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2008 and NBA Finals MVP in both 2009 and 2010.

An 18-time NBA All-Star, he also won two Olympic gold medals with the United States national team, in 2008 and 2012. In 2006 he scored 81 points in a single game against the Toronto Raptors, the second-highest individual total in NBA history.

After retiring in 2016, he won an Academy Award in 2018 for the animated short film Dear Basketball, and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.

On 26 January 2020, Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others; the coroner recorded the cause of death as blunt force trauma.

Chadwick Boseman

(Actor)

By Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

29 November 1976 – 28 August 2020 (Aged 43)

Chadwick Boseman was an American actor and playwright, born in Anderson, South Carolina, and a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C.

He first drew wide attention for portraying real-life Black icons, playing baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013) and singer James Brown in Get on Up (2014). In 2017 he played future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall in the film Marshall.

Boseman rose to global fame as T’Challa, the Black Panther, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first appearing in Captain America: Civil War (2016).

His lead role in Black Panther (2018) made the film a cultural landmark that grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide. He also appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Boseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016 but kept it private, filming many of his best-known roles while undergoing treatment.

For his final performance, in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, he was posthumously awarded a Golden Globe and numerous other honours.

On 28 August 2020, Boseman died at his home in Los Angeles after his cancer progressed to stage IV.

Sean Connery

(Actor)

ETH-Bibliothek Zürich / Comet Photo AG / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020 (Aged 90)

Sir Sean Connery was a Scottish actor, born Thomas Connery into a working-class family in Edinburgh.

He left school at 13 and worked a series of jobs, including as a milkman, coffin polisher and artist’s model, before competing in the Mr Universe bodybuilding contest and moving into acting.

Connery became the first actor to play the fictional British spy James Bond on screen, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983.

His Bond films included Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again.

Away from Bond, he starred in films such as The Man Who Would Be King, The Untouchables, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October and The Rock.

He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jimmy Malone in The Untouchables (1987).

Connery also received two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe, Kennedy Center Honors in 1999 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2006.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000 for his services to film drama.

On 31 October 2020, Connery died in his sleep at his home in the Bahamas; his death certificate cited pneumonia, respiratory failure, atrial fibrillation and old age, and he had suffered from dementia in his later years.

Diego Maradona

(Footballer)

By Armando César Tovar / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

30 October 1960 – 25 November 2020 (Aged 60)

Diego Maradona was an Argentine professional footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

Born in Lanús and raised in the Villa Fiorito shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, he made his professional debut as a teenager with Argentinos Juniors.

He went on to play for Boca Juniors before a then world-record transfer took him to Barcelona in 1982.

His most celebrated club years came at Napoli, where between 1984 and 1991 he won two Serie A titles and led the club to the greatest era in its history.

Maradona captained Argentina to victory at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.

In that tournament’s quarter-final against England he scored two of football’s most famous goals: the illicit “Hand of God” and, minutes later, the “Goal of the Century”.

He also led Argentina to the 1990 World Cup final, and in 2000 was named joint FIFA Player of the Century alongside Pelé.

His career and later life were marked by struggles with cocaine addiction, including a ban after a failed drug test at the 1994 World Cup, and he later managed the Argentine national team.

On 25 November 2020, Maradona died of a heart attack at his home near Buenos Aires, weeks after undergoing brain surgery for a blood clot.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

(Supreme Court Justice)

Supreme Court of the United States / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

15 March 1933 – 18 September 2020 (Aged 87)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who became the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, she studied at Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School and graduated from Columbia Law School, tying for first in her class.

In 1972 she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, arguing a series of landmark gender-discrimination cases before the Supreme Court.

President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980.

President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court in 1993, and she served for 27 years. She became known for her forceful dissenting opinions and her lifelong advocacy for gender equality.

In her later years she gained a following in popular culture, earning the nickname “Notorious RBG”. She survived several bouts of cancer over two decades while continuing to serve on the court.

On 18 September 2020, Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, and later became the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.

Eddie Van Halen

(Musician)

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26 January 1955 – 6 October 2020 (Aged 65)

Eddie Van Halen was a Dutch-American musician, guitarist and songwriter, and a co-founder of the rock band Van Halen, which he formed with his brother Alex in 1972.

Born in Amsterdam, he emigrated with his family to Pasadena, California, as a child, and was classically trained on piano despite never learning to read music.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists in rock history and helped popularise the two-handed “tapping” technique, showcased on the instrumental “Eruption”.

Under his guitar work, Van Halen became one of the biggest hard-rock bands in the world.

The band’s hits included “Jump”, “Panama”, “Hot for Teacher” and “Runnin’ with the Devil”, and its 1984 album was a commercial blockbuster. He also performed the guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit “Beat It”.

Van Halen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. He was treated for throat cancer beginning in 2000 and battled the disease on and off for the following two decades.

On 6 October 2020, Van Halen died of a stroke at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, following his long fight with cancer.

Little Richard

(Singer)

Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

5 December 1932 – 9 May 2020 (Aged 87)

Little Richard, born Richard Wayne Penniman, was an American singer, pianist and songwriter regarded as one of the founding architects of rock and roll.

Born in Macon, Georgia, one of twelve children, he began performing gospel music in church as a boy.

He achieved his breakthrough with “Tutti Frutti” in 1955, which crossed over from the rhythm-and-blues charts to mainstream pop success.

A run of hits followed, including “Long Tall Sally”, “Lucille”, “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Slippin’ and Slidin'”. He was known for his flamboyant showmanship, pompadour hairstyle, make-up, pounding piano and powerful raspy vocals.

Richard was one of the first Black artists to build a large, racially mixed audience during the segregation era. His style influenced a generation of musicians, among them the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, James Brown and Elvis Presley.

Little Richard was among the first group of artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

On 9 May 2020, he died in Tullahoma, Tennessee, from bone cancer.

Kirk Douglas

(Actor)

Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

9 December 1916 – 5 February 2020 (Aged 103)

Kirk Douglas was an American actor, filmmaker and philanthropist, and one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

He was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, to poor Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. Douglas served in the United States Navy during the Second World War and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

His breakthrough came as a boxer in Champion (1949), the first of three Academy Award nominations for acting.

He starred in classics including The Bad and the Beautiful, Lust for Life as Vincent van Gogh, Paths of Glory and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. His most famous role was the title part in Spartacus (1960), which he also produced.

Douglas is widely credited with helping to break the Hollywood blacklist by insisting that blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo be credited for Spartacus.

He received an honorary Academy Award in 1996 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981, and was the father of actor Michael Douglas.

On 5 February 2020, Douglas died of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

John Lewis

(Civil Rights Leader & Congressman)

Wikimedia Commons

21 February 1940 – 17 July 2020 (Aged 80)

John Lewis was an American civil rights leader and politician, born to sharecroppers near Troy, Alabama.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., he became a leader of the Nashville sit-in movement and took part in the Freedom Rides challenging segregation.

He served as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and, at 23, was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington.

In 1965 he helped lead the voting-rights march from Selma to Montgomery, and was beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the day that became known as “Bloody Sunday”, suffering a fractured skull.

He was the youngest and last-surviving member of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement.

Lewis was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district in 1986, serving 17 terms from 1987 until his death.

In Congress he became known as the “conscience of the House” and for his call to make “good trouble”. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2011.

On 17 July 2020, Lewis died in Atlanta, Georgia, from pancreatic cancer, and later lay in state at the U.S. Capitol.

Alex Trebek

(Television Host)

Wikimedia Commons / ANDERS KRUSBERG

22 July 1940 – 8 November 2020 (Aged 80)

Alex Trebek was a Canadian-American television personality and game show host, born George Alexander Trebek in Sudbury, Ontario.

Trebek graduated from the University of Ottawa and began his broadcasting career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He moved to the United States in 1973 and hosted several game shows, including The Wizard of Odds and High Rollers.

He became best known as the host of the syndicated quiz show Jeopardy! from its revival in 1984 until 2020.

Over that time he hosted more than 8,000 episodes and set a Guinness World Record for the most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter.

Trebek won eight Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game Show Host. He became a naturalised United States citizen in 1998 and a widely admired figure in American popular culture.

After being diagnosed with cancer in 2019, he continued to host the programme while sharing updates on his condition with viewers.

On 8 November 2020, Trebek died at his home in Los Angeles from stage IV pancreatic cancer.

Ennio Morricone

(Film Composer)

Wikimedia Commons / Georges Biard

10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020 (Aged 91)

Ennio Morricone was an Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor, widely regarded as one of the most influential film composers in history.

Born in Rome, the son of a trumpet player, he studied trumpet and composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conservatory.

Morricone began writing for film and theatre in the late 1950s and launched his cinema career in the early 1960s.

He became internationally famous through his collaboration with his former schoolmate, director Sergio Leone, on the “Dollars” trilogy of spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

Over more than five decades he composed some 500 scores for film and television, an output believed to be a record in Western cinema.

His other celebrated scores included Once Upon a Time in the West, The Mission, The Untouchables, Cinema Paradiso and The Hateful Eight.

He received six competitive Academy Award nominations and, in 2007, an Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to film music. He finally won a competitive Oscar for Best Original Score for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight in 2016.

On 6 July 2020, Morricone died in a hospital in Rome from complications following a fall in which he broke his femur.

Olivia de Havilland

(Actress)

Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

1 July 1916 – 26 July 2020 (Aged 104)

Dame Olivia de Havilland was a British-American actress and one of the last major stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

She was born in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents, and moved to California as a child with her mother and younger sister, the future actress Joan Fontaine.

Havilland signed with Warner Bros. in 1935 and first came to prominence opposite Errol Flynn in adventure films such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

She played Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939), earning the first of her five Academy Award nominations. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949).

In 1943 she took Warner Bros. to court over her contract and won a landmark case that limited the studios’ hold over actors, a ruling still known as the “de Havilland law”.

Havilland and Joan Fontaine remain the only siblings to have won Academy Awards in a lead acting category, and had one of Hollywood’s most famous sibling rivalries.

She settled in Paris from the 1950s, and was appointed a Dame of the Order of the British Empire in 2017 and awarded France’s Légion d’honneur in 2010.

The last surviving lead of Gone with the Wind, de Havilland died of natural causes at her home in Paris on 26 July 2020.

Chuck Yeager

(Test Pilot)

U.S. Air Force / Wikimedia Commons

13 February 1923 – 7 December 2020 (Aged 97)

Chuck Yeager was an American test pilot and United States Air Force officer, best known as the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight.

Born Charles Elwood Yeager in Myra, West Virginia, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1941, initially as an aircraft mechanic.

Accepted for pilot training, he became a fighter ace during the Second World War, shooting down 13 German aircraft, including five in a single mission.

After being shot down over occupied France in 1944, he evaded capture and escaped across the Pyrenees into Spain with the help of the French Resistance.

He was hand-picked as a test pilot after the war, and on 14 October 1947 flew the rocket-powered Bell X-1, which he named “Glamorous Glennis”, faster than the speed of sound over the Mojave Desert.

Yeager continued to set aviation records and later commanded fighter squadrons, serving during the Korean and Vietnam eras.

He also led the school that trained many of the first American military astronauts, and rose to the rank of brigadier general before retiring from the Air Force in 1975.

His exploits were popularised in Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book The Right Stuff and its 1983 film adaptation, and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.

On 7 December 2020, Yeager died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 97.

Kenny Rogers

(Singer)

Wikimedia Commons / John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com

21 August 1938 – 20 March 2020 (Aged 81)

Kenny Rogers was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, actor and businessman, born Kenneth Donald Rogers in Houston, Texas.

The fourth of eight children, Rogers grew up in a public housing project and was the first member of his family to finish high school.

He first found fame as a member of the folk-rock group the First Edition, whose hits included “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” and “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”.

After the group disbanded, his solo career took off with the ballad “Lucille” in 1977.

Rogers became one of the most successful crossover artists in music, topping both the country and pop charts with songs such as “The Gambler”, “Coward of the County”, “She Believes in Me” and “Lady”, the last written by Lionel Richie.

In 1983 he recorded the enduring duet “Islands in the Stream” with Dolly Parton, written by the Bee Gees. His hit “The Gambler” inspired a popular series of television films in which he starred.

He sold more than 100 million records worldwide, won three Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

On 20 March 2020, Rogers died of natural causes at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, while under hospice care.