By Yousuf Karsh / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 / GFDL
Winston Churchill
(UK Prime Minister)
30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965 (Aged 90)
Churchill was a British politician, renowned for his role in leading Great Britain through World War II as prime minister from 1940-45.
He went on to serve a second term from 1951-55, during which he suffered a stroke.
Outside of politics, he won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature for his published works.
In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy made Churchill an Honorary Citizen of the United States, one of few people given such an honor.
Shortly after suffering another stroke, Churchill died at the age of 90. His state funeral was one of the largest in world history.
At the beginning of the 21st century, he topped a BBC poll for the greatest Briton in history.
Throughout his political life, Churchill became an isolated figure in British politics on more than one occasion.
His views on race, colonialism, and anti-Semitism often drew controversy and deserved criticism.
However, in spite of these controversies, his lasting legacy appears to be his leadership during the war, particularly his defiant speeches and radio broadcasts, which galvanized British resistance.
Malcolm X
(Civil Rights Activist)
19 May 1925 – 21 February 1965 (Aged 39)
Malcolm X was a famous African-American civil rights activist, who was an influential orator for the Nation of Islam until he grew disillusioned with the movement.
After growing apart from the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, he embraced Sunni Islam. His life was allegedly threatened by Muhammad’s supporters several times prior to his death.
In Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, while preparing for a speech, Malcolm X was assassinated by three Nation of Islam members.
However, even after surviving their jail terms, two of the three maintained their innocence.
Malcolm X is remembered as one of the most prominent and influential African-Americans of the 20th century, with his advocacy of black nationalism and encouraging the advancement against racism “by any means necessary”.
His opponents will maintain he enflamed racial tensions by preaching racism and violence, while he also opposed the civil rights movement for its focus on integration.
Edward R. Murrow
(U.S. Broadcaster)
25 April 1908 – 27 April 1965 (Aged 57)
Murrow was a famous and influential American broadcaster, who was renowned for his integrity and the honesty of his reporting.
Rising to national prominence in the 1930s, Murrow was head European reporter for CBS, bringing news of Europe’s descent into World War II, such as Germany’s occupation of Austria, and the Battle of Britain, to homes across America.
The finest hour in Murrow’s career came when he produced a series of reports condemning Senator Joseph McCarthy and his brand of anti-Communist McCarthyism.
The show helped to lead to the censuring of McCarthy.
A chain smoker throughout his life, Murrow developed lung cancer and died just two days after his 57th birthday.
Nat King Cole
(Singer/Performer)
17 March 1919 – 15 February 1965 (Aged 45)
Nat King Cole was a famed American singer and jazz pianist, who became one of the first African-Americans to host their own television show, ‘The Nat King Cole Show’.
During his life, Cole was a heavy smoker and developed lung cancer and died at the age of 45.
He was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Among his best-known hits was the festive season classic, ‘The Christmas Song’, and ‘Unforgettable’, which was re-recorded as a duet with his daughter, Natalie Cole.
The song won the Best Song Grammy Award in 1992.
T.S. Eliot
(Writer)
26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965 (Aged 76)
Eliot was an American-born British poet who was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.
Among his most celebrated works are ‘The Waste Land’, ‘The Hollow Men’, and ‘Ash Wednesday’.
In 1948, Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died from emphysema at the age of 76.
Helena Rubinstein
(Entrepreneur)
25 December 1872 – 1 April 1965 (Aged 92)
Rubinstein was a Polish-American entrepreneur who built a worldwide cosmetics company.
In 1953, she founded the Helena Rubinstein Foundation which provided funds to many organizations, particularly for children’s health, until closing in 2011.
She died in New York at the age of 94, after spending her life promoting healthy living and played a leading role in revolutionizing the cosmetics industry.
Clara Bow
(Actress)
29 July 1905 – 27 September 1965 (Aged 60)
Bow was an iconic Hollywood actress, who was one of the biggest stars of the 1920’s movie scene, first in silent films before graduating to the “talkies”.
After enduring a tough childhood, with an abusive father and mentally unstable mother, Bow was the only one of three children to survive beyond childhood.
The scars of her upbringing saw her struggle with life at times, which, along with off-screen gossip, led to a breakdown in 1931.
That same year, she married the actor, and later politician, Rex Bell.
Bow quit acting completely not long after, with her last film, Hoop-La, released in 1933.
She spent the rest of her life out of the media spotlight, undergoing psychological treatment at times, before dying of a heart attack aged 60.
