Discover the most famous people died who died in the year 1956. This list includes people like B. R. Ambedkar, A. A. Milne, Jackson Pollock, Bela Lugosi, Bertolt Brecht and many more. This list of celebrities is loosely sorted by popularity. People featured on this list, include political leaders, artists, poets and presidents who died in 1956. This list includes people from United States, France, Germany & United Kingdom and many more countries.
Vote for Your Favourite People Who Died In 1956
Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.
1
Jackson Pollock(American Abstract Expressionist Artist Known for His ‘Drip Technique’ Work)
Birthdate: January 28, 1912
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Cody, Wyoming, United States
Died: August 11
Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollock pioneered the drip technique or action painting, which involved moving his whole body to paint on a horizontal surface. Unfortunately, he struggled with alcoholism and died in a car accident, while drunk driving. He inspired a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography and the 2000 film Pollock.
Birthdate: April 14, 1891
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Madhya Pradesh, India
Died: December 6
India's first Minister of Law and Justice, B. R. Ambedkar inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement. He also fought against social discrimination prevalent in India at that time. Widely regarded as the chief architect of the Constitution of India, Ambedkar was posthumously honored with India's highest civilian award - The Bharat Ratna.
3
A. A. Milne(Best Known for His Books About the Teddy Bear ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ and Children's Poetry)
Birthdate: January 18, 1882
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: London, England
Died: January 31
A. A. Milne was an English author best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh. He joined the British Army as a young man and served in both World War I and World War II. In his career as a writer, he wrote several novels, non-fiction pieces, articles, poems, screenplays, and children’s stories.
4
Bela Lugosi(Best Known for His Role as 'Count Dracula' in the 1939 Film ‘Son of Frankenstein’)
Birthdate: October 20, 1882
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Lugoj, Romania
Died: August 16
Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi is best remembered for his iconic performance as Dracula on Broadway and in the 1931 film of the same name, based on Bram Stoker’s novel. He also appeared in films such as The Black Cat, The Raven, and Son of Frankenstein, along with Boris Karloff.
5
Bertolt Brecht(Theatre Practitioner, Playwright, and Poet Known for His Plays: ‘The Threepenny Opera’ and ‘Life of Galileo’)
Birthdate: February 10, 1898
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Augsburg, Germany
Died: August 14
German playwright, poet, and theater director, Bertolt Brecht, is best known for co-writing the play, The Threepenny Opera, with Kurt Weill. Growing up in war-torn Germany in the early 20th century, he had a difficult life. A hardcore Marxist, he lived in exile during the Nazi period. He returned to Germany after the war and established a theater company.
6
Irène Joliot-Curie(French Physicist, Politician and Winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
Birthdate: September 12, 1897
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: March 17
Marie Curie and Pierre Curie’s daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, herself a brilliant scientist, won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with her husband, Joliot-Curie, for discovering artificial radioactivity. She was also one of the first three female French government members. She tragically died of leukemia caused by exposure to radiation.
7
H. L. Mencken(One of the Greatest and Most Influential American Literary Critic in the 1920s)
Birthdate: September 12, 1880
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Died: January 29
H. L. Mencken was an American journalist, cultural critic, essayist, satirist, and scholar of American English. His reporting on the Scopes Trial earned him national recognition. The trial came to be known as the Scopes Monkey Trial as Mencken had nicknamed it Monkey Trial in accordance with his satirical reporting of the trial.
Birthdate: October 8, 1927
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Portland, Oregon
Died: January 8
American Christian missionary Jim Elliot was one of five people killed during Operation Auca. He is still remembered for his selfless devotion to God and his zeal, tempered by love, to guide people. The Journals of Jim Elliot contains volumes of documents written over many years by Jim Elliot in which the missionary has detailed his mission work.
9
Tommy Dorsey(Trombonist)
Birthdate: November 19, 1905
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: November 26
Birthdate: June 26, 1911
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Port Arthur, Texas, United States
Died: September 27
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who specialized in golf, track and field, basketball, and baseball. Considered one of the greatest female athletes ever, Didrikson won two gold medals and a silver medal in track and field at the Summer Olympics in 1932. She then went on to win 10 LPGA major championships, becoming USA's first female golf celebrity.
11
Alfredo Ferrari(Engineer)
Birthdate: January 19, 1932
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Modena
Died: June 30
Birthdate: November 24, 1877
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Lowes, Kentucky
Died: April 30
13
Connie Mack(Baseball manager)
Birthdate: December 22, 1862
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: East Brookfield, Massachusetts, United States
Died: February 8
Height: 6'1" (185 cm)
14
Art Tatum(American Jazz Pianist)
Birthdate: October 13, 1909
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio, United States
Died: November 5
15
Charles Joughin(Chef)
Birthdate: August 3, 1878
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Birkenhead, England
Died: December 9
English-American chef, Charles Joughin, was the chief baker aboard the RMS Titanic. A survivor of the disaster, he was depicted in two major films about the Titanic. He was also on board the SS Oregon when it sank and served on ships operated by the American Export Lines, as well as on World War II troop transports.
16
William Boeing(American Aviation Pioneer and Founder of ‘The Boeing Company’)
Birthdate: October 1, 1881
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, United States
Died: September 28
Aviation mogul and Boeing founder William Boeing was initially a timber man. While learning to fly from Glenn L. Martin, he bought a plane from him, damaged it, and managed to repair it. Inspired by this, he built his first plane. He was also a horse-breeder and an avid reader.
Birthdate: November 16, 1890
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Vigan City, Philippines
Died: February 29
Elpidio Quirino was a Filipino politician and lawyer. From 1948 to 1953, Quirino served as the president of the Philippines. He was serving as the vice-president when he succeeded the presidency after the sudden death of incumbent President Manuel Roxas. In 2016, a memorial was established in Tokyo, Japan, in his honor.
Birthdate: May 31, 1894
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Died: March 17
19
Ernest Joseph King(Naval Officer)
Birthdate: November 23, 1878
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Lorain, Ohio, United States
Died: June 25
20
Clarence Birdseye(Inventor, Engineer)
Birthdate: December 9, 1886
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died: October 7
21
Alexander Korda(Hungarian-British Film Director, Producer and Screenwriter)
Birthdate: September 16, 1893
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Túrkeve, Hungary
Died: January 23
Hungarian-British filmmaker Sir Alexander Korda initially worked as a journalist and launched film magazines such as Pesti Mozi. He later moved to Hollywood and then to England, where he launched his production company. Known for producing classics such as The Thief of Baghdad, he was the first filmmaker to be knighted.
22
Preston Tucker(Entrepreneur)
Birthdate: September 21, 1903
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Capac, Michigan, United States
Died: December 26
23
Pietro Badoglio(Prime Minister of Italy from 1943 to 1944)
Birthdate: September 28, 1871
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Grazzano Badoglio, Italy
Died: November 1
Initially an artillery officer, Pietro Badoglio served as a general during the two World Wars. He eventually signed an armistice with the Allies to withdraw Italian forces from World War II. He eventually served as the prime minister of Italy and was also the 1st Duke of Addis Abeba.
24
Charles MacArthur(Playwright)
Birthdate: November 5, 1895
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: April 21
25
Hiram Bingham III(American Academic, Explorer and Politician)
Birthdate: November 19, 1875
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Died: June 6
Best known for his research on the Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes, American archaeologist Hiram Bingham III had learned mountaineering from his missionary father. Though not a professional archaeologist, he ventured into exploration after gaining an interest in South America while teaching South American history at Yale.
26
Meghnad Saha(Indian Astrophysicist Who Developed the ‘Saha Ionisation Equation’ and ‘Thermal Ionisation’)
Birthdate: October 6, 1893
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Bangladesh
Died: February 16
Indian astrophysicist Meghnad Saha is best remembered for developing the thermal ionization equation. A grocer’s son, he relied on merit alone to excel in academics and eventually became a professor at the universities of Allahabad and Calcutta. He was also a Lok Sabha MP and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
27
Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein(Writer)
Birthdate: August 12, 1872
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Cumberland Lodge, Old Windsor
Died: December 8
28
Kenji Mizoguchi(Japanese Film Director and Screenwriter Known for His Long Takes and Mise-en-scène)
Birthdate: May 16, 1898
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
Died: August 24
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter best known for his romantic fantasy drama film Ugetsu. He earned much acclaim for his style of filmography and stage design. He developed what became his signature "one-scene-one-shot" approach to cinema and is counted amongst the most acclaimed filmmakers in Japanese and world cinema history.
29
Elisabeth of Romania(Queen Consort of the Hellenes (1922 - 1924) and First Lady of Romania)
Birthdate: October 12, 1894
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Peleş Castle, Sinaia, Kingdom of Romania
Died: November 14
The daughter of Prince Ferdinand, Princess Elisabeth of Romania became the queen of Greece by her marriage to King George II. She later divorced her husband and became the First Lady of Romania following her mother’s death and her brother Carol II’s dethronement. She adopted an artist lover 30 years younger to her.
Birthdate: February 1, 1896
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: San Marcos, Nicaragua
Died: September 29
Anastasio Somoza García was a Nicaraguan leader who served as the president of Nicaragua from 1937 to 1947 and again from 1950 to 1956. Before becoming the president of Nicaragua, Somoza played a major role in ousting the then-President Adolfo Díaz. Somoza is credited with starting the Somoza family, which had absolute control over Nicaragua for more than four decades.
Birthdate: September 2, 1877
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Eastbourne
Died: September 22
32
Alexander Rodchenko(Russian Artist and One of the Founders of 'Constructivism' and Russian Design)
Birthdate: December 5, 1891
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: December 3
Remembered as one of the founders of the avant-garde movement named Russian constructivism, Alexander Rodchenko has experimented with photography, paintings, posters, photomontage, and sculpture. Most of his works have political overtones. He was a prominent member of the October Group and was geared toward making art for the working classes.
33
Sam Langford(One of the Greatest Boxes of All Time)
Birthdate: March 4, 1883
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Weymouth Falls, Canada
Died: January 12
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
34
Juho Kusti Paasikivi(7th President of Finland)
Birthdate: November 27, 1870
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Hämeenkoski, Finland
Died: December 14
The 7th president of Finland, Juho Kusti Paasikivi has also been his country’s prime minister. He had chaired the Senate of Finland, too. He is chiefly remembered for his post-World War II foreign policies. Initially an academician of law, he later turned to banking and insurance management and, eventually, to politics.
35
Marie Laurencin(French Painter and Printmaker Known for Her Delicate Portraits of Elegant, Vaguely Melancholic Women)
Birthdate: October 31, 1883
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: June 8
Marie Laurencin was a French printmaker and painter. An important member of the Cubists within the Groupe de Puteaux, Laurencin was an influential figure in the Parisian avant-garde. Today, her works can be seen at popular museums like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in the USA, the Tate Gallery in the UK, and the State Hermitage Museum in Russia.
36
Robert Hotung(The grand old man of Hong Kong)
Birthdate: December 22, 1862
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
Died: April 26
37
Maud Allan(Canadian Dancer Known for Her 'Dance of the Seven Veils')
Birthdate: August 27, 1873
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Toronto, Canada
Died: October 7
Maud Allan was a Canadian dancer who became known for her Dance of the Seven Veils. She studied piano at the Hochschule für Musik and became a piano teacher. She later abandoned the piano in favor of dance. She was very creative as a dancer and even designed her own costumes. She became a dance teacher in her later years.
38
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia(Military Personnel)
Birthdate: May 14, 1879
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: October 30
39
Harold Bride(Sailor)
Birthdate: January 11, 1890
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Nunhead, London, United Kingdom
Died: April 29
40
Gerald Finzi(Composer, Music educator)
Birthdate: July 14, 1901
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: London
Died: September 27
41
Robert Walser(Writer)
Birthdate: April 15, 1878
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
Died: December 25
42
Jean Hersholt(Danish-American Actor)
Birthdate: July 12, 1886
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark
Died: June 2
43
Michael Ventris(English Architect, Classicist and Philologist)
Birthdate: July 12, 1922
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England
Died: September 6
Apart from being a renowned architect, Michael Ventris was also a skilled cryptographer. He not only deciphered the Minoan Linear B script, but also linked it to the ancient Greek script. As an architect, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Education to design schools. He died in a car crash at 34.
44
Fred Merkle(Baseball manager)
Birthdate: December 20, 1888
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Watertown, Wisconsin, United States
Died: March 2
45
Lewis Terman(Psychologist, University teacher)
Birthdate: January 15, 1877
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Johnson County
Died: December 21
46
Robert Newton(Actor)
Birthdate: June 1, 1905
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Shaftesbury, Dorset, England, UK
Died: March 25
Height: 6'0" (183 cm)
47
Jean Metzinger(Painter)
Birthdate: June 24, 1883
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Nantes, France
Died: November 3
48
Mistinguett(Actress)
Birthdate: April 5, 1873
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Enghien-les-Bains, France
Died: January 5
49
Leo Baeck(German Rabbi, Scholar and Theologian)
Birthdate: May 23, 1873
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Leszno, Poland
Died: November 2
German rabbi and spiritual leader Leo Baeck remains a symbol of liberal Jewish thinking of the Nazi era. He is best remembered for The Essence of Judaism and This People Israel, the latter of which was penned by him while in a Nazi concentration camp.
50
Erich Kleiber(A Remarkable Conductor of Mozart, Beethoven and Richard Strauss and an Advocate of New Music)
Birthdate: August 5, 1890
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Died: January 27
Austrian conductor Erich Kleiber rose to prominence conducting several 20th-century works, particularly compositions made by Mozart, Richard Wagner, Beethoven, and Richard Strauss. Reputed for his interpretations of the classics, Kleiber held important positions in Germany, including as musical director of Berlin State Opera before leaving the country protesting against oppressive policies of the Nazi Party, and settling inBuenos Aires.
