Dead People Server
Celebrities and Notable People Who Died in the Year 1979
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1978 * * 1980
January
Jack Soo (actor) -- Dead. Cancer. Died January 11, 1979. Born October 28, 1917. Barney Miller. IMDb FindAGrave
Ted Cassidy
(actor) -- Dead. During open heart surgery Died January 16, 1979. Born July 31, 1932. The Addams Family.
IMDb
Nelson Rockefeller (politician) -- Dead. Heart attack ("allegedly" while visiting a much younger woman...). Died January 26, 1979. Born July 8, 1908. Vice President under Ford, a governor of New York.
February
Sid Vicious (punk musician/murderer) -- Dead. Drugs (heroin overdose). Died February 2, 1979. Born May 10, 1957. Murdered his equally drugged-out girlfriend, then died during her trial. IMDb
Mr. Ed (TV animal) -- Dead. Died February 28, 1979. Born 1956.
March
Emmett Kelly, Sr.
(clown) -- Dead. Died March 28, 1979. Born December 9, 1898. Weary Willie, one of the most recognizable clowns of this century.
April
Edgar Buchanan (actor) -- Dead. Old age. Died April 4, 1979. Born March 20, 1903. Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction. IMDb
May
Lester Flatt (country musician) -- Dead. Died May 11, 1979. Born January 19, 1914. Flatt and Scruggs. IMDb
Mary Pickford (actress/studio founder) -- Dead. Cerebral hemmorrhage. Died May 29, 1979. Born April 8, 1892. Married to Buddy Rogers. IMDb
June
Jim Hutton (actor) -- Dead. Liver cancer. Died June 2, 1979. Born May 31, 1934. Timothy Hutton's father. IMDb
Jack Haley (actor) -- Dead. Cancer. Died June 6, 1979. Born August 10, 1899. Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. IMDb FindAGrave
John Wayne (actor) -- Dead. Cancer. Died June 11, 1979. Born May 26, 1907. Duke, the archtypical Western actor, won an Oscar for True Grit. IMDb FindAGrave
July
Arthur Fiedler
(conductor/fire helmet collector) -- Dead. Died July 10, 1979. Born December 17, 1894. Colorful conductor of the Boston Pops for 50 years.
IMDb
FindAGrave
Minnie Riperton
(singer) -- Dead. Breast cancer. Died July 12, 1979. Born November 8, 1947. Singer with an amazing five-octave range; "Lovin' You", mother of SNL's Maya Rudolph (childhood friend of Gwyneth Paltrow).
IMDb
August
Vivian Vance (comic sidekick) -- Dead. Cancer. Died August 17, 1979. Born July 26, 1909. Lucy's sidekick Ethel in I Love Lucy. IMDb FindAGrave
Sally Rand (fan dancer, actress) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died August 31, 1979. Born April 3, 1903. Not really a stripper, but...from the same part of the world as Robert A. Heinlein. IMDb
September
Jean Seberg
(actress) -- Dead. Suicide. Died September 8, 1979. Born November 13, 1938. Controversial American actress who was more at home in French movies; hounded by FBI due to her Black Panther support.
IMDb
October
Dorothy Arzner
(director, professor) -- Dead. Died October
1, 1979. Born January 3, 1897.
First
female American director who was a member of the Director's Guild, directed Clara Bow in The Wild
Party (for which she developed the first boom mike), Katharine
Hepburn in Christopher Strong and Rosalind Russell in
Craig's Wife, later went on to teach; Francis Ford
Coppola was one of her students.
IMDb
FindAGrave
Emmaline Henry (actress) -- Dead. Alzheimer's (cancer?). Died October 8, 1979. Born November 1, 1930. Amanda Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie. IMDb
Celia Lovsky
(actress) -- Dead. Died October 12, 1979. Born February 21, 1897. Remembered as the Vulcan elder in the famous "Amok Time" episode of Star Trek, married to Peter Lorre for 11 years.
IMDb
FindAGrave
November
Merle Oberon (actress) -- Dead. Died November 23, 1979. Born February 19, 1911. IMDb
Zeppo Marx
(comic) -- Dead. Cancer. Died November 30, 1979. Born February 25, 1901. The Marx Brothers straight man who retired early and went to invent medical devices, his second wife Barbara later married Frank Sinatra.
IBDB
IMDb
FindAGrave
December
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
(astronomer, author) -- Dead. Died December
7, 1979. Born May 10, 1900. First person to figure out what the universe was really made of, eventually became the first female tenured professor at Harvard University.
Obituary
Darryl F. Zanuck (movie mogul) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died December 22, 1979. Born September 5, 1902. Produced The Longest Day, The King and I and Lifeboat. IMDb FindAGrave
Joan Blondell
(actress) -- Dead. Leukemia. Died December 25, 1979. Born August 30, 1906. In many movies in the '30s, like The Public Enemy, and starred in the '60s TV show Here Comes the Brides, an ex-wife of Michael Todd.
Wikipedia
IBDB
IMDb
FindAGrave
Richard Rodgers
(composer) -- Dead. Died December 30, 1979. Born June 28, 1902. Collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein on South Pacific, The Sound of Music and many others.
IMDb