Deaths in 1998

For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992 ...

For later deaths, see Deaths in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 ...

The following is a list of notable deaths in 1998. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.

January

Vladimir Prelog

• January 1 – Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b. 1905)
• January 4 – Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
• January 5 – Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, and politician (b. 1935)
• January 7 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
• January 8 – Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)
• January 9 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• January 11 – Ellis Rabb, American director and actor (b. 1930)
• January 11 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
• January 15 – Junior Wells, American harmonica player (b. 1934)
• January 16 – Emil Sitka, American actor (b. 1914)
• January 16 – Hermann Wedekind, artistic director Festspiele Balver Höhle (b. 1910)
• January 18 – Monica Edwards, British writer (b. 1912)
• January 19 – Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932)
• January 21 – Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
• January 23 – Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (b. 1958)
• January 28 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes" (b. 1938)

February

Ernst Jünger

• February 3 – Karla Faye Tucker, Texas murderer (b. 1959)
• February 6 – Falco, Austrian musician (b. 1957)
• February 6 – Carl Wilson, American musician (b. 1946)
• February 7 – Lawrence Sanders, American author (b. 1920)
• February 7 – Roger Nicholas Angleton, American murderer (b. 1942)
• February 8 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• February 8 – Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
• February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German writer (b. 1895)
• February 18 – Harry Caray, American television and radio broadcaster (b. 1917)
• February 22 – Red Reeder, U.S. Army officer and author (b. 1902)
• February 22 – Abraham Alexander Ribicoff, American Democratic Party politician (b. 1910)
• February 22 – Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (b. 1921)
• February 23 – Raman Lamba, Indian cricketer (b. 1960)
• February 23 – Sean A. Moore, American writer (b. 1965)
• February 24 – Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (b. 1906)
• February 26 – Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• February 27 – George H. Hitchings, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1905)
• February 27 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (b. 1943)
• February 28 – Todd Duncan, American opera singer (b. 1903)
• February 28 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)

March

Lloyd Bridges

Benjamin Spock

• March 2 – Darcy O'Brien, American author (b. 1939)
• March 3 – Fred W. Friendly, American television journalist and executive (b. 1915)
• March 7 – Bernarr Rainbow, historian of music education, organist, and choir master, (b. 1914)
• March 8 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (b. 1936)
• March 10 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (b. 1913)
• March 12 – Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945)
• March 12 – Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (b. 1893)
• March 12 – Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (The Shop on Main Street) (b. 1924)
• March 13 – Bill Reid, Canadian artist (b. 1920)
• March 13 – Risen Star, American racehorse (b. 1985)
• March 15 – Benjamin Spock, American athlete, pediatrician, and author (b. 1903)
• March 16 – Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• March 20 – George Howard, American jazz saxophone musician (b. 1956)
• March 25 – Daniel Massey, English actor (b. 1933)
• March 27 – Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian auto designer and businessman (b. 1909)
• March 31 – Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)

April

• April 1 – Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1920)
• April 1 – Rozz Williams, American singer (b. 1963)
• April 2 – Rob Pilatus, member of the pop group Milli Vanilli (b. 1965)
• April 3 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
• April 5 – Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (b. 1947)
• April 6 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer (b. 1949)
• April 6 – Tammy Wynette, American singer (b. 1942)
• April 11 – Rodney Harvey, American actor and model (b. 1967)
• April 13 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (b. 1960)
• April 15 – Rose Maddox, American singer (b. 1925)
• April 15 – Pol Pot, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader (b. 1925)
• April 16 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, oldest living person at the time of her death (b. 1880)
• April 16 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
• April 17 – Linda McCartney, American photographer and musician (b. 1941)
• April 17 – Muhammad Metwally Al Shaarawy, Egyptian Muslim jurist (b. 1911)
• April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
• April 21 – Peter Lind Hayes, American entertainer (b. 1915)
• April 21 – Irene Vernon, American actress (b. 1922)
• April 22 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (b. 1940)
• April 23 – Constantine Karamanlis, Greek politician (b. 1907)
• April 23 – James Earl Ray, American assassin (b. 1928)
• April 25 – Wright Morris, American photographer and writer (b. 1910)
• April 26 – Joan Mary Wayne Brown, British author who the pseudonyms Mary Gervaise, Hilary Wayne and Bellamy Brown (b. 1906)

• April 27 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
• April 27 – Pauline Réage, French writer (b. 1907)

May

Frank Sinatra

Barry Goldwater

• May 1 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)
• May 2 – Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
• May 2 – Justin Fashanu, British footballer (b. 1961)
• May 2 – hide, Japanese musician (b. 1964)
• May 2 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
• May 7 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African–born physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1924)
• May 7 – Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
• May 9 – Alice Faye, American entertainer (b. 1915)
• May 14 – Frank Sinatra, American entertainer (b. 1915)
• May 14 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (b. 1890)
• May 15 – Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
• May 19 – Sosuke Uno, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1922)
• May 22 – John Derek, American actor and film director (b. 1926)
• May 22 – José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)
• May 28 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-born artist, writer, actor, and comedian (b. 1948)
• May 29 – Barry Goldwater, American politician (b. 1909)

June

Maureen O'Sullivan

• June 1 – Darwin Joston, American actor (b. 1937)
• June 2 – Junkyard Dog, American pro wrestler (b. 1952)
• June 2 – Dorothy Stickney, American actress (b. 1896)
• June 3 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (b. 1922)
• June 5 – Jeanette Nolan, American actress (b. 1911)
• June 8 – President Sani Abacha of Nigeria (b. 1943)
• June 8 – Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (b. 1929)
• June 10 – Hammond Innes, English author (b. 1914)
• June 11 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906)
• June 12 – Theresa Merritt, American actress (b. 1924)
• June 13 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (b. 1911)
• June 20 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942)
• June 22 – Benny Green, British writer, radio broadcaster and saxophonist (b. 1927)
• June 23 – Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
• June 25 – Lounès Matoub, Berber Kabyle singer (b. 1956)

July

Alan Shepard

• July 3 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
• July 5 – Sid Luckman, American football player (b. 1916)
• July 6 – Roy Rogers, American singer and actor (b. 1911)
• July 17 – Marc Hunter, 44, New Zealand lead vocalist of rock band Dragon (b. 1953)
• July 17 – Joseph Maher, Irish actor (b. 1933)
• July 19 – Elmer Valo, Slovak Major League Baseball player (b. 1921)
• July 20 – Anatoliy Betekhtin, Russian army general (b. 1931) [1]
• July 21 – Alan Shepard, American astronaut (b. 1923)
• July 21 – Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
• July 22 – Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (b. 1929)
• July 27 – Binnie Barnes, English actress (b. 1903)
• July 25 – John Kay, Coach Driver (b. 1938)
• July 29 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer and director (b. 1918)
• July 30 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American children's television host (b. 1917)
• July 30 – Jorge Russek, Mexican actor (b. 1932)

August

Todor Zivkov

• August 1 – Eva Bartók, Hungarian actress (b. 1927)
• August 2 – Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (b. 1933)
• August 3 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian-born composer (b. 1934)
• August 4 – Yuri Artyukhin, cosmonaut (b. 1930)
• August 5 – Todor Zivkov, former president of Bulgaria (b. 1911)
• August 6 – André Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)
• August 9 – Frankie Ruiz, Puerto Rican singer (b. 1958)
• August 13 – Julien Green, French-born American writer (b. 1900)
• August 24 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1914)
• August 25 – Lewis F. Powell, Jr., American Justice of the Supreme Court (b. 1907)
• August 26 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)

September

George Wallace

Betty Carter

• September 1 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer (b. 1921)
• September 2 – Jackie Blanchflower, Irish footballer (b. 1933)
• September 2 – Allen Drury, American writer (b. 1918)
• September 5 – Fernando Balzaretti, Mexican actor (b. 1946)
• September 5 – Leo Penn, American actor and director (b. 1921)
• September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
• September 8 – Leonid Kinskey, Russian-born actor (b. 1903)
• September 9 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (b. 1943)
• September 10 – Carl Forgione, British actor (b. 1944)
• September 11 – Dane Clark, American actor (b. 1912)
• September 13 – George Wallace, American politician (b. 1919)
• September 14 – Johnny Adams, American musician (b. 1932)
• September 14 – Yang Shangkun, former President of the People's Republic of China (b. 1907)
• September 17 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor (b. 1907)
• September 20 – Muriel Humphrey, Wife of Vice President Hubert Humphrey (b. 1912)
• September 21 – Florence "Flo-Jo" Griffith-Joyner, American runner (b. 1959)
• September 23 – Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
• September 24 –Sirdar Shaukat Hyat Khan, Pakistani Politician, involved in the freedom struggle for Pakistan as an important ally of Founding Father M.A.Jinnah. (b.1915)
• September 26 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer (b. 1929)
• September 27 – Narita Bryan, Japanese racehorse (b. 1991)
• September 30 – Dan Quisenberry, baseball player (b. 1953)
• September 30 – Bruno Munari, Italian-born industrial designer (b. 1907)
• September 30 – Pavel Štěpán, Czech pianist (b. 1925)
• September 30 – Robert Lewis Taylor, American author (b. 1912)

October

Roddy McDowall

• October 2 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and sports team owner (b. 1907)
• October 2 – Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver (b. 1924)
• October 3 – Roddy McDowall, British actor (b. 1928)
• October 6 – Mark Belanger, American baseball player (b. 1944)
• October 8 – Zhang Chongren, Chinese artist (b. 1907)
• October 9 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer (b. 1917)
• October 10 – Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957)
• October 11 – Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
• October 12 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
• October 13 – General Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff (b. 1932)
• October 14 – Frankie Yankovic, American musician (b. 1916)
• October 16 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943)
• October 17 – Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
• October 17 – Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920)
• October 22 – Eric Ambler, British writer (b. 1909)
• October 28 – Ghulam Ahmed, Indian former cricket captain (b. 1922)
• October 28 – James Goldman, American writer (b. 1927)
• October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet (b. 1930)

November

Jean Marais

• November 3 – Bob Kane, American comic book creator (b. 1915)
• November 8 – Jean Marais, French actor (b. 1913)
• November 10 – Hal Newhouser, baseball player (b. 1921)
• November 10 – Mary Millar, British actress (b. 1936)
• November 13 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (b. 1917)
• November 13 – Michel Trudeau, Canadian outdoorsman, son of Pierre Trudeau (b. 1975)
• November 13 – Doug Wright, English cricketer (b. 1914)
• November 17 – Kenneth McDuff, American serial killer (b. 1946)
• November 17 – Esther Rolle, American actress (b. 1920)
• November 19 – Alan J. Pakula, American film director (b. 1928)
• November 22 – Stu Unger, professional poker player (b. 1953)
• November 25 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
• November 28 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American counterculture figure and writer (b. 1938)
• November 29 – Martin Ruane, British wrestler best known as Giant Haystacks and later, The Loch Ness Monster (b. 1947)
• November 29 – Frank Latimore, American actor (b. 1925)

December

Martin Rodbell

• December 1 – Freddie Young, British cinematographer (b. 1902)
• December 2 – Mikio Oda, Japanese athlete (b. 1905)
• December 2 – Brian Stonehouse, English painter and World War II secret agent (b. 1918)
• December 6 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor (b. 1921)
• December 7 – Michael Craze, British actor (b. 1942)
• December 7 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1925)
• December 11 – Lynn Strait, vocalist for band Snot (b. 1968)
• December 12 – Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (b. 1930)
• December 13 – Lew Grade, British impresario (b. 1906)
• December 14 – Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924)
• December 14 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1924)
• December 16 – William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)
• December 17 – Claudia Benton, Peruvian-born child psychologist (b. 1959)
• December 18 – Lev Demin, cosmonaut (b. 1926)
• December 20 – Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
• December 20 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1914)
• December 21 – Roger Avon, British actor (b. 1914)
• December 22 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
• December 23 – David Manners, Canadian-American actor (b. 1900)
• December 25 – John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1923)
• December 26 – Hurd Hatfield, American actor (b. 1917)
• December 28 – Robert Rosen, American biologist (b. 1934)
• December 30 – Keisuke Kinoshita, Japanese film director (b. 1912)
• December 30 – George Webb, British actor (b. 1911)