Aged 88
Famous people who died at 88
216 of the 11,867 best-known people in our data died aged 88, including Charlie Chaplin, Michelangelo and Pope Francis. Here are the 100 best known.
- Charlie ChaplinEnglish actor and filmmaker · 1889–1977
- MichelangeloItalian artist and architect · 1475–1564
- Pope Francis266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 · 1936–2025
- Harry S. TrumanPresident of the United States from 1945 to 1953; politician · 1884–1972
- Akira KurosawaJapanese filmmaker · 1910–1998
- Katsushika HokusaiJapanese artist · 1760–1849
- Igor StravinskyRussian, French, and American composer · 1882–1971
- Bhumibol AdulyadejFormer King of Thailand · 1927–2016
- Alain DelonFrench actor · 1935–2024
- Edmund HillaryNew Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist · 1919–2008
- Toni MorrisonAfrican American novelist, essayist, and academic · 1931–2019
- Robert FrostAmerican poet · 1874–1963
- Wisława SzymborskaPolish poet, Nobel Prize winner · 1923–2012
- EpictetusGreek Stoic philosopher · c. AD 50–138
- Ursula K. Le GuinAmerican fantasy and science fiction author · 1929–2018
- Jean-Paul BelmondoFrench actor · 1933–2021
- Alessandro ManzoniItalian writer and poet · 1785–1873
- Kenzaburō ŌeJapanese writer and Nobel Laureate · 1935–2023
- Fred AstaireAmerican dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer · 1899–1987
- Georges ClemenceauPrime Minister of France, 1906–1909 and 1917–1920 · 1841–1929
- William Ewart GladstoneBritish Liberal prime minister · 1809–1898
- Donald SutherlandCanadian actor · 1935–2024
- Francis CrickBritish molecular biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist; co-discoverer of the structure of DNA · 1916–2004
- AurangzebThe sixth Mughal Emperor from 1658 to 1707 · 1618–1707
- Steven WeinbergAmerican theoretical physicist · 1933–2021
- Henry MillerAmerican novelist · 1891–1980
- Saint-John PerseFrench poet and diplomat · 1887–1975
- Wilhelm WundtGerman physician, physiologist, philosopher and professor · 1832–1920
- Alfredo Di StéfanoArgentine-Spanish association football player · 1926–2014
- Donald RumsfeldAmerican politician and diplomat · 1932–2021
- Kurt WaldheimAustrian politician and diplomat · 1918–2007
- Gustav Ludwig HertzGerman physicist · 1887–1975
- Ismail KadareAlbanian writer · 1936–2024
- Leonid KravchukUkrainian politician, 1st President of Ukraine · 1934–2022
- Bernard MontgomeryBritish Army officer · 1887–1976
- George SantayanaSpanish-American philosopher · 1863–1952
- Boris SpasskyRussian chess player · 1937–2025
- Alexei AbrikosovSoviet, Russian and American theoretical physicist · 1928–2017
- Zhores AlferovSoviet-Russian physicist · 1930–2019
- Robert BunsenGerman chemist · 1811–1899
- Isaiah BerlinRusso-British-Latvian Jewish social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas · 1909–1997
- Jorge AmadoBrazilian writer · 1912–2001
- Gunnar MyrdalSwedish economist · 1898–1987
- Douglas EngelbartAmerican engineer and inventor · 1925–2013
- Francis GaltonBritish eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist · 1822–1911
- Kliment VoroshilovSoviet marshal and politician · 1881–1969
- Vera RubinAmerican astronomer and physicist · 1928–2016
- Henry MooreEnglish sculptor · 1898–1986
- Louise FletcherAmerican actress · 1934–2022
- Miklós HorthyRegent of Hungary from 1920 to 1944 · 1868–1957
- Samuel HahnemannGerman physician known for creating homeopathy · 1755–1843
- Bill RussellAmerican basketball player · 1934–2022
- John Robert SchriefferAmerican physicist · 1931–2019
- Abolhassan Banisadr ↗Iranian politician and economist, and Iran's first President · 1933–2021
- Marvin Minsky ↗American cognitive scientist · 1927–2016
- Richard E. Taylor ↗Canadian physicist · 1929–2018
- Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès ↗French priest and statesman · 1748–1836
- Kris Kristofferson ↗American country singer, songwriter and actor · 1936–2024
- Richard Owen ↗English biologist and paleontologist · 1804–1892
- Geiseric ↗King of the Vandals and Alans · c. AD 389–477
- Abdul Qadir Gilani ↗Sunni Muslim preacher, mystic and jurist · c. 1078–1166
- Edward Albee ↗American playwright · 1928–2016
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny ↗First President of Ivory Coast, from 1960 to 1993 · 1905–1993
- John the Evangelist ↗Author of the Gospel of John; traditionally identified with John the Apostle of Jesus, John of Patmos (author of Revelation), and John the Presbyter · c. AD 10–98
- Anastasius I ↗Byzantine Emperor from 491 to 518 · c. AD 430–518
- Severo Ochoa ↗Spanish physician · 1905–1993
- William Randolph Hearst ↗American newspaper publisher · 1863–1951
- Ernst Otto Fischer ↗German chemist · 1918–2007
- Jack Brabham ↗Australian racing driver · 1926–2014
- Omar Bradley ↗United States Army general · 1893–1981
- Soong Ching-ling ↗Former Vice President of the People's Republic of China and third wife of Sun Yat-sen · 1893–1981
- Ian Holm ↗British actor · 1931–2020
- Robert Curl ↗American chemist · 1933–2022
- Robert Robinson ↗English chemist · 1886–1975
- Irwin Rose ↗American biologist · 1926–2015
- John Franklin Enders ↗American medical researcher · 1897–1985
- Konrad Emil Bloch ↗German American biochemist · 1912–2000
- Stanisław Leszczyński ↗King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania · 1677–1766
- Emil Nolde ↗German artist · 1867–1956
- Alfred Hershey ↗American chemist · 1908–1997
- Antoine Laurent de Jussieu ↗French botanist · 1748–1836
- Blake Edwards ↗American film director, screenwriter and producer · 1922–2010
- James Meade ↗British economist · 1907–1995
- Otto Loewi ↗Jewish-German pharmacologist · 1873–1961
- Robert Mundell ↗Canadian economist · 1932–2021
- Roh Tae-woo ↗President of South Korea from 1988 to 1993 · 1932–2021
- Sabiha Gökçen ↗First Turkish female combat pilot · 1913–2001
- Cliff Robertson ↗American actor · 1923–2011
- Georgiy Daneliya ↗Soviet film director and screenwriter · 1930–2019
- Ian Douglas Smith ↗Prime Minister of Rhodesia · 1919–2007
- João Gilberto ↗Brazilian musician, pioneer of bossa nova · 1931–2019
- John Venn ↗British logician and philosopher · 1834–1923
- Marie Tussaud ↗French artist · 1761–1850
- Sándor Márai ↗Hungarian writer · 1900–1989
- Sune Bergström ↗Swedish biochemist · 1916–2004
- Victoria Woodhull ↗American suffragist, editor · 1838–1927
- Roberta Flack ↗American singer · 1937–2025
- Muriel Spark ↗Scottish novelist and writer · 1918–2006
- Ruth Gordon ↗American actress and writer · 1896–1985
- Władysław Szpilman ↗(1911-2000) Polish pianist, composer, Holocaust survivor · 1911–2000
"c." means only the years are known, so the age could be a year out. Dates are from Wikidata (CC0), last updated 22 October 2026.
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