Deaths in 2020  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Current revision

La Calavera Catrina (before 1913) by José Guadalupe Posada

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• Louis Vax, French academic, connoisseur of fantastic art and literature.
• Joan Micklin Silver, 85, American film director (Hester Street, Crossing Delancey, Between the Lines).
• MF Doom, 49, British rapper, songwriter and record producer.
• Robert Hossein, 93, French film director (Les Misérables, actor (Angélique, Marquise des Anges) and writer.
• Pierre Cardin, 98, French-Italian fashion designer.
• Stanley Cowell, 79, American jazz pianist, co-founder of Strata-East Records.
• John le Carré, 89, British author, (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold), pneumonia.
• Kim Ki-duk, 59, South Korean film director (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring).
• Richard Corben, 80, American illustrator and comic book artist, complications from heart surgery.
• Harold Budd, 84, American avant-garde composer and poet.
• Howard Wales, 77, American keyboardist.
• François Leterrier, 91, French film director (Goodbye Emmanuelle, Slices of Life) and actor (A Man Escaped).
• Jutta Lampe, 82, German actress (Marianne and Juliane).
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 94, President of France (1974–1981).
• Diego Maradona, 60, footballer.
• Jan Morris, 94, Welsh historian and travel writer.
• Michel Robin, 90, French actor (Don't Deliver Us from Evil,The Invitation, Amélie).
• Nelly Kaplan, 89, French film director (A Very Curious Girl) and screenwriter.
• John Fraser, 89, Scottish actor (The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Repulsion).
• Cándido Camero, 99, Cuban percussionist (Dancin' & Prancin').
• Piero Simondo, 92, Italian artist.
• Fernando Solanas, 84, Argentine film director (The Hour of the Furnaces).
• Betty Dodson, 91, American sex educator.
• Robert Fisk, 74, English writer and journalist (The Independent), suspected stroke.
• Sir Sean Connery, 90, Scottish actor (Dr. No, The Untouchables, Zardoz).
• Diane di Prima, 86, American Beat poet.
• Jerry Jeff Walker, 78, American singer-songwriter ("Mr. Bojangles").
• Frank Horvat, 92, Croatian-French photographer.
• José Padilla, 64, Spanish DJ and producer.
• Alex Varenne, 81, French comic book artist and writer.
• Spencer Davis, 81, Welsh musician (The Spencer Davis Group).
• Enzo Mari, 88, Italian designer (Box Chair).
• Bunny Lee, 79, Jamaican reggae producer.
• Johnny Nash, 80, American singer-songwriter ("I Can See Clearly Now").
• Eddie Van Halen, 65, Dutch-American musician (Van Halen) and songwriter ("Beat It" (guitar solo), "Jump").
• Thomas Jefferson Byrd, 70, American actor (Clockers, Bulworth, Ray), shot.
• Kenzō Takada, 81, Japanese-French fashion designer and painter, founder of Kenzo, COVID-19.
• Quino, 88, Argentine cartoonist (Mafalda).
• Juliette Gréco, 93, French actress and singer ("La Javanaise").
• Michael Lonsdale, 89, French actor (Hibernatus, The Day of the Jackal, Moonraker).
• Winston Groom, 77, American novelist (Forrest Gump).
• Roy C, 81, American southern soul singer-songwriter ("Impeach the President").
• Toots Hibbert, 77, Jamaican singer (Toots and the Maytals) and songwriter ("54-46 That's My Number", "Pressure Drop").
• Shere Hite, 77, American-born German feminist.
• Dame Diana Rigg, 82, English actress (The Avengers, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Game of Thrones).
• Simeon Coxe, 82, American musician (Silver Apples).
• Ronald Bell, 68, American saxophonist (Kool & the Gang) and songwriter ("Ladies' Night", "Celebration").
• Cini Boeri, 96, Italian architect and designer.
• Gary Peacock, 85, American jazz double-bassist.
• Jiří Menzel, 82, Czech director, actor and screenwriter.
• David Graeber, 59, American anthropologist and author (Bullshit Jobs, Debt: The First 5000 Years, The Utopia of Rules).
• Stuart Christie, 74, Scottish anarchist and writer.
• Hal Singer, 100, American saxophonist.
• Edmond Kiraz, 96, French-Armenian cartoonist and illustrator.
• Trini Lopez, 83, American singer ("If I Had a Hammer").
• Salome Bey, 80, American-born Canadian singer.
• Bernard Stiegler, 68, French philosopher (Technics and Time, 1).
• Sir Alan Parker, 76, English film director (Midnight Express, Pink Floyd – The Wall, Mississippi Burning).
• CP Lee, 70, English musician (Gerry and the Holograms).
• Dame Olivia de Havilland, 104, French-British-American actress (Gone with the Wind, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte).
• Peter Green, 73, English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Fleetwood Mac, composer of Albatross").
• Dobby Dobson, 78, Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.
• Brigid Berlin, 80, American artist and Warhol superstar.
• Zizi Jeanmaire, 96, French ballet dancer.
• J. J. Lionel, 72, Belgian musician ("La danse des canards").
• Kevin Rafferty, 73, American film director (The Atomic Cafe).
• Esparbec, 79–80, French pornographic author.
• Ennio Morricone, 91, Italian film composer ("Man with a Harmonica" and the theme to "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly").
• Carl Reiner, 98, American actor, film director and writer (The Jerk, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man with Two Brains).
• Johnny Mandel, 94, American composer ("Suicide Is Painless").
• Milton Glaser, 91, American graphic designer, creator of the I ❤ NY slogan.
• Joel Schumacher, 80, American film director (Phone Booth, 8mm).
• Zeev Sternhell, 85, Polish-born Israeli historian and political scientist (The Birth of Fascist Ideology).
• Carlos Ruiz Zafón, 55, Spanish novelist (The Shadow of the Wind).
• Dame Vera Lynn, 103, British singer ("We'll Meet Again", "It Hurts to Say Goodbye").
• Jean Raspail, 94, French author (The Camp of the Saints).
• Marion Hänsel, 71, French-born Belgian film director and screenwriter (Dust).
• Bruce Jay Friedman, 90, American author and screenwriter (Black Humor: Anthology).
• Christo, 84, Bulgarian-born American artist (Valley Curtain).
• Irm Hermann, 77, German actress (Katzelmacher, The Merchant of Four Seasons, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant).
• Mory Kanté, 70, Guinean singer and kora player ("Yé ké yé ké").
• Michel Piccoli, 94, French actor (Contempt, La Grande Bouffe, Themroc).
• Monique Mercure, 89, Canadian actress (Naked Lunch), cancer.
• Betty Wright, 66, American soul and R&B singer ("Clean Up Woman"), cancer.
• Little Richard, 87, American composer and singer ("Tutti Frutti").
• Richard Sala, 61, American cartoonist.
• Michael McClure, 87, American poet and writer, complications from a stroke.
• Jean Erdman, 104, American dancer and choreographer.
• Sweet Pea Atkinson, 74, American singer (Was (Not Was)), heart attack.
• Florian Schneider, 73, German electronic musician (Kraftwerk), cancer.
• Millie Small, 73, Jamaican singer ("My Boy Lollipop"), stroke.
• Aldir Blanc, 73, Brazilian songwriter.
• Dave Greenfield, 71, English keyboardist (The Stranglers).
• Tony Allen, 79, Nigerian drummer (Never Expect Power Always).
• Maj Sjöwall, 84, Swedish author (Martin Beck).
• Germano Celant, 80, Italian art historian, curator and critic.
• Per Olov Enquist, 85, Swedish author (The Book about Blanche and Marie).
• Hamilton Bohannon, 78, American percussionist, songwriter and record producer ("Let's Start the Dance").
• Shirley Knight, 83, American actress (Dutchman).
• Philippe Nahon, 81, French actor (High Tension, I Stand Alone, Calvaire).
• Henry Grimes, 84, American jazz musician.
• Giuseppi Logan, 84, American jazz musician.
• Christophe, 74, French singer-songwriter ("Aline").
• Eddie Cooley, 87, American songwriter ("Fever").
• Lee Konitz, 92, American jazz composer and alto saxophonist.
• Ryo Kawasaki, 73, Japanese jazz fusion guitarist and composer.
• Andy González, 69, American jazz and Latin dance bassist.
• André Stordeur, 79, Belgian electronic musician.
• Onaje Allan Gumbs, 70, American pianist.
• Hal Willner, 64, American music producer (Dead City Radio)
• Allen Garfield, 80, American actor (Greetings, Hi Mom! and The Conversation).
• Honor Blackman, 94, English actress (The Cat and the Canary) and singer .
• Patrick Gibson, French drummer (Gibson Brothers).
• Pentti Linkola, 87, Finnish deep ecologist and writer (Can Life Prevail?).
• Vaughan Mason, 69, American music producer ("Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll", "Break 4 Love").
• Sergio Rossi, 84, Italian shoe designer (Sergio Rossi).
• Bill Withers, 81, American singer-songwriter ("Lean on Me", "Use Me", "Ain't No Sunshine").
• Juan Giménez, 76, Argentine comic book artist (Heavy Metal, Métal hurlant).
• Cristina, 61, American singer (Disco Clone").
• Krzysztof Penderecki, 86, Polish composer (Polymorphia) and conductor.
• Liesbeth List, 78, Dutch singer, actress and television personality.
• Bob Andy, 75, Jamaican singer and songwriter ("Feel Like Jumping", "Life").
• Stuart Gordon, 72, American film director (Re-Animator).
• Manu Dibango, 86, Cameroonian saxophonist ("Soul Makossa").
• Mike Longo, 83, American jazz pianist ("Like a Thief In the Night").
• Lucia Bosè, 89, Italian actress (Toute la mémoire du monde).
• Alfio Contini, 91, Italian cinematographer (Zabriskie Point, The Night Porter, Ripley's Game).
• Eric Weissberg, 80, American folk musician ("Dueling Banjos").
• Gabi Delgado-López, 61, Spanish-born German musician ("Der Mussolini").
• Giovanni Romanini, 74, Italian comics artist and cartoonist (Satanik, Diabolik, Alan Ford).
• Kenny Rogers, 81, ("Just Dropped In", "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town"), songwriter and actor.
• Victor Olaiya, 89, Nigerian musician (Mofe Muyan).
• Suzy Delair, 102, French actress (Atoll K)
• Vittorio Gregotti, 92, Italian architect.
• Genesis P-Orridge, 70, English musician (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, "United/Zyklon B Zombie", 20 Jazz Funk Greats).
• René Follet, 88, Belgian illustrator, comics writer and artist.
• Tonie Marshall, 68, French actress (A Slightly Pregnant Man) and film director (Venus Beauty Institute, The Missionaries).
• Charles Wuorinen, 81, American composer.
• Mal Sharpe, 83, American television and radio personality, complications from heart surgery.
• Max von Sydow, 90, Swedish-born French actor (The Seventh Seal, Death Watch).
• McCoy Tyner, 81, American jazz pianist (Trident).
• Ulay, 76, German performance artist.
• Freeman Dyson, 96, British-born American physicist and mathematician.
• Clive Cussler, 88, American adventure novelist.
• David Roback, 61, American guitarist and songwriter ("Fade into You") .
• José Mojica Marins, 83, Brazilian film director ("Coffin Joe").
• Flavio Bucci, 72, Italian actor (Closed Circuit).
• Andrew Weatherall, 56, British music producer (Screamadelica), disc jockey and musician (The Sabres of Paradise, Two Lone Swordsmen).
• Lyle Mays, 66, American jazz pianist and composer (Pat Metheny Group).
• Claire Bretécher, 79, French cartoonist, co-founder of L'Écho des savanes.
• Pierre Guyotat, 80, French writer (Eden, Eden, Eden).
• Dyanne Thorne, 83, American actress (Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS)
• Kirk Douglas, 103, American actor (Spartacus).
• George Steiner, 90, French-American literary critic and essayist ("Night Words", In Bluebeard's Castle).
• Harold Beane, 73, American guitarist (Isaac Hayes, Funkadelic).
• Toni Smith, American R&B singer ("Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)").
• Andy Gill, 64, English post-punk guitarist (Gang of Four) and record producer.
• Monique van Vooren, 92, Belgian-born American actress (Flesh for Frankenstein).
• Sonny Grosso, 89, German-born American police detective, actor and television producer (The French Connection).
• Jimmy Heath, 93, American jazz saxophonist (Heath Brothers).
• Joe Shishido, 86, Japanese actor (Youth of the Beast, Branded to Kill, A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness).
• Adolfo Natalini, 78, Italian architect (Superstudio).
• Terry Jones, 77, Welsh comic actor, screenwriter and film director (Monty Python).
• John Karlen, 86, American actor (Daughters of Darkness).
• Steve Martin Caro, 71, American singer ( "Walk Away Renée" and "Pretty Ballerina").
• Roger Scruton, 75, British philosopher and author (Sexual Desire, How to Be a Conservative).
• Ivan Passer, 86, Czech film director (Born to Win, Cutter's Way, Silver Bears) and screenwriter.
• Buck Henry, 89, American actor (Eating Raoul), screenwriter (The Graduate, Catch-22, Candy) and director (Heaven Can Wait).
• Neda Arnerić, 66, Serbian actress (Shaft in Africa, Venom, The End of the War).
• Wolfgang Dauner, 84, German jazz fusion pianist (The Oimels).
• Rene Daalder, 75, Dutch director (Massacre at Central High)
• Elizabeth Wurtzel, 52, American author (Prozac Nation).
• John Baldessari, 88, American conceptual artist (Painting for Kubler).

See also

• Lists of deaths by year