Notable deaths in 2020
PARIS: From legendary actors Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery to matriarch of the US Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsberg, here are some of the notable deaths of 2020.
January
Oman’s Sultan Qaboos, who transformed the former Arabian Peninsula backwater into a modern state and the Gulf’s discreet mediator, dies aged 79.
26: US basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, dies in a horrific helicopter crash northwest of Los Angeles that also claimed the lives of his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people.
February
5: One of the last stars of Hollywood’s golden age, Kirk Douglas, dies at his home in Beverly Hills aged 103.
25: Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, who was swept from power by the Arab Spring in 2010, dies in a military hospital aged 91.
March
8: “Exorcist” star Max Von Sydow, who also featured in films by his Swedish compatriot Ingmar Bergman dies in France aged 90.
April
29: Bollywood star Irrfan Khan, known for his roles in blockbusters “Life of Pi” and “Slumdog Millionaire”, dies from cancer in a Mumbai hospital aged 53.
May
9: Little Richard, known for outrageous showmanship and lightning-fast rhythms dies aged 87 after battling cancer. Hits include “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally”.
31: Artist Christo (Christo Vladimiroff Javacheff) who wrapped landmarks such as Berlin’s Reichstag and the Pont Neuf in Paris dies aged 84.
June
8: Burundi’s former president Pierre Nkurunziza, who ruled the country from 2005 to 2020, dies from a heart attack aged 55.
July
6: Italian maestro Ennio Morricone, Oscar-winning composer of film scores for Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, dies in Rome aged 91.
8: The sudden death from a heart attack of Ivory Coast’s Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, 61, plunges the country into political turmoil.
26: Oscar-winning actress Olivia de Havilland, star of “Gone With the Wind”, dies at her home in Paris aged 104.
August
24: Former Congolese president Pascal Lissouba, who won his country’s first multi-party presidential elections, dies in France aged 88.
28: Actor Chadwich Boseman, who played Black Panther in the Marvel movies, dies of cancer aged 43.
September
2: Chief torturer behind Cambodia’s genocidal Khmer Rouge, Kaing Guek Eav, 77, better known by his alias Duch, dies in prison.
10: British actress Diana Rigg, of “Avengers” and “Game of Thrones” fame, dies aged 82.
18: US Supreme Court judge and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dies aged 87.
23: French actress and singer Juliette Greco, the face and voice of radical chic postwar Paris, dies aged 93.
October:
4: Japan’s most famous fashion designer Kenzo Takada, founder of the Kenzo brand, dies in Paris aged 81 from Covid-19. 31: Legendary Scottish actor Sean Connery, the original James Bond, dies in his sleep in the Bahamas, aged 90.
November
11: Bahrain’s Prince Khalifa Salman al-Khalifa, the world’s longest-serving prime minister, dies aged 84.
Jerry Rawlings, who ruled Ghana for two decades first as a military leader and then as elected president, dies aged 73.
25: Diego Maradona, football’s troubled genius and arguably the greatest player ever, dies aged 60.
December
2: Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who legalised abortion and brought the country high-speed trains, dies aged 94 from Covid-19.
11: Film director Kim Ki-duk, the enfant terrible of Korean cinema, dies in Latvia from Covid-19 aged 59.
12: Charley Pride, US country music’s first black superstar, dies from Covid-19 aged 86.
12: John le Carre, the master spy novelist, whose real name was David Cornwell, dies aged 89.