Deaths in December 1999

The following is a list of notable deaths in December 1999.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence: Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

December 1999

1 Gene Baker, 74, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates). Ctirad Benáček, 75, Czech Olympic basketball player (1948). Stephen Brooks, 57, American actor (The F.B.I., Days of Our Lives, The Interns), heart attack. Fritz Fischer, 91, German historian. Pop Gates, 82, American basketball player. Santidev Ghosh, 89, Indian author, singer, actor and dancer. Luigi Granelli, 70, Italian politician. Marilyn Harris, 75, American child actress (Frankenstein), cancer. Jaakko Jalas, 79, Finnish botanist. Tomás Pablo, 78, Chilean politician and architect. Victor Perlo, 87, American Marxist economist.Joseph B. Treaster, "Victor Perlo, 87, Economist For Communist Party in US," New York Times, December 10, 1999. Massimo Pupillo, 70, Italian film director. Alexander Tatarenko, 74, Soviet Russian painter and art teacher.

2 Joey Adams, 88, American comedian, vaudevillian, radio host, and author. Mike Budnick, 80, American baseball player (New York Giants). Charlie Byrd, 74, American jazz guitarist, lung cancer. Matt Cohen, 56, Canadian writer, lung cancer. Giorgio Cristallini, 78, Italian screenwriter and film director. Daniel J. Elazar, 65, American professor of political science. Sami Kallunki, 28, Finnish Olympic skier (1992). Hilde Klusenwerth, 89, German Olympic hurdler (1936). Vladimir Kravtsov, 50, Soviet and Russian handball player and Olympic champion (1976, 1980). Ethelmary Oakland, 90, American child actress. Guillermo Obeid, 58 Argentine Olympic fencer (1968). Mike Ockrent, 53, British stage director.

3 John Archer, 84, American actor (White Heat, Blue Hawaii, Lassie), lung cancer. Curtis Brown, 76, American baseball player. Enrique Cadícamo, 99, Argentine tango lyricist, poet and novelist, heart failure. Anne Francine, 82, American actress (Harper Valley PTA, Crocodile Dundee, All My Children) and cabaret singer, stroke. Conrad Hunte, 67, Barbadian cricketer, heart attack. Scatman John, 57, American jazz musician ("Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)", "Scatman's World") and poet, lung cancer. Madeline Kahn, 57, American actress (Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Clue), Tony winner (1993), ovarian cancer. Boris Kuznetsov, 71, Russian and Soviet football player and Olympian (1956). Horst Mahseli, 65, Polish footballer. Tami Mauriello, 76, American boxer and actor (On the Waterfront). Tuffy Nabors, 75, American football player (New York Yankees). Edmond Safra, 67, Lebanese Brazilian banker, smoke inhalation injury. Walter Schleger, 70, Austrian football player. Jarl Wahlström, 81, Finnish salvationist, 12th General of the Salvation Army.

4 Heinrich C. Berann, 84, Austrian painter and cartographer. Rose Bird, 63, American first female justice, breast cancer. Charlotte H. Bruner, 82, American scholar. Sylvester Clarke, 44, West Indian cricketer, heart attack. Slobodan Dimitrijević, 58, Serbian television and film actor. Bert Hoffmeister, 92, Canadian Army officer, businessman, and conservationist. Nilde Iotti, 79, Italian politician of the Communist Party, heart attack. Barry Mahon, 78, American film director, cinematographer and producer.Obituaries: Barry Mahon, 78: December 4, 1999Lentz, Harris, III. Classic Images [Muscatine, Iowa] 01 Feb 2000: 52. Daishōhō Masami, 32, Japanese sumo wrestler, pancreatic cancer. Henry Nicoll, 91, British Olympic equestrian (1948). Susan Partridge, 69, British tennis player. John Douglas Pringle, 87, Australian journalist. Nélida Roca, 70, Argentinian showbusiness diva and sex symbol, heart attack. Edward Vesala, 54, Finnish avant-garde jazz drummer, congestive heart failure. Alick Walker, 74, British palaeontologist.

5 Claude Ballot-Léna, 63, French racing driver, cancer. Edvin Biuković, 30, Croatian comics artist, brain tumor. Joseph Andorfer Ewan, 90, American botanist, naturalist, and historian of botany and natural history. Lajos Faluvégi, 75, Hungarian politician. Nathan Jacobson, 89, Polish-American mathematician. Ellwood Madill, 84, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada, (1963-1968, 1972-1974). Bobby Marchan, 69, American R&B singer-songwriter, liver cancer.Obituary: Bobby Marchan Edoardo Martino, 89, Italian politician. Bohumil Musil, 77, Czech football player and manager. Masaru Sato, 71, Japanese film composer (The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo). Freddie Shepard, 83, American baseball player. Kendall Taylor, 94, British pianist.

6 Paul Bacon, 92, French politician. Alexander Baron, 82, British author and screenwriter. Gwyn Jones, 92, Welsh novelist and story writer. Günther Pankoke, 74, German cyclist. Martha Sharp, 94, American unitarian. Robert A. Swanson, American venture capitalist, brain cancer. Roy Talcott, 79, American baseball player (Boston Braves). Stan Wallace, 68, American gridiron football player (Chicago Bears).

7 Kenny Baker, 78, British jazz musician. Charlie Greer, 53, American football player (Denver Broncos). Darling Légitimus, 92, French actress. Alfons Moog, 84, German football player. William Wiley, 68, South African cricket player.

8 Ernst Günther, 66, Swedish actor and director, diabetes. Rupert Hart-Davis, 92, English publisher. Wally Hebert, 92, American baseball player (St. Louis Browns, Pittsburgh Pirates). František Ipser, 72, Czech football manager and player. Péter Kuczka, 76, Hungarian writer, poet and science fiction editor. Everett Carll Ladd, 62, American political scientist, heart failure. Ange Le Strat, 81, French racing cyclist. Pupella Maggio, 89, Italian film actress, cerebral hemorrhage. Kjell Moe, 90, Norwegian footballer. Richard P. Powell, 91, American novelist. Antônio Dias dos Santos, 51, Brazilian football player. Néstor Togneri, 57, Argentine football player.

9 Tage Jørgensen, 81, Danish Olympic fencer (1948). Oudom Khattigna, 68, Laotian communist politician, Vice President (1998-1999). Whitey Kurowski, 81, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals). Yakov Rylsky, 71, Soviet sabre fencer and Olympic champion (1956, 1960, 1964), liver cirrhosis. Shinkichi Takemura, 67, Japanese Olympic speed skater (1956, 1960). Cecil H. Williamson, 90, British screenwriter, editor and film director.

10 Charles Assalé, 88, Cameroonian politician. Antonio Blanco, 87, Spanish and American painter, heart and kidney disease. Rick Danko, 55, Canadian musician (The Band), heart failure. Pietro De Vico, 88, Italian film actor, stroke. Ed Dorn, 70, American poet, pancreatic cancer. Lex Goudsmit, 86, Dutch actor, stroke. Shirley Hemphill, 52, American comedian and actress (What's Happening!!), renal failure. Orlando Lanza, 67, Cuban Olympic rower (1956). Jean-Claude Michel, 74, French actor and voice actor. Mike Randall, 80, British journalist and editor. Niccolò Tucci, 91, Short story writer and novelist. Franjo Tuđman, 77, Croatian politician, President of Croatia (since 1990), cancer.

11 Howard Bagguley, 90, Canadian Olympic skier (1932). Charles Earland, 58, American jazz organist, heart failure. Enrica Follieri, 73, Italian philologist and paleographer. Ed Jones, 87, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1969-1989). Jack Oldfield, 100, British landowner and politician. Harry Wüstenhagen, 71, German film actor. Hans K. Ziegler, 88, German-American satellite engineer.

12 John Badaczewski, 77, American football player. James Balfour, 71, Canadian politician. Huelet Benner, 82, American multi-discipline pistol shooter and Olympic champion (1948, 1952, 1956). Paul Cadmus, 94, American artist. Gordon Chater, 77, English Australian comedian and actor. Gaston Diehl, 87, French professor of art history and an art critic. Joseph Heller, 76, American novelist (Catch-22), heart attack. Ladislav Józsa, 51, Slovak football player. Matty Kemp, 92, American film actor. Luz Oliveros-Belardo, 93, Filipina pharmaceutical chemist. Ignacio Quirós, 68, Argentine actor, cancer. Leo Smit, 78, American composer and pianist, heart failure. John W. R. Taylor, 77, British aviation expert. Claes Thelander, 83, Swedish actor.

13 Peter Adams, 61, New Zealand-Australian actor, cancer. Jill Craigie, 88, English documentary film director, screenwriter and feminist, heart failure.Tom Vallance Obituary:Jill Craigie, The Independent, 15 December 1999, retrieved 24 March 2019 Stane Dolanc, 74, Yugoslav communist politician, cerebral stroke. Maury Gertsman, 92, American cinematographer. Tarmo Uusivirta, 42, Finnish professional boxer and Olympian (1980), suicide. Robert Wagenhoffer, 39, American figure skater, complications of AIDS. Ian Watt, 82, English literary critic and academic. Lady Mary Whitley, 75, British noblewoman.

14 Sven Berlin, 88, English painter, writer and sculptor.Peter Davies, Obituary: Sven Berlin, The Independent, 17 December 1999, retrieved March 24, 2019 Sándor Holczreiter, 53, Hungarian weightlifter and Olympic medalist (1972). Douglas Leigh, 92, American advertising executive. Walt Levinsky, 70, American big band player, composer, arranger and bandleader, brain cancer. J. W. Lockett, 62, American football player. Héctor Martínez, 60, Cuban baseball player (Kansas City Athletics).

15 Georges Aeby, 86, Swiss football player. Rune Andréasson, 74, Swedish comic creator, cancer. Francis L. K. Hsu, 90, Chinese-American anthropologist. Eddie Kazak, 79, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds). León Martinetti, 73, Argentine Olympic basketball player (1948). Benny Russell, 55, American football player (Buffalo Bills).

16 Henry Helstoski, 74, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1965-1977). Dorit Kreysler, 90, Austrian film actress. Ruth Welting, 51, American operatic soprano. Jorge Tuero, Venezuelan television actor and comedian, killed during the Vargas tragedy.

17 Rex Allen, 78, American actor and singer-songwriter, traffic accident. Leo P. Carlin, 91, American politician. Ken W. Clawson, 63, American journalist and spokesman for U.S. President Richard Nixon, heart attack. Paolo Dezza, 98, Italian Jesuit cardinal of the Catholic church. François Dyrek, 66, French actor, heart attack. James Ginty, 91, British middle-distance runner and Olympian (1936). Rufus Lewis, 80, American baseball pitcher. Jürgen Moser, 71, German-American mathematician. Grover Washington, Jr., 56, American jazz saxophonist, heart attack. C. Vann Woodward, 91, American historian and Pulitzer Prize winner.

18 Þór Beck, 59, Icelandic footballer. Jan Bouwman, 64, Dutch Olympic swimmer (1960). Robert Bresson, 98, French film director. Robert Dougall, 86, English broadcaster and ornithologist. Joe Higgs, 59, Jamaican reggae musician, cancer. Dennis W. Sciama, 73, British physicist. John Southgate, 73, British Anglican priest. Benito Stefanelli, 71, Italian film actor, stuntman and weapons master. Bertha Swirles, 96, British physicist. Logan Wright, 66, American pediatric psychologist, heart attack. Armenak Yaltyryan, 85, Soviet Armenian wrestler and Olympian (1952).

19 Bal Dani, 66, Indian cricket player. Brendan Hansen, 77, Australian politician. Jim Lecture, 75, American football player (Buffalo Bisons). Desmond Llewelyn, 85, Welsh actor (From Russia with Love, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Follyfoot), traffic collision. Hans Wiltschek, 88, Austrian Olympic boxer (1936). Marion Worth, 69, American country music singer, complications of emphysema.

20 Wazir Ali, 71, Pakistani Olympic cyclist (1948). Dick Bertell, 64, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants), influenza. Riccardo Freda, 90, Italian film director. Mario Carreño Morales, 86, Cuban painter.