Famous People Who Died in 1948

Discover the most famous people died who died in the year 1948. This list includes people like Mahatma Gandhi, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Zelda Fitzgerald, Hideki Tojo and many more. This list of celebrities is loosely sorted by popularity. People featured on this list, include soldiers, political leaders, artists and military leaders who died in 1948. This list includes people from United States, Germany, Japan & India and many more countries.

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Babe Ruth

(One of the Greatest Baseball Players of All Time)

Birthdate: February 6, 1895

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Birthplace: Pigtown, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Died: August 16

One of the greatest players in the history of baseball, Babe Ruth played 22 seasons between 1914 and 1935 and set monumental records—including 714 home runs—that took decades to be finally broken. Amongst the most celebrated athletes of the world, he became one of the first five players to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Birthdate: August 19, 1871

Sun Sign: Leo

Birthplace: Dayton, Ohio, United States

Died: January 30

Orville Wright was an aviation pioneer who alongside his brother, Wilbur, built and flew the world's first successful motor-operated airplane, the Wright Flyer, a heavier-than-air aircraft. The three-axis control system developed by the brothers remains standard on fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds. Orville also served on the board of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

Mahatma Gandhi

(Indian Freedom Fighter who Employed Non-violent Resistance & Known as 'Father of the Nation')

Birthdate: October 2, 1869

Sun Sign: Libra

Birthplace: Porbandar, India

Died: January 30

An Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist, Mahatma Gandhi was a major figure in India’s fight for independence from British rule. He is renowned for his employment of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience methods. Despite his popularity, he had numerous detractors as well and was assassinated in 1948. He is widely considered the Father of the Nation in India.

John J. Pershing

(Former Military Officer Who Served as the Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces During World War I)

Birthdate: September 13, 1860

Sun Sign: Virgo

Birthplace: Laclede, Missouri, United States

Died: July 15

John J. Pershing was a senior United States Army officer who served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I. In his later years, he mentored generals who led the United States Army during World War II. He was promoted to General of the Armies rank, the highest possible rank in the United States Army.

Zelda Fitzgerald

(Socialite & Referred to as 'The first American Flapper' by Her Husband 'F. Scott Fitzgerald')

Birthdate: July 24, 1900

Sun Sign: Leo

Birthplace: Montgomery, Alabama, United States

Died: March 10

Zelda Fitzgerald was a painter, socialite, and novelist. Along with her husband Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda became a prominent personality of the Jazz Age. Renowned for her high spirits and beauty, she was named the first American flapper by Scott. For her work as a novelist and painter, Fitzgerald was posthumously made an inductee to the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

Mileva Marić

(Serbian Physicist, Mathematician and the First Wife of Albert Einstein)

Birthdate: December 19, 1875

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Birthplace: Titel, Serbia

Died: August 4

Serbian physicist/mathematician Mileva Marić was the first wife of Albert Einstein and the second lady to complete the full program at the mathematics and physics department of Zürich Polytechnic. Experts still debate over whether she had helped Einstein in his initial research. Einstein transferred his Nobel Prize money to her.

Birthdate: December 25, 1876

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Karachi, Pakistan

Died: September 11

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s Father of the Nation, was an All-India Muslim League leader who led to the formation of Pakistan in 1947. Educated in England, Jinnah was a barrister and had worked at the Bombay High Court. He had helped pass the 1916 Lucknow Pact, too.

Birthdate: June 19, 1909

Sun Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Kanagi, Aomori, Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, Japan

Died: June 13

Osamu Dazai was a Japanese author widely regarded as one of the leading writers of fiction of 20th-century Japan. Most of his popular works, such as No Longer Human and The Setting Sun, are regarded as modern-day classics in Japan. Several years after his death, Osamu Dazai continues to be celebrated in Japan, although he is relatively unknown elsewhere.

Witold Pilecki

(Polish World War II Cavalry Officer, Intelligence Agent and Resistance Leader)

Birthdate: May 13, 1901

Sun Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Olonets, Russia

Died: May 25

Known as prisoner number 4859 at the Auschwitz concentration camp, Witold Pilecki voluntarily got himself arrested to be sent to the camp, so that he could start an anti-Nazi resistance movement. He set up the underground campaign ZOW and was eventually able to escape. Nevertheless, he was executed by communists.

Birthdate: July 8, 1885

Sun Sign: Cancer

Birthplace: Metzingen, Germany

Died: August 9

Hugo Boss was a German businessman and fashion designer. He is credited with founding one of the most popular fashion houses in the world, Hugo Boss AG. Apart from maintaining his business endeavors, Hugo Boss was also a member of the Nazi Party and remained loyal to the ideology of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.

D. W. Griffith

(American Director Who is One of the Most Influential Figures in the History of the Motion Picture)

Birthdate: January 22, 1875

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Birthplace: Crestwood, Kentucky, United States

Died: July 23

Antonin Artaud

(French Writer, Theatre Director and One of the Major Figures of the European Avant-Garde)

Birthdate: September 4, 1896

Sun Sign: Virgo

Birthplace: Marseille, France

Died: March 4

Antonin Artaud was a French writer, poet, dramatist, and theater director. Known for his raw, surreal, and transgressive themes, he was a major figure in 20th-century theater. He outlined his theories in the Theatre of Cruelty movement, expressed in the form of essays and plays. He died of cancer at the age of 51.

Birthdate: August 6, 1861

Sun Sign: Leo

Birthplace: Norwich, Connecticut, United States

Died: September 30

Carole Landis

(Actress)

Birthdate: January 1, 1919

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Fairchild, Wisconsin, USA

Died: July 5

Height: 5'7" (170 cm)

Sergei Eisenstein

(Russian Film Director Best Known for His Film 'Battleship Potemkin')

Birthdate: January 22, 1898

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Birthplace: Riga, Latvia

Died: February 11

Known for his use of the montage as a leading element in his films, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein of Battleship Potemkin and Ivan the Terrible fame was also fond of close-up shots. He often used an ensemble of amateur actors and also included haiku-inspired elements in his work.

Birthdate: January 1, 1892

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Roxas City, Philippines

Died: April 15

Manuel Roxas was a Filipino politician who served as the president of the Philippines from 1946 to 1948. He also served as the first president of the Third Philippine Republic after the USA relinquished its supremacy over the Philippines. Regarded as an important politician in the history of the Philippines, Roxas is depicted on the 100 Peso banknote.

Birthdate: September 15, 1889

Sun Sign: Virgo

Birthplace: Clarendon Parish

Died: May 22

Claude McKay was a poet who played an influential role in the Harlem Renaissance. Remembered for his work If We Must Die, a poem written in response to mob attacks on African-American communities by white Americans, McKay was named the national poet of Jamaica in 1977. For his contribution to literature, he was posthumously honored with the Order of Jamaica.

Charles Evans Hughes

(Politician)

Birthdate: April 11, 1862

Sun Sign: Aries

Birthplace: Glens Falls, New York, U.S.

Died: August 27

Aldo Leopold

(American Author & Environmentalist Who is Best Known for His Book 'A Sand County Almanac')

Birthdate: January 11, 1887

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Burlington

Died: April 21

Folke Bernadotte

(Swedish Diplomat Who Negotiated the Release of 31000 Prisoners from German Concentration Camps in World War II)

Birthdate: January 2, 1895

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden

Died: September 17

Folke Bernadotte was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman. He is best remembered for negotiating the release of over 30,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II. Folke Bernadotte was assassinated at the age of 53 by a Zionist paramilitary organization called Lehi.

Arshile Gorky

(A Leading American Painter of 20th Century and a Founding Father of 'Abstract Expressionism')

Birthdate: April 15, 1904

Sun Sign: Aries

Birthplace: Khorgom, Vilayet of Van, Ottoman Empire

Died: July 21

Arshile Gorky, a powerful Armenian-American painter of 20th century, is counted among founding fathers of abstract expressionism. His experience, suffering and loss during Armenian genocide strongly influenced his development as an artist. With notable works like Landscape in the Manner of Cézanne and Nighttime, Enigma, Nostalgia, Gorky emerged as one of the major artists whose works defined American abstract expressionism.

Birthdate: December 30, 1884

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Kōjimachi, Tokyo, Japan

Died: December 23

Hideki Tojo headed the Imperial Japanese Army and was the Japanese minister of war, apart from being Japan’s prime minister from 1941 to 1944. His tenure witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor. After Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers, Tojo was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death.

Guillermo Kahlo

(Former Photographer who photographically documented important architectural works, churches, streets, landmarks, as well as industries and companies in Mexico)

Birthdate: October 26, 1871

Sun Sign: Scorpio

Birthplace: Pforzheim, Germany

Died: April 14

Hack Wilson

(Baseball player)

Birthdate: April 26, 1900

Sun Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, United States

Died: November 23

Height: 5'6" (168 cm)

Kurt Schwitters

(German Artist Best Known for His Collages and Relief Constructions)

Birthdate: June 20, 1887

Sun Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Hanover, Germany

Died: January 8

German artist and poet Kurt Schwitters, known for collage, artist's book, installation, sculpture and poetry, is noted for his collages and relief-constructions. Schwitters planned a Dada section in Hanover and the Merz art-style traces back to him, which he found by chance while forming a collage with the German word Kommerz. One of his notable works is Das Undbild, 1919.

Ruth Benedict

(American Anthropologist)

Birthdate: June 5, 1887

Sun Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: New York, United States

Died: September 17

Ruth Benedict was an American folklorist and anthropologist. Benedict, who played an important role in the American Folklore Society, also served as the American Anthropological Association's president; the association gives away an annual prize named after Ruth Benedict. In 2005, she was made an inductee of the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Malcolm Campbell

(British Racer Who Achieved the World Speed Record on Both Water and Land on Multiple Occasions)

Birthdate: March 11, 1885

Sun Sign: Pisces

Birthplace: Chislehurst, Kent, England

Died: December 31

Malcolm Campbell was a British racer who achieved the world speed record on both water and land on multiple occasions. He is also known as the father of Donald, who became the first person to set both world water speed and land speed records in the same year. In 1990, Campbell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Franz Lehár

(Austro-Hungarian Composer Known for His Operettas)

Birthdate: April 30, 1870

Sun Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Komárom, Hungary

Died: October 24

Hungarian composer Franz Lehár is best remembered for his operettas and became a worldwide sensation with The Merry Widow, which was later filmed, too. His distinctive style of Viennese operetta consisted of satire and Parisian dances. Though he had a Jewish-turned-Catholic wife, Hitler loved his music.

Harry Dexter White

(Economist)

Birthdate: October 29, 1892

Sun Sign: Scorpio

Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Died: August 16

Nikolai Berdyaev

(Former philosopher who emphasized the existential spiritual significance of human freedom and the human person)

Birthdate: March 18, 1874

Sun Sign: Pisces

Birthplace: Kiev, Ukraine

Died: March 24

Sonny Boy Williamson I

(Singer)

Birthdate: March 30, 1914

Sun Sign: Aries

Birthplace: Madison County, Tennessee, United States

Died: June 1

Gregg Toland

(Cinematographer)

Birthdate: May 29, 1904

Sun Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Charleston, Illinois, United States

Died: September 28

Gregg Toland was a cinematographer known for employing innovative techniques in his work. Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives are counted among his best works. He won two Academy Awards from seven nominations. He is considered one of the top ten most influential cinematographers in the history of film.

George Beurling

(Canadian Fighter Pilot)

Birthdate: December 6, 1921

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Birthplace: Verdun

Died: May 28

Prince Adalbert of Prussia

(Prince)

Birthdate: July 14, 1884

Sun Sign: Cancer

Birthplace: Marmorpalais, Potsdam, Germany

Died: September 22

Sigrid Hjertén

(Swedish Modernist Painter)

Birthdate: October 27, 1885

Sun Sign: Scorpio

Birthplace: Sundsvall, Sweden

Died: March 24

One of the pioneers of expressionism in Sweden, Sigrid Hjertén was the only female member of the artist group De Åtta. Initially a teacher of textile design, she later painted iconic works such as Atelierinteriör. She died of a failed lobotomy procedure to cure her schizophrenia.

Richard Tauber

(Austrian Tenor and Film Actor)

Birthdate: May 16, 1891

Sun Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Linz, Austria

Died: January 8

Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor and film actor. The son of an actress, he often toured with his mother and developed a love for the theater. He also enjoyed singing and studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. He went on to become a tenor and an actor and also conducted at the Theater an der Wien.

Birthdate: October 5, 1864

Sun Sign: Libra

Birthplace: Besançon, France

Died: June 6

While Thomas Edison was the first to invent motion pictures for solo viewing, the shares experience of watching a film with others, or cinema, was the brainchild of Louis Lumière. With his cinematograph, Lumière shot the first commercial film, a clip of workers leaving the Lumière photo factory.

Birthdate: May 28, 1884

Sun Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Kožlany, Czechia

Died: September 3

Czech president Edvard Beneš had come to power twice and resigned in both instances, first after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and then after the communist coup of 1948. Born to peasants in Bohemia, he had earned a doctorate of law and taught at universities before entering politics.

Jan Masaryk

(Czechoslovakia's Foreign Minister From 1940 to 1948)

Birthdate: September 14, 1886

Sun Sign: Virgo

Birthplace: Prague, Czechia

Died: March 10

Jan Masaryk was a Czech politician and diplomat best remembered for his service as Czechoslovakia's Foreign Minister from 21 July 1940 to 10 March 1948. He became a popular national figure during the Second World War when he made wartime broadcasts to occupied Czechoslovakia; his broadcasts were titled Speaking to My Country.

Olga Samaroff

(Pianist)

Birthdate: August 8, 1880

Sun Sign: Leo

Birthplace: San Antonio, Texas, United States

Died: May 17

Birthdate: January 8, 1904

Sun Sign: Capricorn

Birthplace: Mulhouse, France

Died: June 2

Karl Brandt was a German physician. He served as a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer in Nazi Germany and became Adolf Hitler's personal doctor. He organized and administered the Aktion T4 euthanasia program, in which between 275,000 and 300,000 people were killed in psychiatric hospitals. He was later executed for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Georges Bernanos

(French Soldier and Author)

Birthdate: February 20, 1888

Sun Sign: Pisces

Birthplace: Paris, France

Died: July 5

Charles A. Beard

(Historian of the modern age, Historian, University teacher)

Birthdate: November 27, 1874

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Birthplace: Knightstown

Died: September 1

Charles A. Beard was an American historian who served as a professor at Columbia University. Beard is credited with writing several influential books, such as An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States which played a crucial role in helping him attain an iconic status within the progressive school of historical interpretation.

Birthdate: 1888 AD

Birthplace: New Delhi

Died: June 18

Edgar Kennedy

(Actor, Boxer)

Birthdate: April 26, 1890

Sun Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Monterey County, California, United States

Died: November 9

Height: 6'1" (185 cm)

Elissa Landi

(Actress)

Birthdate: December 6, 1904

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Birthplace: Venice, Italy

Died: October 21

Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

(Princess)

Birthdate: May 3, 1870

Sun Sign: Taurus

Birthplace: Frogmore House, Windsor, England

Died: March 13

Samuel P. Bush

(Businessperson)

Birthdate: October 4, 1863

Sun Sign: Libra

Birthplace: Orange, USA

Died: February 8

Irmfried Eberl

(Austrian Psychiatrist and Medical Director)

Birthdate: September 8, 1910

Sun Sign: Virgo

Birthplace: Bregenz, Austria

Died: February 16

Best known for leading the mass killing of Jews at the Treblinka extermination camp, psychiatrist Irmfried Eberl was eventually dismissed from his post because of his inefficiency in disposing of the bodies and thus causing a cremation backlog. Following the war, he hanged himself before being tried for his crimes.

Mitsumasa Yonai

(Politician,Prime Minister)

Birthdate: March 2, 1880

Sun Sign: Pisces

Birthplace: Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan

Died: April 20