Notable deaths in 2018
Aretha Franklin, the preacher's daughter whose powerful voice made her the long-reigning "Queen of Soul" with such hit songs as "Respect" and "Chain of Fools," died August 16 at the age of 76. Franklin's father was a Baptist preacher in Detroit, and...more
U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, host of CNN's food-and-travel-focused "Parts Unknown" television series, killed himself June 8 in a hotel room near Strasbourg, France, where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his program. He was 61....more
Jamal Khashoggi, an opinion writer for the Washington Post who was at one time a Saudi royal insider before becoming a critic of the leadership, was murdered in October. He disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October...more
Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain the origins of the universe, the mysteries of black holes and the nature of time itself, died March 14 at age 76. Hawking's formidable mind probed the very limits of human understanding both in the vastness of...more
U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years in the pulpit, died February 21 at the age of 99. According to his ministry,...more
Stan Lee, who dreamed up Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Panther and a cavalcade of other Marvel Comics superheroes that became mythic figures in pop culture with soaring success at the movie box office, died November 12 at the age of 95. As a...more
Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, the 41st president who served in the office from 1989 to 1993, died November 30 at the age of 94. The high points of Bush's presidency included the end of the Cold War, which brought the dissolution of the...more
Former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush, the only woman to see her husband and son both sworn in as president, died April 17 at the age of 92. Bush was the wife of the 41st president, George H.W. Bush, and mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush. Dubbed "The...more
U.S. Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran for president in 2008 as a maverick Republican and became a prominent critic of President Donald Trump, died August 25 at the age of 81. Alternatively affable and cantankerous,...more
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who emerged as a combative anti-apartheid campaigner during her husband Nelson Mandela's decades in jail but whose reputation was later tarnished by allegations of violence, died April 2 at the age of 81. Madikizela-Mandela...more
Former U.N. Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan died August 18 at the age of 80, after decades of championing efforts to try to end protracted conflicts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. After rising through the ranks of...more
Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen, the man who persuaded school-friend Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard to start what became the world's biggest software company, died October 15 at the age of 65. Allen left Microsoft in 1983, before the company...more
Burt Reynolds, whose good looks and charm made him one of Hollywood's most popular actors as he starred in such films as "Deliverance," "The Longest Yard" and "Smokey and the Bandit" in the 1970s and 80s, died September 6 at age 82. At the peak of...more
Penny Marshall, who played an endearingly graceless character with a thick Bronx accent in television's "Laverne & Shirley" before becoming a pioneering film director with hits including "Big" and "A League of Their Own," died on December 17 at age...more
Amos Oz, Israel's best known author and an outspoken supporter of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, died of cancer at the age of 79 on December 28. Over a 50-year career, Oz chronicled his country's rise from the ashes of...more
Joe Jackson, the patriarch of an American musical dynasty who started his son Michael and his Jackson 5 brothers on the road to stardom but also verbally and physically abused them, died June 28 at the age of 89. Jackson, who lived in Las Vegas and...more
James "Whitey" Bulger, who lived a double life as one of Boston's most notorious mobsters and as a secret FBI informant before going on the run for 16 years, was killed October 30 at the age of 89 at a federal prison in West Virginia. Bulger was...more
Former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who rescued the Italian and U.S. companies and built them into the world's seventh-largest carmaker, died July 25 at the age of 66. Marchionne rescued Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy after taking the...more
Trinidad-born British author V.S. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2001, died August 11 at age 85. Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, who began writing in the 1950s, won numerous coveted literary awards during his career during which he...more
Tom Wolfe, an early practitioner of "new journalism" who captured the mood and culture of America across five decades with books including "The Bonfire of the Vanities," "The Right Stuff," and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," died May 14 at the age...more
Verne Troyer, the diminutive actor who starred in the Austin Powers movies' as "Mini Me," died April 21 at the age of 49. Troyer, who was 2 feet 8 inches (81 cm) tall, is best known for Austin Powers movies "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "Austin Power...more
Grammy award-winning singer Nancy Wilson, whose hits ranged from R&B to jazz and funk, died December 13 at age 81 after a long illness. Wilson, who came to fame as a torch singer in the 1960s, called herself a "song-stylist" and resisted labeling as...more
Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose 1972 movie "Last Tango in Paris" shocked audiences with a notorious sex scene that came back to haunt him in his later years, died November 26 at the age of 77. "Last Tango," which starred Marlon Brando,...more
Actress Sridevi, arguably Bollywood's first female superstar, died February 24 at the age of 54. Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, she started acting at age four, appearing in several Tamil films in the...more
Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii, one of the biggest stars of electronic dance music (EDM) in Europe, died April 20 at the age of 28. Avicii, whose real name is Tim Bergling, was known for international hits like "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother"....more
A powerful orator from humble beginnings and arguably Zimbabwe's most popular politician, Morgan Tsvangirai died February 20 at age 65. He came within a whisker of unseating Robert Mugabe only to be outmaneuvered and ultimately outlived by his...more
Dolores O'Riordan, the lead singer of Irish rock group The Cranberries, died January 15 at the age of 46. O'Riordan's distinctive Irish lilt and yodel helped fuel the Cranberries' rapid rise in the early 1990s with global hits "Linger", "Dreams" and...more
The eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on February 1 aged 68 after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported. The nuclear scientist was also known as...more
Paul Bocuse, one of France's most celebrated chefs, died January 20 at the age of 91. Bocuse was widely credited as a founder of French "nouvelle cuisine" - a more delicate style of cooking that relied less on heavy sauces. But he himself shunned the...more
French singer Charles Aznavour, who stole the hearts of millions with decades of haunting love songs, died October 1 aged 94. The singer, who sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries, began his career peddling his words and music to the...more
French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, an aristocrat who founded the house of Givenchy in the 1950s, becoming famous for dressing the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Grace Kelly, died March 10 at the age of 91. A commanding presence in...more
Kate Spade, the designer who built a fashion empire on the popularity of her signature handbags before selling the brand, was found dead June 5 at the age of 55. Born Katherine Noel Brosnahan in Kansas City, Missouri, Spade was a former accessories...more
Ed King, a former lead guitarist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd who co-wrote one of the group's best known hits, "Sweet Home Alabama," died August 22 at age 68. King joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1972 not long after the band formed, and with...more
Actress Margot Kidder, best known for playing Lois Lane in the "Superman" films in the 1970s and 1980s, died May 13 at the age of 69. Canadian-born Kidder appeared in more than 70 movies and TV shows, including "The Great Waldo Pepper," "The...more
Actor John Mahoney, best known for his role as Martin Crane, the cranky father of two psychiatrists on television series "Frasier," died February 4 at age 77. The British-born actor trained at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago as he was nearing age...more
Rusty Staub, a beloved slugger dubbed "Le Grand Orange" by fans of the Montreal Expos and later embraced as a team leader of the New York Mets, died March 29 at age 73 after a 23-year Major League Baseball career and a retirement devoted to charity....more
Denmark's Prince Henrik died February 13 at age 83, taking to the grave his resentment at playing second fiddle to his wife, Queen Margrethe. Resenting never being named king, in 2016, he renounced the title of prince consort and spent much of his...more
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the founder of Russia's oldest human rights group, died December 8 at age 91. Alexeyeva went into exile during the Communist era, returning to Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union. She was briefly detained by police at an...more
U.S. playwright Neil Simon, who became one of Broadway's most prolific and popular playwrights as he combined humor, drama and introspection in works such as "The Odd Couple," "The Goodbye Girl" and "Lost in Yonkers," died August 26 at the age of 91....more
"SpongeBob SquarePants" creator Stephen Hillenburg, who brought the zany cartoon marine underworld of Bikini Bottom to television, the movies and the stage, died November 26 at the age of 57. Hillenburg had said last year that he was suffering from...more
Mark Salling, an actor who played a supporting role in the TV show "Glee," died January 30 at age 35, weeks before his March 2018 sentencing on child pornography charges. Salling pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography,...more
Roger Bannister, who died March 3 aged 88, will live forever in the annals of athletics history as the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. The record-breaking run was on the Oxford University track during a local athletics meeting with...more
Actor Reg E. Cathey died February 9 at the age of 59. He appeared on television shows such as "The Wire," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and played Freddy on "House of Cards," a role for which he won a 2015 Emmy for outstanding guest...more
Democratic U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter, a Kentucky blacksmith's daughter who became a leading progressive voice in Congress from New York, died March 16 at age 88. Born in Kentucky, Slaughter was first elected to Congress in 1986. She served...more
Joan Steinbrenner, wife of late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, died December 14 at age 83. She was the team's sitting vice chairperson at the time of her death. Joan Steinbrenner, born Elizabeth Joan Zieg, married George Steinbrenner in...more
Chef Joel Robuchon, who at one point had earned more than 30 Michelin stars across nearly two dozen restaurants on three continents, died August 6 at the age of 73. Named the "chef of the century" by the Gault et Millau cooking guide in 1990,...more
Singer Yvonne Staples (L, seen here with her sister Mavis, R) died April 10 at the age of 80. She was part of gospel and soul group The Staple Singers, known as "God's greatest hitmakers." The group was formed in 1948 with Pops on guitar and siblings...more
Canadian mining magnate Peter Munk, who built Barrick Gold Corp from a single mine into the world's largest producer of gold, died March 28 at the age of 90. Munk forged Barrick to dominate the global gold mining industry via a string of canny...more
NÄCHSTE BILDERGALERIE
Boxing Day hunt
Hounds and horses on the hunt during an annual Boxing Day hunt in Okewood Hill, Britain.
27 Dec 2018Germany's last coal mine closes
Inside Franz Haniel shaft, Germany's last active coal mine, as it officially closes.
21 Dec 2018Inside America's prisons
A look inside U.S. prisons, as the Senate overwhelmingly passes legislation to reduce sentences for certain prison inmates.
19 Dec 2018The Maasai Olympics
Youthful morans, or warriors, compete for cash prizes in sports contests rather than hunt lions in a traditional rite of passage, at the Maasai Olympics in...
18 Dec 2018WEITERE BILDER
Battle for Islamic State's last enclave
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have seized ground from Islamic State in a fierce battle to capture its last enclave in eastern Syria.
London Fashion Week
Backstage and collection highlights from London.
Sinaloa, Mexico: Birthplace of 'El Chapo'
Some villagers speak fondly of the largesse of their native son, who was born in the hamlet of La Tuna and whose Sinaloa cartel provided work for marijuana and opium poppy growers.
Japanese forces train with U.S Marines in California
Members of the Japanese Ground Self- Defense Force train with the U.S. Navy and Marines at California's Camp Pendleton.
Anti-government protests in Haiti
Protesters clash with police during anti-government demonstrations in the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Editors Choice Pictures
Our top photos from the last 24 hours.
German town breaks record for most Smurfs
A German town breaks the world record for the largest gathering of Smurfs.
Carnival in Venice
Masked revelers take part in the Venetian Carnival.
Week in sports
Some of our top sports from the past week.