Aged 39
Famous people who died at 39
88 of the 11,867 best-known people in our data died aged 39, including Martin Luther King Jr., Che Guevara and Frédéric Chopin.
- Martin Luther King Jr.American Baptist minister and civil rights leader · 1929–1968
- Che GuevaraArgentine Marxist revolutionary · 1928–1967
- Frédéric ChopinPolish composer and pianist · 1810–1849
- Blaise PascalFrench mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher · 1623–1662
- CleopatraQueen of Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BCE · 69–30 BC
- Swami VivekanandaIndian Hindu monk and philosopher · 1863–1902
- Malcolm XAmerican Black rights activist · 1925–1965
- Lucretius1st-century BC Roman poet and philosopher · c. 94–55 BC
- Bernhard RiemannGerman mathematician · 1826–1866
- Emiliano ZapataMexican revolutionary · 1879–1919
- Jaroslav HašekCzech humorist, satirist, writer and anarchist · 1883–1923
- Evangelista TorricelliItalian physicist and mathematician · 1608–1647
- Mihai EminescuRomanian poet, novelist and journalist · 1850–1889
- Petronius1st century AD Roman courtier and author of the Satyricon · c. AD 27–66
- Carl Maria von WeberGerman Romantic composer · 1786–1826
- Dietrich BonhoefferGerman Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident · 1906–1945
- Lucrezia BorgiaSpanish-Italian duchess-consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio · 1480–1519
- Dylan ThomasWelsh poet and writer · 1914–1953
- Augustin-Jean FresnelFrench engineer and physicist · 1788–1827
- Louis VIII of FranceKing of France 1223-1226 · 1187–1226
- Victor IIPope · c. 1018–1057
- Anna Nicole SmithAmerican actress and television personality · 1967–2007
- Boris VianFrench writer and musician · 1920–1959
- Joseph von FraunhoferBavarian physicist and optical lens manufacturer · 1787–1826
- Mustafa II22th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire · 1664–1703
- Ferdinand LassalleGerman jurist and socialist · 1825–1864
- Juliusz Słowacki ↗Polish Romantic poet · 1809–1849
- George Herbert ↗Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest · 1593–1633
- Juan Sebastián Elcano ↗Castillian Basque sailor, explorer, and circumnavigator with the Magellan Expedition · 1486–1526
- Francisco I. Madero ↗Mexican revolutionary leader and president · 1873–1913
- Glenn Miller ↗American band leader, arranger, and composer · 1904–1944
- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ↗Jordanian jihadist · 1966–2006
- Michelle Trachtenberg ↗American actress · 1985–2025
- Stonewall Jackson ↗General of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War · 1824–1863
- Suzanne Lenglen ↗French tennis player · 1899–1938
- Henry III ↗Holy Roman Emperor · 1016–1056
- Manon Roland ↗French revolutionary · 1754–1793
- Flannery O'Connor ↗American writer · 1925–1964
- Isaac Levitan ↗Russian artist · 1860–1900
- Georg Forster ↗German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary · 1754–1794
- Ptolemy VI ↗Egyptian pharaoh · c. 184–145 BC
- Cao Pi ↗Cao Wei Emperror · AD 187–226
- Rafael del Riego ↗Spanish general and politician · 1784–1823
- Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia ↗Grand Duke of Russia (1878–1918); youngest son of Alexander III of Russia and Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark) · 1878–1918
- Samuel Doe ↗21st President of Liberia · 1951–1990
- Duncan I of Scotland ↗King of Scots from 1034 to 1040 · c. 1001–1040
- Irène Némirovsky ↗French novelist · 1903–1942
- Jacques Pierre Brissot ↗French revolutionary · 1754–1793
- Alfonso II of Aragon ↗Aragonese monarch · 1157–1196
- Guy III of Spoleto ↗Holy Roman Emperor from 891 to 894 · c. AD 855–894
- Al-Mutawakkil ↗10th Abbasid caliph · c. AD 822–861
- Corneliu Zelea Codreanu ↗Romanian fascist politician; leader of the Iron Guard between 1927–1938 · 1899–1938
- Lola Montez ↗Irish dancer and actress · 1821–1861
- Fats Waller ↗American jazz pianist and composer · 1904–1943
- Giacomo Matteotti ↗Italian politician · 1885–1924
- Dinah Washington ↗American singer · 1924–1963
- Maria Anna of Spain ↗Wife of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III · 1606–1646
- Andy Whitfield ↗Welsh actor · 1971–2011
- Claude François ↗French pop singer, songwriter and dancer · 1939–1978
- Brenda Fassie ↗South African pop singer · 1964–2004
- Kaloyan of Bulgaria ↗Bulgarian tsar · c. 1168–1207
- King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo ↗Founder of the Goguryeo Empire · c. 58–19 BC
- Saint Nino ↗Early Christian saint · c. AD 296–335
- Thomas Andrews ↗British businessman and shipbuilder · 1873–1912
- Abu Tammam ↗Muslim Arab poet of Abbasid era · c. AD 807–846
- August von Platen-Hallermünde ↗German poet · 1796–1835
- Baji Rao I ↗General of the Maratha Empire in India · 1700–1740
- Bertha of Holland ↗French Queen · c. 1055–1094
- Guru Dutt ↗Indian film director, producer, choreographer and actor · 1925–1964
- Jules de Goncourt ↗French writer · 1830–1870
- Prince George, Duke of Kent ↗Royal Navy admiral (1902–1942), member of the House of Windsor · 1902–1942
- Bolesław II the Generous ↗King of Poland · c. 1042–1081
- Bartholomew Roberts ↗Welsh pirate · 1682–1722
- Charles Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp ↗Swedish Prince · 1700–1739
- Ilya Ilf ↗Soviet writer and journalist · 1897–1937
- Johann Stamitz ↗Czech composer and violinist · 1717–1757
- John Garfield ↗American actor · 1913–1952
- Pier Angeli ↗Actress · 1932–1971
- Tevfik Paşa ↗Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1879 to 1892 · 1852–1892
- Bálint Balassi ↗Hungarian poet, writer, soldier · 1554–1594
- Rudi Dutschke ↗German student activist · 1940–1979
- Uday Hussein ↗Iraqi politician and son of Saddam Hussein · 1964–2003
- Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur ↗Ruler of the Almohad Caliphate from 1184 to 1199 · c. 1160–1199
- Canute VI of Denmark ↗King of Denmark · c. 1163–1202
- Ellison Onizuka ↗American astronaut from Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, first Asian American to reach space, later died in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident · 1946–1986
- George Phillips Bond ↗American astronomer · 1825–1865
- Harald III of Denmark ↗11th-century King of Denmark · c. 1041–1080
- Margaret of France ↗Eldest daughter of Louis VII of France by his second wife Constance of Castile; queen of England by marriage to Henry the Young King, and queen of Hungary and Croatia by marriage to Béla III of Hungary · c. 1158–1197
"c." means only the years are known, so the age could be a year out. Dates are from Wikidata (CC0), last updated 22 October 2026.
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