Biographies: Deaths of 2012

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Deaths of 2012

A-E | F-L | M-Q | R-Z

• James Abdnor, Representative and Senator from South Dakota
• John Arden, English plarywright and novelist
• Neil Armstrong, astronaut
• Ray Bradbury, writer
• Andrew Breitbart, publisher, activist
• Ernest Borgnine, actor
• Jack Bascom Brooks, U.S. Congressman
• Helen Gurley Brown, magazine editor, writer
• Dave Brubeck, jazz musician, composer
• Milt Campbell, athlete
• Don Carter, bowler
• Elliott Cook Carter, Jr., composer
• Dick Clark, TV personality
• Don Cornelius, TV personality
• Richard Dawson, actor, game show host
• Phyllis Diller, comedian
• Nora Ephron, screenwriter, director, actor

• Ben Gazzara, actor
• Robin Gibb, singer, songwriter
• Sam Melville Gibbons, U.S. Congressman
• Andy Griffith, actor
• James Russell Grover, Jr., U.S. Congressman
• Larry Hagman, actor
• Marvin Hamlisch, composer
• Whitney Houston, singer, actor
• Daniel Ken Inouye, U.S. Senator
• Etta James, singer
• William J. Janklow, four-term Governor of South Dakota
• Davy Jones, musician, TV personality
• Edgar Lanier (Ed) Jenkins, U.S. Congressman
• Rodney King, beating victim
• Thomas Kinkade, artist

• George McGovern, U.S. Senator
• Russell Means, activist, actor
• Joseph E. Murray, surgeon, Nobel Prize recipient
• Oscar Niemeyer Soares, Brazil's foremost 20th-century architect
• Donald Milford Payne, Congressman from New Jersey
• Joe Paterno, coach, scandal figure

• Adrienne Rich, poet
• Sally Ride, astronaut
• Jenni Rivera, singer, actor
• H. Norman Schwarzkopf, military leader
• Tony Scott, filmmaker
• Maurice Sendak, illustrator, writer
• Yitzhak Shamir, soldier, former Prime Minister of Israel
• Ravi Shankar, musician, composer
• Josef Skvorecky, writer
• Arlen Specter, U.S. senator / political figure
• Omar Suleiman, Egyptian politician
• Donna Summer, singer
• Antoni Tàpies, Spanish abstract painter
• Gore Vidal, writer
• Mike Wallace, TV Newscaster
• Doc Watson, guitarist, country musician
• Kitty Wells, country singer
• Andy Williams, singer, TV personality
• Adam Yauch, rapper, filmmaker