Deaths in July 1983

The following is a list of notable deaths in July 1983.

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.

July 1983

1

• Buckminster Fuller, 87, American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist, heart attack^[1][2]

4

• John Bodkin Adams, 84, British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, 163 of his patients died while in comas, which was deemed to be worthy of investigation, ^[3]chest infection while hospitalized for a fractured hip^[4]

5

• Harry James, 67, American bandleader, trumpeter, and actor, lymphatic cancer^[5][6][7]

7

• Herman Kahn, 61, American physicist and futurist, he posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War, for which he was one of the historical inspirations for the title character of Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy film satire Dr. Strangelove,^[8] stroke^[9]

• Alexander Fu Sheng, 28, Hong Kong martial arts actor,^[10]chest injuries and shock as a passenger in a car accident^[11][12]

9

• Robert Dawn, 61, American make-up artist and fighter pilot during World War II, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his wartime service^[13]

10

• Paul Blaisdell, 55, American painter, sculptor and visual effects creator, created the effects for several science fiction and horror fiction B movies, cancer^[14][15]
• Estrellita Castro, 75, Spanish singer and actress^[16]

11

• Ross Macdonald, 67, American-Canadian crime fiction writer, representative of the hardboiled genre, creator of the character Lew Archer, Alzheimer's disease^[17][18]

12

• Chris Wood, 39, British rock musician, founding member of the rock band Traffic, liver disease^[19][20]

13

• Gabrielle Roy, 74, Canadian novelist and sketch artist^[21]

15

• Eddie Foy Jr., 78, American actor and vaudeville performer, pancreatic cancer^[22]

16

• Michel Micombero, 42, Burundian military officer and politician, ruled the country as a de facto military dictator from 1966 until 1976, heart attack^[a][25][23]

17

• Byron Kennedy, 33, Australian film producer, co-creator of the media franchise Mad Max, killed in a helicopter crash^[26][27]

18

• George Lichty, 78, American cartoonist, creator of the daily strip and Sunday strip Grin and Bear It, heart attack^[28]

20

• Frank Reynolds, 59, American television journalist for CBS and ABC News,^{[29][30][31][32]}acute viral hepatitis^[29][33]
• Ann Tyrrell, 74, American actress and dialectician, heart attack^[34][35]

22

• Jack Rickard, 61, American illustrator and comics artist, key contributor to Mad, cancer^[36]

25

• Jerome Moross, 69, American composer, complications of a stroke and congestive heart failure^[37]

28

• Katharine Bard, 66, American actress, cancer^[38][39]

29

• Luis Buñuel, 83, Spanish-born Mexican filmmaker, representative of surrealist cinema,^[40]diabetes complications^{[41][42][43][44]}
• Rocco Chinnici, 58, Italian anti-Mafia magistrate, creator of the Antimafia Pool,^[45]killed by a car bomb^[46]
• Raymond Massey, 86, Canadian actor, pneumonia^[47][48]
• David Niven, 73, English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)^{[49][50][51][52][53]}

30

• Howard Dietz, 86, American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, specialist in musical revues,^[54][55]Parkinson's disease^[56]
• Lynn Fontanne, 95, English actress, pneumonia^[57]

References

1. Krebs, Albin (July 3, 1983). "R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, FUTURIST INVENTOR, DIES AT 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
2. "R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) | Mount Auburn Cemetery". www.mountauburn.org. Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
3. Robins, p. 283.
4. Cullen, pp. 553–554.
5. Phil Gallo (June 5, 2000). "Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James". Variety.com. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
6. "The Dead Rock Stars Club". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
7. Wilson, John (July 6, 1983). "Harry James, Trumpeter and Band Leader, Dies at 67". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
8. Paul Boyer, 'Dr. Strangelove' in Mark C. Carnes (ed.), Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies, New York, 1996.
9. "Herman Kahn". www.atomicarchive.com. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
10. "Remembering kung fu star Fu Sing who died in a Hong Kong car crash 36 years ago today". South China Morning Post. July 7, 2019.
11. "Shaw Brothers Cinema: The Life & Death of the Great Alexander Fu Sheng Part 3". Cool Ass Cinema.
12. Meyers, Ric (March 2011). Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book. Eirini Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780979998942.
13. "Obituaries". The Napa Valley Register. Napa, California. July 12, 1983. p. 15. Retrieved June 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
14. Palmer, Randy (2009). Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist. McFarland & Company. p. 259. ISBN 978-0786440993.
15. The Strange Creature of Topanga Canyon: Paul Blaisdell, His Life and Times (Tor.com, 2011)
16. Castelo, Santiago (July 11, 1983). "Nostalgia y memoria de Estrellita Castro". ABC (in Spanish). Madrid. p. 83. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
17. Flash From the Past: Kitchener writers’ family lives were like a bad plot 6 November 2020
18. Ross Macdonald Invented Modern Detective Lew Archer 13 October 2015
19. updated, Paul Reeslast (March 30, 2017). "Traffic's Chris Wood: Gifted, troubled and perpetually overlooked". louder. Retrieved May 16, 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
20. Traffic Biography. AllMusic.
21. Baird, Daniel (April 10, 2008). "Gabrielle Roy". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
22. "Eddie Foy Jr., actor, dancer and comedian". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. Reuter. July 16, 1983. p. 27. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
23. The New York Times 1983.
24. African Biography 2008.
25. Michel Micombero, ex presidente de Burundi
26. UPI (July 20, 1983). "BYRON KENNEDY, 33, PRODUCER OF FILM, 'THE ROAD WARRIOR'". The New York Times.
27. Brennan, Richard (2007). "Kennedy, Byron Eric (1949–1983)" (published first in hardcopy). Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
28. National Cartoonists Society: George Lichty
29. Prial, Frank J. (July 21, 1983). "Frank Reynolds, ABC newsman, dies". The New York Times. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
30. "Reagan, colleagues pay tribute to Frank Reynolds". Montreal Gazette. UPI. July 21, 1983. p. D8.
31. "Frank Reynolds: 'caring reporter'". Lakeland Ledger. Florida. Associated Press. July 21, 1983. p. 9A.
32. "ABC's Frank Reynolds dies at 59". Bangor Daily News. Maine. Associated Press. July 21, 1983. p. 25.
33. Clark, Kenneth H. (July 21, 1983). "Burial at Arlington for Frank Reynolds". Chicago Tribune. p. 10, section 2.
34. "Ann Tyrrell, stage and TV actress, dies". The Free Lance-Star. July 23, 1983. p. 3. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
35. "Actress Tyrrell dies at age 74". The Telegraph-Herald. July 24, 1983. p. 30. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
36. "Jack Rickard". lambiek.net.
37. Pareles, Jon (July 27, 1983). "Jerome Moross, 69, Composer, Is Dead". The New York Times. p. A19. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
38. "Katharine Bard, Stage and Television Actress, Is Dead". Los Angeles Times. July 31, 1963. p. Part II-12. Retrieved April 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
39. "Katharine Bard". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
40. French, Philip (May 29, 2011). "L'Age d'Or/ Un Chien Andalou". The Guardian. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
41. Flint, Peter B. Flint (July 30, 1983). "Luis Buñuel Dies at 83; Filmmaker for 50 Years". The New York Times. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
42. Reference Jeanne Rucar, "Memorias de una mujer sin piano". Cabaret Voltaire, Spain 1990.
43. Fuentes, Carlos (August 20, 2007). "The Milky Way: The Heretic's Progress". Criterion Collection. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
44. Tuckman, Jo (December 28, 2004). "Dead man laughing". The Guardian. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
45. Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino and the Procura of Palermo Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, Peter Schneider & Jane Schneider, May 2002, essay is based on excerpts from Chapter Six of Jane Schneider and Peter Schneider, Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo, Berkeley: University of California Press
46. Stille, Excellent Cadavers, p. 81.
47. "Raymond Massey, Famous For His Portrayal Of Lincoln". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 31, 1983.
48. "Raymond Massey, Noted For Lincoln Roles". The Washington Post. July 31, 1983.
49. Donnelley, Paul (2003). Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries. Music Sales Group. p. 522. ISBN 0-711-99512-5.
50. Pace, Eric (July 30, 1983). "David Niven Dead at 73; Witty Actor Won Oscar". The New York Times. p. 1.
51. Pace, Eric (July 30, 1983). "David Niven Dead at 73; Witty Actor Won Oscar". The New York Times. p. 2.
52. "Niven, (James) David Graham (1910–1983), actor and author". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31503. Retrieved April 8, 2008. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
53. "Obituaries". The Times. July 30, 1983.
54. Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 693/4. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
55. Green, Stanley (1984). "Chapter 13: Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz, Dorothy Fields". The World of Musical Comedy: The Story of the American Musical Stage as Told Through the Careers of its Foremost Composers and Lyricists. Da Capo Press. p. 161. ISBN 9780498023446.
56. Howard Dietz PapersNew York Public Library, accessed August 10, 2009
57. "Lynn Fontanne is Dead at 95; A Star with Lunt for 37 Years", The New York Times, 31 July 1983. Retrieved 17 April 2014.

Sources

• Schneider, Jane T. & Peter T. Schneider (2003). Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo, Berkeley: University of California Press ISBN 0-520-23609-2
• Stille, Alexander (1995). Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, New York: Vintage ISBN 0-09-959491-9
• "Michel Micombero, 43, Dies: Former President of Burundi". The New York Times. UPI. July 18, 1983. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
• Chrétien, Jean-Pierre (2008). "Micombero, Michel". In Gates, Louis Jr.; Akyeampong, Emmanuel K. (eds.). Dictionary of African Biography. Vol. 4. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Robins, Jane (2013). The Curious Habits of Dr Adams: A 1950s Murder Mystery. John Murray. ISBN 978-1-84854-470-3.
• Cullen, Pamela V. (2006). A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams. London: Elliott & Thompson. ISBN 1-904027-19-9.

Notes

1. According to the obituary published in The New York Times two days later, Micombero died on 16 July 1983.^[23] His entry in the Dictionary of African Biography gives 6 August 1983 instead.^[24]

External links

• List of July 1983 deaths at IMDb