The Most Famous Deaths Throughout History

Jesus Christ. Death by crucifixion and founder of Christianity.

Michael Jackson. Death by overdose. "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest entertainers in the history of music.

Diana, Princess of Wales. Died in a car crash. Activism and glamour made her one of the most popular members of the royal family throughout history.

Adolf Hitler. Death by suicide. Dictator of Nazi Germany, regime was also responsible for the killing of an estimate of 50 million people.

Abraham Lincoln. Death by assassination, shot at point-blank range in the back of the head. The 16th president of the United States, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the U.S. economy.

Martin Luther King Jr. Death by assassination, shot to death. An activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

John F. Kennedy. Death by assassination, he was shot once in the back, the bullet exiting via his throat, and once in the head. The 35th president of the United States.

Elvis Presley. Death by Cardiac arrest. "King of Rock and Roll" and the best-selling solo music artist of all time.

Mother Teresa. Died of health decline and heart failure. A Nobel Peace Prize winner, a Saint, a selfless missionary of charity.

Joan of Arc. Executed by burning. A heroine of France and a saint.

Tsar Nicholas II. Executed by shooting. Russian last emperor, the fall of Russian empire.

Norma Jeane Mortenson or Marilyn Monroe. Death by suicide by overdose. She was a superstar and cultural icon.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi. Death by assassination, he was shot in the chest from a pistol at close range. He was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British Rule, and in turn inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Grace Kelly. Died by fatal car crash. An Oscar winner and Princess of Monaco. She is one of the Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood Cinema.

Julius Caesar. Death by assassination, he was stabbed 23 times. He was a Roman statesman and military general who played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. His political philosophy, known as Caesarism, inspired politicians into the modern era.

Grigori Rasputin. Died from drowning after being unsuccessfully poisoned, shot 3 times and beaten. He was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria. Death by assassination. The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand's death, with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

John Lennon. Death by assassination, he was shot four times in the back at close range. Gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.

Whitney Houston. Death by coronary heart disease and drug use. With her exceptional vocal talent, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female artist of all time and she remains one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Executed by guillotine. The last King and Queen of France before the French Revolution.

Jayne Mansfield. Death in a fatal crash. Her car crashed at high speed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed behind a truck spraying mosquito fogger shrouded in an insecticide fog. It went completely underneath it, shearing the top of the car off, and killing the vehicle's three adult passengers almost instantly. Shortly thereafter, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration made it mandatory for all semi truck trailers to be fitted with under-ride bars, also called DOT bars or "Mansfield bars." The steel bar hangs from back of the cargo area and is designed to stop a car before it rolls underneath the trailer.

Cleopatra VII Philopator. Death by suicide. She was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Cleopatra's legacy survives in ancient and modern works of art

Saddam Hussein. Executed by hanging. The fifth President of Iraq. Saddam was convicted by an Iraqi court of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'a, and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on 30 December 2006. Amateur footage of the event, unlike the official footage, included sound; witnesses could be heard taunting Saddam at the gallows. That video became the most viral video in Iraq to date.

Amelia Earhart. Declared dead in absentia. During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. She was was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.