Deaths in May 1999

The following is a list of notable deaths in May 1999.

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.

1

 * Eddie Chamblee, 79, American tenor, alto saxophonist and vocalist.
 * Alish Lambaranski, 84, Soviet and Azerbaijani statesman.
 * Jos LeDuc, 54, Canadian professional wrestler, lung infection.
 * Osman Ahmed Osman, 82, Egyptian engineer, entrepreneur, and politician.
 * Jack Sepkoski, 50, American paleontologist.
 * Brian Shawe-Taylor, 84, British racing driver.

2

 * Thomas C. Cochran, 97, American economic historian and author.
 * Bill Davidson, 64, American football player and coach and college athletics administrator.
 * Igor M. Diakonoff, 84, Russian historian, linguist and translator.
 * Ernest A. Gross, 92, American diplomat and lawyer.
 * Douglas Harkness, 96, Canadian politician, teacher and farmer.
 * Robert Arthur Humphreys, 91, British historian and professor of Latin American studies.
 * Tibor Kalman, 49, American graphic designer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
 * Oliver Reed, 61, British actor (The Devils, Oliver!, The Three Musketeers), alcohol intoxication, heart attack.
 * Włodzimierz Sokorski, 90, Polish communist politician, writer, and brigadier general.
 * Anahit Tsitsikian, 72, Armenian female violinist.

3

 * Joe Adcock, 71, American baseball player and manager, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Steve Chiasson, 32, Canadian ice hockey player, (Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes), drunk driving crash.
 * Godfrey Evans, 78, English cricketer.
 * Giulio Fioravanti, 75, Italian operatic baritone.
 * Princess Urraca of the Two Sicilies, 85, German noblewoman and member of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
 * Josef Zeman, 84, Czech football player.

4

 * Manny Babbitt, 50, U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam War and convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
 * Albert Fearnley, 75, English rugby league football player, and coach.
 * Wilfried Geeroms, 57, Belgian Olympic hurdler, cancer.
 * Jean Marius René Guibé, 89, French naturalist.
 * Mahendra Narayan Nidhi, 77, Nepali politician and Gandhian leader.
 * John Salmon, 88, New Zealand photographer, conservationist, and author.
 * Henry Tiller, 84, Norwegian boxer and Olympic medalist.

5

 * Vasilis Diamantopoulos, 78, Greek actor, heart attack.
 * John Howard, 86, British Army officer during World War II.
 * Américo Paredes, 83, American author.
 * Rodrigo Ruiz, 76, Mexican football player.

6

 * Fehmi Agani, 67, Kosovan sociologist and politician.
 * Keizo Hasegawa, 76, Japanese track and field athlete and Olympian.
 * Kaii Higashiyama, 90, Japanese writer and artist.
 * Sven Meyer, 21, German figure skater, suicide by gunshot.
 * Johnny Morris, 82, British television presenter.
 * Maria Laura Rocca, 81, Italian actress and writer.
 * Mark Tuinei, 39, American football player, drug overdose.

7

 * Joseph Gray, 79, Irish-born English Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Shrewsbury.
 * Leon Hess, 85, American businessman and owner of the New York Jets.
 * Elliot Pinhey, 88, British entomologist.
 * Chen Yanyan, 83, Chinese actress and film producer.
 * Yury Zakharanka, 47, Belarusian minister and oppositional politician, murdered by the Lukashenko regime.

8

 * Edward Abraham, 85, English biochemist, stroke.
 * Dirk Bogarde, 78, British actor (Doctor in the House, The Servant, A Bridge Too Far), heart attack.
 * Ed Gilbert, 67, American voice actor (The Transformers, TaleSpin, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero), lung cancer.
 * Soeman Hs, 95, Indonesian author.
 * John Kotz, 80, American collegiate basketball player and early professional.
 * Michael Nightingale, 76, English actor.
 * Alan Paterson, 70, English high jumper and Olympian.
 * Sally Payne, 86, American actress, stroke.
 * Dana Plato, 34, American actress (Diff'rent Strokes), suicide by overdose.
 * Leon Thomas, 61, American jazz and blues vocalist, heart failure.

9

 * Harry Blech, 89, British violinist and conductor.
 * Shirley Dinsdale, 72, American ventriloquist and television and radio personality, cancer.
 * Derek Fatchett, 53, British politician, heart attack.
 * Jürgen Fuchs, 48, East German writer and dissident, leukemia.
 * Jim Hunt, 95, American athletic trainer.
 * Božidar Kantušer, 77, Slovene composer of classical music, cerebral infarct, stroke.
 * Wynona Lipman, American politician, cancer.
 * Ivan M. Niven, 83, Canadian-American mathematician.
 * George T. Raymond, 84, American civil rights leader.
 * Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya, 96, Indian educationist.
 * Ole Søltoft, 58, Danish actor.

10

 * Hans Granlid, 72, Swedish novelist and literary researcher.
 * Anésia Pinheiro Machado, Brazilian female pilot.
 * John Munonye, 70, Nigerian writer.
 * Carl Powis, 71, American baseball player.
 * Shel Silverstein, 68, American poet, playwright, and cartoonist, heart attack.
 * Eric Willis, 77, Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales (1976).

11

 * José Fernández Aguayo, Spanish photography director.
 * Eqbal Ahmad, 65, Pakistani political scientist, writer and pacifist, heart failure.
 * Josef Dostál, 95, Czech botanist, pteridologist, conservationist and climber.
 * Elaine Fifield, 68, Australian ballerina.
 * Werner Fuchs, 50, German football player, heart attack.
 * George Hunter, 60, Scottish motorcycle speedway rider.
 * Birdy Sweeney, 67, Irish actor and comedian.
 * Robert Thomas, 72, Welsh sculptor.

12

 * William James Morgan, 84, Northern Irish unionist politician.
 * Robert Rose, 47, Australian sportsman and quadriplegic, complications following surgery.
 * Penny Santon, 82, American actress (Matt Houston, Funny Girl, Fletch).
 * Saul Steinberg, 84, Romanian-American cartoonist and illustrator.
 * Jerzy Stroba, 79, Polish Roman Catholic bishop.
 * Daniel Frank Walls, 56, New Zealand theoretical physicist, cancer.

13

 * Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz, 88, Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar.
 * Roy Crowson, 84, English biologist.
 * Meg Greenfield, 68, American editorial writer, cancer.
 * Motohiko Hino, 53, Japanese jazz drummer, liver failure.
 * Giuseppe Petrilli, 86, Italian professor and European Commissioner.
 * Gene Sarazen, 97, American golf player, complications of pneumonia.
 * John Whiting, 90, American sociologist and anthropologist.

14

 * Manuel del Cabral, 92, Dominican poet, writer, and diplomat.
 * Buck Houghton, 84, American television producer and writer, pulmonary emphysema.
 * Tang Pao-yun, 55, Taiwanese actress.
 * Joseph F. Smith, 79, American politician.
 * William Tucker, 38, American guitarist, suicide.
 * Grete Weil, 92, German writer.
 * Asrat Woldeyes, 70, Ethiopian surgeon, heart ailment.
 * Jerry Wunderlich, 73, American set decorator (The Exorcist, The Last Tycoon, WarGames).
 * Nitya Chaitanya Yati, 74, Indian philosopher, psychologist, author and poet.

15

 * Valeh Barshadly, 71, Azerbaijani Minister of Defense.
 * Lily Fayol, 84, French singer.
 * Rob Gretton, 46, British band manager (Joy Division, New Order), heart attack.
 * Ernst Mosch, 73, German musician, composer and conductor.
 * Kenneth Riches, 90, British Anglican bishop.
 * Bob Wilson, 85, American gridiron football player.

16

 * Guy Cudell, 82, Belgian politician, mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (1953–1999), cancer.
 * Minder Coleman, 95, American artist.
 * Cam Fraser, 67, Canadian football player.
 * Bobby Goldman, 60, American bridge player, writer, and official.
 * George Hill Hodel, 91, American physician and suspect in several murders.
 * Andy Norval, 87, Australian rugby player.
 * Lembit Oll, 33, Estonian chess grandmaster, suicide.

17

 * James Broughton, 85, American poet, playwright and filmmaker, heart failure.
 * Bruce Fairbairn, 49, Canadian musician and record producer.
 * Božidar Finka, 73, Croatian linguist and lexicographer.
 * Henry Jones, 86, American actor, complications from a fall.
 * Thelma Kalama, 68, American Olympic swimmer.
 * Ed Rimkus, 85, American of Lithuanian descent bobsledder.

18

 * Juan Manuel Couder, 64, Spanish tennis player.
 * Hayrettin Erkmen, 84, Turkish politician.
 * Dias Gomes, 76, Brazilian playwright, traffic collision.
 * Hank Herring, 76, American boxer.
 * Miguel Pedro Mundo, 61, American bishop of the Catholic Church.
 * Augustus Pablo, 44, Jamaican record producer and musician, respiratory failure.
 * Freddy Randall, 78, English jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
 * Betty Robinson, 87, American athlete and winner of the first Olympic 100 m, Alzheimer's disease.

19

 * James Blades, 97, English percussionist.
 * Candy Candido, 85, American radio performer, bass player and voice actor.
 * Rebecca Elson, 39, Canadian–American astronomer and writer, cancer.
 * Larry Markes, 77, American comedian, singer and screenwriter.
 * John McSweeney, Jr., 83, American film editor.
 * Vera Scarth-Johnson, 87, British-Australian botanist and botanical illustrator.
 * Xhafer Spahiu, 75, Albanian politician.
 * Alister Williamson, 80, Australian-British actor.

20

 * William Alfred, 76, American playwright, poet, and academic.
 * Renato Gei, 78, Italian football player and manager.
 * James E. Hill, 77, United States Air Force general and World War II flying ace, cancer.
 * Robert Rhodes James, 66, British politician.
 * Carlos Quirino, 89, Filipino biographer and historian.
 * Colette Ripert, 69, French actress.

21

 * Vanessa Brown, 71, Austrian-American actress, breast cancer.
 * Jozef Cleber, 82, Dutch trombonist, violinist, and composer.
 * Colin Hayes, 75, Australian trainer of thoroughbred racehorses.
 * Norman Rossington, 70, English actor.
 * Mario Tagliaferri, 71, Italian prelate of the Catholic Church.
 * Fulvio Tomizza, 64, Italian writer.

22

 * Milton Banana, 64, Brazilian bossa nova and jazz drummer.
 * Loleh Bellon, 74, French stage and film actress and playwright.
 * Mark Edward Bradley, 92, United States Air Force general and aviator pioneer.
 * Rubén W. Cavallotti, 74, Uruguayan-Argentine film director.
 * Duilio Coletti, 92, Italian film director and screenwriter, heart attack.
 * Alfred Kubel, 90, American politician.

23

 * Arthur Edward Ellis, 84, English football referee, cancer.
 * Owen Hart, 34, Canadian professional wrestler (WWF), injuries sustained from fall.
 * John T. Hayward, 90, American naval aviator during World War II, cancer.
 * Asa Singh Mastana, 71, Indian musician and singer.
 * John Prentice, 78, American cartoonist (Rip Kirby).
 * Albert Charles Smith, 93, American botanist.

24

 * Irene Bache, 98, British artist.
 * Guru Hanuman, 98, Indian wrestling coach, car crash.
 * T. N. Gopinathan Nair, 81, Indian dramatist, novelist, poet and screenwriter.
 * Ramón Rubial, 92, Spanish socialist leader.
 * Arnaldo Silva, 55, Portuguese football player.

25

 * Fredda Brilliant, 96, Polish sculptor and actress.
 * Hillary Brooke, 84, American film actress, pulmonary embolism.
 * Horst Frank, 69, German film actor, stroke.
 * René Gallice, 80, French football player.
 * Paul Moss, 90, American gridiron football player.
 * Bal Dattatreya Tilak, 80, Indian chemical engineer.

26

 * William Cutolo, 49, American mobster (Colombo crime family), murdered.
 * Sir Hugh Fish, 76, English chemist.
 * Belli Lalitha, 25, Indian folk singer, homicide.
 * Felipe Rodríguez, 73, Puerto Rican singer of boleros, fall.
 * Paul Sacher, 93, Swiss conductor, patron and impresario.
 * Waldo Semon, 100, American inventor.
 * Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, 89, Austrian political scientist and journalist.
 * Jack Wells, 88, Canadian radio and television broadcaster.

27

 * Alice Adams, 72, American short story writer and novelist.
 * Zach de Beer, 70, South African politician and businessman, stroke.
 * Francine Everett, 84, American actress and singer.
 * Timo Lampén, 64, Finnish basketball player.
 * William T. Moore, 81, American attorney and politician.
 * Leah Ray, 84, American singer and actress.
 * James Rowland, 76, Australian air chief marshal.
 * Violet Webb, 84, English track and field athlete and Olympic medalist.

28

 * Michael Barkai, 64, Israeli Navy general, suicide.
 * Peter Bostock, 87, British Anglican priest.
 * Henry Carlsson, 81, Swedish football player and manager.
 * Florence MacMichael, 80, American character actress.
 * Raphael Recanati, 75, Israeli-American shipping magnate, banker, and philanthropist, heart failure.
 * Lady Rowlands, 95, American film actress.
 * Petrus Van Theemsche, 83, Belgian racing cyclist.
 * B. Vittalacharya, 79, Indian film director and producer.

29

 * Joe Busch, 91, Australian rugby player.
 * João Carlos de Oliveira, 45, Brazilian athlete, complications of alcoholism.
 * Bernard Lajarrige, 87, French film and television actor.
 * Mattia Moreni, 78, Italian sculptor and painter.
 * Richard Ray, 72, American politician.

30

 * Don Harper, 78, Australian composer.
 * Sonia Chadwick Hawkes, 67, English archaeologist, cancer.
 * William R. Lawley Jr., 78, United States Army Air Forces officer and recipient of the Medal of Honor.
 * Kalju Lepik, 78, Estonian poet.
 * Paul S. Newman, 75, American writer of comic books and strips, heart attack.

31

 * Emilio Baldonedo, 82, Argentine football player and manager.
 * Inayat Hussain Bhatti, 71, Pakistani actor, script writer, social worker and columnist.
 * Don Biederman, 59, Canadian stock car racer, brain aneurysm.
 * Nicolas Bréhal, 46, French novelist and literary critic.
 * Davor Dujmović, 29, Bosnian Serb actor, suicide.
 * Willibald Hahn, 89, Austrian football player and manager.
 * Anatoli Ivanov, 71, Soviet and Russian writer.
 * Auguste Le Breton, 86, French novelist, lung cancer.
 * Radomir Lukić, 84, Serbian jurist and academic.
 * Charles Pierce, 72, American female impersonator.
 * Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha, 69, Indian politician.