2003 in The United States - Deaths

Deaths

• January 3 – Sid Gillman, football coach (born 1911)
• January 11 – Richard Simmons, actor (born 1913)
• January 12 – Dean Amadon, ornithologist (born 1912)
• January 15 – Doris Fisher, singer-songwriter (born 1915)
• January 17 – Richard Crenna, actor (born 1926)
• January 20 – Al Hirschfeld, cartoonist (born 1903)
• January 23 – Nell Carter, singer and actress (born 1948)
• January 29 – Frank Moss, politician (born 1911)
• February 1 – crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107:

Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (born 1959)

David M. Brown, astronaut (born 1956)

Kalpana Chawla, astronaut (born 1961)

Laurel Clark, astronaut (born 1961)

Rick Husband, astronaut (born 1957)

William McCool, astronaut (born 1961)

• February 2 – Lou Harrison, composer (born 1917)
• February 10
  • Edgar de Evia, photographer (born 1910)
  • Ron Ziegler, president Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (born 1939)
  • "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, professional wrestler (born 1959)
• February 16 – Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (born 1907)
• February 19 – Johnny PayCheck, singer (born 1938)
• February 20 – Orville Freeman, politician (born 1918)
• February 27 – Fred Rogers, children's television host (born 1928)
• March 2 – Hank Ballard, musician (born 1927)
• March 12 – Lynne Thigpen, actress (born 1948)
• March 22 – Milton G. Henschel, Jehovah's Witnesses leader (born 1920)
• March 26 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, politician (born 1926)
• March 30 - Michael Jeter, actor (born 1952)
• April 17
  • Robert Atkins, nutritionist (born 1930)
  • Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (born 1932)
  • Earl King, musician (born 1934)
• April 20 – Ruth Hale, playwright and actress (born 1908)
• April 21 – Nina Simone, singer (born 1933)
• April 26 – Peter Stone, writer (born 1930)
• May 1 – Elizabeth Hulette, wrestling manager and valet (born 1960)
• May 3 – Suzy Parker, actress (born 1932)
• May 9 – Russell B. Long, politician (born 1918)
• May 14 – Robert Stack, actor (born 1919)
• May 15 – June Carter Cash, singer (born 1929)
• May 26 – Kathleen Winsor, writer (born 1919)
• May 28 – Martha Scott, actress (born 1912)
• June 2
  • Burke Marshall, lawyer and politician (born 1922)
  • "Classy" Freddy Blassie, professional wrestler and manager (born 1918)
• June 6 – Ken Grimwood, writer (born 1944)
• June 10 – Donald Regan, Treasury Secretary (born 1918)
• June 11 – David Brinkley, television reporter (born 1920)
• June 12 – Gregory Peck, actor (born 1916)
• June 14 – Jimmy Knepper, musician (born 1927)
• June 18 – Larry Doby, baseball player (born 1923)
• June 21 – Leon Uris, writer (born 1924)
• June 23 – Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (born 1938)
• June 25 – Lester Maddox, politician (born 1915)
• June 26 – Strom Thurmond, politician (born 1902)
• June 29 – Katharine Hepburn, actress (born 1907)
• June 30 – Buddy Hackett, comedian and actor (born 1924)
• July 1 – Herbie Mann, jazz flutist (born 1930)
• July 4 – Barry White, singer (born 1944)
• July 7 – Buddy Ebsen, actor (born 1908)
• July 12 – Benny Carter, musician (born 1907)
• July 15 – Tex Schramm, football team president and general manager (born 1920)
• July 16 – Carol Shields, American-born writer (born 1935)
• July 17 – Rosalyn Tureck, pianist and harpsichordist (born 1914)
• July 30 – Sam Phillips, record producer (born 1923)
• August 4 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
• August 9 – Gregory Hines, dancer and actor (born 1946)
• August 23 – Bobby Bonds, baseball player (born 1946)
• August 28 – Brian Douglas Wells, criminal (born 1956)
• August 30 – Charles Bronson, actor (born 1921)
• September 1 – John Gould, humorist, essayist, and columnist (born 1908)
• September 3 – Ma Dunjing, prominent General in China during the Republic of China era (born 1910)
• September 6 – Harry Goz, actor (born 1932)
• September 7 – Warren Zevon, singer (born 1947)
• September 9 – Larry Hovis, actor (born 1936)
• September 11 – John Ritter, actor (born 1948)
• September 12 – Johnny Cash, singer and guitarist (born 1932)
• September 13 – Frank O'Bannon, politician (born 1930)
• September 14 – John Serry, Sr., musician (born 1915)
• September 17 – Sheb Wooley, actor and singer (born 1921)
• September 22 – Gordon Jump, actor (born 1932)
• September 25 – George Plimpton, writer and actor (born 1927)
• September 27 – Donald O'Connor, actor, singer, and dancer (born 1925)
• September 28 – Althea Gibson, tennis player (born 1927)
• October 3
  • William Steig, cartoonist (born 1907)
  • Timothy Treadwell, Environmentalist
• October 5 – Neil Postman, educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (born 1931)
• October 7 – Ellen Cannon Reed, witch and author (born 1943)
• October 10 – Eugene Istomin, pianist (born 1925)
• October 12 – Willie Shoemaker, jockey (born 1931)
• October 20 – Jack Elam, actor (born 1918)
• October 21
  • Fred Berry, actor (born 1951)
  • Elliott Smith, musician (born 1969)
• October 22 – Tony Renna, race car driver (born 1976)
• October 25 – Robert Strassburg, composer (born 1915)
• October 29 – Hal Clement, writer (born 1922)
• October 31 – Richard Neustadt, political historian (born 1919)
• November 3 – Spider Jorgensen, baseball player and coach (born 1919)
• November 5
  • Bobby Hatfield, singer (The Righteous Brothers) (born 1940)
  • Dorothy Fay, actress (born 1915)
• November 9 – Art Carney, actor (born 1918)
• November 10 – Irv Kupcinet, columnist and television personality (murdered) (born 1912)
• November 12
  • Jonathan Brandis, actor (suicide) (born 1976)
  • Penny Singleton, actress (born 1908)
• November 13 – Kellie Waymire, actress (born 1967)
• November 14 – Gene Anthony Ray, actor (born 1962)
• November 15 – Dorothy Loudon, actress (born 1933)
• November 18 – Michael Kamen, composer (born 1948)
• November 20 – Jim Siedow, actor (born 1920)
• November 26 – Soulja Slim, rapper (born 1977)
• November 30 – Gertrude Ederle, swimmer (born 1906)
• December 4 – Iggy Katona, race car driver (born 1916)
• December 7
  • Carl F. H. Henry, theologian and publisher (born 1913)
  • Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (born 1936)
• December 9 – Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (born 1928)
• December 13 – William Roth, U.S. Senator from Delaware (born 1921)
• December 14 – Jeanne Crain, actress (born 1925)
• December 15 – George Fisher, political cartoonist (born 1923)
• December 16 – Gary Stewart, singer (suicide) (born 1945)
• December 17 – Otto Graham, football player (born 1921)
• December 19 – Hope Lange, actress (born 1933)
• December 22 – Dave Dudley, singer (born 1928)
• December 29 – Earl Hindman, actor (born 1942)
• December 30 – John Gregory Dunne, writer (born 1932)