List of Famous people who died at 42

Milan Kadlec was a Czech modern pentathlete. He competed at the 1980 and 1988 Summer Olympics.

Kovilage Anton Vijaya Kumaranatunga ;, popularly known as Vijaya Kumaratunga, was a Sri Lankan film actor, playback singer and a politician. One of the most popular icons in Sri Lankan cinema, He was married to former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaranatunga from 1978 until his assassination in 1988. He was the Founder of Sri Lanka Mahajana Party.

The December murders were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on December 7 between 2 am and 5 am while sleeping in their homes. The other two were Surendre Rambocus and Jiwansingh Sheombar who were already imprisoned for attempting a counter-coup in March 1982. Soldiers of Dési Bouterse, the then dictator of Suriname, took them to Fort Zeelandia, where they were heard as 'suspects in a trial' by Bouterse and other sergeants in a self-appointed court. After these 'hearings' they were tortured and shot dead. The circumstances have not yet become completely clear; on December 10, 1982, Bouterse claimed on national television that all of the detainees had been shot dead 'in an attempt to flee'.

Eva Christina Hedström was a Swedish actress, best known internationally for appearing as Tamara Kusenov in the Alfred Hitchcock film Topaz (1969). She also appeared in several Swedish films.