List of Famous people who died at 54

Louis Alexander Novikoff, nicknamed "The Mad Russian," was an American professional baseball player. Born in Glendale, Arizona, his professional career extended from 1937 to 1950, with all or parts of five seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs (1941–44) and Philadelphia Phillies (1946). The outfielder threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).

Hervé Ghesquière was a French journalist most famous for being held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban for 547 days along with fellow reporter, Stéphane Taponier and their driver. They were released to French authorities June 29, 2011.

Steffi Martin Walter was a German luger who competed during the 1980s, representing East Germany. She won two Olympic gold medals in the women's singles event, two gold medals at FIL World Luge Championships, one gold medal at FIL World Luge Championships, and two silver medals at FIL European Luge Championships.

Faisal bin Fahd Al Saud was the president of Youth Welfare in Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1999 and a member of House of Saud.

Kim Jae-gyu was a South Korean Army Lieutenant General and the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. He assassinated South Korean President Park Chung-hee—who had been one of his closest friends—on October 26, 1979, and was subsequently executed by hanging on May 24, 1980.

Wilma Glodean Rudolph was an American sprinter born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, who became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. Rudolph competed in the 200-meter dash and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. She also won three gold medals, in the 100- and 200-meter individual events and the 4 x 100-meter relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Rudolph was acclaimed the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

Sólveig Anspach was an Icelandic-French film director and screenwriter. Born to a German-Romanian father Gerhard Anspach and an Icelandic mother Högna Sigurðardóttir, she spent most of her life living and working in France. After studying philosophy and clinical psychology in Paris, she enrolled in La Fémis and graduated with a diploma in directing in 1989. Her film Stormy Weather was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Anspach died of breast cancer on 7 August 2015 at the age of 54.

Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the American Mafia in New York City.

Vasili Sergeyevich Kulkov was a Russian footballer.

Roy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is known for his roles in films directed by Richard Lester; including Algernon in The Beatles' Help! (1965), Clapper in How I Won the War (1967) and Planchet in The Three Musketeers (1973) He reprised the role of Planchet in the 1974 and 1989 sequels, and was killed in an accident during filming of the latter. He is also known for playing Private Monty Bartlett in The Hill (1965), Henry Salt in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and cruise director Curtain in Juggernaut (1974).