List of Famous people who died at 56

Irmtraud Morgner,, was a German writer, best known for works of magical realism concerned predominantly with the role of gender in East German society.

Arturo Castro Rivas Cacho was a Mexican character actor who was often credited and nicknamed as "El Bigotón," due to his distinctive mustache.

Hiroshi Ohshita , also spelled Oshita, was a Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder who began his career after World War II. Known for his trademark blue bat, he hit a record 20 home runs in a season and was home run king and leading hitter three times for the Toei Flyers. Ohshita was also a heavy hitter with the Nishitetsu Lions of the Pacific League during the 1950s.

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Kurlovich was a Soviet weightlifter. He trained at Armed Forces sports society in Grodno.

Raghubir Singh (1942–1999) was an Indian photographer, most known for his landscapes and documentary-style photographs of the people of India. He was a self-taught photographer who worked in India and lived in Paris, London and New York. During his career he worked with National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Time. In the early 1970s, he was one of the first photographers to reinvent the use of color at a time when color photography was still a marginal art form.

Rubén Marcos Selmán Albornoz was an association football referee from Chile. Selman was born in Santiago, and started refereeing in his twenties at games featured in the minor Chilean divisions. In the 1990s he started in the Primera División de Chile. In 1998, he received his FIFA badge and appeared in CONMEBOL tournaments. He officiated matches in the Copa Libertadores, Copa Mercosur, Copa Sudamericana, international friendlies and South American World Cup qualifiers.

Fabrizio Pirovano was an Italian professional motorcycle road racer from Biassono.

Hüseyin Akbaş (1933–1989) was a Turkish wrestler. He competed in freestyle wrestling at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1956 and a silver in 1964. Akbaş won the world freestyle title in 1954, 1957, 1959 and 1962, placing third in 1955 and 1961 and fourth in 1965. In 2011 he was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Marc Alfos was one of the most popular French actors who specialized in dubbing for France cinema, and he was the official French voice dub-over artist of actors Russell Crowe, Ron Perlman, Luis Guzmán and Bruce McGill in a number of films. He also dubbed a number of voices in video games.

Kenneth McMillan was an American actor. McMillan was usually cast as gruff, hostile and unfriendly characters due to his rough image. However, he was sometimes cast in some lighter comic roles that highlighted his gentler side.