List of Famous people who died in 1940

Robert Gabriel Guillaume Casadesus, known as Robert Casa was a French composer, singer and stage and film actor. He was a member of a prominent French musical family, and best known today as the father of the famous classical pianist Robert Casadesus. He was the brother of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus, and grandfather of Jean Casadesus. He composed several songs, instrumental pieces, and operettas, including La Ribaude and La Reine de l'Or.

Robert Schiff was a German-born, Italian chemist.

René Georges Hermann-Paul was a French artist. He was born in Paris and died in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

Harry Bernard was an American actor and comedian best remembered for his appearance in numerous comedy films by Mack Sennett and Hal Roach.

Donald Esme Clayton Calthrop was an English stage and film actor.

Ernest Lawrence Thayer was an American writer and poet who wrote the poem "Casey", which is "the single most famous baseball poem ever written" according to the Baseball Almanac, and "the nation’s best-known piece of comic verse—a ballad that began a native legend as colorful and permanent as that of Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan."

Bernard Siegel was an Austro-Hungarian born American character actor, whose career spanned both the silent film era, as well as carrying over into the beginning of sound pictures. His career spanned over 25 years, during which time he performed in over 50 films.