List of Famous people who died in 1950

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, popularly known as Sardar Patel, was an Indian politician. He served as the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. He was an Indian barrister, and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress who played a leading role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation. In India and elsewhere, he was often called Sardar, meaning "chief" in Hindi, Urdu, and Persian. He acted as Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

Eric Arthur Blair, known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, biting social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.

Timothy John Evans was a Welshman wrongfully accused of the murder of his wife and infant daughter at their residence at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried and convicted for the murder of his daughter, and he was executed by hanging in March of the same year.

Carter Godwin Woodson was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He was one of the first scholars to study the history of the African diaspora, including African-American history. A founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, Woodson has been called the "father of black history". In February 1926 he launched the celebration of "Negro History Week", the precursor of Black History Month.

Frances Ford Seymour Fonda was a Canadian-American socialite. She was the second wife of actor Henry Fonda, and the mother of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.

Willis Haviland Carrier was an American engineer, best known for inventing modern air conditioning. Carrier invented the first electrical air conditioning unit in 1902. In 1915, he founded Carrier Corporation, a company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892), and his first wife, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (1843–1878), daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Abraham Wald was a Hungarian Jewish mathematician who contributed to decision theory, geometry, and econometrics, and founded the field of statistical sequential analysis. One of the well known statistical works of his during World War 2 was how to minimize the damage to bomber aircraft taking into account the survivorship bias in his calculations. He spent his researching years at Columbia University.

Grover Cleveland Alexander, nicknamed "Old Pete", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1911 through 1930 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938.

Arthur Davidson Sr. was an American businessman. He was one of the four original founders of Harley-Davidson.

Leslie William Coffelt was an officer of the White House Police, a branch of the Secret Service, who was killed while successfully defending U.S. President Harry S. Truman against an armed attack on November 1, 1950, at Blair House, where the president was living during renovations at the White House.

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while was one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.

Francisco Romano Guillemín (1884–1950) was a Mexican artist born in Tlapa, Guerrero. He is considered to be one of the few Mexican Impressionists. He started his art studies in Puebla and then continued at the Academia de San Carlos under the direction of Antonio Fabres, German Gedovius and Leandro Izaguirre. He was a fellow student of the famous muralist Diego Rivera. His great influence was Impressionism which he discovered during a trip to Europe. Seurat and his pointillism style played a major role in his formation as an artist. Upon his return to Mexico he became a professor at the Escuela de Bellas Artes. Francisco Romano Guillemin died in Cuautla, Morelos in 1950.

Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz, born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher, was a German entrepreneur who invented the paper coffee filter brewing system in 1908. She founded the namesake company Melitta, which still operates under family control.

Adam Rainer was the only person in recorded history to have been both a dwarf and a giant. He is believed to have had acromegaly.

John Heinrich Detlef Rabe was a German businessman and Nazi Party member who is best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanking occupation and his work to protect and help the Chinese civilians during the massacre. The Nanking Safety Zone, which he helped to establish, sheltered approximately 200,000 Chinese people from slaughter during the massacre. He officially represented Germany and acted as senior chief of the European–U.S. establishment that remained in Nanking, the Chinese capital at the time, when the city fell to the Japanese troops.

George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Karolina Olsson, also known as "Soverskan på Oknö", was a Swedish woman who purportedly remained in hibernation between 1876 and 1908.

Al Jolson was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, and actor. Jolson has been dubbed "the king of blackface" performers, a theatrical convention since the mid-19th century. He was also dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer" at the peak of his career. His performing style was brash and extroverted, and he popularized many songs that benefited from his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach." In the 1920s, Jolson was America's most famous and highest-paid entertainer.

George Palmer Putnam was an American publisher, author and explorer. Known for his marriage to Amelia Earhart, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in the United States during the 1930s.