List of Famous people who died in 1956

Otto Yulyevich Shmidt, better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR, and member of the Communist Party.

John Miller Andrews, was the second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

Octave John "Johnny" Claes was an English-born racing driver who competed for Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain.

Robert Charles Sweikert was an American racing driver, best known as the winner of the 1955 Indianapolis 500 and the 1955 National Championship, as well as the 1955 Midwest Sprint car championship - the only driver in history to sweep all three in a single season.

Louis Rosier was a racing driver from France.

Karl Haberstock was a Berlin art dealer who trafficked in Nazi-looted art. Haberstock's name appears 60 times in the Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945–1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index.

Norman Kerry was an American actor whose career in the motion picture industry spanned twenty-five years, beginning in 1916 and peaking during the silent era of the 1920s. Changing his name from the unmistakably German "Kaiser" at the onset of World War I, he rose quickly in his field, becoming "the Clark Gable of the [1920s]." He often played the heroic dashing swashbuckler or the seductive lothario and was extremely popular with female fans. On a personal level, Kerry was known as a prankster and was said to have a wonderful sense of humor and to be very popular. He also achieved some recognition as a dog fancier, maintaining kennels at his home that were "known throughout the world among lovers of aristocratic dogs." As his film career waned in the 1930s, he became known as an international bon vivant and adventurer who lived in the French Riviera and even joined the French Foreign Legion.

Jacques Companeez was a Russian Jewish émigré screenwriter in Paris.

Sigurd Frosterus (1876-1956) was a Finnish architect, art critic and art collector.