List of Famous people who died in 1959

Raymond Longford was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian cinema. He formed a production team with Lottie Lyell. His contributions to Australian cinema with his ongoing collaborations with Lyell, including The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Blue Mountains Mystery (1921), prompted the Australian Film Institute's AFI Raymond Longford Award, inducted in 1968, named in his honour.

Jules René Lucien Belbenoît was a French prisoner on Devil's Island who successfully escaped to the United States. He later published the memoirs, Dry Guillotine (1938) and Hell on Trial (1940), about his exploits.

René de Buxeuil, pseudonym for Jean-Baptiste Chevrier, was a 20th-century French composer and chansonnier.

Roberto Roberti was an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director. He made over sixty films, mostly during the silent era. He was born Vincenzo Leone, but adopted Roberti as his screen name. He was married to the actress Bice Valerian. Their son Sergio Leone became a celebrated director.

Sverre Grette was a Norwegian judge.

Lafayette S. "Lafe" McKee was an American actor who appeared in more than 400 films from 1912 to 1948. Part of his career was spent with Art Mix Productions. McKee also worked as a stage actor from 1910 until at least 1932, and began working in show business in 1893.

Roger Vincent (1878–1959) was a French actor who acted in over 100 movies over five decades.

Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim.

Frank O'Connor was an American character actor and director, whose career spanned five decades and included appearances in over 600 films and television shows. Early in his career he was also billed as Frank A. Connor and Frank L.A. O'Connor. During the silent film era, he directed or was the assistant director on numerous films; he also penned several screenplays in both the silent and sound film eras. He is sometimes erroneously identified with the Frank O'Connor who was married to author Ayn Rand.