List of Famous people who died in 1976

John Joseph Edward Cassidy, known as "Jack", was an American actor and singer known for his work in the theatre, television and films. He received multiple Tony Award nominations and a win as well as a Grammy Award for his work on the Broadway production of the musical She Loves Me. He also received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He was the father of teen idols David Cassidy and Shaun Cassidy.

Evangelina Sobredo Galanes, known as Cecilia, was a Spanish singer-songwriter. She took her stage name from the song "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Wilder Graves Penfield was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. His scientific contributions on neural stimulation expand across a variety of topics including hallucinations, illusions, and déjà vu. Penfield devoted much of his thinking to mental processes, including contemplation of whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul.

Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist and one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series of papers with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, during the same year, this matrix formulation of quantum mechanics was substantially elaborated. He is known for the uncertainty principle, which he published in 1927. Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the creation of quantum mechanics".

Mitsuo Fuchida was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber aviator in the Japanese navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Working under the overall fleet commander, Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack.

Zhou Enlai, Wade-Giles transliteration Chou En-lai, was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China. From October 1949 until his death in January 1976, Zhou was China's head of government. Zhou served under Chairman Mao Zedong and helped the Communist Party rise to power, later helping consolidate its control, form its foreign policy, and develop the Chinese economy.

João Belchior Marques Goulart was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a US-backed military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the last left-wing president of Brazil until Lula da Silva took office in 2003.

Ulrike Marie Meinhof was a West German far-left militant. She co-founded the Red Army Faction in 1970, after having worked as a journalist for the monthly left-wing magazine konkret. Meinhof was arrested in 1972, charged with numerous murders and the formation of a criminal association. In 1976, before the trial concluded, Meinhof was found hanged in her prison cell in Stuttgart. The official statement claimed that Meinhof had committed suicide; however, several facts led to public controversy about her death.

Anna Elisabeth "Anneliese" Michel was a German woman who underwent 67 Catholic exorcism rites during the year before her death. She died of malnutrition, for which her parents and priest were convicted of negligent homicide. She was diagnosed with epileptic psychosis and had a history of psychiatric treatment, which was overall not effective.

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism. Educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University, he was a star athlete in his youth. He also studied Swahili and phonetics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 1934. His political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students whom he met in Britain and continued with support for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and his opposition to fascism. In the United States he became active in the Civil Rights Movement and other social justice campaigns. His sympathies for the Soviet Union and for communism, and his criticism of the United States government and its foreign policies, caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era.