List of Famous people who died in 1989

James Gilmore Backus was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island, James Dean's character's father in Rebel Without a Cause, the voice of nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the radio version of The Alan Young Show, and Joan Davis' character's husband on TV's I Married Joan. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot Off the Wire.

Fernando Martín Espina was a Spanish professional basketball player who was considered to be one of the best Spanish basketball players ever. Martín was 2.06 m tall, and he played primarily at the center and power forward positions. He was considered a talented all-around athlete. He was a five-time swimming champion in Spain, as well as being a highly ranked athlete in the sports of handball, table tennis and judo.

Bergen was a Turkish singer. When she was 17, she quit her job at a Turkish post office so that she could pursue her dream of performing on stage. Her personal life was influential in her gloomy sound and led to her success. Her husband threw nitric acid on her face resulting in blindness in her right eye. Despite this, she continued singing and chose to cover the blind eye with her long hair.

Sarwo Edhie Wibowo was an Indonesian military leader and the father of Kristiani Herrawati, the former first lady of Indonesia and the wife of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and also the father of Chief of Staff Pramono Edhie Wibowo. As an army colonel he played a role in directing troops during the Indonesian killings of 1965–66, in which more than a million Indonesian civilians died. Later, he served as Chairman of the BP-7 center, as Indonesia's ambassador for South Korea and as governor of the Indonesian Military academy.

James Seipei, also known as Stompie Moeketsi or Stompie Sepei, was a teenage United Democratic Front (UDF) activist from Parys in South Africa. He and three other boys were kidnapped on 29 December 1988 by members of Winnie Mandela's bodyguards, known as the Mandela United Football Club. Moeketsi was murdered on 1 January 1989, the only one of the boys to be killed.

Safdar Hashmi was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian political theatre. He was an activist of the Students' Federation of India (SFI).

Lane Clyde Frost was an American professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding, and competed in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). He was the 1987 PRCA World Champion bull rider and a 1990 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee. He was the only rider to score qualified rides on the 1987 PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year and 1990 ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Red Rock. He died in the arena at the 1989 Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo as a result of injuries sustained when the bull Takin' Care of Business struck him after the ride.

Antonia Louisa Brico was a conductor and pianist.

Zita of Bourbon-Parma was the wife of Charles, the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. As such, she was the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, in addition to other titles.

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.