List of Famous people who died in 1996

Bai Yang was a Chinese film and drama actress mainly active from the 1930s to the 1950s, during which she was one of the country's most popular movie stars. She was considered the foremost of China's "Four Great Actresses," ahead of Qin Yi, Shu Xiuwen, and Zhang Ruifang. Her most famous films include Crossroads (1937), The Spring River Flows East (1947), Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon (1947), and New Year's Sacrifice (1955).

Ronald Howard was an English actor and writer. He appeared as Sherlock Holmes in a weekly television series of the same name in 1954. He was the son of the actor Leslie Howard.

Larry Gene Bell was an American double murderer in Lexington County, South Carolina, who was electrocuted for the murders of Sharon Faye "Shari" Smith and Debra May Helmick. Bell forced Smith to write a "Last Will and Testament" before he murdered her and taunted her family by telephone.

John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee was an English actor, comedian, entertainer and cabaret performer. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. In his early career he worked as a stage comedian, which included performing at the Glasgow Empire Theatre and sharing a bill with Max Wall and Jimmy James.

Jean Muir was an American stage and film actress and educator. She was the first performer to be blacklisted after her name appeared in the infamous anti-Communist 1950 pamphlet Red Channels.

Amrit Rai was a writer, poet and biographer in Hindi and Urdu. He was the son of Munshi Premchand, a pioneer of modern Urdu literature and of Hindi literature. A prolific writer, Rai made his literary debut with novel Beej in 1952 and went on to write an acclaimed biography of his father, Premchand, Kalam ka Sipahi (1970), which later won him the Sahitya Akademi award for 1963.he also write somany novels across 50

Rodney Dwayne Culver was an American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. During this time, he played for the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers. Over the course of his career, he played in 43 games, rushed for 689 yards on 241 carries, and ran for 12 touchdowns.

Maria "Ria" Thiele was a German actress, dancer and choreographer who appeared in theatres of European capitals, including the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna and Theater des Westens in Berlin.

Shin Kanemaru was a Japanese politician who was a significant figure in the political arena of Japan from the 1970s to the early 1990s. He was also Director General of the Japan Defense Agency from 1977 to 1978.

Nicu Ceaușescu was a Romanian physicist and communist politician who was the youngest child of Romanian leaders Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. He was a close associate of his father's political regime and considered the President's heir presumptive.