List of Famous people who died in 2004

Manuel María Fernández Teixeiro, better known as Manuel María, was a Spanish poet and academic who wrote in the Galician language. He was notable for his combative character and his political commitment. His poetry touched on themes of love, art, his own political commitment, drawing attention to wrongs, ethnography, physics, history, immateriality, mythology, the animal world, poetic expression, the passing of time, religion, society, language, agricultural labour, urbanism, and geography. The Day of Galician Literature was devoted to him in 2016.

Zelimkhan Abdulmuslimovich Yandarbiyev was a writer and a politician, who served as acting president of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria between 1996 and 1997. In 2004 Yandarbiyev was assassinated while in exile in Qatar.

Thomas Börje Forsberg, better known by the stage name Quorthon, was a Swedish singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He was one of the founders, as well as the sole songwriter, of the band Bathory, which pioneered the black metal genre and is credited with creating the Viking metal style. A multi-instrumentalist, Quorthon wrote the music and lyrics on all of Bathory's albums and performed vocals and guitars.

Jack Harold Paar was an American author, movie actor, radio and television comedian, and talk show host. He was the popular second host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962. Time magazine's obituary of Paar reported wryly, "His fans would remember him as the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: Before Paar and Below Paar."

Viktor Vasilyevich Avilov was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1993). He is best known for his roles in the 1988 films Mister Designer and The Prisoner of Château d'If.

Simone Renant was a French film actress. She appeared in 43 films between 1934 and 1983. She was born in Amiens, France and died in Garches, France.

Robert James Keeshan was an American television producer and actor. He created and played the title role in the children's television program Captain Kangaroo, which ran from 1955 to 1984, the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. Keeshan also played the original Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody television program.

Nina Afanasievna Sazonova was a leading actress of the Soviet Army Theatre in Moscow.

Nafisa Joseph was an Indian model and MTV video jockey. She was the winner of Femina Miss India Universe 1997 and was a finalist in the Miss Universe 1997 pageant in Miami Beach.

Frances Marion Dee was an American actress. Her first film was the musical Playboy of Paris (1930). She starred in the film An American Tragedy (1931). She is also known for starring in the 1943 Val Lewton psychological horror film I Walked With a Zombie.