List of Famous people who died in 2005

Ismail Merchant was an Indian film producer and director. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included director James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Their films won six Academy Awards.

Masaharu Gotōda was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the diet, MInister of Justice, and Chief Cabinet Secretary. A native of Yoshinogawa, Tokushima and graduate of Tokyo University.

Mark Matthews was an American veteran of the Second World War and a Buffalo Soldier. Born in Alabama and growing up in Ohio, Matthews joined the 10th Cavalry Regiment when he was only 15 years old, after having been recruited at a Lexington, Kentucky racetrack and having documents forged so that he appeared to meet the minimum age of 17. While stationed in Arizona, he joined General John J. Pershing's Mexico expedition to hunt down Mexican general Pancho Villa. He was later transferred to Virginia, where he took care of President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor's horses and was a member of the Buffalo Soldiers' drum and bugle corps. In his late 40s, he served in combat operations in the South Pacific during World War II and achieved the rank of first sergeant. He was noted as an excellent marksman and horse showman.

Robert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 1983 until his death and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001, when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003.

Edward Albert Heimberger was an American actor and activist. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; the first nomination came in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and the second in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid. Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing Edwards in the Brother Rat films, traveling salesman Ali Hakim in the musical Oklahoma!, and the sadistic prison warden in 1974's The Longest Yard. He starred as Oliver Wendell Douglas in the 1960s television sitcom Green Acres and as Frank MacBride in the 1970s crime drama Switch. He also had a recurring role as Carlton Travis on Falcon Crest, opposite Jane Wyman.

Kâzım Koyuncu was a Turkish singer-songwriter and activist of Laz ancestry.

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later merged to form Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL). Outside Australia, Packer was best known for founding World Series Cricket. At the time of his death, Packer was the richest and one of the most influential men in Australia. In 2004, Business Review Weekly magazine estimated Packer's net worth at A$6.5 billion .

Paul Winchell was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice artist, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted The Paul Winchell Show, which also used two other titles during its prime time run on NBC: The Speidel Show, and What's My Name? From 1965–1968, Winchell hosted the children's television series Winchell-Mahoney Time.

Ryan Alan Hade was an American sexual assault victim from Tacoma, Washington. On May 20, 1989, he was raped, mutilated, stabbed and left for dead in a vacant lot that was later turned into a Tacoma park named Ryan's Park. Earl Kenneth Shriner was convicted of the attack and sentenced to 131 years in prison. Shriner had a long history of sexual assault charges spanning 25 years. The case has been cited as one of the catalysts for new US laws allowing indefinite confinement of sex offenders. Hade, who survived the attack by Shriner, died in a vehicular accident.

Alexei Sultanov was a Soviet Union-born American classical pianist of Uzbek origin.