List of Famous people who died in 2005
Yumika Hayashi
Yumika Hayashi was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films. Hayashi was also a prominent pink film actress; she was the subject of a 1997 documentary and the recipient of the Best Actress award at the Pink Grand Prix ceremony in 2004 as well as receiving the Special Career Award the following year. Her death on June 28, 2005, one day after her 35th birthday, ended one of the longest careers in the AV field and made front-page news in Tokyo. Following her death, Hayashi was awarded a second Special Career Award at the 2006 Pink Grand Prix ceremony and became the subject of several theatrical retrospectives and a 382-page biography.
Federico Aldrovandi
Federico Aldrovandi was an Italian student, who was killed by four policemen.
Hanns Dieter Hüsch
Hanns Dieter Hüsch was a German author, cabaret artist, actor, songwriter and radio commentator.
John Fiedler
John Donald Fiedler was an American character actor and voice actor. His career lasted more than 55 years in stage, film, television and radio. Among his best-known roles are the nervous Juror #2 in 12 Angry Men (1957); the benign-seeming gentleman who tries to prevent the Younger family from moving into a whites-only neighbourhood in A Raisin in the Sun (1961); the voice of Piglet in Disney's Winnie the Pooh productions; Vinnie, one of Oscar's poker cronies in the film The Odd Couple (1968), and Mr. Emil Peterson, the hen-pecked milquetoast husband on The Bob Newhart Show.
Simone Simon
Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931.
George Mikan
George Lawrence Mikan Jr., nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Invariably playing with thick, round spectacles, the 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), 245 lb (111 kg) Mikan is seen as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, as well as one of the pioneers of professional basketball, redefining it as a game of so-called big men with his prolific rebounding, shot blocking, and his talent to shoot over smaller defenders with his ambidextrous hook shot, the result of the eponymous Mikan Drill. He also utilized the underhanded free-throw shooting technique long before Rick Barry made it his signature shot.
Susi Nicoletti
Susi Nicoletti was a Bavarian-born actress best remembered today for over 100 supporting roles mostly in comedy films. She was born as Susanne Emilie Luise Adele Habersack in Munich, but spent most of her childhood with her parents in Amsterdam. Back in Munich, she made her stage debut at age 13. Two years later she became a ballerina.
Koo Chen-fu
Koo Chen-fu, also known as C.F. Koo, was a Taiwanese businessman and diplomat. He led the Koos Group of companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Koo arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and mainland China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator in both the 1993 and 1998 Wang-Koo summit.
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor and singer, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and for his role as the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of Porgy and Bess. In later years, he gained recurring roles in the Star Trek franchise portraying Starfleet Admiral Cartwright in two of the Star Trek feature films and Joseph Sisko, father of Benjamin Sisko, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also was known for his participation in the rival media franchise, Star Wars, for playing the role of Darth Vader in the original trilogy radio drama adaptations. He also performed the role of Hatcher in Soylent Green.
Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series Dallas. Bel Geddes also starred as Maggie in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. Her notable films included I Remember Mama (1948) and Vertigo (1958). Throughout her career, she was the recipient of several acting awards and nominations.