List of Famous people who died in 2005

Vadim Alekseyevich Kirpichenko was a Russian officer of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB and its successor, the Foreign Intelligence Service. He served as resident in various countries and rose to First Deputy Head of the First Chief Directorate with the rank of General Lieutenant.

Richard Errett Smalley was the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. In 1996, along with Robert Curl, also a professor of chemistry at Rice, and Harold Kroto, a professor at the University of Sussex, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of a new form of carbon, buckminsterfullerene, also known as buckyballs. He was an advocate of nanotechnology and its applications.

Valentin Yuryevich Nikulin was a Soviet, Russian and Israeli theater and film actor.

Alessandro "Dado", Principe Ruspoli was an occasional actor and a playboy and eccentric aristocrat, the 9th Principe di Cerveteri, 9th Marchese di Riano, 14th Conte di Vignanello and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Dado descends from a brother of Cardinal Bartolomeo Ruspoli.

Michael Sheard was a Scottish character actor who featured in many films and television programmes, and was known for playing villains. His most prominent television role was as strict deputy headmaster Maurice Bronson in the children's series Grange Hill, which he played between 1985 and 1989. He appeared as Admiral Ozzel in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Devan Nair Chengara Veetil, also known as C. V. Devan Nair, was a Malaysian–Singaporean politician. He served as the third President of Singapore and the commander-in-chief of the Singapore Armed Forces serving a three-year term from 23 October 1981 to 28 March 1985.

Willis Harlow Shapley was an American civil servant best known as the third-ranking administrator for NASA during the Apollo program.

Margareta Fouché d'Otrante, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was the wife of Gustav Albrecht, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and mother of Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, who married Princess Benedikte of Denmark.

Roger Tréville was a French actor. He was born as Roger Troly; his parents, Georges Tréville (1875–1944) and Fanny Delisle (1881–1969), were also stage and film actors.