List of Famous people who died in 2011
Randy Savage
Randall Mario Poffo, better known by his ring name Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler, commentator, actor, rapper, and professional baseball player best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and later World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with the nickname "Macho Man".
Al Davis
Allen Davis was an American football coach and executive. He was the principal owner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) for 39 years, from 1972 until his death in 2011. Prior to becoming the principal owner of the Raiders, he served as the team's head coach from 1963 to 1965 and part owner from 1966 to 1971, assuming both positions while the Raiders were part of the American Football League (AFL). He also served as the commissioner of the AFL in 1966.
Seve Ballesteros
Severiano Ballesteros Sota was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 international tournaments in his career, including five major championships between 1979 and 1988: the Open Championship three times and the Masters Tournament twice. He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19, he finished second at The Open. He played a leading role in the re-emergence of European golf, helping the European Ryder Cup team to five wins both as a player and captain. He is generally regarded as the greatest Continental European golfer of all time.
Svetlana Alliluyeva
Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only daughter of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. In 1967, she caused an international furore when she defected to, and in 1978 became a naturalized citizen of, the United States. From 1984 to 1986, she briefly returned to the Soviet Union and had her Soviet citizenship returned. She was Stalin's last surviving child.
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee in 1984, running alongside former vice president Walter Mondale; this made her the first female vice-presidential nominee representing a major American political party. She was also a journalist, author, and businesswoman.
Frank Kameny
Franklin Edward Kameny was an American gay rights activist. He has been referred to as "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement.
Yuri Budanov
Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov was a Russian military officer convicted by a Russian court of kidnapping and murder in Chechnya.
Necmettin Erbakan
Necmettin Erbakan was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later banned from politics by the Constitutional Court of Turkey for violating the separation of religion and state as mandated by the constitution.
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor was an Indian film actor and director. He was a prominent lead actor in Hindi cinema from the mid 1950s until the early 1970s and also made a debut in Tamil cinema with the 1992 crime drama Amaran. He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1968 for his performance in Brahmachari and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for Vidhaata in 1982. He is widely hailed as one of the most entertaining and successful actors of Indian cinema.
Diane Cilento
Diane Cilento was an Australian actress and author. She is best known for her film roles in Tom Jones (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, Hombre (1967) and The Wicker Man (1973). She also received a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Helen of Troy in the play Tiger at the Gates.