politician, 34th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1871) February 27 Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942) Hertha Sponer, German physicist and chemist (b. 1895) February 29 – Hugo Benioff, American seismologist (b. 1899) March March 6 – Joseph W. Martin Jr., American politician (b. 1884) March 8 – Jerzy Braun, Polish athlete (b. 1911) March 14 – Erwin Panofsky, German-Jewish art historian (b. 1892) March 15 – Khuang Aphaiwong, 4th Prime Minister of Thailand, country leader during World War II (b. 1902) March 16 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895) March 20 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (b. 1889) March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American journalist, novelist, and radio commentator (b. 1918) March 24 – Alice Guy-Blaché, French filmmaker (b. 1873) March 27 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, first human in space (b. 1934) March 30 – Bobby Driscoll, American child actor (b. 1937) April April 1 – Lev Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908) April 4 – Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1929) Assis Chateaubriand, Brazilian newspaper magnate (b. 1892) April 7 – Jim Clark, Scottish racing driver and double Formula One World Champion (b. 1936) April 8 – Harold D. Babcock, American astronomer (b. 1882) April 15 – Boris Lyatoshinsky, Ukrainian composer, conductor, and teacher (b. 1895) April 16 Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893) Albert Betz, German physicist (b. 1885) Edna Ferber, American writer (b. 1885) April 24 Tommy Noonan, American actor (b. 1921) Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876) April 25 – Gunnar Andersen, Norwegian footballer and ski jumper (b. 1890) April 26 – John Heartfield, German visual artist (b. 1891) May May 5 – Albert Dekker, American actor (b. 1905) May 7 – Lurleen Wallace, American politician (b. 1926) May 9 Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (b. 1878) Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883) Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, and novelist (b. 1892) May 10 – Scotty Beckett, American child actor (b. 1929) May 11 – Robert Burks, American cinematographer (b. 1909) May 14 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882) May 25 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal and war criminal (b. 1881) May 26 – Little Willie John, American R&B singer (b. 1937) May 28 Kees van Dongen, Dutch-French painter (b. 1877) Fyodor Okhlopkov, Soviet sniper (b. 1908) June June 1 – Helen Keller, American activist