Famous Deaths for 18th May 2026

1160 – Erik IX Helgi, King of Sweden, dies at ~40
1848 – William Leidesdorff, Mixed-race early Californian businessman, dies at 37
1952 – Rossetter Gleason Cole, American composer (Heroes of Freedom), dies at 86
1955 – Edwin Scharff, German sculptor, and educator, deemed “entartete” (degenerate) by Nazi regime, dies at 68
1959 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, British Antarctic explorer and survivor of the Terra Nova Expedition (The Worst Journey in the World), dies at 73
1961 – Henry O’Neill, American actor (“Lady Killer”; “Nothing But Trouble”), dies at 69
1974 – Tyree Glenn, American jazz and session trombonist and vibraphone player (Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong), dies of cancer at 61
2011 – Leonard Kastle, opera composer, librettist, director (The Passion of Mother Ann), and film maker (The Honeymoon Killers), dies at 82
2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (SWAT), dies at 87
2013 – Colin Webb, British Fleet Street editor and journalist (Press Association), dies at 74

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