FILE PHOTO: Argentina's soccer team head coach Diego Maradona smiles during their international friendly soccer match against Scotland at Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland on November 19, 2008. One of the world's greatest football genius died in November aged 60. - Reuters
FOR many Asians, 2020 was a very hectic year mainly battling Covid-19 and others times it has been quite a sad outing after the 2020 Tokyo Games was postponed to 2021 and the world withnessing many, many legends passing away.
FROM legendary actors Kirk Douglas and Sean Connery to matriarch of the US Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsberg, here are some of the notable deaths of 2020 (Source from AFP).
- January -
- 10: Oman's Sultan Qaboos, who transformed the former Arabian Peninsula backwater into a modern state and the Gulf's discreet mediator, dies aged 79.
- 26: US basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, dies in a horrific helicopter crash northwest of Los Angeles that also claimed the lives of his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people.
- February -
- 5: One of the last stars of Hollywood's golden age, Kirk Douglas, dies at his home in Beverly Hills aged 103.
- 25: Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, who was swept from power by the Arab Spring in 2010, dies in a military hospital aged 91.
US basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, dies in a horrific helicopter crash northwest of Los Angeles that also claimed the lives of his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people. - AP
- March -
- 8: "Exorcist" star Max Von Sydow, who also featured in films by his Swedish compatriot Ingmar Bergman dies in France aged 90.
- April -
- 29: Bollywood star Irrfan Khan, known for his roles in blockbusters "Life of Pi" and "Slumdog Millionaire" and so many brilliant Hindi movies, dies from cancer in a Mumbai hospital aged 53.
- May -
- 9: Little Richard, known for outrageous showmanship and lightning-fast rhythms dies aged 87 after battling cancer. Hits include "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally".
- 31: Artist Christo (Christo Javacheff) who wrapped landmarks such as Berlin's Reichstag and the Pont Neuf in Paris dies aged 84.
- June -
- 8: Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza, who had ruled the country since 2005, dies from a heart attack aged 55.
One of the last stars of Hollywood's golden age, Kirk Douglas, dies at his home in Beverly Hills aged 103. - AFP
- July -
- 6: Italian maestro Ennio Morricone, Oscar-winning composer of film scores for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, dies in Rome aged 91.
- 8: The sudden death from a heart attack of Ivory Coast's Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, 61, plunges the country into political turmoil.
- 26: Oscar-winning actress Olivia de Havilland, star of "Gone With the Wind", dies at her home in Paris aged 104.
- August -
- 24: Former Congolese president Pascal Lissouba, who won his country's first multi-party presidential elections, dies in France aged 88.
- 28: Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black Panther in the Marvel movies, dies of cancer aged 43.
- September -
- 2: Chief torturer behind Cambodia's genocidal Khmer Rouge, Kaing Guek Eav, 77, better known by his alias Duch, dies in prison.
- 10: British actress Diana Rigg, of "Avengers" and "Game of Thrones" fame, dies aged 82.
- 18: US Supreme Court judge and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dies aged 87.
- 23: French actress and singer Juliette Greco, the face and voice of radical chic postwar Paris, dies aged 93.
- October -
- 4: Japan's most famous fashion designer Kenzo Takada, founder of the Kenzo brand, dies in Paris aged 81 from Covid-19.
- 31: Legendary Scottish actor Sean Connery, the original James Bond, dies in his sleep in the Bahamas, aged 90.
Legendary actor Sean Connery, famous for playing the original on-screen James Bond, died at the age of 90, on October 31, 2020, prompting an outpouring of tributes for one of Britain's best-loved film heroes. - AFP
- November -
- 11: Bahrain's Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, the world's longest-serving prime minister, dies aged 84.
- 12: Jerry Rawlings, who ruled Ghana for two decades first as a military leader and then as elected president, dies aged 73.
- 25: Diego Maradona, football's troubled genius and one of the greatest players ever, dies aged 60.
- December -
- 2: Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who legalised abortion and brought the country high-speed trains, dies aged 94 from Covid-19.
- 11: Film director Kim Ki-duk, the enfant terrible of Korean cinema, dies in Latvia from Covid-19 aged 59.
- 12: Charley Pride, US country music's first black superstar, dies from Covid-19 aged 86.
- 12: John le Carre, the master spy novelist, whose real name was David Cornwell, dies aged 89.
- 22: One of France's most beloved character actors Claude Brasseur, dies aged 84.
- 24: Israeli virtuoso violinist Ivry Gitlis, one of the modern greats of classical music, dies in Paris aged 98. - AFP
