Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

Rafer Johnson

Athlete/actor

Born - 18 August 1934, Hillsboro, Texas, USA
Died - 2 December 2020

Tall, strongly-built Afro-American sportsman - decathlon gold medallist at the 1960 Olympics - once described as 'the quintessential American athlete'. He became an actor from 1960 to 1970 and later a sports journalist, with his CV also noteworthy for tackling and subduing Robert Kennedy's assassin in 1968. Films in featured roles include Sergeant Rutledge (1960), The Fiercest Heart (1961), The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), Wild in the Country (1961), Pirates of Tortuga (1962), A Global Affair (1963), None But the Brave (1965), Tarzan and the Great River (1967), Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968), The Games (1969), The Last Grenade (1970) and Soul Soldier (1970). Much later, he made cameo appearances in two 1989 pictures, Think Big and Licence to Kill. Survived by Elizabeth, his wife of almost 50 years, and two children.