The following people all have one thing in common--they died before reaching (or during) their 40th year. most are famous, some infamous, but all made their mark in history.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT
King of Macedonia; d. from fever & exhaustion
(356-323 BC; 33 years)

Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C. : A Historical Biography, by Peter Green. Univ. of California, 1991.

ANASTASIA NIKOLAEVNA
Grand Duchess, daughter of Nicholas II; murdered with her family by the Bolsheviks
(1901-1918, 17 years)

Anastasia: The Lost Princess, by James Blair Lovell. Regnery Gateway, 1991.

JEANNE D'ARC
Saint; French farmgirl who led an army against the invading English during the Hundred Years' War; burned at the stake as a heretic
(1412-1431; 19 years)

Joan of Arc : Her Story, by Regine Pernoud & Marie-Veronique Clin; translated & revised by Jeremy duQuesnay Adams ; edited by Bonnie Wheeler. St. Martin's, 1998.

BILLY THE KID [William H. Bonney]
Outlaw and killer; shot to death by Patrick F. Garrett
(1859-1881; 22 years)

Billy the Kid : A Short and Violent Life, by Robert M. Utley. Univ. of Nebraska,1989.

GEORGES BIZET
French composer whose works include the opera "Carmen"; heart attack
(1838-1875; 37 years)

Bizet and His World, by Mina Kirstein Curtiss. Vienna House, 1974, 1958.

ANNE BOLEYN
Second wife of Henry VIII of England and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I; beheaded for treason
(1507?-1536, 29 years)

Anne Boleyn, by E.W. Ives. Blackwell, 1986.

JOHN WILKES BOOTH
Actor; assassin of President Abraham Lincoln; killed shortly thereafter
(1838-1865; 27 years)

The Curse of Cain: The Untold Story of John Wilkes Booth, by Theodore J. Nottingham. Appaloosa Press, c1997.

CESARE BORGIA
Ruthless prince of the Italian Renaissance; killed in a skirmish near Viana, Spain
(1475-1507; 31 years)

Cesare Borgia, His Life and Times, by Sarah Bradford. Macmillan, 1976.

ANNE BRONTE
Author of Agnes Grey; consumption
(1820-1849; 29 years)

Anne Bronte, by Winifred Gerin. Allen Lane, 1976.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Author of Jane Eyre; pregnancy toxemia
(1816-1855; 39 years)

The Life of Charlotte Bronte, by Elizabeth Gaskell; edited with an introduction by Angus Easson. Oxford, 1996.

EMILY BRONTE
Author of Wuthering Heights; consumption
(1818-1848; 30 years)

A Chainless Soul: A Life of Emily Bronte, by Katherine Frank. HM, 1990.

ROBERT BURNS
Scottish poet; heart disease
(1759-1796; 37 years)

RB: A Biography of Robert Burns, by James Mackay. Mainstream,1992.

GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
English Romantic poet; fever
(1788-1824; 36 years)

Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame, by Benita Eisler. Knopf, 1999.

THOMAS CHATTERTON
Author of the "Rowley Poems," which he claimed were written in Medieval times; suicide
(1752-1770; 17 years)

A Life of Thomas Chatterton, by Edward Meyerstein. Russell & Russell, 1972.

FREDERIC CHOPIN
Polish composer; tuberculosis
(1810-1849; 39 years)

Chopin in Paris: The Life and Times of the Romantic Composer, by Tad Szulc. Scribner, 1998.

PATSY CLINE
American country singer ("I Fall to Pieces," "Crazy"); plane crash
(1932-1963; 31 years)

Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline, by Margaret Jones. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.

BESSIE COLEMAN
Aviator; fell from a plane
(1896-1926; age 30)

Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator, by Doris L. Rich. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.

MICHAEL COLLINS
Irish revolutionary and statesman; assassinated
(1890-1922; 32 years)

Michael Collins: A Life, by James A. Mackay. Mainstream, 1996.

HART CRANE
American poet; drowned a suicide at sea
(1899-1932; 33 years)

Voyager: A Life of Hart Crane, by John Eugene Unterecker. FSG, 1969.

CRAZY HORSE
Sioux warrior; killed while escaping from Ft. Robinson
(c. 1842-1877; 36 years)

Crazy Horse: The Life Behind the Legend, by Mike Sajna. Wiley, 2000.

STEPHEN CRANE
American journalist, poet & author of Red Badge of Courage; tuberculosis
(1871-1900; 28 years)

Badge of Courage: The Life of Stephen Crane, by Linda H. Davis. HM, 1998.

GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER
Cavalry officer; killed at Little Bighorn River with his entire command
(1839-1876; 37 years)

Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer, by Jeffrey D. Wert. S&S, 1996.

JAMES DEAN
Motion picture actor ("Rebel Without a Cause"); car crash
(1931-1955; 24 years)

Rebel: The life and Legend of James Dean, by Donald Spoto. HarperCollins, 1996.

DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES
Married & divorced Prince Charles of Great Britain; car crash
(1961-1997; 36 years)

Ever After: Diana and the Life She Led, by Anne Edwards. St. Martin's, 2000.

AMELIA EARHART
Aviator; disappeared while on a flight
(1897-1937; 40 years)

East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart, by Susan Butler. Macmillan, 1959 [c1958]

EDWARD VI
King of England; tuberculosis
(1537-1553; 16 years)

The Last Tudor King : A Study of Edward VI, October 12th, 1537- July 6th 1553, by Hester W. Chapman. Macmillan, 1959 [c1958]

STEPHEN FOSTER
American song composer ("Camptown Races," "My Old Kentucky Home"; effects of alcoholism)
(1826-1864; 38 years)

Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture, by Ken Emerson. S&S, 1997.

ANNE FRANK
Dutch diarist; died in a German concentration camp
(1929-1945; 16 years)

Anne Frank: Reflections on Her Life and Legacy, ed. by Hyma Aaron Enzer and Sandra Solotaroff-Enzer. Univ. of Illinois, 2000.

LOU GEHRIG
Baseball player for the NY Yankees; died from the disease that now bears his name
(1903-1941)

Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in his Time, by Ray Robinson. Norton, 1990.

GEORGE GERSHWIN
American composer and songwriter; brain tumor
(1898-1937; 39 years)

The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin, by Joan Peyser. S&S, 1993.

BILL HICKS
Social satirist; cancer
(1962-1994; 32 years)

American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story, by Cynthia True. HarperEntertainment, 2002.

JANE GREY
Queen of England for nine days; executed for treason
(1537-1554, 16 years)

The Nine Days Queen: A Portrait of Lady Jane Grey, by Mary Luke. Morrow, 1986.

CHE GUEVARA [Ernesto Guevara]
Latin-American guerilla leader who aided Castro's revolution in Cuba; executed
(1928-1967; 39 years)

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, by Jon Lee Anderson. Grove, 1997.

NATHAN HALE
American spy during the Revolutionary War who was hanged as such by the British without benefit of trial
(1755- 1776, 21 years)

Life of Captain Nathan Hale; The Martyr-spy of the American Revolution, by I. W. Stuart. F. A. Brown, 1856.

LORRAINE HANSBERRY
American playwright ("A Raisin in the Sun"); cancer
(1930-1965; 34 years)

Young, Black, and Determined: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry, by Patricia C. McKissack & Fredrick L. McKissack. Holiday House, 1998.

JEAN HARLOW [Harlean Carpenter]
Motion picture actress; uremic poisoning
(1911-1937; 26 years)

Bombshell: The Life & Death of Jean Harlow, by David Stenn. Doubleday, 1993.

JIMI HENDRIX
American rock musician; barbiturate overdose
(1942-1970; 27 years)

Electric Gypsy: Jimi Hendrix, by Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek. St. Martin's, 1991.

HENRY V
King of England; victor in battle against the French at Agincort; fever
(1387-1422, 35 years)

Henry V, by Christopher Allmand. Univ. of California, 1992.

BUDDY HOLLY
American rock musician; plane crash
(1936-1959; 22 years)

Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly, by Philip Norman. S&S, 1996.

THOMAS "STONEWALL" JACKSON
General, CSA; accidentally shot by his own men at Chancellorsville
(1824-1863; 39 years)

Stonewall Jackson: The Man,the Soldier, the Legend, by James I. Robertson. Macmillan, 1997.

JESSE JAMES
Outlaw and murderer; got a taste of his own medicine when he was shot in the back by Bob Ford
(1847-1882; 35 years)

Jesse James: The Man and the Myth, by Marley Brant. Berkley Books, 1998.

JANIS JOPLIN
American rock singer ("Me and Bobby McGee"); heroin overdose
(age 27)

Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin, by Alice Echols. Henry Holt, 1999.

JOHN KEATS
English poet; tuberculosis
(1795-1821; 25 years)

Keats, by Andrew Motion. FSG, 1998, 1997.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
American Civil Rights leader; assassinated
(1929-1968; 39 years)

Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Stephen B. Oates. HarperPerennial, 1994.

JOHN LENNON
British rock singer/composer & member of The Beatles; shot to death
(1940-1980; 40 years)

Lennon: The Definitive Biography, by Ray Coleman. HarperPerennial, 1992.

MIKHAIL LERMONTOV
Russian poet; killed in a duel
(1814-1841; 27 years)

Lermontov: Tragedy in the Caucasus, by Laurence Kelly. Braziller, 1978, 1977.

MERIWETHER LEWIS
American explorer & statesman; died from gun-shot wound, possibly self-inflicted
(1774-1809)

Meriwether Lewis: A Biography, by Richard H. Dillon. Western Tanager, 1988.

CAROLE LOMBARD [Alice Jane Peters]
Motion picture actress married to Clark Gable; plane crash
(1908-1942; 34 years)

Screwball: The Life of Carole Lombard, by Larry Swindell. Morrow, 1975.

JACK LONDON
American author of Call of the Wild and The Sea Wolf; suicide (morphine)
(1876-1916; 40 years)

Jack London: A Life, by Alex Kershaw. St. Martin's 1998, 1997.

MARIE ANTIONETTE
Queen of France; executed by the People
(1755-1793)

Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France, by Evelyne Lever; translated from the French by Catherine Temerson. FSG, 2000.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Elizabethan dramatist & poet; murdered in a tavern
(1564-1593; 29 years)

Christopher Marlowe: The Muse's Darling, by Charles Norman. Bobbs-Merrill, 1971.

MAXIMILIAN
Austrian archduke & emperor of Mexico; executed near Querétaro
(1832-1867; 34 years)

Maximilian I: An Analytical Biography, by Gerhard Benecke. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.

GLENN MILLER
Trombonist and band leader; plane crash
(1904-1944, 40 years)

Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, by George T. Simon. Crowell, 1974.

MARILYN MONROE [Norma Jean Baker]
Motion picture actress; overdose of sleeping pills
(1926-1962; 36 years)

Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, by Donald Spoto. HarperCollins, 1993.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Austrian composer; kidney failure (no, he wasn't poisoned by Salieri)
(1756-1791; 35 years)

Mozart: A Life, by Maynard Solomon. HarperCollins, 1995.

NERO
Roman emperor; suicide
(37-68; 31 years)

Nero: The End of a Dynasty, by Miriam T. Griffin. Yale University Press, 1984.

CHARLIE PARKER
Saxophonist; heroine addiction
(1920-1955; 35 years)

Bird, the Legend of Charlie Parker, by Robert George Reisner. Bonanza Books, 1962.

BLAISE PASCAL
French mathematician & scientist; cancer
(1623-1662; 39 years)

Pascal: the Man and His Two Loves, by John R. Cole. NY University,1995.

RIVER PHOENIX
Motion picture actor; drug overdose

Lost in Hollywood: The Fast Times and Short Life of River Phoenix, by John Glatt. Fine, 1995.

SYLVIA PLATH
American poet & novelist (The Bell Jar); suicide
(1932-1963)

The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath, by Ronald Hayman. Carol, 1991.

POCAHONTAS
American Indian princess; fever
(1595-1617; 22 years)

Pocahontas: The Life and the Legend, by Frances Mossiker. Knopf, 1976.

EDGAR ALLAN POE
American critic, poet ("The Raven") and writer; possibly drugs & alcohol
(1809-1849; 40 years)

Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy, by Jeffrey Meyers. Charles Scribner's Sons,1992.

KAZIMIERIZ PULASKI
Polish patriot and cavalry officer in the American Revolution; mortally wounded near Savannah, GA (1747-1779; 31 years)

Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, by Leszek Szymanski. Hippocrene,1994.

ALEXANDER PUSHKIN
Russian poet; mortally wounded in a duel
(1799-1837; 38 years)

Pushkin: A Biography, by Elaine Feinstein. Ecco Press, 1999, 1998.

OTIS REDDING
American soul singer ("Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"); plane crash
(1941-1967; 26 years)

The Otis Redding Story, by Jane Schiesel. Doubleday, 1973.

RICHARD I
King of England & crusader; mortally wounded by an arrow while beseiging a castle
(1157-1199, 39 years)

Richard the Lionheart, by Antony Bridge. M. Evans, 1990.

MANFRED VON RICHTOFEN
German WWI flying ace known as The Red Baron; shot down near Amiens
(1892-1918; 25 years)

Richthofen: Beyond the Legend of the Red Baron, by Peter Kilduff. Wiley, 1994.

FRANZ SCHUBERT
Austrian composer & songwriter; syphliis
(1797-1828; 31 years)

The Life of Schubert, by Christopher H. Gibbs. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000.

SELENA
Latina rock singer; shot to death
(age 23)

Selena: Como la Flor, by Joe Nick Patoski. Little, Brown, 1996.

TUPAC SHAKUR
Rap musician; shot to death
(1971-1997; 26 years)

Rebel for the Hell of It: The Life of Tupac Shakur, by Armond White. Thunder's Mouth, Mouth, 1997.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
English Romantic poet; drowned in Italy
(1792-1822; 29 years)

Shelley, the Man and the Poet, by Desmond King-Hele. T. Yoseloff, 1960.

IRVING G. THALBERG
Motion picture producer par excellence; pneumonia
(1899-1936, 37 years)

Thalberg: The Last Tycoon and the World of MGM, by Roland Flamini. Crown, 1994.

DYLAN THOMAS
Welsh poet; alcoholism
(1914-1953; 39 years)

] Dylan Thomas: A Biography, by Paul Ferris. Dial Press, 1977.

TUTANKHAMEN
Egyptian king at age 9
(r. 1361-1352 B.C.; 18 years)

Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of the Boy-king, by Christine El Mahdy. St. Martin's, 2000.

RITCHIE VALENS
American rock singer; plane crash
(1941-1959, 18 years)

Ritchie Valens, the First Latino Rocker, by Beverly Mendheim. Bilingual Press, 1987.

RUDOLPH VALENTINO [Rudolfo d'Antonguolla]
Great Latin lover of the silent screen; ruptured ulcer
(1895-1926; 31 years)

Valentino, by Irving Shulman. Trident Press, 1967.

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE
Scottish nationalist & hero; executed for treason
(c. 1272-1305)

William Wallace: Brave Heart, by James Mackay. Mainstream, 1996.

ARTEMUS WARD [Charles Farrar Browne]
American humorist; consumption
(1834-1867; 33 years)

Artemus Ward, A Biography and Bibliography, by Don Carlos Seitz. Harper & Bros., 1919.

DINAH WASHINGTON [Ruth Lee Jones]
American Blues singer; overdose of sleeping pills
(1924-1963; 39 years)

Queen of the Blues: A Biography of Dinah Washington, by James Haskins. Morrow, 1987.

HANK WILLIAMS
American country singer; heart attack brought on by years of drug & alcohol abuse
(1923-1953; 29 years)

Hank Williams: The Biography, by Colin Escott with George Merritt & William MacEwen. Little, Brown, 1994.

THOMAS WOLFE
Author of Look Homeward, Angel; tuberculosis
(1900-1938; 37 years)

Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe, by David Herbert Donald. Little, Brown, c1987.

MALCOLM X [Malcom Little]
Black Nationalist; assassinated
(1925-1965; 40 years)

Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America, by Bruce Perry. Station Hill, 1992, 1991.

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