Thursday 5th of April 1900

Actor Spencer Bonaventure Tracy is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Sunday 5th of April 1908

Conductor Herbert Ritter von Karajan is born in Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.

Sunday 5th of April 1908

Actress Bette Ruth Elizabeth Davis is born in 55 Cedar Street, Lowell, Massachusetts, United States.

Wednesday 5th of April 1916

Actor Gregory Eldred Peck is born in San Diego, California, United States.

Thursday 5th of April 1917

Writer Robert Albert Bloch known for his novel Psycho is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Friday 5th of April 1918

38-year-old Anne-Marie Pascal is murdered by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru aka Le Barbe-Bleue de Gambais in l'Ermitage, Allée des Tilleuls et la Roserale, Gambais, Île-de-France, France.

In his black notebook, Landru marked "17h 15'."  On 4 June 1918 Landru sold Pascal's only set of false teeth for 15,- Francs.

Monday 5th of April 1920

Writer Arthur Frederick Hailey is born in Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.

Monday 5th of April 1926

Film director Roger William Corman aka The Pope of Pop Cinema is born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Thursday 5th of April 1945

SS Standartenführer Karl-Otto Koch known for becoming the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen is executed by the firing squad at the age of 48 in KZ Buchenwald, Weimar, Thüringen, Germany.

Koch was sentenced to death for disgracing both himself and the SS. He was the husband of Ilse Koch.

Thursday 5th of April 1962

Actress and fashion model Lana Jean Clarkson is born in Long Beach, California, United States.

In February 2003 Clarkson was fatally shot by songwriter and producer Phil Spector in the lobby of his mansion.

Sunday 5th of April 1964

Chief of Staff of the United States Army Douglas MacArthur dies of biliary cirrhosis at the age of 84 in Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

Sunday 5th of April 1970

West German Ambassador to Guatemala Karl Borromäus Maria Heinrich Graf von Spreti is killed by Marxist–Leninist FAR guerillas at the age of 63 in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

von Spreti had been kidnapped six days before.

Saturday 5th of April 1975

Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China Chiang Kai-shek dies of renal failure aggravated with advanced cardiac malfunction at the age of 89 in Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.

Saturday 5th of April 1975

Double murderer Derrick Sean O’Brien is born in Houston, Texas, United States.

Monday 5th of April 1976

Business magnate, aviator, aerospace engineer, film director and eccentric Howard Robard Hughes dies of kidney failure at the age of 71 in Methodist Hospital, 6565 Fannin Street, Houston, Texas, United States.

Hughes died on board an aircraft owned by Robert Graf and piloted by Jeff Abrams en route from his penthouse at the Acapulco Fairmont Princess Hotel in Mexico to the Methodist Hospital. Hughes was in extremely poor physical condition at the time of his death in as much that the FBI had to resort to fingerprints to identify the body.

Tuesday 5th of April 1983

27-year-old Mass murderer Cevdet Yılmaz shoots six people to death for mocking his Dutch naturalisation in 't Koetsiertje, Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

The dead were Ton Smits, Wim van Baarle, Jan van Drongelen, Wim Janssen, Tonie Sneekes and 12-year-old Carmen Sneekes. Four other people were injured.

Thursday 5th of April 1984

Child molester and killer Arthur Frederick Goode is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 30 in Florida State Prison, 23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, Florida, United States.

During an interview on the eve of his execution Goode was asked if he had any last request. With a smile he answered "Yes, I want [child actor] Ricky Schroder to sit on my lap when I am strapped into the electric chair." Goode's last meal request was for steak, corn, broccoli and cookies. He also reportedly requested to have intercourse with a little boy for the last time.

Wednesday 5th of April 1989

9-year-old Joris Viville is raped, strangled and mutilated by serial killer Francis Heaulme aka The Emmaus Murderer aka Le Routard du Crime in Port-Grimaud, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Tuesday 5th of April 1994

Musician Kurt Donald Cobain aka The Pope of Grunge commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 27 in 171 Lake Washington Boulevard, Seattle, Washington, United States.

Cobain was discovered in the living quarters above his garage on 8 April 1994 by Veca Electric employee Gary Smith, who arrived at the house in the morning to install security lighting.

Saturday 5th of April 1997

Beat poet Allen Irwin Ginsberg dies of liver cancer at the age of 71 in 404 East 14th Street, New York City, New York, United States.

Saturday 5th of April 1997

Mass murderer Mohammad Ahman al-Nazari is executed by the firing squad at the age of 48 in Tala'i Private School, Sanaʽa, Amanat Al-Asemah, Yemen.

On 30 March al-Nazari shot and killed four students and two teachers with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. After his execution, the initial sentence for al-Nazari's corpse to be crucified in a public area for three days was repealed, instead the corpse was kicked to a pulp by angry citizens and burned in the streets of Sanaʽa.   

Tuesday 5th of April 2005

Writer Saul Bellow dies of unknown causes at the age of 90 in Brookline, Massachusetts, United States.

Thursday 5th of April 2012

Guitar amplification pioneer Jim James Charles Marshall aka The Father of Loud dies of cancer at the age of 89 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.

Sunday 5th of April 2015

The view from the mountain where supposedly the ashes of Surrealist film director Luis Buñuel were scattered in Monte Tolocha, Calanda, Teruel, Spain.