Birthday passings certainly don't happen to everyone, but a surprising number of famous
people throughout history have passed on the dates they were born.
You might even say they blew out their candles on the day their candle was blown out.
Here are some of the famous people who passed on their birthdays.
"You can't have everything in life, either you stay home, and you cook for your husband,
and you put his slippers out.
I've never been very good at that because I love to act."
Whenever the "birthday effect" is mentioned, it's never long before Ingrid Bergman's name
comes up.
According to History.com, Bergman was born in Sweden on August 29th, 1915, and she was
already pretty well known in Europe by the time Hollywood came a knockin'.
"Who are you really, and what were you before?
What did you do and what did you think, huh?"
"We said no questions."
Though her iconic role alongside Humphrey Bogart, as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca, turned
her into one of the biggest movie stars of all time, Bergman also received multiple Academy
Award nominations and wins throughout her career.
Her final nomination in 1978 was for the film Autumn Sonata, directed by the equally famous
filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.
No relation.
Sadly, this legendary actress was taken from the world too early, due to breast cancer,
according to the Telegraph.
She fought the disease for nine years before passing on August 29th, 1982, on her 67th
birthday.
"There is no Civil Rights Movement without the example, the witness, of Ella Baker."
Born on December 13th, 1903, Ella Baker grew up in rural North Carolina, according to Biography.com.
The granddaughter of a former slave, Baker graduated college and hit the road to New
York, where she became an icon of the civil rights movement.
"It takes dedication.
It takes the willingness to stand by, and do what has to be done."
As an activist, counselor, and advocate she worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
And after a long life on the front lines, the New York Times reported in 1986 that she
had died peacefully on her 83rd birthday.
Decades after her passing, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights continues fighting
for equality, social justice, and an end to mass incarceration.
"Dr. Roget Tony Toussant.
But you can call me Tony."
You likely always recognize actor Maury Chaykin, even if you can't remember his name.
Though he was a huge celebrity in his native Canada, U.S. audiences first met him in the
movie Dances with Wolves, where his brief role as Major Fambrough scarred audiences
forever.
He later played the tyrannical producer Harvey Weingard, a character modeled after Harvey
Weinstein, on HBO's Entourage.
But although Chaykin did an incredible job with side roles, he was also a formidable
lead.
Sadly, The Hollywood Reporter announced in 2010 that he had died on his 61st birthday.
While Chaykin had been maintaining a regular role on the Canadian series Less Than Kind,
The Globe reported Chaykin had quietly struggled for years against both cancer and kidney disease.
He had been undergoing dialysis treatments when he succumbed to a staph infection in
his heart.
There's a heck of a lot we don't know about the legendary playwright William Shakespeare,
up to and including the fact that he may not ever have existed.
So yes, while it is generally said that Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23rd, according
to History.com, dying on his birthday sounds like something from one of his own plays.
"My husband thinks you've come home to die."
"I just bought a pension.
I can't die for at least ten years or I'll be ruined."
But here are the facts, according to Bustle: There definitely was a burial on April 25th,
1616, which would have been two days after Shakespeare's 52nd birthday, and death, presumably.
And his will had been updated just a few months before, so it's possible he might've fallen
ill before he passed.
So yeah, if Shakespeare was really Shakespeare, he definitely could have died on his birthday.
Country music hasn't been the same since the loss of Merle Haggard.
A poor farming kid from Bakersfield, California, History.com reported that the young Haggard
went to prison four times.
"I wound up in some of the roughest prisons and the roughest jails in the United States."
He was 20 years old when he first heard Johnny Cash play guitar, at which point he turned
his life around and became one of the biggest country superstars in history.
But even when fame and fortune came along, Haggard's troubled past influenced his work,
with his working-class hits like "Sing Me Back Home," "Okie from Muskogee," "Workin'
Man Blues," and "Mama Tried."
In 1970, the Country Music Association named him Entertainer of the Year.
"And the winner is Merle Haggard."
"Top male vocalist of the year is Merle Haggard."
"'Are The Good Times Really Over'."
According to the Telegraph, what finally ended Haggard's story, was a bout with pneumonia
in 2016.
He passed on April 6th of that year, which marked his 79th birthday.