Remembering Omar Sharif Jackie Collins Jonah Lomu, other celebrities who died in 2015

Best-selling authors, Hollywood stars, pioneering scientists, and sporting greats - 2015 has seen the death of many internationally familiar figures.

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APJ Abdul Kalam
Served as India's 11th president from 2002 to 2007 and was popularly known as "Missile Man" after pioneering the country's military missile programme.
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Charles Correa
Often described as India's greatest contemporary architect, his eye-catching buildings helped define the country's post-independence architecture.
Pictured is Correa's Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya (Gandhi Memorial Institution) in Ahmedabad - work on the building started in 1958.
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Yevgeny Primakov
Appointed Russia's spy chief in 1991, foreign minister in 1996 and prime minister in 1998.
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Yitzhak Navon
Fifth president of Israel from 1978 to 1983.
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James Horner, Ervin Drake and Michael Masser

Composer James Horner won Oscars for the theme song and score for the film Titanic.
Ervin Drake was a songwriter who composed bittersweet love songs, including Frank Sinatra's It Was a Very Good Year.
Songwriter Michael Masser composed romantic pop ballads including Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All, and Diana Ross's Touch Me in the Morning.
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Donna Douglas
Actress best known for playing the tomboyish Elly May Clampett in 1960s US sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
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Gary Richrath
Guitarist and songwriter for the rock group REO Speedwagon.
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Jack Ely
Lead singer of The Kingsmen, who were best known for the 1960s hit Louie Louie.
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Kurt Masur
Conductor who led the New York Philharmonic for 11 years.
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John Guillermin
Director whose films included The Towering Inferno, Death on the Nile and the 1976 version of King Kong.
(Pictured left, with pipe)
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Samuel Goldwyn Jr
Son of Hollywood mogul Samuel Goldwyn, Samuel Goldwyn Jr produced films in his own right - including Mystic Pizza (1988), and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).


New Zealand rugby union great Jonah Lomu has died aged 40.


Lomu, who scored 37 tries in 63 matches for New Zealand between 1994 and 2002, had been diagnosed with a rare and serious kidney condition in 1995.

It forced him to quit the game and he had a kidney transplant in 2004, but the organ stopped functioning in 2011.

"Jonah was a legend of our game and loved by his many fans both here and around the world," said New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew.
"We're lost for words and our heartfelt sympathies go out to Jonah's family."



The novelist Jackie Collins has died of breast cancer at the age of 77, her family said in a statement.

"It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one-of-a-kind mother," the statement said.

The British-born writer, sister of actress Joan Collins, died in Los Angeles, her spokeswoman said.

Collins's raunchy novels of the rich and famous sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries.
In a career spanning four decades, all 32 of her novels appeared in the New York Times bestseller list.