99 Fun Facts About Famous Last Words

Which French queen, guillotined in October 1793, apologised to her executioner for stepping on his foot at the scaffold?

Marie Antoinette: 'Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l'ai pas fait exprès', 'I did not do it on purpose', nine months after her husband Louis XVI went to the same blade. Good manners to the last.

Which wartime British Prime Minister is said to have declared 'I'm bored with it all' shortly before his death?

Winston Churchill, a towering figure of the 20th century, reportedly uttered these words in January 1965, expressing his weariness in his final moments.

Which Irish wit reportedly said near death, 'My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death'?

Oscar Wilde, weeks before he died at the Hôtel d'Alsace in Paris on 30 November 1900; the popular short version is 'Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.'

Which Communist Manifesto author said 'Last words are for fools who haven't said enough'?

Karl Marx, to his housekeeper on the day he died, 14 March 1883, prefaced with 'Go on, get out!'

Which Spanish surrealist reportedly asked 'Where is my clock?' just before his death?

While the precise authenticity of Salvador Dalí's last words is debated, 'Where is my clock?' is a widely attributed and fitting anecdote for the artist known for 'The Persistence of Memory.'

Which playwright, born in a Broadway hotel room in 1888, died in a Boston hotel room in 1953, cursing the symmetry?

Eugene O'Neill, who told his wife Carlotta: born in a hotel room and, goddamn it, dying in a hotel room. The Nobel laureate's birthplace is now marked by a plaque in Times Square.

Which tech founder's last words, 'Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow', were revealed in a eulogy by his sister, novelist Mona Simpson?

Steve Jobs, on 5 October 2011, looking past his family at something, his sister said, only he could see. Mona Simpson had only learned she had a brother when both were adults.

Which German writer reportedly asked for 'more light', 'Mehr Licht', on his Weimar deathbed in 1832?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the full request was to open the bedroom shutter so more light could come in, which posterity trimmed to two words. He had finished Faust Part Two only months before.

Whose last words in 1886 were 'I must go in, for the fog is rising'?

Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Massachusetts, on 15 May 1886, having published only a handful of poems in her lifetime; the line echoes the mist-and-twilight imagery of her verse.

Which film director reportedly said 'One never knows the ending' in his final days in 1980?

Alfred Hitchcock, who died in Bel Air on 29 April 1980; he reportedly added that one has to die to know what happens after death, 'although Catholics have their hopes'.

Which US president, who died in 1799, left ''Tis well' as his last recorded words?

George Washington, at Mount Vernon on 14 December 1799; his secretary Tobias Lear recorded the words, spoken after Washington asked that his body not be entombed until three days after his death.

Which emperor, dying in exile on St Helena in 1821, reportedly murmured 'France, the army, head of the army, Josephine'?

Napoleon Bonaparte, whose last thoughts ran to country, career and the wife he had divorced for an heir, in that order. Josephine had died seven years earlier.

Which studio founder's last notes in 1966 included young actor Kurt Russell's name?

Walt Disney, who died on 15 December 1966; the note, misspelled 'Kirt Russell', appeared alongside 'Ron Miller' and 'Way Down Cellar' on a page, and Russell has said he never learned why.

Dying, asked to renounce Satan, who replied 'Now is not the time for making new enemies'?

Voltaire, in Paris on 30 May 1778; the priest at his bedside got no renunciation out of him, and the Paris clergy refused him a Christian burial.

'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance': which Union general was shot in 1864?

John Sedgwick, killed by a Confederate sharpshooter at Spotsylvania Court House on 9 May 1864 while chiding his men for dodging bullets.

Regretting that he had 'but one life to give for my country', which 21-year-old spy was hanged by the British in 1776?

Nathan Hale, a Yale graduate and schoolteacher turned spy, and the line echoes Addison's play Cato, which he may have been quoting. A statue of him stands outside CIA headquarters.

'Woe, I think I'm turning into a god', joked which dying Roman emperor, mocking the custom of deifying dead rulers?

Vespasian, in AD 79, who then insisted an emperor should die on his feet and collapsed trying to stand. The builder of the Colosseum had a famously dry sense of humour.

Per Plato, Socrates' last words asked Crito to pay Asclepius a debt of what?

A cock: in Plato's Phaedo, Socrates tells Crito 'we owe a cock to Asclepius; pay it and do not forget' as the hemlock he was sentenced to drink in 399 BC takes hold.

Which composer, dying in Vienna in March 1827, greeted a publisher's gift of twelve bottles of wine with 'Pity, pity, too late'?

Ludwig van Beethoven, who had been sent Rhine wine by his publisher and could no longer drink it. Schubert, a torchbearer at his funeral, followed him twenty months later.

Which president died on 4 July 1826 saying 'Thomas Jefferson survives', unaware Jefferson had died hours earlier?

John Adams, at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 4 July 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration; Jefferson had died at Monticello a few hours earlier, his own last words 'No, doctor, nothing more.'

'Such is life' were the last words of which Australian bushranger before his hanging in 1880?

Ned Kelly, hanged at Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880; the words are traditional, and one contemporary account has him sighing 'Ah well, I suppose it has come to this.'

Which naturalist declared on his deathbed in 1882, 'I am not in the least afraid to die'?

Charles Darwin, who died at Down House in Kent on 19 April 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey; his family recorded the remark and rejected later deathbed-conversion tales.

Which chief's dying words in 1890 called life 'a flash of a firefly in the night'?

Crowfoot, the Siksika (Blackfoot) chief who died on 25 April 1890; he also called life 'the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime' and 'the little shadow which runs across the grass'.

'It's a long time since I drank champagne' were the last words of which Russian playwright in 1904?

Anton Chekhov, to his wife Olga Knipper at the German spa of Badenweiler on 15 July 1904; he had just told the doctor 'Ich sterbe' and drained a glass of champagne.

'It's very beautiful over there' were the enigmatic last words of which American inventor in 1931?

Thomas Edison, who died at Glenmont, his home in West Orange, New Jersey, on 18 October 1931, aged 84; he spoke the words after briefly waking from a coma.

Which novelist reportedly said before dying in 1977, 'A certain butterfly is already on the wing'?

Vladimir Nabokov, who died at Lausanne on 2 July 1977; a serious lepidopterist, he had curated the butterfly collection at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology in the 1940s.

'Money can't buy life' were the final words of which musician, who died in 1981?

Bob Marley, to his son Ziggy; he died of melanoma at a Miami hospital on 11 May 1981, aged 36.

Facing execution in Bolivia in 1967, who said 'Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man'?

Che Guevara, executed by Bolivian sergeant Mario Terán at La Higuera on 9 October 1967; he reportedly began, 'I know you are here to kill me.'

Which crooner said 'That was a great game of golf, fellas' moments before a fatal heart attack in 1977?

Bing Crosby, who collapsed from a heart attack on 14 October 1977 after finishing a round at the La Moraleja club outside Madrid; he was 74.

'This is no way to live' were the last words of which cigar-wielding comedian, who died three days after Elvis, August 1977?

Groucho Marx, at 86, and the line is pure Groucho: a complaint, a joke and a review all at once. His death was overshadowed by Elvis Presley's three days earlier.

Which singer's reported final words in 1998 were 'I'm losing it'?

Frank Sinatra, who died of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on 14 May 1998, aged 82.

Which entertainer, asked where he wanted to be buried, said 'Surprise me' before dying in 2003?

Bob Hope, to his wife Dolores; he died at his home in Toluca Lake, California, on 27 July 2003, two months after his hundredth birthday.

Todd Beamer's 'Let's roll' were the last recorded words aboard which hijacked plane on 9/11?

United 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought the hijackers; all 44 aboard, including the four hijackers, died.

Which queen of England is said to have died in 1603 lamenting, 'All my possessions for a moment of time'?

Elizabeth I, who died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603 after 44 years on the throne; the lament is traditional rather than documented.

Which French revolutionary's last words at the 1794 guillotine were 'Show my head to the people. It is worth seeing'?

Robespierre, blamed months later for Danton's death, reportedly cried 'Cowards! Why did you not defend him?'

Which American statesman grumbled on his deathbed in 1790, 'A dying man can do nothing easy'?

Benjamin Franklin, who died in Philadelphia on 17 April 1790, aged 84; his daughter Sarah had suggested he shift to a more comfortable position so he could breathe more easily.

Which composer's reported last words in 1791 were 'The taste of death is upon my lips'?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who died in Vienna on 5 December 1791, aged 35, leaving his Requiem unfinished; Süssmayr completed the score for his widow Constanze.

Which Romantic poet, dying in Rome in 1821, said 'I can feel the daisies growing over me'?

John Keats, to his friend Joseph Severn, in the rooms beside the Spanish Steps where he died of tuberculosis on 23 February 1821, aged 25.

Which American novelist's last words in 1910 were a request to his daughter Clara: 'Give me my glasses'?

Mark Twain, who died at Stormfield in Redding, Connecticut, on 21 April 1910, the day after Halley's Comet reached perihelion, just as he had predicted he would 'go out with it'.

Which Russian novelist, dying at a railway station in 1910, asked how the peasants die?

Leo Tolstoy, who had fled Yasnaya Polyana days earlier at 82 and fell ill at Astapovo station, where he died on 20 November 1910 (7 November, Old Style).

Which philosopher's last words in 1951 were 'Tell them I've had a wonderful life'?

Ludwig Wittgenstein, who died of prostate cancer at his doctor's house in Cambridge on 29 April 1951, three days after his 62nd birthday; the words were a message for his friends.

'Goodnight my kitten' were the last words of which American author before he took his own life in 1961?

Ernest Hemingway, to his wife Mary at their home in Ketchum, Idaho, the night before he shot himself on 2 July 1961.

Which Beatle's last words to his wife and son in 2001 were 'Love one another'?

George Harrison, to his wife Olivia and son Dhani; he died of lung cancer in Los Angeles on 29 November 2001, aged 58.

Whose 2016 last words, per Gary Oldman, were 'Music has been my doorway of perception and the house that I live in'?

David Bowie, who died of liver cancer on 10 January 2016, two days after releasing Blackstar on his 69th birthday; Gary Oldman read the words at that year's Brit Awards.

'Do not disturb my circles': which Greek mathematician said it to the Roman soldier who then killed him at Syracuse?

Archimedes, around 212 BC, absorbed in a diagram drawn in the sand; the soldier had orders to take him alive. The man who shouted 'Eureka' died over geometry.

Which English king is said to have died in 1547 crying 'All is lost! Monks, monks, monks!'?

The words are a grim irony for the monarch who dissolved England's monasteries only a decade earlier.

Which Frenchman reportedly said 'Tomorrow, at sunrise, I shall no longer be here' in 1566?

Nostradamus, who died at Salon-de-Provence on 2 July 1566, reportedly told his secretary Jean de Chavigny the night before; for once his prophecy was precise.

Which hotelier's final wisdom in 1979 was 'Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub'?

Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton chain, who died in Santa Monica on 3 January 1979, aged 91; practical to the end, he left housekeeping advice rather than a philosophy of life.

Which dancer cried 'Farewell, my friends. I go to glory!' before a fatal car accident in 1927?

Her long scarf caught in the wheel of the open car she was riding in on the French Riviera.

Which Roman's reported last words, 'You too, my child?', were in Greek, not Shakespeare's Latin?

Julius Caesar, on 15 March 44 BC, and Suetonius gives the phrase as 'Kai su, teknon', addressed to Brutus. 'Et tu, Brute?' is Shakespeare's Latin, written sixteen centuries later.

Which Roman emperor died in 138 AD asking 'O my poor soul, whither art thou going?'

The line comes from a short poem he composed on his deathbed, opening 'Animula vagula blandula', addressed to his own departing soul.

Which Lord Chancellor, beheaded in 1535, died 'the King's good servant, and God's first'?

Thomas More, beheaded on Tower Hill on 6 July 1535 for refusing the Oath of Supremacy; he also reportedly moved his beard off the block, joking that it had never committed treason.

Which courtier, beheaded in 1618, told the axeman 'What dost thou fear? Strike, man!'?

Shown the axe beforehand, he called it 'a sharp medicine, but a physician for all diseases'.

Which English king cried 'Treason! treason!' as his troops deserted him at Bosworth Field?

Richard III, killed at Bosworth on 22 August 1485, the last English king to die in battle; his remains were found under a Leicester car park in 2012.

Which king apologised in 1685 for being 'a most unconscionable time dying'?

He is also said to have asked that his mistress Nell Gwyn be looked after: 'Let not poor Nelly starve.'

Which duke paid executioner Jack Ketch six guineas in 1685 not to 'hack me'?

The Duke of Monmouth, beheaded on Tower Hill on 15 July 1685 after his failed rebellion against James II; the nervous Ketch needed several blows, and the botched execution became notorious.

Which last Habsburg king of Spain is said to have died in 1700 saying 'I am nothing'?

His childless death triggered the War of the Spanish Succession, which put a Bourbon on the Spanish throne.

Which economist died in 1790 saying 'we shall adjourn this meeting to another place'?

Adam Smith, to friends at a Sunday supper in Edinburgh days before he died on 17 July 1790; he had most of his unpublished manuscripts burned shortly before his death.

Which Prime Minister reportedly died in 1806 craving 'one of Bellamy's veal pies'?

Pitt the Younger, who died at Putney on 23 January 1806, aged 46; Bellamy's was the Commons caterer, and the more dignified 'Oh, my country! how I leave my country!' is also recorded.

Which admiral, dying at Trafalgar in 1805, said 'Thank God, I have done my duty'?

Horatio Nelson, below decks on HMS Victory at Trafalgar, 21 October 1805; the better-known 'Kiss me, Hardy' came earlier in the same exchange with his flag captain Thomas Hardy.

Which Confederate general died in 1863 saying 'Let us cross over the river and rest'?

Stonewall Jackson, shot by his own pickets at Chancellorsville on 2 May 1863; his left arm was amputated and he died of pneumonia eight days later at Guinea Station.

Which president, dying of throat cancer in 1885, gave the one-word last request 'Water'?

Ulysses S. Grant, at Mount McGregor, New York, on 23 July 1885; he had finished his memoirs days earlier, and Mark Twain's firm published them, the royalties rescuing his bankrupt family.

Which American writer's last words in 1849 were 'Lord, help my poor soul'?

Edgar Allan Poe, who died in Baltimore on 7 October 1849 after being found delirious in clothes that were not his own; the cause of his death has never been settled.

Which novelist told her sister Cassandra in 1817, 'I want nothing but death'?

Jane Austen, who died in Winchester on 18 July 1817, aged 41; Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published together that December.

Which Spanish PM said in 1868 he need not forgive his enemies: 'I have had them all shot'?

Ramón María Narváez, the general nicknamed 'El Espadón de Loja', who died in Madrid on 23 April 1868; he was answering a priest who asked whether he forgave his enemies.

Which assassin died in 1865 murmuring 'Tell mother, I died for my country... useless'?

Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him in a burning Virginia tobacco barn; 'useless' was said as Booth looked at his paralysed hands.

Who said 'Please don't let me fall' at her 1865 hanging for the Lincoln conspiracy?

Mary Surratt, hanged at the Washington Arsenal on 7 July 1865, the first woman executed by the United States federal government; her boarding house had hosted the conspirators.

Lincoln was laughing at a line from which play when he was shot at Ford's Theatre?

Our American Cousin, Tom Taylor's comedy; Booth fired at the laugh line 'you sockdologizing old man-trap'. Lincoln's last words, moments before, reassured Mary that Clara Harris 'won't think anything about it'.

Custer's last message at Little Bighorn told which officer to hurry with ammunition packs?

The written version carried by trumpeter John Martin survives as the 'Benteen note'; the relief never reached Custer's five companies.

Who left Scott's tent in 1912 saying 'I am just going outside and may be some time'?

Lawrence Oates, crippled by frostbite, walked into a blizzard on what was probably his 32nd birthday, 17 March 1912, so as not to slow his companions; Scott's diary recorded the words.

Which actor said 'That guy's gotta stop... He'll see us' before his fatal 1955 crash?

He was driving his Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed 'Little Bastard', to a race in Salinas; Wütherich, his mechanic, survived.

What did murderer James W. Rodgers request before facing a Utah firing squad in 1960?

A bulletproof vest, his deadpan reply when asked for a last request; shot on 30 March 1960, Rodgers was the last person executed by a US firing squad for 17 years, until Utah resumed the practice in 1977.

Which criminal's 1977 last words before a Utah firing squad were simply 'Let's do it!'?

Gary Gilmore, shot at Utah State Prison on 17 January 1977 in the first US execution after the death penalty's 1976 reinstatement; adman Dan Wieden cited the line as inspiration for Nike's 'Just Do It'.

Which mobster's feverish 1935 deathbed ramblings were taken down by a police stenographer?

Dutch Schultz, shot in a Newark chophouse on 23 October 1935; he babbled for hours about 'French-Canadian bean soup', and William S. Burroughs later turned the transcript into the screenplay The Last Words of Dutch Schultz.

Which Yankees legend's last words in 1999 were 'I'll finally get to see Marilyn', 45 years after their nine-month marriage?

Joe DiMaggio, who had sent roses to Marilyn Monroe's crypt three times a week for twenty years after her death. He never remarried.

Which singer's last words in 1977 were 'I'm going to the bathroom to read'?

Elvis Presley, to his girlfriend Ginger Alden on 16 August 1977; she found him hours later on the bathroom floor at Graceland.

Which physicist's last words in 1988 were 'I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring'?

He had briefly stirred from a coma at UCLA Medical Center; his Caltech students hung a banner reading 'We love you, Dick'.

Whose last known radio message in 1937 was 'We are running on line north and south'?

Amelia Earhart, on 2 July 1937; the US Coast Guard cutter Itasca, waiting off Howland Island, heard her clearly but could never get a bearing on her Lockheed Electra.

Which science-fiction author's last words in 1946 were 'Go away. I'm all right'?

Another reported version is the more characteristically grumpy 'God damn you all; I told you so.'

Which pioneering woman MP asked in 1964, 'Am I dying or is this my birthday?'

The Virginia-born Viscountess died 17 days short of her 85th birthday.

Which comic, told 'May the Lord have mercy on your soul', replied 'Why not? It belongs to him', on Christmas Day 1977?

Charlie Chaplin, who died in Switzerland at 88. Three months later his coffin was stolen and held for ransom; it was recovered, and he was reburied under concrete.

Which dancer, shot as a spy by a French firing squad in 1917, said 'It is unbelievable'?

Mata Hari, born Margaretha Zelle, refused a blindfold and reportedly blew a kiss to the firing squad at Vincennes on 15 October 1917.

Which author's final written request to his wife in 1963 read 'LSD, 100 μg, im'?

Aldous Huxley, unable to speak from laryngeal cancer, wrote the note and his wife Laura injected him on 22 November 1963; his death was overshadowed because JFK was shot the same day.

Which Irish republican told his 1922 firing squad 'Take a step or two closer'?

Erskine Childers, author of The Riddle of the Sands, executed by the Irish Free State on 24 November 1922; he shook hands with each rifleman, and his son later became President of Ireland.

Broadway producer Frohman's last words on the sinking Lusitania paraphrased which play?

Peter Pan: Frohman had staged J. M. Barrie's play on Broadway in 1905, and Barrie's original line is 'To die will be an awfully big adventure.'

JFK's last words, 'No, you certainly can't', answered which passenger in the motorcade?

Nellie Connally, the Texas First Lady, had turned in her seat to say 'Mr President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you', seconds before the shots on 22 November 1963.

Who asked for 'the American Civil Liberties Union' shortly before being shot in 1963?

Lee Harvey Oswald, shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police headquarters on 24 November 1963, on live television during a jail transfer.

Which president died in 1901 saying 'Goodbye, all, goodbye. It is God's way'?

Shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, he lingered eight days before gangrene set in.

Which president's last words, in 1945, were 'I have a terrific headache'?

Franklin D. Roosevelt, sitting for Elizabeth Shoumatoff's portrait at Warm Springs, Georgia, on 12 April 1945; the 'Unfinished Portrait' was left incomplete and went on display at the Little White House there.

'Roger, go at throttle up' was the last transmission of which Challenger astronaut?

Francis 'Dick' Scobee, the commander; the shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into its 28 January 1986 flight, and pilot Michael Smith's 'Uh-oh' was caught on the cockpit recorder.

Minutes before the 1967 Apollo 1 fire, which astronaut asked how they would reach the Moon if they couldn't talk between buildings?

Gus Grissom, and the faulty radio was the least of it: fire swept the sealed capsule during a launch-pad test, killing Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. He had been the second American in space.

Which British king's last words in 1936 were 'God damn you!' to a nurse?

George V, at Sandringham on 20 January 1936; his physician Lord Dawson hastened the end with morphine and cocaine so the death would make the morning Times rather than the evening papers.

Queen Victoria's last word, 'Bertie', was her name for whom?

Edward VII, born Albert Edward and known in the family as Bertie; he had waited nearly 60 years as heir apparent, the longest wait until Charles III.

Which swashbuckling star said in 1959, 'I've had a hell of a lot of fun'?

Errol Flynn, star of The Adventures of Robin Hood, died of a heart attack in Vancouver on 14 October 1959, aged 50, while trying to sell his yacht, Zaca.

Which actor's final tweet in 2015 ended with the sign-off 'LLAP'?

Leonard Nimoy, who died four days later on 27 February 2015; LLAP stands for 'Live long and prosper', the Vulcan greeting he first gave as Spock in 1967.

Steve Irwin's last words, 'I'm dying', came after the barb of which animal pierced his heart on the Great Barrier Reef?

A stingray, while filming a documentary called, grimly, Ocean's Deadliest. Stingray deaths are extraordinarily rare; the barb struck his chest as he swam over the animal in 2006.

Michael Jackson's last words, 'More milk', were a request for which drug in 2009?

Propofol, the white anaesthetic he called 'milk'; Jackson died on 25 June 2009, and his physician Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011.

Executed in 1995, Thomas Grasso wanted the press to know his last meal lacked which item?

He had asked for a can of SpaghettiOs at room temperature and was served ordinary spaghetti instead.

Which Australian PM said 'I know this beach like the back of my hand' before vanishing?

Harold Holt, who swam into heavy surf at Cheviot Beach, Victoria, on 17 December 1967 and was never found; a Melbourne swimming pool was later named after him.