Writers and poets Agha Ahmad Ali (1839–1873), Bengali academic, scholar of Persian and Urdu poet, died of tuberculosis in June 1873 Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet, died from tuberculosis Manuel Bandeira, Brazilian poet, had tuberculosis in 1904 and expressed the effects of the disease in his life in many of his poems Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish poet, died on 22 December 1870 from tuberculosis Vissarion Belinsky, Russian literary critic Edward Bellamy (1850–1898), fiction writer remembered for his book Looking Backward, died from tuberculosis Sukanta Bhattacharya, Bengali poet and playwright Jonas Biliūnas Rachel Bluwstein Randolph Bourne, at age 4, he developed tuberculosis of the spine, which left him with a hunchback Anne and Emily Brontë and other members of the Brontë family of writers, poets and painters were struck by tuberculosis. Anne, their brother Branwell, and Emily all died of it within two years of each other. Charlotte Brontë's death in 1855 was stated at the time as having been due to tuberculosis, but there is some controversy over this today. Charles Brockden Brown Charles Farrar Browne Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet, died of tuberculosis in 1861 Jean de Brunhoff Charles Bukowski (1920–1994), American author and poet, contracted tuberculosis in 1988; he recovered, losing 60 lbs. He died of leukemia. Robert Burns Albert Camus, French writer, playwright, activist, and absurdist philosopher, suffered from tuberculosis. He was forced to drop out of school (University of Algiers) due to severe attacks of tuberculosis. However, his death was caused by a car accident. Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84 BC – ca. 54 BC), Roman poet Anton Chekhov (1860–1904), Russian short-story writer, playwright and physician; died from tuberculosis Tristan Corbière Stephen Crane Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) René Daumal Nikolay Dobrolyubov Laura Don (1852–1886), actress-manager, playwright and artist Paul Laurence Dunbar Sara Jeannette Duncan (1861–1922), Canadian author and journalist Paul Éluard Friedrich Robert Faehlmann Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931), Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist Maxim Gorky Guido Gozzano (1883-1916), Italian poet Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), American author and creator of the "hard boiled" detective novel (notably, Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon), contracted tuberculosis during World War I Saima Harmaja, Finnish poet and writer Jaroslav Hašek Alice Corbin Henderson (1881–1949), American poet, author, and poetry editor Robert A. Heinlein, American author William Ernest Henley (1849–1903), English poet, writer, critic, and editor Mary Eliza Herbert (1829–1872), Canadian publisher and poet Sarah Herbert (1824–1846), Irish-Nova Scotian author, publisher, and educator Miguel Hernandez Washington Irving Takuboku Ishikawa Panait Istrati Helen Hunt Jackson Alfred Jarry Samuel Johnson Franz Kafka (1883–1924), German-language novelist best known for his novel The Trial, died from tuberculosis Uuno Kailas, Finnish composer Andreas Karkavitsas, Greek writer John Keats (1795–1821), English Romantic poet; he and his brother Tom were taken by tuberculosis Dragotin Kette Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish philosopher Charles Kingsley Kostas Krystallis, Greek poet Vincas Kudirka (1858–1899), Lithuanian poet and physician; died from tuberculosis Jules Laforgue (1860–1887), French-Uruguayan poet Sidney Lanier D. H. Lawrence Janet Lewis Lu Xun Betty MacDonald Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand writer, died from tuberculosis aged 34 William Somerset Maugham Sara Haardt Mencken Migjeni, Albanian poet Molière Christian Morgenstern, German writer Josip Murn Aleksandrov Novalis, German author and philosopher Jessie Fremont O'Donnell (1860–1897), writer Eugene O'Neill George Orwell (1903–1950), British author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm and Homage to Catalonia, first suffered tuberculosis in the early 1930s and died from it in 1950, at the age of 46. Nineteen Eighty-Four was written during his final illness. Walker Percy Kristjan Jaak Peterson (1801–1822), Estonian poet, the founder of modern Estonian poetry; died from tuberculosis, lived only to age 21 Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Andrei Platonov Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe (wife of Edgar Allan Poe) Maria Polydouri, Greek poet and novelist Alexander Pope Eleanor Anne Porden Llewelyn Powys Winthrop Mackworth Praed Sholem Rabinovich Branko Radičević Lynn Riggs Joachim Ringelnatz, German poet John Ruskin Albert Samain Kaarlo Sarkia (1902–1945), Finnish poet Friedrich Schiller Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), Japanese poet famous for revitalizing the haiku, died after a long struggle with tuberculosis Emily Shore, diarist Anna Sissak-Bardizbanian, reporter Juliusz Słowacki Hristo Smirnenski Tobias Smollett Laurence Sterne Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Neo-romantic Scottish essayist, novelist and poet, is thought to have suffered from tuberculosis during much of his life. He spent the winter of 1887–1888 recuperating from a presumed bout of tuberculosis at Dr. E.L. Trudeau's Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium in Saranac Lake, New York. Alan Sillitoe Edith Södergran (1892–1923), Finnish poet A. H. Tammsaare (1878–1940), Estonian writer; suffered from tuberculosis after 1911 Francis Thompson Henry David Thoreau Lesya Ukrainka Katri Vala (1901-1944), Finnish poet Esther Vanhomrigh Jessamyn West, American author, contracted tuberculosis in 1932 and recovered Yvor Winters Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), American author, died of tuberculosis of the brain. His 1929 novel, Look Homeward, Angel, makes several references to the problem of consumption, though Wolfe's condition appeared rather suddenly in 1937. Jiří Wolker Simone Weil, French philosopher Walt Whitman (1819–1892) Autopsy "consumption of the right lung, general miliary tuberculosis" Vũ Trọng Phụng (1912-1939), Vietnamese author, poet.
Actors Renée Adorée, (1898–1933), French actress Anita Berber (1899–1928) German dancer and actress Colin Clive (1900–1937), British stage and screen actor Georgiana Drew Barrymore (1856–1893), actress, succumbed aged 36 Rachel Félix (1821-1858), French actress Vivien Leigh (1913–1967), British actress of stage and screen, died from complications of tuberculosis Annie Lewis (c. 1869–1896), musical comedy actress Dick Martin (1922–2008), comedian; lost a lung due to tuberculosis as a teenager Tim Moore (1887–1958), American actor of stage, screen and television Barry Morse (1918–2008), British-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio Mabel Normand (1893–1930), American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, producer, and comedian N!xau (1944–2003), Namibian actor Michael Raffetto Christiaan Van Vuuren (1982– ), Australian actor, writer, director and video blogger
Artists Ioannis Altamouras (1852–1878), Greek painter Frédéric Bartholdi (1834–1904), French sculptor, creator of the Statue of Liberty Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884), Russian-born, French-educated painter and diarist, died from tuberculosis at the age of 26 Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898), English illustrator and author Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828) English Romantic landscape painter Kenneth M. Chapman (1875–1968), American art historian Harry Clarke (1889–1931), Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), French Romantic painter Wyatt Eaton (1849–1896), Canadian-American painter Rötger Feldmann (1950– ), German comic book artist Théodore Géricault (1791–1824), French Romantic painter, died at age 32. Mark Gertler (1891–1939), British painter Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), English watercolourist and etcher James Dickson Innes (1887–1914), Welsh painter Boris Kustodiev (1878–1927), Russian painter and stage designer Georges Lacombe (1868–1916), French sculptor and painter Charles Laval (1862–1894), French painter John Gaw Meem (1894–1983), American architect Datus Myers (1879–1960), American painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), Italian modernist painter Norval Morrisseau (1932–2007), Indigenous Canadian artist Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Norwegian painter Kārlis Padegs (1911–1940), Latvian painter José Pancetti (1902–1958), Brazilian modernist painter Paulus Potter (1625–1654), Dutch painter William Ranney (1813–1857), 19th-century American painterMillan, Nicholas. "Famed American 19th century painter called North Hudson home"; The Union City Reporter; March 16, 2008Rosero, Jessica. "All-American painter" The Union City Reporter; April 30, 2006; Pages 7 and 32 Slava Raškaj (1877–1906), Croatian painter Andrei Ryabushkin (1861–1904), Russian painter Will Shuster (1893–1969), American painter, sculptor and teacher Elizabeth Siddal (1829–1862), English artists' model, poet and artist Peter Purves Smith (1912–1949), Australian modernist artist, died during a lung operation Virginia Frances Sterret (1900–1931), American artist and illustrator Theodore Van Soelen (1890–1964), American landscape painter Carlos Vierra (1876–1937), American painter, illustrator and photographer
Composers, singers and musicians Carl Michael Bellman (1740–1795), Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet, and entertainer Jimmy Blanton, jazz bassist Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer, died in 1805 of pulmonary tuberculosis Alfredo Catalani Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), died of consumption at age 39 (see the discussion for details). Historical records indicate episodes of hemoptysis during performances. Charlie Christian, jazz guitarist; pioneer of the electric guitar Tom Fogerty, (1941–1990), rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival George Formby, Sr., music hall comedian and singer (d. 1921) Stephen Foster Hermann Goetz Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold Alex Hill, jazz pianist Tom Jones, Welsh singing legend, spent about a year recovering from TB in his parents' basement around the age of 12 Joseph Martin Kraus Jari Mäenpää, Finnish musician James "Bubber" Miley, jazz trumpeter Joseph Mohr Niccolò Paganini Jimmy Palao (1879–1925), jazz musician, died of tuberculosis at age 45 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736), died of tuberculosis at age 26 Henry Purcell Julius Reubke (1834–1858), German composer, pianist, and organist Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933), country music singer, sang about the woes of tuberculosis in the song T.B. Blues (co-written with Raymond E. Hall) and ultimately died of the disease days after a New York City recording session. Johann Hermann Schein Igor Stravinsky Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), died of TB at age 54 Ringo Starr, musician/former drummer of The Beatles, survived having tuberculosis at age 11
Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) §, British singer-songwriter Carl Maria von Weber Chick Webb Link Wray
Religious figures Dina Bélanger (1897–1929), beatified Canadian nun David Brainerd (1718–1747), left a diary that reflects his reliance upon God's faithfulness amidst his battle with consumption. The diary was historically very influential, particularly to the modern Christian missionary movement. John Calvin, leader of the Protestant Reformation Józef Cebula (1902–1941), beatified Polish priest Saint Gemma Galgani, suffered from 'tuberculosis of the spine with aggravated curvature' John Harvard (1607–1638), English dissenting minister and founder of Harvard University Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, the Roman Catholic religious Sister and mystic from Poland, initiator of the Divine Mercy devotion, suffered greatly from tuberculosis and succumbed to it on 5 October 1938. Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810), Hasidic rabbi and religious teacher Karl Leisner (1915–1945), Roman Catholic priest Bruna Pellesi (1917–1972), beatified Italian nun Maria Angela Picco (1867–1921), beatified Italian Roman Catholic Gérard Raymond (1912–1932), Canadian seminarian Cardinal Richelieu of France, died from tuberculosis in 1642 Junípero Serra (1713–1784), Spanish Catholic priest and missionary Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes