Celebrities who died in 2024

O.J. Simpson, 76

O.J. Simpson had a life of high highs and low lows.

Finding fame initially on the football field, he became one of the greatest running backs ever to play in the NFL in the 1970s. He had an MVP season in 1973 when he set a single-season rushing record and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1985 after his retirement.

He was set to live out his days as a hero and grow even more famous thanks to endorsements, movie roles, and broadcasting.

But all of that changed in June of 1994 after his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her condo. Days later, Simpson, who was a person of interest in the murders, led Los Angeles police on a slow-speed chase in his Ford Bronco, finally giving up when he got back to his home.

Simpson’s televised trial for the deaths of Nicole and Goldman a year later became one of the biggest spectacles in modern-day American history.

Simpson was acquitted of the murders, was found guilty in civil court in 1997.

The story of Simpson’s incredible rise and fall still fascinates people to this day. The 2016 ESPN docuseries “O.J.: Made in America” won an Oscar and Emmy, and Ryan Murphy’s 2016 scripted series “The People vs. O.J.: American Crime Story” won eight Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes.

Simpson died on April 10. He had been diagnosed with cancer, his family said.