Louis XVI (1754 – 1793)

“I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I pardon those who have occasioned my death, and pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited upon France.”

Louis XVI delivered this speech to his executioners prior to his execution by guillotine at the Place de la Révolution, Paris. The last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution was given the death penalty after being found guilty of high treason and crimes against the state, he was 38 years old at the time of his death.

Doc Holliday (1851 – 1887)

“Damn. This is funny.”

The dentist and gunfighter, best known for his role in the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone Arizona, uttered these final words as he lay dying to a nurse after she refused him a shot of whiskey. Doc Holliday succumbed to tuberculosis (consumption) at the age of 36 in the Hotel Glenwood, Colorado.

Alec Guinness (1914 – 2000)

“The readiness is all”

There are no recorded or documented last words spoken by Alec Guinness before his death, but this is the epitaph on his gravestone, a famous line from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The stage and screen actor, best known for his role as Obi Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars movies, died from cancer in King Edward VII’s Hospital in Midhurst England, he was 86 years old.

Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796)

“Water”

The final recorded verbal word uttered by the Empress of Russia before her death was reportedly a request for some water. Catherine the Great was found collapsed on the floor of her bathroom by a servant, and a court doctor diagnosed that she had suffered a severe stroke. Attempts were made to revive her but she fell into a coma and was given the last rites. Catherine passed away the following evening in the Winter Palace Saint Petersburg she was aged 67.

Herman Melville (1819 – 1891)

“God bless Captain Vere!”

These were the last words that Herman Melville muttered on his deathbed, a reference to a character from his final then-unpublished novella ‘Billy Budd, Sailor.’ The novelist and poet, most famous for his masterpiece Moby Dick, died at his residence in New York City he was 72 years old. The death certificate showed cardiac dilation / heart failure as the cause.

Emily Brontë (1818 – 1848)

“If you will send for a doctor, I will see him now.”

The novelist and poet, author of Wuthering Heights, uttered these final audible words to her sister Charlotte, asking for medical help which she had previously rejected. But it was too late and Emily Brontë died later that same day in her family home at the age of 30. The cause of death was given as inflammation of the lungs which may have accelerated an existing condition such as tuberculosis.

Sitting Bull (c.1834 – 1890)

“I am not going. Do with me what you like. I am not going. Come on! Come on! Take action! Let’s go!”

During an unsuccessful attempt by police to arrest him, a close quarters fight erupted in which 16 men were killed including Sitting Bull, and these were his last words before he died. The Hunkpapa Lakota leader, who led his people during years of resistance against government policies, passed away from gunshot wounds to head and chest, he was about 55 years old.

Ted Bundy (1946 – 1989)

“Give my love to my family and friends.”

These were the final words of the serial killer and rapist who murdered dozens of victims during the 1970s. Ted Bundy was executed by electrocution in Florida State Prison at the age of 42. Several hundred people gathered in a pasture across from the prison, where they sang, danced, and set off fireworks as the execution was carried out, and they cheered when the white hearse transporting Bundy’s body left the facility.

Bach (1685 – 1750)

“Don’t cry for me, for I go where music is born.”

These were the deathbed words of Johann Sebastian Bach, the famous composer and musician of the late Baroque period. Bach was 65 years of age when he suffered a stroke and died a few days later in his hometown of Leipzig. The stroke was caused by complications resulting from unsuccessful eye surgery.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894)

“What’s that? Do I look strange?”

The novelist and poet uttered these final words to his wife Fanny Stevenson, before collapsing from a brain haemorrhage and dying a few hours later. Stevenson passed away at the age of 44 in the village of Vailima on the Pacific island Upolu part of the Kingdom of Samoa.