Alcohol poisoning Keith Whitley - 9 May 1989 (33) Alcoholism Jack Kerouac - 21 October 1969 (47) Ira Hayes - 24 January 1955 Joseph McCarthy - 2 May 1957 Lester Young - 15 March 1959 Billie Holiday - 17 July 1959 Truman Capote - 25 August 1984 Alexander Godunov - 18 May 1995 Phil Katz (Phillip K. Katz) - 14 April 2000 Rob Buck - 19 December 2000 Related articles Index of lists of famous deaths by cause