9 of the best ever famous last words

The most famous sign offs in history

When famous people die, their last words often go down in history as pearls of wisdom or funny one liners. Ever thought what you’d want your last words to be? Would you want to be remembered as witty, wise or just plain wacky. Here’s a selection of some of the most famous last words ever uttered to inspire you.

1. Beethoven

“Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.”

These are the much-disputed last words of the German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven and the words typically used to end a performance of commedia dell'arte. Beethoven died in the middle of a thunderstorm on March 26, 1827 after a long illness. Within hours of his death, a Beethoven mythology began to develop. Just two days after his death, souvenir hunters were snipping off locks of his famously wild hair. One lock of that hair eventually reached a laboratory in the States, and it revealed Beethoven had lead poisoning.

2. Marie Antoinette

“Pardon me sir. I meant not to do it.”

The last words of Marie Antoinette, extravagant wife of Louis XVI of France who, according to rumour, dismissed the starving peasants with a flippant “let them eat cake”. At the height of the French revolution, first Louis, then Marie Antoinette, were charged with treason and sent to the guillotine. After a humiliating ride through the streets of Paris on a cart, she was brought to the guillotine. While on the scaffold, she accidentally stepped on her executioner’s foot and respectfully apologised to him. Seconds later he chopped off her head.

3. James Donald French

“Hey fellas! How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? French Fries!”

The last words of James Donald French, a convicted murderer and the last criminal ever to be executed under the death penalty in Oklahoma. After killing a cellmate, he was sentenced to death by electrocution. In the death chamber, he shouted these words to the members of the press, there to witness his execution.

4. Salvador Allende

“These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice and treason.”

Chillean president Salvador Allende died during the military coup of 1973 led by Augusto Pinochet. Allende gave his farewell speech on live radio with the sound of gunfire clearly audible in the background. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that he had “gone to war with an AK-47 rifle”, in other words he’d committed suicide, although his supporters were convinced he’d been assassinated. The gun he used was supposedly a gift from friend, Fidel Castro.

5. Nostradamus

“Tomorrow I shall no longer be here.”

Whatever your views on Nostradamus’ powers as a prophet, his last words show he certainly managed to predict his own death. The sixteenth century seer was found dead the morning after uttering these words to his secretary. His visions, called quatrains, contain specific names, dates, places and events as well as symbolism and metaphor, leaving them open to interpretation and the subject of heated debate. On the day of his death, Nostradamus was working on a quatrain about the end of the world.

6. Humphrey Bogart

“I should have never switched from Scotch to Martinis.”

These are the witty last words of Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart. The founder member of the hard drinking, heavy smoking rat pack, he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 1954 but did little about it until it was too late. On his deathbed in January 1957, he bid his wife, Lauren Bacall, and children goodbye and uttered this immortal line before dying just a few seconds after. He was 57.

7. John Barrymore

"Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him."

The last words of John Barrymore, the American actor of stage, screen and radio who bridged the silent and sound era. He came from a theatrical dynasty and was the paternal grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore. A heavy smoker and drinker, in 1942 Barrymore collapsed while appearing on Rudy Vallee's radio show and died later the same day. According to Errol Flynn's memoirs, film director Raoul Walsh "borrowed" Barrymore's body before burial, and left it propped in a chair for a drunken Flynn to discover when he returned home from The Cock and Bull Bar, but many dispute this.

8. Winston Churchill

"I’m bored with it all.”

The last words from the mouth of statesman and great orator, Winston Churchill, before slipping in to a coma. He died 9 days later aged 90. Thought of as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Churchill's speeches are often credited with mobilising the embattled British to “never give up” and to eventually win the Second World War. But aged 90, after a lifetime of tremendous achievement and unstinting service to his country, he finally surrendered.

9. Dominique Bouhours

“I am about to - or I am going to - die: either expression is correct.”

The last words of legendary French grammarian Dominique Bouhours certainly immortalised his skills. A tremendous wit, he never failed to demonstrate his proficiency in all aspects of grammar, seizing the opportunity to show off even as a frail man on his death bed in 1902. The question is… did he also dictate how his last words should be punctuated?

Sources:

Beethoven | Marie Antoinette | James D French | Salvador Allende | Nostradamus | Humphrey Bogart | John Barrymore | Winston Churchill | Dominique Bouhours