Last Meals Of 23 Famous People Gallery

There is something fascinating about last meals. Eating is something we do multiple times on a daily basis; it is what gives us life. Surround yourself with chefs, cooks, and culinarily inclined guests at a dinner party, and you may very well be presented with a particular question: "What would you want for your last meal on Earth?" Some will choose indulgent dishes like oysters, lobster, and foie gras, while others will instead favor comfort foods from their childhood or simple dishes from home, like spaghetti pomodoro, steak, and mashed potatoes, Mom's meatloaf, or homemade biscuits.

In reality, very few people — at least those who aren't on death row— actually have the opportunity to choose their last meals before they die. When you learn the last meals of people who died suddenly, it can add eeriness to otherwise mundane foods. Was the dish the cause of their death? Was it a special occasion? Was it an odd combination of dishes? Maybe the fascination with the idea of the last meal is that is gives us insight into an otherwise unknown area of life.

Few people would be interested in the daily breakfast, lunch, or dinner of somebody who remains alive — but after death, characters are often mythologized and looked at under a new light. Knowing that Julia Child had French onion soup just before she died certainly emphasizes and even enhances the role she was so famous for as an American cook and writer popularizing French cuisine in the United States.

Will these last meals surprise you, or will they reinforce famous reputations? Read on and discover the last meals eaten by 23 famous people throughout history.

On August 12, 30 B.C., in Alexandria, Egypt, Cleopatra watched her husband Mark Antony breath his last (just after, the story goes, finishing a glass of wine). The distraught Cleopatra then ate a handful of figs, according to historical conjecture, and either chased them with a poisonous concoction of hemlock, wolfsbane, and opium, or subjected herself to the deadly bite of an asp.

On April 14, 1865, before heading out to watch the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater, President Lincoln dined on mock turtle soup, roast Virginia fowl with chestnut stuffing, baked yams, and cauliflower with cheese sauce.

In the early morning of December 30, 1916, Grigori Rasputin ate honeyed cakes, Madeira wine, black bread, and assorted Russian hors d'oeuvres (most of which had been poisoned) at the home of Prince Felix Yusupov in St. Petersburg. When the poison failed to kill the mad monk, Yusupov and his associates shot him repeatedly and dumped his body in the river.

On the evening of January 30, 1948, Gandhi enjoyed one of his standard healthy dinners — goat's milk, cooked vegetables, oranges, and a concoction of ginger, sour lemons, and strained butter mixed with aloe juice — before he was assassinated by Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse.

On July 2, 1961, at his house in Ketchum, Idaho, "Papa" ate a New York strip steak, baked potato, Caesar salad, and no doubt a healthy pour of Bordeaux before taking his own life with a shotgun.

On September 18, 1970, around 3 a.m, Jimi Hendrix's girlfriend Monika Dannemann prepared him a tuna fish sandwich in her London flat. At 11:27 a.m., the guitar virtuoso was discovered alone and unconscious. Hendrix was pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour later. He was 27.

On December 8th, 1980, Lennon enjoyed a corned beef sandwich with the plan to have a larger meal once he got home. Sadly, on his return, the former Beatle was gunned down by Mark David Chapman outside his apartment.

On February 4, 1987, the flamboyant entertainer ate a bowl of Cream of Wheat with half and half and brown sugar. He died from an AIDS-related illness at age 67.

On May 14, 1998, in Los Angeles, California, Ol' Blue Eyes ate a grilled cheese sandwich before dying, at age 82, in the company of his wife, Barbara.

On December 30, 2006, the former president of Iraq was executed by hanging. Reports say his last meal consisted of boiled chicken and rice with hot water mixed with honey. He was offered cigarettes as well, but refused.

On June 19, 2013, while vacationing in Rome, James Gandolfini had dinner at the outdoor restaurant of the Boscolo Exedra Roma hotel. The Sopranos actor, 51, reportedly consumed a lot of alcohol, along with two orders of fried king prawns and a plate of foie gras. He died shortly afterward of a massive heart attack.