The image of a sick old man lying on his deathbed and croaking out one last inspirational hurrah has been popular in many a Hollywood film, and many of history’s characters have often uttered final words that sum up their lives.
Last words are often the last tangible memory a dying person produces, and they can become famous because of their impact.
Robert F. Kennedy’s last words revealed his personality.
Known as memorable and kind, this famous American politician supported racial equality, the end of the death penalty and fair opportunities for all.
Kennedy spoke his last words on June 5, 1968, moments after his assassin shot him and seconds before he fell into a fatal coma.
“Is everyone safe?” Kennedy allegedly asked, according to a Newsweek article from 1968, showing compassion for his fellow man even through his death.
Che Guevara’s final words were courageous.
Guevara played an important role in defeating a Cuban dictatorship. After fighting for change in Cuba, Guevara traveled the globe hoping to inspire further revolutionary movements.
Eventually officials caught up to him in Bolivia, where he refused to co-operate with CIA agents and Bolivian officials.
“Shoot coward! You are only going to kill a man,” he is said to have uttered to the Bolivian officials who shot him, according to Jon Lee Anderson’s biography of the revolutionary, Che.
Guevara and Kennedy ended their lives on a serious note, but many famous last words have illustrated the irony and comedy that surrounded the lives of their speakers.
Hungarian magician and escape artist Harry Houdini spent his professional career fighting death and injury through the risky tricks he performed.
Time and again, he would fight to escape. Six days after his final show, Houdini died on Oct. 31, 1926, of peritonitis, a result of an infection caused by a burst appendix.
“I’m tired of fighting,” Houdini said before he died.
Comedian Del Close opted to bring comic relief in his last sentence.
“Thank God. I’m tired of being the funniest person in the room,” Close said before he died in 1999.
Close’s huge impact on the development of improvisational theatre keeps his memory alive.
Whether they are serious, funny or moving, last words carry with them the weight of a closing statement.
They express the last emotion a person feels and they become echoes of the people who recite them.
Famous political revolutionary, theorist and philosopher Karl Marx didn’t believe in the impact of last words, according to Peter Bushnell’s book, London’s Secret History.
“Go on, get out,” a dying Marx said to his housekeeper who insisted on recording his final words, “last words are for fools who haven't said enough.”
This story appeared in the January 2011 edition of the Charlatan magazine. For more stories from this issue, please see: