For a deceased person, do we use 'the late' or 'late'?

Solution 1:

Late is the correct descriptive adjective to inform the hearer/reader that someone is dead and it always takes the.

So the late Michael Jackson means "Michael Jackson, who, in case you had forgotten, is dead"

It is not normally used distinctively - that is it is not used to distinguish between one person and another. So you would not say the late George Bush to distinguish between the one who has died and his son (who is still alive and is also George Bush).

It is also not used predicatively in UK or US English, so you cannot say Mr Bush is late. But this is valid in Indian English.