
Movie, TV and music fans are remembering notable figures who have died since the start of 2024. “Beverly Hills 90210” star Shannen Doherty, “Bob Newhart Show” star Bob Newhart, “An Officer and a Gentleman” Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., “Alice” star Linda Lavin, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Richard Lewis, “Starsky and Hutch” star David Soul and “Honeymooners” star Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie, are among celebrities from the world of television who have died.
In film, cinephiles are remembering actor Donald Sutherland, actor James Earl Jones, “Romeo and Juliet” star Olivia Hussey, producer Roger Corman, “Chinatown” screenwriter Robert Towne, “Moonstruck” director Norman Jewison, “Harry Potter” star Maggie Smith and “The Shining” star Shelley Duvall.
Music stars we lost this year include Quincy Jones, Liam Payne, Kris Kristofferson, Toby Keith, Steve Lawrence and Phil Lesh.
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Linda Lavin
Image Credit: Variety via Getty Images Linda Lavin, star of CBS’ long-running sitcom “Alice” and a Tony winner for Neil Simon’s play “Broadway Bound” who remained active in TV and on stage, died Dec. 29. She was 87.
Read the full obit here.
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Jimmy Carter
Image Credit: Bettmann Archive Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, who may have left an even greater legacy with his efforts in his post-White House years, in which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in resolving international conflicts, died Dec. 29. He was 100.
Read the full obit here.
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Olivia Hussey
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Olivia Hussey Eisley, the British-Argentine actor who shot to fame as a teenager starring as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” and went on to star in the slasher classic “Black Christmas” and the 1978 “Death on the Nile,” died Dec. 27. She was 73.
Read the full obit here.
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Michael Cole
Image Credit: Getty Michael Cole, who played Pete Cochran, one of the three hip young cops on “The Mod Squad,” died Dec. 10. He was 84.
Read the full obit here.
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Chuck Woolery
Image Credit: Getty Images Chuck Woolery, the veteran game show host who gained fame as the original emcee behind “Wheel of Fortune” and later as the face of the popular syndicated dating show “Love Connection,” died Nov. 23. He was 83.
Read the full obit here.
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Tony Todd
Image Credit: Everett Collection Tony Todd, an American actor known for leading the “Candyman” horror franchise as its eponymous hook-wielding ghost, died Nov. 6 at his home in Marina Del Rey, Calif. He was 69.
Read the full obit here.
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Quincy Jones
Image Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival Quincy Jones, who distinguished himself over the course of a 70-year career in music as an artist, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer, died Nov. 3. He was 91.
Read the full obit here.
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Teri Garr
Image Credit: Getty Teri Garr, the comic actress and singer who brought her buoyant personality to “Young Frankenstein” and was Oscar-nominated for “Tootsie,” died Oct. 29 in Los Angeles after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. She was 79.
See the full obit here.
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Phil Lesh
Image Credit: Getty Images Bassist Phil Lesh, whose dense, inventive playing powered the Grateful Dead and, following the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia, many of the San Francisco band’s touring reincarnations, died Friday. He was 84.
Read the full obit here.
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Liam Payne
Image Credit: Kevin Kane Liam Payne, one of the five members of the “The X Factor”-bred boy band One Direction, died Oct. 16 at the age of 31. The singer died after falling three floors from a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Read the full obit here.
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Kris Kristofferson
Image Credit: Mary Ellen Mark Kris Kristofferson, who attained success as both a groundbreaking country music singer-songwriter and a Hollywood film and TV star, died Sept. 28 at home in Maui, Hawaii. He was 88.
Read the full obit here.
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Maggie Smith
Image Credit: Getty Images British stage and screen actress Maggie Smith, the “Downton Abbey” and “Harry Potter” star who numbers two Oscars, three Emmys and countless stage awards to her credit, died Sept. 27 in London. She was 89.
Read the full obit here.
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James Earl Jones
Image Credit: Getty Images James Earl Jones, the prolific film, TV and theater actor whose resonant, unmistakable baritone was most widely known as the voice of “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader, died Sept. 9 at his home in Dutchess County, N.Y., his rep confirmed to Variety. He was 93.
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Alain Delon
Image Credit: Getty Images Alain Delon, the French actor most famous for his roles in the films of New Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville, especially “Le Samourai,” died Aug. 18. He was 88.
Read the full obit here.
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Bob Newhart
Image Credit: ©CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection Bob Newhart, the genteel but sharply satirical comic whose TV series “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart” were huge hits throughout the 1970s and ’80s, died July 18.
Read the full obit here.
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Shannen Doherty
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection Shannen Doherty, known for her roles on the wildly popular series “Beverly Hills, 90210” and on the witchcraft fantasy “Charmed,” died July 13.
Read the full obit here.
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Richard Simmons
Image Credit: Getty Images for EGPAF Richard Simmons, the energetic, frizzy-haired TV personality and fitness coach who made exercise accessible to millions and then became reclusive in recent years, died July 13.
Read the full obit here.
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Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Image Credit: (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Hulu) Ruth Westheimer, who brought frank talk about sex into America’s living rooms for the first time as radio and television talk show host Dr. Ruth, died July 12.
Read the full obit here.
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Shelley Duvall
Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection Shelley Duvall, the big-eyed, waifish performer who won the Cannes actress award for Robert Altman‘s “3 Women” and endured Stanley Kubrick’s intense directing techniques to star in “The Shining,” died of diabetes complications on July 11.
Read the full obit here.
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Robert Towne
Image Credit: Getty Images Writer-director Robert Towne, an Oscar winner for his original script for “Chinatown” and an acknowledged master of the art of screenwriting, died July 1.
Read the full obit here.
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Martin Mull
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Martin Mull, the comic musician and actor who started with 1970s TV series “Fernwood 2 Night” and went on to appear as Colonel Mustard in “Clue” and on “Arrested Development” and “Roseanne,” died June 27.
Read the full obit here.
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Donald Sutherland
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection “MASH” and “Hunger Games” star Donald Sutherland died June 20.
Read the full obit here.
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Anouk Aimee
Image Credit: Getty Images French film actress Anouk Aimée died June 18.
Read the full obit here.
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Johnny Wactor
Image Credit: GC Images Johnny Wactor, an actor best known for his role as Brando Corbin in “General Hospital,” was shot and killed during a suspected catalytic converter theft attempt in downtown L.A. on May 25. He was 37.
Read the full obit here.
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Morgan Spurlock
Image Credit: Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com “Super Size Me” director Morgan Spurlock died May 23.
Read the full obit here.
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Dabney Coleman
Image Credit: Getty Dabney Coleman, who starred in “9 to 5” and “Boardwalk Empire,” died May 16.
Read the full obit here.
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Roger Corman
Image Credit: Jared Cowan/American Cinematheque Roger Corman, prolific director and producer of hundreds of B-movies, died May 9.
Read the full obit here.
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O.J. Simpson
Image Credit: Getty Images O.J. Simpson, football star and actor who was found liable in the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, died April 10.
Read the full obit here.
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Barbara Rush
Image Credit: Getty Images for TCM Barbara Rush, who won a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer in “It Came From Outer Space” and went on to appear in “Peyton Place” and many other movies and TV shows, died March 31.
Read the full obit here.
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Chance Perdomo
Image Credit: Getty Images Chance Perdomo, who starred in the television series “Gen V” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” died March 30 as a result of a motorcycle accident. He was 27.
Read the full obit here.
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Louis Gossett Jr.
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Louis Gossett Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hard-as-nails drill instructor in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” a few years after winning an Emmy for his role as the cunning Fiddler in “Roots,” died March 29. He was 87.
Read the full obit here.
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Eric Carmen
Image Credit: WireImage Eric Carmen, who became an icon of early ’70s power pop as the frontman of the Raspberries before achieving solo success with hits like “All By Myself” and “Hungry Eyes,” over the weekend of March 12.
Read the full obit here.
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Steve Lawrence
Image Credit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Steve Lawrence, a king among easy-listening crooners who rocketed to fame in the ’50s and ’60s as half of the duo Steve and Eydie, died March 7 at age 88.
Read the full obit here.
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Richard Lewis
Image Credit: Getty Images for AFI Richard Lewis, the stand-up comedian who also starred alongside Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” died Feb. 28. He was 76.
Read the full obit here.
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Toby Keith
Image Credit: Getty Images for BMI Toby Keith, the country singer who scored the genre’s most-played song of the ’90s with “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” died on Feb. 5. He was 62.
Read the full obit here.
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Chita Rivera
Image Credit: Everett Collection Broadway legend Chita Rivera, a two-time Tony winner who received eight additional nominations, died Jan 30. She was 91.
Read the full obit here.
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Carl Weathers
Image Credit: Getty Images Carl Weathers, who starred as Apollo Creed in the first four “Rocky” films opposite Sylvester Stallone, died Feb. 1. He was 76.
Read the full obit here.
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Melanie
Image Credit: Hulton Archive Melanie, the singer who performed at Woodstock in 1969 and had major pop hits with “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” in the early ’70s, died Jan. 23 at age 76.
Read the full obit here.
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Norman Jewison
Image Credit: Bettmann Archive Oscar-nominated film director and producer Norman Jewison, who steered the 1967 racial drama “In the Heat of the Night” to a best picture Oscar and also helmed such popular films as “Moonstruck,” “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” as well as film musicals “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” died Jan. 20 at his Los Angeles residence. He was 97.
Read the full obit here.
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Mary Weiss (center)
Image Credit: Getty Images Mary Weiss, the lead singer and focal point of the Shangri-Las — one of the truly legendary girl groups of the early 1960s, with hits like “Leader of the Pack,” “Great Big Kiss,” “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Heaven Only Knows” — died Jan. 19.
Read the full obit here.
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Joyce Randolph
Image Credit: Getty Images Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners,” and was the last surviving member of the cast, died Jan. 13 in New York City. She was 99.
Read the full obit here.
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Alec Musser
Image Credit: Getty Images Alec Musser, an actor known for “All My Children” and the 2010 comedy film “Grown Ups,” died Jan. 12 in Del Mar, Calif. He was 50.
Read the full obit here.
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Bill Hayes
Image Credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC Bill Hayes, a longtime star of the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” died Jan. 12 at the age of 98.
Read the full obit here.
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Cindy Morgan
Image Credit: Getty Images Cindy Morgan, the actor best known for playing Lacey Underall in “Caddyshack” and Lora/Yori in Disney’s original “Tron” film, died in December 2023, and her death was announced in 2024. She was 69.
Read the full obit here.
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Glynis Johns
Image Credit: Everett Collection English actor Glynis Johns, who played the daffy suffragette mother Mrs. Banks in “Mary Poppins,” died Jan. 4 at an assisted living home in Los Angeles. She was 100.
Read the full obit here.
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David Soul
Image Credit: Sygma via Getty Images David Soul, who starred as Sergeant Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson in the TV series “Starsky & Hutch,” died Jan. 4, his wife announced on his website. He was 80.
Read the full obit here.