Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2018

Penny Marshall

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Penny Marshall, the nasally and good-natured Bronx native who starred on the ABC ratings sensation Laverne & Shirley before shattering records as a top-grossing female director in Hollywood died Dec. 18 at 75 of complications from diabetes. Marshall earned fame — but, incredibly not even one Emmy nomination — for playing the wisecracking Laverne DeFazio on the Happy Days spinoff created by her brother. Laverne & Shirley, which aired for eight seasons from 1976-83, centered on the escapades of two romantically challenged Milwaukee brewery workers, with Cindy Williams co-starring as Marshall’s idealistic roommate, Shirley Feeney. Apart from acting, Marshall went on to helm a myriad of successful films including Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986), starring Whoopi Goldberg, Big (1988) with Tom Hanks, Awakenings (1990), A League of Their Own (1992), and The Renaissance Man (1994). Throughout her career as a filmmaker, Marshall became the second women ever to helm a best picture Oscar nominee and Big is recognized as the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million.
Stan Lee

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Stan Lee, the legendary writer, editor and publisher of Marvel Comics whose fantabulous but flawed creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere, died Nov. 12 at 95. Lee, who began in the business in 1939 and created or co-created Black Panther, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Ant-Man, catapulted Marvel from a tiny venture into the world's No. 1 publisher of comic books and, later, a multimedia giant. In 2009, The Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, and most of the top-grossing superhero films of all time — led by Avengers: Infinity War's $2.05 billion worldwide take earlier this year — have featured Marvel characters.
Burt Reynolds

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Burt Reynolds, the actor most recognized for his roles in Boogie Nights and Deliverance, died Sept. 6 at the age of 86, according to his manager, Erik Kritzer. The cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest. Throughout his career, Reynolds starred in a variety of action films and romantic comedies, including Starting Over (1979) opposite Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) with Dolly Parton; Best Friends (1982) with Goldie Hawn; and The Man Who Loved Women (1983) with Julie Andrews. Reynolds won a Golden Globe and was ranked as Hollywood’s top-grossing star every year from 1978 through 1982. In his 2015 memoir, But Enough About Me, Reynolds revealed the role he felt most proud of: "If I had to put only one of my movies in a time capsule, it would be Deliverance. I don't know if it's the best acting I've done, but it's the best movie I've ever been in. It proved I could act, not only to the public but me." Aside from winning a Golden Globe, Reynolds was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1997 for his role as Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, but lost out in the Oscar supporting actor race to Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting. Reynolds' costar and former love Sally Fields paid tribute to the late actor after news of his passing. “My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy."
Aretha Franklin

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Aretha Franklin, the sensational songbird whose voice was sweeter than honey to millions, making her an inspirational American icon and one of the most admired vocalists of all time, died Aug. 16 after battling advanced pancreatic cancer. She died surrounded by family and loved ones at her home in Detroit, her publicist said. She was 76. Franklin died at 9:50 a.m. local time, with the official cause of death "due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type," confirmed by Franklin’s oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in the Motor City, Franklin was firmly rooted in gospel but also excelled in the worlds of jazz, R&B and pop. She collected 20 Grammys — including a lifetime achievement award — covering a span of four decades; was the first woman enshrined into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in 1987); and, befitting a queen, was named No. 1 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.a Franklin, the sensational songbird whose voice was sweeter than honey to millions, making her an inspirational American icon and one of the most admired vocalists of all time, died Thursday after battling advanced pancreatic cancer. She died surrounded by family and loved ones at her home in Detroit, her publicist said. She was 76. Franklin died at 9:50 a.m. local time, with the official cause of death "due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type," confirmed by Franklin’s oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in the Motor City, Franklin was firmly rooted in gospel but also excelled in the worlds of jazz, R&B and pop. She collected 20 Grammys — including a lifetime achievement award — covering a span of four decades; was the first woman enshrined into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in 1987); and, befitting a queen, was named No. 1 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Anthony Bourdain

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Celebrity chef, writer and TV host Anthony Bourdain died on June 8. He was 61. The news was confirmed by Bourdain's employer, CNN, which reported that the cause of death was suicide. The Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown host was found in a hotel, Le Chambard, in Kaysersberg and appeared to have hung himself. Bourdain was filming an episode for his award-winning CNN original series in Strasbourg; he had hosted the show for five years and the new season premiered last month. His close friend, chef Eric Ripert, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room; the production crew were also there.
Steven Bochco

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Steven Bochco, the strong-willed writer and producer who brought gritty realism and sprawling ensemble casts to the small screen with such iconic series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue, died on April 1 at age 74. Suffering with leukemia, he received a stem cell transplant from an anonymous 23-year-old in late 2014. In May 2016, he met the man that prolonged his life. Bochco, a 10-time Primetime Emmy Award winner, also was behind the Neil Patrick Harris ABC comedy-drama Doogie Howser, M.D. and the TNT drama Murder in the First. A New York City native who began at Universal Studios in the mid-1960s, Bochco time and time again refused to bend to network chiefs or standards and practices execs, thus earning rare creative control during his five decades of envelope-pushing work.
Jerry Van Dyke

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Jerry Van Dyke, the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke who earned four Emmy nominations for playing the befuddled defensive coordinator Luther Van Dam on the ABC comedy Coach, died Jan. 5, a source close to his family confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86. Van Dyke died at his ranch in Hot Spring County in Arkansas, according to the Associated Press. His wife, Shirley Ann Jones, was by his side. No cause was immediately known. Van Dyke famously passed up the opportunity to star on Gilligan's Island in favor of toplining the short-lived My Mother the Car, considered one of the worst shows in TV history. Van Dyke started out as a banjo-playing stand-up comic, and his fun persona throughout his long career was that of a country boy, endearingly earnest and slow-witted. After working on several TV shows that never stuck, Van Dyke earned supporting actor Emmy nominations in 1990, '91, '92 and '94 for his work as one of Craig T. Nelson's assistants on the staff of the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles on Coach. The series aired for nine seasons, from 1989 until 1997.
Greta Thyssen

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Greta Thyssen, the Danish beauty who doubled for Marilyn Monroe, dated Cary Grant and starred opposite The Three Stooges, died Jan. 6. She was 90. Thyssen died at her Manhattan apartment after a bout with pneumonia, her daughter, Genevieve Guenther, told The Hollywood Reporter. Thyssen also starred in several "B" movies, including the horror pic Terror Is a Man (1959), a loose adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. On a mystery island (it was filmed in the Philippines), the actress played the wife of a scientist (Francis Lederer) "tormented by unsatisfied desire, desperate to escape a loneliness and her fear," according to the film's trailer. Unfortunately, Thyssen's character has more pressing issues to worry about, namely her husband's creation — a half-man, half-panther beast. The movie incorporated a "warning bell" gimmick that would alert moviegoers when a particularly horrific sequence was about to take place so that they could hide their eyes. It would ring a second time when it was safe to look again. Four of Thyssen's other best-known performances came in the Joseph Kane noir Accused of Murder (1956); The Beast of Budapest (1958); Three Blondes in His Life (1961), opposite Jock Mahoney; and as an enticing pin-up beauty on Uranus in Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962), shot in her native Denmark.
Verne Troyer

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Verne Troyer, an actor best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series, died April 21, according to a statement on the actor's official Facebook page. He was 49. "It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today," the statement reads. "Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any extent possible. Verne hoped he made a positive change with the platform he had and worked towards spreading that message everyday." Troyer grew up in an Amish community in Michigan and rose to fame as a result of his role in the Austin Powers series. Following his Austin Powers debut in 1999's The Spy Who Shagged Me, he played Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Coach Punch Cherkov in The Love Guru. Troyer also had guest spots on TV's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scrubs, Two and a Half Men and Boston Public. He also memorably appeared as Mini-Me in the music video for Ludacris' "Number One Spot" from the 2004 album The Red Light District.
Avicii

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Avicii, the Grammy-nominated electronic dance DJ who performed sold-out concerts for feverish fans around the world and also had massive success on U.S. pop radio, died April 20. He was 28. Publicist Diana Baron said in a statement that the Swedish performer, born Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat, Oman. "It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii," the statement read. "The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given." Avicii was an international pop star, performing his well-known electronic dance songs around the world for fans, sometimes hundreds of thousands at music festivals, where he was the headline act. His popular sound even sent him to the top of the charts and landed onto U.S. radio: His most recognized song, "Wake Me Up," was a multiplatinum success and peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. On the dance charts, he had seven Top 10 hits. His biggest hit was "Le7els." But in 2016, the performer announced he was retiring from the road. He continued to produce songs and albums.
Mac Miller

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Mac Miller, the rapper and musician born Malcolm James McCormick, was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Sept. 7. He was 26. Miller's debut album, Blue Slide Park, quickly reached the top of the Billboard charts when it was released in 2011. His second album, Watching Movies With the Sound Off, came out in 2013. Miller taught himself to play the guitar, bass, piano and drums. At 15, he turned his focus to hip-hop and formed the group The Ill Spoken with his then-partner, Beedie. The mixtapes he released with The Ill Spoken, under the rapper name EZ Mac in 2008, got him noticed by Rostrum Records, who signed him for his first album. In addition to his studio albums, Miller has released live album Live From Space, more than 10 mixtapes, over a dozen EP singles and an album for iTunes.
Margot Kidder

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Margot Kidder, the film and television actress perhaps best known for her role as Lois Lane in 1978's Superman, died May 13, her rep, Camilla Fluxman Pines, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 69. No cause of death was disclosed. Kidder, known for playing Lois Lane in Superman I-IV, also starred opposite leading men including Robert Redford in The Great Waldo Pepper and Richard Pryor in Some Kind of Hero. She even appeared on the Superman-inspired TV series Smallville in 2004 (though as another character). The actress brought comedic charm and keen intelligence to the role of Lane, which she played onscreen from 1978-87. Her impatient and confident Lois provided a perfect foil for Christopher Reeve's timid Clark Kent, while her star-crossed romance with Superman became the gold standard for superhero movie relationships.
Stephen Hawking

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British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, the author of the worldwide best-selling book A Brief History of Time and the subject of the Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything, died March 14. He was 76. His children, Lucy, Robert and Tim confirmed the news to the BBC in a statement: "We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years." A child prodigy, Hawking began his storied academic career in 1959, entering Oxford University at the age of 17. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963 at the age of 21. At the time, his doctors gave him a life expectancy of two years. He would defy medical science and go on to have a long and distinguished academic career at Cambridge University. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge between 1979 and 2009, one of the world's most prestigious professorships held in the past by the likes of Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Paul Dirac. Hawking's condition gradually paralyzed him over decades and he was only able to communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device. Despite his disability, Hawking became a leader in his field, becoming an expert on black holes and giving his name to the phenomenon of Hawking radiation.
Kate Spade

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Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead in her apartment June 5 in an apparent suicide. The company she founded, Kate Spade New York, now has over 140 retail shops and outlet stores across the U.S. and more than 175 shops internationally. Spade rose to fame in the 1990s, creating a line of sleek nylon handbags, emblazoned with her own name for a logo, that created a smash, become the aspirational bags for many women starting out in their careers.
Dolores O’Riordan

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Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer of Irish rock band The Cranberries, died suddenly on Jan. 15. She was 46. O'Riordan died in London, where she was recording, publicist Lindsey Holmes said. "No further details are available at this time," said Holmes, adding that the singer's family was "devastated" by the news. The official Cranberries Twitter account posted a note from bandmates Noel and Mike Hogan and Fergal Lawler later on the day of her death: "We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores. She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started the Cranberries. The world has lost a true artist today." Formed in Limerick, Ireland, at the end of the 1980s, The Cranberries became international stars in the 1990s with hits including "Zombie" and "Linger" that melded alternative rock edge with Celtic-infused pop tunefulness. Irish President Michael D. Higgins said in a statement that O'Riordan and the band "had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally." He added, "To all those who follow and support Irish music, Irish musicians and the performing arts, her death will be a big loss." O'Riordan was The Cranberries' chief lyricist and co-songwriter, and her powerful, sometimes wailing voice was key to the band's distinctive sound.
Reg E. Cathey

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Reg E. Cathey, the eloquent Emmy-winning actor from House of Cards who also was known for his excellent work on The Wire, died Feb. 9 of lung cancer at his home in New York City, his agent said. He was 59. In 2015, Cathey won an Emmy for his portrayal of Freddy Hayes, the owner of a BBQ joint who ends up with a job in the White House, on Netflix's House of Cards in a stretch of three straight years with a nomination. On David Simon's acclaimed drama The Wire, Cathey stood out as newspaperman turned Baltimore politician Norman Wilson, and on another acclaimed HBO series, Tom Fontana's Oz, he was unit manager and warden Martin Querns. Most recently, Cathey was seen as Chief Byron Giles on Robert Kirkman's Cinemax series Outcast and was in HBO's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. In a statement given Friday to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix said: "We are heartbroken by the passing of our friend and House of Cards colleague … Reg was the kindest man, the most giving actor, a true gentleman."
Mitzi Shore

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Mitzi Shore, the hard-driving proprietor and mother hen of The Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip who lorded over the white-hot center of the stand-up universe of the late 1970s and '80s, died April 11 after a battle with Parkinson's disease. She was 87. Shore gave such young comics as Robin Williams, David Letterman and Jay Leno a chance to thrive onstage before a live audience and be discovered. "It is with great sadness and very heavy hearts that we report the passing of Mitzi Shore, the legendary Godmother of the world famous Comedy Store," the club said in a statement. "Mitzi was an extraordinary businesswoman and decades ahead of her time who cultivated and celebrated the artistry of stand-up comedy. She was also a loving mother, not only to her own four children, but to the myriad of comedians who adored her. She leaves behind an indelible mark and legacy and has helped change the face of comedy." Mitzi took over the club in 1974 as part of a divorce settlement with her husband, comic Sammy Shore, who had founded the business with comedian-writer Rudy De Luca. Two years later, she took out a loan to buy the building, which had been the site of the glamorous nightspot Ciro's (once owned by the late Hollywood Reporter publisher Billy Wilkerson). Richard Pryor, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling and Roseanne Barr also cut their comedy teeth there.
Jim Shaw

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Jim Shaw, head of western Canadian cable giant Shaw Communications until he handed over the CEO reins to his younger brother Brad in 2011, died Jan. 3. He was 60. His passing in Calgary, Alberta, after a brief illness was announced by his family. "As a family, our hearts are heavy with sadness,” Shaw Communications CEO Brad Shaw said in a statement. "I have not only lost a brother, but a great friend and mentor. Our lives will not be as complete without hearing Jim’s laughter or getting the benefit of his counsel or his insight," he added. Jim Shaw was born in Sarnia, Ontario, on July 29, 1957, but was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, after his family moved there in 1961. Having dropped out of university to sell Christmas trees, he went on to become a gruff, Harley-riding Canadian TV mogul who in 2010 battled Goldman Sachs & Co. for control of Canada's most profitable TV channels and won. He had been head of Shaw Communications for 12 years, having taken over from his father, J.R. Shaw, who founded the company. During his reign, Jim Shaw solidified his company's hold on the western Canadian market by completing an earlier asset swap with rival Rogers Communications for key cable systems in Vancouver and the British Columbia lower mainland. He started at Shaw Communications in 1982 in the bottom ranks, as a cable installer.
Harry Anderson

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Night Court actor Harry Anderson died April 16 in Asheville, North Carolina, the Asheville Police Department confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 65. "This morning at 6:41 a.m. the Asheville Police Department responded to the home of actor Harry Anderson where he was found deceased," Asheville PD's Public Affairs officer Christina Hallingse told THR. "No foul play is suspected." The 1980s sitcom ran for nine seasons on NBC and earned seven Emmy Awards and 31 nominations, including three noms for Anderson, who starred as Judge Harry T. Stone alongside John Larroquette, who played assistant district attorney Dan Fielding. Night Court anchored NBC's early "Must See TV” Thursday lineup, which also included The Cosby Show, Family Ties and Cheers. In addition to his role on the NBC sitcom, Anderson also appeared on Cheers, starred as humorist Dave Barry on the 1990s show Dave's World and played Richie Tozier in the 1990 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's It.
Billy Graham

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The Rev. Billy Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died Feb. 21. He was 99. Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina, spokesman Mark DeMoss told the Associated Press. More than anyone else, Graham built evangelicalism into a force that rivaled liberal Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in the United States. His leadership summits and crusades in more than 185 countries and territories forged powerful global links among conservative Christians, and threw a lifeline to believers in the communist-controlled Eastern bloc. Dubbed "America's pastor," he was a confidant to U.S. presidents from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush. Beyond Graham's public appearances, he reached untold millions through his pioneering use of prime-time telecasts, network radio, daily newspaper columns, evangelistic feature films and globe-girdling satellite TV hookups. Graham's message was not complex or unique, yet he preached with a conviction that won over audiences worldwide.
Fast Eddie Clarke

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Motorhead guitarist Edward Allan Clarke — aka "Fast" Eddie Clarke — died peacefully Jan. 10 after being treated for pneumonia. He was 67. The official Motorhead Facebook page shared the news in a post. "We are devastated to pass on the news we only just heard ourselves earlier tonight … Edward Allan Clarke – or as we all know and love him Fast Eddie Clarke – passed away peacefully yesterday," the band wrote. "Ted Carroll (who formed Chiswick Records) made the sad announcement via his FB page, having heard from Doug Smith that Fast Eddie passed peacefully in hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia…" Fellow band member Mikkey Dee responded to the news, as well. "I saw Eddie not too long ago and he was in great shape. So this is a complete shock," he said, before adding his condolences to Eddie's "family and close ones."
Johann Johannsson

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Johann Johannsson, the visionary Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning composer behind Sicario and The Theory of Everything, died Feb. 9 in Berlin, his manager confirmed. He was 48. The cause of death is unknown. The Icelandic composer was one of Hollywood's leading film scorers, writing themes in recent years for The Theory of Everything, for which he won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for best original score, Nerve and Foxcatcher. He worked three times with director Denis Villeneuve, on Prisoners, Sicario and Arrival, and earned an Oscar and BAFTA award nominations for his work on Sicario and Golden Globe, Grammy and BAFTA nominations for Arrival. The Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy called Johannsson's score in Sicario "brilliantly idiosyncratic" and "disturbing," while critic David Rooney described his work in Arrival as "an ominous drone punctuated by horn blasts that sound like otherworldly whale calls" which "underscores [the] strange majesty" of the film's alien creatures. Most recently, Johannsson worked with director Darren Aronofsky on the score for the 2017 film mother! and scored the upcoming Colin Firth starrer The Mercy and the Nicolas Cage horror film Mandy.
Lewis Gilbert

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Lewis Gilbert, the Oscar-nominated British film director behind more than 40 films, including Alfie and three James Bond titles, died Feb. 23. He was 97. Born in London, Gilbert started out as a child actor in the 1920s and 1930s and had an uncredited role alongside Laurence Olivier in 1938's The Divorce of Lady X. But in his late teens he decided to move toward directing, assisting on Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn. After WWII — during which he worked for the Royal Air Force's film unit on documentaries — he made a name for himself as a director on a number of successful war films, including Reach for the Sky, Carve Her Name With Pride and Sink the Bismark. Arguably Gilbert's most famous film came in 1966 with Alfie, starring a rising Michael Caine. The low-budget film about a young womanizer would go on to win the Jury Special Prize in Cannes, and receive five Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture. Shortly after Alfie, Gilbert was persuaded by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli to direct the fifth Bond film, 1967's You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery. It would be the first of three 007 titles he would helm, returning later for The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.
Anne V. Coates

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Anne V. Coates, the five-time Academy Award-nominated film editor who won an Oscar for her work on the 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia and most recently cut Fifty Shades of Grey, died May 8. She was 92. Veteran script supervisor Angela Allen said that Coates died at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, and BAFTA tweeted news of her death. The famed British-born editor also received Oscar nominations for Peter Glenville's Becket (1964), David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire (1993) and Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1988). She then was given an honorary Academy Award at the 2016 Governors Awards. Coates' uncle was British film tycoon J. Arthur Rank, and her husband was Douglas Hickox, who directed such films as Brannigan (1975), starring John Wayne. Survivors include their daughter Emma E. Hickox, a film editor, and sons Anthony Hickox and James Hickox, both directors.
Nanette Fabray

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Nanette Fabray, the effervescent comedienne who won three Emmy Awards for playing opposite Sid Caesar on Caesar's Hour, only to leave the classic NBC sketch series because of a misunderstanding, died Feb. 22. She was 97. Fabray, who later portrayed the mother of Bonnie Franklin's character on the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, died at her home in Palos Verdes, California, her son, Jamie MacDougall, told The New York Times. Fabray also appeared as moms (of Mary Tyler Moore's character) on CBS' The Mary Tyler Moore Show and (of real-life niece Shelley Fabares' character) on ABC's Coach. And on a 1977 episode of CBS' Maude, she was memorable as a high-school friend of Bea Arthur's character who had a stroke. An excellent singer and tap dancer — she received a lesson or two from Mr. Bojangles (Bill Robinson) — Fabray won a Tony Award for best actress in a musical for starring in Love Life (1949), directed by Elia Kazan and choreographed by Michael Kidd. She also was delightful on Broadway in High Button Shoes and received another Tony nomination in 1963 for playing the wife of the commander-in-chief (Robert Ryan) in Mr. President.
Frank Buxton

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Frank Buxton, who wrote and directed episodes of The Odd Couple and Happy Days and provided the voice of the 1960s cartoon superhero Batfink, died Jan. 2. He was 87. Buxton battled heart issues for some time and died at Harrison Medical Center on Bainbridge Island in Washington, his friend John Kenyon Ellis told The Hollywood Reporter. "He was a hell of a guy and will be sorely missed," Ellis said. Buxton wrote seven episodes of The Odd Couple, the 1970-75 ABC sitcom co-developed by Garry Marshall; the first one was the classic season-three installment "Password," which cleverly employed the name of the Greek playwright Aristophanes as Oscar (Jack Klugman) and Felix (Tony Randall) become game-show contestants. Buxton also directed and produced episodes of The Odd Couple and worked on Happy Days and Mork & Mindy, two other Marshall sitcoms, as well. And he appeared onscreen in Beaches (1988) and Frankie and Johnny (1991), two features helmed by Marshall. Buxton co-wrote and did redubbing work on Woody Allen's quirky directorial debut, What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966), and he created the 1970-71 NBC kids documentary series Hot Dog that featured Allen, Jonathan Winters and Jo Anne Worley and won a Peabody Award.
Terence Marsh

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Terence Marsh, the prolific art director and production designer who received Academy Awards for his work on David Lean's Doctor Zhivago and Carol Reed's Oliver!, died at 86 years old on Jan. 9. The London native died at his Pacific Palisades home after a four-year battle with cancer, his wife, former talent agent Sandra Marsh, announced. Marsh's meticulous design skills are prominent in Sydney Pollack's Absence of Malice (1981), Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct (1992), Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977) and the Frank Darabont dramas The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999), for which he designed the electric chair on the latter. He received the Art Directors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. In addition to Sandra, his wife of 42 years, survivors include his daughters Georgina, Rebecca and Jocelyn.
Hugh Wilson

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Hugh Wilson, who created the acclaimed sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati and directed and co-wrote the first Police Academy movie, launching a Warner Bros. franchise, died Jan. 14. He was 74. An Emmy winner and seven-time nominee, Wilson died at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, his family announced. No cause of death was revealed. Wilson also directed The First Wives Club (1996), starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton as women seeking revenge on their ex-husbands, and co-wrote and helmed Guarding Tess (1994), featuring Shirley MacLaine as a first lady and Nicolas Cage as a Secret Service agent trying to protect her. Wilson wrote and directed two 1999 films that starred Brendan Fraser, Blast From the Past and Dudley Do-Right, and penned the screenplay for Hal Needham's Stroker Ace (1983), starring Burt Reynolds and his future wife Loni Anderson, one of the breakout stars of WKRP. WKRP in Cincinnati, set at a rock radio station in the Ohio city, ran for four seasons on CBS from 1978-82. It starred Howard Hesseman and Tim Reid as deejays Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap, respectively; Gary Sandy and Gordon Jump as station execs; Richard Sanders as the mousey newsman Les Nessman; and Anderson as WKRP's comely receptionist. The station call letters were a pun on "W-crap."
Allison Shearmur

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Allison Shearmur, who produced the Hunger Games films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story, died unexpectedly Jan. 19 at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after a battle with lung cancer. She was 54. Shearmur was an executive at Paramount and Lionsgate before making a transition to a producer role, becoming involved in some of the biggest movies of recent years. She was an executive producer on 2017's Power Rangers and was casting Disney's The One and Only Ivan, which she was producing with Angelina Jolie. Shearmur spent years in the executive trenches, acting as executive vp production at Universal Pictures and then co-president of production at Paramount from 2005 through early 2007 before joining Lionsgate as president of production. In that role, she oversaw installments of Jennifer Lawrence's Hunger Games franchise. On the TV side, her company is behind an ABC musical remake of Dirty Dancing. Shearmur, a quadruplet, is survived by her husband, film composer Edward Shearmur; daughter Imogen and son Anthony; parents Martin and Rhoda Becker; brothers and sisters Jodi (and husband Fred Proust), John (and Heather Brecker) and Lisa (and Alan Hartstein); and seven nephews and nieces.
Dorothy Malone

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Dorothy Malone, the matriarch of TV’s Peyton Place who received an Oscar for playing the sex-crazed sister of playboy Robert Stack in the 1956 melodrama Written on the Wind, died Jan. 19. She was 92. The big-eyed, dark-haired beauty, who flourished in Hollywood soon after she went platinum blonde in the mid-1950s, died in Dallas, her manager, Burt Shapiro, told The Hollywood Reporter. She had been ill for the past few years. Malone also starred in the biopic Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), playing opposite James Cagney as Lon Chaney’s emotionally charred first wife, and was the moody and tempestuous Diana Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon (1958), with Errol Flynn as her father, acting legend John Barrymore. She was lots of fun as Dean Martin’s love interest in the Lewis & Martin musical comedy Artists and Models (1955). And for her final credit, she had a brief but memorable cameo in Basic Instinct (1992) as a released murderess befriended by Sharon Stone. Earlier, Malone stirred the film noir faithful with a brief scene in The Big Sleep (1946), when, as a bookstore proprietress, she closed up her shop, seductively removed her glasses and shared a bit of whiskey with Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) on a rainy night. For millions of Americans, however, the Dallas-reared Malone was best known for playing overprotective single mother Constance MacKenzie on ABC’s Peyton Place, the first primetime serialized drama on U.S. television.
Bob Smith

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Bob Smith, a pioneering gay comedian and award-winning writer, died Jan. 20 in his New York City home from complications from ALS, his rep told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 59. The comedian is best known for being the first openly gay male comedian to star in his own 30-minute special on HBO, which aired in 1994, and to perform on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Following Smith's groundbreaking appearance on HBO Comedy Half-Hour, he performed sets on ABC's Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher in 1998, MTV's Wisecrack in 2005 and Regent Entertainment's Hot Gay Comics. Smith was also a prolific and decorated writer, penning the autobiographical essay collection Openly Bob (1997), which won the LAMBDA Book Award for humor. In 1999, he was nominated for another LAMBDA for his second collection of essays, 1999's Way to Go, Smith. In 2016, Smith published his last collection of essays, Treehab: Tales from my Natural Wild Life, which he wrote in the midst of battling ALS and using his one functional hand on an iPad. Smith also wrote the novels Selfish & Perverse (2007), a finalist for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction; and Remembrance of Things I Forgot (2011), nominated for a LAMBDA for Best Gay Fiction and shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize.
Dennis Edwards

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Dennis Edwards, the Detroit singer who replaced David Ruffin as lead singer of The Temptations in 1968, died at his home in Chicago Feb. 2, according to reports from his family and CBS Chicago. He was 74. Edwards began his career as lead singer of another Motown group, The Contours, before being called in to replace Ruffin after the singer’s fallout with the group. Edwards’ voice defined the sound of The Temptations through their funkiest period, in which he sang lead on major hits like “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Cloud Nine,” and “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today).” He remained at the head of the group through 1977 when the group left Motown Records. Upon their return to the label in 1980, Edwards was reinstated. He also released three solo albums, and his 1984 Motown debut Don’t Look Any Further and its title track reached the top 5 of the Billboard R&B charts. Edwards continued to perform Temptations material as part of splinter group The Temptations Revue Featuring Dennis Edwards up until last year.
Jill Messick

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Jill Messick, a veteran studio executive and producer, died by suicide in Los Angeles on Feb. 7, her family told The Hollywood Reporter. The exec was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been battling depression for years. She was 50. Messick, who worked as an exec at Miramax and at the Paramount-based Lorne Michaels Productions, was an executive producer on several comedy features including Relativity's Masterminds (2016), Universal's Baby Mama (2008) and Paramount's Hot Rod (2007). She also executive produced NBC's comedy series Bad Judge. At Miramax, where she was a production executive from 1997-2003, Messick served as co-executive producer on 1999 comedy She's All That and was part of the team that worked on the 2002 Oscar-winning film Frida. She also served as an executive producer on Warner Bros.' upcoming Minecraft video game adaptation with Roy Lee.
John Mahoney

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John Mahoney, best known as Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce's irascible dad, Martin Crane, on Frasier, died Feb. 4 in his adopted hometown of Chicago, publicist Paul Martino told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 77. The cause of death was complications from cancer. Playing a curmudgeonly retired cop, Mahoney received two supporting actor Emmy nominations for his work on the 1993-2004 NBC hit. Grammer paid tribute to his TV dad upon news of Mahoney's death: "He was my father. I loved him." A former Midwestern medical-magazine editor who quit his day job at nearly 40 to study acting in Chicago, Mahoney had taught English at Western Illinois University in the early 1970s. In movies, Mahoney garnered recognition in Barry Levinson's Tin Men (1987), playing Richard Dreyfuss' business partner. The same year, he was memorable in Moonstruck as a depressed college professor who regularly had affairs with his students. His other film credits include a performance as a trial judge in Suspect (1987), as the manager of the White Sox in Eight Men Out (1988) and as a protective father beleaguered by John Cusack's interest in his daughter in Say Anything (1989).
Philip Roth

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Philip Roth, an influential novelist who won two National Book Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, died May 22 at the age of 85. The prolific writer died in a New York City hospital of congestive heart failure, his literary agent Andrew Wylie told the Associated Press. Roth was the author of dozens of novels including Portnoy's Complaint, American Pastoral and Goodbye, Columbus. Roth was frequently identified as being a writer interested in Jewish identity, as well as lust, the American Dream and male anxiety. He also was one of the most decorated writers of his generation, having won the Putlizer, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, a Man Booker International Prize and three PEN/Faulkner awards.
Louis Zorich

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Louis Zorich, the veteran stage actor and husband of Olympia Dukakis who played the father of Paul Reiser's character on the NBC sitcom Mad About You, died Jan. 30 at his home in New York City, his representative at the Buchwald talent agency told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 93. Zorich and Dukakis, 86, who won a supporting actress Oscar for playing Cher's mom in Moonstruck (1987), had been married since 1962. A native of Chicago, Zorich appeared often on Broadway, making his debut in 1960 in the original production of Becket and earning a Tony nomination in 1969 for best featured actor in a play for his performance in Hadrian VII. He also stood in for Walter Matthau's Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and was in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies before making his last appearance in 2003 in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Zorich appeared as sporting goods salesman Burt Buchman on 70 episodes of Mad About You during the comedy's run from 1992-99. Married to Cynthia Harris' Sylvia Buchman, he often bellowed, "It's me, Burt! Burt Buchman — your father!" upon arriving at the apartment of Paul and Jamie (Reiser and Helen Hunt). Zorich also appeared in such films as Coogan's Bluff (1968), Popi (1969), Cold Turkey (1971), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) — as the Greek restaurateur, Pete — and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988).
Tom Wolfe

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Tom Wolfe, the white-suited wizard of "New Journalism" who exuberantly chronicled American culture from the Merry Pranksters through the space race before turning his satiric wit to such novels as The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full, died May 14. He was 88. Wolfe's literary agent, Lynn Nesbit, told the Associated Press that he died of an infection in a New York City hospital. Further details were not immediately available. An acolyte of French novelist Emile Zola and other authors of "realistic" fiction, the stylishly attired Wolfe was an American maverick who insisted that the only way to tell a great story was to go out and report it. Along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote and Nora Ephron, he helped demonstrate that journalism could offer the kinds of literary pleasure found in books.
Mark Salling

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Mark Salling died by suicide on Jan. 30, a Los Angeles County Coroner's public information officer confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 35. The cause of death was ruled asphyxia by hanging, the officer said. Salling's body was discovered around 10:17 a.m. near a riverbed a mile east of Big Tujunga Canyon in Sunland. The former Glee star had recently pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. His sentencing was scheduled for March 7. Salling reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in October after admitting he possessed images of prepubescent children. A search warrant found more than 50,000 images of child porn on his computer and a thumb drive. Salling was facing between four to seven years in prison. He would also have been required to register as a sex offender. The actor played bad boy Noah "Puck" Puckerman on all six seasons of Ryan Murphy's musical dramedy, which aired on Fox from 2009 to 2015.
Olivia Cole

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Olivia Cole, the Emmy-winning actress best known for her performances in the 1970s miniseries Backstairs at the White House and Roots, died Jan. 19 at her home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, her agent, Susie Schwarz at SDB Partners, told The Hollywood Reporter. The New York Times reported that she had suffered a heart attack. She was 75. Cole also portrayed the gossipy Miss Sophie alongside Oprah Winfrey on the 1989 ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place and on a subsequent, short-lived series. Cole received her supporting actress Emmy for her turn as Matilda — the wife of Ben Vereen's Chicken George and mother of Georg Stanford Brown's Tom — on Alex Haley's Roots, which was broadcast on ABC in January 1977 on eight consecutive nights and watched by an estimated 140 million people. On the nine-hour 1979 NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House, Cole was perhaps even more memorable as Maggie Rogers, the mother of Leslie Uggams' Lillian Rogers Parks. Both real-life women spent years working as maids for U.S. presidents over several decades.
Rasual Butler and Leah LaBelle Vladowski

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Former NBA forward Rasual Butler and his wife were killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash in Los Angeles early Jan. 31. The Range Rover crashed around 2:30 a.m. in the Studio City area and left a swath of damage along a major thoroughfare. Los Angeles police said in a statement that Butler was speeding before his vehicle jumped a curb, hit three parking meters and a concrete wall and then flipped over twice. The vehicle came to rest inside a shopping mall parking lot. Butler, 38, and Leah LaBelle Vladowski, 31, were pronounced dead at the scene, said Ed Winter, assistant chief investigator with the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Butler was drafted in 2002 by the Miami Heat and played for a total of eight NBA teams including the Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs. Butler's wife earned a measure of celebrity as an R&B singer. She placed 12th in the third Season of American Idol in 2004.
Edward Abroms

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Edward Abroms, the film editor who worked with a young Steven Spielberg on Night Gallery and The Sugarland Express and received an Oscar nomination for cutting John Badham's Blue Thunder, died Feb. 13 of heart failure in Los Angeles, daughter Lynn Abroms told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 82. He was the recipient of the American Cinema Editors' Career Achievement Award in 2006. As a film editor and director on the long-running NBC hit Columbo, Abroms won the second of his two career Emmy Awards for cutting an episode in 1972. He landed a second nom that year for helming another installment. Abroms also edited Sam Peckinpah’s final feature as a director, The Osterman Weekend (1983), and one of his last assignments before retirement came on Street Fighter (1994), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Jan Maxwell

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Jan Maxwell, a beloved and extravagantly gifted Broadway regular known for her patrician elegance, crisp command and dry humor, died Feb. 11 of complications from cancer, her son William Maxwell-Lunny confirmed. She was 61. Over a New York stage career spanning 26 years, Maxwell worked with distinction across plays and musicals, new work and classics, making her Broadway debut in 1989 as a replacement in the cast of the Cy Coleman/David Zippel/Larry Gelbart musical, City of Angels. In 2010 she landed dual Tony Award nominations for back-to-back productions in a single season, being recognized for featured actress in a play for the Ken Ludwig farce Lend Me a Tenor, directed by Stanley Tucci; and for lead actress in a play for the George S. Kaufman-Edna Ferber comedy, The Royal Family, in which she starred opposite theater legend Rosemary Harris in the same role Harris had played 34 years earlier. Her numerous television credits include All My Children, One Life to Live, Gossip Girl, The Divide, BrainDead, Gotham and Madam Secretary.
Bud Luckey

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Bud Luckey, the Oscar-nominated animator whose charming Sesame Street cartoons taught generations of children how to count and who is credited with coming up with the cowboy design for Woody of Toy Story, died Feb. 24 after an extended illness at a hospice facility in Newtown, Connecticut, his son, Andy, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 83. Luckey also provided the voices of Rick Dicker, the head of the Superhero Relocation Program, in The Incredibles (2004); of the broken-hearted Chuckles the Clown in Toy Story 3 (2010); and of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh (2011). "Bud Luckey is one of the true unsung heroes of animation," Pixar and Disney animation chief John Lasseter once said. "Bud helped design most of the films we've made from Toy Story [in 1995] onward. He was the fifth animator hired here at Pixar." Collaborating with lyricist Donald Hadley (and with the music of Turk Murphy), Luckey created many counting cartoons for Sesame Street, many of which are fondly remembered today. They included "The Alligator King" (with Luckey playing banjo) about Number 7, "The Ladybugs' Picnic" (Number 12), "Penny Candy Man," "That's About the Size," "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Nine" and a series of jingles by Donnie Budd, a hillbilly fiddler, performed by Luckey. At Pixar, Luckey wrote, directed, narrated, voiced, sung and composed the five-minute film Boundin', about a dancing sheep that turns shy after he is sheared. He received an Academy Award nomination in 2004 as well as the Annie Award for best short film.
Barry Crimmins

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Comic and political satirist Barry Crimmins died Feb. 28, his wife, Helen, announced via social media. He was 64. "Barry passed peacefully yesterday with Bobcat [Goldthwait] and I. He would want everyone to know that he cared deeply about mankind and wants you to carry on the good fight. Peace," Helen Crimmins wrote. Goldthwait directed the 2015 documentary Call Me Lucky, which focused on the life and career of Crimmins. Crimmins was also an avid crusader against images of child sexual abuse on the internet and, in the 1990s, called for an investigation into service providers over the issue. Fellow comedians shared their sorrow about the news. "Just learned of Barry Crimmins passing. So sad. When I met him I felt like I was meeting a founding father of stand up comedy. This world is a better place because of people like Barry. Rest in peace," Jim Gaffigan tweeted.
Donna Butterworth

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Donna Butterworth, a charming child actress and singer in the 1960s who co-starred with Elvis Presley in Paradise, Hawaiian Style and with Jerry Lewis in The Family Jewels, died March 6. She was 62. Butterworth died at the Hilo Medical Center in Hilo, Hawaii, after a long, unspecified illness, Guadalupe Erece Jr., funeral director at Dodo Mortuary and Crematory, told The Hollywood Reporter. In Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), Butterworth, then just 10, performed three songs: "Datin'," "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home" and "Queen Wahine's Papaya." In the 1965 comedy The Family Jewels — which Lewis wrote, directed, produced and starred in — Butterworth's Donna Peyton inherits $30 million from her father and must decide which of her six uncles (all played by Lewis) will become her guardian. Lewis also portrayed a seventh character — her devoted chauffeur. In delightful behind-the-scenes footage, Lewis is seen deliberately confusing Butterworth with humor during an on-set conversation, hoping to get her to relax. For her work in the film, the actress received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer.
Sir Ken Dodd

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Ken Dodd, a titan of a vanishing age of British comedy whose U.K. fame at its peak rivaled that of The Beatles, died March 11 at his Liverpool home — the same house where he was born in 1927 — his publicist Robert Holmes said. He was 90. Dodd, who had recently been hospitalized with a chest infection, married his longtime partner Anne Jones two days before his death. Instantly recognizable for his unruly mop of hair and snaggletoothed grin, Dodd came up through the hardscrabble ranks of Britain's variety circuit, where performers kept demanding crowds entertained with songs, a bit of dance and a slew of jokes. Dodd was famous for his rapid-fire one-liners, surreal imaginative flights of fancy, use of fanciful words like "tattyfilarious" and marathon stand-up shows. Even in his 80s, Dodd's shows often ran three to four hours. In the 1960s, he held the Guinness world record for the longest joke-telling session: 1,500 jokes in three-and-a-half hours. Holmes said Dodd "was one of the last music hall greats." "With Ken gone, the lights have been turned out in the world of variety," he said.
Frank Avruch

Longtime Boston television personality and entertainer Frank Avruch, who was the star of the popular children's TV program Bozo the Clown, died March 20 at his Boston home from heart disease, his family said in a statement to WCVB-TV. He was 89. Avruch played Bozo the Clown from 1959 to 1970, a clown character particularly popular in the U.S. in the 1960s because of widespread franchising in television. Avruch became the first nationally syndicated Bozo the Clown. Avruch also was a contributor to WCVB-TV for more than 40 years as a host of Man About Town and The Great Entertainment. He was an active philanthropist and a board member of UNICEF'S New England chapter. He toured the world performing as Bozo the clown for UNICEF. Avruch is survived by his wife, Betty, two sons Matthew and Steven and several grandchildren.
Hubert de Givenchy

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Fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, founder of the house of Givenchy, died March 10 at his home. He was 91. The French fashion house confirmed the news on social media on March 12, remembering the late designer as a "major personality of the world of French Haute Couture and a gentleman who symbolized Parisian chic elegance." Current creative director Clare Waight Keller, who joined the house in 2017 following Riccardo Tisci's 12-year stint, wrote of Givenchy on Instagram: "Not only was he one of the most influential fashion figures of our time, whose legacy still influences modern day dressing, but he also was one of the chicest most charming men I have ever met. The definition of a true gentleman, that will stay with me forever." A French aristocrat, Givenchy founded his label in 1952 at age 25 after four years under Elsa Schiaparelli and brief stints alongside Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain. Early in his career, he garnered attention stateside for his artist-muse relationship with Audrey Hepburn, with whom he also developed a close personal relationship, forging a bond between Hollywood and haute couture that still thrives today. "I’m as dependent on Givenchy as some Americans are on their psychiatrist," the actress once said.
David Ogden Stiers

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David Ogden Stiers, the actor who famously played Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H, died March 3. He was 75. "My dear friend and client of 30 years is gone," representative Mitchell Stubbs of Mitchell K. Stubbs & Associates said in a statement. "David had wisdom and talent in so many different areas. I wish people could know the beautiful heart that he had. His friends and family knew, as he told us so." Stiers died at his home in Newport, Oregon, and had been battling bladder cancer, The Oregonian reported. In his role as Major Winchester on CBS' smash-hit sitcom M*A*S*H, filling in for actor Larry Linville after he left the show, Stiers played a blue-blooded surgeon and straight man to the cast's practical jokers. In real life, however, Stiers gave back as good as he got to his castmembers. "To repay Stiers for all his pranks on us, we had his dressing room painted orange and purple over Thanksgiving break. When we came back, we were waiting for him to rant. He said nothing. Finally, one of us asked, 'What's new?'" co-star Jamie Farr remembered in THR's oral history of M*A*S*H in February. Stiers was nominated for two primetime Emmys for his work as Winchester, in 1981 and 1982; he later won a trophy for his role as U.S. Olympic Committee founder William Milligan Sloane on the NBC miniseries The First Olympics: Athens 1896 in 1984.
Verne Troyer

Verne Troyer, an actor best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series, died April 21, according to a statement on the actor's official Facebook page. He was 49. "It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today," the statement reads. "Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any extent possible. Verne hoped he made a positive change with the platform he had and worked towards spreading that message everyday." Troyer grew up in an Amish community in Michigan and rose to fame as a result of his role in the Austin Powers series. Following his Austin Powers debut in 1999's The Spy Who Shagged Me, he played Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Coach Punch Cherkov in The Love Guru. Troyer also had guest spots on TV's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scrubs, Two and a Half Men and Boston Public. He also memorably appeared as Mini-Me in the music video for Ludacris' "Number One Spot" from the 2004 album The Red Light District.
R. Lee Ermey

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R. Lee Ermey, a Golden Globe-nominated actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, died April 15. Ermey, whose nickname was "The Gunny," died from complications of pneumonia. He was 74. The news was announced via his official twitter account by his longtime manager, Bill Rogin, who wrote: "It is with deep sadness that I regret to inform you all that R. Lee Ermey ("The Gunny") passed away this morning from complications of pneumonia. He will be greatly missed by all of us. Semper Fi, Gunny. Godspeed." Ermey not only played a member of the military in the movies, but he also was one in real life, having been a U.S. Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant. He also served as a drill instructor for the Marines. Ermey also served 14 months in Vietnam and completed two tours in Okinawa, Japan.
Tim O’Connor

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Tim O'Connor, the busy character actor who portrayed Elliot Carson, Mia Farrow's father and Dorothy Malone's husband, on more than 400 episodes of the 1960s ABC primetime soap Peyton Place, died April 5 at his home in Nevada City, California, The Union newspaper reported. He was 90. O'Connor also starred as Dr. Elias Huer on the 1979-81 NBC sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, starring Gil Gerard, and on a memorable 1975 episode of All in the Family, he guest-starred as a former sweetheart of Edith's (Jean Stapleton) from Scranton, Pennsylvania, who's interested in rekindling their childhood romance. In The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), O'Connor had a super-brief stint as Fenzwick, "the head of the Society of Petroleum Industry Leaders, better known as S.P.I.L.," and he was twice on Columbo, notably in 1973 as a family lawyer in "Double Shock," in which Martin Landau played twins. The lanky actor also starred as the captain of a ship hoping to rescue earthlings mired on a distant planet on the 1963 Twilight Zone episode "On Thursday We Leave for Home."
Milos Forman

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Milos Forman, the anti-authoritarian director who left his native Czechoslovakia for creative freedom in the U.S. and captured Oscars for the masterpieces One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, died April 13. He was 86. Forman, also known for two biopics about controversial Americans — The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Man on the Moon (1999) — died after a short illness, according to his wife, Martina, who broke the news to the Czech news agency CTK. His manager, Dennis Aspland, confirmed Forman's death to The Hollywood Reporter. The filmmaker died in Danbury Hospital, near his home in Warren, Connecticut. Forman first attracted international attention with such features as Black Peter (1964), The Loves of a Blonde (1965) — an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film — and The Firemen’s Ball (1967), which put him in hot water with the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Forman had a unique sensitivity to American themes, which he prismed through a sly, satiric sensibility. His films generally appealed to sophisticated audiences, though he could reach the mainstream with his savvy flourishes.
Clint Walker

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Clint Walker, who flexed his considerable brawn — but only when he had to — as a gentle giant on Cheyenne, the landmark 1950s Western that aired for seven seasons on ABC, died May 21. He was 90. Walker, who also starred in such films as Send Me No Flowers (1964), None But the Brave (1965) and the World War II classic The Dirty Dozen (1967), died from congestive heart failure, Walker's daughter Valerie told TMZ. With a chiseled 6-foot-6, 250-pound physique that showed off a 48-inch chest and 32-inch waist, the rugged, blue-eyed Walker was often hired for Westerns and action work. He was tough (and lucky) off the screen as well: He survived a 1971 skiing accident at Mammoth Mountain in California in which his heart was punctured by a ski pole and he was pronounced dead. In 1955, Walker was cast by Warner Bros. in TV’s first-ever hourlong Western as Cheyenne Bodie, a principled cowboy drifter in the post-American Civil War era who was raised by the Cherokees who killed his parents. Cheyenne, produced by Roy Huggins of Maverick and Rockford Files fame, started out as part of Warner Brothers Presents in a rotation with the movie spinoffs Casablanca and Kings Row.
Billy Sammeth

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Billy Sammeth, the gregarious personal manager who shepherded the careers of multiplatform superstars Cher and Joan Rivers while also working with the likes of Donny Osmond, Olivia Newton-John and K.C. and the Sunshine Band, died June 18. He was 66. Sammeth was a throwback to an earlier era in music and show business when colorful managers took on just a handful of entertainers and catered to them personally, often around the clock. A witty negotiator and a devoted advocate for his clients, he would often greet his pals with a festive, "Hi, Doll!"
Jerry Maren

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Jerry Maren, the last surviving adult Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz, has died. He was 98. At age 19, Maren (at 3-foot-4) appeared as one of the three Lollipop Guild Munchkins (the green one in the middle) in the classic 1939 movie. He had been spotted by an MGM scout while performing in a show at the Bond Hotel in Connecticut and was the youngest of the 124 adult actors to suit up as a Munchkin. (A few children were used as a well.)
Martin Bregman

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Martin Bregman, the seasoned producer behind Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon, died of a cerebral hemorrhage on June 16. Bregman was 92. Bregman, whom Al Pacino once described in a Hollywood Reporter interview as "my guy," also produced Carlito's Way, Serpico and Sea of Love with the actor, and was slated to produce David Ayer's upcoming adaptation of Scarface. Pacino has often credited the producer with discovering him in an off-Broadway play and offering the actor crucial early career guidance. "I'm missing a lot not having him around anymore," Pacino said in a 2014 THR interview after Bregman had retired. "I must say, because he was what is so rare in what we do: a facilitator. You need a facilitator."
Eunice Gayson

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Eunice Gayson, the British actress who played the first Bond girl and the first to appear in two 007 films, died in June. She was 90. Born in Surrey, England, in 1928, Gayson had a number of onscreen roles, including the 1958 Hammer Horror title The Revenge of Frankenstein, before appearing in Dr. No in 1962. Her appearance in the first James Bond film would give the franchise one of its most iconic lines. In a scene at the Le Cercle Club, her character meets Sean Connery’s Agent 007 over a game of cards. After she suggests they raise the stakes, Bond says, “I admire your courage, Miss, er…?” to which she replies, “Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mister…?” His response: “Bond. James Bond.”
Charles Krauthammer

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Charles Krauthammer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and board-certified psychiatrist who became one of the media’s most powerful voices for conservative politics — while wooing a fair share of liberals along the way — died June 21, his son told The Washington Post. He was 68. On June 8, Krauthammer, a quadriplegic, revealed in a note published in the Post that doctors had informed him that he had only a "few weeks" to live because cancer removed from his abdomen 10 months earlier had returned. Until a year ago, Krauthammer was a regular on the Fox News Channel, most notably on Special Report, where he was known as the "dean" in a segment featuring a panel of pundits the show referred to as "The Fox News All-Stars." He also appeared often on The O’Reilly Factor before host Bill O’Reilly was ousted after accusations of sexual misconduct, and he spent 23 years as a weekly panelist on the PBS show Inside Washington. "I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking," Krauthammer wrote in the Post. "I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life — full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living."
Ed Schultz

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Former MSNBC primetime host Ed Schultz died of natural causes at the age of 64, the network reported on air on July 5. Schultz joined the network in 2009. His show, The Ed Show, was canceled in 2015 as part of a wave of programmatic tinkering at the network. "Ed was a brilliant and persistent voice for those without a voice in this country," Dylan Ratigan, Schultz's former colleague at MSNBC, told The Hollywood Reporter. The pugnacious Schultz began hosting a show for Russian government-sponsored RT America in early 2016. Schultz, who began as a conservative and became a prominent liberal, was a longtime, highly rated radio host.
Elmarie Wendel

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Elmarie Wendel, best known for her role on TV's 3rd Rock From the Sun as Mrs. Dubcek, died July 21, her daughter confirmed. She was 89. Prior to landing her role on 3rd Rock in 1996, Wendel had guest stints on Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, General Hospital, Murphy Brown, Knight Rider, The Jeffersons, The Facts of Life and Murder, She Wrote. After the series' 2001 finale, Wendel's later roles included voicing Aunt Grizelda in the 2012 film The Lorax. She also did voice work for the video game Fallout 4 in 2015.
Joe Jackson

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Joe Jackson, the father of Michael, Janet and their eight siblings and the architect of the Jackson 5, died June 27, Tito Jackson's agent confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 89. Family sources told TMZ that Jackson died in Los Angeles reportedly following a battle with cancer. The outlet previously reported June 22 that Jackson had been battling cancer "for some time" but it was "at the end stages" and could not "be treated." Born July 26, 1928, in Arkansas, Joe married wife Katherine in 1949 and they had 10 children together: sons Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Brandon (Marlon's twin, who died shortly after birth), Michael and Randy; and daughters Rebbie, La Toya and Janet. He also has another daughter, Joh'Vonnie Jackson, with Cheryl Terrell, with whom he reportedly had a 25-year affair. Joe began working on his kids' musical careers in the early 1960s, while they were living in Gary, Indiana, bringing Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael into what would eventually become the Jackson 5. Forcing them into intense rehearsal sessions, and after performances in talent competitions and small venues, Joe ultimately booked them at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, after which they landed their first deal with a recording label. After first single "Big Boy" became a local hit, the group was signed to Motown Records in 1969 and garnered a series of record-breaking hits, including "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There."
Jonathan Gold

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Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times restaurant critic, died July 21, according to the outlet. He was 57. Gold's wife, Laurie Ochoa (arts and entertainment editor for the Times), said that Gold died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles, after first being diagnosed with the disease earlier this month. Throughout his over four decades-long career, Gold also wrote for LA Weekly and Gourmet, among others. He also authored the book Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles. A 2015 documentary profiling Gold and his work, City of Gold, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. In his review of the film, The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy wrote, "The first and only food critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, Gold is the great democratizer of his profession, placing food truck tacos and Chinese mini-mall noodles on the same gastronomic plane as French haute cuisine or expense account sushi. Laura Gabbert's accessible and informative close-up documentary City of Gold appreciates all this and usefully puts the man in context as it accompanies him around the city while he offers a running commentary on his enviable job." Aside from the Pulitzer, Gold has won seven James Beard Awards for his restaurant criticism — the Oscars of the food world.
Nancy Sinatra Sr.

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Nancy Sinatra Sr., the first of Frank Sinatra's four wives and the mother of the legendary entertainer's three children, died July 13. She was 101, according to her daughter Nancy. "My mother passed away peacefully tonight at the age of 101. She was a blessing and the light of my life. Godspeed, Momma. Thank you for everything," she tweeted Friday. The cause and setting of the death was not given. Nancy Barbato met Sinatra, then a little-known jazz singer from Hoboken, New Jersey, in the summer of 1934 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and they were married on Feb. 4, 1939. They moved into a tiny apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey — her hometown — and a few months later the singer enjoyed a huge career boost when he cut his first record with famed trumpeter Harry James. The Sinatras' first two kids were each born in Jersey City: Nancy ("These Boots Are Made for Walkin'") on June 8, 1940, and Frank Jr. on Jan. 10, 1944. Later in 1944, the family moved west to Toluca Lake, California — their neighbors included Bob Hope and Bing Crosby — and daughter Tina was born on June 20, 1948. The Sinatras separated in September 1950.
Steve Ditko

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Screengrab; Courtesy of Marvel

Artist Steve Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee, died June 29. He was 90. The New York Police Department confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. Ditko was found dead in his apartment; no cause of death has yet been announced. In 1961, Ditko and Lee created Spider-Man. Lee, the editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, gave Ditko the assignment after he wasn't satisfied with Jack Kirby's take on the idea of a teen superhero with spider powers. The look of Spider-Man — the costume, the web-shooters, the red and blue design — all came from Ditko. Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy No. 15. The comic was an unexpected hit, and the character was spun off into The Amazing Spider-Man. Ditko helped create such classic Spider-Man characters as Doctor Octopus, Sandman, the Lizard and Green Goblin. Starting with issue No. 25, Ditko received a plot credit in addition to his artist credit. Ditko's run ended with issue No. 38. In 1963, Ditko created the surreal and psychedelic hero Doctor Strange. The character debuted in Strange Tales No. 110, and Ditko continued on the comic through issue No. 146, cover dated July 1966.
Tab Hunter

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Tab Hunter, the chiseled 1950s heartthrob who portrayed Joe Hardy in the Damn Yankees! movie, had a No. 1 record and starred in two outlandish films with the drag queen Divine, died July 8. He was 86. Hunter died in Santa Barbara from a blood clot that caused a heart attack, Allan Glaser, his romantic partner of more than three decades, told The Hollywood Reporter, describing his death as "unexpected and sudden." A Facebook page linked to the star also announced his passing with a message that read: "SAD NEWS: Tab passed away tonight three days shy of his 87th birthday. Please honor his memory by saying a prayer on his behalf. He would have liked that." After decades of silence, the leading man confirmed long-standing rumors about his homosexuality in his autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, published in 2005. Hunter said he had been told by Glaser that someone was planning to write a book about him. "I thought, 'Look, get it from the horse's mouth and not from some horse's ass after I'm dead and gone,'" he told THR's Scott Feinberg in 2015. "I didn't want someone putting a spin on my life." THR reported in June that the story of the relationship between Hunter and Anthony Perkins, who played Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, is in the works as a film from Zachary Quinto and J.J. Abrams.
Craig Zadan

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Patrick Randak/NBC

Craig Zadan, producer of the Oscars and Oscar-winning film Chicago, died on Aug. 21. He was 69. “It is with profound sadness that I am announcing the passing of my dear friend and colleague Craig Zadan, who died of complications following shoulder replacement surgery," NBC's Bob Greenblatt said Tuesday in a statement. "On behalf of his life partner, Elwood Hopkins, and his producing partner, Neil Meron, we are stunned that the man behind so many incredible film, theatre, and television productions — several of them joyous musicals — was taken away so suddenly." Zadan produced movies, television projects and Broadway musicals, including the Oscar-winning Chicago, NBC's musical drama Smash and this year's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.
Marin Mazzie

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Actress and soprano Marin Mazzie, a three-time Tony Award nominee known for powerhouse Broadway performances in Ragtime, Passion and Kiss Me, Kate, died following a three-year battle with ovarian cancer on Sept. 13. She was 57. Mazzie's broad career went from screwball comedy — in Kiss Me, Kate and Monty Python's Spamalot on Broadway and the West End — to riveting, dysfunctional moms in Next to Normal and Carrie. Other Broadway credits included Man of La Mancha, Bullets Over Broadway, Enron and Into the Woods.
Wiliam Goldman

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William Goldman, the straight-shooting maverick who won Academy Awards for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men and then authored the book on screenwriting died Nov. 16 at 87 of complications from colon cancer and pneumonia. Goldman, who also wrote the novels and then the screenplays for Marathon Man (1976), Magic (1978) and the much-loved The Princess Bride (1987). A longtime resident of New York who hated to step foot in Hollywood, Goldman also gained fame for his nonfiction books about the business. In Adventures in the Screen Trade, published in 1982, he's credited with coming up with the final dictum on Hollywood genius: "Nobody knows anything." Goldman then penned another perceptive critique of show business, 1990's Hype and Glory, which documented his experiences while serving in 1988 on juries at the Cannes Film Festival and the Miss America pageant. And in 2000, he published Which Lie Did I Tell? a frank and juicy depiction of showbiz and artistic practices. Goldman's impressive body of work also included The Stepford Wives (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Chaplin (1992), Maverick (1994), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Chamber (1996) and Absolute Power (1997).
Audrey Wells

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Audrey Wells, the screenwriter and director who was behind such films as Guinevere, Under the Tuscan Sun and The Hate U Give, an awards-season contender, died on Oct. 5 at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer. The Hate U Give, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, is Wells' adaptation of Angie Thomas' YA novel of the same name. Wells both wrote and directed Guinevere (1999), starring Sarah Polley, and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), starring Diane Lane. She penned screenplays for other films including The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), George of the Jungle (1997), The Kid (2000), Shall We Dance (2004) and A Dog's Purpose (2017). Her last movie, the animated Over the Moon — about a girl who builds a rocket to travel to the moon — is now in production.
Dennis Hof

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Dennis Hof, a legal pimp who gained notoriety for an HBO series about his business and who fashioned himself as a Donald Trump-style Republican candidate for the state legislature in the 2018 midterm elections, died at 72 years old on Oct. 16. He won a seat in November's midterm elections, despite dying the previous month; the state's Republican party said it would appoint someone in his place. Hof owned a handful of brothels in Nevada, the only state that allows them to legally operate, and was also a subject of HBO's Cathouse, which documented the lives of workers at his brothels. In 2015, former NBA and reality TV star Lamar Odom was found unconscious at Hof's Love Ranch South brothel in Crystal, Nevada, after he spent three days — and $75,000 — there and used cocaine, employees told 911 dispatchers. The flamboyant pimp also wrote a book titled The Art of the Pimp, a play on Trump's book The Art of the Deal.
Arnold Kopelson

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Arnold Kopelson, the Oscar-winning producer behind such features as Platoon, Seven and The Fugitive, who pioneered the practice of presales in motion pictures, died on Oct. 8 in his Beverly Hills home of natural causes at 83 years old. Kopelson was a rare producer who had the knack of making big-budget action movies as well as smaller, more intellectually challenging films. He won the best picture trophy for Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and was nominated again for Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993). His features received 17 Oscar nominations and amassed more than $3 billion in worldwide receipts. In all, Kopelson produced or executive produced nearly 30 features, also including Triumph of the Spirit (1989), Falling Down (1993), David Fincher's Seven (1995), Outbreak (1995), Eraser (1996), The Devil's Advocate (1997), the sequel U.S. Marshals (1998), A Perfect Murder (1998), Thieves (2001) and Twisted (2004). He was honored as producer of the year at ShoWest in 1994. A year later, he signed an exclusive deal with 20th Century Fox after five and a half years with a first-look agreement at Warner Bros.
Mark Livolsi

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Mark Livolsi, the in-demand film editor who worked on features that included Wedding Crashers, The Devil Wears Prada, The Blind Side and the upcoming reimagining of The Lion King, died unexpectedly on Sept. 23 at 56 years old. The cause of death is not yet known. Livolsi collaborated with director Cameron Crowe on Almost Famous (2000), Vanilla Sky (2001), Elizabethtown (2005) and We Bought a Zoo (2011) and with Oliver Stone on Wall Street (1987) and Heaven & Earth (1993). A four-time Eddie Award nominee, Livolsi edited the remake of The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019) for director Jon Favreau; The Blind Side (2009) and Saving Mr. Banks (2013) for John Lee Hancock; Wedding Crashers (2005), Fred Claus (2007) and The Judge (2014) for David Dobkin; and The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Marley & Me (2008) and The Big Year (2011) for David Frankel. Asked in a 2013 interview what skills a good editor must have, Livolsi said: "A sense of timing, an ability to see the small details while understanding the big picture, a clear storytelling sense, an eye for good performances and, above all, a love of movies and the craft of editing, without which no one would work this hard and sacrifice this much for very long."
Peggy McCay

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Peggy McCay, the Emmy-winning actress who portrayed the matriarch Caroline Brady on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives for more than three decades, died of natural causes in October at the age of 90. In addition to her role on Days of Our Lives, McCay also played Andy Taylor's high school sweetheart Sharon DeSpain on the 1963 episode "Class Reunion" of The Andy Griffith Show and had a recurring role as the wife of managing editor Charlie Hume (Mason Adams) on Lou Grant. McCay won her Primetime Emmy in 1991 for a guest-starring stint on The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, starring Sharon Gless. McCay appeared on the CBS soap opera Love of Love in the early 1950s and then was a contract player at Warner Bros., guest-starring on the studio's TV shows Maverick, The Roaring 20's, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6 and Room for One More. She then starred on the soaps The Young Marrieds and General Hospital at ABC. McCay's résumé also included Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Barnaby Jones, Archie Bunker's Place, St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey and Cold Case and the features Uncle Vanya (1957) and Promises in the Dark (1979).
Roy Clark

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Country star Roy Clark, the guitar virtuoso and singer who headlined the cornpone TV show Hee Haw for nearly a quarter century and was known for such hits as "Yesterday When I Was Young" and "Honeymoon Feeling," died on Nov. 15 at the age of 85 due to complications from pneumonia. Clark was Hee Haw host or co-host for its entire 24-year run, with Buck Owens as his best-known co-host. The country music and comedy show's last episode aired in 1993, though reruns continued for a few years thereafter. "Hee Haw won't go away. It brings a smile to too many faces," he said in 2004, when the show was distributed on VHS and DVD for the first time. Clark played the guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica and other instruments. His skills brought him gigs as guest performer with many top orchestras, including the Boston Pops. In 1976 he headlined a tour of the Soviet Union, breaking boundaries that were usually closed to Americans. And of course, he also was a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Clark's hits included "The Tips of My Fingers" (1963), "Yesterday When I Was Young" (1969), "Come Live With Me" (1973) and "Honeymoon Feeling" (1974). He was also known for his instrumental versions of "Malaguena," on 12-string guitar, and "Ghost Riders in the Sky." Clark was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and emotionally told the crowd how moving it was "just to be associated yourself with the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame and imagine that your name will be said right along with all the list."
Bernardo Bertolucci

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Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director and screenwriter whose films include Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor, for which he won the Academy Award for best director and adapted screenplay, died Nov. 26 in Rome. He was 77. A spokeswoman said the filmmaker, who became known for movies with a colorful visual style and political films, died of cancer. In 1962, at the age of 22, Bertolucci directed his first feature film, La commare secca, a murder mystery about a prostitute's homicide that uses flashbacks to piece together the crime. In 1987, Bertolucci directed the epic The Last Emperor, a biographical film about the life of Puyi, the last emperor of China. At the 60th Academy Awards, the film won all nine Oscars for which it was nominated: best picture, director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing, costume design, art direction-set decoration, sound and original score. The Last Emperor was the first Western film about China made in the country and produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949. It was also the first feature ever authorized by the government of the People's Republic of China to film in the Forbidden City.
John D. F. Black

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John D.F. Black, who co-wrote the screenplay for Shaft and wrote and produced for the original Star Trek series, died on Dec. 6 of natural causes. He was 85. Black penned 10 episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O, five installments of Charlie's Angels and multiple episodes of other series, including Lawman, The Untouchables, Mr. Novak, Laredo, The F.B.I., Room 222 and The Streets of San Francisco. He also wrote and co-produced a 1974 pilot for a Wonder Woman series that starred Cathy Lee Crosby and penned a 1987 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation under the pseudonym Ralph Wills. Other features he penned include: The Unearthly (1957), Gunfight in Abilene (1967), Nobody's Perfect (1968), Three Guns for Texas (1968) and Trouble Man (1972); the 1973 TV movie The Fuzz Brothers; and for other series like Johnny Staccato, The Bill Cosby Show, Mannix, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Murder, She Wrote. He received an Emmy screenwriting nomination for the 1971 TV movie Thief, starring Richard Crenna and Angie Dickinson. Survivors include his wife, Mary, who was his executive secretary on Star Trek, and sons Shaun, Geoffrey and Christopher.
Michele Carey

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Michele Carey, the attractive actress who starred alongside John Wayne in El Dorado and with Elvis Presley in Live a Little, Love a Little died on Dec. 3 at the age of 75 of natural causes. Known for her wild, brunette mane, the blue-eyed actress portrayed an adult film star who is dating a beatnik (Bob Denver) in The Sweet Ride (1968) and was a Native American woman named Anna Hot Water in Dirty Dingus Magee (1970), starring Frank Sinatra. In El Dorado (1967), legendary director Howard Hawks' penultimate film, Carey played the rebellious Josephine "Joey" MacDonald. Prior to acting, Carey worked as a Powers model and at age 21 arrived in Los Angeles, where she made her onscreen debut in 1964 in a first-season episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. She later showed up on Burke's Law, T.H.E. Cat, The Wild Wild West, It Takes a Thief, Gunsmoke, Starsky & Hutch and The Fall Guy and provided the voice of a computer for A Man Called Sloane, starring Robert Conrad. Carey also appeared in other films including Hall Bartlett's Changes (1969), The Animals (1970), Scandalous John (1971), The Choirboys (1977) and In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro (1986), after which she retired from acting.
Sondra Locke

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Sondra Locke died Nov. 3 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to her death certificate, which was obtained by the Associated Press. She was 74. The blond, waifish actress made her onscreen debut in stunning fashion, earning her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the teenager Mick Kelly opposite Alan Arkin in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), the adaptation of the Carson McCullers novel. In October 1975, during the making of the Civil War-set The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), she and Clint Eastwood became romantically involved on location in Page, Arizona. They eventually moved into a Bel Air mansion that was built in 1931, although they later split up. After they became a couple, Locke acted almost exclusively in Eastwood films at Warner Bros., co-starring with him in The Gauntlet (1977), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Bronco Billy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980) and Sudden Impact (1983), with the actor directing all but two of those as well.
Stephen Hillenburg

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Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the Nickelodeon animated megahit SpongeBob SquarePants, died Nov. 26. He was 57. Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at his home in Southern California. He was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease in March 2017. Nickelodeon on Tuesday announced his death in a tweet: "We are sad to share the news of the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. Today, we are observing a moment of silence to honor his life and work." Hillenburg was a nine-time Emmy nominee for SpongeBob, but never a winner. In February at the Annie Awards in Los Angeles, Hillenburg was among those given a Winsor McCay honor for his career contributions to animation. Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, made the stage presentation and accepted the award on Hillenburg's behalf as he remained seated to receive a standing ovation.
Ricky Jay

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Ricky Jay, one of the most compelling figures in magic, died Nov. 24 in Los Angeles of natural causes. He was 70. "He was one of a kind. We will never see the likes of him again," his manager, Winston Simone, said. In addition to his long career as a magician, Jay also appeared in such movies as Magnolia (1999) as the narrator, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) as a cyber terrorist and Boogie Nights (1997) and several times in David Mamet's films, including House of Games; Homicide; Things Change; The Spanish Prisoner; State and Main; and Heist. He also had various roles on television series including The X-Files and Deadwood. In a 1993 profile of Jay in The New Yorker, fellow magician and actor Steve Martin said, "I sort of think of Ricky as the intellectual élite of magicians. I’ve had experience with magicians my whole life. He’s expertly able to perform and yet he knows the theory, history, literature of the field. Ricky’s a master of his craft. You know how there are those teachers of creative writing who can’t necessarily write but can teach? Well, Ricky can actually do everything." Jay provided consulting for several films as well, including Ocean's Thirteen, The Prestige and The Illusionist.

Penny Marshall

Stan Lee

Burt Reynolds

Aretha Franklin

Anthony Bourdain

Steven Bochco

Jerry Van Dyke

Greta Thyssen

Verne Troyer

Avicii

Mac Miller

Margot Kidder

Stephen Hawking

Kate Spade

Dolores O’Riordan

Reg E. Cathey

Mitzi Shore

Jim Shaw

Harry Anderson

Billy Graham

Fast Eddie Clarke

Johann Johannsson

Lewis Gilbert

Anne V. Coates

Nanette Fabray

Frank Buxton

Terence Marsh

Hugh Wilson

Allison Shearmur

Dorothy Malone

Bob Smith

Dennis Edwards

Jill Messick

John Mahoney

Philip Roth

Louis Zorich

Tom Wolfe

Mark Salling

Olivia Cole

Rasual Butler and Leah LaBelle Vladowski

Edward Abroms

Jan Maxwell

Bud Luckey

Barry Crimmins

Donna Butterworth

Sir Ken Dodd

Frank Avruch

Hubert de Givenchy

David Ogden Stiers

Verne Troyer

R. Lee Ermey

Tim O’Connor

Milos Forman

Clint Walker

Billy Sammeth

Jerry Maren

Martin Bregman

Eunice Gayson

Charles Krauthammer

Ed Schultz

Elmarie Wendel

Joe Jackson

Jonathan Gold

Nancy Sinatra Sr.

Steve Ditko

Tab Hunter

Craig Zadan

Marin Mazzie

Wiliam Goldman

Audrey Wells

Dennis Hof

Arnold Kopelson

Mark Livolsi

Peggy McCay

Roy Clark

Bernardo Bertolucci

John D. F. Black

Michele Carey

Sondra Locke

Stephen Hillenburg