It’s never easy saying goodbye to those we’ve come to love. And while most of us don’t come into regular contact with celebrities, we invite them into our homes via television, movies and streaming services, making them a part of our everyday lives.
This year, sadly, we said goodbye to many talented musicians, actors and other high-profile personalities.
Among them were Matthew Perry, Tina Turner, Sue Johanson, Andre Braugher, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Barker, Michael Gambon and Robbie Robertson.
We’re taking the time to celebrate the legacy of this uber-talented group of people by remembering some of the celebrities we lost in 2023.
Adam Rich
Adam Rich, the child actor with a pageboy mop-top who charmed TV audiences as “America’s little brother” on Eight is Enough, died at his California home on Jan. 7. He was 54.
Rich was the little brother to a generation of TV viewers as the son of a newspaper columnist played by Dick Van Patten, who raised eight children alone after his wife in the show — and the actress who played her — died during filming of the first season.
He had a limited acting career after starring as Nicholas Bradford when he was 8 years old, the youngest of eight children from the ABC hit dramedy that ran from 1977 to 1981.
Rich’s public life after stardom was similar to that of other child actors whose promising careers are later derailed by drugs, alcohol and run-ins with the law.
He suffered from a type of depression that defied treatment. In his life, he tried to erase the stigma of talking about mental illness.
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck, a guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock n’ roll and influenced generations of shredders along the way, died on Jan. 10 after contracting bacterial meningitis. He was 78.
Beck, who was known as the guitar player’s guitar player, first came to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds. He went on to build a solo career that incorporated hard rock, jazz, funky blues and even opera.
He was among the rock-guitarist pantheon from the late ’60s that included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once with the Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009. He was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famed supermodels who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and ’90s and appeared in George Michael’s Freedom! ’90 music video, died on Jan. 11 after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She was 56.
Patitz was born in Germany, raised in Sweden and later made her life in California. She was known as part of an elite handful of “original” supermodels, appearing in the Michael video along with Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford.
She was a favourite of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who highlighted her natural beauty in his famous 1988 photo, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu,” and for British Vogue’s 1990 cover — leading Michael to cast the group in his lip-syncing video, according to Vogue.
Charles Kimbrough
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on Murphy Brown, died Jan. 11 in Culver City, Calif. He was 86.
Kimbrough played newsman Jim Dial across the 10 seasons of CBS hit sitcom Murphy Brown between 1988 and 1998. He earned an Emmy nomination in 1990 for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. Later, he reprised the role for three episodes in the 2018 reboot.
Born May 23, 1936, he spent years in the New York theatre scene. He was nominated for a Tony in 1971 for his Broadway performance in the Stephen Sondheim musical Company.
Kimbrough also lent his voice to a gargoyle named Victor in Disney’s animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley, singer and only child of Elvis, died on Jan. 12, after being hospitalized for cardiac arrest. She was 54.
Presley released her own rock albums and appeared on stage with celebrities like Pat Benatar and Richard Hawley.
Her music career began with a 2003 debut album To Whom It May Concern. It was followed by 2005’s Now What, and both albums hit the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart. A third album, Storm and Grace, was released in 2012.
She also formed direct musical ties with her father, joining her voice to such Elvis recordings as Don’t Cry Daddy, a mournful ballad that had reminded him of the early death of his mother — and Lisa Marie’s grandmother — Gladys Presley.
C.J. Harris
Former American Idol contestant C.J. Harris, who made it to the competition show’s top six singers in 2014, died on Jan. 15 after an apparent heart attack. He was 31.
Harris, a father of two young children, auditioned for American Idol judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. in Salt Lake City almost 10 years ago. He sang a rendition of Soulshine by Allman Brothers Band, accompanied by acoustic guitar.
After his audition, Urban told Harris he’s the kind of performer who “sings because you have to sing, not because you want to sing.” He said Harris’s voice was “believable and real.”
After Idol, he performed with Hootie & the Blowfish’s lead vocalist Darius Rucker at the Grand Ole Opry. He released his single In Love in 2019.
Gina Lollobrigida
Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies, died in Rome on Jan. 16. She was 95.
A drawn portrait of the diva graced a 1954 cover of Time magazine, which likened her to a “goddess” in an article about Italian movie-making. More than a half-century later, Lollobrigida still turned heads with her brown, curly hair and statuesque figure.
“Lollo,” as she was lovingly nicknamed by Italians, began making movies in Italy just after the end of World War II, as the country began to promote on the big screen a stereotypical concept of Mediterranean beauty as buxom and brunette.
Her career highlights included Golden Globe-winner Come September, with Rock Hudson; Trapeze; Beat the Devil, a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, which won Lollobrigida Italy’s top movie award, a David di Donatello, as best actress in 1969.
Cindy Williams
Cindy Williams, who was among the most recognizable stars in America in the 1970s and 1980s for her role as Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne on the beloved sitcom Laverne & Shirley, died on Jan. 25. She was 75.
Williams worked with some of Hollywood’s most elite directors in a film career that preceded her full-time move to television, appearing in George Cukor’s 1972 Travels with My Aunt, George Lucas’ 1973 American Graffiti and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation from 1974.
But she was by far best known for Laverne & Shirley, the Happy Days spinoff that ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983 that in its prime was among the most popular shows on TV.
Williams played the straitlaced Shirley Feeney to Marshall’s more libertine Laverne DeFazio on the show about a pair of blue-collar roommates who toiled on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s and 1960s.
David Crosby
David Crosby, the legendary singer-songwriter who founded some of the defining rock groups of the 1960s, died on Jan. 18. He was 81.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Crosby was a founding member of The Byrds, a pivotal band of the 1960s that combined rock and folk music. He co-wrote some of their most notable songs including Eight Miles High and sang on their immensely popular covers of Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!
After leaving the group, he formed Crosby, Stills & Nash with fellow superstars Graham Nash and Stephen Stills. The band further exploded in popularity after bringing Neil Young into the fold to become Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Both iterations were known for their delicate harmonies, songs like Woodstock and Teach Your Children, and inter-member clashes that led to multiple breakups and reunions over the ensuing decades.
Crosby was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice for his work with The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Lisa Loring
Lisa Loring, best known for originating the young, macabre icon Wednesday Addams in the 1960s sitcom The Addams Family, died on Jan. 28 of a stroke. She was 64.
Loring was only six years old when she won the hearts of international audiences for her 1964 portrayal of Wednesday Addams. She played the gothic, pigtail-wearing Addams daughter for two years until the sitcom ended in 1966.
Her Wednesday made iconic the Addams Family Frug dance, called “The Drew.” In Netflix’s hit series Wednesday, Jenna Ortega paid homage to Loring’s portrayal by recreating her moves.
After The Addams Family, Loring starred in the TV shows The Pruitts of Southampton and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. She was a recurring character on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns.
Annie Wersching
Actor Annie Wersching, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series 24 and providing the voice for Tess in the popular video game The Last of Us, died on Jan. 29. She was 45.
Wersching was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, but that didn’t stop her from taking on new projects. One of her final roles was as the mesmerizing Borg Queen in Star Trek: Picard, exactly two decades after making her screen acting debut in Star Trek: Enterprise in 2002.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Mo., Wersching appeared on dozens of television shows over the course of her two-decade career, including recurring roles in Bosch, The Vampire Diaries, Marvel’s Runaways, and The Rookie.
Paco Rabanne
Paco Rabanne, the Spanish-born designer known for perfumes sold worldwide and his metallic, space-age fashions, died on Feb. 3. He was 88.
He was known as a rebel designer in a career that blossomed in part due to his collaboration with the family-owned Puig, a Spanish company that now also owns other design houses, including Nina Ricci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Caroline Herrera and Dries Van Noten.
Born Francisco Rabaneda y Cuervo in 1934, the future designer fled the Spanish Basque country at age 5 during the Spanish Civil War and took the name of Paco Rabanne.
He titled the first collection presented under his own name “12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials.” His innovative outfits were made of various kinds of metal, including his famous use of mail, the chain-like material associated with Medieval knights. He continued to create these iconic, metallurgist-inspired fashions until his death.
Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer and Oscar winner who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of Walk on By, Do You Know the Way to San Jose and dozens of other hits, died on Feb. 8. He was 94.
Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivalled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were written. He had a run of top 10 hits from the 1950s into the 21st century, and his music was heard everywhere from movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, whether Alfie and I Say a Little Prayer or I’ll Never Fall in Love Again and This Guy’s in Love with You.
Dionne Warwick was his favourite interpreter but Bacharach, usually in tandem with lyricist Hal David, also created prime material for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and many others. Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra were among the countless artists who covered his songs, with more recent performers who sung or sampled him including White Stripes, Twista and Ashanti.
Austin Majors
Former child star Austin Majors, who was best known for his role on NYPD Blue, died on Feb. 11. He was 27.
In the 2000s, Majors appeared in 48 episodes of NYPD Blue as Theo Sipowicz, son of protagonist and detective Andy Sipowicz, played by Dennis Franz.
He also appeared on the TV shows ER, According to Jim and Desperate Housewives. Majors voiced Young Jim in the 2002 Disney feature film Treasure Planet.
“Austin Majors was an artistic, brilliant and kind human being,” said his sister, Kali Majors-Raglin. “Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career.”
Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch, whose emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film One Million Years B.C. would propel her to international sex symbol status throughout the 1960s and ’70s, died on Feb. 15. She was 82.
Her curves and beauty captured pop culture attention, with Playboy crowning her the “most desired woman” of the ’70s, despite never being completely naked in the magazine. In 2013, she graced the No. 2 spot on Men’s Health’s “Hottest Women of All Time” list.
After One Million Years B.C., Welch played Lust for the comedy team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their film Bedazzled in 1967. She also played a secret agent in the sexy spy spoof Fathom that same year.
In addition to acting, Welch was a singer and dancer. She surprised many critics — and won positive reviews — when she starred in the 1981 musical Woman of the Year on Broadway. She returned to the Great White Way in 1997 in Victor/Victoria.
Richard Belzer
Richard Belzer, the longtime stand-up comedian who became one of TV’s most indelible detectives as John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: SVU died on Feb. 19. He was 78.
For more than two decades and across 10 series, including appearances on 30 Rock and Arrested Development, Belzer played the wise-cracking, acerbic homicide detective prone to conspiracy theories. Belzer first played Munch on a 1993 episode of Homicide and last played him in 2016 on Law & Order: SVU.
From that unlikely beginning, Belzer’s Munch would become one of television’s longest-running characters and a sunglasses-wearing presence on the small screen for more than two decades.
Before Saturday Night Live changed the comedy scene in New York, he performed with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and others on the National Lampoon Radio Hour. In 1975, he became the warm-up comic for the newly launched SNL.
Gordon Pinsent
Gordon Pinsent, the adored Canadian actor whose career hit its peak well into his 70s with an award-winning performance as the heartbroken husband in Away From Her, died on Feb. 25. He was 92.
The Newfoundland native, a household name in Canada for decades after his many appearances on stage and screen, became known internationally after his Genie Award-winning turn as Grant in Sarah Polley’s acclaimed directorial debut, Away from Her.
His dignified portrayal so impressed Daniel Day-Lewis that he sent an email to Polley praising Pinsent’s performance as one of the most “astonishing” he’d ever seen.
Pinsent was a stalwart on some children’s shows in the early 1960s, including CBC’s The Forest Rangers. He went on to appear in dozens of Canada’s best-known television shows, including The Red Green Show and Due South.
Pinsent also wrote and starred in the film The Rowdyman, a Canadian classic about a troubled Newfoundlander whose best intentions go unnoticed by those closest to him.
Tom Sizemore
Tom Sizemore, the Saving Private Ryan actor whose bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions, died on March 3 after a brain aneurysm. He was 61.
Sizemore became a star with acclaimed appearances in Natural Born Killers and the cult-classic crime thriller Heat. But serious substance dependency, abuse allegations and multiple run-ins with the law devastated his career and sent him to jail.
Despite the raft of legal trouble, he had scores of steady film and television credits, though his career never regained its onetime momentum. Aside from Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor, most of his 21st century roles came in low-budget productions, where he continued to play the gruff, tough guys he became famous for portraying.
Gary Rossington
Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last surviving original member who also helped found the group, died on March 5 at the age of 71.
After adopting Lynyrd Skynyrd as the group’s name — both a reference to a similarly named sports coach at Rossington’s high school and to a character in the 1963 novelty hit Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh — the band released their debut album in 1973.
A collection of country-tinged blues-rock and Southern soul, the album included now-classics like Tuesday’s Gone, Simple Man and Gimme Three Steps, but it was the closing track, the nearly 10-minute Free Bird, that became the group’s calling card, due in no small part to Rossington’s evocative slide playing on his Gibson SG.
Robert Blake
Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died on March 9. He was 89.
Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, Baretta, once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001.
He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury later found him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family US$30 million, a judgement which sent him into bankruptcy.
As a youngster, he starred in the Our Gang comedies and acted in a movie classic, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller In Cold Blood.
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick, an actor famous for his roles in the John Wick movies and HBO’s The Wire, died on March 17. He was 60.
Reddick was often put in a suit or a crisp uniform during his career, playing tall taciturn and elegant men of distinction. He was best known for his role as straight-laced Lt. Cedric Daniels on the hit HBO series The Wire, where his character was agonizingly trapped in the messy politics of the Baltimore police department.
He also had roles in small screen productions including American Horror Story, Fringe, Bosch, Oz and Lost.
Reddick earned a SAG Award nomination in 2021 as part of the ensemble for Regina King’s film One Night in Miami. His upcoming projects include 20th Century’s remake of White Men Can’t Jump and Shirley, Netflix’s biopic of former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
Al Jaffee
Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, died Apr. 10 at the age of 102.
For decades, virtually every issue of Mad magazine featured new material by Jaffee. His collected back cover Fold-Ins, taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011.
Jaffee’s admirers ranged from Charles M. Schulz of Peanuts fame and Far Side creator Gary Larson to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who marked Jaffee’s 85th birthday by featuring a Fold-In cake on The Colbert Report. He retired at the age of 99.
Keith Nale
Two-time Survivor contestant and fan-favorite Keith Nale died Apr. 18 at the age of 62.
Nale, a firefighter by trade, competed on Survivor: San Juan del Sur in 2014 and Survivor: Cambodia in 2015.
In San Juan, Nale succeeded in making it to the final four contestants, but was eventually bested by Natalie Anderson, who won the season.
While competing in Cambodia, Keith took a more collaborative approach, but ultimately lost the winning title to Jeremy Collins. Nale was eliminated from the game just two days before the final Tribal Council.
Moon Bin
K-pop star Moon Bin, member of the popular boy band group Astro, was found dead at his home in South Korea on April 29.
Bin, who was 25 when he died, was a child actor and model before joining Astro. He held a minor role in the K-drama Boys Over Flowers, which was hugely popular in Asia.
Barry Humphries
Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, died April 22 at the age of 89.
Humphries, a law school dropout, found major success as an actor, writer and entertainer in Britain in the 1970s.
The character of Dame Edna began as a dowdy Mrs. Norm Everage, who first took to the stage in Humphries’ hometown of Melbourne in the mid-1950s. She reflected a postwar suburban inertia and cultural blandness that Humphries found stifling.
Edna is one of Humphries’ several enduring characters. The next most famous is Sir Les Patterson, an ever-drunk, disheveled and lecherous Australian cultural attache.
Len Goodman
Former Dancing with the Stars head judge Len Goodman died April 22 at the age of 78.
Appearing on DWTS from 2005 until 2022, Goodman was often credited with reigniting global interest in ballroom dancing through his work on various popular competition shows. He also served as a judge on the British version of the show, Strictly Come Dancing, from 2004 to 2016.
Goodman, a former title-winning ballroom dancer, won the affections of viewers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean with his witty comments and Cockney accent. “You floated across that floor like butter on a crumpet,” he remarked after one foxtrot. He praised a salsa-dancing couple as “like two sizzling sausages on a barbecue.”
Goodman announced his retirement from DWTS last year, after serving on the judge’s panel for 31 seasons. During his last appearance on the show, Goodman received a standing ovation from the in-house audience.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, died April 25 at the age of 96.
Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit Banana Boat Song (Day-O), and its call of “Day-O! Daaaaay-O.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”
Belafonte participated in protest marches and benefit concerts and helped organize and raise support for them. He worked closely with his friend and generational peer the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., often intervening on his behalf with both politicians and fellow entertainers and helping him financially.
He risked his life and livelihood and set high standards for younger Black celebrities, scolding Jay-Z and Beyoncé for failing to meet their “social responsibilities,” and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover and many others. In Spike Lee’s 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country’s past.
Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer, the legendary talk show host and former mayor of Cincinnati, died on April 27 at the age of 79.
While most famous for his popular, and at times controversial, talk show, The Jerry Springer Show, Springer wore many hats over the course of his life, including actor, producer, lawyer and politician.
His long-running talk show, and all the subsequent on-stage drama, ran from September 1991 to July 2018. He also hosted the Jerry Springer Podcast for seven years, from 2015 to 2022, and hosted a show called Judge Jerry from 2019 to 2022.
At its peak, The Jerry Springer Show was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show.
After more than 4,000 episodes, the show ended in 2018, never straying from its core salaciousness: Some of its last episodes had such titles as Stripper Sex Turned Me Straight, Stop Pimpin’ My Twin Sister, and Hooking Up With My Therapist.
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot, often called Canada’s greatest songwriter and known worldwide as one of the founding fathers of folk-rock, died on May 1 at age 84.
An iconic figure in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Lightfoot wrote many songs that transcended borders and music tastes, including The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald, Ribbon of Darkness and If You Could Read My Mind, among many, many others.
Legendary musicians like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand — to name just a few — recorded Lightfoot’s songs to great success, and he was widely respected in the music industry.
Developing a reputation in the industry, Lightfoot signed on with United Artists in 1965 and released I’m Not Saying as a single. He appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and showed up at the Newport Folk Festival, further establishing his name on the music scene. Not long afterwards, he recorded his first album, Lightfoot!, which featured hit songs Early Mornin’ Rain and For Lovin’ Me.
Unknowingly, Lightfoot had set a bar: he became famous as a Canadian artist without capitulating and moving to the U.S., a feat not commonly seen.
Jacklyn Zeman
Jacklyn Zeman, who played Bobbie Spencer for 45 years on ABC’s General Hospital, died May 9 at the age of 70.
Zeman joined General Hospital in 1977 as Barbara Jean, who went by Bobbie, and was the feisty younger sister of Anthony Geary’s Luke Spencer. Zeman grew to regard Geary as family off camera.
“I’m probably closer to him than I would be a real-life brother,” she told co-star Maurice Benard last year on his YouTube series State of Mind.
Outside soap operas, Zeman worked as a Playboy Bunny to help pay for college and also acted in commercials. She had a role in 1982’s National Lampoon’s Class Reunion and appeared in a string of TV movies, including the ABC Afterschool Special Montana Crossroads in 1993. She also had a series regular role as Sofia Madison in the crime drama series The Bay, earning her a fifth Emmy Award nomination.
Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson, one of the most influential poker players of all time and a two-time world champion, died on May 14 at the age of 89.
Brunson, called the Godfather of Poker and also known as “Texas Dolly,” won 10 World Series of Poker tournaments — second only to Phil Hellmuth’s 16. He also captured world championships in 1976 and 1977 and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988.
He wrote a book called Super System in 1979, which was one of the first books to delve into poker strategy and created a lasting impact that helped bring many others to the game.
Billy Graham
The much-beloved World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Famer ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham died on May 17 after a years-long struggle with various health issues at the age of 79.
Before wrestling, Graham was a bodybuilder who toned his impressive physique with homemade weights in the form of coffee canisters full of cement. When he was able to bench press 605 pounds, Graham completed a photo shoot with Arnold Schwarzenegger for Muscle and Fitness magazine.
The photo shoot pushed Graham toward the entertainment industry. He eventually joined the American Wrestling Association in 1972 and is often considered a pioneer in the modern world of professional wrestling. Graham, alongside his manager, The Grand Wizard, would go on to sell out every arena he main-evented.
Throughout his wrestling career, Graham developed a number of memorable catchphrases, including “I’m the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour!” If Graham wasn’t recognized by his nearly 56-centimetre biceps, he was easily identified by his outlandish personal style and often-dyed hair and goatee.
Tina Turner
Tina Turner, the American-born “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” died May 24 at the age of 83.
Turner was best known for her dynamic stage presence, powerful pipes, and long, muscular legs, churning out a run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ’70s with her then-husband, Ike Turner.
Turner was one of the world’s most successful entertainers, known for a core of pop, rock and rhythm and blues favourites: Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits, River Deep, Mountain High, and the hits she had in the ’80s, among them We Don’t Need Another Hero and a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together.
She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, and was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021.)
She was honoured at the Kennedy Center in 2005, with Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey among those praising her. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.
Iron Sheik
The Iron Sheik, the American-Iranian professional wrestling legend, died on June 7 at the age of 81.
Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, his real name, donned curled boots and used the “Camel Clutch” as his finishing move during individual and tag team clashes in which he played the role of an anti-American heel for the WWF, which later became the WWE.
The mustachioed, barrel-chested brawler often riled up crowds with his anti-American persona and rhetoric, often alongside tag team partner Nikolai Volkoff, who played the part of a Soviet villain.
The Iron Sheik’s influence extended to the sport’s biggest stars. Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who used the term “jabroni” to insult his ring opponents, has credited The Iron Sheik with making it famous in wrestling circles. The TV show “Young Rock” also has featured The Iron Sheik as a recurring character.
Treat Williams
Actor Treat Williams, whose nearly 50-year career included starring roles in the TV series Everwood and the movie Hair, died June 12 after a motorcycle crash in Vermont, at the age of 71.
The Connecticut-born Williams made his movie debut in 1975 as a police officer in the movie Deadly Hero and went on to appear in more than 120 TV and film roles, including the movies The Eagle Has Landed, Prince of the City and Once Upon a Time in America.
He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role as hippie leader George Berger in the 1979 movie version of the hit musical Hair.
He appeared in dozens of television shows but was perhaps best known for his starring role from 2002 to 2006 in Everwood as Dr. Andrew Brown, a widowed brain surgeon from Manhattan who moves with his two children to the Colorado mountain town of that name.
Julian Sands
Actor Julian Sands, who starred in several Oscar-nominated films in the late 1980s and ’90s including A Room With a View and Leaving Las Vegas, was found dead in late June on a Southern California mountain five months after he disappeared while hiking.
The 65-year-old actor was a longtime, avid hiker who lived in Los Angeles and was reported missing Jan. 13 after setting out on the peak that rises more than 10,000 feet (3,048 metres) east of the city.
Sands, who was born, raised in England, began acting there, working constantly in film and television, amassing more than 150 credits in a 40-year career. During a 10-year span from 1985 to 1995, he played major roles in a series of acclaimed films.
After studying at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Sands embarked on his career, playing small parts in films including Oxford Blues and The Killing Fields. He landed the starring role of George Emerson, who falls in love with Helena Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch while on holiday in Tuscany, in the 1985 British romance, A Room With a View.
In 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas, Sands played an abusive Latvian pimp alongside Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue.
Sue Johanson
Sue Johanson, Canada’s most beloved and celebrated sex educator, died on June 28 at the age of 93.
Johanson rose to fame first in Canada with her call-in radio and television programs, both titled Sunday Night Sex Show. A U.S. spinoff followed, called Talk Sex With Sue Johanson.
Through her programs, she taught many Canadians how to have safe sex and, also, how to enjoy it. No topic was too tough or taboo for Johanson, and fans found her no-limits style refreshing and funny.
Johanson would wade into conversations, sometimes to the network’s chagrin, about anal and gay sex, fetishes and sexual issues in the queer community, all of which were often considered taboo topics during the time her show was on the air.
Last fall, Johanson was the subject of a feature-length documentary, titled Sex with Sue, which took a peek into how her decades-long career helped shape the way we talk about sex and sexuality today.
CoCo Lee
Hong Kong-born singer CoCo Lee, whose decades-long career in Asia led to global renown, died on July 5 at the age of 48.
Lee’s most notable performances include voicing Fa Mulan in the Mandarin-language version of the Disney classic Mulan, about the legendary Chinese folk heroine. She also sang the Mandarin version of the movie’s theme song, Reflection.
Lee sang the romantic ballad A Love Before Time in the martial arts adventure movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which propelled her to global fame. She famously performed the Oscar-nominated song at the 2001 Academy Awards show in a telecast viewed by tens of millions.
Jane Birkin
Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and charmed the country with her English grace, natural style and social activism, died July 16 at age 76.
The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy Je t’aime moi non plus (I Love You, Me Neither).
The style Birkin displayed in the 1960s and early ’70s — long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit mini dresses and basket bags — still epitomizes the height of French chic for many women around the world.
Birkin was also synonymous with a Hermes bag that bore her name. Created by the Paris fashion house in 1984 in her honour, the Birkin bag became one of the world’s most exclusive luxury items, with a stratospheric price tag and years-long waiting list to buy it.
In her adopted France, Birkin was also celebrated for her political activism and campaigning for Amnesty International, Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, the fight against AIDS and other causes.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as I Left My Heart In San Francisco, died July 21 at the age of 96.
The last of the great saloon singers of the mid-20th century, Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create “a hit catalog rather than hit records.” He released more than 70 albums, bringing him 19 competitive Grammys — all but two after he reached his 60s — and enjoyed deep and lasting affection from fans and fellow artists.
He not only survived the rise of rock music but endured so long and so well that he gained new fans and collaborators, some young enough to be his grandchildren. In 2014, at age 88, Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living performer with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart for Cheek to Cheek, his duets project with Lady Gaga.
Sinead O’Connor
Sinéad O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s but was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, died July 26 at age 56.
Recognizable by her shaved head and elfin features, O’Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame. She was a star from her 1987 debut album The Lion and the Cobra and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s ballad Nothing Compares 2 U, a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the grey-eyed O’Connor in intense close-up.
A critic of the Catholic Church well before allegations sexual abuse were widely reported, O’Connor made headlines in October 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while appearing live on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and denounced the church as the enemy.
For many years, she called for a full investigation into the extent of the church’s role in concealing child abuse by clergy. In 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI apologized to Ireland to atone for decades of abuse, O’Connor condemned the apology for not going far enough and called for Catholics to boycott Mass until there was a full investigation into the Vatican’s role, which by 2018 was making international headlines.
O’Connor announced she was retiring from music in 2003, but she continued to record new material. Her most recent album was I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss, released in 2014.
Randy Meisner
Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles who added high harmonies to such favourites as Take It Easy and The Best of My Love and stepped out front for the waltz-time ballad Take It to the Limit, died July 27 at the age of 77.
Called “the sweetest man in the music business” by former bandmate Don Felder, the baby-faced Meisner joined Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon in the early 1970s to form a quintessential Los Angeles band and one of the most popular acts in history.
Meisner stayed on through the 1976 release of Hotel California, the band’s most acclaimed record, but left soon after. His departure, ironically, was touched off by the song he co-wrote and was best known for, Take It to the Limit.
A shy Nebraskan torn between fame and family life, Meisner had been ill and homesick during the Hotel California tour (his first marriage was breaking up) and was reluctant to have the spotlight for Take It to the Limit, a showcase for his high tenor. His objections during a Knoxville, Tennessee concert in the summer of 1977 so angered Frey that the two argued backstage and Meisner left soon after.
“The purpose of the whole Eagles thing to me was that combination and the chemistry that made all the harmonies just sound perfect,” Meisner told the music website Lobster Got Talent in 2015. “The funny thing is after we made those albums I never listened to them and it is only when someone comes over or I am at somebody’s house and it gets played in the background that is when I’ll tell myself, `Damn, these records are good.”’
Paul Reubens
Actor Paul Reubens, best known for his portrayal as ’80s television character Pee-wee Herman, died on July 30, years after he was diagnosed with cancer. He was 70.
Reubens was the creator and star of the 1986 to 1990 TV series Pee-wee’s Playhouse. His character, with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie, would become instantly recognizable for generations of kids and adults.
It was a role he would reprise over the years, including a 2010 live Broadway instalment of The Pee-wee Herman Show, as well as the 2016 Netflix movie Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.
Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live Pee-wee Herman Show debuted at a Los Angeles theatrre in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show.
From there, Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, The Bicycle Thief.
Angus Cloud
Angus Cloud, a breakout star from the hit HBO series Euphoria, died on July 31. He was 25.
Cloud had never acted before he took on the role of drug dealer Fezco “Fez” O’Neill in Euphoria. He was scouted for the show while walking down the street in New York and initially thought he was dealing with a scam artist when casting scout Eleonore Hendricks approached him.
Cloud’s father died a week before the young star passed.
“The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone,” Cloud’s family wrote in a statement after his death.
Mark Margolis
Mark Margolis, best-known for playing kingpin Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad and its prequel Better Call Saul, died on Aug. 3 at age 83.
Even though Margolis had no lines in Breaking Bad, he was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding guest actor for his portrayal of Salamanca, an aged drug lord who was unable to speak or walk due to a stroke. All Margolis needed to sear this character into fans’ memories were glances and a ringing bell.
He was also known for his long-time collaboration with Darren Aronofksy. He appeared in many of the director’s films including Noah, Black Swan, The Wrestler and Pi.
Before turning to the screen, Margolis appeared in dozens of off-Broadway shows.
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, the legendary guitarist and principal songwriter for The Band, died at age 80 on Aug. 9.
Robertson became one of Canada’s most beloved rock stars throughout his career with The Band, made up of four Canadians — Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel — and drummer Levon Helm from Arkansas. The Band’s hit songs, including The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Ophelia, have endured in popularity through the years.
The Band still garners millions of monthly listeners on Spotify, having reached new generations of listeners.
The Band first gained prominence supporting Bob Dylan on his Going Electric tours in 1965-1966. Later, their 1976 farewell show was documented by Martin Scorsese in his film The Last Waltz.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Robertson as No. 59 on its 2015 list of “100 Greatest Guitarists.”
Ron Cephas Jones
Ron Cephas Jones, a veteran stage actor who shot to fame after being cast in hit drama series This Is Us, died on Aug. 19 at age 66.
Jones died due to a long-standing pulmonary issue. He had a double lung transplant in 2020 because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and spent nearly two months in a Los Angeles hospital.
Jones was best known for playing William “Shakespeare” Hill on This Is Us, a father whose life is renewed through his relationship with son Randall Pearson, played by Sterling K. Brown. Jones was nominated for four Emmys for his portrayal of Hill and won two.
Jones spent most of his career in the theatre before and after This Is Us, and even returned to Broadway after his transplant forced him to learn to breathe and walk again. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award in 2022 for his role as a truck-stop cook in Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s.
Bob Barker
Bob Barker, who graced television sets for half a century as the host of Truth or Consequences and The Price Is Right, died on Aug. 26. He was 99.
Barker hosted Truth or Consequences for 18 years, a show in which audience members had to do wacky stunts if they failed to answer a question. Contestants weren’t meant to get the questions right, inevitably leading to the hilarious “consequences.”
Meanwhile, Barker began to host a resurrected version of The Price Is Right in 1972. It would become TV’s longest-running game show, a lasting reminder of TV’s early days when game shows numbered in the dozens.
As a TV personality, Barker retained a touch of the old school, for instance, no wireless microphone for him. Like the mic itself, the mic cord served him well as a prop, insouciantly flicked and finessed.
The legendary host taped more than 5,000 shows in his career before passing The Price is Right mic to comedian Drew Carey.
Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffet, known for his signature beach bum style of soft rock, died at age 76 on Sept. 1.
Buffet’s tropical rock music was best-exemplified in the song Margaritaville which celebrated “wastin’ away” and “growing older, but not up.” The song became so popular it launched a billion-dollar brand including Margaritaville-themed restaurants, resorts, food and beverages.
Buffet’s Margaritaville empire landed him a spot on Forbes’ list of the Richest Celebrities of All Time. The song itself was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016 for its cultural and historic significance.”
Buffett’s legions of fans, called “Parrotheads,” regularly turned up for his concerts over the years wearing toy parrots, cheeseburgers, sharks and flamingos on their heads, leis around their necks and loud Hawaiian shirts.
Steve Harwell
Steve Harwell, the longtime frontman of pop rock band Smash Mouth, died on Sept. 4 from acute liver failure. He was 56.
Harwell originally performed in a rap group called F.O.S (Freedom of Speech) before forming Smash Mouth in 1994. The band would reach new hits of fame with the release of their second album, which featured the megahit “All Star.”
The song would go on to be platinum certified and Grammy nominated. It was also included in Dreamworks’ Shrek, as well as a Smash Mouth cover of the Monkees’ I’m a Believer.
Humor was a driving force behind Smash Mouth’s success, and at the forefront was Harwell’s playful alt-rock voice and persona. Harwell retired from performing and left Smash Mouth in 2021.
Billy Miller
Billy Miller, best known for his roles on The Young and the Restless and General Hospital died on Sept. 15 at age 43.
Miller played spoiled rich kid Billy Abbott on The Young and the Restless from 2008 to 2014 and became immensely popular with the show’s fans. He won three Daytime Emmys for his portrayal of the role.
He then joined the cast of General Hospital from 2016 to 2019, playing Jason Morgan, and later the character’s twin brother, Drew Cain.
Upon his death, Miller’s mother wrote that her son “fought a long hard valiant battle with bipolar depression for years.”
David McCallum
Beloved actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in the 1960s and reached new audiences playing the beloved character of Dr. Donald (Ducky) Mallard in NCIS, died on Sept. 25 at the age of 90.
McCallum was the last original cast member on CBS’s NCIS, in which he played a bookish medical examiner. The fan-favourite character of Ducky was introduced during the show’s launch in 2003 and appeared right through to the 20th season finale in May 2023.
Scottish-born McCallum became a household name in the mid-’60s playing agent Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. McCallum’s enigmatic, intellectual character on the show was particularly popular with teenage girls at the time and he was often mobbed by young fans during personal appearances.
McCallum had a brief music career and is known for his epic orchestral tune The Edge, that was famously sampled by Dr. Dre in The Next Episode.
Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon, the famed stage and film actor best known for playing Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series died on Sept. 27 at age 82.
Born in Dublin in 1940, Gambon was an apprentice toolmaker before pursuing an acting career.
He was already a titan of Britain’s theatre circuit before he landed his role as Philip Marlow, a mystery-writing sleuth with psoriasis from the 1980s British serial drama The Singing Detective. The role helped him become a household name in the U.K.
In 2004, Gambon debuted as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner Azkaban, to replace the role’s originator Richard Harris, who died in 2002.
Throughout his lifetime, Gambon was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won four BAFTA Awards, two Olivier Awards and a SAG Award for outstanding cast performance in The King’s Speech. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990.
Michael Chiarello
Celebrity chef Michael Chiarello, who inspired a generation of home cooks with his passion for food and entertaining, died on Oct. 6 at age 61.
He died from an acute allergic reaction that led to anaphylactic shock.
Chiarello learned to cook from his mother before he trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He went to help pioneer the Food Network’s programming with his Emmy-Award-winning show Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello. He also appeared in several Top Chef shows.
He opened numerous restaurants in his lifetime, including the much-beloved Tra Vigne which served diners for 30 years before it closed in 2015. Tra Vigne was the chef’s first restaurant. Chiarello’s other restaurants — Bottega, Coqueta and Ottimo — are still open to this day.
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers, best known for playing Chrissy Snow on Three’s Company, died on Oct. 15. She was 76.
Somers lived with breast cancer for over 23 years. She died one day shy of turning 77 after revealing in July that her breast cancer had returned.
“Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th,” a statement from her family read. “Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”
Somers appeared in numerous television shows in the 1970s, including The Rockford Files, Magnum Force and The Six Million Dollar Man. Her most famous part, however, came when she was cast in Three’s Company as a ditzy blonde opposite John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the roommate comedy.
“Creating her was actually intellectual,” she told CBS News in 2020. “How do I make her likeable and loveable … dumb blondes are annoying. I gave her a moral code.”
Somers was also an entrepreneur and prolific author, writing books on aging, menopause, beauty, wellness, sex and cancer. She is survived by her husband Alan Hamel and her son Bruce.
Burt Young
Burt Young, who played Sylvester Stallone’s best friend, corner-man and brother-in-law in the Rocky franchise, died on Oct. 8. He was 83.
Young earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Paulie in 1976’s Rocky. He portrayed the meat packer as angry and foul-mouthed, but with a soft side.
Born and raised in Queens, N.Y., Young worked as a professional boxer before taking up acting. He also worked as a carpet layer and served in the Marine Corps.
Young appeared in other acclaimed films and TV shows including Chinatown, Once Upon a Time in America, The Sopranos and M*A*S*H.
Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree, the trailblazing Shaft actor considered to be the first Black action hero, died on Oct. 24 at age 81. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer before his death.
His best-known role, portraying the street smart John Shaft, was Roundtree’s first feature film appearance. The popularity of Shaft caused him to become one of the most famous leading actors of the blaxploitation genre.
In Shaft, Roundtree’s character navigated the world of thugs with impeccable style. He regularly whipped out popular one-liners like “It’s my duty to please that booty.”
Roundtree reprised his role in the 2000 Shaft film, a revival that starred Samuel L. Jackson.
Through his 50-plus year career, Roundtree appeared in a number of other notable films including Earthquake, Man Friday, Roots, Maniac Cop, Se7en and What Men Want. He also made his mark with television roles on Magnum P.I., Being Mary Jane and The Love Boat.
Richard Moll
Richard Moll, a character actor who found lasting fame as an eccentric but gentle giant bailiff on the original Night Court sitcom died on Oct. 26. He was 80.
Moll played “Bull” Shannon on NBC’s Night Court alongside stars Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. Bull was known for his catchphrase, “Ohh-kay,” and a dim but sweet world view.
The actor stood at a towering 6 feet 8 inches tall. The original Night Court finale ended with his character being abducted by aliens who needed someone tall to reach the things on their highest shelves.
After Night Court ended, Moll lent his signature gravelly voice to various video games and comic book projects like Batman: The Animated Series as Harvey Dent and Scorpion on the 1990s’ Spider-Man: The Animated Series. He also appeared in horror films like Ghost Shark, Slay Belles and Scary Movie 2.
Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on the iconic, ever-enduring TV series Friends died on Oct. 28. He was 54.
Perry’s 10 seasons on Friends made him a household name. He starred opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a friend group of 20-somethings navigating life and love in New York City.
Beginning as a neurotic roommate to LeBlanc’s character Joey, Chandler Bing eventually married Cox’s Monica by the series’ end. Perry maintained his character’s hilariously sarcastic nature throughout.
Friends was immensely popular when it first aired. But in recent years, the show has reached younger audiences tuning in on streaming services.
Perry received one Emmy nomination for his Friends role and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on The West Wing.
Perry’s death came one year after the publication of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which chronicled his decades-long struggle with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol. At the time, Perry said he had been sober for about 18 months.
Tyler Christopher
Actor Tyler Christopher, known for his roles on General Hospital and Days of Our Lives, died on Oct. 31 at age 50.
Christopher was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as misguided Greek prince Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital. He joined the cast in 1996 and won over legions of fans during his two-decade tenure on the show.
Christopher left the show in 2016 to pursue a role on Days of our Lives, where he played Stefan DiMera, the long-lost son of the crime lord Stefano DiMera. He remained in the role until 2019.
Christopher was married to actor Eva Longoria from 2002 to 2004. He married former ESPN reporter Brienne Pedigo in 2008.
Evan Ellingson
Evan Ellingson, who was a child star in My Sister’s Keeper and CSI: Miami, died on Nov. 5. He was 35.
Ellingson’s father said his son had been a resident of a sober-living home when he died. The actor struggled with addiction but had been improving recently, his father added.
His best-known role came in 2009 when he was cast to play the son of Cameron Diaz and Jesse Fitzgerald in My Sister’s Keeper. He is also known for portraying Kyle Harmon, the son of day shift supervisor Horatio Caine, played by David Caruso, on CSI: Miami.
Ellingson also starred in Letters from Iwo Jima and 24. In 2001, he made an appearance on General Hospital.
Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan, the frontman of Irish punk band The Pogues, died on Nov. 30 at age 65.
The legendary musician was in poor health and had been recently hospitalized for encephalitis, a dangerous infection that causes swelling of the brain.
MacGowan breathed new life into the Celtic music scene in the 1980s, and with The Pogues, created rousing, emotionally charged folk tunes about Irish life. Originally named Pogue Mahone (a jab at the Gaelic phrase “póg mo thóin” meaning “kiss my arse”), the band later became simply The Pogues and released seven studio albums.
Fairytale Of New York, a sombre tale of alcoholism, went on to become one of the band’s biggest hits, and a seminal, moody Christmas classic.
Myles Goodwyn
Myles Goodwyn, the award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter who shot to stardom as the former lead singer of April Wine, died on Dec. 3 at age 75.
April Wine formed in Halifax in 1969 and went on to sell over 10 million recordings worldwide.
Goodwyn stepped away from the band earlier this year but continued to perform live until not long before his death.
Norman Lear
Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with All in the Family and Maude, died on Dec. 5. He was 101.
A liberal activist with an eye for mainstream entertainment, Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that embraced current events and helped define prime time comedy in the 1970s and after. His shows launched the careers of young performers Rob Reiner and Valerie Bertinelli and made Carroll O’Connor, Bea Arthur and Redd Foxx among others into middle-aged superstars.
His signature production was All in the Family, which was immersed in the headlines of the day and drew upon Lear’s childhood memories of his tempestuous father. Racism, feminism, and the Vietnam War were flashpoints in the sitcom featuring blue collar conservative Archie Bunker and liberal son-in-law Mike Stivic.
ABC passed on the series twice before CBS reluctantly took it on. By the end of 1971, All In the Family was No. 1 in the ratings and Archie Bunker was a pop culture fixture. All in the Family stayed at the top of the ratings for an unprecedented five years in a row, earning four Emmy Awards as best comedy series.
In 1984, he became one of the first seven people inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. He later received a National Medal of Arts and was honoured at the Kennedy Center.
Ryan O’Neal
Ryan O’Neal, the heartthrob actor who went from starring in soap opera Peyton Place to an Oscar-nominated role in Love Story, died on Dec. 8 at age 82.
O’Neal was among the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1970s, and worked with many of the era’s most celebrated directors including Peter Bogdanovich on Paper Moon and Stanley Kubrick on Barry Lyndon. He often used his boyish, blond good looks to play men who hid shadowy or sinister backgrounds behind their clean-cut images.
In Paper Moon, O’Neal starred opposite his then nine-year-old daughter Tatum. The movie earned her an Oscar for best supporting actress, making her the youngest actor to win an Academy Award.
He had his own best-actor Oscar nomination for the 1970 tear-jerker drama Love Story, co-starring Ali MacGraw, about a young couple who fall in love, marry and discover she is dying of cancer. The movie includes the memorable, but often satirized line: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell
Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, of the popular reality TV series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, died on Dec. 9. She was 29.
Cardwell died nearly a year after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 adrenal carcinoma.
Cardwell’s sister Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, was the star of the family’s hit TLC show which ran from 2012 to 2014. The series followed Thompson and her family members through their day-to-day life in McIntyre, Ga. The show came as a spin-off after Thompson won hearts when she appeared on Toddlers & Tiaras as a child beauty pageant queen.
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher, the Emmy-winning actor best known for his roles on the series Homicide: Life on The Street and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, died on Dec. 11, at age 61.
The Chicago-born actor had his breakthrough role in 1989’s Glory, starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for the film about an all-Black army regiment during the Civil War.
He would later establish himself with the role of Det. Frank Pembleton, which he would play for seven seasons in Homicide: Life on the Street, a gritty police drama on NBC based on a book by The Wire creator David Simon.
He won his first career Emmy for the role, taking the trophy for lead actor in a drama series in 1998.
Years later he would play a very different kind of cop on a very different kind of show, shifting to comedy as Capt. Ray Holt on the Andy Samberg-starring Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Laura Lynch
Laura Lynch, a founding member of the U.S. country band Dixie Chicks, died in a car crash on Dec. 22. She was 65.
Lynch was the Dixie Chick’s bassist and at one point the main vocalist. She co-founded the popular country group in 1989 in Dallas along with musicians Robin Lynn Macy and sisters Martie and Emily Erwin before leaving the band in 1995.
Originally founded as a bluegrass band, Dixie Chicks released their major label debut Wide Open Spaces in 1998, selling “more CDs than all other country music groups combined,” and earning their first Grammy Award.
“We are shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Laura Lynch,” the band, which renamed itself The Chicks in 2020, wrote on social media. “Laura was a bright light … her infectious energy and humour gave a spark to the early days of our band.”
Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers, half of the Smothers Brothers and the co-host of one of the most socially conscious and ground-breaking television shows in the history of the medium, died at 86 on Dec. 26.
“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner. I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years,” his brother and the duo’s other half, Dick Smothers, said.
When The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967 it was an immediate hit with young baby boomers. The show would prove a turning point in television history, with its sharp eye for pop culture trends and young rock stars such as The Who and Buffalo Springfield, and its daring sketches — ridiculing “the Establishment,” railing against the Vietnam War and portraying members of the era’s hippie counterculture as gentle, fun-loving spirits.
During the three years the show was on television, the brothers constantly battled with CBS’s censors and occasionally outraged viewers as well, particularly when Smothers joked that Easter “is when Jesus comes out of his tomb and if he sees his shadow, he goes back in and we get six more weeks of winter.” At Christmas, when other show hosts were sending best wishes to soldiers fighting overseas, Smothers offered his to draft dodgers who had moved to Canada.
The show was canceled in 1970. Nearly 40 years later, when Smothers was awarded an honorary Emmy for his work on the show, he jokingly thanked the writers he said had gotten him fired.
Lee Sun-kyun
Lee Sun-kyun, a popular South Korean actor who achieved international acclaim for his role in the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, died on Dec. 27. He was 48.
Lee played the patriarch of the wealthy Park family in Parasite, which won Oscars for best picture and three other categories in 2020. The class satire was the first non-English-language film to win best picture in the then-92-year history of the Academy Awards, and was the first South Korean movie to win an Oscar.
The film’s cast, including Lee, also won a Screen Actors Guild award for the best motion picture ensemble cast in 2020. He was nominated for best actor at the International Emmy Awards for his performance in the sci-fi thriller Dr. Brain last year, as well.
Lee was a popular actor in South Korea well before Parasite. He rose to stardom for his role in the hit 2007 TV drama series, Coffee Prince, and gained mainstream popularity for starring in Behind The White Tower, Pasta and My Mister.
Lee had been under a police investigation into allegations that he used illegal drugs at the time of his death. He was found dead in a car in Seoul after weeks of intense media and police scrutiny.
Lee is survived by his wife Jeon Hye-jin and two sons.
Tom Wilkinson
Tom Wilkinson, the Oscar-nominated British actor known for his roles in The Full Monty, Michael Clayton and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, died on Dec. 30 at the age of 75.
A statement shared by his agent on behalf of the family said Wilkinson died suddenly at home. It didn’t provide further details.
Wilkinson was nominated for a best actor Academy Award for his work in 2001’s family drama In The Bedroom and in the best supporting actor category for his role in Michael Clayton, a 2007 legal thriller that starred George Clooney.
He is remembered by many in Britain and beyond for playing former steel mill foreman Gerald Cooper in the 1997 comedy The Full Monty, about a group of unemployed steel workers who form an unlikely male stripping act.
Wilkinson was born in Yorkshire in northern England in 1948 and spent part of his childhood in Canada. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the 1970s. He also won a 2009 Golden Globe and 2008 Emmy for his role as Benjamin Franklin in the HBO series John Adams.
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— With files from The Associated Press, Reuters and The Canadian Press
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