Stars we lost in 2020

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Jessica Campbell

Jessica Campbell
Randall Michelson/WireImage

Jessica Campbell, who starred in Election and Freaks and Geeks before going on to work as a physician, died of unknown causes on Dec. 29 at the age of 38. Campbell most famously portrayed Tammy Metzler in the 1999 dark comedy Election, opposite Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. A year later, she appeared in two episodes of the cult-favorite TV series Freaks and Geeks as tuba player Amy Andrews, the love interest of Seth Rogen's character Ken Miller. Her final Hollywood gig before her retirement was in the 2003 short Birth of the Vampire where she worked as a camera assistant.

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Phyllis McGuire

Phyllis McGuire
Everett Collection

Phyllis McGuire, the last surviving member of the McGuire Sisters, died on Dec. 29 of natural causes. She was 89. The McGuire Sisters, including her siblings Dorothy and Christine McGuire, were center stage in the 1950s until 1968 when they reportedly split due to Phyllis' controversial relationship with mobster Sam Giancana. Mary-Louise Parker played her in Sugartime, an HBO film about a love affair.

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Adolfo 'Shabba-Doo' Quiñones

BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
Everett Collection

Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quiñones, dance legend and star of the cult hit Breakin', died on Dec. 30 of unknown causes at the age of 65. Prior to venturing into film, he choreographed and appeared in Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" music video. His most famous movie role was the character of Ozone in the underground classic Breakin', one he reprised in the film's sequel Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. He also appeared in other big-screen titles including Lambada, Tango & Cash, and Xanadu.

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Dawn Wells

Dawn Wells
CBS via Getty Images

Dawn Wells, the actress best known for portraying Mary Ann Summers on the 1960's CBS sitcom Gilligan's Island, died on Dec. 30 at 82 from COVID-19. Summers would be associated with the lovable Kansas farm girl character her entire life, reprising the role in reunion specials and on episodes of Baywatch and Roseanne. She also co-wrote a cookbook and a memoir/advice book using the Mary Ann branding. Wells also appeared in small roles in television shows like The Love Boat, Bonanza, and Alf, as well as in a handful of films such as The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

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Joe Clark

Joe Clark
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Joe Clark, the tough-as-nails New Jersey principal who Morgan Freeman portrayed in the film Lean on Me, died from an undisclosed illness on Dec. 29 at 82. Lean on Me, directed by John G. Avildsen, was loosely based on Clark's real-life experience as an inner-city principal whose students were challenged every day to become better versions of themselves through their commitment to education.

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Pierre Cardin

Pierre Cardin
Richard Bord/Getty Images

Fashion designer Pierre Cardin died on Dec. 29 at 98. Cardin designed costumes for Jean Cocteau's film, Beauty and the Beast, before starting his own brand, the House of Cardin, in 1950. He designed collections well into the 21st century (including a creation for Lady Gaga), opened the Past-Present-Future museum in Paris in 2014 to display his work, and was last seen in September toasting 70 years of his brand where he hosted a special screening of the documentary, House of Cardin.

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Jon Huber

Brodie Lee

Actor and wrestler Jon Huber died on Dec. 26 at the age of 41 from lung issues not related to COVID-19. Huber wrestled in the WWE under the ring name Luke Harper and then performed with the AEW as Brodie Lee. He played a soldier named Lachlan Allsopp in the 2017 period action-horror film Mohawk.

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Michael Alig

Michael Alig
Rob Kim/Getty Images

Michael Alig, the infamous leader of the "Club Kids" of the 1990s, died on Dec. 25 at the age of 54. Alig co-founded the group of eccentric partiers popular in NYC's club scene. He was later convicted of murdering and dismembering fellow club kid Andre "Angel" Melendez. His story was turned into the 2003 feature film Party Monster, starring Macaulay Culkin as Alig.

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Tony Rice

Tony Rice
Jason Merritt/FilmMagic

Legendary bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice died on Dec. 25 at the age of 69. The Grammy Award winner and International Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer was famous for his baritone voice and his flatpicking style. He famously collaborated with Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead during his lifetime.

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Leslie West

Leslie West
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Rock guitarist Leslie West died on Dec. 23, two days after going into cardiac arrest, at the age of 75. West founded Mountain in 1969, with who he performed on the second day of Woodstock. Throughout his career, he collaborated with The Who, Bo Diddley, Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, and Ozzy Osbourne. During one of Mountain's breakups, West appeared on the big screen in Family Honor and The Money Pit.

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John 'Ecstasy' Fletcher

John "Ecstasy" Fletcher
Leon Bennett/Getty Images

John Fletcher, also known as Ecstasy, of the pioneering hip-hop group Whodini, died Dec. 23 of undisclosed causes at age 56. Fletcher founded the group with fellow rapper Jalil Hutchins in 1982, with DJ Grandmaster Dee later joining. Whodini are considered pioneers of hip-hop. Their songs "Friends" and "Five Minutes of Funk" have been heavily sampled by other artists.

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Rebecca Luker

Rebecca Luker
Gary Gershoff/WireImage

Broadway actress Rebecca Luker died on Dec. 23 at the age of 59, 10 months after she revealed publicly that she had been diagnosed with ALS. The actress earned Tony nominations for the 2006 run of Mary Poppins, the 2000 revival of The Music Man, and the 1994 revival of Show Boat. She also appeared in the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music. Luker was married to fellow Tony-nominated Broadway star Danny Burstein.

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K.T. Oslin

K.T. Oslin
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Grammy-winning country star K.T. Oslin died on Dec. 21 a week after being diagnosed with pneumonia related to COVID-19. She was 78. The history-making singer-songwriter, best known for being the first-ever female to win song of the year at the CMA Awards back in 1988, also appeared on TV in the '90s as a guest star and late-night host, as well as starring opposite Harry Hamlin in Poisoned by Love and in Peter Bogdanovich's 1993 film The Thing Called Love. She was inducted into the Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014 and was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

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Jeremy Bulloch

Jeremy Bulloch
John Phillips/Getty Images

Jeremy Bulloch, who played the role of Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, died Dec. 17 at age 75 following health complications, including several years living with Parkinson's disease. The U.K. actor was under the armor during Boba Fett's live-action introduction in The Empire Strikes Back and continued the role in Return of the Jedi. He also made appearances without the helmet in different roles, playing Lieutenant Sheckil in Empire and Captain Jeremoch Colton in Revenge of the Sith. Bulloch also appeared in the 1984 TV series Robin Hood, the 2009 TV series Starhyke, and the James Bond films Octopussy and For Your Eyes Only.

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Lin Qi

Lin Qi
Zhang Zhi/Red Star News/VCG via Getty Images

Lin Qi, producer on Netflix's upcoming series The Three-Body Problem, died after allegedly being poisoned on Dec. 16. He was 39. Lin was an executive producer on the streaming series based on the Liu Cixin novel with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss.

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John le Carré

John le Carré
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John le Carré, perhaps the most celebrated spy novelist of the 20th century, died Dec. 12 at age 89 from complications of pneumonia. Known for defining the spy genre with his body of work, and coining terms like "mole," Le Carré revolutionized espionage storytelling through the eyes of George Smiley, his most well-known character at the center of the "Karla" trilogy: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974), The Honourable Schoolboy (1977), and Smiley's People (1979). Though he experienced a late-career boom in the 2000s, thanks to Hollywood adaptations of The Constant Gardener in 2005, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in 2011, A Most Wanted Man in 2014, and The Night Manager in 2016, he never mellowed in writing gripping spy stories and inventing his myriad characters.

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Ann Reinking

Ann Reinking
Everett Collection

Ann Reinking, the Tony-winning actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer, died Dec. 12 at 71. Beloved for her skills as a triple threat on stage and screen, Reinking was perhaps best known for her personal and professional association with director-choreographer Bob Fosse. She famously replaced Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart in the original production of Chicago and reprised the role in the 1996 revival, for which she also won the Tony for Best Choreography. (That production was still running until Broadway's COVID-19 shutdown.) Reinking also helped create the musical Fosse, a showcase of the legendary choreographer's work. Her other credits included Over Here, Goodtime Charley, A Chorus Line, Sweet Charity, and Bye Bye Birdie.

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Charley Pride

Charley Pride
Michael Putland/Getty Images

Charley Pride, the trailblazing performer considered country music's first Black superstar, died Dec. 12 of complications from COVID-19. He was 86. Known for his rich baritone voice, Pride was one of the most successful country musicians of all time, and the first Black artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Tommy "Tiny" Lister

Before his signature turn as Deebo (and the Galactic President in The Fifth Element ), the hilarious gangsta giant chasing Ice Cube and Chris Tucker…

Tommy "Tiny" Lister, the actor known for playing the neighborhood bully Deebo in the Friday movies, died on Dec. 10 at 62. Ice Cube remembered his Friday and Next Friday costar as "America's favorite bully" and "a good dude at heart." Lister's other TV and film credits include The Players Club, Posse, The Dark Knight, Little Nicky, Jackie Brown, and The Fifth Element.

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Natalie Desselle-Reid

Natalie Desselle Reid
Moses Robinson/WireImage

Actress Natalie Desselle-Reid died on Dec. 7 after a private battle with colon cancer. She was 53 years old. A mainstay in Black entertainment, Desselle-Reid appeared in everything from Set It Off to the sitcom Eve to Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family. In addition to being a part of the groundbreaking, colorblind cast in Cinderella starring Brandy, Desselle-Reid's role in B.A.P.S. is widely considered one of the earliest instances of a plus-size female lead in a comedy with a significant romantic story line.

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David Lander

David Lander
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David Lander, who famously portrayed greaser Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley in the '70s, died on Dec. 4 at age 73 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. Lander also appeared in beloved series like Happy Days, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Married...With Children, Head of the Class, Twin Peaks, and even revived his Squiggy character on Saturday Night Live. After revealing his diagnosis in 1999, the actor took an active role in bringing awareness of the disease by speaking at medical conventions throughout the years.

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Hugh Keays-Byrne

Hugh Keays-Byrne
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Everett Collection

Hugh Keays-Byrne, the actor known for portraying the antagonist in Mad Max and Mad Max: Fury Road, died in his sleep on Dec. 1 at the age of 73. Throughout his lengthy career, Keays-Byrne starred in a variety of film and TV projects including The Man from Hong Kong, The Blood of Heroes, Moby Dick, and Farscape. He made his directorial debut in the 1992 Australian film Resistance.

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Daria Nicolodi

Daria Nicolodi
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Italian actress and screenwriter Daria Nicolodi died on Nov. 26 at the age of 70. She began her career working in television but became well known for her film projects, including her collaborations with Dario Argento in Deep Red, Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena, and Opera. She was meant to play the lead in 1977's Suspiria, which she co-wrote with Argento, though a back injury led to the recasting of Stefania Casini. Nicolodi and Argento are the parents of actress Asia Argento.

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Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona
Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images

Soccer legend Diego Maradona died on Nov. 25 from a stroke at the age of 60. Maradona's extreme highs and lows were documented in an eponymous documentary released in 2019 by Academy Award-winning director Asif Kapadia.

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Hal Ketchum

Hal Ketchum
Pete Lacker

Country singer Hal Ketchum died from complications of dementia on Nov. 23 at the age of 67. Ketchum's biggest commercial release was his 1991 album Past the Point of Rescue and the song of the same name, though he had 17 entries on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, including "Small Town Saturday Night" and "Hearts Are Gonna Roll," before retiring nearly three decades later after being diagnosed with dementia.

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Joe Luna

Joe Luna
Joe Luna/Instagram

Comedian Joe Luna, who performed under the name Joe El Cholo, died on Nov. 23 due to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 38. He chronicled his battle with the novel coronavirus on social media, sharing his struggles amid the growing pandemic. Luna performed throughout his career in local Los Angeles comedy spots including the Ice House and the Improv Theatre.

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Ben Watkins

Ben Watkins
Erica Parise/FOX

Ben Watkins, a contestant on season 6 of MasterChef Junior, died Nov. 16 after an 18-month battle with a rare form of cancer. He was 14. Watkins, who began cooking at age 3, became a fan-favorite contestant on the culinary competition show, placing in the top 18.

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Bert Belasco

Bert Belasco
Bennett Raglin/WireImage

Let's Stay Together actor Bert Belasco died at 38. The BET star was found dead in his hotel room in Virginia where he was quarantining in preparation for an upcoming movie role. In addition to playing Charles Whitmore on Let's Stay Together, Belasco appeared on Fox's Pitch and multiple episodes of Showtime's I'm Dying Up Here. He also had brief stints on shows like Justified, Superstore, NCIS: New Orleans, Key & Peele, and House.

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Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek
Eric McCandless via Getty Images

Longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek died Nov. 8 at age 80 following a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. A career emcee, Trebek began hosting game shows in his native Canada. He moved to the U.S. in the '70s to emcee The Wizard of Odds and High Rollers for NBC, as well as Double Dare and Pillsbury Bake-Off for CBS. He joined Jeopardy! in 1984, but continued holding the mic for shows like The National Geographic Bee from 1989–2013 and To Tell the Truth from 1990–91. In 2011, Trebek earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Daytime Emmys. He's also won seven Emmys for Outstanding Game Show host. In 2014, Guinness World Records announced that Trebek had broken the record for most game show episodes hosted by the same person on the same program.

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Ken Spears

SCOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOU?
Everett Collection

Ken Spears, who co-created the Scooby-Doo franchise for Hanna-Barbera, died on Nov. 6 from Lewy body dementia at the age of 82. He and his business partner Joe Ruby, who died in August, also created Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, Captain Caveman, and Jabberjaw. The duo also produced the Saturday morning cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks.

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Sean Connery

Sean Connery
Getty

Sean Connery, the Scotland-born actor who was the first star to play James Bond and became one of the franchise's most iconic stars, died at the age of 90 on Oct. 31. The Oscar winner died in his sleep while in the Bahamas, according to the BBC, and had reportedly been unwell for some time.

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Eddie Hassell

Eddie Hassell
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Eddie Hassell, an actor known for appearing in the film The Kids Are All Right and the TV series Surface, died on Oct. 31 at the age of 30 after being shot outside of his girlfriend's apartment. Hassell appeared in the shows Devious Maids, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Bones, and Longmire. He also had a small role in the Ashton Kutcher-led film Jobs in 2013.

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MF Doom

MF Doom
Jim Dyson/Redferns

Daniel Dumile, the legendary and enigmatic rapper known as MF Doom, died on Oct. 31 at the age of 49. Dumile performed with a metal mask modeled after the Marvel comic book villain Doctor Doom and was rarely seen in public without it after debuting the Doom persona with the 1999 album Operation: Doomsday. He had previously rapped in the group KMD under the alias Zev Love.

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Carol Arthur

Carol Arthur
CBS via Getty Images

Carol Arthur, Blazing Saddles actress and wife of Dom DeLuise, died on Oct. 31 after an 11-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. She was 85.

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Luis Troyano

Luis Troyano
BBC

The Great British Baking Show season 5 runner-up Luis Troyano died at age 48 following a battle with esophageal cancer. Troyano won Star Baker during his respective season's notoriously difficult Bread Week. Judge Paul Hollywood and season 7 winner Candice Brown were among GBBS alums who paid tribute to the Cheshire native on social media, with the latter writing: "Oh my goodness this is just heartbreaking. Luis was a complete gent and we had some great giggles at festivals. Send love and strength to his friends and family."

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Nikki McKibbin

Nikki McKibbin
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Nikki McKibbin, American Idol season 1 finalist, died after suffering an aneurysm on Oct. 28. She was 42.

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Leanza Cornett

Leanza Cornett
Leanza Cornett. Donald Kravitz/Getty Images

Leanza Cornett, who was crowned Miss America in 1993, died on Oct. 28 after being hospitalized due to a head injury she sustained after a fall. She was 49. After winning the title of Miss America, Cornett appeared in several television series, including Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Grown Ups, The Tick, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Weeds.

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Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe Shaver
Daniel Knighton/FilmMagic

Outlaw country singer/songwriter Billy Joe Shaver died in Waco, Texas, on Oct. 28 after suffering a massive stroke. Shaver found success as a performer but was more famously known for writing some of the biggest hits performed by superstars like Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson.

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Jerry Jeff Walker

Jerry Jeff Walker
Erika Goldring/Getty Images

Jerry Jeff Walker, a singer-songwriter and influential country musician known for penning the popular song "Mr. Bojangles," died Oct. 23 after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 78. Walker was a well-known figure in the Austin, Texas music scene and helped pioneer the "outlaw country" genre alongside such artists as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Michael Martin Murphey.

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William Blinn

William Blinn
Kevin Parry/WireImage

William Blinn, a veteran TV writer, died Oct. 22 at age 83. A two-time Emmy winner for Roots and the acclaimed television film Brian's Song, Blinn was also known for co-writing the Prince film Purple Rain and creating the hit 1970s cop show Starsky & Hutch.

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Marge Champion

Image
Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection

Disney legend Marge Champion died on Oct. 21 at age 101. Champion was a renowned dancer, actress, and character model for animated figures in animated classics Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Fantasia. Her subsequent career saw her acting in small roles, and she later won an Emmy for choreographing the 1975 television film Queen of the Stardust Ballroom. She also performed on Broadway, with her final stage appearance coming at age 82 in Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

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Spencer Davis

Spencer Davis
Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Spencer Davis, the British rock musician whose namesake band turned out such '60s hits as "Gimme Some Lovin'," "I'm a Man," and "Keep on Running," died from pneumonia on Oct. 19 at 81. Davis found moderate success as a solo artist after the Spencer Davis Group split which led to him pivoting behind the scenes. He took a job with Island Records as an A&R where he helped develop artists like Bob Marley and Robert Palmer.

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Tony Lewis

Tony Lewis
Manny Hernandez/Getty Images

Musician Tony Lewis, vocalist and bass player for the British band The Outfield, died "suddenly and unexpectedly" on Oct. 19 at the age of 62. The Outfield's 1985 debut album Play Deep became a multi-platinum selling album with hits like "Your Love" and "All the Love." Despite only reaching No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1986, "Your Love" has become a widely known classic used in many TV spots, commercials, and films. In recent years, Lewis began releasing music as a solo artist, including his 2018 album Out of the Darkness and 2020 EP, UnpluggedThe Acoustic Sessions.

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James Redford

James Redford
Jeff Vespa/WireImage

James Redford, a filmmaker, activist, and the son of Robert Redford, died on Oct. 16 from cancer at the age of 58. The filmmaker often focused on the environment, science, and education, in documentaries he directed and produced, like The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia, Paper Tigers, Resilience, and 2017's Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution.

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Anthony Chisholm

Anthony Chisolm
Walter McBride/WireImage

Anthony Chisholm, a veteran actor of stage, film, and television and frequent collaborator of playwright August Wilson, died Oct. 16 at age 77. He appeared in such films as the cult classic Putney Swope and Spike Lee's Chi-Raq and played Burr Redding on HBO's Oz for three seasons. On stage, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Wilson's Radio Golf.

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Rhonda Fleming

Rhonda Fleming
Archive Photos/Getty Images

Rhonda Fleming, a classic film star once known as the "Queen of Technicolor," died on Oct. 14 due to complications from aspiration pneumonia. She was 97. Fleming was beloved by audiences for her presence in Technicolor movies, most notably 1949's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, opposite Bing Crosby. Some of her many film roles include Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, Cry Danger, While the City Sleeps, The Killer Is Loose, Inferno, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and The Redhead and the Cowboy.

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Saint Dog (Steven Thronson)

sqint dog
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Saint Dog, a founding member of the hip-hop collective Kottonmouth Kings, was found dead at his home on Oct. 13. He was 44. Saint Dog founded the Kottonmouth Kings in 1996 with D-Loc, Johnny Richter, Daddy X, Lou Dog, and DJ Bobby B. He appeared in the band's first three projects: Stoners Reeking Havoc, Royal Highness, and Hidden Stash. Saint Dog also contributed to Mile High, Krown Power, and the group's last album, 2018's Kingdom Come.

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Conchata Ferrell

Conchata Ferrell
Lester Cohen/WireImage

Conchata Ferrell, the character actress known for her role as the witty housekeeper Berta on Two and a Half Men, died Oct. 12 of complications from a cardiac arrest after several months in poor health. She was 77. Ferrell appeared in over 100 films and TV shows, including Mystic Pizza, Edward Scissorhands, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Friends, and had a rare leading role in the acclaimed 1979 film Heartland, alongside Rip Torn.

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Tom Kennedy

tom kennedy
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Tom Kennedy, a veteran host of game shows like Name That Tune and Split Second, died after a long illness on Oct.7. He was 93. Kennedy hosted 16 shows between 1958 and 1987, including Name That Tune, Split Second, You Don't Say!, and Dr. I.Q. He also acted in shows like That Girl, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Hardcastle and McCormick, and stage productions like The Odd Couple, Tunnel of Love, and There's a Girl in My Soup.

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Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Eddie Van Halen, influential guitarist and founding member of his namesake rock band Van Halen, died Oct. 6 from throat cancer. He was 65.

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Johnny Nash

Johnny Nash
Michael Putland/Getty Images

Johnny Nash, the singer and songwriter best known for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now," died from natural causes at his home on Oct. 6. He was 80. Nash began his pop music career in the 1950s and made his major-label debut with the 1957 single "A Teenager Sings the Blues." His other notable songs included "Hold Me Tight," "You Got Soul," "Rock Me, Baby," and covers of Doris Day's "A Very Special Love" and Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World."

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Margaret Nolan

Margaret Nolan
Silver Screen Collection/Getty

Actress Margaret Nolan, who appeared onscreen alongside James Bond and the Beatles, died from cancer on Oct. 5. She was 76. The English performer was best known for playing Bond's masseuse Dink in Goldfinger and for appearing as the gold-painted model in the 1964 film's title sequence. She also appeared in the Beatles' musical comedy film A Hard Day's Night.

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Kenzo Takada

Kenzo
JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

Kenzo Takada, founder of the luxury Kenzo Global Brand, died due to complications from coronavirus on Oct. 4. He was 81. Takada was a renowned Japanese-French designer who made his Paris debut with his eponymous collection featuring the trademark mix of patterns and loud colors he was famous for in the 1970s. Not even retirement could keep Takada from following his passion. In January, he announced the launch of the home and lifestyle brand K3 with a focus on interior design.

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Daisy Coleman

Daisy Coleman
Randy Shropshire/WireImage

Daisy Coleman, activist and documentary subject, died by suicide on Oct. 4 at the age of 23. Coleman shared her experience as a rape survivor and the subsequent abuse and cyberbullying she endured as a result of coming forward in the 2016 Netflix documentary Audrie & Daisy.

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Thomas Jefferson Byrd

Thomas Jefferson Byrd
Paul Zimmerman/WireImage

Thomas Jefferson Byrd, a Tony Award-nominated actor who appeared in numerous Spike Lee movies, was killed on Oct. 3. He was 70. Byrd also appeared in films like F. Gary Gray's 1996 movie Set It Off, Antoine Fuqua's 2009 flick Brooklyn's Finest, the Lee-created Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, and The Last O.G. in 2020. He scored a Tony nomination for Best Actor in 2003 for a revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

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Clark Middleton

clark middleton
Will Hart/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal

Actor Clark Middleton, best known for appearing in The Blacklist and the recent Twin Peaks revival, died on Oct. 4 from the West Nile Virus. He was 63. His other TV credits include Fringe, The Path, Law & Order, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., American Gods, and Gotham. On the big screen, Middleton appeared in films like Sin City, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Snowpiercer, and Birdman.

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Mac Davis

Mac Davis
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Mac Davis, the pop-country musician and occasional actor who wrote hits for Elvis Presley and a few in his own name as well, died following heart surgery on Sept. 29 at the age of 78. His biggest solo hit was 1972's "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and found crossover success on the country charts. Davis made his acting debut in the 1979 comedy North Dallas Forty, starring Nick Nolte. In recent years, he collaborated with 21st-century pop stars like Avicii ("Addicted to You") and Bruno Mars ("Young Girls").

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Bonni Lou Kern

Bonni Lou Kern
Bonni Lou Kern. Roberts Funeral Home

Bonni Lou Kern, one of the original Mouseketeers on The Mickey Mouse Club, died Sept. 28 at age 79. Kern rose to fame when she appeared as a Mouseketeer in Disney's The Wonder Mouseketeers! At just 14 years old, Kern starred in the inaugural episode and she went on to appear in the spin-off film Save the Wonder Mouseketeers! During her time with Disney, Kern was presented with the Mouse car Award—the highest honor bestowed by the company—as well as the key to Fantasyland, according to her family.

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Helen Reddy

helen reddy
Tony Russell/Redferns

Helen Reddy, the 1970s pop star and cultural icon behind the hit song "I Am Woman," died Sept. 29, at age 78. Australian-born Reddy was regarded as a queen of 1970s pop, reigning as the world's top-selling female singer in 1973 and 1974. Her biggest hit, 1971's ″I Am Woman,″ catapulted Reddy to new heights as a feminist icon, and the song became the unofficial anthem of the women's movement. Her other hits included ″Delta Dawn,″ ″Angie Baby,″ Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress),″ and ″Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady.″ Reddy also made waves on screen, starring in her own weekly television variety program, The Helen Reddy Show, and appearing in Disney's Pete's Dragon and Airport 1975.

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Tommy DeVito

Tommy DeVito
Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images

Tommy DeVito, a founding member of the 60s group the Four Seasons, died from COVID-19 on Sept. 21. He was 92. During DeVito's tenure with the group, alongside Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, and Nick Massi, they climbed the charts with hit songs "Big Girls Don't Cry," and "Sherry."

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Michael Lonsdale

Moonraker
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Michael Lonsdale died on Sept. 21 at age 89. The actor was best known for playing villainous Hugo Drax opposite Roger Moore's 007 in the 1979 James Bond adventure Moonraker. His many other film credits included The Day of the Jackal, Ronin, The Remains of the Day, Munich, and Of Gods and Men, for which he won a César award. On the small screen, Lonsdale appeared in the 1982 miniseries Smiley's People, based on the John le Carré novel of the same name.

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Jackie Stallone

sylvester stallone with his mom
E. Charbonneau/WireImage

Jackie Stallone, entertainer and Sylvester Stallone's mother, died in her sleep on Sept. 21. She was 98. While known as the mom of the Rocky star and musician Frank Stallone, she had a notable career in her own right. She starred in the '80s wrestling show GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the organization which later inspired the Netflix series of the same name. Stallone was also an astrologist who published books, appeared on television, and had her own psychic hotline.

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Yuko Takeuchi

Yuko Takeuchi
Sports Nippon/Getty Images

Japanese actress Yuko Takeuchi — who helped break barriers as the lead of HBO's female-led Sherlock Holmes adaptation Miss Sherlockdied on Sept. 20 from an apparent suicide. She was 40. In addition to her prolific career in Japanese television dramas. Takeuchi appeared in a small role in Hideo Nakata's J-horror hit Ringu, which inspired Gore Verbinski's 2002 English-language remake The Ring starring Naomi Watts.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Kevork Djansezian/Getty

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Sept. 18 at the age of 87 from complications of metastatic pancreas cancer. Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a longtime legal champion of gender equality. She was appointed to the court by President Clinton in 1993. In her later years, she became a pop culture icon, referred to as "The Notorious RBG." Ginsburg was portrayed in 2018's On the Basis of Sex and in the same year was the subject of the documentary RBG.

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Georgia Dobbins

Georgia Dobbins
Facebook

Georgia Dobbins, co-writer of Motown's first No. 1 hit "Please Mr. Postman" as part of The Marvelettes, died on Sept. 18 from cardiac arrest. She was 78. Even though Dobbins spent a short time with the quintet she helped found in the early 1960s, it was thanks to "Please Mr. Postman" that record executive Berry Gordy, Jr. gave the group a contract at his Motown Records.

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Jeremy Hutchins

Jeremy Hutchins
Courtesy of Hutchins family

Jeremy Hutchins, the showrunner for Entertainment Weekly's Quibi series Last Night's Late Night, died on Sept. 15. He was 37. Hutchins was a veteran television producer, having worked on The View, 106 & Park, Ice & Coco, post-shows for the BET and Soul Train Awards, Kandi Koated Nights, and After-Trek, a post-show for Star Trek: Discovery for CBS All Access.

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Toots Hibbert

Toots Hibbert
Michael Putland/Getty Images

Reggae legend Toots Hibbert died on Sept. 11 while in a medically induced coma. He had been hospitalized a month prior with symptoms of coronavirus. He was 77. As the frontman of Toots & the Maytals, Hibbert released a string of classic singles including "Monkey Man," "Sweet and Dandy," and "Pressure Drop," which was subsequently covered by The Clash. In 2004, Toots & the Maytals won a Grammy for the album True Love, which featured re-recordings of the group's best-known tracks and a guest list of musicians, which included Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and Keith Richards.

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Stevie Lee

Stevie Lee
GoFundMe

Professional wrestler and actor Stevie Lee (born Stevie Lee Richardson), who performed under the name "Puppet the Psycho Dwarf" in the ring, died from a heart attack on Sept. 11. He was 54. Lee began his wrestling career on NWA: Total Nonstop Action in 2002 and went on to create the Half Pint Brawlers wrestling company, which secured its own reality series on Spike TV in 2010. He also appeared in Jackass 3D that year. Lee had several other acting credits, including Oz the Great and Powerful and American Horror Story: Freak Show.

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Diana Rigg

Diana Rigg Memorable roles
Terry Disney/Express/Getty Images

Dame Diana Rigg died at the age of 82. According to her agent, the British actress died peacefully at her home with her family on Sept. 10. Rigg initially found fame in the U.K. playing Emma Peel opposite Patrick Macnee's John Steed in the classic adventure show The Avengers. In 1969, she starred with George Lazenby in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service. While the film itself would be much-maligned, Rigg's performance as Tracy Bond has become a favorite among 007 fans. In more recent years, the actress played fan-favorite Olenna Tyrell in HBO's Game of Thrones.

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Ronald "Khalis" Bell

Ronald Bell
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Ronald "Khalis" Bell, a founding member of Kool & the Gang and a driving force behind many of the band's greatest hits, died on Sept. 9. He was 68. Bell formed the group that would become Kool & the Gang with his brother Robert "Kool" Bell in 1964, along with Dennis "D.T." Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. Bell was co-writer, arranger, and producer on "Ladies' Night," "Get Down on It," and the legendary No. 1 single "Celebration."

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Kevin Dobson

Kevin Dobson
Robin Marchant/FilmMagic

Actor Kevin Dobson, best known for starring in TV dramas like Kojak and Knots Landing, died Sept. 6 of a heart attack. He was 77. Dobson starred as Det. Bobby Crocker on the popular CBS crime drama Kojak from 1973 to 1978. The network was also home to Knots Landing, the soap the actor appeared in as M. Patrick "Mack" Mackenzie from 1982 to 1993. Dobson won five Soap Opera Digest Awards for the role, including Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role: Prime Time. Later on in his career, Dobson made guest appearances on series like House of Lies and Anger Management, and his last role was in the upcoming sci-fi series 12 to Midnight.

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Bruce Williamson

Bruce Williamson
Marc Broussely/Redferns

The one-time lead singer of Motown group The Temptations died Sept. 6 at the age of 49 following a reported battle with COVID-19. Williamson was a member of The Temptations from 2006 to 2015. As a Temptation, Williamson led the group in both concert and television performances. He featured on Temptations albums Back to Front and Still Here, as well as joined the group in a cameo in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

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Erick Morillo

DJ Erick Morillo
Matthew Eisman/Getty Images

Erick Morillo, the DJ and producer known for his upbeat 1994 hit "I Like to Move It," was found dead in Miami on Sept. 1. A cause of death was not immediately available.

Released under the stage name Reel 2 Real and featuring vocals by the Mad Stuntman, "I Like to Move It" propelled Morillo toward becoming a prominent member of the international house community. He was a three-time winner of Best House DJ at the DJ Awards, the most recent win being in 2009. The week of his death, Morillo was set to appear in court after being charged with sexual battery earlier in the year.

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Cliff Robinson

Survivor | Age: 46 Tribe: Brawn Current Residence: Newark, N.J. Occupation: Former NBA All-Star from the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, and…
Monty Brinton/CBS

Clifford Robinson, an 18-year veteran of the NBA and onetime contestant on Survivor, died on Aug. 29 from lymphoma at 53. Robinson played eight seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers beginning in 1989, helping the team reach the finals in 1990 and 1992 and the playoffs all eight years. After retiring in 2007, he was a contestant on the 28th season of Survivor, Brains vs. Brauns vs. Beauty, in 2014, becoming the fifth person to be eliminated that season.

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Chadwick Boseman

Chadwick Boseman
Victoria Will/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Chadwick Boseman, who played Marvel superhero T'Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, in 2018's Black Panther, died at 43 of complications from colon cancer, it was announced on Aug. 28. The charismatic actor built his career playing historic Black icons, including barrier-breaking baseball player Jackie Robinson in 42, music icon James Brown in Get on Up, and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall. Boseman also appeared as T'Challa in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and most recently, he starred in the crime drama 21 Bridges and Spike Lee's war drama Da 5 Bloods. He completed filming on the upcoming Netflix film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which is based on August Wilson's play and is expected to be Boseman's final film appearance.

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Riley Gale

Riley Gale
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Riley Gale, who is best known as the lead singer of thrash metal band Power Trip, died on Aug. 24 at age 34. A cause of death was not immediately known. Gale helped form the band in 2008. In 2009, their first EP Armageddon Blues was released and was followed up by another EP, Power Trip, two years later. They went on to release two albums on Southern Lord: their 2013 debut Manifest Decimation and 2017's Nightmare Logic. This was followed by a compilation album, Opening Fire: 20082014, in 2018. In 2019, Power Trip tweeted that they were at work on their third album.

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Justin Townes Earle

Justin Townes Earle
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Award-winning Americana singer and songwriter Justin Townes Earle died at the age of 38. His first EP, Yuma, was released in 2007, and he released his full-length debut, The Good Life, the following year. He won the Americana Music Association's Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2009, and he won Song of the Year there in 2011 for his "Harlem River Blues." That song came off his third studio album of the same name, which was his highest debut on the Billboard 200 charts at 47. In total, he released eight full-length albums. His last, The Saint of Lost Causes, was released in May 2019.

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Jack Sherman

Jack Sherman
Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Jack Sherman, a guitarist who played on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' debut album, died Aug. 18 of undisclosed causes. He was 64. The band announced Sherman's death on social media, writing, "We of the RHCP family would like to wish Jack Sherman smooth sailing into the worlds beyond, for he has passed... He was a unique dude and we thank him for all times good, bad, and in between."

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Frankie Banali

Frankie Banali
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Frankie Banali, best known as the drummer for Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P, died Aug. 20 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 68. Banali joined Quiet Riot in 1982 and played on the group's breakthrough album Metal Health, which was the first heavy metal album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Banali was the only member of the group to play on every single one of their albums since Metal Health and took over managing the band in 1993. He was also a longtime advocate for animal rescue, a spokesperson for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and a sponsor of Children International.

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Chi Chi DeVayne

Chi Chi Devayne
Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

RuPaul's Drag Race star Chi Chi DeVayne died at age 34, EW learned on Aug. 20. DeVayne—the stage name of Zavion Davenport—was an accomplished entertainer who competed in season 8 of Drag Race and returned for All-Stars 3. DeVayne had been hospitalized with suspected kidney failure. In addition to her appearances on RuPaul's Drag Race, DeVayne had a small part in season 1 of the Apple TV+ anthology dramedy Little America, appeared on fellow Drag Race alum Yuhua Hamasaki's Bootleg Opinions YouTube series, and guested on an episode of the popular queer talk show Hey Qween in addition to her various performing gigs and tours as a drag artist.

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Ben Cross

Ben Cross
Michael Bezjian/WireImage

The veteran actor who starred in Chariots of Fire and appeared as Spock's dad in 2009's Star Trek died at the age of 72.

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Linda Manz

Linda Manz
Everett Collection

Linda Manz, an actress known for her roles in Out of the Blue and Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, died on Aug. 14 after a battle with lung cancer and pneumonia. She was 58.

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Trini Lopez

Trini Lopez
Peter Bischoff/Getty Images

Trini Lopez, the singer and actor known for his rendition of "If I Had a Hammer" and his role in The Dirty Dozen, died Aug. 11 from complications of COVID-19 in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 83.

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Raymond Allen

Raymond G. Allen
NBC

Raymond Allen, who appeared in Good Times and Sanford and Son, died from respiratory issues not related to COVID-19 on Aug. 10. He was 91.

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Brent Carver

Brent Carver
Walter McBride/WireImage

Brent Carver, the Canadian actor who won a Tony Award for his performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman, died on Aug. 4 at the age of 68. Carver won the Lead Actor in a Musical Tony for the production in 1993 alongside Chita Rivera. He also appeared on the small screen in the short-lived CBS series Leo and Me, as Ichabod Crane in a televised movie of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, in Michael Anderson's 1989 movie Millennium, in the "Room 2426" episode of The Twilight Zone, and in Greg Strangis' TV series adaptation of War of the Worlds.

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Wilford Brimley

Wildford Brimley
Bobby Bank/Getty Images

Actor Wilford Brimley died Aug. 1 in Utah, the Associated Press reported. Brimley's many movie credits included The Thing, The Natural, Hard Target, The Firm, and Cocoon. The star passed away after battling a kidney ailment. He was 85.

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Reni Santoni

Reni Santoni
NBC

Reni Santoni, known for his roles in Dirty Harry and Seinfield, died on Aug. 1 at the age of 81 from natural causes after several months in hospice care in Los Angeles. Santoni played Inspector Chico Gonzalez in Clint Eastwood's famous 1971 action flick, and delivered the famous line: "No wonder they call him Dirty Harry; [he] always gets the s--- end of the stick." He also appeared in four episodes of Seinfeld as Poppie the pizza chef. He had over 100 movie credits to his name, including roles in Eddie Murphy's Doctor Dolittle (1998), Sylvester Stallone's Cobra (1986), Sean Penn's Bad Boys (1983), and more.

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Alan Parker

Alan Parker
Everett Collection

British director Alan Parker died on July 31 at the age of 76 after battling a lengthy illness. The filmmaker's many—and varied—directorial credits included Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame, Shoot the Moon, Pink Floyd: The Wall, Angel Heart, Mississippi Burning, Evita, and Angela's Ashes. Parker was twice nominated for the Best Director Academy Award, for Midnight Express and Mississippi Burning.

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Mahlon Reyes

Mahlon Reyes
Mahlon Reyes/Facebook

Mahlon Reyes, a deckhand who worked on Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, died July 26 at the age of 38 following a heart attack. Reyes worked on multiple boats featured on Deadliest Catch across eight years on the show, which follows crab fishermen aboard their vessels on the Bering Sea.

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Malik B

Malik B
Noisey/YouTube

Rapper Malik B, a founding member of The Roots, died at age 47. No information about his cause of death is immediately available.

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Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland. Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Olivia de Havilland, classic star of Hollywood and two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Paris on July 26. She was 104. The actress is known for her portrayal of Melanie in Gone With the Wind.

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Regis Philbin

Regis Philbin

Legendary talk show host and three-time Daytime Emmy winner Regis Philbin died on July 24 at the age of 88. "His family and friends are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him—for his warmth, his legendary sense of humor, and his singular ability to make every day into something worth talking about," his family said in a statement to PEOPLE. "We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss."

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Peter Green

Peter Green
Ivan Keeman/Redferns

Peter Green, the singer-songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of Fleetwood Mac, died July 25 at the age of 73. Green was a renowned blues and rock guitarist and co-founded Fleetwood Mac in the late 1960s, penning many of the band's early hits including "Black Magic Woman" and "Oh Well."

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Phyllis Somerville

Phyllis Somerville
Matthew Peyton/Getty Images

Phyllis Somerville, a prolific character actress and a veteran of the stage and screen, died July 16 of natural causes at her home in New York City. She was 76. Over a nearly 50-year career, Somerville appeared in numerous films and TV shows including Little Children, The Sopranos, and The Big C, and worked with such heavyweight filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and Park Chan-wook.

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Royana Black

Royana Black
Royana Black. Facebook

Royana Black, an actress who starred in Broadway's Brighton Beach Memoirs, died on July 14 from acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 47. In addition to her leading role in Raising Miranda in 1988, Black's TV credits also included appearances on The Cosby Show, Touched by an Angel, and Touching Evil.

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Grant Imahara

Grant Imahara
Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic

MythBusters star Grant Imahara died on July 13 after a brain aneurysm. He was 49. The engineer joined the Discovery Channel series in season 3, quickly becoming a beloved member of the Build Team. After leaving MythBusters in 2014, he reunited with former costars Kari Byron and Tory Belleci on Netflix's science-based series White Rabbit Project in 2016. Behind the scenes, Imahara was known for his work at Lucasfilm's visual effects department, Industrial Light & Magic. He was involved in many of the Star Wars films, as well as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Van Helsing, and Matrix movies. He was credited with updating R2-D2's inner workings and operating the robot's movements for the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Imahara played Sulu in the fan-created web series Star Trek Continues and appeared in Syfy's Eureka, the web series The Guild, and a 2018 episode of Drunk History.

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Naya Rivera

Naya Rivera
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Glee star Naya Rivera was found dead on July 13 after going missing during a boat trip on a California lake, police confirmed. She was 33. She was reported missing on July 8 after spending the afternoon on Lake Piru in Ventura County, Calif., in a rented pontoon boat with her 4-year-old son, Josey Hollis Dorsey. The young boy was found alone on the drifting boat and told investigators that he and his mom were swimming together but she never got back into the boat. Dorsey is Rivera's only child from her four-year marriage to Ryan Dorsey. The couple divorced in 2018.

Rivera was best known for playing quick-witted cheerleader Santana Lopez on all six seasons of Fox's Glee. The California native got her start in Hollywood at the age of 4, playing Hillary Winson on the 1991 sitcom The Royal Family. She later had small roles on TV hits like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, Baywatch, and Even Stevens. After Glee concluded in 2015, Rivera released the single "Sorry" featuring her ex-fiancé, Big Sean. She made her film debut in At the Devil's Door in 2014. Most recently, she starred in Step Up: High Water, a YouTube Premium series based on the popular Step Up film franchise. Rivera also released a memoir, Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing, in 2016.

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Kelly Preston

Kelly Preston
Jim Spellman/WireImage

Actress Kelly Preston died on July 12 at age 57 after a 2-year battle with breast cancer. Preston, who was married to John Travolta, was known for such films as Jerry Maguire, For Love of the Game, Twins, What a Girl Wants, and many more. Her final film role was 2018's Gotti, in which she appeared as the wife of Mafia boss John Gotti, played in the film by Travolta. Preston is survived by Travolta and their children, daughter Ella, 20, and 9-year-old son Benjamin. Son Jett died at age 16 in January 2009.

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Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels
Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Country music and southern rock legend Charlie Daniels died on July 6 from a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83. The Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member released 32 studio albums between 1970 and 2016, and a multitude of compilation and holiday albums. The biggest hit of his career is 1979's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," which earned him his first and only Grammy Award.

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Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone
Roberto Serra - Iguana Press/Redferns via Getty Images

Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning Italian composer of more than 500 film scores, including The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, The Untouchables, and Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, died in Rome on July 6, at the age of 91. Over the course of his glorious career, Morricone became a national hero in his native Italy and, in America, was nominated for six Oscars—winning only once, for The Hateful Eight. In 2007, he was also the recipient of an honorary statuette from the Academy.

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Nick Cordero

Nick Cordero
Noam Galai/WireImage

Broadway actor Nick Cordero died July 5 from coronavirus complications after battling the illness for over 90 days in the hospital. The 41-year-old had previously gotten his leg amputated after being placed in a medically induced coma. Cordero, who earned a Tony nod for his role in Bullets Over Broadway, was remembered by Zach Braff, Viola Davis, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and others.

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Earl Cameron

Earl Cameron
Mary Evans/EALING STUDIOS/RANK ORGANISATION/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection

Earl Cameron, the trailblazing actor considered Britain's first Black movie star, died July 3 at age 102. Cameron broke racial boundaries in British cinema with his breakthrough role in 1951's Pool of London, which featured the first depiction of an interracial relationship in a British film, and the first leading role for a Black actor in a mainstream movie in the country. His later roles included an African dictator in The Interpreter, a royal portrait artist in The Queen, and an elderly man in Inception, his final onscreen appearance.

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Hugh Downs

HUGH DOWNS
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Broadcasting legend Hugh Downs died July 1 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 99. Downs first gained fame as Jack Paar's announcer-sidekick on The Tonight Show and went on to co-host the Today show from 1962 to 1971, and ABC's 20/20 from 1978 until his retirement in 1999.

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Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner
Douglas Gorenstein/NBC

Carl Reiner, whose legendary career as a comedy writer, director, and performer stretched across more than six decades, died of natural causes on June 29 at the age of 98. Reiner's work spanned television, film, and the stage, earning him nine Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

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Benny Mardones

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Benny Mardones, the singer-songwriter behind the 1980 ballad "Into the Night" died June 19 at the age of 73. Mardones released three major albums during his lifetime, but his legacy is most associated with his song "Into the Night," which hit the Billboard charts on three separate occasions.

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Joel Schumacher

Joel Schumacher
Everett Collection

Director Joel Schumacher died June 22 at 80. The New York-born filmmaker whose credits included The Lost Boys, Falling Down, A Time to Kill, two Batman films, and many more, died quietly from cancer following a year-long battle with the disease.

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Ian Holm

Ian Holm
Paul Harris/Getty Images

British actor Ian Holm died at the age of 88 on June 19. Holm was best known for playing the android Ash in Ridley Scott's classic 1979 horror film Alien and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, He was suffering from a Parkinson's-related illness.

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Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

British singer Vera Lynn died on June 18 at the age of 103. Lynn became known as "the Forces' Sweetheart" during World War II when she performed for troops from the U.K. around the globe. Her best-known songs included "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "We'll Meet Again," Lynn's performance of which was featured, ironically, in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 black comedy Dr. Strangelove.

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Charles Webb

Charles Webb
Andrew Hasson/Photoshot/Getty Images

Author Charles Webb, whose debut novel The Graduate spawned the classic 1967 film adaptation, died on June 16 from a blood condition. He was 81. The Graduate, published in 1963, was Webb's most famous work, thanks to the Mike Nichols-directed production starring Dustin Hoffman. In 2007, Webb published a sequel to The Graduate, titled Home School.

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Sushant Singh Rajput

Sushant Singh Rajput
Raajessh Kashyap/Hindustan Times via Getty Image

Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai home on June 14. Local police are calling his death a suicide but continue to investigate. Singh Rajput began his career on television before moving on to Bollywood films. He was 34.

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Galyn Görg

Galyn Gorg
Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic

Actress and dancer Galyn Görg died after a battle with cancer on June 14. She was 55. One of Görg's first notable television roles came on ABC's Twin Peaks in 1990. She played Nancy O'Reilly, Blackie O'Reilly's sister and Jean Renault's love interest. She also starred as Lt. Leora Maxwell for 22 episodes on the 1994–95 Fox sci-fi series M.A.N.T.I.S. In 1996, she memorably took on Will Smith in a boxing ring on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. More recently, she appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Lost, Parks and Recreation, and How to Get Away With Murder. On the film side, she played Angie in the 1990 film RoboCop 2, and Margarita in 1991's Point Break. In 2018, she had a role in the Vivica A. Fox thriller The Wrong Friend.

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Jas Waters

Jas Waters
Jas Waters. Twitter

Jas Waters, a writer on This Is Us, died June 9 at 39. The news of her death was confirmed by her This Is Us family on June 10. In addition to the hit NBC drama, Waters worked on shows such as Kidding, Hood Adjacent With James Davis, and The Breaks.

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Bonnie Pointer

Bonnie POINTER
Echoes/Redferns

Bonnie Pointer, who became a star as part of the Grammy-winning group the Pointer Sisters, died on June 8 at age 69. No cause of death has been announced.

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Mary Pat Gleason

Mary Pat Gleason
Jeff Schear/FilmMagic

Character actress Mary Pat Gleason died June 2 at 70. Her list of acting credits was extensive, but most recently, she had a lengthy recurring role on CBS' Mom. Gleason would be recognizable to audiences for numerous memorable TV roles, including French teacher Madame Oeuf on Saved by the Bell, dressing room attendant Lucille on Sex and the City, elementary school teacher Mrs. Butters on Desperate Housewives, and homeless woman Sally on Will & Grace. She also appeared in several films, including A Cinderella Story, Intolerable Cruelty, The Crucible, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

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Chris Trousdale

Chris Trousdale
Maury Phillips/WireImage

Chris Trousdale, the recording artist and actor best known as a member of the boy band Dream Street, died June 2 from an undisclosed illness. He was 34. Alongside Jesse McCartney, Greg Raposo, Matt Ballinger, and Frankie Galasso, Trousdale found success as a member of Dream Street when he was only 14. Returning to Hollywood in 2011, he guest-starred on several series, including Days of Our Lives, Shake It Off, Austin & Ally, and Lucifer.

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Peggy Pope

Peggy Pope
Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Peggy Pope, a veteran character actress known for playing alcoholic secretary Margaret in 9 to 5, died May 27 of undisclosed causes. She was 91. Pope had a prolific career on stage and screen, including appearing alongside Jimmy Stewart in a revival of Harvey in 1970, but was best known for her 9 to 5 role, which spawned the memorable catchphrase, "Atta girl!"

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Richard Herd

RICHARD HERD
Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives

Veteran character actor Richard Herd died May 26 from cancer at the age of 87. Herd was best known for his portrayal of Mr. Wilhelm, George Costanza's boss at the New York Yankees, on 11 episodes of Seinfeld. He also made memorable appearances in films like The China Syndrome and All the President's Men. More recently, he featured as a member of the ensemble cast in Betty White's Off Their Rockers and in Oscar-winner Get Out.

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Gregory Tyree Boyce

Gregory Tyree Boyce
Michael Bezjian/WireImage

Gregory Tyree Boyce, who played high school student Tyler Crowley in Twilight, was found dead alongside his girlfriend Natalie Adepoju in Las Vegas on May 13. Their deaths were ruled accidental and caused by fentanyl and cocaine intoxication. He was 30 and she was 27.

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Ken Osmond

Ken Osmond
CBS via Getty Images

Ken Osmond, who portrayed troublemaker Eddie Haskell in Leave It to Beaver died at his Los Angeles home on May 18. No cause of death has been released. Osmond reprised his famous role multiple times in TV and film alongside the original cast in the 1980s. Osmond also spent years as an L.A.P.D. motorcycle officer until his retirement from the force in 1988.

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Fred Willard

Fred Willard
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images

Comedy legend Fred Willard, known for his performances in Christopher Guest's many mockumentaries and on Modern Family and Everybody Loves Raymond, died May 15 of natural causes. A prolific actor who worked on hundreds of projects over a 50-plus-year career, Willard was widely beloved in the entertainment industry for his comedic talent, purported kindness, and philanthropy.

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Lynn Shelton

Lynn Shelton
Fred Hayes/Getty Images

Lynn Shelton, the independent filmmaker and TV director who helmed episodes of Mad Men, GLOW, and Little Fires Everywhere, among many other shows, died May 15 due to a blood disorder. She was 54. In addition to her prolific TV work, Shelton was a prominent figure in the indie film community, with her directorial efforts including Humpday, Your Sister's Sister, and last year's Sword of Trust.

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Frank Bielec

Frank Bielec
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Interior designer Frank Bielec, who appeared on TLC and Discovery's Trading Spaces for its entire 2000–2008 run, as well as the 2018 reboot, died May 15 after suffering a heart attack the previous day. He was 72.

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Jerry Stiller

Jerry Stiller
M. Tran/FilmMagic

Jerry Stiller, the character actor who comprised half of a beloved husband-and-wife comedy team with Anne Meara and went on to have an unlikely late-career run playing barking TV curmudgeons on Seinfeld and The King of Queens, died of natural causes, his son, actor Ben Stiller, announced on May 11. He was 92.

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Betty Wright

Betty Wright

Legendary soul and R&B singer Betty Wright died on May 10. She was 66. Her cause of death has yet to be released. Wright, a Miami native, has been singing since the age of 2 when she performed with her siblings as part of the gospel group Echoes of Joy. The Grammy Award winner not only wrote hits for herself but for others including Gloria Estefan, Joss Stone, and Jennifer Lopez. She is survived by her four children.

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Andre Harrell

Andre Harrell
Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Andre Harrell, a veteran music executive known for founding the popular hip-hop label Uptown Records and a longtime associate of Sean "Diddy" Combs, died May 8 at age 59. Harrell was a popular and influential figure in the music industry, helping shepherd such artists as Mary J. Blige and The Notorious B.I.G. to success.

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Little Richard

Little RIchard
Little Richard on 'The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour' on Oct. 1, 1971.

Little Richard, one of the foremost originators of rock and roll, died May 9 at age 87. Little Richard's ecstatic, flamboyant performance style single-handedly paved the way for generations of popular music entertainers, from the Beatles to Elton John to Prince. With his trailblazing run of singles in the mid-'50s, which included hits like "Long Tall Sally," "Tutti Frutti," "Slippin & Slidin," and "Jenny, Jenny," Little Richard helped establish the very core of rock and roll's original American songbook, providing the genre with several of its first-ever bona fide standards.

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Roy Horn

roy horn
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Illusionist Roy Horn, best known for his work as half of Siegfried & Roy, died at 75 on May 8 from complications of COVID-19. It was first announced that he was undergoing treatment for the illness on April 28. Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher created a popular Las Vegas show that ran from 1990 until 2003. The show famously came to an abrupt end when Horn was mauled on stage by a tiger during one of their acts.

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Brian Howe

Brian Howe
John Atashian/Getty Images

British rocker Brian Howe died on May 5 from cardiac arrest. He was 66. Howe was discovered by one of the producers for musician Ted Nugent and was briefly the lead singer of Nugent's band in 1984. In 1986, Howe joined the U.K. band Bad Company as their new lead singer and went on to co-write most of their platinum 1990 album Holy Water. Though he left Bad Company in 1994 due to creative differences, he remained a touring musician for the rest of his life, releasing three solo albums, and a 2017 single titled "Hot Tin Roof."

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Cady Groves

Cady Groves
Mediapunch/Shutterstock

Country singer Cady Groves died May 2 at age 30. She is believed to have died from natural causes, according to her brother Cody Groves. "The medical examiner has completed an autopsy and there was no indication of foul play or self-harm," he posted after his sister was found dead by a roommate in Nashville. "She had some medical problems last fall and our best guess at this point until further testing is complete is that they resurfaced."

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Florian Schneider

Florian Schneider
Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Florian Schneider, co-founder of the groundbreaking electronic band Kraftwerk, died of cancer on April 30—just a few weeks after his 73rd birthday. The German musician formed Kraftwerk with Ralf Alf Hütter in 1970, briefly leaving the group in 2008, before they went on to receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014, and their first Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album in 2018.

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Sam Lloyd

Sam Lloyd
Trae Patton/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Sam Lloyd, the actor best known for his portrayal of hangdog attorney Ted Buckland on Scrubs, died from cancer on May 1, at 56. Lloyd was a steady screen presence for three decades, appearing in TV shows and movies, including Cougar Town, Modern Family, Desperate Housewives, The West Wing, and Galaxy Quest. He was beloved for his portrayal of singing lawyer Ted Buckland on NBC's Scrubs, appearing in 95 episodes and reprising the role on ABC's Cougar Town.

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B.J. Hogg

B.J. Hogg
HBO

B.J. Hogg, a Northern Irish actor whose credits included the high-profile TV dramas Game of Thrones and The Fall, died on April 30 at 65. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Hogg portrayed Addam Marbrand, a bannerman of House Lannister, in the first season of HBO's hit fantasy series, and appeared in the first and third seasons of the crime drama The Fall. He also had small parts in the films City of Ember and Hunger.

Many U.K. viewers, however, know Hogg best from the long-running BBC Northern Ireland comedy series Give My Head Peace. He starred as Big Mervyn on the show for 20 years, and recently joined the cast for the stage tour.

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Irrfan Khan

Irrfan Khan
Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images

The Bollywood icon and star of films like Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire died at the age of 53 on April 29 after a long battle with cancer, specifically a neuroendocrine tumor. He was known to U.S. audiences for parts across Jurassic World, Inferno, and The Darjeeling Limited, but he leaves a lasting impression on the Bollywood film space.

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John Lafia

John Lafia
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Filmmaker John Lafia was found dead from suicide on April 29 at the age of 63. Lafia's directing credits included the 1988 thriller Blue Iguana, the 1990 slasher sequel Child's Play 2, and the 1993 horror movie Man's Best Friend. Lafia also cowrote 1988's Child's Play, which introduced the character of the maniacal killer doll Chucky, with the film's director Tom Holland, and the character's creator Don Mancini.

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Ashley 'Ms. Minnie' Ross

Ashley "Minnie" Ross
Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Reality star Ashley Ross died in a Georgia car crash on April 27. She was 34. Known to her fans on Little Women: Atlanta as "Ms. Minnie," Ross was involved in a "hit-and-run accident" that took place on Old National Highway in the City of South Fulton on April 26. She was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she died the following day.

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Shirley Knight

Shirley Knight
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Shirley Knight, the prolific actress of stage and screen and a two-time Oscar nominee, died on April 22 of natural causes. She was 83. Knight's 60-year career spanned everything from Tennessee Williams to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and she was known for her Emmy-nominated role as Phyllis Van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives.

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Tom Lester

Tom Lester
CBS via Getty Images

Tom Lester, the actor and evangelist known for his portrayal of farmhand Ed Dawson on the 1960s sitcom Green Acres, died April 20 in Nashville from complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 81.

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Matthew Seligman

Matthew Seligman
Andy Sheppard/Redferns

English musician Matthew Seligman, who worked with David Bowie and other top names in the music industry as a bassist, died at London's St. George's University Hospital on April 17 from complications due to COVID-19. He was 64.

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Howard Finkel

Howard Finkel
Bob Levey/WireImage

Howard Finkel, longtime WWE announcer known to many adoring fans as "The Fink," died on April 16 at the age of 69. Finkel's booming voice became a staple crowning achievement for newly minted world champions, with a declarative "New World Champion" call. He stood toe-to-toe with many of WWE's biggest stars, including Hulk Hogan, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

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Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy
Mike Piscitelli

The Tony and Golden Globe winner of Death of a Salesman with a career spanning five decades died on April 15 of natural causes at the age of 81. Dennehy was known for starring opposite Sylvester Stallone in First Blood and opposite Chris Farley in Tommy Boy.

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Ranjit Chowdhry

Ranjit Chowdhr
John Hryniuk/Getty Images

Bollywood star and The Office actor Ranjit Chowdhry died on April 15 during emergency surgery in India. He was 64. He played telemarketer Vikram for two episodes on the NBC sitcom, and his other television roles included stints on Law & Order: SVU, Prison Break, and Girls. On the film side, he appeared in Last Holiday, Mississippi Masala, It Could Happen to You, and King of the Jungle, among others.

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Allen Daviau

Allen Daviau
Michael Buckner/Getty Images

Cinematographer Allen Daviau died from COVID-19 complications on April 15, at 77. The five-time Oscar nominee was best known for his work with director Steven Spielberg on such classics as E.T. and The Color Purple.

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Danny Goldman

Danny Goldman

Danny Goldman, the actor known for voicing Brainy Smurf on the animated series The Smurfs and portraying a persistent med student in Young Frankenstein, died on April 12 in Los Angeles. He was 80.

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Herb Stempel

Herb Stempel
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Herb Stempel, the infamous Queens man who exposed how the NBC game show Twenty-One was built on lies and deceit, died from undisclosed causes on April 7. He was 93.

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Thomas L. Miller

Thomas L. Miller
Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Prolific TV producer Thomas L. Miller, who developed such hits as Full House, Happy Days, and Family Matters over a seven-decade career, died on April 5 of complications from heart disease. He was 79. Later in his career, Miller moved to New York to become a Broadway producer, winning a Tony Award for Best Play for War Horse in 2011.

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Hal Willner

Hal Willner
Ebet Roberts/Redferns

Hal Willner, a music producer and Saturday Night Live music supervisor, died April 7 due to complications of coronavirus. He was 64. Willner produced albums for stars like Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, and Marianne Faithfull.

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John Prine

John Prine
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

John Prine, an esteemed country-folk singer-songwriter whose mordant wit camouflaged the profound seriousness of his work, died on April 7 due to complications from COVID-19. He was 73. Throughout his long career, he earned three Grammy Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award in January. In 2001, he starred opposite Billy Bob Thornton in Daddy & Them which also featured his song "In Spite of Ourselves" in the final credits. Prine was dubbed the "Mark Twain of American Songwriting" by Rolling Stone Magazine.

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Timothy Brown

Timmy Brown
Hunter Martin/Getty Images

Singer, professional football player, and actor, Timothy "Timmy" Brown died on April 4 due to complications from dementia. He was 82. While a star on the football field playing eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, he also worked steadily in Hollywood. He is one of three actors to appear in both the Robert Altman film M*A*S*H and the M*A*S*H TV series, playing Cpl. Judson and Capt. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones respectively. He also had film roles in Nashville, Losin' It, and Frequency, and appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Adam-12.

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James Drury

James Drury
Everett Collection

James Drury, star of popular Western series The Virginian, died on April 6 from natural causes. He was 85. He also worked on Elvis Presley's 1957 film debut Love Me Tender, alongside Pat Boone in 1957's Bernadine, ABC westerns Black Saddle and The Rebel, and NBC's Wagon Train before landing the role of ranch foreman in The Virginian, one of TV's longest-running Westerns. After nine years on the show, he returned to theater and guest-starred on various TV and film projects including The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Walker, Texas Ranger, Kung Fu: TLC, and Hell to Pay.

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Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman Goldfinger
Courtesy Everett Collection

British actress Honor Blackman died at the age of 94 from natural causes, her family announced on April 6. Blackman was best known for her role as Pussy Galore in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. She also played Cathy Gale opposite Patrick Macnee's John Steed in the '60s spy TV show The Avengers and had roles in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts and the British TV shows Doctor Who and Midsomer Murders.

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Jay Benedict

Jay Benedict
Ferdaus Shamim/WireImage

Actor Jay Benedict—who had roles in major movies from James Cameron's Aliens to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Risesdied on April 4 at age 68 after contracting coronavirus. Benedict played John Kieffer in the series Foyle's War and had an arc on the British series Emmerdale in the late '90s. He also did post-production audio work on series like Downton Abbey, Dickensian, Call the Midwife, and Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands through his Sync or Swim company, and lent his voice to video games, documentaries, and commercials on television and radio.

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Lee Fierro

Jaws
Universal Pictures

Lee Fierro, the actress best known for her memorable role in the classic 1975 film Jaws, died from complications relating to COVID-19. She was 91.

Fierro was a scene-stealer in Steven Spielberg's famous thriller, in which she played the mother of the great white shark's second victim. Her character was memorable for walking up to police chief Brody (Roy Scheider), lifting her black veil, and slapping him in the face. She also reprised the character in 1987's Jaws: The Revenge and appeared as herself in various documentaries about Jaws, including a TV docuseries celebrating the film's 25th anniversary. Her last film role came in 2016, in Harry Tappan Heher's The Mistover Tale.

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Shirley Douglas

Kiefer Sutherland and Shirley Douglas
George Pimentel/Getty Images

Shirley Douglas, a Canadian actress and mother of Kiefer Sutherland, died on April 5, the Designated Survivor star announced on Twitter. She was 86. Sutherland said she died due to complications from pneumonia unrelated to COVID-19. Douglas, who celebrated her birthday three days prior, was married to actor Donald Sutherland from 1966–1971. They had twins, Kiefer and Rachel. The actress was known for starring in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film Lolita and David Cronenberg's 1988 feature Dead Ringers. She won a Gemini Award, Canada's equivalent of the Emmy Award, for the 1999 TV film Shadow Lake. In 1999, she and her son Kiefer co-starred in the drama film Woman Wanted, which also featured Holly Hunter.

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Logan Williams

Logan Williams
IMDB

Logan Williams, the actor known for playing the young version of protagonist Barry Allen on the CW superhero drama The Flash, died suddenly on April 2. He was 16. His mother, Marlyse Williams, confirmed his death to the Tri-City News of British Columbia, saying the family is "absolutely devastated." She added that the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing restrictions have made the family's mourning even more difficult. "I am not able to hug my parents who lost their only grandchild," she said. "It's hard." Williams last appeared on The Flash in the season 2 premiere, which aired in 2015. He also starred as Miles Montgomery on When Calls the Heart from 2014 to 2016 and appeared in Supernatural, The Whispers, and the TV movie The Color of Rain.

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Ellis Marsalis

ellis marsalis
Leon Morris/Redferns

The New Orleans jazz legend died on April 1 from COVID-19 complications at age 85. A famed pianist, Marsalis released nearly 20 albums but was best known as a music educator. His past students included Harry Connick, Jr. and Terence Blanchard. The father of six was also the patriarch of a jazz dynasty, with four of his sons following in his musical footsteps. His son, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, said in a statement to EW: "My dad was a giant of a musician and teacher, but an even greater father. He poured everything he had into making us the best of what we could be."

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Adam Schlesinger

Adam Schlesinger
Mireya Acierto/Getty Images

Emmy and Grammy award-winning songwriter and Fountains of Wayne co-founder Adam Schlesinger died on April 1 of complications from coronavirus. He was 52. Schlesinger was best known as bassist and co-founder of Fountains of Wayne, the band behind the hit 2003 song "Stacy's Mom." He was nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar for the title track of 1996's That Thing You Do! He more recently found acclaim as a music producer on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, earning a total of five Emmy nominations, and winning three during his run on the series.

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Julie Bennett

Julie Bennett
Mark Scroggs

Veteran voiceover actress Julie Bennett, who famously voiced Cindy Bear on The Yogi Bear Show, died on March 31 in Los Angeles from COVID-19. She was 88.

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Andrew Jack

Andrew Jack
Lucasfilm

Andrew Jack, a longtime Hollywood dialect coach and actor who played a supporting role in the latest Star Wars film trilogy, died March 31 of complications from coronavirus. He was 76. Jack appeared as Major Ematt in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but his main craft was dialect coaching. In that capacity, his credits included Thor: Ragnarok, the third and fourth Avengers movies, the Lord of the Rings films, and Batman Begins.

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Bill Withers

Bill Withers
Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Bill Withers, the singer-songwriter behind such beloved '70s soul hits as "Lean On Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine," died on March 30 of heart complications. He was 81.

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Tomie dePaola

Tomie dePaola
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Tomie dePaola, the prolific author and illustrator of children's books known for creating the kindly Italian witch Strega Nona, died at 85 on March 30. DePaola wrote or illustrated almost 300 books over the course of a 55-year career, earning many awards, including Caldecott and Newbery honors, and selling more than 15 million copies worldwide. Awarding him the American Library Association's lifetime achievement award in 2011, committee chair Megan Schliesman said, "Tomie dePaola is masterful at creating seemingly simple stories that have surprising depth and reflect tremendous emotional honesty."

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Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki

Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, whose work could be heard in films like The Shining and The Exorcist, died on March 29 at his home in Kraków after "a long and serious illness." He was 86.

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William Dufris

Bob The Builder
Everett Collection; Inset: IMDB

William Dufris, the voice behind multiple characters on Bob the Builder in the United States and Canada, died on March 24 from cancer. He was 62. While Dufris is best known for voicing the title character and four others on Bob the Builder for nine seasons, he helped bring to life many other beloved animated figures throughout his career including the role of Peter Parker in Dirk Maggis' audio drama The Amazing Spider-Man.

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Terrence McNally

Terrence McNally
Al Pereira/Getty Images

Prolific playwright Terrence McNally, whose works included Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, Ragtime, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, died on March 24 from complications of coronavirus. He was 81.

McNally, a winner of four Tony Awards and recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, always seemed to cast an eye toward those who suffer for (or because of) their art as well the disenfranchised and regretful as the man behind the backbones of dozens of plays and musicals over the years, many of them considered modern touchstones, especially in his depictions of various generations of gay men, particularly in dealing with the life complication of a community's loss from AIDS and its aftermath, often handled in a thoughtful, seriocomic manner.

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Stuart Gordon

Stuart Gordon
Michael Kovac/WireImage

Stuart Gordon, director of Re-Animator and From Beyond, died on March 24 from multiple organ failure at the age of 72. Gordon co-created Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in 1989 for Disney and executive producer its sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid three years later. He was also behind many popular horror films in the '90s including Body Snatchers and The Dentist.

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Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers
Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Country music icon Kenny Rogers, known for hits like "Island in the Stream" and "The Gambler," died from natural causes. He was 81. His family confirmed his death on March 20 on Twitter. "The Rogers family is sad to announce that Kenny Rogers passed away last night at 10:25 PM at the age of 81," the tweet read. "Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family."

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Lyle Waggoner

Lyle Waggoner
Bobby Bank/Getty Images

Lyle Waggoner, the actor known for starring on TV's The Carol Burnett Show and Wonder Woman, died March 17 at 84 after a long battle with cancer.

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Lorenzo Brino

Lorenzo Brino
Lorenzo Brino/Twitter

Child star Lorenzo Brino died in an automobile accident on March 9 in San Bernadino, California. He was 21. Brino starred in the hit CW series 7th Heaven alongside his brother Nikolas as the youngest Camden children.

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Max von Sydow

USA - 84th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon

Max von Sydow died on March 8 at the age of 90. The actor's remarkably long career stretched back to the late '40s and featured appearances in a number of classic films including Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film The Seventh Seal, the same director's Oscar-winning 1960 movie The Virgin Spring, William Friedkin's infamous 1973 shocker The Exorcist, and 1986's Woody Allen-directed Hannah and Her Sisters. He was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in 1989's Pelle the Conqueror and secured a Best Supporting Actor nomination for 2011's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. More recently, von Sydow was cast as Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and as Three-Eyed Raven on HBO's Game of Thrones.

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Roscoe Born

ROSCOE BORN
Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Roscoe Born, a soap opera veteran known for his roles on The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives, died at age 69 on March 3. Born started his career in 1976 on an episode of the TV series Joe Forrester. He went on to make several other guest appearances before finding success on daytime TV, landing his first major role on Ryan's Hope, where he played Joe Novak. He then landed a gig on ABC's short-lived 1984 prime-time series Paper Dolls but returned to soaps where he received an Outstanding Supporting Actor Daytime Emmy nomination in 1990 for his portrayal of twin brothers Robert Barr and Quinn Armitage on Santa Barbara. Born also had stints of varying lengths on the daytime dramas All My Children, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, Days of Our Lives, One Life to Live, and The City.

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Bobbie Battista

Bobbie Battista
Acey Harper/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images

Pioneering CNN anchor Bobbie Battista died of cervical cancer on March 3. She was 67. Battista made her name as one of the anchors on CNN Headline News when the groundbreaking cable news network launched in 1981, but she worked on multiple shows on CNN, including TalkBack Live. Battista got her start as an anchor for Action News 5 on Raleigh, N.C.-based WRAL-TV. In addition to working on the Peabody-winning program Fed Up With Fear in 1981, Battista was nominated for multiple awards for Best Newscaster and won the distinction in an annual reader's poll in a 1986 issue of Cable Guide magazine.

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James Lipton

James Lipton
Anthony Behar/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

Longtime Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton died at his home in Manhattan on March 2. The 93-year-old had bladder cancer. Lipton, the dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City, hosted his interview series for 22 seasons on Bravo, talking to award-winning actors such as Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Anthony Hopkins. Born in 1926, Lipton began his career in radio, and the actor, writer, producer, and choreographer would go on to guest-star on shows like Arrested Development. Lipton was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2007 Daytime Emmys, and won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series or Special in 2013 for Inside the Actor's Studio.

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Gene Dynarski

SEINFELD
Joey Delvalle/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Gene Dynarski, a character actor known for his roles on Seinfeld and in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, died Feb. 27 at age 86. Dynarski memorably played Izzy Mandelbaum Jr., the son of Lloyd Bridges' character, on the Seinfeld episode "The English Patient."

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Lee Phillip Bell

Lee Phillip Bell
Tibrina Hobson/FilmMagic

Lee Phillip Bell, who co-created CBS' flagship soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful with her husband, William J. Bell, died Feb. 25 at age 91. Bell began her television career at Chicago's WBBM-TV station in the 1950s, becoming a well-known presence for more than 30 years and earning the moniker "the First Lady of Chicago television." Her talk show, The Lee Phillip Show, was known for its high-profile guests and for tackling contemporary social issues and earned 16 local Emmy Awards. Bell also won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for The Young and the Restless in 1975 and received the Daytime Emmys' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

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Baby Peggy

Baby Peggy
Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho

Silent film star Diana Serra Cary, known as Baby Peggy, died Feb. 24 at 101. One of Hollywood's earliest child stars, she appeared in as many as 150 short films and numerous features from 1921 to 1924. Sadly, most of her films have been lost, many of them destroyed in a 1926 studio fire. She went on to have a successful career as a writer and journalist, penning an autobiography in 1996.

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B. Smith

The Cougartini Unveiling At B. Smith's Restaurant
Wendell Teodoro/WireImage

B. Smith, model and lifestyle expert, died from early-onset Alzheimer's at her home in Long Island, NY on Feb. 22. Smith broke barriers as the first African American model on the cover of Mademoiselle magazine in 1976. In her lifetime, she owned multiple restaurants, wrote books, and hosted her own TV show. She was 70.

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Camila María Concepción

Camila María Concepción
Camila María Concepción/Instagram

Camila María Concepción, the trans-Latina writer, actress, and activist whose credits included Netflix's Gentefied and Daybreak, died by suicide on Feb. 21. She was 28. A native of Southern California's Inland Empire, Concepción served as a writers' assistant on Gentefied, which centers on three Mexican-American cousins finding their place in the world at large and a rapidly changing Los Angeles neighborhood. She co-wrote the freshman series' ninth episode, "Protest Tacos." Concepción also worked as a staff writer on the zombie dramedy Daybreak and was on the front lines advocating for proper trans representation along with Transparent creator Jill Soloway through the Time's Up 50/50 by 2020 initiative.

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Sy Sperling

Sy Sperling
HairClub/YouTube

Sy Sperling, founder of HairClub for Men, died on Feb. 19 in Boca Raton, Fla. after a long illness. His commercials were popular in the 1980s and '90s when he'd proclaim, "I'm not only the president of HairClub for Men, but I'm also a client."

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Ja'Net DuBois

Ja'net Dubois
Gilles Petard/Redferns

Good Times star Ja'Net DuBois died at her Southern California home on Feb. 17. DuBois most famously portrayed the sexy and sassy Willona Woods on the popular 1970s sitcom Good Times, developed by Norman Lear for CBS. DuBois famously sang and co-wrote The Jeffersons theme song "Movin' On Up." Her credits include a variety of television and film projects, including A Man Called Adam, Sanford and Son, Kojak, The Facts of Life, Roots: The Next Generations, A Different World, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Everybody Loves Raymond. She won two Emmy Awards during her career, both for her voiceover work on The PJ's.

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Esther Scott

Esther Scott
David Livingston/Getty Images

Esther Scott, the veteran character actress who appeared in films and TV shows including Boyz N the Hood, Dreamgirls, Transformers, and Beverly Hills, 90210, died Feb. 14 in Santa Monica, Calif., after suffering a heart attack. She was 66.

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Charles Portis

TRUE GRIT
Everett Collection; Lorey Sebastian/Paramount

Beloved novelist Charles Portis, who published five books including Norwood and Gringos, died Feb. 17 after receiving an Alzheimer's diagnosis in recent years. Portis' most well-known work, the bloody western True Grit, was adapted into two Oscar-nominated movies: A 1969 version that won John Wayne his first Best Actor award, and a 2010 movie directed by Joel and Ethan Coen that went on to receive 10 Academy Award nods, including one for lead actor Jeff Bridges and supporting actress Hailee Steinfeld.

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Zoe Caldwell

ABC SPECIAL
Getty Images

Four-time Tony Award winner Zoe Caldwell died Feb. 16 following complications from Parkinson's disease. She was 86. Caldwell won her first Tony in 1966, for Slapstick Tragedy, and went on to win again for 1968's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and 1982's Medea. Her final Tony Award came in 1995, for her portrayal of famed opera singer Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class. She worked sparingly in film, on projects including Birth and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but preferred the theater throughout her career.

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Kellye Nakahara

Kellye Nakahara
Everett Collection

Kellye Nakahara, who played Nurse Kellye on M*A*S*H, died Feb. 16 following a battle with cancer. Best known for her role in the long-running television comedy, Nakahara also featured in films like Clue and She's Having a Baby. She also pursued a career as a watercolor artist.

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Jason Davis

Jason Davis
Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Jason Davis, who voiced the character of Mikey Blumberg on Disney Channel's animated series Recess, died on Feb. 16 at the age of 35. The grandson of oil tycoon Marvin Davis, Jason had also appeared in several movies and TV shows as a kid including Roseanne, 7th Heaven, Rush Hour, and Beverly Hills Ninja. In 2010, Jason—who struggled with substance abuse over the years—appeared on the fourth season of VH1's Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew to treat his addiction.

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Lynn Cohen

Lynn Cohen
Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Actress Lynn Cohen, best known for her portrayal of Miranda's nanny Magda on Sex and the City, died on Feb. 14 at the age of 86. Though she rose to greater prominence thanks to her role on SATC, she had steadily worked in film and television, including over 20 years on various iterations of Law and Order. She attracted a younger group of fans when she signed on to the Hunger Games franchise as 80-year-old former District 4 champion and mentor to Finnick Odair, Mags. Most recently, she guest-starred on God Friended Me and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

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Caroline Flack

Caroline Flack
Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Love Island host Caroline Flack was found dead from suicide on Feb. 15 at the age of 40. Flack got her start as a TV personality by co-hosting the Saturday morning show TMi with Sam and Mark on CBBC in 2007. In addition to Love Island, Flack was also known for co-hosting The X Factor and winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.

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Nikita Pearl Waligwa

Nikita Waligwa
Disney

Queen of Katwe actress Nikita Pearl Waligwa died on Feb. 15 in her native Uganda after battling recurring brain cancer. Her costar David Oyelowo remembered her as a "ball of light."

187 of 214

Robert Conrad

MONACO-TV-FESTIVAL
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images

Robert Conrad, the actor best known for starring in The Wild Wild West, died of heart failure in Malibu, Calif., on Feb. 8. He was 84. Born in Chicago, Ill., on March 1, 1935, Conrad booked his first major role on Hawaiian Eye in 1959 after working as a milkman. He later took on the role of Secret Service agent James T. West in The Wild Wild West, which aired from 1965 to 1969. Other small-screen credits include The D.A., Assignment: Vienna, Centennial, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. The 2002 movie Dead Above Ground featured his last onscreen appearance.

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Ann E. Todd

Ann E. Todd
Everett Collection

A child star during the Golden Age of Hollywood, Ann E. Todd died Feb. 7 at the age of 88. She appeared in nearly 40 films in her youth, including Intermezzo, How Green Was My Valley, Kings' Row, Blood and Sand, and All This, and Heaven Too. After appearing on The Stu Erwin Show from 1950–53, Todd left show business and pursued a career as a librarian, author, and publisher.

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Orson Bean

"America" - Los Angeles Premiere
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Veteran actor Orson Bean died at the age of 91 on Feb. 7. The longtime TV, movie, and stage actor and comedian was walking in Venice, Calif., when he was hit by one vehicle and fell before a second vehicle hit and killed him. Bean enjoyed a long and healthy career in Hollywood with more than 100 TV and movie appearances since he began acting in the 1950s. His best-known credits are Miracle on 34th Street, Modern Family, Being John Malkovich, and a recurring role on Desperate Housewives. His most recent roles were in Superstore and The Equalizer 2.

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Raphael Coleman

NANNY MCPHEE
Everett Collection

Former child star Raphael Coleman died suddenly after collapsing during a run on Feb. 7, at 25. He was best known for his role as the mischievous boy Eric in 2005's Nanny McPhee. He'd since gone on to a career as a scientist and a climate activist with the organization Extinction Rebellion.

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Kevin Conway

Kevin Conway
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A veteran actor of stage and screen, Kevin Conway died Feb. 5 of a heart attack at age 77. Conway played his first major screen role in 1972's Slaughterhouse-Five, based on Kurt Vonnegut's acclaimed novel, and went on to appear in numerous films and TV shows over a four-decade career. These included Gettysburg, Invincible, The Good Wife, and HBO's Oz. Conway also had an extensive career on stage, winning a Drama Desk Award in 1974 for his performance in When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? and originating the role of Frederick Treves on Broadway in The Elephant Man.

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Kirk Douglas

Rugged Actor
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Silver-screen legend Kirk Douglas died Feb. 5 at 103. With more than 92 acting credits to his name, Douglas starred in Hollywood classics like Spartacus, The Bad and the Beautiful, Out of the Past, and Paths of Glory. He also helped push Hollywood forward, working to end the Black List by giving Dalton Trumbo full-screen credit on Spartacus. His last feature film was 2004's Illusion, but he still frequently made public appearances at awards shows and more through the end of his life.

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Mary Higgins Clark

Novelist Mary Higgins Clark in Golden Gown

Known as the Queen of Suspense, novelist Mary Higgins Clark died on Jan. 31 at the age of 92. A number-one New York Times best-selling author, Clark was prolific, penning 38 suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children's books. She also co-authored five more suspense novels with her daughter Carol Higgins Clark and wrote five additional novels with author Alafair Burke. Her books were adapted to the big screen twice, and each of her 56 novels became a bestseller.

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Fred Silverman

Fred Silverman
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Fred Silverman, a television producer and executive behind All in the Family, Soap, and Hill Street Blues, died on Jan. 30 at age 82. Silverman had a decades-long career in the entertainment industry and was the first and sole TV exec to creatively run the three major networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC. At CBS, he was responsible for numerous shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, and Good Times. At ABC he greenlit The Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, and Good Morning America. At NBC, he gave David Letterman his first hosting job and scheduled series including The Facts of Life, and Diff'rent Strokes.

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Marj Dusay

Marj Dusay
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Marj Dusay, best known for her work on Guiding Light as well as playing Gregory Peck's wife in the 1977 movie MacArthur, died on Jan. 28 at age 83. Dusay played Alexandra Spaulding on the CBS soap on and off from 1993 to 2009. She appeared as Pamela Capwell Conrad on Santa Barbara before jumping to Guiding Light in 1987, which earned her an Emmy nomination. She also portrayed Vanessa Bennett Hayward Cortlandt on All My Children and as a temporary replacement as Vivian Alamain on Days of Our Lives in 1993.

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Kobe Bryant

Kobe A.D.
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Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers basketball legend, died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26. He was 41. Bryant was drafted at just 18, one of the youngest players in NBA history. He went on to become a five-time NBA champion during his 20 years as a professional basketball player. He also won an Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2018 for the film Dear Basketball.

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Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer
Carol Guzy/The The Washington Post via Getty Images

Longtime PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer died on Jan. 23 at age 85, dying peacefully in his sleep at home. Lehrer anchored the PBS NewsHour for 36 years and was widely respected in the journalistic community for his in-depth reporting and strong sense of integrity. He and his longtime friend and associate Robert MacNeil interviewed many of the late 20th century's most significant historical figures, including Fidel Castro, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, and most American presidential candidates from 1976 onward. Lehrer also moderated 12 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012 and authored more than 20 novels, three memoirs, and several plays.

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John Karlen

John Karlen
Everett Collection

John Karlen, the Emmy-winning actor known for his role on Cagney & Lacey, died on Jan. 22. He was 86. The actor, who also rose to fame for replacing James Hall as Willie Loomis on the daytime gothic soap Dark Shadows, died on Wednesday of congestive heart failure while in hospice care. Karlen earned an Emmy for his work playing Harvey Lacey, the husband of Tyne Daly's NYPD detective on the CBS police drama Cagney & Lacey. He was nominated for three straight years for outstanding supporting actor in a drama from 1985–1987 and won in 1986. The Korean War veteran made his Broadway debut in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth in 1960, and also appeared on TV in shows like Hawaii Five-O, All in the Family, Kojak, Mad About You, Murder, She Wrote, and more.

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Tyler Gwozdz

THE BACHELORETTE
Ed Herrera/ABC

Former Bachelorette contestant Tyler Gwozdz died on Jan. 22 following a suspected overdose on Jan. 13. He was 29. Gwozdz appeared on Hannah Brown's season last year. He secured the first one-on-one date with her, though he abruptly left during the third episode. No reason was given to explain his departure, with Brown simply telling the rest of the contestants that he "had to leave. He told Refinery29 in a statement at the time, "This was a decision that I came to with producers and something that I've come to realize what is the best decision that could've been made." He added that the reason his actual exit wasn't aired was to respect his privacy. ABC listed his official occupation as a psychology graduate student whose goal was to become a clinical psychologist.

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Terry Jones

Terry Jones
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British comedian and Monty Python co-founder Terry Jones died Jan. 21, at 77, after a long battle with dementia. He was best known for helping to establish the British comedy group Monty Python, which led to his roles in co-writing and co-directing the 1975 comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In 1984, he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Song for 1983's "The Meaning of Life." He also received an Emmy nomination in 2004 for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming for an episode of Medieval Lives.

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David Olney

David Olney
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David Olney, a famed folk singer-songwriter, died on Jan. 18 at age 71. Olney was performing at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, when he suffered an apparent heart attack on stage and died. The musician was well known in the folk-rock and Americana music communities. Olney had recorded 20 albums throughout his career, with some of his songs covered by Country Music Hall of Fame members Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Del McCoury, and Steve Young.

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Christopher Tolkien

Christopher Tolkien
Tolkien Society/Twitter

Christopher Tolkien, the son and literary executor of The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, died Jan. 15 at age 95. Just as the elder Tolkien spent his life creating the mythology and characters of Middle-earth, Christopher spent his own life cataloging and explicating his father's unfinished work. It was thanks to his efforts that The Silmarillion was finally published in 1977, giving a narrative account of Middle-earth's history up until the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. Many other volumes followed later, including Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin.

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Rocky Johnson

Dwayne Johnson and Rocky Johnson
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Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, the legendary pro wrestler and father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, died on Jan. 15 at age 75. Born Wayde Douglas Bowles, Johnson made WWE history in 1983 along with Tony Atlas—collectively known as the Soul Patrol—as the first African-Americans to be crowned World Tag Team Champions. Johnson retired from the ring in 1991 but helped train his son Dwayne to wrestle and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

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Jack Kehoe

Jack Kehoe
Everett Collection

The character actor, best known for his roles in the 1973 films Serpico and The Sting, died Jan. 14, at 85. He played Joe Erie, a.k.a. the Erie Kid, a grifter who's part of Paul Newman and Robert Redford's characters' con game in Best Picture winner The Sting. That same year he portrayed cop Tom Keough in Sidney Lumet's Serpico, opposite Al Pacino. Kehoe also had memorable roles as Al Capone's bookkeeper in 1987's The Untouchables and a two-faced bail bondsman Geisler in 1988's Midnight Run. Other notable projects included 1980's Melvin and Howard, 1981's Reds, and 1984's The Pope of Greenwich Village. He retired after appearing in 1997's The Game.

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Norma Michaels

ABC's "Modern Family" - Season Two
Eric McCandless/Walt Disney Television

Character actress Norma Michaels died on Jan. 11 at the age of 95. She was best known for her recurring role as Josephine opposite Jerry Stiller on King of Queens. Sally Fields' mother in the indie hit My Name is Doris, and guest roles on sitcoms like Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls, Playing House, and Everybody Loves Raymond. Her final television appearance was in 2016, guest-starring as Mildred Lynch on an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

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Stan Kirsch

Stan Kirsch
NBC

Highlander star Stan Kirsch died on Jan. 11 at age 51. Kirsch also had guest-starring roles on popular shows including JAG, General Hospital, and most notably on a season 1 episode of Friends, playing Courteney Cox's love interest Young Ethan, who turned out to be a high school senior.

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Edd Byrnes

GREASE
Everett Collection

Edd Byrnes, best known for his portrayal of Vince Fontaine in Grease, died Jan. 8 of natural causes at the age of 87. He had small roles in ABC's Crossroads, Wire Service, and Navy Log. He also starred in the series 77 Sunset Strip as the wisecracking Kookie. His most enduring role remained the oversexed National Bandstand host in 1978's Grease.

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Buck Henry

"Twelfth Night" & "Richard III" Broadway Opening Night - Arrivals And Curtain Call
John Lamparski/WireImage

Buck Henry, the screenwriter behind 1967's The Graduate and co-creator of 1960s television series Get Smart died Jan. 8 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 89. Henry earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Graduate, in which he also played a small role. He also earned an Oscar nod alongside Warren Beatty for directing 1978's Heaven Can Wait. He won an Emmy for his writing on Get Smart, which he co-created with Mel Brooks. Other writing credits included special material for the 74th Academy Awards and work on the series Quark, The New Show, and The Garry Moore Show. Henry also penned the screenplays for films such as What's Up, Doc?, The Owl and the Pussycat, Is There Sex After Death?, and The Day of the Dolphin. Henry also had notable turns in front of the camera, including as a frequent Saturday Night Live host and as Liz Lemon's dad on 30 Rock.

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Neil Peart

Neil Peart
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Neil Peart, the legendary drummer and primary lyricist for Canadian rock band Rush, died on Jan. 7 after a battle with brain cancer. He was 67. Peart was the youngest person ever inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame when he was honored in 1983, and he was widely regarded as one of rock's most skilled drummers. Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 and celebrated its 40th-anniversary tour in 2015. Peart also wrote seven nonfiction books about his life and travels, with his final book, Far and Wide: Bring That Horizon to Me!, published in 2016.

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Harry Hains

Harry Hains
Michael Bezjian/WireImage

Actor, model, and musician Harry Hains died on Jan. 7 at age 27. He appeared on episodes of American Horror Story: Hotel, The OA, and Sneaky Pete, and also performed music under the name Antiboy. Hains' mother, V actress Jane Badler, announced he had died in an Instagram post. She did not provide a cause of death but wrote that her son "had the world at his feet. But sadly he struggled with mental illness and addiction."

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Silvio Horta

Silvio Horta
Rick Kern/Getty Images

Writer Silvio Horta, best known for creating Ugly Betty, died by suicide on Jan. 7 at the age of 45. Besides Ugly Betty, Horta was best known for writing the screenplay for the 1998 horror-thriller Urban Legend. His TV credits also include The Chronicle and Jake 2.0. He won a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series with Ugly Betty in 2007.

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Elizabeth Wurtzel

Elizabeth Wurtzel
Dan Callister/Shutterstock

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Wurtzel, who sparked a surge of memoir writing with her book Prozac Nation, died on Jan. 7 after a battle with breast cancer. She was 52. Following her music criticism for publications like The New Yorker and New York magazine, Wurtzel's Prozac Nation was published in 1994 and featured an account of her own issues with atypical depression and drug addiction, as well as her days as a student at Harvard and her sex life. The book launched a whole new wave of confessional writing and transformed Wurtzel into a Gen X celebrity at the age of 26. Additional books included 1998's Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women, 2001's More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction, and 2004's The Secret of Life: Commonsense Advice for Uncommon Women.

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Lexii Alijai

Lexii Alijai
Presley Ann/FilmMagic

Rising rapper Lexii Alijai died on Jan. 1 at the age of 21. She rose to fame with viral remixes of popular Drake and Nas songs. Alijai put out two albums during her up-and-coming career, both released while she was a teenager: Joseph's Coat in 2015 and Growing Pains in 2017.

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Gene Reynolds

Gene Reynolds
Kristian Dowling/Getty Images

Award-winning producer, writer, and director Gene Reynolds died on Feb. 3 at the age of 96. He co-created the series Lou Grant as well as the iconic show M*A*S*H, which starred Alan Alda. Throughout his career, Reynolds garnered 24 Emmy Award nominations, winning six, including for Outstanding Comedy Series for his work on M*A*S*H. In 1993, Reynolds was given the Directors Guild of America's Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award for extraordinary service to the guild. He also served as the organization's president from 1993 to 1997.

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