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The end of the year is here and 2009 is knocking at the door. Let’s take a moment to remember some of the notable, and not so notable, people who passed away in 2008.
Once again there were several connections or weird coincidences along the way. The leaders of two different faiths died on the same day, two civil rights activists died one week apart, and three founders of fast food companies died just months apart.
Another Doolittle Raider died as did three Tuskegee Airmen. We lost acting legends Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, and Van Johnson, and the sultry sounds of Isaac Hayes and Eartha Kitt.
Five great comedians, Dick Martin, Harvey Korman, George Carlin, Dody Goodman, and Bernie Mac, all died within three months of each other and Star Trek fans lost the composer of the Star Trek theme, Alexander Courage, and the wife of Star Trek’s creator, Majel Barrett Roddenberry.
Here are the 214 people whose deaths were posted here on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff throughout the year.
January
Andrew Olmsted, blogger
Joyce Carlson, Disney artist
James Costigan, television writer
Bill Idelson, actor, writer, producer
Ken Nelson, talent scout, producer
Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood
Sir Edmund Hillary, mountain climber
Christopher Bowman, figure skater
Carl Karcher, founder of Carl’s Jr.
Brad Renfro, actor
Richard Knerr, co-founder of Wham-O
Bobby Fischer, chess player
Allan Melvin, actor
Suzanne Pleshette, actress
John Stewart, songwriter
Heath Ledger, actor
Lois Nettleton, actress
Christian Brando, son of Marlon Brando
Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the LDS Church
Archbishop Christadoulos, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church
Margaret Truman, daughter of President Harry S. Truman
February
Earl Greenberg, producer
Dwight Hemion, director, producer
Gus Arriola, cartoonist
Barry Morse, actor
Shell Kepler, actress
Harry Landis, World War I veteran
Roy Scheider, actor
Freddie Bell, rock and roll singer
Ron Leavitt, writer, producer
David Groh, actor
James E. Orange, reverend, civil rights activist
Vunies High, sister of heavyweight boxer Joe Louis
Stephen Marlowe, author
David Watkin, cinematographer
Johnnie Carr, civil rights activist
Ben Chapman, actor
Richard Baer, television writer
William F. Buckley, conservative commentator
Buddy Miles, R&B musician
Mike Smith, singer
March
Vincent Anania, father of Elizabeth Edwards
Jeff Healey, jazz musician
Leonard Rosenman, composer
Lionel Mark Smith, actor
Flash, our beloved Golden Retriever
Malvin Wald, screenwriter
Kittie Allison, mother of Bobby and Donnie Allison
Joseph Weizenbaum, professor, programmer
Gloria Shayne Baker, songwriter
Russell Shaw, blogger
Richard Burke, founder of Trek Bicycle Corporation
Ola Brunkert, drummer for Abba
Anthony Minghella, screenwriter
Arthur C. Clarke, author
Paul Scofield, actor
Bill Hayward, producer
Rev. Jacob Daniel DeShazer, pilot during the Doolittle Raid
Al Copeland, founder of Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken
Neil Aspinall, manager
Richard Widmark, actor
Abby Mann, writer
Dith Pran, journalist
Sean Levert, singer
Max Helton, founder of Motor Racing Outreach
April
Jules Dassin, filmmaker
Gene Puerling, singer
Charlton Heston, actor
Stanley Kamel, actor
Cedella Booker, mother of Bob Marley
Nona Beamer, songwriter
Mary Burns, former White House chief switchboard operator
Charles Hunter, Tuskegee Airman
Ollie Johnston, Jr., the last of the “Nine Old Men” from Disney animation
Kahlil Gibran, painter
Danny Federici, musician
Paul Davis, songwriter, singer
Joy Page, stepdaughter of Jack Warner
Kate Phillips, actress
May
Jim Hager, one of the Hager Twins
Lynne Harvey, wife of Paul Harvey
Ted Key, cartoonist
Irvine Robbins, co-founder of Baskin Robbins
Beverlee McKinsey, actress
Eddy Arnold, singer
John Phillip Law, actor
Danton Burroughs, grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Robert Mondavi, vintner
Hamilton Jordan, Chief of Staff for President Jimmy Carter
Zelma Henderson, plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education
Maria Chapman, daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman
Dick Martin, comedian
Thelma Keane, wife of cartoonist Bil Keane
Sydney Pollack, director, producer
Earle Hagen, songwriter
Sophie Altman, producer
Harvey Korman, comedian
Alexander Courage, composer
June
Yves Saint Laurent, designer
Bo Diddley, rock and roll singer
Paul Sills, co-founder of “The Second City”
Mel Ferrer, actor
Harry Bernsen, Jr., producer and father of Corbin Bernsen
Jim McKay, sports journalist
Bob Anderson, actor
Tim Russert, journalist
Charlie Jones, sportscaster
Stan Winston, visual effects artist
Cyd Charisse, actress, dancer
George Carlin, comedian
Dody Goodman, comedian
Wilbur Hardee, founder of Hardee’s
Kermit Love, costume designer
Lt. Col. Charles Dryden, Tuskegee Airman
July
Larry Harmon, Bozo the Clown
Jesse Helms, politician
Eric Lieber, producer
Don S. Davis, actor
Dr. Michael DeBakey, heart surgeon
Tony Snow, journalist
Evelyn Keyes, actress
Rocky Aoki, founder of Benihana
Olive Riley, blogger
Les Crane, talk show host
Jo Stafford, singer
Estelle Getty, actress
Artie Traum, songwriter
Larry Haines, actor
Randy Pausch, computer scientist
Johnny Griffin, saxophonist
Paul Sorenson, actor
Joe Beck, jazz guitarist
Harriet Burns, first woman Disney Imagineer
August
Skip Caray, sportscaster
Robert Hazard, singer, songwriter
Bernie Mac, comedian
Isaac Hayes, singer
George Furth, actor
Don Helms, guitarist
Sandy Allen, world’s tallest female
LeRoi Moore, saxophonist
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, politician
Fred Crane, radio announcer
Lt. Col. Howard Lee Baugh, Tuskegee Airman
Hazel Warp, stunt double for Vivien Leigh
September
Don LaFontaine, movie trailer announcer
Michael Pate, actor
Jerry Reed, singer
Bill Melendez, animator
Sheldon Keller, writer
Anita Page, actress
Richard Wright, musician
Wonderful Smith, actor
Norman Whitfield, songwriter
Henry Steinway, great-granson of Henry Steinway
Earl Palmer, drummer
Nappy Brown, R&B singer
Connie Haines, singer
Paul Newman, actor
October
House Peters, Jr., actor (Mr. Clean)
Nick Reynolds, musician
George Jones, songwriter
Eileen Herlie, actress
Guillaume Depardieu, son of Gerard Depardieu
Neal Hefti, musician, composer
Edie Adams, actress, singer
Levi Stubbs, singer
Dee Dee Warwick, singer, sister of Dionne Warwick
Mr. Blackwell, designer
Merl Saunders, musician
Edwin Adams, Jr., actor
Estelle Reiner, singer, actress, artist, wife of Carl Reiner
November
John Daly, producer
Madelyn Dunham, grandmother of President-elect Barack Obama
Michael Crichton, author, producer
Mitch Mitchell, drummer
Mae Mercer, singer
Jody Reynolds, singer, songwriter
Reg Varney, actor
Carl D. Keith, inventor
Irving Brecher, writer
Irving Gertz, composer
Keith Douglas Pruitt, actor, composer
Betty James, co-founder of the Slinky
John Michael Hayes, screenwriter
Ethel Bradley, wife of former L.A. mayor Tom Bradley
William Gibson, playwright
Rev. George M. Docherty, famous for pushing Congress to add “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
December
Alan Gordon, songwriter
William R. Finnegan, producer
Odetta, singer
Paul Benedict, actor
Forrest J. Ackerman, actor
Beverly Garland, actress
Sunny von Bulow, hieress
Nina Foch, actress
Dennis Yost, singer
Robert Prosky, actor
Dakota Culkin, sister of Macaulay Culkin
Bettie Page, pin up model
Van Johnson, actor
Paul Weyrich, founder of the Heritage Foundation
Sam Bottoms, actor
Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry
Mark Felt, deep throat
Robert Mulligan, director
Ron Hornady, Sr., racecar driver
Eartha Kitt, singer, dancer, actress
Dale Wasserman, author
John Costelloe, actor
Delaney Bramlett, singer, songwriter
Ann Savage, actress
Lark Levin, daughter of Mia Farrow
Vincent Ford, songwriter for Bob Marley
May they all rest in peace.
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