In Memoriam 2008

[Lila64]

Didn't know if this should be in Zoo Station or the Lemonade stand. Move/edit this line accordingly.

R.I.P.

Eartha Kitt
Entertainer
Jan. 17, 1927 - Dec. 25, 2008

Harold Pinter
Playwright
Oct. 10, 1930 - Dec. 24, 2008

Mark Felt
Former FBI agent and Watergate's "Deep Throat"
Aug. 17, 1913 - Dec. 18, 2008

Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Actress and producer
Feb. 23, 1932 - Dec. 18, 2008

Van Johnson
Actor
Aug. 25, 1916 - Dec. 12, 2008

Bettie Page
Pinup model
April 22, 1923 – Dec. 11, 2008

Robert Prosky
Actor
Dec. 13, 1930 - Dec. 8, 2008

Martha "Sunny" von Bulow
Heiress
Sept. 1, 1932 - Dec. 6, 2008

Odetta Holmes
Singer, human rights activist
Dec. 31, 1930 - Dec. 2, 2008

William Gibson
Author and playwright
Nov. 13, 1914 - Nov. 25, 2008

Betty James
Toy company executive
Feb. 13, 1918 - Nov. 20, 2008

Michael Crichton
Author and filmmaker
Oct. 23, 1942 - Nov. 4, 2008

Jacques Piccard, right
Deep-sea explorer
July 28, 1922 - Nov. 1, 2008

Studs Terkel
Author
May 16, 1912 - Oct. 31, 2008

Tony Hillerman
Author
May 27, 1925 - Oct. 26, 2008

Estelle Reiner
Jazz singer and actress
June 5, 1914 - Oct. 25, 2008

Paul Newman
Actor and philanthropist
Jan. 26, 1925 - Sept. 28, 2008

Georgi Kitov
Archaeologist
March 1, 1943 - Sept. 14, 2008

David Foster Wallace
Writer
1962 - Sept. 12, 2008

Evan Tanner
Champion mixed martial arts fighter
Feb. 11, 1971 - Sept. 5, 2008

Gene Upshaw
NFL union chief
Aug. 15, 1945 - Aug. 20, 2008

Isaac Hayes
Singer, actor
Aug. 20, 1942 - Aug. 10, 2008

Bernie Mac
Comic actor
Oct. 5, 1957 - Aug. 9, 2008

Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Writer
Dec. 11, 1918 - Aug. 3, 2008

Randy Pausch
Professor known for 'Last Lecture'
Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008

Estelle Getty
Actress
July 25, 1923 - July 22, 2008

Tony Snow
Pundit and White House press secretary
June 1, 1955 - July 12, 2008

Jesse Helms
U.S. senator
Oct. 18, 1921 - July 4, 2008

 

[Lila64]

Larry Harmon
Actor who played Bozo the Clown
Jan. 2, 1925 - July 3, 2008

George Carlin
Comedian
May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008

Cyd Charisse
Dancer and actress
March 8, 1921 - June 17, 2008

Tim Russert
Newsman and host of NBC's 'Meet the Press'
May 7, 1950 - June 13, 2008

Jim McKay
Sports broadcaster
Sept. 24, 1921 - June 7, 2008

Bo Diddley
Musician
Dec. 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008

Yves Saint Laurent
Fashion designer
Aug. 1, 1936 - June 1, 2008

Harvey Korman
Comedian and actor
Feb. 15, 1927 - May 29, 2008

Sydney Pollack
Actor and director
July 1, 1934 - May 26, 2008

Dick Martin
Comedian
Jan. 30, 1922 - May 24, 2008

Cornell Capa
Photojournalist
April 10, 1918 - May 16, 2008

Robert Mondavi
California winemaking patriarch
June 18, 1913 - May 16, 2008

Mildred Loving
Pioneer of interracial marriage
1940 - May 2, 2008

Albert Hofmann
Chemist known as the father of LSD
Jan. 11, 1906 - April 29, 2008

Edward Lorenz
Scientist known as "father of the chaos theory"
May 23, 1917 - April 17, 2008

Charlton Heston
Actor
Oct. 4, 1923 - April 5, 2008

Dith Pran
Journalist
Sept. 10, 1942 - March 30, 2008

Richard Widmark
Actor
Dec. 26, 1914 - March 24, 2008

Arthur C. Clarke
Science fiction author
Dec. 16, 1917 - March 19, 2008

Paul Scofield
Actor
Jan. 21, 1922 - March 19, 2008

Anthony Minghella
Film director
Jan. 6, 1954 - March 18, 2008

Vicki Van Meter
Record-setting pilot
1982 - March 15, 2008

Gary Gygax
Co-creator of the role-playing game 'Dungeons & Dragons'
July 27, 1938 - March 4, 2008

Jeff Healey
Singer and musician
March 25, 1966 - March 2, 2008

William F. Buckley Jr.
Conservative writer and founder of the National Review
Nov. 24, 1925 - Feb. 27, 2008

Johnnie Carr
Civil rights leader
January 1911 - Feb. 22, 2008

Steve Fossett
Millionaire adventurer
April 22, 1944 - declared dead Feb. 15, 2008

Tom Lantos
U.S. congressman
Feb. 1, 1928 - Feb. 11, 2008

Roy Scheider
Actor
Nov. 10, 1932 - Feb. 10, 2008

Karl Ehrhardt
Baseball fan known as the "Sign Man"
1925 - Feb. 7, 2008

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Spiritual leader and founder of the transcendental meditation movement
Died Feb. 5, 2008

Heath LedgerActor
April 4, 1979 - Jan. 22, 2008

Suzanne PleshetteActress
Jan. 31, 1937 - Jan. 19, 2008

Bobby Fischer
Chess champion
March 9, 1943 - Jan. 17, 2008

Brad Renfro
Actor
July 25, 1982 - January 2008

Richard Knerr
Toymaker and co-founder of Wham-O
June 30, 1925 - Jan. 14, 2008

Sir Edmund Hillary
Explorer who conquered Mount Everest
July 20, 1919 - Jan. 11, 2008

 

[Lila64]

(Deep Throat)

Robert Mulligan (To Kill A Mockingbird Director)
Sam Bottoms (actor)
Paul Benedict (Played Harry Bentley on The Jeffersons)
Mitch Mitchell (Drummer for Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Mr. Blackwell
Levi Stubbs (Four Tops lead singer)
Edie Adams (Actress)
Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
Don LaFontaine (Movie Trailer voice)
Jerry Reed (Musician/Actor)
Jerry Wexler (Record Producer)
Johnny Griffin (Jazz Saxophonist)
Charles Joffe (Producer)
Eddy Arnold (Country music legend)
Irv Robbins (Co-founder of Baskin Robbins)
Danny Federici (Keyboard player in E Street Band)

more...

 

[Lila64]

Jan 9th - Johnny Grant, American radio personality, television producer (b. 1923)
Jan 11th - Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (b. 1917)
Feb 26th - Buddy Miles, American drummer (Band of Gypsies; b. 1947)
Mar 15th - Mikey Dread,Jamaican singer (b. 1954)
Jun 2nd - Mel Ferrer, Cuban-American actor, film director and film producer (b. 1917)
Jun 15th - Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist, and film director (b. 1946)
Jun 22nd - Dody Goodman, American comedienne (b. 1914)
Aug 16th - Ronnie Drew, Ex-Singer of The Dubliners & Solo Artist (b. 1934)

 

[Lancemc]

Damn, I had almost forgot we lost Tim Russert this year too.

 

[corianderstem]

We lost a lot of good ones this year.

 

[joyfulgirl]

David Foster Wallace
Writer
1962 - Sept. 12, 2008

This one hit me pretty deeply. His picture should be here, so here's one of him smiling. Sort of.

 

[Lila64]

We lost a lot of good ones this year.

Yes we did. Many that I loved & admired (Carlin, Newman,...)


And yes, feel free to add photos, remembrances, etc. I just picked out a handful

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

we lost so many this year.. Carlin and Newman really hit me hard.. I miss them! True Icons to always be remembered..

 

[LemonMelon]

Isaac Hayes was the saddest for me. They say July 2, 1979 was the day the Funk died, but they were wrong.

 

[LMP]

Man, this year was awful for celebrity passings. The Roy Scheider one affected me more than I thought it would.

 

[phillyfan26]

This year didn't go well, on many accounts, including death.

 

[RedRocksU2]

I actually feel bad for saying this, but good thread Lila.
Yeah, we lost several great people this past year.

 

[arw]

I don't know where I was this year but obviously not paying any attention to entertainment news. Thanks for posting this. Lots of people on this list that passed away that I had no idea about.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Heath's death shook me the most, by far. That was a very strange day. I remember literally trembling for about a half hour after hearing that he had passed.

Pour out a little liquor for everyone we've lost this year.

 

[Lila64]

I actually feel bad for saying this, but good thread Lila.
Yeah, we lost several great people this past year.

Everyone seems to have someone on the list that affected them. I remember first seeing a thread here back in January about Heath Ledger, and I was just in shock. I kept checking all the websites for updates & news. That was pretty sad. And then George Carlin... that one hit me pretty hard, and still does. It still makes me sad as I type this thru tears, as does the passing of Paul Newman. I knew earlier in the year he was ill, so I was less shocked by his passing, but still saddened just the same. I believe I've saved my magazine covers for Newman's passing, but Carlin didn't appear on any, at least none that I subscribe to Those two were pretty tough for me. Just a lot of great people passed this year

 

[Screwtape2]

Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Actress and producer
Feb. 23, 1932 - Dec. 18, 2008

I didn't know about this one. I always liked her.

 

[phanan]

I didn't know Roddenberry died, either. Bummer.

 

[impy13]

Man, this year was awful for celebrity passings. The Roy Scheider one affected me more than I thought it would.

Well the future Rob Schneider one will no doubt make you feel better.

 

[MsPurrl]

Wow, Lila--thank you for compiling this. When I see all of this together, instead of just one now and then, it really hits me.

 

[tiny dancer]

Tim Russert & Paul Newman

 

[Carek1230]

I was watching one of those Best and Worst of 2008 shows and they did the snippets of the new babies, celeb weddings and people we've lost this year. I lost it. The tears flowed. We lost some awesome talent and some real dignified people this year.

 

[LMP]

Well the future Rob Schneider one will no doubt make you feel better.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Isaac Hayes was the saddest for me. They say July 2, 1979 was the day the Funk died, but they were wrong.

Same here. The day he died, I listened to the full version of Joy and tried to hold back tears.

Really a lot of tragedies in 08. Lot of good people. All things must pass. Etc.