I know this happens every year, but 2012 seems like a year in which we lost a lot people who have been part of our lives for year. Whether they were actors, singers, writers, politicians, scientists or public servants, 2012 seems to be a year in which a lot of those who have entertained or shaped our lives in some way, passed on.
Throughout the year I try to remember those who had the biggest impact on my life in separate posts, though I know I miss a lot of them. So for this year, I would like to take the time and thank those whose memory should never be forgotten and to those who touched my life or those around me, even in the smallest way.
Now I know I'm not going to be able to mention everyone we lost over this last year, and if I leave out anyone whose loss you felt, I apologize. Also because of space restraints, I won't give a full bio, but I will list the years in which they were born along with a few details about their careers. If I did my own tribute to them when they passed away, their name will link back to that post.
January 2012
Fred Milano, 1939-2012. American Doo-Wop singer, Dion & The Belmonts; "I Wonder Why".
Etta James, 1938-2012. American R&B singer; "At Last".
Ian Abercrombie, 1934-2012. British born, American TV actor; Seinfeld, etc.
Robert Hegyes, 1951-21012. American TV actor; Welcome Back, Kotter.
February 2012
Don Cornelius, 1936-2012. American TV producer & host; Soul Train.
Ben Gazzara, 1930-2012. American actor; Anatomy of a Murder.
Mike deGruy, 1951-2012. American documentary filmmaker; The Blue Planet.
Bill Hinzman, 1936-2012. American actor; best know as the cemetery zombie in Night of the Living Dead.
Peter Breck, 1929-2012. American actor; The Big Valley.
Laurie Main, 1922-2012. Australian actor; best know in the US as the host of Disney's Welcome to Pooh Corner.
Whitney Houston, 1963-2012. American R&B/Pop singer; "I'm Your Baby Tonight".
Elyse Knox, 1917-2012. American actress; The Mummy's Tomb.
Anthony Shadid, 1968-2012. American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist; The Washington Post.
Sullivan Walker, 1946-2012. Trinidadian/American actor; The Cosby Show & Earth 2.
Marie Colvin, 1956-2012. American journalist; The Sunday Times.
Davy Jones, 1945-2012. British actor and recording artist with The Monkees; "I'm a Believer".
March 2012
Leonardo Cimino, 1917-2012. American actor; Dune & The Monster Squad.
Jim Duffy, 1937-2012. American animator; The Smurfs & Super Friends.
Warren Stevens, 1919-2012. American actor; Forbidden Planet.
Gary Walberg, 1921-2012. American actor; Quincy, M.E.
April 2012
Thomas Kinkade, 1958-2012. American artist.
Mike Wallace, 1918-2012. American Journalist; 60 Minutes.
Jonathan Frid, 1924-2012. Canadian actor; Dark Shadows.
Dick Clark, 1929-2012. American disc jockey and TV host; American Bandstand.
Greg Ham, 1953-2012. Australian musician, Men At Work; "Down Under".
George Murdock, 1930-2012. American TV actor; Gunsmoke, etc.
May 2012
Bob Stewart, 1920-2012. American TV producer; The Price is Right & The $10,000 Pyramid.
Adam Yauch, 1964-2012. American musician, The Beastie Boys; "Sabotage"
George Lindsey, 1928-2012. American actor; The Andy Griffith Show.
Maurice Sendak, 1928-2012. American author and illustrator; Where the Wild Things Are.
Vidal Sassoon, 1928-2012. British hairstylist and business mogul.
Sam Porcello, 1935-2012. American food scientist who invented the stuffing for the Oreo cookie.
Donna Summer, 1948-2012. American singer; "Last Dance".
Robin Gibb, 1949-2012. British singer, Bee Gees; "How Deep Is Your Love".
Eugene Polley, 1915-2012. American engineer who invented the wireless remote control for TV.
Janet Carroll, 1940-2012. American actress; Risky Business & Murphy Brown.
Lee Rich, 1918-2012. American TV producer & Co founder of Lorimar Television; The Waltons & Dallas.
June 2012
Richard Dawson, 1932-2012. British born American actor and game show host; Hogan's Heroes & The Family Feud.
Kathryn Jootsen, 1939-2012. American actress; Desperate Housewives.
Herb Reed, 1928-2012. American singer, The Platters; "The Great Pretender".
Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012. American author; Fahrenheit 451 & Dandelion Wine.
F. Herbert Bormann, 1922-2012. American ecologist who helped discover the threat of Acid Rain.
Bob Welch, 1945-2012. American musician with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist; "Sentimental Lady".
Frank Cady, 1915-2012. American actor who played the same character on three TV shows; Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies.
Judy Freudberg, 1949-2012. American TV/movie writer; Sesame Street & The Land Before Time.
Richard Lynch, 1940-2012. American actor; Battlestar Galactica.
Nora Ephron, 1941-2012. American journalist/screenwriter/novelist/playwright; When Harry Met Sally.... & Sleepless in Seattle.
July 2012
Ernest Borgnine, 1917-2012. American actor; Ice Station Zebra, The Black Hole, The Poseidon Adventure & the TV show Airwolf.
Donald J. Sobol, 1924-2012. American children's book author of the Encylopedia Brown series.
Celeste Holm, 1917-2012. American actress; All About Eve & Gentleman's Agreement.
Antonin Holy, 1936-2012. Czech scientist who pinoneered and developed antiretroviral drugs used in the treatment of Heptatis and HIV, including Vistide, Viread, Hepsera, and Truvada.
William Asher, 1921-2012. American TV producer, director, and screenwriter; Our Miss Brooks & Bewitched.
Chad Everett, 1936-2012. American actor; Medical Center.
Sherman Hemsley, 1938-2012. American actor; The Jeffersons & Amen.
Larry Hoppen, 1951-2012. American musicain, Orleans; "Still the One".
Robert Ledley, 1926-2012. American scientist who invented the full body CT Scanner.
Sally Ride, 1951-2012. American astronaut.
Lupe Ontiveros, 1942-2012. American actress; Selena & Desperate Housewives.
R.G. Armstrong, 1917-2012. American actor; Dick Tracy & Friday the 13th: The Series.
Jonathan Hardy, 1940-2012. New Zealand actor; Farscape.
August 2012
Jimmy Jones, 1937-2012. American pop singer; "Handyman" & "Good Timin'".
Marvin Hamlisch, 1944-2012. American composer; The Way We Were & A Chorus Line.
Ron Palillo, 1949-2012. American actor; Welcome Back, Kotter.
Phyllis Thaxter, 1919-2012. American actress; Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo & Superman.
William Windom, 1923-2012. American actor; Murder, She Wrote.
Helen Gurley Brown, 1922-2012. American author, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan.
Phyllis Diller, 1917-2012. American comedian and actress; Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! & Mad Monster Party.
Jeffrey Stone, 1926-2012. American novelist and actor, was the model for Prince Charming in Cinderella.
Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012. American astronaut; first man to walk on the moon.
September 2012
Michael Clark Duncan, 1957-2010. American actor; The Green Mile & The Finder.
Dorothy McGuire, 1928-2012. American singer, The McGuire Sisters; "Sugartime"
Lance LeGault, 1935-2012. American actor; A-Team.
John Ingle, 1928-2012. American actor; General Hospital.
Andy Williams, 1927-2012. American singer; "Moon River".
R.B. Greaves, 1943-2012. American singer; "Take a Letter Maria".
Michael O'Hare, 1952-2012. American actor; Babylon 5.
Tuhran Bey, 1922-2012. Austrian-born American actor; Footsteps in the Dark.
October 2012
Gary Collins, 1938-2012. American actor, talk show host, and host of the Miss America Pageant.
Arlen Specter, 1930-2012. American politicain, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.
Alex Karras, 1935-2012. American pro football player with the Detroit Lions and actor; Webster.
Sylvia Kristel, 1952-2012. Dutch actress: Emmanuel.
George McGovern, 1922-2012. American author, historian, and politician; U.S. Rep. and Sen. from South Dakota, Democratic nominee for President in 1972.
Peggy Ahren, 1917-2012. American actress; eight Little Rascals movies.
Natina Reed, 1979-2012. American actress and singer, Blaque; "808".
November 2012
Bonnie Lynn Fields, 1944-2012. American actress and Mousketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club.
Larry Hagman, 1931-2012. American actor; I Dream of Jeannie & Dallas.
December 2012
Norman Joseph Woodland, 1921-2012. American inventor; co-creator of the bar code.
Daniel Inouye, 1924-2012. Medal of Honor recipient and American politician; U.S. Senator from Hawaii.
Charles Durning, 1923-2012. American actor; The Sting & The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Fontella Bass, 1940-2012. American Singer; "Rescue Me"
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., 1934-2012. American Army General.
5 comments:
Wow! We lost a lot of people in 2012 and a lot of them I didn't even know about. Bob Welch...I loved his music back in the day. And Sylvia Cristal...I had no idea she had passed. Thanks for posting, Ryan. May everyone on the list rest in peace.
Wow. Didn't realize we had lost so many icons this year! And so many of them weren't all that old. Thank you for posting this Ryan.
Great detail in this list - thanks for all the links!
We really did lose a lot of good people this year, Ryan. Thanks for this list. Wow.
Some of my favorite actors...I hadn't even heard that Jack Klugman died. Wow. I loved the guy. Him and Tony Randall. Classic.
I was also a big Warren Stevens fan. And who couldn't like Frank Cady and William Windom and Turhan Bey and Phyllis Thaxter and Michael Clark Duncan (much too young) and Dorothy McGuire and......well, all I can say is the world is diminished by the absence of everyone on this sad list.
Some of these I didn't even know had passed!!
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