The following industry personalities, athletes, politicians (etc.) passed away in 2023 and heartfelt condolences are extended to their families, friends and fans.
The celebrities we have lost this year are (in alphabetical order):
DJ Mark the 45 King (Music Producer for Eminem, Jay-Z and Queen Latifah) [He was 62]
Sharon Acker (Canadian Actress, Point Blank and rebooted Perry Mason in the 1970s)
Joss Ackland (Actor, Lethal Weapon 2 and White Mischief) [He was 95]
Scott Alexander (America’s Got Talent Magician) [He was only 52]
Martin Amis (British Author, “Zone of Interest”)
Katherine Anderson-Schaffner (Founding Member of The Marvelettes “Please, Mr. Postman”)
Kenneth Anger (Experimental Filmmaker and Artist) [He was 96]
Selma Archerd (Actress and wife of long-time Variety columnist Army Archerd) [She was 98]
Alan Arkin (Veteran Actor TV, Film and Broadway)
Clarence Avant (Music Executive and known as the Godfather of Black Entertainment) [He was 92]
Burt Bacharach (Legendary Songwriter-Composer) [He was 94]
Robbie Bachman (Co-Founder and Drummer of Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
John Bailey (Former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President and Cinematographer) [He was 81]
Rich Barancik (Last surviving member of Monuments Men and Women, who preserved European artworks and cultural treasures that Nazi Germany had looted) [He was 98]
Ady Barkan (Healthcare Activist who had ALC) [He was only 39]
Bob Barker (Legendary TV Game Show Host, Price Is Right) [He was 99]
John Barrett (Celebrity Hairdresser) [He was only 66]
Norma Barzman (Screenwriter Blacklisted During McCarthy Era) [She was 103]
John Beasley (Actor, Everwood)
Cari Beauchamp (Hollywood Historian and Author)
Jeff Beck (Guitar Master of the Rock Era)
Richard Belzer (Actor, Law & Order: SVU and Homicide: Life on the Street)
Nick Benedict (Soap Actor, All My Children and Days Of Our Lives)
Silvio Berlusconi (Italian Media Magnate and Former Prime Minister)
Tony Bennett (Legendary Singer and 20-time Grammy winner) [He was 96]
Helmet Berger (Star of acclaimed European Art Cinemas in the 60s and 70s)
Jane Birkin (British-French Actor and Singer)
Robert Blake (Actor, Baretta)
Jake Bloom (Legendary Hollywood Attorney)
Jean Boht (Beloved Actress, BBC Sitcom Bread) [She was 91]
Barbara Bosson (Actress, Hill Street Blues)
Fernando Botero (Artist of Whimsical Rotundity) [He was 91]
Michael Boyd (Artistic Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company)
Bertie Bowman (Longest-serving Black congressional staffer) [He was 92]
Howard Bragman (Veteran of Entertainment Public Relations; his clients included Cameron Diaz and Paula Abdul) [He was only 66]
Kwame Brathwaite (Celebrity Photographer and Catalyst for “Black is Beautiful Movement in the 1960s)
Andre Braugher (Emmy-winning Actor, Homicide: Life on the Street and Brooklyn Nine-Nine) [He was only 61.]
George Brown (Founding Member, Kool & The Gang)
Jim Brown (NFL Great and Actor, The Dirty Dozen)
James D. Brubaker (Producer, The Right Stuff, Cobra and Rocky IV
Dick Butkus (NFL Legend and Prolific TV Star) [He was 80]
Jimmy Buffett (American Singer-Songwriter, “Margaritaville”)
Colin Burgess (Original drummer AC/DC)
A.S. Byatt (English Critic, Novelist, Poet and Short Story Writer)
John Byrne (Creator, acclaimed TV show Tutti Frutti) [He was 83]
Sergio Calderon (Actor, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Men in Black)
Wally Campo (Actor, Little Shop of Horrors) [He was 99]
Bobbie Jean Carter (Sister of Nick and Aaron Carter) [She was only 41]
Jeffrey Carlson (Actor, All My Children) [He was only 48]
Rosalynn Carter (Former First Lady) [He was 96]
Paul Cattermole (Member British pop band S Club 7) [He was only 46]
Josephine Chaplin (Actress and Daughter of Charlie Chaplin)
Bobby Charlton (Soccer Great for Manchester United, World Cup Winner) [He was 86]
Michael Chiarello (Former Food Network Star) [He was only 61]
Tyler Christopher (Actor, General Hospital) [He was only 50]
Carol Higgins Clark (Mystery Writer and daughter of Author Mary Higgins Clark)
Angus Cloud (Actor, Euphoria) [He was only 25]
Gloria Coates (Prolific Female Composer, Wrote 17 in Her Lifetime) [She was 89]
Phyllis Coates (TV’s First Lois Lane) [She was 96]
Walter Cole (aka Darcelle XV) [World’s Oldest Drag Performer) [He was 92]
Van Conner (Co-Founder and Bassist of Alternative Band Screaming Trees) [He was only 55]
Carole Cook (Protege to Lucille Ball) [She was 98]
James “Buster” Corley (Co-Founder, Dave & Buster’s)
Manny Coto (Emmy Winning Executive Producer, 24 and American Horror Story)
Noah Cowan (Former TIFF Co-Director) [He was only 55]
Rolly Crump (Early Disneyland Animator) [He was 93]
David Crosby (Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist, Bryds and Crosby, Stills & Nash)
Catherine Cyran (Prolific Film Director, The Prince & Me)
Dick Curtis (Character Actor and Straight Man to Comedian Jonathan Winters) [He was 95]
Henri Dauman (Holocaust survivor and Celebrity Photographer) [He was 90]
Sandra Day O’Connor (First Woman to Serve as Supreme Court Justice) [She was 93]
Terence Davies (Esteemed British Director)
Ann de Toth (Screenwriter)
Kamar de los Reyes (Actor, One Life to Live) [He was only 56]
Arnold Diaz (New York TV Reporter)
Melinda Dillon (Tony- and Oscar-nominated Actress, A Christmas Story and Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Carol Duvall (DIY Trailblazer and TV’s Crafting Queen) [She was 97]
Paul Eckstein (Co-Creator of TV Series, Godfather of Harlem) [He was only 59]
Evan Ellingson (Former child star, CSI: Miami and My Sister’s Keeper) [He was only 35]
Daniel Ellsberg (Analyst who leaked The Pentagon Papers) [He was 92]
Andrea Evans (Soap Veteran, One Life to Live)
Joan Evans (Veteran Actress, On the Loose, Skirts Ahoy! and Edge of Doom) [She was 89]
Sharon Farrell (Actress, The Young and the Restless) [She was 82]
Benjamin Ferencz (Last Surviving Prosecutor of Nuremberg Trials) [He was 103]
Senator Dianne Feinstein (Oldest Member of the Senate) [He was 90]
Shirley Anne Field (Actress, The Entertainer and Alfie)
Shirley Jo Finney (Actress “Wilma” and Theatre Director)
Frederic Forrest (Actor, Apocalypse Now and The Rose)
Andrew Freedman (Veteran News and Entertainment Publicist) [He was only 67]
Edward Fredkin (Influential Professor at MIT)
Gerald Fried (Composer, original Roots mini-series, Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island) [He was 95]
William Friedkin (Director, The Exorcist and The French Connection) [He was 87]
Andrea Fay Friedman (Actress with Down Syndrome, Life Goes On) [She was only 53]
Terry Funk (WWE Hall of Fame Wrestler)
Michael Gambon (Legendary Actor, Dumbledore of Harry Potter franchise) [He was 82]
Walt Garrison (Dallas Cowboys Running Back and Rodeo Cowboy)
Julie Garwood (Author)
Bill Geddie (Co-Creator of The View) [He was 68]
Bob George (Producer on Films like Newness, Zoe and Endings, Beginnings) [He was 51]
Astrud Gilberto (Brazilian Singer, “Girl From Ipanema”)
Louise Gluck (American Poet and Nobel Prize for Literature Winner) [She was 80]
Mark Goddard (Actor, Original TV Series Lost in Space) [He was 87]
David Lance Goines (Iconic Berkeley Printmaker)
Bert I. Gordon (Cult Filmmaker) [He was 100]
Bob Goldman (Oscar-Winning Writer, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) [He was 90]
Jim Gordon (Drummer for Eric Clapton and Co-Writer of “Layla”)
Bill Granger (Top Chef and Entrepreneur) [He was only 54]
Bud Grant (Hall of Fame Football Coach for Minnesota Vikings) [He was 95]
Shecky Greene (Legendary Las Vegas Standup Comedian) [He was 97]
Haydn Gwynne (Actor, The Crown and The Windsors) [She was 66}
Brett Hadley (Actor, The Young and the Restless) [He was 92]
Marlene Bauer Hagge (LPGA golf Champion)
Todd Haimes (Leader of New York’s Roundabout Theater Company)
Peter Hardy (Actor, McLeod’s Daugthers and Chopper)
Sheldon Harnick (Broadway Lyricist, Fiddler on the Roof) [He was 99]
Don Harold (Vintage Train Cars Collector, helped create the New York Transit Museum) [He was 91]
CJ Harris (American Idol Season 13 finalist) [He was only 31]
Steve Harwell (Former Lead Singer of Smash Mouth) [He was only 56]
Willie Hernandez (Baseball Player)
Maurice Hines (Tap Dancer in The Cotton Club, Choreographer and brother of Gregory Hines)
Stuart Hodes (Legendary Dancer, Danced with Martha Graham) [He was 98)
Elizabeth Hoffman (Veteran Actress, Sisters) [She was 97]
Dave Hollis (Former President of Worldwide Distribution at Disney) [He was only 47]
Ellen Holly (First Black Actor to Star in Daytime TV on One Life to Live) [She was 92]
Elizabeth Hubbard (Emmy-winning Actress, As the World Turns)
Hugh Hudson (Director, Chariots of Fire)
Bobby Hull (Legendary Hockey Player)
Rudolph Isley (Singer and Songwriter for the Isley Brothers, “Shout”)
Chuck Jackson (Singer, “Any Day Now”)
Glenda Jackson (Oscar, Tony and Emmy winning Actress)
David Jacobs (Creator, Knots Landing, Dallas and Paradise)
Kyle Jacobs (Husband to Country Singer Kellie Pickler) [He was only 49]
Al Jaffee (Creator, Mad Magazine) [He was 102]
Ahmad Jamal (Pianist who inspired generations of jazz musicians) [He was 92]
Dave Jolicoeur (aka Trugoy the Dove) [Co-Founder De La Soul) [He was only 54]
Scott Johnson (Composer and Guitarist)
Dean Jones (Director, Britain’s Got Talent) [He was only 56]
Rebecca Jones (Mexican American Actress, Popular Telenovelas)
Ron Cephas Jones (Acclaimed Actor, This Is Us) [He was only 66]
Ted Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber)
Bernard Kalb (Veteran Correspondent and Former CBS News Journalist) [He was 100]
Victor J. Kemper (Cinematographer, Dog Day Afternoon and National Lampoon’s Vacation) [He was 96]
Darren Kent (Actor, Game of Thrones and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) [He was only 36]
Lance Kerwin (Actor, James at 15 and Salem’s Lot)
Charles Kimbrough (Actor, Murphy Brown)
Terry Kirman (Singer, Songwriter and Founding Member of Folk-Rock Band The Assocation, known for the song “Cherish”) [He was 83]
Henry Kissinger (Former Secretary of State) [He was 100]
Bobby Knight (Legendary Basketball Coach)
Jean Knight (Singer, “Mr. Big Stuff”) [She was 80]
Marty Krofft (Creator, H.R. Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost) [He was 86]
Milan Kundera (Novelist, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”) [He was 94]
Paul La Farge (Inventive Novelist) [He was only 52]
Jim Ladd (Veteran Rock DJ and SiriusXM Host)
Denny Laine (Cofounder of The Moody Blues and longtime member of Paul McCartney’s group Wings)
Lewis Largent (Influential MTV VJ and KROQ DJ) [He was 58]
Milt Larsen (Co-Founder Magic Castle and TV Game Show Writer) [He was 92]
Michael Latt (Strategist on Social Justice Marketing Campaigns) [He was only 33]
David LaFlamme (Founder of San Francisco band It’s a Beautiful Day, who was at the forefront of the Haight-Ashbury acid-rock explosion) [He was 82]
Piper Laurie (Veteran Actress and 3-Time Oscar Nominee) [She was 91]
Norman Lear (Legendary Sitcom Creator and Producer) [He was 101]
Coco Lee (Hong Kong-Born Singer-Songwriter) [She was only 48]
Sun-kyun Lee (Actor, Parasite) [He was only 48]
Eugene Lee (Award-Winning Production Designer, Saturday Night Live)
Michael Lerner (Actor, Barton Fink)
Gina Lollobrigida (Actress and Italian Bombshell) [She was 95]
Erik Lomis (Veteran MGM Film Distribution Executive)
Cody Longo (Actor, Days of Our Lives) [He was only 34]
Lisa Loring (Former Child Actress, The Addams Family)
Laura Lynch (Founding member of the Dixie Chicks) [She was 65]
Lisa Lyon (Bodybuilding Pioneer and inspiration for Marvel’s Elektra)
Shane MacGowan (Singer-Songwriter and Frontman, The Pogues) [He was 65]
George Maharis (Actor, Route 66 and Fantasy Island)
Mark Margolis (Veteran Actor, Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad) [He was 83]
Eddie Marks (Emmy-Winning President of Western Costume company)
Ben Masters (Actor, Passions)
Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II (Astronaut, Help Apollo 13 crew return safely to Earth) [He was 87]
Burny Mattinson (Walt Disney Animation Studios Animator, Director, Producer and Story Artist)
James McCaffrey (Actor, Max Payne) [He was only 65]
David McCallum (Legendary Actor, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and NCIS) [He was 90]
Cormac McCarthy (Author, “No Country for Old Men”)
Tim McCarver (Award-Winning Broadcaster and Former World Series Champion)
Pat McCormick (4-Time Olympic Diving Champion) [He was 92]
Michael McGrath (Tony-Winning Actor, ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It) [He was only 65]
Randy Meisner (Eagles Co-Founder and Singer)
Joanna Merlin (Broadway Actress, Fiddler on the Roof then Renowned Casting Director) [She was 92]
Billy Miller (Actor, General Hospital and The Young & The Restless) [He was only 43]
Mildred Miller (Mezzo-Soprano at the Metropolitan Opera) [She was 98]
Walter Mirisch (Former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Richard Moll (Veteran Actor, Night Court) [He was 80]
Gordon E. Moore (Co-Founder, Intel, the California chip maker) [He was 94]
Max Morath (Pianist) [He was 96]
Ted Morgan [formerly Sanche de Gramont, the son of a French count] (Journalist and Author) [He was 91]
Jerry Moss (Co-Founder of A&M Records) [He was 88]
Barry Newman (Broadway and Film Actor, Vanishing Point) [He was 92]
Sinead O’Connor (Irish Singer, Musician and Grammy Winner) [She was only 56]
Paul O’Grady (Popular British Presenter of The Paul O’Grady Show and Blind Date)
Ryan O’Neal (Oscar Nominated Actor, Peyton Place, Love Story, Paper Moon) [He was 82]
Gail O’Neill (Former Fashion Model and The Early Show Correspondent)
Horace Ove (Pioneering Black British Filmmaker)
Jansen Panettiere (Child Actor and Brother of Actress Hayden Panettiere)
Hersha Parady (Actress, Little House on the Prairie)
Lara Parker (Actress, Dark Shadows) [She was 84]
Michael Parkinston (Legendary U.K. Talk Show Host) [He was 88]
Tatjana Patitz (Supermodel of the 1980’s and 1990’s) [She was only 56]
Anne Perry (Best-selling Crime Writer)
Matthew Perry (Actor, Friends) [He was only 54]
Gordon Pinsent (Canadian Actor, Due South and Away From Her) [He was 92]
Lisa Marie Presley (Singer and Daughter of Elvis Presley) [She was only 54]
Edward Pressman (Independent Producer, Wall Street, Conan the Barbarian and Badlands)
Phil Quartararo (Former Head of Warner Bros. and Virgin Records)
Paco Rabanne (Iconic Fashion Designer and Perfume Maker)
Taraja Ramsess (Stunt Performer and Set Dresser, Fast & Furious, Avengers and Black Panther) [He was only 41]
Betsy Rawls (Golf Champion and Golf Executive) [She was 95]
John Refoua (Film Editor, Avatar franchise) [He was only 58]
Keith Reid (Lyricist for British group Procol Harum and Co-Writer of 1960’s hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale”)
Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman (Actor)
Adam Rich (Actor, Eight Is Enough) [He was only 54]
Bill Richardson (Former Governor of New Mexico and Champion of Americans Held Overseas)
Lance Riddick (Actor, The Wire and John Wick franchise)
Bobby Rivers (TV Personality and Movie Critic)
Dave Robb (Veteran Hollywood Labor Reporter and Variety Alum)
Pat Robertson (Controversial Televangelist and Longtime 700 Club Host) [He was 93]
Robbie Robertson (Guitarist-Songwriter-Singer-Leader of the Canadian-American rock group The Band) [He was 80]
Rodriguez (Singer-Songwriter and Subject of 2012 Documentary Searching For Sugar Man) [He was 81]
Haim Roet (Holocaust Survivor, who read out the names of people murdered by the Nazis, starting the practice that has become a part of memorial ceremonies around the world) [He was 90]
Stan Rogow (Veteran Producer and Writer, Fame and Lizzie McGuire)
Owen Roizman (Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer, The Exorcist and The French Connection)
John Romita, Sr. (Marvel Comics Icon and Co-Creator of Wolverine) [He was 93]
Cari Ross (Communications Chief at Gersh) [She was only 59]
Gary Rossington (Last Surviving Original Member of Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Windham Rotuna aka Bray Wyatt (WWE Wrestler) [He was only 36]
Richard Roundtree (Veteran Actor, Shaft and Roots) [He was 81]
Andy Rourke (Bassist, The Smiths) [He was only 59]
Ryuichi Sakamoto (Oscar-Winning Composer, Last Emperor)
Julian Sands (Actor, A Room With a View)
Carlos Saura (Spanish Auteur) [He was 91]
Hedda Kleinfeld Schachter (Built Bridal superstore Kleinfeld’s) [She was 99]
Lynn Seymour (International Star and British Ballet Dancer)
Ruth Seymour (Former KCRW General Manager, Public Radio Pioneer, Integral Part of NPR)
Mark Sheehan (Lead Guitarist, Irish rock band The Script) [He was only 46]
Suzanne Shepherd (Actress, The Sopranos and Goodfellas) [She was 89]
Wayne Shorter (Jazz Titan and Saxophonist)
Elliot Silverstein (Director, Cat Ballou) [He was 96]
Sylvia Sims (British Films Actress, Ice Cold in Alex and Victim)
Tom Sizemore (Actor, Saving Private Ryan)
Shelley Smith (Model and Actress, The Associates and For Love and Honor)
Tom Smothers (Part of Smothers Brothers Comedy Duo) [He was 86]
Suzanne Somers (Actress, Three’s Company and Step By Step)
Jack Sonni (Guitarist, Dire Straits) [He was only 68]
Arleen Sorkin (Actress, Day of Our Lives and Original Voice of Harley Quinn) [She was only 67]
Seymour Stein (Legendary Music Executive at Sire Records; He Signed Madonna, The Ramones and Talking Heads)
Norman Steinberg (Screenwriter, Blazing Saddles and My Favorite Year)
Frances Sternhagen (Veteran Actress, Cheers and ER) [She was 93]
Stella Stevens (Actress, Girls! Girls! Girls! with Elvis Presley, The Nutty Professor and The Poseidon Adventure)
Ray Stevenson (Actor, Divergent and Thor franchises) [He was only 58]
Pedro Suárez-Vértiz (Peruvian Rock Icon) [He was only 54]
Robert Swan (Actor, The Untouchables and Hoosiers)
Inga Swenson (Actress, Benson) [She was 90]
Yukihiro Takahashi (Electronic-Music Pioneer)
The Iron Sheik (aka Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) (Greco-Roman Wrestler and WWE Legend)
D.M. Thomas (English Novelist, “The White Hotel”)
Chaim Topol (Film and Stage Actor, Fiddler on the Roof)
Camden Toy (Actor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) [He was only 68]
Dorothy Tristan (Actress, Klute and End Of The Road)
Robert Trotman (Trainer, Competitive Swimming)
Shawna Trpcic (Emmy-nominated Costume Designer, The Mandalorian and Ahsoka) [She was only 56]
Lawrence Turman (Oscar-Nomination Producer, The Graduate) [He was 96]
Tina Turner (Legendary Singer, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” and Actress)
Robin Wagner (Broadway Set Designer, Hair, A Chorus Line and Angels in America)
John Warnock (Co-Founded Adobe Systems, best known for inventing PDF) [He was 82]
Andre Watts (Groundbreaking Classical Music Pianist)
Nicholas Lloyd Webber (Composer and Son of Andrew Lloyd Webber) [He was only 43]
Cynthia Weil (Songwriter, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music” and “On Broadway”)
Raquel Welch (Legendary Actress and International Sex Symbol) [She was 82]
Ans Westra (Famed Photographer)
Paxton Whitehead (Stage Veteran and Sitcom Character Actor, Camelot, Friends and Mad About You)
Tom Wilkinson (British Actor, The Full Monty and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)
Cindy Williams (Legendary Actress, Laverne & Shirley)
Mars Williams (Saxophonist, Psychedelic Furs and the Waitresses) [He was only 68]
Treat Williams (Legendary Film and TV Actor, box office movie Hair and TV series Everwood and Chesapeake Shores)
George Winston (Titan of soothing Piano Instrumental Music)
Myrtle Witbooi (Domestic Servant in South Africa turned International Activist)
Oliver Wood (English Cinematographer, original Bourne trilogy and Die Hard 2)
Gary Wright (Singer, “Dream Weaver”)
John Wright (Oscar-nominated Film Editor, The Hunt for Red October and Speed)
Mike Yarwood (Comedian and Impersonator) [He was 82]
Burt Young (Actor, Rocky Franchise) [He was 83]
Benjamin Zephaniah (Acclaimed Poet and Actor, Peaky Blinders) [He was only 65]
Zeus (the Texas Great Dane who held the Guiness World Records title of World’s Tallest Living Male Dog, standing at 3 feet and 5.18 inches) [He was only 3 years old]
NOTE: This list, in no way, covers all the industry talent who passed away this year. Again, condolences are extended to one and all.
Out of respect, please take a moment of silence.
TOMORROW: TV Ratings
Rueben's Ramblings 