Deaths so far in 2007

[Stefani]

I found this list and thought it interesting. From the Dead People Server.

http://216.92.255.170/dps/

January
Tillie Olsen (writer) -- Dead. Died January 1, 2007. Born January 14, 1912. Tell Me a Riddle.

Yvonne De Carlo (actress) -- Dead. Died January 8, 2007. Born September 1, 1922. Lily Munster

Iwao Takamoto (animator) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died January 8, 2007. Born April 29, 1925. Worked for Disney, later designed Scooby-Doo.

Carlo Ponti (producer) -- Dead. Died January 9, 2007. Born December 11, 1912. Produced the Oscar-winning La Strada, married to Sophia Loren.

Robert Anton Wilson (author) -- Dead. Died January 11, 2007. Born January 18, 1932. No conspiracy or anything, he co-wrote The Illuminatus Trilogy and urged his readers the "keep the lasagna flying".

Ron Carey (actor) -- Dead. Stroke. Died January 16, 2007. Born December 11, 1935. Officer Levitt on Barney Miller and performed in a number of Mel Brooks movies.

Art Buchwald (columnist) -- Dead. Kidney failure. Died January 17, 2007. Born October 20, 1925. Suffered a severe stroke in June 2000, wrote thousands of columns and one novel - Stella in Heaven: Almost a Novel, survived over a year without needed kidney dialysis, left his hospice to go on vacation!

Denny Doherty (actor/singer) -- Dead. Died January 19, 2007. Born November 29, 1940. The only member of the Mamas and the Papas who toured in the new millennium, occasionally showed up on TV shows.

Tige Andrews (actor/painter) -- Dead. Died January 27, 2007. Born March 19, 1920. Captain Greer on The Mod Squad, Wiley in Mister Roberts, his paintings appear in galleries and in the book Actors as Artists.

Bob Carroll, Jr. (writer) -- Dead. Died January 27, 2007. Born August 13, 1919. Co-creator of I Love Lucy.

Charles L. Fontenay (journalist/writer) -- Dead. . Died January 27, 2007. Born March 17, 1917. Wrote for The Tennessean for 40 years, wrote a biography of Estes Kefauver and the multi-volume chronicle The Kipton Chronicles.

Sidney Sheldon (writer/producer) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died January 30, 2007. Born February 11, 1917. Produced shows like The Patty Duke Show, wrote books like The Other Side of Midnight, won an Oscar for writing The Bachelor and the BobbySoxer.

Molly Ivins (writer) -- Dead. Breast cancer. Died January 31, 2007. Born August 30, 1944. Many years of great columns and several books like Bushwhacked. "We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders"

February

Gian Carlo Menotti (composer) -- Dead. Died February 1, 2007. Born July 7, 1911. Wide ranging composer, probably best-known for Amahl and the Night Visitors (the first opera ever written for TV), founded Spoleto Festivals on two continents, longtime companion of Samuel Barber.

Barbara McNair (singer/actress) -- Dead. Throat cancer. Died February 4, 2007. Born March 4, 1934. Singer/actress with her own variety show in the late '60s, played Sidney Portier's wife in They Call Me Mister Tibbs.

Frankie Laine (singer) -- Dead. Complications of hip replacement surgery. Died February 6, 2007. Born March 30, 1913. Singer best-known for singing the theme songs to Rawhide and Blazing Saddles, marathon dancer in the '30s.

Anna Nicole Smith (model) -- Dead. Unknown. Died February 8, 2007. Born November 28, 1967. Amusing Playboy centerfold-turned amusing performer.

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (historian) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died February 28, 2007. Born October 15, 1917. Writer and liberal political aide who wrote an early history of the Kennedy administration A Thousand Days.

March

Thomas Eagleton (senator) -- Dead. Heart/respiratory ailments. Died March 4, 2007. Born September 4, 1929. Longtime Missouri senator who was briefly a vice presidential candidate for George McGovern in 1972. He was forced to resign after it was revealed he'd been successfully treated for depression a few years before and a media firestorm ensued.

John Inman (actor) -- Dead. Hepatitis A. Died March 8, 2007. Born June 28, 1935. Witty British comic best-known for his signature role as Mr. Humphries on Are You Being Served; catch-phrase was a breezy "I'm free".

Brad Delp (musician) -- Dead. Suicide - carbon monoxide poisoning. Died March 9, 2007. Born June 12, 1951. Member of the band Boston, lead singer for "More than a Feeling", eulogized by many as the "Nicest guy in rock and roll."

Richard Jeni (comedian) -- Dead. Suicide. Died March 10, 2007. Born October 31, 1957. Busy stand-up comic who made a number of HBO specials including Richard Jeni: Good Catholic Boy.

Betty Hutton (actress) -- Dead. Colon cancer. Died March 11, 2007. Born February 26, 1921. The Greatest Show on Earth.

John Backus (compiler developer) -- Dead. Died March 17, 2007. Born December 3, 1924. Developed the FORTRAN programming language while working for IBM.

Calvert DeForest (comic) -- Dead. Heart attack/pneumonia. Died March 19, 2007. Born July 23, 1921. Larry "Bud" Melman on various David Letterman shows.

Luther Ingram (singer/songwriter) -- Dead. Diabetes. Died March 19, 2007. Born November 30, 1937. Best known for the '70s hit "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want to Be Right", worked with varied musicians such as Isaac Hayes, Jimi Hendrix and Ike Turner.

David Honigsberg (writer/rabbi) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died March 26, 2007. Born September 13, 1958. SF/RPG writer, muscian and rabbi.

April

Benjamin "Bob" Clark (director/writer) -- Dead. Car crash (killed by drunken driver with his son). Died April 4, 2007. Born August 5, 1941. Directed A Christmas Story and Porky's.

Stan Daniels (writer/producer) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died April 6, 2007. Born circa 1934. Co-creator of Taxi, writer/producer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Make memorial contributions to: The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias.

Johnny Hart (cartoonist) -- Dead. Stroke (while cartooning). Died April 7, 2007. Born February 18, 1931. Creator of B.C. and The Wizard of Id.
Barry Nelson (actor) -- Dead. Died April 7, 2007. Born April 16, 1920. Stuart Ullman in The Shining, Airport.

Roscoe Lee Browne (actor) -- Dead. Cancer. Died April 11, 2007. Born May 2, 1925. Saunders in Soap, narrator of the Babe movies, was a teacher and set a world record in track in the '50s.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (writer, teacher) -- Dead. Injuries from a fall. Died April 11, 2007. Born November 11, 1922. Slaughterhouse Five, created Kilgore Trout but did not publish any books under that name (though Philip Jose Farmer did), married to Jill Krementz. AwardWeb

Don Ho (entertainer) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died April 14, 2007. Born August 13, 1930. "Tiny Bubbles".

Kitty Carlisle Hart (actress/game show participant) -- Dead. Died April 17, 2007. Born September 3, 1910. Regular on To Tell the Truth, performed with the Marx Brothers in Night at the Opera, widow of the playwright Moss Hart, performed in a night club when she was 96 years old.

Paul Erdman (economist, writer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died April 23, 2007. Born May 19, 1932. Commentator on Marketwatch, wrote novels such as The Crash of '79 (published in '76).

David Halberstam (writer) -- Dead. Car accident. Died April 23, 2007. Born April 10, 1934. Won a Pulitzer Prize in the '60s for reporting on the Vietnam war, wrote many non-fiction books including The Best and the Brightest.

Boris Yeltsin (former Russian president) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died April 23, 2007. Born February 1, 1931. Midnight Diaries, first elected Russian president.

Warren Avis (entreprenuer) -- Dead. Died April 24, 2007. Born August 4, 1915. Started the Avis Rent-a-Car company in 1946.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett (singer/songwriter) -- Dead. Leukemia. Died April 25, 2007. Born February 11, 1938. Co-wrote and sang the classic "Monster Mash".

Jack Valenti (former MPAA chief) -- Dead. Stroke. Died April 26, 2007. Born September 5, 1921. Political advisor, helped develop film ratings, novelist, and speaker at many Oscar ceremonies.

Al Hunter Ashton (writer/actor) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died April 27, 2007. Born June 26, 1957. Writer for Eastenders and Holby City, acted in bit parts in many TV shows and movies.

Mstislav Rostropovich (cellist/conductor) -- Dead. Intestinal cancer. Died April 27, 2007. Born March 27, 1927. Particularly known for his interpretation of Bach, he was a professional cellist for over 60 years, gave famous concerts in Berlin after the wall came down, had his Russian citizenship stripped and later restored, and directed the National Symphony in Washington for 17 years.

Dabbs Greer (actor) -- Dead. Kidney/heart disease. Died April 28, 2007. Born April 2, 1917. Played ministers in Little House on the Prairie, The Brady Bunch and Picket Fences, first person rescued by Superman in the Superman TV series.

Tommy Newsom (saxophonist/arranger) -- Dead. Died April 28, 2007. Born February 25, 1929. The subdued substitute bandleader during the Carson years of The Tonight Show, dubbed Mr. Excitement by Johnny Carson.

Tom Poston (actor/comic) -- Dead. Died April 30, 2007. Born October 17, 1921. Second banana in many TV shows, very amusing on To Tell the Truth, was an airman during the D-Day invasion, married to Suzanne Pleshette from 2001 until his death.

Gordon Scott (actor) -- Dead. Following heart surgery. Died April 30, 2007. Born August 3, 1926. Played Tarzan in the '50s, later went on to make spaghetti Westerns, married to Vera Miles in the '50s.

May

Walter Schirra, Jr. (astronaut/businessman) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died May 3, 2007. Born March 12, 1923. Fifth American in space, participated in three NASA spaceflight programs (Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo).

Terry Ryan (writer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died May 16, 2007. Born July 14, 1946. Technical writer and best-selling author of a book about her mother, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less.

Lloyd Alexander (writer) -- Dead. Died May 17, 2007. Born January 30, 1924. The Chronicles of Prydain, won the Newbery Medal for The High King.

Charles Nelson Reilly (director/comedian) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died May 25, 2007. Born January 13, 1931. Broadway actor, directed many Broadway shows including The Belle of Amherst, regular on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Match Game, memorable as Jose Chung in an X-Files episode.

June

Steve Gilliard (writer) -- Dead. Heart disease. Died June 2, 2007. Born circa 1966. Political blogger who wrote for The Daily Kos started The News Blog.

Edwin Traisman (food scientist) -- Dead. Heart disease Died June 5, 2007. Born November 25, 1915. Helped to develop Cheez Whiz for Kraft and improved frozen french fries for McDonald's.

Mala Powers (actress/teacher) -- Dead. Leukemia. Died June 11, 2007. Born December 20, 1931. Starred in Cyrano de Bergerac and Outrage, lots of bit parts on TV.

Don Herbert (teacher) -- Dead. Bone cancer. Died June 12, 2007. Born July 10, 1917. Mr. Wizard.

Kurt Waldheim (U. N. chief/Austrian president) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died June 14, 2007. Born December 21, 1918. Led the U. N. from 1972 to 1982, later served as Austrian president, was a Nazi soldier during WWII,

Ed Friendly (TV producer/racehorse owner) -- Dead. Cancer. Died June 17, 2007. Born April 8, 1922. Produced Little House on the Prairie and Laugh-in.

Bob Evans (entreprenuer/farmer) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died June 21, 2007. Born 1918. Made sausage and started a restaurant chain (that makes great biscuits!).

Liz Claiborne (fashion designer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died June 26, 2007. Born March 31, 1929. Designer of affordable clothes for women since the mid-70s.

Fred Saberhagen (writer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died June 29, 2007. Born May 18, 1930. Wrote the Beserker series, and Dracula novels. Make memorial contributions to: Doctors without Borders. Catholic Relief, SFWA Emergency Medical Fund, or John 23rd Catholic Church, Albuquerque, NM.

Joel Siegel (movie critic) -- Dead. Cancer. Died June 29, 2007. Born July 7, 1943. Film critic for ABC, co-founder of Gilda's Club.

July

Beverly Sills (opera singer/chair of the Met) -- Dead. Cancer. Died July 2, 2007. Born May 25, 1929. Soprano with the New York City Opera and later the Met who went on to manage opera companies.

Boots Randolph (saxophonist) -- Dead. Cerebral hemorrhage. Died July 3, 2007. Born June 3, 1927. Performed "Yakety Sax," and accompanied Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman".

Kerwin Mathews (actor) -- Dead. Died July 5, 2007. Born January 8, 1926. Sinbad in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, later a landlord in San Francisco.

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (writer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died July 6, 2007. Born June 3, 1939. One of the first mega-romance writers, starting with The Flame in the Flower in 1972.

Charles Lane (previously busy actor) -- Dead. Died July 9, 2007. Born January 26, 1905. In over 200 movies and almost as many TV shows; usually showed up as a tall, white-haired, stern old man in shows with Lucille Ball, semi-regular on Petticoat Junction (Homer Bedloe).

Doug Marlette (cartoonist) -- Dead. Car crash. Died July 10, 2007. Born circa 1950. Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist who also drew Kudzu and wrote books.

Lady Bird Johnson (former First Lady) -- Dead. Died July 11, 2007. Born December 22, 1912. Gardening promoter, highway beautifier.

Ulrich Muehe (actor) -- Dead. Stomach cancer. Died July 22, 2007. Born June 20, 1953. Starred as the wire tapper Hauptmann in the great German movie The Lives of Others, very busy on German TV.

William Tuttle (Make-up artist) -- Dead. Died July 27, 2007. Born April 13, 1912. Worked on over two hundred movies, including The Time Machine, Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, and Young Frankenstein, briefly married to Donna Reed.

Tom Snyder (Talk show host) -- Dead. Leukemia. Died July 29, 2007. Born May 12, 1936. Tomorrow Show, The Late, Late Show.

Michelangelo Antonioni (director) -- Dead. Died July 30, 2007. Born September 29, 1912. Blow-up, won an honorary Oscar in 1995.

Ingmar Bergman (director) -- Dead. Died July 30, 2007. Born July 14, 1918. Made many great movies, including Scenes from a Marriage, Persona, and Fanny and Alexander, nominated for a number of Oscars.

August

James T. Callahan (actor) -- Dead. Esophageal cancer. Died August 3, 2007. Born October 4, 1930. The grandfather in Charles in Charge, busy TV actor for over 40 years.

Merv Griffin (singer/producer) -- Dead. Prostate cancer. Died August 12, 2007. Born July 5, 1925. Talk show host and singer who also created game shows like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

Brooke Astor (philanthropist) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died August 13, 2007. Born March 30, 1902. Donated substantial sums to the New York Public Library, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Natural History, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Apollo Theater.

Max Roach (jazz drummer/composer) -- Dead. Died August 16, 2007. Born January 10, 1924. Made the drums a more important part of jazz groups, played with Dizzy Gillespie, first jazz musician to win a MacArthur Fellowship, married to Abbey Lincoln in the '60s.

Stephen Bicknell (writer/organ restorer) -- Dead. Died August 18, 2007. Born December 20, 1957. Restored pipe organs all over the UK, wrote The History of the English Organ.

Leona Helmsley (businesswoman/ex-con) -- Dead. Heart failure (how appropriate!). Died August 20, 2007. Born July 4, 1920. Difficult person who managed many hotels for her husband Harry, nicknamed "The Queen of Mean," willed $12 million to her dog, once said "Only the little people pay taxes," she served time for tax evasion.

Grace Paley (writer/anti-war activist) -- Dead. Breast cancer. Died August 22, 2007. Born December 11, 1922. Short story writer (Enormous Changes at the Last Minute), poet and anti-war activist.

Richard Jewell (historical footnote/former security guard) -- Dead. Complications of diabetes. Died August 29, 2007. Born November 17, 1962. Found the pipe bomb at the '96 Atlanta Olympics, later accused of planting it but later cleared due to lack of evidence (anti-abortion terrorist Eric Robert Rudolph actually left the bomb).

Miyoshi Umeki (actress) -- Dead. Cancer. Died August 29, 2007. Born May 8, 1929. First Asian actor to win an Oscar (Sayonara, in 1957), starred on Broadway (Flower Drum Song), retired after co-starring in The Courtship of Eddie's Father in the early '70s.

Michael Jackson (beer hunter/writer) -- Dead. Complications of Parkinsons/Heart attack. Died August 30, 2007. Born March 27, 1942. Beer and whisky expert, wrote many books and tried many, many kinds of drinks, had been recently writing about slow foods.

September

Madeleine L'Engle (writer) -- Dead. Died September 6, 2007. Born November 29, 1918. Won the Newbery Award for A Wrinkle in Time, Make memorial contributions to: Crosswicks Foundation

Luciano Pavarotti (opera star) -- Dead. Pancreatic cancer. Died 2007-09-06. Born October 12, 1935. One of the greatest tenors ever, performed with "The Three Tenors," a group which helped popularize opera.

Jane Wyman (actress) -- Dead. Died September 10, 2007. Born January 5, 1917. Johnny Belinda, Falcon Crest, an ex-wife of Ronald Reagan.

Brett Somers (actress) -- Dead. Died September 15, 2007. Born July 11, 1924. Match Game player, Jack Klugman's wife (long separated, unclear if they ever divorced) in real life, she played his ex-wife in The Odd Couple.

Robert Jordan (writer) -- Dead. Primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy. Died September 16, 2007. Born October 17, 1948. Writer of huge books, the Wheel of Time Fantasy series.

Alice Ghostley (actress) -- Dead. Colon cancer/strokes. Died September 21, 2007. Born August 14, 1924. Lots of comic parts on TV (particularly Bewitched and Designing Women) and in the movies, named a "New Face of 1952."

Marcel Marceau (mime) -- Dead. Died September 22, 2007. Born March 22, 1923. French mime, had the only spoken line in Silent Movie, member of the Frech Resistence, he helped hide Jewish children from the Nazis and later served as a translator for US troops

[Tina-Kate]

Whoa, quite a few of these I did not hear about.

Thanks, Stef.

[augusta]

Thanks for the list, Stef. My father-in-law knew Beverly Sills. I didn't know Brett Somers died! I thought Alice Ghostley died some time ago. I guess not.

[Constantine]

Since you posted, Lois Maxwell, the original Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films, died (on Saturday, September 29).

You might also like to check out deadoraliveinfo.com.

Sometimes they get one that the dead people's server misses (and vice versa).