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Wiesel Elie (b. 1926-09-30 / d. 2016-07-02)
He was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Utah senator Orrin Hatch paid tribute to Wiesel in a speech on the Senate floor the following week, in which he said that, "With Elie's passing, we have lost a beacon of humanity and hope. We have lost a hero of human rights and a luminary of Holocaust literature.
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94
Born 1930-06-19. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands was an American actress, whose career in film, stage, and television spanned nearly seven decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she collaborated with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, including A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), both of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night (1977). She appeared in Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), and her son Nick Cassavetes's film, The Notebook (2004). In 2021, Richard Brody of The New Yorker said, "The most important and original movie actor of the past half century-plus is Gena Rowlands." In November 2015, Rowlands received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her unique screen performances. On June 24, 2024, Nick Cassavetes announced that his mother had been living with Alzheimer's disease for the previous five years. Rowlands died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at her home in Indian Wells, California, at the age of 94.
54
Born 1969-08-19. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:alcohol, other drugs
Matthew Langford Perry was an American and Canadian actor. He starred as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for the role. Perry also appeared on Ally McBeal (2002) and received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The West Wing (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006). He gained a leading role in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which aired from 2006 to 2007. Perry also became known for his leading film roles in Fools Rush In (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Three to Tango (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Serving Sara (2002), The Whole Ten Yards (2005), and 17 Again (2009). He voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010). While Perry did not drink on the set of Friends, he did work with extreme hangovers and was sometimes sweating and shaking. Perry became addicted to Vicodin after a jet-ski accident in 1997, and completed a 28-day rehab program at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation that year. His weight dropped as low as 128 pounds (58 kg) and he took as many as 55 Vicodin pills per day. At age 30, he suffered from alcohol-induced pancreatitis and erectile dysfunction; in May 2000, he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. In February 2001, Perry paused productions of Friends and Serving Sara for 2 months, entering rehab for an addiction to Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol. Fifteen years later, he revealed that due to his addiction issues, he did not remember three years of the time he was acting on Friends, between seasons three and six. In 2018, Perry spent five months in a hospital for a gastrointestinal perforation. During the hospital stay, Perry nearly died after his colon burst from opioid abuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and used a colostomy bag for nine months. Upon being admitted to the hospital, doctors told his family that Perry had a 2% chance of survival. He was connected to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which breathed for him. Two years afterwards, while attending rehab in Switzerland, Perry faked pain to get a prescription of 1,800 milligrams of Oxycontin per day and was having daily ketamine infusions. He was given propofol in conjunction with a surgery, which stopped his heart for five minutes. The resulting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) resulted in eight broken ribs. He paid $175,000 for a private jet to take him to Los Angeles to get more drugs. When doctors there refused, Perry spent another $175,000 to take a private jet back to Switzerland. In 2022, he estimated that $9 million was spent on his addiction, including 14 stomach surgeries, 15 stays in rehab, and therapy twice a week for 30 years. He believed he had attended 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
83
Born 1939-11-26. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Mark Margolis (/mɑːrˈɡoʊlɪs/) was an American actor. An actor since he was a teenager, late in his career, he became most known for portraying Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. His performance in Breaking Bad was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2012. He regularly performed in the films of director Darren Aronofsky, appearing in all but two of his films, and starring in Aronofsky's first film, Pi (1998). He was also known for playing Alberto "The Shadow" in Scarface and Antonio Nappa in Oz. Coincidentally, Krysten Ritter – Jesse's apartment manager and girlfriend, who is a recovering addict - wears also the last name “Margolis”.
78
Born 1944-05-29. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Helmut Berger (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛlmuːt ˈbɛʁɡɐ]; né Steinberger) was an Austrian actor, known for his portrayal of narcissistic and sexually ambiguous characters. He was one of the stars of European cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s, and is regarded as a sex symbol and pop icon of that period. He is most famous for his work with Luchino Visconti, particularly in his performance as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he received a special David di Donatello award, and his performance in The Damned for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
28
Born 1995-03-20. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Cancer
Samantha Gail Weinstein was a Canadian actress. Samantha Gail Weinstein was born in Toronto, Ontario. She began her professional acting career at the age of six. By 2008, at the age of thirteen, she had appeared in the films Siblings in 2004, Big Girl in 2005, Ninth Street Chronicles in 2006, The Stone Angel in 2007, and Toronto Stories in 2008. In February 2006, the 10-year-old Weinstein won the ACTRA Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female for her work in Big Girl, the youngest performer ever to win that award. She was also a prolific voice actor, working in many cartoons right up until the last few weeks before her death, and was a singer and guitarist in the garage rock band Killer Virgins. Weinstein died at age 28 of ovarian cancer at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
85
Born 1937-03-22. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga (1990–1992, 2017), The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive. Badalamenti received the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for his "Twin Peaks Theme". Badalamenti also received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the World Soundtrack Awards's Academy in 2008, and the "Henry Mancini Award" from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2011.
63
Born 1959-03-18. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Unknown
Irene Cara Escalera was an American singer, songwriter and actress of black, Puerto Rican, and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film's title song "Fame", which reached No. 1 in several countries. In 1983, Cara sang and co-wrote the song "Flashdance... What a Feeling" (from the film Flashdance), for which she shared an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984. Prior to her success with Fame, Cara portrayed the title character Sparkle Williams in the original 1976 musical drama film Sparkle. Cara died at her home in Largo, Florida at the age of 63. As of November 26, 2022, the cause of her death is unknown.
75
Born 1946-11-14. Domain:Society. Cause of death:Cancer
Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather (born Marie Louise Cruz) was an American actress, model, and Native American civil rights activist. Littlefeather was born to a Native American (Apache and Yaqui) father and a White mother. During the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz, she became involved in the Native American activist community. Littlefeather represented Marlon Brando at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, where she—on Brando's behalf—declined the Best Actor award that he won for his performance in The Godfather. The favorite to win, Brando boycotted the ceremony as a protest against Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans and to draw attention to the standoff at Wounded Knee. During her speech, the audience's response to Brando's boycotting was divided between booing and applause. After the Academy Award speech, Littlefeather worked in hospice care. She continued her activism for health-related and Native American issues, and produced films about Native Americans. In June 2022, the Academy sent Littlefeather a statement of apology that was read in full at An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather on September 17. Over the years, Littlefeather described her personal experiences with serious health issues, including internal bleeding, collapsed lungs, and cancer. She reported having tuberculosis at age 4 and received treatment in an oxygen tent while hospitalized. She stated that she was suicidal and hospitalized in a mental institution for a year. In 1974, she stated that Marlon Brando sent her to a doctor when she was in a lot of pain and helped her recover, so she made the Oscar speech to repay him. At the age of 29 her lungs collapsed. After recovering, she received a degree from Antioch University in holistic health and nutrition with an emphasis in Native American medicine, a practice she credited with her recovery. In 1991, Littlefeather was reported to be recovering from radical cancer surgery. A 1999 article stated she had had colon cancer in the early 1990s. In 2018, Littlefeather developed stage 4 breast cancer, a recurrence of the breast cancer from which she was reported to be in remission in 2012. She said in a 2021 interview that the cancer had metastasized to her right lung and that she was terminal. Littlefeather died at her home in Novato, California, on October 2, 2022, at the age of 75, a month before her 76th birthday.
82
Born 1940-03-26. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
James Edmund Caan was an American actor who was nominated for several awards, including four Golden Globes, an Emmy, and an Oscar. Caan was awarded a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978. After early roles in Howard Hawks's El Dorado (1966), Robert Altman's Countdown (1967) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969), he came to prominence for playing his signature role of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised the role of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974) with a cameo appearance at the end. Caan had significant roles in films such as Brian's Song (1971), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Gambler (1974), Rollerball (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), and Alan J. Pakula's Comes a Horseman (1978). He had sporadically worked in film since the 1980s, with his notable performances including roles in Thief (1981), Gardens of Stone (1987), Misery (1990), Dick Tracy (1990), Bottle Rocket (1996), The Yards (2000), Dogville (2003), and Elf (2003). Caan was a practicing martial artist. He had trained with Takayuki Kubota for nearly 30 years, earning various ranks. He was a Master (6 Dan) of Gosoku Ryu Karate and was granted the title of Soke Dai by the International Karate Association. He also took part in steer roping at rodeos and referred to himself as the "only Jewish cowboy from New York on the professional rodeo cowboy circuit." Caan supported Donald Trump during the 2016 United States presidential election. He described himself as "ultra conservative" and said he only watched Fox News. According to a Fortune magazine profile of Barry Minkow, during the production of the biopic based on the investor's life, Caan socialized with Minkow and was made aware by him that the financing of the film involved illegally obtained funds. Nothing suggests Caan had any involvement with any illegalities. Caan died in Los Angeles at the age of 82.
91
Born 1929-11-15. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Eddie Asner (/ˈćznər/) was an American actor. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama. Asner is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven – five for portraying Lou Grant (three as Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and two as Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series on spin-off Lou Grant). His other Emmys were for performances in two miniseries: Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), and Roots (1977). Asner acted in numerous films such as the western El Dorado (1966), the crime drama They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), and the cop drama Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981). He portrayed Guy Banister in the political thriller JFK (1991), Warren Buffett in the HBO drama film Too Big to Fail (2011), and Santa Claus in several films, including in Elf (2003). He voiced Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film Up (2009). Asner starred in the ABC sitcom Thunder Alley (1994–1995), and Michael: Every Day (2011–2017). He also acted extensively in numerous television series such as The Practice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Good Wife, Cobra Kai, Briarpatch, Working Class, and Dead to Me. He also voiced J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man (1994) series, and Uncle Ben in The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008).
24
Born 1997-05-24. Domain:Sport. Cause of death:Suicide
Olivia Rose Podmore was a New Zealand professional racing cyclist. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Podmore died in Cambridge on the evening of 9 August 2021, aged 24. Her death is a suspected suicide and has been referred to the coroner. Hours before her death, she posted on Instagram about the pressures of high-performance sport. Podmore's funeral was held in Christchurch on 13 August 2021. Her death came less than 24 hours after the 2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, and as the New Zealand Olympic team returning from Tokyo were required to undergo 14 days in managed isolation and quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a second memorial service is planned to be held in Cambridge on 27 August 2021.
80
Born 1941-01-31. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Jessica Walter was an American actress and voice artist who appeared in over 170 film, television, and stage productions. She was best known for her role as Lucille Bluth on the sitcom Arrested Development (2003–06, 2013–19), and providing the voice of Malory Archer on the long-running FX animated series Archer (2009–20). She was a two-time Golden Globe nominee, and a Primetime Emmy Award recipient. Walter studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City and began her career on the Broadway stage, winning a 1963 Clarence Derwent Award for Outstanding Debut Performance. She made her film debut in the neo-noir drama Lilith (1964), and subsequently starred in the films Grand Prix and The Group (both 1966), which earned her critical acclaim. Her starring role opposite Clint Eastwood in Play Misty for Me (1971) bagged her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. Walter was a regular presence on American television, playing the titular role in the short-lived police procedural Amy Prentiss, appearing in a recurring role on Trapper John, M.D., working as a series regular for the first half of season one of 90210, and providing the voice of Fran Sinclair on the series Dinosaurs. Her role as scheming socialite Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development brought her renewed attention, and she contributed voiceover work to animated shows like Archer (2009-) and Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2015–18). Walter got her start on the New York stage, periodically dipping back into theatre as her Hollywood career took off. From the ‘60s and onward, she appeared on a variety of now-classic TV series including The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, Columbo, Law & Order and Murder, She Wrote, where she played three different guest-starring roles over the years. Walter died in her sleep at her home in Manhattan. No cause was given.
53
Born 1967-10-12. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Stroke
David Grammont, better known under his stage name Tonton David was a French Reggae singer born in La Réunion. He was renowned for his raggamuffin performances, but used influences of soul music, gro kâ (from the French West Indies), the Zairian rumba. Tonton David had a turbulent childhood in a suburb of Paris. He left his family aged 14 and had a successful career in music with songs featuring powerful and political lyrics. In 1990, Tonton David had his big break when he was featured in a TV report about "Black Paris". Following that performance, Tonton David was signed by the Virgin record label. Shortly after, he recorded "Peuples du monde", which was featured in French rap compilation Rapattitudes. He is best remembered for his hit Chacun sa route. Suffering from a stroke when getting off his train at Metz station on February 14, 2021, he was transferred to Nancy hospital where he died two days later.
94
Born 1926-04-30. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Cloris Leachman was an American actress and comedienne whose career spanned more than seven decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded actress in Emmy history. She won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award. In film, she appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) as the jaded wife of a closeted schoolteacher in the 1950s; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance, and the film is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. Additionally, she was part of Mel Brooks's ensemble cast, appearing in roles such as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I (1981). Leachman won additional Emmys for the television film A Brand New Life (1973); the variety sketch show Cher (1975); the ABC serial The Woman Who Willed a Miracle (1983); and the television shows Promised Land (1998) and Malcolm in the Middle (2001–06). Her other notable film and television credits include The Twilight Zone (1961; 2003), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), WUSA (1970), Yesterday (1981), the English-language dub of the Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky (1998), Spanglish (2004), Mrs. Harris (2005), and Raising Hope (2010-2014). From 1953 to 1979, Leachman was married to Hollywood impresario George Englund. Her former mother-in-law was character actress Mabel Albertson. The marriage produced four sons and one daughter: Bryan (died 1986), Morgan, Adam, Dinah, and George. Some of them are in show business. Her son Morgan played Dylan on Guiding Light for several years. The Englunds were Bel Air neighbors of Judy Garland, Sid Luft and their children, Lorna and Joey Luft, during the early 1960s. Lorna Luft stated in her memoir Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir that Leachman was "the kind of mom I'd only seen on TV". Knowing of the turmoil at the Luft home, but never mentioning it, Leachman prepared meals for the children and made them feel welcome when they needed a place to stay. Leachman was also a friend of Marlon Brando's, whom she met while studying under Elia Kazan in the 1950s. She introduced him to her husband, who became close to Brando, as well, directing him in The Ugly American and writing a memoir about their friendship called Marlon Brando: The Way It's Never Been Done Before (2005).
95
Born 1925-02-17. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. was an American actor, television director, and writer. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show he developed, Mark Twain Tonight! while studying at Denison University, performing as Mark Twain. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1966 for his portrayal of Twain. He would continue to perform his signature role for over 60 years, only retiring the show in 2017 due to his failing health. Throughout his career, he also won five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on television and was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in film. Holbrook made his film debut in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). He later gained international fame for his performance as Deep Throat in the 1976 film All the President's Men. He played Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 miniseries Lincoln and 1985 miniseries North and South. He also appeared in such films as Julia (1977), The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), Wall Street (1987), The Firm (1993), Hercules (1997), and Men of Honor (2000). Holbrook's role as Ron Franz in Sean Penn's Into the Wild (2007) earned him both Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. In 2009, Holbrook received critical acclaim for his performance as recently retired farmer Abner Meecham in the independent film That Evening Sun. He also portrayed Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012). In 2003, Holbrook was honored with the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush.
65
Born 1955-01-26. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Cancer
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was an American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor. He was the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the American rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded in 1972 with his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, bassist Mark Stone, and singer David Lee Roth. He was well known for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with two hands on the fretboard. In 2012, he was voted number one in a Guitar World magazine reader's poll for "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Van Halen struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse. He began smoking and drinking at the age of 12, and he stated that he eventually needed alcohol to function. He entered rehabilitation in 2007, and later shared in an interview that he had been sober since 2008. Suffering from lingering injuries from past, high-risk, acrobatic stage performances and crashes, Van Halen underwent hip replacement surgery in 1999, after his chronic avascular necrosis, with which he was diagnosed in 1995, became unbearable. He began receiving treatment for tongue cancer in 2000. The subsequent surgery removed roughly a third of his tongue. He was declared cancer-free in 2002. He blamed the tongue cancer on his habit of holding guitar picks in his mouth, stating in 2015: "I used metal picks – they're brass and copper – which I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer. ... I mean, I was smoking and doing a lot of drugs and a lot of everything. But at the same time, my lungs are totally clear. This is just my own theory, but the doctors say it's possible." In 2012, Van Halen underwent an emergency surgery for a severe bout of diverticulitis. Recovery time required due to the surgery led to postponement of Van Halen tour dates scheduled in Japan. Van Halen was later hospitalized in 2019 after battling throat cancer over the previous five years.
88
Born 1931-09-12. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert CBE, known as Ian Holm, was an English actor on stage and in film. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear. He won the 1981 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as athletics trainer Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire, for which he was also nominated for an Academy Award. His other well-known film roles include Ash in Alien, Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element, Chef Skinner in Ratatouille, and Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series. He was treated for prostate cancer in 2001. He died in hospital on 19 June 2020 at the age of 88. He had Parkinson's disease for a number of years.
34
Born 1986-01-21. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Suicide
Sushant Singh Rajput was an Indian film and television actor, dancer, television personality, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist. Rajput started his career with television serials. His debut show was Star Plus's romantic drama Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil (2008), followed by an award-winning performance in Zee TV's popular soap opera Pavitra Rishta (2009–11). Rajput made his film debut in the buddy drama Kai Po Che! (2013), for which he received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He then starred in the romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance (2013) and as the titular detective in the action thriller Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015). His highest-grossing releases came with a supporting role in the satire PK (2014), followed by the titular role in the sports biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016). For his performance in the latter, he received his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Rajput went on to star in the commercially successful films Kedarnath (2018) and Chhichhore (2019). NITI Aayog, the policy think-tank of the Indian government, signed him to promote the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). Apart from acting and running innsaei ventures, Rajput was actively involved in various programmes like Sushant4Education, as a part of efforts to help young students. Rajput was found dead of an apparent suicide by hanging in his Bandra home in Mumbai. He had reportedly been suffering from depression for several months.
72
Born 1947-08-25. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
Keith Tippett was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary music, as well as modern jazz for more than half-a-century". He held " an unparalleled place in British contemporary music," and was known for "his unique approach to improvisation". Tippett appeared and recorded in many settings, including a duet with Stan Tracey, duets with his wife Julie Tippetts (née Driscoll), solo performances, and as a bandleader, and appeared on King Crimson albums. In 2018, he had a heart attack and pneumonia but returned to performing in 2019.
87
Born 1932-12-05. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Cancer
Better known as Little Richard, he was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Nicknamed "The Innovator, The Originator, and The Architect of Rock and Roll", Penniman's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding back beat and raspy shouted vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. Penniman's innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk, respectively. He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come. "Tutti Frutti" (1955), one of Penniman's signature songs, became an instant hit, crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and overseas in the United Kingdom. Penniman's next hit single, "Long Tall Sally" (1956), hit No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart, followed by a rapid succession of fifteen more hit singles in less than three years. His performances during this period resulted in integration between White Americans and African Americans in his audience. In 1962, during a five-year period in which Penniman abandoned rock and roll music for born again Christianity, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded him to tour Europe. During this time, Arden had the Beatles open for Penniman on some tour dates, capitalizing on his popularity. Richard advised the Beatles on how to perform his songs and taught the band's member Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations. During his initial heyday in the 1950s rock and roll scene, Penniman was a teetotaler abstaining from alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Penniman often fined bandmates for drug and alcohol use during this era. By the mid-1960s, however, Penniman began drinking heavy amounts of alcohol and smoking cigarettes and marijuana. By 1972, he had developed an addiction to cocaine. He later lamented that period, "They should have called me Lil Cocaine, I was sniffing so much of that stuff!" By 1975, he had developed addictions to both heroin and PCP, otherwise known as "angel dust". His drug and alcohol use began to affect his professional career and personal life. "I lost my reasoning", he later recalled. Penniman died at the age of 87 in Tennessee. The cause of death was revealed to be bone cancer.
81
Born 1938-07-09. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Brian Manion Dennehy was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in over 180 films and in many television and stage productions. His film roles included First Blood (1982), Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), Cocoon (1985), F/X (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Knight of Cups (2015). Dennehy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Willy Loman in the television film Death of a Salesman (2000). According to Variety, Dennehy was "perhaps the foremost living interpreter" of playwright Eugene O'Neill’s works on stage and screen. He had a decades long relationship with Chicago's Goodman Theatre where much of his O'Neill work originated. He also regularly played Canada's Stratford Festival, especially in works by William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett. He once gave credit for his award-winning performances to the play's authors: "When you walk with giants, you learn how to take bigger steps." Dennehy was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2010. Dennehy died of cardiac arrest due to sepsis in New Haven, Connecticut.
68
Born 1951-04-11. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:COVID
He was an American actor. He played Captain/Major John Kieffer in the British detective drama Foyle's War, in the episodes "Invasion" and "All Clear". Benedict was born in Burbank, California. He lived and worked in Europe from the 1960s onwards. His theatrical credits include The Rocky Horror Show in the Kings Road in the early 1970s, Harold Pinter's production of Sweet Bird of Youth, The Reverend Lee in The Foreigner and Riccardo in Franco Zeffirelli's production of Filumena in which he played opposite Pierce Brosnan in the latter's first stage role, and Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, in a touring production of "One Day at a Time". In 2013 he appeared opposite Steven Berkoff and Andree Bernard in the world premiere of the former's one act play An Actor's Lament at The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre at Alton College, followed by a second performance at The Sinden Theatre, Homewood School, Tenterden in Kent, two nights at The Maltings Theatre & Cinema in Berwick-upon-Tweed and then a three-week run at the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In May 2014, it was revived with a short run at the Theatre Royal, Margate with a further one-week run scheduled at The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, in September 2014.
79
Born 1940-09-22. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Bayer) was a Danish-French film avant garde actress, director, writer, and singer. She was French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard's muse in the 1960s, performing in several of his films, including The Little Soldier, A Woman Is a Woman, My Life to Live, Bande ŕ part (Band of Outsiders), Pierrot le Fou (Crazy Pete) and Alphaville. For her performance in A Woman Is a Woman, Karina won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival. In 1972, Karina set up a production company for her directorial debut, Vivre ensemble (1973), which screened in the Critics' Week lineup at the 26th Cannes Film Festival. She also directed the French-Canadian film Victoria (2008). In addition to her work in cinema, she worked as a singer, and wrote several novels. Karina was an icon of 1960s cinema, and referred to as the "effervescent free spirit of the French New Wave, with all of the scars that the position entails". The New York Times described her as "one of the screen's great beauties and an enduring symbol of the French New Wave." Karina died at the age of 79 at a hospital in Paris. According to her agent, Laurent Balandras, the cause of death was cancer. However, her husband, Dennis Berry, told that the cause was not cancer, but a complication following a muscular rupture.
79
Born 1940-06-01. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Cancer (lung)
René Murat Auberjonois was an American actor, singer, voice artist, narrator and director best known for playing Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999). He first achieved fame as a stage actor, winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1970 for his portrayal of Sebastian Baye opposite Katharine Hepburn in the André Previn-Alan Jay Lerner musical Coco. He went on to earn three more Tony nominations for performances in Neil Simon's The Good Doctor (1973), Roger Miller's Big River (1985), and Cy Coleman's City of Angels (1989); he won a Drama Desk Award for Big River. Auberjonois was born in New York City. His father, Swiss-born Fernand Auberjonois (1910–2004), was a Cold War-era foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer. His paternal grandfather, also named René Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. His mother, Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat (1913–1986), was a great-great-granddaughter of Joachim Murat, one of Napoleon's marshals and King of Naples during the First French Empire, and his wife, Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest sister. His maternal grandmother, Hélčne Macdonald Stallo (1893–1932), was an American, from Cincinnati, Ohio; his maternal grandfather's mother was a Russian noblewoman, Eudoxia Michailovna Somova (1850–1924), and his maternal grandfather's paternal grandmother, Caroline Georgina Fraser (1810–1879), who was married to Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat, was an American, from Charleston, South Carolina. Auberjonois had a sister and a brother, and two half-sisters from his mother's first marriage. His family moved to Paris after World War II. That is where, at an early age, he decided to become an actor. After a few years in France, the family moved back to the United States and joined the South Mountain Road artists' colony in Rockland County, New York, whose residents included Burgess Meredith, John Houseman, and Lotte Lenya. During this part of his youth, he performed the young boy's part 'Bert' in All My Sons with the community theatre group The Rockland Foundation Players (which later changed its name to Elmwood Playhouse). Auberjonois died from metastatic lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles at age 79.
59
Born 1959-12-02. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Cancer
Alexander Konstantinovich Kuznetsov was a Russian American actor. Kuznetsov was born in the USSR in Petrovka, a small village in Primorsky Krai on the Sea of Japan. He graduated from Schukin Theatrical College. Alexander Kuznetsov made his first appearance in a movie in 1983. He starred in many Russian movies and TV series. His most known role is Jack Vosmyorkin in Jack Vosmyorkin, The American. Aleksander Kuznetsov was a key member of the Malaya Bronaya Theater (1985–1989). The actor was working in Russia as well as in the United States. He has had television appearances as Nikolai Kossoff in NYPD Blue, as Victor in Crossing Jordan, as Capt. Alex Volkonov in JAG, as Kazimir Shcherbakov in Alias. His most recent performance was the character Ostroff on the thriller series, 24. In 2000 he starred opposite Dolph Lundgren in Agent Red. In 2014, the actor was diagnosed with cancer.
84
Born 1934-10-26. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
Jacques Loussier was a French pianist and composer. He arranged jazz interpretations of many of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as the Goldberg Variations. The Jacques Loussier Trio, founded in 1959, played more than 3,000 concerts and sold more than 7 million recordings—mostly in the Bach series. Loussier composed film scores and a number of classical pieces, including a Mass, a ballet, and violin concertos. Loussier's style is described as third stream, a synthesis of jazz and classical music, with an emphasis on improvisation. Loussier suffered a stroke during a performance at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr on 14 July 2011, and retired from the stage. He diedat the age of 84.
49
Born 1969-09-17. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Suicide
Keith Charles Flint was an English singer, dancer and motorcycle racer. He was a founding member of the electronic dance act the Prodigy. Starting out as a dancer, he became the frontman of the group and performed on the group's two UK number one singles, "Firestarter" and "Breathe" both released in 1996. He was also the lead singer of his own band, Flint. He owned a motorcycle racing team, Team Traction Control, which won four Isle of Man TT races throughout 2015 and 2016, and competed in the British Supersport Championship. Flint was a keen motorcyclist. He rode 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from England to southern Spain to attend the 2007 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix and also raced in club competitions. He rode with Lee Thompson of the band Madness. He had his own motorcycle team, Team Traction Control, which competed in the British Supersport Championship as part of the British Superbike Championship before stepping up to the British Superbike Championship in 2017. In 2015 Team Traction Control machines won two Isle of Man TT races, ridden by Ian Hutchinson. The team and Ian Hutchinson repeated their two victories again in 2016. Flint's final public performance with the Prodigy was on 5 February 2019 at Trusts Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. On Saturday 2 March 2019, Flint took part in the Chelmsford Parkrun, for the third consecutive week, in which he achieved his personal best time. On 4 March 2019, just after 8:10 am, Essex Police were called to Flint's home in North End, near Great Dunmow, Essex, in response to concerns for his welfare. Flint was pronounced dead at the scene, and the police did not treat the death as suspicious. It was later confirmed at an inquest into his death he had died as a result of hanging. The coroner adjourned the inquest until 23 July for a full hearing. Later that day, bandmate Liam Howlett stated in an Instagram post that Flint had taken his own life. The official band website then went black with an announcement of his death and the Prodigy announced that they had cancelled all forthcoming shows. It was later revealed by Emily Eavis that this included a booking at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival. The next scheduled Prodigy performance was to be the Estéreo Picnic Festival on 6 April 2019 in Bogotá, Colombia. It was established by the coroners inquest on 8 May 2019 that there was insufficient evidence to conclude a suicide verdict in relation to Flint's death.
52
Born 1966-10-11. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Stroke
Coy Luther Perry III was an American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He also starred as Fred Andrews on the CW series Riverdale, had guest roles on notable shows such as Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Simpsons, and Will & Grace, and also starred in several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), 8 Seconds (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), his final feature performance. Perry suffered a massive ischemic stroke at his home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles on February 27, 2019. After a second stroke, his family decided to remove him from life support, and he died on March 4, 2019 at age 52.
73
Born 1945-09-25. Domain:Performing. Cause of death:Age
Catherine Burns was an American actress of stage, film, radio and television. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Last Summer (1969). In June 1989, Burns married Kenneth Shire. At the time, she lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Later in her life, she and Shire resided in a retirement community in Lynden, Washington. Little is known about Burns' life following her acting career; Shire said that she had resented the publicity and scrutiny from it, saying "She hated the movie [Last Summer]... and most everything that came with it. She wanted to be remembered as a published writer of novels." A 2020 article in The Hollywood Reporter found that, according to Washington state health records, Burns died at age 73 from complications of a fall she had suffered at home, with cirrhosis listed as a contributing factor.
85
Born 1933-04-12. Domain:Music. Cause of death:Age
María de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé i Folch was a Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide variety of roles, but is best known as an exponent of the works of Verdi and of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. She was noticed internationally when she stepped in for a performance of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in 1965, and then appeared at leading opera houses. Her voice was described as pure but powerful, with superb control of vocal shadings and exquisite pianissimo. Caballé became popular to non-classical music audiences in 1987, when she recorded, at the request of the IOC, "Barcelona", a duet with Freddie Mercury, which became an official theme song for the 1992 Olympic Games. She received several international awards and also Grammy Awards for a number of her recordings. On 20 October 2012, during her tour in Russia, Caballé suffered a stroke in Yekaterinburg and was quickly transferred to the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona. In September 2018, she was admitted to the same hospital for a gallbladder problem. She died there at the age of 85. The cause of death was not given. Felipe VI of Spain described Caballé as "the best of the best", and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez called her the great ambassador of Spain.