In 2023, we mourned the loss of a number of groundbreaking directors, visionary actors, and generational musicians who made an indelible impact on pop culture during their time on Earth. From Norman Lear to William Friedkin, from Matthew Perry to Paul Reubens, from Tina Turner to Tony Bennett, The A.V. Club pays tribute to all of the these talented artists and their many contributions.
Jeremiah Green, the drummer for Modest Mouse and a founding member of the band, has died. He was 45.
Green was just a teenager when he first joined up with Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and bassist Eric Brock. The trio got their start in Washington in the 1990s, releasing their cult favorite debut album, This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About, in 1996. [Hattie Lindert]
A veteran character and voice actor, Boen will be most familiar to film audiences for his role in the first three Terminator films, playing the endlessly tormented Dr. Peter Silberman in The Terminator, T2: Judgment Day, and Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines. With a track record spanning sitcoms, dramas, video games, action movies, and pretty much anything else an actor might’ve put his talents toward in the second half of the 20th century, Boen accrued almost 300 credited roles across a 40-plus year career. Per Variety, he died in Hawaii, after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year. Boen was 81.
Boen made his name first and foremost in TV comedy: His early resumé, from the mid-’70s onward, is dotted with many of the biggest sitcoms of the era, including MASH, Three’s Company, Barnaby Jones, and more. Even as a young man, Boen’s hangdog face and gift for the dour made him a regular presence on shows looking to inject a little wry, glum wit into their ensembles for an episode; although he occasionally settled into a longer role (including a single-season stint on It’s A Living in 1981), Boen would remain a “freelancer” for most of his career. [William Hughes]
Best known for his role on ABC’s Eight Is Enough, Adam Rich also made appearances on other television series throughout the ’80s and ’90s, including The Love Boat, The Six Million Dollar Man, St. Elsewhere, and Baywatch. His last major role occurred in 2003, when he played himself in the David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.
Rich suffered from addiction issues that contributed to legal trouble over the years, including an arrest in 1991 for attempting to break into a pharmacy, per the AP. He was open about his experiences with mental illness; publicist Danny Deraney told the outlet that the actor’s depression “defied treatment.”
“Adam was simply a wonderful guy. He was kind, generous and a warrior in the fight against mental illness,” Deraney shared in a statement posted to Twitter. “Adam did not have an ounce of ego. He was unselfish and always looked out for those he cared about. Which is why many people who grew up with him feel a part of their childhood gone, and sad today. He really was Americas Little Brother.” [Mary Kate Carr]
A Grammy winning-guitarist, credited with refining and popularizing the sound of the electric guitar in modern rock music, Jeff Beck had early success with British band The Yardbirds in the 1960s before embarking on a long and winding solo career. Although he never reached the mainstream or commercial heights of many of his contemporaries and successors—most of whom acknowledged him as a massive influence on their own work—Beck continued to tour, play, and perform well into the 2020s, with his list of collaborators encompassing a handy Who’s Who of the entire span of modern rock. Beck died reportedly of bacterial meningitis. Per Variety, he was 78.
Born in England in the 1940s, Beck gravitated toward music early, building his own guitars as a teenager, and beginning to play with bands while in college in the early ’60s. Like many of the budding rock guitarists of the era, Beck was drawn to the sounds of rhythm and blues, transforming and playing with those sounds to create the foundations of rock music. In 1965, after Eric Clapton departed The Yardbirds, Beck signed on to replace him as the band’s lead guitarist.
Beck’s tenure with the band was relatively short—just 20 months, before he quit and/or was fired after bailing on the group in the midst of a U.S. tour—but highly influential. The Yardbirds had many of their biggest hits during that period; meanwhile, Beck’s experimentation with adding fuzzier, more distorted tones to his guitar paved the way to the creation of more psychedelic rock. Beck only made one album with The Yardbirds, 1966's Roger The Engineer, before going solo in 1967. [William Hughes]
The only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her father being the King of Rock ’n Roll, her childhood was a whirlwind. He and Priscilla divorced when she was four, and Lisa Marie moved with her mother to Los Angeles. She split her time between L.A. and Memphis until her father’s death in 1977.
Her father’s death was the beginning of a tumultuous adolescence. She dropped out of high school and began abusing drugs, winding up in Scientology’s Celebrity Center rehab facility when she was 17. While in rehab, she met her first husband, musician Danny Keough. The couple were married in 1988 and had two children, Riley and Benjamin, before divorcing in 1994. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Gina Lollabrigida made her English language debut in 1953 with John Ford’s Beat The Devil, but she had already made over 20 films in Eurore before arriving stateside, per The New York Times. Lollabrigida went on to make a significant impact on the U.S. film indurstry in the 1950s and 60s, starring in films like Trapeze, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Come September and even earning a parody on The Flintsones. While she was a big star in the States, she remained an icon in her native Italy through her entire life.
In the 1970s, she embarked on a career behind the camera, publishing a book of photographs titled Italia Mia in 1973. In 1975, her interview with Cuban leader Fidel Castro was screened in Berlin as part of the documentary Ritratto di Fidel. Her final film appearance was in the French comedy XXL in 1997. [Drew Gillis]
Although he continued to play with CSN&Y—when they weren’t screaming at each other—and had a successful and prolific solo career, Crosby’s later years were occupied both by health problems, and by his apparently instinctive cultivation of his status as an elder statesman of the weird, loud folk-rock lifestyle. (There was a certain, “Oh, yeah, that makes sense” vibe to it all when Melissa Etheridge announced that she’d chosen Crosby to be the sperm donor for her and her partner’s artificial insemination; he was, not surprisingly, a natural on Twitter.) In later years, he also mellowed: In 2019, Cameron Crowe—who’d been talking with Crosby, at various points in his life, since 1974—released David Crosby: Remember My Name, a retrospective documentary about his life. Directed by A.J. Eaton, the film drew strong reviews for its vision of the aging Crosby as he reflected on his failures, his music, and his life—all of which, it seems, were inextricably intertwined. [William Hughes]
In 1968, Morrisett and Ganz founded the Children’s Television Workshop, which would later be renamed the Sesame Street Workshop, using the newly established National Educational Television, later renamed the Public Broadcasting Service or PBS, and a number of grants. The show aimed to break “the tyranny of America’s poverty cycle could be broken if the emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs of poor children could be met,” writes Michael Davis in Street Gang, and that’s precisely what happened. The show launched on November 10, 1969, creating a seismic moment in television, with aftershocks felt to this day. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Kerwin rose to fame as a young actor in the 1970s, becoming a teen heartthrob for his starring role on James At 15 (later, James At 16) in 1977. The show was controversial in its time, garnering criticism for its depiction of James losing his virginity and having premarital sex (per Variety). He went on to appear in the 1979 adaptation of Salem’s Lot under director Tobe Hopper, whom he described in a 2019 interview as on a “whole different level from most directors I had worked with.” He continued to work steadily throughout the ’80s and early a’90s, appearing in shows like Trapper John, M.D., Murder, She Wrote, and Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre. Later, he became a youth pastor in California and Hawaii. [Mary Kate Carr]
As the singer, songwriter, and guitar player for influential New York band Television, Verlaine shaped the sound of rock and punk music in the 1970s and beyond, applying a poetic flair (and serious musicianship) to the rougher edges of the wider movement. After Television broke up in 1978, Verlaine embarked on an extensive solo career that saw him release ten albums across the ensuing decades, exploring a variety of musical themes that generally get tossed together under the label “post-punk.” Per Variety, Verlaine died on Saturday after what’s been reported as a “brief illness.” He was 73. [William Hughes]
Perhaps best known for her role on 24, where she played FBI Special Agent Renee Walker for two seasons, Wersching was a prolific actor, appearing in some of television’s most popular shows, including NCIS, Bosch, and CSI. She returned to 24 for the 2013 reunion season. However, she wasn’t limited to action. Wersching did 80 episodes of General Hospital, appeared as a recurring character on Vampire Diaries, and starred in Marvel’s Runaways. The actor’s voice can also be heard as the smuggler Tess in The Last Of Us. “We just lost a beautiful artist and human being,” Last Of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann wrote on Twitter. “My heart is shattered. Thoughts are with her loved ones.” [Matt Schimkowitz]
The first-ever portrayer of the pigtailed menace, Loring took on the role of Wednesday Addams in 1964, when she was just six years old, and remained a cast member for the show’s entire duration, until 1966. Loring’s take on the character first outlined in Charles Addams’ cartoons for The New Yorker helped set the tone for future Wednesdays, including Christina Ricci and Jenna Ortega. Last month during an appearance on The Tonight Show, Ortega directly cited Loring as an inspiration for the viral dance Wednesday performs in Tim Burton’s recent Netflix series. [Hattie Lindert]
Williams worked with Penny Marshall, her future sitcom co-star, at Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope (which produced American Graffiti) as a writer. That’s what they were reportedly doing when they got a call from Marshall’s brother, Garry Marshall, who wanted them both to appear on an episode of a show he was producing called Happy Days. Their appearance, as prospective dates for Richie and Fonzie who worked at a brewery in Milwaukee, was so popular with viewers that Garry Marshall put together a pitch for a spin-off.
Laverne & Shirley premiered in 1976 and starred Williams as the more reserved Shirley against Marshall’s free-spirited Laverne. It was the most-watched show on TV in its third season, and it ran until 1982. Williams left early on in what would become its final season, choosing to leave so she could give birth to her first child (something the producers reportedly fought her on, weirdly). [Sam Barsanti]
But, as we said: It’s hard to call any role of Dillon’s more enduring than A Christmas Story. As the mother to Peter Billingsley’s Ralphie, Dillon embodies a quintessential movie mom, but in a way that allowed her gifts as a comedian and dramatic actress to shine through. (The joy she brings to the moment when Mother Parker encourages her reluctant youngest son to eat from his plate like “a little piggy” is an especial highlight.) There are many reasons A Christmas Story has remained in near-permanent holiday rotation for the last 40 years; the authenticity and delight Dillon brought to the part is undeniably one of them. [William Hughes]
Known for his masterful ability to capture a buoyant romanticism in his smooth and sophisticated melodies, Burt Bacharach’s sound became integral to the careers of countless seminal artists. An eight-time Grammy winner, Bacharach penned hits for Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Neil Diamond, Dr. Dre, Sheryl Crow, and many more during his life. Artists like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Cyndi Lauper, and Frank Sinatra covered his compositions; the White Stripes, Twista and Ashanti all sampled his work in later years. Even early on in his time in music, he served as an arranger and conductor for Marlene Dietrich, traveling with her throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s. [Hattie Lindert]
In 1981, Hudson returned to filmmaking in full, directing his first full-length documentary, racing doc Fangio: Una vita a 300 all’ora. He followed that dip into sports with another, even more celebrated one: Chariots Of Fire, a historical drama focused on a pair of British track runners competing in the 1924 Olympic Games. Directing from a script by Colin Welland—and employing a secret weapon in the form of an instant-classic synth-heavy soundtrack from his friend and colleague Vangelis—Hudson was heralded for making a relatable, funny, and very human film out of the story of runners Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson). The film was a crossover international success, ultimately scoring Hudson a Best Director nomination at the Academy Awards, and winning for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. [William Hughes]
Trugoy (who explained that he took his stage name from the fact that he likes to eat yogurt) attended high school in Long Island with Vincent Mason and Kelvin Mercer, a.k.a. Maseo and Posdnuos, the other two members of De La Soul, and together they released their groundbreaking debut album 3 Feet High And Rising in 1989. The extremely influential album, which introduced the group’s penchant for clever lyrics and surprising samples, was De La Soul’s biggest hit, but they continued releasing critically acclaimed albums that shook up their usual style over the course of the next decade or so. [Sam Barsanti]
Born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, Raquel Welch started her career on the theater stage, eventually earning her first on-screen job as a weather broadcaster. She married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, and they remained married for five years until 1964.
When she returned to Los Angeles in 1963, she began auditioning for Hollywood studio roles. Her big breakthrough came in 1966 when she starred in the sci-fi hit Fantastic Voyage. In the same year, she snagged the role in One Million Years B.C.
“Both made a huge difference to my career. Overnight, I found myself in demand,” she told The Sunday Post in 2019. “Before that I was not much more than an extra.” [Gabrielle Sanchez]
Gerald Fried has died. A veteran musician and long-time Hollywood composer, Fried contributed work to dozens of films, as well as some of the defining TV shows of the 1960s and ’70s and beyond, including scores for Roots, Star Trek, and Gilligan’s Island. Although his work was sometimes overshadowed by the frequently flashier theme songs for the projects he worked on, many of his songs would eventually reach legendary status—most notably his horn-heavy, trilling score from the Star Trek episode “Amok Time,” essentially the iconic theme music for a good old-fashioned sci-fi fight scene. Per Variety, Fried died this week of pneumonia. He was 93. [William Hughes]
Richard Belzer, the stand-up known for his lanky frame and dark glasses who became a one-man cinematic universe (or whatever the equivalent TV terminology would be) thanks to his many appearances as John Munch, has died. Belzer introduced the iconic cop on NBC’s Homicide: Life On The Street, but he became an iconic pop culture figure when he transitioned over to Law & Order spin-off Special Victims Unit—opening the door for Munch to appear on several other shows, plus the times Belzer played overtly Munch-like characters without literally playing the same guy. Belzer was 78.
Belzer was born in Connecticut in 1944 and worked various jobs before moving to New York in the ‘70s to start working as a stand-up. He became part of comedy group Channel One and starred in the cult indie comedy The Groove Tube alongside Chevy Chase. He also became close friends with Lorne Michaels and was Saturday Night Live’s warm-up comic (though he never joined the cast, he did make many appearances on the show over the years). In the ‘80s, Belzer appeared on Moonlighting and Miami Vice, and he had a regular role on The Flash. [Sam Barsanti]
Stella Stevens began her career as a model, and was featured as a Playboy centerfold in January 1960. According to Deadline, she was discovered in her hometown of Memphis and brought on for a screen test at 20th Century Fox before contracting with Paramount and later Columbia. She received a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for her first role, the 1959 film Say One For Me, also appearing in Li’l Abner that same year.
Throughout the 1960s, Stevens appeared in films alongside some of Hollywood’s most notable leading men, including Bobby Darin in John Cassavetes’ Too Late Blues, Elvis in Girls! Girls! Girls!, and Dean Martin in How to Save a Marriage And Ruin Your Life. Most notably, she starred opposite Jerry Lewis in 1963’s The Nutty Professor, a film that was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2004.
She continued to work steadily throughout the ’70s and ’80s in both film and television. Her most notable credit of that period was The Poseidon Adventure with Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, and more. The film was among the highest-grossing of its time and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. [Mary Kate Carr]
Born September 25, 1994, in Palisades, New York, to former soap opera actor Lesley Vogel and lieutenant firefighter Alan “Skip” Panettiere, Jansen Panettiere made his acting debut in the year 2000. Just six years old, he found early success on children’s television, appearing on Even Stevens, Blue’s Clues, and the Disney Channel Original Movie Tiger Cruise, opposite his sister and Bill Pullman. He also guest starred on an episode of the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. Panettiere was nominated for a 2008 Young Artist Award for the Nickelodeon original movie The Last Day Of Summer.
Throughout the 2000s, he became a working voice actor, with credits including Racing Stripes, Robots, and Ice Age: The Meltdown. In 2005, he landed a starring role on the Nickelodeon animated series The X’s, playing Truman X.
Panettiere kept working consistently during the 2010s, acting on Major Crimes and The Walking Dead. He also appeared in The Forger, a 2012 thriller starring Alfred Molina and Lauren Bacall, and MTV’s How High 2. His final roles were in 2021’s Bart Bagalzby And The Garbage Genie and 2022’s Love And Love Not. [Sam Barsanti]
Making his way through Disney, Mattison spent the 60s working on classic projects as an assistant to one of Walt’s Nine Old Men, Eric Larson, working on Mary Poppins, The Sword In The Stone, and The Jungle Book. His roles varied in the late-70s when he began working on Pete’s Dragon, The Fox And The Hound, and The Rescuers. In 1983, Mattinson directed his first short, which has since become a holiday classic: Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Elaborating on a knack for English mice in foggy London town, he followed with The Great Mouse Detective, serving as co-director alongside John Musker, Ron Clements, and Dave Michener.
Mattinson spent the 90s as a storyboard artist during the Disney renaissance, with credits on The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Beauty And The Beast. Disney named him a Disney Legend in 2008, and he continued to serve as a story supervisor throughout the 2000s and was credited as a story artist on Big Hero 6 and 2022’s Strange World. On March 5, 2018, he broke the castmember longevity record. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Ricou Browning, an actor, director, and cinematographer with a very specific speciality, has died. Browning was best known for doing underwater stunts, most famously in 1954’s Creature From The Black Lagoon and its two sequels, where he played the eponymous monster (or “Gill-man”) during underwater scenes. The Hollywood Reporter says that Browning died at his home in Florida from natural causes, with his family saying in a statement that he “had a fabulous career in the film industry, providing wonderful entertainment for past and future generations.” Browning was 93. [Sam Barsanti]
English musician and music producer Steve Mackey, best known as the bassist for Pulp, has died at 56 from an undisclosed illness. The news was shared from the seminal Britpop band’s Instagram account with the caption, “Safe travels, Steve. We hope to catch up with you one day.”
Known for its ’70s-inspired style and pointed social commentary, Pulp made its mark on the era with the 1995 album Different Class, featuring the hit songs “Common People” and “Sorted For E’s & Wizz.” Following the release of the band’s final album We Love Life in 2001, Mackey remained a close collaborator with singer Jarvis Cocker. The two made cameo appearances alongside Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, and Mackey worked on Cocker’s solo albums Jarvis and Further Complications. As a producer, he also hit the studio with artists including M.I.A., the Long Blondes, and Florence + the Machine. [Katie Chow]
Sizemore began his career in 1989, most prominently playing a small part in Oliver Stone’s Born On The Fourth Of July. He went on to appear in films like Harley Davidson And The Marlboro Man, True Romance, Heat, Pearl Harbor, and many more. On television, he had roles in Robbery Homicide Division, Entourage, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Shooter, and, perhaps most notably, Twin Peaks: The Return. [Mary Kate Carr]
Although the band offered no official cause of death, Gary Rossington had struggled with his heart in recent years, undergoing emergency heart surgery in 2021 in the midst of the group’s Big Wheels Keep on Turnin’ Tour.
Heart surgery wasn’t Rossington’s first brush with mortality. In 1977, just three days after the release of “Street Survivors,” he survived a plane crash that killed fellow band members Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines. Backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve’s sister), road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and both pilots also lost their lives. In the wake of the tragedy, the band disbanded for a decade before reuniting for a 1987 tribute tour.
Rossington, Van Zant, and Bob Burns founded Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1964. Per the band’s website, the trio met while competing on rival baseball teams. After adding guitarist Allen Collins and bassist Larry Junstrom to the mix, the group shuffled through various names before settling on Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1969.
The rest was history. A Rock ‘N Roll Hall Of Fame member since 2006, Rossington contributed to some of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s most enduring tracks, including “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird.” Through his aforementioned family and his contributions to rock history, despite his passing, Rossington’s legacy shows no signs of disappearing. [Hattie Lindert]
One of Israel’s most decorated actors of all time, Topol’s accolades include two Golden Globe awards and nominations for both an Academy Award and a Tony Award. In 2015, Topol was honored with Israel’s most prestigious honor, the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement, for his contributions to the country’s cultural record. In the wake of his death, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Topol’s “contribution to Israeli culture will continue to exist for generations,” and Israel’s ceremonial president Isaac Herzog emphasized how Topol “filled the movie screens with his presence and above all entered deep into our hearts.”
Born September 9, 1935, Topol got his start in acting in the 1950s as part of a theatre troupe in the Israeli army; around the same time he met his wife, Galia, to whom he remained married until his passing. His first major role was in the 1964 Israeli hit Sallah Shabati—the film became the first Israeli film ever to earn an Academy Award nomination and also gave Topol his first Golden Globe Award. From there, it only took two years for Topol to make his English language film debut alongside Kirk Douglas in 1966's Cast a Giant Shadow.
The role of Topol’s career, however, was Tevye, the Jewish father at the center of Fiddler On The Roof, who embodies a generational struggle to maintain tradition while welcoming change in his Russian shtetl, all against the backdrop of the rise of early-1900's anti-Jewish sentiment in the country.
After performing as Tevye for years on stages from London to Broadway, Topol was cast in the 1971 film adaptation. Although he was only 35 years old at the time, Topol powerfully embodied Tevye’s whimsical gruffness and dedication to legacy. Translating seamlessly from stage to screen, the performance was a tour-de-force, winning Topol a Golden Globe. He was also nominated for Best Actor at the 44th Annual Academy Awards in 1972 but lost out to The French Connection star Gene Hackman. [Hattie Lindert]
Roland “Rolly” Crump, a longtime Disneyland Imagineer who was instrumental in the designs of fan-favorite attractions such as the Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tiki Room, and It’s A Small World, has died. The announcement comes via the Facebook page for his autobiography, It’s Kind Of A Cute Story. Crump was 93.
Crump’s Disney career spanned over 40 years and began in 1952—when he was just 22 years old—as an animation assistant on films such as Peter Pan, Lady And The Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, and 101 Dalmatians. [Emma Keates]
Lance Reddick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the eventual setting of one of his breakout roles as Lieutenant Cedric Daniels on The Wire. He attended Yale School of Drama, and included among his early credits are roles in Alfonso Cuarón’s 1998 adaptation of Great Expectations and the groundbreaking HBO prison drama Oz.
He continued a prolific television career after five seasons on The Wire, most notably appearing as Phillip Broyles on Fringe, the stoic division leader and mentor to Anna Torv’s Agent Olivia Dunham, and Chief of Police Irvin Irving on Bosch. Reddick also appeared in a number of high-profile films, including, among others, White House Down, Godzilla Vs. Kong, and of course all four John Wick films as the mysterious hotel concierge Charon.
While he often played intimidating, authoritative characters in dramas, the star also used his persona to great effect in comedy, as in the satirical Comedy Central series Corporate and in appearances such as Key And Peele or Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories. With his rich, distinctive voice, he was also a natural fit for voiceover work in both television and video games, with credits ranging from Destiny 2 to The Legend Of Vox Machina.
More television followed until Brooks again came calling. Brooks was starting work on a script by University of Wisconsin student Andrew Bergman entitled Tex X, a western comedy that Steinberg found “funny as hell” but needed work. The movie was Blazing Saddles, one of the era’s most influential and beloved comedies, but Steinberg had to convince Brooks they were on to something.
“The day that Mel showed the film to Warner Bros. — he came back to the office, he was ashen,” said Steinberg. “He said they didn’t laugh once. He said ‘I’m going to re-cut the film.’ Andy [Bergman] and I begged him to wait until the screening we had that night with all the Warner office workers. And they went bat shit, and it never changed. People were falling on the floor — because it was so outrageous at the time. And Mel said ‘Fuck ’em this is our film,’ and that was the film that was released.” [Matt Schimkowitz]
Brian “Brizz” Gillis, founding member of ’90s boy band LFO, has died at age 47. Former bandmate Brad Fischetti, the last living member of the group, broke the news to Instagram on Thursday; sources close to Gillis later confirmed his death to Variety.
LFO, known for their hits “Summer Girl” and “Girl on TV,” was started by Fischetti and Rich Cronin in Massachusetts in 1995. They were introduced to Gillis by notorious boy band mogul Lou Pearlman, who signed them to his Transcontinental Records label as a trio, per Rolling Stone. Gillis left the band in 1999 and was replaced by Devin Lima, after which the band would go on to achieve its biggest successes. However, Fischetti shared in his post that “If it wasn’t for [Gillis’] hard work and dedication in the early days of LFO, the first two chapters, the LFO you came to know and (hopefully) love would not exist.” [Mary Kate Carr]
Influential composer, musician, and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto—who won an Oscar for composing the score for 1987’s The Last Emperor along with David Byrne and Cong Su—has died following a lengthy battle with cancer. Sakamoto also won a BAFTA, a Grammy, and two Golden Globes, and he was a member of pioneering electronic music group Yellow Magic Orchestra. The news was confirmed by Sakamoto’s social media account, which posted this morning that he had died on March 28. Sakamoto was 71. [Sam Barsanti]
Born in Melbourne in the 1930s, Barry Humphries got his start on the Australian stage, where he first debuted Dame Edna (then credited as Mrs. Norm Everage) in a Melbourne University sketch show in 1955. In 1959, Humphries moved to London, where he made friends with the likes of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (who gave him his first role, a cameo as “Envy” in their 1967 movie Bedazzled). While writing for Cook’s Private Eye magazine, Humphries continued to work in the London theater, eventually refining the Edna character (she picked up the “Dame” title in 1972's Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, centered on another of Humphries’ characters), adding in various touches like her distinctive eyeglasses and an increasingly sharp and satirical worldview.
Humphries’ career skyrocketed in the 1970s and 1980s, as Dame Edna became a sensation on both sides of the pond, helped by a series of talk show appearances in which Humphries displayed his talent with a quick verbal rejoinder while remaining firmly in character. Although he appeared, in and out of character, in a number of films—including infamous flops like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel Shock Treatment—Humphries’ truest passion remained his one-person stage shows, in which he played multiple character, with Dame Edna as the most prominent. By the 2000s, the character had achieved rare iconic status, appearing in a Tony-winning Broadway run, popping up on shows like Ally McBeal (playing a character with “Dame Edna” as the credited performer), and even getting a run of Australian stamps.
After getting his start as a professional ballroom dancer, Len Goodman began his lengthy judging career in 2004 on the British dance competition series Strictly Come Dancing, where he quickly gained traction with viewers for his lovable yet sharply witty critiques (the exuberance with which he would award contestants a seven out of ten score quickly made the numeral his own personal catchphrase). A master of simile, Goodman was beloved for his quippy remarks, referring once to a pair of salsa dancers as “two sizzling sausages on a barbecue,” and (on the less graceful side) deeming another performance akin to “watching a stork who’d been struck by lightning.”
In 2004, he joined ABC’s Dancing With The Stars—the U.S.’ own rendition of Strictly—as head judge, where he remained until November 2022, when he stepped away to “spend more time with my grandchildren and family.” Across his career, he also hosted a variety of programs including Partners in Rhyme, Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman and Dancing Cheek to Cheek: An Intimate History of Dance. [Hattie Lindert]
Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. in Harlem, NY to mixed-race parents (his mother and father were both born in Jamaica, the former a daughter of a Scottish Jamaican mother and Afro-Jamaican father, the latter a son of a Black mother and Dutch Jewish father), Belafonte spent much of his childhood living in Jamaica with one of his grandmothers. He eventually returned to NYC to attend high school, after which he joined the Navy and served in World War II. He befriended Sidney Poitier while working as a janitor’s assistant after the war, the two cash-strapped theater fans routinely buying a single ticket to performances and trading seats at intermission. He soon joined The New School’s Dramatic Workshop and performed with the American Negro Theatre.
Ironically, the soon-to-be-world-famous musician initially began performing as a club singer in New York School only so he could pay for acting classes. His first recordings were pop music, but soon turned to calypso, folk, jazz, and more, leading to his breakthrough single, “Matilda,” which became a staple of his live shows. In addition to containing “Day-O (Banana Boat Song),” Calypso was the first million-selling full-length album in both the U.S. and U.K., cementing its place in Billboard’s Top 100 Albums of all time list by spending 31 weeks at number one during its release, as well as 99 weeks total on the charts. He went on to star in a series of televised specials, including Revlon Revue: Tonight With Belafonte, for which he won an Emmy. His success lessened in the ’60s with the advent of the British Invasion, but he continued to win Grammys for his albums and appear in TV specials, even spending a week in 1968 substituting for Johnny Carson as guest host on The Tonight Show. And in 1978, he appeared on The Muppet Show, which became Jim Henson’s favorite episode—so much so that Belafonte was asked to reprise “Turn The World Around,” which he had performed on the show, at Henson’s memorial service. [Alex McLevy]
Behind the wheel of The Jerry Springer Show, which ran for 27 years between 1991 and 2018 and aired over 4,000 episodes, Jerry Springer crafted one of the most successful tabloid talk shows of all time, becoming a household name in the process, ubiquitously recognizable by his audience’s breathless chants of “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry.” The definition of a guilty pleasure, the series drew sky-high ratings—at different points even surpassing Oprah Winfrey’s—and serious criticism for its garish embrace of interpersonal drama and obscenity-heavy on-camera spats. Famously, over the course of the series, more than a few chairs were thrown at more than a few heads.
Throughout his career, Springer also served as a broadcast journalist, political commentator, lawyer, and even (briefly) the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (a post he debated revisiting for much of his adult life, and had publicly considered as recently as 2017.) In recent years, Springer had served as a host on the syndicated courtroom show Judge Jerry before it was canceled after three seasons in early 2022; Springer also had stints as a host of America’s Got Talent and competitor on Dancing With the Stars, as well as guest spots on Roseanne, The Simpsons, Married... with Children, The X-Files, George Lopez and MadTV.
Often considered one of the greatest Canadian songwriters of all time, Gordon Lightfoot’s contribution to the folk music revolution of the 1960s is reflected by the artists that recorded his songs. Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and The Replacements have all recorded covers of his music. Best known for the hits “Carefree Highway,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” and the no. 1 hit “Sundown,” Lightfoot continued touring and releasing albums for the next 60 years.
Ray Stevenson had a prolific career that included high-profile television projects like Rome (in which he played Titus Pullo), Black Sails (playing Blackbeard), and a stint on Dexter (as Isaak Sirko). He also appeared in major franchise films like the Divergent series and portrayed Frank Castle in Punisher: War Zone, later double dipping in the Marvel pool by playing Volstagg in the Thor series. Other memorable roles include projects such as The Other Guys, The Three Musketeers, and The Book Of Eli, among many others. He’ll soon appear as Baylan Skoll on the Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka.
Tina Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock, began her career performing with her husband Ike Turner in the late 1950s. Their partnership was commercially and critically successful, with several Grammy nominations including a win for their cover of “Proud Mary” in 1972. However, their marriage was characterized by abuse, as chronicled in her 1986 memoir I, Tina: My Life Story. (That book was later adapted into the film What’s Love Got To Do With It starring Angela Bassett.)
Turner extricated herself from the marriage in 1978, and after a period of solo touring and musical experimentation had a definitive comeback with her album Private Dancer in 1984. That album included the single “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” which became her only Billboard #1 and garnered multiple Grammys (for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance). She would go on to have a highly successful solo career—highlights of which include duetting with David Bowie, participating in “We Are The World,” and recording the James Bond theme “GoldenEye,” among others—before retiring from touring in 2009.
Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri understood and embraced the villain’s role in professional wrestling as few others did: A few years later, during his most famous stint with the then-WWF, he teamed up with Russian wrestler Nikolai Volkoff for a multi-year partnership that saw each man play up national stereotypes (and the headlines of the day) to incite the rage of the crowds, waving Iranian and Russian flags while spitting at the name of America. Always happy to launch an insulting, vitriolic salvo at an opponent (or his happily adopted home country), Vaziri knew how to give the crowds exactly what they wanted; there’s a reason that the moment Hulk Hogan ascended from “rising star” status to national phenomenon came when he defied the Sheik’s infamous “Camel Clutch” to defeat him before a howling crowd at Madison Square Garden. Vaziri might have been playing for the cheap seats, but he was doing it with considerable skill and a finely-honed understanding of how to work the crowd.
Treat Williams never hurt for work and was willing to stretch his creativity in an array of different kinds of parts. Throughout his career, he could be seen playing a corrupt cop in Prince Of The City, a James Dean wannabe in Smooth Talk, a maniacal comic book villain in The Phantom, a killer teacher in The Substitute sequels, the romantic interest in numerous Hallmark Christmas movies, and a fast-talking cool-headed agent in The Late Shift. Regardless of the role, Williams brought an effortless charm to the work.
While Williams would continue to appear on the big screen throughout his career, in the early 2000s, he found success on the small one. In 2002, he joined the cast of Everwood, starring as series lead Dr. Andy Brown. The show served as a launching pad for Chris Pratt, Emily VanCamp, and Gregory Smithy, in addition to earning Williams two SAG nominations.
Born in July 1933 to an Irish-Catholic family in Providence, Rhode Island, Cormac McCarthy relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee as a child, eventually attending the University of Tennessee. Released in 1965, his first novel The Orchard Keepers was critically acclaimed but barely managed to sell a thousand copies. His next four novels—1968’s Outer Dark, 1973's Child of God, 1979’s Suttree, and even 1985’s Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West, an unruly masterpiece that has spent decades inching toward the big screen—didn’t catch on either. It wasn’t until 1992 that McCarthy finally achieved a bestseller (and mainstream success) with All The Pretty Horses, which was adapted into a 2001 film directed by Billy Bob Thornton and starring Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz.
Born in Yorkshire, England, Julian Sands was the middle child in a family of five sons and a single mother. With an early interest in performing, he attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London before making the BBC debut that led to Hollywood. With over 150 credits to his name, Sands enjoyed a forty-year career in the film business, beginning with what he called “the original B movie,” Oxford Blues, opposite Rob Lowe. Though he believed himself to have stumbled out the gate, Sands would quickly recover. His next job (albeit a “tiny” one, admitted Sands) was in the Oscar-nominated Roland Joffé film The Killing Field.
The Killing Fields started a 10-year run of parts that saw Sands stretching his craft and surprising audiences. Joffé’s film, for instance, caught the eye of director James Ivory, who cast Sands as the lead in the sweeping romance A Room With A View. Sands stood out among the all-star cast, which included Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliot, Maggie Smith, Daniel-Day Lewis, Simon Callow, and Judi Dench.
Before he made it as an actor, Alan Arkin played guitar in “in a couple of folk groups that managed to keep me in underwear and burritos,” he told The A.V. Club in 2006. He eventually moved from New York to Chicago and became an early member of the Second City improv troupe. Arkin thought doing so would ruin his career, but “instead of it being the end of everything, it was the beginning of everything.”
He debuted on Broadway with From Second City in 1961 (per Variety), and in 1963 won a Tony Award for the Joseph Stein comedy Enter Laughing. In 1967, he earned an Emmy nomination for his appearance in an episode of ABC Stage 67 as well as an Oscar nomination for The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. He was also Oscar nominated for the 1968 Carson McCullers adaptation The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter.
“I don’t think it did me a lot of good for a long time,” Arkin explained The A.V. Club of receiving Academy Award attention so early in his career. “It intimidated me. It made me feel like I had something to live up to. It put me under a lot of pressure.”
Nevertheless, Arkin continued to turn in great performances and worked as a director as well, earning a Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Play for The Sunshine Boys in 1973 and directing ’70s films Little Murders and Fire Sale. As an actor, his film career is littered with classics, both dramatic and comedic, such as Catch-22, Glengarry Glen Ross, Edward Scissorhands, and Grosse Pointe Blank. He finally won the Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine in 2007, and received a final nomination for his role in 2012’s Argo. He later received back-to-back Emmy nominations for The Kominksy Method.
Tony Bennett, an iconic singer and performer with a seven-decade career, died at 96 years old. While no specific cause of death was shared, Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016; the diagnosis was shared publicly in 2021.
In life, Bennett had a truly singular career. He received 20 Grammy Awards, including a final win in 2022 for Love For Sale, his second album with Lady Gaga. In his career, Bennett sold about 60 million albums and collaborated with a staggering amount of fellow stars, including Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson, and many more. His style of performance, originating from and harkening back to the Rat Pack era, helped to introduce younger generations to standards, swing, and big band. [Drew Gillis]
O’Connor rose to acclaim in the late 1980s with her album The Lion And The Cobra, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal performance. Her profile rose ever higher with her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, which featured the single “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Her striking look in the video—the signature shaved head, the single tear rolling down her cheek—made a huge cultural impact.
O’Connor made perhaps an even greater cultural impact in her outspoken political statements, some of which became so legendary that they may have overshadowed her art. In the early 1990s, she made waves for withdrawing from an appearance on Saturday Night Live because of the episode’s controversial host, Andrew Dice Clay. Later, and even more memorably, she was banned from the show entirely for ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II during her performance, as a form of protest about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Despite facing intense backlash time and again for the way she used her platform, she continued to be vocal about her principles throughout the entirety of her career, from turning down a Grammy in 1991 to dedicating her 2023 RTÉ Choice Music Award win to Ireland’s refugee community. “You’re very welcome in Ireland. I love you very much and I wish you happiness,” she said at the ceremony (per The Irish Times). [Mary Kate Carr]
Paul Reubens, best known for his beloved children’s TV character Pee-wee Herman, has died. He was 70. Reubens’ team broke the news on his official Facebook and Instagram pages Monday, revealing that the actor had been privately fighting cancer for six years.
“Last night we said farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comedian, writer and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of children and adults with his positivity, whimsy and belief in the importance of kindness,” the post reads. “Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit. A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit.”
A rep for Reubens confirmed the news Monday afternoon, saying “Paul was beloved and he will be terribly missed.”
The announcement also included a posthumous note from Reubens himself: “Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.” [Emma Keates]
Born on July 10, 1998, Cloud grew up in Oakland, California. The eldest of four, he attended the Oakland School for the Arts, the same high school as Zendaya, where he focused on theater tech. Cloud isn’t a trained actor by any stretch. Plucked off the street by a casting scout, who spotted him in Manhattan, Cloud found himself reading for the role of Fezco “Fez” O’Neill on HBO’s Euphoria. It was his first screen credit, and he almost missed the opportunity. “I was confused, and I didn’t want to give her my phone number,” he told GQ in 2019. “I thought it was a scam.”
Cloud’s ease on screen, playing the soft-spoken, drug-dealing best friend of Zendaya’s Rue, made him a fan favorite. Since Euphoria’s first season, Cloud starred in his first feature, a skateboarding drama, North Hollywood, starring Vince Vaughn and Miranda Cosgrove. He also appeared in music videos for Noah Cyrus and Juice WRLD. [Matt Schimkowitz]
It wasn’t until 2009 that Margolis started ringing his bell as Breaking Bad’s mute but menacing kingpin, Hector. He first showed up as the character in the season 2 episode “Grilled” for what was supposed to be a very brief appearance, but his practiced, twitchy facial expressions quickly made him a fan favorite. “I was only coming onto Breaking Bad as far as I knew for that one episode, but there’s no accounting for taste, and the fans took a fancy to me,” he said.
His surprising turn culminated in the (literally) explosive season four finale “Face Off,” for which he received an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor in a drama series in 2012. In 2016, he was also able to step back into the character—this time as a younger man—in the second season of the spin-off Better Call Saul. [Emma Keates]
While Friedkin’s early work included 1967's Sonny and Cher starring The Good Times and 1970's The Boys In The Band (which recently received a 2020 remake), it wasn’t until 1971 that he achieved his first mainstream, critical success with crime-thriller The French Connection—a film that AFI has since named one of the 100 Greatest American Movies Of All Time. Friedkin was named best director at the 1972 Oscars for his work on the film.
Not resting on his laurels, the director followed this effort up with perhaps his best-known and “most challenging” film: 1973's The Exorcist. Beyond spawning multiple sequels (including the upcoming reboot The Exorcist: Believer, currently set for October of this year) and a TV show—none of which Friedkin ever watched, according to The Guardian—Friedkin’s original adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel was a box office slam dunk in its own right, earning over $425 million worldwide on $12 million budget. The film was also the first—and still one of the only—horror film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. [Emma Keates]
A Canadian rock legend best known for his work with Bob Dylan and The Band, Robertson also had a long and prolific career as a film composer and music supervisor, most notably working with Martin Scorsese on a number of the director’s films. (The two met when Robertson recruited Scorsese—then still fresh off of Taxi Driver—to document The Band’s final concert in 1976, producing foundational rock documentary The Last Waltz.) An occasional actor—most notably in 1980's Carny, which he produced from his own experiences working as a young carnival worker in his teens—Robertson was a vibrant force across the arts. Per Variety, he died this week after a long illness. Robertson was 80.
Born in Canada in the 1940s to factory worker parents, Robertson gravitated to the arts early; he joined his first band when he was still a minor, before catching the attention of rockabilly icon Ronnie Hawkins, who added him to the touring line-up of his backing band, The Hawks, when Robertson was still just in his teens. Although the membership would change from time to time, the Hawks stuck together in one form or another for the next 20 years, eventually evolving into frequent collaborators with Bob Dylan and—in their own right—gaining international prominence under their new name: The Band. [William Hughes]
As the story goes, after telling jokes about his father in Texas during a set at the famous Laugh Factory in L.A., Hardwick was approached by King Of The Hill co-creator Greg Daniels to potentially join the show as a writer. Speaking with The Austin Chronicle in 1999, Hardwick said that the part of paranoid, chain-smoking neighbor Dale Gribble was originally going to go to Daniel Stern, but he apparently “wanted a whole bunch of money” and walked. So, after “a series of incredibly lengthy auditions,” the role went to Hardwick.
In that same interview, he said that he hadn’t really conceived of what kind of person Dale would be until he got the part, saying he was “listening to William S. Burroughs one night” and “just got it.” He envisioned the character as someone who “thought he was Jack Nicholson but wasn’t” or someone who simply “thought he was the coolest guy around,” and while him being a conspiracy nut was there in the pilot, it sounds like every other evolution of Dale’s character—his exterminator job, his pet turtle, his frustrating ingenuity—came after Hardwick was involved. [Sam Barsanti]
Born into a wrestling dynasty—his father, Mike Rotunda, wrestled for the WWE as evil tax auditor Irwin R. Schyster, amongst other personas—Rotunda took to athletics at an early age. A state wrestling champion in high school, Rotunda attended the University Of Troy on a football scholarship, before dropping out to join the family business. Along with his brother Taylor (who wrestled for many years under the name Bo Dallas), Rotunda came up in Florida Championship Wrestling before making his way into the WWE, first under his “Husky Harris” heel persona in 2010. After returning to FCW for a time, Rotunda staged his comeback—and defined the rest of his career—in 2012, debuting the character of Bray Wyatt, leader of the sinister Wyatt Family, blending influences from a variety of rural horror hits—most notably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. [William Hughes]
Finally, in 1972, Barker would begin his tenure in the position for which he found lasting fame: The host of The Price Is Right. Though he was initially resistant to the idea of hosting a modernized revival of the then-defunct game show, Barker eventually warmed to the idea (especially with CBS insisting it would only pick up the series with him as host), and in September of that year, the show began airing. He was pulling double-duty as host of Truth Or Consequences at the same time, but the success of The Price Is Right soon saw Barker quitting his other hosting gig in 1975. He then went on to serve as host of the game show for 35 years, eventually becoming an executive producer of the series as well, and having a strong creative hand in the direction of the show during the 2000s. His final appearance as host aired June 15, 2007, though he made guest appearances after his retirement—once to promote his memoir Priceless Memories, once as a tribute to his 90th birthday celebration in December 2013, and once for an April Fool’s Day gag in which he came out as host in lieu of Drew Carey for the show’s opening minutes. [Alex McLevy]
In the end, few people on the planet have ever given the impression of being more comfortable with who they were, and what they did, than Jimmy Buffett. Yes, he put his name on lots of things; yes, he knew how to work a brand. But he also devoted huge portions of his life to the basic act of giving other people an extremely good time, performing tirelessly for crowds who loved him, for multiple decades straight. And it’s worth noting that pretty much anyone who has tried to work in the styles he pioneered in the ’70s and ’80s, fusing his folk and country roots with the sounds of the islands he loved, ends up coming off as little more than a mere “Jimmy Buffett imitator”; his musical skills, his twangy but powerful voice, and his deft hand at writing funny, personal lyrics were pretty much unmatched. [William Hughes]
Born in New Jersey, Wright moved to Europe in the ’60s and became a founding member of the U.K. group Spooky Tooth. He eventually embarked on a solo career as well as serving as a studio musician for many artists, including Harry Nilsson, Tim Rose, B.B. King, and notably George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Wright played on a number of Harrison projects, including his first post-Beatles solo album All Things Must Pass; he also eventually toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Star Band.
Wright’s passing was met with a number of tributes, including from Ambrosia’s David Pack. “I was a fan of his earliest UK supergroup, Spooky Tooth, then watched him evolve into a global legend with breakthrough hits such as ‘Dream Weaver’ and ‘My Love is Alive.’ Gary’s long friendship with George Harrison resulted in George asking him to play keyboards on every solo album and taking trips to India and around the world together,” Pack wrote in part on Facebook. “A year ago, David Foster, Jim Keltner, and I organized a trip to Gary’s house on Labor Day 2022 and spent the day cheering him on, showering him with love + hugs, stories, and songs. He couldn’t speak, but he smiled a lot; you could tell he loved us honoring him—as millions worldwide did. I feel Gary has ascended to heaven, having left his friends, family, and the world truly enriched by his spirit and songs.” [Mary Kate Carr]
McCallum is best remembered for his remarkable television career. After spending the 50s and early 60s in movies, including a role in the Steve McQueen hit The Great Escape, McCallum jumped to the small screen, doing guest spots on The Outer Limits and Perry Mason.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was his breakout. With his mop of blond hair and slight frame, McCallum played Illya Kuryakin opposite Robert Vaugh’s Napoleon Solo. The series followed a pair of counterespionage secret agents as they engaged in spy games marked by inventive gadgets and 60s cool. The show earned McCallum two Emmy nominations and rode the initial wave of James Bond mania to 105 episodes, several spin-off movies, and a 2015 movie starring Henry Cavill. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Per Variety, Breedlove’s mother Patricia confirmed his death on Facebook. “Nashawn was a rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. No one could deny his talent. Nashawn’s departure from this world has left an immense void in my life, one that words cannot fully express. I can’t put into words the pain and hurt that I feel. He was not just my son; he was a remarkable man whose character and strength inspired all who crossed his path,” she wrote, in part. “I thank you all for your support and prayers during this challenging time. Please join us in celebrating his life and cherishing the moments we had with him. In the face of this loss, my faith in the Lord remains unshaken, for His love is a constant presence in my life. I love you my son, nothing but death can keep us apart.”
Breedlove is perhaps best known for facing off with Eminem during a rap battle in 8 Mile, the film loosely based on Eminem’s life. (He memorably rapped that “I feel bad I gotta murder that dude from Leave It To Beaver,” though he ultimately lost the battle.) Per NME, he also appeared on the soundtrack for the 2001 film The Wash on the song “Don’t Talk Shit,” alongside Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. [Mary Kate Carr]
Gambon was born in Dublin, Ireland, before moving to England with his family as a child, per the BBC. He began his career on the stage and was a founding member of Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre acting company in London. As a theater actor he won three Olivier Awards and was nominated an additional ten times. He also had a prolific career in film and television, winning four BAFTAs and two Screen Actors Guild Awards (as part of the ensembles of Gosford Park and The King’s Speech).
As extensive and varied as his credits may be, Gambon will likely be best remembered for taking over the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series. He joined the franchise with the third film, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, after the death of original Dumbledore actor Richard Harris. Fiona Shaw, who played Petunia Dursley, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that she would remember her co-star “as a trickster, just a brilliant, magnificent trickster.” She said, “He varied his career remarkably and never judged what he was doing, he just played. … With text, there was nothing like him. He could do anything.” [Mary Kate Carr]
Dick Butkus has died. One of the most celebrated defensive players in NFL history, Butkus also had a notable career as an actor, appearing in more than 50 projects in the 1970s, ’80s, and beyond. Famous for the absolute brutality of his tackles, Butkus later turned to philanthropy, in addition to his work as an actor, celebrity spokesperson, and sports commentator. Per Variety, he died on Thursday, with his death confirmed by the Chicago Bears, the team he played with for many years. Butkus was 80.
A Chicago native, Butkus was a football star in high school and college well before he ever joined the NFL, setting tackling records in pretty much every league he ever played in. Once dubbed “The Most Feared Man In The Game” by Sports Illustrated, Butkus was notorious for hitting opponent players harder, and more conclusively, than anyone else in the NFL; by the end of his career in 1974, he was credited with more than 1,000 tackles across eight years of professional play, and was notorious for stripping the ball from the players he hit. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in 1979, the first year he was eligible for the honor. [William Hughes]
Phyllis Coates, a woman who had a five-decade career in show business that started in the ‘40s and ran all the way until the ‘90s—with her famously being the first person to play iconic comic book character Lois Lane on television—has died. This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says her daughter confirmed that she died of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House And Hospital in Los Angeles this week. Coates was 96.
Coates, born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell in Texas in 1927, moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and was eventually discovered by comedian Ken Murray, who taught her comedy and put her in vaudeville skits in variety shows, which later led to her working as a showgirl and touring with the USO in the ‘40s. She appeared in a bunch of films over the next decade, most notably 1951’s Superman And The Mole Men (the first feature film based on any DC Comics character, and one that concerns Superman defending an innocent race of underground dwellers from intolerant humans), where she made her debut as ace reporter Lois Lane. [Sam Barsanti]
Shawna Trpcic has died. A prolific costume designer, Trpcic was most prominent in the realm of genre TV, where she provided the looks for ambitious space-set series like Firefly and recent Star Wars entries Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, and The Book Of Boba Fett. A recent Emmy winner for her work on The Mandalorian, Trpcic has received numerous tributes this weekend from the Star Wars community, with producer and director Jon Favreau writing in a post for the official Star Wars site that, “Her creativity brought this world to life.” Trpcic’s death was confirmed on Friday by the Costume Designer’s Guild. She was 56.
A California native, Trpcic worked, in the early portions of her career, in the costume department of films like What Lies Beneath and Barry Levinson’s Toys. But her primary arena, even early on, was television, including a long early stint as costume designer for Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Her first major burst of attention came in 2002, when she was hired as assistant to costume designer Jill Ohanneson for the pilot of Joss Whedon’s space Western Firefly; when Ohanneson was unable to sign on for the full series, she recommended Trpcic for the job. The results were some of the most memorable costumes in 2000s-era television, as Trpcic emphasized the show’s deliberate blending of Western and Eastern aesthetics to create the looks for each of the show’s characters—including doing design work on the iconic “Browncoats” that would help define the series’ identity for decades to come. [William Hughes]
The Isley Brothers were rock ’n’ roll pioneers that bridged gaps between doo-wop, gospel, R&B, and later funk and disco, thanks in no small part to “The Quiet Isley,” Rudolph. Born on April 1, 1939, Rudolph Isley began his singing career in church. As a teenager, he and his three brothers, Ronnie, O’Kelly, and Vernon, formed the Isley Brothers as a quartet in 1954. The group would disband in tragedy after Vernon was killed on his bicycle by a car. The following year, the surviving members moved to New York City and reformed as a trio with Ronnie on leads, backed by Rudolph and O’Kelly. They signed with RCA Records in 1958, and by the end of the decade, the Isley Brothers had a hit single, the party classic: “Shout.”
The Isleys could be frequently found on the Billboard charts. Their 1962 rendition of “Twist And Shout” landed in the top 20 for four weeks and also provided a blueprint for the Beatles legendary cover. Following a brief stint with Jimi Hendrix, who played guitar for the group in the mid-60s, the Isley Brothers signed with Motown Records and captured a second top 40 single, “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You),” but languished on the label in its aftermath.
After leaving Motown in 1968, the Isleys revived their record label, T-Neck Records, named after their home base of Teaneck, NJ, and welcomed three more siblings into the group: Ernie, Marvin, and Rudolph’s brother-in-law Chris Jasper. In 1969, they released “It’s Your Thing,” which landed the Isley brothers at No. 2 on the pop charts and No. 1 on R&B. The song would begin a string of successful records for the group, and from 1973 to 1981, each of their records went gold, platinum, and multiplatinum. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Piper Laurie has died. A veteran actor of stage, screen, and TV, Laurie is probably best remembered for her performance in Brian De Palma’s horror hit Carrie, playing all-time awful cinematic mother Margaret White. (She of “They’re all gonna laugh at you!” fame.) Although her relationship with Hollywood went through periodic phases—she vacated a Universal contract in the 1950s, dissatisfied with the too-light parts on offer, and went more than 15 years without a film role between 1961's The Hustler and 1976's Carrie—she was also famous for the power of her performances. (It’s not for nothing that both of the aforementioned films snagged her two of her three career Oscar nominations.) Comfortable on screens both small and large, Laurie also had an eye-catching starring role in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and was a staple of American television and film throughout the second half of the 20th century. Per THR, her death was confirmed today by her rep, Marion Rosenberg, after not being well “for some time.” Laurie was 91. [William Hughes]
One of the stars of NBC’s mega-hit Friends, Perry was one of the most famous television stars of his generation; as perpetual sarcastic oddball Chandler Bing, he took a series of stock sitcom parts—self-loathing, neuroses, a series of catchphrase-friendly verbal tics—and built a character that endures vividly in the public imagination. As a character, Chandler could be easy to boil down to his more imitable elements, but it was Perry’s vulnerability, quick-fire delivery, and talent for both verbal and physical comedy that made him an indelible part of the pop culture landscape. [William Hughes]
The son of Irish immigrants, MacGowan was born in Kent, England in 1957. As a young man he became entrenched in London’s punk scene, starting off as part of the band The Nips before forming Pogue Mahone (an anglicized version of the Gaelic phrase “kiss my arse”)—later shortened to The Pogues—in 1984. MacGowan’s songwriting fused the spirit of the punk movement with the Irish diaspora; the band’s notable hits include “Streams Of Whiskey,” “A Rainy Night In Soho,” and “Fairytale Of New York,” an enduring Christmas song that reached number two on the UK charts (per the BBC). [Mary Kate Carr]
Legendary TV writer and producer Norman Lear, who elevated the sitcom format by using comedy as a vehicle to tackle social issues, has died at the age of 101. In a career that spanned half a century, Lear created a string of hit shows, beginning with his best-known, most influential series, All In The Family, which itself spun two other hits, The Jeffersons, and Maude. Lear also produced the classic sitcoms Sanford And Son, Good Times, One Day At A Time, soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and talk show spoof Fernwood 2 Night. [Mike Vago]
Ryan O’Neal has died. As first a TV star, and then an Oscar-nominated actor—for box office smash Love Story, in 1970—O’Neal had a celebrated run as a performer throughout the 1960s and ’70s, before both his public reputation and his career were tarnished by a mixture of diminishing returns, box office failures, and allegations of abusive behavior from the women and children in his life. Per TMZ, O’Neal’s death was confirmed on Friday by his son, Patrick. O’Neal was 82. [William Hughes]
Like a lot of actors with a long career (his spanned more than 30 years), Braugher’s best-known role probably depends on how long you’ve been watching television. Some people will remember him best from Homicide: Life On The Street, others might recall him popping up in Frequency or The Mist or any number of other genre movies where he played a stern authority figure, but these days he’s certainly best known as Raymond Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a role that poked some fun at his typical onscreen persona and allowed Braugher to really stretch his legs as both a cold authoritarian and a surprisingly silly comedic performer. [Sam Barsanti]