Stars We Sadly Lost In 2017

When a celebrity passes away, it can feel like we're losing a friend. Whether we watched them on the big screen or let them into our lives through our TVs, the world seems darker knowing we've had to say goodbye to a favorite star—even though we can continue enjoying their work indefinitely, letting their legacies live on forever. Here's a fond look back at some of the screen talents we've lost this year.

Bill Paxton, the veteran actor and director who appeared in Aliens, Twister, and Titanic, died Feb. 25 following complications from heart surgery, according to TMZ. He was 61.

He started out as a filmmaker before appearing in a string of movies in the '80s with small but memorable roles in Stripes, Commando, Weird Science, and The Terminator. He quickly became a favorite of director James Cameron, who went on to cast him in Aliens, True Lies, Titanic, and the documentary Ghosts in the Abyss.

Paxton transitioned into a leading man with a starring role in Twister, then went on to star in movies like A Simple Plan, the Spy Kids series, and Frailty, which he also directed. He also starred as a modern-day polygamist in the HBO drama Big Love, which brought him three Golden Globe nominations, and he was nominated for an Emmy for his role in the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. At the time of his death, he was starring the CBS reboot of Training Day.

John Hurt, the legendary British actor widely known for Midnight Express, The Elephant Man, and Alien, died Jan. 25. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he had been battling pancreatic cancer. He was 77.

He had a career than spanned six decades and is most remembered for his work as Kane in Alien, Winston Smith in 1984, a heroin addict in Midnight Express, and the title character in David Lynch's The Elephant Man; he earned Oscar nominations for his performances in the latter two films. He also appeared in many notable television roles, including Doctor Who.

In his later years, he played the wandmaker Ollivander in the Harry Potter series, the evil Chancellor in V for Vendetta, the surrogate father of Hellboy, and Indiana Jones' old friend "Ox" in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He was still very active in acting up until the time of his death: he'd recently appeared in Snowpiercer, The Journey, and Jackie.

Television legend Mary Tyler Moore died Jan. 25 at the age of 80 after suffering cardiopulmonary arrest brought on by pneumonia, hypoxia, and diabetes. Her representative told The Hollywood Reporter that she passed away "in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine."

A groundbreaking actress, she played a stay-at-home mom on The Dick Van Dyke Show, then became a feminist icon when she branched out on her own with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, playing Mary Richards, an independent single woman who becomes a broadcaster.

Moore won six Emmy Awards and was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for playing the estranged mother of Timothy Hutton's character in 1980's Ordinary People. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1986.

Don Rickles, the popular insult comic who rose to fame through decades of memorable TV and film appearances, died April 6 at his home in Los Angeles after succumbing to kidney failure at the age of 90.

Known for his abrasive style of comedy, Rickles had a career that spanned six decades. A regular at celebrity roasts and an honorary member of the Rat Pack, he would often take jabs at audience members with two signature phrases: "dummy" and "hockey puck."

He was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson and The Late Show With David Letterman, and he had a multitude of guest spots on TV shows like Archie Bunker's Place, The Lucy Show, Get Smart, F Troop, and Newhart. He also showed up on Murphy Brown, The Single Guy, and Hot in Cleveland. In 2007, he won an Emmy for the John Landis-directed documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. In his later years, he voiced Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story movies and also appeared in Martin Scorsese's Casino.

He's survived by his wife of 52 years, Barbara, their daughter Mindy, and two grandchildren. Rickles' only son, Larry, passed away in 2011.

Miguel Ferrer, a character and voice actor who appeared in an assortment of films including RoboCop and starred on the TV series NCIS: Los Angeles, died of cancer on Jan. 19, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 61.

The son of '50s singer Rosemary Clooney and actor Jose Ferrer, he was George Cooney's first cousin.

In RoboCop, he played the villain Bob Morton, and he also portrayed an Excelsior helm officer in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He became a fixture on television with appearances on Magnum P.I., Twin Peaks, Bionic Woman, Desperate Housewives, and Crossing Jordan. He starred on NCIS: Los Angeles for seven seasons, and he also loaned his voice to Superman: The Animated Series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Robot Chicken, American Dad!, and the video game Halo 3.

Ferrer had recently reprised his Twin Peaks role as FBI pathologist Albert Rosenfield for Showtime's upcoming revival of the cult classic drama.

Charlie Murphy, the actor and comedian who became a household name on Chappelle's Show, died of leukemia on April 12. He was 57.

The older brother of Eddie Murphy, he shared stories about his time in Los Angeles during the peak of his brother's fame during the '80s on the recurring Chappelle's Show segment "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories." The first, about musician Rick James, became a cultural sensation and spawned more than a few catchphrases. The second installment, about a surreal encounter with Prince, proved equally memorable.

Murphy also appeared in numerous movies including Night at the Museum and Norbit, and TV series like Are We There Yet? and Black Jesus. He also did voicework for the animated series The Boondocks and the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Prolific TV host and producer Chuck Barris died of natural causes on March 21, as reported by Variety. He was 87.

Best known as the producer and host of the groundbreaking The Gong Show, Barris also created The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game and hosted The Gong Show. He had a profound impact on the changing television landscape in the '60s and '70s, and helped pave the way for modern reality-based competitions like American Idol and America's Got Talent.

In his book Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Barris claimed to have been a C.I.A. assassin while he was a producer. Sam Rockwell portrayed him in a 2002 film adaptation that was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by George Clooney. Barris continued writing in his later years, penning books such as The Big Question, Who Killed Art Deco?, and Della: A Memoir of My Daughter.

In 2007, Barris spoke about his legacy to The New York Times. "I would love to be known as an author, but I don't think it's written that that's the way it's going to be," he said. "I think on my tombstone it's just going to say, 'Gonged at last,' and I'm stuck with that."

He is survived by his wife, Mary Kane.

Erin Moran, the actress who played Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi, died from complications of cancer on April 22, according to TMZ. She was 56.

Moran rose to fame in the '70s after appearing as the little sister of Ron Howard's Richie Cunningham on Happy Days from 1974 to 1984. She reprised the role on the short-lived 1982 series Joanie Loves Chachi alongside Scott Baio, which lasted two seasons.

She also appeared on Family Affair, The Smith Family, Gunsmoke, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, The Bold and the Beautiful, and in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Her last project was the 2010 film Not Another B Movie.

Christopher "Big Black" Boykin, who starred on MTV's Rob & Big, died May 9. TMZ reports that no cause of death was revealed at the time.

The bodyguard and best friend of skateboarder and entrepreneur Rob Dyrdek, he rose to fame on the reality series that followed the pair during their day-to-day lives from 2006 until 2008. Boykin eventually became a parent and moved out of Dyrdek's house, but he later appeared on several episodes of the follow-up series Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and Dyrdek's clip show Ridiculousness. He also started a clothing line named after his catchphrase, "Do work," in 2007.

Before he was on TV, Boykin served in the Navy. MTV released this statement (via Variety): "MTV is deeply saddened to learn the news of Christopher 'Big Black' Boykin's passing. He was a long time and beloved member of the MTV family and will be greatly missed."

Michael Parks, a veteran character actor who appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows, died May 9 at the age of 77.

His film career began in 1961 on the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys, and Parks went on to co-star in the 1966 religious drama The Bible: The Beginning, the NBC series Sam Benedict, and the medical drama The Eleventh Hour. He played the leading role on the adventure series Then Came Bronson, and recorded the theme song, "Long Lonesome Highway," which hit the Billboard charts, launching a recording career that led to several albums in the late '60s and early '70s. He also played French-Canadian drug runner Jean Renault on the ABC television series Twin Peaks.

Later in his career, Parks became a favorite of directors Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith, playing Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Esteban Vihaio in Kill Bill Vol. 2. Smith said he wrote the movies Red State and Tusk specifically for Parks.

Richard Hatch, who starred on the original Battlestar Galactica series and the Syfy remake, died Feb. 7 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

He got his start in 1970 on the soap opera All My Children before being cast as Captain Apollo on the cult favorite sci-fi series, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination in 1979. He also appeared on Dynasty from 1984 to 1985 and Santa Barbara in 1990 before playing Tom Zarek in the reboot of Battlestar Galactica from 2004 to 2009. He also wrote five original Battlestar novels and became a fixture at comic book conventions and sci-fi events.

A writer and a producer, Hatch had completed several projects that will be released posthumously, including Blade of Honor, Asylum of Darkness, and Diminuendo.

Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau died July 15 after a short hospitalization at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center where he suffered unexpected complications, according to TMZ. He was 89.

Landau was a cartoonist before he rose to fame with his portrayal of a homosexual henchman in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic North by Northwest. In the '60s, he turned down the role of Spock on Star Trek and played Rollin Hand, the "man of a million faces," on Mission: Impossible for three seasons. He later starred as Commander John Koenig on the '70s sci-fi series Space: 1999. He was also a respected acting teacher who instructed the likes of Jack Nicholson.

He experienced a career revival in the late '80s with Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream and Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors. Tim Burton cast him as horror legend Bela Lugosi in 1994's Ed Wood, which brought him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Landau collaborated with Burton again in Sleepy Hollow and Frankenweenie, and he also appeared in The X-Files: Fight the Future.

On television, Landau earned Emmy nominations for performances on the CBS series Without a Trace and HBO's Entourage. 

George Romero, director of the iconic horror classic Night of the Living Dead, died July 16 after a "brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer," according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 77.

Romero made Night of the Living Dead on a budget of just $114,000, and it went on to make $30 million at the box office. The black and white film about a group of people trapped by a horde of the undead was integral in creating the modern zombie genre. He later directed 1978's Dawn of the Dead and 1985's Day of the Dead, but gained attention for other types of movies including Knightriders, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, and The Dark Half. In his later years, he returned to zombie movies with Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead.

Romero also acted, often in uncredited cameos in his own movies. But he also played an FBI agent in The Silence of the Lambs and voiced Dr. B.E. Vil in the game Zombie Squash.

Chester Bennington, singer for the rock band Linkin Park, committed suicide by hanging on July 20, according to TMZ. He was 41.

Bennington joined Linkin Park before the release of the band's debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. He served as one of two singers in the band along with guitarist and primary songwriter Mike Shinoda. Hybrid Theory was a massive commercial success, paving the way for six more studio albums through One More Light, which was released in May 2017. In 2005, Bennington formed a side project, Dead by Sunrise, and released the band's debut album, Out of Ashes, in 2009. He also served as the singer of Stone Temple Pilots after the band parted ways with original frontman Scott Weiland. Bennington can be heard on the band's 2013 EP High Rise. 

Bennington also worked as an actor, appearing in Crank, Crank: High Voltage, and Saw 3D: The Final Chapter.

John Bernecker, a stuntman with 93 credits in a decade-long career, died July 13 after a serious accident on the set of the eighth season of The Walking Dead. He was 33. TMZ reports that Bernecker fell more than 20 feet from a balcony onto concrete and was airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center where he later died. 

Bernecker had an extensive resume as a stunt performer. He was credited in Logan, Black Panther, The Fate of the Furious, Get Out, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Fantastic Four, Goosebumps, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 22 Jump Street, This Is the End, and Green Lantern.

Joseph Wapner, who became famous as Judge Wapner on the reality series The People's Court, died of respiratory failure on Feb. 26 at the age of 97.

A graduate of USC Law School, Wapner served in World War II and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star while serving in the South Pacific. In the '60s and '70s, he served as a judge at the Los Angeles Superior Court before retiring, after which he became a TV star on the groundbreaking The People's Court, which debuted in 1981. He became something of a pop culture icon during his tenure on the show, which ended in 1993.

Wapner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2009, and on his 90th birthday, he returned to The People's Court to serve as guest judge.

Neil Fingleton, who played the giant warrior Mag the Mighty on Game of Thrones, died from heart failure on Feb. 25, according to the U.K.s Mirror. He was 36.

Fingleton was the U.K.'s tallest man at 7'7" in height. In his younger days, he played basketball at the University of North Carolina and was drafted the Austin Toros in the 2005 NBA Development League Draft. He retired from basketball in 2007, then turned his attention to acting.

In addition to Game of Thrones, Fingleton appeared on Doctor Who and in movies including Jupiter Ascending, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and X-Men: First Class.

Michael Mantenuto, an actor and college hockey player who starred in Disney's 2004 movie Miracle, died April 24 as the result of an apparent suicide at the age of 35. TMZ reports that police found him inside his car in Des Moines, Wash., where he had reportedly shot himself.

Mantenuto, who was a former University of Maine hockey player, played real-life defenseman Jack O'Callahan in Miracle, which tells the story of the U.S. men's hockey that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The victory over the heavily favored Soviet team was dubbed the "Miracle on Ice," and the U.S. team went on to beat Finland to win the gold. Mantenuto had a limited acting career beyond Miracle, but he did appear in the 2006 TV movie Dirtbags and 2008's Surfer, Dude.

He later joined the military, and in a news release announcing Mantenuto's death, Col. Guillaume Beaurpere wrote, "Those of you that knew Mike will remember him for his passionate love for his family and his commitment to the health of the force."

Darlene Cates, who played the mother of Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, died "peacefully in her sleep" on March 26, according to her daughter. She was 69.

The actress was allegedly discovered by Gilbert Grape author and screenwriter Peter Hedges after she appeared on an episode of Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show titled "Too Heavy to Leave Their House." On the program, Cates discussed how her obesity impacted her life.

She gave a breakthrough performance in the 1993 movie, which brought DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination. After her death, DiCaprio tweeted that Cates "was the best acting mom" he ever worked with. Following Gilbert Grape, Cates appeared on TV shows including Touched by an Angel and Picket Fences.

MTV reality star Clay Adler, 27, died of an apparent suicide on March 26. According to TMZ, Adler had been shooting guns with friends in the desert the day before when he turned the gun and shot himself in the head.

In 2007, Adler starred on eight episodes of MTV's Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County, a spinoff of the popular Laguna Beach. He also appeared in the 2009 TV movie The Fish Tank and an episode of Make It or Break It.

Dick Gautier, who played Hymie the Robot on the sitcom Get Smart and voiced characters on G.I. Joe and Transformers, died after an extended illness on Jan. 13. He was 85.

Gautier served in the Navy, then worked as a stand-up comic before moving into acting and finding early success, earning a Tony nomination for playing Conrad Birdie in the original 1960 production of Bye, Bye Birdie.

Gautier appeared on six episodes of Get Smart over four seasons, but his character became one of the show's most popular. In 1975, he starred as Robin Hood on the short-lived ABC series When Things Were Rotten, co-created by Mel Brooks. In the '80s, Gautier worked often as a voice actor and portrayed the villainous Serpentor on G.I. Joe and the Autobot hero Rodimus Prime on The Transformers.

Francine York, who played Lydia Limpet on the '60s Batman TV series, died after a battle with cancer on Jan. 6 at the age of 80.

A former model and showgirl, she got her big break in the 1962 Jerry Lewis comedy It's Only Money. She then appeared in five more of his films including The Nutty Professor, The Patsy, and Cracking Up. She also appeared opposite Marlon Brando in 1964's Bedtime Story and with Elvis Presley in 1965's Tickle Me, then played Lydia Limpet, the henchwoman of The Bookworm (Roddy McDowall) in two episodes of Batman in 1966.

York also appeared on many TV series, including My Favorite Martian, Perry Mason, Lost in Space, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, Mission: Impossible, Kojak, Columbo, and Matlock. In her later years, she landed roles on The King of Queens and Hot in Cleveland.

Mike Connors, best known for playing detective Joe Mannix on '60s and '70s TV show Mannix, died Jan. 26 at the age of 91. According to Variety, he had been diagnosed with leukemia the week before.

Mannix ran for eight seasons between 1968 to 1975 and Connors won a Golden Globe for his performance as a tough detective who played by his own rules (and drove a series of muscle cars, including a Dodge Dart and Chevrolet Camaro). He later appeared on Murder, She Wrote, Love Boat and Walker, Texas Ranger. In 2007, Connors guest-starred on Two and a Half Men.

Barbara Hale, who played secretary Della Street in the Perry Mason television series and movies, died Jan. 26, according to The Washington Post. She was 94.

Hale starred as Street, assistant to Raymond Burr's titular lawyer, during nine seasons of the series from 1957 to 1966 and in 30 television movies. She won an Emmy in 1959 and reprised the character when Perry Mason was revived in the '80s. Earlier in her career, she acted opposite Frank Sinatra in Higher and Higher and with Charlton Heston in The Far Horizons.

Hale was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Roger Moore, the British actor who played James Bond in more movies than any other star in the long-running franchise, died May 23 after a short battle with cancer, according to Variety. He was 89.

Before his time as Bond, Moore played the dashing thief Simon Templar on the TV series The Saint, which ran for 118 episodes between 1962 to 1969. 

In 1972, he replaced Sean Connery as 007, first appearing as the secret agent in 1973's Live and Let Die, then portrayed Bond in six more movies: 1974's The Man With the Golden Gun, 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me (which became the first true blockbuster in the franchise), 1979's Moonraker, 1981's For Your Eyes Only, 1983's Octopussy, and 1985's A View to a Kill. He was known for bringing a campy sense of humor to the series.

In his later years, he appeared in the Spice Girls movie Spice World and an episode of Alias in 2003. He also lent his voice to the 1997 movie adaptation of The Saint and had a role in the 2013 TV version starring Eliza Dushku. He also did voice work for Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Gones and Trolls II: The Forest Trial, and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

Powers Boothe, the Emmy-winning actor known for Deadwood and Sin City, died on May 14. He was 68. CNN reports that he died of natural causes in his sleep.

In 1980, his leading role in the TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones brought him an Emmy for lead actor in a limited series or special, and he accepted his award in person, unlike many nominees who boycotted the event as part of a Screen Actors Guild strike. He then starred on HBO's first drama series, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, beginning in 1983, and later played the villainous Curly Bill Brocius in 1993's Tombstone.

More recently, he played saloon owner Cy Tolliver on the HBO series Deadwood, Senator Roark in the Sin City franchise, Vice President (and later President) Noah Daniels on 24, Lamar Wyatt on Nashville, and Gideon Malick on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also provided the voice of Gorilla Grodd on the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series.

Red West, the longtime bodyguard of Elvis Presley who became a successful actor, died July 18 after suffering an aortic aneurysm, according to The Commercial Appeal. He was 81.

An ex-Marine, West worked for Presley for 20 years and occasionally took small roles in movies including 1960's Flaming Star. After Presley's death in 1977, West became a full-time actor and earned a role opposite Robert Conrad in the '70s series Black Sheep Squadron. He also appeared in episodes of Mannix, The Six Million Dollar Man, Magnum P.I., and The A-Team. His most famous role was in the Patrick Swayze cult classic Road House, but he didn't land his first starring role until the indie drama Goodbye Solo in 2008.

John Cygan, who played Lt. Paulie Pentangeli on the '90s TV series The Commish and loaned his voice to dozens of films and video games, died May 13 after a long battle with cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 63.

Cygan appeared on 35 episodes of The Commish as Pentangeli, who worked for police commissioner Tony Scali (Michael Chiklis) in upstate New York. His character was fired at the beginning of the second season, but returned in season 4. Cygan also starred opposite Bob Newhart on the short-lived sitcom Bob, which ran on CBS from 1992 to 1993. He also appeared on episodes of Frasier, Becker, The X-Files, NYPD Blue, The Shield, and Modern Family.

He was a prolific voice actor, contributing to Pixar's Cars, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Monsters University, and Inside Out, along with Ice Age: The Meltdown, Horton Hears a Who!, The Lorax, and Despicable Me 2. Cygan was also the voice of Solidus Snake in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, and also worked on video games in the Star Wars, Halo, Medal of Honor, Lord of the Rings and Grand Theft Auto franchises. 

Lisa Spoonauer, best known for Kevin Smith's Clerks, died May 20, according to Entertainment Weekly. She was 44.

Smith discovered Spoonauer in a community college acting class and cast her as Caitlin Bree, the high school girlfriend of Dante (Brian O'Halloran) in his 1994 debut feature, Clerks. She later voiced the role in the 2001 animated Clerks series.

Smith paid tribute to Spoonauer in an Instagram post. "In 1992, I went looking for Lisa without knowing either who she was or the integral role she'd play in my life," he wrote. "I popped into an acting class at Brookdale Community College and watched the students from the back. Lisa was easily the most natural and authentic voice in the room. She didn't sound like she was acting at all; she delivered scripted dialogue as if she was inventing her conversation in the moment, like people do in real life."

Spoonauer appeared in only one other movie, 1997's Bartender, and went on to become a restaurant manager and event planner.

Peter Sallis, the voice of Wallace in the animated Wallace & Gromit films, died June 2, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 96.

Sallis first rose to fame in the U.K. in the '70s as the mild-mannered Norman Clegg on the long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. He was the only actor to appear in all 295 episodes of the show, which aired from 1973 until 2010. 

However, he'll likely be remembered most for his work in Nick Park's animated Wallace & Gromit series. Sallis provided the voice of Wallace, a cheerful, cheese-loving inventor who first appeared in 1989's A Grand Day Out. He reprised the role in the Oscar-winning films The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, along with the TV show Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention. His final film as Wallace was 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death. 

Sallis retired from acting in 2010.

Molly Peters, who made a memorable appearance in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball, died May 30 at the age of 75. The official James Bond Twitter account shared the news.

Peters started out as a model before she was discovered by director Terence Young, who cast her as nurse Patricia Fearing opposite Sean Connery in Thunderball. While her screen time in the movie was limited, she made a lasting impression as the first Bond girl to take off her clothes onscreen.

Her subsequent acting career was brief, however, limited to small roles on the '60s television series Armchair Theater and the 1968 double feature Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Robert Michael Morris, a director, acting teacher, playwright, and actor best known for the HBO series The Comeback, died May 30, according to Deadline. He was 77.

After teaching theater at high schools and colleges across the U.S., Morris moved to New York City, where he performed in off-Broadway shows including Tommy Tune's Cary Churchill Cloud Nine.

He gained notoriety as Mickey Deane on The Comeback, a role that co-creator and star Lisa Kudrow wrote with him specifically in mind. Morris later appeared on Will & Grace, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, and 2 Broke Girls, reprising his role on The Comeback when HBO revived the series in 2014. He'd most recently appeared as Stan Hoister on the ABC sitcom The Middle.

Roger Smith, who starred as a private eye on the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip, died May 30 at age 84. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he suffered from the neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis, which cut his career short when he was in his 30s.

Smith's early roles included appearances in late '50s films such as No Time to Be Young, Operation Mad Ball, Crash Landing, and Auntie Mame. He also starred opposite James Cagney in 1957's Man of a Thousand Faces and 1959's Never Steal Anything Small. 

But his most notable role came in 1958 as detective Jeff Spencer on the action series 77 Sunset Strip. He acted in 136 episodes alongside Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Stu Bailey. Smith left the show in 1963 after five seasons when doctors discovered a blood clot in his brain. Four years later, he married actress Ann-Margret and went on to become her manager.

Elena Verdugo, a pioneer for Latina actresses, died May 30, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 92.

Verdugo was best known for her role as nurse and office assistant Consuelo Lopez on the ABC medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D., which ran from 1969 to 1976. The character is considered to be the first professional Latina woman working on TV, and Verdugo earned two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination.

She also appeared opposite Lon Chaney Jr. in the 1945 Universal horror films House of Frankenstein and The Frozen Ghost. An accomplished singer and dancer, she performed in the '40s with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra and sang on the hit "Tico Tico."

Adam West, the man who brought Batman to life for a generation, died June 9 after a short battle with leukemia, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 88.

West started out as a studio contract player for Warner Bros., appearing in movies like The Young Philadelphians in 1959 and Robinson Crusoe on Mars in 1964. He caught the attention of producer William Dozier, who cast him as Batman in the ABC television series that premiered in 1966.

The show, which put a campy and comical spin on the DC Comics classic, was an instant hit and was nominated for an Emmy in its first year. A 20th Century Fox movie hit theaters before the second season debuted that fall. The show's popularity was short-lived, however, and Batman was canceled after its third season in 1968.

West's portrayal of the Caped Crusader was both a blessing and a curse. Although he would forever remain synonymous with Batman, he struggled to find other roles, appearing in obscure movies like The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker in 1971 and The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood in 1980 while continuing to make appearances as Batman at carnivals and car shows.

After Tim Burton's Batman movie returned the character to the mainstream in 1989, audiences again embraced West for his lighter take on Batman, and he voiced the character in The New Adventures of Batman, Legends of the Superheroes, SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and the feature-length Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. He also became a prolific voice actor outside the role, with credits including a long-running stint as an exaggerated version of himself as the mayor on Family Guy.

West was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.

Glenne Headly, the Emmy-nominated actress known for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the movie adaptation of Dick Tracy, died June 8, according to Deadline. She was 63.

She started out as a stage performer and was an original member of the Steppenwolf Theatre company, appearing appeared in productions opposite Susan Sarandon in Extremities and Kevin Kline in Arms & The Man, the latter of which was produced by her ex-husband John Malkovich. Eventually turning her focus to television and films, Headly was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove and the 1996 drama Bastard Out of Carolina. She was perhaps best known for playing a con woman in the comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 1988 and Tess Trueheart in Warren Beatty's live-action Dick Tracy in 1990.

Headly's later work included appearances in films such as Mr. Holland's Opus, Mortal Thoughts, and 2 Days in the Valley, and TV shows including Monk and HBO's The Night Of.

Nelsan Ellis, who co-starred on HBO's True Blood, died from complications of heart failure caused by alcohol withdrawal on July 8. He was 39.

Early in his career, he appeared on TV shows including The Inside, Veronica Mars, and Without a Trace, then made his breakthrough as Lafayette, the short-order cook at Merlotte's on True Blood. In the books, the character didn't survive, but because Ellis was so popular, writers for the show decided to change Lafeyette's fate. "Nelsan was a singular talent whose creativity never ceased to amaze me," said series creator Alan Ball. "Working with him was a privilege."

Ellis also appeared in The Soloist in 2009, Secretariat in 2010, and played Martin Luther King Jr. in Lee Daniels' The Butler in 2013.

Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, who starred in the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movies and later appeared in John Wick, died June 27 after a battle with lung cancer, according to Variety.

Nyqvist first gained attention as Mikael Blomkvist in the Swedish miniseries Millennium, based on Stieg Larsson's books that follow the character of Lisbeth Salander. The show was expanded into three theatrically released movies in 2009: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Nyqvist later played the villain opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol and Keanu Reeves in John Wick. He also appeared in 2015's Colonia with Emma Watson and this year's Hunter Killer with Gerard Butler.

Actress and YouTube celebrity Stevie Ryan died on July 1 at the age of 33. People reports that the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office ruled the death a suicide by hanging. 

Ryan rose to fame with her YouTube series Little Loca, and later transitioned into doing celebrity parodies, which helped land her a VH1 sketch series called Stevie TV, which ran from 2012 to 2013. She later served as co-host of Brody Jenner's E! series Sex with Brody.

Most recently, she co-hosted Mentally Ch(ill), which is a "podcast about depression," according to its iTunes description. Ryan revealed that her grandfather had recently died in an episode that was released just two days before her death. 

Ji-Tu Cumbuka, who appeared in Roots and Harlem Nights, died July 4 after a long illness, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 77.

The Alabama native's grandmother gave him the name Ji-Tu, which means "giant" and Cumbuka "to remember" in Swahili. He made his debut in 1968's Uptight and appeared in Blacula, Mandingo, and Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory before playing the slave Wrestler on the landmark 1977 miniseries Roots. He co-starred opposite Richard Pryor in Brewster's Millions, Moving, and Harlem Nights. Cumbuka also appeared in the comedies Bachelor Party, Volunteers, and Outrageous Fortune.

He published a memoir called A Giant to Remember in 2012.

Evan Helmuth, the actor who played a priest in the 2012 horror movie The Devil Inside, died July 17 of complications from a stroke, according to Deadline. He was 40.

An alumni of the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, Helmuth attended the USC School of Dramatic Arts. He played Jimmy Fallon's sidekick in the Farrelly Brothers' Fever Pitch and was in the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher. In 2012, he played his most recognizable role as Father David Keane in William Brent Bell's The Devil Inside, and he made appearances on TV shows including NCIS, Bones, Rizzoli & Isles, and Battle Creek.

Comedy legend Jerry Lewis, one of the most recognizable and influential American performers of the 20th century, died Aug. 20 at the age of 91. People reports that he succumbed to heart failure after decades of ailing health.

The son of professional entertainers, Lewis started performing when he was five, but he skyrocketed to fame in the '50s when he teamed with crooner Dean Martin for the comedy duo Martin and Lewis. At the height of their popularity, they dominated nightclubs, radio, and the box office; they were the top draw at theaters from 1950 to 1956. After a bitter split with Martin, Lewis remained a top-grossing movie star through the mid-'60s with classics like The Bellboy (1960) and The Nutty Professor (1963).

Although his success tapered off, he gave a critically acclaimed performance opposite Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1982) and later appeared in movies like Arizona Dream (1993) and Funny Bones (1995). He guest-starred on a 2006 episode of Law & Order: SVU and recently appeared in The Trust (2016).

Lewis also became well-known as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and hosted an annual Labor Day telethon from 1955 until 2011, raising almost $2.5 billion. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

John Heard, best known as the father in the Home Alone movies, died July 21. TMZ reports that the cause of death was a heart attack.

Heard gained attention as an off-Broadway actor in the late '70s and received an Obie Award for his performances in productions of G.R. Point, Othello, and Split. He appeared in several movies in the '80s including the Tom Hanks comedy Big (1988), but his mainstream breakthrough came as Peter McAllister in Home Alone (1990), which grossed more than $500 million worldwide. He reprised the role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

He earned an Emmy nomination in 1999 for playing Vin Makazian on The Sopranos and later appeared on Prison Break, Entourage, and NCIS: Los Angeles.

Sonny Landham, known for Predator and 48 Hrs., died Aug. 17 at age 76. Variety reports that he passed away from congestive heart failure.

Part Seminole and part Cherokee Native American, Landham began in show business in several X-rated films during the '70s, but he transitioned into more traditional acting roles in movies like The Warriors (1979). He gained attention for playing the Native American tracker Billy Sole alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator (1987) and appeared in more action movies including Action Jackson (1988) and Lock Up (1989). He continued to act through the '90s, compiling more than 50 credits to his name.

In 2003, he embarked upon a brief campaign to become governor of Kentucky and also ran for the Kentucky State Senate in 2004. He was nominated for the U.S. Senate by Kentucky's Libertarian party in 2008, but the party withdrew its support after Landham advocated for Muslim genocide.

Sir Bruce Forsyth, the king of British game shows, died Aug. 18. He was 89. According to the BBC, he had been ill for some time and was hospitalized earlier in the year. The Guardian reports he recently contracted bronchial pneumonia.

Forsyth began in show business at the age of 11 with an appearance a 1939 appearance on BBC's Come and Be Televised. He rose to fame in the '50s with the TV series Sunday Night at the Palladium and went on to host several popular game shows including The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, You Bet!, and The Price Is Right. He was a presenter on the variety show Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 to 2013 and, at one point, was Britain's highest-paid TV star.

He was made a Knight Bachelor in 2011 for his services to entertainment and charity, and he holds the Guinness World Record for having the longest career of any male television entertainer.

Joe Bologna, an Oscar-nominated actor and writer, died Aug. 13, according to Entertainment Weekly. He was 82.

After serving with the Marines, he made his Broadway debut as the star and co-author of the comedy Lovers and Other Strangers. With his wife Renee Taylor, he wrote and starred in the movie Made For Each Other (1971), which opened the door to roles in films including Cops and Robbers (1973), Honor Thy Father (1973), The Big Bus (1976), and Chapter Two (1979). He also co-starred with Taylor in the Emmy-winning special Acts of Love and Other Comedies (1973), then starred in the made-for-TV movie Torn Between Two Lovers (1979). Bologna continued working in the '80s with My Favorite Year (1982), Blame It on Rio (1984), and The Woman in Red (1984).

In 1991, he starred with Matt LeBlanc in the short-lived Married With Children spinoff Top of the Heap, and he later appeared opposite Adam Sandler in Big Daddy (1999). He also voiced Dan Turpin in the animated Superman series from 1997 to 1998 and Mr. Start in Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006).

Robert Hardy, known for the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small and the Harry Potter movies, died Aug. 3 at age 91. 

According to the BBC, Hardy began his career at age 24. He attended Oxford where he studied under J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis before joining the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1949. His first film role was in Torpedo Run (1965), the same year he appeared opposite his friend Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. He became well-known to British audiences as veterinarian Siegfried Farnon on All Creatures Great and Small, which ran in the late '70s and '80s. He portrayed former Winston Churchill six times including in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), War and Remembrance (1988), and Churchill: 100 Days That Saved Britain (2015).

In 2002, Hardy appeared as Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002), and he reprised the role in three more films in the franchise.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated actor Sam Shepard died July 27 at age 73. The New York Times reports that he succumbed to complications of ALS.

The winner of 13 Obie Awards, he won his first six for plays he wrote between 1966 and 1968. He soon made the transition into screenwriting with films like Me and My Brother (1969) and Zabriske Point (1970). In 1978, he stepped in front of the camera for roles as a land baron in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven and the part of Rodeo in Bob Dylan's experimental Renaldo & Clara, which Shepard wrote with Dylan. 

He continued to work as a playwright, and penned his critically acclaimed Family Trilogy (1978's Curse of the Starving Class and Buried Child and 1980's True West); Buried Child won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He also thrived as a character actor, earning an Oscar nomination for playing Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983). He starred in Fool for Love (1983), which was based on his play, and co-wrote Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas (1984).

In his later years, Shepard appeared in movies including Black Hawk Down (2001), The Notebook (2004), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Midnight Special (2016), and the Netflix series Bloodline.

June Foray, the "first lady of voice actors," died July 26, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 99.

She started her career in radio during the '30s and was soon voicing cartoon characters including Rocky and Natasha on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Witch Hazel on Looney Tunes, Nell on Dudley Do-Right, Granny in Tweety and Sylvester, and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. She worked alongside Mel Blanc, Chuck Jones, Stan Freberg, and Jay Ward during her eight-decade career and provided the voices for hundreds of characters.

Later in life, she voiced Wheezy Weasel in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), several characters in a 1990 episode of The Simpsons, and Grandma Fa in Mulan (1998). In 2012, she became the oldest performer to win an Emmy for her voice role as Mrs. Cauldron on The Garfield Show. She also reprised the role of Rocky the Flying Squirrel in a Rocky and Bullwinkle short film released in 2014.

Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell died of suicide by hanging on May 18. According to TMZ, the 52-year-old singer was found in his hotel room at the MGM Grand Detroit hours after Soundgarden performed a concert. 

Cornell founded Soundgarden in 1984 and the band became one of the most popular and influential groups in the burgeoning Seattle scene that would come to define grunge, reaching the mainstream with their 1994 album Superunknown, which featured the Grammy-winning singles "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman." After the band broke up in 1997, Cornell remained in the spotlight with a string of solo albums and as singer of the supergroup Audioslave with members of Rage of Against the Machine. Soundgarden reunited in 2010.

Cornell contributed to several movie soundtracks including those for Singles (in which he had a cameo), Mission: Impossible 2, and 12 Years a Slave. He received a Grammy nomination for his Casino Royale theme "You Know My Name" and an Emmy nomination for "The Keeper" from 2011's Machine Gun Preacher.

Ralphie May, the comedian who rose to fame after appearing during the first season of Last Comic Standing, died Oct. 6 at the age of 45. TMZ reports he had been battling pneumonia for six weeks and died of cardiac arrest. 

Born in Tennessee, he won a contest to open for Sam Kinison when he was 17, which prompted him to pursue comedy as a career. After working the stand-up circuit for years, he appeared in the 2002 comedy For da Love of Money, then finished second on NBC's Last Comic Standing in 2003. He then released a series of comedy specials including Girth of a Nation on Comedy Central and Unruly and Imperfectly Yours on Netflix. He also participated on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club and appeared on Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer.

Chuck Low, best known for Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, died Sept. 18 at a nursing home in New Jersey, according to The New York Times. He was 89.

Low spent four years on active duty as an army major and served with the U.S. National Guard from 1957 to 1965. He was also a member of the U.S. Army Reserve for more than 30 years. He owned properties in New York's Tribeca neighborhood, which led to a friendship with Robert De Niro in the '70s. Their relationship opened the door for Low's first onscreen appearance opposite De Niro in 1982's The King of Comedy. He also acted in other De Niro movies, including Once Upon a Time in America and The Mission, but he's best remembered for playing flamboyant wig shop owner Morris "Morrie" Kessler in Goodfellas.

He later guest starred on The Sopranos and 100 Centre Street. His last screen role was in the 2003 drama Kill the Poor.

Rock musician Tom Petty died Oct. 2 at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif. According to TMZ, the 66-year-old Petty was found unconscious and not breathing the night before and rushed to the hospital. After his family learned he had no brain activity, they made the decision to remove him from life support. 

Petty rose to fame in the mid-'70s with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. He was also a member of the '80s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. He sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the top-selling musicians of all time. 

He also acted, appearing in 1987's Made in Heaven and opposite Kevin Costner in 1997's The Postman, and he had a recurring voice role as Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt on King of the Hill from 2004 to 2009.

Anne Jeffreys, best known for her work on the soap opera General Hospital, died Sept. 27, according to Deadline. She was 94. 

Jeffreys began her career in the '40s when she was under contract to both RKO and Republic Studios. That led to several appearances as Tess Trueheart in the Dick Tracy series along with performances in the 1944 Frank Sinatra musical Step Lively, the horror-comedy Zombies on Broadway, and 1945's Dillinger. She moved on to leading roles in Broadway productions, then starred on the CBS sitcom Topper from 1953 to 1955. In 1979, she guest starred as Siress Blassie on Battlestar Galactica and played Prime Minister Dyne in an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

From 1984 to 2004, she played wealthy socialite Amanda Barrington on General Hospital. She also co-starred as David Hasselhoff's mother on Baywatch and had a recurring role on Falcon Crest.

Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, died Sept. 27, according to The New York Times. He was 91. Hefner published the first issue of Playboy in 1953 when he was 27, and the magazine's circulation reached one million by 1960, peaking at about seven million in the '70s. He was well-known for hosting lavish parties at his Los Angeles-based Playboy Mansion, and became a celebrity in his own right, hosting the television series Playboy's Penthouse from 1959 to 1961 and Playboy After Dark from 1969 to 1970. 

He also appeared on other TV shows and in plenty of movies, mostly as himself. His credits include The Odd Couple (1974), Laverne & Shirley (1982), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), The Simpsons (1993), Sex and the City (2000), Entourage (2005), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2005), and Family Guy (2005). More recently, he appeared in the 2008 comedy House Bunny and the E! reality series The Girls Next Door from 2005 to 2010.

Jake LaMotta, the champion boxer portrayed by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, died Sept. 19 at the age of 95. TMZ reports he died in a nursing home from complications of pneumonia.

Fighting primarily as a middleweight from 1941 through 1954, LaMotta started his career with a 14-0-1 record before suffering a knockdown. He fought Sugar Ray Robinson six times, winning only one of the matches. LaMotta won the World Middleweight Championship by knocking out Marcel Cerdan in 1949.

Scorsese based 1980's Raging Bull on LaMotta, and the gritty, black-and-white film earned eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture. After LaMotta retired from boxing, he also did stand-up comedy and appeared in more than 15 movies, including the Oscar-nominated The Hustler in 1961 and New Jack City in 1991. He also appeared as different characters in five episodes of the sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? in the '60s.

Prolific character actor Harry Dean Stanton died on Sept. 15 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 91. 

His first screen appearance came in a 1954 episode of the anthology series Inner Sanctum, and Alfred Hitchcock cast him in The Wrong Man two years later. Stanton's first major role came in the 1958 Western The Proud Rebel, and he turned in a memorable performance as a singing convict in the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke. He was a regular presence on TV for decades, and he gained notoriety for roles in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Alien (1979), Escape From New York (1981), and Repo Man (1984), landing a rare leading role in 1984's Paris, Texas. He later appeared in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Green Mile (1999), and had a cameo in Marvel's The Avengers (2012).

Stanton often collaborated with David Lynch, appearing in Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, The Straight Story, and more.

Frank Vincent, best known for playing gangsters in Goodfellas and on The Sopranos, died Sept. 13. According to Deadline, the 78-year-old actor died due to complications from open-heart surgery.

He was a successful recording drummer before he made his film debut in 1976's The Death Collector, which caught the attention of Martin Scorsese, who offered Vincent a supporting role in 1980's Raging Bull. He appeared in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing in 1989, and famously played Billy Batts in Scorsese's Goodfellas the following year. He teamed up with the director again in 1995 for Casino, then played mob boss Phil Leotardo on The Sopranos from 2004 to 2007. He also voiced characters in the animated Shark Tale in 2004 and the Grand Theft Auto video game series.

Blake Heron, who rose to fame as a teen actor during the '90s, died at his home in La Crescenta, Calif. on Sept. 8 at the age of 35. Variety reports that he had been sick with the flu.

Heron made his film debut as Ben Rodgers in the 1995 Disney movie Tom and Huck, then played Bud McNeight on the syndicated TV series Reality Check. In 1996, he starred in the family drama Shiloh and also appeared in several TV movies in the '90s, including Trilogy of Terror II and Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher. Heron played Specialist Galen Bungum in Mel Gibson's 2002 war movie We Were Soldiers and also acted on Boston Public, Family Law, and The Guardian. He recently played a heroin addict in the dark comedy A Thousand Junkies.

Shelley Berman, the Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated actor and comedian known for playing Larry David's dad on Curb Your Enthusiasm, died Sept 1 at the age of 92. According to Deadline, he died of complications from Alzheimer's at his home in Bell Canyon, California.

After serving in the Navy, Berman joined the Chicago improv company the Compass Players, which eventually became Chicago's Second City. His 1959 LP Inside Shelley Berman became the first comedy album to receive gold status and the first non-musical album to win a Grammy. His career continued for decades with appearances in 1964's The Best Man and episodes of Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone, Rawhide, Bewitched, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Night Court, MacGyver, L.A. Law, Friends, The King of Queens, The Bernie Mac Show, Grey's Anatomy, Entourage, Hannah Montana, CSI: NY, and Boston Legal.

From 2002 to 2009, Berman played Larry David's father, Nat, on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which he earned an Emmy nomination in 2008.

Richard Anderson, best known as Oscar Goldman on the '70s series The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, died Aug. 31, according to Deadline. He was 91.

After serving with the army during World War II, he enrolled at the Actors Laboratory in Los Angeles and went on to appear in more than 180 film and television roles during a career that spanned six decades. He had roles in the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory along with TV series including Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Hawaii Five-O, Dynasty, Perry Mason, Charlie's Angels, and The A-Team. But he'll best be remembered for playing Goldman, the handler of the bionic duo of Steve Austin (Lee Majors) and Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. The two series ran for more than 150 episodes from 1973 to 1978 and spawned several TV movies. For two seasons, he co-starred on both series at the same time. 

Tobe Hooper, the director of horror classics The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist, died Aug. 26, according to Variety. He was 74.

Hooper shot 1974's Texas Chain Saw Massacre for less than $300,000 and it became one of the most influential horror films of all time. Although it was banned in several countries for violence, it was one of the most profitable independent films of the '70s. He also directed the 1986 sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

In 1979, Hooper helmed the CBS miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, then directed 1982's Poltergeist, written and produced by Steven Spielberg, which also became a classic. After that, he directed Lifeforce and a remake of the 1953 alien movie Invaders From Mars. He continued working through the '90s and 2000s; his final movie, 2013's Djinn, was set in the United Arab Emirates.

Jim Nabors, the actor best known as the lovable rube Gomer Pyle, died Nov. 30 in Hawaii at the age of 87, as first reported by Hawaii News Now.

Born in Alabama, Nabors played the goofy gas station attendant on the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show in 1962. With catchphrases like "Shazam!" and "Golly!," the dim-witted character served as a comic foil to Don Knotts' Deputy Barney Fife. But Gomer was so popular that Nabors starred in the spinoff Gomer Pyle, USMC from 1964 to 1969. 

An accomplished baritone singer, he released dozens of albums between 1965 and 1994, including Jim Nabors Sings with All Your Heart, which was certified gold and reached the Billboard Top 25 in 1966. His singing also made him a frequent guest on The Carol Burnett Show, and he hosted his own variety and talk shows during the '70s.

David Cassidy, a pop culture icon of the '70s thanks to the musical sitcom The Partridge Family, died of organ failure on Nov. 21, according to Variety. He was 67.

He grew up as part of a show business family that included his father, Tony-winning actor Jack Cassidy, stepmother Shirley Jones, and half-brother Shaun Cassidy. After starring in a Broadway musical that closed after just four performances, he signed on to play Keith Partridge on The Partridge Family in 1970 alongside his stepmother Jones. The pair were the only cast members on the show who were actually allowed to sing, and Cassidy performed the theme song "C'mon Get Happy," which helped launch his music career. With hit singles including "I Think I Love You" and "Cherish," Cassidy became a multimedia superstar.

He received an Emmy nomination for a guest role on an episode of Police Story and made guest appearances on Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. Cassidy also performed in musical theater with roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Little Johnny Jones, and he created the Las Vegas shows The Rat Pack Is Back and At the Copa. 

His daughter, Katie Cassidy, is also an actress, playing Laurel Lance in the Arrowverse.

Della Reese, the singer and actress best known for the CBS series Touched by an Angel, died Nov. 19. She was 86.

Entertainment Weekly said her former co-star Roma Downey confirmed the news on behalf of Downey's family. Born in Detroit, Reese started singing at an early age and formed her own gospel group, signing her first record contract in the '50s and topping the charts with "Don't You Know." In the late '60s, she began acting on TV with guest performances on Police Woman and McCloud before launching her own talk show in 1969. She became the first African-American woman to guest-host The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1970 and later appeared on TV series including Chico and the Man, It Takes Two, and Room 222.

In 1979, Reese suffered a near-fatal aneurysm that required two surgeries and she was later ordained as a minister. She became a household name playing Roma Downey's sarcastic angel boss Tess on Touched by an Angel, which aired from 1994 to 2003. Reese earned two Emmy nominations for the role and, from 1996 to 1998, she had a recurring part on the spinoff Promised Land. 

Earle Hyman, the actor best known for playing Cliff Huxtable's father on The Cosby Show, died Nov. 17. He was 91.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hyman made his Broadway debut in 1944 in Anna Lucasta and first appeared onscreen in an uncredited role in the Oscar-winning 1945 movie The Lost Weekend. An acclaimed theater performer, he played Othello hundreds of times and received a Tony nomination for his performance in the original 1980 production of Edward Albee's The Lady From Dubuque. Hyman guested on many TV shows during the '50s and '60s, including Camera Three, East Side/West Side, and The Defenders, and he also appeared on the big screen in The Bamboo Prison (1954) and the crime drama Fighting Back (1982).

From 1984 to 1992, he played Russell Huxtable on The Cosby Show, appearing as the former jazz trombonist in 40 episodes, and was nominated for an Emmy in 1986 for the episode "Happy Anniversary." In real life, he was just 11 years older than Cosby. Hyman also lent his voice to Panthro on the animated Thundercats during the '80s, working on 125 episodes.

Brad Bufanda, best known for his role on Veronica Mars, died Nov. 1, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 34.

According to TMZ, Bufanda committed suicide by jumping from a building in Los Angeles. A suicide note was found on or near his body with the names of his parents and a "thank you" to people in his life. A representative for Bufanda's family released the following statement: "We are completely devastated for he was an extremely talented young actor and wonderful, caring human being. He was reviving his career having just completed two movies, and we are shocked and saddened by his passing."

Bufanda played Felix Toombs on Veronica Mars during the first two seasons between 2004 and 2006. He also appeared on CSI: Miami, Malcolm in the Middle, Even Stevens, Boston Public, and Days of Our Lives.

Robert Guillaume, the Emmy Award-winning actor known for the sitcoms Benson and Soap, died Oct. 24 after battling prostate cancer. He was 89.

According to Deadline, Guillaume served in the Army before appearing in the first all-black production of Guys and Dolls, which brought him a Tony nomination in 1977. He was also the first black actor to play the Phantom of the Opera.

He made a splash on TV as quick-witted butler Benson DuBois on Soap from 1977 to 1979 and reprised the character on the spinoff Benson from 1979 to 1986, winning Emmys for playing the character on both shows. He appeared on All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Robert Guillaume Show, A Different World, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and also starred on Aaron Sorkin's short-lived series Sports Night, which ran from 1998 to 2000.

Guillaume was also very accomplished as a voice actor, providing the voice of Rafiki in The Lion King and Dr. Eli Vance in the video game Half-Life.

Gord Downie, lead singer of Canadian alternative band the Tragically Hip, died Oct. 17, according to Rolling Stone. He was 53. Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in December 2015, but he didn't reveal it until May 2016. 

Downie formed the Tragically Hip in 1984 with his childhood friends Bobby Baker, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair, and Johnny Fay. They became heroes in Canada during the '80s and received a record contract after then-MCA president Bruce Dickinson saw them perform in Toronto. The Tragically Hip released 14 studio albums and topped the Canadian album charts. They earned 16 Juno Awards, the most ever for a band.

Downie also acted, appearing as a cop in 2006's Trailer Park Boys: The Movie and as a burglar in the 2008 drama Nothing Really Matters.

Alfie Curtis, who played Dr. Cornelius Evazan in the original Star Wars, died Dec. 26, according to Jedi News. Mark Hamill broke the news on Twitter.

Curtis, who was born in England, began acting in 1973 with appearances on TV series including Bowler and Larry Grayson. He then famously played Evazan, a patron at the Mos Eisley Cantina in 1977's Star Wars. Although his role is brief, it's very memorable: when Luke Skywalker enters, Evazan and Ponda Baba pick a fight with him, which leads Obi-Wan Kenobi to draw his lightsaber.

After Star Wars, he appeared in films including The Elephant Man, Take It Or Leave It, and The Wildcats of St. Trinian's along with TV shows like The Jim Davidson Show, Grange Hill, Legacy of Murder, Q.E.D., The Gentle Touch, and Tucker's Luck.

Heather North, the voice of Daphne Blake on Scooby Do, Where Are You!, died Nov. 30, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 71.

North first voiced Daphne during the second season of the show in 1970 and continued to play the character for later animated series including The New Scooby-Doo Movies in 1973, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo from 1979 to 1980, and The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries in 1984. She also appeared on Days of Our Lives, Green Acres, Gidget, The Monkees, My Three Sons, and The Fugitive. 

Her final credits were for 2003's Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico.

Julio Oscar Mechoso, a veteran actor known for The Legend of Zorro and Little Miss Sunshine, died Nov. 25, according to Variety. He was 62.

Mechoso began his career with small parts in movies including Flight of the Navigator in 1986 and Police Academy 5 in 1988 before becoming a prolific performer in movies including Toys (1992), Bad Boys (1995), Jurassic Park III (2001), Lords of Dogtown (2005), and Little Miss Sunshine (2006). He also appeared on many TV series, including Seinfeld, Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.

At the time of his death, he was reportedly writing several projects, including a script about his time running the Mutiny Hotel in Miami.

Rance Howard, the actor and father of Ron and Clint Howard, died Nov. 25, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 89.

Howard began acting in 1948 and made his film debut along with Ron, who was 2 years old at the time, in the 1956 western Frontier Woman. After Ron was cast as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show in the early '60s, Rance guested on five episodes of the show. He's perhaps best known for his role as Henry Boomhauer on the TV series Gentle Ben, starring his youngest son, Clint. He appeared in more than 100 movies, including Cool Hand Luke and A League of Their Own, and many of his son Ron's films, including Splash, Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, and Frost/Nixon. 

He also played David Sheridan on Babylon 5 and made guest appearances on Seinfeld, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, and more.

John Hillerman, the actor best known for playing Jonathan Higgins opposite Tom Selleck on the hit CBS series Magnum, P.I., died Dec. 20, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 84.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, he made his first onscreen appearance at age 39 in 1971's Lawman. Later that year, he had a small role as a teacher in The Last Picture Show, then appeared in 1973's Paper Moon and 1974's Blazing Saddles and Chinatown. Although he was from Texas, Hillerman specialized in snooty characters with the Mayfair accent. His signature role was as Higgins on Magnum, P.I., which premiered in 1980. His character was a British Army veteran who served as caretaker of Magnum's estate and the role brought him Emmy nominations each year from 1984 to 1987. He finally won in 1987. He also won a Golden Globe in 1982 and was nominated for the next four years.

After Magnum, P.I. came to an end in 1988, Hillerman starred in the 1989 miniseries Around the World in 80 Days, he had a recurring role on the sitcom Valerie, and later appeared in 1996's A Very Brady Sequel.

Ann Wedgeworth, the actress who played divorcée Lana Shields on the sitcom Three's Company, died Nov. 16 at the age of 83. Variety reports she had battled a long illness.

She began her career on Broadway, making her debut in 1958's Make a Million, and she won a Tony for her work in Neil Simon's 1977 play Chapter Two. Meanwhile, she had a successful film career with leading roles in 1973 opposite Gene Hackman in Scarecrow and Robert De Niro in Bang the Drum Slowly. She also played Patsy Cline's mother in 1985's Sweet Dreams.

After appearing on soap operas including The Edge of Night and Another World, she was cast on Three's Company in 1979. Later, she starred as Merleen Eldridge on the CBS sitcom Evening Shade. 

Brent Briscoe, a character actor who appeared on Twin Peaks and Parks and Recreation, died Oct. 18, according to Deadline. He was 56.

Briscoe first landed a job as an apprentice at the Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre and eventually became a staff writer for the CBS series Evening Shade. He made his breakthrough as Scooter Hodges in 1996's Sling Blade, then continued to collaborate with Billy Bob Thornton on other films like U Turn (1997), Mr. Woodcock (2007), The Smell of Success (2009), and Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012). 

He received critical acclaim for his performance as Lou Chambers in Sam Raimi's 1998 film A Simple Plan. He also appeared in The Green Mile (1999), The Majestic (2001), Mulholland Drive (2001), Driven (2001), Madison (2001), and Spider-Man 2 (2004). Briscoe had a recurring role as diner owner J.J. on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation and also acted on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Goliath, Justified, and NCIS. He recently appeared as Det. Dave Macklay on the revival of Twin Peaks.

John Dunsworth, the Canadian actor known for his work on the comedy series Trailer Park Boys, died Oct. 16, according to CBC News. He was 71. 

Dunsworth worked as a casting director in the '80s before he tried out for a bit part in One Last Shot, a short film by Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg. The role gradually changed into a leading part, which brought Dunsworth an award from the Atlantic Film Festival. After that, he further developed the character that would become Jim Lahey in Trailer Park Boys.

He also starred on Haven, the TV adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid, and reunited with many of his Trailer Park Boys castmates for the series The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour.

Roy Dotrice, who played Hallyne the Pyromancer on Game of Thrones, died Oct. 16, according to Variety. He was 94.

Dotrice served in the British Royal Air Force during WWII and was imprisoned in a German POW camp. He began working as an actor in the '60s and made his film debut in the 1965 movie The Heroes of Telemark. He later appeared in films including Amadeus, Lock Up Your Daughters, Played, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. On television, he appeared on Treasure Island, Magnum P.I., Beauty and the Beast, Babylon 5, Picket Fences, and Angel. In 2000, he won a Tony Award for his role in the Broadway revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.

However, Dotrice is perhaps best known for Game of Thrones. He was reportedly offered the larger role of Maester Pycelle, but had to back out due to health issues. Instead, he played the head of the Alchemists' Guild in King's Landing. But before that, Dotrice provided voices for 224 characters in the audiobook of the first novel in George R.R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire, which inspired Game of Thrones. He holds the Guinness World Record for playing the most characters in an audiobook performance.

Monty Hall, the co-creator and host of the game show Let's Make a Deal, died Sept. 30 due to heart failure, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 96.

A native of Canada, he served as a radio color commentator for the New York Rangers and hosted other game shows like Twenty One, Video Village, and revivals of Beat the Clock and Split Second. But he became a television legend when he created Let's Make a Deal with Stefan Hatos. Premiering in 1963, the show featured contestants who would come to the studio dressed in crazy costumes in an attempt to get Hall's attention. Then contestants could pick from a hidden prize or take cash rolled up in Hall's jacket. Hall would often go off script and engage in hilarious conversations with the players.

Let's Make a Deal eventually moved to ABC, running in daytime (and occasionally primetime) from 1968 to 1976. It later ran in syndication; Hall estimated he hosted more than 4,700 episodes.

Rose Marie, best known for playing Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show, died Dec. 28, according to Variety. She was 94.

Born Rose Marie Mazetta, she began her career as a child star under the name Baby Rose Marie. She starred on her own NBC radio show at the age of 5, appeared in vaudeville, and had parts in the 1929 short Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder and the 1933 feature International House. As a teenager, Marie became a nightclub singer before returning to radio. During the early '50s, she appeared on television variety shows and sitcoms including My Sister Eileen, The Doris Day Show, and S.W.A.T, and she starred on her own series Honeymoon Suite. In 1961, she was cast as Sally Rogers, a comedy television writer on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and earned three Emmy nominations for the role. 

She was a fixture on game shows, serving as the upper center square on Hollywood Squares for 14 years. In her later years, she worked the nightclub circuit and continued to make appearances on sitcoms like Murphy Brown, Wings, and Caroline in the City.