Pictures: Recent notable pop culture deaths
Robert Loggia poses for a portrait Jan. 22, 2009, during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Loggia, who played drug lords and mobsters and danced with Tom Hanks in “Big,” has died at age 85.
(Peter Kramer / AP)
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, a folksy former Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee who appeared in feature films and television including a role on “Law & Order,” died Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015, his family said. He was 73.
(Steve Helber / AP)
Maureen O’Hara, the flame-haired Irish movie star who appeared in classics ranging from the grim “How Green Was My Valley” to the uplifting “Miracle on 34th Street,” died in her sleep on Oct. 24, 2015, at her home in Boise, Idaho. She was 95.
(Chris Pizzello / AP)
Jean Darling and Joe Cobb in, “Noisy Noises,” an Our Gang comedy, later to be known as The Little Rascals. Darling died in Rodgau, Germany at the age of 93, according to the New York Times.
(CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)
Baseball Hall of Famer and former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra died at the age of 90 of natural causes on September 22, 2015.
(JASON SZENES / EPA)
Jack Larson, right, who was better known as the cub reporter Jimmy Olsen in the television series “Adventures of Superman,” died at age 87.
(ABC / Getty Images)
Wes Craven, whose “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream” movies made him one of the most recognizable names in the horror film genre, has died at 76. Craven’s family said in a statement that he died in his Los Angeles home Sunday after battling brain cancer.
(Matt Sayles / AP)
In this April 2, 2005 file photo, Wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper gestures to the crowd after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at the Induction Ceremony in Universal City, Calif. The WWE said Piper died Friday, July 31, 2015. He was 61.
(MATT SAYLES / Associated Press)
Alex Rocco, the character actor best known for playing the bespectacled Las Vegas mobster Moe Greene in “The Godfather,” has died, his daughter announced on July 18, 2015. He was 79.
(Matt Sayles / AP)
Burt Shavitz, a former beekeeper, is the Burt behind Burt’s Bees. The co-founder behind Burt’s Bees died on July 5, 2015 at the age of 80.
(Robert F. Bukaty / AP)
Amanda Peterson, best known for her role in the 1987 romantic comedy “Can’t Buy Me Love,” died on July 5 in Greeley, Colo. She was 43.
(Ron Galella, Ltd. / WireImage)
Dick Van Patten, the genial comic actor best known as the patriarch of TV’s “Eight is Enough,” died on June 23. He was 86.
(Rene Macura/AP)
British actor Christopher Lee, known for his roles in numerous horror movies, as well as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, died at 93 on June 8, 2015.
(Anonymous / AP)
Prior to his surrender to U.S. forces in 2003, Tarik Aziz was known as the diplomatic symbol of the Iraqi government, the man Saddam Hussein deployed to convey his message to the world. He had been in custody since his surrender. He was 79. Full obituary
(Peter Dejong / Associated Press)
Actress and philanthropist Mary Ellen Trainor, who appeared in every “Lethal Weapon” film and played the mother in “Goonies,” died at her home in Montecito, Calif., on May 20. She was 62.
(ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images)
Actress and comedian Anne Meara died May 23, 2015 at the age of 85. She was married to Jerry
Ben E. King, singer of such classics as “Stand By Me,” “There Goes My Baby” and “Spanish Harlem,” died on April 30. He was 76. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Jack Ely died on April 28, 2015, his son confirmed. He was 71. In this April 16, 2009 photo, Ely, best known for his 1963 rendition of the song “Louie, Louie”, poses for a photo at his home in Terre Bonne, Ore. (Don Ryan / AP)
Ben Woolf, who played the character Meep on “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” died on Feb. 23, four days after being hit by the side mirror of a passing car in Los Angeles. He was 34. (Tonya Wise/Invision/AP)
Character actor Taylor Negron has died at 57 years old after a battle with cancer. He appeared in movies like “The Last Boy Scout”and “Stuart Little.” Negron also guest starred on a number of TV shows, including “Friends.” (Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images)
English rock and blues singer and musician Joe Cocker, seen here February 2013 in Berlin, died Dec. 22. (Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)
Keyboardist Ian McLagan, second left, who was the keyboardist in rock bands Small Faces and ‘The Faces died on Dec. 3 at 69. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Sugarhill Gang recording artists David ‘Davey D’ Gunthorpe (L-R) Michael ‘Wonder Mike’ Wright, Joey ‘Master Gee’ Robinson and Henry ‘Big Bank Hank’ Jackson in 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jackson died Nov. 11, 2014 at the age of 57 after battling cancer. (Isaac Brekken / WireImage)
Actress Marcia Strassman, best known for her roles in “M*A*S*H” and “Welcome Back, Kotter” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” died at the age of 66 (Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images)
Richard Kiel portrayed Jaws, a murderous giant with a mouthful of deadly steel teeth, in a scene from the James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977). Kiel died on Sept. 10 at age 74. (United Artists / Getty Images)
The respected British actor and Academy Award-winning director of “Gandhi,” the multiple-Oscar-winning best picture of 1982, was known as a “socially engaged” filmmaker who often focused on major historical figures. He was 90. (Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times)
Legendary “Saturday Night Live” announcer Don Pardo died Aug. 18 at age 96. (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
Lauren Bacall in 1944. The screen icon died at age 89. (FPG / Getty Images)
Veteran soap opera actor, Charles Keating, has died at the age of 72. He had been fighting cancer. Here, Keating attends the 23rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on May 22, 1996 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Ron Galella / WireImage)
Singer Michael Johns, a former ‘American Idol’ finalist, died on August 1, 2014. He was 35 years old. (Jason Merritt / Getty Images)
James Garner, known for his roles in the television series “Maverick” and “The Rockford Files,” died July 19 of natural causes in Los Angeles. (MYCHELE DANIAU / AFP/Getty Images)
Veteran actor Eli Wallach, who turns 95 on Dec. 7, 2010, will be presented with an honorary Oscar. Wallach lives in
Comedian Rik Mayall is dead at age 56. (Stuart C. Wilson / Getty Images)
Poet and author Maya Angelou died at age 86 on May 28, 2014.
(Neilson Barnard / Getty Images)Bob Hoskins arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of “Mrs Henderson Presents” at the Fine Arts theatre in Beverly Hills. He died at 71. (Mario Anzuoni / Reuters)
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez died on April 17 at his home in Mexico City. The author of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was 87. (Ronaldo Schemidt, AFP/Getty Images)
Peaches Geldof, daughter of Bob Geldof, has died at her home in Kent, southern England, aged 25, British media reported on April 7, 2014. (LUKE MACGREGOR / REUTERS)
Charles Keating Jr, a banker who played a leading role in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s that embroiled five U.S. senators, died at 90 in Phoenix. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Mickey Rooney, who became the United States’ biggest movie star as a teenager in the 1930s and later a versatile character actor in a career that spanned 10 decades, died on April 6 at age 93. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
John Pinette, a stand-up comedian who guest-starred as the victim of a carjacking in the final episode of the TV show “Seinfeld,” died at age 50 of natural causes on April 6. (Rick Diamond /Getty Images)
Jim Lange, the first host of the popular game show “The Dating Game,” died on Feb. 25 at 81. (ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images)
Devo members inside the Mutato Studios in Hollywood. (L to R)Josh Freese, Bob Mothersbaugh, Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, Bob Casale. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment in New York City on February 2. (Max Rossi/Reuters)
Iconic child star Shirley Temple, pictured here in 1934 at age 6, passed away on Feb. 11. She was 85. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
Veteran comedian Sid Caesar, star of the 1950s television classic “Your Show of Shows,” died on Feb. 12 at age 91. (Robert Galbraith/Reuters)
Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, 83, whose portrayal of a defense attorney in the 1961 drama “Judgment at Nuremberg” earned him an Academy Award, died Friday in a hospital in Innsbruck, according to his agent Patricia Baumbauer. He was 83. (Alfred Assmann / EPA /January 1, 1961)
Country singer and songwriter Slim Whitman, known for his smooth falsetto and yodeling talent, died in Florida at the age of 90 on June 19, 2013. (Edward Miller/Getty Images)
Actor Dave Madden, pictured here while on “The Partridge Family” in 1973, died on January 16 at 82. (ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images)
Cory Monteith, who starred as Finn on the hit FOX show “Glee” died on July 13. 2013 at the age of 31. (Matt Carr / Getty Images)
FILE - DECEMBER 15: Actor Peter O’Toole Dies At The age of 81 Irish actor Peter O’Toole plays the title role in a production of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ at the Old Vic, 1st September 1980. (Photo by Chris Ball/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 148263353 (Chris Ball / Getty Images)
Marcia Wallace, voice of “The Simpsons” character Edna Krabappel died October 26, 2013. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images (L); Fox Broadcasting (R))
Lou Reed, Velvet Underground leader, has died at the age of 71. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for John Varvatos)
Paul Walker, star of the “Fast and Furious” series of films, was killed in a car crash at age 40. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
Novelist Tom Clancy, pictured here with one of his books in 2002, passed away at age 66. (Robert Mora/Getty Images)
Best-selling American author Elmore Leonard died at age 87 after having suffered from a stroke the month before. The crime writer wrote more than 45 books, including best-sellers such as “Get Shorty,” “Out of Sight” and “3:10 to Yuma.” Many of his novels were made into successful Hollywood movies. (Vince Bucci/Getty Photo)
Long-time White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who covered every president from Eisenhower to Barack Obama, has died at age 92, according to CNN. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)
‘Sopranos’ star James Gandolfini died at age 51. (Matt Carr / Getty Images)
Dennis Farina, a former Chicago policeman turned tough-guy actor, died in Scottsdale, Arizona, the actor’s publicist said. He was 69. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
The keyboardist for the Doors was responsible for the piercing electric organ sound on “Light My Fire” and most of the L.A. group’s cornerstone songs. Influenced by John Coltrane, he added a jazz component to the band’s rock sound. Manzarek was 74 when he died on May 20, 2013 aqfter a long battle with cancer. (Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)
George Jones, widely recognized as the greatest honky-tonk singer of his time, died in Tennessee at age 81. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Actor Richard LeParmentier, best known for playing Death Star commander Admiral Motti in the 1977 film “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” has died. He was 66. (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
Frank Bank, who played Clarence “Lumpy” Rutherford on the classic TV comedy “Leave It to Beaver,” died Saturday of undisclosed causes. Bank was 71. (John M. Heller/Getty Images)
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, nicknamed the ‘Iron Lady’ for her uncompromising politics and leadership style, died at age 87. (Suzanne Plunkett/Getty Images)
Annette Funicello, the dark-haired darling of TV’s ¿The Mickey Mouse Club¿ in the 1950s who further cemented her status as a pop-culture icon in the ‘60s by teaming with Frankie Avalon in a popular series of ¿beach¿ movies has died. She was 70. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Richard Griffiths, most known for his role as Harry Potter’s uncle, has died. Griffiths was 65 years old. He reportedly died of complications following heart surgery. (MJ Kim/Getty Images)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a two-year battle with cancer, ending the socialist leader’s 14-year rule of the South American country. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)
Chrissy Amphlett, the sultry redhead who rocketed to fame with the 1990 Divinyls hit “I Touch Myself,” has died at the age of 53. She passed away at her home in New York City. “Christine Joy Amphlett succumbed to the effects of breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, diseases she vigorously fought with exceptional bravery and dignity. Chrissy’s light burns so very brightly. Hers was a life of passion and creativity,” says her husband Charley Drayton in a statement. (Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)
Lou Myers in 2003 (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
British actor Richard Briers, best known for the 1970s sitcom “The Good Life” and his Shakespearean roles, has died at the age of 79. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Jane Henson, co-creator of the Muppets, participates in a ceremony at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, on August 25, 2010 in Washington, DC. Jane Henson donated 10 of her late husband Jim Henson’s characters from ‘Sam and Friends’ to the museum including the original Kermit the Frog. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
William Moody, a real-life undertaker who gained fame as a wrestling manager with the ring name “Paul Bearer” died at age 58. (Handout / Reuters)
Conrad Bain, shown here in 1981, died at the age of 89. Bain was best known for his role as kindly millionaire Phillip Drummond on “Diff’rent Strokes.” (Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)
Temptations singer Otis “Damon” Harris dead at 62. (Michael Putland / Getty Images)
Robert F. Chew in 2009 teaching at the Arena Players summer theater program. Here he leads a rehearsal of “Fame.” (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
“Dear Abby” advice columnist Pauline Phillips has died at the age of 94. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Robin Sachs (center), an actor best known for playing the role of Ethan Rayne in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” has passed away. The official website for the 61-year-old Brit posted the news about his death on Feb. 5. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Patti Page, famous for singing “Tennessee Waltz” and “(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window” died at 85. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson (Rob Monk/SFX Magazine via Getty Images)
Former Puerto Rican welterweight boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho passed away at age 50 after being shot in Puerto Rico. (Stringer/Reuters)
Charles Durning in Oct. 2010 in
Actor Larry Hagman, who won international fame with his portrayal of villainous oilman J.R. Ewing in the television series “Dallas,” died at the age of 81 from complications of cancer. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Andy Williams, the singer best known for his version of the Oscar-winning song “Moon River” from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” died at the age of 84 after a battle with bladder cancer. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)