Emmy 2014 obituaries stories
- 1
Sid Caesar, hailed as a genius of live TV sketch comedy, won two Emmys for ‘Your Show of Shows’ in the ‘50s. He ‘always took comedy to a stratospheric level,’ said Mel Brooks.
- 2
When Robin Williams graduated from Redwood High School in Marin County, his classmates couldn’t help themselves: They voted him both “most humorous” and “least likely to succeed.”
- 3
The Navy veteran trained as a Shakespearean actor but gained his widest audience as Judge Philip Banks in the 1990s sitcom opposite Will Smith.
- 4
Jess Marlow, a former Los Angeles news anchor whose no-nonsense delivery reflected a passion for facts over fluff, died Sunday in a Denver-area nursing home.
- 5
Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the elegant actor with the mellifluous baritone who costarred as the suave private eye Stuart Bailey on TV’s “77 Sunset Strip” beginning in the late 1950s and later starred as the buttoned-down Inspector Lewis Erskine on “The F.B.I.,” died Friday at his home in Solvang.
- 6
Frustrated by the limited roles available to Latinos, Carmen Zapata helped produce stage productions of Spanish-language classics.
- 7
South Philadelphia native, who lost a leg at the Battle of the Bulge, received the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for combat.
- 8
Stanley Rubin helped lead the writers and producers guilds and was one of the first Emmy winners.
- 9
Kalvert began directing music videos in the late 1980s, scoring a hit with his first major assignment, ‘Parents Just Don’t Understand.’
- 10
A veteran actor of TV and movie westerns, Russell Johnson achieved enduring fame as the Professor on the 1960s show ‘Gilligan’s Island.’
- 11
Nobody ever accused Robert Halmi Sr. of thinking small.
- 12
Robert Drew had no experience in filmmaking when he directed the 1960 documentary “Primary” that was radically different from the way TV documentaries were made at the time.
- 13
A Marine, an ordained minister and an editor before he took up acting, Ralph Waite later became involved in politics in the Coachella Valley.
- 14
Ralph Kiner, who hit 369 home runs in his career, later became the New York Mets’ longtime announcer. His broadcasts, often marked by goofy slips, earned him an Emmy.
- 15
Televangelist Paul Crouch’s Trinity Broadcasting surpassed its rivals in scope and ambition, reaching a global audience of millions. But his lavish lifestyle sparked controversy.
- 16
Wymore Flynn was a TV and film actor who appeared with Frank Sinatra in ‘Ocean’s Eleven.’ She was 24 when she became the last wife of Flynn, the matinee idol, who was 41.
- 17
In the ‘Andy Hardy’ films, he was the All-American boy. But Mickey Rooney’s roller-coaster show-business career was marked by an often-turbulent personal life.
- 18
Costume designer Michael Travis, who created famously over-the-top outfits for Liberace’s stage extravaganzas, died Thursday at his home in Studio City.
- 19
In a career stretching over six decades, alto saxophonist and actor Med Flory was successful in two creatively demanding arenas.
- 20
Schell, who played the most famous role of his career in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg,’ also directed films, plays and opera.
- 21
Mary Anderson, who auditioned for the role of Scarlett O’Hara, played Maybelle Merriwether in ‘Gone With the Wind.’ She was one of the film’s last surviving cast members.
- 22
Actress Marilyn Burns, who screamed her way into cult movie fame as a star of the 1974 slasher flick “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” has died in Houston.
- 23
The voice of Edna Krabappel on “The Simpsons,” Marcia Wallace also endeared herself to TV fans as Carol the receptionist on “The Bob Newhart Show.”
- 24
Rare in the trade, Semple -- who worked on ‘Papillon’ and ‘Three Days of the Condor’ -- didn’t mind much if he was not the sole writer on a film.
- 25
Lange spent more than 50 years in radio and TV and hoped to have a TV talk show. But he felt stymied by his ‘Dating Game’ tenure.
- 26
Kean played diverse roles in a four-decade career but is best known for playing the wife of Art Carney’s character Ed Norton in the 1966 revival of the TV show.
- 27
Actor James Shigeta played the leading male role in the lavish movie musical “Flower Drum Song” in 1961.
- 28
Though few people knew ‘Homeland’ actor James Rebhorn’s name, he was a familiar face on TV, in movies and onstage.
- 29
If Sam Spade was a tough guy, Jim Rockford was … well, he could throw a punch, but he didn’t like to because it hurt his hand.
- 30
Flamboyant promoter never appeared in the campy commercials for his company, but the slogan got stuck in the public mind for years.
- 31
Ramsay, who led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship, coached in the league for parts of 21 seasons. He later became an analyst for ESPN.
- 32
Hal Douglas’ gravelly voice narrated trailers of movies such as ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘Marley & Me,’ in addition to TV commercials.
- 33
Branching into TV, the radio show host ‘helped change the look of game shows’ in the 1970s.
- 34
Elaine Stritch, the raspy-voiced actress whose forceful personality and salty language enlivened the New York stage for more than six decades, died Thursday at her home in Birmingham, Mich.
- 35
Ed Nelson, a television, stage and film actor who was one of the mainstays of the 1960s prime-time soap opera “Peyton Place,” died Saturday at his home in Greensboro, N.C.
- 36
Ed Joyce, a former president of CBS News whose brief, turbulent tenure in the 1980s was marked by threatened corporate takeovers and settlement of a damaging libel lawsuit from Gen.
- 37
Don Pardo, the legendary NBC announcer whose deep, resonant voice was heard for more than three decades on “Saturday Night Live,” has died.
- 38
As the grandmaster of special-effects makeup, Dick Smith broke ground in the movies in the early 1970s when he transformed Dustin Hoffman into a 120-year-old for “Little Big Man” and an adolescent Linda Blair into a diabolical demon in “The Exorcist.”
- 39
Known for observational comedy, he was a frequent guest at a time when being on the ‘Tonight Show’ could ensure a comic’s success.
- 40
Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who managed the family band and clashed with the wisecracking pre-teen bassist played by Danny Bonaduce.
- 41
Hollywood’s portrayal of the Holocaust and an examination of the racially charged Scottsboro, Ala., rape trial were among Daniel Anker’s subjects. He won an Emmy and was nominated for an Oscar.
- 42
Dickson Wright partnered with fellow lard-loving English cook Jennifer Paterson on the BBC cooking show that had a worldwide audience of about 70 million.
- 43
Soaring to fame with ‘Wild in the Streets,’ Christopher Jones abandoned his career after an acclaimed performance in ‘Ryan’s Daughter.’
- 44
Charles Keating, a Shakespearean actor who injected passages from the Bard into his portrayal of the villainous Carl Hutchins on the soap opera “Another World,” has died at his home in Weston, Conn.
- 45
Bob Hoskins, a British actor whose powerful screen presence earned him a reputation as “the Cockney Cagney” and who, at 5 feet 6 and with a face he likened to a squashed cabbage, gave the short, bald men of the world a reason to swagger, has died.
- 46
Rankin and Jules Bass developed the stop-motion animation for the 1964 Christmas special. When it aired in 1964, it was a blockbuster.
- 47
Emmy-winning producer Alan Landsburg thrived on variety during a five-decade career in Hollywood.
- 48
Zohra Sehgal, 102, a revered Indian actress and dancer who charmed audiences with her impish grin and twinkling eyes, died Thursday in New Delhi, her family said.
- 49
Deaf actress Phyllis Frelich, for whom playwright Mark Medoff wrote ‘Children of a Lesser God,’ which earned her a Tony, has died at 70.
- 50
Lucy Hood, a well-regarded entertainment industry veteran and president and chief operating officer of the Television Academy, died Wednesday of cancer.
