Jo-Carroll Dennison, Miss America 1942
The oldest surviving winner of theΒ Miss AmericaΒ pageant, Jo-Carroll Dennison, has died at age 97.
Dennison, who held the title during World War II and broke with convention by refusing to wear a swimsuit onstage after the pageant, died at her home in California last month, according to her friend Evan Mills.
Mills, who edited Dennison's memoir and learned of her death directly from her family, said over email that the former Miss Texas could "serve as a model for young women β and men β in a world where many are tempted to bend to social expectations rather than trusting and following their own moral compass."
The Miss America Organization said it was "saddened to hear" of Dennison's death, writing on Instagram: "We thank her for her year of service and will miss her dearly."
Jo-Carroll Dennison, far right, is shown competing at the 1942 Miss America pageant.
Born in 1923 in Florence, Arizona, a young Dennison joined her parents' traveling medicine show, where she sang, dance and performed on trick horses. She went on to train as a secretary before being scouted for the Miss Tyler pageant in Tyler, Texas, where she was studying at the time.
In her autobiography "Finding My Little Red Hat," Dennison wrote that she had "sworn never to perform in public again" following her medicine show days. But she eventually agreed to compete in the Miss Tyler pageant on the promise of a free swimsuit from a high-end department store.
After winning the pageant, she went on to claim the Miss East Texas and Miss Texas titles, before competing in β and winning β the Miss America contest in 1942 at the age of 18.
Though she won the swimsuit category, Dennison later refused to wear bathing suits during her year-long reign as Miss America. Speaking at the contest's 100th anniversary gala earlier this year, she commended the Miss America Organization for scrapping the swimsuit portion of competition in 2018 and focusing on the "totality of each candidate."
"Back in 1942, the pageant was supposed to be about looks," she told attendees in a pre-recorded message. "Yet, I never thought I had won (Miss America) because of the way I looked, but rather because of the way I felt about myself. With this in mind, I flat out refused to wear my bathing suit onstage after the pageant."
Crowned Miss America shortly after USA's entry into World War II, Dennison would visit defense plants, hospitals and service camps to help improve troop morale.
Dennison also signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, starring in movies including "The Jolson Story" and the wartime drama "Winged Victory." Her proximity to Hollywood saw her cross paths with many of the era's celebrities, and she embarked on relationships with Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney and comedian Phil Silvers, whom she married in 1945 and divorced five years later.
Jo-Carroll Dennison is shown in 1946 with her then-husband Phil Silvers.
Dennison went on to appear in the "Dick Tracy" series and later worked behind the scenes of television productions. She married CBS producer and director Russell Stoneham, with whom she had two children, though they separated in the 1970s and subsequently divorced.
In her autobiography, Dennison expressed her support for the #MeToo movement, revealing that she had been sexually assaulted at 12 years old. She wrote, "It is stunning how poorly women have been treated in the American culture. I am so proud of the 'Me Too movement' and the women who have been brave enough to come forward about the male sexual abuse they have suffered, and grateful I have lived long enough to see it."
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Ed Asner
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Larry King
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Willard Scott
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Willie Garson
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Nanci Griffith
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Don Everly
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Biz Markie
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Ron Popeil
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Carl Levin
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Robert Downey Sr.
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Elgin Baylor
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Jackie Mason
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Donald Rumsfeld
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Larry Flynt
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George Segal
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Siegfried Fischbacher
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F. Lee Bailey
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Eric Carle
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Tawny Kitaen
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Lloyd Price
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Charles Grodin
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Jack Ingram
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John Warner
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Marvin Hagler
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Michael Collins
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Gavin MacLeod
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Helen McCrory
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Samuel E. Wright
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Bernie Madoff
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Shock G
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Anne Douglas
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Vernon Jordan
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G. Gordon Liddy
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George P. Shultz
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Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a titan of American academia, business and diplomacy who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, died Feb. 6, 2021. He was 100. Shultz was labor secretary, treasury secretary and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Richard M. Nixon before spending more than six years as President Ronald Reaganβs secretary of state.
John Chaney
Updated
John Chaney, one of the nationβs leading Black coaches and a commanding figure during a Hall of Fame basketball career at Temple, died Jan. 29, 2021. He was 89. Chaney led Temple to 17 NCAA Tournament appearances over 24 seasons, including five NCAA regional finals. Chaney had 741 wins as a college coach. He was twice named national coach of the year and his teams at Temple won six Atlantic 10 conference titles.
Sheldon Adelson
Updated
Sheldon Adelson, who rose from a modest start as the son of an immigrant taxi driver to become a billionaire Republican powerbroker with a casino empire and influence on international politics, died Jan. 11, 2021. He was 87. In business, Adelson transformed a landmark Las Vegas casino that was once a hangout of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack into a towering Italian-inspired complex. In politics, Adelson was a record-breaking campaign donor who had the ear of domestic and international leaders, including President Donald Trump.
Bunny Wailer
Updated
Bunny Wailer, a reggae luminary who was the last surviving founding member of the legendary group The Wailers, died March 2, 2021, in his native Jamaica. He was 73. Wailer, a baritone singer whose birth name is Neville Livingston, formed The Wailers in 1963 with late superstars Bob Marley and Peter Tosh when they lived in a slum in the capital of Kingston. They catapulted to international fame with the album, βCatch a Fire" and also helped popularize Rastafarian culture among better-off Jamaicans starting in the 1970s.
Carla Wallenda
Updated
Carla Wallenda, a member of βThe Flying Wallendasβ high-wire act and the last surviving child of the famed troupe's founder, died March 6, at the age of 85. She was the daughter of Karl Wallenda, who had founded the troupe in Germany before moving to the United States in 1928 to great acclaim. She was the aunt of aerialist Nik Wallenda.
Roger Mudd
Updated
Roger Mudd, the longtime political correspondent and anchor for NBC and CBS who once stumped Sen. Edward Kennedy by simply asking why he wanted to be president, died March 9, 2021. He was 93. During more than 30 years on network television, starting with CBS in 1961, Mudd covered Congress, elections and political conventions and was a frequent anchor and contributor to various specials.
Joanne Rogers
Updated
Joanne Rogers, an an accomplished concert pianist who celebrated and protected the legacy of her husband, the beloved children's TV host Mister Rogers, died Jan. 14, 2021. She was 92. Joanne and Fred Rogers were married for more than 50 years, spanning the launch and end of the low-key, low-tech βMister Rogersβ Neighborhood,β which presented Fred Rogers as one adult in a busy world who always had time to listen to children. His pull as Americaβs favorite neighbor never seemed to wane before his death in 2003.
Tom Moore
Updated
Capt. Tom Moore, the World War II veteran who walked into the hearts of a nation in lockdown as he shuffled up and down his garden to raise money for health care workers, died Feb. 2, 2021, after testing positive for COVID-19. He was 100.
James Levine
Updated
Conductor James Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and then was fired for sexual improprieties, died March 9, 2021. He was 77. Levine made his Met debut in 1971 and became one of the signature artists in the companyβs century-plus history, conducting 2,552 performances and ruling over its repertoire, orchestra and singers as music or artistic director from 1976 until forced out by general manager Peter Gelb in 2016 due to Parkinsonβs disease.
Phil Spector
Updated
Phil Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his βWall of Soundβ method and who later was convicted of murder, died Jan. 16, 2021. He was 81. Spector was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 at his castle-like mansion on the edge of Los Angeles. After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years to life. Decades before, Spector had been hailed as a visionary for channeling Wagnerian ambition into the three-minute song, creating the βWall of Soundβ that merged spirited vocal harmonies with lavish orchestral arrangements to produce such pop monuments as βDa Doo Ron Ron,β βBe My Babyβ and βHeβs a Rebel.β
Dianne Durham
Updated
Dianne Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died Feb. 4, 2021. She was 52. Durham was a pioneer in American gymnastics. Her victory in the all-around at the 1983 national championships as a teenager was the first by a Black woman in the organization's history.
Chick Corea
Updated
Chick Corea, a towering jazz pianist with a staggering 23 Grammy Awards who pushed the boundaries of the genre and worked alongside Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, died Feb. 9, 2021. He was 79. A prolific artist with dozens of albums, Corea in 1968 replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles Davisβ group, playing on the landmark albums βIn a Silent Wayβ and βBitches Brew.β
Marty Schottenheimer
Updated
Marty Schottenheimer, who won 200 regular-season games with four NFL teams thanks to his βMartyballβ brand of smash-mouth football but regularly fell short in the playoffs, died Feb. 8, 2021. He was 77. Schottenheimer was the eighth-winningest coach in NFL history. He went 200-126-1 in 21 seasons with Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego.
Nancy Bush Ellis
Updated
Nancy Bush Ellis, a longtime Democrat who helped her Republican brother and nephew get elected president, died Jan. 10, 2021, of complications of the coronavirus. She was 94. She supported and campaigned not only for her brother George H.W. Bush, and her nephew George W. Bush, but for other family members running for public office, including nephew Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida.
Paul Westphal
Updated
Paul Westphal, a Hall of Fame player who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and later coached in the league and in college, died Jan. 2, 2021. He was 70. A five-time All-Star guard, Westphal played in the NBA from 1972-84. After winning a championship with the Celtics, he made the finals in 1976 with Phoenix, where he was a key part of one of the most riveting games in league history. After his playing career ended, Westphal moved into coaching. He led the Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993, and also was head coach of Seattle and Sacramento.
Don Sutton
Updated
Don Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgersβ rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Jan. 19, 2021. He was 75. A four-time All-Star, Sutton had a career record of 324-256 and an ERA of 3.26 while pitching for the Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, California Angels and the Dodgers again in 1988, his final season. The durable Sutton never missed a turn in the rotation in 756 big league starts. Only Cy Young and Nolan Ryan made more starts than Sutton, who never landed on the injured list in his 23-year career.
Gerry Marsden
Updated
Gerry Marsden, lead singer of the 1960s British group Gerry and the Pacemakers that had such hits as βFerry Cross the Merseyβ and the song that became the anthem of Liverpool Football Club, βYouβll Never Walk Alone,β died Jan. 3, 2021. He was 78.
Gregory Sierra
Updated
Gregory Sierra, best known for his roles in "Sanford and Son" and "Barney Miller," died on Jan. 4, 2021, from cancer. He was 83. Sierra's most prominent roles were in sitcoms from the 1970s. In NBC's "Sanford and Son," he was a series regular as the Sanfords' neighbor Julio Fuentes. Later, he portrayed Miguel "Chano" Amanguale, a detective on ABC's "Barney Miller." Sierra also had supporting or guest roles in "All in the Family," "Hill Street Blues," "Miami Vice," and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
Jim Weatherly
Updated
Hall of Fame songwriter Jim Weatherly, who wrote βMidnight Train to Georgia" and other hits for Gladys Knight, Glen Campbell and Ray Price, died Feb. 3, 2021. He was 77. Weatherly, who was also a star quarterback for Ole Miss in the 1960s, wrote a number of hits for Gladys Knight & The Pips, including β(Youβre the) Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me,β βNeither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)β and βWhere Peaceful Waters Flow."
Pedro Gomez
Updated
Pedro Gomez (left in photo), a longtime baseball correspondent for ESPN who covered more than 25 World Series, died Feb. 7, 2021. He was 58. Gomez joined ESPN as a Phoenix-based reporter in 2003 after being a sports columnist and national baseball writer at The Arizona Republic since 1997. He was best known at the network for his coverage of Barry Bonds and his pursuit of the home-run record during the steroid controversy.
Floyd Little
Updated
Floyd Little, the versatile running back who starred at Syracuse and for the Denver Broncos, died Jan. 1, 2021, after a long bout with cancer. He was 78. Little was a three-time All-American at Syracuse, where he wore No. 44 like Jim Brown and Ernie Davis before him. From 1964-66, he ran for 2,704 yards and 46 touchdowns. Little was the sixth overall pick in the 1967 AFL-NFL draft. He played nine seasons in Denver, where he earned the nickname βThe Franchiseβ because his signing was credited with keeping the team from relocating.
Dick Hoyt
Updated
Dick Hoyt, who inspired thousands of runners, fathers and disabled athletes by pushing his son, Rick, in a wheelchair in dozens of Boston Marathons and hundreds of other races, died March 17, 2021. He was 80.
Sarah Obama
Updated
Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former U.S. President Barack Obama's Kenyan family has died. She was at least 99 years old. Mama Sarah, as the step-grandmother of the former U.S. president was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village.
Johnny Pacheco
Updated
Salsa idol Johnny Pacheco, who was a co-founder of Fania Records, Eddie Palmieriβs bandmate and backer of music stars such as RubΓ©n BladΓ©s, Willie ColΓ³n and Celia Cruz, died Feb. 15, 2021. He was 85.
Prince Markie Dee
Updated
Prince Markie Dee, a member of the Fat Boys hip-hop trio who later formed his own band and became a well-known radio host, died Feb. 18, 2021. He was 52. Born Mark Morales in Brooklyn, Prince Markie Dee was a prolific songwriter and founding member of the Fat Boys, a group known for beatboxing that released several popular albums in the 1980s such as the platinum record βCrushin'.β
Arturo Di Modica
Updated
Arturo Di Modica, the artist who sculpted Charging Bull, the bronze statue in New York which became an iconic symbol of Wall Street, died Feb. 19, 2021, in his hometown in Sicily at age 80. The sculptor lived in New York for more than 40 years in New York. He arrived in 1973 and opened an art studio in the city's SoHo neighborhood. With the help of a truck and crane, Di Modica installed the bronze bull sculpture in New Yorkβs financial district without permission on the night of Dec. 16, 1989.
Neil Sheehan
Updated
Neil Sheehan, a reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who broke the story of the Pentagon Papers for The New York Times and who chronicled the deception at the heart of the Vietnam War in his epic book about the conflict, died Jan. 7, 2021. He was 84. His account of the Vietnam War, βA Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam,β took him 15 years to write. The 1988 book won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.
Yaphet Kotto
Updated
Yaphet Kotto, the commanding actor who brought tough magnetism and stately gravitas to films including the James Bond movie βLive and Let Dieβ and βAlien," died March 15, 2021. He was 81. Standing 6-foot-3-inches, Yaphet Frederick Kotto was a regular and compelling presence across films, television and Broadway beginning with the films βNothing But a Manβ (1964) and βThe Thomas Crown Affairβ (1968). He made his stage debut in a Boston production of βOthello.β In 1969, he replaced James Earl Jones in the Pulitzer-winning βThe Great White Hopeβ on Broadway. His big-screen breakthrough came as Lieutenant Pope in 1972's βAcross 110th Street."
Bobby Brown
Updated
Bobby Brown, an infielder who played on five World Series champions with the New York Yankees and later became a cardiologist and president of the American League, died March 25, 2021. He was 96. Brown played with the Yankees from 1947-54, with Yogi Berra his roommate. He spent eight seasons in the majors and played in a career-high 113 games in 1948, batting .300 with three home runs, 48 RBIs. Overall, he batted .279 with 22 home runs and 237 RBIs. He was president of the American League from 1984-94. Commissioner Rob Manfred called him a βproud Yankeeβ and βquiet star.β
Larry McMurtry
Updated
Larry McMurtry, the prolific and popular author who took readers back to the old American West in his Pulitzer Prize-winning βLonesome Doveβ and returned them to modern-day landscapes in works such as his emotional tale of a mother-daughter relationship in βTerms of Endearment,β died March 25, 2021. He was 84.
Howard Schnellenberger
Updated
Howard Schnellenberger, who revived football at the University of Miami and Louisville and started the program at Florida Atlantic during a coaching career that spanned a half century, died March 27, 2021. He was 87. Schnellenberger had a career record below .500, but when it came to building, he was a winner. His legacy includes campus stadiums at Louisville and Florida Atlantic.
Anne Beatts
Updated
Anne Beatts, a groundbreaking comedy writer with a taste for sweetness and the macabre who was on the original staff of βSaturday Night Liveβ and later created the cult sitcom βSquare Pegs,β died April 7, 2021. She was 74. Starting in 1975 and running for five seasons, Beatts was among a team of gifted writers that included Rosie Shuster, Alan Zweibel, Marilyn Suzanne Miller and such cast members as Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase who helped make βSaturday Night Liveβ a cultural phenomenon.
Alcee Hastings
Updated
Rep. Alcee Hastings, the fiercely liberal longtime Florida congressman who was dogged throughout his tenure by an impeachment that ended his fast-rising judicial career, died April 6, 2021. He was 84. Hastings was known as an advocate for minorities, a defender of Israel and a voice for gays, immigrants, women and the elderly. He held senior posts on the House Rules Committee and the Helsinki Commission, which works with other countries on a variety of multinational issues.
Lee Hart
Updated
Lee Hart, the wife of former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, died April 9, 2021. She was 85. Hart campaigned for her husband during his runs for the Senate and the White House.
Black Rob
Updated
Rapper Black Rob, known for his hit βWhoa!β and key contributions to Diddy's dominant Bad Boy Records in the 1990s and early 2000s, died April 17, 2021. He was 52. His debut album βLife Story,β released in 2000, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard charts and went platinum, led by the infectious single βWhoa!β
Alma Wahlberg
Updated
Alma Wahlberg, the mother of entertainers Mark and Donnie Wahlberg and a regular on their reality series βWahlburgers,β has died. She was 78. The Boston-born mother of nine became a household name thanks to her appearances on the A&E series βWahlburgers,β about the familyβs burgeoning burger chain.
Les McKeown
Updated
Les McKeown, the former lead singer of the 1970s Scottish pop sensation Bay City Rollers, died April 20, 2021, at age 65. Formed at the end of the 1960s, the Bay City Rollers enjoyed huge success in Britain and abroad with their tartan outfits and pop tunes like βBye Bye Baby," βShang-a-Lang" and βGive a Little Love.β They had a fanatical teen following and sold more than 100 million records. Some in the British media called them the βbiggest group since the Beatlesβ.
Tempest Storm
Updated
Tempest Storm, the legendary burlesque star who blazed a trail for strip-tease artists for more than a half-century, died April 20, 2021. She was 93. Storm would become an internationally famous figure, selling out clubs across the country. She was featured in many feature films by pioneers Russ Meyer and Irving Klaw, including a co-starring role with Bettie Page in Klawβs 1955 film βTeaserama.β
Idriss Deby Itno
Updated
President Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled Chad for more than 30 years and became an important ally to Western nations in the fight against Islamic extremism in Africa, was killed April 19, 2021, while battling against rebels in the north. He was 68.
Jim Steinman
Updated
Jim Steinman, the Grammy-winning composer who wrote Meat Loaf's best-selling βBat Out Of Hell" debut album as well as hits for Celine Dion, Air Supply and Bonnie Tyler, died April 19, 2021. He was 73. Steinman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 and won album of the year at the 1997 Grammy Awards for producing songs on Celine Dion's βFalling Into You," which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month and featured the Steinman-penned power ballad βItβs All Coming Back to Me Now."
Al Schmitt
Updated
Twenty-time Grammy winner Al Schmitt, whose extraordinary career as a recording engineer and producer included albums by Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and many other of the top performers of the past 60 years, died April 26, 2021, at age 91.
Jonathan Bush
Updated
Jonathan Bush, the younger brother of the late President George H.W. Bush and uncle of former President George W. Bush, died May 5, 2021. He was 89. Bush, who worked in finance, was the last surviving of the family's five siblings.
Pervis Staples
Updated
Pervis Staples (pictured far left), whose tenor voice complimented his fatherβs and sistersβ in the legendary gospel group The Staple Singers, died May 6, 2021. He was 85. Staples sang gospel songs with his father, the guitar-playing Roebuck "Popsβ Staples, and sisters Mavis, Yvonne and Cleotha in Chicago churches before gaining a national following when they began recording songs such as βSo Soon,β βIf I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again,β βWill the Circle Be Unbroken,β and βUncloudy Dayβ for Vee Jay records in the 1950s.
Norman Lloyd
Updated
Norman Lloyd, whose role as kindly Dr. Daniel Auschlander on TVβs βSt. Elsewhereβ was a single chapter in a distinguished stage and screen career that put him in the company of Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin and other greats, died May 11, 2021. He was 106.
Colt Brennan
Updated
Colt Brennan, a star quarterback at the University of Hawaii who finished third in the 2007 Heisman Trophy balloting, died May 11, 2021. He was 37. Brennan transferred to Hawaii after stints at Colorado and Saddleback College in California. A certain pro prospect after a record-breaking junior season, he bypassed the NFL draft in order to play his senior year for Hawaii coach June Jones. Brennan led the Warriors to its finest season ever, going 12-0 in the regular season.
Damon Weaver
Updated
Damon Weaver, the student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 died May 1, 2021. He was 23. Weaver was 11 when he interviewed Obama for 10 minutes in the Diplomatic Room on Aug. 13, 2009, asking questions that focused primarily on education. He covered school lunches, bullying, conflict resolution and how to succeed.
Jim βMudcatβ Grant
Updated
Jim βMudcatβ Grant, the first Black 20-game winner in the American League and a key part of Minnesota's first World Series team in 1965, died June 12, 2021. He was 85. Grant spent less than four full seasons of his 14-year major league career with the Twins, but they were by far his best.
Clarence Williams III
Updated
Clarence Williams III, who played the cool undercover cop Linc Hayes on the counterculture series βThe Mod Squadβ and Princeβs father in βPurple Rain,β died June 4, 2021. He was 81. A native of New York, Williams career spanned over five decades in theater, television and film. He was born into a creative family in 1939 and raised by his musical grandparents. He got his acting start on Broadway after a stint as a paratrooper and received a Tony nomination for his role in William Hanleyβs βSlow Dance on the Killing Groundβ in 1964. His breakout role would come with βThe Mod Squad,β which he led with Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole.
Jim Fassel
Updated
Jim Fassel, whose bold guarantee of a playoff bid late in the 2000 season seemingly catapulted the New York Giants to a spot in the Super Bowl, has died. He was 71. Fassel, the 1997 NFL coach of the year, guided the Giants from 1997 to 2003, posting a 58-53-1 record. He was 2-3 in the postseason, including a 34-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl in February 2001.
Lisa Banes
Updated
Lisa Banes, who appeared in numerous television shows and movies, including βGone Girlβ in 2014 and βCocktailβ with Tom Cruise in 1988, died June 14, 2021, 10 days after being injured by a hit-and-run driver in New York City. She was 65. On television, Banes had roles on βNashville,β βMadam Secretary,β βMasters of Sexβ and βNCIS.β
Jack B. Weinstein
Updated
Jack B. Weinstein, a former federal judge who earned a reputation as a tireless legal maverick while overseeing a series of landmark class-action lawsuits and sensational mob cases in New York City like that of the βMafia Cops,β has died. He was 99. Weinstein, a World War II veteran appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, had spent more than five decades on the bench in Brooklyn before retiring last year.
Mike Gravel
Updated
Mike Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska who read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record and confronted Barack Obama about nuclear weapons during a later presidential run, died June 26, 2021. He was 91. Gravel represented Alaska as a Democrat in the Senate from 1969 to 1981.
John Langley
Updated
John Langley, who was the creator of the long-running TV series βCops,β died June 26, 2021, of an apparent heart attack during a road race in Mexico. He was 78. βCopsβ was among the first reality series on the air when it debuted in 1989, and it would become an institution through 32 seasons. Langley and production partner Malcolm Barbour had shopped the idea for years, and found a home for it on the fledgling Fox network.
Richard Donner
Updated
Filmmaker Richard Donner, who helped create the modern superhero blockbuster with 1978βs βSupermanβ and mastered the buddy comedy with the βLethal Weaponβ franchise, died July 5, 2021. He was 91.
Dilip Kumar
Updated
Bollywood icon Dilip Kumar, hailed as the βTragedy Kingβ and one of Hindi cinema's greatest actors, died July 7, 2021. He was 98. The βTragedy Kingβ title came from Kumarβs numerous serious roles. In several, his character died as a frustrated lover and a drunkard. He also was known as Bollywoodβs only Method actor for his expressive performances identifying a characterβs emotions.
Jovenel MoΓ―se
Updated
Haitian President Jovenel MoΓ―se, a former banana producer and political neophyte who ruled Haiti for more than four years as the country grew increasingly unstable under his watch, was assassinated at his home July 7, 2021. He was 53.
Jehan Sadat
Updated
Jehan Sadat, widow of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel, died in Egypt on July 9, 2021. She was 87.
Edwin Edwards
Updated
Edwin Washington Edwards, the high-living four-term governor whose three-decade dominance of Louisiana politics was all but overshadowed by scandal and an eight-year federal prison stretch, died July 12, 2021. He was 93.
Gloria Richardson
Updated
Gloria Richardson, an influential yet largely unsung civil rights pioneer whose determination not to back down while protesting racial inequality was captured in a photograph as she pushed away the bayonet of a National Guardsman, died July 22, 2021. She was 99. Richardson was the first woman to lead a prolonged grassroots civil rights movement outside the Deep South. In 1962, she helped organized and led the Cambridge Movement on Maryland's Eastern Shore with sit-ins to desegregate restaurants, bowling alleys and movie theaters in protests that marked an early part of the Black Power movement.
Robert "Bob" Moses
Updated
Robert Parris Moses, a civil rights activist who was shot at and endured beatings and jail while leading Black voter registration drives in the American South during the 1960s and later helped improve minority education in math, died July 25, 2021. He was 86. Moses, who was widely referred to as Bob, worked to dismantle segregation as the Mississippi field director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement and was central to the 1964 βFreedom Summerβ in which hundreds of students went to the South to register voters.
Mike Enzi
Updated
Retired Sen. Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican known as a consensus-builder in an increasingly polarized Washington, died July 26, 2021, after he broke his neck in a bicycle accident. He was 77.
Bill Freehan
Updated
Bill Freehan, an 11-time All-Star catcher with the Detroit Tigers and key player on the 1968 World Series championship team, died Aug. 19, 2021, at age 79. He played his entire career with the Tigers, from 1961 through 1976. Besides All-Star appearances, including all 15 innings in the 1967 game, Freehan was awarded five Gold Gloves.
Sonny Chiba
Updated
Japanese actor Sonny Chiba, who wowed the world with his martial arts skills in more than 100 films, including βKill Bill,β died Aug. 19, 2021. He was 82. Chiba rose to stardom in Japan in the 1960s, portraying samurai, fighters and police detectives, the anguished so-called βanti-heroesβ trying to survive in a violent world. He did many of the stunt scenes himself. Quentin Tarantino cast Chiba in the role of Hattori Hanzo, a master swordsmith in βKill Bill.β
Tom T. Hall
Updated
Tom T. Hall, the singer-songwriter who composed βHarper Valley P.T.A.β and sang about lifeβs simple joys as country musicβs consummate blue collar bard, died Aug. 20, 2021. He was 85. Known as βThe Storytellerβ for his unadorned yet incisive lyrics, Hall composed hundreds of songs. He helped usher in a literary era of country music in the early β70s, with songs that were political, like βWatergate Bluesβ and βThe Monkey That Became President,β deeply personal like βThe Year Clayton Delaney Died,β and philosophical like β(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine.β
Rod Gilbert
Updated
Rod Gilbert, the Hall of Fame right wing who starred for the New York Rangers and helped Canada win the 1972 Summit Series, has died. He was 80. From Montreal, Gilbert spent his entire 18-year NHL career with the Rangers. Gilbert recovered and ended up with 406 goals and 615 assists in 1,065 regular-season games and 34 goals and 33 assists in 79 playoff games. He holds Rangers records for goals and points.
George Holliday
Updated
George Holliday, the Los Angeles plumber who shot grainy video of four white police officers beating Black motorist Rodney King in 1991, died of complications of COVID-19 on Sept. 19, 2021. He was 61. Holliday's out-of-focus footage β about 9 minutes worth β was a key piece of evidence at the four officers' criminal trial for assault and excessive use of force.
Jane Powell
Updated
Jane Powell, the bright-eyed, operatic-voiced star of Hollywood's golden age musicals who sang with Howard Keel in βSeven Brides for Seven Brothersβ and danced with Fred Astaire in βRoyal Wedding,β died Sept. 16, 2021. She was 92.
Jo Lasorda
Updated
Jo Lasorda, the widow of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, died Sept. 20, 2021. She was 91. The former Joan Miller met Tommy Lasorda at a minor league baseball game in her hometown of Greenville, South Carolina, where he was playing for the Spinners. They wed on April 14, 1950, a union that lasted 70 years until Tommyβs death last January at age 93.
Melvin Van Peebles
Updated
Melvin Van Peebles, the groundbreaking filmmaker, playwright and musician whose work ushered in the βblaxploitationβ wave of the 1970s and influenced filmmakers long after, died Sept. 21, 2021. He was 89. Sometimes called the βgodfather of modern Black cinema,β the multitalented Van Peebles wrote numerous books and plays, and recorded several albums β playing multiple instruments and delivering rap-style lyrics. He later became a successful options trader on the stock market.
Alan Kalter
Updated
Alan Kalter, the quirky, red-headed announcer for David Letterman for two decades who frequently appeared in the show's comedy bits, died Oct. 4, 2021. He was 78. Kalter was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 21, 1943. Nicknamed βBig Redβ for his hair, he provided the opening introductions on the βLate Show with David Letterman" on CBS from September 1995 until Letterman's last episode on May 20, 2015. As Letterman would walk and run onto the stage, Kalter would introduce him with a sarcastic flair as βthe king of unsocial media,β βnocturnal rainforest mammalβ and other monikers.
Raymond T. Odierno
Updated
Raymond T. Odierno, a retired Army general who commanded American and coalition forces in Iraq at the height of the war and capped a 39-year career by serving as the Army's chief of staff, died Oct. 8, 2021. He was 67.
Gary Paulsen
Updated
Gary Paulsen, the acclaimed and prolific children's author who often drew upon his rural affinities and wide-ranging adventures for tales that included βHatchet,β βBrian's Winterβ and βDogsong,β died Oct. 13, 2021, at age 82. Author of more than 100 books, with sales topping 35 million, Paulsen was a three-time finalist for the John Newbery Medal for the year's best children's book and recipient in 1997 of the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement.
Betty Lynn
Updated
Betty Lynn, the film and television actor who was best known for her role as Barney Fife's sweetheart Thelma Lou on βThe Andy Griffith Show,β died Oct. 16, 2021. She was 95. Lynn appeared as Thelma Lou on the show from 1961 until 1966. She reprised her role in the made-for-TV movie βReturn to Mayberry,β in which Thelma Lou and Barney got married.
Colin Powell
Updated
Colin Powell, who served Democratic and Republican presidents in war and peace but whose sterling reputation was stained when he went before the U.N. and made faulty claims to justify the U.S. war in Iraq, has died of COVID-19 complications. He was 84. In 1989 Powell became the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In that role he oversaw the U.S. invasion of Panama and later the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi army in 1991. He served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush.
