Notable deaths of 2010 in arts and entertainment

A final goodbye

Associated Press

In arts and entertainment, the year saw the deaths of two members of the Redgrave acting dynasty: Lynn Redgrave and her brother Corin Redgrave. Another who died was author J.D. Salinger, who spent much of his life retreating from the fame garnered by his book “The Catcher in the Rye,” which shocked and inspired millions.

Other artists and entertainers who died this year: Lena Horne, Dennis Hopper, Jimmy Dean, Tom Bosley, Gary Coleman, Dixie Carter, Ronnie James Dio, Art Linkletter, Kazuo Ohno, Corey Haim, Robert Culp, Peter Graves, Joan Sutherland, Leslie Nielsen, Tony Curtis, Rue McClanahan, Johnny Maestro, Helen Wagner and Eddie Fisher.

Here is a roll call of some of the people who died in 2010. (Cause of death cited for younger people if available.)

JANUARY

Teddy Pendergrass, 59. R&B singer who was one of the most successful figures in music until a car crash left him in a wheelchair. Jan. 13. Colon cancer.

Erich Segal, 72. Author of best-selling novel “Love Story” about a young couple dealing with love and bereavement. Jan. 17.

Jean Simmons, 80. Actress whose ethereal screen presence and starring roles with Hollywood’s top actors made her widely admired. Jan 22.

J.D. Salinger, 91. Legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose “The Catcher in the Rye” shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned. Jan. 27.

FEBRUARY

Frances Reid, 95. Played matriarch Alice Horton on “Days of Our Lives” for four decades. Feb. 3.

Doug Fieger, 57. Leader of the power pop band The Knack who co-wrote and sang on the 1979 hit “My Sharona.” Feb. 14. Cancer.

Kathryn Grayson, 88. star of popular MGM musicals of the 1940s and ‘50s such as “Anchors Aweigh,” ‘’Show Boat” and “Kiss Me Kate.” Feb. 17.

MARCH

Corey Haim, 38. Teen talent who started working in TV commercials at 10 and was a big-screen heartthrob at 15. March 10. Pneumonia.

Peter Graves, 83. Tall, stalwart actor whose calm and intelligent demeanor was a good fit to the intrigue of “Mission Impossible” as well as the satire of the “Airplane” films. March 14.

Margaret Moth, 59. CNN photojournalist who survived a near-fatal gunshot wound to the face while filming in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the wars there in the early 1990s. March 21. Colon cancer.

Robert Culp, 79. Actor who teamed with Bill Cosby in the racially groundbreaking TV series “I Spy” and was Bob in the critically acclaimed sex comedy “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.” March 24.

Johnny Maestro, 70. Performed the 1958 doo-wop hit “16 Candles” with The Crests and enjoyed a decades-long career with The Brooklyn Bridge. March 24.

Jaime Escalante, 79. Transformed a tough east Los Angeles high school by motivating students to master advanced math, became one of the most famous teachers in the U.S. and inspired the movie “Stand and Deliver.” March 30.

APRIL

John Forsythe, 92. Actor who starred in television series such as “Dynasty” and “Bachelor Father” and films including Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry” and “Topaz.” April 1.

Corin Redgrave, 70. Actor in dozens of plays, television shows and movies including “A Man for all Seasons” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Brother of Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. April 6.

Meinhardt Raabe, 94. Played the Munchkin coroner in “The Wizard of Oz” and proclaimed in the movie that the Wicked Witch of the East was “really most sincerely dead.” April 9.

Dixie Carter, 70. Star of the television series “Designing Women” who had roles in a host of other television shows. April 10.

Guru (Keith Elam), 48. Influential rapper known for intellectual themes, a monotone delivery and his combination of jazz sounds with hip-hop beats. April 19. Cancer.

Elizabeth Post, 89. Etiquette expert and author of books and magazine columns. April 24.

MAY

Helen Wagner, 91. Actress who held the Guinness world record for playing the same role soap opera “As the World Turns” for the longest period of time, 54 years. May 1.

Lynn Redgrave, 67. Actress who became a 1960s sensation as the free-thinking title character in “Georgy Girl.” May 2. Breast cancer.

Dave Fisher, 69. Lead singer of the Highwaymen, the popular 1960s folk group. May 7. Bone marrow disease.

Lena Horne, 92. Jazz singer known for signature song “Stormy Weather” and for her triumph over bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them. May 9.

Ronnie James Dio, 67. Singer whose soaring vocals and poetic lyrics broke new ground in heavy metal music. May 16. Stomach cancer.

Hank Jones, 91. Jazz pianist and composer who played with some of the biggest names in American jazz including singer Ella Fitzgerald. May 16.

Art Linkletter, 97. Known on American television for his interviews with children and ordinary people. May 26.

Gary Coleman, 42. Adorable, pint-sized child star of the 1970s TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood’s D-list. May 28. Brain hemorrhage.

Dennis Hopper, 74. Hollywood actor whose memorable career included “Rebel without a Cause” and “Easy Rider.” May 29. Prostate cancer.

Ali-Ollie Woodson, 58. Led the Motown quintet the Temptations in the 1980s and ‘90s; helped restore them to some of their hit-making glory. May 30. Cancer.

JUNE

Rue McClanahan, 76. Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series “The Golden Girls.” June 3.

Jimmy Dean, 81. Country music legend for his smash hit about a workingman hero, “Big Bad John,” and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand. June 13.

Garry Shider, 56. Longtime musical director of Parliament-Funkadelic whose funky guitar work, songwriting skills and musical arrangements thrilled fans and earned him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. June 16.

Edith Shain, 91. Claimed to be the nurse who was smooched by a sailor in Times Square in the famous Life magazine photograph marking the end of World War II. June 20.

JULY

Tuli Kupferberg, 86. Founding member of the 1960s underground rock group the Fugs. July 12.

Harvey Pekar, 70. Author of the autobiographical comic book series “American Splendor.” July 12.

Daniel Schorr, 93. Journalist who covered the Cold War and found himself on President Richard Nixon’s “enemies list.” July 23.

AUGUST

Patricia Neal, 84, the willowy, husky-voiced actress who won an Academy Award in 1963 for “Hud” and then survived several strokes to continue acting. Aug. 8.

David L. Wolper, 82. Hollywood impressario whose landmark 1987 television miniseries “Roots” engrossed the U.S. with its saga of an American family descended from an African slave. Aug. 10.

Edwin Newman, 91. NBC News correspondent for more than three decades who battled linguistic pretense and clutter in his best-sellers “Strictly Speaking” and “A Civil Tongue.” Aug. 13.

SEPTEMBER

Paul Conrad, 86. Political cartoonist who won the Pulitzer Prize three times for his stark, powerful visuals that poked fun at politicians and presidents. Sept. 4.

Kevin McCarthy, 96. Actor who played the frantic doctor trying to save his friends and neighbors in the science-fiction movie classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Sept. 11.

Claude Chabrol, 80. French director who was one of the founders of the New Wave movement and whose films probed the latent malice beneath the placid surface of bourgeois life. Sept. 12.

Eddie Fisher, 82. Pop singer who crooned love tunes in the 1950s but whose life was overshadowed by drug use, gambling and failed marriages to actresses Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds. Sept. 22.

Gloria Stuart, 100. The 1930s Hollywood beauty who gave up acting for 30 years and later became the oldest Academy Award acting nominee as the spunky survivor in “Titanic.” Sept. 26.

Arthur Penn, 88. A myth-maker and myth-breaker who, in directing such film classics as “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Little Big Man,” refashioned movies. Sept. 28.

Tony Curtis, 85. Defiantly worked to mold himself from a 1950s heartthrob to a respected actor in such films as “Some Like It Hot.” Sept. 29.

OCTOBER

Albertina Walker, 81. Grammy-winning singer from Chicago known as the “Queen of Gospel.” Oct. 8.

Joan Sutherland, 83. Acclaimed opera singer whose voice stretched more than three octaves. Oct. 10.

Barbara Billingsley, 94. Played the mother of Beaver and Wally in “Leave it to Beaver.” Oct. 16.

Tom Bosley, 83. Actor best known for his role on “Happy Days.” Oct. 19. Lung cancer.

Bob Guccione, 79. Publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. Oct. 20. Lung cancer.

Robert Katz, 77. American writer and historian, whose reconstruction of an infamous Nazi massacre in Rome sparked a trial over whether he defamed the pope. Oct. 20. Cancer surgery.

Alexander Anderson Jr., 90. TV cartoon artist who created Rocky the flying squirrel, Bullwinkle the moose and Dudley Do-Right the Canadian mountie. Oct. 22.

Joseph Stein, 98. Turned a Yiddish short story into “Fiddler on the Roof.” Oct. 24.

NOVEMBER

Dino De Laurentiis, 91. Produced films such as “La Strada” and Barbarella.” Nov. 10

Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, 76. Polish composer famous for his “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.” Nov. 12.

Leslie Nielsen, 84. Actor who starred in comedies such as “Airplane” and “The Naked Gun.” Nov. 28.

John D’Agostino Sr., 81. His work in comic books ranged from Archie and Jughead to the Incredible Hulk and G.I. Joe. Nov. 28.

DECEMBER

James Moody, 85. Jazz saxophonist who recorded more than 50 solo albums as well as songs with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Lionel Hampton and B.B. King. Dec. 9. Pancreatic cancer.

Blake Edwards, 88. Director and writer known for clever dialogue, poignance and occasional belly-laugh sight gags in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” ‘’10” and the “Pink Panther” farces. Dec. 15.

Fred Foy, 89. Announcer best known for his booming, passionate lead-ins to “The Lone Ranger” radio and television series. Dec. 22.

Teena Marie, 54. Singer of hits like “Lovergirl” who was often called the “Ivory Queen of Soul.” Apparently of natural causes. Dec. 26

Billy Taylor, 89. Acclaimed jazz pianist and composer who became one of the genre’s most ardent advocates through radio, television and the landmark Jazzmobile arts venture. Dec. 28.

Agathe Von Trapp, 97. A member of the musical family whose escape from Nazi-occupied Austria was the basis for “The Sound of Music.” Dec. 28.

Bernie Wilson, 64. Member of R&B group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, whose hits include 1972’s “If You Don’t Know Me By Now. Dec. 26.

Billy Taylor, 89. Acclaimed jazz pianist and composer who became one of the genre’s most ardent advocates. Dec. 28.