CELEBRITY deaths of 2011

CELEBRITY

deaths of 2011

ARTISTS, ENTERTAINERS AND MUSICIANS WE LOST LAST YEAR

Associated Press

In 2011, the enter- tainment world lost Elizabeth Taylor, a woman whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame made her one of the last of the classic movie stars.

The year also saw the passing of soul singer Amy Winehouse, whose death at age 27 left many wondering what works of musical brilliance the world might have seen from the troubled, young star.

Others in the arts and entertainment field who died include: Peter Falk, Jane Russell, Clarence Clemons, Pinetop Perkins, Annie Girardot, Harry Morgan, Ferlin Husky, Susannah York, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, David Nelson, Sidney Lumet, Richard Hamilton, Bil Keane, Poly Styrene, M.F. Husain, Heavy D, Jackie Cooper, Robert Tear and Betty Garrett.

Here is a roll call of some of the people who died in 2011. (Cause of death cited for younger people if available.)

JANUARY

Maj. Richard “Dick” Winters, 92. The man who fought in several major battles in World War II and whose quiet leadership was chronicled in the book and television miniseries “Band of Brothers.” Jan. 2.

Malangatana Ngwenya, 74. A Mozambican painter, poet and politician who became one of Africa’s most famous artists for his work drawing on the country’s rocky history. Jan. 5.

Peter Yates, 81. A British filmmaker who sent actor Steve McQueen screeching through the streets of San Francisco in a Ford Mustang in “Bullitt.” Jan. 9.

Margaret Whiting, 86. A sweet-voiced performer known for sentimental ballads who sold millions of records in the 1940s and 1950s. Jan. 10.

David Nelson, 74. He starred on his parents’ popular American television show “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” Jan. 11. Colon cancer.

Susannah York, 72. One of the leading stars of British and Hollywood films in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jan. 15. Cancer.

Don Kirshner, 76. A rock promoter who helped launch performers such as Prince, the Eagles, Lionel Ritchie and Ozzy Osbourne. Jan. 17.

Jack LaLanne, 96. The fitness guru who inspired U.S. television viewers to trim down, eat well and pump iron for decades before diet and exercise became an American obsession. Jan. 23. Respiratory failure due to pneumonia.

FEBRUARY

Maria Schneider, 58. A French actress who was Marlon Brando’s young co-star in Bernardo Bertolucci’s steamy “Last Tango in Paris.” Feb. 3.

Betty Garrett, 91. The vivacious Broadway star who played singer Frank Sinatra’s sweetheart in two MGM musicals before her career was hampered by Hollywood’s blacklist in the 1950s. Feb. 12.

George Shearing, 91. A Britsh-born jazz pianist who wrote the standard “Lullaby of Birdland” and headed a famed quintet. Feb. 14.

Suze Rotolo, 67. Artist and girlfriend of singer Bob Dylan, who was his lyrical muse when he came to prominence in the early 1960s. Feb. 25.

Jane Russell, 89. The voluptuous actress who starred in the controversial film “The Outlaw” and who, as a pin-up girl, set GIs’ hearts to pounding during World War II. Feb. 28.

Annie Girardot, 79. The perky, gravelly voiced actress who became one of France’s most enduring and modern stars. Feb. 28.

MARCH

Alberto Granado, 88. He accompanied Ernesto “Che” Guevara on a journey of discovery across Latin America that was immortalized in Guevara’s memoir and on the screen in “The Motorcycle Diaries.” March 5.

Owsley “Bear” Stanley, 76. A 1960s counterculture figure who worked with the Grateful Dead and was a prolific LSD producer. March 12. Injuries suffered in a car crash.

Joe Morello, 82. A legendary American jazz drummer whose virtuosity and odd time signatures made him an integral part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet on such recordings as “Take Five.” March 12.

Michael Gough, 94. The British actor best known for playing Bruce Wayne’s butler in a series of Batman movies. March 17.

Ferlin Husky, 85. A pioneering American country music entertainer in the 1950s and early ‘60s known for hits like “Wings of the Dove.” March 17.

Farley Granger, 85. The 1950s American teen screen idol who starred in Alfred Hitchcock classics such as “Rope” and “Strangers on a Train.” March 20.

Pinetop Perkins, 97. Grammy-winning bluesman, who for years played the rickety bars of the Mississippi Delta and performed with musicians such as Ike Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson and slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk. March 21.

Elizabeth Taylor, 79. The violet-eyed American film goddess whose sultry screen persona, stormy personal life and enduring fame and glamour made her one of the last of the classic movie stars and a template for the modern celebrity. March 23.

Robert Tear, 72. A versatile Welsh tenor who appeared in opera houses around the world and made more than 250 recordings. March 29.

APRIL

Sidney Lumet, 86. The award-winning director of such American film classics as “Network,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “12 Angry Men.” April 9.

Tim Hetherington, 49. A British-born, Oscar-nominated film director and photojournalist. April 20. Killed while covering fighting between rebels and government forces in Libya.

Hubert “Hub” Schlafly, 91. A key member of a team that invented the teleprompter and rescued soap opera actors, newscasters and politicians from stumbling over their words on live television. April 20.

Poly Styrene, 53. The braces-wearing British singer who belted out the punk anthem “Oh Bondage, Up Yours” with the band X-Ray Spex. April 25.

MAY

Jackie Cooper, 88. One of the most popular child movie stars of the 1930s who later had a successful career as a television director and still appeared in films. May 3.

Arthur Laurents, 93. The director, playwright and screenwriter who wrote such enduring productions as “West Side Story” and “’Gypsy” as well as the film classics “Rope” and “The Way We Were.” May 5.

Burt Reinhardt, 91. One of CNN’s first presidents and an American television pioneer who is credited with helping to build the global news network in its formative years. May 10.

Randy “Macho Man” Savage, 58. A larger-than-life personality from professional wrestling’s 1980s heyday known for his raspy voice and brash style. May 20. Car crash.

Bill Hunter, 71. The archetype of a working class Australian with a distinctive accent, weather-worn face and a no-nonsense style who starred in films and on television. May 21. Cancer.

Leonora Carrington, 94. A British-born painter, writer and sculptor considered one of the last of the original surrealists. May 25.

Gil Scott-Heron, 62. Widely considered one of the godfathers of rap music with his piercing social and political prose laid against the backdrop of minimalist percussion, flute and other instrumentation. May 27.

JUNe

James Arness, 88. An actor who towered over the American television landscape for two decades as righteous Dodge City lawman Matt Dillon in “Gunsmoke.” June 3.

Harry Bernstein, 101. Wrote acclaimed memoir of an English childhood haunted by anti-Semitism “The Invisible Wall,” published when he was 96. June 3.

Jorge Semprun, 87. A writer and politician who chronicled his own experience in the Nazis’ Buchenwald death camp, struggled against dictatorship in his native Spain and later became that country’s culture minister. June 7.

M.F. Husain, 95, a former movie billboard artist who rose to become India’s most sought after painter before going into self-imposed exile during an uproar over nude images of Hindu icons. June 9.

Clarence Clemons, 69. The saxophone player for the E Street Band who was one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen’s life and music. June 18. Complications from a stroke.

Peter Falk, 83. The American stage and screen actor who became identified as the rumpled detective title character on “Colombo,” which spanned 30 years in primetime U.S. television. June 23.

JULY

Manuel Galban, 80. An award-winning Cuban guitarist who rose to international fame as a member of the Buena Vista Social Club musical collective. July 7.

Facundo Cabral, 74. One of Latin America’s most admired folk singers who was also a novelist. July 9. Killed in Guatemala City when gunmen ambushed his vehicle.

Lucien Freud, 88. A towering and uncompromising figure in the art world for more than 50 years known for his intense realist portraits, particularly of nudes. July 20.

Amy Winehouse, 27. A dazzling, versatile singer who produced bitterly honest lyrics but who made headlines because of drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and destructive relationships. July 23. Alcohol poisoning.

AUGUST

Delois Barrett Campbell, 85. A member of the award-winning Barrett Sisters who electrified audiences around the world with their powerful gospel harmonies. Aug. 2.

Bubba Smith, 66. Former NFL star and actor best known for playing Moses Hightower, the soft-spoken officer in the “Police Academy” films. Aug. 3

Marshall Grant, 83. The last surviving member of Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two who helped change the future of American music and popular culture with their boom-chicka-boom beat. Aug. 7.

Billy Grammer, 85. His 1958 hit “Gotta Travel On” hit the top of American pop music charts and led to a long career at the Grand Ole Opry. Aug. 10.

Raoul Ruiz, 70. A Chilean-born filmmaker who made more than 100 films and rebelled against the conventions of movie-making. Aug. 19.

Vicco von Buelow, 87. A humorist known as “Loriot,” often cited by Germans as proof of their sense of humor. Aug. 22.

Frank Dileo, 63. An American music industry executive, who managed Michael Jackson’s career in the 1980s and returned as his manager in the superstar’s final days. Aug. 24.

David “Honey Boy” Edwards, 96. An award-winning American musician believed to be the oldest surviving Delta bluesman, in Chicago. Aug. 28.

SEPTEMBER

Vann Nath, 66. An artist who was among only seven people to survive Cambodia’s most notorious prison of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime and who later depicted the facility’s horrific torture. Sept. 5.

Salvatore Licitra, 43. A tenor known in his Italian homeland as the “new Pavarotti.” Sept. 5. Motorcycle accident.

Cliff Robertson, 88. Actor who portrayed President John F. Kennedy in the film “PT-109” and won an Oscar for playing a mentally disabled man in “Charly.” Sept. 10.

John Calley, 81. He ran three Hollywood studios that made such hits as “The Exorcist” and “Spider-Man.” Sept. 13.

Richard Hamilton, 89. A British pop artist pioneer who depicted former Prime Minister Tony Blair as a cowboy and designed a Beatles’ album cover. Sept. 13.

Robert Whitaker, 71. A photographer who shot some of the most famous — and infamous — images of The Beatles. Sept. 20. Cancer.

OCTOBER

Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., 92. He led the company that grew into an international firm that produces the TV ratings known as “The Nielsens.” Oct. 3.

Steve Jobs, 56. The Apple founder and former chief executive who invented and master-marketed ever sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone. Oct. 5.

Bert Jansch, 67. A virtuoso acoustic guitarist who was at the center of the British folk revival of the 1960s and 1970s. Oct. 5.

Jimmy Savile, 84. A veteran British broadcaster and famously eccentric culture figure. Oct. 29.

NOVEMBER

Andy Rooney, 92. The curmudgeonly commentator who spent 30 years talking about the oddities of life on American television. Nov. 4.

Bil Keane, 89. Creator of the comic strip “Family Circus,” which entertained readers with a mix of humor and traditional family values for more than a half century. Nov. 8.

Heavy D, 44. He became one of rap’s top hit makers in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his charming combination of humor and positivity. Nov. 8. Died after collapsing outside his home.

Karl Slover, 93. One of the last surviving actors who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz.” Nov. 15.

Anne McCaffrey, 85. Her vision of an interstellar alliance between humans and dragons spawned the science fiction “Dragonriders of Pern” novels. Nov. 21. Stroke.

Judy Lewis, 76. Conceived out of wedlock by movie stars Clark Gable and Loretta Young while they filmed “Call of the Wild” in the 1930s, for years one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood. Nov. 25.

Ken Russell, 84. An iconoclastic British director whose daring films blended music, sex and violence in a potent brew seemingly drawn from his subconscious. Nov. 27.

DECEMBER

Francois Lesage, 82. The heir of the legendary Maison Lesage embroidery atelier which has been long embellishing Paris’ couture houses’ most fantastic creations. Dec. 1.

Dev Anand, 88. A charismatic and flamboyant Indian film star for more than half a century. Dec. 3.

Violetta Villas, 73. A Polish coloratura soprano who spurned opera for popular music and became a cabaret star in Las Vegas and then got trapped behind the Iron Curtain when she returned to care for her dying mother. Dec. 5.

Harry Morgan, 96. An actor best known for playing the fatherly Col. Sherman Potter on the TV show “M*A*S*H.” Dec. 7.

Jerry Robinson, 89. A comic book industry pioneer who helped create Batman sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder and their arch-nemesis The Joker. Dec. 7.

George Whitman, 98. A pillar of Paris’ literary scene, whose eclectic bookshop Shakespeare and Company was a beacon for readers. Dec. 14.

Joe Simon, 98. He co-created Captain America along with Jack Kirby and was one of the comic book industry’s most revered writers, artists and editors. Dec. 14.

Cesaria Evora, 70. Grammy-winning Cape Verde singer known as the “Barefoot Diva” because she always performed without shoes. Dec. 17.

Vaclav Havel, 75. Czech dissident playwright who led the 1989 anti-communist “Velvet Revolution” and went from prisoner to president. Dec. 18.

Eva Ekvall, 28. Former Miss Venezuela whose struggle with breast cancer was closely followed by Venezuelans. Dec. 17. Cancer.

Yoshimitsu Morita, 61. A director whose films depicted the absurdity and vulnerability of everyday life in conformist Japan. Dec. 20. Acute liver failure.

John Chamberlain, 84. An artist known for turning automotive scrap metal into sculpture in New York City. Dec. 21

Johannes Heesters, 108. Dutch-born entertainer who made his name performing in Adolf Hitler’s Germany and was dogged later in his long career by controversy over his Nazi-era past. Dec. 24

James Rizzi, 61. New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures. Dec. 26.

Helen Frankenthaler, 83. An abstract painter known for her bold, lyrical use of color who led a postwar art movement that would later be termed Color Field painting. Dec. 27.

kaye stevens, 79. Singer and actress who performed with the Rat Pack and was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” An abstract painter known for her bold, lyrical use of color who led a postwar art movement that would later be termed Color Field painting. Dec. 28