Norm McDonald
Just like the in memoriam done at the Oscars, we thought it would be nice to give one last goodbye in 2021 to the stars and legends we lost over the last year.
Yahoo! entertainment compiled a list and shared the entertainment contributors with us to pass on to all of you.
Larry King
Date: Jan. 23
Cause of death: Sepsis
Age: 87
The veteran newsman, known for his matter-of-fact interview style and signature suspenders, died after a series of health problems. He started as a radio host and went on to become a TV staple, hosting CNN’s Larry King Live from 1985 to 2010.
Cloris Leachman
Date: Jan. 27
Cause of death: Natural causes
Age: 94
Leachman won an Oscar for her role in The Last Picture Show in 1972. The same decade, she played the iconic character of Phyllis Lindstrom on TV’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show and one of its spinoffs, Phyllis.
Cicely Tyson
Date: Jan. 28
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 96
The celebrated actress, who counted an Emmy, a Tony and an honorary Oscar among her many accolades, died two days after the release of her memoir, Just As I Am. Her earliest credits were on stage and in TV shows, including I Spy and Guiding Light.
Sophie
Date: Jan. 30
Cause of death: Accidental fall
Age: 34
Sophie was a trailblazing experimental pop artist and producer who worked with Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras and many others.
Dustin Diamond
Date: Feb. 1
Cause of death: Stage IV small cell carcinoma
Age: 44
Diamond played nerdy pal Samuel “Screech” Powers in the original Saved by the Bell series, which was must-see TV in the early ’90s. He reprised the role in two spinoffs, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, and two TV movies. Diamond alienated himself from the rest of the cast at times — his tell-all book about the show, sex tape, arrests, a jail stint — and was not invited to join them for the 2020 reboot.
Christopher Plummer
Date: Feb. 5
Age: 91
Cause of death: Head injury following a fall
Nearly 50 years after cementing his screen icon status as the dashing but stern Captain Von Trapp in 1965’s The Sound of Music — a film experience for which he later voiced contempt — the Canadian star at last took home his first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor, at the tender age of 82.
Mary Wilson
Date: Feb. 8
Cause of death: Hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
Age: 76
Wilson was an original and the longest-running member of the Supremes, Motown Records’ most successful signing, one of the biggest groups of the 1960s (at some points only rivaled by the Beatles) and the most successful American vocal group of all time.
Larry Flynt
Date: Feb. 10
Cause of death: Heart failure
Age: 78
Pornographer and founder of Hustler magazine, Flynt also was known for his court battles in the name of the First Amendment. In 1978, he was shot and paralyzed in an attempted assassination. He was famously played by Woody Harrelson in the 1996 movie The People vs. Larry Flynt.
Rush Limbaugh
Date: Feb. 17
Cause of death: Lung cancer
Age: 70
Limbaugh was one of the loudest voices in right-wing politics beginning in the ’80s, when The Rush Limbaugh Show was the highest-rated of any radio show in the country.
George Segal
Date: March 23
Cause of death: Complications of bypass surgery
Age: 87
Since 2013, Segal played Pops on ABC’s The Goldbergs, but the actor had worked steadily since 1960. His long list of credits includes the role of Nick in Mike Nichols’s classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1967; Jack Gallo, the owner and publisher of the magazine where the characters worked in Just Shoot Me!.
Jessica Walter
Date: March 24
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 80
est known as Bluth family matriarch Lucille on TV sitcom Arrested Development, Walter won an Emmy in 1975 (for playing the title character in limited series Amy Prentiss) and was nominated for another four: for The Streets of San Francisco, Trapper John, M.D., animated series Archer and, yes, Arrested Development.
DMX
Date: April 9
Cause of death: Cardiac arrest
Age: 50
The multiplatinum-selling rapper and actor, whose real name was Earl Simmons, was one of the most successful hip-hop artists of all time, with his first three albums selling a combined 15 million copies.
Olympia Dukakis
Date: May 1
Cause of death: Undisclosed illness
Age: 89
Volumes could be written about the woman who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1987’s Moonstruck. The daughter of Greek immigrants and a cousin to former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, the actress also shined as a wealthy, wise-cracking Southern belle in Steel Magnolias.
Tawny Kitaen
Date: May 7
Cause of death: Dilated cardiomyopathy
Age: 59
The video vixen memorably starred in the videos for Whitesnake’s hits “Is This Love?” and “Here I Go Again.” She also appeared alongside Tom Hanks in the 1984 film Bachelor Party.
Charles Grodin
Date: May 18
Cause of death: Bone marrow cancer
Age: 86
An Emmy winner known for his work in The Heartbreak Kid, Heaven Can Wait, Beethoven, Dave, Midnight Run and many more productions, Grodin was also well known for his appearances on The Tonight Show, when it was hosted by Johnny Carson, and on Late Night With David Letterman.
Paul Mooney
Date: May 19
Cause of death: Heart attack
Age: 79
Although his name isn’t as recognizable as those of Richard Pryor or Dave Chappelle, Mooney was every bit as influential as them. Mooney, who was also an actor, wrote for shows including Sanford and Son, Good Times, In Living Color, The Larry Sanders Show, Chappelle’s Show and Real Husbands of Hollywood, too.
Gavin MacLeod
Date: May 29
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 90
MacLeod is known to many sitcom lovers as Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and cheerful Capt. Stubing on The Love Boat.
Ned Beatty
Date: June 13
Cause of death: Natural causes
Age: 83
The Oscar and Emmy-nominated actor was famous for films like Network and Superman. Other credits include All the President’s Men, Back to School, Deliverance and Toy Story 3, in which he voiced the evil pink bear Lotso.
Charlie Robinson
Date: July 11
Cause of death: Cardiac arrest
Age: 75
Robinson, who played Mac the court clerk in the sitcom Night Court, passed away after battling cancer.
Biz Markie
Date: July 16
Cause of death: Complications from a stroke
Age: 57
Marcel Theo Hall, aka Biz Markie, was the “Clown Prince of Hip-Hop” best known for his 1989 global smash “Just a Friend.”
Siegfried Fischbacher
Date: July 24
Cause of death: Pancreatic cancer
Age: 81
Siegfried in the famed duo of Siegfried and Roy, who wowed audiences with their big cats and magic tricks for decades in Las Vegas and elsewhere, died roughly eight months after his longtime showbiz partner.
Jackie Mason
Date: July 24
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 93
A comedian whose career took him from a rabbi at synagogues in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to, by the early ’60s, The Ed Sullivan Show.
Markie Post
Date: Aug. 7
Cause of death: Cancer
Age: 70
The actress worked in TV for 40 years, but will always be remembered for her role as public defender Christine Sullivan on Night Court from 1984 to 1992.
Don Everly
Date: Aug. 21
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 84
As one-half of the 1950s’ Everly Brothers duo, Everly was one of early rock ‘n’ roll’s most important pioneers.
Charlie Watts
Date. Aug. 24
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 80
It was more than a drum kit that set Watts apart from his long-haired, hard-living Rolling Stones bandmates.
Ed Asner
Date: Aug. 29
Cause of death: Natural causes
Age: 91
Asner will be forever remembered for his role as newsman Lou Grant, first on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, from 1970 to 1977, and then in a spinoff, called simply Lou Grant, from 1977 to 1982.
Willard Scott
Date: Sept. 4
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 87
The legendary Today show weatherman was known for his infectious personality. In the ’60s, he hosted children’s television shows and appeared on WRC-TV playing several characters, like Bozo the Clown.
Michael K. Williams
Date: Sept. 6
Cause of death: Accidental overdose
Age: 54
Williams created unforgettable characters on The Wire (Omar Little) and Boardwalk Empire (Chalky White) — the former getting high praise from then-President Barack Obama.
Norm Macdonald
Date: Sept. 14
Cause of death: Cancer
Age: 61
An anchor of Saturday Night Live staple Weekend Update in the ’90s, Macdonald was known for his biting wit, as he took shots at O.J. Simpson, President Bill Clinton and many more during his time at the news desk.
Peter Scolari
Date: Oct. 22
Cause of death: Leukemia
Age: 66
An ’80s sitcom favorite who starred on Bosom Buddies alongside future superstar Tom Hanks — and, later, Newhart, for which he racked up three supporting actor Emmy nominations — Scolari died from leukemia this fall after a two-year illness.
James Michael Tyler
Date: Oct. 24
Cause of death: Stage IV prostate cancer
Age: 59
Best known for his role as Central Perk manager Gunther on Friends, Tyler revealed in June he had been quietly battling prostate cancer since 2018.
Dean Stockwell
Date: Nov. 7
Cause of death: Natural causes
Age: 85
The actor racked up more than 200 acting credits throughout his decades-long career, earning an Emmy nomination for Quantum Leap and supporting Oscar nomination for Married to the Mob.
Stephen Sondheim
Date: Nov. 26
Cause of Death: Cardiovascular disease
Age: 91
The celebrated composer and lyricist was responsible for some of the biggest Broadway successes of our lifetimes, including A Little Night Music, for which he penned Grammy-winning tune “Send in the Clowns”; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Sweeney Todd; Into the Woods and Company.
Mike Nesmith
Date: Dec. 10
Cause of death: Undisclosed
Age: 78
Robert Michael Nesmith was a musician, songwriter and pop-culture innovator best known as the dry-witted, wooly-hatted guitarist/co-frontman of the 1960s’ zeitgeist-capturing television rock band the Monkees.
Anne Rice
Date: Dec. 11
Cause of death: Complications of a stroke
Age: 80
The New Orleans author’s very first published novel, 1976’s Interview With the Vampire, which had evolved from a short story she wrote in the ’60s, was a big hit.