Friday, December 30, 2011

PASSAGES 2011 - TV

Here is my annual list of those TV stars/contributors who passed away in the past year. As before, these are only people involved with work that I have seen, so some of your favorites may be missing. But don't worry, I've watched a lot of TV.

Aron Kincaid, 79 (1/6)
voices on "Batman: The Animated Series" (1992-94)


Del Reisman, 87 (1/8)
Story editor on "The Twilight Zone" (1960-61)


Bill Foster, 79 (2/2)
Director: “Benson” (1982-86), “Amen” (1986-89)


Peggy Rea, 89 (2/5)
Lulu Hogg on “The Dukes of Hazzard” (1979-85)
Cousin Bertha on 3 ep of “All in the Family” (1971, 1979)
four episodes of "I Love Lucy" (1953)


Len Lesser, 88 (2/16)
Uncle Leo on “Seinfeld” (1991-98)
Garvin on “Everybody Loves Raymond” (1996-2004)


Nicholas Courtney, 81 (2/22)
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart on “Doctor Who” (1968-2008)


Trevor Bannister, 76 (4/14)
Mr. Lucas on “Are You Being Served?” (1972-79)


Jon Cedar, 80 (4/14)
Cpl. Langenscheidt on “Hogan’s Heroes” (1965-70)


Sol Saks, 100 (4/16)
Creator of “Bewitched”



Elisabeth Sladen, 65 (4/19)
Sarah Jane on “Doctor Who” (1973-2010)


Madelyn Pugh, 90 (4/20)
Writer, “I Love Lucy” (1951-57)


Marian Mercer, 75 (4/27)
Nancy Beebe on “It’s a Living”/”Making a Living” (1980-82, 1985-89)


William Campbell, 87 (4/28)
Trelane & Capt. Koloth on “Star Trek" (1967, 1994)


Jackie Cooper, 88 (5/3)
Director, "M*A*S*H" (1973-74); "White Shadow" (1978-79)


Norma Zimmer, 87 (5/10)
Champagne Lady on “The Lawrence Welk Show”, 1960-80


Barbara Stuart, 81 (5/15)
Bunny on “Gomer Pyle, USMC” (1965-69)
Appeared on series television for 50 years


Jeff Conaway, 60 (5/27)
Bobby Wheeler on “Taxi” (1978-82)


Clarice Taylor (5/30)
Anna Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” (1985-92)


James Arness, 88 (6/3)
Marshall Matt Dillon on “Gunsmoke” (1955-75); 5 "Gunsmoke" TV movies (1987-94)
Longest running character in series television


Leonard Stern, 87 (6/8)
Writer, “The Honeymooners” (1955-56); "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1953-56)
Writer/Executive Producer, “Get Smart” (1966-68)
Executive Producer, "Get Smart Again" (1989)




Paul Alter, (6/11)
Director, “Family Feud” (1976-85, 88-90), “The Price is Right” (1956-65, 86-00)


Bob Banner, 89 (6/15)
Executive Producer, “The Carol Burnett Show” (1967-70)


Don Diamond, 90 (6/19)
Crazy Cat on “F Troop” (1965-67)


Fred Steiner, 88 (6/23)
Composer, music for “Star Trek”, “Hogan’s Heroes”, “Twilight Zone”
Themes for “Perry Mason”, “Bullwinkle”


Sam Denoff, 83 (7/8)
Writer, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1963-66)
Producer, "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1965-66)
Supervising Producer, "It's Garry Shandling's Show" (1987-88)


Sherwood Schwartz, 94 (7/12)
Executive Producer/Creator – Gilligan’s Island” (1964-67)
“The Brady Bunch” (1969-74)
“The Brady Bunch Variety Hour” (1976-77)
“The Brady Brides” (1981)
3 "Gilligan" reunion TV movies (1978-81); “A Very Brady Christmas” (1988)



Christopher Mayer, 57 (7/24)
Vance Duke on “The Dukes of Hazzard” (1982-83)


Bubba Smith, 66 (8/3)
Bubba on “Blue Thunder” (1984)


John Howard Davies (8/22), 72
Director, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (1969)
Producer, “Fawlty Towers” (1975)


Frank Potenza, 77 (8/23)
“Uncle Frank” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (03-11)


Charles S. Dubin, 92 (9/2)
Director, “M*A*S*H” (1976-83)


Frances Bay, 92 (9/15)
Grandma Nussbaum on “Happy Days” (1982/84)
Mabel Choate on “Seinfeld” (1996/98)


David Croft, 89 (9/27)
Writer/co-creator of “Are You Being Served?” (1972-85)


Charles Napier, 75 (10/5)
Duke Phillips on “The Critic” (1994-95)



Pete Rugolo, 95 (10/16)
Composer, wrote music for TV, including ‘Leave it to Beaver’; co-wrote theme to ‘The Fugitive’


Leonard Stone (11/2)
5 guest roles on “Barney Miller” (1975/77/80-82)
Judge Hanson on “L.A. Law” (1988-94)


Andy Rooney, 92 (11/4)
bitter grouch, “60 Minutes” (1978-2011)


Patrice O’Neal, 41 (11/29)
Comedian/panelist, “Tough Crowd” (2002-04)


Dan Mills, 80 (12/5)
Animator, “Jabberjaw”, “Godzilla”


Harry Morgan, 96 (12/7)
Bill Gannon on “Dragnet” (1967-70)
Col. Potter on “M*A*S*H”/”AfterMASH” (1974-84)
Leonard Blacke on “Blacke’s Magic” (1986)


Bert Schneider, 78(12/12)
Co-creator/producer, “The Monkees” (1966-68)

Edie Stevenson, 81 (12/13)
Ad writer, “Mikey” ad for Life cereal