With just six weeks left for 2018, Gold Derby celebrates over 40 celebrities and entertainers who died in the past 12 months. Tour our photo gallery above as we feature tributes to 25 losses from this year so far.
Stan Lee, co-creator of many iconic superheroes, died on November 12 at age 95. For Marvel Comics and later many films and TV programs, his characters included Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and the Avengers.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died on October 15 at age 65. He and Bill Gates helped start the microcomputer revolution in the mid-1970s by creating the world’s largest PC software company.
Burt Reynolds died on September 6 at age 82 in Florida. He was an Oscar nominee for “Boogie Nights” and an Emmy winner for “Evening Shade.” He was one of the top box office stars of the 1970s with movies such as “Deliverance,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “The Longest Yard,” “Cannonball Run” and “Starting Over.”
Actor Bill Daily died on September 4 at age 91. He is best remembered for co-starring on “I Dream of Jeannie” and “The Bob Newhart Show” in long-running roles.
Playwright Neil Simon died August 26 at age 91. He wrote more than 50 Broadway plays, including “Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple,” “Biloxi Blues,” “Sweet Charity” and “Lost in Yonkers.” He wrote the screenplays for those adaptations as well as ones for “The Sunshine Boys,” “The Goodbye Girl” and “California Suite,” all of which brought him Oscar nominations (along with ‘Odd Couple’). He was a three-time Tony Award winner and recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Producer Craig Zadan died on August 20 at age 69. He and Neil Meron were executive producers of the Oscars in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Recent TV productions included “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Hairspray” and “The Sound of Music.” Films included “Footloose” and “Chicago.”
Actress Barbara Harris died on August 21 at age 83. She was a Tony Award winner for “The Apple Tree” (1967) and received an Oscar nomination for “Who Is Harry Kellerman” (1971). She was also known for her roles in the films “A Thousand Clowns,” “Freaky Friday” and “Family Plot.”
Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul, died on August 16 at age 76. She won 18 Grammy Awards in her lengthy career among 44 total nominations. Hit songs included “Respect,” “Natural Woman,” “Spanish Harlem,” “Think,” “Chain of Fools” and “Freeway of Love.” She was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Actress Charlotte Rae died at age 92 on August 5. She was mostly known for her long-running role on “The Facts of Life,” a spin-off of “Diff’rent Strokes” for her character. That role of Edna Garrett brought her a second Emmy nomination in 1982. She also was a two-time Tony Award nominee for “Pickwick” (1965) and “Morning, Noon and Night” (1968).
Tab Hunter died July 8 at age 86. He was one of Hollywood’s leading men of the 1950s, starring in “Battle Cry,” “The Sea Chase,” and “The Girl Left Behind,” with later movies including “Grease 2” and “Polyester.”
Anthony Bourdain died in France on June 8 at age 61. The celebrity chef was best known for his CNN program “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and the Travel Channel series “No Reservations.” While alive he won six primetime Emmys and one at the Daytime Emmys.
Actress Margot Kidder died at age 69 on May 13. She was best known for playing reporter Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in “Superman: The Movie” (1978). She won a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for the children’s TV show “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour.”
Anne V. Coates died at age 92 on May 8. She was the Oscar-winning film editor of “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962) and received an honorary Academy Award in 2016. Her other Oscar nominations were for “Becket,” “The Elephant Man,” “In the Line of Fire” and “Out of Sight.”
Actor, comedian and magician Harry Anderson died at age 65 on April 16. He was a three-time Emmy nominee for his starring role on the NBC comedy series “Night Court.” He also was the lead on “Dave’s World” and made memorable guest appearances on “Cheers.”
Oscar-winning director Milos Forman died on April 13 at age 86. He won an Academy Award for directing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “Amadeus” (1984). Other films in his career included “Hair,” “Ragtime,” “Valmont,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “Man on the Moon.”
Steven Bochco died on April 1 at age 74. The 10-time Emmy winner was the creator of such TV classics as “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.” He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1996.
Actor David Ogden Stiers died on March 3 at age 75. He was known for his long-running role as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on “M*A*S*H.” He received two Emmy nominations for that program. He was famous for his voice-over characters in “Beauty and the Beast,” “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Spirited Away.”
Actress Nanette Fabray died at age 97 on February 22 in California. She won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical “Love Life” and three Emmy Awards for “Caesar’s Hour.” She was also known for the film musical “The Band Wagon” and TV appearances on “One Day at a Time,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and many variety shows.
Composer Johann Johannsson died on February 10 at age in Berlin. He was a Golden Globe winner for his score of “The Theory of Everything,” for which he also received Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy nominations. He received a second Oscar nomination for “Sicario” and had the acclaimed score of “Arrival.”
Actor Reg E. Cathey died on February 9 at age 59. We won an Emmy Award for his guest role on “House of Cards” and was also known for “The Wire,” “Grimm,” “Outcast,” and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”
Actor John Mahoney died in Chicago at age 77 on February 4. His best known role was as Martin Crane for 11 seasons on “Frasier” opposite Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce. He received two Emmy Award nominations for that show. He performed in many stage plays and in the films “Say Anything,” “The American President,” and “Barton Fink.”
Olivia Cole died on January 19 at age 75. She won an Emmy Award in 1977 for the landmark miniseries “Roots” for playing Mathilda. She received another nomination two years later for “Backstairs at the White House.” Other roles included “North and South,” “The Women of Brewster Place,” and “Coming Home.”
Oscar-winning actress Dorothy Malone died on January 19 at age 92. She won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for the 1956 film “Written on the Wind.” She was also nominated for that same movie at the Golden Globes, as well as twice for her starring role on the primetime TV soap opera “Peyton Place” (1965, 1966).
Legendary sports announcer Keith Jackson died on January 12 at age 89. While he called many sports, he was best known for working hundreds of college football games for ABC. He won three Sports Emmys as Best Play-By-Play Announcer and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
Comedian and actor Jerry Van Dyke died on January 5 at age 86. His most famous role was as Luther Van Dam on the comedy series “Coach,” which brought him four Emmy nominations. Top TV guest roles included his brother’s “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Yes, Dear,” “Raising Hope,” “My Name Is Earl,” and “The Middle.”
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