January
Ray Walston (actor) -- Dead. . Died Jan 1, 2001. Born Dec 2, 1914. The original My Favorite Martian and a judge on Picket Fences, The Stand

Les Brown (bandleader/songwriter) -- Dead. Died Jan 4, 2001. Born Mar 14, 1912. Les Brown and His Band of Renown was the longest-touring band in show biz, and worked with Doris Day, Bob Hope and Dean Martin

Nancy Parsons (actress) -- Dead. diabetes. Died Jan 5, 2001. Born Jan 17, 1942. Porky's, Steel Magnolias

Michael Williams (supporting actor) -- Dead. Lung cancer. Died Jan 11, 2001. Born 1935. Great bit parts in British movies, such as Brian in Educating Rita, married to Dame Judi Dench for thirty years

William Hewlett (started an early "garage" company) -- Dead. Old age. Died Jan 12, 2001. Born May 20, 1913. A co-founder of Hewlett-Packard with Dave Packard

Al Waxman (actor) -- Dead. Heart surgery. Died Jan 18, 2001. Born Mar 2, 1935. Lt. Bert Samuels on Cagney and Lacey, active in theater in his home town of Toronto

Sandy Baron (comic) -- Dead. Emphysema. Died Jan 21, 2001. Born May 5, 1937. Played Lenny onstage, narrated Broadway Danny Rose

Gordon R. Dickson (writer) -- Dead. Died Jan 31, 2001. Born Nov 1, 1923. Books about the Dorsai and dragons (The Dragon and the George)

February
Dale Evans (actress) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Feb 7, 2001. Born Oct 31, 1912. Co-wrote "Happy Trails to You," with her husband, Roy Rogers, wrote a number of books on her own.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (writer/pilot) -- Dead. Died Feb 7, 2001. Born Jun 22, 1906. Flew frequently with her husband, wrote many books including Gift from the Sea.

Herbert A. Simon, Ph.D. (economist) -- Dead. Complications of cancer surgery. Died Feb 9, 2001. Born Jun 15, 1916. Wonderful speaker and teacher, Nobel Prize winner for economics for 1978. Make memorial contributions to: Carnegie Mellon University, the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh or a charity of the donor's choice

Three Rivers Stadium (stadium) -- Dead. Obsolesence. Died Feb 11, 2001. Born Jul, 1970. Home of four Super Bowl winners (Steelers) and two World Series winners (Pirates)

Howard Koch (producer) -- Dead. Died Feb 16, 2001. Born Apr 11, 1916. Produced many movies, including The Odd Couple and The Manchurian Candidate

Stanley Kramer (director) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died Feb 19, 2001. Born Sep 29, 1913. Directed important movies such as Judgment at Nuremberg and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

William Masters (sex researcher) -- Dead. Complications of Parkinson's Disease. Died Feb 19, 2001. Born Dec 27, 1915. Masters and Johnson

Rosemary De Camp (actress) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died Feb 20, 2001. Born Nov 14, 1910. Played many mothers in movies and TV, long-time pitchwoman for 20-Mule Team Borax

Claude Shannon (information theorist) -- Dead. Alzheimer's. Died Feb 24, 2001. Born Apr 30, 1916. Invented binary code and bits Mathematical Theory of Communication

March
Louis Edmonds (actor) -- Dead. Cancer/respiratory failure. Died Mar 3, 2001. Born Sep 24, 1923. Roger Collins on Dark Shadows, Langley Wallingford on All My Children

Harold Stassen (perennial presidential candidate/politician) -- Dead. Old age. Died Mar 4, 2001. Born Apr 13, 1907. Liberal Republican who decried extremism, helped to start the UN, resigned as governor of Minnesota to enlist for WWII

Leopold Page (leathergoods retailer/historian) -- Dead. Died Mar 9, 2001. Born 1914. Told many people in Hollywood the story of how Oskar Schindler saved the lives of his family and 1,000 other Jews before Thomas Keneally made the story world-famous, advisor to the movie Schindler's List

Morton Downey, Jr. (former talk show host) -- Dead. Lung disease (cancer?). Died Mar 12, 2001. Born Dec 9, 1933. More obnoxious than Jerry Springer (yes, really), had half a lung; survived a major cancer surgery in 1998

Robert Ludlum (novelist) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Mar 12, 2001. Born May 25, 1927. The Bourne Identity and other spy books

Ann Sothern (actress) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Mar 15, 2001. Born Jan 22, 1909. Voice of My Mother, the Car

John Phillips (singer) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Mar 18, 2001. Born August 30, 1935. Founded the Mamas and the Papas, father of MacKenzie and Chynna

Norma Macmillan (cartoon voice) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Mar 21, 2001. Born 1921. Voice of Casper and Sweet Polly Purebread, mother of Alison Arngrim (Little House on the Prairie)

William Hanna (cartoon creator) -- Dead. Old age. Died Mar 22, 2001. Born Jul 14, 1910. Directed many cartoons including Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons, partner of Joseph Barbera

April
David Graf (actor) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Apr 7, 2001. Born Apr 16, 1950. Many bit parts, probably best known as Tackleberry in the Police Academy movies

Beatrice Straight (actress) -- Dead. Died Apr 7, 2001. Born Aug 2, 1918. Won an Academy Award for playing William Holden's angry wife in Network

Willie "Pops" Stargell (baseball great/humanitarian) -- Dead. Stroke/hypertension/kidney disease/diabetes. Died Apr 9, 2001. Born Mar 6, 1940. Powerful hitter, raised millions for charity, died the morning the new baseball park opened in Pittsburgh, two days after his bronze statue was unveiled at PNC Park

Nyree Dawn Porter (actress) -- Dead. Died Apr 11, 2001. Born Jan 22, 1940. The Forsyte Saga

Sir Harry Secombe (actor) -- Dead. Diabetes. Died Apr 11, 2001. Born Sep 8, 1921. The Goon Show, Mr. Bumble in Oliver! Died on the same day as Nyree Dawn Porter.

Harvey R. Ball (graphic designer) -- Dead. Died Apr 12, 2001. Born circa 1921. Invented the ubiquitous smiley face in 1963 doing some work for an insurance company, made $45 from it

Jack Haley, Jr. (documentary producer) -- Dead. Died Apr 21, 2001. Born Oct 25, 1933. Produced dozens of documentaries, notably That's Entertainment!, married to Liza Minnelli in the '70s

Al Hibbler (singer) -- Dead. Died Apr 24, 2001. Born Aug 16, 1915. Had original #1 of "Unchained Melody," sang with Duke Ellington's band

May
Cliff Hillegass (businessman) -- Dead. Died May 5, 2001. Born circa 1917. Immortalized as the man who invented Cliffs Notes

Deborah Walley (actress) -- Dead. Cancer. Died May 10, 2001. Born Aug 12, 1943. The second movie Gidget, the daughter on The Mothers-in-Law

Douglas Adams (hysterically-funny writer) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died May 11, 2001. Born Mar 11, 1952. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Perry Como (singer) -- Dead. Died May 12, 2001. Born May 18, 1912. The singing barber from Canonsburg, PA

Jason Miller (playwright/actor) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died May 13, 2001. Born Apr 22, 1939. Wrote That Championship Season, starred in The Exorcist, father of Jason Patric, son-in-law of Jackie Gleason

Susannah McCorkle (singer) -- Dead. Suicide. Died May 19, 2001. Born Jan 4, 1946.

Whitman Mayo (actor) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died May 22, 2001. Born Nov 15, 1930. Grady on Sanford and Son

Patricia Hilliard Robertson (astronaut) -- Dead. Experimental plane crash/severe burns. Died May 24, 2001. Born March 12, 1963. Rennaisance woman (physician, pilot, astronaut) who died while testing an experimental aircraft

Anne Haney (character actress) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died May 26, 2001. Born Mar 4, 1934. Many bit parts, the social worker in Mrs. Doubtfire

Arlene Francis (actress) -- Dead. Old age. Died May 31, 2001. Born Oct 20, 1908. Very popular game show panelist, especially on What's My Line?

June
Hank Ketcham (cartoonist) -- Dead. Heart disease. Died Jun 1, 2001. Born Mar 14, 1920. Creator of Dennis the Menace

Imogene Coca (comic) -- Dead. Old age. Died Jun 2, 2001. Born Nov 18, 1908. Your Show of Shows

Anthony Quinn (actor) -- Dead. Respiratory failure. Died Jun 3, 2001. Born Apr 21, 1915. A two-time Oscar winner, he played a wide variety of roles (and ethnicities!)

John Lee Hooker (bluesman) -- Dead. Old age. Died Jun 21, 2001. Born Aug 22, 1917. Gave a concert just days before he died

Carroll O'Connor (actor) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Jun 21, 2001. Born Aug 2, 1924. TV's In the Heat of the Night and All in the Family

Yvonne Dionne (secluded quintuplet) -- Dead. Cancer. Died Jun 23, 2001. Born May 28, 1934.

Jack Lemmon (actor) -- Dead. Cancer. Died Jun 27, 2001. Born Feb 8, 1925. Wonderfully versatile actor, Felix in the movie version of The Odd Couple, teamed in movies with Walter Matthau

Mortimer Adler (writer, "Great Books" editor) -- Dead. Respiratory infection. Died Jun 28, 2001. Born Dec 28, 1902.

July
Mordecai Richler (writer) -- Dead. Kidney cancer. Died Jul 3, 2001. Born Jan 27, 1931. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Katharine Graham (publisher) -- Dead. Fall. Died Jul 17, 2001. Born Jun 16, 1917. Ran The Washington Post for many years, including during Watergate

Gunther Gebel-Williams (lion tamer) -- Dead. Brain cancer. Died Jul 19, 2001. Born Sep 12, 1934. Main headliner for Ringling Brothers in the '70s and '80s

Eudora Welty (writer) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died Jul 23, 2001. Born Apr 13, 1909. The Optimist's Daughter

Poul Anderson (writer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died Jul 31, 2001. Born Nov 25, 1926. A gentle man and a fabulous talespinner Operation Chaos Make memorial contributions to: SFWA Emergency Medical Fund

August
Lorenzo Music (voice) -- Dead. Lung cancer. Died Aug 4, 2001. Born May 2, 1937. Went from working behind the scenes to being the voice of Carlton, the Doorman and Garfield, the Cat

Christopher Hewett (actor) -- Dead. Complications of diabetes. Died Aug 3, 2001. Born Apr, 1921. TV's Mr. Belvedere

Larry Adler (harmonica player) -- Dead. Cancer. Died Aug 6, 2001. Born Feb 10, 1914. Talented musician who relocated to England during the McCarthy era

Maureen Reagan (speaker, activist) -- Dead. Melanoma. Died Aug 7, 2001. Born Jan 4, 1941.

Sir Fred Hoyle (astronomer, science fiction writer) -- Dead. Stroke. Died Aug 20, 2001. Born Jun 24, 1915. One of the last adherents of the "steady state" theory, he was the one, ironically, to coin the term "big bang" as a joke to describe that theory of the creation of the universe

Kathleen Freeman (actress) -- Dead. Lung cancer. Died Aug 23, 2001. Born Feb 17, 1919. Many character roles...and, twice, "a penguin"

Peter Maas (writer) -- Dead. Died Aug 23, 2001. Born Jun 27, 1929. Author of Serpico and The Terrible Hours

Aaliyah (hip hop singer/actress) -- Dead. Burned to death in a plane crash. Died Aug 25, 2001. Born Jan 16, 1979. Full name: Aaliyah Dana Haughton, was to have appeared in the next two Matrix movies

September
Dr. Christiaan Barnard (surgeon) -- Dead. Asthma attack. Died Sep 2, 2001. Born Nov 8, 1922. Performed the first heart transplant, South Africa 1967

Troy Donahue (actor) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Sep 2, 2001. Born Jan 27, 1936. Teen heartthrob of the early '60s

Thuy Trang (actress) -- Dead. Car accident (no seat belt). Died Sep 3, 2001. Born Dec 15, 1973. The Yellow Ranger in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movies

Pauline Kael (critic) -- Dead. Parkinson's. Died Sep 3, 2001. Born Jun 19, 1919. Longtime film reviewer for the New Yorker

Heywood Hale Broun (commentator, writer) -- Dead. Died Sep 5, 2001. Born Mar 10, 1918.

Justin Wilson (Cajun cook/storyteller) -- Dead. Died Sep 5, 2001. Born April 24, 1914.

Billie Lou Watt (voice) -- Dead. Lung cancer. Died Sep 7, 2001. Born circa 1930. Voice of Kimba and Astroboy (among others!)

David Angell (producer) -- Dead. Murdered by terrorists. Died Sep 11, 2001. Born 1948. Executive producer of Frasier

Berry Berenson (photographer/actress) -- Dead. Murdered by terrorists. Died Sep 11, 2001. Born 1948. Married to Anthony Perkins, Marisa Berenson's sister

Barbara Olson (political commentator, writer) -- Dead. Murdered by terrorists. Died Sep 11, 2001. Born 1956.

Alice Trillin (writer) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Sep 11, 2001. Born 1938. Essayist, Dear Bruno, died the same day as Barbara Olson, Berry Berenson and David Angell but from an unrelated cause.

Victor Wong (actor/newscaster) -- Dead. Died Sep 12, 2001. Born Jul 30, 1927. Renassaince man who found fame playing wise old Chinese men in the movies (Big Trouble in Little China)

Dorothy McGuire (actress) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Sep 13, 2001. Born Jun 14, 1918. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Gentleman's Agreement

Fred De Cordova (producer/director) -- Dead. Old age. Died Sep 15, 2001. Born Oct 27, 1910. Tonight Show producer for 20 years

Isaac Stern (violinist) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Sep 22, 2001. Born Jul 21, 1920.

Lani O'Grady (actress) -- Dead. Uncertain (probably drugs & alcohol). Died Sep 25, 2001. Born Oct 2, 1954. Oldest sister on Eight Is Enough, in real life, the younger sister of Don Grady

October
Emilie Schindler (humanitarian) -- Dead. Aftereffects of a stroke. Died Oct 5, 2001. Born Oct 22, 1907. Oskar Schindler's wife, who helped save 1,000 Jews during WWII Schindler's List

Herblock (political cartoonist) -- Dead. Pneumonia. Died Oct 7, 2001. Born Oct 13, 1909. Washington Post cartoonist

Dagmar (blonde) -- Dead. Died Oct 9, 2001. Born Nov 29, 1921. A regular on Broadway Open House, died on the same day as Herbert Ross

Herbert Ross (director) -- Dead. Heart failure. Died Oct 9, 2001. Born May 13, 1927. The Turning Point, Steel Magnolias, died on the same day as Dagmar

November
Anthony Shaffer (playwright) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Nov 6, 2001. Born May 15, 1926. Wrote Sleuth, twin brother of Peter Shaffer

Ken Kesey (author) -- Dead. Liver cancer. Died Nov 10, 2001. Born Sep 17, 1935. Wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, one of the Merry Pranksters

Albert Hague (actor, composer) -- Dead. Cancer. Died Nov 12, 2001. Born Oct 13, 1920. Teacher on Fame, he composed the music for How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Carrie Donovan (editor/Old Navy icon) -- Dead. Died Nov 12, 2001. Born March 22, 1928. Well-known fashion editor, she became famous to the masses in Old Navy commercials with her big glasses and little dog

Charlotte Coleman (actress) -- Dead. Asthma attack. Died Nov 14, 2001. Born Apr 3, 1968. Scarlet, the flighty flatmate in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Mary Kay Ash (businesswoman) -- Dead. Old age. Died Nov 22, 2001. Born May 12, 1918. Started a cosmetics company whose best saleswomen had pink cars

Rachel Gurney (actress) -- Dead. Died Nov 24, 2001. Born Mar 5, 1920. Lady Marjorie on Upstairs, Downstairs

George Harrison (musician) -- Dead. Brain cancer. Died Nov 29, 2001. Born Feb 25, 1943. The quiet Beatle, he survived being stabbed four times in the chest on Dec 30, 1999 and had individual success with "My Sweet Lord"

Joseph Calleja, professionally known as Joe C., died in his sleep at his parents’ house in the Detroit suburb of Taylor, Mich., according to a statement from Atlantic Records. The pint-sized rapper who performed with multi-platinum rock star Kid Rock has died of a chronic intestinal disorder at the age of 26.

Eugenia Rawls, a theater actress who specialized in one-woman shows about Tallulah Bankhead and others. She was 87.

Sidney E. Woloshin, 72, who helped create the "You Deserve a Break Today" ad campaign that had people flocking to McDonald's restaurants in the 1970s.

Victor Grinich, one of the founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, the Silicon Valley company that helped start the computer revolution. He was 75.

December
KennyMcCormick (running joke) -- Dead. writers were tired of figuring out ways for him to die. Died throughout 1997 1998 1999 and 2000 until December 5, 2001. Born 1997. South Park's bad luck boy

Foster Brooks (comic (professional lush)) -- Dead. Heart attack. Died Dec 21, 2001. Born May 11, 1912.

Dick Schaap (sportscaster/writer) -- Dead. Complications of elective hip replacement surgery. Died Dec 21, 2001. Born Sep 27, 1934. TV and radio sportscaster and journalist, wrote an autobiography (Flashing Before My Eyes) just this year

Nigel Hawthorne (actor) -- Dead. Heart attack/cancer. Died Dec 26, 2001. Born Apr 5, 1929. The Madness of King George

Eileen Heckart (actress) -- Dead. Cancer. Died Dec 31, 2001. Born Mar 29, 1919. Butterflies Are Free and Aunt Flo in Mary Tyler Moore Show