Gravelly-voiced character actor James Gammon has passed away of cancer at the age of 70. His career spanned more than 50 years in television, (with roles from "Gunsmoke" to "Grays Anatomy",) film and theater, but most will probably remember him as either the cantankerous manager of the Cleveland Indians in the 1989 comedy "Major League" or as Don Johnson's crotchety, retired longshoreman father on the television show Nash Bridges. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jul 18, 2010 - 23 comments

Actor, Playwright, Artist, Comedian, Magician, "Man of A Thousand Voices" (including Mighty Mouse,) "Beloved Herring Maven"

Mr. Ira Stadlen (Stage name: "Captain" Allen Swift) has passed away at the age of 87. Throughout his career, Mr. Stadler voiced characters in more than 30,000 television and radio commercials, as well as cartoons such as Underdog, Tom and Jerry and Diver Dan, but some might remember him most as the man who saved Howdy Doody. His nephew has posted a remembrance on his blog, which includes a link to a "novelty 45" mp3 recording of Swift's "Are You Lonesome Tonight." [more inside]
posted by zarq on Apr 28, 2010 - 13 comments

"Those of us who are the firstborn always dream of that imaginary brother or sister who will be their protector, the buffer, the one to take the blows. I'm a firstborn, and Bob was the answer to my dreams. He was the big brother that all of us wish for." ~ Bill Cosby on his I-Spy co-star Robert Culp (79), who died of a heart attack yesterday after a fall outside his Hollywood Hills home [more inside]
posted by zarq on Mar 25, 2010 - 39 comments

Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, died Friday January 8 at the age of 88. Gumby has always been one of my favorite shows, and the episode Of Clay and Critters is one of the weirdest things that has ever appeared on television. [more inside]
posted by foonly on Jan 9, 2010 - 59 comments

Eric Lieber, producer of the groundbreaking Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas talk shows as well as the creator of (my own beloved guilty pleasure) Love Connection, has passed away of leukemia at age 71. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Jul 7, 2008 - 5 comments

Verity Lambert dies. Verity was amongst other things the first producer of Doctor Who and essentially co-created the series along with writer Sydney Newman and the pilot director Waris Hussein. She would later have a hand in bringing everything from Minder to Jonathan Creek to the screen. [more inside]
posted by feelinglistless on Nov 23, 2007 - 26 comments

Ronnie Hazlehurst RIP. Who? Well if you've seen any of the BBC's sitcoms and light entertainment programmes from the 70s onwards, you would have probably heard his work... [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Oct 3, 2007 - 16 comments

Michael Piller has died. The man who was the father of modern Star Trek and television sci-fi in general.
posted by feelinglistless on Nov 2, 2005 - 44 comments

Bob Denver, beloved to millions as the lovable beatnick Maynard G. Krebs on the early television show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, has died at age 70.
he was also on a later show about seven stranded castaways
posted by yhbc on Sep 6, 2005 - 82 comments

U.F.O., R.I.P. The two lead actors in the cult 1970 TV series "UFO ", Ed Bishop and Michael Billington, have both died this week within days of each other.
posted by matteo on Jun 10, 2005 - 23 comments

RIP Eddie Albert. As Mr. Kimball might have said, he was an actor . Well, not really an actor, but a war hero. He was awarded a Bronze star...well, it wasn't really bronze, more like a...anyway, for his efforts at Tarawa. But maybe he was more of an environmentalist...oh, anyway, dig into some hotscakes and remember Mr. Douglas.
posted by Oriole Adams on May 28, 2005 - 20 comments

Jerry Orbach, 1935-2004. Goodnight, Lennie Briscoe. Farewell, Lumiere.
(And Billy Flynn and Mack the Knife and Sky Masterson and ...)
posted by grabbingsand on Dec 29, 2004 - 97 comments

What's stranger than Madeline Kahn (who passed away 5 years ago) appearing in an upcoming animated feature for TV? Her co-star is John Candy, who's been dead for a decade.
posted by RavinDave on Aug 29, 2004 - 15 comments

Rerun Dead at 52 Fred Berry, who played Rerun on tv's What's Happening is dead. {Warning, 2nd link has audio but it's the cool theme song to the show.}
posted by nyxxxx on Oct 22, 2003 - 15 comments

"Come and knock on my door..." Actor John Ritter dies of aortic dissection, an unexpected rupture of the aortic wall.
posted by mischief on Sep 12, 2003 - 44 comments

Mr. Rogers Dead. Fred Rogers of "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" died of stomach cancer at age 74. To be honest, his was never my personal favorite PBS kid's show growing up (I preferred off-brand shows like "Zoom" and "3-2-1 Contact"). But my appreciation for him when I was an adult was pretty high. Anyway, it's a sad day in the neighborhood.
posted by jscalzi on Feb 27, 2003 - 130 comments

Lana Clarkson, gunned down in Phil Spector's home, was the star of B movies like Barbarian Queen and Barbarian Queen 2, and also made appearances on classic television shows such as the A-Team, Knight Rider, Three's Company and of course, The Love Boat.
posted by car_bomb on Feb 5, 2003 - 17 comments

Snooker legend dies A very sad day for snooker lovers. Bill Werbeniuk, the only man to split his trousers on live television during a professional snooker match, has died. And he liked a pint or thirty.
posted by skellum on Jan 22, 2003 - 22 comments

Timmy leaves his Princess. Josh Ryan Evans, the actor who played Timmy on my favorite soap opera (Passions) died Monday evening from a heart condition.

What's creepy is that the exact same day on the show, his character died.

The producers are editing out anything to do with Timmy, although I really hope that there's a legitimate memorial on the show for the character. He's been the soul of the series, and he simply can't be replaced.

Of course, I expect Tabitha to go full on evil now...
posted by Pinwiz on Aug 6, 2002 - 55 comments

Sheriff's Deputy turned TV Bailiff Rusty Burrell has died. I had no idea he was involved in the Charles Manson & Patty Hearst trials.
posted by Argyle on Apr 20, 2002 - 7 comments

Actor Kevin Smith (no, not Silent Bob... Ares from Xena) has died after a large fall in China.
posted by sycophant on Feb 15, 2002 - 31 comments

Peter Gzowski, Canadian broadcaster, died a couple of days ago. Listen to an old interview with Stuart McLean on CBC Radio RealAudio at noon EST from Toronto, 1pm from Winnipeg, 2pm from Calgary or 3pm from Vancouver. Gzowski and McLean are the voice of the Canadian spirit.
posted by Geo on Jan 27, 2002 - 9 comments

Film, TV Director Ted Demme Dies "Demme was participating in a celebrity basketball game at the private Crossroads School when he was stricken Sunday, said Ted Braun, a spokesman for Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Paramedics rushed Demme to the hospital's emergency room in full cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead 20 minutes later. Demme, a nephew of director Jonathan Demme, directed Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in last year's "Blow." The film was based on the true story of George Jung, who was the American connection to the Colombian cocaine cartel in the late 1970s and early '80s when the drug became hip. "
posted by dgeiser13 on Jan 14, 2002 - 12 comments

Cookie the clown died yesturday. My favorite clown of the long running 'Bozo Show' recorded in Chicago.

"I am the luckiest guy in the world to have worked at a job I loved, and I'm going to miss it dearly," Brown said upon his retirement in 1994.
posted by john on Jan 23, 2001 - 3 comments

Goodbye, you grumpy old man...
posted by tomcosgrave on Jul 1, 2000 - 2 comments

Last week, the woman that does almost every female voice on Southpark committed suicide. It's a terrible loss, she did voiceover work for so many movies and shows. What's really spooky about it is listening to her being interviewed earlier this year. She even talks about animated characters living long after you're dead.
posted by mathowie on Nov 18, 1999 - 0 comments