Tony Curtis shaped himself from a 1950s movie heartthrob into a respected actor, showing a determined streak that served him well in such films as “Sweet Smell of Success,” “The Defiant Ones” and “Some Like It Hot.” The Oscar-nominated actor died Sept. 29 at age 85 of cardiac arrest at his home in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Thursday.
Alexander McQueen
Brilliant and controversial British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found dead in his London home Feb. 11 after anguished Internet postings that revealed his deep sorrow at the death of his mother. He was 40 years old.
Ali-Ollie Woodson
Ali-Ollie Woodson (far right), who led the legendary Motown quintet The Temptations in the 1980s and ’90s and helped restore them to their hit-making glory with songs including “Treat Her Like A Lady,” died on May 30. He was 58. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
Art Clokey
Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, died in his sleep on January 8 at his home in Los Osos, California, after battling repeated bladder infections. He was 88.
Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter, the 89-year-old television and radio show host, spoke at a seminar about elderly drivers and safety Wednesday June 19, 2002, in West Des Moines, Iowa. He says older people who aren’t safe drivers are often reluctant to admit it because they worry about losing their independence, but people should speak up to keep roads safe. (AP Photo/Steve Pope)
Barbara Billingsley
The 94-year-old, who played June Cleaver in the 1950s-1960s television series “Leave It To Beaver,” died Oct. 16 after a long illness at her home in Santa Monica, Calif. Getty Images
Bob Guccione
Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione died Oct. 20 in a suburban Dallas hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 79. AP Photo
Bob Sheppard
Bob Sheppard, whose stylish, elegant stadium introductions of New York Yankees from Joltin’ Joe to Derek Jeter spanned more than a half century and earned him the nickname “The Voice of God,” died on July 11. He was 99. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
Brittany Murphy & Simon Monjack
Actress Brittany Murphy died in December of 2009. Her husband Simon Monjack dies five months later in May 2010, apparently of pneumonia. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
Casey Johnson
The Johnson & Johnson heiress was found unresponsive on the floor of her West Hollywood home. It was later determined Johnson died from complications from diabetes. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
Corey Haim
Actor Corey Haim died in Los Angeles on March 10. He was 38. (Photo by Thos Robinson/Getty Images for AFM)
Daryl Gates
The Los Angeles Police Cheif during the 1992 Rodney King riots died on April 14, 2010 at the age of 83.
David Brown
David Brown, a film and theater producer who helped bring to the screen two of the 1970s’ biggest hits, “Jaws” and “The Sting,” died Feb. 1. He was 93.
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper, who brought the counterculture to Hollywood with “Easy Rider” and led a career marked by successes, failures and comebacks, died at age 74 on May 29.
Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis, an Academy Award-winning film impresario and producer of “Serpico” and “Barbarella” who helped revolutionize the way movies are bankrolled and sold, has died. He was 91.
Dixie Carter
In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 file photo, Dixie Carter arrives with husband Hal Holbrook for the 80th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. “Designing Women” actress Dixie Carter, who used her charm and stately beauty in a host of roles on Broadway and television, has died. She was 70.
Doris Eaton Travis
Doris Eaton Travis, one of the legendary Ziegfeld Follies chorus girls, who wore elaborate costumes for the series of lavish Broadway theatrical productions in the early 1900s, died May 11 at age 106, public relations firm Boneau/Bryan-Brown said. (AP Photo/Adam Rountree, File)
Dorothy Irene Height
Dorothy Irene Height, who as longtime president of the National Council of Negro Women was the leading female voice of the 1960s civil rights movement, died April 20. She was 98.
Eddie Fisher
Pop singer Eddie Fisher gained fame crooning love songs like “I’m Yours” and “Thinking of You” to teenage girls in the early 1950s. But his life was overshadowed by drug use, gambling and failed marriages to actresses Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher passed away Sept. 22 at his home in Berkeley of complications from hip surgery. He was 82.
Erich Segal
Erich Segal, writer of the novel and movie “Love Story,” died of a heart attack on January 19. He was 72.
Gaines Adams
Chicago Bears defensive end Gaines Adams died on January 17 at the age of 26. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Gary Coleman
Gary Coleman, the child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” whose later career was marred by medical and legal problems, has died May 27 after suffering an intercranial hemorrhage. He was 42. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
George Blanda
George Blanda, the seemingly ageless Hall of Fame quarterback and kicker whose 26-year career was best remembered for a remarkable run of late-game theatrics with the Oakland Raiders, died on September 27, 2010. He was 83. He scored 2,002 points in his career, a pro football record at the time of his retirement, kicking 335 field goals and 943 extra points, running for nine touchdowns and throwing for 236 more. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner, who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died July 13. He was 80. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Gloria Stewart
Gloria Stuart, the 1930s Hollywood beauty who gave up acting for 30 years and later became the oldest Academy Award acting nominee as the spunky survivor in “Titanic,” died. She was 100. Stuart died in her sleep on September 26, 2010 at her Los Angeles home. (Photo:LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Greg Giraldo
Giraldo, known for his work on programs such as Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil, reportedly died from a prescription pill overdose. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Gregory Isaacs
Gregory Isaacs, the Jamaican reggae singer whose smooth style earned him the nickname “Cool Ruler,” died on Oct. 25. He was 59.
Harvey Pekar
Comic book writer Harvey Pekar, whose “American Splendor” was made into a 2003 film starring Paul Giamatti, was found dead in his home early July 12, authorities said. He was 70.
He Pingping
He Pingping, the world’s shortest man, died in Rome on March 13 after developing chest problems while filming a television programme in Italy. He was 21. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)
Helen Wagner
Actress Helen Wagner, who played mild-mannered Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns” for more than a half-century and spoke its first words died on May 1. She was 91.
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose leftist “A People’s History of the United States” sold a million copies and became an alternative to mainstream texts and a favorite of such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen and Ben Affleck,died on Jan. 27. He was 87. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
Jay Reatard
Garage-punk rocker Jay Reatard, real name Jimmy Lee Lindsey, died January 10 at age 29. The cause of death is unknown. (Photo by Roger Kisby/Getty Images)
JD Salinger
J.D. Salinger, author of “Catcher in the Rye,” died January 28. He was 91.
Joe Biden
Jimmy Dean
John Forsythe
John Forsythe, the handsome, smooth-voiced actor who made his fortune as the scheming oil tycoon in TV’s “Dynasty” and the voice of the leader of “Charlie’s Angels” died after a yearlong battle with cancer on April 2. He was 92. (Photo by Newsmakers)
John Murtha
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. died on February 8, 2010 at an Arlington, Virginia hospital due to complications from surgery.
Kenny McKinley
Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley was found dead on September 20, 2010, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was found in the second floor master bedroom of his home. He was just 23. (credit: NFL Photos)
Lech Kaczynski
The Polish President was killed in a plane crash on April 10, 2010 (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Lena Horne
Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of “Stormy Weather,” died on May 9 at age 92.
Leonard Skinner
Forby Leonard Skinner was an American high school gym teacher, basketball coach, realtor and bar owner from Jacksonville, Florida who gained fame in the 1970s as the namesake of the influential Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. The New York Times called him “arguably the most influential high school gym teacher in American popular culture.” He died September 20, 2010 at age 77 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years. (credit: johnnygoodtimes.com)
Leslie Nielson
The Canadian comedian died at a Fort Lauderdale, FL hospital on November 28, 2010.
Louis Auchincloss
the prolific author died of a stroke on January 27, 2010. He was 92.
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave, an introspective and independent player in her family’s acting dynasty who became a 1960s sensation as the freethinking title character of “Georgy Girl” and later dramatized her troubled past in such one-woman stage performances, has died. She was 67.
Manute Bol
(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Marvin Isley
Marvin Isley, the bass player who helped give R&B powerhouse the Isley Brothers their distinctive sound, died at a Chicago hospital on June 6. He was 56. (AP Photo/Magic Sound Productions)
Merlin Olson
Merlin Olsen, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman and member of the Los Angeles Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” who followed up football with a successful television career in “Little House on the Prairie,” NFL broadcasts and commercials, died March 10 after battling cancer. He was 69.
Miep Gies
Giels was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family and several family friends in an attic annex above Anne's father's place of business from the Nazis during World War II. She died on January 11, 2010.
Peter Graves
Graves died of a heart attack on March 14, 2010, four days prior to his 84th birthday.
Robert Byrd
The State Senator from West Virginia died on June 28, 2010 at the age of 92.
Robert Culp
The actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director died from a massive heart attack while hiking in the Hollywood Hills on March 24, 2010. He was 79 years old.
Robert Parker
The American crime writer died of a heart attack while sitting at his desk in Cambridge, Massachussetts on January 18, 2010. He was 77. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)
Ronnie James Dio
Heavy metal icon Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer on May 16. He was 67.
Rue McClanahan
Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 76. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
Solomon Burke
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Solomon Burke, considered the “King of Rock and Soul,” died Oct. 10, 2010 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport while on a plane from Los Angeles that had just landed. He was scheduled to perform at a sold out concert. His family said he died from natural causes. He was 70.
Stephen J. Cannell
The producer and writer died September 30, 2010, due to complications associated with melanoma (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, file)
Ted Stevens
On August 9, 2010, Stevens died in a plane crash while en route to a private lodge.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Teddy Pendergrass
Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass died on January 13 at age 59 at a hospital in Pennsylvania. Pendergrass had suffered from colon cancer. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley, who protrayed the patient, understanding father on television’s long-running “Happy Days,” died on Oct 19. He was 83. Getty Images
