Stars We Lost 2010

Blake Edwards, the director and writer known for clever dialogue, poignance and occasional belly-laugh sight gags in movies like "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and the "Pink Panther" farces, died in Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 2010, at age 88. Pictured here in a 2005 photo, Edwards had been ill for two weeks with pneumonia.

PICTURES: Blake Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards, who closely advised her husband in two bids for the presidency and advocated for health care even as her marriage publicly crumbled, died on Dec. 7, 2010, after a six-year struggle with cancer. She was 61.

PICTURES: Elizabeth Edwards

Don Meredith

This Jan. 1972 photo shows, from left, Don Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford. Meredith, one of the most recognizable figures of the early Dallas Cowboys and an original member of ABC's "Monday Night Football" broadcast team, died Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010, in Santa Fe, N.M., He was 72.

PICTURES: Don Meredith

Leslie Nielsen

This 1988 photo shows actor Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin in the movie "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" The Canadian-born Nielsen, who went from drama to inspired bumbling as a hapless doctor in "Airplane!" and the accident-prone detective Frank Drebin in "The Naked Gun" comedies, has died. His agent John S. Kelly said the actor died Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010, at a hospital near his home in Florida where he was being treated for pneumonia. He was 84.

PICTURES: Leslie Nielsen

Jill Clayburgh

Actress Jill Clayburgh is seen at the Broadway opening of "After Miss Julie" in October 2009. Clayburgh, who brought sophistication to her Hollywood and Broadway portrayals of empowered women in a career spanning five decades, highlighted by her Oscar-nominated role in the 1978 film "An Unmarried Woman," died on Nov. 5, 2010, at age 66. PICTURES: Jill Clayburgh

James MacArthur

Actor James MacArthur is seen in a Aug. 23, 2003, photo. The stage and screen actor, who starred in the original version of the television series "Hawaii Five-O," died on Oct. 28, 2010, at age 72.

James MacArthur, "Hawaii Five-O" Actor, Dies

Lisa Blount

Lisa Blount is seen at the 25th Independent Film Spirit Awards on March 5, 2010, in Los Angeles. Blount, best known for playing Debra Winger's friend Lynette Pomeroy in 1982's "An Officer and a Gentleman," died on Oct. 25, 2010. She was 53.

Tom Bosley

Actor Tom Bosley poses during an interview in Los Angeles on Feb. 19, 1990. Bosley, the TV actor who portrayed Mr. Cunningham on "Happy Days" and Sheriff Amos Tucker on "Murder, She Wrote," died on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010. He was 83.

PICTURES: Tom Bosley

Barbara Billingsley

Barbara Billingsley poses on Sept. 22, 1986, next to a portrait of her television family from "Leave it to Beaver." Billingsley, who gained the title supermom for her gentle portrayal of June Cleaver, the warm, supportive mother of a pair of precocious boys in "Leave it to Beaver," died Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010. She was 94.

Barbara Billingsley, Beaver Cleaver's Mom, Dies

Greg Giraldo

Comedian Greg Giraldo speaks onstage at the Comedy Central Roast Of David Hasselhoff on Aug. 1, 2010, in Culver City, Calif. The "Last Comic Standing" judge died on Sept. 29, 2010, from a prescription drug overdose. He was 44.

Greg Giraldo, Last Comic Standing Judge, is Dead

Tony Curtis

Actor Tony Curtis portrays magician Harry Houdini in the 1953 film "Houdini." Curtis, the Bronx tailor's son who became a 1950s movie heartthrob and then a respected actor with such films as "Sweet Smell of Success," "The Defiant Ones" and "Some Like It Hot," died Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010, at his Las Vegas area home of a cardiac arrest at the age of 85, according to the Clark County, Nev., coroner.

PICTURES: Tony Curtis

Gloria Stuart

Actress Gloria Stuart arrives at the 70th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March, 23, 1998. 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," has died of respiratory problems Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 100.

PICTURES: Gloria Stuart

Eddie Fisher

American singer Eddie Fisher is seen at the Savoy in London on Aug. 17, 1954. Fisher, whose huge fame as a pop singer was overshadowed by scandals ending his marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, died Wednesday night, Sept. 22, 2010, at his home in Berkeley of complications from hip surgery. He was 82.

PICTURES: Eddie Fisher

Harold Gould

Actor Harold Gould attends "The Golden Girls" reunion at the Sunset-Gower Studios on May 4, 2006, in Los Angeles. The actor, best known for playing Valerie Harper's father on "Rhoda," Miles Webber on "The Golden Girls" and the con man Kid Twist in the 1973 movie "The Sting," died Sept. 11, 2010. He was 86.

PICTURES: Harold Gould

Patricia Neal

Actress Patricia Neal is shown during an interview in Nashville, Tenn., on April 21, 2008. Neal, who won an Oscar in 1964 for "Hud" and later fought back from crippling strokes, died Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010, at age 84.

PICTURES: Patricia Neal

Jimmy Dean

Country singer and sausage icon Jimmy Dean is seen at his home in Virginia on Aug. 28, 2009. Dean, a country music legend for his smash hit about a workingman hero, "Big Bad John," and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand, died Sunday, June 13, 2010. He was 81.

PICTURES: Jimmy Dean

Rue McClanahan

Actress Rue McClanahan arrives at the TV Land Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 8, 2008. McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," died Thursday, June 3, 2010. She was 76.

PICTURES: Rue McClanahan

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper is seen during a red carpet interview at CineVegas's opening night and world movie premiere of "Saint John of Las Vegas," Wednesday, June 10, 2009. The actor, whose credits include classics ("Rebel Without a Cause"), counter-culture hits ("Easy Rider"), art house favorites ("Blue Velvet") and Hollywood blockbusters ("Speed"), died in his Venice, Calif., home on May 29, 2010, after battling prostate cancer. He was 74.

Gary Coleman

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival

Actor Gary Coleman attends the premiere of "Midgets vs. Mascots" during the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival on April 25, 2009, in New York. The child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," whose later career was marred by medical and legal problems, died on May 28, 2010, after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42.

PICTURES: Gary Coleman

Art Linkletter

Actor and TV personality Art Linkletter poses at the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary's 21st Annual Odyssey Ball at the Beverly Hilton on April 8, 2006, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Linkletter, who hosted the popular TV shows "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and 1960s, died Wednesday, May 26, 2010, at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles. He was 97.

PICTURES: Art Linkletter

Lena Horne

Singer Lena Horne is shown in a Broadway production "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music" in New York on April 30, 1981. The enchanting jazz singer and actress, who reviled the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them, slowing her rise to Broadway superstardom, died of heart failure on May 9, 2010, in New York. She was 92.

PICTURES: Lena Horne

Lynn Redgrave

Actress Lynn Redgrave attends the 2009 New York Film Critic's Circle Awards at Crimson on Monday, Jan. 11, 2010, in New York. 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, died on May 2, 2010. She was 67.

PICTURES: Lynn Redgrave

Dixie Carter

Actress Dixie Carter is interviewed before a reunion of the cast and creators of "Designing Women" at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006. Carter, who was most famous for playing quick-witted Southerner Julia Sugarbaker for seven years on the CBS sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1993, died on April 10, 2010. She was 70.

PICTURES: Dixie Carter

John Forsythe

Actor John Forsythe celebrates after accepting the Golden Globe Award for best actor in a dramatic television series for "Dyanasty," in Hollywood, Calif., Jan. 30, 1983. Forsythe, the actor who made his fortune as TV's affable "Bachelor Father" and the scheming oil tycoon in "Dynasty," died late Thursday, April 1, 2010 in Santa Ynez, Calif. He was 92.

PICTURES: John Forsythe

June Havoc

Actress and writer June Havoc, left, embraces actress Julie Harris after the premiere of "Marathon 33" at Anta Playhouse in New York on Dec. 22, 1963. Havoc, the younger sister of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, died Sunday, March 28, 2010, at her home in Stanford, Conn. She was 97.

PICTURES: June Havoc

Robert Culp

AP Photo/Miramax, Eric Charbonneau, file

Actor Robert Culp arrives at a screening of the film "Doubt" in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Nov. 18, 2008. Culp, the versatile actor who teamed with Bill Cosby in the groundbreaking comedy-adventure TV series "I Spy," died after collapsing Wednesday, March 24, 2010, outside his Hollywood home. He was 79.

PICTURES: Robert Culp

Corey Haim

Corey Haim sings during a Lost Boys reunion event at the Viper Room in West Hollywood, Calif., on Sept. 29, 2008. Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob for his roles in "Lucas" and "The Lost Boys" whose career was blighted by drug abuse, died of pneumonia on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. He was 38.

PICTURES: Corey Haim

Andrew Koenig

Former "Growing Pains" actor Andrew Koenig was found dead on Feb, 25, 2010, in a wooded area of a sprawling downtown park in Vancouver, Canada, apparently after committing suicide. He was 41.

"Growing Pains'" Andrew Koenig Found Dead

Alexander McQueen

British fashion designer Alexander McQueen is seen on June 2, 2003. The brilliant and controversial fashion designer was found dead in his London home on Feb. 11, 2010, after committing suicide. He was 40 years old.

PICTURES: Alexander McQueen

J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye", "Nine Stories", and "Franny and Zooey" is seen in this 1951 photo. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, died on Jan. 27, 2010, at the age of 91.

PICTURES: J.D. Salinger

Pernell Roberts

Pernell Roberts of "Bonanza" is shown in this 1959 photo. Roberts, the ruggedly handsome actor who shocked Hollywood by leaving TV's "Bonanza" at the height of its popularity, then found fame again years later on "Trapper John, M.D.," died of cancer on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010, at his Malibu home. He was 81.

"Bonanza" Star Pernell Roberts Dies

Jean Simmons

British actress Jean Simmons is seen here in a 1965 file photo. Simmons, who starred in films including "Guys and Dolls," "Spartacus" and "Hamlet," died on Jan. 22, 2010. She was 80.

PICTURES: Jean Simmons

Jennifer Lyon

Jennifer Lyon poses for photographers afer the finale and reunion show of CBS's "Survivor: Palau", Sunday, May 15, 2005, in New York. Lyon, who placed fourth on the 2005 edition of the CBS reality show, died on Jan. 19, 2010, after battling breast cancer.

"Survivor" Contestant Jennifer Lyon Dies

Teddy Pendergrass

Singer Teddy Pendergrass is seen in a 1991 file photo. Pendergrass, who was one of the most electric and successful figures in music until a car crash 28 years ago left him in a wheelchair, died of colon cancer on Jan. 13, 2010. He was 59.