Hollywoods Notable Deaths of 2014

• Luise Rainer

  

  Luise Rainer, a star of cinema's golden era and the first person ever to win back-to-back acting Oscars, died of pneumonia Dec. 30 at her home in London. She was 104 and would have turned 105 on Jan. 12. The instinctive actress (pictured here with her Big City co-star Spencer Tracy) captured back-to-back Academy Awards for The Great Ziegfeld in 1936 and The Good Earth in 1937, then shockingly turned her back on Hollywood.

• Mike Nichols

  

  Director Mike Nichols, who made such films as The Graduate, which earned him a best director Oscar, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, died Nov. 19 at the age of 83.

• Oscar de la Renta

  

  Legendary designer Oscar de la Renta died Oct. 20th of complications of cancer at age 82. The designer was known for dressing Hollywood's leading ladies in extravagant gowns for the red carpet, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Reese Witherspoon, who were both big fans of his work. 

• Marian Seldes

  Marian Seldes — one of the foremost stage actresses of her generation, who was nominated for five Tony Awards over the course of her six-decade career — died Monday at her New York home after a long illness. She was 86.

• Joan Rivers

  

  Joan Rivers, the blunt, tart-tongued celebrity and talk show host who reconstructed her career time and time again en route to becoming one of the most memorable female comics of all time, died Sept. 4 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She was rushed there Aug. 28 and placed on life support after she suffered from respiratory and cardiac arrest during surgery on her vocal cords in a doctor's office. She was 81.

• Richard Attenborough

  

  Sir Richard Attenborough — whose 20-year crusade to bring the life of Mahatma Gandhi to the screen culminated in eight Academy Awards for Gandhi, including a best director Oscar for him, and also played memorable performances in Jurassic Park and The Great Escape, among others — died Aug. 24. He was 90. 

• Lauren Bacall

  

  Lauren Bacall died Aug. 12 of a stroke in her longtime home in the Dakota, the famous Upper West Side building that overlooks Central Park in Manhattan. The willowy actress whose husky voice, sultry beauty and all-too-short May-December romance with Humphrey Bogart made her an everlasting icon of Hollywood, earned two Tony Awards and received an Oscar nomination during her decades-long career.

• Robin Williams

  

  Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams (pictured here in Good Morning Vietnam) died Monday, Aug. 11, at age 63, of suicide by asphyxiation, according to police in Marin County, Calif. Williams, a four-time Oscar nominee, won a supporting actor statuette for Good Will Hunting for his portrayal of a wise and morose psychologist. He most recently starred in CBS' comedy The Crazy Ones, which lasted only one season.

• James Garner

  

  James Garner, the charming leading man from Oklahoma who made it look easy on NBC's The Rockford Files and in films opposite Doris Day, Julie Andrews and Sally Field during more than a half-century in show business, died July 19. He was 86. Read THR film critic Stephen Dalton's appreciation here.

• Elaine Stritch

  

  Elaine Stritch, the tough and salty broad whose throaty singing voice and torrid Broadway performances made her a New York legend, died on July 17 at her home in Birmingham, Mich. She was 89. Read THR theater critic David Rooney's appreciation here.

• Eli Wallach

  

  Eli Wallach, the enduring and artful character actor who starred as Mexican hombres in the 1960s film classics The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, died June 24 at his home in Manhattan. He was 98.

• Casey Kasem

  

  The American Top 40 radio host who crafted a long and lucrative career out of counting down to No. 1 died on Father's Day, June 15, at age 82. Kasem, who hosted the syndicated weekend show for nearly four decades, died of complications from dementia at St. Anthony's Hospital in Gig Harbor, Wash.

• Ruby Dee

  Ruby Dee, an Oscar-nominated actress whose career in film and theater spanned five decades, died peacefully on June 11 at her New Rochelle, N.Y., home from age-related causes. She was 91.

• Ann B. Davis

  

  Ann B. Davis, best known as ever chipper live-in housekeeper Alice Nelson on the popular ABC series The Brady Bunch, died Sunday, June 1, in San Antonio, after taking a bad fall in her home. She was 88.

• Maya Angelou

  

  Poet and author Maya Angelou — who rose from poverty, segregation and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page — died on May 28. She was 86.

• Malik Bendjelloul

  

  Malik Bendjelloul, the film director behind the Oscar-winning music documentary Searching for Sugarman, was found dead Tuesday, May 13, in Stockholm at age 36. Police wouldn't specify the cause of death. Sugarman, which detailed the life and career of American singer Sixto Rodriguez, was awarded with the Oscar for best documentary in 2013.

• Bob Hoskins

  

  British actor Bob Hoskins died in April after a battle with pneumonia. He was 71. A character actor known for playing tough guys with soft centers, Hoskins' credits range from his Oscar-nominated turn in the noir drama Mona Lisa to a role in the part-animated 1988 hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He retired from acting in 2012 after completing his last role as one of the seven dwarves in the Kristen Stewart starrer Snow White and the Huntsman. "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Bob," said a statement from wife Linda and children Alex, Sarah, Rosa and Jack.

• Phyllis Frelich

  

  Phyllis Frelich, the deaf actress who won the best actress Tony Award in 1980 for her performance in the best play winner Children of a Lesser God, died on April 10. She was 70.

• Peaches Geldof

  Writer, model and TV presenter Peaches Geldof, second daughter of musician Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, was found dead on April 7 at her home in Kent. The mother of two was 25.

• Mickey Rooney

  

  Mickey Rooney, the pint-sized ball of energy who starred as Andy Hardy, America's boy next door, in 16 films for MGM — merely one highlight in an irrepressible and unimaginable nine-decade career in show business — died on April 6. He was 93.

• Dave Brockie

  

  Dave Brockie — known to fans as Oderus Urungus, the frontman for gore-loving heavy metal band GWAR — was found dead at his Richmond, Va., home on March 23. The singer was 50.

• James Rebhorn

  

  James Rebhorn, the busy character actor who played the father of Claire Danes' troubled CIA officer Carrie Mathison on the Showtime drama Homeland, died Friday, March 21. He was 65.

• L’Wren Scott

  

  L'Wren Scott, designer and girlfriend of Mick Jagger, was found dead on Monday morning, March 17. She was found hanging in her apartment at 200 Eleventh Avenue by her assistant at around 10 a.m. ET. She was 49. Last month, the designer canceled her London show due to production delays. Instead, Scott was planning to unveil her fall 2014 collection via social media earlier this month, but that apparently had been delayed.

• Clarissa Dickson Wright

  

  Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the stars of the British cooking show Two Fat Ladies, died Saturday, March 15, at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary following a long illness. She was 66. Dickson Wright filmed four seasons of Two Fat Ladies along with Jennifer Paterson, who died in 1999 of cancer.

• David Brenner

  

  David Brenner, the wry stand-up comic and pundit from Philadelphia who as a favorite of Johnny Carson appeared more times on The Tonight Show than any other guest, died Saturday, March 15, of cancer. He was 78.

• Harold Ramis

  

  The writer, director and actor behind such comedy classics as Animal House, Caddyshack and Ghostbusters died on Monday, Feb. 24 from complications related to auto-immune inflammatory vasculitis, a condition he had battled for the past four years. He was 69. 

• Ralph Waite

  

  Ralph Waite, who was beloved to TV viewers as the ultimate father figure, John Walton, on The Waltons, died on Feb. 13 at his home in South Palm Desert.

• Sid Caesar

  

  Sid Caesar, the intelligent and yet nonsensical comic who forever changed the course of television with his groundbreaking 1950s live Saturday night variety shows Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, died at 91.

• Shirley Temple

  

  Shirley Temple, the enchanting singing and dancing child star with the glowing corkscrew curls who saved a Hollywood studio and helped yank America from the throes of the Great Depression, died on Feb. 10 of natural causes at her Woodside, California home, surrounded by her family and caregivers. She was 85.

• Philip Seymour Hoffman

  

  Philip Seymour Hoffman died on Feb. 2 in his New York City apartment. He was 46. Police found Hoffman dead on the floor of the bathroom in the apartment with envelopes allegedly containing heroin in the residence. Hoffman won the best actor Oscar for playing Truman Capote. Considered one of the finest actors of his generation, Hoffman also was Oscar nominated for his supporting work in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008) and The Master (2012). He received Tony Award noms for True West (2000), Long Day's Journey Into Night (2003) and, as Willy Loman, in Death of a Salesman (2012).

• Tom Sherak

  

  Tom Sherak, former Academy president and studio executive at 20th Century Fox and Revolution Studios, died Jan. 28 at his home in Calabasas, Calif., after battling prostate cancer for a dozen years. He was 68.

• Pete Seeger

  

  Iconic folk singer Pete Seeger, who was once blacklisted in the 1950s for crooning songs of protest, died Jan. 27 of natural causes in New York. He was 94. 

• Dave Madden

  

  Dave Madden, who played band manager Reuben Kincaid in the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family, died Jan. 16 in a hospice care center in Jacksonville, Florida at age 82.

• Ruth Robinson Duccini

  

  Ruth Robinson Duccini, best known for her role as a Munchkin in the 1939 classic The Wizard Oz, died of natural causes at age 95. Duccini was residing at a hospice care center in Las Vegas when she passed on Jan. 16.

• Donald Engel

  

  Attorney Donald Engel, known for representing top music stars in legal contract cases of the 1980s and 1990s, died Jan. 15 at age 84 after a long fight against leukemia. Engel is notably credited for leading Olivia Newton-John to victory against MCA Records in a 1979 court case regarding contract disagreements.

• Frank Marth

  

  Frank Marth, best known for his recurring roles in the popular 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, died Jan. 12 of congestive heart failure and Alzheimer’s disease at age 91.

• Russell Johnson

  

  Russell Johnson, best known for playing Professor Roy Hinkley on the 1960s comedy Gilligan’s Island, passed away on Jan. 16 due to kidney failure. He was 89.

• Richard Shepherd

  

  Breakfast at Tiffany’s producer Richard Shepherd, who also headed production at MGM and Warner Bros, died Jan. 14 in his Los Angeles home. Shepherd had been fighting a long illness before losing the battle to kidney failure at age 86.

• Juanita Moore

  

  Juanita Moore, who became the fifth African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award when she garnered an Oscar nom for her role in 1959’s Imitation of Life, died on Jan. 1 at age 99.

• Ken Anderson

  

  KISS production manager Ken Anderson died of cancer on Dec. 15, 2013 at age 75, though his family did not publicly reveal the news of his passing until later in January. Anderson was most noted for overseeing the over-the-top stage shows of rock band KISS from 1976-1982. 

• Carmen Zapata

  

  Carmen Zapata, Sister Act actress and co-founder of Los Angeles’ Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, had been suffering from a heart condition when she passed away Jan. 5 at her home in Van Nuys. She was 86.

• Larry D. Mann

  

  Larry D. Mann, best known for voicing the role of Yukon Cornelius in the animated holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, died Jan. 6 of age-related causes, according to son Richard Mann. He was 91.

• Monica Spear

  

  Telenova actress Monica Spear, also known as former Miss Venezuela, was killed on Jan. 6 along with her ex-husband Henry Thomas Berry after resisting a robbery in Caracas, Venezuela. According to authorities, the pair had been awaiting a tow truck to assist them after their car broke down when the attack occurred. Spear was 29.

• Phil Everly

  

  Phil Everly, one half of The Everly Brothers, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Jan. 3. He was 74. The country-rock duo was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Country Music Hall of Fame later in 2001.

• Run Run Shaw

  

  Legendary media mogul Run Run Shaw, credited as a leading pioneer of the Chinese entertainment industry, passed away at his home in Hong Kong on Jan. 7. He was 106.

• Saul Zaentz

  

  Academy Award-winning film producer Saul Zaentz passed away from complications of Alzheimer’s on Jan. 3 at age 92. Zaentz won three Oscars for 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1984’s Amadeus and 1996’s The English Patient.

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