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Saying GoodbyeRemembering Burt Reynolds, Aretha Franklin, And More Stars We Lost In 2018

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Dec 27, 2018 2:47 pm·

By Ed Gross

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For anyone who is a fan of movies or television shows, one of the bummers of watching the Academy Awards is the portion of the ceremony where they pause to remember the actors, actresses, and filmmakers who are no longer with us. No doubt there are those faces that flash up that make you say, “Oh, I forgot he died!” Yet despite the sadness of those moments, they also serve as a wonderful opportunity to pay one last tribute to people who have meant so much to us over the years. And that’s certainly what we’re doing with this guide to those who have passed away in 2018, ranging from Burt Reynolds to Charlotte Rae, Penny Marshall, Stan Lee, David Ogden Stiers, and Aretha Franklin, among others.

Please join us as we wish all of them one last goodbye, finding some satisfaction in the fact that their work — and therefore their memories — will live on.

Just scroll down to see the stars we lost in 2018.

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Frank Adonis (Oct. 27, 1935-Dec. 26, 2018)

For the vast majority of his career, Frank Adonis — who was actually born Frank Testaverde Scioscia — has played gangsters on-screen in films like The French Connection, Lucky Luciano, King of New York, and Casino. Most famously, he played Anthony Stabile in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas in 1990. In the last few years of his life, he suffered from kidney problems and had been undergoing dialysis. According to his wife, he had been on a ventilator for the 10 days prior to Christmas, his family wanting to wait until after the holiday to remove him from it.

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Ken Berry (Nov. 3, 1933-Dec. 1, 2018)

Ken Berry, the subject of an in-depth profile by Closer Weekly, was a dancer, singer, and an actor. He also managed to star in three sitcoms that, over the years, managed to touch generations of viewers: F-Troop, Mayberry RFD (a spin-off of The Andy Griffith Show), and Mama’s Family (which was spawned from a series of skits from The Carol Burnett Show). He died at the age of 85.

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Anthony Bourdain (June 25, 1956-June 8, 2018)

His career was varied, serving as a celebrity chef, a travel documentarian, an author, and television personality. Besides serving as a judge on cooking shows, he starred in Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Sadly, Anthony committed suicide on June 8, 2018, while in France shooting Parts Unknown.

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Susan Brown (May 4, 1932-Aug. 31, 2018)

She was an actress and an interior designer who is best known for having played Dr. Gail Adamson Baldwin on the daytime soap General Hospital. She was a regular from 1977 to 1985 and appeared sporadically between 1989 and 1990 before becoming a recurring character beginning in 1992 and going until about 2004. She passed away at the age of 86 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

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George H.W. Bush (June 12, 1924-Nov. 30, 2018) and Barbara Bush (June 8, 1925-April 17, 2018)

Perhaps the most touching love story in all of politics ever. He was President of the United States and she was First Lady from 1989 to 1993. They were married on Jan. 6, 1945, and were together ever since, bringing six children into the world who would ultimately give them 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His family took great peace in their faith that George would be reunited with Barbara in the afterlife, and that their love story would continue.

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Bill Daily (Aug. 30, 1927-Sept. 4, 2018)

A staple of television sitcoms in the 1960s and ’70s, Bill is best known for playing Major Roger Healey in 131 episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and airline pilot Howard Borden in 140 episodes of The Bob Newhart Show. Closer Weekly offered up an in-depth profile of Bill at the time of his passing.

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Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942-Aug. 16, 2018)

The Queen of Soul never stopped entertaining her fans, beginning at the age of 18 when she shifted from singing gospel at Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church to signing with Columbia records. A move to Atlantic Records in 1966 changed everything, and she never looked back.

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Barbara Harris (July 25, 1935-Aug. 21, 2018)

Barbara starred in a multitude of Broadway shows and feature films, among them Alfred Hitchcock’s last movie, Family Plot; the classic mother/daughter body switcheroo Freaky Friday, and with Alan Alda in The Seduction of Joe Tynan. She died from lung cancer at the age of 83.

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Stephen Hillenburg (Aug. 21, 1961-Nov. 26, 2018)

An animation writer and producer, Stephen created Nickelodeon’s Spongebob SquarePants, which has become the fifth longest-running animated series in history and spawned feature films and even a Broadway musical. He died from ALS at the age of 57.

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Tab Hunter (July 11, 1931-July 8, 2018)

Starring in over forty films between the 1950s and ’60s, Tab was considered a movie heartthrob. He got his start in 1950’s The Lawless, which was followed by numerous others. One of his biggest challenges was hiding from the public that he was gay. He died of cardiac arrest just three days before his 87th birthday.

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Margot Kidder (Oct. 17, 1948-May 13, 2018)

Although Margot began acting on television and in films in the late 1960s and worked for decades afterward, there’s no question that the role that followed her the most was that of reporter Lois Lane. She debuted as the Daily Planet reporter in Superman: The Movie (1978), and reprised it in three sequels released between 1981 and 1987. Suffering from mental health issues, her death was ruled a suicide by an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

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Robin Leach (Aug. 29, 1941-Aug. 24, 2018)

A British entertainment reporter and writer whose greatest claim to fame came as the host of the syndicated television series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The show, which aired between 1984 and 1995, brought to the living rooms of viewers an inside look at the lavish lifestyles of celebrities. He died at 76 from complications arising from a stroke.

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Stan Lee (Dec. 28, 1922-Nov. 12, 2018)

You cannot think of the late Stan Lee and not have Marvel Comics, and its multitude of superheroes, come to mind. If you’ve gone to pretty much any Marvel movie over the past decade, you’ve been watching characters that Stan co-created. An incredible pop culture legacy. He was 95 when he died.

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Sondra Locke (May 28, 1944-Nov. 3, 2018)

An Academy Award nominee for her film debut in 1968’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Sondra had a long career as an actress and director. She also had a long but ultimately tumultuous romantic relationship with Clint Eastwood. Dying at the age of 74 on Nov. 3 from a heart attack resulting from a battle with breast and bone cancer, word of her death was not released to the public until Dec. 14.

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John Mahoney (June 20, 1940-Feb. 4, 2018)

The British-born actor who emigrated to the US at 18 enjoyed extensive stage work on Broadway and in Chicago. He also appeared in numerous films and TV shows, though he is best known as playing Martin Crane, father to Frasier and Niles Crane, on the long-running sitcom, Frasier. He died as a result of throat cancer at the age of 77.

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Penny Marshall (Oct. 15, 1943-Dec. 17, 2018)

She had gotten her start in acting thanks to her brother, Garry Marshall, who cast her as Oscar Madison’s secretary, Myrna Turner, on The Odd Couple, and then as Laverne DeFazio in on the long-running Laverne & Shirley. But Penny was much more than that, breaking barriers as a director and making films like Big and A League of Their Own that each broke $100 million at the box office — which no female director before her had ever come close to doing. She was 75 when she died from complications of diabetes.

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Charlotte Rae (April 22, 1926-Aug. 5, 2018)

Another actress with a long career who became identified with a single iconic role. She began working in radio in the 1940s and quickly took to the stage in a wide variety of productions. She made her TV debut in 1954, but it was her role as Edna Garrett, first on Diff’rent Strokes and then on The Facts of Life, that turned her into a household name for a couple of generations. She died of bone cancer at the age of 92.

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Burt Reynolds (Feb. 11, 1936-Sept. 6, 2018)

A genuine Hollywood legend, Burt starred in over 80 films over the decades, from comedies to action thrillers, to numerous “good old boys,” and much more — for a time, he was the number one box office attraction in the world. He also starred in several television series. He suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 82.

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Neil Simon (July 4, 1927-Aug. 26, 2018)

Neil Simon got his start writing for the Classic TV variety show from the 1950s, Your Show of Shows and The Phil Silvers Show, but by 1961 he had made his Broadway debut as a playwright with Come Blow Your Horn. From there he would pen Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple, among many others, before writing screenplays as well — the Academy Award winner The Goodbye Girl among them. He died at 91 from a combination of Alzheimer’s disease and renal failure.

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David Ogden Stiers (Oct. 31, 1942-March 3, 2018)

With a background in theater and TV guest performances, David’s greatest claim to fame was as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on the long-running MASH. He was also beloved for bringing Cogsworth to vocal life in Disney’s classic animated film, Beauty and the Beast. He died at 75 from complications related to bladder cancer.

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Verne Troyer (Jan. 1, 1969-April 21, 2018)

Although he enjoyed some prior film work (stemming primarily from his height of 2-feet 8-inches), Verne’s greatest success came when he was cast as Mini-Me by Mike Meyers in the Austin Powers sequels Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers in Goldmember. From there he would play the goblin Griphook in the first Harry Potter film, The Sorcerer’s Stone, and the part of Percy in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Between 2005 and 2009, he also appeared on a number of reality series. His death at age 49 was ruled a suicide by alcohol poisoning.

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Jerry Van Dyke (July 27, 1931-Jan. 5, 2018)

While Jerry Van Dyke turned down the role of Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island and replacing Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show, he somehow saw something in My Mother the Car that made him say yes (and if you’ve ever seen the show — about a guy who’s late mother is reincarnated as an antique vehicle — the decision would boggle your mind). An actor and comedian who always worked, Jerry’s biggest success came as assistant coach Luther Van Dam on the Craig Nelson series Coach. For his last role on an episode of ABC’s The Middle, he co-starred with real-life brother Dick Van Dyke. He died of heart failure at the age of 86.

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