Famous People We’ve Lost in 2019

Danny Aiello, actor, 86

(June 20, 1933 — Dec. 12, 2019) A high school dropout who later turned to burglary to feed his family after losing his job as a Greyhound baggage handler in the 1960s, Aiello got a job as a comedy club bouncer, then an MC who performed with up-and-comers like Bette Midler. He debuted on Broadway at 37 and broke out in film at 43 as a hit man in The Godfather II by improvising the line, “Michael Corleone says hello!” while strangling a man. He played Cher’s too-meek lover in Moonstruck, Mia Farrow’s irritable husband in The Purple Rose of Cairo, Madonna’s dad in the “Papa Don’t Preach” video, and an ambiguous villain in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, which earned him nominations for the Oscar and Golden Globe best supporting actor awards. He won an Emmy and an Obie, starred in important plays from Gemini to Hurlyburly, and earned 13 screen credits after turning 80. “Danny was a Great Actor,” tweeted Cher, “But a Genius Comic Actor. We laughed so much.”

Caroll Spinney, puppeteer, 85

(Dec. 26, 1933 — Dec. 8, 2019) A puppeteer who played Big Bird for 49 years on TV’s Sesame Street, Caroll Spinney died at his home in Connecticut, after years of battling dystonia, a movement disorder. Hours later, he got a tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors; he also earned six Emmys, two Grammys, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and a Library of Congress Living Legend Award. A lonely kid mocked for his puppets and threatened with beatings by 18 school bullies, he never forgot what childhood was like. Jim Henson hired him for Sesame Street, permitting him to change Big Bird from a “dumb country yokel” to an ordinary, sensitive 6-year-old who also happens to be an 8-foot-2-inch canary. Spinney also played the show’s other loneliest character, Oscar the Grouch. As Big Bird, he toured China, conducted major orchestras and appeared on a U.S. postage stamp. His happiest fan may have been a cancer patient named Joey, 5, whose parents asked Spinney to phone him in character. “Big Bird called me! He’s my friend,” said Joey, whose parents told Spinney, “We haven’t seen our little boy smile in months. He smiled as he passed away. Thank you.” Said Spinney, “I could see that what I say to children can be very important.”

Robert Forster, actor, 78

(July 13, 1941 — Oct. 11, 2019) A well-known character actor with more than 200 screen credits, Robert Forster had one of the most remarkable second acts in Hollywood history. After gaining notice for impressive supporting roles in John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) and Robert Mulligan’s The Stalking Moon (1968), Forster led the cast of 1969’s critically acclaimed Medium Cool. In the early 1970s, he played the starring role in the TV series Banyon and Nakia, but then was cast primarily in supporting roles and leads in B movies over the next two decades. Forster caught the eye of Quentin Tarantino, who cast him as Max Cherry in 1997’s Jackie Brown — a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. With his career revived, he went on to appear in the TV series Heroes (2007-2008) and Twin Peaks: The Return  (2017) and the feature films What They Had (2018) and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (out this month and his last role). Bryan Cranston, his Breaking Bad costar, said of Forster: “I met him on Alligator 40 years ago, and then again on BB. I never forgot how kind and generous he was to a young kid just starting out in Hollywood.”

Actress Diahann Carroll, 84

(July 17, 1935-Oct. 4, 2019) Famed as the saintly single mother in the breakthrough 1968 TV show Julia, TV’s first middle-class black female lead role, Carroll also played Joan Collins’ unsaintly rich rival Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty in the 1980s. The first black woman to win a best actress Tony Award (for Richard Rodgers’ No Strings), she was also the first African American to win a best actress Golden Globe and the fourth black woman to be nominated for the best actress Oscar (for Claudine). Her costars included Paul Newman, James Earl Jones, Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier. Despite a 1997 breast cancer diagnosis, she stayed active, earning her fourth and last Emmy nomination for Grey’s Anatomy. When she revived her nightclub act in 2006, the New York Times wrote, “An astonishingly youthful and glamorous 70-year-old grandmother, she presents herself as a down-to-earth realist.”

Operatic superstar Jessye Norman, 74

(Sept. 15, 1945 — Sept. 30, 2019) The Georgia-born soprano became a superstar at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1970s, soon conquering opera companies and recital stages around the world with her sumptuous voice, regal stage presence and exceptional range as a performer. “Pigeonholes are for pigeons” was her response when asked about a career that ranged from baroque music to the heroines of Richard Wagner and even to jazz. Those Wagner performances won two of Norman's five Grammys, which also included a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2006. She was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts and performed at the inaugurations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. A philanthropist, she founded a school for the arts in her native Augusta, Georgia, in 2003. In her memoir Stand Up Straight and Sing! (2014), Norman eloquently chronicled the arc of her own career and the challenges of being an African American woman in the rarefied world of classical music.

Cokie Roberts, journalist, 75

(December 27, 1943 - Sept. 17, 2019) A journalist and political commentator, Cokie Roberts won three Emmy awards during her long career with National Public Radio (NPR) and ABC News. Born Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs, she got the name “Cokie” from her older brother who couldn’t pronounce Corrine and called her Cokie instead. Roberts was a pioneer at NPR in the late 1970s when there were few women in broadcasting. Among her many roles during three decades at ABC, she co-anchored the network’s Sunday morning show, This Week, with Sam Donaldson. Roberts was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Library of Congress dubbed her a "Living Legend.”

Ric Ocasek, musician, 75

(March 23, 1944 – Sept. 15, 2019) Born Richard Theodore Otcasek, Ric Ocasek was lead singer and cofounder of the iconic band the Cars, whose eponymous 1978 debut release showcased the band’s unique blend of synth-driven, New Wave atmospherics with power pop guitar licks. Peaking from 1978-84, Ocasek and the Cars racked up a string of hit singles (“Just What I Needed,” “Let’s Go,’ “Shake It Up”). Apart from the Cars, Ocasek gained a reputation as a music producer, helming albums by Weezer, Bad Brains and No Doubt. In 2018, the Cars and Ocasek were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Ocasek began exhibiting his paintings in galleries nationwide.

Eddie Money, musician, 70

(March 21, 1949 — Sept. 13, 2019) The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born Edward Mahoney wrote a string of hits that were a staple of 1970s-’80s rock radio. Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a large Irish Catholic family and raised in Long Island, Money decided not to follow his father, grandfather and brother into the NYPD — opting to drop out of the police academy and move to Berkeley, California, in 1968. He became a regular in the local club scene and landed a deal with Columbia Records in the late ’70s, scoring hits with “Baby Hold On” and “Two Tickets to Paradise.” Money’s earnest and impassioned blend of soul-tinged working-man’s rock and infectious hooks found a receptive audience in the fledgling MTV music video scene of the early ’80s, and he began climbing the charts with songs such as “Shakin’ ” and “Think I’m in Love,” and later with “Take Me Home Tonight” (featuring Ronnie Spector). His family released a statement that read in part: “We are grateful that he will live on forever through his music.”

Valerie Harper, 80

(Aug. 22, 1939 — Aug. 30, 2019) Once a dancer in a Broadway show with Lucille Ball (who later presented Harper with her first of four Emmys), she had 25 cents to her name. A decade later she won fame as Mary Tyler Moore’s bestie, Rhoda, from 1970 to 1974, earning her own spin-off, Rhoda, that fall. A Gloria Steinem pal, she gave Rhoda a feminist sensibility, thrifty hippie couture and “camouflage dressing” to hide any evidence of overeating. “Frumpy is funny,” she said. Explaining Rhoda’s appeal, she often quoted a friend: “Mary is who you want to be. Rhoda is who you probably are. And Phyllis is who you’re afraid you’ll become.” Harper received Golden Globe nominations for Chapter Two and Freebie and the Bean and a Tony nod for playing Tallulah Bankhead onstage. A nonsmoker and nondrinker, she was stricken with lung cancer in 2009 and beat it. When diagnosed with meningeal cancer in early 2013, she was given just three months to live. But she “miraculously” responded to a new chemotherapy drug and was kicking up her heels on Dancing With the Stars that September, proving her doctor’s point: “Today you can live a full life with cancer in check.”

Peter Fonda, actor, 79

(Feb. 23, 1940 — Aug. 16, 2019) An actor and Oscar-nominated screenwriter (1969's counterculture classic Easy Rider), Peter Fonda maintained the family legacy in Hollywood created by his father, Henry. Fonda started his career on Broadway in the early '60s, directed his first film in 1971 and was again nominated for an Oscar in 1998 for his role as a beekeeper in Ulee's Gold. Nonetheless, Easy Rider remained a touchstone of his career, as it opened the door for New Hollywood and directors such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas. Fonda's last film as an actor, The Last Full Measure, will be released in October. He died of complications from lung cancer. "He was my sweet-hearted baby brother, the talker of the family," his sister, actress Jane Fonda, said in a statement. "I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing."

Toni Morrison, novelist, 88

(Feb. 18, 1931 — Aug. 5, 2019) Toni Morrison was more than merely the winner of the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize whose masterpiece Beloved was voted the best fiction of the past 25 years in a 2006 poll of the world’s leading literary figures. Born poor in Ohio, she became a teacher at Howard, Yale and Princeton universities (her students included Stokely Carmichael and MacKenzie Bezos), and an influential editor of books by Angela Davis, Wole Soyinka and Muhammad Ali. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, put her — and the black experience in America — on the map at age 39. And at 56, Beloved, which a decade later was adapted into a film starring Oprah Winfrey, made Morrison the great American novelist, in the opinion of millions. The revealing 2019 film Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am is a contender for the best-documentary-feature Oscar. “Time is no match for Toni Morrison,” said Barack Obama, who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. “Toni Morrison was a national treasure.”

Hal Prince, Broadway producer, 91

(Jan. 30, 1928 — July 31, 2019) Immensely influential musical theater producer and director Harold Prince, known as Hal, held the Tony Award record — he earned 21, from 1954’s The Pajama Game to 1995’s revival of Show Boat to a 2006 lifetime achievement award. His epochal hits include Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. His partner on Evita and Phantom of the Opera, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, said, “His mastery of musical theater was without equal.” His most fruitful collaboration was with Stephen Sondheim, with whom he staged West Side Story, Company, A Little Night Music, Follies, Pacific Overtures and Sweeney Todd. Chita Rivera, who appeared in his West Side Story and, 36 years later, in Kiss of the Spider Woman, said, “There are some people you feel we will never be without. Hal is one of them.” 

Art Neville, musician, 81

(Dec. 17, 1937 — July 22, 2019) The legendary keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter known as “Poppa Funk” was a New Orleans musical icon with worldwide influence. Neville lent his voice to the Carnival classic “Mardi Gras Mambo,” which he recorded at age 17, and was a founding member of the Meters. The pioneering funk group toured with the Rolling Stones, and wooed audiences and critics alike with hit songs such as “Cissy Strut” and 1974’s Rejuvenation, one of Rolling Stone’s greatest albums of all time. After the group disbanded in the late 1970s, Neville and brothers Aaron, Charles, and Cyril became The Neville Brothers, performing together for more than three decades. Neville announced his retirement in 2018, the same year The Meters were honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 

John Paul Stevens, retired Supreme Court justice, 99

(April 20, 1920 — July 16, 2019) The retired high court justice served for almost 35 years before retiring in June 2010 at age 90. President Gerald Ford nominated Stevens in 1975, and Stevens began his work that December, when he was 55. Although he was nominated by a Republican president, Stevens often agreed with the liberal side of the bench on issues such as the death penalty, affirmative action, and Bush v. Gore. In spite of research from one of his clerks in the mid-1970s that determined the average retirement age of justices was 70 or 75, he decided that he enjoyed his work and was sharp enough to continue an additional 15 or 20 years.    

Rip Torn, actor, 88

(Feb. 6, 1931 - July 9, 2019) The actor born Elmore Rual Torn Jr., was most famous for his Emmy-winning role as the devoted producer Artie on HBO’s 1990s comedy The Larry Sanders Show, starring Garry Shandling as a late night talk show host. He also had a long career on stage and in films as diverse as 1965’s The Cincinnati Kid and 2006’s Marie Antoinette — though early on Torn became known for his temper (he notoriously hit director Norman Mailer on the head with a toy hammer on the set of the film Maidstone in 1968, causing Mailer to bite Torn’s ear). He was nonetheless beloved by many in Hollywood: Albert Brooks, who directed Torn in 1991’s Defending Your Life, was one, tweeting, “I'll miss you Rip, you were a true original.”

Ross Perot, businessman, presidential candidate, 89

(June 27, 1930 — July 9, 2019) He became a billionaire as chief executive of Electronic Data Systems (EDS), the company he founded, but will go down in history books for his role as a presidential hopeful. Known for his no-nonsense style (“If you see a snake, just kill it - don't appoint a committee on snakes,” he once quipped), independent candidate Perot shook up the 1992 election, earning a record 18.9 percent of the popular vote — and, some said, contributing to Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush’s loss to Democrat Bill Clinton. He later created the Reform Party and unsuccessfully ran for president again as its candidate in 1996. Perot was also a major benefactor in his home state of Texas, helping found or fund projects like The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. “Ross Perot epitomized the entrepreneurial spirit and the American creed,” said former President George W. Bush in a statement. “He gave selflessly of his time and resources to help others in our community, across our country, and around the world.”

Judith Krantz, novelist, 91

(Jan. 9, 1928 — June 22, 2019) Krantz, a wildly successful novelist, saw her writing career skyrocket after age 50 with the publication of her first book, 1978’s Scruples. That hit was followed by, among other best sellers, 1982’s Mistral’s Daughter, 1986’s I’ll Take Manhattan and her last novel, 1998’s The Jewels of Tessa Kent. They were sexy stories set in opulent settings, leading to mega mass-market appeal (as the New York Times puts it, she “almost single-handedly turned the sex-and-shopping genre of fiction into the stuff of high commerce”). And many of her tales were turned into small-screen movies — some produced by her husband, Steve Krantz. A former fashion publicist, she also wrote a memoir, Sex and Shopping: Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl (2000), detailing her wealthy Manhattan childhood and romantic encounters, which later provided inspiration for her novels’ steamy plotline.

Gloria Vanderbilt, artist and entrepreneur, 95

(Feb. 20, 1924 — June 17, 2019) Famed from birth as a millionaire heiress to the fortune amassed by railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, America's richest man, Gloria Vanderbilt at age 10 was the subject of what was dubbed the Trial of the Century, which took her from her neglectful mother to be raised by her emotionally distant aunt. Overcoming a sad, lonely childhood, she made a name for herself as an actress, painter, playwright, author and designer: The blue jeans bearing her signature on the back pocket launched her $100 million fashion empire. Her son CNN journalist Anderson Cooper said, “She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her, and they'd tell you, she was the youngest person they knew, the coolest and most modern."

Related Video: Gloria Vanderbilt discusses the importance of comfortable clothing

Mac Rebennack (Dr. John), musician, 77

(Nov. 20, 1941 — June 6, 2019) New Orleans strip-joint guitarist Mac Rebennack, who switched to piano when his ring finger was injured by a gunshot, left for Los Angeles after a vice crackdown by District Attorney (and JFK conspiracist) Jim Garrison, joined the Wrecking Crew backup group, and recorded the 1968 LP Gris-Gris using Sonny and Cher's leftover studio time. His invented persona, Dr. John the Night Tripper, inspired by a 19th-century voodoo priest, earned him the Top Ten hit “Right Place Wrong Time” and six Grammys. He recorded with the Rolling Stones and Ringo Starr, inspired New Orleans’ Bonnaroo Festival, and provided a sample for “Loser” that launched Beck's career. Defying age and complacency, he said, “If you're ever really satisfied with what you do, you must be dead — because you ain't growing."

Leah Chase, chef and activist, 96

(Jan. 6, 1923 — June 1, 2019) Dubbed the Queen of Creole Cuisine, Leah Chase gained prominence as the executive chef and co-owner (with her husband, Edgar “Dooky” Chase) of Dooky Chase’s — a New Orleans sandwich shop she helped transform into an upscale restaurant for African Americans and a legendary meeting spot for leaders of the civil rights movement. At the popular eatery, Chase welcomed everyone from presidents (Barack Obama, George W. Bush) to visionaries (the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.) to entertainers (Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan). “Food builds big bridges,” she once said. “If you can eat with someone, you can learn from them, and when you learn from someone, you can make big changes. We changed the course of America in this restaurant over bowls of gumbo.”

Herman Wouk, author, 103

(May 27, 1915 — May 17, 2019) The Bronx-born World War II veteran and author, a giant among 20^th century popular novelists, first found fame with his 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Caine Mutiny. He then went on to offer his many fans absorbing yarns such as 1955’s Marjorie Morningstar, as well as The Winds of War and War and Remembrance — stories based on his own wartime experience and whose TV miniseries renditions drew millions of viewers in the 1980s. Even in recent years Wouk (rhymes with “woke”) hardly seemed to pause in his work. At age 97 he told The New York Times he had no plans to stop writing: “What am I going to do? Sit around and wait a year?”

Bart Starr, pro football quarterback, 85

(January 9, 1934 – May 26, 2019) A National Football League legend with the unlikely nickname “Mr. Nice Guy,” quarterback Bart Starr led the Green Bay Packers to five league championships in the 1960s, including wins in the first two Super Bowls. Starr’s No. 15 jersey was retired in 1973 and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame four years later. The annual player-voted recognition for outstanding character and leadership on and off the field is still called the Bart Starr Award. One of Starr’s most unlikely – and masterful – play calls came in the Dec. 31, 1967 league championship game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, known as the Ice Bowl. In the final minute, with the temperature at 13 degrees below zero, Starr tried something that wasn’t even in the Packers’ playbook – a quarterback sneak. When Starr told coach Vince Lombardi he thought he could run the ball into the end zone Lombardi said: “Then run it. And let’s get the hell out of here.” Starr ran the ball in and the Packers won 21-17.

I.M. Pei, architect, 102

(April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) Recognized as one of the 20th century's greatest modern architects, Pei (born Ieoh Ming Pei) is best known for creating the initially controversial but now internationally acclaimed glass pyramid entry to the Louvre in Paris. Pei was born in China and came to the U.S. at 18 to continue his education at MIT and Harvard. In 1955 he established an architectural firm and during his prolific career designed buildings, hotels, schools and museums across North America, Asia and Europe, including such notable structures as the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. “Architecture is the very mirror of life,” he told Gero von Boehm in 2000. “You only have to cast your eyes on buildings to feel the presence of the past, the spirit of a place; they are the reflection of society.”

Tim Conway, actor, 85

(Dec. 15, 1933 — May 14, 2019) A six-time Emmy winner best known as an actor and writer for The Carol Burnett Show, Conway was a master of physical comedy and risky, deadpan improv that could stretch a skit from four to ten minutes, make it immortal and cause costar Harvey Korman to fall to the floor giggling. Critic Tom Shales called him “a first-rate second banana” who won fame upstaging Ernest Borgnine on TV's McHale's Navy, then entered the pantheon on Burnett's show in skits featuring characters like Mr. Tudball (whose accent resembled Conway's Romanian immigrant mother) and an inept dentist stabbed by his own novocaine needle, which so cracked up Korman that, Conway boasted, “Harvey wet his pants [on camera].” Conway won his last Emmy at 74, playing garrulous old-time actor Bucky Bright on 30 Rock. Said Burnett, “I remember Johnny Carson saying that Tim made him laugh more than anybody."

Doris Day, singer and actress, 97

(April 3, 1922 — May 13, 2019) At age 12, Day (born Doris Kappelhoff) almost died in a car wreck, ending her dance career. “That was the greatest thing,” she said in a 2011 interview. “Instead of dancing, I sang. They carried me three times a week up a stairway to my music teacher.” Back on her feet at 22, she hit No. 1 with her 1945 jazz hit “Sentimental Journey.” Her sugar-and-spice image propelled her to a second unexpected career as a No. 1 film actress opposite Frank Sinatra, James Stewart and, most famously, Rock Hudson. Pillow Talk (1959) earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress, while “Que Sera, Sera” from Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much and “Secret Love” from Calamity Jane both won Oscars for best original song. She bounced back from bankruptcy caused by her husband and manager Martin Melcher, survived the death of their son Terry Melcher, retired from show biz and became an animal rights activist. Her philosophy was captured in “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” a song she learned at 7 and rerecorded in 2011, at 89, for her final studio album. “It is!” she once said. “Life is just a bowl of cherries."

Peggy Lipton, actress, 72

(Aug. 30, 1946 — May 11, 2019) Catapulted to unwelcome fame at 22 on TV's 1968 hippie-cops hit The Mod Squad, Lipton earned a Golden Globe and four Emmy nominations, made the Billboard charts with her recording of Laura Nyro's “Stoney End” before Streisand did, dated Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney, then married Quincy Jones and concentrated on raising their now-famous daughters Kidada and Rashida Jones. She returned to TV on Twin Peaks and after a colon cancer diagnosis in 2004, wrote the memoir Breathing Out. “I think part of aging boldly is staying in the moment,” she told writer Sheila Weller in 2018. “If things don't go well in the moment, you have to adjust — and stop beating yourself up for not being ‘together.’ Make change happen."

John Singleton, director, 51

(Jan. 6, 1968 — April 29, 2019) Singleton, 51, who suffered from hypertension and died of a stroke, became famous at 23 for his 1991 film Boyz N the Hood, inspired by his South Central Los Angeles upbringing. It made him the first black filmmaker nominated for the best director Oscar and, at 23, the youngest nominee ever. Recent Emmy nominations included ones for 2016’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and 2017’s L.A. Burning. Singleton paid $4 million of his own money to produce Hustle & Flow, which earned $24 million and an Oscar and helped make Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson stars. On his passing, Samuel L. Jackson noted, “[Singleton] blazed the trail for many young film makers, always remaining true to who he was & where he came from.”

Georgia Engel, actress, 70

(July 28, 1948 — April 15, 2019) A popeyed comedienne with the breathy voice of a baby angel, Engel broke out on Broadway in Hello, Dolly at 22 and won fame as The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Georgette, meant to be a one-episode role. But she became a regular, earning two Emmy nominations as Ted Baxter’s befuddled sweetheart. “The writers took a kernel of truth from all of us and then magnified it in our characters,” Engel told The Toronto Star. She earned three Emmy nominations as Pat on Everybody Loves Raymond and got rave reviews as a Georgette-like hiphop dancer in 2018’s Half Time, billed as “the new musical about not acting your age.”

Jan-Michael Vincent, actor, 74

(July 15, 1944 — Feb. 10, 2019) Best known as the cello-playing, acrobatic helicopter pilot on TV’s Airwolf (1984 to 1986), the ruggedly handsome Vincent first won fame as a pacifist hippie Marine in the 1970 TV movie hit Tribes, then become a leading action hero, playing Charles Bronson’s hitman protégé in 1972’s The Mechanic and piloting a rocket-propelled Pontiac with Burt Reynolds in 1978’s Hooper. Though he lost a role in Jaws to Richard Dreyfuss, he helped make the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War a massive hit, playing Robert Mitchum’s son. Alcoholism and real car wrecks sidelined his career

Luke Perry, actor, 52

(Oct. 11, 1966 — March 4, 2019) Most famous for his 1990s role as Dylan McKay, the Beverly Hills, 90210 bad-boy heartthrob, died five days after being hospitalized for a massive stroke. In recent years Perry had returned to the world of teen drama as Archie Andrews’ dad on CW’s Riverdale, a small-screen take on Archie Comics. Long-divorced and father to two kids — Sophie, 18, and Jack, 21, a professional wrestler known as “Jungle Boy” Nate Coy — he was reportedly engaged to actress Wendy Madison Bauer when he passed away.

Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer, 85

(Sept. 19, 1933 — Feb. 19, 2019) With his signature white ponytail, high starched collars, fingerless gloves and black sunglasses, Karl Lagerfeld was one of the world’s most talented and recognized designers, revered by models, fashion industry elite and Hollywood stars alike. The German-born designer was the creative director of his eponymous line, as well as Fendi and the luxury French fashion house Chanel. He is credited with reinventing that brand’s iconic looks — the little black dress, tweed suit jackets and quilted purses. In 2017, he was honored with Paris’ highest award, la Médaille Grand Vermeil de la Ville. Known for his tireless work ethic, support of young designers and acerbic wit, Lagerfeld once said, "I design like I breathe. You don’t ask to breathe — it just happens."

Frank Robinson, athlete, 83

(Aug. 31, 1935 — Feb. 7, 2019) Frank Robinson was a trailblazer, record-breaker and one of the greatest baseball players ever. In a career that spanned 21 seasons, Robinson became the first black manager in the major leagues when he took the helm of the Cleveland Indians in 1975. He was the only player to win Most Valuable Player in both the National and American leagues and, in 1982, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In his first game as player and manager for the Indians, Robinson hit a home run, one of 586 career homers. He went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles and the Montreal Expos, and was also the first manager of the Washington Nationals. In 2005, President George W. Bush gave Robinson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, saying he set “a lasting example of character in athletics.”

Albert Finney, actor, 82

(May 9, 1936 — Feb. 7, 2019) A lower-middle-class bookmaker’s son who helped create Britain’s Angry Young Man archetype in 1960’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Albert Finney earned five Oscar nominations (for Tom Jones, Murder on the Orient Express, The Dresser, Under the Volcano and Erin Brockovich). He boycotted the Oscars, saying, “A long way to go just to sit in a nondrinking, nonsmoking environment on the off chance your name is called”; declined a knighthood (for “perpetuating snobbery”); and after 50 continued to do superb work in blockbusters (Skyfall, the Bourne films) and arty films (Miller’s Crossing, Traffic, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead). “More than our greatest actor,” said John Cleese, “[Finney was] what the Germans call ‘ein Mensch.’ ”

Kristoff St. John, actor, 52

(July 15, 1966 — Feb. 3, 2019) As Neil Winters on The Young and the Restless, two-time Daytime Emmy winner Kristoff St. John played one of the longest-running African American characters on a daytime drama. St. John started his acting career at age 8 on the sitcom That’s My Mama and during his four decades as a performer went on to small roles in Roots: The Next Generations (as a young Alex Haley) and The Bad News Bears, as well as numerous guest spots on sitcoms such as Happy Days, The Cosby Show, A Different World and Family Matters. During his 27-year span on Y&R, from 1991 to 2019, he won 10 NAACP Image Awards and nine Daytime Emmy nods. St. John died at his home in Los Angeles.

James Ingram, singer-songwriter, 66

(Feb. 16, 1952 — Jan. 29, 2019) With a courtly romantic style and a voice that Quincy Jones, who discovered him, compared to fine whiskey, R&B immortal James Ingram earned two Grammy awards (for 1991’s “One Hundred Ways” and 1983’s duet with Michael McDonald “Yah Mo B There”) and two No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits (1981’s “Baby, Come to Me” and 1989’s “I Don’t Have the Heart”). He also earned two Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, for “The Day I Fall in Love” and “Look What Love Has Done,” and his inspiring 1986 duet with Linda Ronstadt from the film An American Tail, “Somewhere Out There,” was a No. 2 hit. Equally talented as a songwriter, he contributed to Michael Jackson’s masterpiece Thriller by penning its hit “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).”

Carol Channing, actress, 97

(Jan. 31, 1921 — Jan. 14, 2019) Sandpaper-voiced Carol Channing, whose performance in 1964’s Hello, Dolly! made her a Broadway icon, never celebrated birthdays as a child because her Christian Science faith deemed age an illusion. She defied time, playing Dolly again at 74 (“An exalting experience, sort of like witnessing Cal Ripken’s shattering of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-game record,” wrote critic Tom Shales), and winning a Golden Globe, three Tony Awards, and an Oscar nomination. “No matter how old you get,” she said at 89, “there is always something around the corner that you feel passionate about and need to accomplish.”