Celebrity Deaths 2024: Notable Deaths From This Year
Movie, TV and music fans are remembering notable figures who have died since the start of 2024. “Beverly Hills 90210” star Shannen Doherty, “Bob Newhart Show” star Bob Newhart, “An Officer and a Gentleman” Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr., “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Richard Lewis, “Starsky and Hutch” star David Soul and “Honeymooners” star Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie, are among celebrities from the world of television who have died.
In film, cinephiles are remembering actor Donald Sutherland, producer Roger Corman, “Chinatown” screenwriter Robert Towne, “Moonstruck” director Norman Jewison and “The Shining” star Shelley Duvall.
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Last year, the entertainment community said goodbye to celebrities including musicians Jimmy Buffett, Shane McGowan, Robbie Robertson and David Crosby, actors Andre Braugher and Matthew Perry, writer-producer Norman Lear and director William Friedkin.
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David Soul
David Soul, who starred as Sergeant Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson in the TV series “Starsky & Hutch,” died Jan. 4, his wife announced on his website. He was 80.
Read the full obit here.
Glynis Johns
English actor Glynis Johns, who played the daffy suffragette mother Mrs. Banks in “Mary Poppins,” died Jan. 4 at an assisted living home in Los Angeles. She was 100.
Read the full obit here.
Cindy Morgan
Cindy Morgan, the actor best known for playing Lacey Underall in “Caddyshack” and Lora/Yori in Disney’s original “Tron” film, died in December 2023, and her death was announced in 2024. She was 69.
Read the full obit here.
Bill Hayes
Bill Hayes, a longtime star of the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” died Jan. 12 at the age of 98.
Read the full obit here.
Alec Musser
Alec Musser, an actor known for “All My Children” and the 2010 comedy film “Grown Ups,” died Jan. 12 in Del Mar, Calif. He was 50.
Read the full obit here.
Joyce Randolph
Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners,” and was the last surviving member of the cast, died Jan. 13 in New York City. She was 99.
Read the full obit here.
Mary Weiss (center)
Mary Weiss, the lead singer and focal point of the Shangri-Las — one of the truly legendary girl groups of the early 1960s, with hits like “Leader of the Pack,” “Great Big Kiss,” “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Heaven Only Knows” — died Jan. 19.
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Norman Jewison
Oscar-nominated film director and producer Norman Jewison, who steered the 1967 racial drama “In the Heat of the Night” to a best picture Oscar and also helmed such popular films as “Moonstruck,” “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” as well as film musicals “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” died Jan. 20 at his Los Angeles residence. He was 97.
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Melanie
Melanie, the singer who performed at Woodstock in 1969 and had major pop hits with “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” in the early ’70s, died Jan. 23 at age 76.
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Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers, who starred as Apollo Creed in the first four “Rocky” films opposite Sylvester Stallone, died Feb. 1. He was 76.
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Chita Rivera
Broadway legend Chita Rivera, a two-time Tony winner who received eight additional nominations, died Jan 30. She was 91.
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Toby Keith
Toby Keith, the country singer who scored the genre’s most-played song of the ’90s with “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” died on Feb. 5. He was 62.
Read the full obit here.
Richard Lewis
Richard Lewis, the stand-up comedian who also starred alongside Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” died Feb. 28. He was 76.
Read the full obit here.
Steve Lawrence
Steve Lawrence, a king among easy-listening crooners who rocketed to fame in the ’50s and ’60s as half of the duo Steve and Eydie, died March 7 at age 88.
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Eric Carmen
Eric Carmen, who became an icon of early ’70s power pop as the frontman of the Raspberries before achieving solo success with hits like “All By Myself” and “Hungry Eyes,” over the weekend of March 12.
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Louis Gossett Jr.
Louis Gossett Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hard-as-nails drill instructor in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” a few years after winning an Emmy for his role as the cunning Fiddler in “Roots,” died March 29. He was 87.
Read the full obit here.
Chance Perdomo
Chance Perdomo, who starred in the television series “Gen V” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” died March 30 as a result of a motorcycle accident. He was 27.
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Barbara Rush
Barbara Rush, who won a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer in “It Came From Outer Space” and went on to appear in “Peyton Place” and many other movies and TV shows, died March 31.
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O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson, football star and actor who was found liable in the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, died April 10.
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Roger Corman
Roger Corman, prolific director and producer of hundreds of B-movies, died May 9.
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Dabney Coleman
Dabney Coleman, who starred in “9 to 5” and “Boardwalk Empire,” died May 16.
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Morgan Spurlock
“Super Size Me” director Morgan Spurlock died May 23.
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Anouk Aimee
French film actress Anouk Aimée died June 18.
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Donald Sutherland
“MASH” and “Hunger Games” star Donald Sutherland died June 20.
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Martin Mull
Martin Mull, the comic musician and actor who started with 1970s TV series “Fernwood 2 Night” and went on to appear as Colonel Mustard in “Clue” and on “Arrested Development” and “Roseanne,” died June 27.
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Robert Towne
Writer-director Robert Towne, an Oscar winner for his original script for “Chinatown” and an acknowledged master of the art of screenwriting, died July 1.
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Shelley Duvall
Shelley Duvall, the big-eyed, waifish performer who won the Cannes actress award for Robert Altman‘s “3 Women” and endured Stanley Kubrick’s intense directing techniques to star in “The Shining,” died of diabetes complications on July 11.
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Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Ruth Westheimer, who brought frank talk about sex into America’s living rooms for the first time as radio and television talk show host Dr. Ruth, died July 12.
Read the full obit here.
Richard Simmons
Richard Simmons, the energetic, frizzy-haired TV personality and fitness coach who made exercise accessible to millions and then became reclusive in recent years, died July 13.
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Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty, known for her roles on the wildly popular series “Beverly Hills, 90210” and on the witchcraft fantasy “Charmed,” died July 13.
Read the full obit here.
Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart, the genteel but sharply satirical comic whose TV series “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart” were huge hits throughout the 1970s and ’80s, died July 18.
Read the full obit here.