It's January 1, 2012...Happy New Year everyone!
For those of you that have hung out with me for a while, you already know what this post is about. For you newbies, well, I'm a little obsessed with death. Particularly famous death. Because of this, each year I write a post listing famous deaths of the past year. We lost some good ones in 2011. May they all Rest In Peace.
January
10th
John Dye, 47, American actor (Touched by an Angel), heart attack.
11th
David Nelson, 74, American actor (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), colon cancer.
14th
Mississippi Winn, 113, American supercentenarian, Louisiana's oldest person.
Dr. Creep, 69, American television host.
Georgia Carroll, 91, American fashion model and actress (Yankee Doodle Dandy).
16th
Milton Levine, 97, American entrepreneur, inventor of Uncle Milton's Ant Farm.
19th
Bob Young, 87, American news journalist and anchor (ABC World News).
21st
Tony Geiss, 86, American television writer and composer (Sesame Street), Emmy award winner, complications from a fall.
Jay Garner, 82, American actor (Pennies from Heaven, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), respiratory failure.
26th
Shawn McGrath, 34, American professional wrestler, suicide.
27th
Charlie Callas, 83, American comedian and actor (Silent Movie, Switch).
31st
Doc Williams, 96, American country music performer.
Eunice Sanborn, 114, American supercentenarian, world's oldest living person at time of her death.
Charles Sellier, 67, American film and television producer (The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams).
Michael Tolan, 85, American actor (The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Mary Tyler Moore Show), heart disease and renal failure.
February
2nd
Bill Foster, 78, American television director (Benson, Full House, The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults), cancer.
5th
Martin Quigley, Jr., 93, American publisher, spy and author.
Peggy Rea, 89, American character actress (Grace Under Fire, The Dukes of Hazzard, Step by Step, The Waltons), heart failure.
Donald Peterman, 79, American cinematographer (Flashdance, Men in Black, Cocoon), complications from myelodysplastic syndrome.
John Paul Getty III, 54, American heir and kidnapping victim, grandson of J. Paul Getty and father of Balthazar Getty, after long illness.
6th
Gary Moore, 58, Irish rock guitarist and singer (Thin Lizzy), heart attack.
14th
John Strauss, 90, American film and television composer (Amadeus, Car 54, Where Are You?), Parkinson's disease.
16th
Len Lesser, 88, American actor (Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond), cancer-related pneumonia.
28th
Jane Russell, 89, American actress (The Outlaw, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), respiratory illness.
March
6th
Mike DeStefano, 44, American comedian (Last Comic Standing), heart attack.
11th
Jack Hardy, 63, American singer-songwriter.
Hugh Martin, 96, American songwriter ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") and film composer (Meet Me in St. Louis), natural causes
14th
Big Jack Johnson, 70, American guitarist and blues singer.
15th
Nate Dogg, 41, American musician, heart failure.
17th
Ferlin Husky, 85, American country music singer, heart failure.
21st
Pinetop Perkins, 97, American blues musician, cardiac arrest.
23rd
Elizabeth Taylor, 79, British-American actress (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cleopatra, BUtterfield 8), heart failure.
27th
Farley Granger, 85, American actor (Strangers on a Train, Rope), natural causes.
April
5th
Gil Robbins, 80, American folk singer (The Highwaymen) and actor, father of Tim Robbins, prostate cancer.
6th
Skip O'Brien, 60, American actor (CSI).
May
3rd
Jackie Cooper, 88, American actor (Skippy, Our Gang, Superman) and director (M*A*S*H).
20th
Randy Savage, 58, American professional wrestler.
25th
Lillian Adams, 89, American actress (The Suite Life on Deck, Bruce Almighty).
27th
Jeff Conaway, 60, American actor (Grease, Taxi, Babylon 5).
30th
Clarice Taylor, 93, American actress (Sesame Street, The Cosby Show).
June
3rd
James Arness, 88, American actor (Gunsmoke), natural causes.
18th
Clarence Clemons, 69, American saxophonist (E Street Band) and singer ("You're a Friend Of Mine"), complications following a stroke.
20th
Ryan Dunn, 34, American reality television star (Jackass, Viva La Bam), car crash.
23rd
Peter Falk, 83, American actor (Columbo, Murder, Inc., Pocketful of Miracles, The Princess Bride).
July
8th
Betty Ford, 93, American First Lady (1974–1977) and co-founder of Betty Ford Center.
12th
Sherwood Schwartz, 94, American television producer, creator of The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island.
23rd
Amy Winehouse, 27, British singer-songwriter ("Rehab"), accidental alcohol poisoning.
August
3rd
Bubba Smith, 66, American football player (Baltimore Colts) and actor (Police Academy).
September
16th
Tom Wilson, Sr., 80, American cartoonist (Ziggy).
27th
Johnny "Country" Mathis, 77, American singer-songwriter.
October
5th
Steve Jobs, 56, American computer entrepreneur and inventor, co-founder of Apple Inc., pancreatic cancer.
14th
Chuck Ruff, 60, American drummer (Edgar Winter, Sammy Hagar), after long illness.
November
2nd
Sid Melton, 94, American character actor (The Golden Girls, Green Acres, The Danny Thomas Show), pneumonia.
4th
Andy Rooney, 92, American journalist, 60 Minutes correspondent (1978–2011), surgical complications.
7th
Joe Frazier, 67, American boxer, World Heavyweight Champion (1970–1973), liver cancer.
8th
Heavy D, 44, Jamaican-born American rapper ("Now That We Found Love") and actor (The Cider House Rules, Life), pulmonary embolism.
Bil Keane, 89, American cartoonist (The Family Circus), heart failure.
21st
George Gallup, Jr., 81, American pollster, liver cancer.
Anne McCaffrey, 85, American science fiction writer (Dragonriders of Pern series), stroke.
29th
Patrice O'Neal, 41, American actor and comedian (Web Junk 20, The Opie and Anthony Show), complications from stroke.
December
1st
Alan Sues, 85, American comic (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), heart attack.
7th
Harry Morgan, 96, American actor (M*A*S*H, Dragnet), pneumonia.
8th
Dick Sims, 60, American keyboardist (Eric Clapton, Bob Seger).
Dan Spears, 62, American musician (Willie Nelson and Family), exposure.
Alan Styles, 75, British roadie (Pink Floyd), subject of the song "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast".
16th
Slim Dunkin, 24, American rapper (1017 Brick Squad), shot.
24th
Cheeta, 79, chimpanzee who appeared in a number of "Tarzan" movies in the 1930's and 1940's, kidney failure.
