2017 Memoriam Celebrity Deaths

Throughout 2017, we will continue to update this photo gallery with major celebrity deaths from film, television, theater and music.

Through the first nine months of the year, losses have included TV legend Mary Tyler Moore, actor and comedian Jerry Lewis, Oscar winners Jonathan Demme, John G. Avildsen, and Martin Landau, country music legend Glen Campbell, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Chuck Berry, Gregg Allman, and Walter Becker, and actors John Hurt, Emmanuelle Riva, Bill Paxton, Don Rickles, Powers Boothe, Roger Moore, Glenne Headly, and Adam West.

Jim Nabors

Actor and singer Jim Nabors died at age 87 on November 30. He starred as the title character on the CBS comedy “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” in the 1960s. It was a character that had begun previously on “The Andy Griffith Show.”

David Cassidy

Singer and actor David Cassidy died on November 21 at age 67. He played one of the members of the musical “The Partridge Family” for ABC 1970 to 1974. He received an Emmy nomination for his guest role on an episode of “Police Story.”

Della Reese

Singer and actress Della Reese died on November 19 at age 86. She began her pop, jazz and gospel musical career in 1959. Regular series acting roles included “Chico and the Man,” “The Royal Family,” and “Touched by an Angel.”

Mel Tillis

Singer and songwriter Mel Tillis died on November 19 at age 85. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and received the National Medal of Arts in 2012. He was also an actor who appeared in films with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood.

John Hillerman

John Hillerman died on November 9 at age 84. He was nominated four times at the Emmy Awards for “Magnum, P.I.” and won in 1987. He appeared as a regular on “One Day at a Time” and “The Betty White Show” along with the films “Blazing Saddles,” “High Plains Drifter,” “Paper Moon,” and “Chinatown.”

Fats Domino

Fats Domino died at age 89 on October 24. The singer and pianist was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Hit songs in his career included “Blueberry Hill,” “I’m Walkin’,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” and “Walking to New Orleans.”

Robert Guillaume

Robert Guillaume died on October 24 at age 89. He was best known for playing butler Benson DuBois on both “Soap” and its spin-off “Benson.” He won an Emmy as Best Comedy Supporting Actor in 1979 and for Best Comedy Actor in 1985. He also starred on “Sports Night” for Aaron Sorkin and was the voice of Rafiki in the animated classic film “The Lion King.”

Tom Petty

Tom Petty died on October 2 at age 66. The rock legend was leader of the band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Major hits in his career included “Breakdown,” “American Girl,” “Refugee,” “Free Fallin’,” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

Monty Hall

Monty Hall died on September 30 at age 96. He was the host and co-creator of the game show “Let’s Make a Deal,” which launched its long television run in 1963. He received a lifetime achievement award at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2013.

Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner died at age 91 on September 27. He was the founder and publisher of Playboy magazine and went on to launch TV and film companies based on his success.

Anne Jeffreys

Anne Jeffreys died on September 27 at age 94. The actress was best known for the 1950s comedy series “Topper” and her long-running role on “General Hospital.” She started her career in musical films, including “Step Lively” in the 1940s with Frank Sinatra.

Harry Dean Stanton

Harry Dean Stanton died on September 15 at age 91. The veteran character actor had his big breakthrough at age 58 in the film “Paris, Texas.” Other films in his career included “Pretty in Pink,” “Repo Man,” “Wild at Heart,” “The Green Mile,” and the 2017 release “Lucky.” TV roles included “Twin Peaks” and “Big Love.”

Walter Becker

Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker died on September 3 at age 67. He and partner Donald Fagen had nine Grammy nominations with three wins, including Album of the Year in 2000 for “Two Against Nature.” They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Jay Thomas

Jay Thomas died on August 24 at age 69. He was a two-time Emmy winner for his guest role as an abrasive talk show host on “Murphy Brown.” He was also known for his roles on “Cheers,” “Love and War,” “Mork and Mindy,” and “Boston Legal.”

Jerry Lewis

Comedy legend Jerry Lewis died at age 91 in Las Vegas on August 20, 2017. He began his stage career with his partner Dean Martin, with whom he made several popular movies. His most successful film as a solo star was “The Nutty Professor.” He received the 2009 Hersholt humanitarian award at the Oscars in 2009 for his lengthy career working with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Glen Campbell

Legendary singer and songwriter Glen Campbell died on August 8 at age 81. His country and pop crossover hits included “Gentle on My Mind,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” and “Southern Nights.” He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook died on August 8 in New York at age 89. The legendary Broadway and cabaret singer won a Tony Award for “The Music Man” (1957). She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2011.

Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard died on July 27, 2017 at age 73. He was the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of “Buried Child” (1979) who also wrote “True West” and “Fool for Love.” As an actor, his films included “Days of Heaven,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Steel Magnolias,” “August: Osage County,” and his Oscar-nominated role in “The Right Stuff” (1983).

Jeanne Moreau

French actress Jeanne Moreau died on July 31 at age 89. Major film credits included “Diary of a Chambermaid” and “Jules and Jim” (1962), for which she won the BAFTA Award. She also won at BAFTA for “Viva Maria!” (1965) and received that group’s Academy Fellowship in 1996.

June Foray

June Foray died on July 26 at age 99. She was primarily known as a voice-over performer for “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,” “Cinderella,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” and Warner Bros. cartoons. She received the Governor’s Award from the Television Academy in 2013.

John Heard

John Heard died on July 21, 2017 at age 71. The actor was best known for the “Home Alone” movies, “Cat People,” “After Hours,” “Big,” and “The Trip to Bountiful.” He was nominated at the Emmys for his guest role on “The Sopranos.”

Martin Landau

Martin Landau died on July 15. The veteran actor won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the film “Ed Wood” (1994). He also received Oscar nominations for “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” (1988) and “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (1989). One of his first major film roles was in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” (1959) and he later followed with a three-year run on the TV spy classic “Mission: Impossible.” He was a six-time Emmy nominee with no wins.

George A. Romero

Director George A. Romero died on July 16. His cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” helped launch the zombie movie genre in 1968. Other films included “Season of the Witch,” “The Crazies,” “Dawn of the Dead,” and “Day of the Dead.”

Nelsan Ellis

Nelsan Ellis died on July 8. We was best known for his role as Lafayette Reynolds on the drama series “True Blood.” Films in his career included “Get On Up,” “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” “The Butler,” and “The Help.”

John G. Avildsen

Director John G. Avildsen died on June 16 in Los Angeles. He won an Oscar for helming Rocky, the Best Picture winner of 1976. He also directed all three original “Karate Kid” movies, “Save the Tiger,” “Neighbors,” and “Lean on Me.”

Adam West

Adam West died on June 9 in Los Angeles. His acting career was defined by the 1960s campy role of “Batman” on ABC. After many guest parts on TV, he became known again to new audiences with his voice-over work on “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken.”

Glenne Headly

Actress Glenne Headly died on June 8. She had roles in such films as “Dick Tracy,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” She was a two-time Emmy nominee for “Lonesome Dove” and “Bastard Out of Carolina.”

Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman died on May 27 in Georgia. He co-founded the Southern rock group Allman Brothers Band in 1969. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Roger Moore

Roger Moore died on May 23 in Switzerland. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2003, the actor was best known for playing British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films from 1973 to 1985. He also starred in “Maverick” and “The Saint” on television.

Roger Ailes

Roger Ailes died on May 18 in Florida. He was founder and president of Fox News since its inception until his ouster in 2016. He was a Republican adviser to Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush.

Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell died on May 17 in Detroit. The singer-songwriter was best known as the lead vocalist for both Soundgarden and Audioslave. His work is considered part of the framework of the grunge music movement in the early 1990s.

Brad Grey

Brad Grey died on May 14 in Los Angeles. He was chairman and CEO of Paramount from 2005 until shortly before his death in 2017. He founded the Brillstein-Grey agency, and he was a producer for his company on “The Sopranos,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “NewsRadio,” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Powers Boothe

Powers Boothe died on May 14, 2017. He was an Emmy winner for playing a cult leader in “Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones” (1980). His other famous TV roles were in “Deadwood,” “Hatfields and McCoys,” and “Nashville.”

Jonathan Demme

Director Jonathan Demme died on April 26 in New York at age 93. His greatest triumph was at the Oscars as Best Director of the 1991 film “The Silence of The Lambs,” Best Picture winner. Other films in his career included “Melvin and Howard,” “Swing Shift,” “Something Wild,” “Married to the Mob,” “Philadelphia,” and “Rachel Getting Married.”

Don Rickles

Don Rickles died on April 6, 2017. The comedian was famous for his insults in his nightclub act, with Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show,” and on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. He became a voiceover favorite in the “Toy Story” films as Mr. Potato Head. He won an Emmy Award for his 2007 variety special “Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.”

Chuck Barris

Chuck Barris died on March 21, 2017. The veteran game show producer was the creator of “The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game,” and “The Gong Show,” a program he also hosted. His autobiography “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” was made into a 2002 film directed by George Clooney.

Chuck Berry

Rock legend Chuck Berry died on March 18, 2017. The singer, songwriter and guitarist was one of the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. His hit songs included “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybelline,” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”

Robert Osborne

Robert Osborne died on March 6, 2017. He was a host on Turner Classic Movies since it began in 1994. His love of movies led to him writing books about the Oscars and to interviewing many movie legends.

Bill Paxton

Actor Bill Paxton died at age 61 on February 26, 2017. Paxton is best known for his roles in the films “Aliens,” “Titanic,” “Twister,” “The Terminator,” “A Simple Plan,” “Apollo 13,” and “True Lies.” He also starred in the HBO drama series “Big Love,” which brought him three Golden Globe nominations for Best TV Drama Actor in 2007, 2008 and 2010. His television work in “Hatfields and McCoys” (2012) reaped a Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actor nomination at the Emmys and SAG Awards but a loss to co-star Kevin Costner. He won a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Best Film Ensemble of “Apollo 13” and another nomination with the cast of “Titanic.”

Al Jarreau

Singer Al Jarreau died on February 12 in Los Angeles at age 76. He was the only artist to win Grammy Awards in the jazz, pop and R&B categories. Songs included “We’re in This Love Together,” “Boogie Down,” and the theme from the TV series “Moonlighting.”

Richard Hatch

Actor Richard Hatch died on February 7, 2017, in Santa Monica, California. He was best known for his role as Captain Apollo in the original ABC sci-fi series “Battlestar Galactica” (1978-79).

Emmanuelle Riva

Actress Emmanuelle Riva died at age 80 in Paris on January 27, 2017. She was the oldest nominee ever for Best Actress at the Oscars for the 2012 film “Amour.” She won the BAFTA Award for the same role.

John Hurt

Actor John Hurt died on January 27, 2017, at age 77. The British actor was a two-time Oscar nominee for “Midnight Express” and “The Elephant Man” and won two BAFTA Awards in seven nominations. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2015.

Barbara Hale

Actress Barbara Hale died in California on January 26, 2017, at age 94. She is best remembered for playing secretary Della Street on the law show “Perry Mason” in the 1950s and 1960s plus in the TV movies of the 1980s and 1990s. She won an Emmy Award for the role in 1959 and was nominated again in 1961.

Mike Connors

Actor Mike Connors died in California on January 27, 2017, at age 91. He was best known for playing the title character of “Mannix” on the long-running CBS private detective series from 1968 to 1975. He won a Golden Globe for the role in 1970 and had four Emmy nominations.

Mary Tyler Moore

Television legend Mary Tyler Moore died at age 80 in Connecticut on January 25, 2017. She starred in “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” winning 7 Emmy Awards in her career. She was inducted by the TV academy in their hall of fame in 1986 and received the SAG life achievement award in 2012. In addition to being an accomplished actress, she was also one of the co-founders of the industry’s powerful production company MTM in the 1970s. Moore was an Oscar nominee for Best Actress in “Ordinary People” (1980) and won the Golden Globe for that role.

Miguel Ferrer

Actor Miguel Ferrer died on January 19, 2017. He was the oldest son of Oscar winner Jose Ferrer and Grammy winner Rosemary Clooney. Major film roles included “RoboCop” and “Iron Man 3.” He also had regular roles on the TV series “Twin Peaks,” “Crossing Jordan,” and “NCIS: Los Angeles.” He was part of the SAG Award-winning ensemble of the film “Traffic.”