The Stiffs for 2016

For the 31st year running, we present our fondest farewells to the recently departed.

If they were on any lists — or if they mattered at all in the world — you'll find them here.

If you're looking for everybody, then you need to head on over to the Directory.

Debbie Reynolds · 84

April 1st, 1932 - December 28th, 2016

Singin' in the dirt.

Carrie Fisher · 60

October 21st, 1956 - December 27th, 2016

Help me Obi-Wan - you're my only - oops. Never mind.

George Michael · 53

June 25th, 1963 - December 25th, 2016

Trying to narrow down cause of death. Possibilities:

- Boom boom in heart
- Jitterbug in brain
- Hanging like Yo Yo
- Years of drug use and driving under the influence

Has to be one of those.

Liz Smith · 95

December 11th, 1921 - December 24th, 2016

She was Norma Speakman in the BBC comedy The Royle Family, Letitia Cropley in the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley and Zillah In Lark Rise to Candleford. Which one was your favorite?

Zsa Zsa Gabor · 99

February 6th, 1917 - December 18th, 2016

Zsa Zsa G'bye.

Henry Heimlich · 96

February 3rd, 1920 - December 17th, 2016

Died of a heart attack? Seriously? We just can't catch a break here.

Alan Thicke · 69

March 1st, 1947 - December 13th, 2016

And getting thinner all the time.

John Glenn · 95

July 18th, 1921 - December 8th, 2016

The Ripe Stuff.

Fidel Castro · 90

August 13th, 1926 - November 25th, 2016

Cigars for everyone!

Florence Henderson · 82

February 14th, 1934 - November 24th, 2016

Here's the story
Of a lovely lady
Who was bringing up three very lovely girls
All of them had hair of gold
Like their mother
And then she died of heart failure

Ralph Branca · 90

January 6th, 1926 - November 23rd, 2016

He was the pitcher who gave up "The Shot Heard Round The World", and also one of only two players ejected from a World Series game. Winner!

Denton Cooley · 96

August 22nd, 1920 - November 18th, 2016

He used to do multiple heart surgeries at the same time, running between rooms to handle "the tricky parts". What a nut.

Melvin Laird · 94

September 1st, 1922 - November 16th, 2016

If you mix up the letters in his name, you get "Die, Mr. Van Ill". Isn't that CRAZY? No? Well, OK. That's all we got.

Leon Russell · 74

April 2nd, 1942 - November 13th, 2016

A career spanning 5 decades, 430 songs, 31 albums, and wrote and recorded with pretty much ALL of the biggest names in music for the times. Also: he looked like Santa Claus.

Robert Vaughn · 83

November 22nd, 1932 - November 11th, 2016

Huge Democratic Party supporter all his life. Wonder why he died?

Leonard Cohen · 82

September 21st, 1934 - November 10th, 2016

Blue Alert!

Janet Reno · 78

July 21st, 1938 - November 7th, 2016

They say she was the first female attorney general, but we're just not sure.

Bobby Vee · 73

April 30th, 1943 - October 24th, 2016

The night now has 998 eyes.

Tom Hayden · 76

December 11th, 1939 - October 23rd, 2016

Vietnam activist, married Jane Fonda. Anybody got anything? Yeah - us neither.

So long hippie.

Shimon Peres · 93

August 2nd, 1923 - September 27th, 2016

He won a Nobel Peace Prize, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, AND a Congressional Gold Medal - and still married a chick who was a truck driver. Talk about having NO GAME...

Arnold Palmer · 87

September 10th, 1929 - September 25th, 2016

62 wins and 7 major championships, and he'll still be remembered for a combination of lemonade and iced tea. Nice.

Phyllis Schlafly · 92

August 15th, 1924 - September 5th, 2016

A woman's place is in the cemetery.

Gene Wilder · 83

June 11th, 1933 - August 29th, 2016

Got his golden ticket punched.

Steven Hill · 94

February 24th, 1922 - August 23rd, 2016

Going down, Hill.

John McLaughlin · 89

March 29th, 1927 - August 16th, 2016

He made a living by yelling at people and being a know-it-all on TV for 34 years. An American hero, when you think about it.

Fyvush Finkel · 93

October 9th, 1922 - August 14th, 2016

His name in yiddish was "פֿײַוויש פֿינקעל", which loosely translated means "Rat Face".

Glenn Yarbrough · 86

January 12th, 1930 - August 11th, 2016

From limelighter to no-lighter.

Pete Fountain · 86

July 3rd, 1930 - August 6th, 2016

Fountain of Old.

David Huddleston · 85

September 17th, 1930 - August 2nd, 2016

He was in The Big Lebowski and Blazing Saddles - and an absolute SHIT TON of bad TV - and we still can't find any good quotes. Please submit your ideas to wedontreallycare@stiffs.com

Gloria DeHaven · 91

July 23rd, 1925 - July 30th, 2016

Made her first movie in 1936, and her last one in 1997. She was also married 4 times, had two kids, and lived in Vegas. No wonder she died.

Miss Cleo · 53

August 12th, 1962 - July 26th, 2016

Bet she didn't see that coming.

Garry Marshall · 81

November 13th, 1934 - July 19th, 2016

Sunday, Monday Happy Days! Tuesday - Oh. Shit.

Larry Fortensky · 64

January 17th, 1952 - July 7th, 2016

He was the seventh (and last) husband of Elizabeth Taylor. He was also dead for years before anyone told us.

Elie Wiesel · 87

September 30th, 1928 - July 2nd, 2016

Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, writer of 57 books. No scandals, affairs, controversies. We're going to pass on this one. You guys have fun with it.

Buddy Ryan · 85

February 17th, 1931 - June 28th, 2016

As a coach for the Houston Oilers, he punched another coach in the jaw after a fumbled snap. Not sure where the nickname "Buddy" comes from though.

Scotty Moore · 84

December 27th, 1931 - June 28th, 2016

He was Elvis Presley's guitarist. If right now you are thinking "Elvis had a guitarist?", then good. It's not just us.

Ralph Stanley · 89

February 25th, 1927 - June 23rd, 2016

The bluegrass legend is helping the green grass grow.

Gordie Howe · 88

March 31st, 1928 - June 10th, 2016

A stroke. That's howe.

Muhammad Ali · 74

January 17th, 1942 - June 3rd, 2016

Floats like a butterfly, and, well, that's about it.

Mell Lazarus · 89

May 3rd, 1927 - May 24th, 2016

He won the National Cartoonists Society Medal of Honor, which we assume means you got shot while drawing a cartoon or something. Too hungover to look it up. Lets go with that.

Alan Young · 96

November 19th, 1919 - May 19th, 2016

A corpse is a corpse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a corpse of course.

Morley Safer · 84

November 8th, 1931 - May 19th, 2016

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

William Schallert · 93

July 6th, 1922 - May 8th, 2016

IMDB has him at 374 acting credits up until 2014, then NOTHING. Slacker.

Prince · 57

June 7th, 1958 - April 21st, 2016

Life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last.

Chyna · 45

December 27th, 1970 - April 20th, 2016

She wrestled chicks, filmed with dicks, and now she's on the river Styx.

Doris Roberts · 90

November 4th, 1925 - April 18th, 2016

Everybody mourns, Raymond.

David Gest · 62

May 11th, 1953 - April 11th, 2016

Gest wrong.

Merle Haggard · 79

April 6th, 1937 - April 6th, 2016

The Okie from Muskogee has gone Croakie.

Patty Duke · 69

December 14th, 1946 - March 29th, 2016

Her son was in Lord of the Rings, Goonies, and actually played the lead role in Rudy. Gotta be a bitch when your kid gets way better roles than you ever did.

Mother Angelica · 92

April 20th, 1923 - March 27th, 2016

She dedicated her life to serving the church, and in return had a stroke on Christmas Eve and died on Easter. Nice, God. Real nice.

Garry Shandling · 66

November 29th, 1949 - March 24th, 2016

We're not sure exactly what "shandling" is, but he's certainly not doing it any more.

Joe Garagiola · 90

February 12th, 1926 - March 23rd, 2016

If you want to know how good a baseball player he was, just understand that he played for nine seasons on FOUR different teams. So, yeah. Not that good.

Rob Ford · 46

May 28th, 1969 - March 22nd, 2016

Too bad. He seemed like a fun guy.

Frank Sinatra, Jr. · 72

January 10th, 1944 - March 16th, 2016

He did it his Dad's way.

Gogi Grant · 91

September 20th, 1924 - March 10th, 2016

Wayward, and in the wind.

George Martin · 90

January 3rd, 1926 - March 8th, 2016

He was called "The Fifth Beatle" by a lot of people. Not by any of the actual Beatles, mind you. But who cares about that?

Nancy Reagan · 94

July 6th, 1921 - March 6th, 2016

Nighty night, mommy.

Bud Collins

March 4th, 2016

Aaaaaaand, that's match.

Martin Crowe · 53

September 22nd, 1962 - March 3rd, 2016

New Zealand's greatest cricketer sledges no more.

George Kennedy · 91

February 18th, 1925 - February 28th, 2016

Can't we go one year without a Kennedy dying?

Sonny James · 86

May 1st, 1929 - February 22nd, 2016

The gentleman has gone south.

Harper Lee · 89

April 28th, 1926 - February 19th, 2016

She released her first book in 1960, and her second and last book in 2015. Talk about your workaholics.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali · 93

November 14th, 1922 - February 16th, 2016

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, gee!
Was the sixth U.N. Secretary!

Vanity · 57

January 4th, 1959 - February 15th, 2016

OK, so, six deadly sins.

Antonin Scalia · 79

March 11th, 1936 - February 13th, 2016

The court has ruled 8-1 in favor of the plaintiff in the matter of Grim Reaper v. Antonin Scalia.

Paul Kantner · 74

March 17th, 1941 - January 28th, 2016

Guy was in a rock band for five decades, advocated the use of LSD and marijuana, opposed the use of cocaine and alcohol, and had 3 kids. Someone please send us an obit for this weirdo, please?

Abe Vigoda · 94

February 24th, 1921 - January 26th, 2016

Go, Fish.

Glenn Frey · 67

November 6th, 1948 - January 18th, 2016

Looks like he checked out AND left.

Dan Haggerty · 74

November 19th, 1941 - January 15th, 2016

Now it's just The Times of Grizzly Adams.

Monte Irvin · 96

February 25th, 1919 - January 11th, 2016

It's a dark day for the Irvin family.

David Bowie · 69

January 8th, 1947 - January 10th, 2016

Ground Control to Major Tom.
Hello? Tom?

Kitty Kallen · 94

May 25th, 1921 - January 7th, 2016

Sit. Play dead. Good Kitty.

Year	Stiffs
2024	44
2023	54
2022	44
2021	56
2020	71
2019	54
2018	51
2017	65
2016	72
2015	59
2014	63
2013	68
2012	81
2011	65
2010	80
2009	65
2008	83
2007	78
2006	99
2005	84
2004	70
2003	97
2002	101
2001	99
2000	92
1999	192
1998	127
1997	119
1996	63
1995	40

Guess the Stiff!