For the 32nd year running, our fondest farewells to the recently departed. If they were on anybody’s list, or mattered at all, they’re here. Looking for everybody? Try the Directory.
For nine seasons she was Alice, the widowed waitress slinging hash at Mel’s Diner and singing her own theme song, because CBS wasn’t about to pay somebody else to do it. She won a Tony for Broadway Bound and was still working at 87, filming a Hulu series when a lung cancer nobody knew about showed up uninvited. Flo would want us to say it: she finally kissed her grits goodbye.
They called him "The greatest Oakland A of all time". Impressive, eh?
Head of the Florida Citrus Commission from 1969 - 1980. We think she also made some records or something.
Thought only Babe Ruth had a curse named after him? Look this guy up. Fun.
This guy was on Wheel of Fortune, Love Connection, a bunch other lousy game shows, write a bunch of jingles, country music releases, a Top 40 hit, was in the Navy, was a Covid denier (until his son got it), and was married FIVE times. Quite a life. Not a good one, but, yeah.
Say what you want about her gorgeous face, perfect hair, incredible smile, and load of acting talent. We will remember her for her glorious rack.
El Tiante pitched like a man trying to shake off a bee: twist around, stare at center field, then throw the ball from somewhere near his own back pocket. The Cuban right-hander won 229 games, carried the Red Sox to Game 7 of the 1975 World Series and smoked cigars in the shower, which is more than most of us can say. Boston lost that Series, naturally, because it was Boston. He died at home in Maine at 83.
Before she was Whitney’s mother she was the voice behind everybody else, singing backup for Elvis and Aretha with the Sweet Inspirations and on half the soul records of the 1960s. She won two Grammys, ran the choir at New Hope Baptist in Newark for decades, and outlived her daughter, her granddaughter and everyone who ever told her to sing a little quieter. Alzheimer’s finally got her at 91. The backup singer gets top billing at last.
Over 70 years, she was in over 100 movies, 100 plays, and 25 TV shows. Jesus. No wonder she died.
Now he really DOES know the power of the dark side.
Whoa. Wait. HE was Kunta Kinte? In Roots? Are you serious? What the FUCK? We did NOT know that. Percy Fitzwallace in West Wing? The king in Coming To America? That nameless dude in Die Hard 2? Yeah - sure. All of those. But KUNTA KINTE. No idea. Wow.
Next on Donahue - are dead celebrities just as interesting as live ones! Tune in to find out!
If you suggest that his finest work wasn't his role in Elf, we will FIGHT YOU.
Wait, what? She was on Little House on the Prarie? How old WAS this chick?
Mr. Clutch was so good at basketball that the NBA put his silhouette on its logo, then spent fifty years refusing to admit it. He made 14 All-Star teams, won Finals MVP for a team that lost, and as an executive built Showtime and talked Shaq and Kobe into the same locker room. He was miserable about nearly all of it, which is the most Lakers thing imaginable. The logo can finally stop dribbling.
A seven-foot Deadhead who won two NCAA titles for John Wooden, two NBA titles, an MVP and roughly four seasons of working feet. When his body quit, his mouth took over: as a broadcaster he could turn a Tuesday night Pac-12 game into a forty-minute monologue about the moon, tie-dye and Jerry Garcia. Cancer finally got a word in edgewise at 71. Somewhere a play-by-play man is enjoying the silence.
His first role was on Naked City for $60. We've all been there, buddy.
They called him "The Pope of Pop Cinema". Whatever. He's dead.
The guy was in Dallas for the Kennedy shooting, and in New York for 9/11. His luck ran out a while ago.
He helped create the Department of Homeland Security, kneecapped the ACA, and was the leader of No Labels. So, yeah.
For 32 years he was ESPN’s NFL insider, the man who knew a quarterback was being traded before the quarterback did. He also reported that 11 of the Patriots’ 12 footballs were badly underinflated, a scoop about as accurate as a Jets field goal. He fought Stage 4 throat cancer for eight years, retired in 2023 and died six months later. Adam Schefter is now the only person in America who knows things.
Yeah, yeah - broadcasting hall of fame and all of that - but did you know he was the narrator for Horton Hears a Who?
As usual, we start out the year with a BANGER! This chick lived to 100, and had no scandals? No craziness? Sure - 4 husbands - but she didn't cheat on one? COME ON.
Urgent: Heat me.
