In Memoriam 2009 (Notable Celebs)
by raisleygordon | created - 20 Jun 2011 | updated - 20 Jun 2011 | Public
1. Bea Arthur
Actress | The Golden Girls
Actress-comedienne Bea Arthur was born Bernice Frankel on May 13, 1922 in New York City to a Jewish family. She grew up in Maryland, where her parents ran a dress shop. At 12 years old, she was the tallest girl in her school at 5'9".
She earned the title of "Wittiest Girl" in her school, and her ...
2. Gene Barry
Actor | The War of the Worlds
With effortless class and elegant charm Gene Barry took '50s and '60s TV by storm, after a rather lackluster start on the musical stage and in films. Born Eugene Klass in New York City on June 14, 1919, to Martin (an amateur violinist), and Eva (an amateur singer), he showed a gift at an early age ...
3. David Carradine
Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 2
David Carradine was born in Hollywood, California, the eldest son of legendary character actor John Carradine, and his wife, Ardanelle Abigail (McCool). He was a member of an acting family that included brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine as well as his daughters Calista Carradine and ...
4. Walter Cronkite
Actor | Liberty's Kids
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Helen Lena (Fritsche) and Walter Leland Cronkite, a doctor. Throughout his early career, Cronkite worked with newspapers. During World War II, he served as a news reporter. In 1950, Cronkite became a journalist. He ...
5. Dom DeLuise
Actor | The Cannonball Run
As might be said for the late and great comedians Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn, it seems that Mel Brooks was the only director on the planet who knew how to best utilize this funnyman's talents on film. Brooks once remarked that, whenever he cast Dom in one of his films he'd add an extra two ...
6. Roy Edward Disney
Producer | Fantasia 2000
Roy Edward Disney began working for the Walt Disney Company as an assistant film editor on the True-Life Adventure film in 1954. In 1967, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the company. In 1984, he returned to the company as vice chairman of the board, and head of the animation department....
7. Farrah Fawcett
Actress | Saturn 3
Farrah Fawcett is a true Hollywood success story. Born in Texas, she was the daughter of Pauline Fawcett (Pauline Alice Evans), a homemaker, and James Fawcett, an oil field contractor. She was a natural athlete, something that her father encouraged, and she attended a high school with a strong arts...
8. Henry Gibson
Actor | Nashville
Henry Gibson was born on 21 September 1935 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Before appearing in films and television series, he was a child star on the stage during the 1940s and during the late 1950s he was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force. His screen debut came in 1963 when he was cast ...
9. Steven Gilborn
Actor | Evolution
Steven Gilborn was born on July 15, 1936 in New Rochelle, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Evolution (2001), Doctor Dolittle (1998) and Alien: Resurrection (1997). He was married to Karen Halverson. He died on January 2, 2009 in North Chatham, New York, USA.
10. Alaina Reed-Hall
Actress | 227
Alaina Reed-Hall was born on November 10, 1946 in Springfield, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for 227 (1985), Death Becomes Her (1992) and Cruel Intentions (1999). She was married to Tamim Amini, Kevin Peter Hall and Richard Hannum Cook. She died on December 17, 2009 in Santa Monica, ...
11. Paul Harvey
Writer | Paul Harvey - News
Paul Harvey was born on September 4, 1918 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Paul Harvey - News (1951), The Right of the People (1986) and Everything That Rises (1998). He was married to Lynn "Angel" Cooper. He died on February 28, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
12. John Hughes
Writer | Planes, Trains & Automobiles
John Hughes was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was credited for creating some of the most memorable comedy films of the 1980s and the 1990s, when he was at the height of his career. He had a talent for writing coming-of-age stories, and for depicting fairly realistic...
13. Michael Jackson
Soundtrack | Michael Jackson: Thriller
Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joe Jackson (no relation to Joe Jackson, also a musician), had been a guitarist, but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Michael's ...
14. Karl Malden
Actor | A Streetcar Named Desire
Born to a Czech mother and a Serbian father in Chicago as Mladen Sekulovich, on March 22, 1912, Karl Malden did not speak English until he was in kindergarten. After graduating from high school in the nearby steel town of Gary, Indiana, Malden worked in the industry for three years until 1934, when...
15. Ed McMahon
Soundtrack | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Ed McMahon's first appearance before a microphone was as a 15-year-old "caller" at a bingo game in Maine. After that, he spent the next three years touring the state fair and carnival circuit. A Marine fighter pilot during World War II, McMahon sold vegetable slicers on Atlantic City's boardwalk to...
16. Ricardo Montalban
Actor | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Legendary actor Ricardo Montalban was the epitome of Latin elegance, charm and grace on film and television and in the late 1940s and early 1950s reinvigorated the Rudolph Valentino / Ramon Novarro "Latin Lover" style in Hollywood without achieving top screen stardom. Moreover, unlike most minority...
17. Brittany Murphy
Actress | Clueless
Brittany Murphy was born Brittany Anne Bertolotti on November 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti. Her father's ancestry is Italian, and her mother is of Irish and Slovak descent. Her father moved the family back to Edison, New Jersey as a native New...
18. Natasha Richardson
Actress | The Parent Trap
Natasha Jane Richardson was born in Marylebone, London, England, to director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave. She was the sister of actress Joely Richardson, the niece of actors Corin Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave, and the granddaughter of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel ...
19. Oral Roberts
Actor | Laugh-In
Oral Roberts was born on January 24, 1918 in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Laugh-In (1967), A City of the King (1971) and Oral Roberts: Christmas Is Love (1975). He was married to Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock. He died on December 15, 2009 in Newport Beach, California, USA.
20. Soupy Sales
Actor | Black Scorpion
Soupy Sales was born on January 8, 1926 in Franklinton, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Black Scorpion (2001), The Making of '...and God Spoke' (1993) and A Dirty Shame (2004). He was married to Trudy Carson and Barbara Fox. He died on October 22, 2009 in The Bronx, New ...
21. Ron Silver
Actor | Timecop
Ron Silver was born on July 2, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Timecop (1994), Reversal of Fortune (1990) and Find Me Guilty (2006). He was married to Lynne Miller. He died on March 15, 2009 in New York City, New York, USA.
22. Patrick Swayze
Actor | Dirty Dancing
Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on August 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas, to Patsy Swayze (née Yvonne Helen Karnes), a choreographer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze, a chemical plant engineer draftsman. His mother owned a dance school in Houston, where Patrick was also a student. His father passed away in 1982. ...
23. James Whitmore
Actor | The Shawshank Redemption
Born on October 1, 1921, in White Plains, New York, gruff veteran character actor James Whitmore earned early and widespread respect with his award-winning dramatic capabilities on Broadway and in films. He would later conquer TV with the same trophy-winning results.
The son of James Allen Whitmore ...
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