2021 - In Memoriam

Before we leave 2021 in the past, Susan Omand spares a thought for just a few of the film, book, gaming and TV people that we lost last year...

It's been a tough year for a lot of us but there is always time to spare a thought for those who are no longer with us. Some of these names will be more familiar than others as always but every one of them is important in their own way. This is by no means an exhaustive list - every year there seem to be always far too many - so these are just a few, in no particular order, that I thought were worth a mention. [if you want to find out more about them, they all have a wiki page - Ed]

In Memoriam...

Betty White, 99, American actress The Golden Girls

Jean-Marc Vallée, 58, Canadian film and television director (Dallas Buyers Club, The Young Victoria, Big Little Lies)

Candy Palmater, 53, Canadian comedian, broadcaster

Richard Conway, 79, English visual effects artist (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil, Sunshine)

Jaime Comas, 85, Spanish screenwriter (A Fistful of Dollars, The Shark Hunter, The Glass Sphinx)

Sally Ann Howes, 91, English actress (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Brigadoon, The Admirable Crichton)

Eve Babitz, 78, American visual artist and author. 

Ian Hetherington, 69, British businessman, co-founder of Psygnosis

Kevin Billington, 87, British film director (The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, The Light at the Edge of the World, Interlude)

Jack Hedley, 92, British actor (Sir Timothy Havelock (and his parrot) in For Your Eyes Only)

Anne Rice, 80, American author (The Vampire Chronicles)

Denis O'Brien, 80, film producer (Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time Bandits).

Bob Baker, 82, British screenwriter (Wallace and Gromit, Doctor Who, K-9).

Lionel Blair, 92, Canadian-born British actor (The Limping Man, A Hard Day's Night), choreographer and television presenter (Give Us a Clue)

Peter Aykroyd, 65, Canadian comedian (Saturday Night Live) and actor (Coneheads, Nothing but Trouble) and brother of Dan

Dean Stockwell, 85, American actor (Quantum Leap, Married to the Mob, Paris, Texas)

John Pearson, 91, British author of Bond-related books (The Life of Ian Fleming, James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007)

Wilbur Smith, 88, Zambian-born South African novelist (When the Lion Feeds, The Courtney Novels, The Ballantyne Novels)

Heath Freeman, 41, played Howard Epps, the first serial killer in the series Bones

Will Ryan, 72, gave a voice to Harold the Seahorse in The Little Mermaid

Bernard Holley, 81, British actor (Z-Cars, Doctor Who) 

Gerald Home, 70, operator of Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors

Rick Jones, 84, Canadian-born British television presenter (Play School, Fingerbobs)

Ruthie Tompson, 111, American animator (Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo) 

Denise Bryer, 93, British voice actress (Zelda in Terrahawks,  The Junk Lady in Labyrinth and Kiki the frog in Hector’s House). 

William Lucking, 80, American actor (Piney Winston in Sons of Anarchy). 

James Michael Tyler, 59, American actor (Gunther in Friends)

Christopher Wenner, 66, Blue Peter presenter

Camille Saviola, 71, American actress Kai Opaka in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Tony Selby, 83, English actor (Get Some In!, Doctor Who, Witchfinder General)

Edward Barnes, 92, British television executive and producer, co-creator of Blue Peter 

Robert Fyfe, 90, Scottish actor (Last of the Summer Wine, Around the World in 80 Days, Cloud Atlas)

Gavan O'Herlihy, 70, Irish-born American actor (Richie Cunningham’s older brother in Happy Days)

Sir Clive Sinclair, 81, English entrepreneur and inventor

John Challis, 79, English actor (Only Fools and Horses, The Green Green Grass, Benidorm)

Stephen Critchlow, 54, British actor and Big Finish stalwart

Jimmy Greaves, 81, and Ian St John, 82, footballers, presenters and pundits

Willie Garson, 57, American actor (Sex and the City, White Collar, John from Cincinnati

Roger Michell, 65, South African-born British film director (Notting Hill, Venus, My Cousin Rachel)

Michael K. Williams, 54, American actor (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, 12 Years a Slave

Alma Cullen, 83, British television writer (Inspector Morse) 

Alex Cord, 88, American actor (Archangel in Airwolf) 

Pat Hitchcock, 93, English-born American actress (Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train, Psycho) and daughter of Alfred

Ken Hutchison, 72, Scottish actor (Straw Dogs, All Quiet on the Western Front, Ladyhawke)

Maki Kaji, 69, creator of Sudoku

Una Stubbs, 84, English actress (Till Death Us Do Part, Worzel Gummidge, Sherlock).]

Sean Lock, 58, English comedian (15 Storeys High, 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown)

Sonny Chiba, 82, Japanese actor (The Street Fighter, The Storm Riders, Kill Bill: Volume 1) 

Grange Calveley, 78, British writer (Roobarb, Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk) 

Michael Nader, 76, American actor (Dynasty, All My Children, Lucky Chances)

Ed Asner, 91, American actor (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Up

Theresa Plummer-Andrews, 77, British television producer (Bob the Builder, The Animals of Farthing Wood, Little Robots)

Desmond Davis, 95, British film director (Clash of the Titans, Girl with Green Eyes, I Was Happy Here).

Richard Donner, 91, American film director (Superman, Lethal Weapon, The Goonies

Robert Downey Sr., 85, American film director (Putney Swope, Up the Academy) and actor (To Live and Die in L.A.)

Jonathan (Jonno) Coleman, 65, English-born Australian radio and television presenter

Gerda Mayer, 94, Czech-born English poet.

William F. Nolan, 93, American author (Logan's Run) 

Tom O'Connor, 81, British comedian and game show host (Crosswits, The Zodiac Game, Name That Tune)

John Cornell, 80, Australian film producer, writer (Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II)

Jackie Mason, 93, American comedian and actor 

Damaris Hayman, 91, English actress (Doctor Who, Steptoe and Son, The Young Ones).

John Sacret Young, 75, American television writer and producer (China Beach, The West Wing, Firefly Lane)

Ben Roberts, 70, British actor (The Bill, Jane Eyre, A Little Chaos) 

Ned Beatty, 83, American actor (Network, Deliverance, Superman)

Lisa Banes, 65, American actress (Cocktail, Young Guns, Gone Girl)

Jackie Lane, 79, British actress (Dodo in Doctor Who)

Olympia Dukakis, 89, American actress (Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias, Tales of the City)

Marcel Stellman, 96, Belgian record producer and lyricist, creator of Countdown. 

Norman Lloyd, 106, American actor (St. Elsewhere, Limelight), producer and director (Alfred Hitchcock Presents)

Buddy Van Horn, 92, American stunt performer (High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider) and film director (The Dead Pool)

David Anthony Kraft, 68, American comic book writer (The Defenders, Captain America

Mark York, 55, American television and film actor (The Office)

Eric Carle, 91, American writer and illustrator (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) 

Samuel E. Wright, 74, gave voice to Sebastian in The Little Mermaid

Jerome Hellman, 92, American film producer (Midnight Cowboy, The Mosquito Coast, Coming Home)

Gavin MacLeod, 90, American actor (The Love Boat, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, McHale's Navy)

Joye Hummel, 97, American comic book writer (Wonder Woman)

Paul Ritter, 54, English actor (Friday Night Dinner, Chernobyl, No Offence

Joseph Siravo, 66, American actor (The Sopranos, American Crime Story, Oslo

Helen McCrory, 52, English actress (Peaky Blinders, Harry Potter, The Queen

Anthony Powell, 85, English costume designer (Death on the Nile, Tess, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

Felix Silla, 84, Italian-born American actor (Cousin It in The Addams Family) 

Charles Beeson, 63, British television director (EastEnders, Supernatural, The Mentalist

Frank Cox, 80, British television director (Doctor Who, Take the High Road)

Nicola Pagett, 75, British actress (Upstairs, Downstairs, Anne of the Thousand Days, There's a Girl in My Soup)

Frank Thorne, 90, American comic book writer (Red Sonja).

Leon Gast, 85, American documentary filmmaker (When We Were Kings, The Grateful Dead Movie)

Norton Juster, 91, American author (The Phantom Tollbooth, The Dot and the Line, The Hello, Goodbye Window)

Trevor Peacock, 89, English actor (The Vicar of Dibley, Hamlet, Fred Claus

Alec Monteath, 79, Scottish actor (Take the High Road)

Cliff Simon, 58, South African-born American actor (Baal in Stargate SG-1

Isidore Mankofsky, 89, American cinematographer (The Muppet Movie, Somewhere in Time, The Jazz Singer)

Murray Walker, 97, British motorsport commentator (BBC Sport, Channel 4, ITV Sport)

Henry Darrow, 87, American actor (Manolito Montoya in The High Chaparral,

Yaphet Kotto, 81, American actor (Live and Let Die, Alien, Homicide: Life on the Street)

Sabine Schmitz, 51, German motor racer (Münnich Motorsport) and television presenter (Top Gear)

Joel Steiger, 79, American television producer and writer (Perry Mason, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman)

George Segal, 87, American actor (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Goldbergs, A Touch of Class)

Jessica Walter, 80, American actress (Arrested Development, Archer, Play Misty for Me)

Larry McMurtry, 84, American novelist and screenwriter (Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, Brokeback Mountain)

Rod McKie, 63, British cartoonist (Punch, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review)

Dustin Diamond, 44, American actor (Saved by the Bell, Purple People Eater, Good Morning, Miss Bliss) 

Christopher Plummer, 91, Canadian actor (The Sound of Music, Beginners, All the Money in the World)

Victor Ambrus, 85, Time Team illustrator/recreator

Larry Flynt, 78, American publisher (Hustler)

Frank Lupo, 66, American television writer and producer and creator of The A-Team

David de Keyser, 93, British actor (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, Doctor Who) 

Ronald Pickup, 80, English actor (Darkest Hour, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Mission)

Johnny Briggs, 85, English actor (Coronation Street, Man About the House, Carry On England)

Mark Eden, 92, English actor (Coronation Street, The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs, An Adventure in Space and Time)

Brian Cowan, 58, Scottish actor (Taggart, Family Affairs, River City)

Tanya Roberts, 65, American actress (A View to a Kill, Charlie's Angels, That '70s Show)

Michael Apted, 79, English film director (Gorillas in the Mist, Coal Miner's Daughter, The World Is Not Enough)

Deezer D, 55, American rapper and actor (ER, In the Mix, CB4)

Steve Carver, 75, American film director (Lone Wolf McQuade, Big Bad Mama, Capone

Caroly Wilcox, 89, American puppeteer (creator of Elmo in Sesame Street)

Mira Furlan, 65, Croatian-American actress (Babylon 5, Lost, The Abandoned)

Larry King, 87, American Hall of Fame broadcaster (Larry King Live, Larry King Now, Politicking with Larry King)

Cloris Leachman, 94, American Hall of Fame actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Last Picture Show, Young Frankenstein)

Allan Burns, 85, American television producer and screenwriter (Creator of The Munsters, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda)