2009: the year in celebrity death
Here’s a running list of the major celebrites to die in 2009 (and by celebrity, I mean some degree of name-only recognition):
JANUARY
Donald Westlake*
Claiborne Pell
Bernie Hamilton*
Helen Suzman
Jett Travolta
Pat Hingle
Griffin Bell
Ron Asheton
Cheryl Holdridge
Cornelia Wallace
Jon Hager
William Zantzinger
Don Galloway
Patrick McGoohan
W.D. Snodgrass
Ricardo Montalban
Andrew Wyeth
Bob May
David “Fathead” Newman
John Updike
James Brady (Parade Magazine guy)
Billy Powell
Ingemar Johannson
FEBRUARY
Lux Interior
James Whitmore
Dewey Martin
Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez
Phil Carey
Estelle Bennett
Willem Kolff
Louie Bellson
Kelly Groucutt
Socks the Cat
Howard Zieff
Antionette K-Doe
Wendy Richard
Philip Jose Farmer
Paul Harvey
MARCH
Horton Foote
Hank Locklin
Jimmy Boyd
Alan Livingston
Altovise Joanne Gore Davis
Ron Silver
Reese Cleghorn
Natasha Richardson
Betsy Blair
Jade Goody
Uriel Jones
George Kell
Dan Seals
Irving R. Levine
John Hope Franklin
Maurice Jarre
Raul Alfonsin
APRIL
Dave Arneson
Jack Wrangler
Pop Winans
Marilyn Chambers
Harry Kalas
Mark “The Bird” Fidrych
Jack Cardiff
Bea Arthur
Vern Gosdin
Ernie Barnes
MAY
Danny Gans
Jack Kemp
Dom DeLuise
Dom DiMaggio
Mickey Carroll
Chuck Daly
David Herbert Donald
Carol Cole
Jay Bennett
Wayne Allwine
Lucy Gordon
JUNE
Millvina Dean
Koko Taylor
David Carradine
Kenny Rankin
Norman Brinker
Bob Bogle
Ed McMahon
Farrah Fawcett
Michael Jackson
Sky Saxon
Billy Mays
Gale Storm
Fred Travalena
JULY
Karl Malden
Mollie Sugden
Harve Presnell
Anna Karen Morrow
Herbert G. Klein
Allen Klein
Steve McNair
Robert McNamara
Walter Cronkite
Frank McCourt
Gordon Waller
Les Lye
E. Lynn Harris
Alexis Cohen
Reverend Ike
Corazon Aquino
Baatin
AUGUST
Budd Schulberg
John Hughes
Willy DeVille
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Les Paul
Jim Dickinson
Kim Dae-jung
Robert Novak
Don Hewitt
Ted Kennedy
Ellie Greenwich
Dominick Dunne
DJ AM
Johnny Carter
SEPTEMBER
Nancy Talbot
Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson
Army Archerd
Larry Gelbart
Juan Almeida Bosque
Norman Borlaug
Paul Burke
Jim Carroll
Crystal Lee Sutton
Jody Powell
Patrick Swayze
Henry Gibson
Myles Brand
Mary Travers
Irving Kristol
Timothy “Big Russ” Russert
Susan Atkins
William Safire
*- died in 2008, death announced in 2009
names in italics are named on my 2009 celebrity deathlist
Glaring omissions? Leave any suggestions below, though I reserve final judgment.
