Date of Death between 2009-01-01 and 2009-12-31 (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. 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. ...
2. 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...
3. Patrick McGoohan
Actor | The Prisoner
Though born in America, Irish actor Patrick McGoohan rose to become the number-one British TV star in the 1950s to 1960s era. His parents moved to Ireland when he was very young and McGoohan acquired a neutral accent that sounds at home in British or American dialogue. He was an avid stage actor ...
4. Natasha Richardson
Actress | Asylum
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 ...
5. Karl Malden
Actor | On the Waterfront
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...
6. Farrah Fawcett
Actress | Logan's Run
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...
7. Connie Hines
Actress | Mister Ed
Connie Hines was born on March 24, 1931 in Dedham, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Mister Ed (1961), Thunder in Carolina (1960) and Sea Hunt (1958). She was previously married to Lee Savin. She died on December 18, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
8. 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...
9. 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 ...
10. 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 ...
11. 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 ...
12. Henry Gibson
Actor | Nashville
Henry Gibson was born on 21 September 1935 in Germantown, Pennsylvnia. 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 in...
13. 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...
14. Collin Wilcox Paxton
Actress | To Kill a Mockingbird
Actress Collin Wilcox extended her given name twice over the duration of her professional acting career -- billing herself as Collin Wilcox-Horne and Collin Wilcox Paxton, to be exact. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Highlands, North Carolina, and her interest in theater was sparked ...
15. 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 ...
16. 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 ...
17. Jennifer Jones
Actress | The Towering Inferno
One of the world's most underrated Academy Award-winning actresses, Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley on 2 March 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Flora Mae (Suber) and Phillip Ross Isley, who ran a travelling stage show. As a young aspiring actress, she met and fell for young, handsome, aspiring ...
18. 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 ...
19. Pat Hingle
Actor | The Quick and the Dead
Pat Hingle (real name: Martin Patterson Hingle) was born in Miami, Florida, the son of a building contractor. His parents divorced when Hingle was still in his infancy (he never knew his father) and his mother supported the family by teaching school in Denver. She then began to travel (with her son...
20. Margo Johns
Actress | Konga
Margo Johns was born on February 25, 1919 in Romford, Essex, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Konga (1961), International Detective (1959) and Mystery at the Burlesque (1949). She was previously married to William Franklyn. She died on September 28, 2009 in Barnes, London, England, UK.
21. Harve Presnell
Actor | Fargo
By the time handsome, brawny baritone Harve Presnell arrived on the film scene, the "Golden Age" of musicals had long dissipated. Born in Modesto, California in 1933 and spending part of his youth on a family ranch near Yosemite Valley where he labored in the fields, it was discovered he had quite ...
22. Kathleen Byron
Actress | Saving Private Ryan
Kathleen Byron trained for the stage at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, beginning her work in the movies soon after she finished her training. Her early work with Michael Powell made her name in the UK. She went to Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s but found it difficult to break into the US ...
23. Edward Woodward
Actor | The Wicker Man
British actor Edward Woodward made a highly successful transition into Hollywood TV stardom in the mid 1980s thanks to a popular dramatic series. Possessing a magnetic, yet coldly handsome demeanor in the same mold as Christopher Plummer, he was born Edward Albert Arthur Woodward on June 1, 1930, ...
24. Richard Todd
Actor | The Hasty Heart
British leading man who achieved some success in American films, as well. Born in Ireland as the son of a British officer, Todd grew up in Devon and (for a brief time) in India and attended Shrewsbury Public School. His interest in theatre led him to small roles in stock in England and Scotland and...
25. 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), The Arrival (1996) and Reversal of Fortune (1990). He was previously married to Lynne Miller. He died on March 15, 2009 in New York City, New York, USA.
26. Philip Carey
Actor | One Life to Live
Tall, blond and of rugged proportions, handsome actor Philip Carey started out as a standard 1950s film actor in westerns, war stories and crime yarns but didn't achieve full-fledged stardom until well past age 50 when he joined the daytime line-up as ornery Texas tycoon Asa Buchanan on the popular...
27. Al Martino
Actor | The Godfather
Al Martino was born on October 7, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part III (1990) and The Godfather Saga (1977). He was previously married to Judith Martino. He died on October 13, 2009 in Springfield, Pennsylvania, USA.
28. Betsy Blair
Actress | Marty
Betsy Blair was born in Cliffside, New Jersey, a child model before finding work as a chorus dancer at the early age of 15. She received her first mini-break on Broadway in "Panama Hattie" in 1940 delivering a single line, but by the next year she had copped the ingénue lead in William Saroyan's "...
29. Paul Burke
Actor | The Thomas Crown Affair
Tall, dark, and handsome is how Hollywood liked their leading men back in the 1950s and 1960s, and actor Paul Burke certainly fit the bill. While his career fell short of outright stardom, he managed to stand out in a couple of acclaimed TV cop series series in the 1960s and "enjoyed" semi-cult ...
30. Gale Storm
Actress | It Happened on Fifth Avenue
The youngest of five children, and born with the drab, unlikely name of Josephine Cottle on April 5, 1922, this pleasantly appealing, Texas-born, auburn-haired beauty was only seventeen months old when her father, William, passed away. The family moved from Bloomington (her home town) to McDade (...
31. Dennis Cole
Actor | Dead End City
A virile, beefcake blond of the late 1960s and 1970s small screen, Dennis Cole certainly had it all going for him, but tragic circumstances prevented an all-out successful career. A rugged TV version of Robert Redford, his tan, chiseled, surfer-fit looks were ideally suited for crime action and ...
32. Rosanna Schiaffino
Actress | La mandragola
Rosanna Schiaffino was born on November 25, 1939 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. She was an actress, known for La mandragola (1965), The Miracle of the Wolves (1961) and The Big Night (1959). She was previously married to Giorgio Enrico Falck and Alfredo Bini. She died on October 17, 2009 in Milan, ...
33. Wendy Richard
Actress | Are You Being Served?
Wendy Richard, was born in Middlesborough to Henry and Beatrice Emmerton who moved to London when she was 5. and there they ran The Shepherds Tavern in Mayfair. Her father commited suicide due to depression when she was 11. She was educated at St Georges School in Mount Street, Mayfair, London and ...
34. Andy Hallett
Actor | Angel
Andy Hallett is from the tiny Cape Cod village of Osterville, part of the town of Barnstable. He attended Barnstable High School and then Assumption College in Worcester. Always shy, he didn't begin singing until Patti LaBelle invited him onstage at a concert. After moving to Los Angeles he worked ...
35. John David Carson
Actor | Pretty Woman
John Franklin Carson was born and raised in Hollywood, California. His father was actor Kit Carson (born Eldridge Franklin Carson), who appeared in many Western films, most notably working with Dale Robertson. His mother, the former Rosemonde James, also had some acting experience, albeit primarily...
36. Frank Aletter
Actor | Tora! Tora! Tora!
For someone who goes only to movie theaters, Frank Aletter is a total stranger. It is true that the actor appeared in no more than a handful of theatrical films (Gerhart in Mister Roberts (1955), a commanding officer in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Leigh Jensen in Private School (1983)...). But for a ...
37. Joseph Wiseman
Actor | Dr. No
Joseph Wiseman was born on May 15, 1918 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He came to Broadway in the 1930s, where he was critically hailed for performances in Shakespeare's "King Lear", Clifford Odets' "Golden Boy" and Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya". Motion pictures in which Wiseman has been seen include ...
38. Arnold Stang
Actor | It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
A show-stopping comic for decades, the inimitable Arnold Stang, with the trademark Runyonesque voice and thick, black glasses, started out famously on radio before branching out to include Broadway, films and especially TV. Born on September 28, 1918, in New York City (for decades he himself ...
39. John Quade
Actor | Every Which Way but Loose
Character actor John Quade was born John William Saunders on April 1, 1938 in Kansas City, Kansas. Quade transferred from Perry Rural High School in Perry, Kansas to Highland Park High School in Topeka, Kansas in 1954. John was a football tackle and participated in both track and basketball at ...
40. Don Galloway
Actor | The Big Chill
Born July 27, 1937 in Brooksville, Kentucky. He was married to Linda Galloway [divorced], the former Linda Robinson, and had two daughters. Their names are Tracy and Jennifer. Married the second time to Linda Marie, he has two stepchildren: Sheila and Robert. He also has one brother. Education, ...
41. Val Avery
Actor | The Magnificent Seven
Val Avery was born on July 14, 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Amityville Horror (1979) and Cobra (1986). He was previously married to Margot Stevenson. He died on December 12, 2009 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City,...
42. Dolores Sutton
Actress | The Trouble with Angels
Dolores Sutton was born in New York, New York on February 4, 1927 as Dolores Lila Silverstein to Benjamin and Mary Silverstein. She died on May 11, 2009. She graduated from NYU with a BA Philosophy, 1948. While working on her Masters in 1949, she wrote a radio script (Siblings), sold it to NBC, and...
43. Sydney Chaplin
Actor | Limelight
In choosing a professional acting career for himself, bon vivant Sydney Chaplin had to deal with the powerful and pervasive shadow of his famous father, the legendary Charles Chaplin, hovering over him every step of the way. While his older brother, actor Charles Chaplin Jr., buckled under the ...
44. Dan O'Bannon
Writer | Alien
Dan O'Bannon was inspired at an early age by EC Comics like Tales from the Crypt and old horror films that he saw in St. Louis. He even wrote a few stories for Heavy Metal magazine (which also showed up in the film).
O'Bannon got his start when he and John Carpenter collaborated on the cult sci-fi ...
45. Edith Diaz
Actress | Sister Act
Edith Diaz was born on October 23, 1949 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. She was an actress, known for Sister Act (1992), Nick of Time (1995) and The Fan (1996). She died on December 19, 2009 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
46. Mollie Sugden
Actress | Are You Being Served?
Best remembered as 'Mrs. Slocombe' on the British comedy "Are You Being Served?" Mollie Sugden was born in Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. She attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Her first television role came in 1962 with the series "Hugh and I," which ran for four...
47. Cheryl Holdridge
Actress | Leave It to Beaver
Cheryl Holdridge was born on June 20, 1944 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was an actress, known for Leave It to Beaver (1957), The Donna Reed Show (1958) and Life with Archie (1962). She was previously married to Manning J. Post, Albert James Skarda and Lance Reventlow. She died on January 6, ...
48. Zena Marshall
Actress | Dr. No
Striking, dark-haired beauty Zena Moyra Marshall was born of French (from her mother's side) and English/Irish (her father's) ancestry in Nairobi, Kenya. After the early death of her father, her mother remarried and moved the family to Leicestershire. Zena received her education from St Mary's ...
49. Joe Maross
Actor | Sometimes a Great Notion
Joe Maross was born on February 7, 1923 in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), The Time Tunnel (1966) and Kraft Theatre (1947). He was previously married to Lucille Rita Everin and Carol Kelly. He died on November 7, 2009 in Glendale, ...
50. Dick Durock
Actor | Stand by Me
Big, brawny, and imposing actor and stuntman Dick Durock was born on January 18, 1937 in South Bend, Indiana. The fourth of five children; he grew up in South Bend, Indiana and New Jersey. After serving a stint in the Marine Corps and briefly working as a computer programmer, Durock went to ...