deaths

Richard de Angelis died of congestive heart failure on December 28th at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was also suffering from prostate cancer.

De Angelis played Baltimore police Col. Raymond Foerster on 13 episodes of HBO's The Wire. He also had roles in Homicide: The Movie, and the John Waters films A Dirty Shame, and Cecil B. Demented. Before he was an actor, he was a comedian who went by the name of Ricky Roach. Before that, he was an accountant who quit his job and went to acting school at the age of 38.

Looks like we need to add another one to Jonathan's list from earlier this week. Known primarily for his role as Blue in the recent comedy movie "Old School", Patrick Cranshaw has passed away at the ripe age of 86. Besides appearing in several other movies, Cranshaw also made recurring appearances in the television shows Alice, Mork & Mindy, The Ted Knight Show and Dukes of Hazzard. No obituary of Cranshaw's is complete without the phrase: "You're my boy, Blue!"

(Part 4 of 5)

It happens every year, and you hate to be the one who ends up writing about it (especially me because I'm a big cry-baby), but it's the right thing to do when it comes time to pay your respects to those we've lost over the last 365 days. So grab a box of tissues and join me along with the rest of my fellow TV Squadders as we remember some of the great actors, comedians, news anchors, producers, writers, and other television personalities who've moved on to what we can only hope is a better place.