tv deaths

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Dody Goodman: She was a comic and character actress who appeared on several TV shows, including Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Tonight Show, St. Elsewhere, Diff'rent Strokes, Murder, She Wrote, The Phil Silvers Show, Punky Brewster, Alvin & The Chipmunks, and The Love Boat, and was in movies such as Grease and Splash. She died at age 92.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Cyd Charisse: Though she is known best for her work with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in many classic movies, including Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Ziegfield Follies, and Words and Music, she also appeared on many TV shows, including Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, The Fall Guy, Medical Center, Burke's Law, Checkmate, and Arthur Godfrey and Friends, as well as a voice role on an episode of Frasier. She died of a heart attack at age 86.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Charlie Jones: He was a veteran sports announcer, best known for announcing football games on ABC and NBC from 1960 to 1998. He also worked on the Olympics, soccer matches, college football, tennis, figure skating, and other sports. He died of a heart attack in La Jolla, CA at age 77.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Bob Anderson: He was probably best known as playing the young George Bailey in the classic movie It's A Wonderful Life, with the famous scene of Bailey getting boxed in the ear by a drunk pharmacist (the actor really did bloody his ear during rehearsals). Anderson had roles in other movies, including A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Place in the Sun, and The Bishop's Wife, and had a role in the 50s TV series The Adventures of Spin and Marty. After leaving acting he went on to be a production manager for several movies, including Passenger 57, The Omen IV, Demolition Man, Bonfire of the Vanities, and the TV show The Time Tunnel. Anderson died of cancer at age 75.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Mel Ferrer: He was best known for his movie work (including such films as The Sun Also Rises, War & Peace, and Lilli) but he was also a regular on the CBS series Falcon Crest. He also appeared on Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, Christine Cromwell, Hotel, Dallas, Return of the Saint, Hawaii Five-O, Baretta, the miniseries How The West Was Won, and many others. He also directed and produced many films and was married to Audrey Hepburn from 1954 to 1968. He died near Carpinteria, CA at age 90.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Robert H. Justman: He was a producer on the original Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other shows that Justman produced include Mission Impossible, The Adventures of Superman, Search, MacGruder and Loud, and Then Came Bronson. He was also a production manager on the original Outer Limits. He died of Parkinson's Disease at age 81. (Oddly, this is the third Star Trek veteran to die in the past few weeks.)

This seems to be a very active week for celebrity deaths, and it's sad to report that Carol Burnett Show veteran Harvey Korman has died at age 81. He died of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at his UCLA Medical Center.

Besides The Carol Burnett Show, where Korman teamed for a ton of great sketches with Tim Conway (often cracking each other up), Korman appeared in many other shows since the early 60s, including ER, Ellen, Perry Mason, Route 66, The Red Skelton Show, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, Jack Benny, Gidget, The Lucy Show, The Munsters, The Wild, Wild West, F Troop, and many others. He was a regular on the sitcom Mama's Family and did the voice of The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones. Movies that Korman appeared in include History of the World, Part 1, High Anxiety, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Blazing Saddles, Son of Flubber, Gypsy, and others.

Do you ever get the feeling that all of the great classic stars and performers are dying and it's going to be a very different world in a couple of years? Rather depressing.

It's not often that two people are so connected in these TV obituary roundup posts I do every week or so, but these two people are worth mentioning in the same post.

Alexander Courage, who composed the theme song for the original Star Trek series, died on May 15 at age 88. He also did music for episodes of many other series, including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Waltons, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, The Loner, Eight is Enough, Daniel Boone, Riverboat, and many others. He was also an orchestrator on several movies, including L.A. Confidential, The Haunting, The Mummy, First Knight, The Shadow, Rudy, Malice, Hook, Sleeping with the Enemy, The Poseidon Adventure, Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, and a ton of others.

But Courage wasn't the only Star Trek figure to pass away that week...

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Warren Cowan: He was a veteran publicist who had an incredible list of clients over the years, including Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Tony Curtis, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, and Joan Crawford. He was the father of journalist Claudia Cowan and stepfather to Melissa and Sara Gilbert. He died of cancer in Los Angeles at age 87.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• John Phillip Law: He was a veteran actor best known for such films as Barbarella, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Cassandra Crossing, Tarzan The Ape Man, and Hurry Sundown. He appeared in many TV shows over the years, including The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, It's A Living, and The Young and the Restless. He died in Los Angeles at age 70.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Eddy Arnold: The legendary country singer was best known for classic songs such as "Make The World Go Away." He also hosted his own TV show in the early 50s called The Eddy Arnold Show and guest starred on many shows, including The Milton Berle Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Tonight Show, and many others. His songs have been used on many TV shows and films, including How I Met Your Mother, Bad Santa, Nurse Betty, Private Parts, and Groundhog Day. He died in Nashville at age 89.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Jim Hager: The comedian/musician was one of the Hager Twins from the TV show Hee Haw. He appeared in other TV shows as well, including The Bionic Woman, and received a TV Land Award last year for his work on Hee Haw. He died after collapsing in a Nashville coffee shop. He was 66.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Don Gillis: He was well-known to New England TV viewers and sports fans as a longtime sports anchor (in fact, the first in Boston) on WCVB and WHDH. He also hosted a long-running bowling show and did play by play for all of the Boston sports teams. He died at age 85.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Hazel Court: She was the actress known as the "Scream Queen." Besides appearing in such classic horror flicks as The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, and The Curse of Frankenstein, she also did a lot of TV, including episodes of The Twilight Zone, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Burke's Law, The Wild, Wild West, Gidget, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Rawhide, McMillan & Wife, and many other shows. She died of a heart attack at age 82.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Iris Burton: She was a veteran Hollywood agent (and former Broadway/movie dancer) who represented such child stars as River and Joaquin Phoenix, Kirk and Candace Cameron, and Adam Rich. She died of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's. She was 77.