The sudden death of Michael Jackson last summer became a banquet for media watchers, pundits, blogsters and other assorted jackals. The King of Pop’s bizarre demise grabbed enough headlines to make it the most newsworthy obit of 2009, perhaps of the decade.
entertainment industry deaths for 2009:
Olga San Juan, 81, film actress, 1/3.
Pat Hingle, 84, stage-film-TV actor, 1/3.
Tom O’Horgan, 84, stage director (Hair), 1/9.
Claude Berri, 74, French film writer‐director (Jean de Florette), 1/12.
Patrick McGoohan, 80, Irish actor (The Prisoner), 1/13.
Gordon “Whitey” Mitchell, 76, jazz musician, TV writer‐producer, 1/16.
Susanna Foster, 84, film actress and singer, 1/17.
Charles H. Schneer, 88, film producer (Jason and the Argonauts), 1/21.
Kim Manners, 58, TV producer and director (The XFiles), 1/25.
Clint Ritchie, 70, soap actor (One Life to Live), 1/31.
Jean Martin, 86, French stage-film-TV actor (The Battle of Algiers), 2/2.
Philip Carey, 83, actor (One Life to Live), 2/6.
Shirley Jean Rickert, 82, actress (Our Gang), 2/6.
James Whitmore, 87, Oscar–nominated actor (Give ‘em Hell, Harry), 2/6.
Blossom Dearie, 82, jazz singer and pianist, 2/7.
Hugh Leonard, 82, Irish playwright, screenwriter (Da), 2/12.
Dorothy Bridges, 93, actress, mother of Beau and Jeff Bridges, 2/16.
Howard Zieff, 81, film director (Private Benjamin), 2/22 .
Clarence Swensen, 91, actor (The Wizard of Oz), 2/25.
Wendy Richard, 65, British actress (Are You Being Served?), 2/26.
Sydney Chaplin, 82, stage‐film actor, son of Charlie Chaplin, 3/3.
Horton Foote, 92, playwright and screenwriter, 3/4.
Tullio Pinelli, 100, Italian screenwriter (La Strada, La Dolce Vita), 3/7.
Anna Manahan, 85, Irish stage, film and TV actress, 3/8.
Jack Grimes, 82, radio (Adventures of Superman), TV and film actor, 3/10.
Betsy Blair, 85, Oscar–nominated actress (Marty), 3/13.
Coy Watson Jr., 96, silent film child actor, 3/14.
Altovise Davis, 65, actress and dancer, widow of Sammy Davis Jr., 3/14.
Ron Silver, 62, stage-film-TV actor, 3/15.
Morton Lachman, 90, TV writer and executive producer, 3/17.
Natasha Richardson, 45, British stage-film actress, 3/18.
Glenn Marlin Sundby, 87, gymnast (Spike Jones Show), 3/18.
Marilyn Borden, 76, TV‐nightclub actress‐singer (I Love Lucy), 3/25.
Maurice Jarre, 84, film composer (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago), 3/28.
Jody McCrea, 74, TV‐film actor, son of Joel McCrea, 4/4.
Maxine Cooper Gomberg, 84, ac0
