Obituaries

By Rex Reed 1/01 4:00pm

2011 Pre-GRAMMY Gala And Salute To Industry Icons Honoring David Geffen - Show

Cue the Credits: In a Year of Few Memorable Contributions, Many Unforgettable Acts Bowed Out

Before the old man with the beard and scythe surrenders completely and we turn 2013 over to the kid in diapers with his year to grow, let’s pause and raise a glass to the folks we left behind in the year that just ended—not to refresh, but to reflect. I hate good-byes, but from Gore Vidal to Whitney Houston, some memorable people turned their lights out last year, and they deserve a proper send-off.

The world of show business lost Phyllis Diller. One does not exactly “lose” Phyllis Diller, even in a crowd. Although her prickly presence will always be preserved in the archives of comedy, the definition of “hilarious” will have to be altered if we ever hope to laugh in quite the same way again. Self-deprecating housewife-turned-stand-up clown, she said, “I’ve got so many liver spots I come with a side of onions,” and “I was the world’s ugliest baby. When I was born, the doctor slapped everybody.” With her mink eyelashes and foot-long cigarette holder, she was labeled the poor man’s Auntie Mame, but she was as warm-hearted as she was funny. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 9/04/12 8:15am

Obituaries

Michael Clarke Duncan, Green Mile Oscar Nominee, Dies at 54

Michael Clarke Duncan, the massively built actor who brought sensitivity to the character of a death-row inmate in the 1999 film The Green Mile and was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor in the process, has died at 54 of complications from a heart attack. Mr. Duncan, who recently starred in the Fox Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 8/13/12 3:52pm

Obituaries

Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan Editor, Dead at 90

Helen Gurley Brown, who gave single women across America a sense of liberation with her editorship of Cosmopolitan, has died at age 90. Read More

By Drew Grant 8/10/12 10:36am

Obituaries

R.I.P. David Rakoff: 1964-2012

David Rakoff, an “East Asian Studies Major Who Has Forgotten Most of His Japanese” and one of New York’s finest essayists, passed away Thursday evening following a long battle with cancer. He was 47. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 8/07/12 11:36am

Obituaries

Marvin Hamlisch Dies at 68: Composer of The Sting and A Chorus Line

The composer Marvin Hamlisch, one of very few people to have won the Tony, Grammy, Oscar, and Emmy, has died at 68. Hamlisch’s career achievements included writing the score for A Chorus Line, at that time the longest-running Broadway musical of all time and one that received the Tony and the Pulitzer.

His other stage work Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 6/20/12 1:01pm

Obituaries

Andrew Sarris, Longtime Observer Film Critic, Dies at 83

Andrew Sarris, the man who brought auteur theory to American shores and who ably reviewed films for The Observer, has died at 83, the Times reports. Mr. Sarris’s passion for film bled into his prose at The Observer years after he’d already become one of America’s most prominent champions of innovative directors at The Village Voice. To the end of his writing career here, Mr. Sarris sang the praises of directors like Bunuel, rather than focusing solely on Oscar bait or big-budget fiascos. Read More

By Drew Grant 6/13/12 11:33am

Obituaries

Video

Henry Hill's FBI mugshot in 1980 (Wikipedia)

R.I.P. Henry Hill, The OG Goodfella

Henry Hill, whom Martin Scorsese based the protagonist in his 1990 crime film Goodfellas on, died Tuesday after battling alcoholism and a prolonged illness. He was 69. Read More

By Drew Grant 5/17/12 3:08pm

Obituaries

R.I.P. Donna Summer: Songs In Memoriam

As if the tragic passing of Mary Kennedy wasn’t enough bad news for one day, this morning we were greeted with the news of the passing of our favorite disco singer, Donna Summer.

Ms. Summer, whose classics included “Last Dance,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” “On the Radio,” and “Love To Love You Baby” had spent her last days living in Florida. Though no official cause of death has been announced, the five-time Grammy winner had been battling with lung cancer for the past 10 years. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 5/17/12 12:09pm

Obituaries

Donna Summer performing in 2011. (Getty Images)

Donna Summer, Queen of Disco, Dead at 63

Donna Summer, a singer who rose to fame on the disco craze of the 1980s, has reportedly died of cancer at 63. Ms. Summer’s breakthrough hit in the U.S., “Love to Love You Baby,” was an over-15-minute-long club smash, featuring the singer’s then-scandalous moans. Other hits included club favorites like “Last Dance” and Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 5/09/12 4:19pm

Obituaries

Vidal Sassoon Dies at 84

Famed hairstylist Vidal Sassoon has died at 84 after an illness. Mr. Sassoon, the subject of a 2010 documentary, grew up in poverty in London and came to prominence as the engineer of geometric, shiny cuts and for his licensing his name to a line of shampoos. If you didn’t look good, the slogan went, Read More

The New York Observer

Cue the Credits: In a Year of Few Memorable Contributions, Many Unforgettable Acts Bowed Out

Michael Clarke Duncan, Green Mile Oscar Nominee, Dies at 54

Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan Editor, Dead at 90

R.I.P. David Rakoff: 1964-2012

Marvin Hamlisch Dies at 68: Composer of The Sting and A Chorus Line

Andrew Sarris, Longtime Observer Film Critic, Dies at 83

R.I.P. Henry Hill, The OG Goodfella

R.I.P. Donna Summer: Songs In Memoriam

Donna Summer, Queen of Disco, Dead at 63

Vidal Sassoon Dies at 84

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