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 "You get one last chance in your death to remind people not
only of who you were, but what you did and why it was
important," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture
at Syracuse University.
Among political figures was Mario Cuomo, a three-term governor
of New York who turned down several invitations to see the
Democratic presidential nomination. He died just as the year
began, at the age of 82, on the day his son, New York State
Governor Andrew Cuomo, delivered his second inaugural address.
Oliver Sacks, a British-born neurologist who spent his
professional life in the United States studying the brain, died
in New York of cancer at age 82. Sacks was known for writing
bizarre case histories about his patients in his 1985 book "The
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat."
David Carr, a longtime New York Times journalist, collapsed in
the newspaper's newsroom and died from complications related to
lung cancer at age 58. Carr, celebrated for his coverage of
media and culture, had chronicled his struggle with cocaine
addiction in his memoir.
Figures from the arts and entertainment world included Jackie
Collins, best-selling author of dozens of steamy novels about
Hollywood, who died in September of breast cancer at the age of
77.
Actor Leonard Nimoy, best known for playing Mr. Spock in the
Star Trek television series and movies, died at age 83 after
battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Sam Simon, a co-creator of the long-running animated series "The
Simpsons" died in March of colon cancer at the age of 59, three
years after his doctors had given him three to six months to
live. He spent much of his final years supporting animal-related
causes.
James Horner, who composed the theme song "My Heart Will Go On"
from the Oscar-winning 1997 film "The Titanic," died when his
plane crashed in California's Los Padres National Forest near
Ventucopa. The composer was 61.
Director and writer Wes Craven, creator of fictional horror
figures like nightmare killer Freddy Krueger and the
ghost-masked slashers of the Scream movie series, died at his
Los Angeles home at age 76 of brain cancer.
Robert Loggia, 85, known to play the bad guy in films such as "Scarface,"
and Irish-American actress Maureen O'Hara, 95, who commonly took
the role of heroine in classic films, were among the other
notable screen stars to die.
[to top of second column] |
B.B KING PLAYS HIS LAST BLUE NOTE
Among losses to the music world, blues singer and guitarist B.B.
King died in Las Vegas at age 89 after a career spanning more than a
half-century that was considered to be one of the most influential
of his genre.
Just weeks before the New Year, Scott Weiland, 48, known for his
stark lyrics and deep, powerful voice as lead singer of Stone Temple
Pilots, was found dead of cardiac arrest on his tour bus in
Minnesota. Weiland had long struggled with drug addiction.
Addiction also affected the life of Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter
of late songstress Whitney Houston and rapper Bobby Brown. Brown,
22, was found unresponsive in a hotel bathroom, declared brain dead
and later taken off life support, three years after Houston also
died after being found submerged in a hotel bathroom with cocaine in
her system.
Several professional sports figures died after celebrated careers
and long lives.
Among them was legendary Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who died at age
90, after winning a record 10 World Series in his career.
Professional football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, running back for
the New York Giants, died of natural causes a week before his 85th
birthday. Gifford's family said he had suffered from the
degenerative brain disease CTE, and donated his brain to scientific
research on the link between football and traumatic brain injury.
In a league of her own, topless dancer Carol Doda died from kidney
disease at age 78 in San Francisco, where she had made her name
while performing from the 1960s to the 1980s at the Condor Club,
which called itself the world's first fully nude club.
Finally, it was a last woof for Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier, who
appeared in the Oscar-winning silent movie "The Artist" and was the
first canine to have his paw prints cemented outside of Grauman's
Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Uggie died aged 13
(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Scott Malone and Frances
Kerry)
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