2003: The Year in Obits

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I, for one, will be delighted to see the doorknob hit 2003 in the ass, for personal reasons. It’s been a busy year in celeb obits, as we have noted time and time again. A few people who made go awwww . . . when I read of their demise this past year:

Maurice Gibb
Richard Crenna
Al Hirschfeld
Bill Mauldin
Nell Carter
Johnny Paycheck
Tom Glazer
Fred Rogers
Elaine Barrie
Horst Buchholz
Karen Morley
Lynne Thigpen
Thora Hird
Michael Jeter
Addie McPhail Arbuckle
Suzy Parker
Wendy Hiller
Pepper LaBeija
Robert Stack
June Carter and Johnny Cash
Sloan Wilson
Kathleen Winsor
Martha Scott
David Brinkley
Gregory Peck
Hume Cronyn
Katharine Hepburn
Buddy Hackett
Barry White
Buddy Ebsen
Elisabeth Welch
Celia Cruz
Bob Hope
Gregory Hines
Jinx Falkenberg
Charles Bronson
Warren Zevon
Larry Hovis
John Ritter and Dorothy Fay Ritter
Gordon Jump
George Plimpton
Donald O’Connor
Elia Kazan
Jack Elam
Fred “Rerun” Berry
Madame Chiang Kai-Shek
Art Carney
Penny Singleton
Dorothy Loudon
Jonathan Brandis
Gertrude Ederle
Jeanne Crain
Hope Lange

. . , and the year ain’t over yet. You can spot some more of your personal favorites here.

2

Benny Carter (Not exactly in the public eye, but still a great loss)

3

Hunh. I somehow managed to miss David Brinkley’s passing. Bummer. That imdb list is depressing as hell.

Not on Eve’s list, and just off the top of my head: Robert Palmer.

4

Senator Paul Simon will be sorely missed in the state of Illinois, at least.

5

And William Roth will be missed in Delaware.

6

Rough year for celebrity deaths. Honestly they usually don’t hit me very hard, but this year I was gobsmacked by Mr. Rogers, Johnny Cash, John Ritter, George Plimpton, Hugh Kenner, and Sam Phillips.

And also, six months ago today, my dog.

7

I’m going to add Neil Postman to the list.

8

From the world of rock and roll:
Eric Brann Guitar player for Iron Butterfly
Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin’ Spoonful
Noel Redding bass player for Jimi Hendrix.

9

And on the auspicious list we have Lani Riefenstahl.

10

Buddy Ebsen Died, When?, I thought he was alive and kicking.

11

July 6. He may have been overlooked in all the Gregory Peck–Katharine Hepburn–Bob Hope hysteria, around the same time.

12

The end of the year “in Memoriam” news stories will be pretty long this year.

13

Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team.

14

Damn. Wendy Hiller died? I’ll have to look up when that was. I loved her as Lady Alice More, in A Man For All Seasons, plus, of course, many other fine roles.