Tuesday, December 27, 2016

2016 - You Suck

On so many levels, this was not a good year.  I know that I don't have to tell you all that.  But with the announcement of the death of Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher, today, December 27, this was a year that sucked, truly.  Let's hope that they didn't know something we didn't about 2017.

Here's a list of deaths that significantly impacted me over the past year.  Unfortunately, this list is by no means comprehensive.

Literature:
  • Harper Lee, 89 (February)
  • Edward Albee, 88 (September)
  • W. P. Kinsella, 81 (September) - author of the story that became Field of Dreams
Television:
  • Beth Howland, 74 (December 2015) - Vera from Alice
  • Wayne Rogers, 82 (December 2015) - Trapper John McIntyre from MASH
  • Pat Harrington, 86 (January) - Schneider from One Day at a Time
  • Dan Haggerty, 74 (January) - Grizzly Adams 
  • Abe Vigoda, 94 (January) - Detective Fish from Barney Miller 
  • Larry Drake, 66 (March) - Benny from LA Law
  • James Noble, 94 (March) - the Governor from Benson, but for me he's the Rev. John Witherspoon from 1776
  • Patty Duke, 69 (March)
  • Garry Shandling, 66 (March)
  • Doris Roberts, 90 (April) - the matriarch from Everybody Loves Raymond
  • Morley Safer, 84 (May) - 60 Minutes legend
  • Garry Marshall, 81 (July)
  • Florence Henderson, 82 (November) - Mrs. Brady helped raise me.
  • Ron Glass, 71 (November) - from Barney Miller
  • Grant Tinker, 90 (November) - Mr. Mary Tyler Moore
  • Alan Thicke, 69 (December)
Movies:
  • Alan Rickman, 69 (January) - for me, he's always Hans
  • David Margulies, 78 (January) - the Mayor in Ghostbusters
  • George Kennedy, 88 (February)
  • Anton Yelchin, 27 (June) - the new Chekov from the Star Trek reboot
  • Gene Wilder, 83 (August) - the one and only Willy Wonka
  • Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99 (December)
  • Robert Vaughn, 83 (November) - I've listed him under movies for his role in The Towering Inferno (he dies in that one, too)
  • Bernard Fox, 89 (December) - you know him from a lot of TV and movies.  I just saw him the other night on Big Jake, one of my favorite John Wayne films
  • Carrie Fisher, 60 (December)
Music:
  • Natalie Cole, 65 (December 2015)
  • David Bowie, 69 (January)
  • Glenn Frey, 67 (January)
  • Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72 (March)
  • Merle Haggard, 79 (April)
  • Prince, 57 (April)
  • Kay Starr, 94 (November) - legendary jazz singer
  • Leonard Cohen, 82 (November)
  • George Michael, 53 (December)
Sports:
  • Meadowlark Lemon, 83 (December 2015) - star of the Harlem Globetrotters
  • Andy Bathgate, 83 (February) - legendary New York Ranger
  • Muhammad Ali, 74 (June)
  • Joe Garagiola, 74 (March)
  • Gordie Howe, 88 (June) - Mr. Hockey
  • Pat Summitt, 64 (June)
  • Arnold Palmer, 87 (September) - Mr. Golf
  • Ralph Branca, 90 (November) - Brooklyn Dodgers player
  • Craig Sager, 65 (December) - sports announcer
Politics:
  • Boutros-Boutros-Ghali, 81 (February) - former United Nations Secretary General
  • Nancy Reagan, 94 (March)
  • Elie Wiesel, 87 (July)
  • John McLaughlin, 89 (August) - founder of the McLaughlin Group
  • Phyllis Schlafly, 92 (September)
  • Shimon Peres, 93 (September)
  • Tom Hayden, 76 (October) - among other things, he was married to Jane Fonda
  • Janet Reno, 78 (November)
  • Gwen Ifill, 61 (November)
  • Fidel Castro, 90 (November) - finally
  • John Glenn, 95 (December)
Other:
  • American Democracy, 226 (November)

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