In Passing 2015: MovieFanFare Remembers

2015-HOLLYWOOD-DEATHS

The feisty red-headed star of Miracle on 34th Street and The Quiet Man; the terrifying menace of countless Hammer horror films; the exotic leading man who roamed the Arabian desert and the Russian steppes; and TV’s most famous alien. As the book closes on 2015, we at MovieFanFare would like to take a moment to look back on and pay tribute to the notable men and women–actors, directors, writers and more–who passed away during the past year:

 

 

3000Belgian director Chantal Akerman (A Couch in New York), 65.

 

 

 

01-00185645000007Italian-born actress Laura Antonelli, sexy star of L’Innocente and Wifemistress, 95.

 

T1060789_05Film and TV actor James Best (Ride Lonesome, TV’s The Dukes of Hazzard), 88.

 

 

 

 

 

The-Russians-are-coming!-The-Russians-are-coming!Oscar- and Tony-nominated actor Theodore Bikel (The Defiant Ones, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming), 91.

 

jackie-collins-books-2015Best-selling author Jackie Collins (The Bitch, Hollywood Wives), 77.

 

 

 

 

movie-hero_832fcef2213af_chromecastFormer Disney child star Kevin Corcoran (The Shaggy Dog, Toby Tyler), 66.

 

CRAIG, YVONNEDancer-turned-actress Yvonne Craig, best known as TV’s Batgirl, 78.

 

maxresdefaultFilm director Wes Craven, the man behind the Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream franchises, 76.

 

DE OLIVERIA, MANOELPortuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, whose remarkable career began in 1930 and continued well past his 100th birthday, 106.

 

T8DBEHI EC005Actress Donna Douglas (Frankie and Johnny, TV’s The Beverly Hillbillies), 82.

 

 

 

 

605156dActress Betsy Drake, whose brief resumé included two films opposite then-husband Cary Grant, 92.

 

NUP_104384_0033Emmy-winning actor Richard Dysart (Being There, TV’s L.A. Law), 86.

 

 

 

LA DOLCE VITASwedish screen siren Anita Ekberg (4 for Texas, La Dolce Vita), 83.

 

Freberg_Stan_004.jpgWriter/ad man/Looney Tunes cartoon voice actor Stan Freberg, 88.

 

1DD8A00BFilm producer Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., founder of the eponymous indie studio, 88.

 

 

 

 

 

coleen_grayActress Coleen Gray (Nightmare Alley, The Killing), 92.

 

 

GUILLERMIN, JOHNJohn Guillermin, director of such actioners as The Towering Inferno and 1976’s King Kong, 89.

 

TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACREHorror actor Gunnar Hansen, best known as Leatherface in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 68.

 

HORNER, JAMES 2Oscar-winning film composer James Horner (Braveheart, Titanic), 61.

 

JAFFREY, SAEEDIndian-born character actor Saeed Jaffrey (The Man Who Would Be King, A Passage to India), 86.

 

 

 

JONES, DEAN 3Dean Jones, star of such live-action ’60s/’70s Disney comedies as The Love Bug and That Darn Cat, 84.

 

15103-16103_mainSuave leading man Louis Jourdan (Gigi, Swamp Thing, Three Coins in the Fountain), 93.

 

LARSON, JACKActor Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen on TV’s The Adventures of Superman), 87.

 

 

 

 

 

Christopher Lee in DraculaIconic screen villain Christopher Lee, who played Dracula and Sherlock Holmes and appeared in the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings films, 93.

 

Annex%20-%20Leslie,%20Joan_05XLActress Joan Leslie (High Sierra, Yankee Doodle Dandy), 90.

 

AVENGERS TVActor Patrick Macnee, the always-dapper secret agent John Steed of TV’s The Avengers, 93.

 

MATHISON, MELISSAScreenwriter Melissa Mathison (The Black Stallion, E.T. the Extraterrestrial), 65.

 

 

MAYSLES, ALBERT 3Documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, whose works with his brother David included Grey Gardens and Salesman, 88.

 

MEADOWS, JAYNEJayne Meadows, TV/film actress (Enchantment) and wife of Steve Allen, 95.

 

 

Anne Meara Comedienne/actress Anne Meara (Fame), wife of Jerry Stiller and mother of Ben Stiller, 85.

 

 

 

 

MILNER, MARTINActor Martin Milner (Life with Father, TV’s Route 66 and Adam 12), 83.

 

20552_0603TV Actor Al Molinaro (Happy Days, The Odd Couple), 96.

 

 

 

 

 

1619084aActor Ron Moody, an Oscar nominee for his performance as Fagin in 1968’s Oliver!, 91.

 

 

Dickie Moore Ex-child star Dickie Moore, an Our Gang alumnus who gave Shirley Temple her first screen kiss in Miss Annie Rooney, 89.

 

 

 

NIMOY, LEONARD 3Leonard Nimoy, who went from playing Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek to directing such hit films as Three Men and a Baby, 83.

 

Maureen O'HaraIrish-born leading lady Maureen O’Hara, who was rescued by Charles Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and spanked by John Wayne in McLintock!, 95.
PALMER, BETSYFilm/TV actress Betsy Palmer (Queen Bee), who gained new fame in the 1980s as Jason Voorhees’ mother in Friday the 13th, 88.

 

5371033452_568686eacf_bEnglish actress Nova Pilbeam, who co-starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and Young and Innocent, 95.

 

 

 

PIPER, RODDYQuintessential pro wrestling heel-turned-action film star “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (They Live), 61.

 

ROCCO, ALEXEmmy-winning actor Alex Rocco, best known as Moe Greene in The Godfather, 79.

 

 

 

SCOTT, LIZABETH 3Film noir femme fatale Lizabeth Scott (Dead Reckoning, Pitfall, Too Late for Tears), 92.

 

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 2Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif, whose played the title role in Doctor Zhivago and co-starred in Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia, 83.

 

 

STARR, BLAZEStriptease legend and occasional actress Blaze Starr, subject of the 1989 Paul Newman film Blaze, 83.

 

 

 

 

TIME MACHINE 1960 3Actor Rod Taylor, Australian-born star of The Time Machine and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, 84.

 

f21e4201a1eed2df66c113ef81efb6c8Actor (TV’s Law and Order) and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, 73.

 

 

UGGIEUggie, the lovable Jack Russell Terrier from the Oscar-winning film The Artist, 13.

 

 

 

VAN PATTEN, DICKTV and film actor Dick Van Patten, who played memorable fathers in Eight Is Enough and Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs, 86.

 

tumblr_nln6lh2T3L1thr7ppo1_500Actor Gregory Walcott, forever famous as the hero in Ed Wood’s 1959 cult classic Plan 9 from Outer Space, 87.

 

WEINTRAUB, JERRYProducer Jerry Weintraub (Nashville, both versions of The Karate Kid, 2001’s Ocean’s 11), 77.

 

 

haskell wexlerOscar-winning cinematographer (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Bound for Glory) and director Haskell Wexler, 93.

 

 

WILSON, ELIZABETHTony-winning stage/TV/film actress Elizabeth Wilson (The Graduate, 9 to 5), 94.

 

 

 

 

WOODLAWN, HOLLYWarhol Factory superstar and transgender actress Holly Woodlawn (Trash, TV’s Transparent), 69.

 

1559419_583628975048964_1817057643_oLantern-jawed screen heavy and direct-to-video icon Robert Z’Dar (Samurai Cop), 64.

 

Click on their names here to read our full-length tributes to Theodore Bikel, Wes Craven, Anita Ekberg, Dean Jones, Louis Jourdan, Christopher Lee, Leonard Nimoy, Maureen O’Hara, Betsy Palmer, Lizabeth Scott, Omar Sharif and Rod Taylor. Please feel free to share your memories of the above people–or recall any 2015 Hollywood deaths we may have overlooked–in the comments below.