In 2021, we said goodbye to stars of stage and screens big and small, with luminaries like groundbreaking actress Cicely Tyson, Emmy winning Lou Grant star Ed Asner, and legendary broadcaster Larry King. Here’s a look back at those we lost: 

January

January 23 — Larry King, 87 – Emmy-winning journalist; Hal Holbrook, 95 – Stage and screen actor, Wall Street

January 27 — Cloris Leachman, 94 – Actress, Young Frankenstein, The Mary Tyler Moore Show 

January 28 — Cicely Tyson, 96 – Actress, Sounder, The Help

 

February

February 1 — Dustin Diamond, 44 – Actor and comic, Saved by the Bell

February 5 — Christopher Plummer, 91 – Actor, The Sound of Music, Knives Out

February 8 — Mary Wilson, 76 – Supremes singer

February 17 — Rush Limbaugh, 70 – Firebrand conservative broadcaster

 

March

March 23 — George Segal, 87 – Actor, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Just Shoot Me!, The Goldbergs

March 24 — Jessica Walter, 80 – Actress, Play Misty for Me, Arrested Development, Archer

 

April

April 9 — Prince Phillip, 99 – Husband of Queen Elizabeth II; DMX, 50 – rapper, actor

April 11 — Joseph Siravo, 64 – Actor, Sopranos co-star

April 16 — Helen McCrory, 52 – Actress, Peaky Blinders, Harry Potter films; Felix Silla, 84 – Cousin Itt on TV’s original The Addams Family
 

May

May 1 — Olympia Dukakis, 89 – Moonstruck actress

May 7 — Tawny Kitaen, 59 – actress, Whitesnake music video icon

May 18 — Charles Grodin, 86 – actor, Midnight Run, Heaven Can Wait, talk show host

May 19 — Paul Mooney, 79 – Legendary writer and comedian, Chappelle’s Show star

May 24 — Samuel E. Wright, 74 – Stage and screen actor; voice of Sebastian in The Little Mermaid

May 26 — Kevin Clark, 32 –  Freddy Jones in 2003’s School of Rock

May 29 — Gavin MacLeod, 90 – Actor, The Love Boat; BJ Thomas, 78 – singer

 

June

June 6 — Clarence Williams III, 81 – Actor, The Mod Squad, Tales from the Hood

June 13 — Ned Beatty, 83 — actor, Back to School, Deliverance, 1978’s Superman, TV’s Homicide: Life on the Street

 

July

July 5 — Richard Donner, 91 – Superman, Scrooged, Lethal Weapon series director

July 7 — Robert Downey Sr., 85 – filmmaker dad of Robert Downey, Jr.

July 16 — Biz Markie, 57 – “Just a Friend” rapper and Men in Black II actor

July 24 — Jackie Mason, 93 – Emmy- and Tony-winning comedian

 

August

August 7 — Markie Post, 70 – Actress, Night Court, Hearts Afire

August 12 — Una Stubbs, 84 – Actress, Sherlock‘s Mrs. Hudson

August 28 — Matthew Mindler, 19 – My Idiot Brother co-star

August 24 — Charlie Watts, 80 – Rolling Stones drummer

August 29 — Ed Asner, 91 – Actor, Lou Grant, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Elf, Up

 

September 

September 1 — Gregg Leakes, 66 – husband of Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes

September 4 — Willard Scott, 87 – Today weatherman

September 6 — Michael K. Williams, 54 – Actor, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Lovecraft Country

September 8 — Michael Constantine, 94 – Actor, Room 222, My Big Fat Greek Wedding

September 14 — Norm Macdonald, 61 – SNL cast member, stand-up comic

September 15 — Gavan O’Herlihy, 70 – Actor, Happy Days, Willow

 

October

October 4 — Alan Kalter, 78 – Former Late Show with David Letterman announcer

October 10 — Ruthie Tompson, 101 – veteran Disney animator

October 18 — William Lucking, 80 — Actor, Sons of Anarchy

October 22 — Peter Scolari, 66 – Bosom Buddies, Newhart

October 21 — Halyna Hutchins, 41 – cinematographer fatally shot by Alec Baldwin on Rust set; Willie Garson, 57 – actor, Sex and the City, …And Just Like That

October 24 — James Michael Tyler, 59 – Actor, Gunther on Friends

 

November 

November 6 — Peter Aykroyd, 66 – SNL writer, brother of Dan

November 17 — Art LaFleur, 78 – Actor, Field of Dreams

November 26 — Stephen Sondheim, 91 – Lyricist and composer, Broadway icon

November 27 — Eddie Mekka, 69 – Actor, Laverne and Shirley

November 28 — Virgil Abloh, 41 – Louis Vuitton designer

 

December

December 10 — Michael Nesmith, 78 – Musician, The Monkees

December 23 — Joan Didion, 87 – Author, The Year of Magical Thinking

December 25/26 — Jean-Marc Vallée, 58 – Director, Dallas Buyers Club, Big Little Lies