Reel Reporting: Stars who died in 2023: Part 5

The 45 King

Mark Howard James, the hip-hop producer and DJ better known as the 45 King, died Oct. 19, at 62. He first rose to prominence for his 1987 song "The 900 Number" and earned further acclaim for producing portions of All Hail the Queen, the debut album from Queen Latifah, who was part of the producer's crew the Flavor Unit. Later, James produced hits including Eminem's "Stan" and Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (The Ghetto Anthem)," and also remixed songs like Madonna's "Keep It Together" and DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat."

Dwight Twilley

Dwight Twilley, the power pop singer and songwriter known for songs including "I'm on Fire" and "Girls," died Oct. 18, at 72. A Tulsa native, Twilley was inspired to go after a career in music after watching the Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. He formed the group Oister with Phil Seymour in the late 1960s, and they eventually changed their name to the Dwight Twilley Band. They scored a top-20 hit with "I'm on Fire" in 1975, after which Seymour and Twilley would eventually go on to pursue solo success. Twilley had another hit with "Girls" in 1984 and would release more than two dozen albums over the course of his career.

Joanna Merlin

Joanna Merlin, the actress who originated the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, died in Los Angeles on Oct. 15, at 92. A cause of death was not immediately released. Merlin's screen debut came in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 hit The Ten Commandments, which remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. After playing the eldest daughter Tzeitel in Fiddler, Merlin became a casting director, working on Stephen Sondheim's projects like Company, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, and Into the Woods, as well as other shows like Evita and movies like The Last Emperor. Merlin also portrayed Judge Lena Petrovsky in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and acted in movies like All That Jazz, Fame, Mystic Pizza, and City of Angels. A former student of Michael Chekhov, the actress joined the faculty at NYU Tisch's graduate acting program in 1998, and founded the Michael Chekhov Association the following year, teaching acting workshops. She is survived by her two children.

Suzanne Somers

Suzanne Somers, actress, author, singer, and businesswoman best known for her roles in Three's Company and Step by Step, died Oct. 15. She was one day shy of her 77th birthday. Somers was born on Oct. 16, 1946, and began acting in the late '60s and early '70s. Her big break came in 1977 when she landed the role of Chrissy Snow on the ABC sitcom Three's Company. She earned a People's Choice Award for the role, as well as a Golden Globe nomination. After Three's Company, Somers appeared in Playboy and became the spokesperson for the Thighmaster. She made a major return to TV in 1991 when she landed a role on Step by Step, part of ABC's TGIF lineup. Over the years, she also authored a number of books, including two autobiographies and many more on health and beauty. She also wrote about her experience with breast cancer after being diagnosed in 2000. Somers survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years.

Piper Laurie

Piper Laurie, the Oscar-nominated actress best known for her roles in Carrie and Twin Peaks, died on Oct. 14 at the age of 91. Born Rosetta Jacobs, the actress made her acting debut in the Ronald Reagan–fronted comedy Louisa in 1950. After finding onscreen success, she moved to New York City to explore work in television and theater, but was drawn back to Hollywood by an offer to star in the 1961 drama The Hustler, for which she earned her first Oscar nomination. She wouldn't return to the silver screen until more than a decade later for her terrifying performance as Margaret White, the domineering religious fanatic mother of young Carrie (Sissy Spacek), in the 1976 horror film Carrie, based on Stephen King's novel. Laurie received her second Oscar nomination for the role and later earned her third Oscar nomination for her performance in the 1986 drama Children of a Lesser God. That same year, she won an Emmy for the television film Promise. Alongside Carrie, Laurie is beloved for her performance as Catherine Martell in David Lynch's cult-classic television series Twin Peaks, for which she won a Golden Globe in 1991. She made her final onscreen performance as a grandmother in the Matthew McConaughey–led film White Boy Rick in 2018.

Louise Glück

Louise Gluck — Louise Glück. ROBIN MARCHANT/GETTY IMAGES

Louise Glück, the Nobel Prize-winning poet and essayist behind the critically acclaimed poetry collections The Triumph of Achilles and The Wild Iris, died Oct. 13, at 80. Born and raised in New York, Glück began writing poems at a young age and, after graduating high school, furthered her skills by attending various poetry workshops at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University. After finding success publishing her writing in outlets including The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly, Glück released her first collection, Firstborn, in 1968. Over the next 50 years, she would go on to publish 14 more volumes of poetry and receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020. Her final collection, Winter Recipe from the Collective, was released 2021. In addition to her writing career, Glück served as an educator at multiple universities, including Yale and Stanford University, and on the board of directors at the New England Culinary Institute.

Lara Parker

Lara Parker, the actress best known for her role as the witch Angelique on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, died Oct. 12 at the age of 84. Born Mary Lamar Rickey, Parker's first acting gig was as the vengeful Angelique on Dan Curtis' ABC soap, centered on Jonathan Frid's vampire Barnabas Collins. The series ran for five seasons, between 1966 and 1971. She also appeared in episodes of One Life to Live, The Rockford Files, S.W.A.T., Emergency!, Kojak, and The Fall Guy. On the big screen, she starred in Save the Tiger, Race With the Devil, The Lazarus Syndrome, and Hi, Mom!, the latter of which starred a young Robert De Niro. Parker also reprised her role as Angelique in the panned Night of Dark Shadows and cameoed alongside Frid and Scott in Tim Burton's 2012 Dark Shadows film adaptation starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. She also authored four Dark Shadows novels: Angelique's Descent, The Salem Branch, Wolf Moon Rising, and Heiress of Collinwood.

Phyllis Coates

Phyllis Coates, the first actress to play Lois Lane on television, died on Oct. 11 at the age of 96 of natural causes. Born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell, Coates began her 50-year career in Hollywood on the 1946 television show Faraway Hill. She made her first appearance as quick-witted reporter Lois Lane opposite George Reeves' Clark Kent in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men, which was such a success that it prompted the creation of the 1952 television series Adventures of Superman. Coates, alongside Reeves, reprised her role for the series but departed after a single season. She went on to star in several films such as 1955's Panther Girl of the Kongo and 1957's I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and on television in episodes of The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Leave It to Beaver, Rawhide, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, and more. Coates would not return to the superhero world until more than 40 years later, when she made a spotlight appearance as Ellen Lane, Lois' mom, in the 1994 series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Mark Goddard

Mark Goddard, the actor known for his role as the brusque pilot Maj. Don West on the 1960s sci-fi show Lost in Space, died Oct. 10, at 87. Born Charles Harvey Goddard, he began his TV career in the late 1950s with roles on Johnny Ringo and The Detectives. His most notable part came in 1965, on Lost in Space, which centered on a family's attempts to return to Earth after their interstellar voyage was sabotaged. Goddard's television credits included Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Bill Dana Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones, The Fall Guy, General Hospital, and One Life to Live. He also appeared in such films as The Monkey's Uncle, A Rage to Live, The Love-Ins, Blue Sunshine, and Overnight Sensation.

Jeff Burr

Jeff Burr, the director whose credits included the 1990 horror sequel Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, died Oct. 10, at 60. Burr worked with the legendary Vincent Price on the 1987 horror anthology From a Whisper to a Scream and then spent most of his career terrifying audiences with movies like 1989's Stepfather II, 1993's Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, and several installments of the Puppet Master franchise. The filmmaker was best known in the horror community for directing the Viggo Mortensen-featuring Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, and for his struggle to secure an R rating for it. "At the time, I believe it was a record amount of times we had to go back to the MPAA after recutting the film — I think it was 11 times that we went back," Burr told the website Dread Central in 2018. His booking agent Dominic Mancini paid tribute to the director in the wake of his death, writing, "Jeff's love of storytelling and characters sliced through the screen and into the hearts of genre fans worldwide."

Keith Giffen

Keith Giffen, a longtime superhero comic writer and artist who worked on many beloved books at both DC and Marvel, died in October, at 70. His family and friends confirmed the news on Facebook, and shared a final joke from the man himself: "I told them I was sick… Anything not to go to New York Comic Con." Giffen co-created many memorable characters, including Rocket Raccoon and the Jamie Reyes incarnation of Blue Beetle, who have gone on to star in big-budget movies. His other acclaimed comics include Legion of Super-Heroes, Justice League International, 52, and Annihilation.

Burt Young

Burt Young, a Queen-born former boxer turned scene-stealing actor best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Paulie in the 1976 Best Picture winner Rocky, died on Oct. 8 in Los Angeles. He was 83. Young appeared in small but memorable roles throughout his career including Chinatown, Once Upon a Time in America, and Last Exit to Brooklyn. Young reprised his role as Paulie in the Rocky sequels, only one of four actors to have appeared in the original six films.Also an accomplished theater actor, Young had more than 160 film and television credits to his name.

Michael Chiarello

Michael Chiarello, the acclaimed restaurateur, celebrity chef, and Food Network star, died Oct. 6, at 61, after an acute allergic reaction that led to anaphylactic shock. After a long career owning critically acclaimed restaurants in Napa Valley, Chiarello soon expanded to TV where Chiarello hosted shows on PBS, Food Network, Fine Living, and The Cooking Channel. He most notably headlined his own TV series, Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello, from 2003 to 2010. He also served as a judge in Bravo's Top Chef franchise, participated in the Next Iron Chef competition, and appeared as a guest chef on the likes of the Today show and The View.

Shawna Trpcic

Shawna Trpcic, the Emmy-nominated costume designer known for crafting interstellar looks for Firefly, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Mandalorian, died at 56, Lucasfilm announced. A lover of sci-fi, Trpcic got her start as a costume designer in 1990 and went on to create outfits for several popular television series, including the cult classic Firefly, the Buffy the Vampire spinoff Angel, Dollhouse, and Torchwood. In 2021, she joined the Star Wars universe as a designer on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and continued to style the best and brightest in the galaxy across its subsequent seasons as well as for The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka. Trpcic is currently nominated for an Emmy for her work on season 3 of The Mandalorian. She previously won the award for Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Television at the 2022 Costume Designers Guild Awards. She is survived by her two children.

Terence Davies

Terence Davies, the BAFTA-winning screenwriter and director best known for his revered autobiographical films Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, died Oct. 7 at 77 following a short illness, per his official Instagram page. Born in Liverpool, England, in 1945, Davies worked for a decade as an office clerk before going on to study at the Coventry Drama School and the National Film School in Buckinghamshire, England. He drew inspiration from his hometown for 1988's Distant Voices, Still Lives and 1992's The Long Day Closes before writing and directing 1995's The Neon Bible, 2000's The House of Mirth, 2008's Of Time and the City, 2011's The Deep Blue Sea (starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston), and 2016's A Quiet Passion. His final film, Benediction, was released in 2021.

Dick Butkus

Dick Butkus, the feared and famously intense linebacker from the Chicago Bears who later became a fixture in films, TV shows, and commercials, died Oct. 5 at age 80. In 1970, Butkus appeared as himself in the celebrated TV movie Brian's Song, starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams. After retiring from the NFL in 1973, Butkus went on to appear in football-themed films such as The Longest Yard, Necessary Roughness, and Any Given Sunday, and was a regular in sitcoms My Two Dads and Hang Time. His 1970 Super Bowl ad for Prestone is considered the first highly successful celebrity endorsement for the big game.

Keith Jefferson

Keith Jefferson, an actor, producer, and voiceover talent known for roles in several Quentin Tarantino films, died at age 53. No cause of death was given, but he revealed he was battling cancer on Aug. 9. Longtime friend Jamie Foxx announced the news of Jefferson's passing Oct. 5. The two worked together numerous times over the years, starting with two episodes of the sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show in 1998 and 1999. The duo also appeared together in Tarantino's 2012 movie Django Unchained, as well as Foxx's 2022 film Day Shift and several episodes of Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! in 2021. Jefferson and Foxx can also be seen in The Burial. Outside of his collabs with Foxx, Jefferson also had roles in The Hateful Eight, Bosch: Legacy, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Fantasticks, and more.

Reel Reporting

Monday, January 1, 2024

Stars who died in 2023: Part 5