Yet another  online “influencer” has been killed by her boyfriend—it really doesn’t pay to even have  a boyfriend, does it? I’m glad I have not been on a date since McKinley was in office. Austrian makeup artist Stefanie Pieper , 31, went missing on Nov. 23 and was found dead in a Slovenian forest on the 29 th . Her boyfriend was arrested and has reportedly confessed to her killing. Pieper, a professional makeup artist, was an online star with with her beauty tips and pluggin

French actress and model Lise Bourdin , 99, died on Nov. 28. The sister of playwright Roland Bourdin, Lise worked various office jobs before being discovered by Pierre Balmain and shot to stardom as one of Paris’s most successful post-War models (“There were pictures of me everywhere. Sometimes I was on three magazine covers at the same time”). She enjoyed a brief but successful career in films and TV in the 1950s, including costarring with Sophia Loren in The River Girl , an

Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard , 88, died on Nov. 29. Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard grew up in England; his father died in the war (Kenneth Stoppard was his stepfather). His most famous plays—often brimming with witty and deep dialogue and touching on social issues of the day—included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , Jumpers , Travesties , Night and Day , The Real Thing , Arcadia , The Invention of Love , The Coast of Utopia , and Leopoldstadt ; he also wr

Australian musical-comedy actress Toni Lamond , 93, died on Nov. 29. The daughter of performers Stella Lamond and Joe Lawman, she was a star in the waning days of vaudeville, as well as musical-comedy and variety. She also appeared in a few films and TV series (including the US shows The Bob Newhart Show, Punky Brewster, Starsky and Hutch, The Love Boat , and Murder She Wrote ). She starred in touring companies of Oliver!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game, 42nd Street, The

Brazilian actor Tony Germano , 55, died on Nov. 26 when he fell from the roof of his house in Sao Paulo, which was undergoing renovation. No foul play is suspected. Germano appeared in theater productions of Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof, The Phantom of the Opera, Jekyll & Hyde , and Miss Saigon , and recorded several albums of show tunes. He provided Portuguese voice-overs for Beauty and the Beast , Nickelodeon's Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn , and Netflix’s Go, Dog

Architect and historian Robert A.M. Stern , 86, died on Nov. 27. Stern designed such buildings as 15 Central Park West, resorts for Disney World, the George W. Bush Center in Dallas, the Museum of the American Revolution, and Philadelphia’s Comcast Center, among many others. His style varied from gawd-awful glass and concrete slabs to really rather charming post-modern designs (520 Park, the Gerald R. Ford school in Michigan, and the Jacksonville Main Library in Florida are a

German actress and boyfriend-killer Ingrid van Bergen , 94, died on Nov. 28. Born in Poland, she began her career onstage in Germany and eventually appeared in nearly 200 films and TV series. She was seen in the US in Town Without Pity  and The Counterfeit Traitor , though her career was mostly in Germany. “Acting was my whole life,” van Bergen said. “I always found my job very exciting; I loved my colleagues, the crew on set, the cameramen.” Her career was interrupted when s

Dancer and puppeteer Danny Seagren , 81, died on Nov. 10. Seagren was the first live-action Spider-Man, on nearly 400 episodes of The Electric Company (from 1974-77). He worked with Jim Henson, and played numerous characters on Sesame Street  (he was Ernie’s right hand, and occasionally filled in for Caroll Spinney as Big Bird). Seagren was a puppet designer as well, and worked on the series Spidey Super Stories, Who’s Afraid of Opera?, The Adventures of Slim Goodbody in Nut

Actor and model Ethan Browne , 52, was found dead in his home on Nov. 25; no further information is yet available. The son of singer/songwriter Jackson Browne and model/actress Phyllis Major, Ethan worked as a model, and acted in Hackers, Birds of Prey , and Raising Helen  (he’s not to be confused with the Australian actor of the same name, who stars in Home and Away ). Ethan appeared as a toddler with his father on the cover of Rolling Stone , but other than his few acting j

Michael Delano , who played the obnoxious lounge singer Johnny Venture on Rhoda , died on Oct. 20. He was 84. Delano danced on American Bandstand  as a teen, and worked as a real-life lounge singer (a career he kept up till recently). Delano was tall, handsome, and a good singer and actor, but he had rotten luck with film and TV vehicles. He costarred in the flop shows Firehouse, Flamingo Road , and Supertrain , also playing the casino manager in Ocean's Eleven  and Ocean's T

British playwright and actor Jack Shepherd , 85, died on Nov. 24. Shepherd started his career at the Royal Court Theater, and was named "most promising actor of year" in 1967, for Arnold Middleton . He also appeared in such plays as 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ruling the Roost, The Three Arrows, Let's Murder Vivaldi , and Dracula . He also wrote numerous plays, including The Incredible Journey of Sir Francis Younghusband, In Lambeth, Real Time, Comic Cuts, Half Moon, Holding Fir

Actor Jonathan Farwell , 93, died on Nov. 22. Farwell played George Rawlins on The Young and the Restless  from 1988-90, and was also seen on the soaps The Doctors, The Edge of Night , and All My Children  (as well as the 1988 film Frankenstein General Hospital ). The son of a composer and an actress, Farwell served in the US Air Force, and started his career onstage. He was seen in The Fantasticks (he created the role of El Gallo when the show was still in workshop), and pl

1960s child actor John Eimen , 76, died on Nov. 22. Eimen was a go-to performer on many TV series: he was in 11 episodes of the sitcom McKeever and the Colonel , and also turned up in The Untouchables, Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, Leave It to Beaver, Wendy and Me , and Petticoat Junction , among others. He also appeared in ads for Carnation Milk, Campbell’s Soup, and Alphabits. After aging out of the child-actor biz, Eimen became a rock singer, guitarist and songwriter, bo

British actress Jill Freud , 98, died on Nov. 24. As a teenager, she was evacuated to Oxford during the Blitz, where she lived with writer C.S. Lewis (it’s rumored that he based the character of Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe  on her). Graduating from RADA, she acted in rep theater companies and on the West End, billed as Jill Raymond. She also acted on TV and in films ( The Devil’s Disciple, Stranger at My Door, Malta Story, Torchy the Battery Boy, Crown Court

Jamaican reggae star Jimmy Cliff , 81, has died, his wife posted on Nov. 24. The singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter had such hits as "Many Rivers to Cross,” "You Can Get It If You Really Want,” "The Harder They Come,” "Reggae Night,” Hakuna Matata,” "Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” "Vietnam,” "Wild World,” and "I Can See Clearly Now,” and was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit. Cliff also acted, in such films and TV shows as Bouton Rouge, The Harder They Come, Club P

German actor Udo Kier , who appeared in more than 300 films and TV shows, died on Nov. 23. He was 81. He was born in the rubble of Cologne during a bombing, and was trained in acting in London.  He entered films in 1966, and by 1970 was already playing leads. Kier appeared in the Paul Morrissey films Flesh for Frankenstein  and Blood for Dracula , and his films The Story of O, The Stationmaster’s Wife, the appalling Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Lulu  (as Jack the Ripper), My

Ever so many musicians and singer have unalived this week (I just can’t let go of “unalived,” I am obsessed). French pop singer/songwriter Jean Guidoni , 74, died on Nov. 21. Guidoni sang about sex, gay love, AIDS, and other topics which raised eyebrows, even in France. He released 21 albums between 1978 and 2022. Musician Garry "Jellybean" Johnson , 69, died on Nov. 21; he collaborated with Prince and Rihanna, not only writing songs, but backing up on guitar and drums. Itali

Stuntman and actor Carl Ciarfalio , 72, died this week, his family announced. Carlfalio started his career as a teen at Knott’s Berry Farm. By the late 1970s he was working as a stuntman and bit player (he eventually worked his way up to stunt coordinator). His resume is astonishing, including such TV shows and movies as Knight Rider, Invaders from Mars, Sledge Hammer!, Beetlejuice, Casino, Glory, The Hunt for Red October, Wayne’s World, Get Shorty, Romy and Michele’s High Sc

Canadian-born actor Spencer LoFranco , 33, died on Nov. 18 in British Columbia; no cause of death has yet been determined. Lofranco was best known for his starring role in the 2014 crime movie Jamesy Boy , and a costarring role in 2018’s Gotti . He also appeared in At Middleton, Unbroken, Dixieland , and King Cobra . He left acting in 2018 (his recent hideous tattoos can’t have helped him get roles) and pretty much disappeared from everything but Instagram. “I was always funn

YouTube, Instagram and TikTok star Girlala , 21, was shot and killed by her boyfriend in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, on Nov. 17. Girlala worked as a hairstylist, and her videos mostly involved wigs—I had never heard of her, though I am obsessed with the Crazy Wig Lady’s videos. Girlala’s TikTok account had 300,000 followers, though searching for her now mostly turns up stories about her being “unalived” (is that a new slang expression? Because it is unintentionally hilarious)