One of my Death Elves (hi, Mike!) tipped me off to the death on June 8 of British actor and TV host Mike Preston, 92. Preston was working as a singer in England and Australia when he began hosting the show In Melbourne Tonight (1969). He also hosted the 1970s quiz show The Celebrity Game, and appeared on many talk and variety shows. He appeared as Sergeant Delany on Homicide (1972-73), and went on to costar in such shows Punishment, MPSIB, and Hot Pursuit, and did one-offs in

Diver, actress, and stuntwoman Zale Parry, 93, died on July 20. Parry studied both acting and swimming at UCLA, and in 1954, she set a women's depth record to 209 feet. She dove for Sports Illustrated, was on the board of directors (and was eventually president) of the Underwater Photographic Society, and was co-director of the International Underwater Film Festival. She doubled for Sophia Loren in Boy on a Dolphin, and did stunts for Sea Hunt and Voyage to the Bottom of the

Rising young actress Kaylee Hottle, 18, died in a traffic accident on July 21. Hottle, who was born deaf, began her career in commercials. She appeared in the new Magnum P.I. reboot, and made her film debut in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, also appearing in 2024’s follow-up Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. She told writer Peter Warren in 2024, “I think I'm gonna see where acting is taking me. I'd like to see more deaf young actresses get motivated when they see me on screen and h

Actor and acting coach John Kirby, 75, died of ALS on July 15. The son of actor Bruce Kirby and brother of actor Bruno Kirby, John had small roles on TV in Maude, Sanford and Son, The Fall Guy, The Girl Most Likely, Eight Is Enough, Airwolf, and M*A*S*H, and appeared in the films Almost Summer, The Cottonwood, Punchline, and Dracula's Dog. He paid the rent as an acting coach, for such stars as Jim Caviezel, Jeff Bridges, Cameron Diaz, Chrissy Metz, Morris Chestnut, Judith Lig

British/Australian actor Terence Donovan, 90, died on July 18. Born in London, Donovan spent his career bouncing back and forth between his native country and Australia. He appeared onstage in such plays as Chicago, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Oh, What a Lovely War!, Breaker Morant (also in the film version), Miss Julie, Company, Educating Rita, and Follies. On TV, Donovan costarred the series Division 4, Power Without Glory, Hotel Story, Cop Shop, Sons and Daughters

Pop singer Freddy Cannon, 89, died on July 17. Cannon had 1960s hits with "Tallahassee Lassie,” "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,” and "Palisades Park.” His first hit was as singer and guitarist on 1958’s "Cha-Cha-Do," and after he was discovered and promoted by Dick Clark, Cannon went on to score 22 hits on the Billboard charts. His white-hot fame faded with the British Invasion, but Cannon kept touring, releasing an album as recently as 2023. Cannon told music writer Gary Ja

Irish stage, screen and TV actress Brenda Fricker, 81, died on July 16. An Oscar-winner as Daniel Day-Lewis’s mother in My Left Foot (1989), the Dublin native acted with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Court Theatre Company, and had continuing roles in the TV series Coronation Street, Crown Court, and Casualty. On the big screen, Fricker was seen in The Field, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Angels in the Outfield, A

Movie and TV actor Hal Williams (Sanford and Son, Private Benjamin) died on July 15. He was 91. Williams had worked as a postal worker and corrections officer before taking up acting full-time in the late 1960s; he eventually appeared in more than 70 movies and and TV shows, most recently the current reboot of Matlock. His best known roles were as friendly neighborhood cop Smitty on Sanford and Son, shouty drill sergeant (is there any other kind?) Ross in the movie and TV ver

TV actor Scott Bryce, 68, who played Corky’s husband Will Forrest on Murphy Brown and Craig Montgomery on As the World Turns, died of cancer on July 12. The native New Yorker started his career on TV in the late ’80s, and soon became a familiar face, appearing in The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life, The Commish, Dear John, L.A. Law, Sex and the City, Judging Amy, Gossip Girl, Beacon Hill, Blue Bloods, and Law & Order; he also played the hapless dad on one of my favorite serie

Broadway and TV actor Josh Grisetti, 44, died by suicide on July 10. Grisetti appeared on Broadway in Camelot, It Shoulda Been You, and Something Rotten!, as well as acting in many regional shows. On TV, he was seen in the last season of The Marevelous Mrs. Maisel, and in The Knights of Prosperity, Nurse Jackie, The Gates, and The Good Fight; he also played small or supporting roles in the films The Namesake, The Sandpiper (not the awful Liz & Dick movie!), Revolutionary Road

Dashingly handsome Irish-born actor Sam Neill, 78, died on July 13. He is best known for playing Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park movies (none of which I have seen), but I first spotted him in Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983). Born into Old Money, Neill grew up in New Zealand, and was acting in movies and TV by the early ‘70s. His first hit was in My Brilliant Career, and he went on to appear in such films as The Final Conflict, Possession, Attack Force Z, A Cry in the Dark, Iv

Chinese actress Wai Ching Ho, 82, died on July 12. Wai played Madame Gao in the Marvel comic-book movies Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The Defenders, and played one of Grandma’s gang in the wonderful series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens. Born in Hong Kong, she made her US films debut in Cadillac Man (1990), and went on to appear in such movies as the unfortunate Soapdish, Beautiful Ohio, Children of Invention, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Tracers, Hustlers, and The World’s Greatest

Actress Antoinette Bower, 93, died on April 30. Born in Germany but raised in England, Bower started her career in Canadian TV, then moved to the US in the 1960s. Her looks and talent (and luck, of course, never forget that!) soon got her work, though her only continuing role on TV was her last, the 1989-92 series Neon Rider. She turned up regularly in movies (Mutiny on the Bounty, The Mephisto Waltz, Prom Night, Time Walker) and on TV (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Twilight Zon

Stage, screen, and TV actor Peter Van Norden, 75, died on July 9. Van Norden was one of those actors who never became a star, but who worked steadily for more than 50 years. He appeared on Broadway in Romeo and Juliet, Saint Joan, The Inspector General, Macbeth, and Little Johnny Jones, also acting Off-Broadway and in regional companies. His big-screen vehicles included Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, The Best of Times, The Accused, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fe

Actor Randolph Mantooth, costar of TV’s Emergency!, died on July 9. He was 80. Part Cherokee, Seminol, German, and English, Mantooth was a rising young TV actor when cast as paramedic John Gage on Emergency! (1972-79). He later had success on the soaps Loving, As the World Turns, and One Life to Live, also guesting on numerous other shows and in TV-movies, as well as the 1992 CBS After-School Special Please, God, I'm Only Seventeen. Mantooth also acted in numerous regional sh

British soap actress Patricia Greene, 95, died on July 9. For 68 years, Greene played Jill Archer on The Archers, on radio, TV, and podcasts, from 1957 through last year (she was reputed to be the longest-lasting actress to play a role in a soap). She also appeared in the 1961 film The Kitchen (kind of a proto-The Bear), and on TV in Crossroads (another soap), It’s a Woman’s World, Victoria Regina, Doctors, and Casualty. “I really didn't know anything,” Greene said of her beg

My British friend Nancy has alerted me to to the death on May 8 of child actor Garry Watson, 97. Garry was one of the seemingly endless supply of Hollywood Watsons: his father was a special-effects designer, and his mother a wardrobe mistress. He was one of eight siblings, all of whom went into the show business: Bobs, Coy, Gloria, Vivian, Louise, Harry, Billy, and Delmar (Garry was the last surviving sibling). His obit in the UK Telegraph calls him the last actor to have app

British actress Joanna Pettet, 83, died on July 7. The native Londoner lost her father (an RAF pilot) in WWII, and moved to New York as a teenager. She found success on Broadway almost immediately, appearing in Take Her, She’s Mine, The Chinese Prime Minister, and Poor Richard. She made her film debut in the camp classic The Group, and went on to appear in Casino Royale, The Night of the Generals, Robbery, Blue, and The Best House in London. She was also very much in demand o

Welsh pop star Bonnie Tyler, 75, died on July 8; she had been hospitalized since May with a perforated intestine and a subsequent heart attack. Tyler had huge hits with "Total Eclipse of the Heart,” "Holding Out for a Hero,” and "It's a Heartache” in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. With her glam looks and raspy belt voice, she was signed by RCA in 1976, and never stopped—her white-hot fame faded by the 1990s, but she continued to tour worldwide and record successfully till the

Eccentric comic actress Louise Lasser, 87, died on July 6. Best-known as the star of the soap parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-77) and as Woody Allen’s frequent star and muse, Lasser was hard to cast. She never really fit into such sitcoms as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, It’s a Living, Taxi, or Laverne & Shirley. Lasser was a rising young actress and comic when she met Woody Allen; they were married from 1966-70, and she appeared in his Take the Money and Run and Bananas