Gone Too Soon: Stars We Lost In 2015

A look back at the famous faces who passed away in the year 2015

As the year comes to a close, one is saddened to note the deaths of several notable stars and pop culture icons.

Among them was Donna Douglas, 81, whose long career included starring on The Beverly Hillbillies for several years and sharing screen space with the legendary Elvis Presley (in Frankie and Johnny, 1966).

Australian actor Rod Taylor, one of old Hollywood’s leading man, who became famous for his starring role in The Birds as well as his appearance in Quentin Tarantinos’ Inglorious Basterds, also died in January this year at age 84 due to natural causes.

The month ended with the death of veteran journalist, noted filmmaker and writer Ali Sufyan Afaqi’s death (January 27) whose tremendous contribution to cinema cannot be diminished.

The month of February also sustained several losses as Louis Jourdan, famous for his portrayal(s) of Bond villain Kamal Khan in the film Octopussy and Count Dracula in BBC’s 1977 series passed away on February 14.

February also absorbed the loss of legendary Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy, 83, who played the role of Vulcan-Human Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek universe, spread over television series and films. The global phenomenon of Star Trek turned Leonard Nimoy into one of the most cherished and admired faces in pop culture history, forever known as Spock.

Another pop culture icon who died this March was The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon who died on March 8 at age 59 due to complications from terminal colon cancer. Although Sam left The Simpsons in the nineties, he is and will always be remembered as the show’s driving force, especially in its initial years.

In May, Indian television actor, Sudha Shivpuri, famous for enacting the role of Baa on Ekta Kapoor’s long running soap opera Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, passed away.

Comedienne Anne Meara, 85, veteran actress Betsy Palmer, 88, also passed away this summer.

The iconic Sir Christopher Lee, an actor, singer, author and a war veteran, who played Jinnah in Jamil Dehlvi’s 1998 biopic, passed away on June 7 this year. His roles in films like The Man with the Golden Gun, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings as well as the Hobbit franchise have made him one of cinema’s most enigmatic stars.

Hollywood composer James Horner died in a plane accident on June 22, leaving behind a treasure of his countless compositions, heard across films like Titanic, Braveheart and A Beautiful Mind, among many others.

Actor Patrick Macnee, who became popular all over the world for his role of secret agent John Steed in The Avengers, died at 93.

Diana Douglas, 92, mother of Michael Douglas and ex-wife of Kirk Douglas, passed away on July 4. She made her acting debut back in the late ‘40s and kept on acting as late as 2008. One of her final acting roles came in It Runs in the Family (2003) where she got to perform alongside her ex-husband, her son and grandson Cameron.

The month of July also sustained the death of Egyptian actor Omar Sharif who died of a heart attack on July 10, at the age of 83. The Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago star was also a world-famous bridge player and was one of the first actors from his country to achieve worldwide fame.

Film and TV veteran Roger Rees also passed away on the same day at 71, after a brief battle with cancer. The Welsh actor played character roles in TV shows Cheers and more recently in Warehouse 13, Elementary and Forever.

Veteran Bollywood actress Sheila Ramani, who acted in one Pakistani film Anokhi in the ’50s also passed away in July. She acted alongside Dev Anand in Taxi Driver and Funtoosh but it was her performance on the song, ‘Gaari Ko Chalana Babu’ that made her popular on this side of Wagah border.

August proved to be a fatal month for Pakistani comedian Farid Khan, 62, who was suffering from jaw cancer for the last 15 years of his life and was known to set the stage on fire with his mimicry and jokes, back in the ‘70s and the ‘80s.

Actress Yvonne Craig who played Batgirl in the famous TV show, Batman, passed away on August 17 while iconic horror filmmaker, Wes Craven lost his battle to brain cancer on August 30.

Indian film composer Aadesh Shrivastava also succumbed to cancer on September 5.

Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen to George Reeves Superman in the ‘50s, died on September 20 at age 87.

Ace British director John Guillermin passed away a week later at 89, leaving behind the disastrous Towering Inferno as his legacy.

Actor Frank Albanese, who starred in Goodfellas and became popular for his role in TV show Sopranos as Tony’s Uncle Pat Blundetto passed away on October 4.

Hindi cinema lost a giant in Ravindra Jain, a film composer who was a member of Raj Kapoor’s team in the ‘80s and composed songs of films like Ram Teri Ganga Malee and Henna among other things.

Actors Pat Woodell (Bobbie Jo Bradley from Petticoat Junction and Joan Leslie from The Sky’s the Limit passed away within two weeks of each other’s death, leaving their fans heartbroken.

Queen of Technicolor actress Maureen O’Hara, who rose to fame with films like The Parent Trap, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and received an honorary Academy Award in November 2014 died of natural causes on October 24 at age 95.

November took away Gunnar Hansen who became ‘popular’ for his portrayal of Leatherface, the villain in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Young actor Nathaniel Marston succumbed to injuries he received from a road accident; the 40-year-old was best-known for his role in TV series One Life to Live and As the World Turns.

Veteran Bollywood actor Saeed Jaffrey died at 86 on November 15 and would be remembered for his flawless acting in Indian and international films. Not only was he the first Indian recipient of the Order of the British Empire but also acted opposite legendary actors like Sean Connery, Michael Caine and under the direction of Sir Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) and David Lean (A Passage to India).

Pakistan’s literary circles as well as the entertainment industry were dealt a huge blow when veteran poet and journalist Jamil Uddin Aali passed away on November 23. The man behind the most popular patriotic numbers including the evergreen ‘Jeevay Pakistan’, the war anthem ‘Aye Watan Ke Sajelay Jawanoo’, the Islamic Summit Conference song ‘Hum Mustafavi Mustafavi Hain’ and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s ‘Mera Paigham Pakistan’ was ill for quite some time.

The last month of the year took away Oscar nominee Robert Loggia who died at 85 on December 4 and made a career out of gangster roles.

Another character actor who missed 2016 by a whisker was 90-year-old Martin E. Brooks who is remembered as one of the 3 actors to play Dr. Rudy Wells in The Six Million Dollar Man and later in Bionic Woman in the ‘70s.

Theatre veteran, intellectual, writer, actor and director Kamal Ahmed Rizvi passed away on December 17 and left the world in sorrow. The 85-year old was most famous for his portrayal of Allan in Alif Noon and for his “Abay Kia Kar Raha Hai” greeting with which he addressed his partner in crime, Rafi Khawar Nanha, in the ‘70s and the ‘80s. —Originally published in The News

Omair Alavi is a freelance broadcast journalist and can be contacted at [email protected]