And, this is my final installment of the blog of famous people we lost in 2012, even though we still have one day left in the year:
October 2012
10 – Alex Karras – Kidney Failure (77)
Karras came to fame when he played in the NFL, but he had a second career as an actor. He appeared in Blazing Saddles and starred as the father in “Webster.”
13 – Gary Collins – Natural Causes (74)
Collins co-starred in “The Wackiest Ship in the Army”, “Iron Horse,” and “The Sixth Sense” as well as guest starred in many shows during the ‘60s. He hosted the Miss America Pageant from 1982 – 90.
21 – George McGovern – Natural Causes (90)
McGovern was a democrat who was the party presidential nominee in 1972. He served four years in the South Dakota House of Representatives and 18 years as a senator for the state. He later served as President Clinton’s U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.
22 – Russell Means – Throat Cancer (72)
Means was an Oglala Sioux who was a civil rights activist not only for Native Americans, but the indigenous people of Central and South America as well. He appeared in The Last of the Mohicans and wrote his autobiography “Where White Men Fear to Tread.”
November 2012
23 – Larry Hagman – Throat Cancer (81)
Hagman was beloved as Major Tony Nelson on “I Dream of Jeannie,” but in the late ‘70s, he became the man everyone loved to hate when he starred as J.R. Ewing on “Dallas. Hagman had recently revised the role, saying “Of course it’s fun to play the villain.”
24 – Hector “Macho” Camacho – Murder (50)
Camacho was a boxer known for his speed and style. He held the WBC super featherweight belt, the WBC lightweight belt, and the WBO junior welterweight belt, winning seven titles in all.
December 2012
5 – Dave Brubeck – Heart Failure (91)
Brubeck was a jazz pianist and composer who wrote such jazz classics as “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “The Duke.” He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 1996 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2009.
9 – Jenni Rivera – Plane Crash (43)
Rivera was a singer-songwriter, actress, and television producer. Her 2008 album, Jenni, reached number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums charts. She starred in her own reality show, “Jenni Rivera Presents: Chiquis & Raq-C.”
11 – Ravi Shankar – Upper Respiratory and Heart Issues (92)
If you have heard of the sitar, you probably can thank Shankar. He was responsible for not only introducing Indian music to the west, but giving us his daughter, singer Norah Jones.
24 – Jack Klugman – Natural Causes (90)
Klugman was one of the few actors, like Griffith and Hagman, that were fortunate enough to have two great starring roles on television – as Oscar Madison on “The Odd Couple” and as Dr. R. Quincy on “Quincy, M.E.”
24 – Charles Durning – Unknown Causes (89)
Durning was an actor who won a Tony for playing Big Daddy on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a Golden Globe for playing John F. Fitzgerald in “The Kennedys of Massachusetts,” and a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.
27 – Norman Schwarzkopf – Pneumonia (78)
Schwarzkopf, known as Stormin’ Norman, was a four star Army General who served in Vietnam and was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command as well as the commander of the coalition forces during the Gulf War.
27 – Harry Carey Jr. – Natural Causes (91)
The son of actors Harry Carey and Olive Carey, Carey was a character actor who appeared in over 90 films as well as several television shows. He later appeared in Mask, Back to the Future Part III, Tombstone, and Gremlins.