2021 Deaths
The 2022 list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls511173580
The 2020 list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls093398488
The 2019 list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls041507848
To see the newest additions to the list, go to the 'Sort by' section and choose 'Date added'.
The 2020 list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls093398488
The 2019 list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls041507848
To see the newest additions to the list, go to the 'Sort by' section and choose 'Date added'.
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- Mark Eden was born on 14 February 1928 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Pleasure Girls (1965) and London Belongs to Me (1977). He was married to Sue Nicholls, Diana Eden and Joan Le Mesurier. He died on 1 January 2021.Died of Alzheimer's disease in England.
1928-2021 (92 years old)
1 January - Jean Panisse was born on 17 March 1928 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He was an actor, known for Manon des sources (1952), L'ombre rouge (1981) and An Angel on Wheels (1959). He died on 1 January 2021 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.Died of covid-19 in Marseille, France.
1928-2021 (92 years old)
1 January - Seizô Fukumoto was born on 3 February 1943 in Kami, Japan. He was an actor, known for The Last Samurai (2003), Uzumasa Limelight (2014) and 13 Assassins (2010). He died on 1 January 2021 in Kyoto, Japan.Died of lung cancer in Kyoto, Japan.
1943-2021 (77 years old)
1 January - George Gerdes was born on 23 February 1948 in Queens, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Hidalgo (2004) and Bats (1999). He died on 1 January 2021 in Glendale, California, USA.Died of brain aneurysm in Glendale, California.
1948-2021 (72 years old)
1 January - Floyd Little was born on 4 July 1942 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was married to Joyce and DeBorah. He died on 1 January 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.Died of cancer in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1942-2021 (78 years old)
1 January - Gerald F. Gough was born on 12 August 1931 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for Broadcast News (1987), Guarding Tess (1994) and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). He died on 1 January 2021 in Roseville, California, USA.Died in Roseville, California.
1931-2021 (89 years old)
1 January - Vladimir Korenev was born on 20 June 1940 in Sevastopol, Krymskaya ASSR, RSFSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Amphibian Man (1961), Ya - aktrisa (1980) and Much Ado About Nothing (1973). He was married to Aleftina Konstantinova. He died on 2 January 2021 in Moscow, Russia.Died of covid-19 in Moscow, Russia.
1940-2021 (80 years old)
2 January - Paul Westphal was born on 30 November 1950 in Torrance, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Space Jam (1996), Forget Paris (1995) and Four Square Miles to Glory. He was married to Cindy Lou Paden. He died on 2 January 2021 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.Died of brain cancer in Scottsdale, Arizona.
1950-2021 (70 years old)
2 January - Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Gerry Marsden was born on 24 September 1942 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Zodiac (2007), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) and Beast (2017). He was married to Pauline Behan. He died on 3 January 2021 in Arrowe Park, Merseyside, England, UK.Died of a blood infection in Arrowe Park, England
1942-2021 (78 years old)
3 January- Writer
- Director
- Producer
AnnaRose King was born on 12 September 1985 in Manhattan, New York, USA. She was a writer and director, known for Good Enough (2016), American Viral (2014) and Spanish Rice (2013). She was married to Michael Telis. She died on 3 January 2021 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.Died of lung cancer in Manhattan, New York.
1985-2021 (35 years old)
3 January- Music Department
- Actor
- Writer
Anil Panachooran was born on 20 November 1965 in Kayamkulam, India. He was an actor and writer, known for Kammara Sambhavam (2018), Cocktail (2010) and Oru Mexican Aparatha (2017). He was married to Maya. He died on 3 January 2021 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.Died of cardiac arrest in Thiruvananthapuram, India.
1966-2021 (55 years old)
3 January- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Eric Dickey was born on 7 July 1961 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for One Night, Cappuccino (1998) and Friends and Lovers (2005). He died on 3 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died of cancer in Los Angeles, California.
1961-2021 (59 years old)
3 January- The sexy Barbara Shelley was born Barbara Kowin on February 13, 1932 in London, England. With her beautiful looks and stature, she worked as a model during her salad days. Her film career began in Italy in the mid-1950s in such tempting fare as Luna nova (1955) and Nero's Mistress (1956), but when this seemed like she was going to remain in the minor ranks, she returned to England to attempt to better her career. After appearing in the minor sex farce The Little Hut (1957) with Stewart Granger, David Niven and Ava Gardner, Barbara caught notoriety in the title role of Cat Girl (1957), a low budget production in which she played a woman possessed by a family curse who develops psychic links with a leopard.
This paid off and she quickly evolved into a popular Gothic glamour woman at Hammer Studios. Starting things off with The Camp on Blood Island (1958) and Blood of the Vampire (1958), the lovely actress proceeded to stake out her own lucrative territory in the horror genres. Through the 1960s, she co-starred in the classic Village of the Damned (1960), along with The Shadow of the Cat (1961), The Gorgon (1964), The Secret of Blood Island (1965), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). However, Barbara's film career had fallen aside by the late 1960s and she turned to television.
In her retirement, she pursued interior decorating. Whether playing female monsters or their intended victims, Barbara played them straight and handled them all with requisite style and grace. For this, she was occasionally seen by motion picture fans at conventions as an integral figure of camp horror history.Died of covid-19 in London, England.
1932-2021 (88 years old)
3 January - Actress
- Producer
- Art Department
Kristine Crown was born on 8 November 1982 in Manila, Philippines. She was an actress and producer, known for Criminal Minds (2005), Shades (2013) and The Singing Surgeon (2007). She died on 3 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died of complications from surgery in Los Angeles, California.
1982-2021 (38 years old)
3 January- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Heung-Kam Lee was born on 13 January 1932 in Shunde District, Guangdong Province, China. She was an actress and producer, known for Yu nu shen tou (1967), Ni xi de ji (1976) and Pin fok chun kei (1984). She was married to Chung-Kwan Siu. She died on 4 January 2021 in Hong Kong, China.Died of Alzheimer's disease in Hong Kong, China.
1932-2021 (88 years old)
4 January- Actress
- Producer
The second daughter of manufacturing executive Oscar Blum and his wife Dorothy, Tanya Roberts was born 1949 in Manhattan and grew up in the elite Westchester County suburbs Scarsdale and Greenburgh. Tanya reportedly dropped out of high school, got married and hitchhiked around the country until her mother-in-law had the marriage annulled. She met psychology student Barry Roberts while waiting in line to see a movie. A few months later, she proposed to him in a subway station, and they were married. She studied acting under Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen. In her early years in New York, she supported herself as an Arthur Murray dance instructor and by modeling. She appeared in off-Broadway productions of "Picnic" and "Antigone", and in television commercials for Ultra Brite, Clairol and Cool Ray sunglasses.
In 1977, Tanya and her husband -- by then a scriptwriter -- moved to Hollywood. She began appearing in made-for-TV films including Pleasure Cove (1979), Zuma Beach (1978), and Waikiki (1980). Her film debut was in The Last Victim (1976). After appearing in several minor films, her first big break came when she was selected as the last Angel on the final season of Charlie's Angels (1976), and was featured on the cover of People magazine (02/09/1981). The attention she garnered helped secure her most significant film roles: The Beastmaster (1982) (and posed for the cover and an inside spread in Playboy magazine to promote the film), the title role in Sheena (1984) and as a Bond girl in A View to a Kill (1985). She continued to appear in films, though mainly direct-to-video and direct-to-cable features. She was featured in the CD computer game The Pandora Directive (1996) and had a recurring lead role in the television series That '70s Show (1998). Widowed in 2006, Tanya Roberts died of sepsis from a urinary tract infection in 2021.Died of sepsis due to urinary tract infection in Los Angeles, California.
1949-2021 (71 years old)
4 January- Actor
- Soundtrack
Karl Heinz Vosgerau was born on 16 August 1927 in Kiel, Germany. He was an actor, known for Wie ein Blitz (1970), Die Wächter (1986) and M.E.T.R.O. - Ein Team auf Leben und Tod (2006). He was married to Sabine. He died on 4 January 2021 in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, Germany.Died in Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
1928-2021 (92 years old)
4 January- Lanky, balding, intense American character actor of Puerto Rican ancestry, born in New York's Spanish Harlem. Deserted by his parents, Sierra was brought up by an aunt in a rough, predominantly Irish neighbourhood from the age of six. Though briefly tempted by gang life as a teenager, he took up acting classes after accompanying a friend to an audition and ended up playing Shakespearean roles with the National Shakespeare Company and in the New York Shakespeare Festival (playing, among many other parts, Macbeth and Romeo), as well as appearing off-Broadway. He later said "I would have been happy if I continued to do that for the rest of my life". However, in 1969, Sierra decided to move to Hollywood and began acting in episodic television where he was initially typecast as Latino heavies or cops.
Sierra made his breakthrough in the role of Julio Fuentes on NBC's Sanford and Son (1972), his character the perennial butt of bigoted jokes from the show's cantankerous lead, played by Redd Foxx. He then appeared in the original cast of the police sitcom Barney Miller (1975) as the passionate, proudly Puerto Rican Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale. Written out of the show at the end of season two, he had further recurring roles in serial television, frequently alternating between comedy and drama. These included the short-lived hospital sitcom A.E.S. Hudson Street (1977), the controversial but hugely popular parody Soap (1977) (as South American counter-revolutionary "El Puerco"), Hill Street Blues (1981) (as Assistant District Attorney Alvarez), Zorro and Son (1983) (as garrison commander Paco Pico, one of the hero's chief antagonists), Miami Vice (1984) (as Don Johnson's erstwhile boss Lou Rodriguez, killed off by a hitman in episode four -- in fact, Sierra opted to leave the show because he disliked Miami) and the science fiction series Something Is Out There (1988) (as Captain Victor Maldonado). His numerous, varied and often highly entertaining guest appearances have included supporting roles as a Native American renegade on Gunsmoke (1955), a mutated religious leader living underneath irradiated New York in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), a professor of anthropology helping Mulder and Scully track down the Jersey Devil in The X-Files (1993), a Cardassian member of the sinister Obsidian Order on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), an Italian priest in John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) and an Iraqi gunboat captain in the Rambo spoof Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993).
Sierra made his home in Laguna Beach, California, where he died of cancer on January 4 2021 at the age of 84.Died of stomach and liver cancer in Laguna Woods, California.
1937-2021 (83 years old)
4 January - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
James Greene was born on 19 May 1931 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for What a Girl Wants (2003), Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Johnny English (2003). He died on 5 January 2021 in the UK.Died of an illness in the UK.
1931-2021 (89 years old)
5 January- Classically handsome John Richardson began his career with small roles in British movies at the end of the 1950s. His first role of note was opposite Barbara Steele in the gothic horror classic Black Sunday (1960), directed by Mario Bava. His massive success was Don Chaffey's One Million Years B.C. (1966) with Raquel Welch, produced by Hammer Films. Later, following the steps of some other actors, he went on to appear in various Italian movies such as Umberto Lenzi's horror movie Eyeball (1975), Michele Soavi's The Church (1989) and many others. Richardson's great passion was collecting automobiles and he sometimes appeared in movies as long as an automobile was included in the contract. But his recent movies filmed in the 1980s convinced him to retire from acting completely. He was a noteworthy photographer with no interest whatsoever in looking back on his career in cinema. John Richardson passed away from complications of COVID-19 on January 4, 2021, only two weeks away from his 87th birthday.Died of covid-19.
1934-2021 (86 years old)
5 January - Adrien Dorval was born on 22 March 1963 in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada. He was an actor, known for Shanghai Noon (2000), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004). He was married to Angela Cruikshank. He died on 5 January 2021 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Died in Vancouver, Canada.
1963-2021 (57 years old)
5 January - Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
English stage and screen actor, the son of J. Arthur Rank scriptwriter Sidney Derek Salamon and housewife Sarah Sotnick. David was schooled in Edinburgh, studied drama at the Sorbonne and began his acting career in the mid-50s on the Shakespearean stage (at the London Old Vic in Henry V, Julius Caesar, Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Winter's Tale). He first appeared on screen from 1957 in BBC TV productions, had a recurring supporting part in the science fiction series The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962) and made his motion picture breakthrough as a resentful youth in Loss of Innocence (1961) (opposite Susannah York in her first leading role). During the 60s, David worked both in front and behind the camera (as a director) for BBC television. He subsequently became a free-lancer, working out of New York and setting up shop in Amsterdam where he had established a film production company in 1977. Latterly, he also took on voice-over work. David was married to the actress Jacqueline Chan between 1962 and 1989.Died in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1931-2021 (90 years old)
5 January- Phil Harvey was born on 11 May 1921 in Emporia, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Touch of Evil (1958), The Tarnished Angels (1957) and The Land Unknown (1957). He died on 5 January 2021 in Ojai, California, USA.Died in Ojai, California.
1921-2021 (99 years old)
5 January - Actor
- Additional Crew
Rugged Sicilian-born actor who came to international notice after playing Ferrari racing ace Nino Barlini in John Frankenheimer's high octane blockbuster Grand Prix (1966). His charismatic performance saw Sabato nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer. During the 1970s, he starred in a slew of low-budget Italian language productions, predominantly spaghetti westerns and crime thrillers, essaying villains (Crime Boss (1972)), heroes (Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972)) and anti-heroes (Thunder Over El Paso (1972)) with equal verve. By the mid-80s, Sabato and his family had relocated to California where he devoted more time to painting and family life while continuing to star in international co-productions, typically action films like the futuristic Escape from the Bronx (1983), The Wild Team (1985) and High Voltage (1998). His last work on screen consisted of several appearances in the soap The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) , which also featured his son Antonio Sabato Jr...Died of covid-19 in Los Angeles, California.
1943-2021 (77 years old)
6 January- James Cross was born on 29 September 1921 in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland. He died on 6 January 2021 in Seaford, England, UK.Died of covid-19 in Seaford, England.
1921-2021 (99 years old)
6 January - Ashli Babbitt was born on 10 October 1985 in San Diego, California, USA. She was married to Aaron Raymond Babbitt and Timothy Vaughn McEntee. She died on 6 January 2021 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.Died of a gunshot in Washington DC.
1985-2021 (35 years old)
6 January - Valeri Khlevinsky was born on 14 November 1943 in Vladimir, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Molchaniye doktora Ivensa (1974), Sobstvennoe mnenie (1977) and Oglasheniyu ne podlezhit (1987). He died on 7 January 2021 in Moscow, Russia.Died of covid-19 in Moscow, Russia.
1943-2021 (77 years old)
7 January - Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Soundtrack
Marion Ramsey was an American actress and singer from Philadelphia. She is primarily known for her role as the soft-spoken policewoman Laverne Hooks in the "Police Academy" film series (1984-1994). Hooks was depicted as a "diminutive, soft-spoken and unassertive woman" with a high-pitched voice. But switched to a more aggressive and authoritative tone when sufficiently frustrated.
Ramsey was born in 1947, but little is known about her early life. She started her career as a theatrical actress, and became a prominent performer for Broadway shows. She appeared in the Broadway version of the hit musical "Hello, Dolly!" (1964) by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart, and subsequently was part of the musical's touring productions. The musical was an adaptation of the farce "The Merchant of Yonkers" (1938) by Thornton Wilder (1897 -1975), but was much better received than the original work.
Ramsey made her television debut as part of the regular cast in the variety series "Keep On Truckin'" (1975). This was a summer replacement series, broadcast by ABC on Saturday nights. It only lasted four episodes. In 1976, Ramsey made a guest-star appearance in an episode of the then-popular sitcom "The Jeffersons" (1975-1985).
Also in 1976, Ramsey became part of the regular cast of the short-lived sketch comedy show "Cos". The show was named after its host, the popular comedian Bill Cosby (1937-). The series only lasted for 9 episodes, and was canceled due to low ratings. It was replaced on ABC's schedule by a new show called "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" (1977-1979), which was adapting mystery novels for children,. The novels were originally published by the long-running Stratemeyer Syndicate (1899-1987).
In 1977, Ramsey had a guest-star role in the short-lived sitcom "Sanford Arms" (1977). The series was intended as a sequel to the hit show "Sanford and Son" (1972-1977), but focused on a new protagonist. It failed to find an audience, and was canceled after only 4 episodes. Another 4 completed episodes, including the one featuring Ramsey, were never aired, although they became available on later reruns.
In 1978, Ramsey was one of the main performers of the revue "Eubie!" in Broadway. The revue showcased 23 songs by the popular jazz composer Eubie Blake (1887 - 1983). The show ran for 439 performances. Ramsey and the rest of the original cast participated in a recording of the show, which was released on vinyl in 1979.
Ramsey gained her first substantial film role in the police comedy "Police Academy" (1984), when she was 37-years-old. As cadet Laverne Hooks , she received enough screen time to be one of the film's memorable characters. The film was a box office hit, earning 150 million dollars at the worldwide box office. A film series featuring featuring the same cast followed. Ramsey appeared in 5 of the original film's sequels, and her character was soon depicted as a police sergeant. She made her last appearance in the film series in "Police Academy 6: City Under Siege" (1989). She did not appear in the series finale "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" (1994), which also failed to include several other regular cast members.
In the early 1990s, Ramsey made a few appearances in then-popular television series, such as "MacGyver", "Beverly Hills, 90210", and "The Nanny". Most of her roles were minor unnamed characters. Ramsey worked as a voice actor in the animated series "The Addams Family" (1992 -1993). Her most memorable character in the series was summer camp owner D.I. Holler, who had the mentality of a drill sergeant. The character aimed to teach fitness and self-reliance to rich kids, but was unreasonably strict.
Ramsey had her next film role in the horror comedy "Maniacts" (2001) , where she played an unnamed prostitute. The film featured two serial killers who fall in love with each other, and try to settle down for a while. Ramsey next played a policewoman again in the comedy television film "Recipe for Disaster" (2003). The premise of the film is that the owners of a family restaurant have disappeared, and their underage kids try to operate the restaurant in their absence. The film is remembered for an early starring role for teenage actress Margo Harshman (1986-).
In 2006, Ramsey voiced Laverne Hooks in a comedy sketch of the animated series "Robot Chicken" (2005-). The sketch featured several characters from the "Police Academy" series being recruited as new members of the X-Men. The sketch reunited Ramsey with her former co-star Michael Winslow, an accomplished voice actor.
In 2007, Ramsey had a supporting role in the romantic comedy "Lord Help Us". The film's main plot is that the elderly preacher Henry Thomas (played by Bill Toliver) needs help to repair his reputation, after a rumor suggests that he is having an affair with a much younger woman. Also in 2007, Ramsey had a small role in the thriller film "The Stolen Moments of September". The film depicts the life of a young runaway, who befriends a suspected serial killer.
After a hiatus of a few years, Ramsey returned to film roles with the mystery comedy "Who Killed Soul Glow?" (2012). As the title suggests, it featured a murder mystery. In 2013, Ramsey appeared in the historical film "Return to Babylon", which depicted the lives of famous Hollywood actors in the 1920s. Ramsey played the maid of the famous vamp Barbara La Marr (1896 - 1926). The real life La Marr was highly popular in the 1920s, but died at the age of 29 due to tuberculosis.
In 2014, Ramsey played a supporting role in the sports film "Wal-Bob's". The film depicted the operation of an underground football league in Cincinnati. In 2015, Ramsey had a role in the science fiction horror television film "Lavalantula". The film depicted giant tarantulas unleashed in modern-day Los Angeles. The film notably reunited several veteran actors from the "Police Academy" film series, with the protagonist role reserved for Steve Guttenberg (1958-). Ramsey also appeared in the film's sequel "2 Lava 2 Lantula" (2016).
In 2016, Ramsey appeared in the comedy-drama film "DaZe: Vol. Too (sic) - NonSeNse". The film reunited several veterans of the "Police Academy" film series, and featured the last film role for Ramsey's longtime friend Bubba Smith (1945-2011). In 2018, Ramsey appeared in the biographical film "When I Sing", which was based on the life of singer-songwriter Linda Chorney (1960-). This was Ramsey's last film role.
Ramsey spend her last years in retirement.
In January she died at her residence in Los Angeles, following a short illness. Her cause of death was not announced to the public. She was 73-years-old at the time of her death. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea. News of her death was covered by the press, as the actress was still well-known and fondly remembered. Ramsey is considered an icon of the 1980s.Died in Los Angeles, California.
1947-2021 (73 years old)
7 January- Actor
- Soundtrack
Deezer D was born in 1965 in Los Angeles, California. He is not only an actor but a popular performer in the Christian and underground hip hop communities. His latest release is titled "Unpredictable". He also briefly hosted a Christian Rap radio show in Los Angeles on station 96.3 KFSG.Died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.
1965-2021 (55 years old)
7 January- Director
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Michael Apted was born on 10 February 1941 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Amazing Grace (2006), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Rome (2005). He was married to Paige Simpson, Dana Stevens and Jo Apted. He died on 7 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died in Los Angeles, California.
1941-2021 (79 years old)
7 January- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Script and Continuity Department
Dave Creek was born on 19 June 1978 in Bellevue, Washington, USA. Dave is known for Youth in Revolt (2009), The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022) and Bob's Burgers (2011). Dave died on 7 January 2021 in California, USA.1978-2021 (43 years old)
7 January- Neil Sheehan was born on 27 October 1936 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer, known for A Bright Shining Lie (1998), Going Upriver (2004) and Dateline: Saigon (2016). He was married to Susan Sheehan. He died on 7 January 2021 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.Died of Parkinson's disease in Washington DC.
1936-2021 (84 years old)
7 January - Tommy Lasorda was one of the best managers in baseball until his retirement in July 1996. He was involved with the Los Angeles Dodgers for over 50 years. He managed the team from 1976 to 1996. He retired due to a heart attack. He thought being a manager would be too stressful.Died of cardiopulmonary arrest in Fullerton, California.
1927-2021 (93 years old)
7 January - Byron Clark was an actor, known for Knots Landing (1979), Six-Hundred & Sixty Six (1972) and Her Odd Tastes (1969). He died on 7 January 2021.?-2021 (age unknown)
7 January - Val Bettin was born on 8 July 1923 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Shrek (2001) and Somewhere in Time (1980). He died on 7 January 2021 in Ventura, California, USA.Died in Ventura, California.
1923-2021 (97 years old)
7 January - Ivo Niederle was born on 26 December 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He was an actor, known for xXx (2002), Die Tigerin (1992) and Sanitka (1984). He was married to Vera Kríbková. He died on 8 January 2021 in Prague, Czech Republic.Died in Prague, Czech Republic.
1929-2021 (91 years old)
8 January - Director
- Cinematographer
- Producer
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Steve Carver received his first camera when he was eight years old. At 13 he began his formal education in photography, attending the High School of Music & Arts in Manhattan where he received training in art and music. Fascinated by techniques of creating imagery, he experimented with situations to maximize his learning experience--testing and exploring the creative limitations of the mediums.
Attending the University of Buffalo in New York on a Regents Scholarship, Carver developed an interest in photography while studying commercial art and illustration. Determined to learn the entire photographic process, he served an apprenticeship under several professional photographers and gained invaluable technical knowledge. It was his willingness to explore ideas and adapt his skills to new situations that resulted in an impressive portfolio of work.
Following the completion of his undergraduate studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Carver accepted a fellowship to study classical arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Inspired by insightful portrait photography, he attempted to broaden the scope of his study by serious practice. Establishing himself as a freelance portraitist, he began his career with limited success and encouragement. Determined to work as a photographer, Carver undertook a photojournalist assignment on a documentary film. By learning the flexibility and immediacy that the work required, he gained valuable experience that contributed to his artistic vision of observed life. The experience also sowed the seed for Carver's interest in storytelling. He spent increasing amounts of time studying the creative process of filmmaking. In his final year at graduate school, Carver was a mature artist who had a passion for the visual arts and whose goals were vividly conceived. He rejected a conventional presentation of his thesis in favor of creating a film as a deliberate aesthetic choice to enhance the collective nature of his artwork with visual excitement and inventiveness. Working feverishly, Carver prepared a scenario that incorporated an assemblage of images derived from his photographs, paintings, drawings and etchings. While he labored with the arduous and complicated process, the single-minded intensity and pure ambition that he brought to the task ultimately motivated the completion of his first film. The achievement earned Carver a Master of Fine Arts degree and reinforced a new objectivity. During the next two years, Carver devoted himself to studying filmmaking while concentrating primarily on photography and art.
Resuming his freelance career, he worked as a conceptual artist, contract photographer, lecturer, film consultant and sometimes journalist. He accepted an invitation to attend a special postgraduate program in photojournalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Under a core group of staff photographers from "Life" magazine, Carver began studying the techniques of pictorial journalism. By drawing upon his unique vision and the imagery of culture, he built a portfolio of photographs that explored the interstices connecting culture, art and the artist. Returning to St. Louis, he exhibited his work at a fine-arts gallery and enjoyed both critical and commercial success. That success earned Carver a teaching position at Florissant Valley College and offers of employment.
Dividing his time between working as a photography instructor and freelance photojournalist, he contributed to the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", ABC-TV's Wide World of Sports (1981), "Architectural Digest", "National Geographic" and "Time-Life". He later became a staff photographer for United Press International, where he developed a documentary portrait style producing a significant body of work. While photojournalism inspired his creativity, Carver maintained his fascination with filmmaking. On weekends he enjoyed the challenge of experimenting and exploring its technical process by shooting and editing thousands of feet of 16mm film. For inspiration he turned to the work of documentary filmmakers and the intellectual stimulation provided by friends. Mainly self-taught, he began taking on assignments as a cameraman and film editor. While teaching photography and filmmaking at the Metropolitan Education Council in the Arts in St. Louis, he began producing educational films that documented urban life and attitudes under the auspices of the St. Louis Mayor's Council on the Arts. Subsequently, the photo-documentaries created collections of images, dramatically increasing his productivity as well as his profitability. Despite his best efforts, however, the work exhausted Carver's interests in art and photography of all kinds. At the invitation of the American Film Institute in Beverly Hills, California, he shifted the focus of his efforts and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a formal education in filmmaking.
Over the next 20 years he gradually gave up professional photography and rarely used a still camera. While attending the fellowship program at the Center for Advanced Film Studies, Carver studied screenwriting, film directing and editing, exclusively as a student. His principal mentors were great directors, producers and actors. Their counsel contributed enormously to his education in film and provided an outstanding professional atmosphere. Through the apprenticeship program at the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Carver gained employment as an assistant director and developed a technical aptitude for the craft. As a result, he got a foothold in the movie industry and received his first directorial assignment, establishing himself as a feature film director. Directing feature films and TV-movies throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, he made good use of the creative vision he developed through photography. While working on location in Moscow he receiving a still camera as a gift, and he renewed his interest in photography by undertaking a series of photographic expeditions throughout Russia. After his return to Los Angeles he was offered a partnership in a business, but decided to take a break from directing and turned his attention to a different kind of creative enterprise--establishing a photography business he named The Darkroom, located in Venice Beach. Its opening, however, coincided with the demise of the partnership, and Carver ran the business himself for five years--he was not only the owner but the operator, technician, educator and photographer, even doing the rentals and services that helped to support the facility. Largely self-taught, he quickly came to terms with the arduous business process. Since his technical skills relied heavily on the precepts and techniques that he learned over the previous 20 years, he began to focus his efforts on encompassing new photographic technology to stimulate diversity in his work. To maximize production, he practiced, concentrating more and more on photography, adapting his idiosyncratic working methods. Working independently, he explored the boundaries of his classical photographic vision in black-and-white, and by using applications of early chemical processes as a means of documenting the evolving ideas and facets of his work, he liberally incorporated the technology from his explorations into his photography as a means of expression. Gradually, it allowed him to produce photographs of exceptional depth and quality. As a result, The Darkroom gained popularity and increasingly attracted a core group of photographic artists and serious students.
While his techniques and methods became the subject and inspiration of a diverse body of photographs, as a portraitist Carver began creating sensuous and moody figure studies that he considered being among his highest artistic achievements. As expressive formalism incorporating a traditional classic sensibility, his portraiture provided a stylish and diverse cultural document, serving to chronicle life and culture while conveying the emotional, psychological, and spiritual as opposed to merely rendering a likeness. He also produced photo-transformations of people in motion, isolating successive stages of rapid movement by using long exposures to permit the intrusion of motion into the image, as both a means of expression and transformation. These images typically included insightful psychological compositions, involving precise staging, elaborate props, and direction. Psychologically probing and surreal, the images often involved the use of light abstractions, color-frequency alteration, long-exposure techniques, split-filter printing, solarization, and archival chemical toning. Carver became affiliated with conservators and scientists in an effort to interact with private collectors, archivists, and curators, to further the development of his work in archival preservation of historical prints and negatives. He appropriated images from archives and private collections in order to raise issues of cultural heritage. Primarily produced and used as source material for scholars and as telling documentation to ensure the preservation of cultural heritages, he created replicas and duplicates of photographs that characteristically challenged perception of its originality. While the closing of the lab allowed Carver to resume his career as a director, his ambition now is to create exceptional collections of formal portraiture for wide publication. It is his hope that these informative photographic studies will offer new interpretations and contribute to the necessary preservation of cultural heritages.Died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.
1945-2021 (75 years old)
8 January- Diana became involved in show business at a very early age, tap dancing at seven and winning a beauty contest three years later. This led to modeling sun suits for Sears Department Stores, and, eventually, to becoming a Conover model for the John Robert Powers Agency in New York. She also acquired plenty of acting practice during seven seasons of summer stock, playing assorted leads in classic plays like The Little Foxes, The Seven Year Itch (the role immortalized by Marilyn Monroe on screen!), Tobacco Road and Life With Father. From the mid-50s, she appeared on numerous live TV shows in New York and even enjoyed a second-billed leading role in a 1955 episode of Star Tonight (1955). This did not lead anywhere career-wise, so the blonde, comely-looking Diana took on further acting studies and got herself noticed with covers in popular contemporary magazines. Alas, it took a move to Hollywood for her career to really gain some traction, then, before long, she became a much-in-demand guest actress for prime-time TV shows. So much so, where by 1962, she was given the sobriquet 'Miss Emmy'.
Diana also appeared thrice on Broadway, culminating in a leading role in the comedy play Boeing-Boeing in 1962. That same year, she toured the U.S. and Canada in a National Theatre Company Production of The Seven Year Itch, opposite Eddie Bracken.
During her prolific TV appearances in the 60s, Diana accumulated screen credits on some of the most popular shows of the day, including Maverick (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), Route 66 (1960), Rawhide (1959), Perry Mason (1957), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), The Virginian (1962) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964).
However, her undoubted career highlight came near the end of her life as an actress when producer/creator Dan Curtis offered her the juicy role of Laura Collins (an immortal Phoenix-like entity) in his cult supernatural day time series Dark Shadows (1966). Between 1966 and 1969, Diana lived and breathed this character in 62 episodes and a subsequent spin-off movie release, Night of Dark Shadows (1971). After that, her acting career ended somewhat inconspicuously.
In later years, she moved back to New York where she reinvented herself as an author of several books, including "The Power of Halloween" (dealing with supernatural themes, such as witchcraft), "How to Create Good Luck" and "I'd Rather Eat Than Act".
Between 1966 and 1968, Diana Claire Millay was married to Geoffrey Montgomery Talbot Jones, a Broadway producer, Princeton alumnus and former wartime OSS officer. Sometime during the 1990s, she worked as a promoter for Microhydrin, an antioxidant and nutritional supplement.
Diana passed away in New York on 8 January 2021 at the age of 86.Died in New York, New York.
1935-2021 (85 years old)
8 January - Angie Jakusz was born on 27 March 1980 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress, known for Lucinda's Spell (1998), Survivor (2000) and TV Guide Specials: Survivor - Palau Preview (2005). She was married to Steven Calandra. She died on 8 January 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.Died of cancer.
1980-2021 (40 years old)
8 January - Michael Dennis Henry was born August 15th, 1936. He was an athletic professional football player at the time he entered the movies. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1958-61) and the Los Angeles Rams (1962-64). During part of that time (1961-64) he was under contract with Warner Brothers and played a variety of bit parts (TV's Surfside 6 (1960), Hawaiian Eye (1959), Cheyenne (1955) & the movie, Spencer's Mountain (1963)). He earned the role of Tarzan when series producer, Sy Weintraub began looking for a "younger Burt Lancaster" type, anticipating not only more Tarzan movies but a TV series as well. Weintraub was a Rams fan and had seen a TV documentary about them called Men from the Boys, produced by and featuring Mike Henry. Mike only made three Tarzan movies. He suffered animal bites, food poisoning, infections, and impossible work schedules in Mexico and especially Brazil. He wound up suing Weintraub for "maltreatment, abuse, and working conditions detrimental to my health and welfare." Just before his second Tarzan release in 1967 he was signed as Sgt. Kowalski in John Wayne's The Green Berets (1968). He made more movies, including the part of "Junior", as a naive son of Jackie Gleason, with the role of Buford T. Justice! in the Smokey and the Bandit (1977) movie set there were three.Died of Parkinson's disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in Burbank, California.
1936-2021 (84 years old)
8 January - John Reilly was born on 11 November 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for General Hospital (1963), Iron Man (1994) and Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982). He was married to Lily Beth (Liz) Janred and Donna Reilly . He died on 9 January 2021 in the USA.Died in the USA.
1934-2021 (86 years old)
9 January - Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
David Stypka was born on 21 July 1979 in Frýdek-Místek, Czechoslovakia. He was an actor and composer, known for Over Fingers (2019), David Stypka, Ewa Farná: Dobré ráno, milá (2017) and David Stypka & Bandjeez: Kríz (2018). He died on 10 January 2021.Died of covid-19.
1980-2021 (41 years old)
9 January- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Carmine Capobianco was born September 19, 1958 in Waterbury, Ct. He attended St. Mary's School (Alma Mater of Dylan McDermott), Sacred Heart High School and then graduated Western Connecticut State University with a degree in Photography, Film and Television. His film career began upon meeting Gorman Bechard and they raised money to shoot their first low-budget feature, Disconnected (1984). Shortly after making a video feature, Carmine and Gorman co-wrote the script and filmed Psychos in Love (1987). Charles Band, now of Full Moon Entertainment, purchased the rights and signed their film production company, Generic Films, to a four picture deal. They made two more before Charlie's company went under and Generic Films disbanded: Galactic Gigolo (1987) and Cemetery High (1988). Carmine went off on his own and dabbled for the next few years with small parts working on or in One Life to Live, an MTV video, a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie, commercials (ESPN), award-winning host of his own cable show and some small independent films such as Everything Moves Alone (2001) and The White Car. Carmine runs two video stores in Connecticut, has a few websites and is President of a non-profit organization called The Classic Movie Cinema. Carmine is married and has three beatiful daughters, Emily, Annie and Molly who share his enthusiasm for movies.Died of cancer in USA.
1958-2021 (62 years old)
9 January- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
- Visual Effects
Owen Marsh was born and raised in the Hollywood film industry. His father was Oliver T. Marsh, cinematographer and his mother a studio mood music violinist from the silent days. Aunts included Mildred and Mae Marsh, both actresses. Small acting roles as a child, the service (1950-52), 7 years (1952-59) in the film labs then on to production as an assistant cameraman. A 7-year (1963-70) stint in the Special visual effects dept. at MGM then back on production until retirement in 1990. Various jobs as a director of photography but mostly operating cameraman for the last 20 years of his career. Married to Evelyn Hadlock (1950). Currently lives in Oregon.Died of natural causes in Portland, Oregon.
1930-2021 (90 years old)
10 January- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Julie Strain was born in Concord, California, as Julie Ann Strain. She was an actress, known for Sex Court, (1998), Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) and Double Impact (1991), and Battle Queen 2020. She grew up in Pleasant Hill California and graduated from Diablo Valley College, in that town. Appeared in over 100 movies, was one of the tallest actresses in Hollywood, and performed all her own stunts. Julie was crowned the Queen of the B-movies.Died of dementia.
1962-2021 (58 years old)
10 January- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Stacy Title was born on 21 February 1964 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She was a director and producer, known for Let the Devil Wear Black (1999), The Last Supper (1995) and The Bye Bye Man (2017). She was married to Jonathan Penner. She died on 11 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died of ALS in USA.
1964-2021 (56 years old)
11 January- Tord Peterson was born on 21 April 1926 in Danderyd, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Änglagård - Andra sommaren (1994), House of Angels (1992) and Änglagård - Tredje gången gillt (2010). He was married to Ulla Blomstrand. He died on 11 January 2021 in Sweden.Died in Sweden.
1926-2021 (94 years old)
11 January - He grew up poor in Boston. Even as a young boy, he had to support his family financially, for which he worked as a newspaper seller. After military service, various fields of activity followed; Adelson worked as a mortgage dealer, investment advisor and financial expert. After gaining a lot of experience in a wide variety of companies, Adelson moved to Las Vegas, where he wanted to attract new audiences to the gaming city by founding a computer trade fair. The COMDEX (Computer Dealers Exhibition) achieved great success in its founding year in 1979. From year to year, Adelson's Interface Group continued to expand the trade fair, growing from 4,000 visitors in 1979 to 110,000 visitors in 1989.
Under Adelson's leadership, COMDEX became one of the world's largest trade fairs, taking place in over 20 countries. During this time, Sheldon Adelson made a considerable fortune, which he used to purchase the "Sands Hotel & Casino" in Las Vegas in 1989. The "Sands" was mainly known for Frank Sinatra and the performances of the legendary Rat Pack. A year later, Adelson opened the Sands Expo and Convention Center, the only privately owned convention center in the United States to date. The doctor Miriam Ochshorn married in 1991; they became parents of two sons. In 1995, Adelson sold his Interface Group including COMDEX to the Japanese Softbank Corporation. He received US$860 million. Always looking for new business areas and investment opportunities, he was inspired by Venice during his honeymoon in 1991. Adelson had the vision of a new mega-resort hotel and wanted to create the water city of Venice in the Nevada desert.
The realization of the construction project cost 1.5 billion US$, but also set new standards in Las Vegas. "The Venetian" was expanded in 2003 and has since included 4,049 suites, 18 first-class restaurants, its own shopping mall and the typical Venice canals with gondolas and singing gondoliers. Sheldon Adelson, chairman and owner of Las Vegas Sands Corp., opened the Sands Macau casino hotel in China in May 2004. Macau was a Portuguese colony until December 1999 and is now considered the gambling mecca of Asia. With an estimated personal fortune of US$15.6 billion, Sheldon Adelson was ranked 19th on the Forbes list of the world's richest people in 2005. In 2007, he made an unsuccessful bid to acquire a majority stake in the Israeli newspaper Maariw . He therefore decided to start his own newspaper. On July 30, 2007, the first issue of the newspaper "Israel HaYom" was published.Died of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1933-2021 (87 years old)
11 January - Denis Karasyov was born on 1 August 1963 in Sillamäe, Estonian SSR, USSR. He was an actor, known for Katka i Shiz (1992), Russkaya ruletka (1990) and Viktor (2014). He was married to Karina Goldova. He died on 12 January 2021 in Moscow, Russia.Died of heart failure in Moscow, Russia.
1963-2021 (57 years old)
12 January - Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Costume Designer
Jennifer Butler was born on 24 October 1963 in Panorama City, California, USA. She was a costume designer, known for Groundhog Day (1993), Firestarter (1984) and The Last of the Mohicans (1992). She was married to Bill Murray. She died on 12 January 2021 in Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, USA.Died in Sullivan's Island, South Carolina.
1963-2021 (57 years old)
12 January- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Sylvain Sylvain was born on 14 February 1951 in Cairo, Egypt. He was an actor and composer, known for Kick-Ass (2010), The Three Stooges (2012) and Up the Academy (1980). He was married to Wanda O'Kelley . He died on 13 January 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.Died of cancer in Nashville, Tennessee.
1953-2021 (68 years old)
13 January- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Siegfried Fischbacher was born on 13 June 1939 in Rosenheim, Germany. He was a producer and actor, known for Vegas Vacation (1997), Ocean's Eleven (2001) and Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box (1999). He died on 13 January 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.Died of pancreatic cancer in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1939-2021 (81 years old)
13 January- Born on February 27, 1975. In 2001, he graduated from the acting department of the Yaroslavl State Theater Institute (course B.V. Trukhachev). Since 2001 - actor of the Moscow Theater in the South-West. He starred in such films as: Code of Honor (2002), Capercaillie (2008), Montecristo (2008), Hour Volkova (2009), Voronin (2009), Zoya (2010) and many others.1975-2021 (45 years old)
13 January - Astrida Kairisha was born on 8 April 1941 in Riga, USSR. She was an actress, known for Redundant (1976), Ezera Sonate (1977) and Vecherniy variant (1981). She was married to Karlis Auskaps. She died on 13 January 2021.1941-2021 (79 years old)
13 January - Actor
- Production Manager
Rock Mackenzie was born on 14 February 1947 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. He was an actor and production manager, known for The Only Way to Spy (1978), Boogeyman II (1983) and Flo (1980). He was married to Mary Beth McKenzie. He died on 13 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died of covid-19 in Los Angeles, California.
1947-2021 (73 years old)
13 January- Mona Malm got her breakthrough at the Royal Dramatic Theater in 1957 as "Tintomara" in Almqvist's 'Drottningens juvelsmycke', directed by Alf Sjöberg. She played "Martha" in Edward Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (1985) and the title role in Hjalmar Bergman's 'Chefen fru Ingeborg' (1993). She appeared in such films as Fanny and Alexander (1982) (as Jarl Kulle's tolerant wife) and The Best Intentions (1992).Died in Stockholm, Sweden.
1935-2021 (85 years old)
14 January - This durable, granite-faced actor with the matching steel-edged voice was one of the most interesting and recognisable leads in 1950s and 1960s television. He was born Marvin Jack Richman in South Philadelphia to paper and roofing contractor Benjamin Richman and his wife Yetta Dora (née Peck), the youngest of five siblings. His childhood was -- by his own account -- 'horrendous'. The family was not well off and money was hard to come by. For two years he played football until sidelined by a knee injury. Richman also studied at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, from which he graduated in 1951 as a fully qualified pharmacist. He briefly worked in that field, though his interest had always been in the performing arts, spurred on by regular childhood visits to the nearby Alhambra Theater and performances in high school dramatics. Between 1952 and 1954, Richman trained at the Actor's Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg, having already made his stage debut in 1947. Until 1996, he acted on and off-Broadway and on the West Coast, as well as touring nationally in seminal plays like Mister Roberts, The Rainmaker and A Hatful of Rain. For most of his early career he was billed as 'Mark Richman' but in 1971 changed his moniker to Peter Mark Richman because of his abiding belief in Subud, an Eastern spiritualist philosophy.
An amazingly prolific screen actor, Richman was first brought to Hollywood by famed director William Wyler to appear in Friendly Persuasion (1956). There were a few subsequent big screen outings, but the lean, edgy and coldly handsome actor reserved his best for the small screen. By the early 60s, he starred in his own series at NBC, Cain's Hundred (1961). His character was a former syndicate lawyer, Nick Cain, who, after wanting to 'go straight' is targeted for a hit. When his fiancée gets killed in the crosshairs instead, Cain swears revenge and joins an FBI task force to bring down the top 100 mobsters by various legal means. While the series only ran to 30 episodes, it firmly established Richman in the medium. He was henceforth to alternate between nasty villains, stern authority figures and stoic heroes and become one of the most often killed guys on TV. His numerous roles have included appearances in The Twilight Zone (1959), The Fugitive (1963), The Virginian (1962), Mission: Impossible (1966), Longstreet (1971) (as James Franciscus' cynical boss, Duke Paige), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) (as a rather camp THRUSH operative) and -- having lost none of his edge -- in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Standouts have included The Probe (1965) in which Richman plays a scientist determined to explore another dimension at any cost, and the first of two guest spots on The Invaders (1967) as an ally of the chief protagonist David Vincent. Richman was almost clipped by a helicopter blade during this episode and lucky to survive the experience. He continued to perform on screen well until his late eighties.
In addition to his work on front of the camera, Richman was something of a Renaissance man: a noted humanitarian (for which he was awarded a Silver Medallion from The Motion Picture and Television Fund) and an accomplished painter from an early age, trained at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. Describing himself as a 'figurative expressionist', Richman has had at least seventeen successful one-man exhibitions on the West Coast and in New York (primarily portraits of oil on canvas). He has also written two novels and several stage plays, of which his solo show 4 Faces and the one act play A Medal for Murray were the most acclaimed. His wife of 67 years was the actress Helen Richman (née Landess).Died of natural causes in Woodland Hills, California.
1927-2021 (93 years old)
14 January - Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Joanne Rogers was born on 9 March 1928 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018), Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum (2019) and Speedy Delivery (2008). She was married to Fred Rogers. She died on 14 January 2021 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.Died of a heart disease in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1928-2021 (92 years old)
14 January- Actress
- Additional Crew
Prolific and ubiquitous British bit player and dancer Pauline Lesley Chamberlain was born on October 2, 1932 in West Ham, Essex, England. The daughter of a piano player father, Pauline attended a French convent school in Palmers Green as well as learned ballet and tap at a local dance school. Chamberlain went on to attend the Aida Foster Stage School. Pauline and her twin sister Pamela were both featured as chorus girls in a 1948 production of the pantomime "Robin Hood and His Merry Men." The Chamberlain sisters went on to appear together in the pantomime "Robinson Crusoe" and did a tour of Great Britain in "Folies Bergere" for Bernard Delfont. Moreover, Pauline and Pamela were both members of Margaret Kelly's dancing troupe Bluebell Girls, appeared in revues at the London Palladium, and even performed in cabaret together in Brussels, Italy, Scotland, and Great Britain at the Dorchester as The Chamberlain Twins - What a Pair. A pretty brunette with a warm smile and a chipper disposition, Chamberlain first began appearing in films in uncredited minor roles while still in her teens in the late 1940's. Pauline could usually be spotted in movies cutting it up on the dance floor, as a guest at a party, or performing on stage (she was often cast as a showgirl). Chamberlain was featured in scores of films and a bunch of television shows in a career that spanned several decades. Pauline died at age 88 from complications of COVID-19 on January 14, 2021.Died of covid-19.
1932-2021 (88 years old)
14 January- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Luis Palomo was born on 20 February 1954 in Holguín, Cuba. He was a director and producer, known for La aparición (1985), For the Love of Film (1992) and Murder in Miami (2014). He died on 14 January 2021 in Miami, Florida, USA.Died of covid-19 in Miami, Florida.
1954-2021 (66 years old)
14 January- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Hatte Furuhagen was born on 12 November 1930 in Norrköping, Östergötlands län, Sweden. He was a director and actor, known for Figures de la foi (1990), Svenska bilder (1964) and Att angöra en brygga (1965). He died on 15 January 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden.Died in Stockholm, Sweden.
1930-2021 (90 years old)
15 January- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Animation Department
Stanislaw Sliskowski was born on 3 July 1935 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland. He was a cinematographer, known for Kontrapunkt (2015), Jutro premiera (1962) and Tarpany (1962). He died on 15 January 2021 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland.Died in Lodz, Poland.
1935-2021 (85 years old)
15 January- Actress
- Additional Crew
Paola Veneroni was born on 15 January 1922 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for Paese senza pace (1946), Vietato ai minorenni (1944) and Il ventesimo duca (1945). She was married to Giovanni Di Bernardo. She died on 15 January 2021.1922-2021 (99 years old)
15 January- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Phil Spector was born on 26 December 1939 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Top Gun (1986), Mean Streets (1973) and Dirty Dancing (1987). He was married to Rachelle Marie Short , Janis Lynn Zavala, Ronnie Spector and Annette Lee Merar. He died on 16 January 2021 in French Camp, California, USA.Died of covid-19 in San Quentin, California.
1939-2021 (81 years old)
16 January- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Juan Carlos Copes was born on 31 May 1931 in Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina. He was an actor, known for Happy Together (1997), Tango (1998) and La sonrisa de mamá (1972). He was married to Myriam Albuernez and Maria Nieves. He died on 16 January 2021 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Died of covid-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1931-2021 (89 years old)
16 January- Actress
- Soundtrack
Maria Koterbska was born on 13 July 1924 in Bielsko-Biala, Slaskie, Poland. She was an actress, known for Ida (2013), Irena do domu! (1955) and The Man with the Magic Box (2017). She was married to Jan Frankl. She died on 18 January 2021 in Bielsko-Biala, Silesia, Poland.Died in Bielsko-Biala, Poland.
1924-2021 (96 years old)
18 January- Actor
- Writer
Jean-Pierre Bacri was born on 24 May 1951 in Castiglione, Alger, France [now Bou Ismail, Algeria]. He was an actor and writer, known for Look at Me (2004), The Taste of Others (2000) and Family Resemblances (1996). He was married to Agnès Jaoui. He died on 18 January 2021 in Paris, France.Died of cancer in Paris, France.
1951-2021 (69 years old)
18 January- Music Department
- Actor
- Director
With over 40 top ten hits in the late '50s and '60s, smooth, folksy, honey-voiced singer Jimmie Rodgers was one of the early superstars of Rock & Roll. His biggest #1 hits include "Honeycomb", "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine", "It's Over", "Child of Clay", Oh Oh I'm Falling In Love Again" and "The Long Hot Summer", which had nominated Jimmie for an Oscar. You also know him from commercial singles taken from his songs-- Honeycomb was used for the cereal, Honeycomb; and Oh Oh Spaghetti-O's came from Oh Oh I'm Falling in Love Again. His career would never be the same after a December 1, 1967 altercation left him partially disabled. Remembered for a few singing hits of the late '50s and early '60s, Jimmie managed to prevail but at a much slower pace.
He was born September 18, 1933 in Camas, Washington, a few months after beloved Country Music Hall of Fame singer Jimmie Rodgers (known as "The Singing Brakeman") died of consumption. They were not related but perhaps Jimmie's mother, a piano teacher who often played for silent movie houses, was inspired to name her son after the country legend as the same exact spelling of the first name occurred. His mother taught the musically-inclined Jimmie the piano and guitar. He formed bands and served at one time with the U.S. Air Force. He later was discovered on Arthur Godfrey's talent show and was signed by Roulette Records, an offshoot of RCA. In the late 50s, Jimmie's easy folk-pop style and melodic renderings caught on fast. A wonderful alternative to the rock-and-roll, he found a #1 overnight hit with the song "Honeycomb" in 1957 and followed things up with a handful of "top 10" singles including "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again," "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," "Secretly," "Waltzing Matilda" and "Are You Really Mine."
Signed by Roulette Records, he severed ties with the record company in 1960 after a money dispute and signed with Dot Records the following year. Jimmie became a popular commodity during these years, touring with the likes of Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Frankie Avalon. He made TV appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "American Bandstand" to the delight of his fans, and even parlayed his singing fame into a brief movie career with lead performances in the remake of The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1961), in which he co-starred with Disney's Luana Patten, and the war drama Back Door to Hell (1964). Both were only mildly received. Things looked very promising with a TV summer series "The Jimmie Rodgers Show." Not an electric performer by any stretch, the good-looking singer with the trademark cleft chin had a natural and easygoing charm that appealed to the masses. In 1967, however, right after signing with A&M, Jimmie's life and career changed forever.
In December of 1967, he was stopped by an off-duty police officer on the freeway after leaving a party. The details are sketchy and the incident remains a mystery, but Jimmie somehow suffered a severe skull fracture as a result of the encounter and claims the police brutally attacked him. The police report maintains that Rodgers was intoxicated and hurt himself when he stumbled and fell. Jimmie later sued the City of Los Angeles and settled out of court. His life, however, would never be the same. Jimmie attempted a comeback of sorts, appearing regularly on "The Joey Bishop Show" in 1969, but after three brain surgeries he still suffered from convulsions and had trouble with balance. A portion of his face also sagged and he did not like appearing on camera for that reason.
Forced into retirement in later years, he devoted himself to religion and performed only on occasion in the concert venue. Some of his more popular songs can still be heard on commercials. He wrote a biography, "Dancing On The Moon," and also worked on children's animation projects and "Seven Horsemen." He loved to speak at events with an uplifting story of his recovery.
Jimmie was married three times and had five children. He died in January 2021.Died of a kidney disease in Palm Desert, California.
1933-2021 (87 years old)
18 January- Actor
- Additional Crew
Alberto Berco was born on 14 August 1929 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor, known for The House That Screamed (1969), ¿Es usted el asesino? (1967) and Historias para no dormir (1966). He was married to Mayra Gómez Kemp. He died on 18 January 2021 in Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain.Died of natural causes in Madrid, Spain.
1929-2021 (91 years old)
18 January- Simon James Hawkins was born in Wordsley to, Stuart Hawkins and Tracey Colbourne on the 24th of March, 1989. He grew up in the Black Country, on an estate called the Priory in Dudley. Simon spent many of his formative years watching great films, that eventually inspired him to want to become an actor. After working a few menial jobs and for the family business Simon decided to chase his dream and enrolled in a Drama course at his local college.Died in Dudley, England.
1989-2021 (31 years old)
18 January - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Juan Carlos Tabío was born on 3 September 1943 in Havana, Cuba. He was a director and writer, known for Guantanamera (1995), El cuerno de la abundancia (2008) and Strawberry & Chocolate (1993). He died on 18 January 2021 in Havana, Cuba.Died in Havana, Cuba.
1943-2021 (77 years old)
18 January- Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri was born in 1923. He was an actor, known for Chandramukhi (2005), Angane Oravadhikkalathu (1999) and Mazhavillinattam Vare (2012). He died on 20 January 2021 in Kannur, Kerala, India.Died of covid-19 in Kannur, India.
1923-2021 (98 years old)
20 January - A leading actress of theatre, film and TV in the former Yugoslavia, Mira Furlan emigrated to the U.S. with her husband, Goran Gajic, in November 1991, due to the intolerable political circumstances in her homeland. Ms. Furlan starred in the Warner Brothers TV series Babylon 5 (1993) as "Ambassador Delenn" (Sci-Fi Universe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Genre TV-series 1996 and 1997).
Her other American credits included the TV movie My Antonia (1995) directed by Joseph Sargent, the title roles in "Sophocles Antigone" at the Hudson Guild Theatre in Los Angeles (Dramalogue Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance in 1995) and Lorca's "Yerma" at The Indiana Repertory Theatre. She also appeared in Brecht's "Baal" at The Second Stage in Los Angeles and Shaw's "Don Juan In Hell" in which she co-starred with Edward Asner and Rene Auberjonois. Ms. Furlan was a member of The Actor's Studio.
Ms. Furlan's film credits include leading roles in over 25 films. She co-starred in Emir Kusturica's Cannes award-winning and Oscar-nominated film When Father Was Away On Business (2000). Films include: Three For Happiness, (Grand Prix, Valencia Film Festival), Beauty Of Vice, In The Jaws Of Life, The Loves Of Blanka Kolak, and Dear Video. In addition, Ms Furlan has appeared regularly on Yugoslav television, playing leading roles in numerous series and TV films. She received all the highest awards in her former country, both for her stage and film work, including two Golden Arenas (Yugoslav Oscars) for Best Actress.
In the former Yugoslavia, Furlan was a member of the Croatian National Theatre and a frequent guest star at major theatres in the whole country. Her favorite roles include: 'Natalya' in "A Month In The Country", 'Mrs. Elliot' in "Alpha-Beta", 'Celimene' in "The Misanthrope", 'Judith' in "The Devil's Disciple", 'Annabella' in "Tis Pity She's A Whore", the title role in Euripides' "Helen", 'Lea' in "Dybbuk", 'Isabelle' in Corneille's "L'Illusion Comique", 'Yvette' in "Mother Courage", 'Natasha' in "Three Sisters" and 'Ophelia' in Jiri Menzel's production of "Hamlet".Died of West Nile virus in Los Angeles, California.
1955-2021 (65 years old)
20 January - Actress
- Writer
- Director
Nathalie Delon was born on 1 August 1941 in Oujda, French Protectorate Morocco [now Morocco]. She was an actress and writer, known for The Samurai (1967), They Call It an Accident (1982) and The French Dispatch (2021). She was married to Alain Delon and Guy Barthelemy. She died on 21 January 2021 in Paris, France.Died of cancer in Paris, France.
1941-2021 (79 years old)
21 January- Mick Norcross was born on 11 May 1963 in Brentwood, Essex, England, UK. He died on 21 January 2021 in Bulphan, Essex, England, UK.Died of suicide by hanging in Bulphan, England.
1963-2021 (57 years old)
21 January - Oktay Yavuz was born in 1943 in Kayseri, Turkey. He was an actor, known for Karate Girl (1973). He died on 21 January 2021 in Istanbul, Turkey.Died of cancer in Istanbul, Turkey.
1943-2021 (78 years old)
21 January - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Marty Brill was born on 6 May 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Soupy Sales Show (1976), One in a Million (1980) and What's Happening!! (1976). He died on 23 January 2021.1932-2021 (88 years old)
21 January- Svetlana Nekipelova was born on 1 February 1944 in Buzuluk, Chkalov Oblast, RSFSR, USSR [now Orenburg Oblast, Russia]. She was an actress, known for Atlanty i kariatidy (1980), Timur i komanda (2014) and Bolshoy tramplin (1974). She died on 22 January 2021.1944-2021 (76 years old)
22 January - Actor
- Additional Crew
Baseball's all-time home run king, Hank Aaron did more than hit home runs. Sure, Aaron led the National League (NL) four times, he also was a two-time batting champion and led the league in RBIs four times and runs scored three times. He won the NL's Most Valuable Player award in 1957 and has a lifetime batting average of .305. Aaron got his start playing for the Indianapolis Clowns, of the Negro Leagues before signing on with the Milwaukee Braves. He played at their minor league team in Eau Claire, Wis., one of the first black players there, and was brought up by the Braves in 1954. For the next 23 years, Aaron clobbered Major League pitchers. Never a charismatic player, Aaron often let his bat do the talking. He was the subject of intense media scrutiny in 1973-74 when he approached Babe Ruth's hallowed home run record. Aaron received more than 10,000 letters (most of them hate mail and even death threats) during the off-season claiming he should not break the record. Ever the ultimate professional and gentleman, he ignored the insults and slurs and went about the opening season in 1974. On April 8, 1974, Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Ruth's record and in doing so, received the undying support of the fans. He finished with 755 overall before retiring after the 1976 season. Aaron was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982, and now works in the front office for the Atlanta Braves.Died of natural causes in Atlanta, Georgia.
1934-2021 (86 years old)
22 January- Producer
- Actor
- Director
Larry King was born on 19 November 1933 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Ghostbusters (1984), Enemy of the State (1998) and Bee Movie (2007). He was married to Shawn Ora Engemann, Julie Alexander, Sharon Lepore, Alene Akins, Mickey Sutphin, Annette Kaye and Freda Miller. He died on 23 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died of sepsis in Los Angeles, California.
1933-2021 (87 years old)
23 January- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Hal Holbrook was an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor who was one of the great craftsmen of stage and screen. He was best known for his performance as Mark Twain, for which he won a Tony and the first of his ten Emmy Award nominations. Aside from the stage, Holbrook made his reputation primarily on television, and was memorable as Abraham Lincoln, as Senator Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator (1970) and as Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo (1973). All of these roles brought him Emmy Awards, with Pueblo (1973) bringing him two, as Best Lead Actor in a Drama and Actor of the Year - Special. On January 22, 2008, he became the oldest male performer ever nominated for an Academy Award, for his supporting turn in Into the Wild (2007).
He was born Harold Rowe Holbrook, Jr. on February 17, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Eileen (Davenport), a vaudeville dancer, and Harold Rowe Holbrook, Sr. Raised primarily in South Weymouth, Massachusetts by his paternal grandparents, Holbrook attended the Culver Academies. During World War II, Holbrook served in the Army in Newfoundland. After the war, he attended Denison University, graduating in 1948. While at Denison, Holbrook's senior honors project concerned Mark Twain.
He later developed "Mark Twain Tonight!," the one-man show in which he impersonates the great American writer Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens. Holbrook learned his craft on the boards and by appearing in the TV soap opera The Brighter Day (1954). He first played Mark Twain as a solo act in 1954, at Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania. The show was a success that created a buzz. After seeing the performance, Ed Sullivan, the host of TV's premier variety show, featured him on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) on February 12, 1956. This lead to an international tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, which included appearances in Iron Curtain countries. Holbrook brought the show to Off-Broadway in 1959. He even played Mark Twain for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 1966 "Mark Twain Tonight" Broadway production brought Holbrook even more acclaim, and the Tony Award. The show was taped and Holbrook won an Emmy nomination. He reprised the show on Broadway in 1977 and in 2005. By that time, he had played Samuel Clemens on stage over 2,000 times.
Among Holbrook's more famous roles was "The Major" in the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller's "Incident at Vichy", as Martin Sheen's significant other in the controversial and acclaimed TV movie That Certain Summer (1972), the first TV movie to sympathetically portray homosexuality, and as Abraham Lincoln in Carl Sandburg's acclaimed TV biography of the 16th President Lincoln (1974), a role he also portrayed in excellent performances too in North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985) and North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986). He also is known for his portrayal of the enigmatic "Deep Throat" in All the President's Men (1976), one of the major cinema events of the mid-'70s. In the 1990s, he had a regular supporting role in the TV series Evening Shade (1990), playing Burt Reynolds' character's father-in-law.
Hal Holbrook died on January 23, 2021, at 95 years, in Beverly Hills. He was buried in McLemoresville Cemetery in Tennessee with his wife Dixie Carter.Died in Beverly Hills, California.
1925-2021 (95 years old)
23 January- Actress
- Soundtrack
Patricia Ann Ruth Noble was born on February 3, 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales to a popular Australian theater family. Her father, Buster Noble, was a well-known comedian, singer and dancer, and her mother, Helen de Paul, was a noted choreographer and producer. At the age of six, Patsy Ann, as she was known, performed on the Saturday radio program, "Anthony Horden's Children's Party". She also worked in her parents' stage productions and variety show. At age 14, Patsy Ann became one of the youngest qualified ballet teachers in Australia. In 1960, at age 16, she made her first television appearance as a guest on Keith Walshe's Youth Show (1959). Impressed with the youngster, Brian Henderson, the Australian equivalent of Dick Clark, immediately signed her as a regular on Bandstand (1958).
Around that time, Patsy Ann signed a deal with the HMV record label and issued her debut single, "I Love You So Much It Hurts", in November 1960. She released three more singles on HMV, of which "Good Looking Boy" became her biggest hit when it reached #6 in Melbourne and #16 in Sydney. In 1961, she was the winner of the first Logie Award for the Best Female Singer on Australian Television. She followed that with a successful acting debut at the Independent Theatre, Sydney, playing the lead role of Carmel in 'The Grotto'. Shortly thereafter, Patsy Ann and her mother left for London to further her career. She launched her British career in 1963 and shared her first BBC radio show with The Beatles, with whom she also appeared on British television. During this period, she recorded for EMI (England and France) with some chart success and performed at the London Palladium and at the Olympia Theatre in Paris.
By 1965, she had turned to acting, taking the role of Francesca in the British thriller Love Is a Woman (1966). She toured England with Cliff Richard and began to work on English television in dramatic and variety shows. In 1967, she married law student Allan Sharpe. During that year, she changed her stage name from Patsy Ann to Trisha and continued to work in British television and film. In her early 20s, she appeared on an Engelbert Humperdinck musical special and was seen by an American producer, who signed her to star in revue at the Las Vegas Sands Hotel. After a six-month engagement, she moved to Los Angeles and made her home there, making guest appearances on various television series. Trisha returned to Australia briefly in the early 1970s and starred in the stage musical 'Sweet Charity'. After seven years of marriage, she and Allan divorced and she threw herself into her work. Upon her return to the United States, she worked extensively in television series, miniseries and feature films. In 1976, she wed American model Scott MacKenzie and the following year gave birth to their son, Patrick. However, after four years of marriage, the couple divorced in 1980.
Despite personal setbacks, Trisha's acting career continued to thrive as she co-starred with Don Knotts and Tim Conway in The Private Eyes (1980) and she landed the role of Detective Rosie Johnson in the Aaron Spelling/Robert Stack police drama Strike Force (1981). In 1983, her father, Buster, had a heart attack and was not expected to live long. She decided to leave her successful acting career in Hollywood to return home to Australia to be with her family. She enjoyed seven years with her father before his death in July 1990. In 1985, Trisha married pharmaceutical scientist Peter Field and started a mineral-water business, Noble Beverages. Several years later, though, her third marriage ended in divorce and the business fell on hard times. At that point, she decided to sell the business and get back to her first love, show business.
In 1997, a 25-song CD collection of her early 1960s recordings was released: "The Story of Patsy Ann Noble: Hits & Rarities". In August 1997, she filmed a small role in the CBS miniseries Blonde (2001) and was cast in a secret role in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). Shortly thereafter, Trisha was cast to co-star with David Campbell in the musical 'Shout!' as Thelma O'Keefe, mother of Australian rock 'n' roll star, Johnny O'Keefe. The musical opened on January 4, 2001, in Melbourne, and a cast recording followed in March. To top it all, she was nominated in May for an Australian Entertainment MO Award in the category: Female Musical Theatre Performer of the Year for her role in 'Shout!' Her last film credit was Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). One of her most recent roles was playing Miss Jacobs/Mrs Crown in the Australian stage production of 'Ladies in Black' in 2017.
Trisha Noble died after an 18 month battle with mesothelioma on January 23, 2021, aged 76. The location of her death has not been revealed.Died of mesothelioma.
1944-2021 (76 years old)
23 January- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Tony Ferrer was born on 12 June 1934 in Macabebe, Pampanga, Philippines. He was an actor and producer, known for Sabotage (1966), Ang agila at ang falcon (1980) and Blackmail (1966). He was married to Imelda Ilanan. He died on 23 January 2021 in the Philippines.Died of a heart illness in the Philippines.
1934-2021 (86 years old)
23 January- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Blacklisted writer in the 1950s, a victim of the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), he still continued to write under pseudonyms as did many other blacklisted writers such as Ring Lardner Jr. and Dalton Trumbo, and his biggest contribution during that time was probably his writing work with other blacklisted writers Arnold Manoff & Abraham Polonsky on the You Are There (1953) TV segments starring Walter Cronkite. Of large importance is his screenplay for the dark comedy about blacklisted screenwriters, The Front (1976) starring Woody Allen. The blacklisted writers in the deli are based on a composite of him, Manoff & Polonsky. After he graduated from Dartmouth, he wrote for The New Yorker magazine and also the G.I. weekly "Yank" during World War II. He had barely started working in Hollywood when he was blacklisted. He is a recipient of The Writers Guild of America East Lifetime Achievement Award and he also wrote the book "Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist". Though unfairly blacklisted by Hollywood for his political alliances, luckily he recovered to have a long remarkable career.Died of pneumonia in Manhattan, New York.
1919-2021 (101 years old)
23 January- Actress
- Director
- Writer
After acting studies at the Gothenburg City Theatre from 1950-52, she made her breakthrough debut in Gustaf Molander's Kärlek (1952). When Ingmar Bergman became head of the Malmö City Theatre he asked her to join him there and with him as a director she played the role of Margareta in Goethe's 'Faust'. Bergman also gave her supporting roles in his movies, most notably the mute woman in The Seventh Seal (1957). She followed up on a few offers from abroad but the roles wasted her screen presence. Bergman once again gave her an offer she couldn't refuse, to direct a movie. Paradistorg (1977) received a lot of praise from all over the world. Time Magazine considered it one of the four best non-US movies of 1978. Her appearances in movies has been rare but she gave a wonderful appearance in the children's TV show Kaspar i Nudådalen (2001). Lindblom has for many years worked for The Royal Dramatic Theatre, appearing in plays by August Strindberg or William Shakespeare. In 2002 she received a Guldbagge award for her lifetime achievements in movies.Died in Brottby, Sweden.
1931-2021 (89 years old)
24 January- One of those hard-working supporting actors whose face you know but whose name might not ring any bells. Italian-American Bruce Kirby (real name Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu) was steadily employed--primarily on the small screen--to play a gallery of often likeable, mainly unimposing characters in a career that spanned more than 50 years. He began at the Actor's Studio in New York, having studied under Lee Strasberg, debuting on stage in or around 1950. His television work commenced in 1955 with anthology dramas. Kirby had a recurring role as Officer Kissel in Car 54, Where Are You? (1961) and was from then on frequently cast as police officers, notably in Kojak (1973) (Sgt. Al Vine), Columbo (1971) (perhaps best remembered as the ineffectual, perennially-bewildered Sgt. Kramer), Holmes and Yoyo (1976) (Captain Harry Sedford), and in the short-lived crime series Shannon (1981) (Det. George Schmidt). He enjoyed a lengthier run as District Attorney Bruce Rogoff in the multiple Emmy Award-winning legal drama L.A. Law (1986). Kirby showed up in numerous guest spots on top-rating shows across diverse genres, including Hogan's Heroes (1965), Bonanza (1959), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), The Streets of San Francisco (1972), M*A*S*H (1972), The Rockford Files (1974), The West Wing (1999) and The Sopranos (1999).
Kirby appeared as Alfieri on stage in Los Angeles in A View from the Bridge, using his real name. He made his bow on Broadway in Diamond Orchid (1965) and was understudy to Dustin Hoffman for the role of Willy Loman in a 1984 production of Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman. He retired from acting in 2009. Kirby died on January 24, 2021 in Los Angeles.Died of leukemia in Los Angeles, California.
1925-2021 (95 years old)
24 January - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Jeanette studied Theater at Cornish College of the arts and soon after dove into the Seattle film scene where she began booking shorts, commercials, voice-overs and independent films such as World Enough and Time, The Stranger and the horror cult-favorite, Frayed. She booked the indie film The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle directed by David Russo, then met and began working with Lynn Shelton, playing the lead in the web series What the Funny, and landing roles in her films My Effortless Brilliance and Your Sister's Sister. You can catch Jeanette in the upcoming film Charm City Kings written by Berry Jenkins and premiering at Sundance Film Festival. Devastatingly, Jeanette passed away from cancer in early 2021. My Fiona is her last on screen role.Died of colon cancer in Los Angeles, California.
1981-2021 (39 years old)
24 January- Actress
- Soundtrack
Margarita Papageorgiou was born on 1 January 1935 in Greece. She was an actress, known for The Happy Beginning (1954), The Ogre of Athens (1956) and The Magic City (1954). She died on 24 January 2021 in Greece.Died in Greece.
1935-2021 (86 years old)
24 January- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Editor
Fernando Arribas was born in 1940 in Spain. He was a cinematographer and editor, known for Divinas palabras (1987), Tirano Banderas (1993) and Open Season (1974). He was married to Tania Helfgott. He died on 24 January 2021 in Madrid, Spain.Died in Madrid, Spain.
1940-2021 (81 years old)
24 January- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Tseng Chang was born on 18 May 1930 in Beijing, China. He was an actor and assistant director, known for 2012 (2009), Shanghai Noon (2000) and Romeo Must Die (2000). He died on 25 January 2021.1930-2021 (90 years old)
25 January- Actor, activist of NSZZ "Solidarity". In the years 1965-66 he performed at the Teatr Ziemi Krakowskiej in Tarnów, in the years 1966-67 at the Teatr im. Mickiewicza in Czestochowa, in the years 1967-69 and 1970-73 at the Teatr im. Boguslawski in Kalisz, in 1969-70 at the Polish Theater in Bydgoszcz, in 1973 at the Teatrze Ziemi Gdanskiej in Gdynia, in 1979-80 at the Old Theater in Krakow. In 1974-79 and 1980-81, he was an actor of the Dramatic Theater in Gdynia. In August 1980, a member of the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee, then an activist of the "Solidarity" Trade Union. Interned during martial law, then active in the underground "Solidarity". In 1989 co-organizer of the Citizens' Committee in Gdansk, chairman of the Culture Office of the National Committee of "Solidarity" Trade Union. In 1990-94, vice-chairman of the Gdynia City Council.Died in Konin, Poland.
1935-2021 (85 years old)
25 January - Irina Tokarchuk was born on 20 July 1959 in Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. She was an actress, known for 12 stulev (2004), Vozdushnye piraty (1992) and Zaveshchanie (1986). She died on 25 January 2021 in Odessa, Ukraine.1959-2021 (61 years old)
25 January - Writer
- Director
- Visual Effects
Before his breakthrough as a playwright in the early 1980s, one of the most innovative and productive poets in Swedish letters. Debut book at 19: Syrener, snö ("Lilacs, snow", 1963). Norén was one of the first authors in Sweden to describe and portray drug addicts and the experience of tripping, or mental patients and prostitutes without aiming at sensation or indignant reportage (the novels "The Beekeepers" (1970) and "In the subterranean sky" (1972); those preoccupations turn up again in his dramatic work.Died of covid-19 in Stockholm, Sweden.
1944-2021 (76 years old)
26 January- Hana Maciuchová was born on 29 November 1945 in Sternberk, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Hospital at the End of the City - The New Generation (2008), Hospital at the End of the City (1977) and The Three Musketeers (1983). She was married to Jirí Adamíra. She died on 26 January 2021 in Olomouc, Czech Republic.Died of cancer in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
1945-2021 (75 years old)
26 January - Peter Vere-Jones was born on 21 October 1939 in Cheshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Dead Alive (1992), Bad Taste (1987) and Meet the Feebles (1989). He died on 26 January 2021 in New Zealand.Died in New Zealand.
1939-2021 (81 years old)
26 January - Actress
- Soundtrack
The legendary actress set a record when at age 82, she appeared on Dancing with the Stars (2005). Cloris Leachman was born on April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa to Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman and the former Cloris Wallace. Her father's family owned a lumber company, Leachman Lumber Co. She was of Czech (from her maternal grandmother) and English descent. After graduating from high school, Leachman attended Illinois State University and Northwestern University, where she majored in drama. After winning the title of Miss Chicago 1946 (as part of the Miss America pageant), she acted with the Des Moines Playhouse before moving to New York.
Leachman made her credited debut in 1948 in an episode of The Ford Theatre Hour (1948) and appeared in many television anthologies and series before becoming a regular on The Bob & Ray Show (1951) in 1952. Her movie debut was memorable, playing the doomed blonde femme fatale Christina Bailey in Robert Aldrich's classic noir Kiss Me Deadly (1955). Other than a role in Rod Serling's movie The Rack (1956) in support of Paul Newman, Leachman remained a television actress throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, appearing in only two movies during the latter decade, The Chapman Report (1962) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Though she would win an Oscar for Peter Bogdanovich's adaptation of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show (1971) and appear in three Mel Brooks movies, it was in television that her career remained and her fame was assured in the 1970s and into the second decade of the new millennium.
Leachman was nominated five times for an Emmy Award playing Phyllis Lindstrom, Mary Tyler Moore's landlady and self-described best friend on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and on the spin-off series Phyllis (1975). She won twice as Best Supporting Actress in a comedy for her "Mary Tyler Moore" gig and won a Golden Globe Award as a leading performer in comedy for "Phyllis", but her first Emmy Award came in the category Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 1973 for the television movie A Brand New Life (1973). She also won two Emmy Awards as a supporting player for Malcolm in the Middle (2000).
She was married to director-producer George Englund from 1953 to 1979. They had five children together. Cloris Leachman died of natural causes on January 27, 2021 in Encinitas, California.Died of natural causes in Encinitas, California.
1926-2021 (94 years old)
27 January- Actress
- Soundtrack
Goddess Bunny was born on 13 January 1960 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Hollywood Vice Squad (1986), The Three Trials (2006) and Scumbag (2017). She died on 27 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Died of covid-19 in Los Angeles, California.
1960-2021 (61 years old)
27 January- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Wendel Meldrum was born on 21 July 1954 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She was an actress and writer, known for Less Than Kind (2008), Blast from the Past (1999) and Cruel But Necessary (2005). She was married to Patric Caird and Mark Humphrey. She died on 27 January 2021.1954-2021 (66 years old)
27 January- Marthe Fleurant was born on 31 October 1945 in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada. She was an actress, known for Bye-Bye (1968) and Jeunesse oblige (1963). She died on 27 January 2021 in Québec Canada.Died in Quebec, Canada.
1945-2021 (75 years old)
27 January - Ryszard Kotys was a Polish actor, director, and writer. He graduated from the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow in 1953 and made his theatrical debut at the Stefan Zeromski Theater in Kielce. Over his career, he performed in various theaters across Poland, including in Gdansk, Wroclaw, Tarnow, Bialystok, and Lodz. He also directed theatrical productions. In his more than 65-year-long career, Kotys appeared in over 150 productions. He gained popularity for his role as Marian Pazdzioch in the TV series Swiat wedlug Kiepskich (1999), which he played for over 20 years. His contributions to Polish cinema and theater were recognized when he was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1999.1932-2021 (88 years old)
28 January