Lance Reddick, Tina Turner, Annie Wersching, Cindy Williams, Jerry Springer and Lisa Loring are among several entertainment legends the industry lost this year.
Len Goodman, Raquel Welch, Annie Wersching, Tom Sizemore, Cindy Williams, Jerry Springer, Lance Reddick, Lisa Loring
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Only halfway through the year and Hollywood has already had to say goodbye to many actors, singers, performers, creatives, executives and all-around industry icons — many of whom had a great impact on the entertainment world throughout their lifetimes.
The Hollywood Reporter is highlighting some of the most well-known names who died in 2023, including Lance Reddick, Tina Turner, Annie Wersching, Cindy Williams, Jerry Springer, Lisa Loring and more.
At the beginning of the year, Laverne & Shirley star Williams died in Los Angeles after a brief illness in January, her children, Zak and Emily Hudson, said in a statement at the time. She was 75.
Wersching, actress on Bosch, 24 and Marvel’s Runaways, also died in January from cancer, according to her rep. She was 45.
Loring, who starred as Wednesday Addams in the classic TV adaptation of The Addams Family, died in January at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of complications from a stroke caused by high blood pressure, her daughter told THR. She was 64.
In March, The Wire and John Wick star died “suddenly … from natural causes,” his publicist Mia Hansen told THR at the time. He was 60. Reddick’s body was discovered in his Studio City home, TMZ reported.
Then in April, Springer, the former Cincinnati mayor turned controversial talk show host, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in suburban Chicago, family spokesperson Jene Galvin told THR. He was 79.
Turner, a trailblazing entertainer and feminist icon, died in May “after a long illness” in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, her reps confirmed. She was 83.
Below are more of this year’s most notable deaths in Hollywood. And check out THR‘s obituaries page for other 2023 industry deaths.
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Lance Reddick
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Lance Reddick, the actor who broke out with a complex, powerful performance as Lt. Cedric Daniels in the seminal HBO show The Wire, died on March 17. He was 60. Read his full obituary.
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Tina Turner
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Tina Turner, the trailblazing rock star who set world records for ticket sales — and whose dramatic triumph over domestic abuse and the music industry itself made her a feminist icon — died on May 24. She was 83. Read her full obituary.
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Peter Rawley
Image Credit: Courtesy Betty Kaplan Peter Rawley, a longtime ICM agent in Los Angeles and London who served as head of European production for MGM and produced independent films, died on Jan. 3. He was 85. Full obituary.
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Annie Wersching
Image Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for Disney Annie Wersching, an actress known for her roles in TV dramas Bosch and 24, as well as her portrayal of Leslie Dean, the mother of alien superhero Karolina on Marvel’s Runaways, died on Jan. 29. She was 45. Read her full obituary.
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Al Jaffee
Image Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Mad Magazine Al Jaffee, the trailblazing and culture-bending cartoonist for Mad magazine, died on April 10. He was 102. Full obituary.
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Bernard Kalb
Image Credit: NBC News/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Bernard Kalb, the veteran print and TV journalist and author who covered a host of world events during a six-decade career, died on Jan. 8. He was 100. Read his full obituary.
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Cindy Williams
Image Credit: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images Cindy Williams, the energetic actress who appeared in a pair of Oscar best picture nominees before starring as the idealistic Shirley Feeney on the beloved ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley, died on Jan. 25. She was 75. Read her full obituary here.
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Edward R. Pressman
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images Edward R. Pressman, the veteran producer behind Wall Street and a frequent Oliver Stone collaborator, died on Jan. 17. He was 79. Full obituary.
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Jerry Springer
Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Jerry Springer, the former Cincinnati mayor who became America’s most controversial talk show host — a man described by one interviewer as a “purveyor of the puerile and arbiter of the aberrant,” famous for a combustible cocktail of hurled insults, punches and chairs — died on April 27. He was 79. Read his full obituary.
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N’Neka Garland
Image Credit: Cori Murray N’Neka Garland, an Emmy-winning producer on General Hospital who spent the past 22 years with the venerable ABC soap opera, died on March 27. She was 49. Read her full obituary here.
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Tom Sizemore
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Tom Sizemore, who faced legal troubles and drug addiction amid a career that saw him star as Sgt. Mike Horvath in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and portray cops, crooks and psychopaths with the best of them, died March 3. He was 61. Find his obituary here.
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Sandra Seacat
Image Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Sandra Seacat, the actress and influential acting coach who as a Lee Strasberg disciple taught the craft to the likes of Laura Dern, Mickey Rourke, Harvey Keitel, Common, Andrew Garfield, Michelle Williams and many others, died on Jan. 17. She was 86. Read her full obituary.
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Noah Cowan
Image Credit: Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images Noah Cowan, a veteran film festival director and indie film specialty distributor, most recently with San Francisco International Film Festival, died on Jan. 25. He was 55. Full obituary.
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Lisa Loring
Image Credit: Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images Lisa Loring, the actress who played Wednesday Addams on the classic TV adaptation of The Addams Family, died on Jan. 28. She was 64. Full obituary.
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Gregory Allen Howard
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/Getty Images Gregory Allen Howard, who wrote Remember the Titans and was a producer and writer behind Harriet, died on Jan. 27. He was 70. Find his obituary here.
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Lloyd Morrisett
Image Credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images Lloyd Morrisett, the co-founder of Sesame Street whose curiosity about whether television could serve as a tool to teach children was piqued when he observed his young daughter staring at a TV test pattern, died on Jan. 22. He was 93. Full obituary here.
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Howard Bragman
Image Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images Howard Bragman, a public relations giant who helped guide all-star clients grappling with a dilemma while becoming an expert in crisis PR and a key advocate for LBGTQ rights, died in February. He was 66. Full obituary.
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Raquel Welch
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Barneys New York Raquel Welch, the almond-eyed sex symbol who turned a doeskin bikini into one of the most iconic cinematic images of the 1960s, died Feb. 15. She was 82. Read the full obituary here.
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Richard Belzer
Image Credit: Bobby Bank/WireImage Richard Belzer, the beloved comedian who began as an edgy stand-up performer before finding further fame as the cynical but stalwart detective John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, died Feb. 19. He was 78. Full obituary here.
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Jeff Beck
Image Credit: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images Jeff Beck, one of the greatest guitarists of all time who rose to fame in the English rock band The Yardbirds, died on Jan. 10 at a hospital near his home in Surrey, England. He was 78. Find his obituary here.
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Rolly Crump
Image Credit: Courtesy Disney Animation Rolly Crump, the pioneering Walt Disney Imagineer who helped design It’s a Small World, the Enchanted Tiki Room, the Haunted Mansion and other attractions for Disneyland, died March 12. He was 93. Full obituary.
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Len Goodman
Image Credit: Simon Burchell/Getty Images Len Goodman, the former Dancing With the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing judge, died April 22. He was 78. Read his obituary here.
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Peter Werner
Image Credit: Courtesy of Tom Werner Peter Werner, the Oscar-winning director known for his television work that spanned five decades and included helming episodes of such popular series as Moonlighting, A Different World, Justified and Law & Order: SVU, died on March 21. He was 76. Full obituary.
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Michael Lerner
Image Credit: Todd Williamson/Getty Images For Relativity Media Michael Lerner, the busy Oscar-nominated character actor who had memorable turns as bombastic types in Barton Fink, Harlem Nights, Eight Men Out and so much more, died on April 8. He was 81. Read his obituary.
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Francesca Cappucci
Image Credit: Courtesy of Ian Lyndon Francesca Cappucci, who spent more than a decade as a popular entertainment and music reporter at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, died on March 30. She was 64. Full obituary here.
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Rita Lakin
Image Credit: Courtesy of Howard Lakin Rita Lakin, the boundary-pushing TV writer and showrunner who worked on Peyton Place, The Doctors and Mod Squad and created series including The Rookies and Flamingo Road, died on March 23. She was 93. Full obituary.
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Ray Stevenson
Image Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney Ray Stevenson, the burly British actor who starred as Volstagg in the Thor movies and as the brutally evil governor in the recent Oscar-winning Indian hit RRR, died May 21. He was 58. Full obituary.
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Treat Williams
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Treat Williams, the versatile actor who starred as a New York City neurosurgeon who moves his family to Colorado on the WB series Everwood and in such films as Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City and Milos Forman‘s Hair, died on June 10 after a motorcycle accident in Vermont. He was 71. Read his obituary.
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Julian Sands
Image Credit: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Julian Sands, the British actor who wooed Helena Bonham Carter’s character in the acclaimed Merchant-Ivory drama A Room With a View, died after a hiking accident in January in the Mount Baldy wilderness. He was 65. Full obituary.
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Alan Arkin
Image Credit: Joe Scarnic/Getty Alan Arkin, the versatile actor who finally won an Oscar — for Little Miss Sunshine — after making a career of disappearing into characters with turns that could be comic, chilling or charming, died on June 29. He was 89. Read his obituary.
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Tony Bennett
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Tony Bennett, the treasured American storyteller, singer and showman whose joyful impact on the pop and jazz landscape spanned 70 years and stretched from Queens to San Francisco and all around the world, died on July 21. He was 96. Full obituary.
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Sinéad O’Connor
Image Credit: Lindsey Best for the Washington Post/Getty Images Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, who topped the charts internationally with the Prince-written hit “Nothing Compares 2 U,” died on July 26. She was 56. Read her full obituary.
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Paul Reubens
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Paul Reubens, who disappeared behind a tight gray suit and bright red bow tie to create and star as the awkward man-child Pee-wee Herman onstage, on a groundbreaking kids TV show and on the big screen, died. He was 70. Full obituary here.
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Angus Cloud
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Angus Cloud, the actor who starred as drug dealer Fez on HBO’s Euphoria for two seasons, has died. He was 25. Full obituary.
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Mark Margolis
Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Smith Global Media Mark Margolis, the journeyman actor who turned in a commanding performance as the vindictive drug runner Hector Salamanca, a man of few words and a bell, on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, died on July 3. He was 83. Read his full obituary.
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William Friedkin
Image Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images William Friedkin, the Oscar winner behind The French Connection and The Exorcist who was one of the most admired directors to emerge from a wave of brilliant filmmakers who made their mark in the 1970s, died on Aug. 7 at the age of 87. Full obituary.
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Jerry Moss
Image Credit: Jacob de Golish/Getty Images Jerry Moss, who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert and released top-selling albums by The Carpenters, The Police, Alpert and others, died on Aug. 15. He was 88. Read his full obituary here.
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Ron Cephas Jones
Image Credit: Dee Cercone/Everett Collection Ron Cephas Jones, who won two Emmy Awards for his role as William Hill on This Is Us, died in August at age 66. Find his obituary here.
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Hersha Parady
Image Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection Hersha Parady, whose three-season run as Walnut Grove schoolteacher Alice Garvey on Little House on the Prairie came to an unforgettable, dark end for fans of the beloved NBC drama, died on Aug. 24. She was 78. Full obituary here.
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Bob Barker
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Bob Barker, the energetic game show legend who for more than 50 years made every day entertaining as host of Truth or Consequences and The Price Is Right, died on Aug. 26 at the age of 99. Read his obituary here.
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Jimmy Buffett
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Jimmy Buffett, a singer and businessman best known for his hit song “Margaritaville,” which kicked off a themed restaurant chain and hotels, died on Sept. 2. He was 76. Full obituary.
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Michael Gambon
Image Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images Michael Gambon, a protégé of Laurence Olivier and giant of the British stage who portrayed Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, apparently with little effort, in the final six Harry Potter movies, died in September. He was 82. Read his full obituary.
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Dick Butkus
Image Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM Dick Butkus, the ferocious Chicago Bears middle linebacker who brought his reputation as an NFL barbarian to Hollywood for Miller Lite commercials, sitcoms and films, died in October at the age of 80. Full obituary here.
