Watch: In Memoriam: The Film Legends We Lost in 2016
With all the news (real and fake) floating around the ether, it's possible to forget just how many legendary artists we lost this year, from filmmakers to writers, directors and beyond.
2016 started with the death, just ten days into the new year, of legendary musician, occasional actor, and titanic cultural force, David Bowie. Unfortunately, this was a sign of the magnitude of talent we'd lose this year, including other luminaries from the worlds of music (Leonard Cohen, Prince) as well as sports and public life (Muhammad Ali, John Glenn). The film world also suffered its share of loss, from cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond, Haskell Wexler and Raoul Cotard, to influential filmmakers like Garry Marshall and Abbas Kiarastomi. This video from TCM celebrates the life and work of all those who took their bows in 2016.
It's almost unthinkable how much talent was lost this year. If there's any time to sit back and reflect, if only for a moment, on the precious absurdity of life—and the people who shine a mirror on our foibles as well as our stubborn refusal to give up—it's now, at the end of one of the strangest years in recent memory. And yet, we carry on, richer for having had them here. Here is TCM's list, along with a couple additions and links to some coverage of these remarkable talents from No Film School and more.
Directors
- Abbas Kiarastomi
- Guy Hamilton
- Andrzej Wajda
- Jacques Rivette
- Hector Babenco
- Garry Marshall (Director/Actor)
- Pierre Étaix (Director/Actor)
- Arthur Hiller
- Herschell Gordon Lewis
- Michael Cimino
- Curtis Hanson
Writers, Cinemtographers and More
- Bill Richmond (Writer)
- Ken Adam (Production Designer)
- Raoul Cotard (Cinematographer)
- Haskell Wexler (D.P./Director)
- Joe Powell (Stuntman)
- Vilmos Zsigmond (Cinematographer)
Actors
- Robert Vaughn
- Gene Wilder
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
- Abe Vigoda
- Nicole Courcel
- Alan Rickman
- Ken Howard
- Nancy Reagan
- Maggie Blye
- Burt Kwouk
- Bill Henderson
- Marni Nixon-Singer
- John McMartin
- Rita Gam
- Brian Bedford
- Madeleine Lebeau
- Gloria DeHaven
- Joan Carroll
- Patty Duke
- Giorgio Albertazzi
- Douglas Wilmer
- Adrienne Corri
- Kenny Baker (R2-D2)
- Anton Yelchin
- Lupita Tovar
- Charmian Carr
- William Schallert
- Marvin Kaplan
- Doris Roberts
- George Kennedy
- Alan Young
- Richard Bradford
- Madeleine Sherwood
- Richard Libertini
- Garry Shandling
- Bill Nunn
- Billy Chapin
- Jon Polito
- David Huddleston (the other Lebowski)
- George Gaynes
- Lita Baron
- Ruth Terry
- Patricia Barry
- Peter Vaughn
- Richard Davolos
- Frank Finlay
Musicians
See all of our 2016 Year-in-Review coverage.
Source: TCM
