The world lost many of those who made it turn in 2010, many who inspired dread, angst, perplexity, obedience, imitation, laughter and love.
Newsmakers
Notable conclusions included those for John du Pont, 72, member of the Delaware familial dynasty, who died at the Laurel Highlan
ds state prison near Somerset, Pa., while serving a sentence for murder; Mark Madoff, 46, son of convicted finance fraud Bernie Madoff. Porn king Bob Guccione, 79, went to the final penthouse.
Politics
Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, 77, joined the ever-growing celestial legislat
ure, along with Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, 92, and former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, 86. Former U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig, 85, joined the shade cabinet, and forceful diplomat Richard Holbrooke, 69, eased shut his portfolio.
Cancer took Elizabeth Edwards, 69, but not before she inspired millions. Longtime cartoonist Paul Conrad, 92, put the cap on his ink bottle.
All who value civil rights celebrated Dorothy Height, 98, and Benjamin Hooks, 85, minister, lawyer, and longtime NAACP leader.
Sports
George Steinbrenner, 80, owner of the New York Yankees, took his place in the luxury boxes with basketball god John Wooden, 99; Olympic Committee strongman Juan Antonio Samaranch, 89; baseball fireballer Bob Feller, 92; baseball manager Sparky Anderson, 76; and Manute Bol, 7-foot-7 Sudanese NBA shot-blocker, at 47.
Movies
The moving image moved on. Gloria Stuart (“Titanic”) made it to 100. Italian auteur Dino De Laurentiis, 91, moved to the ultimate Dino citta. Olympic documentarian Bud Greenspan broke the tape at 84. Arthur Penn, 88, director and producer on stage (“Wait Until Dark”) and screen (“Bonnie and Clyde”), made his exit, as did French romantic Eric Roehmer, 89, and director Blake Edwards, 88, of the “Pink Panther” romps.
Tony Curtis, 85, may now have to explain things to Marilyn Monroe. Dennis Hopper, 74, rode easy into the sunset. Kevin McCarthy, 96, is finally safe from the body-snatchers. And surely Leslie Nielsen, 84, whose name was not Shirley, is in a place of eternal laughter. Heroic Patricia Neal, 84; pensive-eyed Jill Clayburgh, 66; cute Dorothy Provine, 75; and regal Jean Simmons, 80, joined sparkling Lynne Redgrave, 67, and her brother Corin, 70.
Radio
Both audio and video bade adieu to many stalwarts. Daniel Schorr, 93, longtime NPR commentator, now joins the rest of the fabled Edward R. Murrow team. Fred Foy, 89, radio hall of famer and narrator of the Lone Ranger, said “Hi-Yo, Silver!” for good.
Television
Producer David L. Wolper (“Roots”) closed his season at 82. Edwin Newman, 91, now transcends split infinitives, and James J. Kilpatrick (“60 Minutes”), 89, need no longer debate. Long-running soap queen Helen Wagner, 91 (“As the World Turns”), ended her run. Art Linkletter, 97, can play before his best audience. So can Barbara Billingsley, 94, everybody’s June Cleaver, and John Forsythe (“Bachelor Father”), 92, everybody’s dad. Peter Graves, 83, and Robert Culp, 79, solved their ultimate mysteries. Fess Parker (“Davy Crockett”), 85, and Pernell Roberts (Adam Cartwright in “Bonanza”), 81, galloped over the next rise. Dixie Carter, 70, is free of designing women, and Gary Coleman, 42, is now beyond diff’rence.
And let us remember Meinhardt Raabe, 94, the Munchkin coroner in Wizard of Oz, who pronounced the Wicked Witch of the East “really most sincerely dead.”
Music
Henryk Gorecki, 76, whose “Symphony No. 3,” or “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,” is one of the best-known classical works written since 1950, now becomes pure music. So do classy jazz pianist Hank Jones, 91, and singer/actress Abbey Lincoln, 80. And elegant, stunning Lena Horne, 92, leaves any stormy weather far behind.
Trudy Pitts, 78, Hammond B3 genius, joined two former members of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes: Teddy Pendergrass, 59, who went on to become a throaty, solo heartthrob; and baritone Bernie Wilson, 64. Eddie Fisher, 82, was a crooner and mate to Debbie Reynolds and then Elizabeth Taylor.
And Solomon Burke, 70, soulmaster and man of God, will now ever sing in praise.
Many and varied were the voices that now sing across the water. Joan Sutherland, 83, the operatic soprano known as “La Stupenda”; fabulous mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett, 79; Kate McGarrigle, 63, of folk duo the McGarrigle Sisters; Teena Marie, 54, soul-pop crossover pioneer; Jimmy Dean, 81, country chanteur and shah of sausage; Johnny Maestro, 70, lead guy for the Crests, the Del-Satins, and The Brooklyn Bridge (“The Worst That Could Happen”); Doug Fieger, 57, who sang “My Sharona” with the Knack; and Don Van Vliet, 69, better known as blues-prog genius Captain Beefheart, will make a very interesting octet, especially when they sing along with bandleader Mitch Miller, 99.
And songwriter Bobby Hebb, 72 (“Sunny”), is where the dark days are done and the bright days are here.
Literature
Reclusive J.D. Salinger, 91, author of “Catcher in the Rye,” and creator of the Glass family, need flee fame no longer. Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning novelist Jose Saramago (“Blindness”) made a period, at 87, as did chronicler of New York haute-monders Louis Auchincloss, 92.
Among poets, the verse is now rounded for superb Lucille Clifton, 73; National Book Award-winner Ai Ogawa, 62; and piquant British satirist Peter Porter, 81.
Great thinkers also completed their thoughts, including critic Frank Kermode, 90; foreign-affairs essayist Tony Judt, 62; and political theorist Howard Zinn, 87.
Cleveland’s unclassifiable graphic novelist Harvey Pekar (“American Splendor”), 70, filled out his caption. Eric Segal, 72, the classics prof who wrote “Love Story,” need never say sorry again.
And if they need an etiquette expert in the next vale over, they now have one in longtime columnist Elizabeth Post, 89.
And Lorene Yarnell, 66, half of the mime team Shields and Yarnell, gestures forward eternally.
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