Notable deaths 2017
An eyebrow-raising 007,
a women’s cricket pioneer,
Mr Saturday night...
Who died in the past 12 months?
Take a look at some of the famous faces no longer with us at the end of 2017.
Actor
Brought a lighter touch
to the role of James Bond
“You just have to look at the lines, say them, and don’t bump into the furniture.”
- Sir Roger Moore describing his acting technique and pictured above with Richard Kiel, who played steel-toothed henchman Jaws
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Bafta-winning actor
Caligula in I, Claudius,
John Merrick in The Elephant Man,
Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant
“The only way I can describe it is that I put everything I can into the mulberry of my mind and hope that it is going to ferment and make a decent wine. How that process happens, I’m sorry to tell you I can’t describe.”
- Sir John Hurt on how he managed to turn in such memorable performances
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Actress and producer
Star of the 1970s US sitcom
The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
named by Time Magazine as one of
17 programmes that “changed television”
“I was 16 years old when I first saw this groundbreaking show. I watched it every Saturday night like my life depended on it. It was a light in my life, and Mary was a trailblazer for my generation. She’s the reason I wanted my own production company. It’s the reason there is a Harpo [Oprah Winfrey’s company] because that was the inspiration.”
- Oprah Winfrey
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Robert Hardy
Actor with a British bulldog manner, he played Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small - and portrayed Sir Winston Churchill on several occasions
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Tim Pigott-Smith
Actor best known for his Bafta-winning role in 1984 TV series The Jewel in the Crown
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Adam West
Actor best known as the star of the 1960s hit TV series Batman - pictured next to Burt Ward, who played his sidekick Robin
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Martin Landau
Actor best known for roles in the TV series Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999 - and in 1960s blockbusters like Cleopatra
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Richard Hatch
Actor who starred in both the original TV series of Battlestar Galactica and its more recent reboot
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Erin Moran
Actress - pictured centre - best known for playing Joanie Cunningham in 1970s US sitcom Happy Days
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Shashi Kapoor
Veteran Bollywood actor who appeared in hits like Deewar and Kabhie Kabhie, plus a number of UK and US films
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Om Puri
Veteran actor - pictured with Linda Bassett in the film East is East - and also known for his roles in Indian, Pakistani, British and Hollywood movies
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Bill Paxton
Actor best known for his roles in the Hollywood movies Aliens, The Terminator, Apollo 13, True Lies, Titanic, and Twister
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“Remarkable” film critic
“He could not only appreciate the story of the film but all the talents that had gone into making the film. That is what we all remember from the three decades of the Film programme - that he brought you perspectives from every side of the camera.”
- Gordon Wise, Barry Norman’s literary agent
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Actor
Best known for playing cafe owner
Rene Artois in the sitcom ’Allo ’Allo!
“It’s hard to imagine life without Rene. I’m from Yorkshire, and in rehearsals I would say in my own voice things like ‘oh ’eck!’ - and that has got into the script. Rene actually says ‘oh ’eck!’ because as in France, like Yorkshire, they don’t pronounce their ‘Hs’.”
- Gorden Kaye speaking in 1991 and pictured next to his on-screen wife Edith, played by Carmen Silvera
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Actress
Played the loud and flighty
Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street
for more than 30 years
“A wonderful actress, a fascinating storyteller, a hilarious comedian and most importantly a brilliant friend. For many people of my generation, Jack [her on-screen husband played by Bill Tarmey] and Vera WERE Coronation Street.”
- Antony Cotton, Coronation Street actor
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Roy Barraclough
Comic actor who, with Les Dawson, created the much-loved double act Cissie and Ada - but was later best known for playing Coronation Street’s Rovers Return landlord Alec Gilroy, pictured above with on-screen wife Bet, played by Julie Goodyear
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Hywel Bennett
Actor known for his roles in ITV’s sitcom Shelley and EastEnders on the BBC
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Peter Sallis
Actor - the voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit and stalwart as Norman “Cleggy” Clegg in the BBC’s gentle sitcom Last of the Summer Wine
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Jane Freeman
Stage and screen actress who played Ivy, the formidable cafe owner, in the BBC’s Last of the Summer Wine
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Geoffrey Bayldon
Actor who played the lead role in the 1970s TV series Catweazle, and the Crowman in Worzel Gummidge at the end of the decade
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Rodney Bewes
Actor who found fame as the aspirational Bob in the BBC sitcoms The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? - pictured right, alongside James Bolam
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Keith Barron
Actor best remembered for playing David Pearce in the 1980s Yorkshire Television sitcom Duty Free - pictured with co-star Gwen Taylor
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Tony Booth
Actor who starred in BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, political activist and the father of Cherie Booth - wife of ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair
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Roy Dotrice
Actor known for playing Leopold Mozart in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus - pictured standing - and Wisdom Hallyne in the TV series Game of Thrones
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Tony Haygarth
Actor known for his roles in the ITV series Emmerdale and Where The Heart Is
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Sir Peter Hall
Founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and former National Theatre director
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Rosemary Leach
Actress best known for her roles in the films A Room With A View and That’ll Be The Day - and won an Olivier Award in 1982 for her part in the play 84 Charing Cross Road
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Sara Coward
Actress who played Caroline Sterling in Radio 4’s The Archers for almost 40 years
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Entertainer whose career
spanned eight decades
Shows included:
Strictly Come Dancing,
The Generation Game
and Play Your Cards Right
“He invented, and then reinvented, Saturday night entertainment across the decades with shows from The Generation Game to Strictly. And, of course, his catchphrases were part of the national conversation.”
- Tony Hall, BBC director general
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TV presenter
Shows included:
Cheggers Plays Pop, Swap Shop
and Saturday Superstore
“I’ve lost my first real telly chum and I’m certain I’m not alone in shedding tears for a true telly legend. The greatest achievement for any TV performer is for the viewers to regard you as a friend and today millions will be grateful for Keith’s contribution to their childhood memories and like me they will mourn the passing of a friend.”
- Noel Edmonds, fellow Swap Shop presenter and pictured above on the right
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Comedian, actor and writer
“I thought when I was 41, I would be married with kids. Well, to be honest I thought I would be married with weekend access.”
- Sean Hughes
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Longest-serving
Blue Peter presenter
“At this level, the plinth on which Nelson stands overhangs the column. I found myself literally hanging from the ladder with nothing at all beneath me.”
- John Noakes speaking as he climbed to the top of Nelson’s Column in London in 1977 and pictured above with his dog Shep
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Brian Cant
Children’s presenter - best known for hosting the BBC’s Play School for 21 years from 1964, and Play Away from 1971 to 1984 - pictured with co-presenter Chloe Ashcroft
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Carol Lee Scott
Actress best known as Grotbags the witch in children’s TV programmes in the 1980s and early 1990s
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Andy Cunningham
Creator and star of children’s TV show Bodger and Badger
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Desmond Carrington
Long-time BBC Radio 2 presenter who presented his Friday show, The Music Goes Round, for 35 years
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Brian Matthew
Long-serving presenter of Sounds of the 60s on BBC Radio 2
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Steve Hewlett
Journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, who movingly shared his experience of coping with cancer on the PM programme
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Heinz Wolff
Scientist and host of the BBC TV series The Great Egg Race from 1977 to 1986
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William G Stewart
TV producer and director who became the long-time host of the Channel 4 quiz show 15 to 1
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Clare Hollingworth
Veteran war correspondent who - for the Daily Telegraph - broke the news that German troops were poised to invade Poland at the start of World War Two
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Frank Delaney
Author, broadcaster and literary prize judge – he launched BBC Radio 4’s Bookshelf programme in 1978
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Colin Dexter
Author who wrote the Inspector Morse books
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Michael Bond
Creator of beloved children’s character Paddington Bear
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Alan Simpson
Formed, with Ray Galton pictured on the left, one of the great television scriptwriting partnerships - pioneering situation comedy with Tony Hancock, and later creating Steptoe and Son
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Jerry Lewis
Comedian - master of the visual gag
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Antonio Carluccio
Celebrity chef and restaurateur
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Rape victim and
sexual assault campaigner
“Ealing vicarage rape victim - that’s been my tag... I make no complaint about this as it has enabled me to challenge politicians and work for change.”
- Jill Saward
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Model embroiled in the
1963 Profumo affair, which
hastened the end of the
Macmillan government
“They wanted to hear about the sex of course. But not the rest. No-one wanted to hear the rest.”
- Christine Keeler speaking about the tabloid press at the time of the scandal
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IRA leader who became
a politician and peace negotiator
“Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything - not even about the weather. And now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months and there’s been no angry words between us. This shows we are set for a new course.”
- Martin McGuinness speaking in 2007 about his political partnership with the former DUP leader pictured on the right
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Cormac Murphy-O’Connor
Former Archbishop of Westminster and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales
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Lord Snowdon
Antony Armstrong-Jones was a photographer and film-maker - married to Princess Margaret from 1960 to 1978
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Tam Dalyell
Former Labour MP who articulated - in a parliamentary debate in 1977 - what became known as the West Lothian Question, which festered at the heart of Scotland’s relationship with Westminster
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Rhodri Morgan
Labour politician and former first minister of Wales - credited with bringing stability to the fledgling Welsh Assembly during his nine years in charge from 2000
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Sir Gerald Kaufman
Labour MP and Father of the House of Commons - he famously called his party’s left-wing 1983 election manifesto “the longest suicide note in history”
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Rodney Bickerstaffe
Former general secretary of Nupe and later Unison, one of Britain’s biggest unions
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Paul Weitz
Astronaut who helped save Nasa space station Skylab after it was damaged during launch - and also served as the first commander of the space shuttle Challenger
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Hans Rosling
Professor of global health and public educator - known for lively presentations that used data and animation to explain global development in a compelling way
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Ian Brady
1960s Moors Murderer who tortured and killed five children with Myra Hindley in crimes that shocked the nation
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Max Clifford
Disgraced celebrity publicist - jailed for historical sex offences
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Charles Manson
Notorious cult leader who directed his followers to commit a string of brutal murders, and who became a symbol of the dark side of 1960s counterculture
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Wimbledon champion
“The abiding image of Jana Novotna’s career is of her accepting - quite literally - a shoulder to cry on by the Duchess of Kent as she received the runners-up trophy at Wimbledon in 1993.”
- Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent
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Former England women’s cricket captain
“As England cricket captain, not only did Rachael secure funding for her team and sponsorship, but she was a journalist as well. After spending a long day at a crease captaining her country, she would then go and write a match report and send it to a national newspaper to ensure that her team received coverage. She did have to ruffle feathers to make a difference.”
- Jacqui Oatley, sports broadcaster
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Graham Taylor
Former England football manager and boss at Watford and Aston Villa
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Joost van der Westhuizen
Former South Africa rugby captain, regarded as one of the finest scrum-halves in history
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Ugo Ehiogu
Former England and Aston Villa defender - and Tottenham Hotspur’s Under-23s coach
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Tommy Gemmell
Footballer - former Scotland defender who was also part of the European Cup-winning Celtic side of 1967 that became known as the Lisbon Lions
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Sir Colin Meads
All Blacks great - named New Zealand’s best rugby player of the 20th Century
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Ronnie Moran
Former Liverpool football captain and coach - he played 379 games for the club between 1952 and 1966
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Jake LaMotta
Uncompromising former world middleweight boxing champion who was portrayed by Robert De Niro in the film Raging Bull - pictured here on the right, against Tiberio Mitri in New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1950
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John Surtees
Formula 1 and motorcycling world champion - the only man to have won the grand prix world championship on both two and four wheels
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Tim Gudgin
Former voice of BBC TV’s Saturday teatime football results
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Musician who fronted
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
and co-founded the Traveling Wilburys
“I’m heartbroken to hear about Tom Petty. Tom was a hell of a songwriter and record-maker. He will be missed by everyone who loves music.”
- Brian Wilson, Beach Boys star
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Country music star
“We didn’t have power in the house, but we did have an old battery radio. And whenever I heard a new song, usually on a local country station, I’d learn it.”
- Glen Campbell on how he taught himself to play guitar
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Don Williams
Country music performer who enjoyed great success with his easy-going singing style
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Joni Sledge
Formed Sister Sledge with her three siblings in 1971 - best known for the disco anthem We Are Family
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Walter Becker
Co-founder and guitarist for the US band Steely Dan
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Malcolm Young
Musician - AC/DC’s co-founder and guitarist
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Gregg Allman
Rock trailblazer - a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band
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John Geils Jr
Guitarist who founded The J Geils Band and had a global hit with the song Centrefold
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David Cassidy
Actor and singer who found fame in The Partridge Family on television and then became a 1970s teen pop idol
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Peter Sarstedt
Singer-songwriter - best known for the song Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)
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Peter Skellern
Musician and singer who had the 1972 piano ballad hit You’re A Lady - he later became a priest in Cornwall
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Johnny Hallyday
France’s biggest rock star - the French Elvis Presley
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Fats Domino
Influential rock’n’roll performer best known for his songs Ain’t That A Shame and Blueberry Hill
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Chris Cornell
One of the defining voices of grunge music - co-founder of the band Soundgarden
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Chester Bennington
Lead singer of the Grammy-winning band Linkin Park - known for his powerful vocals
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Rock’n’roll legend
“If you tried to give rock’n’roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.”
- John Lennon
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Socialite and former “It girl”
“You never leave home without your passport. This is the life these people lead – they have millions of pounds. I found it very difficult to live in – most of the ladies don’t really work. It was sort of a world which I guess I could have [had], but I actually left it behind because of the things it was doing to me.”
- Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
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Founder of the international
adult magazine Playboy
“I’ve never thought of Playboy quite frankly as a sex magazine. I always thought of it as a lifestyle magazine in which sex was one important ingredient.”
- Hugh Hefner
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