The ALL DEAD Club

Barrett Strong Dies: Motown Artist & Songwriter Was 81

Barrett was born on February 5, 1941 in West Point, Mississippi. Strong’s “Money” was a such hit that it was later covered by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Richard Wylie and His Band, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Searchers, Flying Lizards, The Sonics and Buddy Guy. Strong recorded the vocals for “Money” and is credited as a co-author with Janie Bradford. However, Gordy would later come out to say that Strong’s name was a “clerical error” in the original copyright registration.

Strong would continue working with Motown as a lyricist creating other hits like “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight, “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” by Paul Young and “Smiling Faces Sometimes” by The Undisputed Truth. He would also be behind The Temptations’ “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next To You,” and “Psychedelic Shack,” among others.

Cindy Williams Dies: ‘Laverne & Shirley’ Star Was 75

Cindy Williams, who starred in the smash Happy Days spinoff Laverne & Shirley after appearing in two Best Picture Oscar nominees — George Lucas’ American Graffiti and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation — has died. She was 75. Her family told the Associated Press today that the actress died Wednesday after a brief illness.

“The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,” reads the statement from her children, Emily and Zak Hudson, relayed through a spokesperson. “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

Williams played Shirley Feeney in Laverne & Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne DeFazio. The series was an out-of-the-box smash after premiering in January 1976 on ABC. The characters first appeared briefly on Happy Days — which was created by Marshall’s brother, Garry Marshall — but made enough of an impression to lead their own series. The midcentury-set sitcom about a pair of lower-class workers at Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee would finish as the No. 3 series in all of primetime for the 1975-76 season, far outpacing Happy Days.

The next season, Happy Days was the No. 1 in primetime, followed by Laverne & Shirley at No. 2, but the latter would rule the rankings for the next two seasons, averaging a 31 rating in the three-network universe.

The show’s opening credits was among the era’s most memorable, with the two friends high-stepping with locked arms and chanting, “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” before the title theme “Making Our Dreams Come True” kicked in. (It was a minor pop hit in the U.S, and Canada.) Also starring Phil Foster, Michael McKean, David L. Lander, Eddie Mekka and Betty Garrett, it would be one of the decade’s most popular comedies, airing more than 175 episodes before wrapping in 1983. Williams scored a Golden Globe nomination for the role in 1978 and directed a 1981 episode of the series.

Born on August 22, 1947, in Van Nuys north of Los Angeles, began her screen career in 1970, guesting on such TV series as Nanny and the Professor and Room 222. She was cast as a series regular on 1971 NBC comedy-variety series The Funny Side, whose regular host was Gene Kelly. The show only lasted a handful of episodes, though.

Williams appeared in a few feature films — including playing a hippie in George Cukor’s 1972 romp Travels with My Aunt starring Maggie Smith — before landing her first major role, playing Laurie, the girlfriend of Ron Howard’s Steve in Lucas’ pre-Star Wars pic American Graffiti. The film also featured several other rising actors who would become household names including Richard Dreyfuss, Suzanne Mackenzie Phillips and one Harrison Ford. Produced by Coppola, the film was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture and Director but didn’t win any as The Sting romped through the ceremony. Williams, who earned a BAFTA nomination for the pic, also appeared in the 1979 sequel More American Graffiti.

American Graffiti helped fuel the national nostalgia craze for 1950s and early ’60s Americana as the nation came to grips with Watergate and Vietnam. Among the films and TV shows that reflected the oldies fad was Happy Days.

Williams and Marshall appeared in five episodes of Happy Days, starting with the Season 3’s “A Date with Fonzie” in 1975. Richie Cunningham (Played by Howard) had broken up with his girlfriend and goes to his play Arthur Fonzerelli (Henry Winkler) for guidance. The Fonz decides ends up whipping out his little black book — a recurring gag on the show that had the other guys gasping at its mere appearance — and decides that the chosen two would double date with them. Enter Laverne and Shirley. As in American Graffiti, Williams was paired with Howard — eventually leading to one of the most successful spinoffs in TV history.

But before Laverne & Shirley hit the ABC airwaves as America began its bicentennial celebration, Williams was cast in The Conversation. Starring Gene Hackman AS an obsessed and paranoid surveillance expert, the 1974 thriller was writer-director Coppola’S film between his Oscar-winning The Godfather movies. Williams played Ann, who early on is assumed to be sweet, if trouble, but turns out to be anything but.

It was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar but lost out to The Godfather Part II.

Williams continued to work steadily after Laverne & Shirley ended. Along with many TV guest roles, she was a series regular on Normal Life, a 1990 family sitcom starring Frank Zappa’s children Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa, that lasted only half a season. Williams last toplined the sitcom Getting By, which aired during the 1993-94 season on ABC and was picked up for a second and final run on NBC. She later recurred on the 2000-01 Comedy Central sitcom Strip Mall, which was set in Williams’ hometown of Van Nuys.

Since then, Williams had done guest shots on such TV series as 7th Heaven, 8 Simple Rules, Law & Order: SVU, Girlfriends, Sam & Cat, Are We There Yet? and others.

She also co-produced the two Father of the Bride films in the 1990s

She will be missed /\

Floyd Sneed Dies: Three Dog Night Drummer Was 80

Floyd Sneed, the Canadian drummer who powered a string of 1970s hits with Three Dog Night and provided backup vocals for one of the band’s biggest hits, died January 27. He was 80.

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Sneed took up drumming at an early age, eventually playing in local bands with friend and then-brother-in-law Tommy Chong. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1966, and two years later joined vocalists Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells in the new band Three Dog Night. He remained with the band until the mid-1970s during its first and most successful incarnation. He rejoined the group briefly in the early 1980s.

Among the band’s hits during Sneed’s first tenure were “Easy To Be Hard” and “Eli’s Coming” (both 1969), “An Old Fashioned Love Song” and “Never Been to Spain” (1971) and “Shambala” (1973). In addition to drumming, Sneed provided backup vocals on the band’s signature song, “Joy To The World,” which was the No. 1 single of 1971, according to Billboard. He also played on the group’s two other Hot 100 chart-toppers: “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” in 1970 and “Black & White” in 1972.

Three Dog Night also had 12 consecutive gold albums from 1969-74, all but one of which made the Top 20 of the Billboard 200.

Kevin O’Neal Dies: ‘No Time For Sergeants’ Actor Was 77

Kevin O’Neal, the younger brother of actor Ryan O’Neal who for a time built a steady, if less widely known, performing career of his own, died overnight January 28 in his sleep of natural causes in Thousand Oaks, CA. He was 77.

Kevin O’Neal began his television career in the early 1960s, making guest appearances on such series as The Danny Thomas Show, The Donna Reed Show, The Twilight Zone, My Tree Son and Wagon Train. His most lasting role arrived in 1964 when he starred in the one-season TV adaptation of the novel, play and film No Time For Sergeants (Andy Griffith had starred in both the stage and film versions).

The decade would see continued appearances on episodic TV – Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Mod Squad, among others, closing out with a role opposite Elvis Presley in the latter’s 1969 feature film The Trouble With Girls.

Born Geoffrey Garrett O’Neal in Los Angeles, Kevin would retire from show business by the late 1970s, but not before appearing in small roles in several high-profile movies starring his older brother: Love Story in 1970, The Thief Who Came to Dinner in 1973 and, most memorably, What’s Up Doc? in 1972. In the latter, he played a hapless, long-haired bicycle delivery boy who gets caught up in the riotous car chase headed by Ryan O’Neal’s Howard Banister and Barbra Streisand’s Judy Maxwell.

Melinda Dillon Dies: ‘Close Encounters’, ‘A Christmas Story’ Actress Was 83

Dillon probably is best known for playing a mother whose young son is abducted by the aliens in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She and Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) inexplicably are drawn to Devils Tower in Wyoming as they struggle to make sense of what has happened to them. She earned a Supporting Actress Oscar nom for the role.

She also played the mother of the young lead Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) in the 1983 holiday classic A Christmas Story, memorably warning the boy who wants a BB rifle that, “You’ll shoot your eye out!”

Dillon would earn a second Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for 1981’s Absence of Malice, playing a close friend of Paul Newman’s Michael Gallagher. Sally Field also starred in the pic directed by Sydney Pollock.

That film was a reunion with Newman, with Dillon having played a minor league hockey goalie’s wife with whom Newman’s aging player-coach has a tryst, and tells him some surprising news. Later film roles included The Prince of Tides, Harry and the Hendersons, How to Make an American Quilt, Magnolia, Cowboy Up and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

Along with Spielberg and Pollock, Dillon worked with such Oscar-winning or -nominated filmmakers as Norman Jewison, Barbra Streisand, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hal Ashby and George Roy Hill.

The versatile actress amassed dozens of other film and TV credits spanning 45 years, and she also appeared in five Broadway shows, most notably playing Honey in the original 1962 production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? That was her Broadway debut, and she was the last surviving principal cast member from the production.

Born on October 13, 1939, in Hope, AR, got her start in the 1960s and ’70s, guesting on such popular TV series as Bonanza and The Jeffersons before landing a key supporting role as the wife of Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) in the 1976 drama Bound for Glory. She would appear in Slap Shot and Close Encounters the following year and then co-starred opposite Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger and Peter Boyle in the trucker-union drama F.I.S.T.

After doing a handful of TV movies at the height of that genre’s popularity, she landed her role in Absence of Malice, in which Field played an investigative reporter who tipped off about a local Miami liquor wholesaler (Newman) who is suspected of killing a union leader. The twisty thriller also earned a sixth career Oscar nom for Newman.

Her next big-screen role was as Mother Parker, the matriarch in A Christmas Story, which has become among the most popular holiday films of the past half-century. Her reaction to her husband (Darren McGavin) proudly displaying the campy “leg lamp” — complete with fishnet stocking — he won in a contest, putting it in the front window for all to behold, was priceless. Later, she accidentally destroys it.

Dillon returned to guesting on TV series during the 1990s and ’00s, appearing on Picket Fences, Tracey Takes On…, Judging Amy and Law & Order: SVU. She also did an arc on Heartland in 2007, which was her final screen credit.

Her other Broadway roles in the late ’60s and early ’70s included You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running, A Way of Life, Paul Sills’ Story Theatre and Ovid’s Metamorphosis.

George R. Robertson Dies: ‘Police Academy’s Chief Hurst Was 89

George R. Robertson, who played Chief Hurst (later Commissioner) in the first six Police Academy films during a half-century screen career, has died. He was 89. His family said he died January 29 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto but did not give other details.

Robertson had been working in TV and films for nearly 15 years when he was cast as the strict but fair Chief Henry Hurst in Police Academy, the 1984 cop farce starring Steve Guttenberg. The film was a left-field hit and went on to spawn a franchise that spanned seven films during the next decade, including one a year through 1989. He appeared in the first six but not the Moscow-set final one in 1994.

The movies followed the antics of a group of misfit police recruits who are assembled after their city’s newly elected female mayor announced that the department must take on anyone who applies. Co-stars included Kim Cattrall, Bubba Smith, Debralee Scott and Michael Winslow.

Born on April 20, 1933, in Brampton, Ontario, Robertson began his career in theater before landing parts in films during the late 1960s. He guested on numerous TV series including The F.B.I. in the ’70s and eventually would appear in bit roles in three Best Picture Oscar nominees: Airport (1970), Norma Rae (1979) and JFK (1991).

He continued to work steadily on the big and small screens throughout the decades, with credits stretching to 2017. Along the way, Robertson was a series regular on the 1989-94 CTV drama series E.N.G. and recurred on the 2001 Showtime drama series Leap Years. He also played Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2006 ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11, Barry Goldwater in the 2000 Showtime miniseries The Reagans and the fictional U.S. president in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip (1995).

Robertson received the CBC’s 1993 Margaret Collier Award for his outstanding body of work on film or TV and was named Humanitarian of the Year at the 2004 Gemini Awards, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for “extraordinary compassion and community involvement [that has had] an enormous impact on the lives of children in Canada and around the world.”

Robertson is survived by his wife of 61 years, Adele; daughter, Sarah Robertson (Steve Pulver); grandchildren Julia and William; step-grandchildren Ariel, Gabe, Maddie and Josh; and many other extended family members. A memorial is being planned for late March.

Burt Bacharach Dies: Hit-Making Composer Was 94

Bacharach was a three-time Oscar winner with eight career Grammys, including two career honors, whose elegantly melodic compositions, arrangements and production seemed an effective and calming response in the 1960s and ’70s to ever-louder rock music and societal change. He collaborated with lyricist Hal David to provide Dionne Warwick with career-making hits in the early to mid-’60s, including the classics “Don’t Make Me Over” and Top 10 hits “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Walk on By,” “Alfie,” “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”

Bacharach amassed 73 Top 40 hits in the U.S. as a songwriter and more than 50 in the UK.

Cody Longo Dies: ‘Days Of Our Lives’ Actor Was 34

Cody Longo (aka Cody Anthony), an actor best known for his role as Nicholas Almain on NBC’s daytime drama Days of Our Lives and also as Eddie Duran in Hollywood Heights, has died, his manager Alex Gittelson confirmed to Deadline. He was 34.

Longo was found dead Wednesday at his home in Austin, according to TMZ. His wife, Stephanie Clark, became concerned that she couldn’t reach him while working at a local dance studio and asked police to do a welfare check. He was found dead in bed when officers arrived, TMZ reported.

Austin Majors Dies: Former ‘NYPD Blue’ Child Actor Was 27

Austin Majors, a busy child actor of the 1990s and early 2000s best known for his seven-season role as the young son of star Dennis Franz’s Detective Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 27.

His death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner. (Following his acting career, Majors used his birth surname Setmajer.) Majors died February 11 in a homeless facility of suspected fentanyl poisoning; an investigation is ongoing.

Last week, Majors was photographed for a Los Angeles Daily News article when L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, visited the homeless facility Hilda Solis Care First Village, where Majors resided.

Majors’ portrayal of young Theo Sipowicz from 1999-2004 was followed by guest appearances on such series as According to Jim, American Dad!, Desperate Housewives, An Accidental Christmas (2007) and How I Met Your Mother. He also appeared in numerous television commercials.

He grew up in a small town where he loved camping and fishing with his family and Boy Scout Troop. He loved his dog, Sunny, and the horse he grew up riding, Balla. He graduated Salutatorian in High School while being an active Eagle Scout and member of the community. He went on to graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing.

Tim McCarver Dies: Hall Of Fame Announcer & All-Star Catcher Was 81

McCarver’s long baseball career spanned four decades from 1959-80, mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, for which he caught for a pair of all-time greats in Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton, respectively. He was a two-time All-Star and won a pair of World Series with the Cardinals in 1964 and 1967.

But he probably is best remembered for his long stint as a network color commenter, covering two dozens World Series for ABC, CBS and Fox and winning three Sports Emmys and more than a dozen other nominations.

After retiring from the field, McCarver began his booth career working Phillies games and later co-hosted Race for the Pennant for HBO. By 1980 he was a backup color commentator for NBC’s Game of the Week. An encyclopedic knowledge of the game fueled his career, and by the mid-’90s he was paired with Jack Buck on Fox’s No. 1 booth team. McCarver would stay with Fox until 2013, later teaming with his former partner’s son, Joe Buck.

The Baseball Hall of Fame awarded McCarver its Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence in 2012.

He sometimes courted controversy for his outspoken opinions about players including Manny Ramirez and Deion Sanders and later compared the New York Yankees’ treatment of their longtime ex-manager Joe Torre to notorious fascists regimes. He later apologized for that.

But McCarver remained a popular broadcaster, and beyond the booth he hosted The Tim McCarver Show, a syndicated sports interview program that aired from 2000-17. He hosted a 1993 episode of Sesame Street and played himself or an announcer in a number of TV series and films including Moneyball, Fever Pitch, BASEketball, Arli$$, The Scout, Mr. Baseball, Love Hurts and The Naked Gun.

Born October 16, 1941, in Memphis, McCarver also appeared in several documentaries and was a guest on numerous talk shows including David Letterman’s NBC and CBS late-nighters, The Pat Sajak Show and even an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show after the Cardinals won their 1964 title.

Kyle Jacobs Dies: Hit Songwriter And Husband Of Singer Kellie Pickler Starred In Reality TV, Was 49

Songwriter Kyle Jacobs was found dead at his Nashville home today in what police are calling a possible suicide. The husband of singer Kellie PIckler was 49.

The Nashville Police Department confirmed that police and the Nashville FIre Department were summoned to a home shortly after 1 PM local time. There they found Jacobs “deceased from an apparent gunshot self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

“His death is being investigated as an apparent suicide.”

Reports indicate Pickler was asleep at home when the incident happened. She and an assistant called the police when they couldn’t open the upstairs bedroom door.

Pickler and Jacobs starred together in the Reality TV show “I Love Kellie Pickler,” which ran for three seasons starting in 2015 on CMT. The couple married in 2011 after dating since 2008.

Jacobs songwriting credits included Garth Brooks’s 2007 hit “More Than A Memory and Tim McGraw’s “Still.” He also worked with Kelly Clarkson and Darius Rucker, among others. He also produced four No. 1 country airplay singles for Lee Brice.

Jacobs’s resume boasts a CMA Award, an ACM Award, and a Grammy nomination.

Kellie Pickler finished in sixth place on “American Idol” in 2006, and released four albums after that. She is a host on Sirius XM’s “The Highway.”

Stella Stevens Dies: ‘Poseidon Adventure’ Actress Was 84

Stella Stevens, the actress best known for her roles in The Nutty Professor and The Poseidon Adventure and starring opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, died today in Los Angeles after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84.

A former Playboy centerfold from January 1960, Stevens was modeling in her hometown of Memphis when she was discovered and given a screen test by 20th Century Fox. She wound up under contract with Paramount and then Columbia through the ’60s, starring opposite such big names as Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, Dean Martin in How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life, Bobby Darin in Too Late Blues, Chuck Conners in Synanon and Glenn Ford in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, ADvance to the Rear and Rage.

She won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer for her first film, 1959’s Say One for Me, which starred Bing Crosby and Debbie Reynolds. Stevens also appeared in Lil Abner that year.

She went on to play Jerry Lewis’ dream girl in The Nutty Professor — which was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2004 — and the lippy wife of Ernest Borgnine in The Poseidon Adventure, the star-packed pic about the wreck of a luxury liner that was among the biggest hits of 1972 and helped fuel that decade’s disaster-movie trend.

Her many other film credits include The Silencers, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Sol Madrid, Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! and The Secret of My Success.

Born on October 1, 1938, in Yazoo City, MS, Stevens was also a steady presence on television, appearing in dozens of TV movies and guest-starring in more than 40 series. She had a major arc in Ben Casey as a woman who awakens from a 13-year coma and has a brief fling with Vince Edwards’ title doctor. She also appeared in such hit shows as Bonanza and Ben Casey in the ‘60s through Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, Police Story, Hart to Hart, Newhart, Magnum, P.I., Night Court, The Commish, Arli$$, Silk Stalkings and Murder, She Wrote.

For two seasons in the early ‘80s, she starred in the primetime soap Flamingo Road and later had recurring roles in Santa Barbara and General Hospital. Reportedly, Stevens came to regret her association with Playboy, finding the sexpot label confining.

“I did the best I could with the tools I had and the opportunities given me,” she was once quoted as saying. “I was a divorced mom with a toddler by the time I was 17. And Playboy did as much harm as it helped. But in spite of that rough start, I did OK.”

Stevens also was a popular guest on talk shows, making about a half-dozen appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, along with those hosted by the likes of Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Vicki Lawrence, David Frost and Alan Thicke. She also guested on specials with Crosby, Bob Hope and others.

She also directed a pair of films: The Ranch (1989) and The American Heroine (1979).

Maria Calabrese, founder of Green Life Media and Stevens’ manager and friend, remembered the actress as “one of the most wonderful and gifted people” and “the OG of strong Hollywood women.”

“It was an honor and a privilege to work with Stella, who was one of the most wonderful and gifted people I have ever worked with,” Calabrese wrote in a statement to Deadline. “While I truly wish I could have done more for her toward the latter years of her career and shared in her frustration as she so wanted to make the leap from a triple threat American icon to producer – her wish, never realized, was to have three original Western scripts produced. She was an amazing animal lover, horse wrangler, rock and roller, so ahead of her time and so much more than a sex symbol – which her adoring fans admired her for and understood. What a tremendous body of work and loss. She was the OG of strong Hollywood women.”

Along with her son, Stevens is survived by three grandchildren. She was predeceased by her longtime partner, rock musician Bob Kulick.

Diana Deets, popularly known as Coconut Kitty in social media dead by suicide, was 25

She was famous for her social media persona and her content. The character of Coconut kitty was created by herself using special artificial intelligence filters. Diana was a very famous and successful model on Instagram. She had 5.4 million followers on her Instagram account and 1.4 million followers on Twitter, and she had multiple Twitter accounts.

"Last Sunday, Coconut took her own life. It’s unfair. Life isn’t fair. We wish you guys could get to know her the way her friends and family did. She was such a light to this world, truly, she was always glowing. You could never slow that girl down. She was so hard headed and strong, but also just so kind. With the biggest heart we have ever known. She was always trying to lift everyone up around her, she wanted everyone to win. She always took in animals that needed a home. She was the type of person who would drop everything to help you with your problems and would always be in your corner. She would go to war for you if anyone ever dare try to hurt someone she loved. That smile of hers could light up a whole room, it would turn your whole day around. And her laugh. Her laugh was so contagious. She was so funny. She would get you to laugh till you couldn’t breathe. She loved to dance and sing, and just be herself. She was always her true self with her family and friends. Her energy was so pure. And we wish so much that we could have taken some of the darkness that was weighing on her heart. She always felt so deeply, with her whole body, mind, and soul. She loved creating. She loved to make art and to express herself and we know a lot of you loved her too and she was always so grateful for you all. She was so strong for so long. She was amazing and just a beautiful person. We miss her so much and life is never going to be the same without her. She was a mom, a sister, a daughter, a best friend and a role model for so many of you. Above all she loved her kids and being a mom. Her kids were her whole world. She was devoted to them and she wanted to make sure that they were loved. And they were so loved. All we ask is that you check on your friends and loved ones. You never truly know what someone is going through. Call them and tell them you love them. You never know how much time you’ll have left with the people you love. We love you forever Coconut, rest easy beautiful."

Richard Belzer, star of Law & Order and acclaimed comedian, dead at 78

Richard Belzer, acclaimed comedian and long-time actor in NBC's long running Law and Order franchise, has died at 78. The news first broke from long-time friend Laraine Newman, who worked with Belzer during his many appearances in the early years of Saturday Night Live.

Between Homicide: Life on the Streets and Law & Order, Belzer played the role of John Munch for 23 years beginning in 1993. Belzer retired from acting in 2016 at the age of 71.

Belzer was born in Connecticut in 1944. He described his mother as physically abusive and claimed his comedy career began when he would make his mom laugh to distract her from beating both him and his brother.

After his first divorce in 1972, he began his acting career, becoming a staple of The Improv and Catch a Rising Star. Belzer became the audience warm-up act for Saturday Night Live between 1975 and 1980. He was also a feature player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour with John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and Harold Ramis.

But his most iconic move came in 1993 when he was cast as the star of Homicide: Life on the Streets. In 1999, Belzer's Detective Munch moved to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The character appeared in several others shows across multiple networks in programs including The X-Files (FOX), Arrested Development (FOX), The Wire (HBO), and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix).

After two divorces, Belzer met Harlee McBride in 1981. The two married in 1985 and were together for more than 40 years until his passing.

Barbara Bosson Dies: ‘Hill Street Blues’ Five-Time Emmy Nominee Was 83

Barbara Bosson, who was nominated for five consecutive Emmys for her role on Hill Street Blues, died February 18 at 83. Her death was announced by her director son, Jesse Bochco, on social media.

She is best known as starring as Fay Furillo during the first six seasons of NBC’s Hill Street Blues, which was created by her then-husband, Steven Bochco. Bosson was also Emmy nominated for her role as prosecutor Miriam Grasso on ABC’s Murder One.

Bosson got her start in Steve McQueen film Bullitt and CBS detective series Mannix before becoming one of the stars of NBC’s Richie Brockelan, Private Eye. She also starred in Cop Rock and her last roles were in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, ABC’s Total Security and TV movie Scattering Dad.

But she is best remembered for her Hill Street Blues role as the needy ex-wife of Capt. Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) on Hill Street Blues, which aired on NBC from 1981-87.

Hill Street Blues was the first show to win four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, from 1981-84. Since then, The West Wing and Mad Men have matched that feat.

Bosson remained on the series from 1981-86, earning Supporting Actress Emmy noms every year from 1981-85. Her character had a baby in Season 4 and later became romantically involved with Henry Goldblume (Joe Spano).

Turning older cop dramas on their head, its hybrid procedural/serial format focused more on the characters and their interactions — and police department politics — than the crimes they investigated. It influenced such acclaimed ensuing series as Homicide: Life on the Street and NYPD Blue and continues to resonate today.

After leaving Hill Street, Bosson also made guest appearances on several series including LA Law, Crazy Like a Fox and Murder, She Wrote before landing her next series-regular gig. She was cast opposite John Ritter’s title character in Hooperman, a Bochco-created crime dramedy that aired 42 episodes over two seasons on ABC.

After that, Bosson was among the leads in yet another Bochco-created police story. This time it was ABC’s Cop Rock, the hybrid musical drama that mostly was maligned by critics and didn’t draw a big audience. It lasted 11 episodes in 1990.

In 1995, Bosson was cast in the series-regular role of Assistant DA Miriam Grasso on Murder One, an ABC drama series that lasted two seasons. She earned a sixth career Emmy nomination for the supporting role, which she reprised for the 1997 ABC miniseries Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer..

Bosson also guested on episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Bochco’s NYPD Blue and other shows.

Born on November 1, 1939 in Charleroi, PA, Bosson got her start writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late 1960s and would have a few more scripting credits during her career. She married writer-producer Bochco in 1970, and they divorced in 1997, and he died in 2018.

Jansen Panettiere Dies: Actor, Brother Of Hayden Panettiere Was 28

Jansen Panettiere, the younger brother of actress Hayden Panettiere who followed his sister into show business with appearances on Even Stevens, Blue’s Clues, Ice Age: The Meltdown and The Walking Dead, died Sunday in New York. He was 28.

Born September 25, 1994, in Palisades, NY, Panettiere earned his first credits as a voice actor before landing a 2002 appearance on Disney Channel’s Even Stevens starring a young Shia LaBeouf. Subsequent credits include 2003 appearances on the sitcom Hope & Faith and the drama Third Watch, and the following year he voiced the recurring character Periwinkle on Blue’s Clues.

As a voice actor, his credits include 100 Things To Do Before Middle School, Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and The X’s,among others.

Onscreen he had roles in Nickelodeon’s The Last Day of Summer (earning a Young Artist Award nomination), The Babysitters, Major Crimes and, in 2019, an episode of The Walking Dead. His most recent credit is the 2022 film Love and Love Not, and he has roles in a number of projects in production.

Panettiere appeared alongside his sister in the 2004 Disney Channel movie Tiger Cruise. In 2019, he co-starred in MTV’s How High 2. Hayden Panettiere is best known for her roles in TV’s Heroes and Nashville, as well as the Scream movie franchise.

A rep for the actor confirmed the news but did not provide cause of death or other details.

Alicia Allain Dies: Producer, Actress & Wife Of ‘Dukes Of Hazzard’ Star John Schneider Was 53

Allain produced Paul Schrader’s 2002 film Auto Focus based on the life of Hogan’s Heroes star Bob Crane. The film featured Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe and Maria Bello. In the same year, she was a co-producer on The Badge, which starred Billy Bob Thornton and Patricia Arquette. Before that, Allain line-produced Lush, starring Campbell Scott, Laura Linney and Jared Harris.

She also produced a number of movies starring Schneider in the past decade, many of which he also directed. Those titles include Inadmissible, Anderson Bench (as EP), 4: GO (as EP), Hate Crime and last year’s To Die For. The duo reportedly married in 2019.

Allain appeared as an actress in half-a-dozen projects, including Auto Focus and last year’s Schneider-directed Tres Leches, which she also produced.

An obituary says the producer “passed away at her home surrounded by her family as she took her last breath on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.” She is survived by Schneider, who called her “My Smile”; her daughter Jessica Ann Dollard; parents Michael and Linda Marino Allain; brother Brandy Michael Allain; grandmother Doris Crutti Marino Alvarado; step-daughter Karis Schneider and granddaughter, Sierra Schneider. She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Ferd Sr. and Ruby Allain, Joe Marino.

Rick Newman Dies: Founder Of Influential Catch A Rising Star Comedy Club Was 81

Rick Newman, the founder of New York City’s hugely influential Catch a Rising Star comedy club that provided a training ground for the stand-up comics who would change the landscape of entertainment in the 1970s, died Feb. 20 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81.

His wife Krysi Newman told The Washington Post that he died of pancreatic cancer.

Among the comics who began or developed their careers on the Rising Star’s Upper East Side stage are Jerry Seineld, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Richard Lewis, Andy Kaufman, Freddie Prinze, Robert Klein, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler. Larry David, Elayne Boosler, Rodney Dangerfield, Jay Leno, Joy Behar and Ray Romano.

Newman opened the club in 1972, signaling the venue’s mission in its name: Catch a Rising Star would welcome the comedy newcomers that might have a tougher time getting booked at the more established Improv club across town.

Four years after its opening, the club hosted the launch of Seinfeld’s stand-up career. Kaufman would use the stage to develop his “Foreign Man” character that would evolve into Taxi‘s Latka Gravas, and David Brenner, already a popular comedian when the club opened, told The New York Times in 1982, “You can’t practice on The Tonight Show or in Vegas. Catch is a place where you can be bad, and that’s how you get to be good.”

Newman sold the business to partner Richard Fields in 1986, and the original Upper East Side location closed in 1993.

Newman is survived by wife Krysi Newman and two children.

Steve Mackey, Pulp Bassist and Producer, Dies at 56

Steve Mackey, producer and longtime bassist of legendary Britpop group Pulp, has died. In a post on the musician’s Instagram account, Mackey’s wife wrote that her husband died today (March 2) “after three months in hospital” for an undisclosed illness. Pulp also shared a statement, writing: “Our beloved friend and bass player Steve Mackey passed away this morning.” The statement continued, “our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.” Find both posts below. Mackey was 56 years old.

Mackey grew up in Sheffield, the northern English city where Pulp formed in the late 1970s. After being a fan for several years, he joined the band in 1989 and contributed to their third LP, 1991’s Separations. Mackey played on every subsequent Pulp record, including the influential trio of His ’n’ Hers (1994), Different Class (1995), and This Is Hardcore (1998). Different Class, a modern classic and defining Britpop document, includes their biggest song, the class-conscious disco hit “Common People.” Pulp issued their final studio album, We Love Life, in 2001.

After Pulp went on hiatus in 2002, Mackey expanded his repertoire and began a fruitful producing career. He worked on early M.I.A. singles like “Galang” and “Sunshowers,” as well as “Bird Flu” from her 2007 breakout album, Kala. Mackey also produced for artists such as Kelis, the Kills, Arcade Fire, and Florence and the Machine (he co-wrote tracks for the latter’s debut album, Lungs).

In 2011, Pulp briefly reformed for a world tour and, two years later, rerecorded an old demo titled “After You,” their latest release to date. Last year, the group announced they would play a slate of reunion gigs in 2023 (the first of which occurred in October). Mackey wished them well but said he would not join them, writing on Instagram, “I’ve decided to continue the work I’m engaged in—music, filmmaking, and photography projects.”