Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, tech guru Steve Jobs, and music star Amy Winehouse are just a few of the celebrities who died in 2011. Hollywood lost multiple film stars, including Jane Russell and Pete Postlethwaite; icons of television, like Harry Morgan and James Arness; and directors, like Sidney Lumet and Ken Russell. In addition to Winehouse, the music world mourned the loss of rapper Heavy D, singer Gerry Rafferty, and songwriter Nick Ashford.
ELIZABETH TAYLOR. Film legend Elizabeth Taylor, who rose from a child actor to become one of Hollywood's most talented actresses, died at age 79 from congestive heart failure on March 23, 2011. In a career spanning seven decades, Taylor was nominated for five Oscars and won the best actress honor twice. In real life, she battled excess weight and drug addiction, and was married eight times, including twice to actor Richard Burton.
STEVE JOBS. Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on October 05, 2011 at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues. Jobs, who fought a rare form of pancreatic cancer, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.
AMY WINEHOUSE. Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse died on July 23, 2011 at age 27. Known for her beehive hairstyle and distinctive soulful voice, Winehouse had high levels of alcohol in her blood at the time of her death, which was officially ruled as death from "misadventure." Her death caused an outpouring of grief and sent her music back to the top of the record charts.
PETER FALK. Peter Falk, an Emmy winning actor who played an absent-minded but shrewd police detective on the hit 1970s television show Columbo, died on June 23, 2011. Falk began his career on the stage. By the late 1950s he began to star in Broadway productions, and soon made his move to Hollywood. Columbo would remain his most recognizable role - the show became a smash hit after its debut in 1971 and continued playing on TV for many years and even spawned several TV movies later in the actor's life.
NICK ASHFORD. Songwriter Nickolas Ashford, who penned such rhythm and blues hits as Ain't No Mountain High Enough and I'm Every Woman with his wife Valerie Simpson, died on August 22, 2011 at age 70. He was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time of his death. He and Simpson were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
CLARENCE CLEMONS. The saxophone player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, Clarence Clemons died on June 18, 2011, roughly a week after he suffered a stroke at his Florida home. He was 69. Clemons started playing with Springsteen in 1971, and had notable solos on such tunes as Born to Run, Thunder Road and Badlands. Most recently he had a cameo in Lady Gaga's hit, The Edge of Glory.
HEAVY D. Rapper Heavy D, who scored hit singles such as Now That We Found Love, died on November 08, 2011 after falling at his Beverly Hills home. He was 44. The rapper, whose real name is Dwight Errington Myers, released his first album in 1987 with his band, Heavy D & The Boyz. In 1991, they scored their biggest hit with the album Peaceful Journey and single Now That We Found Love, which reached the top five on R&B charts and crossed over to mainstream pop audiences.
SIDNEY LUMET. American film director known for a variety of cinema classics like 12 Angry Men, and Network, Sidney Lumet died on April 09, 2011 at age 86. A prolific filmmaker, Lumet directed over 40 movies, many of which were shot in his native New York and often explored the gritty reality of New York street life. In 2005, Lumet received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. He previously had been nominated for Oscars five times without winning.
JANE RUSSELL. Actress Jane Russell, who starred in the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and became a controversial Hollywood sex symbol, died on February 28, 2011 from respiratory failure. Russell, who later in life was the "full-figured girl" in television bra ads, was at her best in comedies that, subtly or not, spoofed her sexpot image and focused on her figure.
PETE POSTLETHWAITE. British actor Pete Postlethwaite died following a long battle with cancer on January 02, 2011 at age 64. He received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his performance as Guiseppe Conlon in the 1993 film In The Name Of The Father. He also starred in a variety of other hit movies including Jurassic Park and Inception.
HARRY MORGAN. Prolific character actor Harry Morgan, who appeared in more than 100 films but was best known for television roles, died on December 7, 2011 at age 96. In
1980, he won an Emmy award for his work on M*A*S*H, where he played the upstanding commanding officer of a U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. He appeared in the series from 1975 to 1983.
JEFF CONAWAY. Actor Jeff Conaway, best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the 1970s TV series Taxi, died on May 27, 2011 at the age of 60. Conaway, who had a history of addictions to drug, alcohol and prescription painkillers, began his acting career on Broadway but found international fame when he starred as Kenickie in the 1978 film musical Grease, alongside John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
JAMES ARNESS. James Arness, the 6' 7" actor best known for playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke for 20 years, died at age 88 on June 03, 2011. His death came a year after his brother, Mission Impossible actor Peter Graves, died of a heart attack at age 83. During his career, Arness befriended John Wayne who was instrumental in helping him score his Gunsmoke role. During his 20 years on the show, he was nominated for three Emmys.
MARIA SCHNEIDER. French actress Maria Schneider, whose role as Marlon Brando's lover in Last Tango in Paris won her lifelong fame, died February 03 after a long illness. She was 58. Schneider was 19 when she was cast opposite Brando, who was 48. Last Tango in Paris was controversial at the time of its 1972 release for its sexual content, and Schneider later struggled with her image as a sex symbol, refusing to appear in a nude scene ever again.
RYAN DUNN. Ryan Dunn, a co-star of the Jackass films, died on June 20 when a sports car he was driving careened off a highway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and burst into flames. The daredevil personality was part of the crew in the top-grossing Jackass franchise that specialized in risky pranks and gross-out stunts. He was 34.
GERRY RAFFERTY. Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, whose 1970s hits include Baker Street and Stuck in the Middle With You, died age 63 on January 04, 2011. Rafferty played in several bands before forming the folk rock outfit Stealers Wheel in 1972. The group's eponymous debut album featured Stuck in the Middle With You, the hit single that enjoyed a new lease of life when it was used in Quentin Tarantino's movie Reservoir Dogs. Stealers Wheel broke up in 1975, but three years later Rafferty released the solo album City to City which produced the song "Baker Street" and sold millions ofcopies world-wide.
ARTHUR LAURENTS. West Side Story and Gypsy playwright Arthur Laurents died at age 93 on May 05, 2011 from complications of pneumonia. Laurents, also a director and screenwriter, won two Tony Awards and earned two Oscar nominations for writing. His films include The Turning Point and The Way We Were.
JOHN BARRY. British film composer John Barry, who won five Oscars and is best known for creating music for the James Bond movies, died of a heart attack on January 31 at age 77. His Bond compositions included Goldfinger, From Russia With Love and You Only Live Twice, and his Academy Awards included best music for Dances With Wolves, Out of Africa and Born Free.
JERRY LEIBER. Jerry Leiber, who partnered with Mike Stoller to write such iconic rock hits as Elvis Presley's Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, died August 23, 2011 at age 78. In addition to Presley, the Drifters, Ben E. King and Peggy Lee were among the many singers who recorded songs from the duo.
DOLORES HOPE. Wife of late U.S. entertainer Bob Hope, Dolores Hope died September 19, 2011 at the age of 102. Hope, a singer who put her career on hold after her marriage, began helping her husband in the 1940s on his tours entertaining U.S. troops overseas and she would continue to do so for over 50 years. In addition to her famous marriage, Hope was lauded for her life-long philanthropic efforts.
TIM HETHERINGTON. Photojournalist Tim Hetherington, the co-director of Oscar-nominated war documentary Restrepo, was killed in the Libyan town of Misrata on April 20, 2011. Hetherington, also a still photographer who won the 2007 World Press Photo of the Year award, saw Restrepo win the grand jury prize at the Sundance film festival in 2010.
CLIFF ROBERTSON. Actor Cliff Robertson, who won an Oscar playing a mentally disabled janitor in Charly and worked in movies ranging from PT 109 to Spider-Man 2, died on September 10, 2011, one day after his 88th birthday. Robertson's career spanned more than 60 years and included movies and television. He is remembered not only for his work but also for his courage in exposing powerful Columbia studios chief David Begelman, who had forged his name on a $10,000 check in the late 1970s.
KEN RUSSELL. Ken Russell, the British director of Women in Love and The Devils, died at the age of 84 on November 27, 2011. Russell began his directing career with the BBC and went on to make some of the most controversial and violent films of the 1960s and 70s. Women in Love, a 1969 adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's novel, became infamous for its nude wrestling scene between actors Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. The picture earned Russell an Oscar nomination for best director.
PATRICE O'NEAL. Stand-up comedian Patrice O'Neal died on November 29, 2011 at the age of 41 following a stroke in October. O'Neal, who appeared on Comedy Central celebrity roasts and on Conan O'Brien's and David Letterman's late night TV shows, was also a frequent guest on the Opie & Anthony radio show on Sirius XM. His film appearances included In the Cut, 25th Hour and Head of State.