Notable Passings, 2013, D-G

Joan Fontaine (l.) with her sister Olivia DeHavilland

Here's part 2 of notable passings in 2013. There are plenty of well known people in this installment including Joan Fontaine, Roger Ebert, James Gandolfini, Edyie Gorme, etc. There is one person who may have been forgotten: Kelly Garrett, not to be confused with the Charlie's Angels character, she was a terrific singer who appeared in three Broadway shows in the 1970s and seemed t be on TV all the time back then. I always loved her powerful voice.

Deanna Durbin, 91, songbird of Hollywood’s Golden Age, she warbled her way through such films as “Three Smart Girls,” “One Hundred Men and a Girl,” and “Can’t Help Singing.”

Roger Ebert, 70, influential film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, in 1975, he became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize, co-hosted popular film-review programs first on PBS, then in syndication, these included “Sneak Previews” and “At the Movies” with Gene Siskel, then, after Siskel’s death, “Roger Ebert & the Movies” with rotating co-hosts and “Ebert & Roeper” with Richard Roeper, also of the Sun-Times.

David R. Ellis, 60, director of “Snakes on a Plane.”

Dennis Farina, 69, former cop turned actor, usually played policemen in such TV shows as “Law & Order” and “Crime Story,” films included “Thief,” “Get Shorty,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “That Old Feeling,” and “Midnight Run.”

Bonnie Lynn Fields, 68, former Mousketeer and dancer, after leaving the “Mickey Mouse Club” she appeared in other TV shows such as “The New Adventures of Spin and Marty” and “Annette” starring her fellow Mousketeer Annette Funicello, danced on Broadway in “Kelly” and “Half a Sixpence,” had small parts in the movies “Sweet Charity,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” and “Funny Girl.”

Joan Fontaine, 96, serenely beautiful movie star who won an Oscar as the confused wife in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion,” also nominated for a similar role in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” and for “The Constant Nymph,” had a longtime rivalry with her sister Olivia de Havilland, other films included “The Women,” “Gunga Din,” “Jane Eyre” with Orson Welles, “Letter from an Unknown Woman,” “September Affair,” “Ivanhoe,” and “Island in the Sun,” starred on Broadway in “Tea and Sympathy” and “Forty Carats,” received an Emmy nomination for a guest appearance in “Ryan’s Hope.”  

Steve Forrest, 87, handsome leading man best known for his role on the action series “SWAT,” film credits include “So Big,” “Heller in Pink Tights,” and “The Longest Day,” also had a recurring role on “Dallas,” younger brother to film star Dana Andrews.

Anne Francis, 80, blonde and brainy beauty who co-starred in “Forbidden Planet,” “Blackboard Jungle,” “Bad Day at Black Rock,” “Funny Girl,” and headlined her own TV series “Honey West” (1965-66), one of the few TV series to star a woman as a private detective.

Bonnie Franklin, 69, perky star of the long-running sitcom “One Day at a Time” (1975-84), she soared to fame on Broadway singing the title song in “Applause,” for which she received a Tony nomination, appeared Off-Broadway in Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune.”

Frederic Franklin, 98, British ballet dancer, performed with the Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo, founded the National Ballet of Washington, often paired with Alexandra Danilova.

David Frost, 74, journalist and talk-show host, famous for his interviews with ex-president Richard Nixon which formed the basis of Peter Morgan’s play and subsequent film “Frost/Nixon,” also hosted the satiric TV series “That Was the Week That Was,” his own syndicated variety series “The David Frost Revue” and his long-running talk show.

Annette Funicello, 70, America’s girl next door, starred on TV in Walt Disney’s Mousekteer Club and opposite Frankie Avalon in a series of 1960s beach party movies including “Beach Party,” “Beach Blanket Bingo,” “Bikini Beach,” “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini,” and “Muscle Beach Party.”

James Gandolfini in "Enough Said"

James Gandolfini, 51, won three Emmy Awards for his searing and subtle portrayal of complex mobster Tony Soprano on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” appeared on Broadway in “God of Carnage” (Tony nomination), “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and “On the Waterfront,” films include “Get Shorty,” “In the Loop,” “The Taking of Pehlam 1 2 3,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” and “Not Fade Away.”

Kelly Garrett, 69, singer-actor, appeared on “The Tonight Show” 29 times and on Broadway in “Mother Earth” (Theatre World Award), “Words and Music,” and “The Night That Made America Famous” (Tony nomination).

Gary David Goldberg, 68, Emmy winning creator of “Family Ties” and “Spin City,” also wrote for “The Bob Newhart Show” and wrote and produced “The Tony Randall Show” and “Lou Grant.”

Al Goldstein, 77, publisher of Screw Magazine which contributed to the mainstream acceptance  of pornography, host of the erotic public access show “Midnight Blue.”

Kevin Gray, 55, Broadway musical actor who appeared in “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King,” “Show Boat,” “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” and many others.

Richard Griffiths, 65, rotund character actor best known as the grumpy muggle uncle in the Harry Potter films, also had a distinguished stage career, winning Tony and Olivier Awards for “The History Boys,” starred opposite Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe in “Equus” in London and on Broadway, additional film credits include “Withnail and I,” “Gandhi,” “The Naked Gun 2 and ½,” and “Hugo.”

Eydie Gorme, 84, pop singer and actor, got her start with her husband Steve Lawrence on “The Tonight Show” during Steve Allen’s tenure as host, they also had a short-lived TV variety series of their own, her biggest hit was 1963’s “Blame It on the Bossa Nova,” won a Grammy Award for “If He Walked Into My Life Today” from “Mame,” starred on Broadway with Lawrence in “Golden Rainbow,” often guest-starred on “The Carol Burnett Show.”

Marjorie Gunner, 91, theater critic, president of the Outer Critics Circle from 1979 to 2005, wrote for Town and Village, The Italian Tribune, Bronx Home News, Culvert Chronicles, and New Jersey’s Ridgewood News, one of the first seven women to be admitted to the Friars Club.