Notable deaths of 2022 ... a look back
Angela Lansbury. Bill Russell. Loretta Lynn. The Queen. These are the entertainers, leaders, athletes and other notable people we lost this year.
Pelé
Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Dec. 29, 2022. He was 82. Widely regarded as one of soccer’s greatest players, Pelé spent nearly two decades enchanting fans and dazzling opponents as the game’s most prolific scorer with Brazilian club Santos and the Brazil national team.
Anne Heche
Anne Heche, the Emmy-winning film and television actor whose dramatic Hollywood rise in the 1990s and accomplished career contrasted with personal chapters of turmoil, died of injuries from a fiery car crash. She was 53. By the late 1990s Heche was one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films. In 1997 alone, she played opposite Johnny Depp as his wife in “Donnie Brasco” and Tommy Lee Jones in “Volcano” and was part of the ensemble cast in the original “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
Estelle Harris
Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza’s short-fused mother on “Seinfeld” and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” franchise, died April 2, 2022. She was 93. As middle-class matron Estelle Costanza, Harris put a memorable stamp on her recurring role in the smash 1990s sitcom. With her high-pitched voice and humorously overbearing attitude, she was an archetype of maternal indignation.
Liz Sheridan
Liz Sheridan, a veteran stage and screen actress who played Jerry Seinfeld's mother, Helen, on "Seinfeld," died April April 15, 2022, at age 93. Though she had dozens of film credits, she was best known as Seinfeld's doting mother on his titular sitcom, which ran for nine seasons. She also appeared as the snoopy neighbor Mrs. Ochmonek on the alien-led sitcom "ALF."
Full story: Liz Sheridan, Jerry's mom on 'Seinfeld,' dies at 93
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman, best known as the hard-rocking disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati," died Jan. 28, 2022. In addition to earning two Emmy nominations for his role on "WKRP," Hesseman also appeared on "Head of the Class" and "One Day at a Time," along with guest appearances on "That 70's Show," among others. The Oregon native also hosted "Saturday Night Live" several times. — CNN
Clarence Gilyard
Clarence Gilyard, the actor best known for playing computer hacker Theo in "Die Hard" and naval flight officer Marcus "Sundown" Williams in "Top Gun," died Nov. 28, 2022, at the age of 66. — CNN
Clarence Gilyard, 'Die Hard' and 'Walker, Texas Ranger' star, dies at 66
Emilio Delgado
Emilio Delgado, who spent more than 40 years entertaining generations of children playing the Fix-It Shop owner Luis on "Sesame Street," died March 10, 2022. He was 81. Delgado had cited the PBS show's importance as a cultural touchstone in the way people of color were depicted on TV. — CNN
Emilio Delgado, 'Sesame Street's' Luis for more than 40 years, dies at 81
Bob McGrath
Bob McGrath, an actor who played the friendly neighbor Bob Johnson as an original cast member of the beloved children's program "Sesame Street," died Dec. 4, 2022. He was 90. — CNN
Bob McGrath, original 'Sesame Street' cast member, dies at 90
Gallagher
Comedian Gallagher, best known for his watermelon-smashing comedy routine and many popular specials in the 1980s, died Nov. 11, 2022. He was 76. Gallagher, born Leo Gallagher, became a household name in the early '80s with a comedy special titled "An Uncensored Evening," the first comedy stand up special ever to air on cable television. Gallagher's most famous bit involved a hand-made sledgehammer he called the "Sledge-O-Matic," which he would use to smash food on stage, spraying the audience. — CNN
Michael Lang
Michael Lang, a co-creator and promoter of the 1969 Woodstock music festival that served as a touchstone for generations of music fans, died Jan. 8, 2022. He was 77.
Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church.
LOS ANGELES — We're a week away from the beginning of Oscar nominations voting. Motion picture academy members presumably spent the holidays unwrapping tamales, spiking the eggnog and catching up on the movies they've missed. (Or, from what I'm hearing, watching the ones they love once again instead of doing their homework.) What might this year's slate look like when Oscar nods are announced ...
Bessie Laurena Hendricks celebrated her 115th birthday Nov. 7 and was listed by the Gerontology Research Group as the nation's oldest living person.
From full coverage of Damar Hamlin's on-field hit, to the release of Trump's tax returns, here are the top national stories from the past week.
Lynette Hardaway, known to many as “Diamond” of the political and MAGA talk duo “Diamond and Silk,” has died, according to multiple reports.
A French nun who was believed to be the world's oldest person has died a few weeks before her 119th birthday. She was born in 1904.