Liam Payne, Shannen Doherty, James Earl Jones and more: Notable celebrity deaths in 2024

This year’s passing parade surely rates as one for the record books. These late, lamented legends represent an astonishing array of trailblazers, trendsetters and originals, enduring icons and marquee names. And extraordinarily, many were superstar super-seniors in their 80s and 90s, still making waves after decades at the top of their crafts.

Here, we spotlight the lives of the famous figures whose efforts helped shape our political landscape, brought laughter and music and viral video to our electronic devices, crashed through barriers to advancement for women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, and generally worked to make this a better world. They are the unique talents, innovators and newsmakers whose lives and legacies are unlikely to be seen again.

NELSON DEMILLE, 81

Novelist

Though not always a favorite with critics, the longtime Garden City writer had a gift for telling action-packed stories and creating vivid, no-nonsense characters that made him immensely popular with readers. His novels — many of which, including "The Gold Coast" and "Plum Island," were set on Long Island — regularly topped the bestseller lists. DeMille, a much-decorated Army veteran, used his military experiences as well as his studies in political science and history as inspiration for many of his plotlines. DeMille could sometimes be gruff, but he also had a tender side and was known as a devoted family man as well as a mentor to young writers.

SHANNEN DOHERTY, 53

Actress

"Shannen Doherty is difficult." That's how a long-ago Vanity Fair profile began, and her reputation obviously preceded her. But too often overlooked was the charisma and star power that helped launch a pair of network-defining hits — "Beverly 90210" and "Charmed" — and a cult movie (1988's "Heathers.") She struggled to relaunch her career after she was cut from "Charmed," and was later diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. By the time she died in July, a full-scale career reevaluation was underway. No long "difficult," she was a tough woman who made it in a tough business and finally broke free of that old reputation.

PHIL DONAHUE, 88

Talk-show host

With that (famously) white hair, and buoyant on-screen persona, Phil Donahue hosted a daytime show over a 29-year run in his own image. As influential to daytime as Johnny Carson was to late night, there were no half-measures with Donahue. From his production perch in Chicago, and later in New York, he checked off every hot-button issue, polemic and controversy in American life and created a new genre in the process. Seemingly nothing escaped the Donahue treatment: Alcoholism, drug abuse, neo-Nazis, domestic abuse and pedophilia were go-to topics. Civil rights, consumer activism and the anti-war movement were a reliable part of the mix early on, later AIDS and gay rights. Another daytime host, Oprah Winfrey, matched, then surpassed him at his own game, but he was the one who started the daytime TV talk revolution.

MITZI GAYNOR, 93

Actor-singer-dancer

A star of Hollywood’s golden age of musicals, Gaynor is best known as Ensign Nellie Forbush in 1958’s “South Pacific.” She also appeared with opposite Bing Crosby in 1956’s “Anything Goes” (1956), with Frank Sinatra in 1957’s “The Joker Is Wild” (1957) and with Gene Kelly in 1957’s “Les Girls” (1957). In later years, she became a Las Vegas mainstay, made many appearances at the Westbury Music Fairtoured as a one-woman show and starred in several television specials.

LOUIS GOSSETT JR., 87

Actor

He was the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar, for playing foulmouthed drill sergeant Emil Foley in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman.” The Brooklyn native discovered acting in high school and quickly soared, landing his first Broadway role at 16 in “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sidney Poitier (they co-starred in the 1961 film version). Gossett also won an Emmy as Fiddler in the 1977 miniseries “Roots.” Periodically harassed by police even as a famous actor, Gossett said, he established the Eracism Foundation to help eradicate racism. One of his final screen appearances was in last year’s “The Color Purple.”

JAMES EARL JONES, 93

Actor

From Darth Vader in “Star Wars” to Mufasa in “The Lion King,” Jones built a career on his deep, commanding voice, yet he’d spent his childhood nearly mute, with an embarrassing stutter. He got an early break with a regular role on the daytime soap “As the World Turns” in 1965, won a Tony for 1969’s “The Great White Hope” (as boxer Jack Johnson), then hit his stride in the 1980s with appearances in “Conan the Barbarian,” “Coming to America,” “Field of Dreams” and other films. His take-home awards would include an honorary Oscar, a Golden Globe, two Emmys, three Tonys (including a lifetime achievement award) and the National Medal of Arts. He was also the station-break announcer for CNN.

QUINCY JONES, 91

Music producer

Nearly every music fan, young or old, has heard a song touched by the man called Q. He began as a trumpeter for Lionel Hampton (and, briefly, Elvis Presley), served as a producer-arranger for Frank Sinatra (“Fly Me to the Moon”) and Lesley Gore (“It’s My Party”), then crafted three landmark albums with Michael Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” (still the top-seller of all time) and “Bad.” In 1985, he worked with virtually everyone on the supergroup single “We Are the World.” Jones also scored TV series like ''Ironside'' and more than 30 movies, including “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), “The Color Purple” (1985) and “Get Rich or Die Tryin’ ” (2005). His family, which includes his actress-daughter Rashida Jones, said in a statement, “there will never be another like him.”

ETHEL KENNEDY, 96

Social activist

Among the last members of a family generation that included President John F. Kennedy, she was a millionaire’s daughter who married future U.S. Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1950. She was by her husband’s side when he was assassinated in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just after he’d won California’s 1968 Democratic presidential primary. Kennedy raised their 11 children while remaining dedicated to the family’s legacy, founding the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. An advocate for causes including gun control and human rights, she was praised by President Joe Biden as “a matriarch of optimism and moral courage.”

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, 88

Singer-songwriter

In a song or on a screen, the Texas-born Kristofferson had the dusty aura of a vintage Ford pickup. He’d been a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, an Army helicopter pilot and a janitor before penning the country classics “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (a No. 1 hit for Johnny Cash) and “Me and Bobby McGee” (a posthumous No. 1 for Janis Joplin). He brought a rugged authenticity to the Barbra Streisand vehicle “A Star Is Born” and Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” among other movies. From 1985 to 1996, he was part of The Highwaymen, a country supergroup that included his heroes Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Cash.

RICHARD LEWIS, 76

Actor-comedian

Though one of the truly beloved stand-up comics of the '70s and '80s, "beloved" was not exactly the word Lewis himself would have settled on. He was the "Prince of Pain," whose comedy specials ("I'm in Pain"), tours ("Misery Loves Company") and memoir ("The OTHER Great Depression") drove home that point. Mel Brooks said, "Richard Lewis may just be the Franz Kafka of modern day comedy" which seemed about right, until 1989 with the sweet TV rom-com "Anything But Love" with Jamie Lee Curtis. Then, starting in 1999, came "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Over the next 25 (or so) years, he was Larry David's best friend (or sometimes he wasn't). He aged gracefully and of course sourly into the role he knew best — himself. Of the fame that came with "Curb," he actually didn't mind all that much: "I love being famous," he once said. "It validates that I have something to say."

JOE LIEBERMAN, 82

Politician

A true political maverick, former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was known for bucking his own party, and for almost becoming the nation’s first Jewish vice president. Lieberman was elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 1988, supporting gay rights, civil rights and other left-leaning causes. In 2000, he and running mate Al Gore lost the contentious presidential contest to George W. Bush after a drawn-out recount, legal challenges and a Supreme Court decision. Lieberman became an independent in 2006, bashing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as “a lightweight” during the 2008 presidential campaign. After retiring from the Senate in 2013, he helped lead the No Labels third-party.

WILLIE MAYS, 93

Baseball player

One of baseball’s all-time greats, "The Say Hey Kid" was a 24-time All-Star, two-time National League MVP, 12-time Gold Glove winner, two-time All-Star Game MVP and National League Rookie of the Year. He hit 660 home runs, had 3,293 hits and batted .301 over his 23-year career. Playing centerfield for the New York Giants in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, Mays made one of the greatest catches in baseball history, an image that will forever be linked to him. Mays raced to the deepest part of the Polo Grounds and with his cap flying off his head and his back to the infield caught Vic Wertz’s towering fly ball. Mays played in New York during a golden age that also saw Mickey Mantle in centerfield for the Yankees and Duke Snider in centerfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mays and the Giants relocated to San Francisco in 1958. The Hall of Famer, however, would come full circle and return to New York to play for the Mets in 1972. Mays would play for the Mets in the World Series in 1973, his final season. Mays received the Presidential Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama in 2015.

BOB NEWHART, 94

Actor-comedian

Architect of the most celebrated dream gimmick since that "Midsummer Night's" one, and among the most TV's beloved stars, Newhart's career included a world-famous comedy album, a pair of hit sitcoms and 2003's "Elf." He closed out that second sitcom "Newhart" on May 21, 1990, with perhaps the single greatest joke of that glorious career. Instead of waking up in bed next to his sitcom wife Mary Frann, he found himself next to Suzanne Pleshette, his spouse from "The Bob Newhart Show." "I was an innkeeper in this crazy little town in Vermont," he tells her, where "there were these three woodsmen, but only one of them talked." (Larry, Darryl, and Darryl — of course.) The "Newhart" finale was a parody of dream sequences then sweeping prime time. TV Guide later named it television's fourth greatest achievement (the moon landing was in first place), and no TV series since has dared suggest the foregoing had been a dream, except in ironic homage, like the 2022 series closer of "Atlanta."

CHARLES OSGOOD, 91

Newsman

With his trademark bow ties, wire-rimmed glasses and that resonant, made-for-radio voice, Osgood cut a distinct figure in the wide and increasingly chaotic media landscape of the last century and the early part of this one — as genteel wordsmith, with an unassuming if not quite diffident on-screen persona. His style was the perfect fit over a 22-year run with CBS "Sunday Morning" (1994-2016), where he was host, master-of-ceremonies and even occasional piano player. But Osgood's real love seemed to be the radio, which most major network news stars had long before abandoned. "See you on the radio," he promised, and he did. Osgood joined WCBS/880 AM in 1967 just before it went all-news, and he remained on the radio for the rest of his career.

LIAM PAYNE, 31

Musician

After auditioning for England’s “The X Factor” in 2008, Payne joined Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik to form the boy band One Direction. By 2014, they were a Beatles-caliber phenomenon whose first four albums had debuted at No. 1. (Payne co-wrote their 2013 Top Ten single “Story of My Life.”) During the band’s hiatus, he released a 2019 solo debut, “LP1,” and revealed his struggles with drug abuse and suicidal thoughts. In 2023, he announced he was six months sober. After his fatal fall from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony in October, his former bandmates mourned him as a “brother” in a statement that said: “The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever.”

CHITA RIVERA, 91

Actress

The Broadway dynamo carved a path for Latina actresses with her groundbreaking performances as Anita in the 1957 production of "West Side Story" and three years later as Rose in "Bye Bye Birdie." Equally skilled as a dancer, singer and actress, Rivera garnered 10 Tony Award nominations during her six-decade career, including wins for "The Rink" in 1984 and "Kiss of the Spider Woman" in 1993. "I wouldn’t trade my life in the theater for anything," she said in 2018 while accepting a Tony for Lifetime Achievement, "because theater is life."

MAGGIE SMITH, 89

Actress

Few stars reach peak fame in their late 70s, but Smith did just that. Even after two Oscars (for 1969’s “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and 1978’s “California Suite) and years of steady work (she played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” films), Smith was not a marquee name — until television’s “Downton Abbey.” In that hugely popular period drama, she played Violet Crawley, a sharp-tongued dowager who embodied the very soul of the fading British Empire. The role brought her three Emmys, a Golden Globe and a new level of stardom. “Not until ‘Downton Abbey’ was I well-known or stopped in the street and asked for one of those terrible photographs,” she said.

DONALD SUTHERLAND, 88

Actor

In the post-hippie 1970s, Sutherland became a star of the “new Hollywood” — young, hip, anti-glamorous, pro-weirdness. Toweringly tall, with a long face and wolfish smile, the Canadian-born Sutherland put his unusual stamp on such roles as the irreverent Capt. “Hawkeye” Pierce in 1970’s “M*A*S*H,” a brooding detective in 1971’s “Klute” and a grieving father in 1973’s sexually explicit thriller “Don’t Look Now.” He worked with top European directors (Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci) and starred in Robert Redford’s 1980 directorial debut, “Ordinary People.” Even as his leading roles dwindled, Sutherland worked voraciously, often in four or more films a year. Younger audiences would know him as President Snow in the “Hunger Games” films. Sutherland received an honorary Oscar in 2017.

DR. RUTH WESTHEIMER, 96

Sex therapist and talk show host

As direct as she was diminutive, no one ever got sex advice on TV dispensed quite as frankly as "Dr. Ruth." "Sexually Speaking" was the name of the 15-minute radio show on New York's WYNY/107.1 FM that launched this dynamo of the libido in 1980. From there, her fame spread, and so did her empire — to guidebooks, TV and commercials for all sorts of products that had nothing to do with sex. With her Mitteleuropean accent and swept-up grandmotherly bouffant, she was instantly recognizable, and soon beloved by fans generations younger. Westheimer had been orphaned by the Holocaust, fought in the war for Israeli independence and emigrated from France to New York where her only-in-America story began. She was an academic and therapist at Columbia, when a station manager at WYNY suggested she give the sex advice show a whirl.