Stars We’ve Lost: Celebrities Who Died In 2017

Malcolm Young Died on November 18, 2017

Malcolm Young, guitarist, and co-founder of AC/DC died at the age of 64. Young had been suffering from dementia for the past three years, an illness that forced his retirement from the Rock and Roll Hall of the Fame-inducted band he founded with his brother Angus Young in 1973.

Malcolm Young last performed live with AC/DC when their tour for 2008's Black Ice concluded in June 2010 with a concert in Bilbao, Spain.

Fats Domino Died on October 24, 2017

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino Jr. was an American pianist and singer-songwriter of Louisiana Creole descent. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Between 1955 and 1960, he had eleven Top 10 hits. His humility and shyness may be one reason his contribution to the genre has been overlooked. During his career, Domino had 35 records in the U.S. Billboard Top 40, and five of his pre-1955 records sold more than a million copies, being certified gold. His musical style was based on traditional rhythm and blues, accompanied by saxophones, bass, piano, electric guitar, and drums. His 1949 release "The Fat Man" is widely regarded as the first million-selling Rock 'n Roll record. Domino died on October 24, 2017, at his home in Harvey, Louisiana, at the age of 89, from natural causes, according to the coroner's office.

Lil Peep Died on November 15, 2017

Lil Peep was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Peep was known for his cloud rap musical style in which the rappers are emotional and sincere, usually in a sad manner; with topics frequently ranging from drug abuse to suicide and the instrumentals sounding ethereal and often ambient-like, commonly with grunge influences. Several media outlets have also described him as being responsible for the "post-emo revival style of hip-hop."

Rosemary Leach Died on October 21, 2017

Rosemary Anne Leach was a British stage, television and film actress. Leach was best known for the films A Room With A View and That'll Be The Day. She also played Grace in episodes of the sitcom My Family. Leach, thought to be 81, won an Olivier Award for her performance in the play 84 Charing Cross Road. She was twice nominated for a supporting actress Bafta for her roles in A Room With A View and That'll Be The Day. Her agent Caroline de Wolfe said in a statement: "It is with great sadness I must report the news that Rosemary Leach died in hospital yesterday, Saturday 21st October, after a short illness."

Tom Petty Died on October 2, 2017

Thomas Earl Petty was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. Petty served as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers formed in 1976. He was also a member and co-founder of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, and his early band Mudcrutch. Petty recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. In his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Petty was found unconscious at his home, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest, early in the morning of October 2, 2017. Petty's funeral took place at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on October 16, 2017.

Hugh Hefner Died on September 27, 2017

Hugh Marston Hefner was an American businessman, magazine publisher, and Playboy. He was the founder of Playboy and editor-in-chief of the magazine, which he founded in 1953. He was also the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, which is the publishing group that operates the magazine. An advocate of sexual liberation and freedom of expression, Hefner was a political activist and philanthropist in several other causes and public issues. Hefner died at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91. The causes were cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, sepsis and an E. coli infection. He is interred at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, in the $75,000 crypt beside Marilyn Monroe. "Spending eternity next to Marilyn is an opportunity too sweet to pass up," Hefner had told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.

Jerry Lewis Died on August 20, 2017

Jerry Lewis was an American comedian, actor, singer, producer, director, screenwriter and humanitarian. He was known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage, and radio and was nicknamed the "King of Comedy". From 1946 to 1956, he and Dean Martin were partners as the hit popular comedy duo of Martin and Lewis. After that, he became a star in motion pictures, nightclubs, television shows, concerts, album recordings, and musicals. Lewis received several awards during his long career for lifetime achievement from the American Comedy Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Venice Film Festival and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was also honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Lewis served as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and host and emcee of the live Labor Day weekend TV broadcast of The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon for 45 years. Lewis died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 9:15 a.m. (PDT) on August 20, 2017, at the age of 91.The cause was end-stage cardiac disease and peripheral artery disease. In his will, Lewis left his estate to his second wife, SanDee Pitnick, and intentionally excluded all six of his children from his first marriage as well as their descendants.

Glen Campbell Died on August 8, 2017

Glen Travis Campbell was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, television host, and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting a music and comedy variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television, from January 1969 through June 1972. During his 50 years in the music business, Campbell released more than 70 albums. He sold 45 million records worldwide and accumulated 12 gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. Campbell made history in 1967 by winning four Grammys in the country and pop categories. For "Gentle on My Mind", he received two awards in country and western; "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" did the same in pop. In June 2011, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease six months earlier. He became a patient at an Alzheimer's long-term care and treatment facility in 2014. Glen Campbell died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 8, 2017, at the age of 81 and was buried in the Campbell family cemetery at Billstown, Arkansas.

Robert Hardy Died on August 3, 2017

Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA was an English actor who enjoyed a long career in the theatre, film, and television. Most commonly known for his role in the beloved Harry Potter movies as the Cornelius Fudge, the head of Ministry of Magic, actor Robert Hardy died on August 3 at the age of 91.

Deborah Watling Died on July 21, 2017

Deborah Patricia Watling was an English actress known for her role as Victoria Waterfield, a companion of the Second Doctor in the BBC television series Doctor Who. Watling played Victoria in Doctor Who from 1967 to 1968, though owing to the BBC's wiping policy of the time, The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) and The Enemy of the World (1967–1968) are the only serials in which she appeared that still exist in their entirety. She also appeared in Dimensions in Time (1993) and Downtime (1995). Watling also appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Three's a Crowd and regularly attended Doctor Who conventions and events. In November 2013, she appeared in the one-off 50th-anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. She died on 21 July 2017 at Beaumont Manor nursing home in Frinton-on-Sea, a few weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer

Chester Bennington Died on July 20, 2017

Chester Charles Bennington was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as the lead singer for the rock band Linkin Park, and also served as the frontman for Dead by Sunrise and Stone Temple Pilots. Bennington formed his own band, Dead by Sunrise, as a side project in 2005. The band's debut album, Out of Ashes, was released on October 13, 2009. He became the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 to release the EP High Rise on October 8, 2013, via their own record label, Play Pen, but left in 2015 to focus solely on Linkin Park. He was widely regarded as one of the top rock vocalists of the 2000s. Hit Parader magazine placed him at #46 on their list of the "100 Metal Vocalists of All Time". He also appeared in cameo roles in several films, including Crank, Crank: High Voltage and Saw 3. On July 20, 2017, Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, having committed suicide by hanging. Bennington's funeral was held at South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes, California on July 29. In addition to his family members and close friends, many musicians who toured or played with Linkin Park were also in attendance. The service also included a full stage for musical tributes. On December 5, 2017, Billboard magazine wrote that Bennington's toxicology report showed "a trace amount" of alcohol in the singer's system at the time of death.

Nelsan Ellis Died on July 8, 2017

Nelsan Ellis was an American film and television actor and playwright. He played Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series True Blood and Bobby Byrd in the 2014 James Brown biopic Get on Up. Ellis died at the age of 39 on July 8, 2017, in Woodhull Medical Center, New York, after complications from heart failure. His family released a statement on July 10 saying that Ellis had been trying to quit drinking alcohol in the days before his death and that alcohol withdrawal syndrome led to his heart failure.

Stevie Ryan Died on July 1, 2017

Stevie Kathleen Ryan was an American YouTube personality, actress, and comedian. She was known for her YouTube videos and starring in the VH1 series Stevie TV. At the age of 19, Ryan made the move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Ryan booked various commercial projects while also filming, editing, and acting in videos which she posted online. Ryan collaborated with New Wave Entertainment in 2010 on the sketch comedy show Stevie TV, which parodied famous pop culture personalities and phenomena. The show was picked up by VH1. Ryan was found dead in her home due to an apparent suicide by hanging on July 1, 2017, at the age of 33.

Adam West Died on June 9, 2017

William West Anderson better known as Adam West, was an American actor widely known for his role as Batman in the 1960s ABC series of the same name, its 1966 theatrical feature film and two animated feature films Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016) and Batman vs. Two-Face (2017) (The second one being his final work and released posthumously). His career spanned 63 years. Adam West died in Los Angeles, California on June 9, 2017, following a brief battle with leukemia. He was 88.

Glenne Headly Died on June 8, 2017

Glenne Aimee Headly was an American actress. She was widely known for her roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, and Mr. Holland's Opus. Headly received a Theatre World Award and four Joseph Jefferson Awards and was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2017, she starred in The Circle and Just Getting Started, the latter marking her final film role, released six months after her death. She also starred alongside Ed Begley Jr. and Josh Hutcherson in Future Man, Hulu's half-hour comedy television series produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg; she died on June 8, 2017, mid-way through filming the series. Headly died of complications from a pulmonary embolism on June 8, 2017, at the age of 62, in Santa Monica, California.

David Rockefeller Died on March 20, 2017

David Rockefeller was an American banker who was chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was noted for his wide-ranging political connections and foreign travel, in which he met with a range of foreign leaders. Rockefeller died in his sleep from congestive heart failure on March 20, 2017, at the age of 101 at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York. His fortune was estimated at $3.3 billion at the time of his death in March 2017.

Bill Paxton Died on February 25, 2017

William "Bill" Paxton was an American actor and film director. Paxton was married from 1979 to 1980 to Kelly Rowan. In 1987, he married Louise Newbury; together, they had two children, James and Lydia.[17]

In February 2017, a few weeks prior to having cardiac surgery, and ultimately his death, Paxton stated in an interview with Marc Maron that he had a damaged heart valve, the result of suffering from rheumatic fever in his youth. On February 25, 2017, Paxton died at the age of 61 from complications following heart surgery. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Upon learning of his death, a number of storm chasers paid tribute to his Twister role by spelling his initials across Kansas and Oklahoma via the Spotter Network.

Mary Tyler Moore Died on January 25, 2017

Mary Tyler Moore was an American actress, known for her roles in the television sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), in which she starred as Mary Richards, a single woman working as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), in which she played Laura Petrie, a former dancer turned Westchester homemaker, wife, and mother. Due to her roles on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which her characters often broke from stereotypical images of women and pushed gender norms, Moore became a cultural icon and served as an inspiration for many younger actresses, professional women, and feminists. Moore was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 1969, after having a miscarriage. In 2011, she had surgery to remove a meningioma, a benign brain tumor. In 2014, friends reported that she had heart and kidney problems and was nearly blind. Moore died at the age of 80 on January 25, 2017, at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut from cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by pneumonia after having been placed on a respirator the previous week. She was laid to rest in Oak Lawn Cemetery, in Fairfield, Connecticut, during a private ceremony.