Date of Death between 2004-01-01 and 2004-12-31 (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. Marlon Brando
Actor | Apocalypse Now
Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...
2. Janet Leigh
Actress | Psycho
Janet Leigh was the only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and...
3. Christopher Reeve
Actor | Superman
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was born September 25, 1952, in New York City, to journalist Barbara Johnson (née Barbara Pitney Lamb) and writer/professor F.D. Reeve (Franklin D'Olier Reeve). He came from an upper-class family; his paternal grandfather was CEO of Prudential Financial, and one of his ...
4. Jerry Orbach
Actor | Law & Order
Jerry Orbach was born in the Bronx, New York, the only child of Leon Orbach, a former vaudevillian actor, was a German Jewish immigrant, who was born in Hamburg, Germany, and Emily (nee Olexy), a radio singer, was born in Pennsylvania to immigrant Polish-Lithuanian Roman Catholic parents, Alexander...
5. Peter Ustinov
Actor | Spartacus
Peter Ustinov was a two-time Academy Award-winning film actor, director, writer, journalist and raconteur. He wrote and directed many acclaimed stage plays and led numerous international theatrical productions.
He was born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinow on April 16, 1921 in Swiss Cottage, ...
6. Ann Miller
Actress | Mulholland Dr.
Ann Miller was born Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier on April 12, 1923 in Chireno, Texas. She lived there until she was nine, when her mother left her philandering father and moved with Ann to Los Angeles, California. Even at that young age, she had to support her mother, who was hearing-impaired and ...
7. Howard Keel
Actor | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Howard Keel was the Errol Flynn and Clark Gable of "golden age" movie musicals back in the 1950s. With a barrel-chested swagger and cocky, confident air, the 6'4" brawny baritone Keel had MGM's loveliest songbirds swooning helplessly for over a decade in what were some of the finest musical films ...
8. Caitlin Clarke
Actress | Dragonslayer
Caitlin Clarke was born on May 3, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Dragonslayer (1981), Blown Away (1994) and Crocodile Dundee (1986). She died on September 9, 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
9. Georgine Darcy
Actress | Rear Window
Georgine Darcy was born on January 14, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Rear Window (1954), Mannix (1967) and Mike Hammer (1958). She was previously married to Byron Palmer, Edward Gelb and Jack Donohue. She died on July 18, 2004 in Malibu, California, USA.
10. Pat Roach
Actor | Raiders of the Lost Ark
Proud and passionate Angle, Pat Roach, was born and raised in Birmingham, England and grew to be a mountain of a man standing at six feet, five inches tall, with doorway-wide shoulders and a barrel chest.
Pat wrestled competitively under the name of "Bomber" Roach, and at one time held both the ...
11. Mercedes McCambridge
Actress | Giant
Mercedes McCambridge was a highly talented radio performer who won a best supporting Actress Oscar for her film debut.
Mercedes McCambridge was born in Joliet, Illinois, to Marie (Mahaffry) and John Patrick McCambridge, a farmer. She was of mostly Irish (with a small amount of English and German) ...
12. Fay Wray
Actress | King Kong
Canadian-born Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. She was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. She began her career as a heroine in westerns at Universal during the silent era. In 1926 the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers ...
13. Ronald Reagan
Actor | Kings Row
Ronald Reagan had quite a prolific career, having catapulted from a Warner Bros. contract player and television star, into serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild, the governorship of California (1967-1975), and lastly, two terms as President of the United States (1981-1989).
Ronald Wilson ...
14. Rodney Dangerfield
Actor | Back to School
Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on November 22, 1921 in Deer Park, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Dorothy "Dotty" (Teitelbaum) and Phillip Cohen, who performed in vaudeville under the name Phil Roy. His father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, and ...
15. Virginia Grey
Actress | Airport
Born into a show-business family--her father was a director and her mother was a film cutter--Virginia Grey made her film debut at age 10 as Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927). After a few more films as a child actress, she left the business to finish her schooling. Returning to films as an adult in ...
16. Anna Lee
Actress | The Sound of Music
The daughter of a clergyman, Anna Lee was born Joan Boniface Winnifrith and encouraged to pursue an acting career by her father. After training at London's Royal Albert Hall, she took to the boards and later began appearing in English films, first as an extra, then working her way up to featured ...
17. Paul Winfield
Actor | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Signifying intelligence, eloquence, versatility and quiet intensity, one of the more important, critically acclaimed black actors to gain a Hollywood foothold in the 1970s was Paul Winfield. He was born in 1939 in Dallas, Texas, where he lived in his early years before moving with his family to Los...
18. John Drew Barrymore
Actor | Roma contro Roma
American actor with a sporadic career, the son of stage and screen legend John Barrymore. His father and mother, actress Dolores Costello divorced in his infancy and he claimed to remember seeing his father only once. His mother attempted to keep him from the acting life, sending him to St. John's ...
19. Robert Pastorelli
Actor | Dances with Wolves
Beefy, roughhewn actor Robert Pastorelli was a former boxer and an admitted drug addict before he cleaned up his act and pursued theater work in New York in such 1970s productions as "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Rainmaker," and "Death of a Salesman," he headed west and turned to film and TV in ...
20. Carrie Snodgress
Actress | Diary of a Mad Housewife
A student of Northern Illinois University, Carrie switched to drama at Chicago's Goodman Theatre School where she won the Sarah Siddons Award as outstanding graduate. After graduating, Carrie worked in TV and also appeared in TV movies. She made her big screen debut in Rabbit, Run (1970), working ...
21. Russ Meyer
Director | Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens
Russell Albion Meyer was born in San Leandro, California, to Lydia Lucinda (Hauck), a nurse, and William Arthur Meyer, a police officer, who divorced during his childhood. His parents were both of German descent. Meyer began winning prizes at 15 with his amateur films. He spent World War II in ...
22. Tony Randall
Actor | The Odd Couple
Tony Randall was born on February 26, 1920 in Tulsa, Oklahoma as Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg. He attended Tulsa Central High School and later Northwestern University and New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. After graduating, he starred in two plays: George Bernard Shaw's '...
23. William Boyett
Actor | When a Stranger Calls
William Boyett was born on January 3, 1927 in Akron, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for When a Stranger Calls (1979), Newsies (1992) and Turner & Hooch (1989). He was previously married to Joan Amelia Reynolds and Willagene Wither. He died on December 29, 2004 in Mission Hills, California, ...
24. Frank Maxwell
Actor | The Wild Angels
A ubiquitous presence during television's golden age, New York native Frank Maxwell stood out as a solid purveyor of quiet authority. Upon graduating from the University of Michigan, a prospective legal career had been on the cards. But those plans came to naught in the wake of a successful ...
25. Lynn Cartwright
Actress | A League of Their Own
Frequently appearing for or alongside her actor/writer husband of 50 years, noted stage, screen and TV heavy and writer Leo Gordon, actress Lynn Cartwright is probably best remembered for one of her early screen roles as the brusque, Brooklyn-accented switchboard operator in the cult horror The ...
26. Jan Sterling
Actress | Ace in the Hole
One of Hollywood's more talented and watchable stars on screen was sullen, strikingly stick-thin 50s actress Jan Sterling who didn't quite reach the top echelon of stardom but certainly ensured audiences of a real good time with her sexy pout and flashy style in soaps, film noir and saucy comedy.
...
27. Eugene Roche
Actor | Soap
Adept at both comedy and drama, character player Eugene Roche (sometimes billed as Gene Roche) had an extensive four-decade career. Born in Depression-era Boston on September 22, 1928, he was the son of a Navy man.
Roche started on radio at age 15, displaying a knack for character voices, both men ...
28. Noble Willingham
Actor | Walker, Texas Ranger
Noble Willingham appeared in more than 30 feature films, including Up Close & Personal (1996), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Chinatown (1974), City Slickers (1991), and The Distinguished Gentleman (1992).
He was born in the small town of Mineola, Texas, east of Dallas. After graduating from...
29. Ron O'Neal
Actor | Red Dawn
Tall, lean, handsome veteran stage and classically trained actor, best known for his iconic role as Youngblood Priest - the long haired, stylishly dressed cocaine dealer who wants to make one last big score so he can retire from the cocaine business, in the seminal 1972 crime drama Super Fly. Son ...
30. Jerry Goldsmith
Music Department | Star Trek: First Contact
Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk ...
31. Maria Perschy
Actress | Man's Favorite Sport?
Gorgeous and appealing brunette knockout Herta-Maria Perschy was born on September 23, 1938, in Eisenstadt, Burgenland, Austria. Maria moved to Vienna at age 17 to study acting at the prestigious Max Reinhardt Seminar. After finishing her education in Vienna, Perschy moved to Germany for further ...
32. Irina Demick
Actress | The Longest Day
Brunette French actress of Russian or Polish ancestry. A former model, she got her big break in films courtesy of an affair with the notorious womanizing mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her as a member of the French Resistance in The Longest Day (1962). She played seven roles of diverse ethnicity ...
33. Isabel Sanford
Actress | The Jeffersons
Isabel Sanford was a Broadway actress for over thirty years before moving to Hollywood. She made numerous guest appearances on TV, including a stint as a supporting cast member on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Until her passing, Isabel continued to act frequently, most recently in a series of ...
34. Connie Cezon
Actress | Perry Mason
Connie Cezon was born on March 28, 1925 in Oakland, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Perry Mason (1957), Corny Casanovas (1952) and Female Jungle (1955). She died on February 26, 2004 in Glendale, California, USA.
35. John Randolph
Actor | You've Got Mail
Veteran performer John Randolph was a Tony Award-winning character actor whose union and social activism in the '40s and '50s caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era. The balding performer may not have been a household name, but he was a regular face in movies and TV for over four ...
36. Peter Woodthorpe
Actor | The Lord of the Rings
Peter Woodthorpe was educated at Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School in York and attended Magdalene College, Cambridge. He undertook National Service in the Royal Navy and made his debut as a professional actor in the theatre in 1955. His extensive and distinguished stage career included work with ...
37. Wilhelm von Homburg
Actor | In the Mouth of Madness
Wilhelm Von Homburg (A.K.A. Norbert Grupe) was born in Berlin, Germany. He started out his career as a wrestler during the fifties in Germany where he earned his fame. He also toured the States. Homburg's stage name was Prinz Wilhelm Von Homburg. In the early sixties, he shifted from wrestling to ...
38. Doris Dowling
Actress | The Lost Weekend
One of four children, lovely Detroit-born actress Doris Dowling (born May 15, 1923) would follow older sister Constance Dowling (who died relatively young in 1969) into show business. Raised in New York City, she briefly spent some time with a San Francisco Folies Bergère company before returning ...
39. Dorothy Hart
Actress | Tarzan's Savage Fury
A former model, the luminously beautiful Dorothy Hart was signed to a contract by Universal Pictures after having made only one film, Columbia's Gunfighters (1947). However, the studio system couldn't quite find a place for a woman with her carriage and elegance, and relegated her to westerns, ...
40. Ingrid Thulin
Actress | Smultronstället
Ingrid trained as a ballet dancer and attended Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre. She came to fame thanks to Bergman's "Wild Strawberries". She acted in 9 Ingmar Bergman's films. Her fame allowed her to act in Luchino Visconti's "The Damned" in 1969. Ingrid Thulin lived in Rome since the 1960's. ...
41. Cecily Adams
Actress | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
American actress, casting director, teacher, and theatrical director. The daughter of nightclub singer Adelaide Adams and Get Smart (1965) star Don Adams, she was born in Queens, New York, several months after her parents' divorce. Raised in peripatetic fashion by her mother, she survived a ...
42. Frances Dee
Actress | I Walked with a Zombie
Dee was born in Los Angeles, where her Army officer father was stationed, and grew up in Chicago after her father was transferred there. In 1929, he was re-assigned to L.A., and, as a lark, the 19 year old Dee began working in motion pictures as an extra. Her debut was in Words and Music (1929) ...
43. Joe Viterelli
Actor | Bullets Over Broadway
Joe Viterelli was born on March 10, 1937 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). He was previously married to Catherine Brennan. He died on January 28, 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
44. Julia Child
Writer | The French Chef
Julia Child was born on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena, California, USA. She was a writer and director, known for The French Chef (1962), Julie & Julia (2009) and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993). She was previously married to Paul Child. She died on August 13, 2004 in Montecito, California, ...
45. Mari Aldon
Actress | Distant Drums
A former ballet dancer, graceful Mari Aldon married Hollywood director Tay Garnett, who encouraged her to become an actress. She did, but did not leave a deep imprint on film history, with one exception, the role of Judy Beckett, a prisoner of the Seminoles and Gary Cooper's charming romantic ...
46. Richard Biggs
Actor | Babylon 5
Richard Biggs had a somewhat unsettled childhood as he travelled between Air Force bases where his father was stationed. Because of his itinerant lifestyle he made few friends and changed schools often. When he was seventeen, and living at a missile base in North Dakota, he decided to change his ...
47. Ron Hayes
Actor | Everglades!
Ron Hayes was born on February 26, 1929 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Everglades! (1961), The Invaders (1967) and Dallas (1978). He was previously married to Carol Capek, Caroline Muir, Betty Endicott and Joan Sturgess. He died on October 1, 2004 in Malibu, ...
48. Sidney Miller
Actor | Which Way to the Front?
Sidney Miller was born Sydney L. Miller in Shenandoah, PA, on October 22, 1916, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, who already had two daughters. When Sydney was 14 his father, a tailor, sold his business and moved the family to Los Angeles. There Sydney got the acting bug, and his first ...
49. Spalding Gray
Writer | Swimming to Cambodia
Spalding Gray was born on June 5, 1941 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Swimming to Cambodia (1987), Kate & Leopold (2001) and The Paper (1994). He was previously married to Kathleen Russo and Renée Shafransky. He died on January 10, 2004 in New York City,...
50. Virginia Capers
Actress | Howard the Duck
With plenty of heart and soul, singer/actress Virginia Capers served up loads of music in an entertainment career that spanned several decades. The benevolent, plus-sized talent was born Eliza Virginia Capers on September 22, 1925, in South Carolina and attended Howard University in Washington, D.C...