Date of Death between 1996-01-01 and 1996-12-31 (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. Luana Patten
Actress | Fun & Fancy Free
One of the first two contract players for Walt Disney Studios, she made her debut in Song of the South (1946) as a poor white child fascinated by the stories told by Uncle Remus. She made several more films as a child star, then left film for 8 years. She returned as an ingénue in Rock, Pretty Baby!...
2. Gene Kelly
Soundtrack | Singin' in the Rain
Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of Irish and German ancestry.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in...
3. Ben Johnson
Actor | The Last Picture Show
Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper ...
4. Virginia Christine
Actress | Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Virginia has a long career as a character actress on the screen, but she will always be best remembered as the Swedish "Mrs. Olsen", who somehow knew everything about making coffee, and we somehow always found her in the kitchen of some hapless young housewife who just couldn't seem to make good ...
5. Dana Hill
Actress | National Lampoon's European Vacation
Dana Hill was born Dana Lynne Goetz on May 6, 1964, in a suburb of Los Angeles, to parents Sandy Hill and Ted Goetz, a commercial director. Despite diabetes ending a promising future in athletics when she was just ten years old, Dana gamely threw herself into acting when still in her early teen ...
6. Martin Balsam
Actor | All the President's Men
Martin Henry Balsam was born on November 4, 1919 in the Bronx, New York City, to Lillian (Weinstein) and Albert Balsam, a manufacturer of women's sportswear. He was the first-born child. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant, and his mother was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents. ...
7. Claudette Colbert
Actress | It Happened One Night
One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette ...
8. Tupac Shakur
Soundtrack | Poetic Justice
Born in New York City, Tupac grew up primarily in Harlem. In 1984, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he became good friends with Jada Pinkett Smith. His family moved again in 1988 to Oakland, California. His first breakthrough in music came in 1991 as a member of the group Digital ...
9. Charlene Holt
Actress | El Dorado
Born Verna Charlene Stavely. Holt, a former "Miss Maryland," enjoyed a rewarding modeling career prior to her screen work in both films and television that began when caught director Howard Hawks's attention when he saw her in a lipstick commercial. After her debut appearance in the Sandra ...
10. Marcello Mastroianni
Actor | 8½
Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian ...
11. Adam Roarke
Actor | El Dorado
Burly Brooklyn-born tough guy Adam Roarke made an infamous name for himself in 1960s biker flicks, usually donning a black leather jacket and a mean, mean scowl, typically the head of a bunch of hell-raisers. Nine of his more than 30 films would be in motorcycle movies, sometimes at odds with young...
12. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writer | Trois couleurs: Bleu
Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personel (...
13. Jack Nance
Actor | Eraserhead
Born in Boston of Irish ancestry and raised in Dallas, Jack Nance traveled throughout the country doing children's theater. For eight years, he performed with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Later, he became involved with avant-garde theater. He first met David Lynch in the ...
14. Joanne Dru
Actress | Red River
The daughter of a West Virginia druggist, Joanne Dru came to New York in 1940. In New York she worked as a model and was cast by Al Jolson as one of the showgirls in his Broadway play "Hold Onto Your Hats." When the show closed in 1941, she married popular singer Dick Haymes and went with him to ...
15. Herb Edelman
Actor | The Odd Couple
Herb Edelman was born on November 5, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, USA as Herbert Edelman. He was an actor and assistant director, known for The Odd Couple (1968), The Golden Girls (1985) and Barefoot in the Park (1967). He was married to Louise Sorel. He died on July 21, 1996 in Woodland Hills, Los ...
16. Jack Weston
Actor | Dirty Dancing
In a 40-year career that spanned Broadway, television and movies, the versatile actor played everyone from sleazy villains to terrifying killers to clumsy comics. His bad-guy roles included a stalker who, along with Alan Arkin terrorized a blind Audrey Hepburn in the 1967 cult classic Wait Until ...
17. Greg Morris
Actor | Mission: Impossible
Born in Cleveland, Morris came to Hollywood in the early 1960s. His acting experience at that time consisted of a few minor roles on the Seattle stage. He found work appearing on Television series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and The Twilight Zone (1959) before being cast in Mission: ...
18. McLean Stevenson
Actor | M*A*S*H
McLean Stevenson began in show business at age 31. During the 1960s, he worked in night clubs and comedy cabarets, did summer stock theater and some television before moving to Hollywood, where he worked as a comedy writer for Tom Smothers. He eventually began acting in sketches. Mr. Stevenson is ...
19. Ted Bessell
Director | The Tracey Ullman Show
Born in New York City, Ted's early career included guest appearances in soap operas, Lover Come Back (1961) and It's a Man's World (1962). Ted went on to appear as "Frankie" on Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), but his big break was as "That Guy" on the successful Marlo Thomas Television series That Girl (...
20. Lucio Fulci
Writer | Murderock - Uccide a passo di danza
Lucio Fulci, born in Rome in 1927, remains as controversial in death as he was in life. A gifted craftsman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of dark humor, Fulci achieved some measure of notoriety for his gore epics of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but respect was long in coming.
Abandoning ...
21. Bibi Besch
Actress | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Bibi Besch was born in Vienna, Austria, to race car driver Gotfrid Köchert and actress Gusti Huber. She was a very busy supporting actress who had worked in television for over twenty years before being nominated for an Emmy Award as a supporting actress for Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992) and ...
22. George Burns
Actor | Oh, God!
George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen (1895-1964), and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. Following her death, Burns started appearing as a solo performer. He once won an Academy Award for Best...
23. Vito Scotti
Actor | The Godfather
With his dark features and having spent much of his early years in Naples, Italy, Vito Scotti was understandably typecast as Italian waiters, government functionaries, policemen, maitre d's and barbers. When Vito was seven, the Scottis moved back to the U.S. where his mother became a diva in the ...
24. Morey Amsterdam
Actor | The Dick Van Dyke Show
Born in Chicago, Morey Amsterdam started in Vaudeville at the age of 14, as a straight man for his piano-playing brother. His father, a concert violinist who worked with the Chicago Opera and the San Francisco Symphony, wanted Morey to pursue a career in classical music however Morey had other ...
25. Howard E. Rollins Jr.
Actor | Ragtime
Howard E. Rollins Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1950. He was the youngest of four children born to Howard E. Rollins Sr. (steelworker) and Ruth R. Rollins (domestic worker). Rollins graduated from Towson State College, where he studied theater. His first break into acting came when a ...
26. Dorothy Lamour
Actress | Road to Bali
In addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator; band vocalist for her first husband, band leader Herbie Kaye; and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and ...
27. Vince Edwards
Actor | The Killing
Born in Brooklyn, the son of Italian immigrant parents, Vince Edwards early aspired to the theater. He was a swimming champion in high school, attended Ohio State University on an athletic scholarship, and was on their National Championship swimming team. Olympics were on the horizon, but an ...
28. Ralston Hill
Actor | 1776
Ralston Hill was born on April 24, 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA as Richard Ralston Hill. He was an actor, known for 1776 (1972). He died on October 19, 1996 in New Jersey, USA.
29. Jon Pertwee
Actor | Doctor Who
Jon Pertwee is best known for his portrayal of the Third Doctor on the BBC's science-fiction television series Doctor Who (1963) from 1970 to 1974. He was also the first to play the role following the transition of BBC One from black and white to colour. His 60-year entertainment career included ...
30. Danny Kamekona
Actor | The Karate Kid Part II
Danny Kamekona was born on November 15, 1935 in Hilo, Hawaii, USA. He was an actor, known for The Karate Kid Part II (1986), Problem Child (1990) and Robot Jox (1989). He was married to Michiko. He died on May 2, 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
31. Greer Garson
Actress | Mrs. Miniver
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was born on September 29, 1904 in London, England, to Nancy Sophia (Greer) and George Garson, a commercial clerk. She was of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent. Her childhood was a normal if not non-descript life. Greer showed no early signs of interest in becoming an ...
32. Lew Ayres
Actor | Holiday
Lew Ayres was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in San Diego, California. A college dropout, he was found by a talent scout in the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and entered Hollywood as a bit player. He was leading man to Greta Garbo in The Kiss (1929), but it was the role of Paul ...
33. Whit Bissell
Actor | The Magnificent Seven
Whit Bissell came to Hollywood in the 1940s, and by the time he retired he had appeared in more than 200 movies and scores of TV series. He is best known for playing the evil scientist who turned Michael Landon into a half beast in the 1957 cult classic film I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957). Bissell...
34. Juliet Prowse
Actress | G.I. Blues
Born in India to South African parents, Juliet studied to be a dancer from the age of 4. Attending the Royal Academy of Dance, by the time Juliet was 14, she was deemed too tall to enter the world of ballet. She signed as a chorus dancer with the London Palladium and then pursued a career as a ...
35. Mark Lenard
Actor | Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Mark Lenard was an American actor, primarily known for television roles. He is primarily known for playing Vulcan ambassador Sarek (Spock's father) in "Star Trek: The Original Series" and a number of its spin-offs.
In 1924, Lenard was born under the name "Leonard Rosenson" in Chicago Illinois. His ...
36. Lyle Talbot
Actor | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
Lyle Talbot, who appeared in over 150 movies from leads in Warner Bros.' "pre-Code" pictures to countless supporting roles, and later enjoyed a steady TV career as a character actor, was born Lysle Henderson on February 8, 1902, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a small town in Nebraska, ...
37. Audrey Meadows
Actress | The Honeymooners
Audrey Meadows was born in New York City as Audrey Cotter, the youngest of four children. After she was born, her family returned to Wu'chang, China, where they worked as missionaries. Her family returned to the US and settled in New England when Audrey was age 6, and she and sister Jayne Meadows ...
38. Jason Bernard
Actor | Liar Liar
Jason Bernard was born on May 17, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Ronald Carl Johnson. He was an actor, known for Liar Liar (1997), While You Were Sleeping (1995) and WarGames (1983). He was married to Debra Jean Wilson and Carol Joy Pacanda. He died on October 16, 1996 in Burbank, California, ...
39. John Abbott
Actor | The Jungle Book
John was a commercial artist when he substituted for a sick friend in an amateur production which was seen by the actress Sybil Thorndike who recognised his potential. After repertory work at Watford and Crewe he was invited to join London's Old Vic in 1936 by Tyrone Guthrie and appeared in 'Love's...
40. Ray Combs
Actor | Overboard
Ray Combs was born on April 3, 1956 in Hamilton, Ohio, USA as Raymond Neil Combs Jr. He is known for his work on Overboard (1987), Family Feud (1988) and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). He was married to Debra Jo Loomis. He died on June 2, 1996 in Glendale, California, USA.
41. Guy Madison
Actor | The Beast of Hollow Mountain
Handsome American leading man Guy Madison stumbled into a film career and became a television star and hero to the Baby Boom generation. As a young man he worked as a telephone lineman, but entered the Coast Guard at the beginning of the Second World War. While on liberty one weekend in Hollywood, ...
42. Jo Van Fleet
Actress | East of Eden
Jo Van Fleet was born on December 29, 1915 in Oakland, California. She established herself as a notable dramatic actress on Broadway over several years, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for her skill in a difficult role, playing an unsympathetic, even abusive character, in Horton Foote's "The Trip to ...
43. Don Simpson
Producer | Days of Thunder
Mr. Simpson was an extravagant movie producer whose blockbusters Flashdance (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Top Gun (1986) helped define the pop culture of the 1980s. Mr. Simpson teamed with Jerry Bruckheimer in 1983 to produce these hits. In 1985 and 1988, the duo were named producers of the...
44. Margaux Hemingway
Actress | Killer Fish
Born in Portland, Oregon, she grew up in on a farm in Ketchum, Idaho. But dad was Jack Hemingway, son of the Nobel prize winning author Ernest Hemingway and, with that heritage, fame was almost foreordained. By the time she was 21, after the lead in the rape melodrama Lipstick (1976), she had a ...
45. Brigitte Helm
Actress | Metropolis
After her role in Metropolis (1927) she made a string of movies in which she almost always had the starring role, easily making the transition to sound films. Her last film was Ein idealer Gatte (1935) (An Ideal Spouse) in 1935.
46. Michael Fox
Actor | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Michael Fox first "trod the boards" in grade school plays in his hometown of Yonkers, New York. After toying with the idea of becoming a history teacher, Fox did "something as foreign to my nature as one could think of", becoming a "boomer" (a migratory railroad worker) and taking jobs as a ...
47. Robin Stille
Actress | The Slumber Party Massacre
Tall, lovely and spirited actress Robin Rochelle Stille was born on November 24, 1961 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Jere Stille and Sarah Bridge. Stille had two sisters and one brother. She moved with her family to Los Angeles, California. Robin graduated from Garden Grove High ...
48. Masaki Kobayashi
Director | Seppuku
Masaki Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916 in Hokkaido, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Seppuku (1962), Ningen no jôken (1959) and Ningen no jôken (1961). He died on October 4, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan.
49. Luana Anders
Actress | Easy Rider
Born Luana Margo Anderson on May 12, 1938, Luana Anders began her show-business career as a bike messenger at MGM along with fellow thespians Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight and future film producers George Edwards and Fred Roos. She convinced Nicholson to join her in her improv acting class with ...
50. Luigi Pistilli
Actor | Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
Luisi Pistilli's most notable stage successes were roles in "The Threepenny Opera", "St. Joan of the Stockyards" and a 1972 production, "Lulu". In 1991 he reprised his role in "Lulu" in the first professional collaboration with actress-singer Milva, his partner in previous plays as well as in a ...