List of Famous Dead People: Category - Actors
Jimmy Stewart is one of the most famous actors of classic film, having starred in such pictures as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Big Sleep”. He was also an Alfred Hitchcock favorite starring in “Rear Window”, “Vertigo”, “Rope”, and “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. He is remembered alongside greats such as Gregory Peck, Paul [...]
Peters is known for being the original Mr. Clean on TV commercials from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. Some of his additional acting credits include Lassie, The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason and Wagon Train. Peters retired form acting in the late 1960s after filming his last episode of Lassie.
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, although he had other passions as well - being an entrepreneur, directing film, and racing cars. The films for which Newman was probably most known for include: Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The COlor of Money, The Sting, Exodus, Cat on a Hot [...]
Wooley was a character actor and singer songwriter. He is best known for this 1958 novelty hit “Purple People Eater”. Wooley appeared in numerous shows from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, most notably of which was the western High Noon. He also appeared in The Outlaw Josey Wales and Giant. He co-starred with Pete Nolan in [...]
Messner was a Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, author, talk show host, and television personality. She was the former wife of televangelist Jim Bakker (who is a convicted felon), and she co-hosted the PTL Club with him from 1976 to 1987. She is probably most remembered as wearing loads of makeup, especially mascara. She often wore oversized [...]
Putnam was a famed television news reporter and talk show host in Los Angeles, California. During his career he anchored at KTTV 11, KTLA 5, KCOP 13, and KHJ 9 (now known as KCAL 9). In addition to his salary, he was provided a Rolls Royce while at KTTV and KTLA. In 1975 he was replaced [...]
Rawls was a jazz, soul, and blues singer and is known for his “silky” voice. Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had “the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game”. Rawls released more than 70 albums over his career, and sold more than 40 million records. Some of his Billboard Top 50 hit singles included: * [...]
Love was a puppeteer, costume designer, and an actor in children’s television and on Broadway. He is most famous four being a designer and builder with the Muppets, in particular on Sesame Street. Love had experience dealing with full-body puppets and tailoring them to allow the performer to have freedom for movement. This led to him [...]
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor best known for his performance in the classic film Casablanca. He won one academy award for The African Queen, and was married to actress Laruen Bacall with who he starred in Key Largo. Other notable films that starred “Bogie”, are The Big Sleep, and The Maltese Falcon. Bogart has [...]
Page was an actress and one of the few surviving people who acted as an adult in silent films. She was also the last known living attendee of the very first Academy Awards in 1929. She was the leading lady to Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Robert Montgomery, and Clark Gable (among others).
Ossie Davis was a film actor, director, and writer. He was married to actress Ruby Dee. Mostly known for his acting, he appeared in such notable films as Doctor Doolittle, I’m Not Rappaport, Grumpy Old Men, Jungle Fever, Joe Versus the Volcano, and Bubba Ho-Tep in which he played JFK. Davis was also a political activist [...]
Meléndez was an animator, director, and producer who is known for the Peanuts carton series for Warner Brothers. In later versions of the cartoon, Meléndez provided the voice for both Snoopy and Woodstock. He began animating in 1938 when he was hired by Walt Disney to work on animated films such as Bambi, Fantasia, and Dumbo. Three [...]
LaFontaine was a voice actor who was featured in over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, promotions, and video game trailers. He is known for starting a lot of his voice work with “In a world…”, he parodied this in a recent GEICO commercial. During his career, LaFontaine was known for recording well over 60 promotions per week.
Reed was a country music singer and actor. He received the Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1972 for his song “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot. He also recorded the theme song for the first Smokey and the Bandit movie and played “Snowman”, Cletus Snow. He is probably commonly known as Coach Red Beaulieu in the comedy [...]
Pate was an Australian actor and writer who is best remembered for his roles on Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Branded, The Virginian, Batman, Mission: Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Get Smart, Rawhide to name a few. Pate began breaking into films between 1946 and 1950. In 1949 he appeared in his first starring role in Sons of [...]
Tim is best known playing the ukulele and his odd rendition of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”. Many considered Tim just a novelty act, though many of his records displayed a wide knowledge of various song styles. This is probably due to his “musical education” when he was a child, he would lock himself in his room [...]
Gregory Hines had a variety of talents. He was probably best known as an actor, but he was also a singer, a tap dancer, and a choreographer. He even displayed his tap dancing talent in the film Tap, in which he acted. Other films that he is remembered for are Running Scared, Eve of Destruction, A Rage [...]
William “Engineer Bill” Stulla was a children’s television host in the 50s and 60s who hosted “Cartoon Express with Engineer Bill”. He also spent time in the army, even earning a Bronze star as a World War II Veteran. Later on, he became a stockbroker after leaving television.
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall was an English actor with a huge filmography in movies and television. He starred in many notable films such as the original Planet of the Apes movies, The Poseidon Adventure, The Legend of Hell House, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, That Darn Cat!, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Overboard, Fright Night [...]
Strickland was an actor who is probably best known for his role of Todd Stites on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. Strickland’s early career consisted of roles on Dave’s World, Roseanne, Sister, Sister, and Mad About You. He also co-starred in the box office dud, Forces of Nature (which starred Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock). The film [...]
Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay (more commonly known as Raul Julia) was a Puerto Rican Actor who appeared in a number of American films. Notable films included Tequila Sunrise, Presumed Innocent, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Mack the Knife, the Adams Family, and Addams Family values. His last film before the aforementioned Down Came the Blackbird, was [...]
William Seward Burroughs II was a writer of novels and essays as well as a painter and a spoken word performance artist. He also did a little acting including performances in Gus Van Sant films. He graduated from Harvard University after losing his virginity to a female prostitute. He then went to the Army just after [...]
Jeni was a stand up comedian and actor. Jeni gained recognition through his many stand-up specials and appearances on The Tonight Show. HBO picked up his stand-up special in 1992 which was called “Richard Jeni: Platypus Man”. He also appeared in numerous movies such as The Mask, The Aristocrats, National Lampoon’s Dads Week Off, Burn, Hollywood Burn, [...]
Biggs is probably best known for his roles on Days of Our Lives and Babylon 5. He attended the University of Southern California on a scholarship, studying theatre. After he graduated he landed the role of Dr. Marcus Hunter on Days of Our Lives, a character he would play from 1987 – 1992. Two years later Biggs [...]
There is no question that Roy Richard Scheider was most famous for his role as Martin Brody in the mega-hit Steven Spielberg film Jaws. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in All That Jazz, and his other most famous role was Captain Nathan Bridger on the Emmy-Winning TV Show SeaQuest DSV, which [...]
Gibb was a teen idol the youngest brother of Barry, Robin, and Maurice…more commonly known as the Bee Gees. Gibb became the first male solo artist to have three consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The first of his hits was the song “I Just Want to Be Your Everything”. The pressures of the [...]
Mervyn Edward “Merv” Griffin, Jr. is probably best known for his talk show, The Merv Griffin Show that ran for 21 years winning 11 Emmy awards. Griffin was also a singer in his younger days, and even appeared on broadway and in movies. He had his share of business ventures as well investing in real estate, hotels, [...]
Thomas is best known for founding the fast food chain Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers. Thomas never graduated from high school, he dropped out when he was only 15 so he could focus on his job as busboy at the Hobby House restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It’s at that same restaurant he would meet his future [...]
John Ritter was an American actor and comedian most famous for his role as Jack Tripper on the sitcom Three’s Company. He had also appeared in a number of movies such as Sling Blade, Stay Tuned, Problem Child, Bride of Chucky, and the TV Movie of Stephen King’s IT (which also featured the late Jonathan Brandis) [...]
Wilton Norman Chamberlain was a professional basketball player who played for the Warriors, the 76ers, the Lakers, and even the Harlem Globetrotters. At 7 foot 1 inch, many consider him to be one of the best basketball players in history. After basketball, he became sort of a jack-of-all-trades. He played Volleyball and was even a board member [...]