RIP 2015

We welcome in our New Year with our usual tribute to those notable people, good and bad (terrorists excepted), who died during 2015.

It is, once again, quite a haul...

Buddy DeFranco (US jazz clarinettist)
Roger Kitter (British stand-up impressionist, Who Do You Do?)
Bernard Kay (British character actor, Colditz, Doctor Who)
Francesca Hilton (US heiress, only child of Zsa Zsa Gabor)
Lance Percival (British comedian and actor, That Was the Week That Was)
Samuel Goldwyn Jr (US producer/film financier)
Rod Taylor (Australian actor, The Birds, Falcon Crest)
Anita Ekberg (Swedish actress, La Dolce Vita)
Brian Clemens (British screenwriter and producer, The Avengers)
Kim Fowley (US record producer, Joan Jett, PJ Proby)
Anne Kirkbride (British actress, "Deirdre Barlow" in Coronation Street)
Leon Brittan, (British politician, former Home Secretary)
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Ronnie Ronalde (British virtuoso whistler, yodeller and bird song impersonator)
Demis Roussos (Greek singer and superstar)
Colleen McCullough (Australian writer, The Thorn Birds)
Rod McKuen (US songwriter, Seasons in the Sun)
Geraldine McEwan (British (Scottish) actress, Mapp and Lucia, Marple)
Lizabeth Scott (US "film noir" actress)
Pauline Yates (British actress, The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin)
Michael Mason (British gay rights campaigner, founder of Capital Gay magazine)
Steve Strange (British musician, club host and style pioneer)
Michele Ferrero (Italian businessman, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher)
Louis Jourdan (French actor, Gigi)
Lesley Gore (US singer, It's My Party)
Pamela Cundell (British actress, "Mrs Fox" in Dad's Army)
Clark Terry (US jazz musician)
Oliver Rackham (British historian and ecologist of UK woodlands)
Leonard Nimoy (US actor, "Spock" in Star Trek)
Boris Nemtsov (Russian opposition politician)
Gerald Sim (British actor, "The Rector" in To The Manor Born)
Albert Maysles (US documentary film maker, Grey Gardens)
Bettina Graziani (French model and fashion muse)
Sir Terry Pratchett (British author, Discworld series)



Andy Fraser (British musician and songwriter, All Right Now by Free)
Shaw Taylor (British television presenter, Police 5)
Malcolm Fraser (Australian statesman and former PM)
Jackie Trent (British songwriter and singer)
Cynthia Lennon (John's first wife, mother of Julian)
Sally Forrest (US actress)
Julie Wilson (US cabaret singer and actress)
Stan Freberg (US comedian and parodist, Banana Boat Song (Day-O))
Richie Benaud (Australian cricketer, BBC broadcaster)
Viv Nicholson (British football pools winner in the 60s, "Spend, Spend, Spend")
Günter Grass (German author, Tin Drum)
Ronnie Carroll (British (Northern Irish) singer and Eurovision entrant)
Herb Trimpe (US comic book artist, Marvel Comics, co-creator of "Wolverine" and "Captain Britain")
Percy Sledge (US soul singer, When A Man Loves A Woman)
Keith Harris (British ventriloquist/children's entertainer, "Orville")
Ben E King (US soul singer, Stand By Me)
Ruth Rendell (British crime writer)
Errol Brown (British singer, Hot Chocolate)
Nigel Terry (British actor, Caravaggio)
BB King (US blues singer, songwriter and guitarist)
Twinkle (British singer, born Lynn Ripley)
Terry Sue-Patt (British actor, "Benny" in Grange Hill)
Julie Harris (British Oscar-winning costume designer, Live and Let Die, The Slipper and the Rose)
Johnny Keating (British (Scottish) composer and arranger)
Charles Kennedy (British (Scottish) politician, former Liberal Democrat Party leader)
Richard Johnson (British actor)
Jim Bailey (US female impersonator)
Pedro Zerolo (Spanish lawyer, activist and president of Spain's National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals)
James Last (German light music orchestra leader and arranger)
Marguerite Patten (British wartime home economist and post-war cookery writer)
Ron Moody (British actor, "Fagin" in Oliver)
Sir Christopher Lee (British actor, "Dracula")
Ornette Coleman (US "free-jazz" saxophonist)
Madame (Marie-Louise) Carven (French couturier, creator of Ma Griffe)
Donald Featherstone (US designer, the garden pink flamingo)
James Horner (US composer, Titanic)
Patrick MacNee (British actor, "Steed" in The Avengers)
Sir Nicholas Winton (British humanitarian who rescued hundreds of children from the Nazis)
Val Doonican (Irish singer and BBC television star)



George "Foghorn" Winslow (US child star, "Henry Spofford III" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Omar Sharif (Egyptian actor, Lawrence of Arabia)
Roger Rees (British (Welsh) actor)
Jon Vickers (Canadian operatic tenor)
Wayne Carson (US songwriter, Always On My Mind)
Elio Fiorucci (Italian fashion designer)
Sir Peter O'Sullevan (British commentator, 'The Voice of Racing')
Jack Gold (British film and TV director, The Naked Civil Servant, The Medusa Touch)
Cilla Black (British singer, TV hostess and "national treasure")
Lynn Anderson (US singer, Rose Garden)
George Cole (British actor, Minder)
David Nobbs (British comedy writer, Reginald Perrin)
Arnold Scaasi (US fashion designer)
Jonathan Ollivier (British ballet dancer)
Herbert Wise (British film and TV director, I, Claudius)
Stephen Lewis (British actor, "Blakey" in On the Buses)
Jazz Summers (British music producer, Wham!, Yazz)
Yvonne Craig (US dancer and actress, "Batgirl")
Teresa Gorman (British former MP, one of John Major's Eurosceptic "bastards")
Oliver Sacks (British neurosurgeon and author, Awakenings)
Joy Beverley (British singer, "Beverley Sisters")
Wes Craven (US film director, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Lord Montagu of Beaulieau (British peer and motor car enthusiast, subject of a "homosexual scandal" in the 1950s)
Dean Jones (US actor, the "Herbie" films)
Judy Carne (British comedienne, Rowan & Martin's Laugh In)
Brian Sewell (British art critic, writer and raconteur)
Jackie Collins (British "bonkbuster" novelist)
John Guillermin (US film director, Death on the Nile, Towering Inferno)
Lord Dennis Healey (British statesman, former Chancellor)
Gordon Honeycombe (British newsreader, ITN)
Hugh Scully (British journalist and broadcaster, Antiques Roadshow)



Jim Diamond (British (Scottish) singer-songwriter, I Should Have Known Better)
Lord Geoffrey Howe (British statesman, long-serving cabinet minister and contributor to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher)
Sue Lloyd-Roberts (British journalist, ITN and BBC news correspondent)
Richard Davies (British (Welsh) actor, "Mr Price" in Please Sir!)
Blue Blake (British gay porn star, director and writer)
Joan Leslie (US actress, Yankee Doodle Dandy)
Peter Baldwin (British actor, "Derek Wilton" in Coronation Street)
Maureen O'Hara (Irish actress and Hollywood star)
Diane Charlemagne (British singer, Urban Cookie Collective)
Al Molinaro (US actor, "Big Al" in Happy Days)
Peter Donaldson (British newsreader and broadcaster, "The Voice of BBC Radio 4")
Colin Welland (British actor and screenwriter, Chariots of Fire)
Stephen Hancock (British actor, "Ernest Bishop" in Coronation Street)
Helmut Schmidt (German statesman, former chancellor of West Germany)
Pat Eddery (Irish champion jockey)
Phil Taylor aka "Philthy Animal" (British rock drummer, Motorhead)
Warren Mitchell (British actor, "Alf Garnett" in Till Death Us Do Part)
Cynthia Payne (British brothel madam and raconteur)
Saeed Jaffrey (Indian-British actor, The Jewel In The Crown, Gandhi)
Jonah Lomu (New Zealand champion rugby player)
Keith Michell (Australian actor, Six Wives of Henry VIII, Captain Beaky)
Hazel Adair (British scriptwriter, co-creator of soap Crossroads)
Robin Stewart (British actor, Bless This House)
Anthony Valentine (British actor, Raffles, Colditz)
Robert Loggia (US actor)
Holly Woodlawn (Puerto Rican transgender Warhol superstar)
Nicholas Smith (British actor, "Mr Rumbold" in Are You Being Served?)
Luigi Creatore (US producer and songwriter, Can’t Help Falling in Love)
Jimmy Hill (British football pundit and television presenter)
Kurt Masur (German orchestra conductor)
Carol Burns (Australian actress, "Franky Doyle" in Prisoner: Cell Block H)
Lemmy (Ian Fraser Kilmister) (British singer and musician, Motörhead)
Wayne Rogers (US actor, "Trapper John" in M*A*S*H)

RIP, indeed.