We have lost many beloved figures recently, including a sitcom mom, a sitcom dad, the namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the man who organized the first lunch-counter sit-in.
Find out about these figures and more in the following roundup of obituaries.
Tom Bosley
1927 - 2010
He was best known for his role on "Happy Days", but he also played a small-town sheriff and a crime-solving priest. Bosley died at a California hospital of lung cancer. He was 83.
Career highlights
*Won a Tony Award
*Returned to the stage in the 1990s
Freddy 'Sez' Schuman
1925 - 2010
Schuman, known as "Freddy Sez," rallied support for his team for decades. He was also known for starting a tradition. Schuman had a heart attack before his death at age 85.
Career highlights
*Appeared in a Nike commercial
*Was flown by the Yankees to a World Series game in 2001
Barbara Billingsley
1915 - 2010
With her skirts, high heels and pearls, Billingsley was the perfect '50s mom on "Leave It to Beaver". What was her most memorable line? Billingsley, 94, died at her home in California.
Career highlights
*Landed a movie contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
*Speaking "jive" on "Airplane"
Larry Siegfried
1939 – 2010
As a guard for the Boston Celtics, Siegfried helped the team to multiple championships. He also twice led the NBA in free-throw percentage. Siegfried died of heart failure at age 71.
Career highlights
*Also played for the Rockets and the Hawks
*Became an assistant coach
Belva Plain
1915 - 2010
Plain started the work that made her famous when she was a grandmother, coming out with the novel "Evergreen" in 1978. "The queen of the family-saga writers" went on to produce more than 20 best-sellers. She was 95 when she died at her home in New Jersey.
Career highlights
*She sold her first story to Cosmopolitan when she was 25.
*"Evergreen" became a miniseries.
Joan Sutherland
1926 - 2010
Known as La Stupenda, Sutherland had a soprano that took her to opera's heights. She first came to the public's attention when she performed in Covent Garden, and she later shared the stage with Luciano Pavarotti. She was 83 when she died at her Switzerland home after an illness.
Career highlights
*Helped revive bel canto works
*Was made a dame of the British Empire in 1978
Mary Leona Gage
1939 - 2010
Desperate for money, Gage entered a beauty contest. She said she hoped it would lead to modeling work, but instead she won. When officials found out who she really was, she lost her title. She was 71 when she died of heart failure at a California hospital.
Career highlights
*She made TV appearances, including on "The Ed Sullivan Show".
Maury Allen
1932 - 2010
A longtime sportswriter for The New York Post, Allen turned out about one book a year on sports stars, including Joe Namath and Mickey Mantle. He died at his home in New Jersey of lymphoma. He was 78.
Career highlights
*Covered the Yankees, the Dodgers and other teams
*Played Walter Matthau's buddy in "The Odd Couple"
Stephen J. Cannell
1941 – 2010
Cannell created about 20 series for television, including "The Rockford Files" and "21 Jump Street". His signature logo evolved over the years. He died at his home in California of complications from melanoma. He was 69.
Career highlights
*Overcame dyslexia
*Wrote crime novels that are best-sellers
Tony Curtis
1925 - 2010
Curtis demonstrated his gift for comic timing in films such as "Some Like It Hot". He also became known as a dramatic actor, earning an Oscar nomination for his role in "The Defiant Ones". He died of cardiac arrest in Nevada; he was 85.
Career highlights
*He was first prize in a contest, "Win a Weekend With Tony Curtis."
*He and wife Janet Leigh were a hit in "Houdini
Arthur Penn
1922 - 2010
Penn directed many plays, TV products and movies, but he was best known as the director of "Bonnie and Clyde". The violent and sexually explicit film paved the way for other taboo-breaking movies. He died at his home in Manhattan of congestive heart failure. He was 88.
Career highlights
*Directed "The Miracle Worker" for TV, stage and film
*Advised John F. Kennedy in his presidential debates with Richard Nixon
George Blanda
1927 - 2010
A quarterback and place-kicker, "The Grand Old Man" played for 26 seasons, ending with the Oakland Raiders. Blanda, who attended the Raiders-Bears preseason game in August, was 83.
Career highlights
*Entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981
*Was the first to score 2000 points
*Appeared in a cologne commercial
Gloria Stuart
1910 – 2010
The Hollywood beauty starred in B movies in the '30s and retired. She returned to acting in the '70s, landed a role in "Titanic" and was nominated for an Oscar. Stuart died of respiratory failure at her California home. She was 100.
Career highlights
*TV and film work, including "My Favorite Year"
*Was the oldest Oscar acting nominee
Bob Shaw
1933 - 2010
Shaw was pitching for the Chicago White Sox when he beat the legendary Sandy Koufax in a World Series game. He placed in Cy Young Award voting. Shaw died at his Florida home after fighting cancer. He was 77.
Career highlights
*Won 108 games
*Was a pitching coach
*Coached a team to the American Legion World Series title
Eddie Fisher
1928 - 2010
Before Elvis, teenage girls got excited about Fisher. He sold millions of records and married a movie star. That marriage ended with Elizabeth Taylor, who later met Richard Burton. Fisher died of complications from surgery at a California hospital. He was 82.
Career highlights
*He and his first wife co-starred in "Bundle of Joy"
*Wrote a blunt autobiography
Don Doll
1926 - 2010
Doll, who played college ball for the Trojans, also played for and coached the Detroit Lions. He was on a championship team in 1952. Doll was 84 when he died in California.
Career highlights
*Intercepted four passes in one game
*Was a four-time Pro Bowl selection
Leonard Skinner
1913 - 2010
He was a coach at a Jacksonville school who enforced the no-long-hair rule. They were students who got sent to the principal's office. They named their soon-to-be-famous band after him -- sort of. Skinner, who had Alzheimer's, died in a Florida nursing home. He was 77.
Career highlights
*Played competitive basketball into his 60s
*Once introduced the band at a Jacksonville concert
Ron Kramer
1935 - 2010
Kramer, who was an All-American at the University of Michigan, joined a lackluster Green Bay Packers. That changed when coach Vince Lombardi took over. Kramer died at his Michigan home; he was 75.
Career highlights
*Caught two touchdown passes, and the Packers beat the New York Giants
*Was first-team All-Pro in 1962
Kevin McCarthy
1914 - 2010
Although McCarthy won a Golden Globe, he is best known for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". He was 96 when he died of natural causes in Massachusetts.
Career highlights
*Appeared in about 50 films, including "The Howling"
*Toured in a one-man show about a president
*Had a bit part with Marilyn Monroe
Harold Gould
1923 - 2010
Gould was a character actor who was a fixture on television, including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Golden Girls." He was 86 when he died of prostate cancer in California.
Career highlights
* Taught drama in colleges
*Played character roles in movies, including in "The Sting"
Ronald W. Walters
1938 - 2010
Walters was a leading scholar. He was also an activist, leading what is regarded as the first lunch-counter sit-in. He helped on Jesse Jackson's campaign. He died of cancer at a Maryland hospital; he was 72.
Career highlights
*Helped form the Congressional Black Caucus
*Honored by the NAACP
Clive Donner
1926 - 2010
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were among the actors who helped Donner finance his first film. The director, who helped define British New Wave, hit it big with a swinging '60s film, "What's New Pussycat?" He had Alzheimer's when he died in London at 84.
Career highlights
*Directed a satire, "Nothing but the Best"
*Directed George C. Scott in two Dickens classics
Rich Cronin
1974 - 2010
Cronin (photos), the singer of the late-'90s boy band LFO, was known for his dexterity with lyrics and raps. He co-wrote a hit song that he said he never expected anyone but his friends to hear. He was 36 when he died of complications of leukemia.
Career highlights
*Wrote "Girl on TV"
*Dated an actress
Irwin Silber
1925 - 2010
Silber was a force behind a folk music revival who publicly scolded Bob Dylan. Was he the target of Dylan's "Positively 4th Street"? Silber died in California of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 84.
Career highlights
*Founded a folk-music magazine
*Defused a cross-examination about communism by explaining what he taught
*Recorded protest songs from around the world
John W. Kluge
1914 - 2010
Kluge, who had made his first million by the time he was 37, founded Metromedia, a conglomerate that included the Harlem Globetrotters and TV stations. He met his third wife at a party where she cooked and danced. He was 95 when he died.
Career highlights
*Took Metromedia private and made his first billion
*Lost $1 million on Diplomat magazine
*Was a generous contributor to schools and hospitals, among other institutions
Jefferson Thomas
1942 - 2010
Thomas was a member of the Little Rock Nine who helped integrate an all-white school, testing a 1954 Supreme Court ruling. He was 67 when he died of pancreatic cancer in Columbus, Ohio.
Career highlights
*Received a Congressional Gold Medal
*Was invited to a presidential inauguration
