From once-iconic child stars to European beauty queens,
2023 has seen the last of many great TV, film, and video game actors.
Lance Kerwin spent his childhood racking up guest roles as plucky kids on '70s fare like
Police Story, Cannon, and multiple after-school specials. As he grew, he starred as relatable
and sensitive teen James Hunter on the drama James at 15, renamed James at 16 in 1978.
Playing a realistic teenager made Kerwin into a real-life teen idol in the late
1970s and early 1980s. He parlayed this status into parts in the TV movie The Boy
Who Drank Too Much and the hit miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot,
in which he played lead vampire resister Mark Petrie.
"It wasn't a dream."
Kerwin bounced around TV for years before largely
retiring from acting after an appearance in 1995's Outbreak. According to his daughter,
Kerwin died on January 24, 2023 in San Clemente, California. He was 62.
Earl Boen was a consummate character actor, highly recognizable by his face, voice, and demeanor for
any number of the nearly 300 projects he was involved with from the mid 1970s to the 2010s.
He was probably best known for his recurring role across two decades' worth of Terminator movies: In
the first three entries of the sci-fi franchise, Boen played persistent criminal psychologist Dr.
Peter Silberman. Boen also co-starred in Alien Nation, 9 to 5, and My Stepmother is an Alien.
On the small screen, Boen enjoyed recurring roles on Mama's Family, Scarecrow and Mrs. King,
and Webster. He also had an illustrious career as a voice actor, contributing to animated projects
like Kim Possible, The New Batman Adventures, Pinky and the Brain, and Clifford the Big Red Dog.
On January 6, 2023, TMZ reported that the character actor had died
the previous day in Hawaii. A family friend told
Variety that Boen had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. He was 81.
An art student and beauty queen, screen legend Gina Lollobrigida moved into
acting in her native Italy just after World War II. This was an explosively
creative era for Italian cinema, and Lollobrigida was a key part of it.
She became a superstar in Europe and an international sex symbol in the 1950s, headlining
a run of Hollywood hits including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beat the Devil, and Solomon and Sheba.
She ultimately headed back to Italy, where she starred in, wrote, and directed a number of films.
Lollobrigida didn't act much after 1973, though she did pop up on Falcon Crest and The Love Boat.
She filled her time by becoming a celebrated photojournalist and a politician. In 2022 she
ran for a seat in the Italian Senate. According to NPR, Lollobrigida had leg surgery after she broke
a thigh bone in a fall in September 2022. She died in Rome on January 16, 2023 at the age of 95.
Annie Wersching was a prolific actor, booking roles on dozens of TV shows
throughout the 2000s, along with work in the original The Last of Us video game.
"I know where he's hiding."
"Like hell you do."
"Old warehouse in Area 5."
Wersching earned particular acclaim for her performances as Julia Brasher on Bosch,
the Borg Queen on Star Trek: Picard, and Emma Whitmore on Timeless.
She further distinguished herself by appearing in a number of fiercely beloved sci-fi, action,
and fantasy television series: Her first-ever credit comes from an episode of Star Trek:
Enterprise, and she later popped up on series like Angel, Charmed, Supernatural, and Revolution.
Viewers might also remember Wersching from The Vampire Diaries, on which she played wicked
vampire family matriarch Lily, or 24, which saw her portray FBI agent Renee Walker. Wersching also
portrayed duplicitous cult leader Leslie Dean on the Marvel series Runaways. According to Deadline,
doctors diagnosed Wersching with cancer in 2020. She died on January 29, 2023, at the age of 45.
In 1977, Adam Rich began a four-year run as Nicholas, the youngest of the eight Bradford
children on Eight is Enough. Rich went on to enjoy a number of guest roles on a variety of series,
including Silver Spoons, St. Elsewhere, The Love Boat,
and The Six Million Dollar Man. Tabletop role-playing game fans might also remember
him from the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons animated series, on which he voiced the magical Presto.
In the 1990s, celebrated author and publisher Dave Eggers recruited Rich for a massive prank:
Eggers' magazine Might reported Rich's death. The fictitious memorial tribute was so convincing,
genuine news outlets attempted to jump on the story. Rich died on January 7, 2023. He was 54.
Lisa Loring cemented her legacy at a very early age when she portrayed the
iconic and enduring character of Wednesday Addams. Loring was the first actor to ever
play the somber girl on screen, making her mark in 1964's The Addams Family.
This performance is still making waves, with her frenetic dance with co-star Ted Cassidy
becoming a meme in recent years. A breakout child star, Loring acted only occasionally
after The Addams Family ended, with appearances on The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island,
Barnaby Jones, and a long stint on As the World Turns in the early 1980s.
Her final work came in the 2015 indie horror movie Doctor Spine.
Loring's friend Laurie Jacobson reported on Facebook that on January 25, 2023,
the actor suffered a severe stroke. She died on January 28, at the age of 64.
Cindy Williams was an icon of 1970s entertainment. Following some due-paying
with commercials and guest starring roles, Williams landed big parts in major movies by
two of the era's most important filmmakers. She played Laurie in George Lucas' nostalgic
blockbuster American Graffiti and Ann in Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.
A 1975 performance on Happy Days led to Williams' most famous role:
Shirley Feeney. Shirley and her friend Laverne serve as intimidatingly older dates for the
show's teenage characters. Their episode proved so popular that a Laverne & Shirley spin-off hit
the air in 1976. By the 1977-1978 season, it was the most-watched program on television.
"I don't vo-de-oh-do-do."
"You vo-de-oh-do-do."
Williams died on
January 25, 2023, following a brief illness. She was 75.
Melinda Dillon kicked off her acting career in a big way by earning a Tony Award nomination for her
performance in the original 1963 production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In the '70s, she led the casts of three classics of the era:
Hal Ashby Woody Guthrie biopic, Bound For Glory, the hockey comedy Slap Shot
and Steven Spielberg's sci-fi smash Close Encounters of the Third Kind
However, it wasn't until the 1980s that Dillon landed her most iconic and enduring role:
every year, millions of people watch her play the Parker family's doting mother in perennial
holiday favorite A Christmas Story. Dillon followed that era-spanning hit with supporting
turns in well-received movies like Harry and the Hendersons, The Prince of Tides, and Magnolia.
Twice nominated for Academy Awards, both for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence of
Malice, Dillon was a giant of 20th century film. She died on January 9, 2023, at the age of 83.
Charles Kimbrough brought an air of dignified authority to most of the
roles he played across five decades of acting. He is perhaps most famous for
portraying Jim Dial on Murphy Brown, an upright and uptight veteran anchor — a
role that brought Kimbrough an Emmy Award nomination in 1990.
In recent decades, Kimbrough introduced his deep and serious voice to the world of cartoons,
portraying characters like Victor in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and its spin-offs,
Mort Chalk in Recess, and Dr. Ficus on Dinosaurs.
Kimbrough's voice also helped make him a star earlier in his career:
He was a two-time Tony Award nominee for his work in big theatrical productions on Broadway.
Among many notable performances, Kimbrough co-starred in Company, Candide, and My Fair Lady
Kimbrough also came out of retirement to reprise the role as Jim Dial on the 2018
Murphy Brown reboot. Kimbrough died on January 11, 2023, in Culver City, California. He was 86.
Raquel Welch was among the most iconic and glamorous movie stars of the 20th century.
She made a big move into acting in 1966 with the sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage, in which she
played a scientist who is shrunken down and sent into a sick man's body to investigate his illness.
That same year, Welch starred in the prehistoric adventure One Million Years B.C.,
which saw her don a fur bikini. Images of her in this unique garment became
the cornerstone of the film's marketing blitz and a legendary pin-up. Many vampy
and showy roles followed in the 1960s and 1970s, with Bedazzled, The Three Musketeers,
and Myra Breckinridge. Her most notable recent role came in Legally Blonde, in which she played
the widow of a wealthy man whose murder is one of the central points of the film.
According to a statement provided by her manager, the actor died on February 15,
2023, following a short period of illness. Welch was 82.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Richard Belzer established himself as a dark, acerbic, and deeply cynical
wisecracker. That outsider stance, which saw him deliver unapologetic social commentary,
informed many of Belzer's hosting gigs and acting roles, particularly Detective John Munch.
Belzer originated the character on Homicide: Life on the Street,
and went on to portray him on Law & Order and Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit until 2016. He also brought the world-weary, droll-witted,
and curmudgeonly investigator to The Wire, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, and Sesame Street.
Belzer and Munch shared a cultural background, a complicated attitude about city life,
and an interest in conspiracy theories. By bringing him to such vivid life,
the actor became a touchstone to generations of TV-watchers. Belzer died on February 19,
2023 at his home in France. He was 78.
You might not recognize Ricou Browning by name, but you definitely know his work. In a trio of
films in the 1950s, he portrayed the iconic Gill-Man, aka the Creature, in Universal's
Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, and The Creature Walks Among Us.
Highly proficient in the sought-after skillset of stunt performance and underwater cinematography,
Browning pulled off expressive and entirely silent acting while completely submerged. He
played the Creature in the movies' many underwater scenes, some of which are seriously lengthy.
Browning continued to carve out a niche in Hollywood as a creator and facilitator
of waterlogged projects, directing the underwater scenes in Caddyshack and Never
Say Never Again, as well as co-creating the friendly dolphin TV series Flipper.
Browning was part of a very small club of actors who portrayed the titular
monsters in Universal's beloved slew of mid-century horror films. In fact,
he was the last surviving original performer of the "Universal monsters," as they're typically
known. The actor and filmmaker died on February 27, 2023, at his home in Florida. He was 93.
Lance Reddick brought star power and irresistible energy to a series of high profile and cult
projects over the years. His intensity and deep character work often made them unforgettable.
Reddick broke out on the HBO prison drama Oz, where he played undercover narcotics
officer Johnny Basil. He then appeared on the celebrated drama The Wire as police
lieutenant Cedric Daniels. Reddick once again played a complex authority figure on Fringe:
federal agent Phillip Broyles, head of the titular paranormal office.
Many more TV roles followed for Reddick, including Deputy Chief Irving on Bosch,
Albert Wesker on Netflix's Resident Evil spin-off
series, and deeply evil boss Christian DeVille on Comedy Central's Corporate.
"How good to see you again so soon, Mr. Wick. Shall I announce you?"
Film fans know him best as Charon,
the concierge-turned-sidekick of the John Wick movies, while gamers will
remember him for years to come as Commander Zavala of the Destiny video game series.
Reddick was discovered dead of natural causes in his home outside Los Angeles
on the morning of March 17, 2023. He was 60 years old.
The '90s produced plenty of thoughtful action movies and innovative indies about the seedier
aspects of American life, and Tom Sizemore was often a major part of that movement.
After his breakthrough role as a Vietnam War-era soldier on the TV drama China Beach earned him
widespread attention, Sizemore appeared as a DEA Agent in Point Break, a counter-terrorism
expert in Passenger 57, a detective in True Romance, Natural Born Killers, and The Relic,
and a sergeant in Saving Private Ryan. His career ultimately came to encompass more than 200 roles.
Sizemore collapsed at his home in Los Angeles on February 19,
2023. It was soon determined he'd suffered a brain aneurysm. He died on March 3, at the age of 61.