tv might be all about fantasy but every
so often
the real world intrudes when a beloved
cast member passes away on the show
the creators go to great lengths to
honor their fellow cast member and
oftentimes friend
here are several character deaths that
happened because the actor died
apart from the occasional shot of an arm
or a glimpse of her from across a vast
distance mrs walowitz was never actually
seen on the big bang theory
in the tradition of veera from cheers or
maris from frasier
mrs wallowitz's appearance exists only
in the minds of viewers
this makes sense as producers likely
would have had a tough time finding an
actor
who fit the description laid out in
numerous bits of dialogue
which implies she is an impossibly large
person
instead carol ann suzy provided a voice
for the character
she had an extremely loud and
exaggerated new jersey accent
heard when yelling at her son howard
from around the house they shared i'm in
the toilet
so how'd it go too soon to say i'm not
done yet
susie who'd amassed dozens of acting
credits
died of cancer in november 2014 at the
age of 62.
a few months later in the 2015 episode
the comic book store regeneration
the big bang theory's writers said
goodbye to mrs wallowitz
while visiting her sister gladys in
florida she passes away in her sleep
while the actors who played the titular
doctor on doctor who changed every few
years
allowing the show to soldier on since
the 1960s
some performers stayed with the show for
long periods of time
playing the same characters through the
show's various eras
nicholas courtney for example first
appeared as the brigadier on doctor who
in 1968
alongside second doctor patrick trouten
courtney returned to doctor who every so
often
playing the brigadier in episodes
starring four different actors as the
doctor
stretching to 1989 when doctor who was
canceled
in the 2005 reboot the brigadier was
mentioned
as being off in peru and then courtney
reprised the character and the doctor
who spin-off
the sarah jane adventures courtney died
at age 81 just before the final season
of that show hit the air
but he was such a big part of the doctor
who franchise that he was given a
send-off on the flagship series
in the 2011 episode the wedding of river
song
the doctor calls up the nursing home
where the brigadier had been living
and learns from a staff member that the
man passed away a few months ago
and often regaled the staff with tales
of his adventures with the doctor
lynn digpin starred in more than 70
films and tv shows over a career that
lasted 40 years
and her most memorable and notable roles
are widely varied
including the ominous dj and narrator of
the 1979 cult classic the warriors
district attorney ruby thomas on la la
and the chief the in-house orders giver
on the popular 90s kids game show where
in the world is carmen san diego
five years after that show ended
production big pin joined the cast
of the district a cbs crime drama
starring craig t
nelson as chief jack manion a new jersey
police chief who moves to washington d.c
to serve as the new police commissioner
helping chief mania
fight bad guys and corruption is his
best friend and closest advisor
ella farmer a dc crime analyst big pen
portrayed farmer from 2000 to
last appearing in the third season
episode rage
shortly before the show wrapped
production for the year big pin died
unexpectedly at age 54.
production on the district was
immediately halted and when things
started back up again three weeks later
cast and crew
shot an installment called lma in which
chief manion learns that his dear friend
has died
and has to break the news to his squad
as an animated series adhering to the
rules of reality
isn't usually much of a concern to the
makers of family guy
however when the highly recognizable
actors behind certain recurring roles
pass away
the show usually retires their
characters by having them die
following it up with an uncharacteristic
sweet and sentimental on-air tribute
carrie fisher forever princess leia in
the star wars movies
appeared often on family guy as peter
griffin's lascivious boss
angela fisher died in 2016 and the show
paid homage two years later
with peter delivering a graveside eulogy
at angela's rainy day funeral
peter calls her fearless spontaneous
honest about herself just as much as she
was about the world around her
obviously peter was referring more to
the actor than her character
2017 brought another major death to the
show's door with the passing of adam
west
the man best known for playing batman
had become nearly as beloved for his
portrayal of mayor adam west
a bizarre version of himself who rules
over family guy's quahog
in the 2019 episode adam west high the
mayor's passing is commemorated when the
town decides to rename the local
high school after him later on he
appears in the form of a ghost but is
quickly captured by peter
with 20 seasons and more than 600
produced episodes
the classic tv western gunsmoke was at
one time the longest running dramatic tv
series in american history
set in the late 19th century in dodge
city kansas
the action centered around u.s marshal
matt dillon
as he enforced the law among the show's
sprawling cast of characters was sam
noonan
barkeep at the town's chief watering
hole the long branch
saloon glenn strange took over the role
in 1961.
strange a rodeo performer and stunt man
before he became an
actor also played frankenstein's monster
in a series of old horror movies
his final episode of gun smoke the
hanging of newly o'brien
aired in november 1973 two months after
strange died of cancer
at the age of 74. rather than replace
strange producers opted to quietly and
simply explain
that sam noonan had died gunsmoke ended
slightly more than a year later
smallville took a novel approach to the
superman mythos
the 2001-2011 wbe cw series was a
decade-long
origin story for the man of steel
depicting the adventures of young clark
kent as he learns to use the tremendous
powers that will enable him to grow up
to be superman
producers created easter eggs for
franchise fans casting actors from the
1970s and 1980s superman movies and
special roles
including terence stamp general zod and
superman 2
as superman's father annette o'toole
wanna lang in superman 3
as clark kent's adoptive mother and
christopher reeve
superman himself as dr virgil swann a
character created just for the series
he was a rich industrialist and founder
of the mysterious
and powerful veritas society who serves
as a teacher and advisor to clark
about a decade after reeve was paralyzed
from the neck down in a horse riding
accident
he died at age 52 in october 2004
at the beginning of a february 2005
episode of smallville
clark kent receives the news that his
mentor has died
punky brewster started off pretty dark
for a show that aimed to attract an
audience of little kids
so les moon frye played penelope punky
brewster
an abandoned child squatting in an
apartment where she's discovered
and reluctantly taken in by henry
warnamont
an elderly lonely and very grumpy
photographer played by george gaines
he saves punky from the streets the
charming girl lights up henry's whole
life
and they become an unlikely family punky
brewster debuted in 1984
a very good year for gaines that year
also saw the release of the first of his
many police academy movies
wherein he played commandant eric
lassard after a long life and career
gaines died in 2016 at age 98.
punky brewster returned in 2021 in the
form of a reboot set in the present day
in it punky is now a 40-something single
mother who befriends an orphaned girl
who reminds her of herself
and the pilot henry makes a quick photo
only cameo
at the very beginning of the episode a
picture of henry and his camera
hangs on the wall of punky's living room
punky greets the photo
saying morning henry what a beautiful
day later her kids mention the picture
of grandpa
implying that henry stayed her parental
figure over the years
until his death at some unstated time
between the end of the original punky
brewster in 1988
and 2021 law and order ran for
20 seasons and experienced rapid cast
turnover
but the actor who's probably the face of
the show is likely
jerry orbach for nearly 300 episodes
over 13 years
he played nypd detective lenny briscoe
a rumpled and world weary recovering
alcoholic prone to making dark wise
cracks about murder victims and suspects
who serves as a mentor figure to his
succession of junior detective partners
orbach was an acting legend before he
came to law and order
starring in broadway productions
including guys and dolls and chicago
and films like crimes and misdemeanors
and dirty dancing
i see someone in front of me who got his
partner in trouble and
sent her off to some butcher while he
moved on to an innocent young girl like
my daughter
lenny briscoe was such a prominent and
popular character in the law and order
tv universe that when dick wolf debuted
a spin-off in 2005
called law and order trial by jury he
sadly attracted viewers to it by
transplanting briscoe
who left the nypd to become an
investigator for the district attorney's
office
after filming two episodes of the new
series in which he was so weak from
cancer treatments that he reportedly
could only whisper his lines
orbach died at age 69. in the world of
the show
the death of detective briscoe was
mentioned on a 2007 episode
of law and order criminal intent when
his old partner from the original
law order mike logan revealed that he
saw his deceased colleague in his dreams
sometimes
jack sue was born goro suzuki and
changed his name when he became a
professional entertainer
sue worked in show business long before
he landed his signature role as sergeant
nick
yamana on the abc police precinct
workplace comedy barney miller in 1975
along with parts on ironside police
story and mash
sue starred in both the stage and movie
versions of the popular musical flower
drum song
and the classic war movie the green
berets but sue was best known for his
work
as a beleaguered new york police
detective on barney miller
particularly because his character was
responsible for the show's most notable
running joke sergeant yamana made
notoriously
indescribably terrible coffee around
1978
sue was diagnosed with esophageal cancer
and he underwent
tumor removal surgery and a six-week
stay at ucla for cutting-edge treatments
he missed episodes of barney miller and
writers explained that sergeant yamana
was convalescing from appendicitis at a
new york hospital
in january 1979 sue died at age 63.
the 1978 season finale of barney miller
broke format
and the fourth wall the surviving cast
members of the show took the half hour
to pay
tribute to sue they discussed their
co-worker and friend
interspersed with clips of his best and
funniest barney miller moments
when the show returned in the fall of
1979 yamana's absence was noted
and the character was spoken of in the
past tense
dolph sweet discovered his passion for
acting during world war ii
when during a lengthy internment in a
prisoner of war camp in germany
he put on a play with some other
detainees after the war
sweet worked in theater before landing
his first big movie role at age 40 in
the young doctors
in that role he played a police officer
for the first of more than a dozen times
this included the defenders in the 60s
on mrs columbo in the 70s
and on give me a break from 1981 onward
on that sitcom sweet portrayed the chief
or carl kaminsky head of police in a
california suburb and a single father
who brings in a housekeeper to look
after his three daughters and a foster
son
sweet died of cancer at age 61 in may
1985
and give me a break returned for the
first episode of its fifth season that
fall
the episode joey's train is set three
months after the cancer-related death of
the chief
the characters have absorbed the initial
trauma and grief of the loss
and are attempting to move on they face
some difficult tests
such as when a present he bought for
adopted son joey is uncovered
and when his daughter julie wants to
move into his old bedroom
but housekeeper nell isn't quite ready
for that shift
hill street blues debuted in january
1981
and it was unlike any other police
procedural series that had aired on
american television to that point
pretty realistic deliberate and mournful
it depicted the beat officers of an
unnamed mid-sized american city police
department
as they dealt with the stress fear and
personal psychological turmoil of
busting criminals
actor michael conrad was responsible for
some of hill street blues most memorable
moments
he played philip esterhaus the desk
sergeant who performed the morning roll
call
and doled out orders and assignments
ending with a heartfelt reminder to his
officers
all right let's roll hey
let's be careful out there conrad won
two emmy awards for outstanding
supporting actor in the drama series for
his work as the gruff
paternal man of quiet dignity who was
maybe more than a little broken inside
in november 1983 when hill street blues
was halfway through production on its
fourth season
conrad died of urethral cancer at age
58.
in grace under pressure which aired in
february 1984
the show addressed the disappearance of
esther house captain frank furillo
informs the squad that the desk sergeant
has died the manner of his death was
uncharacteristically
tawdry he'd been dating the adventurous
grace gardner
and he suffered a fatal heart attack
during a spirited lovemaking session
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