Brittany Murphy
The 32-year-old actress, best known for her roles in Clueless, Girl, Interrupted and Sin City, was found dead Dec. 20 of apparent "natural" causes—but because cardiac arrest isn't exactly common in thirtysomething starlets, the coroner is deferring a cause of death announcement pending toxicology test results.
Patrick Swayze
Nobody could put Swayze in the corner—even after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, the Dirty Dancing and Ghost star was helming a TV series and writing a memoir with his wife of more than three decades, Lisa Niemi. He finally succumbed to his disease Sept. 14 at age 57.
DJ AM
After the music man's accidental overdose Aug. 28, his collaborator Travis Barker became the sole survivor of the fiery plane crash that had originally spared both men while killing four others onboard.
John Hughes
The filmmaker's Aug. 6 death reopened a yearbook of memories for a generation whose lives are intertwined with the angst-ridden characters of his movies like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles.
Michael Jackson
No wonder the King of Pop had trouble sleeping: Even after his June 25 death, he wasn't laid to rest until Sept. 3.
Walter Cronkite
Viewers were reminded of the TV news broadcaster's role as the "most trusted man in America" when Mad Men integrated real footage of his Kennedy assasination reporting in its third-season finale. He died July 17 at age 92.
Karl Malden
For a career spanning more than 70 years, you could say the actor had a nose for the business. As identifiable by his proboscis as his talent, the movie, TV and American Express commercial star charmed fans and garnered numerous awards, including an Oscar, before his death July 1 at age 97.
Billy Mays
The enthusiastic ad spokesman had recently made the move from infomercial interruptions to regularly scheduled programming with his Discovery Channel show Pitchmen when he died June 28.
Farrah Fawcett
Poor Farrah. Despite an iconic pinup poster, Charlie's Angel stardom and four Emmy nods, the blond bombshell's success was at times overshadowed by film and TV flops, a trainwreck Letterman appearance and finally disclosure by tabloid of her anal cancer diagnosis. Even her June 25 death was eclipsed hours later by news of Michael Jackson's passing.
Ed McMahon
Johnny Carson's professional BFF also paved the way for American Idol and Ryan Seacrest with his hit '80s talent competition show Star Search. The former talk-show sidekick, also a famous early casualty of the national mortgage crisis, died June 23 at the age of 86.
David Carradine
Hollywood's martial arts master bookended the careers of other genre stars like Chuck Norris with his legendary roles in TV's Kung Fu and the Kill Bill movies. His June 4 death of asphyxiation in Thailand is widely reported to be an autoerotic fatality.
Bea Arthur
In her iconic roles on sitcoms Maude and The Golden Girls, the Tony and Emmy award winner brought sexy back to middle-aged and senior women. She died April 25 at the age of 86.
Andy Hallett
March 29 was the day the music died for Angel fans, when the actor beloved by Whedonites as demonic lounge singer Lorne passed away at age 33 from heart disease.
Natasha Richardson
A seemingly minor ski accident resulted in the shocking March 18 death by head trauma of the 45-year-old British actress, a member of the legendary Redgrave family and wife of Oscar nominee Liam Neeson.
Ron Silver
The erudite actor swung both ways when it came to ideology, supporting liberal and conservative agendas in Washington and Hollywood. Before his March 15 death of esophageal cancer at age 62, however, the Republican Party darling told his brother he voted for Obama.
Ricardo Montalban
Between his two stints as Star Trek's Khan, the actor made wishes come true for the permed hair and shoulder-padded visitors to Fantasy Island. The Mexican-born Emmy winner died Jan. 14 in Los Angeles at the age of 88.