Gregg Toland

popular name: Tony Randall

date_of_death: May 17, 2004

age: 84

cause_of_death: Pneumonia following coronary bypass surgery

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Tony Randall (1920–2004) was an American actor best known for his work in television, film, and theater. He began his career on Broadway in the 1940s and gradually established himself as a versatile character actor, appearing in films such as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Pillow Talk, and The Mating Game. His most famous role came in television, where he played the fussy, intellectual Felix Unger on The Odd Couple (1970–1975), earning widespread acclaim and several Emmy nominations. Randall continued acting on stage and screen for decades, including a notable role as the voice of the narrator in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

popular name: Burt Reynolds

date_of_death: September 6, 2018

age: 82

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Burt Reynolds was an American actor and director, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture. The wryly appealing Hollywood heartthrob carried on a long love affair with moviegoers even though his performances were often more memorable than the films that contained them. A self-mocking charmer with laugh-crinkled dark eyes, a rakish mustache and a hairy chest that he often bared onscreen, Mr. Reynolds did not always win the respect of critics. But for many years he was ranked among the top 10 movie draws worldwide, and from 1978 through 1982 he ruled the box office as few, if any, stars had done before. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966) and Dan August (1970–1971). Although Reynolds had leading roles in such films as Navajo Joe (1966) and 100 Rifles (1969), his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972). Reynolds played the leading role – often a lovable rogue – in a number of subsequent box office hits, such as White Lightning (1973), The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Semi-Tough (1977), The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), Sharky's Machine (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and Cannonball Run II (1984), several of which he directed himself. He was nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Looking back in 2015, Mr. Reynolds expressed regret over the roles he didn’t get and the chances he didn’t take. It was not until he was almost 40, he wrote ruefully, that he decided he “wanted to be respected as an actor and began to think I might be good if I really worked at it.” His best performance, he added, might well be “still ahead of me.” “I may not be the best actor in the world,” he concluded, “but I’m the best Burt Reynolds in the world.”

popular name: Arthur Lake

date_of_death: January 9, 1987

age: 81

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Arthur Lake portrayed the comic strip character Dagwood Bumstead and called for help with a high-pitched ''Blonnndie!'' in more than two dozen films throughout the 1940s. Lake was best known as the bumbling husband of Blondie, played by Penny Singleton, in the series of movies that ran from 1939 to 1950. The first picture cost a mere $85,000 and grossed more than $9 million. Arthur Lake was also a frequent guest at publisher William Randolph Hearts estate San Simeon where he met and subsequently married Patricia Van Cleeve. The parentage of Patricia is unclear, but at the time of her death, she is reported to have claimed to be the daughter of Davies and Hearst.