Famous Farewells of 2023: Paying Tribute to the Late Stars Who Helped Shape Hollywood

Ryan O’Neal 1941-2023

Ryan O’Neal became a household name on TV’s Peyton Place and a film star with 1970’s Love Story. “He was a skilled actor, charming and funny, too,” recalled his costar Ali MacGraw. A few years later, his preteen daughter, Tatum, became his leading lady in Paper Moon, which won her an Oscar. By the 1980s, Ryan’s turbulent personal life began overshadowing his work. Brawls, family feuds, substance abuse and a nearly two-decade long on-off relationship with Farrah Fawcett kept him in the headlines. Still, Ryan was by Farrah’s side when she passed in 2009 and eventually reached a better place with his family. “I feel very lucky,” said Tatum, “that we ended on such good terms.”

Raquel Welch 1940-2023

“I was always striving to live up to my sex goddess image. I felt that I had to be glamorous,” Raquel Welch once admitted. And since bursting onto the Hollywood scene in a doeskin bikini in 1966’s One Million Years B.C., she proved to be that and more. Over her long and diverse career, Raquel tackled action, drama and comedy — winning a Golden Globe for her role in 1973’s The Three Musketeers — as well as Broadway and cabaret. Raquel, who died on February 15 at 82, proved something to herself along the way. “As life goes on, you get more valuable as a person,” she reflected. “Personally, I think I look better because I have lived, and I have a different kind of aura about me having lived.”

Suzanne Somers 1946-2023

In the second half of her life, Suzanne Somers reinvented herself as a bestselling author, wellness expert and entrepreneur, but longtime fans still asked her about Chrissy Snow, the bubbly blonde she played on Three’s Company from 1977 to 1981. “She still endures today,” Suzanne, who passed away at 76 after a decades-long battle with breast cancer, told Closer. In addition to her career, Suzanne, a mom of one adult son, took special pride in her happy 46-year marriage to producer Alan Hamel. “I have what every woman dreams of having,” she said. “I consider it my greatest accomplishment.”

Cindy Williams 1947-2023

As one-half of the comedy duo that introduced “schlemiel” and “schlimazel” to our collective vocabulary during the mid-’70s, Cindy Williams won the hearts of millions as Shirley Feeney, opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne DeFazio, in TV’s Laverne & Shirley. The hit sitcom overtook Happy Days, the show it was spun off from, for two seasons, becoming the No. 1 show in America. “It’s like being the popular kid in high school. It’s thrilling,” Cindy, who died at 75 after a brief illness, told Closer in 2016 about embracing that achievement. “We felt like this was our little secret, that we get paid to do this fabulous job and make people laugh. I don’t go a day without being utterly grateful for it in my heart.”

Harry Belafonte 1927-2023

The child of Jamaican immigrants, Harry Belafonte grew up in Harlem during the Depression and went on to blaze a trail for Black entertainers with his successful career on stage (winning a Tony for John Murray Anderson’s Almanac), in films (Carmen Jones) and in music (1956’s Calypso and its iconic “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” In 1968, he was the first person of color to fill in for Johnny Carson, and the humanitarian used his Tonight Show time to highlight civil rights and political issues, interviewing guests such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. “I wasn’t an artist who’d become an activist,” Belafonte, who died at 96 from congestive heart failure, once said. “I was an activist who’d become an artist.”

Matthew Perry 1969-2023

Matthew Perry’s portrayal of joke-cracking Chandler Bing was an integral part of the success of Friends during its 10-season run, from 1994 to 2004, despite the deep troubles in the actor’s private life. A year before his death at age 54, he released a memoir that detailed his decades-long battle with prescription drugs and alcohol addiction, his close calls with death and how he finally achieved sobriety. “It was hard to face all this stuff,” Matthew admitted, adding that when he thought about events too difficult to write down, “I would think of the people that I would be helping, and it would keep me going.”

Lisa Marie Presley 1968-2023

A celebrity from birth, Lisa Marie Presley struggled to be seen as her own person. “I’m not trying to be Elvis Presley’s child. And I’m not trying to run from it either,” the sole heir to her father’s estate said. Sadly, Lisa Marie’s difficult personal life and four marriages made bigger headlines than her music career. In 2020, the suicide of her son drove her to pen an essay about what she’d learned. “Grief has to get talked about,” she wrote. “Death is part of life whether we like it or not.” After her passing at age 54, Lisa Marie was laid to rest in the family plot at Graceland.

Piper Laurie 1932-2023

In 1976’s Carrie, Piper Laurie sent chills down viewers’ spines as Sissy Spacek’s unhinged mother. “I looked in the mirror and scared me, too!” Piper told Closer of her Oscar-nominated role. Throughout her eight-decade career, Piper also earned Oscar nominations for The Hustler and Children of a Lesser God, won an Emmy in 1987 for the TV movie Promise and took home a Golden Globe for David Lynch’s Twin Peaks in 1991. But the actress, who died at 91, said statuettes never meant much to her. “I just didn’t believe in awarding performances or judging performances; this job is better than that.”

Tony Bennett 1926-2023

He really did go from rags to riches. As a child in NYC during the Great Depression, Tony Bennett grew up impoverished. Yet he’d persevere by listening to music until he found his own voice — one that would score timeless hits such as “Because of You,” “The Good Life” and

his signature tune, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Along the way, he influenced singers as diverse as Lady Gaga and Frank Sinatra, who once said, “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.” But for Tony, who died on July 21 at 96, such accolades — not to mention 20 Grammys — didn’t made him tick. “I enjoy entertaining the audience, making them forget their problems,” he said. “I just like to make people feel good.”

Tina Turner 1939-2023

One of the most dynamic singers of her generation, Tina Turner, who passed away at 83, electrified audiences in the 1960s and ’70s. After a traumatic divorce forced her to leave the spotlight, she returned as the Queen of Rock in the 1980s. Belting out hits like “Better Be Good to Me,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and her classic “Proud Mary” on tour, she broke records in ticket sales. In 1994, Tina retired to Switzerland with second husband Erwin Bach, but she appeared at the opening of the Broadway show based on her life in 2019. “My music doesn’t sound dated,” said Tina. “It’s still standing strong — like me.”

Bob Barker 1923-2023

Come on down! With those words, Bob Barker welcomed contestants to The Price Is Right — and became a TV legend in the process. It wasn’t something he took for granted. “[People] treat me as if I were a next-door neighbor,” he shared. “I’ve never been a cowboy or a detective or a doctor on television. I’ve been Bob Barker.” That served him well hosting The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, as well as Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975. But Bob, who passed at age 99 on August 26, had a different legacy in mind besides games shows. When asked how he’d like to be remembered, the well known animal rights activist responded simply, “As the man who said, ‘Have your pets spayed or neutered.’ ”

Also Remembering…

Alan Arkin (1934-2023)

Burt Baharach (1928-2023)

Richard Belzer (1944-2023)

Jane Birkin (1946-2023)

Jimmy Buffett (1946-2023)

David Crosby (1941-2023)

Michael Gambon (1940-2023)

Len Goodman (1944-2023)

Glenda Jackson (1936-2023)

Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023)

David McCallum (1933-2023)

Richard Moll (1943-2023)

Sinéad O’Connor (1966-2023)

Lance Reddick (1962-2023)

Paul Reubens (1952-2023)

Adam Rich (1968-2023)

Richard Roundtree (1942-2023)

Julian Sands (1958-2023)

Jerry Springer (1944-2023)

Burt Young (1940-2023)