For those who are keeping score, here is a list of notable people who checked out this past year. You will undoubtedly find more than a couple of surprises here.
JANUARY
Tillie Olsen (writer)
Yvonne De Carlo (actress)
Iwao Takamoto (animator)
Carlo Ponti (producer)
Robert Anton Wilson (author)
Ron Carey (actor)
Art Buchwald (columnist)
Denny Doherty (actor/singer)
Emiliano Mercado Del Toro (World's oldest man, 2005-2007) Died January 24, 2007. Born August 21, 1891. Also the world's oldest person for the month before his death.
Tige Andrews (actor/painter)
Bob Carroll, Jr. (writer)
Charles L. Fontenay (journalist/writer)
Sidney Sheldon (writer/producer)
Molly Ivins (writer)
FEBRUARY
Gian Carlo Menotti (composer)
Barbara McNair (singer/actress)
Frankie Laine (singer)
Anna Nicole Smith (model)
Ian Richardson (actor)
Walker Edmiston (cartoon voice)
Joseph Gallo (businessman)
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (historian)
MARCH
Thomas Eagleton (senator)
Ernest Gallo (businessman)
John Inman (actor)
Brad Delp (musician)
Richard Jeni (comedian)
Betty Hutton (actress)
John Backus (compiler developer)
Calvert DeForest (comic)
Luther Ingram (singer/songwriter)
David Honigsberg (writer/rabbi)
APRIL
Benjamin "Bob" Clark (director/writer)
Stan Daniels (writer/producer)
Johnny Hart (cartoonist)
Barry Nelson (actor)
Roscoe Lee Browne (actor)
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (writer, teacher)
Don Ho (entertainer)
Kitty Carlisle Hart (actress/game show participant)
Paul Erdman (economist, writer)
David Halberstam (writer)
Boris Yeltsin (former Russian president)
Warren Avis (entreprenuer)
Bobby "Boris" Pickett (singer/songwriter)
Jack Valenti (former MPAA chief)
Al Hunter Ashton (writer/actor)
Mstislav Rostropovich (cellist/conductor)
Dabbs Greer (actor)
Tommy Newsom (saxophonist/arranger)
Tom Poston (actor/comic)
Gordon Scott (actor)
MAY
Walter Schirra, Jr. (astronaut/businessman)
Terry Ryan (writer)
Lloyd Alexander (writer)
Charles Nelson Reilly (director/comedian)
JUNE
Steve Gilliard (writer)
Edwin Traisman (food scientist)
Mala Powers (actress/teacher)
Don Herbert (teacher)
Kurt Waldheim (U. N. chief/Austrian president)
Ed Friendly (TV producer/racehorse owner)
Bob Evans (entrepreneur/farmer)
Liz Claiborne (fashion designer)
Fred Saberhagen (writer)
Joel Siegel (movie critic)
JULY
Beverly Sills (opera singer/chair of the Met)
Boots Randolph (saxophonist)
Kerwin Mathews (actor)
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (writer)
Charles Lane (actor)
Doug Marlette (cartoonist)
Lady Bird Johnson (former First Lady)
William Tuttle (Make-up artist)
Tom Snyder (Talk show host)
Michelangelo Antonioni (director)
Ingmar Bergman (director)
AUGUST
Merv Griffin (singer/producer)
Phil Rizzutto (sportscaster/baseball player)
Brooke Astor (philanthropist)
Max Roach (jazz drummer/composer)
Leona Helmsley (businesswoman/ex-con)
Miyoshi Umeki (actress)
SEPTEMBER
Madeleine L'Engle (writer)
Luciano Pavarotti (opera star)
Jane Wyman (actress)
Brett Somers (actress)
Alice Ghostley (actress)
Marcel Marceau (French mime, member of the French Resistance, helped hide Jewish children from the Nazis and later served as a translator for US troops)
Lois Maxwell (actress)
OCTOBER
George Grizzard (actor)
Robert Bussard (physicist)
Carol Bruce (actress)
Lonny Chapman (actor/teacher)
Deborah Kerr (actress)
Joey Bishop (comedian)
Teresa Brewer (singer)
Peg Bracken (writer)
Eve Curie Labouisse (humanitarian/writer)
Friedman Paul "Chef Tell" Erhardt (chef/writer)
Porter Wagoner (country singer)
Robert Goulet (singer/actor)
NOVEMBER
Paul Tibbets (pilot)
Laraine Day (actress)
Norman Mailer (writer)
Delbert Mann (director)
Ira Levin (writer)
Dick Wilson (actor Mr. Whipple in the Charmin commercials)
Herbert Saffir (Building engineer)
Robert Cade (nephrologist)
Evel Knievel (Daredevil)
DECEMBER
Ike Turner (singer/songwriter)
Judith Meuli (writer)
Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman (musician/actor)
Dan Fogelberg (singer/songwriter)
Michael Kidd (choreographer/ dancer)
Oscar Peterson (jazz pianist)
Benazir Bhutto (politician)
One year, so many celebrities. I don't think I've missed anyone of note in this list — if I have, let me know. Happy New Year and remember one thing about this world of ours … no one gets out of it alive! Enjoy yourself and be good to people.
