In memoriam 2024: Celebrating 30 legendary entertainers who died this year
Throughout 2024, we have been updating our “In Memoriam” photo gallery (view above). Scroll through to remember 30 entertainers from film, television, theater, and music. Many were winners at the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, and/or Tonys. Here is a closer look at just a few of those we celebrate in our gallery:
James Earl Jones died on Sept, 9 at age 93. He was a two-time Tony winner for The Great White Hope and Fences. He won three Emmys for Heat Wave, Gabriel’s Fire, and Summer’s End. He won a Grammy for Great American Documents in 1977. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2002, SAG life achievement award in 2009, and an honorary Oscar in 2011. Credits also include an Oscar nomination for The Great White Hope, voicing Darth Vader in multiple Star Wars movies, voicing Mufasa in The Lion King (both in 1994 and 2019), Coming to America, and Field of Dreams.
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Quincy Jones died on Nov. 3 at age 91. He was a 28-time Grammy winner, working with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, and many more. He won an Emmy for Roots and a Tony for The Color Purple. He received the Hersholt humanitarian award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Toby Keith died on Feb. 5 at age 62. He was a seven-time Grammy nominee and an inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame.
Bob Newhart died on July 18 at age 94. His first album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart brought him three Grammy Awards in 1961 (Album of the Year, Comedy Album and New Artist). He was the star of CBS hit shows The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart. He was a nine-time Emmy nominee, winning in 2013 for his guest role on The Big Bang Theory. He was inducted into the TV Academy Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2002.
Chita Rivera died on Jan. 30 at age 91. The actress and dancer was a 10-time Tony nominee, winning twice for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider-Woman. She was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Gena Rowlands died on Aug. 14 at age 94. She was a two-time Oscar nominee for A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria. She received an honorary Oscar in 2015. Other films included Faces, Another Woman, and The Notebook. She won three Emmys for The Betty Ford Story, Face of a Stranger, and Hysterical Blindness.
Maggie Smith died on Sept. 27 at age 89. She won two Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite, with other nominations for Othello, Travels with My Aunt, A Room with a View, and Gosford Park. She won at the Emmy Awards three times for Downton Abbey with another for My House in Umbria. She won at the Tony Awards for Lettice and Lovage after prior nominations for Private Lives and Night and Day.
Donald Sutherland died at age 88 on June 20. His best known films included The Dirty Dozen, Ordinary People, M*A*S*H, Klute, JFK, and The Hunger Games franchise. He won an Emmy for the miniseries Citizen X. He received an Honorary Oscar in 2017.
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