Harvey Korman dead at 81
This seems to be a very active week for celebrity deaths, and it’s sad to report that Carol Burnett Show veteran Harvey Korman has died at age 81. He died of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at his UCLA Medical Center.
Besides The Carol Burnett Show, where Korman teamed for a ton of great sketches with Tim Conway (often cracking each other up), Korman appeared in many other shows since the early 60s, including ER, Ellen, Perry Mason, Route 66, The Red Skelton Show, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, Jack Benny, Gidget, The Lucy Show, The Munsters, The Wild, Wild West, F Troop, and many others. He was a regular on the sitcom Mama’s Family and did the voice of The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones. Movies that Korman appeared in include History of the World, Part 1, High Anxiety, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Blazing Saddles, Son of Flubber, Gypsy, and others.
Do you ever get the feeling that all of the great classic stars and performers are dying and it’s going to be a very different world in a couple of years? Rather depressing.
TV Obits: Burton, Jacobs, Leach, Pizer
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Iris Burton: She was a veteran Hollywood agent (and former Broadway/movie dancer) who represented such child stars as River and Joaquin Phoenix, Kirk and Candace Cameron, and Adam Rich. She died of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer’s. She was 77.
- Seaman Jacobs: He was a veteran television writer who worked on such shows as The Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction, The Love Boat, My Three Sons, F Troop, Diff’rent Strokes, I Dream of Jeannie, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy, The Addams Family, Chico and the Man, and many others. He also wrote several specials for Bob Hope. He died of a heart attack at age 96.
- Robert Warnes Leach: He was also a TV writer, working on such early TV shows as Perry Mason, Ripcord, Men Into Space, and The Adventures of Jim Bowie. He was also a journalism and screenwriting teacher. He died at age 93.
- Larry Pizer: He was a cinematographer who worked on many TV movies and miniseries, including I’ll Take Manhattan, Unnatural Causes, and Intimate Strangers, as well as the big screen movies Mannequin 2, Folks!, Phantom of the Paradise. He died at age 82.
- If you missed it, here is our obituary for Monk star Stanley Kamel.
TV Obits: Letts, Baer, Kenwith
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Dennis Letts: He was a teacher who taught at universities for 30 years and then decided to get into acting. He appeared in several TV shows, including Walker, Texas Ranger, Once and Again, and The CBS Summer Playhouse, as well as the TV movies Dallas: The Early Years, Challenger, and The Last Prostitute. On the big screen he was in Cast Away, Infamous, Passenger 57, A Perfect World, and many others. He died of cancer at age 73.
- Richard Baer: He was a veteran TV writer who wrote for several shows, including M*A*S*H, Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show, That Girl, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, The Life of Riley, Hennessey, Leave It To Beaver, and Barney Miller. He died of complications after a heart attack. He was 79.
- Herbert Kenwith: He directed many shows over the years, including Star Trek, Here’s Lucy, Diff’rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Good Times, Too Close For Comfort, Mary Tyler Moore, Sanford and Son, The Partridge Family, Love, American Style, Amen, and many others. He died of cancer at age 90.