Deaths
| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 6 | Bob LeMond | 94 | Radio and TV announcer (Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver) |
| January 16 | Allan Melvin | 84 | Actor (Magilla Gorilla, The Brady Bunch, All in the Family) |
| January 18 | Lois Nettleton | 80 | Actress (In the Heat of the Night) |
| January 19 | Suzanne Pleshette | 70 | Actress (The Bob Newhart Show) |
| January 25 | Jahna Steele | 49 | Transgendered entertainer (Was "outed" on A Current Affair in 1992 and made a guest starring role on NYPD Blue in 1995) |
| February 1 | Shell Kepler | 49 | Actress and presenter (General Hospital, HSN host) |
| February 4 | Augusta Dabney | 89 | Actress (Another World, A World Apart, Loving) |
| February 7 | John McWethy | 61 | News reporter/journalist (ABC News correspondent from 1979 to 2006; Was inside the Pentagon when it was struck by the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 during the September 11, 2001 attacks) |
| February 10 | Ron Leavitt | 60 | writer and producer (Happy Days, Married with Children) |
| February 10 | Roy Scheider | 75 | Actor (seaQuest) |
| February 12 | David Groh | 68 | Actor (Rhoda) |
| February 14 | Bill Currie | 85 | Sportscaster/commentator for KDKA-TV/Pittsburgh from 1970 to 1981 |
| February 16 | Steve Gerber | 60 | Illustrator/animator (Thundarr The Barbarian) |
| February 16 | Perry Lopez | 78 | Character actor (Star Trek) |
| February 19 | Claude "Grits" Gresham | 85 | Outdoor sportscaster (The American Sportsman) |
| February 27 | William F. Buckley, Jr. | 82 | Host and commentator (Firing Line) |
| February 27 | Myron Cope | 79 | Sportscaster at WTAE/Pittsburgh and color commentator for the Pittsburgh Steelers broadcasts |
| February 28 | Dick Fletcher | 66 | Weathercaster/meteorologist at WTSP/St. Petersburg-Tampa, Florida |
| March 16 | Ivan Dixon | 76 | Actor, producer and director (Hogan's Heroes) |
| April 5 | Charlton Heston | 84 | Actor (The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, The Colbys) |
| April 8 | Stanley Kamel | 65 | Actor (Monk) |
| May 1 | Jim Hager | 66 | One half of the Hager Twins and a regular on Hee Haw |
| May 3 | Beverlee McKinsey | 67 | Soap opera actress (Another World, Texas, Guiding Light) |
| May 11 | Richard Towne "Dick" Sutcliffe | 90 | Christian children's' TV producer/animator (Davey and Goliath) |
| May 15 | Alexander Courage | 88 | Composer (Star Trek theme song) |
| May 18 | Joseph Pevney | 96 | Actor (Bonanza) |
| May 24 | Dick Martin | 86 | Comedian and director (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) |
| May 25 | Earle Hagen | 88 | Music composer/musician (The Andy Griffith Show) |
| May 25 | Mitch Mullany | 39 | Actor (Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher) |
| May 27 | Sydney Pollack | 73 | Producer/director and actor (The Fugitive, Will & Grace, The Sopranos and host of The Essentials on Turner Classic Movies) |
| May 29 | Harvey Korman | 81 | Actor/comedian (The Carol Burnett Show, The Flintstones) |
| June 2 | Mel Ferrer | 90 | Actor, producer and director (Falcon Crest, Return of the Saint) |
| June 7 | Jim McKay | 87 | Sportscaster, journalist, narrator, and commentator for ABC, CBS and NBC Sports |
| June 13 | Tim Russert | 58 | Journalist for NBC News and host of Meet the Press from 1991 to 2008 |
| June 13 | Charlie Jones | 77 | Sportscaster for NBC and ABC Sports; Play-by-play TV announcer for AFL and NFL games |
| June 14 | Neil MacNeil | 85 | Journalist (Washington Week in Review) |
| June 16 | Tony Schwartz | 85 | Sound archivist/ad executive and creator of Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 "Daisy" political ad |
| June 17 | Cyd Charisse | 86 | Actress, singer and dancer (The Love Boat, Frasier, Fantasy Island, Burke's Law) |
| June 21 | Kermit Love | 91 | Puppeteer, costume designer, and TV actor (Sesame Street) |
| June 22 | George Carlin | 71 | Actor, writer, director and comedian (The George Carlin Show, Shining Time Station) |
| June 22 | Dody Goodman | 93 | Actress (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) |
| June 29 | Don S. Davis | 65 | Actor (Stargate SG-1, Twin Peaks) |
| July 3 | Larry Harmon | 83 | Entertainer (Bozo the Clown) |
| July 4 | Jesse Helms | 86 | Congressman, senator and former television anchor/reporter/commentator for WRAL-TV/Raleigh, North Carolina |
| July 12 | Tony Snow | 53 | Commentator (Fox News Sunday) and former White House Press Secretary. |
| July 17 | Larry Haines | 89 | Actor (Search for Tomorrow) |
| July 21 | Khia "K-Swift" Edgerton | 29 | Club radio DJ, Hip-Hop producer and remixer (The Wire, BET's Rap City) |
| July 22 | Estelle Getty | 84 | Actress (The Golden Girls) |
| August 7 | Bernie Brillstein | 77 | Producer and agent (Buffalo Bill, ALF, The Larry Sanders Show, NewsRadio) |
| August 8 | John K. Cooley | 81 | Journalist and author (ABC News) |
| August 9 | Bernie Mac | 50 | Actor and comedian (The Bernie Mac Show) |
| August 10 | John Esmonde | 71 | British scriptwriter (The Good Life) |
| August 10 | Isaac Hayes | 65 | Singer/songwriter and voiceover artist (South Park) |
| August 15 | "Engineer Bill" Stulla | 97 | Children's TV show host ("Cartoon Express" on KHJ-TV/Los Angeles from 1954 to 1966) |
| August 19 | Julius Carry | 56 | Actor (Doctor, Doctor, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.) |
| September 1 | Don LaFontaine | 68 | Voiceover announcer (Entertainment Tonight) |
| September 2 | Ike Pappas | 75 | News reporter (CBS News) |
| September 2 | "Captain" Mike Ambrose | 69 | Weatherman at KGTV/San Diego |
| September 3 | Jerry Reed | 71 | Actor and singer (The New Scooby-Doo Movies, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, The Concrete Cowboys, Hee Haw) |
| September 12 | George Putnam | 94 | News personality |
| September 28 | John Harden Norris | 88 | Former owner of WGCB-TV/Red Lion, Pennsylvania, whose former AM sister station was the center of a dispute over the Fairness Doctrine, one that he eventually lost, in 1964. |
| October 9 | Lloyd Thaxton | 81 | Host and producer (The Lloyd Thaxton Show, Fight Back! With David Horowitz) |
| October 11 | Neal Hefti | 85 | Theme music composer (Batman, The Odd Couple (Both the film) and the TV series)) |
| October 15 | Jack Narz | 85 | Game show host (Beat the Clock, Concentration) |
| October 25 | Anne Pressly | 26 | Anchorwoman and special assignment reporter for KATV/Little Rock, Arkansas |
| November 4 | Michael Crichton | 66 | Author and screenwriter (ER) |
| November 7 | Herb Score | 75 | Baseball player and TV/Radio play-by-play announcer for the Cleveland Indians |
| December 1 | Paul Benedict | 70 | Character actor, writer and director (The Jeffersons, Sesame Street) |
| December 5 | Beverly Garland | 82 | Actress, singer and businesswoman (My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King) |
| December 8 | Robert Prosky | 77 | Actor (Hill Street Blues) |
| December 11 | Maddie Blaustein | 48 | Voice actress (Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dinosaur King) |
| December 12 | Van Johnson | 92 | Actor and singer (Batman, Here's Lucy, The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957 television film)) |
| December 18 | Majel Barrett | 76 | Actress (Star Trek: The Original Series) |
| December 25 | Eartha Kitt | 81 | Actress, dancer and singer (Batman) |
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Read more about this topic: 2008 In American Television
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“I sang of death but had I known
The many deaths one must have died
Before he came to meet his own!”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Death is too much for men to bear, whereas women, who are practiced in bearing the deaths of men before their own and who are also practiced in bearing life, take death almost in stride. They go to meet death—that is, they attempt suicide—twice as often as men, though men are more “successful” because they use surer weapons, like guns.”
—Roger Rosenblatt (b. 1940)
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)