• last year
When worldwide superstars like David Bowie or Carrie Fisher pass away, their loss dominates the news cycle for days. But for other celebrities, sadly, the spotlight doesn't linger so long. In fact, it's possible you may not have even heard that some of your favorite stars are no longer with us. Here's a look at some celebrities you didn't know had passed away.

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00:00When worldwide superstars like David Bowie or Carrie Fisher pass away, their loss dominates
00:05the news cycle for days.
00:07But for other celebrities, sadly, the spotlight doesn't linger so long.
00:11In fact, it's possible you may not have even heard that some of your favorite stars are
00:15no longer with us.
00:16Here's a look at some celebrities you didn't know had passed away.
00:20A frequent guest star on TV shows through the 1970s, Robert Guillaume became a household
00:25name thanks to a star-making turn as Benson Dubois on the hit show Soap.
00:29The character proved so popular, Benson was spun off into his own series.
00:33Guillaume later starred on the cult hit Sports Night and famously provided the voice of Rafiki
00:38in the classic Disney smash The Lion King.
00:40On October 24, 2017, Guillaume lost his battle with prostate cancer and passed away at the
00:46age of 89.
00:48Just how big a star was legendary New Orleans musician Fat Domino?
00:52During the 50s and 60s, the man-born Antoine Domino Jr. racked up over 60 hits on the Billboard
00:58Hot 100, with his best-known song, Blueberry Hill, hitting a peak of No. 2 in 1956.
01:04Additionally, Domino had nine No. 1 hits on Billboard's R&B charts.
01:08According to reports, the icon passed away peacefully on October 24, 2017.
01:14He was 89.
01:16Born in Egypt in 1932, Oscar-nominated actor Omar Sharif became an icon for a whole generation
01:21of film fans after he appeared in the classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago.
01:27For over 60 years, Sharif appeared in blockbusters such as The 13th Warrior and Hidalgo, but
01:33in early 2015, Sharif was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
01:37He had a heart attack later that same year and passed away on July 10, 2015, in Cairo,
01:42Egypt, at the age of 83.
01:45In 1987, 15-year-old Amanda Peterson catapulted into her heart with her breakout role in Can't
01:50Buy Me Love.
01:51Sadly, it would prove to be the height of her career.
01:54In the decades after, Peterson developed a drug habit and was arrested multiple times
01:58for drug possession and assault.
02:00In July 2015, Peterson's body was found in her home, reportedly with a cocktail of drugs
02:06in her system.
02:07The cause of death was officially listed as respiratory failure.
02:10She was 43.
02:12For nearly four decades, TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager was an unavoidable figure at NBA
02:18games, interviewing players and coaches while wearing the loudest, craziest suits possible.
02:23Sadly, on December 15, 2016, Sager passed away at the age of 65 after a two-year battle
02:29with cancer, but not before the league paid tribute to Sager by arranging for him to finally
02:33report on his first-ever Finals game.
02:36Superstar LeBron James spoke for all basketball fans when he paid tribute to Sager during
02:40the game.
02:41I'm happy to see you, man.
02:42Much love and respect.
02:43And I'm happy I was able to witness this in front of these fans.
02:47We really appreciate you."
02:49Character actor Glenn Quinn was known to a generation of TV fans as both Doyle on Angel
02:54and as Becky's dim boyfriend Mark on Roseanne.
02:57Quinn seemed on the verge of becoming a major superstar, even dating Gwyneth Paltrow for
03:01a time.
03:02Unfortunately, though, the bright lights of Hollywood turned out to be too much, as Quinn
03:06developed a drug habit.
03:07After being thrown out of rehab, Quinn died of a heroin overdose on December 3, 2002.
03:13He was just 32 years old.
03:15A legendary music producer and one of the fellas to be credited as the Fifth Beatle,
03:20George Martin produced all the Beatles hits from 1963's Please Please Me all the way through
03:251969's Abbey Road, working closely with the Beatles to refine the sound and texture of
03:30each and every song.
03:32Martin was practically a member of the band, and after they split up, he continued producing
03:36solo efforts by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
03:40Other musical acts that George Martin worked with include Brian Wilson, Celine Dion, and
03:44Elton John, to name a few.
03:46On March 8, 2016, Martin passed away in his sleep at the age of 90.
03:51After playing ice cream-loving Ravenclaw Marcus Belby in the worldwide smash hit Harry Potter
03:56and the Half-Blood Prince, Rob Knox seemed on the verge of stardom.
03:59His life was tragically cut short, however, on May 24, 2008, after a knife-wielding man
04:05attacked his brother at a pub.
04:07Knox valiantly leapt to his brother's defense and was fatally stabbed.
04:10He was only 18.
04:11A year later, his killer, Cole Bishop, was sentenced to life in prison.
04:15At the Half-Blood Prince's premiere, the cast wore white ribbons as a tribute to Knox.
04:20NBA star Manute Bowle was perhaps most famous for being 7'7", super tall even for professional
04:27basketball, but he was perhaps an even better humanitarian than athlete.
04:31After he retired, Bowle became a tireless advocate for Sudan Sunrise, an organization
04:36that promotes, as ESPN put it, reconciliation in Sudan.
04:40He worked to build houses and schools in Sudan, and he used his celebrity status to
04:44confront political corruption.
04:46Unfortunately, after battling the skin disease Stevens-Johnson syndrome, Bowle passed away
04:51on June 19, 2010, from kidney failure at the age of 47.
04:56After his death, Sudan Sunrise vowed to continue his fight to improve Sudan and to work towards
05:01his goal of building 41 schools around the nation.
05:05You might not know his name, but you've certainly seen the face of Wendell Middlebrooks, who
05:09became a textbook That Guy actor thanks to roles in films and TV shows like The Suite
05:14Life on Deck.
05:15He was perhaps best known, though, as the delivery guy from all those Miller High Life
05:19commercials.
05:20"...and that soda company showed us how those pop stars hit those high notes.
05:23Just repeated strikes to the groin.
05:25Just, uh, uh, uh."
05:28Sadly, on March 9, 2015, Middlebrooks suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism, leading to an
05:34outpouring of grief on social media from his many co-stars.
05:38He was only 36.
05:40The legendary boxer known as Macho Camacho was both a great entertainer and a great fighter,
05:45finishing with a career record of 79 wins and just six losses.
05:49After retiring, though, he struggled with drug addiction.
05:52On November 24, 2012, Camacho was driving with a friend who had nine bags of cocaine
05:58in his possession.
05:59Another car pulled alongside and opened fire.
06:02Camacho was shot in the head, and though doctors initially thought he might recover, he then
06:06suffered a heart attack that left him brain-dead.
06:08He was taken off life support and passed away four days after the shooting at the age of
06:1350.
06:14A YouTuber who gained millions of followers through her Little Loca show, Stevie Ryan
06:18became popular enough that she got her own sketch comedy show on VH1, StevieTV, which
06:23ran for two seasons.
06:25Unfortunately, Ryan also suffered from depression, a condition that got only worse when her beloved
06:30grandfather passed away.
06:31She said on the Mentally Chill podcast,
06:33I'm just worried that this is going to send me into a deeper depression."
06:36Two days later, on July 1, 2017, Ryan hung herself, leaving behind an all-too-brief legacy
06:43of a funny lady whose mental health issues took her away long before her time.
06:47A Hall of Fame baseball player who won two World Series with the Minnesota Twins, Kirby
06:52Puckett's career was cut short in 1996 due to glaucoma.
06:57Less than ten years later, at the age of 45, Puckett suffered a severe stroke and passed
07:01away just one day later.
07:03Then-Commissioner Bud Selig paid homage, saying,
07:06"...he was revered throughout the country, and will be remembered wherever the game is
07:09played."
07:11Legendary Hollywood icon Zsa Zsa Gabor made it until she was 99 years old, though if she
07:16got away with it, her tombstone would probably say she was 75.
07:20Married nine times, Gabor was famous as much for her personality as for the 30-plus films
07:25she appeared in beginning in the 1950s, always quick with a quip and usually insisting she
07:31was younger than she actually was.
07:33Gabor was left partially paralyzed after a car crash in 2002.
07:37On December 18, 2016, she passed away from heart failure after a long, full life.
07:43If you were a fan of the Police Academy films, you knew and enjoyed David Graff, who played
07:48Eugene Tackleberry in all six films.
07:50And that was just one of many roles for Graff, who also appeared in films like The Brady
07:55Bunch Movie and Rules of Engagement, as well as TV shows including The West Wing and Touched
08:00by an Angel.
08:01Sadly, on April 7, 2001, Graff suffered a fatal heart attack while attending a wedding.
08:07His wife later paid tribute to Graff with a moving play called Surviving David.
08:12In 1988, Ray Combs replaced Richard Dawson for the revival of the classic game show Family
08:17Feud.
08:18After six seasons, though, in 1994, producers fired Combs and brought back Dawson.
08:23It would prove to be the beginning of the end for Combs.
08:26After a series of poor financial decisions, Combs went through a painful divorce and was
08:30seriously injured in a car accident.
08:33It all led to a deep depression for Combs.
08:35On June 1, 1996, police placed Combs in psychiatric care after he trashed his house, but the intervention
08:42came too late.
08:43The next day, Combs took his own life at the age of 40.
08:47At age 7, Talia Joy Castellano was diagnosed with cancer.
08:51She responded by focusing on making herself as beautiful as possible, and in 2011, she
08:56started a YouTube channel devoted to makeup and beauty tutorials.
09:00She quickly became popular, so much so, in fact, that she appeared on Ellen in 2012.
09:05There, Ellen and CoverGirl magazine dubbed her an honorary CoverGirl, with her own cover
09:09and everything.
09:10"...CoverGirl wants to give you something to help, uh…"
09:13"...Oh my God!"
09:17Sadly, on July 16, 2013, Castellano passed away from cancer, surrounded by her loving
09:22family and mourned by millions of fans around the world.
09:25Monty Hall
09:26One of the most beloved game show hosts of all time, Monty Hall co-created and hosted
09:30the classic Let's Make a Deal from 1963 through 1990, turning the simple show into a national
09:36phenomenon when he embraced the idea of contestants appearing in wacky costumes.
09:41In 2009, Let's Make a Deal returned with Wayne Brady as host, but Hall was still involved
09:46behind the scenes, and even appeared occasionally alongside Brady to present very special deals.
09:52Sadly, Hall passed away on September 30, 2017, from heart failure.
09:56He was 96.
09:57Rod Taylor
09:58He never became a household name, but film buffs of every generation have appreciated
10:02Rod Taylor, who appeared in dozens of films over his long career.
10:06His most famous movies came nearly five decades apart, as Taylor co-starred in Alfred Hitchcock's
10:111963 classic The Birds, as well as Quentin Tarantino's 2009 smash hit Inglourious Bastards.
10:18That was his final film role.
10:20On January 7, 2015, Taylor passed away at home, surrounded by his friends and family,
10:26just four days shy of his 85th birthday.
10:28Stephen Hill
10:29Over more than 50 years in show business, Stephen Hill gained a reputation as a talented,
10:34versatile actor.
10:35He gained national fame on the 60s TV series Mission Impossible, but is perhaps best known
10:40for playing Adam Schiff for ten seasons on the classic series Law & Order.
10:44Called one of the truly great actors of his generation by Law & Order producer Dick Wolf,
10:49Hill passed away at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital on August 23, 2016, at the age of
10:5594.

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