Death: an unfortunate, inescapable part of life, and it'll eventually come for everyone - even the famous. So, when actors in the middle of filming a hit TV series pass away, the cast, crew, and even audience are frequently left with friend-shaped hole in their hearts. But the show must go on, right? Here are some of TV's most memorable characters who were written off after the actors playing them passed away. Beware of spoilers, and probably a couple of tears...
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00:00Here are some of TV's most memorable characters, who were written off after the actors playing
00:05them passed away.
00:06My little beauty, I found you at last!
00:14If you grew up in the 70s, chances are the quality of your childhood was directly proportionate
00:19to your familiarity with Mr. Hooper.
00:22Here's a refresher.
00:23Mr. Hooper was the proprietor of Hooper's Store, the preferred corner store and eatery
00:27for the denizens of Sesame Street.
00:29Here they congregated, shared meals, and discussed which letters and numbers the show was being
00:34brought to you by.
00:36Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1982.
00:41The producers considered writing Hooper out, sending the character off to Florida to retire.
00:47But instead, they acknowledged that their audience was mature enough to understand mortality
00:51and made a whole episode about his passing.
00:54Mr. Hooper died Will Lee, and Dulce Singer thought, why shortchange the kids now?
01:04Big Bird, don't you remember we told you Mr. Hooper died?
01:11He's dead.
01:12Oh yeah, I remember.
01:15It was a bold move by a children's show, and the episode won a Peabody for that season.
01:20As Sam's old baseball coach, Ernie Coach Pantuso could have easily fallen into the
01:25role of father figure for the Cheers protagonist.
01:28But instead, he was written as an almost childlike character.
01:31He was warm and universally beloved, and the part garnered actor Nicholas Colasanto three
01:37Emmy nominations.
01:38Arden, you're all confused.
01:39My God, how did he find the doorbell?
01:43Unfortunately, Colasanto died of a heart condition at age 61, before the show started filming
01:49its fourth season.
01:50The producers had no intention of recasting the role, but they needed another character
01:55to fill in the gap he'd left.
01:57It was explained that Coach had died, but not a lot of details were given.
02:01Howdy.
02:02I'm a friend of Coach's, is he around?
02:05I'm sorry, Woody, I guess you hadn't heard.
02:07No, Coach passed away a couple months ago.
02:11But yeah, I'd like to think he's still around.
02:13He was replaced by Woody Harrelson's character Woody, Coach's old pen pal, with whom he used
02:18to exchange pens in the mail.
02:20If you're looking for a few extra tears, check out the portrait of Geronimo that Sam straightens
02:25in the series finale.
02:26It belonged to Colasanto, and used to hang in his dressing room.
02:29I'm your host Bill McNeil, and you're probably wondering exactly what is the real deal today?
02:35Hey, good question.
02:38Phil Hartman was an American treasure on the same scale as Yosemite, even if he was technically
02:43born in Canada.
02:44Over a career spanning decades, Hartman played dozens of roles, including Ranger John Vickie
02:50Johnson in So I Married an Axe Murderer, Pee-Wee's Playhouse Captain Carl, and countless characters
02:55on SNL.
02:56During the last few years of his life, Hartman played news radio's Bill McNeil, egotistical
03:02co-anchor of the show's WNYX newscast.
03:06In 1998, Hartman was fatally shot by his wife, who then turned her gun on herself.
03:12Bill Hartman's tragic passing was addressed by news radio in a beautifully balanced manner.
03:17His character was laid to rest off-screen after having a heart attack, and the show
03:22managed to keep a sense of humor about his loss without being cruel.
03:25The next week, Bill McNeil's role was filled in by Max Lewis, played by Hartman's fellow
03:30SNL alum, John Lovitz.
03:33John Ritter was a beloved television icon by the time he was 29, thanks to his role
03:37as Jack Tripper on the classic TV sitcom Three's Company.
03:41Several film parts and television appearances followed, but his real return to the spotlight
03:45came in 2002 with the premiere of his hit show Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage
03:50Daughter.
03:51Based on the book of the same name, the show focused on Ritter's character, Paul Hennessy,
03:56and his attempts to maintain control over his daughter's dating lives.
03:59Just so you know, Kyle, if you ever pull into my driveway and honk, you better be delivering
04:04a package because you're sure as hell not picking anything up.
04:08The world was shocked by the sudden passing of John Ritter in 2003.
04:12He suffered an aortic dissection, a rare condition in which blood forces the layers of the aorta
04:17apart.
04:18Ritter had already finished shooting three episodes of the show's third season when he
04:22passed, and they were shown after his passing before the series went on hiatus.
04:27When it returned, Hennessy's death was addressed.
04:29The program was retitled as just Eight Simple Rules, and the paternal void left by Ritter
04:34was filled in by James Garner, who came on board as the grandfather of Ritter's kids.
04:39Depending on who you ask, the entire ending of The West Wing was completely changed by
04:44the passing of John Spencer.
04:46For six seasons, Spencer played Leo McGarry, beloved Chief of Staff and later counselor
04:51to the president for the Bartlett administration.
04:54His character was so well-received, Clinton-era Chief of Staff Leon Panetta once told Spencer,
05:00Any government would be lucky with Leo as Chief of Staff.
05:03In season seven, McGarry ran for vice president alongside Jimmy Smith's Congressman Santos.
05:09Sadly, John Spencer passed away as the result of a heart attack on December 16, 2005, and
05:14the series' creators were forced to figure out a way to resolve his story.
05:18According to executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell, the writers had planned for Santos and McGarry
05:23to lose the election, but felt that writing in the death of a beloved character and the
05:27loss of the White House was too much for the viewers to take.
05:30Hey.
05:33He died.
05:34Josh.
05:35Instead, they rewrote the ending with McGarry dying on election night and Santos becoming
05:40president.
05:41Showrunner John Wells has contradicted O'Donnell's claims, but one thing they agree on is this
05:46— they couldn't keep doing the show without Spencer.
05:49Miguel Ferrer had a long career, starting out as a TV actor before breaking into the
05:54public eye with his role as the ill-fated vice president of OCP in 1987's RoboCop.
06:00He found success both in front of the camera, as shown by his six-year run on Crossing Jordan,
06:05and as a voice actor, playing everything from villain Shan Yu in Disney's Mulan to Death
06:10on Adventure Time.
06:11What are you doing?
06:16Kiss of death, baby.
06:17Ferrer had been playing assistant director Owen Granger on NCIS Los Angeles for five
06:22years when he passed away due to throat cancer in 2017.
06:26A big loss for the CBS family.
06:28Miguel Ferrer, who starred on NCIS Los Angeles, died today of throat cancer at the age of
06:3361.
06:35Within the show, it had already been revealed that his character was dying, potentially
06:38as a result of exposure to Agent Orange.
06:41Initially, his character was written out as having left the country to deal with unfinished
06:45business.
06:46However, later in the series, viewers were told that Granger had passed away, having
06:50died peacefully under a tree after leaving to try to atone for his many missteps raising
06:55his daughter.
06:56Corey Monteith's brief but astonishing career as an actor saw him appearing in shows like
07:01Supernatural before really hitting it big on Glee.
07:04There he played Finn Hudson, the star athlete who joined the Glee Club and did a whole heap
07:08of singing.
07:09Didn't see you at Glee Club today.
07:12Is that still happening?
07:14I've taken over.
07:16Monteith's life was far more troubled than that of his beloved character.
07:20He had already checked into rehab by the time he was 19, and his struggles with chemical
07:24dependency were documented well before that.
07:26You know, you look, you see this young, all-American quarterback looking dude on the show and you
07:31just immediately make assumptions, and I think people started really identifying me with
07:35those assumptions.
07:36Then, in July 2013, Monteith was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room.
07:42An autopsy later revealed that the 31-year-old actor had passed away from overdosing on alcohol
07:47and heroin.
07:48After Monteith's passing, Finn Hudson was memorialized in the season 5 episode, The
07:53Quarterback, which paid tribute to the character without ever spelling out the circumstances
07:57surrounding his passing.
08:01Mrs. Wolowitz, are you okay?
08:05Don't mind me.
08:06I just cry when I'm lonely and have nothing to live for.
08:11Fans of CBS's The Big Bang Theory might not have been familiar with Carol Ann Suzy's face,
08:16but they definitely know her voice.
08:18You're gonna have to play outside!
08:21I'm not dressed to receive!
08:24She played Debbie Wolowitz, the unseen but oft-heard mother of Howard.
08:29While this was probably Suzy's most prolific role, she had a long, fascinating career as
08:33a television and movie actress, starting with a recurring role on Kolchak the Night Stalker
08:38all the way back in 1974.
08:41And if you haven't watched Kolchak, you've gotta watch Kolchak.
08:44It's some weird business.
08:46Sadly, in November 2014, Carol Ann Suzy passed away at age 62 after a battle with cancer.
08:53Mrs. Wolowitz passed away in her sleep during the episode, The Comic Book Store Regeneration,
08:58and several episodes were written around the character's death.
09:01My mom died?
09:03What?
09:05That was my aunt.
09:10Ma took a nap.
09:13She never woke up.
09:15A funeral was held, her urn was lost in airline luggage, and the gang had one more of her
09:20enormous meals.