TVSquad

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Floyd Red Crow Westerman: The American Indian actor and activist was known for many roles, including Albert Hosteen on The X-Files and Ten Bears in the movie Dances with Wolves. He also appeared in Walker, Texas Ranger, Dharma and Greg, L.A. Law, Northern Exposure, Judging Amy, Roseanne, Murder, She Wrote, MacGyver, and many other shows. He died of leukemia at age 71.

If you're not familiar with the name Roger King then you are most certainly familiar with the company King World Productions and the TV shows that they have produced.

King was the current CEO of CBS Television Distribution. King World merged with the network in 2000. Among the many shows that King World brought to the world: Oprah, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy. Those shows have been so successful that we'll even forgive the company for unleashing Dr. Phil on the world. When he got to CBS, King was responsible for the syndication of shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond and CSI.

King died of a stroke in Florida over the weekend.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Jeanne Bates: She was best known as Nurse Wills on the 1950s medical series Ben Casey. She appeared on many TV shows over the years, including That 70's Show, Wings, The Young and the Restless, Dallas, Three's Company, Quincy, M.E., Charlie's Angels, The Rockford Files, Cannon, The Saint, Hawaii Five-O, The Twilight Zone, and many others. She also appeared in several movies such as Die Hard 2, Grand Canyon, Eraserhead, the 1943 The Phantom serial, and the 1951 version of Death of a Salesman. She died of cancer at age 89.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Evel Knievel: He was the most famous motorcycle stunt artist, and he seemed to be on ABC's Wide World of Sports every other week in the 70s. His most famous jumps were his Caesar's Palace jump and his Snake River Canyon jump in a rocket. Though he made more than he missed. He died of complications from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis at age 69. Oddly, just two days ago he settled a lawsuit with Kanye West.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Sigrid Valdis: She was best known as playing Hilda on Hogan's Heroes. She went on to marry costar Bob Crane on the set of the show in 1970 (her married name was Patricia Crane). She also appeared in other shows, including The Wild, Wild West and Kraft Suspense Theater, as well as the movies Our Man Flint and Marriage on the Rocks. She died of lung cancer at age 72.

I little piece of your childhood just passed away.

Dick Wilson has died at the age of 91. He played Mr. Whipple on the long-running series of commercials for Charmin bathroom tissue. He would lurk around corners in the grocery store waiting for some hapless housewife to pick up a package of and squeeze it, then he'd come up to them and say "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" Then he'd squeeze the tissue himself. It seemed like Whipple didn't do anything else for that grocery change except watch out for people who might come down that aisle and squeeze the Charmin, but it's one of the more memorable ad campaigns in TV history. He made over 500 commercials from 1964 to 1985! He also appeared in many TV shows, including Bewtiched, Maude, The Bob Newhart Show, Quincy, M.E., Adam-12, Hogan's Heroes, The Partridge Family, and I Dream of Jeannie.

Godspeed Mr. Whipple. Two classic ads after the jump!

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Ronnie Burns: He was the son of George Burns and Gracie Allen and played himself on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The George Burns Show. He also appeared in other TV shows, including The Honeymooners, Playhouse 90, The Jack Benny Show, and Happy. He died of cancer at age 72 in Pacific Palisades, CA.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Laraine Day: She was probably best known for starring in such movies as Foreign Correspondent, Mr. Lucky, The Locket, and several Dr. Kildare movies, but she also had a variety show of her own in the 1950s and was a panelist on I've Got A Secret. She later made appearances on such shows as Murder, She Wrote, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Lou Grant, Medical Center, Airwolf, Hotel, and others. She was also known as "The First Lady Of Baseball" because of her marriage to Leo Durocher. She died in Utah at age 87.

First it was Bobby, then Silvio and now Satriale's.

Last month, the familiar building that served as one of the hangouts for Tony Soprano and his crew was demolished. Manny Costeira, owner of the property, told people, "We whacked the pork store" after selling the empty building and the property it sits on.

The well-known "pork store" had been closely identified with The Sopranos for the entirety of the show's run. Unfortunately, after the show's cancellation, the empty building became little more than a tourist attraction.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Henry Cele: He was probably best known for his role in the classic TV miniseries Shaka Zulu in 1986. He also starred in several movies, including The Ghost and the Darkness, Point of Impact, and two other Shaka Zulu movies. Before becoming an actor he was a pro soccer player. He died of a chest infection at age 58.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Chef Tell (Paul Erhardt): He was better known to TV viewers as Chef Tell, who cooked on several shows over the years, including his PBS series In The Kitchen With Chef Tell, Regis & Kathie Lee, Evening Magazine, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. According to some, the "Swedish Chef" character on The Muppet Show was based on Erhardt. He died of heart failure at age 63.

Well, this is unfortunate news. We told you last week that singer and actor Robert Goulet was in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, sedated and awaiting a lung transplant. Now comes news that Goulet passed away this morning.

Goulet had a really long career on stage, TV, and in film. He gained fame playing Sir Lancelot on Broadway in Camelot in 1960 with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. He went on to many other stage productions (Carousel, Meet Me In St. Louis, La Cage Aux Folles, The Pajama Game, and others), movies (Toy Story 2, Atlantic City), and TV shows (everything from The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote to Mission: Impossible and Howdy Doody). In the past several years he enjoyed spoofing himself, in movies such as The Naked Gun 2 1/2 to talk show appearances to stints on ESPN and those weird Emerald Nuts ads. He sings the theme to Jimmy Kimmel Live too.

Goulet suffered from Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. He leaves his wife of 25 years and three children.

It's hard for a lot of people to remember this, but country singer Porter Wagoner had a syndicated variety show, The Porter Wagoner Show, that lasted for 21 years. It came on the air in 1960 and ended in 1981. That's a lot of television.

He wore rhinestone suits all the time, but somehow he didn't become the Liberace of country music. He still looked real, and when you're wearing a rhinestone suit that's not easy to do. His hits included "Company's Comin," "Carroll County Accident," and "Green Green Grass of Home." He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame five years ago, and he helped launch the career of Dolly Parton, among others. He released his last album this past June.

Wagoner died over the weekend of lung cancer. He was 80.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Lonny Chapman: He was a veteran stage and screen actor/director who appeared on several TV shows over the years, including Murder, She Wrote, NYPD Blue, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Riptide, Hotel, Knight Rider, Trapper John, M.D., Simon & Simon, Vegas, Quincy, M.E., Charlies Angels, Kojak, McCloud, and many, many others. He also starred in several Broadway plays, including Come Back Little Sheba, and served in World War II. He died of heart disease at age 87.

The last of the Rat Pack is dead.

Joey Bishop, who along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford comprised the Rat Pack in the late 50s and early 60s, died of multiple causes in Newport Beach this morning.

Besides several movies, including the original Ocean's Eleven and The Naked and the Dead, Bishop starred in two different TV series titled The Joey Bishop Show.