TVSquad

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

• Anthony Minghella: He was best known for his movie work, writing and directing the Oscar-winning film The English Patient, as well as Cold Mountain,Truly, Madly, Deeply, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, but he also wrote for a lot of British television in the 80s and 90s, including several episodes of Inspector Morse and Grange Hill, and he later was a writer for Jim Henson's miniseries The Storyteller. He was also a producing partner of Sydney Pollack, co-producing such films as Michael Clayton and The Interpreter. He had just finished writing and directing the film The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which will debut on BBC1 on March 23. He died of a hemorrhage in London at age 54 after undergoing surgery to remove a growth on his neck.

Following on the news that Don Knotts passed away comes word that another TV veteran has died. Darren McGavin, who played roles from private eye Mike Hammer and Jerry Lewis' Delicate Delinquet cop buddy in the 50s to the original Carl Kolchak in The Night Stalker (let's forget about the awful remake this past season, shall we), died this morning in California.

Besides all the real-life writers I read when I was a kid, I was also inspired by two TV scribes: Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Kolchak, who fought monsters and demons and tried to write stories about them, but no one would believe him. 

Wow, Knotts and McGavin die within the same 24 hours. We've lost two classic stars.