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In Memoriam 2021: Singers, Dancers, Actors, Writers, Directors

ByGramilano Reading Time: 7 minutes
In memorium - 2021
In memorium – 2021

In memoriam 2021: From to Christa Ludwig, from to Raffaella Carrà – a personal list of some of the artists the world lost in 2021.

NameDatesAgeDescription
1986-202135British dancer and choreographer who was an artist in residence with The Royal Ballet and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet
Helen McCrory1968-202152English actress from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and “The Queen”
Paul Ritter1966-202154English actor (“Quantum of Solace”, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, “Friday Night Dinner”)
Michael K. Williams1966-202154American actor (“The Wire”, “Boardwalk Empire”)
Pamela Helen Stephen1964-202157Mezzo-soprano featured on 30 recordings ranging from Strauss and Szymanowski to Mozart and Sullivan
Willie Garson1964-202157American actor best known for playing Stanford Blatch in “Sex and the City”
Sean Lock1963-202158English comedian and actor
Nick Kamen1962-202159English model, singer (“Each Time You Break My Heart”) and songwriter (“I Promised Myself”), bone marrow cancer.
James Michael Tyler1962-202159American actor best known for playing Gunther in “Friends”
Patrick Dupond1959-202161French dancer and artistic director (Paris Opera Ballet)
Graham Vick1953-202166British opera director
Ismael Ivo1955-202166Brazilian dancer and choreographer, director of Biennale Danza in Venice
Gianna Rolandi1952-202168American coloratura soprano based at the New York City Opera
Antony Sher1949-202172British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee
Gianni Nazzaro1948-202172Italian singer and actor (“Ma che musica maestro”, “Scandalo in famiglia”, “Impotenti esistenziali”)
John Miles1949-202172British rock singer, guitarist and keyboard player best known for his 1976 hit “Music”
Jim Steinman1947-202173American composer, lyricist, record producer, and playwright
1946-202174Slovak coloratura soprano
Gianluigi Gelmetti1945-202175Italian-Monégasque conductor and composer
Elijah Moshinsky1946-202175Australian opera , theatre, and television director
Nicola Pagett1945-202175British actress (“Upstairs, Downstairs”, “Privates on Parade”)
Franco Battiato1945-202176Italian singer-songwriter (“La voce del Padrone”, “Orizzonti perduti”, “Mondi lontanissimi”) and filmmaker, neurodegenerative disease.
1943-202176American conductor and pianist, music director of the Met from 1976 to 2016
Mary Wilson1944-202176American singer and founding member of The Supremes
Micha van Hoecke1944-202177Belgian dancer, choreographer and director
Gerry Marsden1942-202178English singer-songwriter, musician and television personality, leader of Gerry and the Pacemakers
Michael Nesmith1942-202178American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, and novelist, best known as a member of The Monkees
Raffaella Carrà1943-202178Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model
Chick Corea1941-202179American jazz composer, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist
Dilys Watling1942-202179English actress, best known for appearing on British television (“Coronation Street”, “The Benny Hill Show” and “The Two Ronnies”)
Michael Apted1941-202179Versatile director of “Up” documentaries, nominated for seven Academy Awards
Anne Rice1941-202180American author of gothic fiction, and erotic and Christian literature. (“The Vampire Chronicles”)
Charlie Watts1941-202180English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones
Giuseppe Giacomini1940-202180Italian tenor
Harvey Evans1941-202180American theatre and film actor (original Broadway productions of “West Side Story”, “Follies”, and “Hello, Dolly!”)
Ronald Pickup1940-202180English actor (“Darkest Hour”, “Verdi”, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, “The Mission”)
Milva1939-202181Italian singer and stage actress
Steuart Bedford1939-202181Conductor and pianist
Renato Scarpa1939-202182Italian film actor (“Il postino”, “We Have a Pope”)
Lucette Aldous1938-202182Australian prima ballerina, resident principal dancer with The Australian Ballet
Bob Avian1937-202183Choreographer and producer of Broadway hits
Ned Beatty1937-202183Actor known for “Network” and “Deliverance”
Piera Degli Esposti1938-202183Italian actor and comic
Carla Fracci1936-202184Italian ballet dancer, actress and ballet director
Don Everly1937-202184One of The Everly Brothers, an American country rock duo
Galina Samsova1937-202184Russian ballet dancer and company director (Scottish Ballet)
Gianfranco D’Angelo1936-202184Italian actor and comedian
Nino Castelnuovo1936-202184Italian actor of film, stage and television, best known for the French musical film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”
Una Stubbs1937-202184English actress, television personality and dancer (“Till Death Us Do Part”, “In Sickness and in Health”, “Worzel Gummidge”, “Sherlock”)
Dean Stockwell1936-202185American film, television, and stage actor with a career spanning over 70 years
Charles Grodin1935-202186American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host
Jacques d’Amboise1934-202186American ballet dancer, choreographer, actor, and educator,  New York City Ballet in principal dancer in 1953 dancing 24 roles for George Balanchine and choreographing 17 ballets for the company. Film appearances, including Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Carousel
George Segal1934-202187American actor, comedian and musician (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, “The Owl and the Pussycat”, “A Touch of Class”, “Fun with Dick and Jane”)
Joan Didion1934-202187American writer
Jean-Paul Belmondo1933-202188French actor, initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s
Norman Bailey1933-202188British-born American opera singer
Richard Rogers1933-202188Italian-born British architect best known for on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyd’s building and Millennium Dome, both in London, the Senedd building, in Cardiff, and the European Court of Human Rights building, in Strasbourg
Olympia Dukakis1931-202189Oscar-winning actress for “Moonstruck”, with more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series including “Tales of the City”
Trevor Peacock1931-202189English actor, screenwriter and songwriter, who made his name as a theatre actor, later in Shakespearean roles, later in his career he became best known for Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley
Leslie Bricusse1931-202190British composer (“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”), lyricist (“Goldfinger”, “You Only Live Twice”) and playwright, Oscar winner (1968, 1983)
Christopher Plummer1929-202191Canadian actor from Shakespeare to “The Sound of Music” with a career spanning seven decades
Clifford Grant1930-202191Australian operatic bass
Ed Asner1929-202191American actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant
Richard Donner1930-202191Director of “Superman”, “The Omen, “Lethal Weapon”
Sally Ann Howes1930-202191English actress and singer, best known as Truly Scrumptious in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, nominated for a Tony Award for “Brigadoon”
Stephen Sondheim1930-202191American composer and lyricist, one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre
Teresa Żylis-Gara1930-202191Polish operatic soprano
Bernard Haitink1929-202192Dutch conductor and violinist
Franco Graziosi1929-202192Italian actor
Jane Powell1929-202192American actress (“A Date with Judy”, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, “Royal Wedding”), singer and dancer
Lionel Blair1928-202192Canadian-born British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, and television presenter
Christa Ludwig1928-202193German mezzo-soprano
Jackie Mason1928-202193American stand-up comedian and film and television actor
Lina Wertmüller1928-193193Italian film director and screenwriter, best known for her 1970s art-house films. With “Seven Beauties” she became the first female director to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director in 1977
Patricia Wilde1928-202193Canadian-born ballerina and principal ballerina of New York City Ballet
Philip Chatfield1927-202193British born ballet dancer, choreographer and artistic director (Royal Ballet, artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet)
Cloris Leachman1926-202194American Oscar-winning actress and comedienne; she won eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations
Carlisle Floyd1926-202195American composer, primarily known for his operas
Elio Pandolfi1926-202195Italian stage, film and television actor, radio personality, and voice actor
Hal Holbrook1925-202195American actor, television director, and screenwriter
Jane Withers1926-202195One of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s
Marjorie Tallchief1926-202195American ballerina and the first Native American to be named étoile at the Paris Opera Ballet
Robert Cohan1925-202195American-born British dancer and choreographer, founder of The Place, London Contemporary Dance School 
Arlene Dahl1925-202196American actress active in films from the late 1940s
Cicely Tyson1924-202196American actress with a career spanning more than seven decades, known for her portrayal of strong African-American women
Mikis Theodorakis1925-202196Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works (“Zorba the Greek”, “Serpico”)
Luciana Novaro1923-202197Italian ballet dancer and choreographer
Violetta Elvin1923-202197Russian prima ballerina and actress
Betty White1922-202199American actress and comedian

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2 Comments
Mr Kenneth F M Leadbeater

As well as Graham Vick, we lost another great opera director in 2021, Elijah Moshinsky, who died aged 75 from Covid-19, after suffering a fracture.

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Gramilano

Thank you. A terrible oversight as I worked as his assistant at The Royal Opera House! I will add his name to the list.

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