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

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

Name	Dates	Age	Description
Liam Scarlett	1986-2021	35	British dancer and choreographer who was an artist in residence with The Royal Ballet and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet
Helen McCrory	1968-2021	52	English actress from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and “The Queen”
Paul Ritter	1966-2021	54	English actor (“Quantum of Solace”, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, “Friday Night Dinner”)
Michael K. Williams	1966-2021	54	American actor (“The Wire”, “Boardwalk Empire”)
Pamela Helen Stephen	1964-2021	57	Mezzo-soprano featured on 30 recordings ranging from Strauss and Szymanowski to Mozart and Sullivan
Willie Garson	1964-2021	57	American actor best known for playing Stanford Blatch in “Sex and the City”
Sean Lock	1963-2021	58	English comedian and actor
Nick Kamen	1962-2021	59	English model, singer (“Each Time You Break My Heart”) and songwriter (“I Promised Myself”), bone marrow cancer.
James Michael Tyler	1962-2021	59	American actor best known for playing Gunther in “Friends”
Patrick Dupond	1959-2021	61	French dancer and artistic director (Paris Opera Ballet)
Graham Vick	1953-2021	66	British opera director
Ismael Ivo	1955-2021	66	Brazilian dancer and choreographer, director of Biennale Danza in Venice
Gianna Rolandi	1952-2021	68	American coloratura soprano based at the New York City Opera
Antony Sher	1949-2021	72	British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee
Gianni Nazzaro	1948-2021	72	Italian singer and actor (“Ma che musica maestro”, “Scandalo in famiglia”, “Impotenti esistenziali”)
John Miles	1949-2021	72	British rock singer, guitarist and keyboard player best known for his 1976 hit “Music”
Jim Steinman	1947-2021	73	American composer, lyricist, record producer, and playwright
Edita Gruberova	1946-2021	74	Slovak coloratura soprano
Gianluigi Gelmetti	1945-2021	75	Italian-Monégasque conductor and composer
Elijah Moshinsky	1946-2021	75	Australian opera , theatre, and television director
Nicola Pagett	1945-2021	75	British actress (“Upstairs, Downstairs”, “Privates on Parade”)
Franco Battiato	1945-2021	76	Italian singer-songwriter (“La voce del Padrone”, “Orizzonti perduti”, “Mondi lontanissimi”) and filmmaker, neurodegenerative disease.
James Levine	1943-2021	76	American conductor and pianist, music director of the Met from 1976 to 2016
Mary Wilson	1944-2021	76	American singer and founding member of The Supremes
Micha van Hoecke	1944-2021	77	Belgian dancer, choreographer and director
Gerry Marsden	1942-2021	78	English singer-songwriter, musician and television personality, leader of Gerry and the Pacemakers
Michael Nesmith	1942-2021	78	American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, and novelist, best known as a member of The Monkees
Raffaella Carrà	1943-2021	78	Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model
Chick Corea	1941-2021	79	American jazz composer, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist
Dilys Watling	1942-2021	79	English actress, best known for appearing on British television (“Coronation Street”, “The Benny Hill Show” and “The Two Ronnies”)
Michael Apted	1941-2021	79	Versatile director of “Up” documentaries, nominated for seven Academy Awards
Anne Rice	1941-2021	80	American author of gothic fiction, and erotic and Christian literature. (“The Vampire Chronicles”)
Charlie Watts	1941-2021	80	English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones
Giuseppe Giacomini	1940-2021	80	Italian tenor
Harvey Evans	1941-2021	80	American theatre and film actor (original Broadway productions of “West Side Story”, “Follies”, and “Hello, Dolly!”)
Ronald Pickup	1940-2021	80	English actor (“Darkest Hour”, “Verdi”, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, “The Mission”)
Milva	1939-2021	81	Italian singer and stage actress
Steuart Bedford	1939-2021	81	Conductor and pianist
Renato Scarpa	1939-2021	82	Italian film actor (“Il postino”, “We Have a Pope”)
Lucette Aldous	1938-2021	82	Australian prima ballerina, resident principal dancer with The Australian Ballet
Bob Avian	1937-2021	83	Choreographer and producer of Broadway hits
Ned Beatty	1937-2021	83	Actor known for “Network” and “Deliverance”
Piera Degli Esposti	1938-2021	83	Italian actor and comic
Carla Fracci	1936-2021	84	Italian ballet dancer, actress and ballet director
Don Everly	1937-2021	84	One of The Everly Brothers, an American country rock duo
Galina Samsova	1937-2021	84	Russian ballet dancer and company director (Scottish Ballet)
Gianfranco D'Angelo	1936-2021	84	Italian actor and comedian
Nino Castelnuovo	1936-2021	84	Italian actor of film, stage and television, best known for the French musical film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”
Una Stubbs	1937-2021	84	English actress, television personality and dancer (“Till Death Us Do Part”, “In Sickness and in Health”, “Worzel Gummidge”, “Sherlock”)
Dean Stockwell	1936-2021	85	American film, television, and stage actor with a career spanning over 70 years
Charles Grodin	1935-2021	86	American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host
Jacques d'Amboise	1934-2021	86	American 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 Segal	1934-2021	87	American 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 Didion	1934-2021	87	American writer
Jean-Paul Belmondo	1933-2021	88	French actor, initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s
Norman Bailey	1933-2021	88	British-born American opera singer
Richard Rogers	1933-2021	88	Italian-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 Dukakis	1931-2021	89	Oscar-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 Peacock	1931-2021	89	English 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 Bricusse	1931-2021	90	British composer (“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”), lyricist (“Goldfinger”, “You Only Live Twice”) and playwright, Oscar winner (1968, 1983)
Christopher Plummer	1929-2021	91	Canadian actor from Shakespeare to “The Sound of Music” with a career spanning seven decades
Clifford Grant	1930-2021	91	Australian operatic bass
Ed Asner	1929-2021	91	American 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 Donner	1930-2021	91	Director of “Superman”, “The Omen, “Lethal Weapon”
Sally Ann Howes	1930-2021	91	English actress and singer, best known as Truly Scrumptious in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, nominated for a Tony Award for “Brigadoon”
Stephen Sondheim	1930-2021	91	American composer and lyricist, one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre
Teresa Żylis-Gara	1930-2021	91	Polish operatic soprano
Bernard Haitink	1929-2021	92	Dutch conductor and violinist
Franco Graziosi	1929-2021	92	Italian actor
Jane Powell	1929-2021	92	American actress (“A Date with Judy”, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, “Royal Wedding”), singer and dancer
Lionel Blair	1928-2021	92	Canadian-born British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, and television presenter
Christa Ludwig	1928-2021	93	German mezzo-soprano
Jackie Mason	1928-2021	93	American stand-up comedian and film and television actor
Lina Wertmüller	1928-1931	93	Italian 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 Wilde	1928-2021	93	Canadian-born ballerina and principal ballerina of New York City Ballet
Philip Chatfield	1927-2021	93	British born ballet dancer, choreographer and artistic director (Royal Ballet, artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet)
Cloris Leachman	1926-2021	94	American Oscar-winning actress and comedienne; she won eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations
Carlisle Floyd	1926-2021	95	American composer, primarily known for his operas
Elio Pandolfi	1926-2021	95	Italian stage, film and television actor, radio personality, and voice actor
Hal Holbrook	1925-2021	95	American actor, television director, and screenwriter
Jane Withers	1926-2021	95	One of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s
Marjorie Tallchief	1926-2021	95	American ballerina and the first Native American to be named étoile at the Paris Opera Ballet
Robert Cohan	1925-2021	95	American-born British dancer and choreographer, founder of The Place, London Contemporary Dance School
Arlene Dahl	1925-2021	96	American actress active in films from the late 1940s
Cicely Tyson	1924-2021	96	American actress with a career spanning more than seven decades, known for her portrayal of strong African-American women
Mikis Theodorakis	1925-2021	96	Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works (“Zorba the Greek”, “Serpico”)
Luciana Novaro	1923-2021	97	Italian ballet dancer and choreographer
Violetta Elvin	1923-2021	97	Russian prima ballerina and actress
Betty White	1922-2021	99	American actress and comedian

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.