/ 22 December 2016

RIP: They left us in 2016

The greatest of all time.
The greatest of all time.

South Africans gone to join the ancestors

Junaid Ahmed (57). Award-winning movie producer (including Lucky in 2006), filmmaker and cultural activist, who mentored many others in the industry over three decades.

Jaco Botha (44). Afrikaans author of poems, stories and children’s tales.

Tim Couzens (72). Pioneering writer of South African history, including the prize-winning Tramp Royal: The True Story of Trader Horn (1992) and Murder at Morija: Faith, Mystery and Tragedy on an African Mission (2003)

Clive Derby-Lewis (80). Right-wing politician and conspirator in the murder of Chris Hani in 1993; he spent 20 years in jail.

Trevor Goddard (85). Cricketer; played 41 Tests between 1955 and 1970. Captained the (white) South African cricket team on mid-1960s international tours.

Martin Legassick (75). Writer, historian and political activist; among his key works is Towards Socialist Democracy (2007).

Beata Lipman (88). A lifelong anti-apartheid activist, famous as transcriber of the Freedom Charter; also a filmmaker. She published We Make Freedom: Women in South Africa — A Collection of Testimonies, in 1984.

Hermanus Loots, known as James Stuart (79). ANC and Umkhonto weSizwe leader, noted for his report into abuses at camps in Angola.

Jeannette Minnie (61). Media freedom activist; worked with the Global Forum for Media Development, Right2Know and Save Our SABC campaigns.

Mandoza (Mduduzi Tshabalala) (38). Kwaito star best known for his massive hit Nkalakatha (2000).

Sfiso Ncwane (37). Much-loved gospel singer; his breakout hit was Kulungile Baba (2010).

Juda Ngwenya (65). Photojournalist who covered the anti-apartheid struggle for two decades.

Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan (96). Academic, author and women’s rights activist; mother of Pallo Jordan.

Mewa Ramgobin (83). Struggle stalwart who led Natal Indian Congress; banned for 17 years and placed under house arrest for 12.

Adam Small (79). Poet (Kitaar My Kruis, 1962), playwright (Kanna Hy Kô Huistoe, 1965) and thinker (A Brown Afrikaner Speaks, 1971) who turned Afrikaans against the white oppressors.

Makhenkesi Stofile (72). ANC leader, sports minister, Eastern Cape premier and ambassador to Germany.


Edward Albee (88). Prize-winning playwright who made his name with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1962.

Muhammad Ali (74). Champion American boxer and eloquent activist; one of the 20th century’s most significant sports figures.

Alexis Arquette (47). Trans movie star and stage performer.

Kenny Baker (81). Diminutive actor who inhabited Star Wars character R2-D2 in six films.

David Bowie (69). Innovative rock songwriter and performer who transformed pop in the early 1970s.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (93). Egyptian diplomat; secretary general of the UN from 1992 to 1996.

Pete Burns (57). Cross-dressing British rocker; fronted Dead or Alive.

Anita Brookner (87). British novelist and historian.

Fidel Castro (90). Leader of the Cuban revolution and hero of freedom fighters across the world; held power for nearly 50 years.

Michael Cimino (77). Hollywood director of The Deer Hunter, winner of five Oscars in 1978.

Otis Clay (73). Soul singer, known for 1967 hit That’s How It Is (When You’re in Love).

Leonard Cohen (82). Canadian poet, songwriter and singer whose songs, such as Suzanne (1967), are deemed among the finest of the past century.

Pat Conroy (70). American author of bestselling 1976 novel, later a hit film, The Prince of Tides.

Ronnie Corbett (85). British comedian and TV star, known for The
Two Ronnies
.

Raoul Coutard (92.) French cinematographer and key figure of the nouvelle vague, known especially for his work with radical director Jean-Luc Godard.

Bob Cranshaw (83). American jazz bassist; played on a host of key 1960s and 1970s recordings, and on many TV show and film scores.

Steve Dillon (54). Artist; co-creator of graphic novel sequence Preacher.

Umberto Eco (84). Italian scholar, critic and novelist who had a great influence on poststructuralist poetics. Wrote the bestselling The Name of the Rose (1980).

Keith Emerson (71). Founder and keyboardist of progressive rockers Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Stephen Ellis (62). British-born historian who wrote widely about South Africa, particularly the ANC’s exile history (External Mission, 2012); his last work was This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organised Crime (2016).

Glen Frey (67). American musician, guitarist of The Eagles and co-writer of global hit Hotel California (1976).

Dario Fo (90). Italian playwright and performing arts worker, most famous for Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970); received Nobel prize for literature in 1997.

Zsa Zsa Gabor (99). Hungarian-American starlet and socialite, known for her many marriages.

David Gest (62). American music producer, TV star and onetime husband of Liza Minnelli.

AA Gill (63). British food critic and sometime novelist famed for his hilariously sharp tongue.

Ron Glass (71). American actor who had a key role in Star Trek and another in cult hit Firefly.

John Glenn (95). American astronaut and later senator; second person to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft (1962).

Zaha Hadid (65). Innovative Iraqi-British architect. Among her buildings are the Aquatics Centre for the 2012 London Olympics and the Galaxy Soho in Beijing.

Curtis Hanson (71). Hollywood writer-director who won an Oscar for LA Confidential (1997).

Merle Haggard (79). Country singer-songwriter who married tradition and novelty in a long career that included more than 30 number-one hits.

Guy Hamilton (93). British movie director, responsible for three James Bond films, including Goldfinger.

Arthur Hiller (92). Canadian-American director who made 33 movies, including 1970 Oscar-winner Love Story.

Bobby Hutcherson (75). Groundbreaking jazz vibraphonist and xylophonist.

Jayalalithaa Jayaram (68). Indian actor and later populist politician; served five terms as chief minister of Tamil Nadu province.

Sharon Jones (60). Neo-soul singer; fronted The Dap-Kings.

Paul Kantner (74). Co-founder and guitarist of psychedlic rock band Jefferson Airplane.

Lemmy Kilmister (70). American singer; he fronted metal band Motorhead.

Zoltán Kocsis (64). Virtuoso Hungarian pianist and conductor.

Greg Lake (6). British musician; a founder member of progressive rockers King Crimson in 1968, and then Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Harper Lee (89). Reclusive author of the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which sold more than 40-million copies across the world and became a classic of American literature.

Lonnie Mack (74). Highly influential blues, rock and country guitarist.

Garry Marshall (81). Hollywood director and writer; his Pretty Woman (1990) was a massive hit.

George Martin (90). Producer of The Beatles, as well as many other leading groups from the 1960s onwards.

Scotty Moore (84). Pioneering rock ’n roll guitarist, particularly behind Elvis Presley.

Billy Name (76). Photographer and filmmaker, part of Andy Warhol’s Factory set in the 1960s.

Shimon Peres (93). Israeli leader in various capacities, including prime minister, foreign minister, and president from 2007 to 2014.

Prince (57). Flam-boyant pop star, musician and composer who melded rock, funk, soul, pop and rap in a powerful new form. Among his many hits were Purple Rain (1984) and Sign o’ the Times (1987).

Nancy Reagan (94). American actor; US first lady from 1981 to 1989.

Janet Reno (78). First woman to serve as US attorney general, a job she did for eight years.

Alan Rickman (69). Shakespearean actor, best known for his star turn as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

Leon Russell (74). American pianist and songwriter who, besides his own work, played on two or three generations of artists’ records, from Frank Sinatra to Elton John. Wrote the standard A Song for You (1971).

Andrew Sachs (86). British actor famed for playing Manuel the waiter in Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979).

Gary Shandling (66). American comedian and writer, known for his creation of and performance in The Larry Sanders Show.

Ousmane Sow (81). Senegalese sculptor, widely exhibited across the world from the 1990s onwards.

Jean Baptiste “Toots” Thielemans (94). Belgian-American musician famed for bringing the harmonica into the jazz mainstream.

Peter Vaughan (93). British actor with a long career, including his role as Maester Aemon in Game of Thrones.

Robert Vaughn (83). American actor who hit fame with the first TV version of The Man from UNCLE (1964-1968); latterly starred in the long-running British TV drama about con artists, Hustle (2004-2012).

Bobby Vee (73). One-time boyish pop singer who had some early 1960s hits.

Papa Wemba (66). Congolese musician famed around the world as the king of rhumba.

Maurice White (74). Founding member of 1970s jazz-funk group Earth, Wind & Fire.

Elie Wiesel (87). Holocaust survivor and writer; awarded Nobel peace prize in 1986.

Gene Wilder (83). American actor, mostly comic; among his biggest hits were Blazing Saddles (1974) and The Producers (1967).

Terry Wogan (77). Irish-born broadcaster with a 50-year career, beloved for his BBC morning programme, which ran from 1972 to 2009, and his TV show Wogan (1982-1992).