Actress Patty Duke passed away this week, joining a long list of classic TV contributors who have died recently.

As a teen, Duke won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. Duke is best known for her work on the small screen, playing identical cousins Patty and Cathy Lane on The Patty Duke Show (1963-66).

Duke later married actor John Astin (The Addams Family) and two of their sons (Sean, Mackenzie) became actors as well. She passed away Tuesday at age 69.

We also bid farewell to:

• Producer-voice actress Sylvia Anderson, who teamed up with her husband Gerry to create Supermarionation series like Thunderbirds, Supercar and Fireball XL5
• Writer Howard Berk, who penned episodes of Columbo, Mission: Impossible and The Rockford Files
• Actor Peter Brown, best known for his roles on classic westerns Lawman and Laredo
• Veteran tennis commentator Bud Collins (CBS, NBC, ESPN)
• Actor James Douglas, who appeared in the primetime soap Peyton Place and daytime dramas Another World, As The World Turns, The Edge of Night and One Life To Live
• Longtime CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg
• Baseball player turned TV personality Joe Garagiola
• Actor George Gaynes, who guested on such classics as Bonanza, Hawaiian Eye, Hawaii Five-0 and Mannix. He may be best remembered for his roles on sitcom Punky Brewster and the Police Academy movies
• Writer-producer Earl Hamner Jr., creator and voice of The Waltons
• Actor Robert Horton (Wagon Train)
• Actor Ken Howard, best remembered for playing basketball coach Ken Reeves on The White Shadow
• Film actor George Kennedy (Airport, Cool Hand Luke, The Naked Gun), who also worked on the small screen (Dallas, Gunsmoke, McHale’s Navy, The Phil Silvers Show). He starred in two series of his own: Sarge (1971) and The Blue Knight (1975)
• Actor James Noble, remembered for his role as the governor on the Robert Guillaume sitcom Benson
• Veteran character actor Joe Santos, who played Lieutenant (Sergeant) Dennis Becker on The Rockford Files
• Writer-comedian-actor Garry Shandling, who wrote for classic 70s sitcoms Sanford and Son and Welcome Back Kotter. He later guest hosted The Tonight Show and starred in two groundbreaking cable series: It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show
• Radio personality Charlie Tuna, who was the announcer for a number of classic 70s-80s game and talk shows (The $25,000 Pyramid, The Mike Douglas Show, The Quiz Kids Challenge, Scrabble)
• Casting executive Renee Valente, who worked on such 1970s classics as The Partridge Family, Police Story, Police Woman and That’s My Mama

As 2015 draws to a close, we want to recognize a number of classic TV contributors who have passed on recently…

• Custom car builder George Barris, the man who brought us The Batmobile and The Munster Koach
• Actor Martin Brooks, best known for his role as Dr. Rudy Wells on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman
• Actor David Canary, known to classic TV fans as Candy on the long-running western series Bonanza. He later enjoyed a multi-decade run on the daytime soap All My Children
• Ray Gandolf, a folksy announcer for CBS Sports back in the 1970s and early 80s. He was the first sportscaster on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt
• Former child actor Charles Herbert, who guested on such classic series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Donna Reed Show, Family Affair and The Twilight Zone
• Old-time fiddler Ramona Jones, who appeared with her late husband Grandpa Jones on the country variety series Hee Haw
• Actress Marjorie Lord, who played Danny Thomas’s character’s wife on on the vintage sitcom Make Room for Daddy
• Actor Al Markim, best remembered for his role as Astro on the early science-fiction series Tom Corbett Space Cadet
• Character actor Al Molinaro, beloved by 1970s sitcom fans for his roles as Murray the Cop (The Odd Couple) and diner owner Al Delvecchio (Happy Days)
• Game show host Jim Perry, who emceed NBC’s Card Sharks and $ale of the Century in the 1970s and 80s
• Writer James Prideaux, a playwright who later penned episodes of daytime soap The Secret Storm as well as a number of made-for-TV movies
• Actor Rex Reason, who appeared on a number of early television series including The Alaskans, Man Without a Gun and The Roaring Twenties. He is best known for his role in the cult classic film This Island Earth
• British actor Nicholas Smith, the last-surviving original cast member of the classic Britcom Are You Being Served?

The list of classic TV contributors who have passed away in 2015 continues to grow. In the past few months, we have said goodbye to:

• Producer Merv Adelson, co-founder of Lorimar Television (Dallas, Eight Is Enough, Knot’s Landing, The Waltons)
• Composer Van Alexander, who worked on the music for such classic series as Bewitched, Dennis The Menace, The Farmer’s Daughter, Hazel and I Dream of Jeannie
• British actress Judy Carne, best known for her work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (Sock it to me!)
• Actor George Coe, who appeared on daytime dramas The Doctors and Somerset. He was also an original cast member of Saturday Night Live and most recently the voice of Woodhouse on the animated series Archer
• Actor John Connell, who worked on such early television shows as Danger, Mister Peepers and Studio One. He starred in the daytime drama Young Dr. Malone and later appeared on the classic gothic serial Dark Shadows
• Child actor Kevin Corcoran, who appeared in a number of Mickey Mouse Club serials like Spin and Marty. He also worked in a number of movies including Old Yeller and The Shaggy Dog
• Actress Yvonne Craig, forever known to classic TV fans as Barbara Gordon (a.k.a Batgirl) on the 1960s superhero series Batman
• Child actress Jean Darling, one of the original cast of Our Gang (The Little Rascals) film shorts
• Football player-turned-commentator Frank Gifford, best known as the long-time voice of ABC’s Monday Night Football
• Television executive Peter Grad, who served as president of MTM Studios and helped develop such series as The Fall Guy, L.A. Law and Mr. Belvedere
• Actor-turned-educator Bruce Hyde, who portrayed Lt. Kevin Riley in the original Star Trek
• Actor-comedian Marty Ingels (I’m Dickens He’s Fenster), the long-time spouse of actress Shirley Jones
• Writer Ray Jessel, who penned episodes of 1970s classics The Bob Newhart Show, The Carol Burnett Show and The Love Boat
• Actor Dean Jones, who appeared on classic TV series like Bonanza, Burke’s Law and Ensign O’Toole. He is best known for his work on Disney films including That Darn Cat and Herbie The Love Bug. The latter spawned a short-lived 1982 TV series
• Actor Jack Larson, photographer-cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on The Adventures of Superman
• Film actress Joan Leslie, who later guested on television series like Branded, Charlie’s Angels, The Incredible Hulk and Studio 57
• Television executive Howard Lipstone, who teamed with partner Alan Landsburg to produce such series as In Search Of…, That’s Incredible!, Gimme A Break! and Kate and Allie
• Actress-writer Peg Lynch, who wrote and starred in the long-running radio and TV sitcom Ethel and Albert
• Actor Martin Milner, best known for his starring roles on Route 66 (Tod Stiles) and Adam-12 (Officer Pete Malloy)
• Actress Melody Patterson, Wrangler Jane on the classic 1960s sitcom F-Troop
• Actor Alex Rocco, who guested on numerous classic series including Batman, Cannon, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Starsky & Hutch. He is perhaps best remembered for his big-screen role as Moe Greene in The Godfather
• Welsh actor Roger Rees, known for his portrayal of tycoon Robin Colcord on Cheers
• Producer-director Lela Swift (Dark Shadows, Ryan’s Hope)
• Actress-singer Pat Woodell, the original Bobbie Jo Bradley on the 1960s sitcom Petticoat Junction. She left after two seasons and was replaced by Lori Saunders
• Producer Bud Yorkin, who partnered with Norman Lear on classic 1970s sitcoms All In The Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and Sanford and Son. Lear and Yorkin first worked together on 1950s variety series The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show

We’ve lost a lot of familiar classic TV faces this year. Recently we bade farewell to…

• Screenwriter-author William Bast, who wrote episodes of classic series like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, Combat!, Outer Limits and Perry Mason. Bast also penned two biographies about big screen legend James Dean
• Joanne Carson, the second wife of late night icon Johnny Carson. She also hosted her own syndicated health-focused talk show
• Actor-comedian Jack Carter, who guested on numerous classics including CHiPs, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Dream of Jeannie, Love American Style, Mannix and The Wild Wild West. He also appeared as himself on many popular game and talk shows of the 60s, 70s and 80s
• Actor John Colenback, who portrayed Dan Stewart on the long-running CBS daytime soap As The World Turns
• Actor John Compton, who appeared on many early TV shows like The Cisco Kid, The D.A.’s Man, Fury, The Real McCoys and Surfside 6
• Television news executive Ed Fouhy, who worked at all three networks in the 70s and 80s
• TV syndicator Michael King who, alongside his brother Roger, inherited King World Productions. Their father started the company in the 60s by repackaging The Our Gang comedies as The Little Rascals. The King brothers went on to syndicate such modern classics as Jeopardy!, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Wheel of Fortune. They sold the company to CBS in 2000
• Veteran British actor Christopher Lee, well known for his big screen roles as Dracula, James Bond villain Francisco Scaramanga and the wizard Saruman in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Lee also appeared on the small screen, including roles on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, How the West Was Won, One Step Beyond and Space: 1999
• Singer-actress Monica Lewis, the voice of Miss Chiquita Banana in a long-running series of TV commercials (never put bananas in the refrigerator!)
• English-American actor Patrick Macnee, who played secret agent John Steed in the classic 1960s British spy-fi series The Avengers
• Actress-comedienne Anne Meara, wife of comedy partner Jerry Stiller and mother of actor Ben Stiller. Anne starred in her own short lived 1975 mystery series Kate McShane. She was later a regular on Archie Bunker’s Place and had recurring roles on ALF and The King of Queens
• British actor Ron Moody (Fagin in Oliver!), who guested on such American shows as Gunsmoke, Hart to Hart and Starsky & Hutch
• Actress Betsy Palmer, who appeared on many early television series including Climax!, Goodyear Playhouse and The United States Steel Hour. She was also a panelist on the long-running quiz show I’ve Got A Secret. Palmer is perhaps best known to modern audiences for her role as Mrs. Voorhees, Jason’s mother on the classic 1980 horror film Friday the 13th.
• Marty Paseta, longtime director of The Academy Awards
• Producer Harry R. Sherman, who worked on late 1960s sitcoms Get Smart, The Good Guys and The Governor and J.J.
• Actor John Stephenson, best known as the voice of Fred’s boss Mr. Slate on the classic stone age cartoon The Flintstones. He also guested on such shows as The Beverly Hillbillies, Gomer Pyle USMC, I Love Lucy, The Lone Ranger and Perry Mason
• Writer-producer Chris Thompson, who got his start writing an episode of the short-lived Nancy Walker sitcom Blansky’s Beauties (1977). He went on to work on 70s-80s sitcoms Bosom Buddies and Laverne & Shirley. He most recently was creator of a Disney Channel sitcom called Shake It Up!
• Actor Dick Van Patten, best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford on the family series Eight Is Enough (1977-81). His first big television role was on the 1949-67 comedy series Mama, later guesting on numerous classic shows of the 60s and 70s.