RIP, Classic TV Friends

Over the past few months, we’ve lost many friends who have brought us countless classic TV memories. Your work in front of and behind the camera will never be forgotten…

  • Bill Arhos, founder of the long-running PBS music performance series Austin City Limits
  • Director-producer Richard Bare, best known for his work on the 1965-71 Eddie Albert sitcom Green Acres. He also directed the classic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man.” Bare lived to the ripe old age of 101
  • Television and film producer Harve Bennett, who worked on such classics as The Bionic Woman, The Mod Squad and The Six Million Dollar Man
  • Veteran character actor James Best, who guested on numerous classic TV shows including The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, Rawhide and The Twilight Zone. His most memorable role was as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard
  • Actress Lynn Borden, best known for her role as Barbara Baxter on the final season of the 1960s Shirley Booth sitcom Hazel
  • News reporter Stan Chambers, who worked for KTLA-TV 5 Los Angeles for an incredible 63 years (1947-2010). He is credited with the first live coverage of a breaking news story, a child trapped in an abandoned well back in 1949
  • Former child actress Suzanne Crough, who played the youngest member (Tracy) of the early 1970s sitcom brood The Partridge Family
  • Radio, television and advertising legend Stan Freberg. He got his start as a voice actor on classic Warner Bros. cartoons, then later hosted his own satirical radio series. His advertising work included memorable campaigns for Contadina Tomato Paste, Jeno’s Pizza Rolls and Sunsweet Pitted Prunes
  • Singer-actress Lesley Gore. She guested as one of Catwoman’s minions in the 1960s Batman series
  • Stage, film and television director Walter Grauman, known for his multi-decade work on classics like The Fugitive, Murder She Wrote, Route 66, The Streets of San Francisco and The Twilight Zone
  • Actor Geoffrey Lewis, perhaps best known for his roles in numerous Clint Eastwood movies. He also guested on classic TV shows like Bonanza, Cannon and Mannix. Lewis was a regular on the Alice spinoff series Flo (1980). His daughter is film actress Juliette Lewis
  • Screenwriter Don Mankiewicz, who penned episodes of classic series like Ironside, McMillan and Wife, One Step Beyond and Star Trek
  • Writer-producer Jenna McMahon, writer for The Carol Burnett Show and co-creator of such sitcoms as The Facts of Life, It’s a Living and Mama’s Family
  • Actress and game show panelist Jayne Meadows (I’ve Got A Secret, What’s My Line?) She was also the older sister of the late actress Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners) and the widow of comedian Steve Allen, the original host of The Tonight Show
  • Actor Leonard Nimoy, forever known as the iconic character Mr. Spock on Star Trek. He was also in the cast of Mission: Impossible and later hosted the syndicated documentary series In Search Of…
  • Disc jockey and voice artist Gary Owens, best known for his work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. He also voiced cartoon character Space Ghost and most recently served as the voice of classic TV diginet Antenna TV
  • Eugene Patton, one-time NBC stagehand who gained fame as Gene Gene The Dancing Machine on the 1970’s talent search game show The Gong Show
  • Advertising executive Rudolph Perz, creator of the Pillsbury Doughboy character
  • Actor Ben Powers, best known as Keith Anderson, Thelma’s husband on the 1970s sitcom Good Times
  • Veteran CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, who covered such historic events as the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War
  • Producer-director Sam Simon, co-creator of the modern animated classic The Simpsons. He got his start working as a storyboard artist and writer on several 1970s Saturday morning cartoons (The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids)
  • Actress-socialite Betsy von Furstenberg, who guested on such classic series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Have Gun-Will Travel. She later appeared on daytime dramas Another World and As The World Turns
  • Actress Grace Lee Whitney, Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek TV series and several subsequent films