Year in Review

Now that the end is near, let's take a moment to consider The End. Death is always a tricky topic to bring up – it's such a downer, a real conversation killer – and never more so than as the year is ending with everyone in such a holly-jolly mood and the holiday party season in full swing.

And yet, death has a way, as death always does, of creeping in and taking its place at the table. These betwixt and between days when the old year is ending and the new year has just begun is a time that mixes anxious excitement about what's to come with a sorrowful smile back at what's passed. Remembering is what we do to mark and honor our own and others' brief, bright time on Earth. "Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?" is the question we sing to ourselves every New Year's Eve, and the answer we always give back, with a cheer and clink of glasses, is "no."

So we remember, with the inevitable electronic tapestries of faces and names that fill the media as the old year's days dwindle down. The Internet adds a new digital dimension to this ritual of remembering as homemade montages of people who died in 2007 are e-mailed and posted about the Web.

Every year is different and every year is the same when it comes to death. Some years are marked by the passing of some overarching person whose life and accomplishments sum up some part of who we are – this was the year that Frank Sinatra died or this is the year Audrey Hepburn died. But other years don't have that one grand figure. 2007 didn't. This is the year that Kurt Vonnegut died, a wise and great American author that most people have heard of but probably never read. This is the year that Ingmar Bergman died, as well as Michelangelo Antonioni, both great, totemic filmmakers. They forever changed the way we see movies, but when was the last time you checked out one of their films?

Likewise, the only two opera singers most people could name if asked to name two opera singers – Beverly Sills and Luciano Pavarotti – died this year. They helped bridge the gap between rarefied art and pop cultures, as did the world-famous mime, Marcel Marceau. Has a moment of silence ever been a more fitting tribute?

But, reflecting the age we live in, it's the pop-culture players who strike the most immediate and obvious chords of recognition. 2007 was a year of celebrity train wrecks, and all of those stars caught in the prehab/rehab loop and all of those tabloidized viewers following their shenanigans would do well to remember the end that befell Anna Nicole Smith. In life, celebrities may play a lot of roles, but they all play the same one in death – time markers, symbols of some lost-in-time moment. So you scan this list of the famous dead and see that Yvonne De Carlo died and you remember all those afternoons spent watching The Munsters when you got home from school. Or you see Deborah Kerr's name and remember that kiss with Burt Lancaster, the surf surging over them in From Here to Eternity, and where you were the first time you saw it and how it made you feel.

And then, finally, there are those names that catch you, make you stop, and think, and remember. Molly Ivins, the personification of everything that is smart and sassy and great about being from Texas. And Raymond Nasher. There are a lot of titles appended to his name: father, philanthropist, businessman. But in the end, he may be remembered most as a magician. After all, he took a vacant, litter-strewn lot in downtown Dallas and turned it into one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

Del Reeves, 74, Grand Ole Opry star ("Girl on the Billboard"), on Jan. 1.

Yvonne De Carlo, 84, the vampire mom on The Munsters, on Jan. 8.

Carlo Ponti, 94, Italian producer who discovered – and married – Sophia Loren, on Jan. 9.

Michael Brecker, 57, saxophonist who won 11 Grammy Awards, on Jan. 13.

Ron Carey, 71, who played a cocky, height-challenged policeman on Barney Miller, on Jan. 16.

Art Buchwald, 81, Pulitzer-winning Washington humorist, on Jan. 17.

Denny Doherty, 66, member of the 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas ("California Dreamin' "), on Jan. 19.

Liz Renay, 80, colorful cult-movie actress (John Waters' Desperate Living), on Jan. 22.

Bob Carroll Jr., 87, TV writer for Lucille Ball's shows, on Jan. 27.

Tom Morrell, 68, prolific steel-guitar player who was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, on Jan. 29.

Sidney Sheldon, 89, stage and screen writer turned best-selling novelist (The Other Side of Midnight), on Jan. 30.

Molly Ivins, 62, nationally syndicated columnist, best-selling author and partisan wit, on Jan. 31.

Gian Carlo Menotti, 95, Pulitzer-winning Italian composer (The Consul, Amahl and the Night Visitors), on Feb. 1.

Barbara McNair, 72, pioneering black singer-actress who had her own TV variety show, on Feb. 4.

Frankie Laine, 93, big-voiced singer who was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1950s ("That Lucky Old Sun"), on Feb. 6.

Anna Nicole Smith, 39, model and sometime actress, on Feb. 8.

Robert Adler, 93, co-inventor of the TV remote, on Feb. 15.

Ray Evans, 92. Oscar-winning songwriter ("Mona Lisa," "Buttons and Bows"), on Feb. 15.

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., 89, Pulitzer-winning historian, on Feb. 28.

Brad Delp, 55, lead singer for the band Boston ("More Than a Feeling"), on March 9.

Richard Jeni, 49, stand-up comedian who was a regular on The Tonight Show, on March 10.

Betty Hutton, 86, singer-actress who brought brassy vitality to Hollywood musicals (Annie Get Your Gun), on March 11.

Wendy Reves, 90, native Texan philanthropist who helped sustain the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Dallas Museum of Art, on March 13.

Raymond Nasher, 85, who left an indelible stamp on Dallas by developing NorthPark Center and giving the city a sculpture collection worth more than $400 million and the museum that serves as its permanent home, on March 16.

Stuart Rosenberg, 79, TV and film director (Cool Hand Luke ), on March 15.

Luther Ingram, 69, R&B singer and songwriter known for "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)," on March 19.

Calvert DeForest, 85, played bespectacled nebbish Larry "Bud" Melman on David Letterman's shows, on March 19.

Edward Mallory, 76, portrayed angst-ridden Dr. Bill Horton on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, on April 4.

Martha Jane "Happy" Yancey, 61, veteran Dallas theatrical designer, on April 6.

Johnny Hart, 76, cartoonist whose B.C. showed the humorous side of the Stone Age, on April 7.

Walter Hendl, 90, conductor and administrator whose career included a stint as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra 1949-58, on April 10.

Kurt Vonnegut, 84, novelist who captured the absurdity of the world in darkly humorous works such as Slaughterhouse-Five, on April 11.

Roscoe Lee Browne, 81, Emmy-winning actor known for his rich voice and dignified bearing, on April 11.

Don Ho, 76, Hawaiian crooner ("Tiny Bubbles"), on April 14.

Kitty Carlisle Hart, 96, singer-actress whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film (A Night at the Opera), on April 17.

David Halberstam, 73, journalist whose acclaimed books included a towering study of the Vietnam War and a poignant portrait of aging baseball stars, on April 23.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett, 69, who did a dead-on Boris Karloff impression in the novelty hit "Monster Mash," on April 25.

Jack Valenti, 85, film-industry lobbyist who instituted the modern movie-ratings system, on April 26.

Mstislav Rostropovich, 80, ebullient master cellist who fought for the rights of Soviet-era dissidents, on April 27.

Tom Poston, 85, TV comic whose characters were clueless ( Newhart), on April 30.

Bernard Gordon, 88, screenwriter who was blacklisted in the 1950s (55 Days at Peking, Cry of Battle), on May 11.

Lloyd Alexander, 83, whose fantasy books for children won top literary prizes, on May 17.

Charles Nelson Reilly, 76, Tony Award winner later known for ribald game-show appearances, on May 25.

Gretchen Wyler, 75, actress on Broadway (Silk Stockings) and television (Dr. Dagmara Conrad on Dallas), on May 27.

Donald Johanos, 79, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra 1962-70, on May 29.

Mark Harris, 84, novelist (Bang the Drum Slowly), on May 30.

William Meredith, 88, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems), on May 30.

James Rives Jones, 64, former resident conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and before that head of orchestral studies at Southern Methodist University, on June 1.

Tony Thompson, 31, Waco native who sang on the 1990s R&B hits "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" and "She's Playing Hard to Get" as part of the group Hi-Five, on June 1.

Don Herbert, 89, television's Mr. Wizard, on June 12.

Gianfranco Ferré, 62, Italian designer known as the "architect of fashion," on June 17.

Antonio Aguilar, 88, mariachi singer and actor during Mexican cinema's Golden Era, on June 19.

Liz Claiborne, 78, whose styles became a cornerstone of career women's wardrobes, on June 26.

Joel Siegel, 63, Good Morning America movie critic, on June 29.

Beverly Sills, 78, opera diva with a dazzling voice and bubbly personality, on July 2.

Boots Randolph, 80, whose spirited saxophone made "Yakety Sax" a hit, on July 3.

Régine Crespin, 80, French opera great, on July 5.

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, 68, pioneer of the modern historical-romance novel (The Flame and the Flower), on July 6.

Charles Lane, 102, prolific character actor whose face was recognizable to generations of moviegoers, on July 9.

Doug Marlette, 57, Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist and creator of comic strip Kudzu, on July 10.

Tammy Faye Messner, 65, who helped then-husband Jim Bakker build an evangelism empire that later collapsed, on July 20.

László Kovács, 74, influential cinematographer ( Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces), on July 22.

Ulrich Mühe, 54, German actor acclaimed for his role in the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, on July 22.

George Tabori, 93, avant-garde playwright-director in postwar Germany (Goldberg Variations), on July 23.

Lawton Williams, 85, who wrote the 1957 hit "Fraulein" recorded by Bobby Helms, on July 26.

Tom Snyder, 71, late-late-night host with a robust laugh and trademark cloud of cigarette smoke, on July 29.

Ingmar Bergman, 87, Swedish filmmaker who was one of the greatest artists in cinema history (The Seventh Seal, Cries and Whispers ), on July 30.

Michelangelo Antonioni, 94, Italian filmmaker whose depiction of modern-day malaise made him a symbol of art-house cinema (Blow-Up , L'Avventura), on July 30.

Lee Hazlewood, 78, singer-songwriter who produced Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," on Aug. 4.

Stanley Myron Handelman, 77, who in his trademark newsboy cap and oversize glasses became a TV variety-show fixture, on Aug. 5.

Russell Johnson, 83, acoustical consultant whose design for Dallas' Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center helped revolutionize thinking about concert-hall sound, on Aug. 7.

Merv Griffin, 82, who parlayed game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, on Aug. 12.

Max Roach, 83, jazz drummer whose rhythmic innovations defined bebop, on Aug. 16.

Grace Paley, 84, acclaimed poet and short-story writer, on Aug. 22.

Hilly Kristal, 75, whose Manhattan club CBGB was the birthplace of punk rock, on Aug. 28.

Miyoshi Umeki, 78, Oscar-winning actress (Sayonara) who went on to play Mrs. Livingston on The Courtship of Eddie's Father , on Aug. 28.

Luciano Pavarotti, 71, opera superstar hailed as "king of the high C's," on Sept. 6.

Madeleine L'Engle, 88, author who captivated schoolchildren with A Wrinkle in Time, on Sept. 6.

Jane Wyman, 90, who won an Oscar as a deaf rape victim in Johnny Belinda, later starred in TV's Falcon Crest and was Ronald Reagan's ex-wife, on Sept. 10.

Robert Jordan, 58, author of the Wheel of Time fantasy novels, on Sept. 16.

Alice Ghostley, 81, Tony-winning actress (The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window) and TV regular (Bewitched), on Sept. 21.

Marcel Marceau, 84, French master of pantomime who transformed silence into poetry, on Sept. 22.

George Grizzard, 79, Tony-winning Broadway actor (A Delicate Balance), on Oct. 2.

Big Moe, 33, whose 2002 album reached No. 3 on Billboard's hip-hop charts, on Oct. 14

Deborah Kerr, 86, actress who kissed Burt Lancaster on a beach in From Here to Eternity and danced with Yul Brynner in The King and I , on Oct. 16.

Joey Bishop, 89, stone-faced TV and nightclub comedian, on Oct. 17.

Teresa Brewer, 76, who topped the charts in the 1950s ("Till I Waltz Again With You"), on Oct. 17.

Carolyn Hatcher, 57, Jubilee Theatre's leading lady for the last 12 years, on Oct. 25.

Friedman Paul Erhardt, 63, television's Chef Tell, on Oct. 26.

Porter Wagoner, 80, Grand Ole Opry star who helped launch the career of Dolly Parton, on Oct. 28.

Robert Goulet, 73, baritone who made his Broadway debut in Camelot and won a Tony in 1968 for The Happy Time, on Oct. 30.

Marchel Ivery, 69, Dallasite who was a staunch proponent of what has become known as the "Texas tenor" saxophone sound, on Oct. 30.

Igor Moiseyev, 101, choreographer who transformed folk dance into a legitimate art, showcasing Russian culture worldwide, on Nov. 2.

George Osmond, 90, patriarch of the singing Osmond family, on Nov. 6.

Hank Thompson, 82, country singer and bandleader ("The Wild Side of Life"), on Nov. 6.

Norman Mailer, 84, the pugnacious prince of American letters, on Nov. 10.

Laraine Day, 87, actress in nearly 50 films including the Hitchcock thriller Foreign Correspondent, on Nov. 10.

Delbert Mann, 87, who directed Marty, the classic lonely-guy teleplay that became an Oscar-winning film, on Nov. 11.

Ira Levin, 78, best-selling novelist (Rosemary's Baby, The Boys From Brazil), on Nov. 12.

Randolph Tallman, 67, veteran Dallas actor and writer-composer, on Nov. 20.

Dick Wilson, 91, who played the fussy, mustachioed grocer who begged customers, "Please, don't squeeze the Charmin," on Nov. 19.

Maurice Béjart, 80, avant-garde French choreographer, on Nov. 22.

Kevin Dubrow, 52, lead singer for the 1980s heavy-metal band Quiet Riot, on Nov. 25.

Evel Knievel, 69, motorcycle daredevil known for spectacular jumps and bone-crushing crashes, on Nov. 30.

Pimp C, 33, rapper with the Texas hip-hop group Underground Kingz ("Super Tight"), found Dec. 4.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, 79, avant-garde German composer who was a pioneer of electronic music, on Dec. 5.

Roger M. King, 63, CBS and King World Productions executive who helped bring such stars as Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil McGraw to television, on Dec. 8.

Ike Turner, 76, whose role as one of rock's critical architects was overshadowed by his ogrelike image as the man who brutally abused former wife Tina Turner, on Dec. 12.

Dan Fogelberg, 56, singer and songwriter whose "Longer" and other hits helped define the soft-rock era, on Dec. 16.

Michael Kidd, 92, whose joyously athletic dances won him five Tonys and an Oscar, on Dec. 23.

Oscar Peterson, 82, acclaimed jazz pianist, on Dec. 23.