In Pictures: Notable deaths of 2022

Angela Lansbury, 96, the British-born actress whose career spanned eight decades and produced indelible portraits of a wide range of characters from villainesses to sleuths and light comic roles in movies, on stage and on television, “died peacefully in her sleep” at home in Los Angeles in October. Lansbury, who played a crime-solving mystery writer in the long-running U.S. television series “Murder, She Wrote,” was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2013, nearly seven decades after her first film. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Takeoff (R), 28, whose real name is Kirshnik Khari Ball, a member of the influential, Atlanta-based rap group Migos, was shot and killed at a party held at a Houston bowling alley in early November. Migos rose to fame in 2013 with their breakout single “Versace.” REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Bob Saget, 65, an actor and comedian best known as the jovial dad Danny Tanner on the television sitcom “Full House” and the reboot “Fuller House” was found dead in a hotel room in Orlando, Florida, in January. In contrast to his wholesome TV image, Saget’s stand-up act delivered raunchier adult-oriented comedy. He also hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos” from 1989 to 1997. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Olivia Newton-John, 73, who soared to the top of the world’s pop music charts in the 1970s and 1980s with such tunes as “I Honestly Love You” and “Physical” and starred in the hit movie musical “Grease,” died in August at her home in Southern California. The four-time Grammy winner had disclosed in 2017 that a recurrence of breast cancer had metastasized and spread to her lower back. REUTERS/Phil McCarten

Sidney Poitier, 94, who broke through racial barriers as the first Black winner of the best actor Oscar for his role in “Lilies of the Field,” and inspired a generation during the civil rights movement, passed away in January. In “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” he played a Black man with a white fiancee and “In the Heat of the Night” he was Virgil Tibbs, a Black police officer confronting racism during a murder investigation. He also played a teacher in a tough London school that year in “To Sir, With Love.” Poitier created a distinguished film legacy in a single year with three 1967 films at a time when segregation prevailed in much of the United States. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

Kirstie Alley, 71, the two-time Emmy-winning actress died in December after a short battle with cancer. Alley’s breakout role came as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom “Cheers”, which she starred in from 1987 until 1993, and for which she received an Emmy and a Golden Globe award in 1991. She won her second Emmy in 1994 for the television film “David’s Mother.” Alley also starred alongside John Travolta in the 1989 film comedy “Look Who’s Talking” and its two sequels. Alley starred as the title character in the sitcom “Veronica’s Closet” from 1997 to 2000, earning Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Paul Sorvino, 83, who played the role of gangster Paulie Cicero in classic mob movie “Goodfellas,” passed away in July. Also known for portraying police sergeant Phil Cerreta on the TV series “Law & Order” in the 1990s, Sorvino worked in film and television and on stage for more than 50 years.  REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Mikhail Gorbachev, 91, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, passed away in August. Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two and bring about the reunification of Germany.  REUTERS/Denis Paquin

Ray Liotta, 67, passed away in May. His many starring roles included playing mobster Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” and baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in “Field of Dreams.” REUTERS/Max Rossi
Ivana Trump, 73, the first wife of former U.S. President Donald Trump and the mother of his three oldest children, who helped her husband build some of his signature buildings including Trump Tower, died in July, Donald Trump announced. The couple married in 1977 and divorced in 1992. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric. She grew up under Communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Madeleine Albright, 84, who said killing half a million Iraqi Children was worth the price, passed away in March.  REUTERS/File

Robbie Coltrane, 72, the larger-than-life Scottish actor who played the beloved half-giant Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, passed away in October. Coltrane’s more than four-decade-long career ranged from roles in the James Bond films “GoldenEye” and “The World Is Not Enough” to the lead in the 1990s British TV series “Cracker”. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Loretta Lynn, 90, the country star passed away at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee in October. Lynn rose from an impoverished childhood in a coal mine in Kentucky to a pioneering star of country music in the United States and beyond. Her songs were popular in the 1960s and 70s, charting 51 top-10 country singles in her career. She was one of the genre’s first major female stars in the early 1960s with hits like “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “The Pill” and “Rated X.” REUTERS/Ethan Miller

James Caan, 82, who starred as gangster Sonny Corleone in the epic mafia film “The Godfather” passed away in July. Caan’s career spanned six decades and included a broad range of other roles in movies from the psychological thriller “Misery” to the comedy “Elf.” REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci

Shinzo Abe, 67, the longest-serving leader of modern Japan, was gunned down in July while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking a country where guns are tightly controlled and political violence almost unthinkable. Abe is best known for his “Abenomics” policy of aggressive monetary easing and fiscal spending. In a historic shift in 2014, his government reinterpreted the postwar, pacifist constitution to allow troops to fight overseas for the first time since World War Two. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

William Hurt, 71, an Oscar-winning actor known for his roles in movies such as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Broadcast News,” passed away in March. Hurt, who studied at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City, emerged as one of the most celebrated leading men of the 1980s, earning three Academy Award best actor nominations that decade. More recently, he played General Thaddeus Ross in 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk”, a recurring role he would reprise in later superhero films based on Marvel Comics including “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow.” REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Aaron Carter, 34, who won early fame as a child pop star and toured with his brother’s hit band Backstreet Boys before pursuing careers in rap and acting, was found dead in his home near Los Angeles in November. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

Naomi Judd, 76, matriarch of the country music duo the Judds, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a day before being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She suffered from mental illness, a disease that tells victims “you are not loved, you are not enough, that you are not worthy,” her daughter Ashley Judd said in an interview aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Naomi and her daughter Wynonna Judd, 57, made up The Judds, the singing, guitar-playing duo inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on May 1. REUTERS/File

Ivan Reitman, 75, the filmmaker behind some of the most beloved comedies of the 1970s and 80s, passed away in February. He produced the hit “Animal House” in 1978 and directed “Meatballs” the year after. Reitman reunited with Bill Murray for 1981’s “Stripes,” and the 1984 blockbuster “Ghostbusters.” Reitman also worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins”and “Kindergarten Cop”. His last film was “Draft Day” in 2014. REUTERS/Phil Klein

Leslie Jordan, 67, a prime-time Emmy winning comic actor known for his role on the hit sitcom “Will & Grace” and a social media sensation during the COVID pandemic, died in a car crash while driving to work in Hollywood in October. REUTERS/Harrison McClary