Here Are Some Of Those Who Died In 2020
A look back at those who died this year.
This horrible year did give us some good things: Dolly Parton as a world savior, two vaccines, all of the cardboard dogs in the audience at the 2020 National Dog Show.
But it also took a lot from us — and in terrifying, previously unfathomable ways.
In 2020, quite a few people to whom we often turned when things were bad and we needed cheering up in our own lives died, from Alex Trebek of Jeopardy to Chadwick Boseman of Black Panther.
Here's a look back at just a few of those in the public eye who died this year.
Chadwick Boseman, actor, 43
Boseman at the London premiere of Black Panther
Christo, artist and sculptor, 84
The installation The Umbrellas in Japan in October 1991
Eddie Van Halen, musician and songwriter, 65
Van Halen striking a pose at a concert in Tokyo, June 1978
Alex Trebek, game show host, 80
Trebek, circa 1984
Ellis Marsalis, jazz pianist and educator, 85
Marsalis at the New Orleans Jazz Festival
Phyllis Lyon, author and lesbian rights activist, 95
Lyon (right) and her wife Del Martin in their home in San Francisco in 2008. Lyon and Martin were the first couple to be married when same-sex couples were granted the right to marry in California. They had been together since 1952.
Kelly Preston, actor, 57
John Travolta and Kelly Preston, who were married for 28 years before her death from breast cancer
Joseph Lowery, minister and leader in the civil rights movement, 98
Many prominent civil rights activists cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a reenactment of the Selma to Montgomery march on the 20th anniversary in 1985. Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson, Joseph Lowery (fourth from right), and John Lewis lead the march.
Grant Imahara, electrical engineer and cohost of MythBusters, 49
Imahara tests his bamboo blowpipe in preparation for the upcoming ninja myth segment for the cable television show MythBusters in 2008.
Diego Maradona, professional soccer player, 60
Maradona in action at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico
Malik B. (also known as Malik Abdul Basit), rapper, singer, and a founding member of the Roots, 47
The original Roots crew, including Malik B. (left), photographed in New York in 1994
John Lewis, politician and civil rights activist, 80
Close-up of Lewis, then chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in an office, New York, 1964
Sean Connery, actor and James Bond star, 90
Scottish actor Sean Connery on the set of Goldfinger
Ja'Net Dubois, actor and singer-songwriter, 74
Ja'Net Dubois, circa 1975
John Prine, country and folk music singer-songwriter, 73
Prine performs on stage in Chicago in 1985.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court justice, 87
Portrait of Ginsburg in her chambers in 1977
Kobe and Gianna Bryant, basketball superstar and daughter, 41 and 13
Bryant and his daughter Gianna warming up on the court during the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto in 2016.
Fred Willard, actor and comedian, 86
Willard in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Chi Chi DeVayne, American drag queen and reality television personality, 34
Chi Chi DeVayne at RuPaul's Drag Race Season 8 Premiere in 2016 in New York City.
Olivia de Havilland, actor and Gone With the Wind star, 104
De Havilland on the set of the 1939 movie Gone With the Wind
Kenny Rogers, singer-songwriter, 81
Rogers performing onstage in 1978
Naya Rivera, actor, singer, and model, 33
Rivera in 2013. The actor had her breakthrough in Glee playing cheerleader Santana Lopez.
Katherine Johnson, NASA administrator whose involvement in the space race was told in Hidden Figures, 101
Johnson poses for a portrait at work at NASA Langley Research Center in 1966.
Irrfan Khan, actor, 53
Khan in 2018
Jerry Stiller, comedian and actor, 92
Stiller in 1975 at the Longacre Theatre in New York City
C.T. Vivian, early civil rights organizer, 95
President Barack Obama awards minister and civil rights activist Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 at the White House.
Betty Wright, soul and R&B singer-songwriter, 66
Wright in a studio portrait in 1973
John le Carré (pen name of David John Moore Cornwell), spy novel author, 89
Le Carré in Los Angeles in 1996.
Helen Reddy, singer, songwriter, and activist, 78
Reddy in 1975
Roy Horn, one half of entertainment duo Siegfried & Roy, 75
Siegfried Fischbacher (left) and Roy Horn in 1997
Bill Withers, singer-songwriter and musician, 81
Studio portrait of Withers in New York in 1971
Regis Philbin, TV anchor and game show host, 88
Philbin as host during the 1981 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Anthony Chisholm, film and stage actor, 77
Chisholm in Wu-Tang: An American Saga
Hosni Mubarak, former Egyptian president and autocrat, 91
Mubarak arriving at Orly airport in 1986 for an official visit to France
Little Richard, musician, singer, and songwriter, 87
Little Richard performing in 2009
James Lipton, host of Inside the Actors Studio, 93
Lipton poses in the Actors Studio on Nov. 15, 2002, in New York City.
Herman Cain, business executive and Republican politician, 74
Then–potential GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, the former chair and CEO of Godfather's Pizza, speaks in Iowa in 2011.
Conchata Ferrell, actor, 77
Ferrell from L.A. Law
Nick Cordero, actor and Broadway star, 41
Cordero at the Broadway after-party for Waitress on April 24, 2016, in New York City
Honor Blackman, actor, 94
Blackman in 1964
This story is part of our series on the year 2020. To read more, click here.
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Pia Peterson is a photo editor at BuzzFeed News, and is based in Brooklyn.
Contact Pia Peterson at pia.peterson@buzzfeed.com.
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