TIME Remembers the Artists Who Died in 2014

6 minute read

Since the very first issue of TIME, the Milestones section has marked important moments of the week and celebrated the lives of those who died recently. Staffers, critics and those who knew the late, great figures share what made those people special. Here are a few of 2014’s most notable Milestones obituaries for the people who made our culture what it is today.

Lev Grossman on Maya Angelou: “In her first book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou, who died May 28 at 86, tells the story of her life up to the age of 17. She describes herself as “a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil.” Although the book has been assigned to countless high school students, its unsparing account of black life in the South during the Depression and of her sexual abuse is not easy reading. But Angelou‘s tough, funny, lyrical voice transforms her story from a litany of isolation and suffering into a hymn of glorious human endurance that profoundly influenced generations of memoirists.”

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Richard Corliss on Lauren Bacall: “At 15, she once recalled, she was “tall, ungainly … with big feet, flat-chested.” A few years made all the difference for Brooklyn-born Betty Perske. At 18 she was a Harper’s Bazaar cover girl. At 19 she starred in her first film, To Have and Have Not. And at 20 she wed her 45-year-old leading man. Bogie and Betty, Humphrey Bogart and (her movie name) Lauren Bacall: a love affair for the ages.”

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21 Gorgeous Photos of Lauren Bacall

Polo Neck Bacall
Scotty Welbourne—Getty Images
American actress Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
American actress Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
American actress Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
Bacall In Beads
John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images
Lauren Bacall Looking Over Shoulder
Bettmann/Corbis
Portrait of Lauren Bacall
Bettmann/Corbis
Yours Truly
John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images
Wild Woman
John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images
Actress Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
Star Presence
John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images
Beret Bacall
John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images
Portrait Of Lauren Bacall
Transcendental Graphics—Getty Images
Lauren Bacall seated on a bed
Mondadori/Getty Images
Screen Siren
Smoking a cigarette, circa 1950.John Engstead—Getty Images
American actress Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
LIFE
Lauren Bacall
Silver Screen Collection—Getty Images
Lauren Bacall
Silver Screen Collection—Getty Images
American actress Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
Lauren Bacall
Sunset Boulevard / Corbis

James Poniewozik on Sid Caesar: “If you’ve laughed at something on TV lately, you can thank Sid Caesar. He was present for the birth of TV as a mass medium and as a mass comedy-delivery device.”

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James Poniewozik on James Garner: “There are actors who become stars because they’re imposing, powerful, monumental. And then there was James Garner.”

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Richard Corliss on H.R. Giger: “In its gestation from the angry gelatinous fetus that burst from John Hurt’s stomach to the sleek black killer with multiple rows of teeth, the Alien alien provided film history with one of its most memorable, majestic designs. At every stage it was the spawn of Giger‘s felicitously warped imagination.”

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Lev Grossman on Nadine Gordimer: “Her work was distinguished by her ability to sketch characters from every part of society and across the political spectrum with equal insight and empathy and by her refusal to flinch from the difficult realities of life in South Africa, which did not end with the fall of apartheid in 1994.”

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Kevin Nealon on Jan Hooks: “Jan Hooks was the real deal. She was funny, beautiful and staggeringly talented. Jan was an enormous part of my life, and I am extremely proud to say that she was my good friend.”

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Rick Dees on Casey Kasem: “I turned on the car radio and heard a fascinating voice. He sounded like a cartoon character. He was counting down the hits from No. 40 to No. 1. When he said, ‘This is Casey Kasem,’ I was hooked.”

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Rachel Dratch on Don Pardo: “Every Saturday Night Live performer who had the honor of having his or her name announced by Don Pardo–the Don Pardo!–on the night of their very first show will tell you it remains the pinch-me moment for us all.”

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Ivan Reitman on Harold Ramis: “With the passing of Harold Ramis, the world has lost a truly original comedy voice. He possessed the most agile mind I’ve ever worked with.”

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Richard Corliss on Joan Rivers: “‘Can we talk?’ Joan Rivers always asked audiences, and by this she meant, Can I talk about life’s biases and prejudices–mine? For more than half a century, first as a pioneering stand-up comedian, then as a defiant survivor, she spoke skewed truth to power and, in doing so, became her own potentate and garishly fossilized icon. She could have been a ranting bag lady, if the lady were as funny as she was rude and the bag was from Gucci.”

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Joan Rivers: A Life of Laughter in Pictures

Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Joan Rivers, pictured here in 1965, was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn N.Y. on June 8, 1933.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Rivers got her big break on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1965.Dan Grossi—AP
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Comedienne Joan Rivers making faces in a mirror on the street in New York City on March 1, 1966.Truman Moore—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Comedienne Joan Rivers wearing black mesh dress and heels, while talking on the phone in a bathtub in New York City on March 1, 1966. Truman Moore—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Joan Rivers lights a cigar for her husband Edgar Rosenberg after giving birth to baby Melissa Frida, 6lb 13.5 oz, in New York City on Jan. 20, 1968. New York Daily News/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Joan Rivers, Dick Cavett, and Liza Minnelli on This Morning, Feb. 12, 1968. ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Ed McMahon and host Joan Rivers on Kraft Music Hall on Aug. 21, 1968.NBC/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Gallery
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield (L) and actress Joan Rivers wrapping up Dick Cavett (C) in a scene from the Portnoy's Complaint, Jan. 1, 1969. Arthur Schatz—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Joan Rivers with daughter Melissa at home in New York City in Nov., 1970.I C Rapoport/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Producer Edgar Rosenberg and wife comedian Joan Rivers during the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 10th Anniversary party on September 30, 1972 in New York City. NBC/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Actress Joan Rivers guest stars on "The Carol Bunett Show" on Dec. 13, 1975 in Los Angeles.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
One of the many accolades that Rivers received during her life was being named "Woman of the Year" by Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard University drama group in 1984. She celebrated by riding a parade float through Harvard Square.Ted Gartland—AP
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Rivers' celebrity gave her the opportunity to meet prominent figures in show business and politics, including Nancy Reagan in 1984.Bettmann/Corbis
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Rivers, pictured in 1985 with star wrestler Hulk Hogan, became a regular guest host of the Tonight Show in the early 1980s and published "The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz," a best-seller, in 1984.AP
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Oprah Winfrey was one of the many that Rivers interviewed during her guest-hosting stints on "The Tonight Show" in 1986.NBC/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
By 1986, Rivers had been cut out of Carson's circle, having signed on to host "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" on Fox. Elton John, Cher and Pee Wee Herman joined Rivers for her first episode.Bob Galbraith—AP
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Rivers remained on "The Late Show " for less than a year before leaving Fox in 1987 and starting her work on "The Joan Rivers Talk Show" in 1989.Nick Ut—AP
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Joan Rivers is honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 26, 1989, at Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Ron Galella—WireImage/Getty Images
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Rivers, pictured with RuPaul in 1993, won a Daytime Emmy Award for hosting the eponymous "Joan Rivers Show" in 1990.Jim Cooper—AP
Joan Rivers Dead Obit
Rivers, pictured with Kelly Osbourne and daughter Melissa in 2012, became best-known to younger generations for hosting E!'s red carpet pre-awards show for the Oscars.A. Ariani—Splash News/Corbis
2010 Sundance Film Festival - "Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work" Portraits
Pictured here at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, Rivers remained active up to her death, hosting internet talk show with her daughter Melissa, "In Bed with Joan."Andrea Collins—WireImage/Getty Images

Olivia de Havilland on Mickey Rooney: “Mickey, Mickey, Mickey. They say you have died, but I find this hard to believe, for you are so alive in my memory. There you are, in the big room of the Chamber of Commerce building on Sunset Boulevard in the summer of 1934, a little boy passing easily as a 9-year-old when you are really 13.”

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Arlo Guthrie on Pete Seeger: “He would just wave his hand, and you could hear them singing. It was almost as if he had some extra sense that allowed that kind of audience response. There’s no one else I have ever seen who has had that, in any country, on any continent or in any city. Nobody came close.”

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Angela Lansbury on Marian Seldes: “She lived and breathed the theater.”

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Aaron Sorkin on Philip Seymour Hoffman: “I told him I felt lucky because I’m squeamish and can’t handle needles. He told me to stay squeamish. And he said this: ‘If one of us dies of an overdose, probably 10 people who were about to won’t.’ He meant that our deaths would make news and maybe scare someone clean.”

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Patti LuPone on Elaine Stritch: “There was no one like Elaine Stritch, and I doubt there will ever be another like her. She was the type of Broadway actress that they don’t make anymore.”

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Margaret O’Brien on Shirley Temple: “So many times, people think child actors have a terrible life after the movies, but Shirley went on to have a wonderful life and family and career as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later Czechoslovakia, so it doesn’t all end tragically.”

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James Poniewozik on Robin Williams: “One of the premises of Mork & Mindy was that Mork, like all Orkans, had no emotions. He didn’t fool any of us for a second. Mork’s clipped alienspeak notwithstanding, Williams played him as all emotion: delight, confusion, warmth, amazement, glee. His feelings cascaded over him, and he struggled to wrestle and understand them–which, of course, was another thing kids especially identified with in him.”

Read the full Robin Williams special issue here

Robin Williams' Life in Pictures

Robin Williams life in pictures
Robin Williams in the 8th grade at Detroit Country Day School in Birmingham, Mich. in 1965.Courtesy Williams Family
Robin Williams life in pictures
In the 8th grade, Robin Williams, #15, played on the basketball team at Detroit Country Day School.Seth Poppel—Yearbook Library
Robin Williams life in pictures
Robin Williams in high school.Courtesy Robin Williams
Robin Williams Popeye 1980
Williams' played the spinach-loving sailor Popeye in its eponymous 1980 film.Paramount/AP
Robin Williams life in pictures
Robin Williams in September of 1981Steve Ringman—San Francisco Chronicle/Corbis
Robin Williams life in pictures
Robin Williams with his mom, Laurie Williams, during the premiere of "Moscow on The Hudson" at Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif in 1984.Ron Galella—Wire Image/Getty Images
Robin Williams life in pictures
Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve at Silver Friedman's "The Original Improvisation" in New York in 1988.Jim Demetropoulos—Retna Ltd./Corbis
Robin Williams life in pictures
Robin Williams, third from right, dressed as a cheerleader on Nov. 12, 1979 with the Broncos' Pony Express cheerleaders during the filming of an episode of "Mork & Mindy," in Denver.AP
Robin Williams 1987
Robin Williams played radio DJ Adrian Cronauer in director Barry Levinson's comedy drama, Good Morning Vietnam in 1987.Touchstone Pictures/AP
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Williams taught a generation to seize the day, to make their lives extraordinary, as John Keating in Dead Poets Society.Buena Vista Pictures
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Williams played a grown up version of Peter Pan in the 1991 family classic Hook.TriStar Pictures
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Williams lent his substantial talents to voicing Genie in Disney's 1992 animated film Aladdin.Disney
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Household chores were no match for Robin Williams as he donned layers of prosthetics to play Mrs. Doubtfire in the 1993 movie of the same name.20th Century Fox
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Williams starred as Alan Parrish, a boy stuck inside a board game for twenty-six years in the 1995 film Jumanji.TriStar Pictures
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Starring opposite a young Matt Damon, Williams played Dr. Sean Maguire, in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.Miramax
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Williams played a living android in the 1999 film Bicentennial Man.Buena Vista
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Williams took on the likeness of Teddy Roosevelt in Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum.20th Century Fox
Robin Williams Death
Robin Williams and his family are seen with their dogs on May 2005. From left to right: Kiwi (poodle), son Cody Williams, Robin Williams, daughter Zelda Williams, Marsha Williams and Mizu (poodle)Lacy Atkins—Emily Scott Pottruck/Trails of Devotion

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com