--- description: Remembering the actors, writers and cultural superstars who died in the past year title: The Artists, Actors and Writers Who Died in 2014 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c5ce0b3f88b50b9/69876ffb2dce015c629dc93c/1550.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # TIME Remembers the Artists Who Died in 2014  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 29, 2014 1:00 PM CUT  The Aug. 25, 2014, cover of TIME The Aug. 25, 2014, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 29, 2014 1:00 PM CUT _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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](http://time.com/135469/maya-angelou/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](http://time.com/3110822/lauren-bacall/ "undefined") ### 21 Gorgeous Photos of Lauren Bacall  circa 1945: American screen star Lauren Bacall wearing a polo neck jumper. (Photo by Scotty Welbourne/John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images) Scotty Welbourne—Getty Images  American actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis Sunset Boulevard/Corbis  American actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis Sunset Boulevard/Corbis  American actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis Sunset Boulevard/Corbis  circa 1945: American screen star Lauren Bacall wearing an ornate beaded necklace. (Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images) John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images  1945 --- Original caption: Waist-up publicity portrait of actress Lauren Bacall. She is shown seated, looking backward over her left shoulder. Photo, 1945\. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS Bettmann/Corbis  Portrait of Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS Bettmann/Corbis  circa 1946: American screen star Lauren Bacall looks up from under her brows in her distinctive manner. (Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images) John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images  circa 1945: American screen star Lauren Bacall pictured against a zebra skin background. (Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images) John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images  1945 --- Actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis Sunset Boulevard/Corbis  1950: American screen star Lauren Bacall wearing a dark satin suit for her role as Amy North in 'Young Man with a Horn', directed by Michael Curtiz. (Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images) John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images  circa 1945: American screen star Lauren Bacall, whose successful film career spans more than fifty years. (Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images) John Kobal Foundation—Getty Images  Publicity photo of American actress Lauren Bacall. ca.1945. Transcendental Graphics—Getty Images  American actress Lauren Bacall (Betty Jane Perske) sitting on a bed with a melancholy look. 1950s Mondadori/Getty Images  Smoking a cigarette, circa 1950. John Engstead—Getty Images  American actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis Sunset Boulevard/Corbis  LIFE  Orig2 381 Silver Screen Collection—Getty Images  American actress Lauren Bacall, circa 1950\. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images) Silver Screen Collection—Getty Images  American actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis Sunset Boulevard/Corbis  American actress Lauren Bacall --- Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis 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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/8694/sid-caesar/ "undefined") **James Poniewozik on James Garner:** “There are actors who become stars because they’re imposing, powerful, monumental. And then there was James Garner.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/3028048/james-garner-low-key-hero/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/100560/h-r-giger/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/3000975/nadine-gordimer/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/3491489/kevin-nealon-jan-hooks/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](http://time.com/2899505/casey-kasem/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/3153331/don-pardo/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/9362/harold-remis-dead-director-ghostbusters-dies-at-age-69/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/3326557/remembering-joan-rivers-comedy-diva/ "undefined") ### Joan Rivers: A Life of Laughter in Pictures  Joan Rivers, pictured here in 1965, was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn N.Y. on June 8, 1933. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images  Rivers got her big break on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1965. Dan Grossi—AP  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  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 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, Dick Cavett, and Liza Minnelli on This Morning, Feb. 12, 1968. ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images  Ed McMahon and host Joan Rivers on Kraft Music Hall on Aug. 21, 1968. NBC/Getty Images  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 with daughter Melissa at home in New York City in Nov., 1970. I C Rapoport/Getty Images  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  Actress Joan Rivers guest stars on "The Carol Bunett Show" on Dec. 13, 1975 in Los Angeles. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images  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  Rivers' celebrity gave her the opportunity to meet prominent figures in show business and politics, including Nancy Reagan in 1984. Bettmann/Corbis  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  Oprah Winfrey was one of the many that Rivers interviewed during her guest-hosting stints on "The Tonight Show" in 1986. NBC/Getty Images  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  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 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  Rivers, pictured with RuPaul in 1993, won a Daytime Emmy Award for hosting the eponymous "Joan Rivers Show" in 1990. Jim Cooper—AP  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  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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/57175/mickey-rooney/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/2865/pete-seeger/ "undefined") **Angela Lansbury on Marian Seldes:** “She lived and breathed the theater.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](http://time.com/3483893/marian-seldes/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/4746/aaron-sorkin-philip-seymour-hoffmans-death-saved-10-lives/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/3028064/elaine-stritch/ "undefined") **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.” _Read the full remembrance_ [_here_](https://time.com/7098/shirley-temple/ "undefined") **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_](https://time.com/vault/issue/2014-08-25/page/1/ "undefined") ### Robin Williams' Life in Pictures  Robin Williams in the 8th grade at Detroit Country Day School in Birmingham, Mich. in 1965. Courtesy Williams Family  In the 8th grade, Robin Williams, #15, played on the basketball team at Detroit Country Day School. Seth Poppel—Yearbook Library  Robin Williams in high school. Courtesy Robin Williams  Williams' played the spinach-loving sailor Popeye in its eponymous 1980 film. Paramount/AP  Robin Williams in September of 1981 Steve Ringman—San Francisco Chronicle/Corbis  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 and Christopher Reeve at Silver Friedman's "The Original Improvisation" in New York in 1988. Jim Demetropoulos—Retna Ltd./Corbis  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 played radio DJ Adrian Cronauer in director Barry Levinson's comedy drama, Good Morning Vietnam in 1987. Touchstone Pictures/AP  Williams taught a generation to seize the day, to make their lives extraordinary, as John Keating in Dead Poets Society. Buena Vista Pictures  Williams played a grown up version of Peter Pan in the 1991 family classic Hook. TriStar Pictures  Williams lent his substantial talents to voicing Genie in Disney's 1992 animated film Aladdin. Disney  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  Williams starred as Alan Parrish, a boy stuck inside a board game for twenty-six years in the 1995 film Jumanji. TriStar Pictures  Starring opposite a young Matt Damon, Williams played Dr. Sean Maguire, in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. Miramax  Williams played a living android in the 1999 film Bicentennial Man. Buena Vista  Williams took on the likeness of Teddy Roosevelt in Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum. 20th Century Fox  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 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3635096/in-memoriam-artists-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3635096/in-memoriam-artists-2014/"},"headline":"TIME Remembers the Artists Who Died in 2014","datePublished":"2014-12-29T13:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:50.458Z","description":"The actors, writers and cultural superstars who died in the past year","url":"https://time.com/3635096/in-memoriam-artists-2014/","keywords":["remembrance","obituary"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c5ce0b3f88b50b9/69876ffb2dce015c629dc93c/1550.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8c5ce0b3f88b50b9/69876ffb2dce015c629dc93c/1550.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robin Williams Cover","caption":"Robin Williams Cover","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3635096/in-memoriam-artists-2014/","name":"TIME Remembers the Artists Who Died in 2014"}}]}] ```