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Notable deaths in 2011

See larger Len Lesser, 88, best known as Uncle Leo in the hit television show Seinfeld but also veteran of over 500 film and television appearances and stage roles during his generation-spanning career, died on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011, in Burbank, Calif., of pneumonia related to cancer, it was announced by his family. Lesser was born December 3, 1922, in New York City. His survivors are his daughter, Michele Lesser; his son, David Lesser, David's wife, Julie, and their children (Len's grandchildren), Jonathan, Kayla, and Mayah. (AP Photo/Craig Schwartz)

Len Lesser, 88, best known as Uncle Leo in the hit television show Seinfeld but also veteran of over 500 film and television appearances and stage roles during his generation-spanning career, died on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011, in Burbank, Calif., of pneumonia related to cancer, it was announced by his family. Lesser was born December 3, 1922, in New York City. His survivors are his daughter, Michele Lesser; his son, David Lesser, David's wife, Julie, and their children (Len's grandchildren), Jonathan, Kayla, and Mayah. (AP Photo/Craig Schwartz)

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  • Apple Inc. said the company's co-founder Steve Jobs died Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. He was 56. Jobs shows off the new iPad during an event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
  • Elizabeth Taylor, shown during the 26th Annual Macy's Passport to Fashion gala in September 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif., died Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at the age of 79. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
  • FILE - In this June 18, 2011 file photo, Amy Winehouse performs on stage during her concert in Belgrade, Serbia. British police say singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home in London on Saturday, July 23, 2011. The singer was 27 years old. (AP Photo/File)
  • In this file handout photo, Jane Russell is shown in a scene from the movie 'The Outlaw.' A family member on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 said Russell, stunning star of 1940s and 1950s films, has died at age 89.
  • Anne Francis and Robbie the Robot, who both starred in the 1956 science fiction thriller 'Forbidden Planet,' share a hug, during the taping of an Easter Seals television special in 1998 in Los Angeles. Francis, 80, died Sunday, Jan 2, 2011, at a Santa Barbara nursing home, said Bill Guntle, a funeral director McDermott-Crockett & Associates Mortuary in Santa Barbara. (AP Photo/John Hayes, File)
  • This is Feb. 22, 1984, photo shows British film director Peter Yates during a press conference in Berlin, Germany. British filmmaker Peter Yates, whose eclectic output included 'Bullitt' and 'Breaking Away,' has died at the age of 81. A statement from Yates' agent, Judy Daish, said he died Sunday Jan. 9. 2011 in London after an illness. (AP FILE)
  • In this August 1965 photo, 3-year-old Jay Gomer wraps his arms around the leg of Denver Broncos fullback Cookie Gilchrist in Denver. Former American Football League star Gilchrist has died of cancer at 75. Nephew Thomas Gilchrist says his uncle died Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, at an assisted living facility near Pittsburgh. Gilchrist spent three seasons in Buffalo, two in Denver and one in Miami. (AP Photo/File)
  • This file photo taken May 9, 1996, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles actor and director David Nelson poses with his grandson, Michael Woolery, and family friend, Ashley Holt, as he is honored with the 2,065th star. Nelson, who starred on his parents' popular television show, 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ' died in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 74. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
  • Music promoter and publisher Don Kirshner, pictured in June 7, 2007, died of heart failure in a Florida hospital on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011. He was 76. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
  • Hollywood character actor Paul Picerni, perhaps best-known as Robert Stack's FBI agent sidekick on television's 'The Untouchables,' died Jan. 12, 2011. He was 88.
  • In this June 19, 1996 file photo, President Clinton embraces R. Sargent Shriver in the Rose Garden of the White House Wednesday June 19, 1996 during a ceremony to honor the 35th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Shriver was named the first director of the Peace Corps by President John F. Kennedy. Shriver, the exuberant public servant and Kennedy in-law whose singular career included directing the Peace Corps, fighting the 'War on Poverty' and, less successfully, running for office, died Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011. He was 95.
  • Fitness guru Jack LaLanne died Jan. 23, 2011, at his California home. He was 96.
  • Composer John Barry holds his Academy Fellowship award at the British Academy Film Awards in London's Leicester Square in February 2005. Barry, who won five Oscars and is best known for creating music for the James Bond movies, has died at age 77. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
  • Actress Betty Garrett poses at her home in Los Angeles on in this Dec. 16, 1997 file photo. Garrett, who played Frank Sinatra's sweetheart in two MGM musicals before her career was hampered by the Hollywood blacklist, died Saturday Feb. 12, 2011 in Los Angeles. Later in life she became well-known to TV audiences with recurring roles in the 1970s sitcoms 'All in the the Family' and Laverne and Shirley. She was 91. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
  • Len Lesser, 88, best known as Uncle Leo in the hit television show Seinfeld but also veteran of over 500 film and television appearances and stage roles during his generation-spanning career, died on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011, in Burbank, Calif., of pneumonia related to cancer, it was announced by his family. Lesser was born December 3, 1922, in New York City. His survivors are his daughter, Michele Lesser; his son, David Lesser, David's wife, Julie, and their children (Len's grandchildren), Jonathan, Kayla, and Mayah. (AP Photo/Craig Schwartz)
  • This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro at a news conference in New York. A spokesperson said Saturday, March 26, 2011 that Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president, has died at 75. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis, File)
  • This Tuesday Jan. 31, 2006 picture shows director Sidney Lumet during an interview in his New York office where he discussed the current state of TV news, the focus of his 1976 film, 'Network.' Lumet, the award-winning director of such acclaimed films as 'Network, ' 'Serpico, ' 'Dog Day Afternoon' and '12 Angry Men, ' has died the family said Saturday, April 9, 2011. He was 86. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
  • Singer, guitarist and songwriter Phoebe Snow is seen in a July 2009 photo provided by Sue Cameron. Snow died Tuesday, April 26, 2011 in Edison, N.J., from complications of a brain hemorrhage she suffered in January 2010, said Rick Miramontez, her longtime friend and public relations representative. She was 58. (AP Photo/courtesy of Sue Cameron, Robert Raphael)
  • Former Miami Dolphin player Jim Mandich died from cancer.
  • In this Sept. 10, 1979 file photo, producer, director and actor Jackie Cooper poses with his Emmy at the 31st annual Emmy Awards, in Los Angeles. Cooper, the child movie star who won a best actor Oscar nomination at 9 for 'Skippy' and grew up to play The Daily Planet editor in as Christopher Reeves' four 'Superman' movies, died Tuesday, May 3, 2011, from an undisclosed illness at a Los Angeles hospital, said his agent Ronnie Leif. He was 88 (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, file)
  • In this Dec. 28, 1964 file photo, composer Richard Rodgers, at the piano, his new collaborator, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, right, and playwright Arthur Laurents are shown as they begin work on the new musical 'Do I Hear a Waltz?' in New York, The musical is being adapted from Laurents' book 'Summertime.' Arthur Laurents, the director, playwright and screenwriter who wrote such enduring stage musicals as 'West Side Story' and 'Gypsy,' as well as the movie classics 'Rope' and 'The Way We Were,' has died. He was 93. (AP Photo/File)
  • In this Nov. 9, 1987, photo, actress Sada Thompson poses in New York. Thompson, the durable matriarch of stage and screen who won a Tony Award for her portraits of three sisters and their mother in the 1971 comedy 'Twigs' and an Emmy Award for playing the eternally understanding mother in the television series 'Family,' died Wednesday, May 4, 2011. She was 81. (AP Photo/Marty Reichenthal, File)
  • This undated photo from files made available by Tony Clayman Promotions shows John Walker of The Walker Brothers. John Walker, the American-born musician who was the frontman for the Walker Brothers, one of the most successful bands of Britain's Golden Age of rock `n' roll, has died at age 67. Walker died Saturday of liver cancer, his personal assistant, Polly Klemmer, told The Associated Press. He had continued to work until just a few weeks ago, making his last concert appearance in Los Angeles in March, Klemmer said Sunday. (AP Photo/Tony Clayman Promotions, File)
  • Dana Wynter, who starred in a number of television dramas in the 1960s and ran from the Pod People in the 1956 science-fiction classic 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers,' died Thursday, May 5, 2011, in Southern California. She was 79.
  • Bob Flanigan, an original member of the four-part jazz vocal harmony group The Four Freshmen, has died in Las Vegas at age 84, a manager of the group said Monday, May 16, 2011.
  • FILE - This April 2, 2010, file photo shows former Minnesota Twins player and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew in Minneapolis. Killebrew, the Twins slugger known for his tape-measure home runs, died Tuesday, May 16, 2011, at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 74. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, file)
  • In this undated publicity image released by WWE, professional wrestler Randy 'Macho Man' Savage is shown. Savage, whose legal name is Randy Mario Poffo, died in a car crash in Florida on Friday, May 20, 2011, according to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report. (AP Photo/WWE)
  • Jeff Conaway starred with John Travolta in 'Grease.' Conaway, who also starred in the sitcom “Taxi,” died May 27, 2011. He was 60.
  • Long before Public Enemy urged the need to “Fight the Power” or N.W.A. offered a crude rebuke of the police, Gil-Scott Heron was articulating the rage and the disillusionment of the black masses through song and spoken word. Heron died in New York City on May 27, 2011. He was 62.
  • In this Dec. 3, 1990, photo, Dr. Jack Kevorkian sits in his lawyer's office in Southfield, Mich., after Oakland County Prosecutor Richard Thompson announced that he would be charged with murder in the death of a woman who committed suicide by using a device of the doctor's. Kevorkian's lawyer and friend, Mayer Morganroth, says the assisted suicide advocate died Friday, June 3, 2011 at a Detroit-area hospital at the age of 83. (AP Photo, File)
  • In this June 14, 2000, photo Lawrence Eagleburger, former U.S. Secretary of State, Ambassador at large, representing the U.S. Red Cross talks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Eagleburger, the only career U.S. foreign service officer to rise to the position of U.S. Secretary of State, died Saturday, June 4, 2011. He was 80. (AP Photo/ Donald Stampfli, File)
  • In this undated publicity image released by CBS, actor James Arness is shown as Marshal Matt Dillon in 'Gunsmoke.' Arness died Friday, June 3, 2011, of natural causes. He was 88. (AP Photo/CBS)
  • Clarence Clemons, shown in this July 3, 2004 photo provided by the Stone Pony, performs at the Stone Pony. The larger-than-life saxophone player who helped catapult Bruce Springsteen to rock fame, was known as 'The Big Man,' a nod to his physical size as well as his stage presence and booming sax notes. (AP Photo/John Cavanaugh - The Stone Pony)
  • In this Nov. 2, 2010 photo, U.S reality television personality and daredevil Ryan Dunn attends the Jackass 3D UK Premiere at a central London cinema. Police say Dunn and a passenger in his 2007 Porsche died early Monday, June 20, 2011, of injuries sustained in a car crash in suburban Philadelphia. (AP Photo/dapd, Jorge Herrera) GERMANY OUT; AUSTRIA OUT; SWITZERLAND OUT
  • Peter Falk, best known as the star of the television series 'Columbo,' died peacefully at his Beverly Hills home on Thursday, June 23, 2011, at the age of 83.
  • Elaine Stewart, a leading lady in a series of films in the 1950s, including 'Brigadoon,' died June 27, 2011. She was 81.
  • Former first lady Betty Ford, pictured when she visited Marco Island in February 1976, died Friday, July 8, 2011, at age 93.
  • In this August 1962, file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Duke Snider poses at a baseball game, location not known. Snider, 84, died early Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, of what the family called natural causes at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, Calif. Snider was part of the charmed 'Boys of Summer' with the Dodgers in the late 1940s and 1950s. He helped lead Brooklyn to its only World Series championship in 1955. (AP Photo)
  • In this Oct. 14, 1967, photo, Michigan State's Bubba Smith, top, is shown in action against Michigan during an NCAA college football game in Ann Arbor, Mich. Smith, a former NFL defensive star who found a successful second career as an actor, has died in Los Angeles at age 66. Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter says Smith was found dead Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, at his Baldwin Hills home. Winter says he didn't know the circumstances or cause of death. (AP Photo/Warner Bros.)
  • Officials say former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Lee Roy Selmon has been hospitalized and remains in 'extremely critical condition.' University of South Florida spokesman Michael Hoad said Friday that the 56-year-old Hall of Famer is being treated at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
  • In this Feb. 29, 2004 file photo, actor, writer, director and producer Cliff Robertson straightens his tie as he arrives for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' official New York Oscar Night celebration of the 76th Academy Awards in New York. Robertson, played John F. Kennedy in 'PT-109,' won an Oscar for 'Charly' and was famously victimized in a 1977 Hollywood forgery scandal, died Saturday. He was 88. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)
  • FILE - In this undated file TV publicity image released by Starz, Andy Whitfield portrays Spartacus in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Whitfield died of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in Australia Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Starz Entertainment. LLC, File)
  • In this Aug. 12, 2009 file photo, Kara Kennedy wipes a tear as President Barack Obama reads about her father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., as Obama awards him the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom during ceremonies in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Kara, the oldest child of the late Sen. Kennedy, died Friday, Sept. 16, 2011, at a Washington-area health club, her brother Patrick Kennedy told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
  • Eleanor Jane Mondale Poling died Sept. 17, 2011, at age 51. She was the daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale and was a radio personality television host and actress.
  • In this Aug. 26, 1974 file photo, former Dallas Cowboys flanker, and author Peter Gent poses with copies of his bestseller 'North Dallas Forty,' in New York. Gent, whose book about the seamier side of football was made into a movie by the same name, has died in his native Michigan. D.L. Miller Funeral Home says Gent died Friday, Sept. 30, 2011, at age 69 in Bangor, where he grew up. No other details were immediately available. (AP Photo, File)
  • Phoenix-based TV pitchman Donald Lapre, charged with running a nationwide scheme to sell essentially worthless Internet-based businesses, died Sunday morning, Oct. 2, 2011, in an apparent suicide while in federal custody. His trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday.
  • In a May 8, 1963, photo, civil rights leaders, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy hold a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who was hailed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his courage and energy, died Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 at the Birmingham, Ala. hospital. He was 89. (AP Photo, File)
  • In this Feb. 4, 2009 file photo, Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis smiles during an NFL football news conference at Raiders headquarters in Alameda, Calif. Davis has died, the Oakland Raiders announced Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
  • FILE - Television personality Andy Rooney of CBS-TV's '60 Minutes' poses in his New York office in this Jan. 28, 1983 file photo. CBS says former '60 Minutes' commentator Andy Rooney died Friday Nov. 4, 2011 at age 92. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
  • FILE - In this Feb. 3, 1970, file photo, Joe Frazier pauses after a workout at New Yorkís Madison Square Garden. Frazier, the former heavyweight champion who handed Muhammad Ali his first defeat yet had to live forever in his shadow, has died after a brief final fight with liver cancer. He was 67. The family issued a release confirming the boxer's death on Monday night, Nov. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
  • FILE - In this June 21, 2006 file photo, cartoonist Bil Keane, creator of the comic strip 'Family Circus,' poses in his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz. A spokeswoman for King Features Syndicate, the comic strip's distributor, says Keane died Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. He was 89. (AP Photo/East Valley Tribune, Paul O'Neill) MAGS OUT, NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT
  • In this Sept. 10, 2011 photo, comedian Patrice O'Neal performs during the 'Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen' in Culver City, Calif. O'Neal, the veteran stand-up comic who gained a wider following through TV and radio and helped roast Charlie Sheen, died Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, from complications of a stroke he suffered last month. He was 41. (AP Photo/Dan Krauss)
  • In this Oct. 1, 2011 photo, rapper Heavy D, also known as Dwight Arrington Myers, performs during the BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta. A representative confirmed Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 that the singer and former leader of Heavy D & the Boyz died. He was 44. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
  • FILE - In this 1969 file photo, Alan Sues poses for a photo. Sues, known as Big Al on the old television series, 'Laugh In,' has died. Sues died of cardiac arrest on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, at his home in West Hollywood, Calif., Michael Gregg Michaud, a friend since 1975, told The Associated Press. Sues was 85. (AP Photo, File)
  • Harry Morgan poses in 1976 on the set of the television show 'M*A*S*H.'
  • Essayist Christopher Hitchens speaks during a debate on Iraq and the foreign policies of the United States and Britain, in this Sept. 14, 2005, file photo taken in New York. Vanity Fair reports Hitchens died on Thursday Dec. 15, 2011 at the age of 62 from complications of cancer of the esophagus. (AP Photo/Chad Rachman)
  • In this Jan. 6, 1967, photo, Sammy Davis Jr. and Kaye Stevens perform on a TV show. Stevens a singer, actress, and longtime South Florida resident who was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's 'The Tonight Show,' has died at a central Florida hospital. She was 79. (AP Photo, File)
  • FILE - A file photo shows Johnny Weissmuller, right, as Tarzan, Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, and Cheetah the chimpanzee, in a scene from the 1932 movie Tarzan the Ape Man. A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah the chimpanzee from the Tarzan movies of the 1930s died Cheetah died on Dec. 24 of kidney failure at age 80. (AP Photo/ho, File)
  • In this Jan. 16, 2010, photo, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is seen at his palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2011, at the age of 80 after an unspecified illness, the official Saudi Press Agency said. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
  • Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, died Dec. 19, 2011. He was 69. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Pool, File)
  • Libya's leader Moammar Gadhafi attends a wreath-laying ceremony Nov. 3, 2008, in the Belarus capital Minsk. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)
  • ** FILE ** This undated photo shows al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive 'extremism,' speaking in an audiotape aired Monday, Oct. 22, 2007 and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida's branch in Iraq. (AP Photo, File)

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