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Celebrity Deaths 2015 – Gone but never forgotten
December 28, 2015 Blog- Beryl Renwick -, - Maureen O'Hara -, Air Marshal Peter Brett Walker, Al Molinaro, Anne Kirkbride, Anne Kirkbride cornation street, Anne Meara, Anne Woods, Anthony Valentine, Baxters Soup, bb king, blakey, Bobbi kristina brown, Brian Sewell, Catherine Jane Mitchell, Celebrity deaths 2015, Charles Kennedy, Christopher Lee, cilla black, Clive Young, Colin Bloomfield, colin fry, Colin Welland, Cynthia Payne, Darren Majian Shahlavi, David A. Ulliott, devil fish, Donna Douglas, Ena Baxter, Ethal Lang, Geoffrey Howe, Geraldine McEwan, Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, gurner, Hayley Leanne Okines, Jack Gold, Jackie Collins, James Last, Jimmy Hill, Joe Maiden, Jonah Lomu, Joy Beverley, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Khan Bonfils, Kirsty Howard, Lady Killearn, Leonard Nimoy, Lester Errol Brown, Michael Hugh Meacher, Michael Hugh Scully, Michael Meacher, Michael Valentine, Natasha Parry, Nicholas John Smith, Nicholas Smith, Omar Sharif, Pamela Isabel Cundell, Patrick Macnee, Pauline Lettice Yates, Percy Sledge, Peter Baldwin, Peter Harold Dimmock, Peter Nigel Terry, Phil Taylor, Phil Taylor motorhead, Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Robert Loggia, Ronald Gordon Honeycombe, Ruth Rendell, Saeed Jaffrey, Shirley Stelfox, Shirley Stelfox emmerdale, Sir John Severne, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, Teresa Ellen Gorman, Warren Mitchellbelfastchildis
Mortem omnibus nobis venit
( death comes for us all )
There are two absolute certainties in life – taxes and death , one steals our hard earned cash and the other is the final act of our journey through life.
No matter who you are or how much wealth you have accumulated death comes to us all and it is the cruelest act of mother nature that we can't avoid the grim reaper.
The trick is to make the most of life your have and live and enjoy everyday as though it were a gift – Carpe diem – and when you time comes hopefully you will have few regrets.
The list below does not include all celebrity deaths for 2015 and forgive me if I have missed out some giants of humanity .I have only included those people whom might be considered household names and those who made an impression on me as i journeyed through life.
Please feel free to let me know if you would like someone added to the list and i will happily do so.
– Donna Douglas –
Died January 1st
September 26, 1932 – January 1, 2015
The American actress and singer, known for her role as Elly May Clampett in CBS's The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). Following her acting career, Douglas became a real estate agent, a Gospel singer and inspirational speaker, and authored books for children and adults.
Douglas died at Baton Rouge General Hospital, aged 82, on January 1, 2015, from pancreatic cancer
The Beverly Hillbillies – Season 1- Episode 5
– Khan Bonfils –
Died January 5th
1972 – January 5, 2015
Kan (Khan) Bonfils was a British actor and performer. He trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He was a trained Martial Artist and studied the art of Wing Chun Kung Fu from Austin Goh, and was also a practitioner of Yin Style Ba Gua Zhang in London since 2008.
His film credits include Jedi Master Saesee Tiin (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Body Armour (2007) and Traveller (2013).
His other film credits include Tomb Raider 2, Batman Begins, and the James Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Skyfall (2012).
Bonfils also performed in the West End: Miss Saigon at Drury Lane, Theatre Royal London and The King & I at London Palladium where he performed the lead with Elaine Paige.
Bonfils also had a brief modelling career, before starting acting, modelling for Michiko Kochino, Hermes, Oswald Boateng and more.
On 5 January 2015, Bonfils was rehearsing an upcoming stage production of Dante's Inferno when he collapsed. He could not be resuscitated, and was pronounced dead by paramedics. He was 42 years old.
– Darren Majian Shahlavi –
Died 14th January
5 August 1972 – 14 January 2015
Sometimes credited as Shahlavi, was an English actor, martial artist and stuntman.
Darren Majian Shahlavi sometimes credited as Shahlavi, was an English actor, martial artist and stuntman. His surname is of Persian origin. He may be best known for his role as Taylor "The Twister" Milos in the 2010 film Ip Man 2.
Shahlavi was known primarily for playing bad guys in martial arts films such as Bloodmoon and Tai Chi Boxer. He had starred in the Asian film series The Techno Warriors, and American films Hostile Environment, Sometimes a Hero, Legion of the Dead and the cult classic Beyond the Limits, for German Horror master Olaf Ittenbach.[1]
In recent years Shahlavi appeared in such big budget films as 300 and Watchmen, independent features such as The Final Cut with Robin Williams, and as an actor & stuntman in several of Uwe Boll's films (including BloodRayne and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale).
On 14 January 2015, Shahlavi died in his sleep at the age of 42.The cause of death was a fatal heart attack caused by atherosclerosis.
– Ena Baxter –
Died January 15th
12th August 1924 – Jan 15 2015
Baxters Food Group Limited, also known as Baxters of Speyside or Baxters, is a Scottish food processing company, based in Fochabers, Moray, Scotland. Baxters is best known for canned soups, made to unique recipes, such as Royal Game. It also makes a range of jams, pickled vegetables and chutneys. The company holds the Royal Warrant for manufacturers of Scottish specialities from Her Majesty the Queen.
The company was known as W.A. Baxter & Sons Ltd. prior to 21 December 2006.[
– Ethal Lang –
Died 15th January age 115
Ethal age 20
27 May 1900 – 15th Jan 2015
Ethel Lang (née Lancaster;[2] 27 May 1900 – 15 January 2015)[3][4] was a British supercentenarian who, at the time of her death, was the oldest living person in the United Kingdom,[4] the second-oldest living person in Europe after Emma Morano of Italy and the ninth oldest living person in the world. Lang was the last living British person to have been born in the British Empire during the reign of Queen Victoria[4] and world's second last living person to have been born in during the reign of Queen Victoria. The last one is Jamaican woman Violet Brown
– Anne Kirkbride –
June 21 195 – Jan 19 2015
Granada Reports – Anne Kirkbride tribute programme
Anne Kirkbride was an English actress, known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in the ITV soap Coronation Street, which she played for 42 years from 1972 to 2014. For this role, she posthumously received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2015 British Soap Awards
Kirkbride died of breast cancer in a Manchester hospital on 19 January 2015
– Leon Brittan –
Died 21st January
September 25 1939 – January 21 2015
Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, QC, PC, DL (25 September 1939 – 21 January 2015) was a British politician, Conservative Member of Parliament and barrister, as well as a member of the European Commission. He served several ministerial roles in Margaret Thatcher's government, including Home Secretary.
Brittan died at his home in London on 21 January 2015, at the age of 75; he had been ill with cancer for some time. He had two stepdaughters
– Pauline Lettice Yates –
16 June 1929 – 21 January 2015
Pauline Lettice Yates was an English actress, best known for playing Elizabeth Perrin in the BBC television sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. She also starred in Bachelor Father and Keep It in the Family.
Pauline Yates died in London, England on 21 January 2015, aged 85
-Demis Roussos –
Died 25th January 2015
15 June 1946 – 25 January 201
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos (Greek: Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was aGreek singer and performer who had international hit records as a solo performer in the 1970s after having been a member ofAphrodite's Child, a progressive rock group that also included Vangelis.
Roussos sold over 60 million albums worldwide[1] and became "an unlikely kaftan-wearing sex symbol.
Roussos died in the morning of 25 January 2015, while hospitalized at Ygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece
– Geraldine McEwan –
9 May 1932 – 30 January 2015
Geraldine McEwan was an English actress who had a long career in theatre, television and film.
McEwan was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1998 for her performance in The Chairs. She won a BAFTA Award for her performance in the television serial Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1990). From 2004 to 2009 she appeared as Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie sleuth, for the series Marple.
Michael Coveney described her, in a tribute article, as "a great comic stylist, with a syrupy, seductive voice and a forthright, sparkling manner."
McEwan died on 30 January 2015 at the Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith after suffering a stroke three months earlier
-Sandra Locke "Sandy" Chalmers
Died 2nd February
29 February 1940 – 2 February 2015
Sandra Locke "Sandy" Chalmers was a British radio producer and broadcaster, who was editor of Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 in the 1980s.
She was born in Gatley, Stockport, Cheshire. Her father was an architect and her mother a medical secretary.[1] She attended Withington Girls' School. As children, she and her older sister Judith appeared regularly on the BBC programme Children's Hour. Sandra Chalmers then studied English at Victoria University of Manchester (now Manchester University), becoming president of the Women Students' Union. She worked at the advertising agency J Walter Thompson in London, before starting to work regularly on radio in Manchester. In 1970 she became a senior producer, newsreader and host on the newly established station BBC Radio Manchester. Then, during the mid-1970s, she was appointed as manager of BBC Radio Stoke, becoming the first woman to manage a BBC local radio station
She died in 2015, aged 74 survived by a son, Richard, a daughter, Becky, and five grandchildren
– Steve Strange –
Died February 12th
May 28 1959 – February 12 2015
Steve Strange
Stephen John Harrington (28 May 1959 – 12 February 2015), better known by his stage name Steve Strange, was a Welsh pop singer. From the late 1970s he was a nightclub host and promoter. He became famous as the leader of the new wave synthpop group Visage, best known for their single "Fade to Grey", and was one of the most influential figures behind the New Romantic movement of the early 1980s.
On 12 February 2015, Strange suffered a heart attack while in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. He died later that day in hospital
– Pamela Isabel Cundell –
Died 14th February
15 January 1920 – 14 February 2015
She died at the age of 95
Pamela Isabel Cundell was an English character actress. Her best-known role was as Mrs Fox in the long-running TV comedy Dad's Army.
She is a descendant of Henry Condell, one of the managers of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the playing company of William Shakespeare.[3] Henry Condell also helped put together the first folio of Shakespeare's works after his death
– Leonard Nimoy –
March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015
Leonard Nimoy on Piers Morgan, February 10, 2014
Leonard Simon Nimoy (/ˈniːmɔɪ/; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, film director, photographer, author, singer, and songwriter. He was known for his role as Mr. Spock of the Star Trek franchise, a character he portrayed in television and film from a pilot episode shot in late 1964 to his final film performance released in 2013.[1]
Nimoy began his career in his early twenties, teaching acting classes in Hollywood and making minor film and television appearances through the 1950s, as well as playing the title role in Kid Monk Baroni. Foreshadowing his fame as a semi-alien, he played Narab, one of three Martian invaders in the 1952 movie serial Zombies of the Stratosphere.
In December 1964, he made his first appearance in the rejected Star Trek pilot "The Cage", and went on to play the character of Spock until the end of the production run in early 1969, followed by eight feature films and guest slots in the various spin-off series. The character has had a significant cultural impact and garnered Nimoy three Emmy Award nominations; TV Guide named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters.[3][4] After the original Star Trek series, Nimoy starred in Mission: Impossible for two seasons, hosted the documentary series In Search of…, narrated Civilization IV, and made several well-received stage appearances. He also had a recurring role in the science fiction series Fringe.
Nimoy died of complications from COPD on February 27, 2015, at the age of 83, in his Bel Air home
-Terry Pratchett –
Died 12th March
28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works.[2] He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971; after the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, he wrote two books a year on average. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days.[3] His final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
Pratchett, with more than 85 million books sold worldwide in 37 languages,[4][5] was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s.[6][7] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours.[8][9] In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children.[10][11] He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007, Pratchett announced that he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease.[12] He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust[13] (now Alzheimer's Research UK), filmed a television programme chronicling his experiences with the disease for the BBC, and also became a patron for Alzheimer's Research UK.[14] Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, aged 66.
Pratchett died at his home on the morning of 12 March 2015 from his Alzheimer's, according to his publisher.[69] The Telegraph reported an unidentified source as saying that despite his previous discussion of assisted suicide, his death had been natural.[70] After Pratchett's death, his assistant, Rob Wilkins, wrote from the official Terry Pratchett Twitter account:
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
Terry took Death's arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
– Eric Stanley Taylor MBE –
Known professionally as Shaw Taylor
Eric Stanley Taylor[1] MBE (26 October 1924 – 17 March 2015), known professionally as Shaw Taylor, was a British actor and television presenter, best known for presenting the long-running five-minute crime programme Police 5.
Taylor died at his home in Totland on the Isle of Wight
– Anne Woods –
5th December 1947 – 29 March 2015
Anne was a British gurner, 28 times the women's world champion
-Hayley Leanne Okines –
Died 2nd April
3 December 1997 – 2 April 2015
Hayley Leanne Okines was an English girl with the extremely rare aging disease known as progeria.[2][3] She was known for spreading awareness of the condition. Although the average life expectancy for sufferers is 13 years, Hayley was part of a drug trial that had seen her surpass doctors' predictions of her projected lifespan. However, she died on 2 April 2015 at the age of 17 due to complications of pneumonia, having lived four years beyond doctors' initial predictions.[4]
In 1999, at two years old,[5] Okines was diagnosed with progeria, a genetic disease that caused her to age eight times faster than the average person. This put her projected lifespan at thirteen years.[6] She frequently travelled to Boston to receive new treatments in the United States.[7] In 2012, an autobiography of Hayley Okines was published titled Old Before My Time.[8][9] The book was co-authored by Hayley Okines, her mother Kerry Okines, and contributor Alison Stokes.
Hayley lived in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, with her mother Kerry, her father Mark, and younger siblings Louis and Ruby (neither of whom has progeria). She attended Bexhill College.
– James Best –
Died 6th April 2015
July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015
James Best (born Jewel Jules Franklin Guy was an American actor, who in six decades of television is best known for his starring role as bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He also worked as an acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician.
Best died on April 6, 2015, in Hickory, North Carolina from complications of pneumonia. He was 88
– Vivian Nicholson –
Died 11 April
3 April 1936 – 11 April 201
Viv Nicholson interviewed by Alan Whicker 1966
Vivian Nicholson (3 April 1936 – 11 April 2015) was a British woman who became famous when she told the media she would "spend, spend, spend" after her husband Keith won £152,319 (equivalent to £3.03 million in 2015, adjusted for inflation) on the football pools in 1961.[1][2] Nicholson became the subject of tabloid news stories for many years due to her and Keith's subsequent rapid spending of their fortune and her later chaotic life.
Nicholson died at Pinderfields hospital, Wakefield, aged 79, on 11 April 2015, after having had a stroke and dementia
– David A. Ulliott –
Died 6th April
1 April 1954 – 6 April 2015
David A. Ulliott known by the nickname Devilfish, was an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Hull underworld,[1] but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker. At the poker table, he was known for wearing orange-tinted prescription sunglasses, a sharp suit (or leather jacket) and gold knuckleduster rings reading "Devil" and "Fish", which he made himself
Ulliott was diagnosed with colon cancer in February 2015, and died of the disease on 6 April 2015.[37][38] He was 61
– Claire Gordon –
Died 13th April
16 January 1941 – 13 April 2015
Claire Gordon ( was an English film actress and comedienne known for leading and cameo roles in many British movies from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, and for working with most of the television comedy stars of that time. She was best known for her leading roles in the cult films Konga and Beat Girl, Gordon became the subject of singer Scott Walker's song "Archangel".
Claire died of a brain tumour on 13 April 2015 in a nursing home in west London
– Percy Tyrone Sledge –
Died April 14th
November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015
Percy Sledge – Funeral Service – April 21, 2015
Percy was an American R&B, soul, gospel, and traditional pop singer. He is best known for the song "When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 1966. It was awarded a million-selling, Gold-certified disc from the RIAA.
Sledge died of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge on April 14, 2015 at the age of 74
– Colin Bloomfield –
22 February 1982 – 25 April 2015
Colin Bloomfi was an English radio personality best known for his coverage of Derby County F.C. on BBC Radio Derby, as a presenter, reporter and commentator. Following his terminal prognosis for melanoma, he became an activist and fundraiser, setting up an eponymous appeal to educate children about the illness.
Bloomfield died at a hospice near his family home on 25 April 2015, aged 33. Later that day, Shrewsbury Town achieved promotion to League One, which they dedicated to Bloomfield and to Lloyd Burton, an eleven-year-old fan who had died of a brain tumour earlier that week
– Keith Harris –
21 September 1947 – 28 April 2015
Keith Harris & Orville 3-2-1
Keith Shenton Harris was an English ventriloquist, best known for his television show The Keith Harris Show (1982–90), audio recordings, and club appearances with his puppets Orville the Duck and Cuddles the Monkey. He had a UK Top 10 hit single in 1982 with "Orville's Song" which reached number 4 in the charts.
Harris had his spleen removed and chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis in 2013. He subsequently returned to work. The cancer returned in 2014 and he died on 28 April 2015, at the age of 67 at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
– Peter Nigel Terry –
15 August 1945 – 30 April 2015
Peter Nigel Terry (15 August 1945 – 30 April 2015) was an English stage and film actor probably best known by film audiences for his portrayal of King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981). He had a long career in classical theatre.
He died in Cornwall of emphysema on 30 April 2015
– Ryan McHenry –
Died 2nd May
13 December 1987 – 2 May 2015
Ryan Gosling Eats His Cereal – A Touching Tribute
Ryan McHenry was a Scottish film director best known for the film Zombie Musical in which he received a nomination for the Best Director accolade at the 2011 British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards.
After initial signs that McHenry had beaten cancer, he returned to work in July 2014 after a long course of chemotherapy. The cancer returned, and on 2 May 2015 he died. Two days before his death he had tweeted, in his typical deadpan humour
"Yesterday was my 10,000th day alive on this Earth and not one of you got me a card or anything..
– Ruth Rendell –
Died 2nd May 2015
17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.
Rendell's best-known creation, Chief Inspector Wexford, was the hero of many popular police stories, some of them successfully adapted for TV. But Rendell also generated a separate brand of crime fiction that deeply explored the psychological background of criminals and their victims, many of them mentally afflicted or otherwise socially isolated. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine.
Rendell had a stroke on 7 January 2015 and died on 2 May 2015.
– Lester Errol Brown MBE –
Died 6th May
12 November 1943 – 6 May 2015
Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing – Live 1976
Lester Errol Brown MBE (12 November 1943[2][3][4] – 6 May 2015) was a British-Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the soul and funk band Hot Chocolate. Their hits included "You Sexy Thing", "Emma", "So You Win Again" and "Brother Louie".
Brown died of liver cancer at his home in the Bahamas on 6 May 2015
– BB King –
Died 14th May
September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015
Riley B. "B.B." King was an American blues singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor.
Rolling Stone ranked King No. 6 on its 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.[2] King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists.[3] King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname "The King of the Blues", and one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" along with Albert and Freddie.[4][5][6] King was known for performing tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing at more than 200 concerts per year on average into his 70s.[7] In 1956, he reportedly appeared at 342 shows.
King died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 14, 2015 from complications of Alzheimer's disease along with congestive heart failure and diabetic complications
– Anne Meara –
Died 23rd May
Anne Meara (September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015) was an American actress and comedian. Along with her husband, Jerry Stiller, she was one-half of a prominent 1960s comedy team, Stiller and Meara. She was also featured on stage, television, in numerous films, and later became a playwright.
During her career, Meara was nominated for four Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, and won a Writers Guild Award as a co-writer for the TV movie, The Other Woman. She was the mother of actors Amy and Ben Stiller.
Meara died on May 23, 2015, at her home in Manhattan, at the age of 85. No exact cause was provided but some sources cite "natural causes.
– Charles Kennedy –
Died 1st June 2015
25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015
Charles Peter Kennedy was a British[1][2] Liberal Democrat politician, who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006 and a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1983 to 2015, latterly for the Ross, Skye and Lochaberconstituency.
Kennedy died on 1 June 2015 at his home in Fort William at the age of 55; his death was announced in the early hours of the following day.[51] The police described his death as "sudden and non-suspicious".[52] Following a post-mortem his family announced that Kennedy had died of a major haemorrhage linked to his alcoholism.
– Christopher Lee –
Died 7th June
27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015
Top 10 Christopher Lee Performances
Sir Christopher Frank C was an English actor, singer, author, and World War II veteran. With a career spanning nearly 70 years, Lee initially portrayed villains and became best known for his role as Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films. His other film roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002 and 2005).
Lee was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011 and received the BFI Fellowship in 2013.[1] Lee considered his best performance to be that of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998), and his best film to be the British horror film The Wicker Man (1973).[2] He frequently appeared opposite Peter Cushing in Hammer Horror films, and late in his career had roles in six Tim Burton films.[3]
Always noted as an actor for his deep strong voice, Lee was also known for his singing ability, recording various opera and musical pieces between 1986 and 1998 and the symphonic metal album Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross in 2010 after having worked with several metal bands since 2005. The heavy metal follow-up titled Charlemagne: The Omens of Death was released on 27 May 2013.[4][5] He was honoured with the "Spirit of Metal" award at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony. Lee died from complications of respiratory problems and heart failure in a Chelsea hospital on the morning of 7 June 2015 at the age of 93.
Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 at 8:30 am after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday there.
– James Last –
Died 9th June 2015
17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015
James Last (also known as "Hansi", born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and big bandleader of The James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist (Last won the award for "best bassist in Germany in each of the years 1950 – 1952), his trademark "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom, with 65 of his albums reaching the charts in the UK alone.[2][2] His composition "Happy Heart" became an international success in interpretations by Andy Williams and Petula Clark.
In September 2014 Last learned that a "life threatening" illness had worsened (the exact details were never disclosed), and in early 2015 he announced his retirement from touring would take place following a final "goodbye tour", which commenced in Germany and ended in London.[9] Last died less than three months later, on 9 June 2015 in Florida at the age of 86
– Ron Moody –
(born Ronald Moodnick)
Died 11th June
8 January 1924 – 11 June 201
Best known for his Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated performance as Fagin in Oliver! He holds the distinction of having portrayed Merlin the wizard in two Disney films, Unidentified Flying Oddball and A Kid in King Arthur's Court.
Ron Moody died in a London hospital on 11 June 2015, aged 91
– Patrick Macnee –
6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015
Daniel Patrick Macnee , known professionally as Patrick Macnee, was a British-American actor. He was best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the British television series The Avengers.
Macnee died at Rancho Mirage, California, his home for the past four decades, at the age of 93
– Sir Nicholas George Winton –
(born Nicholas George Wertheim)
Died 1st July
19 May 1909 – 1 July 2015 -Aged 106
Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE (born Nicholas George Wertheim; was a British humanitarian who organized the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport (German for "children transportation"). Winton found homes for the children and arranged for their safe passage to Britain.[2] The world found out about his work over 40 years later, in 1988. The British press dubbed him the "British Schindler".[3] On 28 October 2014, he was awarded the highest honour of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion (1st class), by Czech President Miloš Zeman.
Val Doonican
Died 1st July 2015
3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015
Michael Valentine "Val" Doonican was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, andnovelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the United Kingdom where he had five successive Top 10 albums in the 1960s as well as several hits on the UK Singles Chart, including "Walk Tall" and "Elusive Butterfly". The Val Doonican Show, which featured his singing and a variety of guests, had a long and successful run onBBC Television from 1965 to 1986 and Doonican won the Variety Club of Great Britain's BBC-TV Personality of the Year award three times.[1] Doonican had a gentle baritone voice and, according to The Guardian, he had "an easygoing, homely charm that enchanted middle England
Val Doonican died at a nursing home in Buckinghamshire on the evening of 1 July 2015, aged 88. He had not been ill
– Omar Sharif –
Died 10th July
10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015
Watch a Fascinating Interview with Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif (Arabic: عمر الشريـف‎, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕomɑɾˤ eʃʃɪˈɾiːf]; born Michel Dimitri Chalhoub[1] [miˈʃel dɪˈmitɾi ʃælˈhuːb]; was an Egyptian actor. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s, but is best known for his appearances in both British and American productions. His films included Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Funny Girl (1968). He was nominated for an Academy Award. He won three Golden Globe Awards and a César Award.
Sharif, who spoke Arabic, English, Greek, French, Spanish and Italian fluently, was often cast as a foreigner of some sort. He bridled at travel restrictions imposed during the reign of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, leading to self-exile in Europe. The estrangement this caused led to an amicable divorce from his wife, the iconic Egyptian actress Faten Hamama. He had converted to Islam in order to marry her. He was a lifelong horse racing enthusiast, and at one time ranked among the world's top contract bridge players.
Sharif died after suffering a heart attack at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt. He was 83.
– Roger Rees –
5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015
Roger Rees was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, 16 November 2015. He was widely known to American television audiences for playing the characters Robin Colcord in Cheers and Lord John Marbury in The West Wing.
Rees died of brain cancer at age 71 at his home in New York
– Aubrey Morris –
(born Aubrey Jack Steinberg)
1 June 1926 – 15 July 2015 Aged 89
Aubrey Morris (born Aubrey Jack Steinberg was a British actor perhaps best known for his appearances in the films A Clockwork Orange and The Wicker Man
– Natasha Parry –
Died 22 July
2 December 1930 – 22 July 2015
Parry made her screen debut in Dance Hall (1950).[7] She appeared in many of her husband's productions including a live American television version of King Lear (1953) opposite Orson Welles,[8] in Anouilh's The Fighting Cock with Rex Harrison,[9] Meetings with Remarkable Men, The Cherry Orchard, and Happy Days
Parry died on 22 July 2015 (Some sources say 23 July 2015 ) while on holiday in La Baule, Brittany, France
– Jules Bianchi –
He died from injuries sustained at the time of his accident in Suzuka nine months prior.
see Jules Bianchi
Jules Bianchi was a French motor racing driver who drove for Marussia F1 in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Bianchi had previously raced in Formula Renault 3.5, GP2 and Formula Three and was a Ferrari Driver Academy member. He entered Formula One as a practice driver in 2012 for Sahara Force India. In 2013, he made his debut driving for Marussia, finishing 15th in his opening race in Australia and ended the season in 19th position without scoring any points. His best result that year was 13th at the Malaysian Grand Prix. In October 2013, the team confirmed that he would drive for the team the following season. In the 2014 season, he scored both his and the Marussia's first points in Formula One at the Monaco Grand Prix.[1]
On 5 October 2014, during the Japanese Grand Prix, Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in very wet conditions and collided with a recovery vehicle, suffering a diffuse axonal injury.[2][3] He underwent emergency surgery and was placed into an induced coma, and remained comatose until his death on 17 July 2015.[4] Bianchi is the first Formula One driver to be killed as a result of an accident during a race event since Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
– Cilli Bllack –
Died 1st August
27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015
Black died at her holiday home near Estepona, Spain.
Following the results of a post-mortem examination, her sons confirmed that Black had died from a stroke following a fall in her Spanish villa.[67] The ten-page pathologist's report confirmed that Black had suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage after falling backwards and hitting her head, it was thought, on a terrace wall. It was believed she had not been found for at least four hours
See Cilla Black
Priscilla Maria Veronica White OBE , known by her stage name Cilla Black, was an English singer, television presenter and actress.
Championed by her friends the Beatles, she began her career as a singer in 1963, and her singles "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World" both reached number one in the UK in 1964. Black had eleven Top Ten hits on the British charts between then and 1971. In May 2010, new research published by BBC Radio 2 showed that her version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s.[1] "You're My World" was also a modest hit in the US, peaking at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own variety show, Cilla, for the BBC between 1968 and 1976. After a brief time as a comedy actress in the mid-1970s, she became a prominent television presenter in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting hit entertainment shows such as Blind Date (1985–2003), The Moment of Truth (1998–2001) andSurprise Surprise (1984–2001).
In 2013, Black celebrated her 50 years in show business. British television network ITV honoured this milestone with a one-off entertainment special which aired on 16 October 2013. The show, called The One & Only Cilla Black, featured Black herself and was hosted by Paul O'Grady.[2]
Cilla Black died on 1 August 2015 after a fall in her villa in Estepona, Spain. The day after her funeral, the compilation album The Very Best of Cilla Black went to number one on the UK Albums Chart and the New Zealand Albums Chart; it was her first number one album.
– Bobbi Kristina Brown –
Died 3 August
March 4, 1993 – July 26, 2015
– George Edward Cole, OBE –
Died 5th August
22 April 1925 – 5 August 2015
See George Cole
George Edward Cole, OBE (22 April 1925 – 5 August 2015) was an English actor whose career spanned more than 70 years. He was best known for playing Arthur Daley in the long-running ITV comedy-drama show Minder and Flash Harry in the early St Trinian's films.
Cole died at the age of 90 on 5 August 2015 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, after a short illness
– David Gordon Nobbs –
13 March 1935 – 8 August 2015)
David was an English comedy writer, best known for writing the 1970s series The Fall and Rise of Reginal
– Jack Gold –
28 June 1930 – 9 August 201
Jack Gold was a British film and television director. He was part of the British realist tradition which followed the Free Cinema movement
– Stephen Lewis –
Died 12th August
17 December 1926 – 12 August 2015
See Stephen Lewis
Stephen Lewis (17 December 1926 – 12 August 2015), credited early in his career as Stephen Cato, was an English actor, comedian, director, screenwriter, and playwright. He is best known for his roles as Inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake in the LWT sitcom and film versions of On the Buses, appearing for the length of the series, (along with Bob Grant and Anna Karen), Clem "Smiler" Hemmingway in Last of the Summer Wine, and Harry Lambert in BBC Television's Oh, Doctor Beeching!.
Lewis died at the age of 88 during the early morning of 12 August 2015 at 1:50 am , in a nursing home in Wanstead, London, where his sister Connie, aged 84 also resides.
– Catherine Jane Mitchell –
( Known professionally as Kitty McGeever )
Catherine Jane Mitchell known professionally as Kitty McGeever, was an English actress and comedienne.
She was the first blind actress to be cast in a British soap opera, playing the fictional character Lizzie Lakely in Emmerdale from April 2009 to March 2013
McGeever died on 16 August 2015, aged 48.It was confirmed that she had been waiting for a kidney transplant and had asked for her organs to be donated to help others.
– Colin Fry –
19 May 1962 – 25 August 2015
Colin Fry was a British spiritualist medium, author and television personality.
In April 2015, Fry was diagnosed as being terminally ill with lung cancer.Vowing, "The show must go on" he said, "It is bad news for me personally. But it has made me even more determined to carry on. It gives me a chance to say goodbye to my fans, who have been so loyal to me over the years. I hope they and the theatres will all bear with me. I feel good most of the time. But there will be bad days too. It has been a privilege to be allowed to perform my skills on a national stage and Television. I have never taken that for granted and I would like to give something back and say, 'thank you for having me. It has been a real pleasure'."
He died on the morning of 25 August 2015, at the age of 53
– Joan O'Callaghan –
30 September 1934 – 16 August 2015
Joan O'Callaghan known professionally as Anna Kashfi, was an Indian born Americanfilm actress who had a brief Hollywood career in the 1950s..
– Teresa Ellen Gorman –
(née Moore)
Teresa Ellen Gorman was a British politician. She was Conservative Member of Parliament for Billericay, in the county of Essex in England, from 1987 to 2001 when she stood down. She was a leading figure in the rebellions over the Maastricht Treaty that nearly brought down John Major's government. She worked in both education and business.
– Joy Beverley –
Died 31st August 2015
The Beverley Sisters were a British female vocal and light entertainment trio, most popular during the 1950s and 1960s.
Eldest sister Joy (born Joycelyn Victoria Chinery, 5 May 1924 – 31 August 2015),[nb 1][2][3] and the twins, Teddie (born Hazel P. Chinery, 5 May 1927) and Babs (born Babette P. Chinery, 5 May 1927), comprised the trio. Their style was loosely modelled on that of their American counterparts, the Andrews Sisters. Their notable successes have included "Sisters", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "Little Drummer Boy
Died aged 91 after suffering a stroke
– Joyce Audrey Botterill –
Died 3rd September
27 April 1939 – 3 September 2015
Joyce Audrey Botterill known professionally as Judy Carne, was an English actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
he died from pneumonia on 3 September 2015 at a hospital in Northampton
– Air Marshal Peter Brett Walker CB CBE –
Died 6th September
29 September 1949 – 6 September 2015
Air Marshal Peter Brett Walker CB CBE was a Royal Air Force officer who served asLieutenant Governor of Guernsey from 2011 to 2015.
– Beryl Renwick –
Died 11th September 2015
1926 – 11th September 2015
– Joe Maiden –
Died 17th September
1941 – 17 September 2015
Maiden was brought up in Penrith, Cumbria, and was educated at Askham Bryan College.
A professional horticulturist over a period spanning 40 years, he appeared on numerous gardening programmes for the BBC andYorkshire Television and was awarded the Harlow Carr medal by The Royal Horticultural Society for his growing, lecturing and exhibitions of vegetables. Maiden's work has been published in a number of audio visual presentations[3][4] He was a Fellow of theNational Vegetable Society, and served on the society's judging panel. He was a committee member of the Leeds Horticultural Society.
He died on 17 September 2015 of prostate cancer.
– Brian Sewell –
15 June 1931 – 19 September 2015
Brian Sewell was an English art critic and media personality. He wrote for theLondon Evening Standard and was noted for his acerbic view of conceptual art and the Turner Prize. The Guardian described him as "Britain's most famous and controversial art critic",[3] while the Standard called him the "nation's best art critic", and Artnet Newscalled him the United Kingdom's "most famous and controversial art critic.
Sewell died of cancer on 19 September 2015 at the age of 84 in London
– Jackie Collins –
October 1937 – 19 September 2015
Jacqueline Jill Collins OBE was an English romance novelist. She moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, became a U.S. citizen and spent most of her career there. She wrote 32 novels, all of which appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list. In total, her books have sold over 500 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages.Eight of her novels have been adapted for the screen, either as films or television mini-series. She was the younger sister of actress Joan Collins.
She died age 77 in September after losing her battle with breast cancer
– Juliet Clutton–Brock –
FSA, FZS
Died 21st September
6 September 1933 – 21 September 2015
Juliet Clutton-Brock, FSA, FZS was an English zooarchaeologist and curator, specialising in domesticated mammals. From 1969 to 1993, she worked at the Natural History Museum. Between 1999 and 2006, she was the managing editor of the Journal of Zoology.
– Denis Winston Healey –
Baron Healey, CH MBE PC FRSL
Died 3rd October
(30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, CH MBE PC FRSL ( was a British Labour Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.
He was a Member of Parliament for 40 years (from 1952 until his retirement in 1992) and was the last surviving member of thecabinet formed by Harold Wilson after the Labour Party's victory in the 1964 general election. A major figure in the party, he was twice defeated in bids for the party leadership.
To the public at large, Healey became well known for his bushy eyebrows and his creative turns of phrase.
After a short illness Healey died in his sleep at his home in Alfriston, Sussex, on 3 October 2015 at the age of 98
– Clive Young –
Died 7th October
31 May 1948 – 7 October 2015
Clive Young was a Church of England bishop. From 1999 to 2013, he was the Anglican Bishop of Dunwich, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
– Sir John Severne –
KCVO OBE AFC DL. B
Birth name, John de Milt Severne
5 March 1943 – 8 October 2015
– Michael Hugh Scully –
Michael Hugh Scully was a British television presenter. He is best known as the host of theBBC show Antiques Roadshow from 1981 to 2000.
Born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, he spent much of his childhood in Malta and Egypt, where his father was stationed with theRoyal Air Force. He was sent to boarding school in Bath at the age of 13, and after leaving worked for a period with the pianocompany Steinway & Sons. He auditioned successfully as a temporary newsreader on BBC radio, and made his first radio appearance reporting from Southampton in 1963
– Ronald Gordon Honeycombe –
27 September 1936 – 9 October 2015
Ronald Gordon Honeycombe was a British newscaster, author, playwright and stage actor.
Gordon Honeycombe was born in Karachi, in the British Raj, and educated at the Edinburgh Academy and read English at University College, Oxford. (His degree was later raised (automatically) to an MA). He completed National Service with the Royal Artillery, mainly in Hong Kong, where he was also an announcer with Radio Hong Kong. Returning to the UK, he embarked on an acting career which led to television and public prominence as a national newscaster with ITN.
– Lady Killearn –
Died 9th October aged 105
January 13th 1910 – October 9th 2015
– Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe –
Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, QC, PC
20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015
Howe died at the age of 88 on 9 October 2015 following a suspected heart attack
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British Conservative politician.
Howe was Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer,Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council. His resignation on 1 November 1990 is widely considered by the British press to have precipitated Thatcher's own resignation three weeks later.
– Sue Lloyd-Roberts –
Died 13th October
October 1950 – 13 October 2015
She announced on the Victoria Derbyshire programme she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia and urgently needed a donor with matching tissue type so she could have a stem cell transplant. Lloyd-Roberts confirmed she would be keeping a video diary for the programme.[6] She died on 13 October 2015 at University College Hospital in London, aged 64
Susan Ann "Sue" Lloyd-Roberts CBE was a British television journalist who contributed reports to BBC programmes and, earlier in her career, worked for ITN.
– Peter Baldwin –
Died 21st October
29 July 1933 – 21 October 2015
Peter Baldwin was a British actor best known for his role of Derek Wilton in the UK soap operaCoronation Street
Baldwin died on 21 October 2015 aged 82 after a short illness
– Michael Hugh Meacher –
Died 21st October 2015
4 November 1939 – 21 October 2015
Michael Hugh Meacher was a British academic and Labour Party politician. Before entering politics he was a lecturer in social administration at the University of Essex and the University of York. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1970 until his death, first for Oldham West and then, from 1997, Oldham West and Royton.
He died in hospital on 21 October 2015 after a short illness
– Kirsty Howard –
20 September 1995 – 24 October 2015
Kirsty Howard was a British woman, most notable for her charity work.
Howard was the figurehead of Kirsty's Appeal, a charitable foundation in her name, created to raise £5 million for Francis House, Didsbury, Manchester, the hospice where she received care. In October 2006, the appeal announced that it had reached its initial target figure of £5,000,000. Howard took part in numerous fundraising efforts, which gained national support and attention
– Maureen O'Hara –
17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015
Maureen O'Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons; was an Irish-American actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara was known for her beauty and playing fiercely passionate but sensible heroines, often in westerns and adventure films. She worked on numerous occasions with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne, and was one of thelast surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
She died in her sleep at her home in Boise, Idaho from natural causes
– Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon –
Baron Noon, MBE
24 January 1936 – 27 October 2015
Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Baron Noon, MBE was a British businessman originally fromMumbai, India. Known as the "Curry King", Noon operated a number of food product companies in Southall, London. He was a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Ismaili Shia community Known as the "Curry King "
He died of cancer on 27 October 2015.
Al Molinaro
Albert Francis "Al" Molinaro (born Umberto Francesca Molinaro; June 24, 1919 – October 30, 2015) was an American TV actor.He was known for his television sitcom roles as Al Delvecchio on Happy Days and Murray Greshler on The Odd Couple. He also starred in TV commercials for On-Cor frozen dinners for 16 years.
Molinaro died in a Glendale, California, hospital on October 30, 2015, at the age of 96
– Colin Welland –
Died 2 November 2015
4 July 1934 – 2 November 2015
Colin Welland born Colin Edward Williams, was a British actor and screenwriter. He won theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his script for Chariots of Fire (1981). He won a BAFTA Award for his performance as the empathetic teacher Mr Farthing in the 1969 film Kes.
Welland died in London in his sleep on 2 November 2015 at the age of 81. He had Alzheimer's disease for several years prior to his death
Died 11th November
21 September 1954 – 11 November 2015
Phil Taylor better known as "Philthy Animal" Taylor was an English rock drummer in the British heavy metal band Motörhead from 1975–1984 and 1987–1992 recording ten studio albums and the live albums No Sleep 'til Hammersmith and No Sleep At All The classic mark IV Motörhead line-up consisted of Lemmy, Taylor, and Fast Eddie Clarke.
Liver failure was cited as the cause of death
– Warren Mitchell –
(born Warren Misell )
14 January 1926 – 14 November 2015
Paki-Paddy
Warren Mitchell (born Warren Misell; 14 January 1926 – 14 November 2015) was an English actor. He was a BAFTA TV Awardwinner and twice a Laurence Olivier Award winner
Mitchell died, in the early hours of 14 November 2015, after long period of illness
– Cynthia Payne –
24 December 1932 – 15 November 2015
Cynthia Payne was an English brothel keeper and party hostess who made the headlines in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was acquitted of running a brothel at 32 Ambleside Avenue, in Streatham, a southwestern suburb of London
– Saeed Jaffrey –
8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015
Saeed Jaffrey, OBE was an Indian-born British actor whose versatility and fluency in multiple languages[2] allowed him to straddle radio, stage, television and film in a career that spanned over six decades and more than a hundred and fifty British, American and Indian movies
– Jonah Tali Lomu –
Died 18th November 2015
12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015
See Jonah Lomu
Jonah Tali Lomu, MNZM was a New Zealand rugby union player.[2] He was the youngest ever All Black when he played his first international in 1994 at the age of 19 years and 45 days.[3] Lomu finished with 63 caps and scored 37 international tries. He has been described as the first true global superstar of rugby union[4] and as having a huge impact on the game.[5] Lomu was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame on 9 October 2007,[6]and the IRB Hall of Fame on 24 October 2011
He died after a heart attack, aged 40 .
– Peter Harold Dimmock –
CVO, CBE
6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015
Peter Harold Dimmock, CVO, CBE was a British sports broadcaster and senior television executive during its formative years in the 1950s. He was the first host of the BBC's long-running Grandstand and of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.
– Anthony Valentine –
Died 2nd December
17 August 1939 – 2 December 2015
Anthony Valentine was an English actor known for his television roles: the ruthless Toby Meres in Callan, the sinister Major Mohn in Colditz, and the title character in Raffles.
– Robert Loggia –
Died 4th December
January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015
Salvatore Loggia ([salvaˈtoːre ˈlɔddʒa]) (January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015), known as Robert Loggia, was an American actor and director. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jagged Edge (1985). Other notable appearances include An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Scarface (1983), Prizzi's Honor (1985), Big (1988), Independence Day(1996), and Lost Highway (1997), as well as television series such as The Sopranos.
In 2010, Loggia was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and died on December 4, 2015, of complications from the disease, at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, aged 85
– Nicholas John Smith –
5 March 1934 – 6 December 2015
Nicholas John Smith was an English actor. He was best known for his role in the BBC sitcomAre You Being Served?, in which he played Mr. Rumbold, the manager of the fictional Grace Brothers department store.
He died on 6 December 2015 following seven weeks of hospitalisation for a fall at his home in Sutton
– Shirley Stelfox –
11 April 1941 – 7 December 2015
Last Emmerdale Appearance
Shirley Rosemary Stelfox was an English television actress, best known for her portrayal of the character Edna Birch, local gossip and moralising busybody in a Yorkshire village in the popular British soap opera Emmerdale. She said in an interview that she was wounded by the inference that her "character was a gossip". The success of the soap had made her a household name in Britain. Furthermore Stelfox had appeared in every soap opera over a fifty year period.
Stelfox died from cancer on 7 December 2015, aged 74
Jimmy Hill
Died 19th December 2015
James William Thomas "Jimmy" Hill OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football professional and personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player, trade union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter, analyst and assistant referee.
He began his playing career at Brentford in 1949, and moved to Fulham three years later. As president of the Professional Footballers' Association, he successfully campaigned for an end to The Football League's maximum wage in 1961. After retiring as a player, he took over as manager of Coventry City, modernising the team's image and guiding them from the Third to the First Division. In 1967, he began a career in football broadcasting, and from 1973 to 1998 was host of the BBC'sMatch of the Day
Hill has died at the age of 87 after suffering with Alzheimer's Disease
– Greville Ewan Janner –
Baron Janner of Braunstone,
Died 19th December
Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, QC was a British politician, barrister and writer. He was chosen at the last moment before an election to follow his father as a Labour MP, and went on to serve 27 years (from 1970 to 1997) in the House of Commons and then as a member of the House of Lords until ill health intervened. Never afrontbencher, Janner was particularly known for his work on Select Committees and he chaired the Select Committee on Employment for a time.[2] He was associated with a number of Jewish organisations including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, of which he was chairman from 1978 to 1984, and was later prominent in the field of education about the Holocaust.
Janner died from complications of Alzheimer's disease, aged 87.
– Lemmy –
24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015
Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter who founded and fronted the rock band Motörhead. His music and lifestyle was a distinctive part of the heavy metal genre.
Lemmy was born in Stoke-on-Trent and grew up in North Wales. He was influenced by rock and roll and the early Beatles, which led to him playing in several rock groups in the 1960s, most significantly the Rockin' Vickers. He worked a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and The Nice, before joining the space rock band Hawkwind in 1971, singing lead on their hit "Silver Machine". After being fired from Hawkwind, he founded Motörhead as lead singer, bassist, songwriter and frontman. Motörhead's success peaked in 1980 and 1981 and included the hit single "Ace of Spades". Lemmy continued to record and tour regularly with Motörhead until his death in December 2015.
Aside from his musical skills, Lemmy was well known for his hard living lifestyle and regular consumption of alcohol and amphetamines. He was also noted for his collection of Nazi memorabilia, although he did not support Nazi ideals. He made several cameo appearances in film and television.
On 28 December 2015, four days after his 70th birthday, Lemmy died at his home in Los Angeles, California, at 16:00 PST from an "extremely aggressive cancer."[44] Motörhead announced his death on their official Facebook page later that day. According to the band, his cancer had only been diagnosed two days prior to his death
See Lemmy Motorhead
Cilla Black – 27 May 1943 – 2nd August 2015. Rest in Peace Legend
August 2, 2015 BlogAnyone Who Had a Heart, Blind Date, Bobby Willis, Brian Epstein., cilla black, Cilla Black - The Long and Winding Road, Cilla Black death, Cilla episode 1 full [ITV drama], Dusty Springfield, It's For You, John Lennon, Petula Clark, Priscilla Maria Veronica White, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Sandie Shaw, Surprise Surprise, The Beatles, The Moment of Truth, You're My World, You've Lost That Loving Feelingbelfastchildis
CILLA BLACK ANYONE WHO HAD A HEART
Cilla Black OBE (born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, 27 May 1943 – 2 August 2015) was an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality. Championed by The Beatles, she began her career as a singer in 1963, and her singles "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (1964) and "You're My World" (1964) both reached number one.
Cilla Black – You're My World
Black had eleven Top Ten hits on the British charts between 1964 and 1971. In May 2010 new research published by BBC Radio 2 showed that her version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s.
"You're My World" was also a modest hit in the United States, peaking at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, and both songs were among the chart-toppers in Australia.
Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own eponymous variety show, Cilla, for the BBC between 1968 and 1976. After a brief time as a comedy actress in the mid-1970s, she became a prominent television presenter in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting hit entertainment shows such as Blind Date (1985–2003) and Surprise Surprise (1984–2001).
In 2013, Black celebrated her 50 years in show business. British television network ITV honoured this milestone with a one-off Entertainment special which aired on 16 October 2013. The show, called The One & Only Cilla Black, featured Black herself and was hosted by Paul O'Grady.
Black was born in Liverpool, England, on 27 May 1943 and grew up in the Scotland Road area of the city. Her parents were John Patrick White and Priscilla Blythen. Black had a Welsh grandfather, Joseph Henry Blythen, who was born in Wrexham, Wales, and Irish great grandparents on her father's and mother's side of the family. She was raised in a Roman Catholic household, and attended St. Anthony's School. which was behind St. Anthony's Church in Scotland Road, and Anfield Commercial College, where she studied Shipping Management.
Determined to become an entertainer, Black got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at Liverpool's Cavern Club, best known for its association with the Beatles. Her impromptu performances impressed the Beatles and others. She was encouraged to start singing by a Liverpool promoter, Sam Leach, who gave her her first gig at the Casanova Club, where she appeared as "Swinging Cilla". She became a guest singer with the Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes and, later, with the Big Three. She was also a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she was to meet her future husband Bobby Willis. Black was featured in an article in the first edition of the local music newspaper Mersey Beat; the paper's publisher, Bill Harry, mistakenly referred to her as Cilla Black, rather than White, and she decided she liked the name, and took it as a stage name.
CILLA BLACK THE 1960'S
Black signed her first contract with a long-time friend and neighbour, Terry McCann, but this contract was never honoured as it was signed when she was under age and her father subsequently signed her with Brian Epstein.
Epstein had a portfolio of local artists. At first, he showed little interest in Black. She was introduced to Epstein by John Lennon, who persuaded him to audition her. Her first audition was a failure, partly because of nerves, and partly because the Beatles (who supported her) played the songs in their vocal key rather than re-pitching them for Black's voice. In her autobiography What's It All About? she writes:
I'd chosen to do "Summertime", but at the very last moment I wished I hadn't. I adored this song, and had sung it when I came to Birkenhead with the Big Three, but I hadn't rehearsed it with the Beatles and it had just occurred to me that they would play it in the wrong key. It was too late for second thoughts, though. With one last wicked wink at me, John set the group off playing. I'd been right to worry. The music was not in my key and any adjustments that the boys were now trying to make were too late to save me. My voice sounded awful. Destroyed—and wanting to die—I struggled on to the end.
But after seeing her another day, at the Blue Angel jazz club, Epstein contracted with Black as his only female client on 6 September 1963. Epstein introduced Black to George Martin who signed her to Parlophone Records and produced her début single, "Love of the Loved" (written by Lennon and McCartney), which was released only three weeks after she contracted with Epstein. Despite an appearance on ABC-TV's popular Thank Your Lucky Stars, the single peaked at a modest No.35 in the UK, a relative failure compared to début releases of Epstein's most successful artists (the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas).
Black's second single, released at the beginning of 1964, was a cover of the Burt Bacharach–Hal David composition "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which had been written for Dionne Warwick. The single beat Warwick's recording into the UK charts and rose to No.1 in Britain in February 1964 (spending 3 weeks there), selling 800,000 copies in the UK in the process. Her second UK No.1 success, "You're My World", was an English language rendition of the Italian popular song "Il Mio Mondo". She also enjoyed chart success with the song in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Canada. Both songs sold over one million copies worldwide, and were awarded gold discs.
Cilla Black – It's For You (1964).
Black's two No. 1 successes were followed by the release of another Lennon–McCartney composition, "It's for You", as her fourth UK single. Paul McCartney played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another major international success for Black, peaking at No. 7 on the UK charts.
Black belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield, Helen Shapiro, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw and Lulu. These artists (other than Petula Clark) were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of 1960s contemporary popular music by song writers and producers. Black recorded much material during this time, including songs written by Phil Spector, Randy Newman, Tim Hardin and Burt Bacharach. All were produced by George Martin at Abbey Road Studios.
Cilla Black – "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"
Black's version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1965) reached No. 2 on the UK charts in the same week that the Righteous Brothers's original version of the same song went to No. 1 there (week of 4 February 1965). This was the first of only three occasions in the history of the British Top 40 where the same song, recorded by two different artists, held the top two positions in the chart in the same week. George Martin's and Parlophone's attempts to pull off the same trick that they had succeeded at with "Anyone Who Had a Heart", taking a strong song released by an American artist hitherto unknown to British audiences and giving it to Cilla, did not succeed in the same successful fashion in February 1965 as it had twelve months earlier.
Being so closely associated with the Beatles, Black became one of a select group of artists in the 1964-65 period (the others in the same position being Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and Peter and Gordon) to record more than one Lennon–McCartney composition. Black continued to record Lennon-McCartney compositions throughout the period (1963–1973) that she was under contract to EMI's Parlophone; Black's recordings of "Yesterday", "For No One" and "Across the Universe" were acclaimed critically and became radio favourites. McCartney said Black's 1972 interpretation of "The Long and Winding Road" represented for him how he always intended the song to be sung.
Cilla Black – The Long and Winding Road 1973
Black's career in the United States, although begun enthusiastically by Epstein and his PR team, was limited to a few television appearances (The Ed Sullivan Show among them), a 1965 cabaret season at the Plaza Hotel in New York, and success with "You're My World", which made it to No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was to be her only American chart success, and Elvis Presley had a copy on his personal jukebox at his Graceland home. Black herself recognised that to achieve popular status in the USA she would need to devote much time to touring there. But she was plagued by homesickness and a sense of loneliness and returned to the UK just as she was starting to become popular in the US.
During 1966, Black recorded the Bacharach-David song "Alfie", written as the signature song to the 1966 feature film, Alfie. While Cher sang "Alfie" on the closing credits of the American release of the film and Millicent Martin on the UK version, Black was the first and only artist to have a hit with the song in the UK (No.9). "Alfie" went on to become a success for both Cher (in 1966) and Dionne Warwick (in 1967) in the States. Black's version of "Alfie" was arranged and conducted by Bacharach himself at the recording session at Abbey Road. Bacharach insisted on several takes, and Black cited the session as one of the most demanding of her recording career.
For Bacharach's part, he said "… there weren't too many white singers around, who could convey the emotion that I felt in many of the songs I wrote but that changed with people like Cilla Black …"
By the end of 1966, Black had been a guest on Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Not Only… But Also; appeared in a Ray Galton–Alan Simpson revue in London's West End—Way Out in Piccadilly—alongside Frankie Howerd; made notable appearances on The Eamonn Andrews Show and starred in her own television special (the first of its kind to be filmed in colour), Cilla at the Savoy.
Epstein's attempts to make Black a film actress were less successful. A brief appearance in the "beat" film Ferry 'Cross the Mersey and a leading role alongside David Warner in the 1968 psychedelic comedy Work Is a Four-Letter Word were largely ignored by film critics. In a 1997 interview with Record Collector magazine, Black revealed she was asked to appear in the 1969 film The Italian Job, playing the part of Michael Caine's girlfriend, but negotiations fell through between producers and her management over her fee.
Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose in August 1967, not long after negotiating a contract with the BBC for his only female artist to appear in a television series of her own. Relations between Epstein and Black had somewhat soured during the year prior to his death, due largely to the fact that Epstein was not paying her career enough attention and the fact that Black's singles "A Fool Am I" (UK No.13, 1966) and "What Good Am I?" (UK No.24, 1967) were not big successes.
Apparently Black was also unhappy with Epstein's public admission that he had taken LSD. In her autobiography, Black claimed that Epstein had tried to pacify her by negotiating a deal that would see her representing the UK in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest. However, Black refused on the basis that Sandie Shaw had won the previous year's contest, and that the chances of another British female artist winning were improbable.
After the death of Epstein, Black's boyfriend and songwriter Bobby Willis assumed management duties. After the relatively disappointing performance of "I Only Live to Love You" (UK No. 26, 1967), Black hit a new purple patch in her recording career, starting with "Step Inside Love" in 1968 (UK No. 8), which McCartney wrote especially for her as the theme for her new weekly BBC-TV variety series. Other successes followed in 1969: "Conversations" (UK No. 7), "Surround Yourself With Sorrow" (UK No. 3), "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" (No. 20). Black had a further big hit with "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" (UK No. 3) in 1971.
Black's association with the Beatles continued. At a Cannes Film Festival during the 1970s, she joined George Harrison, Ringo Starr and popular music singer Marc Bolan to attend a screening of the John Lennon–Yoko Ono experimental film Erection. She also holidayed with Harrison and Starr on a trip aboard a yacht chartered by Starr. "Photograph" was written on this trip—originally intended for Black to record—but Starr decided to record it himself. George Harrison also wrote two songs for Black: "The Light that has Lighted the World" and "I'll Still Love You (When Every Song is Sung)". The latter she recorded during 1974 with her then producer David Mackay, but it was not heard publicly until 2003 when it was included on a retrospective collection entitled Cilla: The Best of 1963–78.
In 1993 she released Through the Years, an album of new material featuring a number of duets with Dusty Springfield, Cliff Richard and Barry Manilow. Ten years later, she released the album Beginnings … Greatest Hits and New Songs.
In his 1969 study of popular music history Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, the rock music journalist Nik Cohn wrote:
It's true—the British don't like their girl singers to be too good, they think it smacks of emancipation, and Cilla at least seemed safe. Obviously, she was quite a nice girl. Also, she was respectable and reliable, very clean and quite unsexy, and she played daughter or maybe kid sister, steady date or fiancée, but she played nobody's mistress at all. She wasn't like that. Everyone patronised her like hell, waiting for her to fall, but then she didn't fall after all, she floated instead and she's still up there now. She won't ever come down either—she doesn't sing much, she still comes on like a schoolgirl but she's liked like that and she can't go wrong. Genuinely, she's warm and she makes people glow. In her time, she will grow into a pop Gracie Fields, much loved entertainer, and she'll become institutionalised.
Black was the best-selling British female recording artist in the UK during the 1960s and released 15 studio albums and 37 singles in total. During 2006–07, Black's 1971 single "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" was used as the soundtrack to a new British advertising campaign for Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
During the 2008–09 pantomime season, Black returned to live musical performance in the pantomime Cinderella, appearing as the Fairy Godmother. Black was part of an all-Scouse cast assembled in this three-hour stage spectacular to mark the end of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. The show incorporated a number of Black's successes, which she performed live, including "You're My World", "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)", "Step Inside Love" and "Sing a Rainbow". Black received rave reviews for her singing and overall performance.
On 7 September 2009, a total of 13 original studio albums (the first seven produced by George Martin) recorded by Black between 1963 and 2003 were released for digital download. These albums were all digitally remastered and featured an array of musical genres. Also released by EMI at the same time was a double album and DVD set, The Definitive Collection (A Life in Music), featuring rare BBC video footage; a digital download album of specially commissioned re-mixes Cilla All Mixed Up; a remixed single on digital download of "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)".
For the 2010 winter pantomime season, Black appeared in Cinderella at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
In October 2013, Parlophone Records (the record label which launched her career in 1963) released the career-spanning CD The Very Best Of Cilla Black —containing all 19 of her UK Top 40 singles, new club remixes plus a bonus DVD of her 1966 TV music special Cilla at the Savoy.[17]
Cilla episode 1 full [ITV drama]
Cilla Episode 2,
Cilla Episode 3
BAFTA'S 2014 Paul O'Grady Present Cilla Black With Lifetime Achivement Award
Black was offered her own show on the BBC by Bill Cotton, then Assistant Head of Light Entertainment. The first series of Cilla was broadcast on Tuesday 30 January 1968. On the first show, her guest was Tom Jones and the two popular music stars sang a duet together. Paul McCartney (without Lennon) wrote the theme tune – another chart success for Black – entitled "Step Inside Love". This song was later covered by Madeline Bell. The series was very popular and ran for almost a decade, racking up eight seasons (66 episodes) between January 1968 and April 1976.
Although it featured guest appearances by many famous stars of the era (including Cliff Richard, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Charles Aznavour, Ringo Starr, Lulu, Matt Monro, Sacha Distel, Donovan, Georgie Fame, Dusty Springfield, Ethel Merman, the Shadows, Phil Everly, Marc Bolan, Jimmy Tarbuck and Ronnie Corbett), most of the episodes (recorded on videotape) were subsequently erased by the BBC.
This success paved the way for a lengthy television career which continued intermittently until 2003. Black began the 1970s by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Anyone Who Had a Heart" live on the show broadcast across Europe and BBC1, on 31 December 1969. Black recorded her performance for this show separately, in a different studio without an audience, although she did sing live.
Like so many of her contemporaries, during the 1970s, Black's musical career declined, although she toured often. Increasingly thought of as a television "personality", she found herself experimenting with situation comedy for ITV. Her BBC series, Cilla, continued successfully until 1976, recessing during 1970, 1972 and 1975. The theme songs from the Cilla series were also successful. Step Inside Love opened the series in both the 1968 and 1969 runs and reached number 8 in the UK singles chart on its release. Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight) was the theme for the 1971 and 1973 shows, reaching number 3 and becoming Black's last top ten success. "Baby, We Can't Go Wrong" was used for the 1974 series and was a minor success, reaching number 36, Black's last UK chart song until 1993. "It's Now" was the final theme from the 1976 series and failed to reach the charts, though it was released as a "B" side.
The UK's Eurovision Song Contest entry selection process was part of the Cilla show in both 1968 and 1973, when her close friend, Cliff Richard was the featured artist performing all the songs shortlisted in the A Song For Europe segment. Black was originally asked to sing for the UK in 1968 and was asked again for the 1970 contest, but declined because she was pregnant at the time.
In 2007, Black took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history, with roots in Wrexham and Holywell.
Comedy actress
On 15 January 1975, Black performed as the main entertainer of the first of six half-hour situation comedy plays. The series which was broadcast on ITV was entitled Cilla's Comedy Six[20] and written by Ronnie Taylor. During May 1975, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain named Black as Britain's Top Female Comedy Star. The following year, ATV was commissioned to film six more plays as the initial series had accrued healthy viewing figures and remained constantly among the best scoring three shows of the week. During August 1976, Black reprised her role as a comedy-actress in Cilla's World of Comedy which featured her theme song and new single "Easy in Your Company".
From 2013 to 2014, Black was set to co-star in a new BBC sitcom Led Astray, alongside Paul O'Grady – the pilot episode was recorded on 31 October 2013. However the show was shelved due to the pair being unable to cope with the long hours of filming.
London Weekend Television
By the beginning of the 1980s, Black was performing mainly in cabaret and concert and absent from television since a 1978 Thames Television special. In 1983, she appeared on the BBC's Wogan programme. Her appearance on this peak-time talk show was a major success, and her career in television was resurrected. According to Christopher Biggins in his autobiography, she "stormed back into the public consciousness with a barnstorming performance as a guest on Wogan in 1983, proving that we can all have second chances" and after her appearance, people were "desperately trying to find her the right comeback vehicle".
Black signed a contract with London Weekend Television, becoming the host of two of the most popular and long-running evening entertainment shows of the 1980s and 1990s—Blind Date (1985–2003) and Surprise Surprise (1984–2001). She also presented the game show The Moment of Truth (1998–2001). All programmes were mainstream ratings winners and consolidated her position as the highest-paid female performer on British television.
Les Dawson – Surprise, Surprise – I've Got You Babe
Her TV appearances made her spoken mannerisms ("Lorra lorra laughs", for example) and her habit of referring familiarly to her fellow presenters ("Our Graham") well known.
Recent television work
Black's most notable television performances after her resignation from LWT included Parkinson, So Graham Norton, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Room 101 and a one off show titled Cilla Live! for Living TV. Black was a judge on the first series of the reality TV series Soapstar Superstar, has featured in an episode of the series Eating with… and has guest presented editions of The Paul O'Grady Show and The Friday Night Project for Channel 4 in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
In 2008, Black filmed a pilot for a dating show for Sky One. Loveland was to be a ten-part "21st century" dating programme for the channel for the next year. Unlike on Blind Date, contestants would not sit in front of a studio audience, but be 'hidden' behind real-time animations as they date each other. Each episode concludes with the contestant picking their preferred animated character before meeting that person in real life. Production costs, however, were too high and it was terminated.[25]
In October 2009, Black guest anchored Loose Women and between September 2010 and June 2011, she made guest panellist appearances.
On 28 November 2009, Black appeared on Sky1 to present TV's Greatest Endings. She also appeared as herself in the first episode of series 4 of ITV's Benidorm in 2011.[26] She also appeared as the guest host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 5 December 2011.
50 years in show business
ITV honoured Black's 50 years in show business with a one off entertainment special which aired on 16 October 2013. The show, called The One & Only Cilla Black starred Black alongside Paul O'Grady, who hosted the show. The show celebrated Black's career including a special trip back to Black's hometown Liverpool, a host of celebrity friends and some surprise music guests. Black paid homage to Blind Date with the return of its most popular contestants and saw her star in a special edition of Coronation Street.
1984–2001 Surprise Surprise Presenter
1985–2003 Blind Date Presenter
1998–2001 The Moment of Truth Presenter
2009, 2010–2011, 2014 Loose Women Regular/Guest Panellist
2007 Room 101 (TV series) Guest
2009 TV's Greatest Endings Presenter
2011 Never Mind the Buzzcocks Guest Presenter
2013 Your Face Sounds Familiar Guest Judge
The One & Only Cilla Black Herself, co-presenter
2013 Led Astray (pilot) Tanya
Guest appearances[edit]
Wogan (1983) – Guest
Piers Morgan's Life Stories (10 October 2009) -Guest
Paul O'Grady's Christmas (24 December 2010) – Guest
Benidorm (25 February 2011) – Herself
Keith Lemon's LemonAid (7 April 2012) – Guest
100 Years of The Royal Variety Performance (7 December 2012) – Guest
Room 101 (2007, and again on 1 February 2013) – Guest
Your Face Sounds Familiar (6 July 2013) – Guest judge
Through the Keyhole (14 September 2013) – Panellist
The Jonathan Ross Show (12 October 2013) – Guest
This Morning (16 October 2013) – Guest
Surprise Surprise (1 December 2013) – Guest
The Kumars at No. 42 (TV series) – Guest
Cilla (2014 drama series)
See also: Cilla
In 2014, Black was the subject of a three-part television drama series, Cilla, focusing especially on her rise to fame in 1960s Liverpool and her relationship with Bobby Willis. ITV aired the first instalment on 15 September 2014, starring BAFTA-award winning actress Sheridan Smith.
Black was married to her manager, Bobby Willis, for more than 30 years until his death from lung cancer on 23 October 1999. They had three sons: Robert (who became her manager, born 1970), Ben (born 1974) and Jack (born 1980). Their daughter, Ellen (born 1975), was born prematurely and suffered lung complications, living for only two hours.
Black was a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party during the 1980s and publicly voiced her admiration of Margaret Thatcher, stating in 1993 that Thatcher "put the Great into Great Britain".In April 1992 she appeared on stage at a Conservative Party rally and made prominent calls for the party's re-election under the leadership of John Major. But in an interview in 2004 with The Guardian, Black claimed that she was "apolitical". The Liverpool Echo also quoted her as saying: "as for the politics thing, I'm not a Conservative." In August 2014, Black was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
Black died at her home near Marbella, Spain on 2 August 2015. Police are awaiting autopsy results but say that her death was most likely from natural causes.
1963–73: George Martin
1974–77: David Mackay
1978: Mike Hurst
1980: Bruce Welch
1985: David Mackay
1990: Rod Edwards
1993: Charlie Skarbek
2003: Ted Carfrae