Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

A new year warrants a new thread to track the deaths of notable people. Please be respectful; even if you disagree with someone's life choices/politics/favorite foods, they're still a human being and will likely have family who mourn their passing. I shouldn't even have to say this, but in years past certain individuals kind of got their graves tapdanced on and the mods just let it happen unfortunately. Let's do this right, Dakka.

Okay, technically this one happened in 2024 (Christmas Day, in fact) but it was just announced on certain news outlets that Britt Allcroft, the showrunner of the Thomas the Tank Engine series (the original one with the models), has passed away at age 81. As a lifelong fan of Thomas, this one saddens me. That show was my childhood; some of my earliest memories are of watching that show when I was like 3. Thanks for the memories, Ms. Allcroft, and my condolences to her family and friends.

Link for those interested: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/britt-allcroft-dead-thomas-the-tank-engine-1236098959/

Whose Line is it Anyway regular, comedian Tony Slattery:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93lqxgznnwo

Fond memories of that show.

He was one of the funny ones.

Bob Uecker 1934-2025

Robert George Uecker was an American former professional baseball catcher who was the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball for over 50 years.

Also, had some of the most iconic lines in the "Major League" movies that are in my regular quotable rotations.

David Lynch, Visionary Director of ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Blue Velvet,’ Dies at 78

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/david-lynch-dead-director-blue-velvet-twin-peaks-1236276106/

Damn. Those two hit hard.

Not Lynch! No!

Uecker had a pretty decent acting career after Baseball in movies and on TV.

beast_gts wrote:
David Lynch, Visionary Director of ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Blue Velvet,’ Dies at 78

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/david-lynch-dead-director-blue-velvet-twin-peaks-1236276106/

feth it. I only watched Lost Highway for the nth time the other week.

Maybe it's time for another watch of the 1984 Dune movie. RIP David Lynch.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Maybe it's time for another watch of the 1984 Dune movie. RIP David Lynch.

My thoughts exactly.

We watched some Twin Peaks. Didn’t have time for Dune.

If there’s time we’ll rewatch Rabbits, too.

Lynch was always a bit of an odd one for me. I think he was a unique talent and appreciate his work but I never really liked most of it. I enjoy reading interviews with him and different articles and essays he wrote more than watching most of the films/series.

Michelle Trachtenberg, star of Buffy the vampire slayer dead at 39.

https://www.kcci.com/article/michelle-trachtenberg-dead/63938231

Major bummer. Way too young to go.

Anytime a celebrity younger than me passes it's really a sobering realization of my own mortality.

She had just had a liver transplant. They believe that might have had something to do with it.

She was only a year and change older than me. Damn shame. Way too young to be dying, but then I had a buddy of mine pass away a couple of years ago from liver failure that resulted from alcoholism. He was only a couple of years older than me too. You're never too young to have something happen to you. No one is indestructible.

RIP Michelle Trachtenberg, and my condolences to her family and friends.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
She had just had a liver transplant. They believe that might have had something to do with it.

There was an episode of 'House' where she portrayed this girl who had heart transplant. Doctors in the episode warned her about potentially low life-expectancy...

Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa and their dog found dead at home :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewkkkvkzn9o

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa and their dog found dead at home :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewkkkvkzn9o

Wow, that's horrible. Carbon Monoxide poisoning?

I wouldn’t like to speculate to be honest.

Recently had a young guy my wife goes to college with die of a brain aneurism while working out. Very shocking.

Also, this hunting season we had a pair of folks die from carbon monoxide poisoning in their camper van. Tragic local accident as they were both well-known about town.

Makes me very happy I am still upright as these folks were all younger than I am.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I wouldn’t like to speculate to be honest.

Unfortunately it is turning out to be tabloid fodder; avoiding headlines best I can.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa and their dog found dead at home :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewkkkvkzn9o

Cause of death has been revealed:

Wikipedia wrote:At a press conference in Santa Fe on March 7, the police and chief medical examiner stated that Hackman died on February 17 as a result of severe heart disease complicated by advanced Alzheimer's disease, with Arakawa likely having died a week earlier on February 11 from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The scattered pills found near her body were prescribed thyroid medication.

I saw that report. Such a sad end for both of them :(

Alzheimer’s is the absolute worst.

I forgot to post this earlier in the week, but a famousish Florida voice actor passed away:

George Lowe, 67, American voice actor (Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken).

He had been in poor health for at least a year and had stopped coming to conventions.

Eddie Jordan passes away aged 76 following cancer battle - RN365
The former F1 team boss-turned-TV pundit announced his diagnosis in 2024.

One of the the UK's greatest heroes passed away ending an era:

Group Captain John Allman Hemingway, DFC, AE (17 July 1919 – 17 March 2025), known as Paddy Hemingway, was an Irish fighter pilot who served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War in the Battle of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Allied invasion of Italy and the Invasion of Normandy. He was shot down four times during the war. Hemingway was the last surviving airman of the Battle of Britain.

Wings Hauser Dies: Longtime Character Actor In Everything From ‘Baretta’ To ‘CSI’ Was 77 - Deadline

Wings Hauser, the father of Cole Hauser and an instantly-recognizable character actor who had roles on just about every action-based TV series in the past 50 years, died over the weekend at the studio he shared with wife Cali Lili Hauser. He was 77.

Hauser began his TV career in the ’70s on episodes of staples such as Canon, Baretta and Emergency!

He had bit roles in movies of the period such as the Nick Nolte starrer Who’ll Stop the Rain? and A Soldier’s Story with Denzel Washington.

His career took off in the ’80s and ’90s, with dozens and dozens of appearances on big-name action shows like The Fall Guy, Airwolf and Walker, Texas Ranger. He had longer arcs on China Beach, Lightning Force, Roseanne and Beverly Hills, 90210. He also played Greg Foster on more than a dozen episodes of The Young and the Restless.

George Foreman: Heavyweight boxing legend dies aged 76, says family.

BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8ez8201yo.amp