Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics History Roundtable The Passing Parade: Obituaries: 2015

Ever-eloquent Mario Cuomo, a son of Queens who rode his rhetorical gifts to three terms as New York governor and tantalized Democrats by flirting with a run for President, died Thursday. He was 82.

Cuomo passed away five hours after his oldest son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was formally sworn-in to a second term in Manhattan.

Donna Douglas, best known for her role as the tomboy, critter-loving Elly May Clampett on the 1960s fish-out-of-water CBS sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, died on New Year’s Day, according to WAFB Channel 9 in Louisiana, which cited family members. She was 81.

Douglas also co-starred opposite Elvis Presley in the 1966 film Frankie and Johnny (she was Frankie, like Elvis playing a performer on a Mississippi River riverboat) and stood out as the hospitalized woman underneath the bandages in the memorable 1960 Twilight Zone episode "The Eye of the Beholder."

Allie Sherman, who possessed a dubious football pedigree as a left-handed quarterback at Brooklyn College but went on to take the New York Giants to National Football League title games in his first three seasons as their coach, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. He was 91.

His death was announced by his family.

Sherman's early years as the Giants' coach have long been remembered as a revered time in the franchise's history. His players included quarterbacks Charley Conerly and Y. A. Tittle, backs Alex Webster, Kyle Rote and Frank Gifford and wide receiver Del Shofner, as well as a formidable defensive lineup that included Sam Huff, Andy Robustelli and Roosevelt Grier.

Colleen McCullough, a former neurophysiological researcher at Yale who, deciding to write novels in her spare time, produced "The Thorn Birds," a multigenerational Australian romance that became an international best seller and inspired a hugely popular television mini-series, died on Thursday on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, where she had made her home for more than 30 years. She was 77.

Rod McKuen, a ubiquitous poet, lyricist and songwriter whose work met with immense commercial success if little critical esteem, died on Thursday in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 81...

Mr. McKuen, whom The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture described as having been, at his height, "the unofficial poet laureate of America," was the author of dozens of books of poetry, which together sold millions of copies...

Radio, TV and voiceover performer Gary Owens died on Feb. 12 at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. Owens, who was 80, had been a diabetic since the age of 8.

Owens was probably best known as the announcer on NBC’s “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” (1968-73), with his trademark hand-over-the-ear announcing style. On the show, John Wayne once imitated Owens announcing. The phrase Gary created on his KMPC radio show, “Beautiful downtown Burbank,” later became a nightly catchphrase on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”

Owens also lent his voice to more than 3,000 cartoons, providing the voice of “Space Ghost” as well as Blue Falcon, Roger Ramjet, Powdered Toast Man and even Batman.

When the story broke that a little girl was trapped in a well in San Marino, thousands of Angelenos snapped on their television sets. They kept them on for the next 27 hours.

The year was 1949 — decades before live coverage of car chases, hostage crises and other breaking news became commonplace.

“That was the first time anyone realized that television had this remarkable ability,” Stan Chambers, one of the two reporters on the scene for KTLA-TV Channel 5’s unusual broadcast, recalled years later of his role in TV news history. “It was then that I decided that I really wanted to be in news.”

Chambers, who stayed on the story through its heartbreaking ending to become one of the most enduring and recognizable faces in local television news, died Friday at his home in Holmby Hills, the station announced, without specifying the cause. He was 91.

Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her epic song of teenage angst, "It's My Party," and followed it up with the hits "Judy's Turn to Cry," and the feminist anthem "You Don't Own Me," died Monday. She was 68.

Gore died of lung cancer at New York University Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, according to her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson.

"She was a wonderful human being — caring, giving, a great feminist, great woman, great human being, great humanitarian," Sasson, a jewelry designer, told The Associated Press.

Louis Jourdan, the dashingly handsome Frenchman who starred in Gigi, Can-Can, Three Coins in the Fountain and other American movies, has died. He was 93.

Jourdan's biographer, Olivier Minne, said the actor died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, likely of natural causes.

"He was the last French actor from the Hollywood golden era," said Minne, who is working on a book and documentary about Jourdan. "Louis was very proud of his career in America."