Every year the Hollywood galaxy loses a few more stars. 2020 was a particularly tough year for Hollywood and they lost many of their greatest performers. Some were legends and some were actors with great careers ahead of them.
Actors are in a unique position because their profession grants them a type of immortality. Even though the world lost these great performers, not only will they live on in minds and memories, but on audiences' screens anytime they want. Film grants ever-lasting life, so while these performers are gone, their talents will continue to entertain and move audiences for generations to come.
Olivia De Haviland - Gone With The Wind
Passing away at age 104, Olivia De Haviland was the last surviving star of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She began her acting career during The Great Depression and retired in the late 1980s. She was also the oldest living Oscar winner.
Her most memorable role was as Melanie Hamilton in the film Gone With The Wind. She was Oscar-nominated for the role and critics noted the quiet strength and dignity in her performance.
Tommy Lister, Jr - Friday
Often cast as a "heavy" due to his build, Tommy Lister, Jr played memorable roles in movies like The Dark Knight and even as the U.S President in The Fifth Element. However, he's best known for the role of Deebo in Friday.
In Friday, Deebo is a menacing neighborhood bully and arch-rival to Ice Cube's character Craig. Audiences praised Lister as a standout and it led to him being cast in more comedies like Little Nicky. Quentin Tarantino was a huge fan of Friday so he cast Lister in a small role in Jackie Brown.
Kelly Preston
Kelly Preston starred in many films during her career from Twins to For Love of The Game, always lighting up the screen every time she was on it. Perhaps her most memorable role was in Cameron Crowe's iconic drama Jerry Maguire, opposite Tom Cruise.
In one of the greatest break-up scenes in movie history, Preston's character, Avery, brutally eviscerates Jerry after he quits his job and wants her sympathy. She's a no-nonsense woman and in response, Jerry breaks up with her, so she reacts by punching him right in the gut and face.
Ian Holm - Lord Of The Rings
Ian Holm had a great career starring in a variety of roles from an android in Alien to a grief-stricken father in Garden State. However, notably, he played Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit film series.
As Bilbo Baggins, Holm was charming as a worldly hobbit, cultured and craving adventure, stuck in the shire. When he performed his scenes, each take would be a different Bilbo, giving director Peter Jackson options, with a unique performance each time.
Jerry Stiller - Seinfeld
Jerry Stiller, the father of Ben Stiller, starred in numerous films including The Taking Of Pelham One, Two, Three, as well as his son's own Zoolander. However, his most famous performances came from television, starring in The King of Queens and Seinfeld.
On Seinfeld, Stiller portrayed one of the most iconic television characters of all time, George's father, Frank Costanza. Frank was volatile and often explosive like his son. He often schemed with Kramer and stole many of the episodes he appeared in. Jerry Stiller didn't have a great memory and part of Frank's frustrated speech pattern was due to the fact that he struggled with remembering his lines, making every time he spoke memorable.
Max Von Sydow - The Exorcist
Max Von Sydow had a 70-year career with roles ranging from Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told to playing Ming The Merciless in Flash Gordon. His imposing height and deep voice made him the perfect villain in several films, but perhaps his most famous role was that of a hero in The Exorcist.
In The Exorcist, he plays Father Merrin, a priest brought in to help exorcise a demon out of a young girl, whom he had previously encountered. For the role, Von Sydow was buried under old-age makeup, but his performance as the tormented priest shines through when he returns in the final act and commands the screen.
Kirk Douglas - Spartacus
At 103 years old, legendary actor Kirk Douglas passed away and left behind a great body of work as an actor, and as one of the first Hollywood actors to start his own production company.
His most famous role was Spartacus in Stanley Kubrick's classic film Spartacus, and critics praised the film for its spectacle and for Douglas' strength. Movie fans will always remember the scene where Spartacus' men refuse to give him up to the Romans. Touched, a tear streams down stoic Spartacus' face.
Fred Willard - Best In Show
Fred Willard was a comic genius who used his improv-comedy style to help elevate every movie he was in. He starred in comedies like Anchorman and a plethora of others, but his most famous roles were in the Christopher Guest movies like Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, and especially, Best in Show.
In Best in Show, Willard nearly steals the movie as the dog show announcer, Buck Laughlin, an ignorant egomaniacal buffoon who makes his co-announcer uncomfortable throughout the entire event. His color commentary throughout the movie is perhaps its most beloved aspect.
Chadwick Boseman - Get On Up
Gone too soon is Chadwick Boseman. Boseman had a short career, but it will be remembered for decades to come. Notably, he portrayed T'Challa in Black Panther and several other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. However, he also was known for his biopics where he played Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall, but his most powerful performance was as James Brown in Get On Up.
In Get On Up, Boseman inhabited the character, becoming James Brown, from his dance moves to his under-bite. He learned all of Brown's affectations, creating a heartbreaking and moving performance. The film is a great example of what a tragedy his death is and a sign that he had many more amazing performances ahead of him. Despite his death, audiences can feel lucky for the great movies of his they do have, and that he will live on for years to come.
Sean Connery - Goldfinger
Legendary actor Sean Connery starred in a multitude of classic films from The Hunt For Red October to Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Eventually, he would win an Oscar for The Untouchables before retiring from acting in 2003. However, of all the amazing roles Connery played, he will always be known as James Bond.
Considered by many as the best James Bond movie ever made, Goldfinger was the third movie in the franchise but was the beginning of the James Bond phenomenon. It cemented Bond as an iconic figure and that was partly due to Connery's performance. He was charismatic but dangerous, and he's become engrained in the minds of those who think of Bond. Sean Connery was James Bond and forever will be.