Yaphet Kotto, an actor best known for his roles in “Alien” and the James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” has passed away in the Philippines at the age of 81.

Born and raised in New York City, Kotto first became inspired to start acting when he was 16 years old and watched “The Defiant Ones” starring Sidney Poitier, an African-American actor. “Standing right there on the screen was this tall black man,” Kotto recalled in a 1994 interview with the Chicago Tribune. “And I said to myself, ‘I could be like him.’” Also an inspiration for him was Marlon Brando of “On the Waterfront” fame.

Three years later, he got his first professional acting role in Othello. After years of acting on Broadway, his first major film role came in 1973, when he played villain Mr. Big in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die.” In 1979, he played Parker, the chief engineer in the sci-fi horror hit “Alien.”

Kotto is survived by six children, along with his wife Tessie Sinahon, who announced his death in a heartbreaking Facebook post Monday night. She wrote, “You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also. A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find.”

Leachman competed in the 1946 Miss America pageant as Miss Chicago. Although she didn’t win, she used her pageant money to move to New York City where her acting career would soon take off. She attended the Actors Studio studying acting alongside future icons Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, and Eli Wallach.

Although her breakout came on the big screen, with her role in ‘The Last Picture Show’ which snatched her an Academy Award nomination, television was where she shot her career into legendary status. She played Phyllis Lindstrom in the iconic ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’. Phyllis was the Snobbish landlord where Mary and Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) lived.

She received Emmy nominations for her for roles in ‘A Brand New Life’,’Cher’, ‘The Woman Who Willed a Miracle’,’Promised Land’ and most recently ‘Malcolm in the Middle. With an acting career spanning over 7 decades, the entertainment industry will never be the same.

John Reilly, a veteran soap opera actor, has died of a heart attack at the age of 86.

Reilly’s death was announced by his daughter Caitlin in a heartfelt Instagram post on January 10th, 2021, with a caption reading, “John Henry Matthew Reilly AKA Jack. The brightest light in the world has gone out. Imagine the best person in the world. Now imagine that person being your dad. I’m so grateful he was mine. I’m so grateful I got to love him. I’m so grateful I made it in time to hold him and say goodbye. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know he’ll be with me. I love you forever Daddy.”

Hailing from Chicago, IL, Reilly began his 30+ year acting career in the mid-1960s, obtaining minor roles in Death Valley Days, Gunsmoke, and Apple’s Way. One of his most notable roles was on General Hospital, playing the part of Sean Donely from 1984-1994, reappearing in 2008 and 2013. He also had a recurring role in Beverly Hills, 90210 as Kelly Taylor’s father Bill, and played Alistair Crane on NBC’s Passions from 2005 to 2008.

The official General Hospital Twitter account posted a tribute to Reilly in response to his death, stating, “The entire General Hospital family is heartbroken to hear of John Reilly’s passing. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones. Rest in peace.” Reilly is survived by his wife Liz, five daughters, and two grandchildren.

Dearon Thompson, better known as Deezer D, passed away on January 7th, 2021. The actor and songwriter was found unresponsive at his Los Angeles home Thursday morning. There is no official cause of death, but family and those close to him believe he suffered a heart attack as he previously underwent heart surgery in 2009.

Deezer D was best known for his comic relief role of Nurse Malik McGrath on the long-running drama television series “ER” where he appeared on almost 200 episodes. Earlier in his career the actor appeared in rap based movies “Fear of Black Hat” and “CB4” in 1993. Thompson also had a role in the 2003 comedy “Bringing Down The House“.

Off the camera, Thompson was active in the Los Angeles underground rap and christian communities even hosting a christian radio show. He will surely be missed.

This month, we lost an icon in the live entertainment industry. It was announced by his publicist Dave Kirvin, that Siegfried Fischbacher had passed away on January 13th, 2021 at the age of 81 from pancreatic cancer. Fischbacher was best known as half of the electrifying duo “Siegfried & Roy”. The duo became a staple in the Las Vegas entertainment industry with their live performances involving exotic big cats, most notably white tigers & lions. Siegfried & Roy ran shows in Las Vegas 6 days a week, 44 weeks a year. The two ran these shows for decades, until their untimely retirement in 2003 after an on stage nearly fatal accident left Roy Horn partially paralyzed.

The duo also made a cameo in Las Vegas centered movies Ocean’s 11 & Vegas Vacation. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak described Siegfried Fischbacher “a ‘Master of the Impossible’ and an exemplary Nevadan whose contributions, alongside the late great Roy Horn, helped shine a bright spotlight on Las Vegas’s entertainment industry to the world.”

There are plenty of people who have unfortunately lost their lives over this past year for a variety of reasons and things aren’t starting off all that well going into the next year. It has been announced that actress Tanya Roberts has recently passed with the cause for it being considered completely unknown to the general public. Roberts’ partner Lance O’Brien did not give a statement as to what really caused her death, but he did make it clear that it was not Covid that caused the death of the actress. The actress passed away officially on Monday but before the official statement could be made, her publicist released information prematurely before her death was announced. This led to obituaries being made prematurely about the actress’ death before the official proclamation was made.

Roberts was born on October 15th, 1955 in The Bronx, New York as Victoria Leigh Blum and eventually she would go on to start acting in her 20’s. By the time she reached her mid-20’s, she made her big break as an actress where she was cast in the fifth and final season of the show ‘Charlie’s Angels.’ She ended up on the main cast of the series after main cast member Shelley Hack left the cast after just one season and the show was going into its final series run. The ratings for the show ended up plummeting even after Roberts took her role on the show and there was no way to stop the coming ending for the show. While that might have been an inevitable failure, it was a huge deal for her that she landed this role because it led to a strong career for her as time would go on.

Perhaps the biggest role she managed to land after her introduction to the Hollywood scene was the role of a “Bond Girl” in the 007 movie ‘A View to a Kill.’ Alongside Roger Moore’s 007, Roberts’ character encountered a microchip-monopolist madman played by Christopher Walken whom she had to work with Moores’ Bond to stop his plan. This was Moore’s last outing as the character of Bond, so it is interesting that Roberts got to see how this all played out with Moore’s last role as the character. This was far from the only thing she contributed to however, as Roberts had also appeared in ‘The Beastmaster,’ which was a fantasy film from 1982. Beyond that, she even starred as the titular character in a movie called ‘Sheena‘ in 1984 which ended up flopping in the end. This would become the start of a decline for her as time went on, but this was not the end for her.

It would be well over a decade later, but she found her place among the industry with the show ‘That ’70s Show‘ where she once again found herself back in the limelight. She played the role of one glamorous, youngish Midwestern mom of a teenage girl who was also a little dimwitted which gave way to a lot of entertaining moments from the show. Needless to say, for the younger generations today, her role on the show was easily the one that most people recognized the best because of her good looks and her dimwitted personality. How was it that she even became an actress? The answer to that question was that she started as a model before becoming an actress and she only managed to do so by running away from home at the age of 15.

Roberts had various other roles through the years which allowed her to become a big inspiration to the people in the industry or those who wanted to follow her footsteps. She followed her dreams, and while starting small in some advertisements, she eventually worked her way up to a point where she managed to get on the big screen as well as the silver screen. She is an actress that will be sorely missed and it will be difficult for people to see those old films without thinking about the fact that she is no longer with us. She is survived by her partner Lance O’Brien and her sister, Barbara Chase who was actually the fourth wife of Timothy Leary. Yet another long running celebrity has passed, and without any warning, but hopefully this is not a sign of a bad year to come.