Prominent 2010 deaths:

Mary Emma Allison, 93, schoolteacher who created Trick or Treat for UNICEF, a Halloween ritual that celebrated its 60th anniversary on Oct. 31, 2010

George (Sparky) Anderson, 76, Hall of Fame baseball manager who guided Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine to back-to-back World Series championships (1975-76) and won another one in Detroit in 1984.

Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer, 90, World War II Tuskegee Airman considered the only black ace pilot who also broke racial barriers as an executive at a major US company, General Foods Corp.,

Glen W. Bell, Jr., 86, founder of the Taco Bell chain (1962).

Jim Bibby, 65, pitched the first no-hitter in Texas Rangers history.

Barbara Billingsley, 94, who played June Cleaver, the quintessential suburban American stay-at-home mom, on the ‘50s–‘60s TV series Leave It to Beaver.

Sir James Black, 85, Nobel Prize-winning Scottish pharmacologist whose breakthrough beta-blocker drugs help to treat millions of heart patients and save thousands of lives.

George Blanda, 83, Hall of Fame quarterback and kicker who played 26 years.

Jim Bohlen, 84, Bronx-born cofounder of the environmental organization Greenpeace.

Manute Bol, 47, former NBA player (10 years) who left southern Sudan to become one of the best shot blockers in the history of American basketball, then returned to his homeland to try to heal the wounds of a long, bloody civil war.

Tom Bosley, 83, best known for his role as hardware store owner Howard Cunningham, the sometimes flustered father on the nostalgic ‘50s sitcom Happy Days (1974-84).

Tom Brookshier, 78, All-Pro defensive back who played on the Philadelphia Eagles’ 1960 championship team and later became Pat Summerall’s broadcast partner for NFL games on CBS.

Himan Brown, 99, popular radio dramas like The Adventures of the Thin Man and Dick Tracy, using sound effects that delighted and terrified the shows’ listeners. His most memorable was Inner Sanctum Mysteries, whose ominous sound of a creaking door became a signature of radio’s heyday

Frances Buss Buch, 92, first female TV director.

Jim Burnett, 62, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board for six years). After a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in Louisiana in 1982, Burnett led efforts to adopt federal rules which eventually led to drug and alcohol testing for all transportation workers.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, 92, longest-serving (since 1959) member of the US Senate (D-W. Va.).

Liz Carpenter, 89, author and former press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson.

Dixie Carter, 70, actress in a host of roles on Broadway and TV, was most famous for playing Julia Sugarbaker for seven years on the CBS sitcom Designing Women.

Bobby Charles, 71, Cajun singer-songwriter who wrote such hits as “Walking to New Orleans” and “See You Later Alligator”.

Victor Cianca, 92, Pittsburgh police officer who rose to fame in 1964 when Candid Camera broadcast footage of his flamboyant way of directing traffic, using his arms and legs to keep cars moving.

Lt. Gen. A. P. Clark, 96, World War II veteran who played a key role in the breakout from a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp that inspired the movie The Great Escape (1963). He was also a former superintendent of the Air Force Academy.

Jill Clayburgh, 66, actress whose Broadway and Hollywood acting career stretched over the decades, highlighted by her Oscar-nominated portrayal of a divorcée exploring her sexuality in the 1978 film An Unmarried Woman.

Hank Cochran, 74, composed a string of country hits including “Make the World Go Away” for Eddy Arnold. Cochran co-wrote the following No. 1 hits: Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces,” George Strait’s “Ocean Front Property,” and “Set ‘em Up Joe,” recorded by Vern Gosdin. He also wrote the No. 1 hits “Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me” by Ronnie Milsap, “He’s Got You” by Cline and Loretta Lynn, “I Want to Go with You” by Arnold, and “That’s All That Matters to Me” by Mickey Gilley.

Gary Coleman, 42, child actor who shot to fame on the TV sitcom Diff’rent Strokes.

Harold Connolly, 79, US athlete who overcame a birth-injured left arm to win the hammer throw in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, then married the women’s discus champion, Olga Fikotova of Czechoslovakia, after a storybook cold war romance

Don Coryell, 85, longtime NFL coach and one of the founding fathers of the modern passing game.

Margaret (Midge) Costanza, 77, aide to then-President Jimmy Carter, the first woman to hold that office.

Mike Cuellar, 72, left-handed pitcher from Cuba whose screwball made him a World Series champion and Cy Young Award winner with the Baltimore Orioles.

Robert Culp, 79, best known for playing a secret agent alongside Bill Cosby in the ‘60s cloak-and-dagger TV hit I Spy. Culp also starred in the 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.

Tony Curtis, 85, who molded himself from a ‘50s movie heartthrob into a respected actor, with such films as Sweet Smell of Success, The Defiant Ones, and Some Like It Hot.

Willie Davis, 69, baseball player who succeeded Duke Snider as center fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and used his blazing speed to steal 20 or more bases for 11 straight years, led the National League in triples twice, and set a record of three stolen bases in a 1965 World Series game.

Jimmy Dean, 81, country music star known for his hit song about a workingman hero, “Big Bad John,” and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand.

Dorothy de Borba, 85, played Dorothy in the Our Gang comedies of the early ‘30s.

Dino de Laurentiis, 91, Oscar-winning Italian film producer of nearly 500 films.

Dave Dixon, 87, businessman who fought to bring an NFL team, the Saints, to New Orleans and was the force behind construction of the Louisiana Superdome.

Anatoly F. Dobrynin, 90, longtime Soviet ambassador to the US who represented Moscow during the Cuban missile crisis and later in superpower negotiations to curb the growth of nuclear arsenals.

Dan Duncan, 77, billionaire energy tycoon who founded Enterprise Products Partners LP, a midstream energy giant with more than 48,000 miles of natural gas, petrochemical, and crude oil pipelines and 25 natural gas processing plants.

Eddie Fisher, 82, pop singer whose voice brought him a devoted following of teenage girls in the early ‘50s before marriage scandals (Debbie Reynolds-Elizabeth Taylor) overshadowed his fame. In the early ‘50s, Fisher sold millions of records with 32 hit songs including “Thinking of You,” “Any Time,” “Oh, My Pa-pa,” “I’m Yours,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Lady of Spain,” and “Count Your Blessings.”

Bob Feller, 92, one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history who came off an Iowa farm in 1936 with a dazzling fastball that made him a national celebrity at 17 and propelled him to the Hall of Fame. Feller won 266 games in 18 seasons—all with the Cleveland Indians. But in the midst of his career, stirred by Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Feller enlisted in the US Navy the next day—the first major league player to do so; he was a gun captain on the USS Alabama, earning several battle commendations and medals.

John Forsythe, 92, played the scheming oil tycoon on TV’s Dynasty and was the voice of the leader of Charlie’s Angels.

William P. Foster, 91, founder and longtime director of the Florida A&M Marching 100 band. Foster created more than 200 half-time pageants for the band at the historically black university and was credited with innovating marching band techniques, including a high-stepping style imitated by high school and college bands nationwide

Dick Francis, 89, best-selling British thriller writer and former jockey.

Miep Gies, 100, Dutch secretary who defied Nazi occupiers to hide Anne Frank and her family for two years (1942-44) during World War II and saved the teenager’s diary.

Donald Goerke, 83, Campbell Soup Co. executive behind the enduring brands SpaghettiOs and Chunky Soup.

Peter Graves, 83, best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a group of special agents who battled evil conspirators in the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible.

Kathryn Grayson, 88, actress and singer whose beauty and lilting coloratura soprano voice brightened such popular MGM musicals of the ‘40s and ‘50s as Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat, and Kiss Me Kate.

Bob Guccione, 79, founder of Penthouse magazine in the ‘60s who brought full frontal nudity to men’s magazines and built a pornographic media empire that broke taboos and made billions.

Gen. Alexander Haig, 85, former Secretary of State, a four-star general, and a top adviser to three Presidents. He ran unsuccessfully for President in 1988.

Sam Hamilton, 54, head of the US Fish & Wildlife Service and a 30-year veteran of wildlife and habitat conservation.

Clifford M. Hardin, 94, first secretary of agriculture in the Nixon administration who succeeded in limiting subsidy payments to the nation’s largest farmers. He also extended the food stamp program and set up a new bureau in the Agriculture Department to administer food programs for the poor.

Phil Harris, 53, fishing boat captain whose adventures off the Alaska coast were captured on the TV show Deadliest Catch.

Whitney R. Harris, 97, last surviving of the three US prosecutors at the trials of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg after World War II.

Dale Hawkins, 73, singer-guitarist best known for his 1957 hit “Susie-Q,” which became a rock anthem.

Dorothy Height, 98, longtime president of the National Council of Negro Women, the leading female voice of the ‘60s civil rights movement.

Walter J. Hickel, 90, two-time Alaska governor who was Interior secretary under President Richard M. Nixon and was fired in late 1970, after sending Nixon a letter critical of his handling of student protests following the National Guard shootings at Kent State and the US invasion of Cambodia.

William H. Holloman, 85, the US Army’s first black helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War

Benjamin L. Hooks, 85, champion of minorities and the poor who as executive director of NAACP increased the group’s stature.

Dennis Hopper, 74, Hollywood wild man whose erratic career included an early turn in Rebel Without a Cause and a smash hit with Easy Rider

Lena Horne, 92, jazz singer and actress who denounced the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them.

Ralph Houk, 90, third-string catcher for the New York Yankees who later won three straight American League pennants and two World Series championships as the team’s manager.

Allen Dale June, 91, one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language

James J. Kilpatrick, 89, the US’s most widely syndicated newspaper political columnist.

Cammie King, 76, played Bonnie Blue Butler, the doomed daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind.

Ron Kramer, 75, former lineman for the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions

Juanita Kreps, 89, first female Secretary of Commerce under President Jimmy Carter.

Art Linkletter, 97, radio and TV host whose People Are Funny and House Party shows entertained millions of TV viewers in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Linkletter was known on TV for his funny ad-lib interviews with children and ordinary folks and collected their comments in several best-selling books.

Johnny Maestro, 70, singer who performed the 1958 doo-wop hit “16 Candles” with The Crests and enjoyed a decades-long career with The Brooklyn Bridge.

Col. Walker (Bud) Mahurin, 91, Army Air Forces’ first double ace in Europe during World War II who later served in the Pacific and became a prisoner of war after being shot down during the Korean War.

Michael (MIckey) Mangham, 71, All-American right end who scored Louisiana State University’s only touchdown for a 7-0 win over Clemson in the 1959 Sugar Bowl, helping lead the Tigers to a national championship.

Philip Martin, 83, longtime chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who lifted the tribe from stifling poverty with casinos at the $750 miliion Pearl River Resort and other businesses.

Al Masini, 80, producer who created Entertainment Tonight, Star Search, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, Solid Gold, and numerous other TV shows.

Edward (Coots) Matthews, 86, oil well firefighter, part of a trio who inspired the 1968 movie Hellfighters. Matthews and Asger (“Boots”) Hansen cofounded Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc. in 1978 after a 20-year career fighting oil well fires alongside their later rival, Red Adair.

Rue McClanahan, 76, brought man-eating Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series The Golden Girls. In the ‘70s she landed the key best-friend character on the hit series Maude, starring another future Golden Girl, Beatrice Arthur.

Gil McDougald, 82, American League Rookie of the Year in 1951 and a versatile member of dominant New York Yankees teams for 10 seasons. McDougald played second

Buddy Morrow, 91, trombonist and leader of the Buddy Morrow Orchestra (1947-68) whose solo on “Night Train” sold more than a million copies of that recording in 1952.

John Murtha, 77, first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress and later an outspoken critic of the Iraq War.

Patricia Neal, 84, Oscar-winning actress for her role in the 1963 film Hud alongside Paul Newman.

Francine Neff, 84, US treasurer in the ‘70s.

Leslie Nielsen, 84, actor who went from serious drama to inspired bumbling as a hapless doctor in Airplane! (1980) and accident-prone detective Frank Drebin in the three The Naked Gun comedies (1988-94).

David Nolan, 66, cofounder of the Libertarian Party in 1971.

Merlin Olsen, 69, Hall of Famer who helped to form one of the NFL’s greatest defensive lines. Olsen was a member of the Los Angeles Rams’s “Fearsome Foursome” along with Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy, and Rosey Grier in the ‘60s. He later starred on NFL broadcasts, commercials, and as Jonathan Garvey on the TV series Little House on the Prairie.

Mohammed Oudeh, 73, former math teacher who became the mastermind of the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics that killed 11 members of the Israeli delegation.

Fess Parker, 85, launched a craze for coonskin caps as TV’s Davy Crockett and as Daniel Boone.

Robert Parker, 77, novelist who wrote the Spenser and Jesse Stone series.

Teddy Pendergrass, 59, rhythm and blues singer.

Sylvia B. Pressler, 75, New Jersey judge whose 1973 ruling opened Little League baseball to girls.

Pete Quaife, 66, bassist who joined forces with two schoolmates, Ray and Dave Davies, to form the Kinks rock band.

Lynn Redgrave, 67, became a ‘60s sensation as the unconventional title character of “Georgy Girl”.

Frances Reid, 95, played matriarch Alice Horton on Days of Our Lives for 40 years

Pernell Roberts, 81, shocked Hollywood by leaving TV’s Bonanza (he played Adam)at the height of its popularity in 1965, then found fame again years later in the title role of Trapper John, MD.

Robin Roberts, 83, Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher who led the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1950 National League pennant as one of the famed “Whiz Kids.” He won 286 games and put together six consecutive 20-win seasons.

J. D. Salinger, 91, author, youth hero, and fugitive from fame whose novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), shocked and inspired a world Salinger shunned. The book’s to date has sold nearly 60 million copies.

Ron Santo, 70, one of the greatest players (third baseman) in Chicago Cubs history.

Erich Segal, 72, Yale professor who attained mainstream fame and made millions sob as writer of the novel “Love Story.”

Edith Shain, 91, nurse famously photographed being kissed by an American sailor in New York’s Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945 to celebrate the end of World War II, an epic moment in US. history.

Bob Sheppard, 99, public address announcer whose elegant introductions of baseball stars from Joe DiMaggio to Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium for more than 50 years earned him the nickname “voice of the Yankees.”

George Steinbrenner, 80, owner of the New York Yankees who rebuilt the team into a sports empire after buying the team in 1973.

Ted Stevens, 86, former US senator (R-Alaska, 1968-2008), the longest-serving Republican in Senate history and a staunch advocate for his state for 40 years.

Daniel Schorr, 93, veteran reporter and commentator whose hard-hitting reporting for CBS got him on President Richard Nixon’s notorious “enemies list” in the ‘70s.

Chester R. (Chet) Simmons, 81, pioneering sports broadcaster, president of ESPN during the company’s launch in 1979.

Jean Simmons, 80, British-born actress whose screen presence and starring roles with Hollywood’s top actors made her a mid-20th century film icon.

Roy Skinner, 80, Vanderbilt University coach who in the mid-‘60s recruited the first black athlete (Perry Wallace) to play varsity basketball in the Southeastern Conference.

Theodore C. (Ted) Sorensen, 82, aide and speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy whose turns of phrase helped to mythologize a brief administration.

Dame Joan Sutherland, 83, Australian-born bel canto soprano whose voice stretched effortlessly over more than three octaves with a purity of tone that made her one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time.

Jack Tatum, 61, Pro Bowl safety for the Oakland Raiders best known for his crushing hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in an NFL preseason game in 1978.

Jerald F. terHorst, 87, press secretary to President Gerald Ford who resigned after one month over the pardon of Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal.

Jefferson Thomas, 67, one of the original nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. in 1957 in the US’s first major battle over school desegregation.

Bobby Thomson, 86, New York Giants in- and outfielder whose “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in a 1951 playoff has echoed through baseball history as perhaps the game’s most famous home run.

Doris Travis, 106, last of the legendary Ziegfeld Follies chorus girls.

Kermit A. Tyler, 96, US Army Air Forces’ first lieutenant on temporary duty at Ft. Shafter’s radar information center on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941 when a radar operator on the northern tip of Oahu, Hawaii reported an unusually large “blip” on his radar screen, indicating a large number of aircraft about 132 miles away and fast approaching. Thinking it was a flight of B-17 bombers due in from the mainland, Tyler told the radarman not to worry about it. But the radar had picked up the first wave of Japanese bombers that began arriving over Pearl Harbor less than an hour later and devastated Battleship Row, plunging the US into World War II.

Stewart Udall, 90, conservationist who as US interior secretary in the ‘60s presided over vast increases in national park holdings and the public domain, sowing the seeds of the modern environmental movement.

Edward Uhl, 92, World War II Army engineer who helped to invent the shoulder-fired rocket launcher nicknamed the bazooka and later led Fairchild Industries.

Helen Wagner, 91, played Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns for 54 years.

Albertina Walker, 81, Grammy-winning singer known as the “Queen of Gospel.” Walker formed her own gospel group, the Caravans, as a young woman.

George Weiss, 89, songwriter who had a hand in some of the biggest hits of mid-20th century pop music, recorded by some of the biggest stars. Among Weiss’s most famous numbers were “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” recorded by Elvis Presley; “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” recorded by the Tokens; and “What a Wonderful World,” recorded by Louis Armstrong.

Deborah Jo White, 58, former Lynyrd Skynyrd backup singer who performed under her maiden name, Jo Jo Billingsley. White toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd for more than three years as a member of the backup singers, the Honkettes. She left the Florida-based boogie-hard-rock group in August 1977, two months before lead singer Ronnie van Zant and several other band members were killed in a plane crash.

Charlie Wilson, 76, 12-term US congressman (D-Texas, 1973-96) best known for his playboy image whose backroom deals in the ‘80s funneled millions of dollars in weapons to Afghanistan, helping that country’s rebels to beat back the Red Army and speeding the downfall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

John Wooden, 99, college basketball’s most successful coach, guided the UCLA Bruins to an unprecedented 10 national championships in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Marva Wright, 62, New Orleans blues and gospel singer.

Jerome York, 71, Apple Inc. board member and a financial wizard credited with turning around Chrysler and IBM.