By Bernard McGhee | Associated Press
It was a murder case almost everyone had an opinion on. O.J. Simpson’s “trial of the century” over the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend bared divisions over race and law enforcement in America and brought an intersection of sports, crime, entertainment and class that was hard to turn away from.
In a controversial verdict, the football star-turned-actor was acquitted in the criminal trial but later found civilly liable in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Years later, he served nine years in prison on unrelated charges. His death in April brought an end to a life that had become defined by scrutiny over the killings.
Related: 2024 obituaries: Notable Bay Area residents who died
But he was just one of many influential and noteworthy people who died in 2024.
Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February, was a fierce political foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, crusading against corruption and staging protests against the Kremlin. He had been jailed since 2021 when he returned to Russia to face certain arrest after recovering in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
Other political figures who died this year include: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi; former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney; Vietnamese politician Nguyen Phu Trong; U.S. congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; former Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov; pundit Lou Dobbs; former U.S. senators Joe Lieberman, Jim Inhofe, Tim Johnson and Jim Sasser; Namibian President Hage Geingob; and former Lebanese prime minister Salim Hoss.
The year also brought the deaths of several rights activists, including the reverends Cecil L. “Chip” Murray and James Lawson Jr.; Dexter Scott King; Hydeia Broadbent; and David Mixner.
Business leaders who died this year include: Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, The Home Depot co-founder Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, financier Jacob Rothschild and Daiso retail chain founder Hirotake Yano.
Simpson wasn’t the only athlete with a complex legacy who died this year. Pete Rose, who died in September, was a career hits leader in baseball whose achievements were tarnished when it was revealed he gambled on games. Other noteworthy sports figures who died include: basketball players Jerry West and Dikembe Mutombo; baseball players Willie Mays and Fernando Valenzuela; and gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi.
The music industry lost a titan in producer Quincy Jones, who died in November. His many contributions included producing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album and working with hundreds of other musicians over a long and storied career.
Other artists and entertainers who died this year include: actors James Earl Jones, Chita Rivera, Donald Sutherland, Maggie Smith, Bob Newhart, Gena Rowlands, Louis Gossett Jr., Shelley Duvall, Kris Kristofferson, Sandra Milo, Anouk Aimée, Carl Weathers, Joyce Randolph, Tony Todd, Shannen Doherty and Song Jae-lim; musicians Sergio Mendes, Toby Keith, Phil Lesh, Melanie, Dickey Betts, Françoise Hardy, Fatman Scoop, Duane Eddy and Frankie Beverly; filmmakers Norman Jewison, Roger Corman and Morgan Spurlock; authors Faith Ringgold, Alice Munro and N. Scott Momaday; TV fitness guru Richard Simmons; sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer; talk show host Phil Donahue; and poets Shuntaro Tanikawa, John Sinclair and Kazuko Shiraishi.
Here is a roll call of some noteworthy figures who died in 2024:
Chita Rivera died Jan. 30. She was 91. (Richard Shotwell/Associated Press Archives)JANUARY
Frank Ryan, 87; He was the quarterback who led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964, and spent his offseasons getting a doctorate diploma in mathematics; Jan. 1
Zvi Zamir, 98: He was a former director of Israel’s Mossad spy service who warned that Israel was about to be attacked on the eve of the 1973 Mideast war; Jan. 2.
Glynis Johns, 100: The Tony Award-winning stage and screen star played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie “Mary Poppins” and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim; Jan. 4.
Christian Oliver, 51: The German actor had dozens of film and TV roles, including the 2008 film “Speed Racer” and the 2006 movie “The Good German”; Jan. 4
David Soul, 80: The actor-singer was a 1970s heartthrob who co-starred as the blond half of the crime-fighting duo “Starsky & Hutch” and topped the music charts with the ballad “Don’t Give Up on Us”; Jan. 4.
Mario Zagallo, 92: The iconic Brazilian soccer star was the first person to win World Cup championships as a player and as a manager; Jan. 5
Franz Beckenbauer, 78. He won the World Cup both as a player and coach and became one of Germany’s most beloved personalities with his easygoing charm; Jan. 7
Adan Canto, 42: The performer had several TV and film roles, including in the series “The Cleaning Lady” and “Designated Survivor”; Jan. 8
Amalia Knavs, 78: She was the mother of first lady Melania Trump; Jan. 9
Bill Hayes, 98: He shot to stardom with the No. 1 hit “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” then went on to play the beloved Doug Williams on the daytime drama “Days of Our Lives” for more than 50 years; Jan. 12
Joyce Randolph, 99: The veteran stage and television actor whose role as the savvy Trixie Norton on “The Honeymooners” provided the perfect foil to her dimwitted TV husband; Jan. 13
Shawn Barber, 29: The Canadian athlete was the 2015 world champion pole vaulter, and he also made the finals in pole vault at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio; Jan. 17
Jack Burke Jr., 100: He was the oldest living Masters champion and staged the greatest comeback ever at Augusta National for one of his two majors; Jan. 19
Lance Larson, 83: The swimmer won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle, but minutes later was ruled to have finished second in a decision often called the most controversial swimming race in Olympic history; Jan. 19
Marlena Shaw, 81: She was a jazz and R&B vocalist whose “California Soul” was one of the defining soul songs of the late 1960s; Jan. 19
Mary Weiss, 75: She was the lead singer of the 1960s pop group the Shangri-Las, whose hits included “Leader of the Pack.” Jan. 19
Norman Jewison, 97; The Canadian filmmaker, who was nominated for 3 Oscars and received an Academy Award for lifetime achievement, directed such acclaimed and wide-ranging movies as “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck”; Jan. 20
Gigi Riva, 79: The all-time leading goalscorer for Italy’s men’s national team was known as the “Rombo di Tuono” (Rumble of Thunder); Jan. 22
Dexter Scott King, 62: He dedicated much of his life to shepherding the civil rights legacy of his parents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King; Jan. 22
Charles Osgood, 91. He anchored “CBS Sunday Morning” for more than two decades, was host of the long-running radio program “The Osgood File” and was referred to as CBS News’ poet-in-residence. Jan. 23.
Melanie, 76. The singer-songwriter rose through the New York folk scene, performed at Woodstock and had a series of 1970s hits including the enduring cultural phenomenon “Brand New Key”; Jan. 23
N. Scott Momaday, 89: A Pulitzer Prize-winning storyteller, poet, educator and folklorist whose debut novel “House Made of Dawn” is widely credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature. Jan. 24
Herbert Coward, 85: He was known for his “Toothless Man” role in the movie “Deliverance”; Jan. 24
Harry Connick Sr., 97: He was a longtime New Orleans district attorney who faced questions about whether his office withheld evidence that favored defendants, and he also was the father to famed singer Harry Connick Jr.; Jan. 25
Jimy Williams, 80: The Major League Baseball manager won more than 900 games in his career with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros, and was named AL Manager of the Year in 1999; Jan. 26
Cletus Anderson, 82: He was the founder of V.I.P. Records in Long Beach, and his work with such musicians as Snoop Dogg and Warren G helped put West Coast rap on the map; Jan. 28
Sandra Milo, 90: An icon of Italian cinema who played a key role in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and later became his muse; Jan. 29
Jean Carnahan, 90: She became the first female senator to represent Missouri when she was appointed to replace her husband following his death; Jan. 30
Chita Rivera, 91: The dynamic dancer, singer and actress garnered 10 Tony nominations, winning twice, in a long Broadway career that forged a path for Latina artists; Jan. 30.
Toby Keith died Feb. 5. He was 62. (Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press Archives)FEBRUARY
Carl Weathers, 76: He was a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore.” Feb. 1
Wayne Kramer, 75: The guitarist was a co-founder of the protopunk Detroit band the MC5, which “basically invented punk rock”; Feb. 2
Ian Lavender, 77: An actor who played a hapless Home Guard soldier in the classic British sitcom “Dad’s Army”; Feb. 2
Hage Geingob, 82: He was Namibia’s president and founding prime minister who played a central role in what has become one of Africa’s most stable democracies after returning from a long exile in Botswana and the United States as an anti-apartheid activist; Feb. 4
Bob Beckwith, 91: He was a retired firefighter whose chance encounter with the president amid the rubble of ground zero became part of an iconic image of American unity after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; Feb. 4.
Toby Keith, 62: The hit country crafter of pro-American anthems both riled up critics and was loved by millions of fans; Feb. 5
John Bruton, 76: The former Irish prime minister played a key ...
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