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Series Regulars Who Died When Show Was Still On The Air

M

Mark Giardina

Ward Bond- Wagon Train
John Ritter- 8 Things
Joseph Kearns- Dennis the Menace
Redd Foxx -The Royal Family

I forgot the names but here are a few more.

The original grandfather on Lassie who was later replaced by George Chandler (Uncle Petrie)
The roll call Sgt on Hill Street Blues.
The bartender on Cheers (Before Woody)

Please feel free to add more names.
 
Will Geer - The Waltons
Jack Soo - Barney Miller
Freddie Prinze - Chico And The Man
Zara Cully - The Jeffersons

If you were to count Hee Haw, quite a number of regulars passed away during its run. Stringbean, Don Rich, Archie Campbell, Kenny Price and Grady Nutt most notably.
 
Dan Blocker ('Bonanza')
Selma Diamomd and Florence Halop(bailiffs with same first names on 'Night Court')
Technically not 'regulars', but:
Howard McNear (Floyd) on 'The Andy Griffith Show')
and two from 'Bewitched':
Alice Pearce(the original Gladys Kravitz)
Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara)
From game shows:
Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy ('The Price is Right')
Some would include Allen Ludden ('Password Plus'), but he died a year after his stroke forced him off the show, so he was technically a 'former' regular.
 
onairb said:
Some would include Allen Ludden ('Password Plus'), but he died a year after his stroke forced him off the show, so he was technically a 'former' regular.
Click to expand...

As was William Frawley (My Three Sons), who was fired because he could no longer get health insurance due to his medical issues.
 
onairb said:
Technically not 'regulars', but:
Howard McNear (Floyd) on 'The Andy Griffith Show')
and two from 'Bewitched':
Alice Pearce(the original Gladys Kravitz)
Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara)
Click to expand...
Actually, Howard McNear didn't pass away until 1969, the year after "The Andy Griffith Show" left the air and two years after Floyd's last appearance on the show.

Hugh O'Conner - "In The Heat Of The Night" committed suicide while his show was still on the air but was no longer in production.
 
From game shows:
Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy ('The Price is Right')
Some would include Allen Ludden ('Password Plus'), but he died a year after his stroke forced him off the show, so he was technically a 'former' regular.
Click to expand...

Fred Allen & Dorothy Kilgallen on "What's My Line?"
 
Mark_Giardina said:
The original grandfather on Lassie who was later replaced by George Chandler (Uncle Petrie)
Click to expand...

George Cleveland was the actor.

Jon-Erik Hexum on Cover Up

Barbara Colby on Phyllis

More games shows: Wally Cox and Charlie Weaver on Hollywood Squares
 
Corky Marlowe said:
Fred Allen & Dorothy Kilgallen on "What's My Line?"
Click to expand...

Wasn't there a big story at the time of Kilgallen's death that she had inside information on some big crime (JFK?) and was silenced?
 
Kilgallen supposedly had info about Jack Ruby, and was working on a book about him when she died.
Back on topic:
Diana Hyland ('Eight is Enough')
Michael Thoma ('Fame')
Ward Bond ('Wagon Train')
Burt Mustin and Judith Lowry ('Phyllis'; the elderly actors' characters on the show got married and went on their honeymoon; Lowry died just before the episode aired, and Mustin died shortly after.)
Arthur Brough('Are You Being Served?'); technically a 'former regular', he abruptly left after his wife died following the show's fifth season(1977); the production team tried to talk him into coming back, but he was dead within a few weeks.
 
Was "My Sister Sam" still on the air when Rebecca Schaffer was killed by her stalker? Can't seem to remember if it was still on when she was killed or if it had been off the air for a year at the time of her death.
 
jwk1979 said:
Was "My Sister Sam" still on the air when Rebecca Schaffer was killed by her stalker? Can't seem to remember if it was still on when she was killed or if it had been off the air for a year at the time of her death.
Click to expand...
It was a one-season show, which had been off for a couple of years.
 
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