As usual, death respects neither wealth nor fame, and celebrities who died in 2020 is just a reminder. The death of celebrities like Chadwick Boseman and others was a shock to the system, amidst the carnage wreaked by the coronavirus. In a year of crisis upon crisis, some of those losses were especially painful, brought on by a pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone. The artists and celebrities on this list could help us better understand the time we’re living through, or at least help us get through it with a smile or cathartic cry. Here is a tribute to them, in their own words.
Kobe Bryant
It’s the one thing you can control. You are responsible for how people remember you—or don’t. So don’t take it lightly
Kobe Bryant, athlete, born 1978 (Read life and obituary)
Chadwick Boseman
When I dared to challenge the system that would relegate us to victims and stereotypes with no clear historical backgrounds, no hopes or talents, when I questioned that method of portrayal, a different path opened up for me, the path to my destiny.
— Chadwick Boseman, actor, born 1976 (Read the obituary.)
Eddie Van Halen
All I know is that rock ’n’ roll guitar, like blues guitar, should be melody, speed and taste, but more important, it should have emotion. I just want my guitar playing to make people feel something: happy, sad, even horny.
— Eddie Van Halen, guitarist, born 1955 (Read the obituary.)
Ann Reinking
It’s crucial to know where the work stops and your life begins.
— Ann Reinking, dancer, born 1949 (Read the obituary.)
Katherine Johnson
When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Johnson would talk about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo’s Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module. “I loved going to work every single day.”
-Katherine Johnson, mathematician, born 1918 (Read Biography)
Larry Kramer
I don’t consider myself an artist. I consider myself a very opinionated man who uses words as fighting tools.
— Larry Kramer, writer, born 1935 (Read the obituary.)
Ja’Net Dubois
I moved my whole family. I bought her a house, bought her a mink coat. I did everything, retired her. I did everything I ever promised her.
– Ja’Net DuBois (of her mother and her song “Moving on Up”), actress, born 1945 (Read obituary)
Diego Maradona
I am Maradona, who makes goals, who makes mistakes. I can take it all, I have shoulders big enough to fight with everybody. When God decides its time, I guess he’ll come for us. All the people that criticised me should eat their words.
— Diego Maradona, footballer, born 1960 (Read life and obituary.)
Luchita Hurtado
When that first photograph was taken of Earth from space and you saw this little ball in blackness … I became aware of what I felt I was. I feel very much that a tree is a relative, a cousin. Everything in this world, I find, I’m related to.
— Luchita Hurtado, artist, born 1920 (Read the obituary.)
Little Richard
I’m not conceited — I’m convinced.
— Little Richard, singer, born 1932 (Read the obituary.)
“Mishter Bond” – Sean Connery
If you start thinking of your image, or what the mysterious ‘they’ out there are thinking of you, you’re in a trap. What’s important is that you’re doing the work that’s best for you.
— Sean Connery, actor, born 1930 (Read the obituary.)
Pop Smoke
I make music for that kid in the hood that’s gotta share a bedroom with, like, four kids—the young kids growing up in poverty. I make music for that kid who got beef, thinking about how, when they go to school, these people might try to kill me but I still gotta get my diploma for my mom.
– Pop Smoke, rapper, born 1999 (Read life and obituary)
Lidia Menapace
If there hadn’t been women, there wouldn’t have been any Resistance.”
— Lidia Menapace, senator, born 1924 (Read the obituary.)
Toots Hibbert
You have got to be tough. Don’t just give up in life. Be strong, and believe in what you believe in.
— Toots Hibbert, singer, born 1942 (Read the obituary)
Alex Trebek
My life has been a quest for knowledge and understanding, and I am nowhere near having achieved that. And it doesn’t bother me in the least. I will die without having come up with the answers to many things in life.
— Alex Trebek, gameshow host, born 1940 (Read the obituary.)
Othella Dallas
Dancing and singing is all I always wanted. Doing what you want makes you happy — and old.
— Othella Dallas, dancer, born 1925 (Read the obituary.)
Pierre Cardin
I was very lucky, I was part of the post-war period when everything had to be redone. I’m always inspired by something outside, not by the body itself. They said pret-a-porter will kill your name, and it saved me. I wash with my own soap,” he once boasted. “I wear my own perfume, go to bed with my own sheets, have my own food products. I live on me.
— Pierre Cardin, fashion designer, born 1922 (Read life and obituary.)
Paula Kelly
actress born 1943 (Read obituary)
Ennio Morricone
In my opinion, the goal of music in a film is to convey what is not seen or heard in the dialogue. It’s something abstract, coming from afar.
— Ennio Morricone, composer, born 1928 (Read the obituary.)
Diana Rigg
The older you get, I have to say, the funnier you find life. That’s the only way to go. If you get serious about yourself as you get old, you are pathetic.
— Diana Rigg, actress, born 1938 (Read the obituary.)
Anthony Chisholm
I’m an actor. I can play a lizard, anything. I’ve worked in ‘nontraditional’ theater. I did ‘Of Mice and Men.’ Played Slim. The great Joe Fields did a Willy Loman. We as actors want to act.
— Anthony Chisholm, actor, born 1943 (Read the obituary.)
Helen Reddy
I would like to thank God because she makes everything possible.
— Helen Reddy, singer, born 1941 (Read the obituary.)
Betty Wright
As long as you keep yourself in love with people, you can transcend time.
— Betty Wright, singer, born 1953 (Read the obituary.)
Jerry Stiller
Laughter is the answer to all the pain I experienced as a kid. When I’m not doing it, it all gets eerie and weird. I am only left with the memories that inhabit me that can only be knocked out by hearing laughter.
— Jerry Stiller, comedian, born 1927 (Read the obituary.)
Christiane Eda-Pierre
I have never had any support, I have not been encouraged by anyone, it is not in my character or the customs of my family. I made myself on my own, thanks to my work.
— Christiane Eda-Pierre, singer, born 1932 (Read the obituary.)
Milton Glaser
I am totally a believer in the idea that style is a limitation of perception and understanding. And what I’ve tried in my life is to avoid style and find an essential reason for making things.
— Milton Glaser, designer, born 1929 (Read the obituary.)
B. Smith
I have stood on a mountain of NOs for one YES
– B. Smith, model, author. restaurateur born (Read life and obituary)
Krzysztof Penderecki
Listening to classical music is like reading philosophy books, not everybody has to do it. Music is not for everybody.
— Krzysztof Penderecki, composer, born 1933 (Read the obituary.)
Cristina
My life is in a turmoil
— Cristina, singer, born 1956 (Read the obituary.)
My thighs are black and blue
My sheets are stained so is my brain
What’s a girl to do?
Adam Schlesinger
I’d rather write about a high school prom or something than write about a midlife crisis, you know?
— Adam Schlesinger, songwriter, born 1967 (Read the obituary.)
Helen LaFrance
If I do something somebody likes, well, I’m satisfied because somebody liked what I did, but I don’t think it’s important.
— Helen LaFrance, artist, born 1919 (Read the obituary.)
Kenny Rogers
I love my wife, I love my family, I love my life, and I love my music.
— Kenny Rogers, singer, born 1938 (Read the obituary.)
Olivia de Havilland
I would prefer to live forever in perfect health, but if I must at some time leave this life, I would like to do so ensconced on a chaise longue, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered the answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword.
— Olivia de Havilland, actress, born 1916 (Read the obituary.)
Aileen Passloff
I was strong and tireless and full of passion and loved dancing as deeply as one could ever love anything.
— Aileen Passloff, dancer, born 1931 (Read the obituary.)
Charley Pride
What we don’t need in country music is divisiveness, public criticism of each other, and some arbitrary judgment of what belongs and what doesn’t.
— Charley Pride, singer, born 1934 (Read the obituary.)
Kirk Douglas
If I thought a man had never committed a sin in his life, I don’t think I’d want to talk with him. A man with flaws is more interesting.
— Kirk Douglas, actor, born 1916 (Read the obituary.)
Leon Fleisher
I was driven, if anything, even harder by all of my successes. There was always more to attain, and more to achieve, and more musical depths to plumb, and lurking behind it all, the terrifying risk of failure.
— Leon Fleisher, pianist, born 1928 (Read the obituary.)
Louis Johnson
I am a dancer who loves dance, any kind of dance. In choreographing, I don’t think of dance as ballet, modern or anything, just dance.
— Louis Johnson, dancer, born 1930 (Read the obituary.)
Elizabeth Wurtzel
The way I am is that I put everything I have into whatever I’m doing or thinking about at the moment. So it’s not right when people say I’m self-absorbed. I think I’m just absorbed.
— Elizabeth Wurtzel, author, born 1967 (Read the obituary.)
Peter Beard
An artist who goes around proclaiming that the art he’s making is art is probably making a serious mistake. And that’s one mistake I try not to make.
— Peter Beard, artist, born 1938 (Read the obituary.)
Bill Withers
I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia.
— Bill Withers, singer, born 1938 (Read the obituary.)
Lynn Shelton
You can pick up a camera. The technology is there. You can get your friends together and you can make a movie. You should do it. Now.
— Lynn Shelton, producer, director, born 1965 (Read the obituary.)
Terrence McNally
I like to surprise myself. I’ve always been attracted to projects where I don’t know how they’re going to turn out. If I ever evince bravery in my life, it tends to be at a keyboard.
— Terrence McNally, playwright, born 1938 (Read the obituary.)
Zoe Caldwell
I know the business of acting is sharing an experience, provoking an emotion. I don’t want to use the world love. It’s an abused word, hackneyed. But the truth is that I love to act in the theater.
— Zoe Caldwell, actress, born 1933 (Read the obituary.)
Christo
I am allergic to any art related to propaganda. And everything: commercial propaganda, political propaganda, religious propaganda — it is all about propaganda. And the greatness of art, like poetry or music, is that it is totally unnecessary.
— Christo, artist, born 1935 (Read the obituary.)
Jean Erdman
I found myself involved with the dance as a child in Hawaii. We’d have picnics on the sand and get up and do hulas. I didn’t even know what I was talking about at the time, but I wanted to create my own theater.
— Jean Erdman, dancer, born 1916 (Read the obituary.)
John le Carré
I’m horrified at the notion of autobiography because I’m already constructing the lies I’m going to tell.
— John le Carré, author, born 1931 (Read the obituary.)
Mirella Freni
Life nails you to something real in the falsehood of the stage. I have always felt a connection between daily life and art. I’ve always known where the stage door was, to get in and get out. Some others get lost in the maze. My reality has been my key.
— Mirella Freni, singer, born 1935 (Read the obituary.)
Ming Cho Lee
I’ve been criticized for doing very Brechtian design, but when I go to a play or an opera, I love getting involved rather than just looking at it. I prefer a total theatrical experience to an analytical experience.
— Ming Cho Lee, theater designer, born 1930 (Read the obituary.)
Mary Higgins Clark
Let others decide whether or not I’m a good writer. I know I’m a good Irish storyteller.
— Mary Higgins Clark, author, born 1927 (Read the obituary.)
Nick Cordero
The producer kept telling me: ‘Get tough. Get mean. Get angry.’ But I’m a nice guy. I’m Canadian.
— Nick Cordero, actor, born 1978 (Read the obituary.)
Dave Roback
When I’m working on music with Hope, the person that’s foremost in my thoughts is Hope. We tend to get quite caught up in just the making of music for ourselves.
Dave Roback (speaking of is collaborator Hope Sandoval), musician, founder, Mazzy Star , born 1958 (Read obituary)
Regis Philbin
I want people to enjoy what I do, and understand what I’m doing is for their enjoyment. And that’s all I can ask for.
— Regis Philbin, TV host, born 1931 (Read the obituary.)
Irrfan Khan
No one could have imagined I would be an actor, I was so shy. So thin. But the desire was so intense.
— Irrfan Khan, actor, born 1967 (Read the obituary.)
John Prine
When I get to heaven
— John Prine, musician, born 1946 (Read the obituary.)
I’m gonna take that wristwatch off my arm
What are you gonna do with time
After you’ve bought the farm?
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1 comment
This is very informative and allowed me to reflect on those legends who passed. Thank you for including this in your blog.