Science fiction, fantasy community not immune to 2016 celebrity deaths

December 29, 2016

The three lead protagonists of Star Wars, from left to right: Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Fisher passed away Dec. 27, 2016, after suffering a stroke. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2016 has become known to many as something of a tragic year for celebrities and public personalities. The entertainment industry seems to have had more than its share of deaths this past year, with the world suffering losses of the likes of Prince, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, George Michael and many others.

On December 27, Carrie Fisher passed away at the age of 60, the actress and author best known for her role as Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars franchise of movies. For those in the Nerd community, Fisher’s death hits hard. Not only was she one of the original actors in the first Star Wars film released in 1977, but last year she appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and a digital version of a young Princess Organa more recently showed up at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. According to NBC News, Fisher recently finished filming her role for Star Wars: Episode VIII, expected to be released in 2017. Her character apparently was expected to appear in Star Wars: Episode IX when filming started in 2017, but what will happen to her character is now anyone’s guess, though it’s not impossible a digital version of Organa could show up on screen.

Debbie Reynolds

Another death hit Fisher’s family only the day after her own passing when her mother, Debbie Reynolds, a known actress and singer, suffered a stroke. Reynolds’ career spanned nearly seven decades as she appeared in numerous films and television programs.

Kenneth George “Kenny” Baker.

Fisher’s death wasn’t the only one in 2016 to slam the Star Wars community. On August 13, Kenny Baker, who played the lovable droid R2-D2, passed away. Baker appeared as R2 in the first six Star Wars movies and acted as a consultant on the R2 character for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Baker also portrayed Pabloo, an Ewok, in Return of the Jedi.

Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov.

Star Trek fans also suffered a loss on June 19 when Anton Yelchin died in an accident at his home in Studio City, California. Yelchin portrayed Pavel Chekov in 2009’s Star Trek film and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. Posthumously he played Chekov again in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, the movie being dedicated to him.

John Glenn official portrait.

More than a celebrity, famed astronaut, veteran and U.S. senator John Glenn passed on December 8, 2016. A fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, Glenn is often best remembered as the first American to orbit the Earth, doing so three times aboard the spacecraft Friendship 7 in 1962. Glenn also became the oldest person to fly in space in 1998, when at the age of 77 he flew as a payload specialist on board Space Shuttle Discovery.

Alan Rickman at a Hudson Union Society event in December 2009.

Another beloved actor who passed away in 2016 was Alan Rickman. Perhaps first drawing worldwide attention as the villainous Hans Gruber in 1988’s film Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, in more recent years Rickman became synonymous with the character of Severus Snape in the series of Harry Potter movies. Science fiction fans also fondly recall Rickman as Sir Alexander Dane in the Star Trek spoof Galaxy Quest from 1999. Rickman died on January 18, 2016.

David Bowie

Bowie died on January 10 after having been diagnosed with liver cancer eighteen months earlier. Besides his popularity as a musician often with links to science fiction through such songs as “Starman” and “Space Oddity,” Bowie also became known as a prolific actor, one of his more notable roles being that of Jareth, the king of the goblins, in the movie Labyrinth.

Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down and other novels, died on December 24. While Adams always said Watership Down began as a series of stories about rabbits which he told to his daughters, over the decades more than a few literary critics have compared the novel to epic works like The Odyssey and The Aeneid. Watership Down and other works of Adams often included tropes of folklore, mythology, religion and epic adventure.

Also worthy of note is astrophysicist Vera Rubin, who passed away on December 25 at the age of 88. Rubin’s work confirmed the existence of dark matter, and she was known as an advocate for women studying and working in the sciences, especially astronomy.

Those mentioned above who passed in 2016 are but a few of the celebrities and known people who left us, and by no means was anyone intentionally not mentioned, whether part of the science fiction and fantasy and speculative communities or not. If you feel someone should be noted, please bring them up in the comments section below.