The View from the End

As 2009 winds down to its close, let’s take a moment to remember some of the fine crime-fiction-related folk who we lost over the last 12 months:

Gene Barry, the star of such TV crime dramas as Burke’s Law and The Name of the Game. He also fictionalized a real-life lawman (who later re-created himself as a New York sportswriter) in Bat Masterson. Barry turned 90 years old last June.

Ray Browne, a professor emeritus at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, who launched the excellent magazine Clues: A Journal of Detection in 1980. Browne was 87.

Paul Burke, who starred as New York Police detective Adam Flint in the 1958-1963 ABC-TV police procedural series Naked City, a role that earned him two Emmy nominations. Burke died at age 83.

Philip Carey, who portrayed Raymond Chandler’s best-known private investigator in the 1959-1960 ABC-TV series Philip Marlowe, before spending more than two decades on the soap opera One Life to Live. Carey was 83 years old.

David Carradine, the star of TV’s Kung Fu. He was 72.

Dennis Cole, who starred as a rookie detective on the ABC-TV crime drama Felony Squad, and then went on to play a soldier of fortune in the western-detective series Bearcats! and a devious casino owner in the 1975 TV pilot for Barbary Coast. Cole was 69 years old.

Michael Cox, who wrote a pair of noteworthy historical thrillers, The Meaning of Night (2006) and The Glass of Time (2008). He died at age 60 after a career-changing bout with cancer.

Lionel Davidson, a UK thriller writer who won three Gold Dagger Awards from the British Crime Writers’ Association, the first of those for his 1960 novel, The Night of Wenceslas. Davidson was 87.

Farrah Fawcett, the blond Texas-born model, poster girl, and actress who starred in the 1970s “jiggle TV” hit Charlie’s Angels. Fawcett was only 62 years old.

Barbara Franchi, who was responsible for launching the Web site Reviewing the Evidence. She was 73 years old.

Celia Fremlin, who won the Edgar Award for Best Novel for her 1958 book, The Hours Before Dawn. She was 95 years old.

Lyn Hamilton, the Canadian author of almost a dozen books featuring Toronto antiques dealer Lara McClintoch. Hamilton was 65.

H. Paul Jeffers, who in the 1980s penned a trio of novels about mid-20th-century cop-turned-gumshoe Harry McNeil. Jeffers was 75.

Stuart M. Kaminsky, a Mystery Writers of America (MWA) Grand Master who wrote novels featuring 1930s Hollywood P.I. Toby Peters, Moscow Police Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov, world-weary former process server Lew Fonesca, and cantankerous Chicago police detective Abe Lieberman. Kaminsky was 75.

Karl Malden, who co-starred with Michael Douglas in the 1970s police procedural series The Streets of San Francisco. Malden was 79.

Patrick McGoohan, the Emmy Award-winning Irish star of The Prisoner and Secret Agent, and apparently the only actor to guest star in four episodes of the NBC Mystery Movie series Columbo. McGoohan was 80 years old.

Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who starred in Fantasy Island, but also boasted appearances on such TV crime dramas as Ironside, Columbo, and Murder, She Wrote. He was 88 years old.

John Mortimer, the UK barrister turned novelist, who created and further developed fictional London lawyer Horace Rumpole over a span of more than two dozen books. Mortimer was 85.

Sister Carol Ann O’Marie, the Catholic nun turned mystery writer who produced 11 novels featuring San Francisco-based amateur sleuth Sister Mary Helen. She was 75.

Barbara Parker, the author of a series novels featuring Miami lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana, beginning with Suspicion of Innocence and ending with Suspicion of Rage. She was 62.

James Pattinson, who wrote more than 100 thrillers and sea novels between the late 1950s and the late ’80s, including The Mystery of the Gregory Kotovsky and The Unknown. Pattinson was 94.

William Safire, who once served as a speechwriter for disgraced Republican U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and for many years penned columns about politics and language for The New York Times. In addition, Safire composed the 1977 crime novel Full Disclosure and the 1995 thriller Sleeper Spy. He was 79.

Dick Stodghill, a former newspaperman who contributed to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, with many of his yarns featuring 1930s Akron private eye Jack Eddy. He was 84.

William G. Tapply, creator of the Brady Coyne and Stoney Calhoun series, who died in July at age 69.

Robert Terrall, who saw his first thriller novel published in 1943, and went on to compose (under the pseudonym “Robert Kyle”) a popular series of novels featuring Manhattan private eye Ben Gates. Terrall died in March at age 94.

Donald E. Westlake, the three-time Edgar Award-winning author who created such memorable series protagonists as unlucky thief John Dortmunder and professional criminal Parker. Westlake was also an MWA Grand Master. Technically, he died on New Year’s Eve 2008, but I’m going to include him here. Westlake was 75 years old.

Collin Wilcox, the actress who played Mayella Ewell, the young white woman responsible for falsely accusing a black man of rape in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. She was 74.

Edward Woodward, the British star of Callan, The Equalizer, and many movies, including The Wicker Man. He was 79.

This doesn’t purport to be a comprehensive list. But is there any famous name I’ve missed mentioning?

READ MORE: “Farewell and Good Night,” by B.V. Lawson
(In Reference to Murder).