1984 in American television
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2018) |
List of years in American television: |
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1983–84 United States network television schedule |
1984–85 United States network television schedule |
List of American television programs currently in production |
This article is a list of television-related events during 1984.
Events
Date | Event |
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January 2 | Oprah Winfrey takes over as host of WLS-TV's A.M. Chicago, which would serve as a forerunner to her nationwide, syndicated talk show. |
January 9 | Wendy's "Fluffy Bun" advertisement is first broadcast, which gains Clara Peller and her "Where's the beef?" catchphrase national fame. |
Something About Amelia, a story concerning incest, is broadcast by ABC. Glenn Close, Ted Danson, and Roxana Zal are the main actors. | |
January 22 | During Apple Macintosh personal computer with the famous advertisement "1984" , the only time it is broadcast on national television.
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January 23 | Professional wrestler MSG Network .
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January 26 | Andy Kaufman makes what turns out to be his final television appearance as host of The Top. |
January 27 | Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. |
January 30 | One of Field Communications' last stations, WKBD-TV, is sold to Cox Enterprises. |
February 1 | RCA 's The Entertainment Channel. It originally broadcasts after kids' channel Nickelodeon signs off.
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Viacom 's Cable Health Network.
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In Bakersfield, California, CBS affiliate KPWR-TV changes its call letters to the current KGET-TV, in preparation for an affiliation swap with NBC affiliate KERO-TV the following month. | |
February 10 | NBC airs the made-for-television movie Little House: The Last Farewell. Serving to tie up loose ends to storylines on the main Little House on the Prairie series, The Last Farewell concerns Charles and Caroline deciding to visit Walnut Grove. They learn that a railroad tycoon actually holds the deed to the township, and he wants to take it over for his own financial gain. Despite their best efforts, the townspeople are unable to drive the businessman away. At a town meeting, John Carter offers a supply of explosives that he has. Each man takes a turn blowing up his own building in an emotional farewell to the town.[1] |
February 20 | 17 of the 24 added minutes are utilized by ABC for the network television premiere of Superman II. Subsequent ABC airings of the longer version would be cut further for more advertising time. The full 146-minute extended cut was shown internationally, including parts of Canada. As with the first film, Alexander and Ilya Salkind prepared a version for worldwide television release that re-inserted unused footage (in this case 24 minutes) into the film. It was through this extended version that viewers first caught a glimpse into the Superman II that might have happened had Richard Donner remained as director. In fact, a majority of the added footage was shot by Donner before Richard Lester became director. |
February 25 | season would only be in the form of previously recorded sketches. Murphy's final overall episode as a cast member would air on April 14.
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February 26 | KDRV in Medford, Oregon signs on as an ABC affiliate, giving the Medford market full-time access to all three networks for the first time. |
CBS airs the network broadcast television premiere of Star Wars. | |
February 28 | At the 26th Grammy Awards telecast by CBS, Michael Jackson wins a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards.
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March 16 | molested Plauché's son, Jody. The killing was captured on camera by a local news crew. Doucet was flown back from California to Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, also known as Ryan Field, to face trial. Doucet arrived and was led in handcuffs by police officers through the airport at around 9:30 p.m., where Plauché was waiting for Doucet with a gun. Plauché was friends with several high-ranking police officers in the Baton Rouge Police Department; while many people believed that these contacts told Plauché where and when Doucet would be arriving, it was actually an employee of the local ABC affiliate WBRZ-TV who gave Plauché the information. A news crew from WBRZ-TV was also waiting for Doucet and had set up their cameras to record his arrival.
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March 19 | Denver's ABC affiliate KBTV changes its name to KUSA-TV to reflect its status with USA Today. |
March 21 | New England Sports Network , initially known as NESN is initiated.
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March 25 | independent station goes on the air in New Orleans .
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March 28 | Actress Jeanne Cooper has her own real life facelift procedure performed onscreen during an episode of The Young and the Restless. Cooper's character, Katherine Chancellor is written as having the exact same procedure performed. |
April 1 | Nickelodeon celebrates its 5th anniversary. |
April 7 | After being cancelled by ABC following its third season, Too Close for Comfort with the aid of Metromedia, is revived for the first-run syndicated market. |
April | John Houlihan wins the Natural Triple Jackpot worth $26,550 on The Joker's Wild, the largest such win on the show. |
May 6 | Minneapolis/St. Paul religious station WFBT converts to a general entertainment station after the Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation bought out the station, changing the calls to KITN-TV. |
May 8 | , "Fonzie's Spots", is actually #251 in chronological order. |
May 18 | Character . |
May 19 | CBS tapes the Michael Larson episodes of Press Your Luck in which Larson wins $110,237 cash and prizes. (The episodes, which are split into two parts, would air on June 8 and 11.) |
May 20 | The wedding between rated hour in American daytime soap opera history behind Luke and Laura's 1981 wedding on General Hospital .
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June 8 | Piedmont Triad station WJTM-TV changes its name to WNRW-TV to honor the death of William N. Rismiller in a shooting incident at its studios June 5. |
June 23 | On a broadcast of NBC's Game of the Week between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg hits two crucial, game tying home runs off of Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter in both the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings. The Cubs would go on to win the game in eleven innings, by the score of 12–11. Bob Costas and Tony Kubek were on the call for what would soon become known as "The Sandberg Game". |
June 27 | The conferences sell their own separate package to ABC. |
July 14 | In what became known as " Superstation WTBS' Saturday evening time period once occupied by Georgia Championship Wrestling .
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July 17 | Central time zones of the United States, but pre-empted on the West Coast by CBS News coverage of the Democratic National Convention. This is the only known broadcast of the pilot.[2]
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July 23 | MTV broadcasts the live World Wrestling Federation event "The Brawl to End It All" from Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Wendi Richter won the WWF Women's Championship from The Fabulous Moolah. |
July 28 | ABC begins their coverage of the Summer Olympic Games from Los Angeles. Jim McKay and Peter Jennings served as hosts for the opening ceremonies. This is to date, the final time that ABC would broadcast the Summer Olympics. All subsequent, American network television coverage of the Summer games would be handled by NBC. |
July 30 | The soap opera Santa Barbara debuts on NBC. |
independent station KNBN-TV changes its call letters to KRLD-TV after being bought out by Metromedia .
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September 9 | The Tyler-Longview market's lone television station KLTV finally receives competition when KLMG-TV (now Fox affiliate KFXK-TV) signs-on and takes KLTV's secondary CBS affiliation. |
September 10 | The game show syndicated show with new host Alex Trebek .
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September 14 | Madonna's performance of the song "Like a Virgin ".
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September 16 | The two hour pilot episode of Miami Vice airs on NBC. This episode started developing the trademark Vice style.[3] Aspects of Miami Vice considered revolutionary lay in its music, cinematography, and imagery, which made large segments of each episode resemble a protracted music video. |
September 17 | The Transformers debuts in syndication. |
September 18 | The series finale of Three's Company airs on ABC following a three-episode story arc that also sets up the spin-off Three's a Crowd. |
September 20 | The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. Meanwhile on ABC, the pilot episode for Who's the Boss? is also broadcast. |
September 24 | The game show Super Password premieres on NBC at 12:00 noon EST. The new version of the classic game show is one of the few shows to survive at a time period that normally broadcasts news on any of the three major networks, running for 4+1⁄2 years.
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CBS affiliate WJKA (now Fox affiliate WSFX-TV) in Wilmington, North Carolina signs-on the air, giving Wilmington in-market affiliates of all three commercial networks. | |
September 27 | first appearance as Frasier Crane in the third-season premiere of Cheers .
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October 1 | Montana PBS launches.
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Nickelodeon retires their silver pinball logo (although it would continue to be used in sign-offs until early 1985) and begins using the orange splat as their logo. | |
American Movie Classics is initiated. | |
October 8 | NBC broadcasts The Burning Bed, which features Farrah Fawcett as a woman who kills her abusive husband. The fact-based film is the highest-rated entertainment event of the 1984–1985 season. |
October 11 | Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman (and the only one until Sarah Palin in 2008) to participate in a presidential or vice presidential debate. |
October 12 | Tragedy strikes the blunt force trauma to shatter a quarter-sized piece of his skull and propel the pieces into his brain, causing massive hemorrhaging.[5][6] Hexum is then rushed to Beverly Hills Medical Center, undergoing five hours of surgery to repair his wounds.[6] Six days later, on October 18, Hexum is declared brain dead at age 26.
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October 27 | Turner Broadcasting System initiates the Cable Music Channel in the U.S., only to end it one month later. |
November 10 | On PBS Sesame Street celebrates its 15th anniversary. |
November 12 | Theresa Saldana appears as herself in the NBC movie Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, a retelling of her 1982 stabbing incident and its aftermath. |
December 8 | The final episode of Captain Kangaroo airs. This ends a 29-year run on CBS that made it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. |
December 15 | One year after officially departing the cast of the forty-fifth season in 2019.
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December 17 | George C. Scott plays Ebenezer Scrooge in a new version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, broadcast by CBS. |
The ABC soap opera One Life to Live changes its opening sequence and theme song, which lasted until 1991. | |
ABC purchases a majority stake of ESPN from Getty Oil Corp. | |
KLDO-TV in Laredo, Texas signs-on as an ABC affiliate, giving Laredo in-market affiliates of all three commercial networks (it is now an Univision affiliate). | |
December 28 | On ABC, The Edge of Night ends its 28-year run. The soap opera started on CBS in 1956, moving to ABC in 1975. |
During an interview backstage at Madison Square Garden for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20, reporter John Stossel tells professional wrestler David Schultz that he thought pro wrestling was fake. Schultz responds by hitting Stossel in the head twice, knocking him to the floor each time.[7] The attack attracts a large amount of media coverage and is later aired not only on 20/20, but also on other national television outlets. ABC itself later reports receiving more than 1,000 calls from viewers inquiring about Stossel's health. |
Programs
Debuting this year
Resuming this year
Title | Final aired | Previous network | New title | Returning network | Date of return |
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People are Funny
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1960 | NBC | Same | Same | March 24 |
Showoffs | 1975 | ABC | Body Language | CBS | June 4 |
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | 1981 | CBS | Same | Syndication
|
September 1 |
Jeopardy! | 1979 | NBC | September 10 | ||
Let's Make a Deal | 1981 | Syndication
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The All-New Let's Make a Deal | Same | September 17 |
Password Plus | 1982 | NBC | Super Password | September 24 |
Changing networks
Show | Moved from | Moved to |
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Showoffs | ABC | CBS |
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | CBS | Syndication |
Jeopardy! | NBC |
Ending this year
Date | Title | Debut |
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March 10 | We Got It Made (returned in 1987) | 1983 |
April 2 | Automan | |
April 7 | Mama's Family (returned in 1986) | |
April 10 | a.k.a. Pablo | 1984 |
April 16 | Blue Thunder | |
April 27 | Masquerade | 1983 |
April 30 | That's Incredible! | 1980 |
May 15 | Oh Madeline | 1983 |
May 19 | Fantasy Island | 1978 |
May 22 | Hart to Hart | 1979 |
May 28 | One Day at a Time | 1975 |
June 1 | Tattletales | 1974 |
June 2 | Whiz Kids | 1983 |
June 14 | Lottery! | |
July 4 | Real People | 1979 |
July 11 | The Duck Factory | 1984 |
July 27 | Hollywood Squares (returned in 1986) | 1966 |
August 11 | Boone | 1983 |
September 1 | Monchhichis | |
The Little Rascals | 1982 | |
Pac-Man | ||
Richie Rich | 1980 | |
Rubik, the Amazing Cube | 1983 | |
The Littles | ||
September 5 | Jennifer Slept Here | |
September 8 | The Flintstone Funnies
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1982 |
September 18 | Three's Company | 1977 |
September 24 | Happy Days | 1974 |
November 10 | The Puppy's Further Adventures | 1982 |
December 1 | The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast | 1974 |
The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show | 1983 | |
December 8 | Captain Kangaroo | 1955 |
Pole Position | 1984 | |
Pryor's Place | ||
December 11 | AfterMASH | 1983 |
December 25 | Welcome to Pooh Corner | |
December 28 | The Edge of Night | 1956 |
December 29 | Partners in Crime | 1984 |
Entering syndication
Show | Seasons | In Production | Source |
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Benson | 5 | Yes | [8] |
Bizarre | 4 | Yes | [8] |
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids | 7 | Yes | [8] |
The Greatest American Hero | 3 | No | [8] |
Hart to Hart | 5 | No | [8] |
Trapper John, M.D. | 5 | Yes | [8] |
Voyagers! | 1 | No | [8] |
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries
- V: The Final Battle
Networks and services
Launches
Network | Type | Closure date | Notes | Source |
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Sportsvue | Cable television | April 3 | ||
Home Team Sports Network | Cable television | April 4 | ||
American Christian Television System | Cable television | May 15 | ||
NetSpan | Cable television | June 19 | ||
American Movie Classics | Cable television | October 1 | ||
Cable Music Channel | Cable television | October 26 | ||
MGM/UA Premiere Network | Cable television | November 10 |
Conversions and rebrandings
Old network name | New network name | Type | Conversion Date | Notes | Source |
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The Entertainment Channel | Arts & Entertainment Channel
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Cable television | February 1 | ||
Alpha Repertory Television Service | Arts & Entertainment Channel
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Cable and satellite | February 1 | ||
Cable Health Network | Lifetime
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Cable television | February 1 | ||
Daytime and Lifetime Medical Television | Lifetime
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Cable television | February 1 |
Closures
Network | Type | Closure date | Notes | Source |
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Mobil Showcase Network | Cable television | Unknown | ||
Spotlight | Cable television | February 1 | ||
Cable Music Channel | Cable television | November 30 |
Television stations
Station launches
Date | Market
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Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
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January 21 | Santa Fe/Albuquerque, New Mexico | KCHF | 11 | Religious independent | |
February 1 | Indianapolis, Indiana
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WPDS-TV | 59 | Independent
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February 14 | Fort Walton Beach, Florida | WPAN | 53 | ||
February 18 | Nashville, Tennessee | WCAY-TV | 30 | ||
February 22 | Green Bay, Wisconsin | WSCO | 14 | Religious independent | |
February 23 | Lake Havasu City, Arizona | K45AJ | 45 | Independent | |
February 26 | Medford, Oregon | KDRV | 12 | ABC | |
March 5 | Greensboro, North Carolina | WLXI | 61 | Independent | |
March 7 | Appleton/Green Bay, Wisconsin | WBOU | 32 | ||
March 25 | New Orleans, Louisiana
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WNOL-TV | 38 | ||
March 30 | Seattle, Washington
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KQFB | 20 | ||
April 1 | Spartanburg, SC/Asheville, SC )
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WHNS | 21 | ||
April 16 | Concord, New Hampshire | WNHT | 21 | ||
April 17 | Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
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KLTJ | 49 | TBN | |
May 5 | El Paso, Texas | KINT | 26 | Spanish independent | |
May 12 | San Angelo, Texas | KIDY | 6 | Independent | |
May 13 | Decatur, Illinois (Champaign/Springfield, Illinois) |
WFHL | 23 | Religious independent | |
June 1 | Columbus, Ohio | WTTE | 28 | Independent | |
June 25 | Harlingen/Brownsville/McAllen, Texas | KLUJ-TV | 44 | ||
July 1 | Hopkinsville, Kentucky | W43AG | 43 | ||
July 5 | Florence, South Carolina | WGSE | 43 | ||
July 8 | New Orleans, Louisiana | WLAE-TV | 32 | Educational independent | |
July 10 | Lake Havasu City, Arizona | K25AL | 25 | TBN | |
July 31 | Las Vegas, Nevada
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KRLR | 21 | Independent | |
August | Jacksonville, Illinois | WJPT
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14 | PBS | |
August 1 | Hagerstown, Maryland | WJAL | 68 | Independent | Now licensed to Silver Spring, Maryland |
August 7 | Burlington, North Carolina (Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina) |
WRDG | 16 | ||
August 22 | Chicago, Illinois
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W13BE | 13 | ||
August 28 | Lebanon-Nashville, Tennessee | WJFB | 66 | ||
September 9 | Toccoa, Georgia | WNEG | 32 | ||
Tyler, Texas | KLMG-TV | 51 | CBS | ||
September 10 | Greenwood/Anderson, South Carolina | 38 | PBS | Part of South Carolina ETV
| |
Jacksonville, Florida | W10AX
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10 | The Box | ||
September 14 | Hartford, Connecticut | WTIC-TV | 61 | Independent | |
September 23 | Dayton, Ohio | WRGT-TV | 45 | ||
September 24 | Wilmington, North Carolina | WJKA | 26 | CBS | |
October 1 | Bozeman/Butte, Montana | KUSM-TV
|
9 | PBS | Flagship of Montana PBS |
Kalamazoo, Michigan (Battle Creek/Grand Rapids, Michigan) |
WGVK
|
52 | |||
Macomb, Illinois | WMEC
|
22 | |||
San Diego, California
|
KTTY | 69 | Independent | ||
October 24 | Miami, Florida
|
W30AB | 30 | PBS | Translator of WPBT |
October 31 | Asheville, North Carolina (Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina) |
WASV | 62 | Independent | |
November | Columbus, Georgia (Auburn, Alabama) |
WXTX | 54 | ||
November 24 | Richmond, Virginia | WVRN-TV | 63 | Religious independent | |
November 30 | Jackson, Mississippi | WDBD | 40 | Independent | |
December 3 | Albany, New York | WUSV | 45 | ||
December 15 | Flint, Michigan | WSMH | 66 | ||
December 17 | Laredo, Texas | KLDO-TV | 27 | ABC | |
December 18 | K61CV
|
61 | unknown | ||
December 24 | Pensacola, Florida (Mobile, Alabama) |
WJTC | 44 | Independent | |
December 31 | Tucson, Arizona | KDTU | 18 | ||
Unknown date | Billings, Montana | K05HS | 5 | Daystar | |
Casper, Wyoming | KFNB | 20 | ABC | ||
Glenwood Springs, Colorado | KCWS | 3 | Independent | ||
Minneapolis, Minnesota
|
K58BS | 58 | TBN | ||
Wenatchee, Washington | KCWT-TV
|
27 | Independent |
Network affiliation changes
Date | Market
|
Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
February 1 | Bakersfield, California | KGET-TV | 17 | CBS | NBC | |
Unknown date | Cheyenne, Wyoming | KYCU-TV | 5 | CBS | ABC (primary) NBC (secondary) |
Births
Deaths
Date | Name | Age | Notability |
---|---|---|---|
February 16 | Kenny Williams | 69 | Game show announcer (The Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Gambit) |
March 1 | Jackie Coogan | 69 | actor (Uncle Fester on The Addams Family) |
March 24 | Sam Jaffe | 93 | actor (Dr. Zorba on Ben Casey) |
March 31 | Caryl Ledner | 63 | Emmy-winning writer (Mary White )
|
May 2 | Jack Barry | 66 | game show host/producer (The Joker's Wild) |
May 16 | Andy Kaufman | 35 | comedian (Latka Gravas on Taxi) |
June 15 | Ned Glass | 78 | actor |
August 8 | Richard Deacon | 63 | actor (Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show) |
September 17 | Richard Basehart | 70 | actor ( Harriman Nelson on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea )
|
September 24 | Neil Hamilton | 85 | actor (Commissioner Gordon on Batman) |
October 18 | Jon-Erik Hexum | 26 | actor (gunshot wound from accident on set of TV series Cover Up) |
December 7 | Jeanne Cagney | 65 | actress |
See also
References
- ^ "The Last Farewell Summary". CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
- ^ "W*A*L*T*E*R". Television Obscurities. 2005-02-15. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
- ^ Salas, Randy A. (2005-02-08). "TV's 'Miami Vice' is still in fashion". Minneapolis Star Tribune. www.azcentral.com. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ISBN 978-0711995123.
- ^ "Jon-Erik Hexum's Fatal Joke". Entertainment Weekly. October 14, 1994. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ a b "Actor Wounds Himself On Set of TV Series". The New York Times. October 14, 1984.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: David Schultz, John Stossel (2006). WRESTLING IS FAKE (watch before commenting). Youtube. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g Broadcasting - Feb. 13, 1984
- ^ "Fantasia Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ^ "Fantasia – The Vogue". Retrieved 2023-11-27.
- ^ Marshall, Alex (January 19, 2022). "Gaspard Ulliel, French Actor and 'Moon Knight' Star, Dies at 37". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.