Remembering those who left us in 2024

She played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies and Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey – both self-possessed dames to say the least! Maggie once said, “I don’t tolerate fools, but then they don’t tolerate me, so I am spiky. Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing elderly ladies.” The Oscar-winner had a career that lasted more than 70 years. The mother of two sons and a grandmother of five, died on September 27, aged 89.

Shannen was 19 when she was thrust into the limelight in Beverly Hills, 90210. By the time she left the hit show four years later, she’d gained a reputation as “the bad girl of the nineties”, amid reports of a heated feud with co-star Jennie Garth, hard partying and on-set lateness. Despite leaving 90210 under a cloud, Shannen found success once again on the TV series Charmed. The star was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and passed away on July 13 this year, aged 53. “I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’” Shannen shared. “And then I go, well, why not me? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do.”

With his mop of curly hair, rhinestone-covered tank tops, dolphin shorts and tube socks, Richard hit his stride as a workout guru in the ’80s.

The original fitness influencer spent his teen years tipping the scales at more than 120kg and turned his life around when he received an anonymous letter that read, “Dear Richard, you’re very funny but fat people die young. Please don’t die.” In March this year, he told fans, “I have some news to tell you. Please don’t be sad. I am… dying.” He died of “natural causes” at his home in LA on July 13, aged 76.

Kris once confessed, “I never thought I’d live past 30.” In his early years, the Me and Bobby McGee songwriter was known for his hard-partying ways and was once in a relationship with rock icon Janis Joplin. It was his breakthrough role in 1976’s A Star is Born – in which his character died in a drink-driving accident – that convinced him to get sober. He went on to have a long career as a musician and actor. The dad-of-eight died at his home in Hawaii, aged 88.

Who can forget Shelley’s convincing performance as Jack Nicholson’s terrified wife in 1980’s The Shining? Certainly not Shelley herself, who said of director Stanley Kubrick, “He had me crying 12 hours a day for weeks on end. I will never give that much again. If you want to get into pain and call it art, go right ahead, but not with me.”

Shelley, also loved for her roles in Annie Hall and Popeye, died of complications from diabetes on July 11, aged 75, with her partner Dan Gilroy saying, “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”

He brought intermittent fasting into the mainstream with The 5:2 Diet and The Fast 800. Dr Michael dedicated his life to making science accessible as a BBC journalist. He went missing on June 5 on the Greek island of Symi while taking a walk in 40°C temperatures. Four days later his body was found. The broadcaster and dad-of-four was 67.

For many Kiwis, the music stopped when “voice in a million” singer Eddie lost his battle with cancer on September 21, aged 81. Blind from birth, he often toured with Sir Howard Morrison and captivated audiences worldwide. Says Howard Morrison Jr, “He was a lovable man and never had a bad word to say about anyone.”

“He has been the beacon of hope for Māori around this country,” spokesperson Tukoroirangi Morgan said after the death of Māori King Tūheitia on August 30, aged 69. He passed away after heart surgery, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation. The former meatworker and farmhand, who helped build the Huntly Power Station, was “a man of few words but when he spoke, it was meaningful”, said Tukoroirangi.