The following deaths of notable individuals related to American television occurred in 2018.
January
Date Name Age Notability SourceJanuary 1Jon Paul Steuer33Actor best known as the first Quentin Kelly on Grace Under Fire. Also guest spots on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Day by Day, Homefront, and The Wonder Years.January 2Frank Buxton87Actor famous for voicing Batfink and Hugo-A-Go-Go on Batfink, writer, director (The Odd Couple, Happy Days, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Mork & Mindy.)January 5 Carole Hart 77 American producer (Free to Be... You and Me) Jerry Van Dyke86Actor best known as Luther Van Dam on Coach. Also recurring roles on The Middle, Yes, Dear, You Wish, Teen Angel, 13 Queens Boulevard, Headmaster, Accidental Family, My Mother the Car, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Brother of Dick Van Dyke. January 7 Doug Young98American voice actor, best known for voicing Doggie Daddy in Hanna Barbera cartoonsJanuary 8Donnelly Rhodes80Canadian actor (Bonanza, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Laredo, Run for Your Life, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, Insight, The Young and the Restless, Soap, Report to Murphy, Hill Street Blues, Double Trouble, The Heights, Murder, She Wrote, The X-Files, The Outer Limits, Life as We Know It, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow)January 10Doreen Tracey74Actress and one of the original Mouseketeers on The Mickey Mouse ClubJanuary 13Keith Jackson89Sportscaster for ABC and ESPN for over 50 years, most notably for college football. Naomi Stevens92American actress (recurring roles on Love, American Style, My Three Sons, and The Doris Day Show)January 14Hugh Wilson74Writer/director/producer, most notably on WKRP in Cincinnati, Frank's Place, and The Famous Teddy ZJanuary 16 Bradford Dillman87 American actor (Kraft Theatre, Alcoa Premiere, Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Dr. Kildare, Court Martial, Shane, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Big Valley, Judd for the Defense, Ironside, The Virginian, The F.B.I., Mission: Impossible, Medical Center, Cannon, The Wide World of Mystery, Barnaby Jones, King's Crossing, Falcon Crest, Dynasty, Hotel and Murder, She Wrote)January 19Lin Bolen76American producer (Stumpers! and W.E.B.) and vice president of daytime television programming for NBCOlivia Cole75American actress (Guiding Light, Police Woman, Roots, Szysznyk, Backstairs at the White House, Report to Murphy, North and South, The Women of Brewster Place, Brewster Place, L.A. Law and Murder, She Wrote)John Conboy83American producer (Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, The Young and the Restless, Capitol, Santa Barbara and Guiding Light)Dorothy Malone93Actress (best known for her role as Constance Mackenzie in Peyton Place and the TV movies Murder in Peyton Place and Peyton Place: The Next Generation).January 20John Coleman 83 Meteorologist (co-founder of The Weather Channel; worked at several local stations including WLS-TV/Chicago and KUSI-TV/San Diego)Longtime KUSI weatherman John Coleman dies at 83 KUSI-TV, January 21, 2018January 21Connie Sawyer105Actress (The Jackie Gleason Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Bonanza, My World and Welcome to It, Room 222, The F.B.I., McMillan & Wife, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Streets of San Francisco, Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Hawaii Five-O, Archie Bunker's Place, Hill Street Blues, In the Heat of the Night, Murder, She Wrote, Boy Meets World, Becker, ER and Ray Donovan)January 22Ursula K. Le Guin88Science fiction author of The Lathe of Heaven which was adapted into a pair of TV movies, and the Legend of Earthsea series which became the miniseries EarthseaUrsula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88 The New York Times, January 23, 2018January 23Robert Dowdell85Actor (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Stoney Burke)January 25 John Morris 91American composer. Won a Daytime Emmy for his score for the TV miniseries The Tap Dance Kid. Other work includes the themes to The French Chef and Coach. January 26Cyrus Yavneh75American producer (CBS Summer Playhouse, Son of the Morning Star, Nothing Sacred, 24, Supernatural and Hit the Floor)January 27Mort Walker94American cartoonist, whose King Features Syndicate characters Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois were later made into animated television series and specials.January 30Mark Salling35Actor and musician, best known as Noah 'Puck' Puckerman on Glee Mark Salling Dead of Apparent Suicide TMZ, January 30, 2018Louis Zorich93Actor, best known as Burt Buchman on Mad About You and Jules Berger on Brooklyn BridgeLouis Zorich Dies: Stage Veteran And 'Mad About You' Dad Was 93 Yahoo! Entertainment, February 1, 2018January 31Leah LaBelle31Singer who competed on the third season of American Idol.
February Date Name Age Notability SourceFebruary 4John Mahoney77Actor, best known as Martin Crane on Frasier (other works include guest spots/recurring roles on Chicago Story, Saturday Night Live, H.E.L.P., The Human Factor, Cheers, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Becker, The Simpsons, In Treatment, Burn Notice and Hot in Cleveland)John Mahoney, Steppenwolf and 'Frasier' actor, dead at 77 Chicago Tribune, February 5, 2018February 7Mickey Jones76American actor (recurring roles on Home Improvement and Justified; guest spots on The Rockford Files, The Dukes of Hazzard, Flo, The Incredible Hulk, T.J. Hooker, V, Alice, The A-Team, All My Children, ALF, Something Is Out There, Baywatch, Step by Step, Northern Exposure, and Boy Meets World)Mickey Jones 'Justified' Actor Dead at 76 TMZ.com, February 7, 2018 February 9Reg E. Cathey59Actor, best known for his roles on Square One Television, and as Freddy Hayes on House of Cards, Norman Wilson on The Wire, Martin Querns on Oz, and Byron Giles on OutcastReg E. Cathey, Actor on 'House of Cards' and 'The Wire,' Dies at 59 The Hollywood Reporter, February 9, 2018John Gavin86Actor, best known as Harrison Destry on Destry and Dan Talbot on Convoy. February 11Vic Damone 89American singer, actor and television presenter Jan Maxwell61Actress (Recurring roles on Another World, BrainDead, Billy & Billie, The Divide, Gossip Girl, All My Children, One Life to Live, Santa Barbara, and Murder, She Wrote.)Jan Maxwell Has Died; Five-Time Tony Nominee Praised 'Law & Order' As "The Mother Ship" Deadline Hollywood, February 11, 2018February 12 Marty Allen95American comedian and actor (Kraft Music Hall, The Tonight Show, Tonight Starring Jack Paar, The Garry Moore Show, The Match Game, The Price Is Right, The Hollywood Palace, What's My Line?, Dream Girl of '67, Personality, Della, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, The Dean Martin Show, Tattletales, Dinah!, The Hollywood Squares, The Mike Douglas Show and The Bob Braun Show). February 21Billy Graham99American televangelist and prominent figure in 20th century Evangelicalism in the United StatesFebruary 22Nanette Fabray97Emmy Award-winning actress (recurring role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, guest spots on One Day at a Time, Burke's Law, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Love, American Style, Maude, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Murder, She Wrote, Your Show of Shows, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and Coach); game show personality (The Hollywood Squares, What's My Line?, Password All-Stars, and Match Game); and frequent talk show guest (The Carol Burnett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show)Nanette Fabray, TV Star of the '50s and '60s, Dies at 97 Variety, February 23, 2018February 23James Colby56American actor (As the World Turns, NYPD Blue, Waterfront, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods, Deception, Taxi Brooklyn, Madoff, Chicago P.D. and Empire) February 26Paul De Meo64American writer and producer, co-creator of The Flash, Human Target, Viper and The Sentinel. Recurring on K-Ville and Loving.Benjamin Melniker104American producer (Dinosaucers, Swamp Thing: The Series, Fish Police, Swamp Thing, and Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?). Recurring on Sister, Sister, As the World Turns, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, The Young and the Restless, and Moesha.
March Date Name Age Notability SourceMarch 3David Ogden Stiers75American actor, voiceover artist, and musician, best known for portraying Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H, D.A. Michael Reston in the Perry Mason made-for-TV movies, and recurring roles in Two Guys and a Girl as Mr. Bauer, and Oberoth in Stargate Atlantis, as well as voicing Dr. Jumba Jookiba In Lilo & Stitch: The Series, among his notable credits.March 10Michael Gershman73American cinematographer and director (Courthouse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Crossing Jordan)March 14Stephen Hawking76English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, who played a holographic simulation of himself in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1993. The same year, his synthesiser voice was recorded for the Pink Floyd song Keep Talking, and in 1999 for an appearance on The Simpsons, and appeared in the documentary series Stephen Hawking, Master of the Universe, and guest-starred in Futurama and had a recurring role in The Big Bang Theory.March 22Morgana King87SingerMarch 23DuShon Monique Brown49Actress, best known as Connie on Chicago Fire and Katie Welch on Prison Break'Chicago Fire' Actor DuShon Monique Brown Dead at 49 TMZ, March 23, 2018Debbie Lee Carrington58Actress
April