Gallery: 2012 celebrity deaths

AP Photo/Wally Fong, file

This January 1983, file photo shows actor Andy Griffith posing in Los Angeles to promote his upcoming CBS-TV film, "Murder in Coweta County". Griffith, whose homespun mix of humor and wisdom made "The Andy Griffith Show" an enduring TV favorite, died Tuesday, July 3, 2012 in Manteo, N.C. He was 86.

AP Photo/Stuart Ramson, File

In this May 5, 2003 file photo, author Gore Vidal arrives for the Film Society of Lincoln Center's gala event in New York. Vidal died Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File

This Monday, March 6, 2006 file photo shows Don Cornelius at his office in Los Angeles. Cornelius, 75, died Feb. 1, 2012 at his home in Los Angeles.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file

This Jan. 15, 2008, file photo shows television news journalist Mike Wallace at the 2007 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards Gala in New York. Wallace, famed for his tough interviews on "60 Minutes," died, Saturday, April 7, 2012. He was 93.

AP Photo/Sandy Huffaker, File

In this Aug. 14, 2006, file photo, former San Diego Chargers football player Junior Seau smiles during a news conference announcing his retirement from pro football in San Diego. Seau, a former NFL star, was found dead at his home in Oceanside, Calif. He was 43.

AP Photo/Charles Sykes

Nora Ephron poses for a photo at her home in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010. Ephron, 71, essayist, author and filmmaker who thrived in the male-dominated worlds of movies and journalism and was loved, respected and feared for her wit died June 26, 2012.

AP Photo/Marc Hofer

In this May 17, 2012, file photo, US Senator George McGovern with WFP Country Director Stanlake Samkange in Kampala, Uganda. McGovern, 90, former U.S. senator and a Democrat who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a landslide died Oct. 21, 2012.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File

In this Oct. 17, 2009 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno smiles as he walks the field before an NCAA college football game against Minnesota in State College, Pa. On Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, family says Paterno, winningest coach in major college football, has died.

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

In this Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 photo, actor Larry Hagman listens to a reporter's question while visiting the Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, made famous in the television show "Dallas." Actor Larry Hagman, who for more than a decade played villainous patriarch JR Ewing in the TV soap Dallas, has died at the age of 81, his family said Saturday Nov. 24, 2012.

AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File

In this April 20, 2002 file photo, Dick Clark, host of the American Bandstand television show, introduces entertainer Michael Jackson on stage during taping of the show's 50th anniversary special in Pasadena, Calif. Clark, the television host who helped bring rock `n' roll into the mainstream on "American Bandstand," died April 18, 2012 of a heart attack. He was 82.

AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File

In this Feb. 22, 2005 file photo, Henry Hill sits in the dining room of the Firefly restaurant in North Platte, Neb., with a portrait of actor Ray Liotta portraying Hill in the movie "Goodfellas" hanging on the wall behind him. Hill, whose life as a mobster and FBI informant was the basis for the Martin Scorcese film, died June 12, 2012.

AP Photo/Ron Heflin, File

Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell fields questions about the team's move from the Cleveland area to Baltimore, during a news conference at the NFL meeting in Grapevine, Texas, in this Nov. 7, 1995 file photo. Modell died Sept. 6, 2012.

AP Photo/NASA, File

This undated photo released by NASA shows astronaut Sally Ride. Ride, the first American woman in space, died Monday, July 23, 2012. She was 61.

AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File

In this Sunday, April 25, 2010, file photo, U.S singer Whitney Houston performs in London as part of her European tour. Houston, 48, died Feb. 11, 2012.

AP Photo/Mark TerrillIn

This Sunday, Jan. 7, 2001 file photo, actor Michael Clarke Duncan accepts two awards for the film "The Green Mile" at the 27th Annual People's Choice Awards in Pasadena, Calif. Duncan died at the age of 54 on Sept. 3, 2012.