In Memoriam: Murder, She Wrote stars we lost in 2022

Last year, I set our to start on a yearly tradition on this blog to remember the Murder, She Wrote guest stars that passed away. My blog posts last year was published at the end of December, and commemorated those we lost in 2021. With the death of both Angela Lansbury and Ron Masak this October, I decided I would publish a post for the year 2022 earlier in the year (with the intention to come back and update this post again in December).

Below, I briefly profile those stars and guest stars we lost in 2022, and specifically highlight the episodes that they each appeared in.

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Dwayne Hickman (b. May 18, 1934; d. January 9, 2022)

• Appeared as Brian Thursdan in “Murder — According to Maggie“.
• Had a starring role as Dobie Gillis in ‘The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis’.

Vachik Mangassarian (b. May 1943; d. January 23, 2022)

• Appeared as the Chef in “Just Another Fish Story“.

Dotty Ertel (b. December 1, 1932; d. January 23, 2022)

• Uncredited background actor in four episodes (according to IMDb): “Curse of the Daanav“, “The Way to Dusty Death“, “The Corpse Flew First Class”, and “We’re Off to Kill the Wizard”.

Morgan Stevens (b. October 16, 1951; d. January 26, 2022)

• Appeared as Robert Warren in “The Bottom Line is Murder“, as Nick Fulton in “School for Scandal”, and as Scott Bennett in “Hooray for Homicide”.

Howard Hesseman (b. February 27, 1940; d. January 29, 2022)

• Appeared as Sheldon Greenberg in “Widow, Weep for Me”.
• Had a starring role as Dr. Johnny Fever in ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’.

Penelope Windust (b. July 13, 1945; d. February 2, 2022)

• Appeared as Laura Bennett in “Love & Hate in Cabot Cove”.

Sally Kellerman (b. June 2, 1937; d. February 24, 2022)

• Appeared as Junie Cobb in “The Petrified Florist”

Conrad Janis (b. February 11, 1928; d. March 1, 2022)

• Appeared as Jason O’Connell in “Lines of Excellence“, as Miles Hatcher in “A Little Night Work“, and as Dr. Yambert in “Death Casts a Spell”.

Mitchell Ryan (b. January 11, 1934; d. March 4, 2022)

• Appeared as Senator Brent Renwyck in “Big Easy Murder”, as Rep. Arthur Prouty in “The List of Yuri Lermentov“, as Captain Ernest Lenko in “The Cemetery Vote“, and as Ray Dixon in “Capitol Offense”.

Barrie Youngfellow (b. October 22, 1946; d. March 28, 2022)

• Appeared as Olivia Hudson in “Trevor Hudson’s Legacy“.

Wolf Muser (b. October 23, 1950; d. March 30, 2022)

• Appeared as Peter Daniken in “The Grand Old Lady“.

Nehemiah Persoff (b. August 2, 1919; d. April 5, 2022)

• Appeared as Constantin Stavros in “The Great Twain Robbery“

Gary Bullock (b. July 19, 1941; d. April 11, 2022)

• Appeared as Phipps in the Murder, She Wrote TV Movie: “South by Southwest”

Liz Sheridan (b. April 10, 1929; d. April 15, 2022)

• Appeared as Rose Tessler in “Bite the Big Apple“.
• Known for her recurring roles on Seinfeld and ALF.

James Olson (b. October 8, 1930; d. April 17, 2022)

• Appeared as Clarence La Rue in “A Body to Die For” (his last on-screen appearance).

Read Morgan (b. January 30, 1931; d. April 20, 2022)

• Appeared as Sergeant Kevin Hogan in “Death Takes a Curtain Call”.

Robert Morse (b. May 18, 1931; d. April 20, 2022)

• Appeared as Marc Faber in “Broadway Malady”.

David Birney (b. April 23, 1939; d. April 27, 2022)

• Appeared as Lawrence Baker in “The Legacy of Borbey House”, as Earl Harper in “The Monte Carlo Murders“, as Lawrence Erlich in “The Great Twain Robbery“, and as Franchesco in “Prediction: Murder“.

Joanna Barnes (b. November 15, 1934; d. April 29, 2022)

• Appeared as Lydia Barnett in “The Way to Dusty Death“

Charles Siebert (b. March 9, 1938; d. May 1, 2022)

• Appeared as Don Simms in “Wheel of Death”, as Norman Edmonds in “Indian Giver“, and as Dentist Penn ‘Doc’ Walker in “Night of the Headless Horseman”.

Pamela Kosh (b. October 1, 1928; d. May 4, 2022)

• Appeared as Mrs. Dexter-Hundley in “It Runs in the Family“.

Donald Elson (b. March 31, 1923; d. May 6, 2022)

• Appeared as a Bookstore Owner in “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes”.

Mickey Gilley (b. March 9, 1936; d. May 7, 2022)

• Appeared as Conrad Booker in “Ballad for a Blue Lady“.

Bo Hopkins (b. February 2, 1938; d. May 28, 2022)

• Appeared as Scott Larkin in “The Monte Carlo Murders“, and as Lt. Ray Jenkins in “Armed Response”.

Philip Baker Hall (b. September 10, 1931; d. June 12, 2022)

• Appeared as Les Costner in “Moving Violation“.

Jon Menick (b. February 11, 1951; d. June 12, 2022)

• Appeared as a Kennel Clerk in “Who Killed J.B. Fletcher?“

Maureen Arthur (b. April 15, 1934; d. June 15, 2022)

• Appeared as Veronica in “J.B.. as in Jailbird“

Gregory Itzin (b. April 20, 1948; d. July 8, 2022)

• Appeared as Ralph Brewer in “Frozen Stiff”

Christopher Thomas (d. July 21, 2022)

• Appeared as Connors in “An Egg to Die For”

David Warner (b. July 29, 1941; d. July 24, 2022)

• Appeared is Insp. McLaughlin in “A Death in Hong Kong”, and as Justin Hunnicut in “The Szechuan Dragon“.

Paul Sorvino (b. April 13, 1939; d. July 25, 2022)

• Appeared as Al Sidell in “Three Strikes, You’re Out“
• Has had several starring roles in detective shows: e.g. Bert D’Angelo/Superstar (1976), The Oldest Rookie (1987), and Law & Order (1991)

Tony Dow (b. April 13, 1945; d. July 27, 2022)

• Appeared as Gordon Rogers in “Crossed Up”.
• Notable for his role as Wally Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver.

Clu Gulager (b. November 16, 1928; d. August 5, 2022)

• Appeared as Ray Carter in “Old Habits Die Hard“, as Mike Gann in “Dead Heat”, and as Carl Mestin in “Funeral at Fifty-Mile”.

John Donovan (d. August 18, 2022)

• Appeared as Margo’s Assistant in “Keep the Home Fries Burning”

Dan Ferro (b. October 10, 1960; d. August 19, 2022)

• Appeared as Roy Phipps in “The Murder Channel”, and as Raymond Fernandez in “Double Jeopardy“.

Marsha Hunt (b. October 17, 1917; d. September 7, 2022)

• Appeared as Elvira Tree in “Sticks and Stones”.

Michael Callan (b. November 22, 1935; d. October 10, 2022)

• Appeared as Phillip Sparling in “Fatal Paradise”, as Bart Mahoney in “Good-Bye Charlie“, as Sgt. Nash in “J.B.. as in Jailbird“, and as Carl Anglin in “Murder, She Spoke“.

Angela Lansbury (b. October 16, 1925; d. October 11, 2022)

• Appeared in all 264 episodes of Murder, She Wrote as well as the four TV movies. The only time she did not play Jessica Fletcher was when she played Jessica’s relatives.

Ron Masak (b. July 1, 1936; d. October 20, 2022)

• Appeared in 41 episodes of MSW; had made two guest appearances, one in Season 1 and one in Season 3 as different characters, before joining the regular cast as Cabot Cove Sheriff Mort Metzger.

Andrew Prine (b. February 14, 1936; d. October 31, 2022)

• Appeared as Prof. Todd Lowery in “Lovers and Other Killers”, as Victor Salyer in “Magnum on Ice”, as Roscoe in “Truck Stop“, and as Gil Blocker in “The Prodigal Father“.

Cliff Emmich (b. December 13, 1936; d. November 28, 2022)

• Appeared as Harry Tigner in “Amsterdam Kill”