Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

Betsy Palmer

Actress

Born - 1 November 1926, East Chicago, Indiana, USA
Died - 29 May 2015

Quite tall, full-lipped, healthy-looking blonde American actress, a promising 'second lead' in 1950s' films who forged a new career as a TV reporter, panellist and personality from the end of that decade. Much later, she returned to films, and became a horror icon after her role as the maniac Jason's mother in the first two 'Friday the 13th' films, a role she says she took only because she needed a new car. Born Patricia Betsy Hrunek, she lived with actor James Dean for several months before marrying a doctor (they divorced after 20 years). The same year, she began appearing in films: The Long Gray Line (1954), Mister Roberts (1955), Queen Bee (1955), The Tin Star (1957), The True Story of Lynn Stuart (1958), It Happened to Jane (1959) and The Last Angry Man (1959). After a two-decade gap, she made Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Windmills of the Gods (1988), Unveiled (1994), The Fear: Resurrection (1999), Waltzing Anna (2006) and Bell Witch: The Movie (2007), her last. While on the subject of tall Hollywood blondes, we should mention that sultry actress Carole Mathews died last November at 94, a death that has only recently come to light. For full details see the obituary in our 2014 section.