In an eight-part opus about his home state, Mr. Starr showed how “the California of fact and the California of imagination shape and reshape each other.”
An acrobatic performer in the ring, he was charged with murder late in life, but the case was thrown out shortly before his death because he was declared mentally unfit.
By LIAM STACK
Looking Back
PhotoCreditFarnsworth Fowle Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University
Confirming an unusual number of deaths in a given year is tricky, since celebrity is a subjective quality. But several media tallies point to a trend.
By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK
PhotoCreditClockwise from top left: Dennis Cook/Associated Press; Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times; Charles Platiau/Reuters; Silver Screen Collection, via Getty Images; Barton Silverman/The New York Times; George Tames/The New York Times; Chris Pizzello/Associated Press; Carlo Allegri/Reuters; NASA; Liu Heung Shing/Associated Press; Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
Remembering Nancy Reagan, David Bowie, Harper Lee, Merle Haggard, Anita Brookner, Clyde Lovellette, Anne Jackson, Monte Irvin, Maurice White, Umberto Eco and others who died this year.
