Time to kiss 2007 goodbye, and what better way than to look back and see who died over the past year? This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list, so if I’ve missed your favorite dead guy or gal, feel free to add them in the comments.

    January

Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by shooting in on Jan. 1. He was 24 years old. Steel guitar virtuoso “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, an original Flying Burrito Brother, died on Jan. 6 at the age of 72. He was also an award-winning animator and special effects artist. Suffering from Alzheimer’s, he died in a nursing home in California. The next day, NASCAR driver Bobby Hamilton died at the age of 49, of cancer in the head and neck. Film producer Carlo Ponti died at the age of 94 on January 9. His films included “Doctor Zhivago,” but those of us of the male persuasion are most grateful to him for discovering a teenager by the name of Sophia Loren, who he also wound up marrying (despite being threatened with bigamy charges and excommunication from the Catholic Church). Well, who could really blame him?

On the 13th, we lost half of the Brecker Brothers, as sax player Michael Brecker passed away at the age of 57 from leukemia. Lung cancer got former taxi driver and NASCAR legend Benny Parsons on January 16. He was 65. On the same day, actor Ron Carey (the short cop with a chip on his shoulder from Barney Miller) died of a stroke at the age of 71. A day later, Pulitzer prize winning columnist Art Buchwald died at the age of 81. He’d decided to quit dialysis treatments almost a year earlier, and checked into a hospice where he was expected to die within weeks. Instead, he came back home and wrote a book, and died in his own bed, surrounded by loved ones. On the 19th, Denny Doherty – one of the Poppas from the Momas and Poppas – passed away at the age of 66. Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt died of pneumonia at the age of 88 on January 23. Among his other accomplishments are the orchestration of a military coup in Guatemala, and helping to mastermind the Bay of Pigs operation. Tige Andrews (Capt Greer on the Mod Squat) died on the 27th of a heart attack at 86. Author Sydney Sheldon died on January 30th, and the great Molly Ivins passed away at the age of 66, after a long battle with breast cancer.

    February

The Spinners’ Billy Henderson passed away from complications due to diabetes on Feb 2nd. He was 67. The same day, Funk Brother Joe Hunter died at the age of 79. Actress and singer Barbara McNair died on Feb. 4 after battling throat cancer. She was 72. Another singer, Frankie Laine (“rollin’ rollin’ rollin’, keep them dogies rollin’. Rawhide!”), died on Feb 6th at the age of 93. Anna Nicole Smith passed away at the age of 39 on Feb 8. She was equally exploited in death, as she had been in life.

    March

Thomas Eagleton, who was forced to resign as George McGovern’s running mate because he’d once been treated for depression, died of a combination of heart, respiratory and other problems on March 4 at the age of 77. Two days later, wine guy Ernest Gallo passed away at the age of 97. Boston’s lead singer, Brad Delp, passed away at the age of 55 on March 9th. The next day, comedian Richard Jeni apparently committed suicide at the age of 49. Director Stuart Rosenberg (“Cool Hand Luke”), died of a heart attack on March 15, as did former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Singer Luther Ingram (“If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Wanna Be Right”) died at 69 of heart failure on March 19. The same day, Calvert “Larry ‘Bud’ Melman” DeForest, died at the age of 85.

    April

Former Grambling football coach died at the age of 88 on April 3rd. Daryl Stingley, who’d been a quadriplegic since a preseason football injury in 1978, died on April 5th. He was 55. BC cartoonist Johnny Heart passed away on April 7 at the age of 76. So did actor Barry Nelson, first person to play James Bond. He was 89. Actor Roscoe Lee Browne died on April 11 from cancer at the age of 81. That same day, we lost the great Kurt Vonnegut, who was 84. Don Ho died of heart failure on the 14th, and Kitty Carlisle died at the age of 96 on April 18. Boris Yeltsin died at the age of 76 on April 23rd. So did journalist David Halberstam. Bobby “Boris” Pickett, who gave us the “Monster Mash” in 1962, died of leukemia on April 25. He was 69. Jack Valenti – who gave us the movie rating system – had a stroke and died at the age of 85 on April 26. ongtime Tonight Show Band member Tommy Newsome passed away on April 30 at the age of 78. Actor Tom Poston died the same day. He was survived by his wife, Suzanne Pleshette.

    May

Astronaut Wally Schirra – the only man to fly on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft – died on May 3 at 84. Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell died on May 15th. He was greatly surprised to find out that God is gay. Lucky for him, he went to hell. Yolanda Denise King (MLK’s oldest child) died the same same day. New England Patriots defensive end Marquise Hill died on May 27 at the age of 24, after a jet ski accident on Lake Pontchartrain. It was the same day that Charles Nelson Reilly died of complications from pneumonia. He was 76.

    June

One of my personal heroes, Don “Mr. Wizard” Herbert, died of bone cancer on June 12, at the age of 89. He inspired me to blow up all kinds of shit. Former UN Secretary General, Austrian President, and Nazi, Kurt Waldheim, died of heart failure on June 14 at 88. Keyboard player and songwriter Richard Bell – member of Janice Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band, among other things – died of multiple myeloma June 15 at 61. Pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his 7-year-old son. Then he hung himself on June 25. The next day, Liz Claiborne died of cancer. She was 78. Film critic Joel Siegel died at the age of 63 on June 29th of colon cancer.

Well, that’s a recap of some of the deaths in the first half of 2007. I’ll have look at who died in the second half of the year (along with any last minute entries) tomorrow. For now, it’s time to get ready to watch some Twilight Zone, which starts at 8:00 Eastern Time. Whatever you do, be careful out there tonight.