N.J. celebrities who died in 2024, from movies, music, TV and more

We welcomed them into our lives through TV, movies, music, art and more.

The New Jersey talents lost in 2024 span the big screen and small screen and stages and galleries across the globe.

Here’s a look at some Jersey entertainers and personalities who died this year. Many grew up here, others made their homes here, and still others became associated with the state’s pop culture profile.

Cissy Houston

Cissy Houston, a legend of gospel music, had Alzheimer’s disease and was 91 when she died in October. Newark’s Houston was the mother of pop superstar Whitney Houston and aunt to enduring music icon Dionne Warwick, both Grammy-winning members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Cissy Houston won her own Grammys — two — for best traditional soul gospel album. Born Emily Drinkard, she grew up in a family of singers and performed gospel with The Drinkard Singers. Houston, who also performed with The Sweet Inspirations, was choirmaster and minister of music at Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church.

The Amazing Kreskin

Mentalist The Amazing Kreskin was 89 when he died in December. He gained fame from his many performances and appearances on talk shows like “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “Late Night with David Letterman.” Kreskin, born George Joseph Kresge Jr., grew up in Montclair and made his TV debut in the 1960s. He became a household name in the 1970s. Kreskin made predictions about presidential races, Super Bowls and world events, but did not claim to be psychic or engage in hypnosis. His skill was using the power of suggestion, which he called “one of the most tremendous forces known to mankind.”

John Amos

Actor John Amos died in August at 84. The Newark native, known for playing James Evans on the ’70s CBS sitcom “Good Times,” grew up in East Orange and once resided in Tewksbury. He started his career as a football player, going from the East Orange Panthers to the Colorado State Rams, Jersey City Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. Amos delivered some of the most iconic performances of comedy and drama on TV. He was nominated for an Emmy for his starring role as the adult Kunta Kinte in “Roots,” the Emmy-winning miniseries watched by more than 100 million people when it aired in 1977. He also played weatherman Gordy Howard on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”; Cleo McDowell in Eddie Murphy’s hit comedy “Coming to America” (1988) and the 2021 sequel “Coming 2 America”; and Percy Fitzwallace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff on NBC’s “The West Wing.”

Teri Garr

Oscar-nominated actor Teri Garr, known for “Tootsie” and “Young Frankenstein,” died in October of multiple sclerosis. She was 79. The actor, a native of Lakewood, Ohio, lived in Franklin Lakes as a child before moving to Los Angeles with her family. Garr was nominated for best supporting actress for playing Sandy Lester in Sydney Pollack’s “Tootsie” (1982), starring Dustin Hoffman. She started as a dancer, performing in Elvis Presley movies like “Viva Las Vegas” (1964). Garr, who made appearances in “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” later joined the cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” (1973; she was also in the director’s “One from the Heart” in 1982). She played Inga opposite Gene Wilder’s Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” and Ronnie Neary, wife to Richard Dreyfuss’ character, in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977).

Michaela DePrince

The ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince was 29 when she died in September. DePrince was born Mabinty Bangura in Kenema, Sierra Leone. When she was 4, she was adopted by Elaine DePrince and Charles DePrince of Cherry Hill after her parents died in the Sierra Leone Civil War. When she was a teen, she appeared in the 2011 documentary “First Position” and made history as the youngest principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She made her professional debut at the Joburg Ballet in Johannesburg, South Africa and danced for the Dutch National Ballet in the Netherlands and the Boston Ballet. DePrince performed in Beyoncé‘s “Lemonade” musical film in 2016 and starred in the movie “Coppelia” (2021).

Christopher Durang

Tony-winning playwright Christopher Durang died in April from complications of logopenic primary progressive aphasia. The Montclair native, known as a master of satire and black comedy, grew up in Berkeley Heights. His work includes “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You” (1979), “Beyond Therapy” (1981) and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” (2013), which won the Tony for best play. He was exposed to theater as a child at Millburn’s Paper Mill Playhouse and Broadway productions. His passion for theater was evidence early on. In 1958, when he was 8, he wrote a two-page play based on the “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” episode of “I Love Lucy” and staged the play at his elementary school, Our Lady of Peace School in New Providence. Durang, the longtime director of the Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, also wrote the musical comedy “A History of the American Film,” which was nominated for a Tony, and the comedy “Miss Witherspoon,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2006.

Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold died in April at her home in Englewood, the Associated Press reported. She was 93. Ringgold, born Faith Willi Jones, hailed from Harlem and became a leader of the Black Arts movement in the 1960s. The artist, author and activist is known for creating bold quilts and paintings that use multiple mediums and tell stories. In 1971, she co-founded the Where We At art collective for Black women. Ringgold’s work examines race and gender, and she spoke out against the absence of Black women in art spaces dominated by white men. Her work “Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemina?” (1983), a quilt and story, took on the “mammy” stereotype through a new story of a businesswoman named Jemima Blakey. In her quilt series “The French Collection,” she depicts poet Langston Hughes and Black cultural figures with European master painters. Ringgold’s “9/11 Peace Story Quilt” was made with New York students to mark a decade since the Sept. 11 attacks. The artist, a longtime professor at The University of California, San Diego, also wrote and illustrated children’s books, starting with the award-winning “Tar Beach” in 1991.

Chino XL

Rapper Chino XL was 50 when he died by suicide in July. Chino, a Bronx native who grew up in East Orange, was a sharp lyricist, freestyler and battle rapper born Derek Keith Barbosa. His critically acclaimed debut album “Here to Save You All” was released in 1996. Chino started his music career as a teen in the group The Art of Origin with East Orange DJ and producer Kerri Chandler. As a solo artist, Chino also drew attention for his beef with Tupac Shakur and is named on the rapper’s “Hit ‘Em Up” diss track alongside the Notorious B.I.G. and other East Coast emcees. Chino’s other solo albums include “I Told You So” (2001), “Poison Pen” (2006), “Warning” (2006) and “Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary” (2012). The rapper, who suffered from depression, had been diagnosed with congenital heart failure and stage 4 prostate cancer before his death, was also an actor and graphic novelist.

Video contains explicit language

Richard Lewis

The actor and comedian Richard Lewis died of a heart attack in February. He was 76. Lewis, who had retired from stand-up comedy, announced in April 2023 that he had been living with Parkinson’s disease for two years. Lewis was a regular on HBO’s long-running comedy series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” starring his friend Larry David. He played a fictional version of himself and made his last appearance on the show in the final season, which aired in April. The Brooklyn native grew up in Englewood where he attended Dwight Morrow High School. He made his debut as a stand-up comic in 1971 and starred in the 1979 TV movie “Diary of a Young Comic” on NBC. The comedian, who had depression and anxiety, got sober after struggling with drug addiction. Lewis’ comedy specials include Showtime’s “I’m in Pain” (1985) and HBO’s “The I’m Exhausted Concert” (1988), “Richard Lewis: I’m Doomed” (1990) and “Richard Lewis: The Magical Misery Tour” (1997). His film and TV credits include “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993), “The Wrong Guys” (1988) and the ABC series “Anything But Love” (1989 to 1992), Fox’s “Daddy Dearest” and ABC’s “Hiller and Diller” (1997).

Video contains explicit language

Melanie

The powerhouse singer-songwriter Melanie died in January at 76. Melanie, born Melanie Anne Safka, was a Queens native who grew up in Long Branch and attended high school there and in Red Bank. One of her best-known songs, from 1971, is the playful No. 1 pop hit “Brand New Key,” aka “The Roller Skate Song” (“Well, I’ve got a brand-new pair of roller skates, you’ve got a brand-new key”). She wrote the song in New Jersey after undergoing a 27-day fast and breaking it with some McDonald’s, which triggered a wave of nostalgia. Melanie’s music first took off in Europe with songs like “Bobo’s Party.” After the folk singer performed at Woodstock in 1969, the history-making festival scene inspired her 1970 song, “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain).” Melanie’s other enduring songs include “People in the Front Row” (1971), “What Have They Done to My Song Ma” (1970) and “The Nickel Song” (1971).

John Aprea

Actor John Aprea, known for his roles in “The Godfather Part II,” “The Sopranos” and “Full House,” died in August at 83. Aprea, who hailed from Englewood, played young Sal Tessio in the Oscar-winning “The Godfather Part II” (1974). In the ’80s, the actor started playing Nick Katsopolis, father of “Uncle” Jesse Katsopolis, played by John Stamos, a role Aprea reprised in the Netflix “Full House” revival series “Fuller House” in 2017. In the first season of “The Sopranos” (1999 — episode “I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano”), he played a U.S. attorney. Aprea’s other film credits include “The Stepford Wives” (1975), “New Jack City” (1991), “Sunset Park” (1996) and “The Manchurian Candidate” (2004).

Tom Brown Jr.

Wilderness survival expert Tom Brown Jr. died in August at 74. Brown ran the Tracker School in the Pine Barrens. People from across the globe traveled to the Waretown school to learn about tracking and living in nature. Brown’s first book, “The Tracker” (as told to author William Jon Watkins), was published in 1978. His other books included “Grandfather,” “The Vision” and “The Way of the Scout.” Brown was the technical adviser for “The Hunted” (2003), a William Friedkin movie starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro about an FBI tracker hunting an assassin.

Renauld White

Trailblazing model and actor Renauld White died in June. He was 80. White, a Newark native, became the first African American male model to cover GQ magazine in 1979. The alum of West Side High School and Rutgers University in Newark also lived in East Orange. Over the course of his career, the model worked with designers including Jeffrey Banks, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, Bill Blass and Donna Karan. He graced the covers of magazines including Essence, Ebony and Jet. Starting in the 1980s, White was also known for playing William Reynolds in the soap opera “Guiding Light.”

Miss Liberty USA, Sondra Fortunato

Sondra Fortunato, a self-made local New Jersey celebrity known as Miss Liberty USA, died in January. The Toms River resident was known for showing up at Giants and Jets games wearing a gown and crown, her Cadillac plastered with white signs emblazoned with various labels and claims, like “CELEBRITY” and “QUEEN.” Miss Liberty USA wasn’t her only name. She also called herself Miss Big Blue, Miss Red Hot Devil, Miss Super Bowl and Miss Popular Culture, among other names. Fortunato, who was a regular presence at many public events, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. In 2013, Fortunato, who was fondly remembered by NFL veterans at the time, told The Star-Ledger she was 50-something, but public records said she was 65, making her about 75 when she died.

Bob Bryar

The former drummer for New Jersey band My Chemical Romance, Bob Bryar, was found dead in November. He was 44. The Chicago native joined the group, known for pop-punk and emo hits, in 2004, stepping in after the exit of original drummer Matt Pelissier. Pelissier founded the band in 2001 with frontman Gerard Way, who grew up in Belleville. Bryar, who continued with the band until 2010, played on “The Black Parade” (2006), the band’s third album, which made it to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and included the anthem “Welcome to the Black Parade.”

Greg Hildebrandt

Artist Greg Hildebrandt, who was known for his “Lord of the Rings,” “Star Wars,” Marvel and DC illustrations, died in Denville in October. Hildebrandt, who was 85, long worked with his twin brother Tim Hildebrandt (who died in 2006) as the Brothers Hildebrandt. The pair collaborated on art for children’s books, comic books, movie posters, trading cards, collectibles and film production design. They illustrated one of the original “Star Wars” movie posters as well as a ’70s calendar series for J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Greg Hildebrandt, who was born in Detroit and had a studio in Morris Plains, owned the Spiderwebart Gallery in Hopatcong. His other work included designing the annual tour programs for Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the cover for the 1981 Black Sabbath album “Mob Rules.” Hildebrandt illustrated his own book, “Greg Hildebrandt’s Favorite Fairy Tales,” published in 1984. In 2010, he received the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists’ Chesley Award for lifetime artistic achievement.

John Barbata

Drummer John Barbata, who was associated with bands like the Turtles, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, was 79 when he died in May. Barbata, a Passaic native, grew up in Nutley before moving to California. It was there that Barbata got his start in rock ‘n’ roll, touring with surf rock band The Sentinals. When he became the new drummer for the Turtles, he recorded the No. 1 song “Happy Together” (1967) with the band and played on others including “Elenore,” “You Showed Me,” “She’s My Girl” and “She’d Rather Be with Me.” In the early ’70s, Barbata joined Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, followed by Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. He stepped back from performing after he suffered serious injuries in a car crash in 1978. He later released the albums “California” and “Oklahoma” with his wife, Angela Evans.

Jack Ponti

Newark native Jack Ponti, a songwriter and producer who worked with Bon Jovi and Alice Cooper, died in October. He was 66. Ponti, born Giacomo Pontoriero, lived in Red Bank and first collaborated with Jon Bon Jovi as a guitar player in the band Rest. Later, Ponti and Bon Jovi co-wrote the early Bon Jovi song “Shot Through the Heart” from the band’s first album in 1984. Ponti also worked with Cooper, Trixter and Kane Roberts, among other acts, and was the manager of Grammy-winning R&B singer India.Arie. His production credits include albums for the bands Baton Rouge, Kittie and Otep as well as Doro.

Charles Osgood

Former “CBS Sunday Morning” host Charles Osgood died of complications of dementia in January at his home in Saddle River. Osgood, 91, who also lived in Englewood, led the show from 1994 to 2016. He also hosted “The Osgood File” on CBS Radio from 1971 to 2017, when he was 84. He wore bowties and often used verse and rhyme to communicate news items. Osgood, a New York native born Charles Osgood Wood III, lived in Baltimore when he was young and later attended Englewood’s St. Cecilia High School. He joined CBS as a correspondent in 1971 after working as an anchor for WCBS Newsradio 88 starting in 1967. In addition to his work as a broadcaster and journalist, Osgood was the narrator of the 2008 animated film “Horton Hears a Who!” which was based on the Dr. Seuss book. Osgood, a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2004 and the Paul White Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association in 2005. He shared in various Emmy wins for “CBS Sunday Morning” and was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the News & Documentary Emmys in 2017.

Alec Musser

Actor and model Alec Musser died by suicide in January. He was 50. Musser, who grew up in New Jersey, played Del Henry in the soap opera “All My Children” after winning the reality TV competition “I Wanna Be A Soap Star.” He appeared in the Adam Sandler-and-friends movie “Grown Ups” (2010) as the Canadian water park hunk. He also had a role in “Desperate Housewives” in 2012.

Lynja

TikTok star Lynja, aka Holmdel’s Lynn Yamada Davis, died of esophageal cancer in January, The New York Times reported. She was 67. Davis, a New York native who grew up in Fort Lee and worked as an engineer at Bell Labs, started filming her popular Cooking with Lynja food prep videos with the help of her son, Tim Davis, in 2020. Their efforts, launched during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew quite a crowd to see Lynja prepare any number of foods, from burgers to sushi, garlic bread, ramen and pizza. She also demonstrated different “levels” of recipes for favorites like grilled cheese and chicken nuggets. Thanks to her fun-loving delivery and Tim’s creative, rapid-fire editing — which often featured tiny versions of his mother dancing around the screen and close-up recordings of crunching and dicing — her social media accounts have millions of followers. Lynja also won several Streamy Awards.

Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup.