Book Review: Celebrity Obituaries 2021

Harris Lentz has been compiling showbiz obits for decades now, and since 2020 has been independently publishing his annotated lists of celebrities we’ve lost during the previous year. The year 2021 was when we lost long-lived icons like Betty White, Cloris Leachman, and Baby Peggy, as well as beloved stars from Ed Asner to Mike Nesmith.

Lentz’s books have become deeper and more thorough since he’s been self-publishing. The capsule biographies are now expanded to be more thorough, and the number of actors, athletes, wrestlers, and filmmakers has increased. As a media historian who researches film topics daily, I have long found Lentz’s books to be extremely beneficial, providing far more information than the still-limited internet.

Over 400 pages cover the many names, both big and small that contributed to popular culture. Anne Rice, Hal Holbrook, Cicely Tyson, Leon Spinks, Stephen Sondheim, B.J. Thomas, Christopher Plummer, and Hank Aaron are all here. But so are Karen Joy, Jill Corey, Allen Martin, Jr., Gil Rogers, Black Jack Lanza, and Julie Strain.

One has to marvel at the amount of research Lentz must go through in order to provide everything from a paragraph to several pages of biographical detail to each of the nearly 1500 celebrities covered in this volume. No matter how small or obscure, Lentz provides a wealth of information.

It would be difficult for me to explain how much Lentz’s reference books have assisted my projects over the years. So I can only give this book my highest recommendation. It is an absolute must for libraries, research centers, scholars and authors. And for the enormous amount of information it contains, the book is very well priced and affordable.

The book can be purchased at this link: CELEB OBITS