obits

Welch’s breakthrough came in 1966’s campy prehistoric flick One Million Years B.C., despite having a grand total of three lines. Clad in a brown doeskin bikini, she successfully evaded pterodactyls but not the notice of the public.

Williams also starred in director George Lucas’ 1973 film American Graffiti and director Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation from 1974. But she was by far best known for Laverne & Shirley, the Happy Days spinoff that ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983 that in its prime was among the most popular shows on TV. Williams played the straitlaced Shirley to Marshall’s more libertine Laverne on the show about a pair of roommates that worked at a Milwaukee bottling factory in the 1950s and ’60s. She was 75.

Wersching, who was also known for her voicework on the videogame The Last of Us and more recently as the Borg Queen on Star Trek: Picard, was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. She was 45.

Packer’s broadcasting career coincided with the growth of college basketball. He worked as analyst or color commentator on every Final Four from 1975 to 2008. He received a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Analyst in 1993. He was at 82. Above, CBS Sports announcers Packer (l) and Jim Nantz laugh during a break in the championship game in the Big Ten basketball tournament in Indianapolis, March 12, 2006.

Morrisett co-founded the Children’s Television Workshop with his close friend and fellow Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney in 1968, where he continued to serve as chairman of the workshop board until 2000. He remained a board member until he died.

Deborah Barak, one of the most prominent, influential and beloved TV business executives of the past three decades, died today, Jan. 21, after a long battle with cancer. She was 65. Barak’s passing comes just two years after she left CBS at the end of 2020. During her 35 years at the company, rising to president of business operations, she created deal templates and introduced business models that have since become industry standards. A skilled negotiator who was highly respected by her peers, Barak — known to all as Debby — led the network’s and studio’s highest-profile negotiations. She brokered a slew of mega talent and show deals while always keeping her cool under pressure in the most chaotic situations.

Alan Komissaroff, senior vice president of news and politics at Fox News, has died at age 47, two weeks after suffering a heart attack at his home, Fox News announced in a statement on Friday. “This is an extremely difficult day for all of us who worked closely with Alan, and we are completely heartbroken,” read the statement from CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox News President Jay Wallace.

James J. Allegro, executive VP and CFO of ESPN from 1990 to 1995 died New Years Eve in St. Augustine, Fla. Before joining ESPN, Allegro held a variety of senior finance and operations posts at Capital Cities/ABC, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Co. Allegro helped create ESPN2, The ESPYs, and ESPN Radio, extending the ESPN brand.

Bernard Kalb worked as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, CBS and NBC, wrote two books with his more famous younger brother, Marvin, and served as founding anchor and panelist for the CNN media analysis show Reliable Sources. Always smartly dressed in a suit and orange tie often matched by an orange pocket handkerchief, Kalb was a tireless journalist who made virtually every overseas trip with five different secretaries of state before switching to the other side of the podium.

Todd Brian, a longtime production and development executive known for his work on a wide array of children’s programming — including HBO Max’s Daytime Emmy-nominated animated series Esme & Roy — died in Toronto on Dec. 28 “after a very brief but brave battle with ALS,” according to his family. He was 59.