A final farewell to many who graced the world's stage

BO DIDDLEY

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." Computer scientist Randy Pausch faced terminal cancer when he spoke these words in a "Last Lecture" that inspired millions of Internet downloads and a best-selling book. In reflecting upon his own life, Pausch, who died in July, might have been paying tribute to other luminaries who passed from the scene in 2008, consummate hand players all.

Paul Newman, the epitome of onscreen cool, was eulogized as a humble man of many talents: actor, director, social activist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, race-car enthusiast. Charlton Heston, a Hollywood contemporary of Newman's, starred in "Ben Hur" and other epics before recasting himself as a fierce advocate for the right to bear arms. British actor Paul Scofield was truly a man for all theatrical seasons, lighting up the stage and screen in dozens of memorable roles. Sydney Pollack moved effortlessly from directing Oscar-winning films ("Out of Africa," "Tootsie") to acting and producing roles that delighted moviegoers everywhere.

The medical world mourned the loss of four Nobel Prize winners and two physicians whose skills and vision transformed the healing arts: cancer researcher Judah Folkman, developer of a novel process for fighting tumors, and heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, an inventor and educator whose discoveries made open-heart surgery possible. New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary scaled heights of a different kind, becoming, with Sherpa climber Tenzing Norgay, the first to summit Mt. Everest, in 1953, before devoting much of his life to helping the Nepalese people. Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann was the first to synthesize and ingest LSD, a hallucinogen whose therapeutic benefits he continued to extol until his death last April, at age 100.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was remembered as a giant of 20th-century letters, a novelist and historian who brought the evils of Soviet prison camps into public view with a gift for storytelling that earned him a Nobel laureateship. Literature's highest honor was likewise bestowed upon British playwright Harold Pinter, a dramatist, poet, and actor whose masterworks captured the quiet menace of modern times. Arthur C. Clarke was not only a gifted science fiction writer, dazzling readers with novels like "Childhood's End" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," but an inventor and futurist, as well. Admired for his polymath talents, too, was Michael Crichton, bestselling author ("Jurassic Park"), director, screenwriter, producer, and cocreator of the television series "ER." Author David Foster Wallace, an acclaimed experimentalist whose influential works included the sprawling novel "Infinite Jest," died at 46 years old.

Where political ideas are promulgated and analyzed, few played at a higher level than two men whose obituaries appeared last year. William F. Buckley Jr. - author, editor, columnist, and TV host - was the prime architect of modern conservatism. NBC News analyst Tim Russert, moderator of "Meet The Press," asked the tough questions without fear or favor, earning the respect of politicians and viewers alike. Washington lost two US senators who argued from opposite sides of the aisle, liberal lion Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio and conservative firebrand Jesse Helms of North Carolina, as well as presidential daughter Margaret Truman Daniel, who gained fame as a singer, television host, and bestselling author. The White House press corps bade a heartfelt farewell to presidential spokesman and former television newsman Tony Snow, who died of cancer in July.

In the arts, among the many legendary performers who took their final bows in 2008 were the folk singer Odetta, whose resonant voice chimed over the civil rights movement, and Bo Diddley, who lit a fire under every hip-shaking, guitar-poundng rock 'n' roller who followed him. Country music fans tipped their Stetson hats to Eddy Arnold, a chart-topping singer who helped create the Nashville Sound. Jerry Wexler heard rhythm in the blues and was inspired to produce many of R&B's greatest tracks. Eartha Kitt's seductive voice and sex-kitten persona propelled her to stardom as a recording artist and actress equally at home on Broadway and the silver screen.

George Carlin's wry observations, many of them unfit for broadcast, made him a comedian's comedian and a counterculture hero. Bernie Mac graduated from stand-up comedy to film roles and a television sitcom before he died unexpectedly at age 50. ABC sportscaster Jim McKay was the face and voice of the Olympic Games for decades, journalist-historian Studs Terkel the country's listener-in-chief.

Visual artists hailed Robert Rauschenberg, who reshaped 20th-century art with his use of nontraditional materials and techniques, working, as he put it, "in the gap between life and art." Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent changed the rules governing how stylish men and women dress. Cartoonist Will Elder helped define Mad magazine's cheeky tone, influencing millions of impressionable young readers.

Sports fans observed a moment of silence for a pair of gridiron greats: Hall of Fame offensive lineman Gene Upshaw, who later headed the NFL Players Association, and "Slingin' " Sammy Baugh, who starred for the Washington Redskins as a record-setting quarterback, punter, and defensive back. American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer was recalled as a brilliant but eccentric competitor, winner of the 1972 world championship before abandoning his homeland and becoming a virtual recluse. Pro wrestling buffs smiled at the memory of Walter "Killer" Kowalski, whose menacing scowl and pulverizing grip made him a fan favorite in the 1950s and '60s.

The world would be a duller place without its inventors and innovators, and among the many whose legacies were recalled last year were Gary Gygax, cocreator of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons; Edwina Froehlich, a founding mother of the breastfeeding organization La Leche League; physicist and oceanographer Hugh Bradner, inventor of the neoprene wet suit; George Litchford, designer of the aviation collision-warning system; Carl Keith, a father of the catalytic converter; Amos Joel, who engineered the first cellphone-switching system; and Alvin Marks, who looked at the world through its very first pair of polarized sunglasses.

Bostonians held memorials for former city councilor Thomas Atkins, a civil rights trailblazer and the first African-American to hold citywide office, and for three media figures who made the Hub a livelier and far better-informed place: Jess Cain, a fixture on Boston radio dials for three decades; Don Gillis, dean of the city's TV sports anchors; and newspaperman and Globe columnist Alan Lupo, bard of Boston's neighborhoods.

Finally, a grateful nation saluted the men and women who sacrificed their lives valorously in 2008 while serving in conflicts overseas. May their memories shine brightly in the new year beginning today.

Joseph P. Kahn can be reached by email at jkahn@globe.com.