I know this is after the fact, but I was curious if Richard Crenna died suddenly as he did on the show Judging Amy?
—Marian S., Florida
Yes. Although Crenna suffered from pancreatic cancer, he died of heart failure on Jan. 16, 2003, at 76. “We just didn’t expect it,” says his daughter, Seana Crenna. The actor played the recurring role of Jared Duff and was the love interest of actress Tyne Daly on the show. Daly won an Emmy shortly afterward. “After (Richard) died, we had to play out the death of his character,” she says. “It was not a very happy assignment for any of us, but the writers and my colleagues tried to step up and do something that would honor the man.”