List of Famous people who died in 2012

Sam Coppola was an American actor. He appeared in almost 70 films, beginning in 1968, but may be best remembered for his role as Dan Fusco, owner of the hardware and paint store in Saturday Night Fever, who gave John Travolta's character sage but salty advice in the classic 1977 film. Later in his career, Coppola made a brief but memorable appearance on The Sopranos as the idiosyncratic family therapist of Jennifer Melfi.

Paul Bogart (Bogoff) was an American television director and producer. Bogart directed episodes of the television series 'Way Out in 1961, Coronet Blue in 1967, Get Smart, The Dumplings in 1976, All In The Family from 1976 to 1979, and four episodes of the first season of The Golden Girls in 1985. Among his films are Oh, God! You Devil, Torch Song Trilogy, Halls of Anger, Marlowe, Skin Game, and Class of '44. He won five Primetime Emmy Awards during his long career, from sixteen nominations. In 1991, he was awarded the French Festival Internationelle Programmes Audiovisuelle at the Cannes Film Festival.

Joseph Oliver Bowers, SVD was a prelate of the Catholic Church from Dominica, who served as Bishop of Accra in the then Gold Coast from 1953. He was the first Black Catholic bishop to be consecrated in the United States in the 20th century, and the first ever to ordain African-American Catholic priests.

William Finley was an American actor who has appeared in the films Simon, Silent Rage, Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters and The Wedding Party. He had a long-running friendship and collaboration with director Brian De Palma, beginning with the student films Woton's Wake (1962), The Wedding Party (1966) and Murder à la Mod (1968). He also had roles in three films by Tobe Hooper: Eaten Alive, The Funhouse and Night Terrors. Under the name W. Franklin Finley, he wrote the screenplay for the film The First Time (1983). He was also the co-author of the book Racewalking (1985).

Dinesh Thakur was a noted Indian theatre director, actor in theatre, television and Hindi film, where most notably he appeared as one of the leads in Rajnigandha 1974 and directed by Basu Chatterjee, which won both Filmfare Best Movie Award and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. Dinesh Thakur was born in 1947 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. He was the founder-director of ANK productions, a Mumbai-based theatre company, established in 1976.

Ammar Ali Mohamed Ibrahim Ali Al Sherei or more commonly known as Ammar El Sherei was an Egyptian music icon, performer and composer.

Francisco Xavier do Amaral was an East Timorese politician. A founder of the Frente Revolucionária de Timor Leste Independente (Fretilin), Amaral was sworn in as the first President of East Timor when the country, then a Portuguese colony, made a unilateral declaration of independence on 28 November 1975. He was a member of the National Parliament for the Timorese Social Democratic Association from 2001 until his death. Amaral was also known as "Abo (Grandfather) Xavier", a term of endearment, by East Timorese.

Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov was a Cameroonian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of Bamenda, Cameroon from 1970 till 1982 and as archbishop from 1982 till 2006.

Joyce Olivia Redman was an Anglo-Irish actress. She received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in the 1963 film Tom Jones and the 1965 film Othello.