Gerry Ryan's sudden death in April at the age of just 53 was undoubtedly the year's most discussed and debated, not just because Ryan was a household name, a larger-than-life figure, and ridiculously young to die, but because of what his passing symbolised for many people.

Revelations at his inquest that he had died a cocaine-related death saw him being reimagined in some quarters as the personification of the Celtic Tiger, a brash, loud polarising figure who had been laid low by excess.

Ryan's personality repelled as many people as it attracted to his daily radio show. Perhaps he couldn't have been as successful without that ability to divide opinion. He was a total contrast to Mick Lally, a universally loved figure who died in August at 64 years of age. In many ways, Lally had always seemed 64, thanks to his role as Miley, the old-before-his-time farmer from Glenroe in the 1980s and 1990s. It was through Miley that Lally became the highly popular national figure he was at the time of his death. To many actors of lesser ability and self-confidence, such a popular character could have been a hard act to follow, but Lally went on to play many other important roles.

For many people born in the 1960s and 1970s, Mick Lally represented an early television memory. (He had previously been in The Riordans, which this year also said goodbye to Moira Deady, who played Mary Riordan, and who died in November). 2010 was marked by a number of such deaths. Puppeteer Eugene Lambert was a successful entertainer in his own right, but for many he was the person who brought us Judge, the talking dog from Wanderly Wagon. Lambert died in February, a few weeks after John McCallum, the Australian actor who had created Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, another staple for 1970s tv watchers.

Television lost many famous names in 2010. John Forsythe, who played Blake Carrington in 1980s soap Dynasty died on 1 April, a few weeks before Christopher Cazenove, who played his half-brother Ben in the same series. Peter Graves, star of Mission Impossible, Rue McLanahan, who played Blanche in The Golden Girls, Ian Carmichael – Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1970s tv series of the same name – Simon McCorkindale, former star of Casualty, Tom Bosley, once of The Fr Dowling Mysteries, Denise Borino, Ginny Sacramoni in The Sopranos, and James McArthur – Danno in Hawaii Five O – also died this year, as did Gary Coleman, the star of Diff'rent Strokes, whose death sparked an outburst of "what you talkin' about Willis?" jokes.

The BBC lost two of its star commentators of the past, rugby's Bill McLaren and boxing's Harry Carpenter, as well as one of its current crop of presenters, Kristian Digby, who fronted To Buy Or Not To Buy. Together with Gerry Ryan and Mick Lally, RTé also lost Fred O'Donovan, a former chairman of its Authority, and a successful theatre producer and impresario in his own right. Dick Hill, its former director of television programmes, died this year too, as did the violinist Colin Stavely, a former leader of RTé's Symphony Orchestra, and Fachtna O'Hannrachain, the founder of the Radio Light Orchestra, RTé's first collective of musicians.

Hollywood as always lost its fair share of stars, including an Irish performer who appeared in more blockbusters than any of his countrymen, but who remains mostly unknown to the general public. Martin Grace, from Lisdowney in Co Kilkenny, left Ireland in the 1950s to look for work in England, found success as a stuntman and appeared in several James Bond and Indiana Jones movies. He was also known as the Milk Tray man, jumping from helicopters and balancing on speeding trains in television ads for Cadbury's chocolates.

Of the actors who died, Tony Curtis was undoubtedly the most famous, although Dennis Hopper and Leslie Nielsen also had large fanbases of enthusiastic supporters who mourned their deaths. Jill Clayburgh, nominated for an Oscar for An Unmarried Woman, also died this year, as did Corey Haim, the Canadian actor best known for his role in The Lost Boys. Ireland's Donal Donnelly, who appeared in The Godfather Part 3 and The Field, died in January. Others from the acting family who passed away this year include Jean Simmons, star of Elmer Gantry and Guys and Dolls, Patricia Neal, the Oscar-winning star of Hud, Gloria Stuart, who appeared in Titanic, and who was 100 when she died in September, British funnyman Norman Wisdom, Lionel Jeffries, star of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cecile Aubry, French star of The Black Rose, and Meinhardt Raabe, one of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, sure to be on a television screen near you this Christmas time. Lynn Redgrave died in May, a few weeks after her actor brother, Corin.

Movie directors who died include the French pair of Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol, as well as Arthur Penn, of Bonnie and Clyde fame, Blake Edwards, of Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Pink Panther series, Ronald Neame, director of The Poseidon Adventure, and Irvin Kershner, who directed The Empire Strikes Back and Never Say Never Again. Producer Dino DeLaurentiis also died this year, as did Sally Menke, an Oscar-nominated film editor for her work on Inglourious Basterds, Tom Mankiewicz, who wrote Bond movies Diamonds Are Forever and Live And Let Die, and Donal Gilligan, the Irish cinematographer.

On New Year's Day, the Irish Times's film critic Michael Dwyer, who had cast his eye over the work of all those names throughout the years, died after a long illness. He was 58 and was one of many who were lost from the world of Irish journalism in 2010. These included Vinnie Doyle, the former editor of the Irish Independent, Vincent Jennings, who filled the same role in the Sunday Press, Alan Ruddock, who worked for the Sunday Independent at the time of his premature death at the age of 49 in May, Jim Dougal, RTé's former Northern editor, Dermot Walsh, a former Irish Independent journalist, who had also edited the Clare News, and Tom O'Dea, who wrote an entertaining tv column for the Press group for many years. Derek Crozier, the Irish Times's crossword compiler, died in April.

Abroad, former Daily Telegraph journalist, who became a celebrated restaurant critic and author of his eponymous guide book Egon Ronay died in June at the age of 94.

When former world snooker champion Alex Higgins died in July, his death sparked many rehashes of an oft-told tale – about a phenomenally gifted sportsman, the quintessential bad boy, who reached the top of his game before losing it all to drink. There were many comparisons to George Best, another sporting hero who followed a similar trajectory.

Higgins was 61, just a year younger than Moss Keane, one of Ireland's best-loved sporting heroes because of his exploits on the rugby field. Keane was one of several former rugby internationals who died this year, including Colm Callan, a member of Ireland's 1948 Grand Slam team, Barry Bresnihan and Robin Roe. Abroad, the death occurred of Ruben Kruger, a former South African rugby international, who featured in the movie Invictus.

Soccer lost Malcom Allison, the former player and larger-than-life manager, as well as Bobby Smith, once of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, and Francisco Varallo who, at 100 years of age, was the last surviving player from the first World Cup in 1930. Enzo Bearzot, manager of Italy when it won in 1982, died inDecember. A celebrated figure of the 2010 World Cup also departed – Paul the Octopus, who accurately predicted the result of eight matches, died at this aquarium in Germany in October. Cyclist Laurent Fignon, twice winner of the Tour de France, died in August. Twenty-one-year-old Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili died in February while practising to take part in the luge in the Winter Olympics.

The GAA lost some greats from the past including Mick Higgins, a three-time All Ireland winner with Cavan footballers, and Dermot Earley, the former Kildare footballer, who was chief of staff of the army at the time of his death in June. Horse racing too said goodbye to some of its biggest names. Trainers Paddy Mullins and John Mulhern, and former jockeys Greville Starkey and Dick Francis all died this year.

Francis had carved out a very successful career as a novelist and was amongst several writers who passed away in 2010. These included JD Salinger, the author of The Catcher in The Rye, the Nobel Prize winning Jose Saramago, Beryl Bainbridge and Alan Sillitoe.

Music lost a long and accomplished cast of characters in 2010 including Malcom McLaren, the former manager of the Sex Pistols, singers from all genres like Captain Beefheart, Teddy Pendergrass, Jay Reatard, Alex Chilton, Mark Linkous, Kenneth McKellar, Kate McGarrigle, Lena Horne, Sugar Minott, Joan Sutherland, Paul Gray, Solomon Burke and Gregory Isaacs. Composer Henryk Gorecki, jazz musician John Dankworth, and harmonica player Jerry Adler died this year too. The death also occurred of US gym teacher Leonard Skinner who had such a profound effect on some of his pupils that they later called their band after him. Lynyrd Skynyrd went on to become one of the most successful rock groups of the 1970s.

As always, death spared no profession. Politics lost Tomas Mac Giolla, the former leader of the Workers Party, Rory Brady, a recent attorney general, James Dooge, foreign affairs minister in the 1980s, Seán Dublin Bay Loftus, briefly a TD in the 1980s, Fianna Fáil senator Kieran Phelan, former senator Willie Farrell and Séamus Dolan, who had been the oldest surviving member of the Oireachtas. William Thompson, former Ulster Unionist MP for West Tyrone also died.

Abroad, the biggest political names to die were Alexander Haig, the former US secretary of state, US diplomat Richard Holbrooke, former Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorenson and Michael Foot, ex-leader of the British Labour Party.

Diplomacy lost Padraic McKernan, the former Irish ambassador to the US, education said goodbye to William Watts, the former provost of Trinity College, publishing to Steve McDonogh, the founder of Brandon Books and medicine to Maurice Neligan. The world of fashion mourned Alexander McQueen; art bade farewell to sculptor Louise Bourgeois and artist Sebastian Horsley.

Finally, the death occurred in the business world of Jimi Heselden, owner of the company which makes Segway scooters. His death, after driving a Segway over a cliff, would have been the year's most ironic were it not for the passing of Bernard Matthews, the turkey magnate. He died, aged 80, on Thanksgiving.