Final Chapters for Nov. 12, 2017: Richard Gordon, Roy Halladay, John Hillerman

Richard Gordon was one of a dozen astronauts who flew around the moon but didn’t land there. He died Nov. 6 at his home in San Marcos, Calif. He was 88. Gordon was a test pilot chosen in NASA’s third group of astronauts in 1963. He flew on Gemini 11 in 1966, walking in space twice. During Apollo 12 in November 1969, he circled the moon in the command module Yankee Clipper while Alan Bean and Charles Conrad landed and walked on the lunar surface. Gordon had been slated to command the Apollo 18 mission that would land on the moon, but it was cut for budget reasons.

Roy Halladay was a two-time Cy Young Award winner who pitched a perfect game and a playoff no-hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010. He died Nov. 7 when his private plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. He was 40. Halladay pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays during 1998-2009 and Phillies during 2010-13. He was 203-105 with a 3.38 ERA and was an eight-time All-Star. He won the AL Cy Young in 2003 and the NL award in 2010. He and the New York Yankees’ Don Larsen (1956 World Series) are the only two pitchers to throw postseason no-hitters.

John Hillerman was an actor known for his co-starring role on the hit TV series “Magnum, P.I.” He died Nov. 9 at his home in Houston, a spokeswoman for his family said. He was 84. Hillerman played stuffy Jonathan Higgins to Tom Selleck’s free-wheeling private detective Thomas Magnum in the hit 1980s series set in Hawaii. He appeared in a number of other series, including “One Day at a Time,” “Valerie” and “The Betty White Show.” His film credits include “The Last Picture Show,” “High Plains Drifter,” “Blazing Saddles” and “Chinatown.”

Karin Dor was a German actress who played an assassin sent by James Bond’s nemesis Blofeld to kill the British agent in 1967’s “You Only Live Twice.” She died Nov. 6 in Munich, Germany. She was 79. Dor also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1969 thriller “Topaz,” and the U.S. crime series “Ironside” and “The FBI,” among dozens of films, TV productions and theater plays in her career.

Ed Flanagan was a former Vermont auditor of accounts and state senator credited as the first openly gay lawmaker in the country elected to statewide office. He died Nov. 3 at a nursing home in New Hampshire. He was 66. Flanagan was first elected auditor in 1992. He was elected to three additional two-year terms, including two after he came out as gay in 1995. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2000. He was elected to the state Senate in 2004, re-elected in 2006 after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2005 car crash that left him in a coma for several weeks, and re-elected again in 2008.

Nancy Friday was an author whose books about gender politics helped redefine American women’s sexuality and social identity in the late 20th century. She died Nov. 5 of complications from Alzheimer’s at her home in Manhattan. She was 84. “My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies,” explicit letters and interviews gathered by Friday, was published in 1973. It was widely regarded as the first major book to compile women’s sexual fantasies. Her other books included “Women On Top,” “Jealousy and Envy,” “Beyond My Control” and “My Mother/My Self: The Daughter’s Search for Identity.”

Joe Fortunato was an All-Pro linebacker who helped the Chicago Bears win the 1963 NFL title. He died Nov. 6 in Natchez, Miss. He was 87. Fortunato, who starred at linebacker and fullback at Mississippi State, played for the Bears during 1955-66. He was a three-time All-Pro selection and a five-time Pro Bowl pick and was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1950s.

Rick Stelmaszek was a coach on two World Series champions for the Minnesota Twins. He died Nov. 6 of pancreatic cancer in Chicago. He was 69. Stelmaszek spent 32 seasons as a Twins coach during 1981-2012. He was the longest-tenured coach in Twins history and third-longest with a single team in major-league history. He played in 60 games for the Senators, Rangers, Angels and Cubs during 1971-74, batting .170 with one home run.