Literotica Cemetary

[KindaKinky]

'Tonight Show' Comic Pat McCormick Dies

LOS ANGELES - Pat McCormick, a walrus-mustachioed comedy writer for Phyllis Diller, Red Skelton and others who also appeared on "The Tonight Show" and had a role in three "Smokey and the Bandit" movies, has died. He was 78.

McCormick died Friday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's hospital in Woodland Hills, spokeswoman Jennifer Fagen said Saturday.

He was admitted to the facility in 1998 after a stroke left him partially paralyzed.

McCormick dropped out of Harvard Law School to pursue advertising work in New York but abandoned that career when he began earning money writing jokes for television and nightclub performers.

McCormick eventually became a writer for "The Jack Paar Show." Over a five-decade career, he wrote for the 1960s comedy series "Get Smart" and "The Danny Kaye Show." He also wrote and appeared on "Candid Camera" and was an announcer and straight man on Don Rickles' short-lived TV variety show in 1968.

He was a regular on "The New Bill Cosby Show" in 1972.

McCormick wrote for and made scores of appearances on "The Tonight Show." He played characters in sketches, dressing up as turkeys, squirrels and the shark from "Jaws." In one 1974 show, he streaked naked across the stage behind Carson during the opening monologue.

McCormick, who was more than 6 1/2 feet tall and weighed more than 200 pounds, also appeared in small roles in movies. He played Big Enos in the 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit" and two sequels.

A few personal comments:

In one 1974 show, he streaked naked across the stage behind Carson during the opening monologue.

That must have been after that guy streaked the Oscars. I wonder if there's any footage of that. Probably buried with the Zsa Zsa Gabor "would you like to pet my pussy?" footage.

He played Big Enos in the 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit" and two sequels.

Damn. Big Enos is dead.

Somewhere in the afterlife Gleason, and McCormick are havinga spirited conversation with Carson on the couch.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Saudi King Fahd

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi state television interrupted regular broadcasting with recitations of the Koran and one Western diplomat said he had information that King Fahd had died in hospital on Monday.

"Sources at King Faisal Specialist Hospital have informed us that he (King Fahd) is dead," the diplomat said. He did not give further details.

A Saudi official source told Reuters that a member of the royal family had died on Monday.

"Most probably it is the king, everybody is waiting for the official announcement. We are all in a state of alert," he said.

Fahd, who was believed to be 83 and had been in poor health, entered hospital on May 27 with acute pneumonia. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter and is a close ally of the United States.

Fahd's half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah, who has been running the kingdom's day-to-day affairs since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, will automatically become king. Defense Minister Prince Sultan will be the new crown prince.

In the past two years, the kingdom has faced a violent al Qaeda campaign to end seven decades of the royal family's rule in Saudi Arabia, home to two of Islam's holiest shrines.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ex-con crime writer Edward Bunker dies

Monday, July 25, 2005

BURBANK, Calif. -- Edward Bunker, an ex-convict who learned to write in prison before achieving literary fame as a crime novelist, has died. He was 71.

Bunker, who suffered from diabetes, died Tuesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank following surgery to improve circulation to his legs, said screenwriter Robert Dellinger, a longtime friend.

At 17, he became the youngest inmate at San Quentin after he stabbed a prison guard at a youth detention centre and later escaped from a Los Angeles County jail, where he was serving a sentence for another crime.

It was during his 18 years of incarceration for robbery, cheque forgery and other crimes that Bunker learned to write.

In 1973, while still in prison, he made his literary debut with No Beast So Fierce, a novel about a paroled thief who has trouble re-entering society. Author James Ellroy called the novel "quite simply one of the great crime novels of the past 30 years; perhaps the best novel of the Los Angeles underworld ever written."

It was made into the 1978 movie Straight Time starring Dustin Hoffman.

Bunker co-wrote the script and played a minor role as a criminal who helps Hoffman plan a heist. Other big-screen credits include 1985's Runaway Train, an action drama about two escaped convicts played by Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.

Themes of crime and prison life appeared in his other novels, The Animal Factory, Little Boy Blue and Dog Eat Dog.

As an actor, Bunker had nearly two dozen roles, most notably as Mr. Blue in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 violent drama Reservoir Dogs. More recently, he played a convict in the remake of The Longest Yard.

Bunker's last published book was a 2000 memoir entitled Education of a Felon.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Actor George D. Wallace dies at 88

LOS ANGELES Actor George Wallace who is best known for his role as Commando Cody in the film serial "Radar Men from the Moon" has died. He was 88 years old.

Wallace's wife actress Jane Johnston says he died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications following injuries when he fell during a vacation in Pisa, Italy.

After working in West Virginia coal mines, Wallace joined the Navy in 1936 and served for eight years.

The one-time lumberjack was tending bar in Hollywood in the late 1940s when gossip columnist Jimmie Fidler discovered him and helped launch his 50-year career in show business.

Wallace appeared in a few films and on T-V but landed the starring role of Commando Cody in the 1952 motion picture serial "Radar Men from the Moon." He played a scientist who wore a leather jacket, a bullet-shaped, silver helmet and an atomic-powered rocket pack.

http://www.crazyabouttv.com/Images/commandocody.jpg

Wallace also performed on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Pipe Dream."

He is by his wife of 40 years, who he met when they both appeared in the musical "The Most Happy Fella" in Long Beach in 1963.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Sudan Vice President Dies in Copter Crash

Aug 1, 1:01 AM (ET)

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - A rebel official said Sudan's vice president, a former rebel leader who is a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, was killed in a helicopter crash. Search crews reached the site early Monday and found a body they believe to be that of John Garang, a U.N. official said.

Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for Garang's helicopter since Sunday. Uganda's president said it had crashed in bad weather in the border region between the two countries.

Garang's death would be a heavy blow to the January peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south in which some 2 million people died.

An official in Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army told The Associated Press that Garang's death had been confirmed. The official, in Khartoum, had spoken with SPLA leaders who were meeting at their headquarters in the southern town of Rombeck. They were planning to give an official announcement soon, the official said, without specifying when.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was giving the information before the announcement.

The 60-year-old former rebel, who was sworn in as vice president just three weeks ago, left on a flight from Uganda for southern Sudan at 5:30 p.m. Ugandan time Saturday afternoon, Sudanese and Ugandan officials said. It was not clear when the last contact with his craft took place.

Garang's helicopter had attempted to land in the New Kush region of southern Sudan but aborted the landing because of bad weather and headed back south, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said early Monday. Weather reports showed rain in the area.

The craft was heard near Pirre, a mountainous region near the Kenyan and Sudanese borders on the edge of a large national park, and was believed to have crash-landed, Museveni said. He added that the Kenyans had been asked to help in the search.

From Sudan, there were contradictory reports over the disappearance, although there was no word of foul play.

Garang, who earned a doctorate from Iowa State University, is seen as the sole figure with the weight to give southern Sudanese a role in the Khartoum government, which they deeply mistrust. He also was a strong voice against outright secession by the south, calling instead for autonomy and power-sharing.

Garang was sworn in as vice president on July 9 - second only to his longtime enemy, President Omar el-Bashir. He and el-Bashir were to work on setting up a power-sharing government and on elevating Garang's rebel troops to an equal status with the Sudanese military.

There is no other leader of Garang's stature in the former rebel movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which he founded and dominated for 21 years. His arrival in Khartoum on July 8 to take the vice president's post brought millions of southerners and northerners to the streets in celebration.

Garang was returning home from a private visit to Uganda, flying from the capital Kampala to southern Sudan - a trip that normally takes about two hours - said Ugandan army spokesman 2nd Capt. Dennis Musitwa.

El-Bashir clearly saw Garang as an important partner in sealing the peace, ensuring the south does not secede, and in repairing Sudan's international reputation. With a speed stunning to many in Sudan, the Sudanese state media went from describing Garang in the darkest terms to respectively calling him "Dr. Garang" after the peace deal was struck.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Cabaret Singer Hildegarde Dies At 99

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NEW YORK -- A well-known cabaret singer who performed with the single name Hildegarde has died at the age of 99.

Hildegarde's career spanned seven decades, and she's credited with starting the trend of entertainers using just one name.

Her manager said the performer died at a New York City hospital.

During the peak of her popularity in the 1930s and '40s, she sold hundreds of thousands of recordings, and appeared on the cover of Life magazine in 1939.

The late performer Liberace once said he marveled at her elegant gowns, white gloves and flowers, saying, "Hildegarde was perhaps the most famous supper-club entertainer who ever lived."

For nearly 70 years she was billed as "The Incomparable Hildegarde," a title bestowed on her by columnist Walter Winchell.

 

[Brinni]

Please spray my face with your doughnuts!

Let's cyber on AOL!

 

[Brinni]

IMPOSTER!

How many times do I have to tell you it's DEEPPINK, not MAGENTA, fucktard!!!

 

[Brinni]

OH YEA? WHERE'S YOU AV, POSTWHORE?!

How many times do I have to tell you it's DEEPPINK, not MAGENTA, fucktard!!!

 

[Brinni]

YOU POSTWHORES ARE SO MEAN!!

How many times do I have to tell you it's DEEPPINK, not MAGENTA, fucktard!!!

 

[linuxgeek]

3rd Bn. Marines Killed in Iraq

src

These are the 16 Marine reservists from Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, based in Columbus, Ohio, who have been killed in Iraq since May, according to Master Sgt. Stephen Walter, the company's public affairs officer:


* Cpl. Dustin Derga, 24, of Columbus, died May 8 when he was caught in enemy small arms fire near Ubaydi, Iraq. Derga "was the kind of guy who would make you laugh, always had a smile on his face," said his father, Bob Derga. He was studying to be a firefighter, but had talked about heading to Florida after returning from Iraq with his girlfriend and best buddy, Nick Erdy. He dreamed of opening a bar there.

* Lance Cpl. Nick Erdy, 21, of Owensville, killed May 11 by an explosion near his vehicle. Erdy joined the Marines after graduating from McNicholas High School in Anderson Township. Like his best friend, Derga, Erdy wanted to become a firefighter.

* Pfc. Christopher Dixon, 18, of Obetz, killed May 11 by an explosion near his vehicle. Dixon was remembered at his funeral for popping wheelies on his bike and showing off tricks he'd learned while working at a bowling alley before deployment. He was excited to serve in Iraq, friend Jordan Wall said. "He wasn't scared at all, he was really happy to be going."

* Lance Cpl. Wesley G. Davids, 20, of Dublin, died May 11 from an explosion while conducting combat operations in Karabilah. Davids loved working on cars and graduated in 2003 from Dublin Scioto High School, where he was on the crew team. "He died doing something he felt passionately about," said his mother, Jody Davids.

* Sgt. David N. Wimberg, 24, of Louisville, Ky., died May 25 of small-arms fire wounds suffered during combat operations in Hadithah. Wimberg was remembered at his funeral service as someone who stood by his high school class motto -- "Make it count." After graduating high school in 1999, Wimberg spent four years in the Marines, which included tours in Asia. In 2004, he returned home and joined the Lima Company reserve unit.

* Lance Cpl. Christopher P. Lyons, 24, of Mansfield, died July 28 when his unit came under attack by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq. Lyons only saw his 3-month-old daughter via Webcam. His wife, Bethany, was pregnant when he deployed. Still, "Chris never once complained about having to go," said Scott Miller, advertising director at the Mansfield News Journal, where Lyons was a sales representative.

* Cpl. Andre L. Williams, 23, of Galloway, died July 28 when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq. Williams, his obituary said, was known for drawing, being able to "talk the talk," and his love of Ohio State University and the Cincinnati Bengals. He was involved in Toys for Tots, and had two young children.

* Lance Cpl. Eric J. Bernholtz, 23, of Grove City, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing in western Iraq. Bernholtz enjoyed playing sports and video games with friends when he was growing up. Former neighbor Andy Unger described him as a carefree kid who found his focus in the military.

* Sgt. Justin F. Hoffman, 27, of Delaware, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Hoffman liked motorcycles and cars and "pretty much anything that was competitive," said his father, Robert. He was a graduate of Worthington Christian High School and Ohio State University. He joined the reserves before his junior year of college.

* Cpl. David Kenneth J. Kreuter, 26, of Cincinnati, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Kreuter was looking forward to coming home at the end of his tour to see his baby son, Christian, born June 14, and being reunited with his wife, Chrystina, whom he wed last September. He had earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati, but he had been talking about making the Marine Corps a career, said his mother, Pat.

* Lance Cpl. Michael J. Cifuentes, 25, of Oxford, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Cifuentes wanted to be a teacher. He graduated from college in 2002 with a degree in psychology, and was enrolled in a mathematics education master's program. He had been working as a substitute teacher when he was deployed.

* Lance Cpl. Aaron H. Reed, 21, of Chillicothe, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. A gangly, dark-haired distance runner, Reed was president of the class of 2001 at Southeastern High School in Chillicothe, where his mother is the longtime art teacher. He also ran track and cross-country. His brother, Matt, is serving with the military in Afghanistan.

* Lance Cpl. William B. Wightman, 22, of Sabina, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Wightman planned to re-enlist in October and wanted to rise to the top of the service. "He would play with those GI Joes and he'd say, 'I'm going to grow up and be one of these guys,'" said his aunt, Missy Luttrell. "All of his life, that's all he would talk about."

* Lance Cpl. Christopher Dyer, 19, of Evendale, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Dyer graduated with honors in 2004 from Princeton High School near Cincinnati, where he played the viola in the school orchestra. Dyer planned to enroll at Ohio State University this January. He had joined the Marines because of his sense of duty and the challenge to be one of the best.

* Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder, 23, of Cleveland, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Schroeder spent his preschool years in China and then finished school in Maplewood, N.J. His family moved to Cleveland after he graduated from high school and started classes at Ohio State University. The young Marine went to Iraq filled with optimism, but he gradually became disillusioned with the war's progress, said his father, Paul. "When you first get there, you think everything's hunky-dory. But after four operations, the insurgents were still there."

* Lance Cpl. Timothy Michael Bell Jr., 22, of West Chester, died Aug. 3 in a roadside bombing. Bell had wanted to be a Marine since he was 6. He was a black-belt in judo and hoped to buy a motorcycle when he returned to his West Chester home in September. When his parents took him to Columbus in January to deploy for training with Lima Company, Bell had just one message for them, his stepmother said. "He just said 'This is what I was born to do,'" Vivian Bell said.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Anchorman Loses Battle With Lung Cancer

NEW YORK (Aug. 8) - Peter Jennings, the suave, Canadian-born broadcaster who delivered the news to Americans each night in five separate decades, died Sunday. He was 67.

Jennings, who announced in April that he had lung cancer, died at his New York home, ABC News President David Westin said late Sunday.

"Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him," Westin said.

With Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, Jennings was part of a triumvirate that dominated network news for more than two decades, through the birth of cable news and the Internet. His smooth delivery and years of international reporting experience made Jennings particularly popular among urban dwellers.

Jennings was the face of ABC News whenever a big story broke. He logged more than 60 hours on the air during the week of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, offering a soothing sense of continuity during a troubled time.

"There are a lot of people who think our job is to reassure the public every night that their home, their community and their nation is safe," he told author Jeff Alan. "I don't subscribe to that at all. I subscribe to leaving people with essentially - sorry it's a cliche - a rough draft of history. Some days it's reassuring, some days it's absolutely destructive."

Jennings' announcement four months ago that the longtime would begin treatment for lung cancer came as a shock.

"I will continue to do the broadcast," he said, his voice husky, in a taped message that night. "On good days, my voice will not always be like this."

But although Jennings occasionally came to the office between chemotherapy treatments, he never again appeared on the air.

Broadcasting was the family business for Jennings. His father, Charles Jennings, was the first person to anchor a nightly national news program in Canada and later became head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s news division. A picture of his father was displayed prominently in Jennings' office off ABC's newsroom.

Charles Jennings' son had a Saturday morning radio show in Ottawa at age 9. Jennings never completed high school or college, and began his career as a news reporter at a radio station in Brockton, Ontario. He quickly earned an anchor job at Canadian Television.

Sent south to cover the Democratic national convention in 1964, the handsome, dashing correspondent was noticed by ABC's news president. Jennings was offered a reporting job and left Canada for New York.

As the third-place news network, ABC figured its only chance was to go after young viewers. Jennings was picked to anchor the evening news and debuted on Feb. 1, 1965. He was 26.

"It was a little ridiculous when you think about it," Jennings told author Barbara Matusow. "A twenty-six-year-old trying to compete with Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley. I was simply unqualified."

Critics savaged him as a pretty face unfit for the promotion. Using the Canadian pronunciations for some words and once misidentifying the Marine Corps' anthem as "Anchors Aweigh" didn't help his reputation. The experiment ended three years later.

He later described the humbling experience as an opportunity, "because I was obliged to figure out who I was and what I really wanted to be."

Assigned as a foreign correspondent, Jennings thrived. He established an ABC News bureau in Beirut, and became an expert on the Middle East. He won a Peabody Award for a 1974 profile of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

On the scene at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Jennings was perfectly placed to cover the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes by an Arab terrorist group. He and a crew hid in the athletes' quarters for a close-in view of the drama.

Jennings returned to the evening news a decade after his unceremonious departure. In 1978, ABC renamed its broadcast "World News Tonight," and instituted a three-person anchor team: Frank Reynolds based in Washington, Max Robinson from Chicago and Jennings, by then ABC's chief foreign correspondent, from London.

Following Reynolds' death from cancer, ABC abandoned the multi-anchor format and Jennings became sole anchor on Sept. 5, 1983.

Two-thirds of local broadcasters responding to a 1993 survey by Broadcasting & Cable magazine said Jennings was the best network news anchor. Washington Journalism Review named him anchor of the year three straight years.

Jennings was proud of his Canadian citizenship, although it was occasionally a sore point with some critics. When Jennings spoke at the dedication of a museum celebrating the U.S. Constitution in 2003, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told him, "not bad for a Canadian."

Jennings whispered back his secret: He had just passed a test earning him dual citizenship in the United States.

"My decision to do this has nothing to do with politics," Jennings told The Associated Press at the time. "It has nothing to do with my profession. It has everything to do with my family."

"I have never spent a day in my adult life where I didn't learn something," Jennings told the Saturday Evening Post. "And if there is a born-again quality to me, that's it."

Like Rather and Brokaw, Jennings wasn't entirely comfortable stuck to a studio. He traveled around the world to cover stories and, when he didn't journey to Asia to cover the aftermath of the tsunami less than four months before his cancer diagnosis, it was noticed.

He is survived by his wife, Kayce Freed, and his two children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23.

 

[omahaman2]

BLUES LEGEND LITTLE MILTON
1934-2005

August 4, 2005, Cleveland, OH ? Blues great ?Little? Milton Campbell,
71, passed away this morning at Delta Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee at 8:50 am CST, the result of a cerebral hemorrhage stemming from a massive stroke suffered Wednesday, July 27. Telarc International joins Milton?s wife, Pat Campbell, in expressing her heartfelt thanks for the outpouring of support from well-wishers throughout the blues community. Funeral arrangements are pending. Milton leaves behind his wife, Pat, three children and an indelible mark on the blues landscape. His final recording, Think of Me, was released May 24, 2005 on Telarc International.

Condolences can be directed to Milton?s family via Telarc at:

The Little Milton Family
c/o Telarc International
23307 Commerce Park Road,
Cleveland, Ohio 44122

Donations (in lieu of flowers) can be sent to:

The Little Milton Campbell Memorial Fund
Tribute Department
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
501 St. Jude Place
Memphis, TN 38105

Donations can also be made via telephone by calling: 1-800-873-6983.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ebony, Jet Publisher John H. Johnson Dies

Aug 8, 5:51 PM (ET)

CHICAGO (AP) - Publisher John H. Johnson, whose Ebony and Jet magazines countered stereotypical coverage of blacks after World War II and turned him into one of the most influential black leaders in America, died Monday, his company said. He was 87.

LaTrina Blair, promotions manager with Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Co., confirmed Johnson's death. Further details were not immediately available.

Johnson broke new ground by bringing positive portrayals of blacks into a mass-market publication and encouraging corporations to use black models in advertising aimed at black consumers.

Born into an impoverished family in Arkansas, Johnson went into business with a $500 loan secured by his mother's furniture and built a publishing and cosmetics empire.

Johnson built Ebony from a circulation of 25,000 on its first press run in November 1945 to a monthly circulation of 1.9 million in 1997. Jet magazine, a weekly, was founded in 1951 and a third magazine, Ebony Man, a monthly men's magazine, was started in 1985.

Johnson launched Ebony just after World War II, as black soldiers were returning home. At the time there were no black players in major league baseball and little black political representation.

Ebony - named by Johnson's wife, Eunice - was created to counter stereotypical portrayals of blacks in white-owned newspapers, magazines and broadcast media. The monthly magazine highlights the positive in black life.

"We try to seek out good things, even when everything seems bad," Johnson once said in explaining the magazine's purpose. "We look for breakthroughs, we look for people who have made it, who have succeeded against the odds, who have proven somehow that long shots do come in."

Johnson also encouraged major white companies to advertise in black media. He sent an ad salesman to Detroit every week for 10 years before an auto manufacturer agreed to advertise in Ebony.

"We couldn't do it then by marching, and we couldn't do it by threatening," Johnson said of gaining advertisers. "We had to persuade people that it was in their best interest to reach out to black consumers in a positive way."

According to the company's Web site, Johnson Publishing Co. Inc. is the world's largest black-owned and-operated publishing company. It also includes Fashion Fair Cosmetics and a book division.

Born Jan. 19, 1918, in Arkansas City, Ark., Johnson moved to Chicago with his family at age 15. After graduating from public schools, Johnson attended the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

While working at the black-owned Supreme Life Insurance Co., where he started as a clerk, Johnson founded Johnson Publishing Co. in 1942. Its first magazine was Negro Digest, a journal that condensed articles of interest to blacks and published the poems and short stories of black writers.

Johnson used Supreme Life's mailing list to offer discount charter subscriptions of the digest. To persuade a distributor to take the magazine, he got co-workers to ask for it at newsstands on Chicago's South Side. Friends bought most of the copies, convincing dealers the magazine was in demand, while Johnson reimbursed the friends and resold the copies they had bought.

The tactic was used in New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, and within a year, Negro Digest was selling 50,000 copies a month. The magazine is no longer published.

Besides his wife, Johnson is survived by a daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, president of Johnson Publishing.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

'Dallas' Star Barbara Bel Geddes Dies

Known to Millions as Miss Ellie Ewing on Hit Show

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LOS ANGELES (Aug. 10) - Barbara Bel Geddes, the winsome actress who rose to stage and movie stardom but reached her greatest fame as Miss Ellie Ewing in the long-running TV series "Dallas," has died. She was 82.

The San Francisco Chronicle said she died Monday of lung cancer at her home in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home in Mount Desert, Maine, confirmed the death Wednesday, but owner Bill Fernald said the family asked that no further information be given out.

Bel Geddes, daughter of renowned industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes, was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for the 1948 drama "I Remember Mama" and was the original Maggie the Cat on Broadway in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

"Dallas" came late in her career. She had retired to take care of her husband, Windsor Lewis, after he fell ill with cancer in 1966. He died in 1972.

Her earnings depleted by his long illness, she found work scarce for a middle-aged actress and said she was "flat broke" in 1978 when she accepted the role as matriarch of a rambunctious Texas oil family.

Though castigated by critics, "Dallas" hurtled to the top of the audience ratings and spawned copycat shows. Bel Geddes won an Emmy in 1980 as best lead actress in a drama series and remains the only nighttime soap star to be so honored.

Bel Geddes called "Dallas "real fun," but it was also marked by tragedy. In 1981, Jim Davis, who played Miss Ellie's husband, Jock Ewing, died.

"It was like losing her own husband again," said "Dallas" producer Leonard Katzman. "It was a terribly difficult and emotional time for Barbara."

In March 1984, Bel Geddes was stricken with a major heart attack. Miss Ellie was played by Donna Reed for six months, then Bel Geddes returned to "Dallas," remaining until 1990, a year before CBS canceled the show.

In 1945, Bel Geddes made a splash on Broadway at 23 with her first important role in "Deep Are the Roots," winning the New York Drama Critics Award as best actress.

She announced to a reporter: "My ambition is to be a good screen actress. I think it would be much more exciting to work for Frank Capra, George Cukor, Alfred Hitchcock or Elia Kazan than to stay on Broadway."

Hollywood was quick to notice. In 1946 she signed a contract with RKO that granted her unusual request to be committed to only one picture a year. In her first movie she costarred with Henry Fonda in "The Long Night," a disappointing remake of a French film.

Her second film was a hit playing a budding writer in George Stevens' "I Remember Mama," the touching story of an immigrant family in San Francisco starring Irene Dunne as Mama. With her delicate features and patrician manner, Bel Geddes became a popular leading lady in films.

After four movies, Howard Hughes, who had bought control of RKO in 1948, dropped her contract because "she wasn't sexy enough."

Bel Geddes was devastated. But it turned out to be a good happenstance. She had time to return to the stage, and she scored a triumph in 1955 as Maggie the Cat in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Yet her biggest Broadway success was "Mary, Mary," a frothy marital comedy by Jean Kerr, which opened in 1961 and ran for more than 1,500 performances.

In her film career, Bel Geddes was able to work with great filmmakers such as Kazan ("Panic in the Streets") and Alfred Hitchcock ("Vertigo"). She also costarred with Danny Kaye in "The Five Pennies" and with Jeanne Moreau in "Five Branded Women."

"By Love Possessed" in 1961 was her last film for 10 years. She made her final films in 1971 - "Summertree" and "The Todd Killings."

Among Bel Geddes' other major theater credits were roles in Terence Rattigan's "The Sleeping Prince" (1956); Robert Anderson's "Silent Night, Holy Night" (1959), which co-starred Henry Fonda; and Edward Albee's "Everything in the Garden" (1967). Her last Broadway appearance was in 1973, when she starred in another Kerr comedy, "Finishing Touches."

She was born in New York City on Oct, 31, 1922. Her father, born Norman Geddes, and mother, maiden name Helen Belle Sneider, coined Bel-Geddes as the title for a magazine they were planning. He took the name without a hyphen as his name. The couple divorced when Barbara was 3.

Her first role was a walk-on with Ethel Barrymore in "The School for Scandal" at a summer theater. Her father helped land her Broadway debut in the 1941 "Out of the Frying Pan," for which a critic called her "plump, pleasing and amusing." She dropped 20 pounds and continued in a variety of roles until her breakthrough in "Deep Are the Roots."

Early in her stage career Bel Geddes married Carl Schreuer, an electrical engineer, and they had a daughter, Susan. The marriage ended after seven years in 1951, and that year she married director Lewis. They had a daughter, Betsy.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Longtime Manager Gene Mauch Dies

Aug 8, 9:28 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gene Mauch, "the little general" who managed the California Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, and Montreal Expos to 1,901 wins, died Monday. He was 79.

Mauch died at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., the Los Angeles Angels said, after a long battle with cancer. He had lived in the desert resort area since retiring.

A big league skipper for 26 years, Mauch was named National League Manager of the Year three times. He ranks sixth in baseball history with 3,938 games managed, and is 11th on the career victories list.

But Mauch was perhaps most famous for his teams' legendary collapses. He was manager of the Angels in 1986 when they were within one out of advancing to the World Series before blowing a three-run lead to Boston in Game 5 of the ALCS.

The Red Sox won that game and two more to win the series.

He also managed the 1982 Angels, who won the first two games in the best-of-five ALCS against Milwaukee before losing the final three.

And he led the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964 when they collapsed down the stretch and were edged out by the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL pennant.

"I don't think history will be as fair to him as it should be," said Tim Mead, the Angels' vice president of communications and a member of the organization since 1979. "He was brilliant. Gene Mauch could put together a game just by looking at the box score."

 

[linuxgeek]

Matthew McGrory

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Matthew McGrory, the deep-voiced 7-foot-plus actor who moved from appearances on Howard Stern's radio show to a high-profile role as a gentle giant in the movie "Big Fish," died Tuesday. He was 32.

McGrory died at his home in Los Angeles, said director Drew Sky, who was working with him on his current movie, a biopic of wrestler-turned-actor Andre the Giant. Paramedics determined he died of apparent natural causes, police said.

McGrory, who wore size 29 1/2 shoes, played a human Sasquatch in 2001's "Bubble Boy," an alien in "Men In Black II" (2002) and Tiny in the Rob Zombie horror movies "House of 1000 Corpses" (2003) and its sequel released this year, "The Devil's Rejects."

His big break in Hollywood came in 2003 with Tim Burton-directed "Big Fish." Ewan McGregor's character refuses to be intimidated by the size of McGrory's Karl character, walking up to shake his hand.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Emery 'Detroit Junior' Williams Jr. Dies

The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 9, 2005; 9:56 PM

CHICAGO -- Blues pianist and songwriter Emery "Detroit Junior" Williams Jr., an energetic performer who entertained audiences despite losing a leg to diabetes, died Tuesday. He was 73.

Williams died of heart failure at his Chicago home, said longtime friend Bruce Iglauer, founder and president of Alligator Records.

In a musical career that spanned more than 50 years, Williams was known for his sense of humor and wild performances, which often featured him playing the piano while lying on the floor.

Despite his health problems, Williams continued playing at Chicago blues clubs past an age when most people retire, Iglauer said.

"He just loved being on the bandstand," Iglauer said. "He'd kick the piano bench over and drop to his knees and play ... he was a one-man blues party."

A native of Haynes, Ark., Williams learned to play piano at a young age and had performed in clubs in Michigan by the time he was 19.

"He wasn't about technique, he was about feeling," Iglauer said.

He got the nickname "Detroit Junior" after arriving in Chicago in the 1950s and recording his first single "Money Tree."

Williams was a tireless songwriter but only recorded four albums under his own name. Koko Taylor recorded three of Williams' compositions. One of his songs, "Call My Job," was a hit for Albert King.

But it is Williams' larger-than-life personality that people will miss the most, Iglauer said.

"He had a smile and a good word for everybody," Iglauer said.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

'Mr. Goodbar' Author Judith Rossner Dies

Aug 10, 9:35 AM (ET)

NEW YORK (AP) - Author Judith Rossner, whose hugely successful novel "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" was made into a movie starring Diane Keaton, has died, her family said Wednesday. She was 70.

Rossner died Tuesday night at NYU Medical Center. The cause was not immediately determined, said her brother-in-law, Rayner Pike, a retired Associated Press writer.

"Mr. Goodbar," which came out in 1975, was based loosely on the 1973 murder of a Roman Catholic schoolteacher in New York City who frequented singles bars.

"The sureness of Judith Rossner's writing and her almost flawless sense of timing create a complex and chilling portrait of a woman's descent into hell that gives this book considerable literary merit," The New York Times wrote.

The film came out in 1977. Keaton was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress, while Tuesday Weld was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress.

Rossner's 10 novels also included the No. 1 bestseller "August," published in 1983, about the story of the psychoanalysis of a young woman and her psychiatrist.

Her other books included "To the Precipice," 1966; "Nine Months in the life of an Old Maid," 1969; "Any Minute I Split," 1972; "Attachments," 1977; and "Emmeline," 1980; "His Little Women," 1990; "Olivia," 1994; and "Perfidia," 1997.

"Emmeline" which was made into an opera performed in Santa Fe, N.M., and shown on PBS.

Rossner was a very perceptive observer of people and their behavior, said her sister, Nancy Pike.

"She knew people better than they knew themselves," she said in a telephone interview.

In addition to her sister, survivors include her husband, Stanley Leff; her children, Daniel and Jean Rossner; and three grandchildren.



The film of "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" scared the crap out of me!

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Actress Dorris Bowdon Dies at 90

Wed Aug 10, 8:45 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - Dorris Bowdon, a film actress of the 1930s and '40s and widow of writer-producer Nunnally Johnson, died Tuesday at the Motion Picture Country House. She was 90.

Her death was caused by strokes, heart failure and old age, said Bowdon's daughter Fredda Johnson.

The actress' best-remembered role was likely as Rose-of-Sharon in "The Grapes of Wrath." Based on the novel by John Steinbeck, the film's screenplay was written by her husband.

She had been spotted not long before by a Hollywood talent scout in a play at Louisiana State University and signed to a contract at 20th Century-Fox. While visiting producers' offices to inquire about film roles, she met Johnson. Their marriage lasted 39 years, until his death in 1977.

Bowdon was directed in three films by John Ford, "Young Mr. Lincoln," "Drums Along the Mohawk" and "The Grapes of Wrath." She retired after making 1943's "The Moon is Down," also written by Johnson and based on another Steinbeck novel.

 

[Brinnie]

Judith Rossner, author of 'Mr. Goodbar,' dead at 70

 

[linuxgeek]

Constance Bannister

src

Constance Bannister

WOODBURY, N.Y. -- Constance Bannister, whose photographs of babies for calendars, advertisements and books reached a worldwide audience in the 1940s and 1950s, died Wednesday [8/17/2005] of natural causes at a nursing home, her daughter, Lynda Hatcher, said. She was 92.

Bannister, who lived in Laurel Hollow on Long Island, was the second of 17 children and was inspired toward baby pictures by her 15 younger siblings, Hatcher said.

Bannister claimed she had more than 100,000 shots of babies, her daughter said.

Many of the photos were published in humor books, paired with amusing captions written by Bannister to fit the baby's expression. For example, in "We Were Spies Behind The Iron Curtain," a book satirizing the Soviet Union, a bare-bottomed baby looks over its shoulder and says, "latest five-year plan is a little behind."

Born Constance Louise Gibbs in 1913 in Ashland City, Tenn., Bannister came to New York City as a teenager and studied photography after receiving a camera from a boyfriend. Her first job was with The Associated Press, where she earned $40 a week as a society photographer in Palm Beach, Fla., in 1937 and 1938.

She returned to New York, opened a studio on Central Park South and became a photographer of Broadway plays, ballet companies and the Ice Capades.

Bannister gradually focused on babies, and "Bannister Babies" helped sell war bonds for World War II.

 

[linuxgeek]

John Bahcall

src

Astrophysicist John Bahcall, 70, Dies

Associated Press
posted: 19 August, 2005
3:49 pm ET


NEW YORK (AP) -- John Norris Bahcall, an astrophysicist who found a new way to study the sun and was a major force behind the Hubble Space Telescope, has died. He was 70.

He died Wednesday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital from a rare blood disorder, according to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where Bahcall was a faculty member for 35 years.

Bahcall was born in Shreveport, La., in 1934 and considered becoming a rabbi before choosing science. He was educated at Louisiana State University and the University of California at Berkeley and earned a Ph.D. at Harvard in 1961.

In 1964, he was working at the California Institute of Technology when he proposed that scientists could figure out why the sun shines by measuring the number of solar neutrinos -- ghostly particles that arrive on Earth.

At the time, collaborator Raymond Davis was trying to catch neutrinos in a chemical tank in a South Dakota gold mine. When too few were found, many thought the experiment was flawed. Bahcall said calculations by physicists -- including himself -- were flawed and that the tiny particles changed their shape. Experiments in the 1990s finally proved him right.

In 1996, Bahcall wrote about what was learned: “The nuclear reactions that produce the neutrinos also cause the sun to shine.''

In the 1970s, he was a leader of the effort to create the Hubble, which was launched in 1990. He pushed for the instrument's survival until the end of his life.

He was president of the American Astronomical Society from 1990 to 2002 and chairman of the National Academy of Sciences panel that wrote a report in 1990 that laid out a plan for the next decade of physics study.

He joined the Institute for Advanced Study, which had been Albert Einstein's academic home, in 1968.

There, he helped train the next generation of scientists. At nearby Princeton University, six of the 12 astrophysics professors had worked with Bahcall.

Bahcall never lost his enthusiasm for what he studied. In a February 2003 interview with The Star-Ledger of Newark, he described the universe as “unattractive, implausible, crazy, but beautiful.''

Bahcall received the National Medal of Science from President Clinton in 1998 and won several other major physics awards.

Many scientists expected him to win a Nobel Prize. Longtime collaborator Davis and Japanese neutrino researcher Masatoshi Koshiba shared the prize in 2002, along with another astrophysicist for research in a different field. But Bahcall did not. Friends said he was not bitter about it.

“He had only generous words for Ray Davis and Koshiba,'' cosmologist Michael Turner told The New York Times.

 

[KindaKinky]

Synthesizer Innovator Robert A. Moog Dies

By NATALIE GOTT, Associated Press Writer
Mon Aug 22, 6:03 PM ET

RALEIGH, N.C. - He may not have been a rock star himself, but Robert A. Moog's influence can be heard in the music of bands from The Beatles to Yes, Herbie Hancock to Chick Corea.

Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound and helped revolutionize rock, died Sunday of a brain tumor at his home in Asheville, according to his company's Web site. He was 71.

"He brought electronic music to the masses and changed the way we hear music," said Charles Carlini, a New York City concert promoter. "He's like an Einstein of music."

Moog's synthesizer allowed musicians to generate a range of sounds that could mimic nature or seem otherworldly by flipping a switch, twisting a dial or sliding a knob. His instrument stood out from others on the market because it was small, light and versatile.

"I'm an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers," Moog said in 2000. "They use my tools."

The Beatles used a Moog synthesizer on their 1969 album "Abbey Road"; a Moog was used to create an eerie sound on the soundtrack to the 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange."

A childhood interest in the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, would lead Moog — whose name rhymes with vogue — to create a business that tied his name as tightly to synthesizers as the name Les Paul is to electric guitars.

As a Ph.D. student in engineering physics at Cornell University, Moog developed his first voltage-controlled synthesizer modules with composer Herb Deutsch. By the end of the year, R.A. Moog Co. marketed the first commercial modular synthesizer.

"Suddenly, there was a whole group of people in the world looking for a new sound in music, and it picked up very quickly," said Deutsch, a Hofstra University emeritus music professor. "The Moog came at the right time."

As extended keyboard solos in rock and funk — and later hip-hop and techno — took off, Moog's instrument was used in songs by Manfred Mann, Yes and Pink Floyd.

"The sound defined progressive music as we know it," said Keith Emerson, keyboardist for the rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Keyboardist Walter (later Wendy) Carlos demonstrated the range of Moog's synthesizer by recording the hit album "Switched-On Bach" in 1968 using only the new instrument instead of an orchestra.

"Every time you listen to the radio, you listen to Robert Moog's influence," said Carlini, who staged Moogfest in May 2004 to mark a half-century since Moog founded his first company.

But the synthesizer's ability to mimic strings, horns and percussion has also threatened some musicians. In 2004, musicians extracted a promise from the Opera Company of Brooklyn to never use an advanced kind of synthesizer, called a virtual orchestra machine, in future productions.

Moog spent the early 1990s as a research professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Asheville before turning full-time to running his new instrument business, which was renamed Moog Music in 2002. The roster of customers includes Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Beck, Phish, Sonic Youth and Widespread Panic.

Moog is survived by his wife, Ileana; three daughters, a son, a stepdaughter, and his former wife, Shirleigh Moog.

A public memorial is scheduled for Wednesday in Asheville.

___

Associated Press writer Emery P. Dalesio contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Moog Music Inc.: http://www.moogmusic.com/

Moog family Web site: http://www.caringbridge.com/visit/bobmoog/

Let us play a sinister sounding version of Taps on our synths in respect…

 

[KindaKinky]

'Mockingbird' Actor Brock Peters Dies

By GARY GENTILE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 23, 5:25 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Actor Brock Peters, best known for his heartbreaking performance as the black man falsely accused of rape in "To Kill a Mockingbird," died Tuesday at his home after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Peters was diagnosed with the disease in January and had been receiving chemotherapy treatment, according to Marilyn Darby, his longtime companion. His condition became worse in recent weeks.

He died peacefully in bed, surrounded by family, she said.

Peters was born George Fisher on July 2, 1927 in New York. His long film career began in the 1950s with the landmark productions of "Carmen Jones" in 1954 and "Porgy and Bess" in 1959.

In recent years, he played Admiral Cartwright in two of the "Star Trek" feature films. He also appeared in numerous TV shows. His distinctive deep bass voice was often used for animated characters.

He was perhaps best known for portraying accused rapist Tom Robinson, defended by Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in the 1962 film "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Peters paid tribute to Peck after he died in 2003.

"In art there is compassion, in compassion there is humanity, with humanity there is generosity and love," Peters said. "Gregory Peck gave us these attributes in full measure."

Peters recounted how shortly before he was to start filming, he was awakened early on a Sunday morning by a phone call from Peck to welcome him to the production. He was so surprised, he recalled, that he dropped the telephone.

"I worked over the years in many, many productions, but no one ever again called me to welcome me aboard, except perhaps the director and the producer, but not my fellow actor-to-be."

In May, Peters was on hand as Harper Lee, the reclusive author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," made a rare step into the limelight to be honored by the Los Angeles Public Library.

In "Carmen Jones," Peters worked with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte. Otto Preminger's production of "Porgy" starred Sidney Poitier and Dandridge, and featured Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll as well as Peters.

Among Peters' other films were "Soylent Green," "The L-Shaped Room" and "The Pawnbroker."

His accolades include a National Film Society Award, a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and a Tony Award nomination for his performance on Broadway in "Lost in the Stars."

In a 1985 story by The Associated Press on blacks in the movies, Peters said there had been a string of recent hits involving blacks, but "I have been here a long time, and I have seen this cycle happen before. I'll wait awhile and see if this flurry of activity leads to anything permanent."

Peters was a widower and has one daughter, Lise Jo Peters.

___

AP Writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

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