Literotica Cemetary

[KindaKinky]

Achille Lauro Mastermind Dies in U.S. Custody
Tue Mar 9, 6:44 PM ET By Diala Saadeh

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Mohammed Abbas, the Palestinian mastermind of the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in 1985, has died of natural causes in U.S. custody in Iraq (news -web sites), U.S. and Palestinian officials said on Tuesday.

One U.S. official said he had a heart attack.

"Mohammed Abbas or Abu Abbas, head of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), who has been held in American custody, has died in Iraq," an official close to President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) told Reuters.

He said the death of Abbas, caught by U.S. forces in April, was "related to his deteriorating health situation."

"He apparently died of natural causes. Medical efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. An autopsy will be performed," a Defense Department spokesman said.

He refused to say where Abbas died. Another defense official, who asked not to be identified, said he was being held in Iraq at the time of his death.

"Apparently he died in U.S. custody in Iraq of natural causes, a heart attack," another senior official said.

Abbas planned the hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro in October 1985 during which a wheel-chair bound American Jew, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, was killed and thrown into the sea.

Abbas, who was not on board the ship during the attack spent most of the past 17 years in Iraq, eluding U.S. and Italian officials. He was believed to be in his late 50s or early 60s.

The Iraqi-based PLF embarrassed the Palestine Liberation Organization (news - web sites) leadership with the Achille Lauro hijacking and a failed seaborne attack on Israel in 1990.

Abbas later renounced violence when his pro-Arafat faction backed the PLO's decision to halt attacks against Israel after the 1993 Oslo peace accords were signed.

Italy released Abbas after U.S. warplanes intercepted his jet and forced it to land in Italy shortly after the Achille Lauro hijacking. But it tried Abbas and sentenced him to five life terms in prison after he had already left the country.

Washington dropped a warrant for Abbas's arrest several years ago and Israel declared him immune from prosecution over the hijacking in 1999 after he was allowed to return to Gaza by officials who concluded he was no longer involved in militancy.

After his capture, Washington said it wanted to bring Abbas to justice, but the issue became entangled in legal and diplomatic problems such as the possibility the U.S. statute of limitations had expired and extradition difficulties with Italy. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi)

 

[JennyOmanHill]

P.S. on Paul Winfield

Forgotten in many of the obituaries written about actor Paul Winfield, who died Sunday in Los Angeles, was the fact that he narrated "City Confidential" on A&E.

"All of us at A&E Network were saddened to learn of the death of Paul Winfield," A&E said in a statement yesterday. "Paul was an extraordinary performer and a consummate professional. His distinct voice and sense of humor contributed so much to . . . 'City Confidential.'

"We express our deepest sympathy to his family. Paul will be missed."

An A&E spokeswoman said the network will pay tribute to Winfield during this Saturday's airing of "City Confidential." Winfield, 62, died of an apparent heart attack.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Mercedes McCambridge

Imposing Character Actress of Stage and Film, Is Dead at 85

Mercedes McCambridge, the intense, dark-eyed character actress who was regarded as one of the best of her generation by many of her colleagues—including Orson Welles, who once called her "the world's greatest living radio actress"—died in San Diego on March 2, of natural causes, AP reported.

Ms. McCambridge range of roles was a testament to what others recognized as a confident and brash persona. She followed Uta Hagen in the part of the man-eating Martha in the Broadway production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and took over for Irene Worth as a domineering grandmother in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers. When young Linda Blair spoke, as the possessed child in the 1973 horror film "The Exorcist," it was Ms. McCambridge's terrifying rasp audiences heard.

But she was best known for her role as a ruthless secretary and lover of Broderick Crawford Huey P. Long-like politician in 1949's "All the King's Men." It was her first film role and she won an Oscar for her work. Hollywood would use her infrequently, however, uncertain how to cast her outsized personality and hard-edged looks. She played a rough-riding, jealous relation of Rock Hudson's cattle baron in George Steven's "Giant," and gave as good as she got opposite Joan Crawford in the famously over-the-top 1954 Nicholas Ray western "Johnny Guitar." She and Crawford, another strong woman, famously loathed each other on first sight, and their rivalry charged their scenes on screen. (The movie, converted into a musical, is currently playing Off-Broadway.) Always, she was best at playing characters who lived at a high emotional pitch.

Born Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge in Joliet, Illinois, on March 17, 1918, and educated at Mundelein College, she first made her name in radio, appearing in hundreds of programs. According to the Internet Movie Database, her distinctive, muscular voice was heard on "Sanctum Mysteries," "Big Sister," "The Ford Theater," "Studio One," "Murder At Midnight," "One Man's Family," "I Love A Mystery" (in which she supplied all the female voices), "The Guiding Light" and others.

Other theatre credits include Cages in 1963 in New York and Regina in The Little Foxes that same year in summer stock.

Her first husband, from 1941 to 1946, was William Fifield. They had one child. She had another child with Fletcher Markle, whom she married in 1950. They divorced in 1962. Her autobiography, "A Quality of Mercy," was published in 1981. In it, she recounted her battles with alcoholism. She also wrote "The Two of Us" (1961), an account of a world-wide tour she took with her son, John Markle (he was Fifield's son, but later took the name of his mother's second husband). That son's life ended in tragedy; in 1987 he shot his wife and two daughters and then killed himself.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

One Of Original MTV V.J.s Dies Of Heart Attack

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0319/2934601_120X90.jpg
POSTED: 6:34 a.m. EST March 19, 2004

NEW YORK -- One of the first faces of MTV has died.

J.J. Jackson, who was one of the original V.J.s on the channel in 1981, died Wednesday night of an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles. He was 62.

Jackson was one of the first on-air personalities on MTV and stayed for five years. During that time, he covered the 1985 Live Aid concert, unmasked KISS during a 1982 interview and hosted the first episode of "120 Minutes."

MTV issued a statement saying "his deep passion for music, his ease and good humor on air and his welcoming style really set the tone for the early days of MTV."

The statement said people at MTV are sure Jackson "is in the music section of heaven, with lots of his friends and heroes."

 

[cookiejar]

Re: P.S. on Paul Winfield

Forgotten in many of the obituaries written about actor Paul Winfield, who died Sunday in Los Angeles, was the fact that he narrated "City Confidential" on A&E.

"All of us at A&E Network were saddened to learn of the death of Paul Winfield," A&E said in a statement yesterday. "Paul was an extraordinary performer and a consummate professional. His distinct voice and sense of humor contributed so much to . . . 'City Confidential.'

"We express our deepest sympathy to his family. Paul will be missed."

An A&E spokeswoman said the network will pay tribute to Winfield during this Saturday's airing of "City Confidential." Winfield, 62, died of an apparent heart attack.

Damn! I was on vacation and didn't see this. I watch "City Confidential" all the time. Winfield had a wonderful speaking voice. I always remember him in "Star Trek 2-The Wrath of Khan" as one of the guys who had the insect put in his ear that drove them mad.

RIP Mr. Winfield...I will miss you for sure.

 

[sultresweetie]

Re: P.S. on Paul Winfield

Forgotten in many of the obituaries written about actor Paul Winfield, who died Sunday in Los Angeles, was the fact that he narrated "City Confidential" on A&E.

"All of us at A&E Network were saddened to learn of the death of Paul Winfield," A&E said in a statement yesterday. "Paul was an extraordinary performer and a consummate professional. His distinct voice and sense of humor contributed so much to . . . 'City Confidential.'

"We express our deepest sympathy to his family. Paul will be missed."

An A&E spokeswoman said the network will pay tribute to Winfield during this Saturday's airing of "City Confidential." Winfield, 62, died of an apparent heart attack.

NOOOOOOOOOO! I didn't know Paul Winfield died

He was one of the reasons I love City Confidential. This man was an amazing narrator-the show will never be the same.

 

[cookiejar]

Re: Re: P.S. on Paul Winfield

NOOOOOOOOOO! I didn't know Paul Winfield died

He was one of the reasons I love City Confidential. This man was an amazing narrator-the show will never be the same.

I'm with you...this really upset me when I read it. No one can replace him.

 

[Arc da Rat]

Re: One Of Original MTV V.J.s Dies Of Heart Attack

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0319/2934601_120X90.jpg
POSTED: 6:34 a.m. EST March 19, 2004

NEW YORK -- One of the first faces of MTV has died.

Damn ... Now I feel really old. I liked JJ when he was a VJ for MTV.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

British Stage and Film Star Peter Ustinov Is Dead at 82

http://www.playbill.com/images/photos/ustinov1.jpg
Sir Peter Ustinov

From Playbill online:

Peter Ustinov, the portly, bearded Renaissance man of British theatre, who carried on simultaneous careers as actor, director, playwright and all-around wit for half a century, died in Switzerland on March 28. He was 82.

Mr. Ustinov, who was born in London, seemed to go through life with a devilish twinkle in his eye. He saw humor in every aspect of his career and life and expressed his thoughts imcomparably well in countless talk show appearances. "Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious," he once said.

He won an Oscar for his performance as a cowardly Roman slave trader in "Spartacus." He injected a needed bit of levity into that heavy epic, and it was a measure of his inate wit that many of his lines were improvised, including a moment in which he corrected the angle of a slave-held umbrella meant to shade him, with a comment about how hard it was to find good help.

He also won an Oscar for 1964's "Topkapi."

He was a dedicated man on the theatre and served it on several fronts. Aside from his many stage appearances, he was an accomplished playwright and director. His best known work was perhaps Romanoff and Juliet, for which he also wrote songs and acted in a leading role. The show was produced in London and on Broadway, where it was a hit in the late '50s. George S. Kaufman directed the play, which was produced by David Merrick.

...

Other works from his pen include Photo Finish, The Unknown Soldier and His Wife, Halfway Up the Tree, Who's Who in Hell and Beethoven's Tenth, which lasted only 25 performances in 1984.** In almost all of them, he either acted or directed. None were as successful as Four Colonels or Romanoff and Juliet.

...

He was his best as loquacious characters possessed of a droll, sometimes dangerous outlook on life. He earned an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in "Quo Vadis?" as emperor Nero, and wrote, produced, directed, and acted in 1962's "Billy Budd." Mr. Ustinov also won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Dr. Samuel Johnson in a 1957 television film—a role that likely fit him like a glove. He won another for his Socrates in "Barefoot in Athens." His narration of Tchaikovsky's "Peter and the Wolf" netted him a Grammy, according to Newsday. He was knighted in 1990.

Peter Ustinov was born on April 16, 1921, to a journalist father of Russian descent and an artist mother of French descent. (His grandfather was an officer in the Czar's Army and was exiled abroad after refusing to take an oath to the Eastern Orthodox Church, because he was Protestant, according to the Internet Movie Database). He claimed to have Swiss, Ethiopian, Italian and French blood racing through his veins.

...

He trained as an actor at the London Theatre Studio. He served in World War II at batman to Lt. Col. David Niven. (He would later direct his former superior in the film "Lady L.")

...

"I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter," Mr. Ustinov once said of his career, "the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the world."

** Amazingly realizing I saw one of these performances, and though the play was not received well, I'll never forget his presence on the stage.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

As mentioned in another thread

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0330/2960433_120X90.jpg

An icon of British and American media has died.

Alistair Cooke, best-known in the United States as host of public television's "Masterpiece Theatre" died midnight Monday, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. He was 95.

Cooke died in New York, just a few weeks after retiring because of heart disease.

"Masterpiece Theater" wasn't Cooke's only broadcast staple: his show "Letter from America" ran for 58 years on British radio.

During his illustrious career, Cooke won four Emmy awards, three George Foster Peabody awards for broadcasting and was made an honorary Knight Commander Order of the British Empire.

In addition to his work with the BBC, Cooke a correspondent for the NBC network from 1936-37 and authored 12 books.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Jan Berry Of Jan & Dean Dead At 62

http://cache.eonline.com/News/Photos/b/berry.jan.032904.jpg

Surf music pioneer Jan Berry, one half of the duo Jan and Dean, died last Friday. He was 62.

The one-time surf rocker suffered a seizure in his Los Angeles home and stopped breathing. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to his wife, Gertie Berry. The musician had been in poor health of late, due to lingering effects of brain damage from a 1966 car accident.

He met musical partner Dean Torrence playing high school football in West Los Angeles. The two friends later formed Jan and Dean, and went on to release a string of hits in the 1960s.

Berry was long considered the creative force behind the group, which had 10 gold records in their heyday, including "The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)" and "Dead Man's Curve," a song about a tragic car accident, which would turn out to be sadly prophetic.

He penned the lyrics to the '60s number one single "Surf City" with close friend Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Together with Wilson, he created the sound that came to be known as surf music--including falsetto harmonies, driving drums and guitar licks.

Jan and Dean served as an influence for the more popular Beach Boys, but did not tour frequently because Berry was studying to become a doctor.

Both that goal and his musical career were cut short in 1966, when his speeding Corvette hit a parked truck in Beverly Hills. Berry suffered brain damage that left him unable to walk or speak.

After years of extensive physical therapy, Berry was able to return to making music in 1973. In 1978, CBS made a television movie titled Dead Man's Curve, chronicling the story of Jan and Dean.

The duo enjoyed renewed popularity after the movie aired and toured with the Beach Boys the following summer. They continued to tour sporadically in the years that followed.

In 1997, Berry released a solo album, Second Wave, which featured updated Jan and Dean songs.

He is survived by his wife, his parents, William and Clara Berry, and six siblings.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

just for the record

Guinness Book Co-Founder Dies At 78
Norris McWhirter Compiled First Book With Brother In 1954
POSTED: 6:00 p.m. EDT April 20, 2004

LONDON -- If you want out about anything from the world's longest hot dog to the biggest bubble gum bubble, you look at Norris McWhirter's book.

The Guinness Book of Records co-founder has died at 78, after suffering a heart attack in England.

McWhirter and his twin brother edited and compiled the first Guinness Book in 1954. This year's edition is nearly 300 pages.

McWhirter also helped produce books, including The Guinness Book of Amazing Animals.

 

[pipercatt]

Estee Lauder Dead at 97

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Estee Lauder, who took a family recipe for skin cream and a passion for female beauty and turned them into a $10 billion cosmetics empire, died on Saturday at her home in Manhattan, a spokeswoman for the company that bears her name said on Sunday.

Estee Lauder company spokeswoman Sally Susman said she was 97 and died of cardiopulmonary failure, but gave no further details of the cause of death.

Lauder, who founded her company in 1946, prospered by offering women the promise of eternal youth and beauty with an aura of cool, upper-class refinement.

She had not been actively involved for 10 years in the management of the company, which markets its products in 130 countries, Susman said. Lauder's son Leonard Lauder is currently chairman of the company.

 

[KindaKinky]

Who do you think did her make-up for her funeral?

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former Football Safety Pat Tillman

http://www.thestar.ca/images/thestar/img/040424_tillman_soldier_225.jpg

Pat Tillman was a lot of things: The little man who played big, a brainy guy who hit like a thug. Rarest of all, perhaps, he was a pro athlete with a conscience, a sense of duty and loyalty.

As a youngster, he'd travel through the woods by going from treetop to treetop. He dove off cliffs. He served time as a juvenile for an assault misdemeanour, admitted to it, and went on to graduate from university at the top of his class, finishing his studies half a year early. He was a bottom-of-the-barrel NFL draft pick who could have earned millions as the top tackler in Arizona Cardinals history.

He had it all. Then he gave it up to become a soldier — with no fanfare, no regrets, not the slightest public comment.

There was nothing remotely ordinary about Tillman's life, or, sadly, about his death. The 27-year-old Tillman was killed Thursday while serving in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

Before making official comment, the White House put out a statement of sympathy praising the San Jose, Calif., native as "an inspiration both on and off the football field."

"Pat knew his purpose in life," former Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis said. "He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling, which was to protect and defend our country."

"It wasn't a moment of crisis or strife that motivated Pat Tillman," Arizona senator John McCain said. "It was the recognition that the United States was under attack and he volunteered to defend it."

Spurred by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Tillman turned down a $3.6 million (U.S.) contract offer from the Cardinals for a three-year enlistment with his brother Kevin in the U.S. Army Rangers in the spring of 2002.

Tillman was with the U.S. Army Special Forces in southeastern Afghanistan, Associated Press reported, after having served in northern Iraq last year. Lt. Col. Matt Beevers, a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, confirmed yesterday that a U.S. soldier was killed Thursday evening, but would not say whether it was Tillman. A military official at the Pentagon confirmed it was Tillman.

Tillman never spoke publicly about the decision he reached after coming back from his honeymoon with his wife Marie in May 2002, a few months after completing his fourth NFL season. His agent, Frank Bauer, called him a deep and clear thinker who has never valued material things.

"This is not some kind of publicity stunt or anything," Bauer told ESPN at the time. "For him, it's a mindset, a duty. For him it isn't as big a deal as it is to the rest of us. He figures, `Hey, I'm not the first, you know?'"

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Carrie Snodgress

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40025000/jpg/_40025569_snodgressap_203.jpg
Carrie Snodgress with one of her two Golden Globe awards in 1971


Actress Carrie Snodgress, nominated for an Oscar for the 1970 film Diary of a Mad Housewife, has died aged 57. Snodgress suffered heart failure on 1 April while awaiting a liver transplant in Los Angeles, her manager said.

Her son Zeke, by rock star Neil Young, was at her side at the University of California Medical Center, he said.

Snodgress made her big screen debut in Rabbit, Run in 1970 before comedy-drama Diary of a Mad Housewife, which also won her two Golden Globe awards.

But she left Hollywood in 1971 to live with Young and gave birth to Zeke, who had cerebral palsy.

She said it was hard to resume her career when she returned to acting in the late 70s, but did not regret the move.

"I was never really a career woman, you see," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1986.

"When I got nominated for Diary of a Mad Housewife, I didn't think, 'Aah, now I'll get more money'. My dream had always just been to do my works well, fall in love and build a life for myself."

She returned to Hollywood with a role opposite Kirk Douglas in 1978's The Fury, and had a relationship with songwriter Jack Nitzsche.

In 1979, he was charged with threatening to kill her after beating her with a handgun. He pleaded guilty and received three years' probation.

In the 1980s, she appeared in Pale Rider with Clint Eastwood and Murphy's Law with Charles Bronson, and had more recent supporting roles in teen thrillers Wild Things and The Forsaken.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

'Hawaii Five-0' Star Zulu Dies

http://sites.inka.de/~W2556/kono5.jpg
POSTED: 9:30 a.m. EDT May 7, 2004

Another original "Hawaii Five-O" cast member has died.

Gilbert Kauhi -- better known as Zulu -- died from complications of diabetes earlier this week. He was 66.

Zulu played the burly Hawaiian sidekick to the show's star, the late Jack Lord.

He stayed with the show for four seasons but was fired after an altercation with the show's publicist.

Despite that, the show helped launch a successful entertainment career for Zulu.

For years afterward, he sang and joked to packed houses in and around Waikiki.

 

[cookiejar]

Comedian, Actor Alan King Dies at 76

NEW YORK - Alan King, whose tirades against everyday suburban life grew into a long comedy career in nightclubs and television that he later expanded to Broadway and character roles in movies, died Sunday at the age of 76.

King, who also was host of the New York Friars Club's celebrity roasts, which had recently returned as a staple on television's Comedy Central, died at a Manhattan hospital, said a son, Robert King. He died of lung cancer, his assistant Miriam Rothstein said.

King appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" 93 times beginning in the 1950s.

Comedian Jerry Stiller, who knew King for more than 50 years, said King was "in touch with what was happening with the world, which is what made him so funny."

"He always talked about the annoyances of life," Stiller said. "He was like a Jewish Will Rogers."

King played supporting roles in more than 20 films including "Bye Bye Braverman," "I, the Jury," "The Anderson Tapes," "Lovesick," "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Casino" and "Rush Hour 2." He also produced several films, including "Memories of Me," "Wolfen" and "Cattle Annie and Little Britches," and the 1997 television series "The College of Comedy With Alan King."

He said he was working strip joints and seedy nightclubs in the early 1950s when he had a revelation while watching a performance by another young comedian, Danny Thomas.

"Danny actually talked to his audience," he recalled in a 1991 interview. "And I realized I never talked to my audience. I talked at 'em, around 'em and over 'em, but not to 'em. I felt the response they had for him. I said to myself, 'This guy is doing something, and I better start doing it.'"

King, who until then had been using worn out one-liners, found his new material at home, after his wife persuaded him to forsake his native Manhattan, believing the suburban atmosphere of the Forest Hills sections of Queens would provide a better environment for their children.

Soon he was joking of seeing people moving from the city to the suburbs "in covered wagons, with mink stoles hanging out the back."

His rantings about suburbia, just as America was embracing it, struck a chord with the public and soon he was appearing regularly on the Sullivan show, Garry Moore's variety show and "The Tonight Show."

Bookings poured in, and he toured with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, played New York's showcase Paramount theater and performed at top nightclubs around the country.

He also worked as the opening act for such music stars as Lena Horne (news), Billy Eckstine, Patti Page and Judy Garland, whom he joined in a command performance in London for Queen Elizabeth II .

After that show he was introduced to the queen and, when she asked, "How do you do, Mr. King?" he said he replied: "How do you do, Mrs. Queen?"

"She stared at me, and then Prince Philip laughed," he recalled. "Thank God Prince Philip laughed."

King appeared in a handful of films in the late 1950s, including "The Girl He Left Behind," "Miracle in the Rain" and "Hit the Deck," although he didn't care for his roles. "I was always the sergeant from Brooklyn named Kowalski," he once complained.

He also appeared on Broadway in "Guys and Dolls" and "The Impossible Years," and produced the Broadway plays "The Lion in Winter" and "Something Different."

He wrote the humor books "Anyone Who Owns His Own Home Deserves One" (1962) and "Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery" (1964).

Born Irwin Alan Kniberg, he grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and in Brooklyn.

"Both of them were tough neighborhoods, but I was a pretty tough kid," he recalled in 1964. "I had an answer for everything. ... I fought back with humor."

He married Jeanette Sprung in 1947 and they had three children, Robert, Andrew and Elaine Ray. When King was at the height of his career, he faced one son's drug addiction and said he realized he had neglected his family.

"It's not easy being a father," he said, "but I've been allowed a comeback."

He spent more time at home and his son conquered his addiction.

"Now everyone kisses," he said. "We show our affections."

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040509/capt.nyr10405091932.obit_king_nyr104.jpg

 

[Problem Child]

lest we not forget spelling buddy...who who died prematurely, and in a quite grizzly fashion on January 3rd of this year.

SB as his friends called him, was a warm hearted ...once patient man, who was always quick with a letter for that wayward speller.

It wasn't until he met "Sunstruck" that his journey down the trail of dispair began. His frustrations fueled with alcohol and subsciption drugs, combined with Sunstrucks incessant mispellings only drew this once patient loving educator further down the path to his inevitable demise.

Spelling Buddy was found hanging from the rafters in the Hyannisport public library on January 3rd.

A note was found pinned to his lapel that read...."Learn to spell you fucking hacks!"

We will miss you SB.

Maybe you ought to progress beyond remedial spelling yourself before you criticize Sunstruck or anyone else. Buckethead.

 

[Avery_Chisholm]

Comedian, Actor Alan King Dies at 76

NEW YORK - Alan King, whose tirades against everyday suburban life grew into a long comedy career in nightclubs and television that he later expanded to Broadway and character roles in movies, died Sunday at the age of 76.

King, who also was host of the New York Friars Club's celebrity roasts, which had recently returned as a staple on television's Comedy Central, died at a Manhattan hospital, said a son, Robert King. He died of lung cancer, his assistant Miriam Rothstein said.

King appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" 93 times beginning in the 1950s.

Comedian Jerry Stiller, who knew King for more than 50 years, said King was "in touch with what was happening with the world, which is what made him so funny."

"He always talked about the annoyances of life," Stiller said. "He was like a Jewish Will Rogers."

King played supporting roles in more than 20 films including "Bye Bye Braverman," "I, the Jury," "The Anderson Tapes," "Lovesick," "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Casino" and "Rush Hour 2." He also produced several films, including "Memories of Me," "Wolfen" and "Cattle Annie and Little Britches," and the 1997 television series "The College of Comedy With Alan King."

He said he was working strip joints and seedy nightclubs in the early 1950s when he had a revelation while watching a performance by another young comedian, Danny Thomas.

"Danny actually talked to his audience," he recalled in a 1991 interview. "And I realized I never talked to my audience. I talked at 'em, around 'em and over 'em, but not to 'em. I felt the response they had for him. I said to myself, 'This guy is doing something, and I better start doing it.'"

King, who until then had been using worn out one-liners, found his new material at home, after his wife persuaded him to forsake his native Manhattan, believing the suburban atmosphere of the Forest Hills sections of Queens would provide a better environment for their children.

Soon he was joking of seeing people moving from the city to the suburbs "in covered wagons, with mink stoles hanging out the back."

His rantings about suburbia, just as America was embracing it, struck a chord with the public and soon he was appearing regularly on the Sullivan show, Garry Moore's variety show and "The Tonight Show."

Bookings poured in, and he toured with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, played New York's showcase Paramount theater and performed at top nightclubs around the country.

He also worked as the opening act for such music stars as Lena Horne (news), Billy Eckstine, Patti Page and Judy Garland, whom he joined in a command performance in London for Queen Elizabeth II .

After that show he was introduced to the queen and, when she asked, "How do you do, Mr. King?" he said he replied: "How do you do, Mrs. Queen?"

"She stared at me, and then Prince Philip laughed," he recalled. "Thank God Prince Philip laughed."

King appeared in a handful of films in the late 1950s, including "The Girl He Left Behind," "Miracle in the Rain" and "Hit the Deck," although he didn't care for his roles. "I was always the sergeant from Brooklyn named Kowalski," he once complained.

He also appeared on Broadway in "Guys and Dolls" and "The Impossible Years," and produced the Broadway plays "The Lion in Winter" and "Something Different."

He wrote the humor books "Anyone Who Owns His Own Home Deserves One" (1962) and "Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery" (1964).

Born Irwin Alan Kniberg, he grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and in Brooklyn.

"Both of them were tough neighborhoods, but I was a pretty tough kid," he recalled in 1964. "I had an answer for everything. ... I fought back with humor."

He married Jeanette Sprung in 1947 and they had three children, Robert, Andrew and Elaine Ray. When King was at the height of his career, he faced one son's drug addiction and said he realized he had neglected his family.

"It's not easy being a father," he said, "but I've been allowed a comeback."

He spent more time at home and his son conquered his addiction.

"Now everyone kisses," he said. "We show our affections."

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040509/capt.nyr10405091932.obit_king_nyr104.jpg

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Olive Osmond, mother of the Osmond performers, dies at 79

PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Olive Osmond, the mother of Marie and Donny Osmond and other members of the performing family, died Sunday. She was 79.

Family spokesman Ron Clark said she died of complications from a massive stroke she suffered more than two years ago. Her condition began to deteriorate last week and family members were by her bedside.

She was born in 1925 to Thomas and Vera Ann Davis in Samaria, Idaho, where her father was a principal. She later moved to Ogden, Utah, where she was a secretary at the Adjutant General Depot. There she met George V. Osmond, the soldier she married in 1944.

Both enjoyed music. George sang and Olive played the saxophone, and they passed along their love of music to their children.

Their first two sons, Virl and Tom, developed degenerative hearing losses that affected their speech. The next four sons, Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay, had no signs of hearing loss and began singing close four-part harmonies as children. They performed as the Osmond Brothers, producing 34 gold and platinum records in the 1960s and 1970s.

They were later joined by Donny, Marie and Jimmy Osmond.

The family toured internationally and made numerous recordings and TV appearances. From 1976-79, Donny and Marie Osmond hosted the television program "The Donny and Marie Show," which their older brothers helped produce.

Olive Osmond is survived by her husband, nine children, 55 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Veteran Actress Virginia Capers Dies

http://www.tvtome.com/images/people/2/1/35-14184.jpg

The actress who played nurse Florence Sparrow in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and appeared on shows like "Murder, She Wrote" and "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," has died.

Virginia Capers was 78.

Capers' son said the actress died last week after being hospitalized for pneumonia.

Capers won a 1974 Tony award for her performance in the original version of the musical "Raisin." She also played Mama Holiday in "Lady Sings the Blues," about singer Billie Holiday.

Capers was also a regular on the television show "Frank's Place" in the late 1980s.

She was also nominated for an Emmy in 1973 for her performance in an episode of "Mannix."

 

[Moi]

Syd Hoff

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Syd Hoff, a former cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine who is known to generations of children as the author of "Sammy the Seal" and "Danny and the Dinosaur," has died. He was 91.



Hoff died May 12 at Mount Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Lauri Oliva said. Longtime friend Edie Fine told The Miami Herald that the cause was pneumonia.


The Bronx-born Hoff wrote and illustrated the inaugural volume of the "Danny and the Dinosaur" trilogy in 1958. The book, about a dinosaur who comes to life, was part of the I Can Read series, a line of books aimed at beginning readers.


Anne Hoppe, executive editor of the HarperCollins children's books division, said Hoff was one of the first creators of books for beginning readers.


"Syd was so good at humor for young readers and for creating big-hearted characters," Hoppe said. "There is so much competition (in entertainment), but children are still very excited to be able to read. That magic hasn't gone away."


Hoff enrolled in the National Academy of Design in New York City at age 16 in the hopes of becoming a fine artist. "But a natural comic touch in my work caused my harried instructors to advise me to try something else," he once said.


He contributed a total of 571 cartoons to The New Yorker, from 1931 to 1975. Hoff also had two syndicated cartoons. "Tuffy," about a little girl, started in 1939 and ran 10 years. "Laugh It Off" started in 1958 and ran for 20 years.


He also starred in a brief series of television shows in the 1950s, "Tales of Hoff," in which he told a story and drew cartoons while on the air.


Hoff's wife, Dora, died in 1994. He is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Tony Randall Dies at 84

http://www.arts4all.com/newsletter/issue1/images/tonyrandall.jpg

NEW YORK (May 18) - Tony Randall, the comic actor best known for playing fastidious photographer Felix Unger on the television comedy "The Odd Couple," has died. He was 84.

Randall died in his sleep Monday night at New York University Medical Center of complications from a long illness, according to his publicity firm, Springer Associates.

He is survived by his wife, Heather Harlan Randall, who made him a father for the first time at age 77, and their two children, 7-year-old Julia Laurette and 5-year-old Jefferson Salvini.

Randall won an Emmy for playing Unger on the sitcom based on Neil Simon's play and movie. The show ran from 1970-75, but Randall won after it had been canceled, prompting him to quip at the awards ceremony: "I'm so happy I won. Now if I only had a job."

The show's charm sprang from Randall's chemistry and conflict with Jack Klugman as sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison, with whom he's forced to share an apartment after both men get divorced.

Before that, Randall was best known as the fastidious "best friend" figure in several Rock Hudson-Doris Day movies, including 1959's "Pillow Talk" and 1961's "Lover Come Back."

The actor became a fixture on David Letterman's late-night television talk shows, appearing a record 70 times on the "Late Show" alone. He made fun of his own prim image by taking part in Letterman's wacky antics, including allowing himself to be covered in mud.

After "The Odd Couple," Randall had two short-lived sitcoms, one of which was "The Tony Randall Show," in which he played a stuffy Philadelphia judge, from 1976-78.

From 1981-83, he played the title role in the sitcom "Love, Sidney," as a single, middle-aged commercial artist helping a female friend care for her young daughter.

The show was based on a TV movie in which Sidney was gay; in the TV show, the character's sexual orientation was implied, but never specified. This occurred more than a decade before the much-hyped coming-out on "Ellen" in 1997, which made Ellen DeGeneres' character the first openly gay central figure on a network television series.

For his television work, Randall got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998.

In an effort to bring classic theater back to Broadway, Randall founded and was artistic director of the non-profit National Actors Theatre in 1991, using $1 million of his own money and $2 million from corporations and foundations. The company's first production was a revival of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," starring Martin Sheen and Michael York, which hadn't been staged on Broadway in 40 years.

The next year, Randall's production of Ibsen's "The Master Builder" didn't exactly draw raves. AP Drama Critic Michael Kuchwara called it "deadly earnest - and dull."

Subsequent performances included "Night Must Fall," "The Gin Game" and "The Sunshine Boys," in which Randall reunited with Klugman, in 1998. Randall also starred in his company's Tony Award-winning staging of "M. Butterfly."

The actor also was socially active, lobbying against smoking in public places, marching in Washington against apartheid in the '80s, and helping raise money for AIDS research in the '90s.

Born Leonard Rosenberg on Feb. 26, 1920, Randall was drawn as a teenager to roadshows that came through his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"One night, the entire town turned out to see the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform Swan Lake and Sheherezade," he wrote. "I - and most of the audience - had never seen a ballet before. We stood and cheered, thinking it was a 'once in a lifetime' event."

Randall attended Northwestern University before heading to New York at 19, where he made his stage debut in 1941 in "The Circle of Chalk."

After Army service during World War II from 1942-46, he returned to New York, where he appeared on radio and early television. He got his start in movies in 1957.

He was married to his college sweetheart, Florence Randall, for 54 years until she died of cancer in 1992.

"I saw her in a bank - I never saw another girl in my life. She was gorgeous, the most beautiful girl I ever saw," Randall said in a TV interview in 1995.

Later that year, he married Harlan, who was 50 years his junior. Randall met her through his National Actors Theatre; former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani performed the ceremony.

Harlan gave birth to their first child, Julia Laurette Randall, in April 1997. Their second child, Jefferson Salvini Randall, was born in June 1998.

I thought he might live forever! He was the ultimate "New Yorker", and I'm glad I had the pleasure of enjoying many of his theatrical experiences, and his attempts of introducting theatre to everyone.

 

[KindaKinky]

HEaven's pretty clean, I'm sure, but I think it's just a little bit neater not that Felix is there.

Tony Randall R.I.P.

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=248346