The Rest In Peace and Remembrance Thread

[David Paleg]

With celebrities dropping like flies, I thought maybe we could devote one thread for all. If I am wrong, I could change the title. Obit du jour:

Mollie Sugden dead at 86

LONDON (Reuters) - Actress Mollie Sugden, best-known for her role as Mrs. Slocombe in the television comedy series "Are You Being Served?," has died at the age of 86.

Her agent Joan Reddin told newspapers Sugden died on Wednesday after a long illness. "She was a lovely, lovely person. She was a great professional," Reddin said.

With her hair highly coiffed and referring frequently to her "pussy," Sugden played the bossy Mrs Slocombe throughout the run of the BBC's innuendo-laden Are You Being Served? between 1972 and 1985.

Re-runs of the show in the United States in the 1990s gained her a new audience overseas.

"She was great fun, a very good actress, very versatile. She could play serious stuff and comedy," said Frank Thornton, who played opposite Sugden in the series as the stuffy floorwalker Captain Peacock.

"It was a very happy show to work on -- you can't play comedy with people you dislike," he told BBC television.

Mark Freeland, head of BBC comedy, said she was one of television's iconic funny women.

"Her daftly enormous purple rinse and never-to-be-forgotten catchphrase are the stuff of comedy legend," he said.

Sugden had also found success in the BBC TV comedy series "The Liver Birds" and played an occasional role as pub landlady Nellie Harvey in the long-running ITV soap opera "Coronation Street."

[The People's DJ]

Her "pussy" not going to like that. Being dead and all.

[David Paleg]

Here goes another one: Mr. Parker from The Pretender. From TV Guide online...

Harve Presnell Dies at 75
Jul 2, 2009 02:32 PM ET
by Adam Bryant

Harve Presnell, the Golden Globe-winning actor best known for his role as William H. Macy's father-in-law in Fargo and who starred in Broadway musicals The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Annie, has died. He was 75.

The actor died Tuesday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., after a battle with pancreatic cancer, Presnell's agent told the Associated Press.

Born, George Harvey Presnell on Sept. 14, 1933, he was known for his booming baritone voice. The 6-foot-4 actor first gained attention in 1960 as mining prospector "Leadville" Johnny Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. He later reprised the role in the 1964 film version opposite Debbie Reynolds in the title role.

Presnell became a leading man when he was cast as wealthy, bald Daddy Warbucks in a tour of Annie. He continued to play the role in various productions of the musical, including a run on Broadway from 1981-1983. He also played the character in the ill-fated, off-Broadway sequel, Annie Warbucks.

Outside of theater, Presnell was best known on the big screen for his role in the Coen Brothers' 1996 film Fargo, in which he played Macy's father-in-law. Some of his other notable film appearances include When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965), The Glory Guys (1965) and Paint Your Wagon (1969). The Fargo role helped revive his career, leading to roles in Saving Private Ryan and most recently Evan Almighty.

Presnell was also no stranger to the small screen. He was recurring character Mr. Parker on NBC's The Pretender and starred in the short-lived Andy Barker, P.I. He also had a brief arc on Dawson's Creek as A.I. Brooks, an old-Hollywood director and mentor to Dawson.

In 1965, he won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Male Newcomer alongside George Segal and Topol.

He is survived by his second wife, Veeva, six children and several grandchildren.

[David Paleg]

Allen Klein, who inked contracts for dozens of musicians, dies at age 77
* Klein's company, ABKCO, built up catalog of copyrights to more than 2,000 songs
* Known for his tough negotiating style, many blame Klein for the Beatles' break-up

(CNN) -- Music manager Allen Klein, whose clients included the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, died Saturday after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease, his publicist said. Klein was 77.

The son of Jewish immigrants from Hungary, Klein founded his firm Allen Klein & Co. in the late 1950s before the label evolved into ABKCO Music & Records in New York. The independent label holds the copyrights to music by the Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, the Animals, the Kinks, Chubby Checker, Bobby Womack and hundreds of others.

Klein represented dozens of artists, including Sam Cooke, the Animals, Bobby Darin and Herman's Hermits. He changed the music industry when he represented Sam Cooke in negotiations with RCA, winning the artist control of his own master recordings.

Known for a tenacious and often blunt style in negotiations, Klein's greatest coups were inking contracts with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, though both relationships ended in legal battles.
ABKCO built up a catalog of copyrights to more than 2,000 songs, including much of the Stones' 1960s catalog. Klein retained ownership of those titles even after splitting with the Stones.

In 1969, John Lennon persuaded the other Beatles that Klein should take over the group's business affairs, but Paul McCartney resisted the move and some music historians say the appointment hastened the Beatles' split. Lennon later fell out with Klein, who was thought to be the target of the former Beatle's 1974 song "Steel and Glass."

Defending his tough style, Klein told Playboy magazine in 1971: "The music business is about 99 percent no-talent losers who can't stand a winner in their midst."

In 1971, Klein worked with Ringo Starr to organize the "Concert for Bangladesh" at Madison Square Garden, one of the first major benefit concerts of the rock era.

Late in his career, Klein agreed to license a sample of a Rolling Stones song to the British group the Verve for their hit single "Bittersweet Symphony." But after the song was released, ABKCO successfully argued in court that the Verve had used too much of the sample and won 100 percent of the song's royalties.

Klein is survived by his wife Betty, their three children and four grandchildren. Services will be held in New York on Tuesday.

[David Paleg]

McNamara, defense chief during Vietnam War, dies
Jul 6, 1:04 PM (ET)
By PETE YOST and MIKE FEINSILBER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Robert S. McNamara, the cerebral secretary of defense vilified for his role in escalating the Vietnam War, a disastrous conflict he later denounced as "terribly wrong," died Monday. He was 93.

McNamara died at 5:30 a.m. at his home, his wife Diana told The Associated Press. She said he had been in failing health for some time.

McNamara was fundamentally associated with the Vietnam War, "McNamara's war," the country's most disastrous foreign venture, the only American war to end in abject withdrawal.

Known as a policymaker with a fixation for statistical analysis, McNamara was recruited to run the Pentagon by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 from the presidency of the Ford Motor Co. - where he and a group of colleagues had been known as the "whiz kids." He stayed in the defense post for seven years, longer than anyone since the job's creation in 1947.

[David Paleg]

Gordon Waller of Peter & Gordon Fame Dies
by Paul Cashmere
July 18 2009

Gordon Waller, who together with Peter Asher was the other half of 60’s pop duo Peter & Gordon, has died at the age of 64.

At statement posted at his MySpace page says, “We are deeply saddened to report that some time after 8 p.m. last night East Coast time, Gordon Waller went into cardiac arrest and was taken to the emergency room. Despite intensive efforts on his behalf by hospital personnel, Gordon passed away early this morning. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers”.

Peter & Gordon had a string of hits in the 60s written by Paul McCartney. McCartney was dating Peter’s sister Jane Asher at the time. He wrote the Peter & Gordon classics ‘A World Without Love’, “Nobody I Know’, ‘I Don’t Want To See You Again’ and ‘Woman’.

Their last lot of hits was in 1967 when they made charts worldwide with ‘Lady Godiva’, ‘Knight In Rusty Armour’ and ‘Sunday For Tea’.

After Peter & Gordon broke up, Peter took at job in A&R at Apple Records. He has managed Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Cher and Diana Ross.
Waller had little success as a solo artist. He released one album and then went into theatre production. In 2007 he released a Beatles covers record which included a new version of ‘Woman’.

Peter & Gordon got back together form performances in 2005. They last performed together in 2008. When they reformed Paul McCartney said "What the world needs now is Peter and Gordon to sing their songs and remind us all of the fab years they are from. "I'm very glad to hear that they have got together after these many moons and are going to help to make a world without love into a love-filled planet."

Gordon Waller died in hospital near his home in Connecticut.


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


World's oldest man, WWI veteran dies

LONDON – Only death could silence Henry Allingham.

He went to war as a teenager, helped keep flimsy aircraft flying, survived his wounds and came home from World War I to a long — very long — and fruitful life.

But only in his last years did he discover his true mission: to remind new generations of the sacrifices of the millions slaughtered in the trenches, killed in the air, or lost at sea in what Britons call the Great War.

Allingham, who was the world's oldest man when he died Saturday at 113, attributed his remarkable longevity to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women."

Jokes aside, he was a modest man who served as Britain's conscience, reminding young people time and time again about the true cost of war.

"I want everyone to know," he told The Associated Press during an interview in November. "They died for us."

[jag]

WOW! I had missed that about Gordon Waller. I've always liked their music. They really had a good blend.

[David Paleg]

Ex-'Idol' contestant Alexis Cohen, struck, killed by car in NJ
Jul 26, 8:05 AM (ET)

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) - Authorities say a 25-year-old former two-time "American Idol" contestant has been struck and killed by a car in a New Jersey shore town.

The Asbury Park Press reports that Alexis Cohen, of Allentown, Pa., was killed early Saturday in Seaside Heights.

Deputy Chief Michael Mohel of the Ocean County Prosecutors Office says an autopsy indicated she suffered chest, head and abdominal injuries. Mohel says investigators are seeking more information about the collision.

Cohen auditioned in Philadelphia for the popular Fox singing competition in August 2007, and the episode was aired in January 2008. She tried out again during the show's eighth season.

A video of her angry rant after being rejected by judges went viral on the Internet.

[David Paleg]

Ex-boxing champion Vernon Forrest killed in Ga.
By CHARLES ODUM, AP Sports Writer
AP - Jul 26, 10:19 am EDT

ATLANTA (AP)—Former boxing champion Vernon Forrest was shot and killed during an apparent robbery in Atlanta, police said Sunday.

Atlanta Police Sgt. Lisa Keyes said in an e-mail Sunday that Forrest may have been robbed and was shot “multiple times in the back” Saturday night in Atlanta.

Keyes said there are no suspects.

“Vernon was one of the few decent people in boxing,” promoter Gary Shaw said Sunday.

“I mean really decent. He cared about mentally challenged adults. He cared about kids. I just can’t believe it.”

Mark Guilbeau, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office, said an autopsy is planned for Sunday.

Forrest, a native of Augusta, Ga., who lived in Atlanta, was a member of the 1992 Olympic team. He was also a former WBC super welterweight champion.

Full story at Yahoo Sports.

[David Paleg]

'80s teen flick director John Hughes dies in NYC

Aug 6, 8:10 PM (ET)

By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) - Writer-director John Hughes, Hollywood's youth impresario of the 1980s and '90s who captured the teen and preteen market with such favorites as "Home Alone,""The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died Thursday, a spokeswoman said. He was 59.

Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan, Michelle Bega said. He was in New York to visit family.

Jake Bloom, Hughes' longtime attorney, said he was "deeply saddened and in shock" to learn of the director's death.

A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from ad writer to comedy writer to silver screen champ with his affectionate and idealized portraits of teens, whether the romantic and sexual insecurity of "Sixteen Candles," or the J.D. Salinger-esque rebellion against conformity in "The Breakfast Club."

Hughes' ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and many other young performers. He also scripted the phenomenally popular "Home Alone," which made little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his vacationing family, and wrote or directed such hits as "National Lampoon's Vacation,""Pretty in Pink,""Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Uncle Buck."

"I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person," Culkin said. "The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."

Devin Ratray, best known for playing Culkin's older brother Buzz McCallister in the "Home Alone" films, said he remained close to Hughes over the years.

"He changed my life forever," Ratray said. "Nineteen years later, people from all over the world contact me telling me how much 'Home Alone' meant to them, their families, and their children."

Other actors who got early breaks from Hughes included John Cusack ("Sixteen Candles"), Judd Nelson ("The Breakfast Club"), Steve Carell ("Curly Sue") and Lili Taylor ("She's Having a Baby").

Actor Matthew Broderick worked with Hughes in 1986 when he played the title character in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

"I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes. He was a wonderful, very talented guy and my heart goes out to his family," Broderick said.

Ben Stein, who played the monotone economics teacher calling the roll and repeatedly saying "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?", said Hughes was a towering talent.

"He made a better connection with young people than anyone in Hollywood had ever made before or since," Stein said on Fox Business Network. "It's incredibly sad. He was a wonderful man, a genius, a poet. I don't think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age.

"You had a regular guy - just an ordinary guy. If you met him, you would never guess he was a big Hollywood power."

As Hughes advanced into middle age, his commercial touch faded and, in Salinger style, he increasingly withdrew from public life. His last directing credit was in 1991, for "Curly Sue," and he wrote just a handful of scripts over the past decade. He was rarely interviewed or photographed.

---

Associated Press writer Amy Westfeldt, Entertainment Writer Douglas J. Rowe and Drama Writer Michael Kuchwara contributed to this report from New York. AP writer Solvej Schou contributed from Los Angeles.

[genlock]

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

He had been hospitalized in February 2006 when he learned he won two Grammys for an album he released after his 90th birthday, "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played."

"I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole on it," he joked.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.

[David Paleg]

Character actor John Quade dies at 71
Aug 13, 1:32 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - John Quade, who played the heavy in several Clint Eastwood movies and was the sheriff in the TV miniseries "Roots," has died. He was 71.

His wife Gwen says Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in the Southern California desert town of Rosamond.

Quade had dozens of TV and movie roles in a career that spanned more than a quarter-century. His movies included "Papillon" and "High Plains Drifter."

However, he is perhaps best remembered as the motorcycle gang leader in the Eastwood movie "Every Which Way But Loose" and its sequel, "Any Which Way You Can."

He also played Sheriff Biggs in episodes of "Roots."

The Kansas-born Quade leaves six children and 10 grandchildren.

[David Paleg]

Political columnist Robert Novak dies at 78
Aug 18, 12:56 PM (ET)
By BARRY SCHWEID and WILL LESTER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Political columnist Robert Novak, a diehard conservative and pugilistic debater who became a household face on TV, has died after a battle with brain cancer.

His wife of 47 years, Geraldine Novak, told The Associated Press that he died at his home in Washington, D.C. early Tuesday. He was 78.

Long known as the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," Novak had been a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times for decades.

He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in July 2008, less than a week after he struck a pedestrian in downtown Washington with his Corvette and drove away.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.

[cgarison]

Don Hewitt, the legendary producer and creator of “60 Minutes” has died.

60 Minutes' Creator Don Hewitt Dies
NEW YORK (CBS News) ―

CBS News

"60 Minutes"spokesman Kevin Tedesco confirmed 86-year-old Don Hewitt has died. Earlier this year, Hewitt was diagnosed with a small, contained tumor.

Hewitt was already a veteran CBS newsman in 1968 when he created "60 Minutes," pioneering the TV newsmagazine format. He served as executive producer of the program until his retirement in 2004.

Hewitt has been honored with the second annual Lifetime Achievement Emmy presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 1995, he was awarded the Founders Emmy by the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

He's also won the Director's Guild Association Honor for contributions to American culture (June 2002), the 2001 Carr Van Anda Award for his contribution to journalism, bestowed by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, and the 2000 Fred Friendly First Amendment Award from Quinnipiac College.

Hewitt is the author of Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television (PublicAffairs, April 2001), in which chronicles his life as a newsman. He is also the author of the book Minute by Minute (Random House, 1985).

[jag]

Hildegard Behrens dies at 72; soprano known for Wagnerian performances
Critics praised Behrens not only for her voice, but for her dramatic acting. She sang 171 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Hildegard Behrens, shown in 1998, was hailed as one of the finest Wagnerian performers of her generation. She performed in Los Angeles in 1998 and 2001. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)


Associated Press

August 19, 2009
E-mail Print Share Text size

Hildegard Behrens, a soprano who was one of the finest Wagnerian performers of her generation, has died while traveling in Japan. She was 72.

Jonathan Friend, artistic administrator of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, said Tuesday in an e-mail to opera officials that Behrens felt unwell while traveling to a festival near Tokyo. She went to a Tokyo hospital, where she died of an apparent aneurysm.

Behrens was among the finest actors on the opera stage during a professional career that spanned more than three decades. She made her professional stage debut in Freiburg, Germany, as the Countess in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" in 1971 and made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Giorgetta in Puccini's "Il Tabarro" in 1976.

One of her breakthrough roles came the following year, when she sang the title role in Strauss' "Salome" at the Salzburg Festival in Austria.

She sang 171 performances at the Met, where she appeared until 1999. Her breakthrough there was as Leonore in Beethoven's "Fidelio" under conductor Karl Boehm in 1980, and she was most acclaimed in the late '80s and early '90s for her portrayal of Brunnhilde in the Otto Schenk production of the Ring Cycle.

"She is the finest Brunnhilde of the post-Birgit Nilsson era," Associated Press critic Mike Silverman wrote in 1989. "Though she lacks the overpowering vocal resources of a great Wagnerian soprano, she makes up for that with dramatic intensity."

As a dramatic soprano, she had a Met career that included Elettra in Mozart's "Idomeneo," Isolde in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," Senta in "Die Fliegende Hollander," Donna Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni," Santuzza in Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," the title roles in Strauss' "Elektra" and "Salome" and Puccini's "Tosca," and Marie in Berg's "Wozzeck."

Behrens starred in a 1998 L.A. Opera production of "Salome" and performed again with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2001.

Behrens was born in 1937 in the north German town of Varel-Oldenburg. Her parents were both doctors and she and her five siblings studied piano and violin as children. She earned a law degree from the University of Freiburg, where she was also a member of the student choir.

news.obits@latimes.com

[Dave Allen]

Ted Kennedy....still dead. Reminds me of the famous line from the also dead comedian Jay Hickman..


There once was a senator from Mass.

Who went out in search of some ass.

He lucked up and found it, fucked up and drowned it and that was the end of his ass.

[David Paleg]

Ellie Greenwich, co-writer 'Chapel of Love,' dies
Aug 26, 1:33 PM (ET)
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

NEW YORK (AP) - Ellie Greenwich, who wrote such classic pop songs as "Chapel of Love,""River Deep, Mountain High" and "Be My Baby" with Phil Spector, has died, according to her niece. She was 68 years old.

Jessica Weiner (WEE'-ner) says Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York. Greenwich had been in the hospital fighting pneumonia.

Greenwich was a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was considered one of the industry's most successful songwriters.

She is survived by her sister, a brother-in-law, her niece and nephew.


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Former Dolphins DL Turner dies at 46 after stroke
August 25

LUFKIN, Texas (AP) -- Former Miami Dolphins defensive lineman T.J. Turner has died of complications from a stroke. He was 46.

Turner's death was confirmed by Tims Funeral Home in Lufkin. The Lufkin Daily News said he died Monday at a Bryan, Texas, hospital after a stroke last week.

Turner played seven seasons for the Dolphins from 1986-92, compiling 16 sacks in 101 career games. He played defensive end and nose tackle.

He was an All-Southwest Conference player at Houston before the Dolphins drafted him in the third round in 1986.

[David Paleg]

Crime story author Dominick Dunne, 83, dies in NYC
Aug 26, 8:05 PM (ET)
By POLLY ANDERSON

NEW YORK (AP) - Author Dominick Dunne, who told stories of shocking crimes among the rich and famous through his magazine articles and best-selling books including "Another City, Not My Own," about O.J. Simpson's murder trial, died Wednesday in his home at age 83.

Dunne's son, Griffin Dunne, said in a statement released by Vanity Fair magazine that his father had been battling bladder cancer. But the cancer had not prevented Dunne from working and socializing, his twin passions.

In September 2008, against his doctor's orders and his family's wishes, Dunne flew to Las Vegas to attend Simpson's kidnap-robbery trial, a postscript to his coverage of the football great's 1995 murder trial, which spiked Dunne's considerable fame.

In the past year, Dunne had traveled to Germany and the Dominican Republic for experimental stem cell treatments to fight his cancer. He wrote that he and actress Farrah Fawcett were in the same clinic in Bavaria but didn't see each other. Fawcett, a 1970s sex symbol and TV star of "Charlie's Angels," died in June at age 62.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.

[Jet Black]

Ted Kennedy....still dead. Reminds me of the famous line from the also dead comedian Jay Hickman..


There once was a senator from Mass.

Who went out in search of some ass.

He lucked up and found it, fucked up and drowned it and that was the end of his ass.

I've always thought poor Mary Jo Copeckne (sp.) should receive the Medal of Honor, for giving her life for her country.

Good riddance, Ted.

[Bob Campbell]

Possibly the greatest single Senator in the history of the United States. While the right fixates on his one glaring personal mistake, a drunk driving death, there is no denying his accomplishments as a representative of the American people. As a Senator, he was without peer in his honesty, integrity, and commitment to the citizens of the United States. His work for civil rights, the disabled, and health care is without peer. His ability to forge useful compromise with the opposition was matchless. There is no one currently in the Senate who can hold a candle to his ability as a statesman. The Senate, and the nation, have lost the last great Senator. We are all the poorer for it.