Literotica Cemetary

irvine robbins
now
baskin in valhalla...

founder of baskin robbins
dies after
(three times)
thirty wonderful years ...​
 
Country Superstar Eddy Arnold Dies

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 8) - Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history, died Thursday morning, days short of his 90th birthday.

Arnold died at a care facility near Nashville, said Don Cusic, a professor at Belmont University and author of the biography "Eddy Arnold: I'll Hold You in My Heart." His wife of 66 years, Sally, had died in March, and in the same month, Arnold fell outside his home, injuring his hip.

Arnold's vocals on songs like the 1965 "Make the World Go Away," one of his many No. 1 country hits and a top 10 hit on the pop charts, made him one of the most successful country singers in history.

Folksy yet sophisticated, he became a pioneer of "The Nashville Sound," also called "countrypolitan," a mixture of country and pop styles. His crossover success paved the way for later singers such as Kenny Rogers.

"I sing a little country, I sing a little pop and I sing a little folk, and it all goes together," he said in 1970.

He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year he was the first person to receive the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association.

Most of his hits were done in association with famed guitarist Chet Atkins, the producer on most of the recording sessions.

The late Dinah Shore once described his voice as like "warm butter and syrup being poured over wonderful buttermilk pancakes."

Reflecting on his career, he said he never copied anyone.

"I really had an idea about how I wanted to sing from the very beginning," he said.

He revitalized his career in the 1960s by adding strings, a controversial move for a country artist back then.

Among his recent albums were "Looking Back," 2002, and "After All These Years," 2005.

Joe Galante, chairman of Sony BMG Nashville, which includes RCA country artists, said he was talking about making another just a few weeks ago. "There was a special kind of happiness about him whenever he talked about music, and that is how I will remember him," Galante said.

Over the years, he invested wisely, especially in real estate in the Nashville area, and was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in country music. He once had this advice for young singers: "Get a good lawyer, a good accountant and be on time."

Friends said his wife helped handle his business dealings and was the inspiration for many of his love songs.

"What hurts me more than anything else is that he died of a broken heart," said Grand Ole Opry star Jim Ed Brown, a friend. "I don't think he ever recovered from that."

Arnold was born May 15, 1918, on a farm near Henderson, Tenn., the son of a sharecropper. He sang on radio stations in Jackson, Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis before becoming nationally known.

Early in his career, his manager was Col. Tom Parker, who later became Elvis Presley's manager.

His image was always that of a modest, clean-cut country boy.

"You cannot satisfy all the people," he once said. "They have an image of me. Some people think I'm Billy Graham's half brother, but I'm not. I want people to get this hero thing off their mind and just let me be me."

Arnold lived in Brentwood, a Nashville suburb. Survivors include a son, Richard Edward Arnold Jr., and daughter, Jo Ann Pollard, both of Brentwood.

:rose:
 
Holocaust Hero Who Saved Children Dies

WARSAW, Poland (May 12) - Irena Sendler - a Polish social worker who helped save some 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and giving them false identities - has died. She was 98.

Sendler died at a Warsaw hospital on Monday morning, her daughter, Janina Zgrzembska, told The Associated Press. She had been hospitalized since last month with pneumonia.

Born in Warsaw, Sendler served as a social worker with the city's welfare department, masterminding the risky rescue operations of Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi Germany's brutal World War II occupation.

Records show that Sendler's team of some 20 people saved nearly 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto between October 1940 and April 1943, when the Nazis burned the ghetto, shooting the residents or sending them to death camps.

Under the pretext of inspecting the ghetto's sanitary conditions during a typhoid outbreak, Sendler and her assistants went inside in search of children who could be smuggled out and given a chance of survival by living as Catholics.

Babies and small children were smuggled out in ambulances and in trams, sometimes wrapped up as packages. Teenagers escaped by joining teams of workers forced to labor outside the ghetto. They were placed in families, orphanages, hospitals or convents.

In hopes of one day uniting the children with their families - most of whom perished in the Nazis' death camps - Sendler wrote the children's real names on slips of paper that she kept at home.

When German police came to arrest her in 1943, an assistant managed to hide the slips, which Sendler later buried in a jar under an apple tree in an associate's yard. Some 2,500 names were recorded.

"It took a true miracle to save a Jewish child," Elzbieta Ficowska, who was saved by Sendler's team as a baby in 1942, recalled in an AP interview in 2007. "Mrs. Sendler saved not only us, but also our children and grandchildren and the generations to come."

After World War II, Sendler worked as a social welfare official and director of vocational schools, continuing to assist some of the children she rescued.

In 1965, Sendler became one of the first so-called Righteous Gentiles honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem for wartime heroics. Poland's communist leaders at that time would not allow her to travel to Israel; she collected the award in 1983.

Despite the Yad Vashem honor, Sendler was largely forgotten in her homeland. Only in her final years, confined to a nursing home, did she finally become one of Poland's most respected figures, with President Lech Kaczynski and other politicians backing a campaign that put her name forward for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sendler is survived by her daughter and a granddaughter.

:rose::rose::rose:
 
I am sure I will not be the only one who points this out, but just to be a butthole....

cemetery....:kiss:

I changed the title to t-e-r-y on the front page, but it remains t-a-r-y in the thread title.
 
Beverlee McKinsey

Beverlee McKinsey, 72; veteran soap opera star
The actress had long-running roles on 'Another World' and 'Guiding Light.'

May 7, 2008

Beverlee McKinsey, an actress best known for her roles on the daytime soap operas "Another World" in the 1970s and "Guiding Light" in the 1980s and early '90s, has died. She was 72.

McKinsey died May 2 at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles. The cause of death was complications after a kidney transplant, said her son, Scott McKinsey.

In an acting career of more than 30 years, McKinsey began in New York theater. She was an understudy for the Neil Simon play "Barefoot in The Park," performing the female lead a number of times in the 1960s. Robert Redford played the love interest.

She also performed the role of Honey in the London production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee in 1964. Uta Hagen played Martha and Arthur Hill played George in the production.

McKinsey moved to Hollywood in the late 1960s and had guest roles on prime-time television series including "Mannix," "The Virginian" and "Hawaii Five-O."

For some years, she was cast in small roles in feature films, including "Bronco Billy," starring Clint Eastwood, in 1980.

Her first major role on daytime television was Iris Carrington, a meddling villainess she created for the daytime "Another World." Carrington was obsessed with her father and "she had deep, dark daddy issues," Michael Logan, who writes the "Soap News" column for TV Guide, told The Times this week.

"Beverly came to soap opera with an extraordinary background as an actress," Logan said. "She was known for playing connivers, but always with soul. She never created a cartoon villain."

In some ways, McKinsey recalled the screen divas Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, Logan said. Like them, "Beverlee always played a real woman, a great dame, a strong and vulnerable type."

McKinsey played the Carrington part for nine years starting in 1970 and was nominated four times for a Daytime Emmy award but never won.

She re-created the role of Iris Carrington for "Texas," a daytime soap opera that launched in 1980 and aired for about a year. McKinsey's name appeared below the title of the show -- an extremely rare billing for soap opera stars.

Her next major role was Alexandra Spaulding, or "Alex," on "Guiding Light," which she played from 1984 to 1992. McKinsey's Alex was a matriarch and a force in the family business, Spaulding Enterprises.

"Beverly played Alex as a regal, self-assured woman who dominated people with her power," said actor Rick Hearst, who played Alex's nephew, Alan-Michael. He is now a regular on "General Hospital."

As an actress, McKinsey was "a professional who always knew her lines," said Scott McKinsey, who was a director on "Guiding Light" for six years and worked with his mother. "You could count on her, like clockwork."

Her sudden departure from the show in 1992 stunned the rest of the cast -- and viewers. McKinsey announced that she was quitting as she was about to go on vacation, saying only that the hours were too long and that she wanted a more normal life. She had an "out clause" in her contract that made it legal. After leaving the show, she cut back on acting work.

Born Beverlee Magruder on Aug. 9, 1935, in McAlester, Okla., she graduated from the University of Oklahoma, where she majored in theater arts.

She married Mark McKinsey in 1956. They divorced three years later.

McKinsey was married three times. Her last husband, actor Berkeley Harris, died in 1984.

Along with her son, McKinsey is survived by her grandson, Marley.

:rose:
 
Robert Mondavi Dies At 94

http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2008/05/16/mondavi-wine-obit-cx_pm_0516autofacescan05.html

Iconic California Winemaker Robert Mondavi Dies At 94
Forbes.com Staff 05.16.08, 11:00 PM ET

Robert Mondavi, the pioneering winemaker who helped create an international brand out of California wine, has died at the age of 94.

Mondavi died peacefully on Friday at his Napa Valley home. He was "a tireless entrepreneur who transformed how the world felt about California wine, and an unforgettable personality to everyone who knew him," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

The son of Italian immigrants had worked in the wine industry since graduating from Stanford University with a degree in economics in the 1930s. He started at the Charles Krug Winery, in which his parents had invested after leaving Minnesota for California.

A tempestuous relationship with his brother, Peter, led to a split from the family business and he opened his eponymous Napa Valley winery in Northern California in 1966 at age 52.

A bold innovator, Mondavi put his wines up against French vintages in blind tastings and championed the use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, which have become commonplace in California's $20 billion wine industry today.
 
Mondavi got me laid, several times, RIP pal ....

Cheers. I know where yer coming from on that one Faneros. ;) (chuckle)


Thanks FeistyRedHead. Mondavi was the only 'farmer' my grandaddy (Pa) studied outside his own realm of irrigation and farming techniques/knowledge. While definately against wine/drinking in general, Pa picked up a few tips here and there from Mondavi.
 
NY Daily News 5-20-08

A&P heir Huntington Hartford dies at age 97

By MICHAEL MELIA
Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Huntington Hartford, the deep-pocketed A&P grocery heir who burned through most of a $100 million fortune in a series of fruitless business and cultural endeavors before his life unraveled, has died. He was 97.

Hartford died of natural causes Monday at his home in Lyford Cay, Nassau, in the Bahamas, his daughter Juliet Hartford said.

His free-spending ways and roving eye for attractive young women made him a darling of the tabloids in his youth, when he was perceived as playing on the same field as the DuPonts, Rockefellers and Mellons.

At a time when seven-figure divorce settlements made headlines, Hartford paid $2.5 million in 1961 and again in 1970 in splits with the middle two of his four wives.

In later years, Hartford lived on the last of his millions from a trust that was administered for him. He filed for bankruptcy in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in 1992.

His daughter Juliet, who rescued her father from 10 years as a recluse and took him to his beloved Bahamas to help rehabilitate him, told Vanity Fair in 2004 that Hartford still had $11 million of his fortune, stashed in a trust fund he never touched. Recently she negotiated a return of her father's archives, donated to Boston University in 2004.

On Monday she recalled her father as a handsome and charming, if slightly eccentric man, similar to the recluse Howard Hughes.

"He wanted to be thought of like a philosopher or a thinker," she told The Associated Press.

Hartford's long list of business flops was legendary.

He blew a major portion of his inheritance, about $100 million-worth of A&P stock, on a Bahamian resort that he named Paradise Island. He spent $30 million to develop the site and lost millions when forced to sell.

In the 1950s and 1960s Hartford put his name on an art museum in Manhattan "with the inflammatory purpose of challenging the canonical view of modernism promoted by established institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim," The New York Times reported in 1996. He also started an artists' colony in Pacific Palisades, California, and a theater in Los Angeles. All were losers - financially, artistically or both.

But when his fortune had dwindled to less than $30 million, Hartford told the Wall Street Journal in 1973, he wanted to be measured by achievements instead of profit. "You can't judge everything by its dollar value," he said.

He sank millions more into Show magazine, which was devoted to highbrow arts but also featured a girl-of-the-month picture spread that Hartford insisted on.

Other money-losing ventures included an institute to promote the study of handwriting, a modeling agency and a failed Broadway adaptation of "Jane Eyre" that Hartford wrote and produced himself.

He housed an extensive collection of art in a museum named after him in 1964, but the gallery closed a few years later at a $7.4 million loss.

Born in New York on April 18, 1911, George Huntington Hartford II was named for his grandfather, who established the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. that later became the supermarket giant A&P.

Hartford came into 10 percent of the company at age 11 after the death of his father, Edward, who had made his own fortune as an inventor and manufacturer of automobile components. When his mother, Henrietta, died in 1948, she left him $4 million and her jewelry.

Like his father, Hartford had no role in running the supermarket empire. He served one brief stint as a clerk after graduating from Harvard in 1934, but that ended when two uncles fired him for skipping work to attend a Harvard-Yale game.

His only other dabble in day-to-day work was six months as a reporter for the experimental newspaper PM in 1940. He got the job, which paid $120 a month, after investing $100,000 in the venture.

By then an eight-year marriage to Mary Lee Epling had ended. They divorced in 1939 and she promptly married actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

The couple had produced no children, but, according to his biography, he fathered a son in 1938 with chorus girl Mary Barton.

His second wife was Marjorie Steele, an actress and artist he married in 1949. She had a major role in "Face to Face," his one try at film production, in 1951. It got respectable reviews but lost money. They had a son, John, and daughter, Catherine, before parting in 1961.

Hartford's next wife was Diane Brown, a model and the first picture-spread subject in Show magazine. Their marriage lasted from 1962 to 1970 and produced daughter Juliet.

Hartford's boyish good looks faded with his fortune. He married wife No. 4, hairdresser Elaine Kay, in 1974, when he was 63 and she was in her 20s. They were divorced in 1981 but continued living under the same roof for years.

Some of Hartford's domestic disarray became public in 1981 when his neighbors ousted him from a 21-room Manhattan apartment, saying undesirables streamed through his doors at all hours.

In 1986, Diane, wife No. 3, and their daughter went to court in an unsuccessful effort to have a conservator named for Hartford, arguing that he was too befogged by drugs and malnutrition to tend to his affairs.

By then, Hartford's world had shrunk to a rumpled third-floor bedroom of his home. Gone were the 100-foot oceangoing yacht, the spreads in Palm Beach, the Riviera and Hollywood, and the town house in London's Mayfair.

A funeral was scheduled for Friday at a Nassau church.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
 
Actor John Phillip Law, angel in 'Barbarella,' dies at 70

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Phillip Law, the strikingly handsome 1960s movie actor who portrayed an angel in the futuristic "Barbarella" and a lovesick Russian seaman in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," has died. He was 70.

Law died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home, said his daughter Dawn Law. The cause of death was not announced.

With his vivid eyes, blond hair and imposing physique, Law was much in demand by filmmakers in the late 1960s and early '70s.

He gained wide notice in 1966 with Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner and Theo Bikel in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," Norman Jewison's Cold War comedy in which a Soviet submarine runs aground off a peaceful New England island town.

He played the sweet Russian youth who falls in love with a local American girl in the film, which was nominated for four Oscars including best picture, actor (Arkin) and director.

French director Roger Vadim put Law's looks to good use in his 1968 science fiction film, "Barbarella," which starred Vadim's wife at the time, Jane Fonda, as a sexy space traveler in the faraway future. Law wore wings to portray Pygar, a blind angel.

"I've had more kicks out of playing far-out things," Law told the Los Angeles Times in 1966. "It's like putting on a funny face and going out in front of people and going, 'yaaaaaa.'"

Law was World War I ace Baron Manfred von Richtofen in the 1971 "The Red Baron" and Charlton Heston's son in "The Hawaiians," a 1970 sequel to "Hawaii," based on James Michener's sprawling novel.

In Otto Preminger's 1967 film, "Hurry Sundown," he was a war veteran struggling to preserve his farm against a land speculator played by Michael Caine. Fonda played Caine's wife.

He continued his career in a variety of U.S. and foreign films and television over the past 30 years, including appearances in "The Young and the Restless" and "Murder, She Wrote."

Law was a California native, born in 1937 to actress Phyllis Sallee, and her husband, a police officer. He told the Los Angeles Times he did some extra work in films as a child. He said he put acting ambitions aside in his teens, but his interest was renewed in a college drama class.

He worked in the theater in New York for a while before breaking into the movies, spending some time in the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, whose directors included the great Elia Kazan.

:rose:
 
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Robert Lynn Asprin: (1946-2008)

Author and editor, Robert Lynn Asprin passed away unexpectedly in his home in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 22, 2008. His body was discovered lying on his sofa with a science fiction book in hand. Paramedics were unable to revive him.

Asprin was the author of nearly 50 novels including the Phule series and The Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve. He collaborated with many authors including Bill Fawcett, Mel White, Peter J Heck, Eric Del Carlo, George Takei, and Esther Friesner. His best known collaboration was with his ex-wife, Lynn Abbey, with whom he co-edited the popular Thieves World books.

He had just contracted two new novels with Ace SF and was also working on a new Myth Adventures novel with Jody Lynn Nye. He was scheduled to be the Guest of Honor at MarCon this weekend and was discovered when being picked up for travel to the convention.

Asprin is survived by his mother, his sister, his daughter and his son, and his cat, Princess, not to mention countless friends and fans and numerous legendary fictional characters. He will be greatly missed.

http://www.sfwa.org/news/2008/rasprin.htm
 
Dick Martin of 'Laugh-In' Fame Dies
By BOB THOMAS,AP
Posted: 2008-05-25 08:58:55
LOS ANGELES (May 25) - Dick Martin, the zany half of the U.S. comedy team whose "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!" has died. He was 86.

Martin, who went on to become one of television's busiest directors after splitting with Rowan in the late 1970s, died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica, family spokesman Barry Greenberg said.

"He had had some pretty severe respiratory problems for many years, and he had pretty much stopped breathing a week ago," Greenberg said.

Martin was surrounded by family and friends when he died just after 6 p.m., Greenberg said.

"Laugh-in," which debuted in January 1968, was unlike any comedy-variety show before it. Rather than relying on a series of tightly scripted song-and-dance segments, it offered up a steady, almost stream-of-consciousness run of non-sequitur jokes, political satire and madhouse antics from a cast of talented young actors and comedians that also included Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and announcer Gary Owens.

Presiding over it all were Rowan and Martin, the veteran nightclub comics whose standup banter put their own distinct spin on the show.

Like all straight men, Rowan provided the voice of reason, striving to correct his partner's absurdities. Martin, meanwhile, was full of bogus, often risque theories about life, which he appeared to hold with unwavering certainty.
 
I loved Sydney's movies

Famed Director Sydney Pollack Dies
http://blog.canoe.ca/mediam/IMG_0537.jpg

LOS ANGELES (May 26) - Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay who achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with the gender-bending comedy "Tootsie" and the period drama "Out of Africa, has died. He was 73.
Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, surrounded by family, said agent Leslee Dart. He had been diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago, said Dart.
Pollack, who occasionally appeared on the screen himself, worked with and gained the respect of Hollywood's best actors in a long career that reached prominence in the 1970s and 1980s.

Last fall, he played Marty Bach opposite George Clooney in "Michael Clayton," which Pollack also co-produced. The film received seven Oscar nominations, including best picture and a best actor nod for Clooney.

Pollack's last screen appearance was in "Made of Honor," a romantic comedy currently in theaters, where he played the oft-married father of star Patrick Dempsey's character.

In recent years, Pollack produced many independent films with filmmaker Anthony Minghella and a production company Mirage Enterprises
The Lafayette, Ind. native was born to first-generation Russian-Americans.

In high school, he fell in love with theater, a passion that prompted him forego college and move to New York and enroll in the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater.

Studying under Sanford Meisner, Pollack spent several years cutting his teeth in various areas of theater, eventually becoming Meisner's assistant.

After appearing in a handful of Broadway productions in the 1950s, Pollack turned his eye to directing.

Pollack is survived by his wife, Claire; two daughters, Rebecca and Rachel; his brother Bernie; and six grandchildren.
 
Ex-MLB pitcher Gonzalez killed by lightning

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Former major league pitcher Geremi Gonzalez, who won 11 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1997, was killed by a lightning strike in his native Venezuela on Sunday. He was 33.

Emergency management official Herman Bracho said Monday that Gonzalez was struck by lightning at a beach.

Gonzalez pitched for five major league teams from 1997-2006. The right-hander appeared in 131 games with 83 starts, compiling a 30-35 record.

Gonzalez also played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers. He made a combined 24 appearances for the Mets and Brewers in his final major league season in 2006.

The Toronto Blue Jays released him during spring training last year. Gonzalez then moved to Japan and pitched in five games for the Yomiuri Giants.

:rose:
 
'Andy Griffith' Composer, Whistler Dies
Earle Hagen, 88, Penned Opening Themes for 'That Girl,' 'Dick Van Dyke'
By ROBERT JABLON, AP

Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.

He and Lionel Newman were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie "Let's Make Love."

For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for "That Girl," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."

"He loved it," his wife said. "The music just flowed from him, and he would take off one hat and put on another and go on to the next show."

Hagen enjoyed the immediacy of the small screen, he told the American Society of Musicians Arrangers & Composers in 2000.

"It was hard work, with long hours and endless deadlines, but being able to write something one day and hear it a few days later appealed to me," he said. "Besides, I was addicted to the ultimate narcosis in music, which is the rush you get when you give a downbeat and wonderful players breathe life into the notes you have put on paper."

Born July 9, 1919, in Chicago, Hagen moved to Los Angeles as a youngster. He began playing the trombone while in junior high school.

"The school actually furnished him with a tuba and his mother made him take it back," his wife said.

He became so proficient that he graduated early from Hollywood High School and at 16 was touring with big bands. He played trombone with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey and arranged for and played with Ray Noble's orchestra.

He and Newman wrote "Harlem Nocturne" for Noble in 1939. It has been covered many times since and served as the theme music for "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" television series in 1984.

In 1941, Hagen became a staff musician for CBS but the next year he enlisted in the military.

After the war, he worked as a composer and orchestrator for 20th Century-Fox studios on dozens of movies, including another Monroe classic, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

In the 1950s, he and Herbert Spencer formed an orchestra partnership that also wrote music for television, including scoring the Danny Thomas hit "Make Room for Daddy."

Later, he worked as musical director for producer Sheldon Leonard, sometimes working on as many of five shows a week.

One of his more notable TV scoring efforts was for the 1960s adventure series "I Spy," starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp.

Because the show used exotic locations worldwide, Hagen often included ethnic touches in the incidental music, among them hiring Greek musicians to play for some episodes that took place in Greece. On other locations, he collected ethnic music to mix with Western music back in Hollywood.

After retiring from TV work in 1986, Hagen taught a workshop in film and television scoring.

He also wrote three books on scoring, including 1971's "Scoring for Films," one of the earliest textbooks on the subject. His 2002 autobiography was titled "Memoirs of a Famous Composer - Nobody Ever Heard Of."

Besides his wife, Hagen is survived by his sons, Deane and James, both of Palm Desert; stepchildren Rebecca Roberts, of Irvine, Richard Roberts of Los Angeles and Rachael Roberts of Irvine; and four grandchildren. His first wife, Elouise Hagen, died in 2002 following 59 years of marriage.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
 
^^^what an interesting bio...oftentimes I enjoy the story of the "little" guys in the entertainment world more so than that of their well-known counterparts.

Thank you for sharing his story and may he create more music with other angels in his next life.:rose:
 
'Andy Griffith' Composer, Whistler Dies
Earle Hagen, 88, Penned Opening Themes for 'That Girl,' 'Dick Van Dyke'
By ROBERT JABLON, AP

Earle H. Hagen, who co-wrote the jazz classic "Harlem Nocturne" and composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who is heard whistling the folksy tune for "The Andy Griffith Show," died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, his wife, Laura, said Tuesday. He had been in ill health for several months.

During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing.

He and Lionel Newman were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie "Let's Make Love."

For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for "That Girl," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."

"He loved it," his wife said. "The music just flowed from him, and he would take off one hat and put on another and go on to the next show."

Hagen enjoyed the immediacy of the small screen, he told the American Society of Musicians Arrangers & Composers in 2000.

"It was hard work, with long hours and endless deadlines, but being able to write something one day and hear it a few days later appealed to me," he said. "Besides, I was addicted to the ultimate narcosis in music, which is the rush you get when you give a downbeat and wonderful players breathe life into the notes you have put on paper."

Born July 9, 1919, in Chicago, Hagen moved to Los Angeles as a youngster. He began playing the trombone while in junior high school.

"The school actually furnished him with a tuba and his mother made him take it back," his wife said.

He became so proficient that he graduated early from Hollywood High School and at 16 was touring with big bands. He played trombone with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey and arranged for and played with Ray Noble's orchestra.

He and Newman wrote "Harlem Nocturne" for Noble in 1939. It has been covered many times since and served as the theme music for "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" television series in 1984.

In 1941, Hagen became a staff musician for CBS but the next year he enlisted in the military.

After the war, he worked as a composer and orchestrator for 20th Century-Fox studios on dozens of movies, including another Monroe classic, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

In the 1950s, he and Herbert Spencer formed an orchestra partnership that also wrote music for television, including scoring the Danny Thomas hit "Make Room for Daddy."

Later, he worked as musical director for producer Sheldon Leonard, sometimes working on as many of five shows a week.

One of his more notable TV scoring efforts was for the 1960s adventure series "I Spy," starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp.

Because the show used exotic locations worldwide, Hagen often included ethnic touches in the incidental music, among them hiring Greek musicians to play for some episodes that took place in Greece. On other locations, he collected ethnic music to mix with Western music back in Hollywood.

After retiring from TV work in 1986, Hagen taught a workshop in film and television scoring.

He also wrote three books on scoring, including 1971's "Scoring for Films," one of the earliest textbooks on the subject. His 2002 autobiography was titled "Memoirs of a Famous Composer - Nobody Ever Heard Of."

Besides his wife, Hagen is survived by his sons, Deane and James, both of Palm Desert; stepchildren Rebecca Roberts, of Irvine, Richard Roberts of Los Angeles and Rachael Roberts of Irvine; and four grandchildren. His first wife, Elouise Hagen, died in 2002 following 59 years of marriage.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.


Wednesday at noon, all parrots and cockatiels will hold a moment of silence.
 
Harvey Korman

May 29, 2008.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harvey Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to "The Carol Burnett Show" and played a conniving politician to hilarious effect in "Blazing Saddles," died Thursday. He was 81.

Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said. He had undergone several major operations.

"He was a brilliant comedian and a brilliant father," daughter Kate Korman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "He had a very good sense of humor in real life. "

A natural second banana, Korman gained attention on "The Danny Kaye Show," appearing in skits with the star. He joined the show in its second season in 1964 and continued until it was canceled in 1967. That same year he became a cast member in the first season of "The Carol Burnett Show."

His most memorable film role was as the outlandish Hedley Lamarr (who was endlessly exasperated when people called him Hedy) in Mel Brooks' 1974 Western satire, "Blazing Saddles."

"A world without Harvey Korman — it's a more serious world," Brooks told the AP on Thursday. "It was very dangerous for me to work with him because if our eyes met we'd crash to floor in comic ecstasy. It was comedy heaven to make Harvey Korman laugh."

On television, Burnett and Korman developed into the perfect pair with their burlesques of classic movies such as "Gone With the Wind" and soap operas like "As the World Turns" (their version was called "As the Stomach Turns").

Another recurring skit featured them as "Ed and Eunice," a staid married couple who were constantly at odds with the wife's mother (a young Vickie Lawrence in a gray wig). In "Old Folks at Home," they were a combative married couple bedeviled by Lawrence as Burnett's troublesome young sister.

Korman revealed the secret to the long-running show's success in a 2005 interview: "We were an ensemble, and Carol had the most incredible attitude. I've never worked with a star of that magnitude who was willing to give so much away."

Burnett was devastated by Korman's death, said her assistant, Angie Horejsi.

"She loved Harvey very much," Horejsi said.

After 10 successful seasons, Korman left Burnett's show in 1977 for his own series. Dick Van Dyke took his place, but the chemistry was lacking and the Burnett show was canceled two years later. "The Harvey Korman Show" also failed, as did other series starring the actor.

"It takes a certain type of person to be a television star," he said in that 2005 interview. "I didn't have whatever that is. I come across as kind of snobbish and maybe a little too bright. ... Give me something bizarre to play or put me in a dress and I'm fine."

Brooks tapped Korman's kinetic comic chops often, including roles in "High Anxiety," "The History of the World Part I" and "Dracula: Dead and Loving It."

"I gave him tongue twisters because I knew he was the only one who could wrap his mouth around them," Brooks said. "Harvey was such a good solid actor that he could have done Shakespearean drama just as well and easily as he did comedy."

Brooks described Korman as a "dazzling" comic talent.

"You could get rock-solid comedy out of him. He could lift the material. He always made it real, always made it work, always believed in characters he was doing," he said.

Korman's other films included two "Pink Panther" moves, "Trail of the Pink Panther" in 1982 and "Curse of the Pink Panther" in 1983; "Gypsy," "Huckleberry Finn" (as the King), "Herbie Goes Bananas" and "Bud and Lou" (as legendary straightman Bud Abbott to Buddy Hackett's Lou Costello).

In television, Korman guest-starred in dozens of series including "The Donna Reed Show," "Dr. Kildare," "Perry Mason," "The Wild Wild West," "The Muppet Show," "The Love Boat" and "Burke's Law."

In the '70s, he and Tim Conway, one of his Burnett show co-stars, toured the country with their show "Tim Conway and Harvey Korman: Together Again." They did 120 shows a year, sometimes as many as six or eight in a weekend.

Korman had an operation in late January on a non-cancerous brain tumor and pulled through "with flying colors," Kate Korman said. Less than a day after coming home, he was re-admitted because of the ruptured aneurysm and was given a few hours to live. But he survived for another four months.

"He fought until the very end. He didn't want to die. He fought for months and months," said Kate Korman.

Harvey Herschel Korman was born Feb. 15, 1927, in Chicago. He left college for service in the U.S. Navy, resuming his studies afterward at the Goodman School of Drama at the Chicago Art Institute. After four years, he decided to try New York.

"For the next 13 years I tried to get on Broadway, on off-Broadway, under or beside Broadway," he told a reporter in 1971.

He had no luck and had to support himself as a restaurant cashier. Finally, in desperation, he and a friend formed a nightclub comedy act.

"We were fired our first night in a club, between the first and second shows," he recalled.

After returning to Chicago, Korman decided to try Hollywood, reasoning that "at least I'd feel warm and comfortable while I failed."

For three years he sold cars and worked as a doorman at a movie theater. Then he landed the job with Kaye.

In 1960 Korman married Donna Elhart and they had two children, Maria and Christopher. They divorced in 1977. Two more children, Katherine and Laura, were born of his 1982 marriage to Deborah Fritz.

In addition to his daughter Kate, he is survived by his wife and the three other children.

RIP funny man, RIP:rose:
 
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Robert Lynn Asprin: (1946-2008)

Author and editor, Robert Lynn Asprin passed away unexpectedly in his home in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 22, 2008. His body was discovered lying on his sofa with a science fiction book in hand. Paramedics were unable to revive him.

Asprin was the author of nearly 50 novels including the Phule series and The Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve. He collaborated with many authors including Bill Fawcett, Mel White, Peter J Heck, Eric Del Carlo, George Takei, and Esther Friesner. His best known collaboration was with his ex-wife, Lynn Abbey, with whom he co-edited the popular Thieves World books.

He had just contracted two new novels with Ace SF and was also working on a new Myth Adventures novel with Jody Lynn Nye. He was scheduled to be the Guest of Honor at MarCon this weekend and was discovered when being picked up for travel to the convention.

Asprin is survived by his mother, his sister, his daughter and his son, and his cat, Princess, not to mention countless friends and fans and numerous legendary fictional characters. He will be greatly missed.

http://www.sfwa.org/news/2008/rasprin.htm


:eek: :(:(:(

*sniffle*

I love the Myth Inc series ... and the Thieves World books he edited ...

:rose:
 
NHL player Bourdon killed in motorcycle crash

Young Vancouver Canucks defenceman remembered as intense competitor with 'great potential'

FREDERICTON, Canada (AFP) — Luc Bourdon, who helped Canada win a gold medal at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships, has been killed aged 21 in a motorcycle accident.

The Vancouver Canucks defenceman died when his motorcycle collided with a lorry on a rural highway outside of Lemaque, New Brunswick.

The Canucks had high hopes for Bourdon, selecting him in the first round (10th overall) in the 2005 National Hockey League's entry draft.

"We are deeply saddened by today's news and on behalf of the entire Vancouver Canucks organization, I would like to extend my sincere sympathies to Luc's family," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said.

"Luc was an extremely talented player with a bright future. He brought great passion to the game and was a valued member on and off the ice."

Bourdon scored two goals in 27 games with the Canucks this past season but spent the majority of the season with Vancouver's development team, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

Said Paul Kelly, executive director of the NHL Players' Association, "All members of the NHLPA and our staff are deeply saddened by the sudden and unexpected passing of Luc Bourdon.

"Through hard work and perseverance, Luc was able to realize his dream of becoming an NHL player. Luc had a promising career ahead of him and he will certainly be missed."

Bourdon was an integral part of Canada's gold-medal winning team at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship.

:rose:
 
Harvey Korman RIP.

The rapport he had with Tim Conway and Carol Burnett can never be copied.
 
^^You're so right. Whenever I watch them I'm usually not paying much attention to the actual words in a skit. I usually watch Harvey's face as he tries to contain his compusure and a straight face when you just know Tim Conway was pulling out the stops and ad libbing to the hild just to make Harvey crack. Comic gold!
 
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