Literotica Cemetary

[sutherngent985]

Singer-actor Jerry Reed dies at the age of 71

Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," has died of complications from emphysema at 71.
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His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.

"He's one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That's the way I feel about him," Moore-Reed said.

Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-life personality.

"Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice and especially his sense of humor," Galante said. "I was honored to have worked with him."

Reed's catalog of country chart hits, from 1967 through 1983, were released under the label group's RCA imprint.

As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Reed had a string of hits that included "Amos Moses," "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "East Bound and Down," "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)" and "The Bird."

In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as "Smokey and the Bandit" with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol' boy. But he was an ornery heavy in "Gator," directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998's "The Waterboy," starring Adam Sandler.

Reynolds gave him a shiny black 1980 Trans Am like the one they used in "Smokey and the Bandit."

Reed and Kris Kristofferson paved the way for Nashville music personalities to make inroads into films. Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (TV movies) followed their lead.

"I went around the corner to motion pictures," he said in a 1992 AP interview.

Reed had quadruple bypass surgery in June 1999.

Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a $2 guitar and showed him how to play a G-chord.

He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young.

At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.

He moved to Nashville in the mid-1960s where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.

He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, "U.S. Male" and "Guitar Man" (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit "A Thing Called Love," which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs for Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.

He won a Grammy Award for "When You're Hot, You're Hot" in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkins for their collaboration, "Me and Jerry." In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for "Sneakin' Around."

Reed continued performing on the road into the late 1990s, doing about 80 shows a year.

"I'm proud of the songs, I'm proud of things that I did with Chet (Atkins), I'm proud that I played guitar and was accepted by musicians and guitar players," he told the AP in 1992.

In a 1998 interview with The Tennessean, he admitted that his acting ability was questionable.

"I used to watch people like Richard Burton and Mel Gibson and think, `I could never do that.'

"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."

 

[phrodeau]

Don LaFontaine.

See other threads for obit.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Wrestling Legend Walter "Killer" Kowalski Dead at 81

Legendary grapler Walter "Killer" Kowalski passed away last weekend at the age of 81.

TMZ reports that, after a massive heart attack on the 8th of August, Kowalski was taken off life support fourteen days previous.

Kowalski was one of the more visible and famous of the old-school wrestlers. He was one of Canada's most revered and feared professional wrestlers.

The six-foot, seven-inch grapler was known for his affable nature and being a vegetarian. His in-ring persona was typically that of a heel, or a villain.

Between 1947-77, the Windsor native, born Walter Spulnik, fought in a number of wrestling associations, including the National Wrestling Association and culminating in the World Wrestling Federation, where he won the tag-team championship.

Upon retiring from the ring in 1977, Kowalski opened an influential training school in Malden, Mass.

He wrestled for nearly 30 years and would go on to train the likes of Chyna and Triple H.

The lifelong bachelor got married for the first time in 2006.

He is survived by his wife, Theresa.

 

[Chainzz]

Evan Tanner - former UFC champion

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/articlefiles/3539-Evan%20Tanner.jpg

 

[KindaKinky]

...The free-spirited Tanner was known for doing things his way. He was hardly a fan of the sport he practiced, focusing hard on his own game, but paying little attention to the sport at large. He preferred books to sports. His initial entry into MMA was on a lark. The former Texas high school state wrestling champion entered a one-night mixed martial arts tournament in his hometown of Amarillo, and won all three matches in springboarding his career. Tanner rarely trained with the same camp, and spoke of his life’s chapters as “adventures.” More than one friend was known to describe him as “restless,” with a built-in yearning to experience new things. He liked to surf and ride motorcycles. He lived simply, often in spartan conditions, and drove a 30-year-old Toyota Land Cruiser. He kept a journal documenting his life. He’d just relocated to Oceanside, Calif., when he started his latest adventure to burrow into the desert, which he characterized as a “journey to solitude” on his blog.

When friends voiced concern about his solo trip, Tanner tried to allay their fears, writing, “So my plan is to go out to the desert, do some camping, ride the motorcycle, and shoot some guns. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. A lot of people do it. This isn't a version of Into the Wild. I'm not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I'm going fully geared up, and I'm planning on having some fun.”

On Tanner’s MySpace page, visitors are hauntingly greeted by a song from Eddie Vedder, one of his favorite artists. The song is “Guaranteed,” which plays over the credits as the movie Into the Wild ends.

The lyrics close with words that echo Tanner’s life:

Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite, forever orbiting
I know all the rules, but the rules do not know me
Guaranteed.

© 2008 NBC Sports.com

Consider the irony.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

British Performer and Director Ken Campbell Dies At 66

Ken Campbell the eccentric British actor, writer and director was found dead on Sunday in his Epping Forrest home. He was 66 years old. The cause of death is unknown.

Campbell was known as one of the "strangest people in Britian". He recently performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in his play Showstopper! The Improvised Musical.

Campbell graduated from Rada and went on to perform with this ensemble, The Ken Campbell Roadshow, in pubs in the 1970's. His other work included one-man shows including "Recollections of a Furtive Nudist," "Jamais Vu" and "Mystery Bruises." He also guest starred on various sitcoms and also performed a 22-hour long sci-fi epic "The Warp" on stage.

He once said, ""I can write a bit; I can direct, but I only really enjoy directing something nobody else will. I don't want to join the who-can-do- 'The-Cherry-Orchard' -best competition, because the answer is it wouldn't be me."

He is survived by his wife Prunella and their daughter Daisy.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Haskins, Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, Dies

Sep 7, 8:33 PM (ET)

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Don Haskins, credited with helping break color barriers in college sports in 1966 when he used five black starters to win a national basketball title for Texas Western, died. He was 78.

Haskins was an old-time coach who believed in hard work and was known for his gruff demeanor. That attitude was portrayed in the 2006 movie "Glory Road," the Disney film that chronicled Haskins' improbable rise to national fame in the 1966 championship game against Kentucky. The movie, which was preceded by a book of the same title, also sparked renewed interest in Haskins' career.

During his career, Haskins turned down several more lucrative offers, including one with the now-defunct American Basketball Association, to remain at UTEP as one of the lowest paid coaches in the Western Athletic Conference.

Haskins retired in 1999 after 38 seasons at the school. He had a 719-353 record and won seven WAC championships. He took UTEP to 14 NCAA tournaments and to the NIT seven times and briefly worked as an adviser with the Chicago Bulls.

His health had been an issue in his final coaching years, often forcing him to remain seated during games, and his program struggled after twice being slapped with NCAA sanctions. Serious health concerns continued in his retirement. In the midst of a series of book signings and other appearances Haskins was hospitalized with various woes.

After his retirement, Haskins kept close ties with the Miners. The school's most recent hire, Tony Barbee, said he even met with Haskins just after accepting the job.

"He is a guy who has forgotten more basketball than I will ever know," Barbee said.

Haskins played for Hall of Fame coach Henry "Hank" Iba at Oklahoma State, back when the school was still Oklahoma A&M. Haskins was later an assistant under Iba for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team in Munich.

As a coach, Haskins became a star early in his career by leading his Miners to the 1966 NCAA championship game, then making the controversial decision to start five blacks against all-white, heavily favored Kentucky, coached by Adolf Rupp. The Miners won, and shortly after that many schools began recruiting black players.

Haskins said he wasn't trying to make a social statement with his lineup; he was simply starting his best players. The move, however, raised the ire of some who sent Haskins hate mail and even death threats during the racially charged era.

The coach always was focused on the game of basketball. He had a reputation for working his players hard.

"Our practices wore us out so much that we'd have to rest up before the games," said Harry Floury, a starter in the 1966 championship. "If you work hard all the time and if you go after every loose ball, you see things like that (championship) happen."

Haskins is credited with helping Nate Archibald, Tim Hardaway and Antonio Davis, among others, make it to the NBA.

In November 2000, Haskins was awarded the John Thompson Foundation's Outstanding Achievement Award during a tournament hosted by Arkansas.

"We couldn't think of anyone that deserves this recognition more than coach Haskins," said Nolan Richardson, the former Arkansas coach who played under Haskins for two years. "He opened the door for African-American players to play basketball."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Pink Floyd Founder Richard Wright Dead at 65

September 15 2008
Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright has died after losing his battle with cancer. He was 65.

Though not as prolific a songwriter as his bandmates Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, Wright did write significant parts of the music for classic albums like Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as for Pink Floyd's final studio album The Division Bell.

Dave Gilmour joined the band at the start of 1968 while Barrett left the group shortly afterward.

Wright's spokesman said, "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer.

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

Wright has been married to his third wife Millie (to whom he dedicated his second solo album Broken China) since 1996 and they have one child named Ben. He married his first wife Juliette Gale in 1964 and they divorced in 1982 after two children. He married his second wife Franka in 1984 and they divorced in 1994.

Wright has a daughter, Gala, who in 1996 married Guy Pratt, a session musician who has played bass for Pink Floyd since Roger Waters' exit.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Novelist David Foster Wallace found dead

4 days ago

CLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) — David Foster Wallace, the author best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest," was found dead in his home, according to police. He was 46.

Wallace's wife found her husband had hanged himself when she returned home about 9:30 p.m. Friday, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont Police Department.

Wallace taught creative writing and English at nearby Pomona College.

"He cared deeply for his students and transformed the lives of many young people," said Dean Gary Kates. "It's a great loss to our teaching faculty."

Wallace's first novel, "The Broom of the System," gained national attention in 1987 for its ambition and offbeat humor. The New York Times said the 24-year-old author "attempts to give us a portrait, through a combination of Joycean word games, literary parody and zany picaresque adventure, of a contemporary America run amok."

Published in 1996, "Infinite Jest" cemented Wallace's reputation as a major American literary figure. The 1,000-plus-page tome, praised for its complexity and dark wit, topped many best-of lists. Time Magazine named "Infinite Jest" in its issue of the "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005."

Wallace received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1997.

In 2002, Wallace was hired to teach at Pomona in a tenured English Department position endowed by Roy E. Disney. Kates said when the school began searching for the ideal candidate, Wallace was the first person considered.

"The committee said, 'we need a person like David Foster Wallace.' They said that in the abstract," Kates said. "When he was approached and accepted, they were heads over heels. He was really the ideal person for the position."

Wallace's short fiction was published in Esquire, GQ, Harper's, The New Yorker and the Paris Review. Collections of his short stories were published as "Girl With Curious Hair" and "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men."

He wrote nonfiction for several publications, including an essay on the U.S. Open for Tennis magazine and a profile of the director David Lynch for Premiere.

Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Wallace attended Amherst College and the University of Arizona.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Frank Mundus, 82, Dies; Inspired ‘Jaws’

Frank Mundus, the hulking Long Island shark fisherman who was widely considered the inspiration for Captain Quint, the steely-eyed, grimly obsessed shark hunter in “Jaws,” died on Wednesday in Honolulu. He was 82 and lived on a small lemon-tree farm in Naalehu, on the southern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii, 2,000 feet above shark level.

The cause was a heart attack, his wife, Jeanette, said.

Mr. Mundus and his wife moved from Montauk, on the South Fork of Long Island, to Hawaii in 1991, but often returned to Long Island in summer, when tourists and city-slicker enthusiasts sought to spice vacations with a shark hunt, priced at $1,800 for a party of five.

On just such a venture in August 2007, the tail of a nine-foot thresher shark splashing off the stern of his 42-foot boat, the Cricket II, slapped Mr. Mundus and sent him reeling. He struck right back, planting his gaff — a giant fish hook on a pole — in the shark’s back and hauling it aboard.

Mr. Mundus had run charter boats from the docks of Montauk since 1951, taking fishermen out for easy-to-catch mackerel and fighting bluefish. But one night in the 1950s, according to one of his accounts, sharks outnumbered the blues and in the ensuing struggle a shark was snared. The next day Mr. Mundus posted a sign by his boat: “Monster Fishing.”

Mr. Mundus inevitably became known as Monster Man, and he looked the part, with his safari hat, a diamond-studded gold earring, a jewel-handled dagger with a shark-tooth blade, and the big toe of one foot painted green and the other red, for port and starboard.

His most fateful encounter with a shark came one day in 1964, when Mr. Mundus already had two sharks hanging on the side of his boat and a third on the hook. Then he spotted a huge one alongside.

“I harpooned him and he took off for the horizon,” he told The Daily News in 1977. “Before I got him, I harpooned him five times. A white shark. A killer. He was 17 ½ feet long and 13 feet in girth and weighed at least 4,500 pounds. The biggest ever caught.”

The legend grew, and in the next few years, he repeatedly took Peter Benchley, who wrote the best seller “Jaws,” out to sea.

Mr. Mundus told a New York Times reporter that Mr. Benchley loved the way he harpooned huge sharks with lines attached to barrels to track them while they ran to exhaustion.

In 1975, “Jaws” was turned into Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie, which for years left millions of beachgoers toe-deep in the sand. Robert Shaw played Quint, who exits by sliding feet first into the belly of a monster great white.


In 1986, Mr. Mundus dragged in a 17-foot-long, 3,427-pound great white — not by harpoon, but by rod and reel, quite a feat for a man with a withered left arm.

Frank Louis Mundus was born in Long Branch, N.J., on Oct. 21, 1925, a son of Anthony and Christine Brug Mundus. He broke his arm as child and a bone-marrow infection set in, leaving that arm shorter than the other. By then, the family had moved to Brooklyn, where Mr. Mundus’s father found work as a steamfitter and his mother ran a boarding house. Doctors told Mr. Mundus’s parents that they should take him to the beach to swim to build strength in his arm.

“He fell in love with the ocean,” his wife said.

Besides his wife, the former Jeanette Hughes, whom he married in 1988, Mr. Mundus is survived by his sister, Christine Zenchak; three daughters from a first marriage, Barbara Crowley, Theresa Greene and Patricia Mundus; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His first marriage, to Janet Probasco, ended in divorce.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Thomas Doerflein, who reared polar bear Knut, dies

(09-26) 04:00 PDT Berlin --

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/09/26/ba-zookeeper26_p_0499188943_part1.jpg

The zookeeper who gained fame for hand-rearing the beloved polar bear Knut died of a heart attack Monday.

A spokeswoman for Berlin police said Thomas Doerflein was dead when authorities arrived at the apartment.

Mr. Doerflein was 44 years old.

He gained fame in Germany and beyond as the ever-present caretaker for Knut, a polar bear cub abandoned by his mother in late 2006.

Knut became a worldwide sensation when the Berlin Zoo decided to raise him by hand, and Mr. Doerflein was there for every stage of the bear's progress.

With his burly build, beard and ponytail, Mr. Doerflein was a distinctive figure at the side of the growing bear. He nursed young Knut in his arms behind closed doors and wrestled with him after the bear grew old enough to play. When Knut made his public debut in March 2007, Mr. Doerflein was at his side. They started a daily performance for the thousands of visitors who flocked to see the bear at his outdoor enclosure.

But the "Knut show" ended in July of that year when the zoo's director ruled that the bear had grown too large for Mr. Doerflein to frolic with in safety.

The boisterous bear now weighs more than 265 pounds, has his own feature-length film, blog and TV show. He has graced the cover of German Vanity Fair and appeared on a set of stamps.

The Berlin Zoo credited Knut with a 27 percent increase in visitors in 2007 and profits of nearly $9.9 million. It has licensing agreements for all kinds of Knut products, including stuffed animals, T-shirts, mugs and DVDs.

In November Mr. Doerflein was awarded Berlin's medal of merit for his service to the city - and to Knut.

Mr. Doerflein worked at the zoo for more than 25 years. According to the newspaper Die Welt, Mr. Doerflein was a Berlin native with two grown children. He lived with his girlfriend and her young son.

 

[Beco]

Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83

The Associated Press
Article Launched: 09/27/2008 06:56:20 AM PDT


NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A spokeswoman for screen legend Paul Newman says the actor has died at age 83. Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic says Newman died Friday of cancer. No other details were immediately available.

Newman was nominated for Academy Awards 10 times, winning a regular Oscar in 1987 for "The Color of Money" and two honorary ones. He was equally at home in comedies such as "The Sting" and dramas such as "Hud."

He sometimes teamed with his wife, Joanne Woodward, also an Oscar winner for the 1957 film "Three Faces of Eve."


RIP Mr. Newman .

 

[Agent99]

A little longer obit

Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET


Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.



He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."
Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."

He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie"

With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. "I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."

Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say.

A screen legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for "The Color of Money," a reprise of the role of pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961 film "The Hustler."

Newman delivered a magnetic performance in "The Hustler," playing a smooth-talking, whiskey-chugging pool shark who takes on Minnesota Fats played by Jackie Gleason and becomes entangled with a gambler played by George C. Scott. In the sequel directed by Scorsese "Fast Eddie" is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but rather an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.

He won an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work.

His most recent academy nod was a supporting actor nomination for the 2002 film "Road to Perdition." One of Newman's nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress Meryl Streep has had 14.)

As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama "Empire Falls" and providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, "Cars."

But in May 2007, he told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had given up acting, though he intended to remain active in charity projects. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."

He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a bitter, alcoholic former star athlete in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor played his unhappy wife and Burl Ives his wealthy, domineering father in Tennessee Williams' harrowing drama, which was given an upbeat ending for the screen.

In "Cool Hand Luke," he was nominated for his gritty role as a rebellious inmate in a brutal Southern prison. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1967 and included a tagline, delivered one time by Newman and one time by prison warden Strother Martin, that helped define the generation gap, "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate."

Newman's hair was graying, but he was as gourgeous as ever and on the verge of his greatest popular success. In 1969, Newman teamed with Redford for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a comic Western about two outlaws running out of time. Newman paired with Redford again in 1973 in "The Sting," a comedy about two Depression-era con men. Both were multiple Oscar winners and huge hits, irreverent, unforgettable pairings of two of the best-looking actors of their time.

Newman also turned to producing and directing. In 1968, he directed "Rachel, Rachel," a film about a lonely spinster's rebirth. The movie received four Oscar nominations, including Newman, for producer of a best motion picture, and Woodward, for best actress. The film earned Newman the best director award from the New York Film Critics.

In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1972 film, "Winning." After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.

"Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood," he told People magazine in 1979.

Despite his love of race cars, Newman continued to make movies and continued to pile up Oscar nominations, his looks remarkably intact, his acting becoming more subtle, nothing like the mannered method performances of his early years, when he was sometimes dismissed as a Brando imitator. "It takes a long time for an actor to develop the assurance that the trim, silver-haired Paul Newman has acquired," Pauline Kael wrote of him in the early 1980s.

In 1982, he got his Oscar fifth nomination for his portrayal of an honest businessman persecuted by an irresponsible reporter in "Absence of Malice." The following year, he got his sixth for playing a down-and-out alcoholic attorney in "The Verdict."

In 1995, he was nominated for his slyest, most understated work yet, the town curmudgeon and deadbeat in "Nobody's Fool." New York Times critic Caryn James found his acting "without cheap sentiment and self-pity," and observed, "It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way."

Newman, who shunned Hollywood life, was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act offensive, according to one friend.

He also claimed that he never read reviews of his movies.

"If they're good you get a fat head and if they're bad you're depressed for three weeks," he said.

Off the screen, Newman had a taste for beer and was known for his practical jokes. He once had a Porsche installed in Redford's hallway crushed and covered with ribbons.

"I think that my sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me sane," he told Newsweek magazine in a 1994 interview.

In 1982, Newman and his Westport neighbor, writer A.E. Hotchner, started a company to market Newman's original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman's Own, which began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and other foods. All of the company's profits are donated to charities. By 2007, the company had donated more than $175 million, according to its Web site.

In 1988, Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in several other states and in Europe.

He and Woodward bought an 18th century farmhouse in Westport, where they raised their three daughters, Elinor "Nell," Melissa and Clea.

Newman had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.

Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. After his only son's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the production of anti-drug films for children.

Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of two boys of Arthur S. Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman.

He was raised in the affluent suburb of Shaker Heights, where he was encouraged him to pursue his interest in the arts by his mother and his uncle Joseph Newman, a well-known Ohio poet and journalist.

Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.

He later studied at Yale University's School of Drama, then headed to New York to work in theater and television, his classmates at the famed Actor's Studio including Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden. His breakthrough was enabled by tragedy: Dean, scheduled to star as the disfigured boxer in a television adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler," died in a car crash in 1955. His role was taken by Newman, then a little-known performer.

Newman started in movies the year before, in "The Silver Chalice," a costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety to apologize. By 1958, he had won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the shiftless Ben Quick in "The Long Hot Summer."

In December 1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.

"I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious," he said. "Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore," he said.

Newman is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons and his older brother Arthur.

-------------------------------------

Me love him long time.

 

[sutherngent985]

Possibly one of the greatest actors there has ever been. He will be missed.

 

[Beco]

Possibly one of the greatest actors there has ever been. He will be missed.

missed, is putting it mildly

RIP Mr. Newman

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Paul Newman

http://www.mikkiansin.com/new_film/source/image/paul_newman.jpg

So glad we still have him on film.

He made bad movies good!

"The Verdict" and "Slapshot" are only two of my Newman favorites.

 

[drown]

it is actually cool that they die...

was great
is a hell of a lot better
than
isn't great any more
even if they are.


we're impatient
and hungry.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Mr. Clean actor House Peters Jr. dead at 92

LOS ANGELES (AP) - House Peters Jr., a TV actor who became the original Mr. Clean in Proctor & Gamble's commercials for household cleaners, died Wednesday. He was 92.

Peters died of pneumonia at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Los Angeles, said his son, Jon Peters.

The elder Peters' most memorable role came as Mr. Clean - a muscular man with a bald head, a hoop earring and a no-nonsense attitude toward dirt and grime. From the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, Peters Jr. helped advertise the famous household cleaner with the trademark jingle, "Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean."

Peters Jr. played many supporting roles through his career, including working with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry on their television shows. He also appeared in "Perry Mason,""Gunsmoke,""The Twilight Zone" and "Lassie."

"He always played the heavy," Jon Peters said, referring to his father's customary roles as a villain or brawny character. "Even though he wasn't happy about being cast in those roles, he worked really hard at it."

His father's acting career spanned 1935-1967, according to his Web site. He also wrote an autobiography, "Another Side of Hollywood," in which he describes growing up the son of an actress and silent film actor in Beverly Hills. His father, Robert House Peters Sr., has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Peters Jr. was never a leading man, but played many character parts in cowboy movies and won a Golden Boot Award in 2000 for his lifetime contributions to the western genre, his son said.

Peters Jr. was born Jan. 12, 1916, in New Rochelle, N.Y., as Robert House Peters Jr. His son said Peters Jr. studied drama in high school and became inspired to pursue an acting career.

He also is survived by his wife, Lucy Pickett, a daughter, another son and four grandchildren.

 

[Violette]

I know I'm a little late, but I just wanted to give respect to the great Paul Newman tributes. He was a class act in movies and real life that will truly be missed.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Kingston Trio's Nick Reynolds, 75, dies in SD

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Nick Reynolds, a founding member of the Kingston Trio who jump-started the revival folk scene of the late 1950s and paved the way for artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, has died. He was 75.

Reynolds had been hospitalized with acute respiratory disease and other illnesses, and died Wednesday in San Diego after his family took him off life support, said son Joshua Reynolds.

"Dad was so happy he turned people onto music in a way that people could really approach it, in a simple and honest way," Josh Reynolds told The Associated Press. "He was a very gracious and loving performer. He was a devoted family man."

The Kingston Trio's version of the 19th century folk song "Tom Dooley" landed the group a No. 1 spot on the charts in 1958, and launched the band's career.

Born on July 27, 1933, in San Diego, Nicholas Reynolds demonstrated an early love of music and did sing-alongs with his two sisters and their Navy captain-father, who taught him to play guitar.

He graduated from Coronado High School in 1951 and attended the University of Arizona and San Diego State University before attending Menlo College, a business school near Palo Alto. He graduated from Menlo in 1956.

It was during the mid-1950s that Nicholas Reynolds met Bob Shane, who introduced him to Stanford student Dave Guard. Guard and Shane knew each other from playing music in Guard's native Hawaii. The three formed the Kingston Trio.

In 1958, "Tom Dooley" earned Reynolds, Guard and Shane a trophy for best country and western performance at the first Grammys. The group, defined by tight harmonies and a clean-cut style, went on to win a Grammy the next year for best folk performance for its album "The Kingston Trio At Large."

Later member John Stewart joined the group in 1961, replacing Guard. Stewart died in January, also in San Diego.

After leaving the Kingston Trio in 1967, Reynolds moved to Oregon, where he stayed until the 1980s and took a break from music to raise his family, his son said.

Reynolds moved back to California in the mid-1980s and rejoined Stewart for one album. In 1991, Reynolds rejoined Shane in a reconstituted version of the Trio. He remained with the group until retiring in 2003, his son said.

Reynolds is survived by his wife Leslie, sons Joshua and John Pike Reynolds, daughters Annie Reynolds Moore and Jennifer Reynolds, and his two sisters.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htBR3imbFfI&feature=related

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Soap Opera Legend Eileen Herlie Dies

NEW YORK -Eileen Herlie, a stage and TV actress who appeared on "All My Children" for more than three decades as the motherly Myrtle Fargate, has died at 90.

Herlie died Wednesday of pneumonia, said Julie Hanan Carruthers, the ABC soap opera's executive producer.

The actress joined the long-running show in 1976 to play Myrtle, who became the surrogate mother to many of the soap's major characters, including Erica Kane, portrayed by Susan Lucci.

"I'm sure Eileen is lighting up the sky's in heaven with her flaming red hair and lovely Scottish accent," Lucci said. "The earth's loss is heaven's gain!"
Herlie's last appearance on the program was in June.

Before joining "All My Children," Herlie was a regular on Broadway. She made her debut in Thornton Wilder's "The Matchmaker" in 1955, playing milliner Irene Molloy in the comedy, which starred Ruth Gordon as Dolly Gallagher Levi.
Musical theater buffs knew Herlie from her appearances in two shows: "Take Me Along" (1959), an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!," in which she played Jackie Gleason's love interest, and "All American" (1962), in which Herlie co-starred with Ray Bolger. In "All American," she and Bolger sang the musical's best-known song, "Once Upon a Time," a Charles Strouse-Lee Adams tune later popularized by Tony Bennett.

Herlie was nominated for a Tony for her performance in "Take Me Along."
Among Herlie's other Broadway appearances were the Richard Burton production of "Hamlet" (1964), in which she played Queen Gertrude; two plays written by Peter Ustinov, "Photo Finish" (1963) and "Halfway Up the Tree" (1967); and "Crown Matrimonial" (1973), a drama about the events leading up to the abdication of King Edward VIII, in which she played Queen Mary and George Grizzard the love-stricken monarch.

Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Herlie worked for several years in the Scottish National Theater and in the English theater with Tyrone Guthrie. Among the hit London plays she appeared in: Jean Cocteau's "The Eagle Has Two Heads."

Her movie credits include two filmings of "Hamlet," the Burton version and the 1948 Laurence Olivier production, in which she also played Gertrude. Her other movies include "Freud" (1962) with Montgomery Clift and Sidney Lumet's "The Sea Gull" (1968) with Simone Signoret, James Mason and Vanessa Redgrave.

Herlie is survived by a brother, nieces and nephews.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Comic, actor Howard Mann dies

Comic and actor Howard Mann died Sept. 18 of cancer. He was 85.
Most recently, Mann appeared on shows including "Starter Wife" and "Pushing Daisies."

After graduating from City College of New York, Mann worked in the New York advertising business, then decided to become a standup comedian. He studied comedy with Zero Mostel and acting with Herbert Berghof and Bill Hickey.

As a comic, he appeared on the "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, "The Johnny Cash Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show."

During the Bicentennial celebration in 1976, Mann starred as George Washington in a one-man show that toured throughout the country. He appeared on Broadway with Edye Gorme and Steve Lawrence in "Golden Rainbow," and played Oscar in "The Odd Couple" and Sitting Bull in "Annie Get Your Gun" off Broadway.

In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in such television shows as "The Jeffersons," "Barney Miller," "Murder She Wrote," "Moonlighting," and "Seinfeld."

More recent appearances included "Malcolm in the Middle," "Sabrina," "CSI: Miami" and "The West Wing." Mann also appeared in films including "The World of Henry Orient," "Mr. Saturday Night" and Mel Brooks' "History of the World: Part I." In the late '80s, he performed for senior citizens in the San Fernando Valley, doing a rap routine about aging.

For the last 12 years, Mann also taught comedy classes at Santa Monica College and mentored elementary schoolchildren.

He is survived by his longtime companion, Bea Mitz.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Prospect Cherepanov Passes Away at 19

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather regretfully announced today that forward Alexei Cherepanov passed away during a game in Russia on Monday evening. Cherepanov was 19 years old.

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Alexei Cherepanov attended the Rangers Prospect Development Camp just days after being taken in the first round of the June 2007 NHL Entry Draft in Columbus.

“We are extremely saddened by the tragic passing of Alexei,” said Sather. “On behalf of the New York Rangers organization, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Alexei was an intelligent, energetic young man, with tremendous talent and an extremely bright future.”
Cherepanov appeared in 14 games with Avangard Omsk of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) this season, registering seven goals and five assists for 12 points. He ranked second on the team in goals (seven) and fourth in points (12). He also ranked third on the team with a 24.1% shooting percentage.

The 6-1, 187-pounder appeared in 106 career Russian Super League (RSL)/KHL matches with Avangard Omsk, collecting 40 goals and 29 assists for 69 points, along with 61 penalty minutes. Last season, Cherepanov established a career-high in assists (13) while finishing fourth on the club in points (28).

In 2006-07, he set the RSL record for most goals by a rookie (18), eclipsing Pavel Bure’s mark (17) set in 1988-89 with the Red Army (CSKA Moscow).

Internationally, Cherepanov represented Team Russia in several elite tournaments. Most recently, he helped lead Russia to a Bronze Medal in the 2008 U-20 World Junior Championships, tallying three goals and three assists for six points and a plus-three rating in six games. In 2007, Cherepanov earned Top Forward honors by the Directorate and was selected to the All-Tournament Team at the 2007 U-20 World Junior Championships, where he led all players in scoring with eight points (five goals and three assists) in six games and helped Team Russia capture a Silver Medal.

The Barnaul, Russia native was originally the Rangers’ first round choice, 17th overall, in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Four Tops Frontman Levi Stubbs Dies

AP
(Oct. 17) - Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, who possessed one of the most dynamic and emotive voices of all the Motown singers, died Friday at 72. He had been ill recently and died in his sleep at the Detroit house he shared with his wife, said Dana Meah, the wife of a grandson. The Wayne County medical examiner's office also confirmed the death.

With Stubbs in the lead, the Four Tops sold millions of records, including such hits as "Baby I Need Your Loving," ''Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)."

The group performed for more than four decades without a change in personnel. Stubbs' death leaves one surviving member of the original group: Abdul "Duke" Fakir.

Stubbs "fits right up there with all the icons of Motown," said Audley Smith, chief operating officer of the Motown Historical Museum. "His voice was as unique as Marvin's or as Smokey's or as Stevie's."

The Four Tops began singing together in 1953 under the group name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their names to the Four Tops to avoid being confused with the Ames Brothers.

The Four Tops signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced 20 Top-40 hits over the next 10 years, making music history with the other acts in Berry Gordy's Motown stable.

They toured for decades and reached the charts as late as 1988 with "Indestructible" on Arista Records. In 1986, Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey II the man-eating plant in the film "Little Shop of Horrors."
The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Original Top Lawrence Payton died of liver cancer in 1997. Renaldo "Obie" Benson died of lung cancer in 2005.

Stubbs was born in 1936 in Detroit and attended Pershing High School, where he sang with Fakir. They met fellow Detroiters Payton and Benson while singing at a mutual friend's birthday party, then decided to form a group.
"These are four of the greatest people I have ever known. They were major pros even before they came to Motown," Gordy said when the Four Tops' star was unveiled in Hollywood.

Stubbs is survived by his wife, five children and 11 grandchildren.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Longtime Game Show Host Jack Narz Dies

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 17) - Jack Narz, a longtime game show host who was an early victim of the quiz show scandals of the 1950s when a show he was hosting was canceled, has died. He was 85.

Narz died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications of a stroke, his wife, Delores, said Thursday.

Among the shows he hosted over the years were "Video Village," which began in 1960, "Seven Keys," 1961, "I'll Bet," 1963, and "Now You See It," 1974, according to the book "TV Game Shows!" by Maxene Fabe.

He also guest hosted many shows and did updated 1970s versions of older shows such as "Concentration" and "Beat the Clock."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Jacknarz.jpg

He was the brother of veteran game show host Tom Kennedy.

His brother was a triple threat with good looks, personality and a "wonderful" voice, Kennedy said Thursday.

While Narz had a small role in the scandal that gripped the nation in the late 1950s, he was not accused of wrongdoing. He was host of "Dotto," a televised connect-the-dots game, when it was abruptly taken off the air in August 1958. Audiences didn't know it at the time, but a contestant had gone to authorities after he found a notebook backstage that indicated that another contestant was given answers in advance.

"Fate is a strange thing, isn't it?" Narz recalled in the 1992 PBS documentary "The Quiz Show Scandal." "... A successful thing like that show ... everything is just sailing along fantastically well and then some guy opens up a notebook that's about that big and sees some answers and everything ends."

A few weeks after "Dotto" was canceled, Narz was questioned by investigators in the New York district attorney's office and told reporters later he knew nothing of any irregularities on the show.

The cancellation was a heavy blow.

"He was crushed. He was just stunned," his brother said but called the cancellation "just a stutter-step."

The sponsor, Colgate, immediately cast him in another game show, and his career lasted several more decades, Kennedy said.

Early in his career, Narz was an announcer on an early 1950s science fiction TV series called "Space Patrol." In the book "Space Patrol" by Jean-Noel Bassior, he recalled that one time, exhausted from doing too many freelance announcing jobs, he fell asleep on the job. Luckily, he said, a special effects "explosion" on the set peppered him with shards of papier-mache and woke him up just in time to do the live commercial spot.

In addition to his wife and brother, Narz is survived by a sister, Mary Lovett Scully of Las Vegas; sons David of Palm Springs and John and Michael of Los Angeles; a daughter, Karen Ferretti of Los Angeles; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.