Literotica Cemetary

[phrodeau]

James Bond composer dead at 77
February 1, 2011 - 7:58AM

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British film composer John Barry, who wrote the music for a string of Bond films and won five Oscars for movies including "Out of Africa", has died at the age of 77.

He passed away on Sunday in New York, reportedly from a heart attack.

Barry was best known for his work on the James Bond films -- he scored 11 films including Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice -- and his atmospheric scores are credited with giving 007 much of his smooth persona.

"I think James Bond would have been far less cool without John Barry holding his hand," said David Arnold, his successor as the 007 score composer, who described Barry's death as a "profound loss".

John Barry poses with the BAFTA Fellowship award in 2005.
Although Barry did not compose the distinctive Bond theme tune -- that was the work of Monty Norman -- he provided the arrangement that made it famous.

However, the adventures of 007 represented only a handful of the more than 100 films Barry worked on during a career spanning three decades, which earned him an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1999.

He won Oscars for "Out of Africa", "Dances With Wolves" and "The Lion in Winter", and two for "Born Free", for best song and best music score. He also earned a Grammy Award for "Midnight Cowboy" (1969).

"It is with great sadness that the family of composer John Barry announce his passing on the 30th of January 2011 in New York," a family statement said.

"Mr. Barry is survived by his wife of 33 years, Laurie, and his four children and five grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be strictly private and a memorial service will be held later this year in the UK."

Barry grew up in the northern English city of York, but left Britain in the mid-1970s and set up home in Oyster Bay, New York, although friends remarked that he never lost his Yorkshire accent.

Born John Barry Prendergast in 1933, Barry was surrounded by movies and music through his cinema-owning father and classical pianist mother.

He lived for a time in Chelsea, at the heart of the swinging Sixties scene in London, reportedly renting out his spare room for a few months to the then unknown Michael Caine.

It was there that he met sex siren Jane Birkin, the second of his four wives.

His big break came when he worked on the 1962 Bond film "Dr. No", although he was not credited for his contribution.

Thereafter his scores -- mixing big band music, guitar riffs, strings and the beats of his jazz heroes Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington -- became integral to the image of the British spy.

In an interview with Time Magazine in 1999, Barry described how he sought to use his music to help the low-profile George Lazenby when he took over the role from Sean Connery in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

"I was trying to impose on Lazenby the suaveness, the humour, and I really overdid the score," he said.

Fellow British composer Arnold, who wrote the music for Tomorrow Never Dies among other Bond movies, praised Barry's "extraordinary melodies".

"That was John's gift -- not only his way with harmony but the fact that he could state within a five- or ten-second phase everything you need to know about a movie," the composer told BBC radio.

He added: "The music that he wrote transcends the movies that it was written for and became part of popular culture."

Barry first achieved success playing trumpet and singing with the John Barry Seven, a pop group, and went on to play a key role in the success of one of the first major British pop stars of the early 1960s, Adam Faith.

Later, he returned to pop, working with Duran Duran and A-Ha in the 1980s.

Barry also had a long and fruitful partnership with the lyricist Don Black, who paid tribute Monday to his old friend.

"The thing about John that I will always remember was he never changed," Black said, adding: "There was no trace of America about him, he brought York to New York."

Barry's son-in-law, Simon Jack, remembered him to the BBC as a "wickedly funny man" whose "passion, genius and sense of humour will be terribly missed by his family and friends".

AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/james-bond-composer-dead-at-77-20110201-1abgg.html

 

[JennyOHill2]

Peggy Rea, TV Actress

Peggy Rea, a matronly actress who had supporting roles on popular television series from the 1970s to the ’90s, died on Saturday at her home in Toluca Lake, Calif. She was 89.

The cause was complications of heart failure, Kimmie Burks, a friend, said.

Ms. Rea played Rose Burton, Olivia Walton’s cousin, on “The Waltons”; Lulu Hogg, Boss Hogg’s wife, on “The Dukes of Hazzard”; and Jean Kelly, the mother-in-law of Brett Butler’s character, on “Grace Under Fire.” Ms. Rea’s first role on television was as a nurse on “I Love Lucy” in 1953. She also appeared on “All in the Family,” “Step by Step” and “Gunsmoke,” among other shows.

Peggy Jane Rea was born March 31, 1921, in Los Angeles. She left the University of California, Los Angeles, to attend business school, then took a job as a production secretary at MGM.

In 1947 she moved to New York to act on stage. She appeared on Broadway twice in 1950: as Eunice Hubbell in a revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and in the Cole Porter musical “Out of This World.” She gave up acting for a time and worked as a production secretary on “Gunsmoke” and other television shows in Los Angeles.

Ms. Rea returned to acting full time in 1962. Her film credits include parts in “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” (1964) and “In Country” (1989).

Ms. Burks said no immediate family members survive.

 

[JennyOHill2]

Betty Garrett

Betty Garrett, who pursued Frank Sinatra in two classic musicals but got chased out of Hollywood because of the real-life blacklist, died Saturday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was 91.

Garrett had been in good health, said her son Garrett Parks, and just this past Wednesday had taught her regular weekly class on musical theater.

She apparently suffered an aortic aneurysm.

Betty Garrett became known to a later TV generation for her recurring roles in the 1970s sitcoms "All in the Family" and "Laverne and Shirley," but she made her reputation in the 1949 films "On the Town" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

In "On the Town," she played a New York cab driver who escorts three sailors – played by Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin – on a whirlwind leave tour of the city.

She develops an immediate crush on the shy Sinatra – a novel twist at a time when female cabbies were themselves a novelty. She sings the saucy "Come Up To My Place" to loosen him up.

She had the same crush on the same Sinatra in "Take Me Out To the Ballgame." She just didn't drive a hack.

Garrett was born in Missouri and raised by her mother after her father died of alcoholism when she was 2. She showed early promise as an actress and singer, and when she was 15, her mother moved them to New York to see if she could become a star.

She spent the next decade studying under Martha Graham and working with performers and producers like Orson Welles, Ethel Merman, Carol Channing Joseph Cotton and Jerome Robbins. She played the Borscht Belt and did a brief stint as a chorus girl at the Latin Quarter in Boston.

She got her big break when she sang the show-stopping "South America, Take It Away" in the 1946 musical "Call Me Mister." MGM took notice and signed her to a movie contract.

Besides the Sinatra flicks, she also appeared in "Neptune's Daughter," where she and Red Skelton sang one of the 10,000 known duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside."

Her path to musical stardom was shut down, however, when her husband Larry Parks was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about his membership in the Communist party a decade earlier.

His appearance there ended his own rising career and soon MGM also terminated Garrett's contract. She had also been a party member in the early 1940s, though she was not called by HUAC.

She said in 1998 that she was not bitter, but that it was still tragic that two careers, particularly her husband's, had been derailed because of what she called "a dark period, a foolish, foolish period."

She and Parks, who died in 1975, were able to make a living on tour until he left show business and became a successful home builder.

She made one more movie, costarring with Jack Lemmon and Janet Leigh in the 1955 musical "My Sister Eileen." She then moved primarily to theater and television.

She played Edith Bunker's talkative friend Irene Lorenzo on "All in the Family" and Edna Babish, the landlady who married Laverne's father on "Laverne and Shirley."

In more recent years she had roles on shows like "Boston Public" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Besides Garrett Parks, she is survived by one other son, Andrew.

 

[Super-Surprise]

This is such a sad place.

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[JennyOHill2]

Michael Tolan, Stage and Television Actor, Dies at 85By

oops!! My pc hiccuped.

 

[JennyOHill2]

Michael Tolan, Stage and Television Actor, Dies at 85

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Michael Tolan, an actor who became a recurring presence on television in the 1960s and ’70s after walking away from film and Broadway but who returned to the stage to help found the American Place Theater, a successful Off Broadway house, died in Hudson, N.Y. He was 85.

The cause was heart disease and renal failure, his partner, Donna Peck, said. They lived in Ancram, N.Y.

By the early 1960s Mr. Tolan had had roles in films, like Edwin L. Marin’s western “Fort Worth” (1951), and on Broadway, including big parts in long-running romantic comedies like Peter Ustinov’s “Romanoff and Juliet.” But he was dissatisfied.

“This Broadway is for the birds,” he told The New York Times in 1965. “In 99 percent of the cases it has nothing to do with acting as a craft, as an art.”

So Mr. Tolan began acting in televised plays, which led to roles on weekly series. In 1964 he starred as Dr. Alex Tazinski, a character he called “hard-hitting, uncompromising, somewhat antisocial” on the CBS prime-time medical drama “The Doctors and the Nurses.”

He later starred on the NBC drama “The Senator” (1970-71) and appeared on other shows, including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” as Ms. Moore’s journalism teacher and boyfriend, Dan Whitfield.

Mr. Tolan founded the nonprofit American Place Theater with Wynn Handman and Sidney Lanier at St. Clement’s Church on West 46th Street in 1963. The theater has since moved to 9th Avenue between 44th and 45th Streets.

“We wanted to attract some of the writers who wrote fine, intelligent, deep material about American life, and see if we could interest them in writing for the theater,” Mr. Tolan wrote in an unpublished memoir.

The American Place produced first plays by writers like Donald Barthelme and Anne Sexton. Faye Dunaway, Morgan Freeman and other Hollywood stars performed there early in their careers.

Michael Tolan was born Seymour Tuchow on Nov. 27, 1925, in Detroit. He graduated from Wayne State University in 1947 and performed with a repertory company in Detroit. In New York he studied under Stella Adler and won a fellowship to study acting at Stanford University.

A performance at Stanford led to his first movie role, as a gangster (under the name Lawrence Tolan, which he later changed) in “The Enforcer” (1951) with Humphrey Bogart.

He made his Broadway debut in George Axelrod’s “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” in 1955, and appeared in five more Broadway plays through 1961. He later had supporting roles in “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (1965) and “Presumed Innocent” (1990), among other films.

His two marriages ended in divorce.

In addition to Ms. Peck, he is survived by a brother, Gerald Tuchow, of Detroit; a daughter, Alexandra, of Watertown, Mass., from his first marriage, to the actress Rosemary Forsyth; and two daughters, Jenny and Emilie, both of New York, from his marriage to Carol Hume.

 

[JennyOHill2]

Beloved 'Seinfeld' Actor Len Lesser Dies

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Actor Len Lesser, best known for his role as Uncle Leo on 'Seinfeld,' is dead, the Associated Press reports. The veteran character actor died at home in Burbank, Calif., from cancer-related pneumonia. He was 88.

In a statement, Lesser's daughter, Michele Lesser, said, "Heaven got a great comedian and actor today. ... Thank you to all the people who helped make my father's last journey special, and surrounded with love. The doctors, nurses, and staff have been outstanding, and Dad was in phenomenal hands. His passing was peaceful, with great dignity, and surrounded by those who loved him dearly."

In addition to his widely known role on 'Seinfeld,' Lesser appeared on many other television series over the course of his 60-year career, including 'Get Smart,' 'That Girl,' 'The Munsters,' 'The Monkees,' 'thirtysomething,' 'ER' and 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' His most recent TV appearance was on TV drama 'Castle.'

Lesser also appeared in a handful of movies including 'The Outlaw Josey Wales,' 'Kelly's Heroes,' 'Birdman of Alcatraz' and 'Death Hunt.'

The actor is survived by his daughter, Michele; son, David; daughter-in-law, Julie; and grandchildren, Jonathan, Kayla and Mayah.

 

[phrodeau]

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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/15/local/la-me-passings-20110215

PASSINGS: Kenneth Mars
Kenneth Mars, veteran screen and voice actor, dies at 75

February 15, 2011
Kenneth Mars, 75, a veteran actor whose most memorable performances were his two collaborations with director Mel Brooks in "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein," died of pancreatic cancer Saturday at his home in Granada Hills.

During a career that spanned five decades, Mars appeared in more than 35 films, including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), "Desperate Characters" (1971), "What's Up, Doc?" (1972), and "Radio Days" (1987). He also had roles in scores of television shows, including "Love, American Style," "Fernwood Tonight, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," "McMillan & Wife" and "Malcolm in the Middle."

In "The Producers" (1968), he played Franz Liebkind, a somewhat demented Nazi whose play, "Springtime for Hitler," attracts a couple of scheming Broadway producers played by Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel. One of his most quoted lines was, "Not many people know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer!"

In "Young Frankenstein," Mars again displayed a flair for Germanic characters in the role of Inspector Kemp, a monocled police chief with a hilariously malfunctioning prosthetic arm.

"[F]ew actors anywhere can portray daffy Germans as superbly as Kenneth Mars," Robert Alan Crick wrote in the 2009 book "Big Screen Comedies of Mel Brooks."

Mars was born April 4, 1935, in Chicago. A fine arts graduate of Northwestern University, he began acting in the early 1960s.

In his later years, he was a sought-after voice actor in children's cartoons and animated features. He voiced the part of Grandpa Longneck in "The Land Before Time" series and King Triton in the "The Little Mermaid."

 

[JennyOHill2]

Dave Duerson

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Dave Duerson, a key member of the Super Bowl-winning 1985 Chicago Bears, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest on Thursday. It was a sad end to the life of a man who found great success in his 20s but who was deeply troubled after leaving football.

But before Duerson killed himself, he offered a generous gift to others: His brain.

In a suicide note he sent to friends, Duerson asked that his brain be donated to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine. The Center has been leading the way in research into how brain damage -- including injuries suffered in collisions on the football field -- can lead to health problems later in life. One theory is that people who have a history of repetitive brain trauma are more likely to experience depression, and studying Duerson's brain may help researchers determine whether brain damage suffered on the football field led to the depression that ultimately caused him to take his life.

Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player turned professional wrestler turned co-director of Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, said Duerson had indicated he wanted to be studied in the hopes that some day, we'll know more about how to protect football players from suffering brain damage on the field.

"He had informed (his family) at some point that he wanted his brain to be studied so people could learn more about the effect of brain trauma and so kids could play the game more safely in the future," Nowinski told the Chicago Tribune. "The family requested that I confirm that Mr. Duerson's brain was donated to our research center, and it was Mr. Duerson's wishes."

Nowinski said the research he's done on the brains of former NFL players has indicated that chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a serious risk.

"NFL players are at higher risk for CTE than normal people and probably other athletes as well," Nowinski said. "Of the 14 former NFL players we've completed studies on, 13 of them had the disease."

It's touching to consider that Duerson, a man so despondent that he was about to put a bullet through his heart, was still thinking about one final way he could help others. Here's hoping that in the study of Duerson's brain, researchers learn more about what kind of injuries could drive a man to kill himself, and that future stories like Dave Duerson's can be prevented.

 

[JennyOHill2]

Justin Tennison of 'Deadliest Catch' Dead at 33

'Deadliest Catch' star Justin Tennison was found dead in a Homer, Alaska hotel room on Tuesday, TMZ reports. The fisherman on the Time Bandit boat was 33 years old.

"Discovery Channel is saddened by the passing of Time Bandit crew member Justin Tennison," the 'Deadliest Catch' network wrote in a statement. "We send our sympathies to his entire family and fellow crew members during this most difficult time."

TMZ says a search of the hotel room, registered to Tennison, turned up "a small amount of marijuana, as well as several bottles of alcohol in the refrigerator. Cops tell us they believe there had been a party in the room the night before."

Justin Tennison's death comes just a year after 'Deadliest Catch' star Capt. Phil Harris's passing in February 2010 after a stroke.

 

[Bacigalupo]

"Chap with wings, five rounds rapid."

Nicholas Courtney, the actor, who has died aged 81, was best known to Doctor Who viewers as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, the longest-serving co-star of the popular science-fiction series, appearing opposite five television Doctors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8343786/Nicholas-Courtney.html

http://io9.com/#!5767742/rip-nicholas-courtney-doctor-whos-trustiest-companion

 

[JennyOHill2]

Hall of Famer Duke Snider, 84, dies

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Duke Snider, the longtime center fielder for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, died on Sunday morning following an undisclosed illness, both the Dodgers and the Baseball Hall of Fame have announced. He was 84.

Snider was the Dodgers' primary center fielder from 1947-62 and generally is considered one of the greatest among a long line of superb players who have worn the Dodgers uniform during the franchise's long, storied history. An eight-time All-Star, he still ranks as the franchise's all-time leader in home runs (389) and runs batted in (1,271). He led all major leaguers in the decade of the 1950s with 326 homers and 1,031 RBIs, and he hit four home runs in each of the 1952 and 1955 World Series.

"He was an extremely gifted talent, and his defensive abilities were often overlooked because of playing in a small ballpark, Ebbets Field," Vin Scully, the Dodgers' Hall of Fame broadcaster, said in a statement issued by the club. "When he had a chance to run and move defensively, he had the grace and the abilities of [fellow Hall of Famers Joe] DiMaggio and [Willie] Mays, and of course, he was a World Series hero that will forever be remembered in the borough of Brooklyn.

"Although it's ironic to say it, we have lost a giant."

Edwin Donald Snider, who was given the nickname "Duke" by his father when he was 5, was born in Los Angeles on Sept. 19, 1926. He played football, baseball and basketball at Compton High School before being signed by the Dodgers in 1943. In 16 years with the Dodgers, he batted .300 with a .385 on-base percentage and scored 1,199 runs.

Snider was sold to the New York Mets before the 1963 season, then to the San Francisco Giants a year later before he retired after 1964 with a career average of .295 with 407 home runs and 1,333 RBIs.

"I was Duke's teammate and looked up to him with respect," said Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, who was a young pitcher with the club during Snider's best seasons in Brooklyn. "Duke was not only a great player, but he was a great person, too. He loved his family and loved the Dodgers. He was the true Dodger and represented the Dodgers to the highest degree of class, dignity and character.

"He was my teammate and friend, and I will really miss him."

Snider died at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido.

 

[JennyOHill2]

David Frye, Perfectly Clear Nixon Parodist, Dies at 77

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David Frye, whose wicked send-ups of political figures like Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey and, above all, Richard M. Nixon, made him one of the most popular comedians in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, died in Las Vegas, where he lived. He was 77.

The cause was cardiopulmonary arrest, a spokeswoman for the Clark County coroner’s office in Nevada said.

In the early 1960s Mr. Frye was a struggling impressionist working the clubs of Greenwich Village, relying on a fairly standard repertoire of Hollywood actors. Then he slipped Robert F. Kennedy into his act, basing his impression on a girlfriend’s comment that Kennedy sounded like Bugs Bunny.

Audiences loved it, and Mr. Frye began adding other politicians, capturing not just their vocal peculiarities but also their body language and facial expressions. His L.B.J., with a lugubrious hound-dog face and a Texas twang rich in slushy “s” sounds, became a trademark, as did his bouncy Hubert Humphrey.

But it was Nixon who made his career. Shoulders hunched, his deep-set eyes glowering, Mr. Frye captured the insecure, neurotic Nixon to perfection. “I am the president” — his blustery tag line and the title of a 1969 comedy album he recorded for Elektra — seemed to get at the essence of a powerful politician in desperate need of validation.

“I do Nixon not by copying his real actions but by feeling his attitude, which is that he cannot believe that he really is president,” Mr. Frye told Esquire magazine in 1971. Nixon also played the starring role in Mr. Frye’s later albums “Radio Free Nixon” (1971), “Richard Nixon Superstar” (1971) and the Watergate satire “Richard Nixon: A Fantasy” (1973).

Mr. Frye added a panoply of political and cultural figures to his act. His William F. Buckley Jr., all darting tongue and wildly searching eyes, was stellar, but he also worked up dead-on impressions of George Wallace, Nelson Rockefeller, David Susskind, Billy Graham, Howard Cosell and a long list of film actors.

David Shapiro was born in Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School there. His father, who owned a highly successful office-cleaning business, was dead set against his son’s going into show business, but even at the University of Miami, David was already doing mime impressions in campus productions. Soon he discovered he had an ear for distinctive Hollywood voices like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant and began doing vocal impressions as well.

After serving with an Army Special Services unit in France, he returned to New York and developed his act at small clubs while working as a salesman for his father’s company. At the Village Gate, where he was filling in for a regular in early 1966, talent scouts saw his Bobby Kennedy imitation and booked him on “The Merv Griffin Show.” Soon he was appearing on “The Leslie Uggams Show,” “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and “The Tonight Show.”

Nixon’s departure from the scene took most of the air out of Mr. Frye’s career. He capitalized on Watergate, although some radio stations refused to play material from “Richard Nixon: A Fantasy,” which they thought cut a little too close to the bone for some listeners.

With Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, Mr. Frye lost the best friend an impressionist ever had. He continued to perform and to add new impressions to his act: Jimmy Carter, Anwar El Sadat and Menachim Begin, among others. He recorded the comedy albums “David Frye Presents the Great Debate” (1980) and “Clinton: An Oral History” (1998). But he never enjoyed anything approaching the fame that the Johnson and Nixon years had given him.

He could see the end quite clearly.

“It’s a weird feeling, knowing that you can lose the guts of your act at any time,” he told Time in 1974. Nixon’s presidential successor, Gerald R. Ford, offered scant hope. “He looks like the guy in a science fiction movie who is the first one to see The Creature,” Mr. Frye said.

He is survived by a sister, Ruth.

 

[JennyOHill2]

Maria Schneider dies at 58; actress in 'Last Tango in Paris'

Maria Schneider, the French actress who appeared opposite Marlon Brando in "Last Tango in Paris," the 1972 movie whose strong sexual content stirred international controversy, has died. She was 58.

Schneider died in Paris on Thursday after a long illness, her family told Agence France Presse.

She was a voluptuous, 19-year-old newcomer with long, curly brown hair framing a youthful face when she was cast in writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris," in which she played a young engaged Parisian woman looking for an apartment to rent. Her character begins an anonymous sexual relationship in an empty apartment with a grief-stricken middle-aged American (Brando) whose French wife has just committed suicide.

The X-rated film, which critic Pauline Kael called "a landmark in movie history" and which critic Roger Ebert said was "one of the great emotional experiences of our time," was banned in a number of countries for its sexuality and nudity.

"It's amazing," Schneider said in a 2007 interview with the London Daily Mail. "I've made 50 films in my career and 'Last Tango' is 35 years old, but it's still the one that everyone asks me about."

The movie's infamous sex scene, involving butter, was not in the original script.

"The truth is, it was Marlon who came up with the idea," Schneider said. "They only told me about it before we had to film the scene, and I was so angry. I should have called my agent or had my lawyer come to the set because you can't force someone to do something that isn't in the script, but at the time, I didn't know that.

"Marlon said to me: 'Maria, don't worry, it's just a movie.' But during the scene, even though what Marlon was doing wasn't real, I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Brando and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn't console me or apologize. Thankfully, there was just one take."

In his review of the film when it was released in the United States in 1973, The Times' Charles Champlin wrote that Schneider "is a triumph of casting — petulant, self-indulgent, and convincingly terrified as someone who has gotten in beyond her depth."

In the 2007 Daily Mail interview, Schneider said she "never went naked in a movie again after 'Last Tango,' even though I was offered many such roles. People today are used to such things, but when the film opened in 1972, it was scandalous."

The film, which earned Brando and Bertolucci Oscar nominations, brought Schneider worldwide fame.

But the glare of the media, she said in the 2007 interview, "made me go mad. I got into drugs — pot and then cocaine, LSD and heroin — it was like an escape from reality .... I didn't enjoy being famous at all, and drugs were my escape. I took pills to try and commit suicide, but I survived because God decided it wasn't the time for me to go."

Although she lost many friends to drugs, she said, she met someone in 1980 who helped her stop.

Asked who it was by a reporter for Ireland's Sunday Independent in 2006, Schneider replied: "An angel .... I don't say if it's a man or a woman. But it was in 1980, and we're still together."

The daughter of French actor Daniel Gélin and a Romanian mother, Schneider was born in Paris on March 27, 1952, and grew up with her mother near the French border with Germany.

She ran away from home at 15 and reportedly did not meet her father for the first time until she was 16. Brigitte Bardot, one of her father's former costars, offered her a room in her home.

In her interview with the Sunday Independent, Schneider said that Warren Beatty, who was visiting Bardot's house, insisted his agent sign her up. "He called William Morris and said, 'You might take this young actress, she's so incredible,' and I hadn't done anything!"

Schneider's most notable post-"Tango" film credit was starring with Jack Nicholson in director Michelangelo Antonioni's 1975 drama "The Passenger."

Looking back on her career in the 2006 interview with the Sunday Independent, Schneider said that in retrospect, she would not have made "Last Tango in Paris."

"I would have said no," she said. "I would have done my work more gradually, more discreetly. I would have been an actress, I think, but more quietly."

In her spare time in recent years, Schneider ran a charitable organization that helps aging and down-on-their-luck actors and performers.

A list of surviving family members was unavailable.

 

[JennyOHill2]

'Golden Hippie': J. Paul Getty III dead at 54

LONDON — J. Paul Getty III, the grandson of the billionaire oil tycoon who shared his name, has died in Britain. He was 54.

His son, actor Balthazar Getty, confirmed that his father died surrounded by his family at his English mansion in Buckinghamshire, northwest of London. The cause of death was not disclosed.

According to Britain's Telegraph newspaper, Getty was expelled from seven schools. He was branded "the Golden Hippie" by the press due to his bohemian lifestyle, left-wing friends and long red locks.

His grandfather, J. Paul Getty, founded the Getty Oil Company. He was reputedly the world's richest man when he died in 1976.

In 1973, the 16-year-old Getty was abducted in Rome, Italy. Gangsters demanded $17 million for his release. When the Getty family refused to pay up, the kidnappers cut off the teenager's ear and mailed it to an Italian newspaper.

"This is Paul's ear," an accompanying note read. "If we don't get some money within 10 days, the other ear will arrive. In other words he will arrive in little pieces."

However, Getty's grandfather remained reluctant to fund the ransom.

"I have 14 grandchildren, and if I pay a penny of ransom, I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren," he said in a statement at the time.

Getty was eventually released after the family paid around $3 million, the Times reported. Two men with links to the Calabrian Mafia were later convicted in the case.

Getty's billionaire grandfather loaned some of the ransom money to the victim's father, but insisted the sum was paid back with four percent interest, the Telegraph reported.

It later emerged that the gangsters had chained Getty to a stake for five months, the newspaper said. Little of the ransom money was ever recovered.

In 1981, a drug overdose left Getty paralyzed and partially blind, according to the Times. Getty spent six weeks in a coma and had been confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak since then.

 

[eyer]

This obit is like 2 weeks late for the dude's own funeral...

 

[KindaKinky]

Jane Russell, star of '40s and '50s films, dies (AP)

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011 2:56:40 AM Pacific Standard Time, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - She was the voluptuous pin-up girl who set a million male hearts to pounding during World War II, the favorite movie star of a generation of young men long before she'd made a movie more than a handful of them had ever seen.

Such was the stunning beauty of Jane Russell, and the marketing skills of the man who discovered her, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.

Russell, surrounded by family members, died Monday at her home in the central coast city of Santa Maria. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after Hughes had put her on the path to stardom with his controversial Western "The Outlaw." She was 89.

Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960s for a quieter life, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said Russell remained active until just a few weeks ago when her health began to fail. Until then she was active with her church, charities that were close to her heart and as a member of a singing group that made occasional appearances around Santa Maria.

"She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman," Waterfield told The Associated Press on Monday. "And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle."

It was an apt metaphor for a stunningly beautiful woman who first made her mark as the scandalously sexy and provocatively dressed (for the time) pal of Billy the Kid, in a Western that Hughes fought for years with censors to get into wide release.

As the billionaire battled to bring the picture to audiences, his publicity mill promoted Russell relentlessly, grinding out photos of her in low-cut costumes, swimsuits and other outfits that became favorite pinups of World War II GIs.

To contain her ample bust the designer of the "Spruce Goose" airplane used his engineering skills to make Russell a special push-up bra (one she said she never wore). He also bought the ailing RKO film studio and signed her to a 20-year contract that paid her $1,000 a week.

By the time she made her third film, the rollicking comedy-western "The Paleface," in which she played tough- but-sexy Calamity Jane to Bob Hope's cowardly dentist sidekick, she was a star.

She went on to appear in a series of potboilers for RKO, including "His Kind of Woman" (with Robert Mitchum), "Double Dynamite" (Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx), "The Las Vegas Story" (Victor Mature) and "Macao" (Mitchum again).

Although her sultry, sensual look and her hourglass figure made her the subject of numerous nightclub jokes, unlike Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and other pinup queens of the era, Russell was untouched by scandal in her personal life.

During her Hollywood career she was married to star UCLA and pro football quarterback Bob Waterfield.

"The Outlaw," although it established her reputation, was beset with trouble from the beginning. It took two years to make, according to its theatrical trailer, and director Howard Hawks, one of Hollywood's most eminent and autocratic filmmakers, became so rankled under producer Hughes' constant suggestions that he walked out.

"Hughes directed the whole picture — for nine bloody months!" Russell said in 1999.

It had scattered brief runs beginning in 1943, earning scathing reviews. The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the weirdest Western pictures that ever unreeled before the public."

Russell's only other notable film was "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," a 1953 musical based on the novel by Anita Loos that cast her opposite Monroe.

She followed that up with the 1954 musical "The French Line," which — like "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" — had her cavorting on an ocean liner. The film was shot in 3-D, and the promotional campaign for it proclaimed "J.R. in 3D. Need we say more?"

In 1955, she made the sequel "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" (without Monroe) and starred in the Westerns "The Tall Men," with Clark Gable, and "Foxfire," with Jeff Chandler. But by the 1960s, her film career had faded.

"Why did I quit movies?" she remarked in 1999. "Because I was getting too old! You couldn't go on acting in those years if you were an actress over 30."

She continued to appear in nightclubs, television and musical theater, including a stint on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's "Company." She formed a singing group with Connie Haines and Beryl Davis, and they recorded gospel songs.

For many years she served as TV spokeswoman for Playtex bras, and in the 1980s she made a few guest appearances in the TV series "The Yellow Rose."

She was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921, in Bemidji, Minn., and the family later moved to Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Her mother was a lay preacher, and she encouraged the family to build a chapel in their back yard.

Despite her mother's Christian teachings, young Jane had a wild side. She wrote in her 1985 autobiography, "My Paths and Detours," that during high school she had a back-alley abortion, which may have rendered her unable to bear children.

Her early ambition was to design clothes and houses, but that was postponed until her later years. While working as a receptionist, she was spotted by a movie agent who submitted her photos to Hughes.

The producer was famous for dating his discoveries, as well as numerous other Hollywood actresses, but his contact with Russell remained strictly business. Her engagement and 1943 marriage to Waterfield assured that.

She was the leader of the Hollywood Christian Group, a cluster of film people who gathered for Bible study and good works. After experiencing problems in adopting her three children, she founded World Adoption International Agency, which has helped facilitate adoptions of more than 40,000 children from overseas.

She made hundreds of appearances for WAIF and served on the board for 40 years.

As she related in "My Path and Detours," her life was marked by heartache. Her 24-year marriage to Waterfield ended in bitter divorce in 1968. They had adopted two boys and a girl.

That year she married actor Roger Barrett; three months later he died of a heart attack. In 1978 she married developer John Peoples, and they lived in Sedona, Ariz., and later, Santa Barbara. He died in 1999 of heart failure.

Over the years Russell was also beset by alcoholism.

Always she was able to rebound from troubles by relying on lessons she learned from her Bible-preaching mother.

"Without faith, I never would have made it," she commented a few months after her third husband's death. "I don't know how people can survive all the disasters in their lives if they don't have any faith, if they don't know the Lord loves them and cares about them and has another plan."

Survivors include her children, Thomas K. Waterfield, Tracy Foundas and Robert "Buck" Waterfield, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

A public funeral is scheduled March 12 at 11 a.m. at Pacific Christian Church in Santa Maria.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in her name to either the Care Net Pregnancy and Resource Center of Santa Maria or the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Barbara County.

___

Associated Press Writer Bob Thomas contributed to this story.

 

[KindaKinky]

Notable Passings As Well

Bob Dylan's muse Suze Rotolo dead at 67

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Eddie Kirkland, aged 88

Eddie Kirkland, blues legend, killed in car crash

 

[KindaKinky]

Mike Starr Mourned By Former Alice In Chains Bandmates

Bassist, 44, was found dead in his Salt Lake City home on Tuesday.
By Gil Kaufman

The original members of Alice in Chains reacted to the death of the band's former bassist Mike Starr.

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Guitarist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney released a statement on Tuesday in which they said, "Jerry and Sean are mourning the loss of their friend and ask that the media respect their privacy — and the privacy of Mike's family — during this difficult time. Their thoughts & prayers are with the Starr family."

Starr, 44, was found dead Tuesday afternoon in his Salt Lake City home. A co-founding member of the pioneering Seattle grunge band, Starr appeared on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" in 2009. He was arrested on February 18 for felony possession of a controlled substance. Salt Lake City police said he had several painkillers on him when he was arrested.

The bass player's death unleashed a flood of comments from Alice in Chains fans and fellow rockers including former Guns N' Roses members Steven Adler and Matt Sorum, as well as ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, former "Celebrity Rehab" castmate Mackenzie Phillips and "Rehab" host Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Slash weighed in on Twitter as well, writing, "really tragic news about Mike Starr. RIP."

The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that police do not suspect foul play and have turned the investigation into the cause of Starr's death over to the medical examiner's office.

Mike's dad told TMZ his son's death is "a terrible shock and tragedy."

Starr left Alice in Chains while touring behind their second album, Dirt, in 1993. Years later, he would reveal on "Celebrity Rehab" that his reason for leaving was his growing addiction to drugs. He briefly joined former Black Sabbath singer Ray Gillen in Sun Red Sun. Their self-titled debut was released in 1995, two years after Gillen died from AIDS-related complications.

Heroin addiction sent Starr to "Celebrity Rehab," which was followed by a stint in the spin-off show "Sober House."

 

[KindaKinky]

Sam Chwat, Dialect Tutor for Film Stars, Dies at 57


By MARGALIT FOX
Published: March 8, 2011

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Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
The speech therapist Sam Chwat with Marianne Hoegl, an actress, in 2002. He mastered removal of the New York accent.

Tracy was transfixed by the tragic trademark.

A long line of palms stood as if guarding the park.

Mona showed us a gold bowl of scones and cones.

If you were an actor or anchor or executive run aground on these sonic shoals, you might well have made your way to the Sam Chwat Speech Center on West 16th Street in Manhattan.

Founded in the 1980s, the center has helped thousands of clients prepare for roles, succeed in business or assimilate into the rushing stream of American argot by losing — or gaining — regional accents. Presiding was Mr. Chwat himself, a speech therapist who until his death last week was “Henry Higgins to the stars,” as The Globe and Mail of Canada put it in 1999.

Mr. Chwat helped Tony Danza, seeking broader roles, lose a New York accent, and Marcia Gay Harden, cast as Lee Krasner in “Pollock,” acquire one. (Ms. Harden won an Oscar for the role.) He taught Robert De Niro to sound Southern for “Cape Fear,” and Julia Roberts not to for nearly everything. He turned Willem Dafoe into a Transylvanian for “Shadow of the Vampire” and Olympia Dukakis into a Holocaust survivor for “Rose,” her one-woman Broadway show in 2000.

His unusual line of work drew wide coverage in the news media, including a profile in The New York Times in November.

Mr. Chwat died on Thursday in Manhasset, on Long Island. He was 57 and lived in Great Neck.

The cause was lymphoma, his family said.

Mr. Chwat’s very surname foreordained him for the phonetical life: It is pronounced “schwa,” like the vowel sound (“uh”) symbolized in dictionaries by an upside-down-and-backward “e.”

Samuel Elliott Chwat was born on March 29, 1953, in Brooklyn and by all accounts retained faint but audible glimmers of the borough throughout his life. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1974, and a master’s in speech pathology from Columbia University Teachers College in 1977.

He embarked on a conventional practice and in 1982 founded New York Speech Improvement Services, which treated dysfunctions like lisping, stuttering and stroke-related pathologies. Then, one day in 1984, he was consulted by a Hispanic supermarket executive worried that his accent was hindering his ascent.

Mr. Chwat had found his calling. “You can afford to find accents charming as long as you’re part of the power structure that has the accent of the ruling class,” he told The New York Post in 2006. “Speech is such an emotional issue, and yet all it is is a series of physical oral acts.”

The Chwat center adopted its present name about a year ago and today has a staff of six therapists, who together see more than 100 people a week.

An early client was a young, unknown actress named Julia Roberts, who sought to part company with her robust Georgia accent. Mr. Chwat did so fine a job that she had to relearn how to talk Southern before appearing in the 1989 film “Steel Magnolias.”

In perhaps his most spectacular coup, as he told the publication India in New York in 2001, Mr. Chwat taught “a Texan accent to a Tibetan actor in a commercial for a German BMW shot in English” by the Taiwanese director Ang Lee.

In other work, Mr. Chwat wrote a guide for lexically perplexed delegates to the 1992 Democratic National Convention, held in New York.

Among other things, it demystified local patois like “Jeet?” (sentential verb, past tense < “Did you eat?”) and furnished the only acceptable pronunciation of the crosstown street spelled H-o-u-s-t-o-n (always HOUSE-ton, never like the city in Texas).


Mr. Chwat is survived by his wife, Susan Lazarus Chwat; three daughters, Alexandra, Joanna and Elena; and a sister, Libby Mandel.

To his clients famous and un-, Mr. Chwat gave specific prescriptions for altering the contrapuntal dance of tongue, lung and larynx known as speech.

There were exercises, of course, like the three above. (Example 1, for instance, helps with crisp enunciation of “t” for those prone to saying, Bogartlike, “Chracy was chransfixed by the chragic chrademark.”)

Most important of all, he said, was ceaseless out-loud repetition as one went about one’s daily activities.

“I always tell my students, ‘At least it’ll get you a seat on the subway,’ ” Mr. Chwat told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1994. “ ‘It might even get you the whole car to yourself.’ ”

A version of this article appeared in print on March 8, 2011, on page A20 of the New York edition.

 

[KindaKinky]

Comedian Mike DeStefano dies

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“I am a stand-up comic, before that, I was a drug counselor. Before that, I was a drug addict. Before that, I was 12.”

By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: March 8, 2011

Mike DeStefano, a burly, tattooed comedian who turned his recovery from heroin addiction into brutally honest, profanity-laced routines, died on Sunday in the Bronx.

Mike DeStefano, who wrote on his Web site of having “literally thousands, maybe even hundreds” of fans.

He was in his 40s, but his lawyer, Josh Sandler, who confirmed the death, could not provide a birth date or a cause.

One of Mr. DeStefano’s lines was, “I hate hypocrites,” followed by an expletive-laden assessment of “anyone who says he doesn’t curse.” A milder one was, “Don’t do drugs, because if you do, you’ll end up with a ‘Comedy Central Presents’ special.” He did.

Besides being a regular at clubs in New York and around the country, Mr. DeStefano appeared on television on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and Showtime; on radio on “The Opie & Anthony Show”; and at popular comedy festivals in Montreal and Aspen, Colo.

Last year he finished among the top five finalists on the NBC show “Last Comic Standing.” (One judge on that show, Greg Giraldo, died last year.)

“I am a stand-up comic,” Mr. DeStefano said on his Web site, mikedestefano.com, in a statement taken from his comedy act. “Before that, I was a drug counselor. Before that, I was a drug addict. Before that, I was 12.”

Mr. DeStefano got his first gig almost unintentionally. Born in the Bronx, he was 15 when he got hooked on heroin. At 31, after years in rehab, he became a drug counselor in Florida. Bored with the standard substance-abuse lecture, he began punctuating his talks with personal asides and off-color language.

At a Narcotics Anonymous convention in Atlanta, after the pool party was rained out and everybody was crammed into a tent, Mr. DeStefano stepped before the microphone. “I went up in front of all these people and started ranting about drugs,” he said in an interview for the Web site ComedyBeat. “It was bizarre how they loved it.”

He would go on to perform at more than 100 substance-recovery events around the world. He liked to tell those audiences, in vivid language, that they had probably joined a 12-step program just so they could meet people.

Mr. DeStefano’s wife, Fran, who had also been an addict and who contracted AIDS, died several years ago. Information about his survivors was not available.

Several weeks ago, as he was working to draw fans to what turned out to be one of his last performances in Manhattan, Mr. DeStefano wrote wryly, if eerily, on his Web site: “I might die tomorrow and you won’t get a chance to see my show, ‘Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy by Mike DeStefano.’ Then you’ll feel bad. Let’s avoid all that and buy tickets.”

[Post edit: It is being reported that “Last Comic Standing” finalist Mike DeStefano has died after he suffered a massive heart attack.
Eerily, he was also 44 like Greg Giraldo, who died in September 2010.]

 

[JennyOHill2]

Terry Clements

Gordon Lightfoot remembers late guitarist Clements as one of his best friends
By Nick Patch, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – Mon, 28 Feb, 2011 8:45 PM EST
....Share

TORONTO - Gordon Lightfoot remembers his late guitarist Terry Clements as a "terrific guy" whose distinctive playing helped create some of the most memorable moments in Lightfoot's music.

Clements died on Feb. 20, 10 days after suffering a stroke. He was 63.

"Terry was a terrific guy, and a wonderful friend and a great guitar player," Lightfoot said in a telephone interview Monday morning.

"He was one of my best friends."

Lightfoot met Clements when both happened to be working on music for the 1968 Burt Reynolds TV movie "Fade-In."

In 1970, Lightfoot's lead guitarist Red Shea decided to leave his touring band, and Lightfoot immediately thought of Clements. He flew him up to Toronto for an audition and was immediately impressed by the youngster.

Still, there was an initial adjustment period for Clements, who had grown up listening to a diverse assortment of music — even taking cues from surf guitar pioneer Dick Dale — but was now being tasked with mastering the folk genre.

"Terry could have been a rock musician," Lightfoot said. "He had to learn to play capo music — which is quite common in folk music — and he had to learn two or three different ways of playing the instrument, but being the kind of guitarist he was, he picked up on all these things very quickly.

"He was a very fast learner, and I might add that he also taught me a lot of things myself as we went along through the years. He was a great teacher."

Born in 1947, Clements began playing guitar when he was only five years old. He spent two years in the navy upon graduating high school but then bounced between various musical gigs — including spending time with a '60s outfit called Golden Sunflower — before landing with Lightfoot.

Clements contributed to nearly all of Lightfoot's most popular tunes, including "Carefree Highway," "Sundown" and, of course, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," with its haunting solo and textured playing — meant to bring to mind the crashing waves and whistling wind — standing as perhaps the best showcase for the guitarist's unique abilities.

"He and Pee Wee Charles together came up with the sound ... that we achieved on that recording with the guitar parts that, really, he invented," Lightfoot said.

"He was a great player. He was a natural. ... Working with him was such a pleasure through all those years. You know, there really were never any problems with any of the work that we were doing, and we were always of course on an improvement venture, in trying to make everything better all the time."

"And he was ready to do that. Always ready to go, and enthusiastic."

Lightfoot reminisces on a few of his favourite moments from touring with Clements for roughly four decades: the time they were mutually inspired by American folkie Rod McKuen at the Royal Albert Hall, or getting invited backstage together to meet German actress and singer Marlene Dietrich, or a nighttime sailing jaunt in Perth, Australia, during which their promoter almost toppled over the side of the boat.

Lightfoot said that Clements occasionally seemed to struggle when the band wasn't on the road — "his life was a bit of a roller-coaster ride, his personal life" — but that he always handled his music career with the utmost professionalism.

"The music always came first," Lightfoot said. "Being prepared and ready to go, that was part of the game. We were like a team. Like a sports team getting ready for a game every time we went onstage.

"We wanted to play the best."

Lightfoot says he and Clements rehearsed together two days before the guitarist entered the hospital, where he remained for two weeks until his death. But the 72-year-old Lightfoot said Clements had been enduring various health problems for years, until "everything failed at once."

Lightfoot has recruited Hamilton guitarist Carter Lancaster, whom he calls a "great player," to join his touring band, beginning with a show on March 15 in Greensboro, N.C.

But there's no replacing Clements.

"He presented a shining example to so many people," Lightfoot said.

"Everywhere we went, there were people who really appreciated his playing and appreciated his natural ability. And he had many friends, many, many friends throughout North America, who really admired his playing and had a great deal of respect for him."



A rather personal loss for me. I saw Lightfoot and band perform for decades, and had the pleasure of meeting and spending some time with this talented and tender man. RIP, Terry.

 

[JennyOHill2]

'French Connection' star Rick Martin dies at 59

Rick Martin, who comprised one-third of the famed "French Connection" line for the Buffalo Sabres in the 1970s, died Sunday at age 59.

According to the New York State Police, Martin died in a one-car crash in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence. A report in the Buffalo News said Martin suffered a heart attack while driving.

"We lost a heck of a good guy," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, a former teammate of Martin's, said during a news conference before Sunday's game against the Ottawa Senators. "It's a tough one to take."

A moment of silence was held prior to the opening faceoff at HSBC Arena, where Martin's No. 7 jersey hangs from the rafters.

Martin was one of the Sabres' first draft picks, taken No. 5 in 1971, and scored 44 goals in his first season, a rookie record at the time. He went on to team with Gilbert Perreault and Rene Robert on the high-scoring line that helped lead the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Final in 1975, only their fifth season of existence.

"It's sad news," Perreault told the Buffalo News. "It's a reminder that you never know in life. I mean, he was 59. That's young, and he always seemed to be in such good shape.

"I hadn't seen him much in the past 20 years, but you don't forget all the years you played together. We were together since my days in junior. I stayed at his house for a year. Oh, Rick was a guy with all the jokes. He was funny and people really enjoyed being in his presence. He was a great golfer, too. That was his passion after hockey."

Martin scored a career-high 52 goals in 1973-74 and matched that again to go with a career-high 95 points the following season. He added 7 goals and 15 points in 17 playoff games as the Sabres fell to the Flyers in the Final.

For his career, Martin totaled 384 goals and 701 points in 685 regular-season games with the Sabres and Kings. He added 24 goals and 53 points in 63 playoff games.

Martin was among the welcoming party last month when Terry Pegula assumed ownership of the Sabres.

"It's like a bad dream," Robert told the Buffalo News from Florida, where he was visiting his daughter. "First my brother, then my left winger. I lose Rico [Martin]. I tell you what. This one is going to be tough for everybody in Buffalo.

"It's too bad. Pegula just put us together. He told us, 'You guys are going to be here now until you die.'"

A statement released by the team read: "The Buffalo Sabres are saddened to announce the passing of Buffalo Sabres Hall of Famer and member of the famed French Connection, Rick Martin. Rick was not only one of the greatest players in franchise history, he was a great friend to the Sabres organization and the entire community. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Sabres organization go out to his wife Mikey and their two sons, Corey and Josh."

 

[busybody..]

 

[JennyOHill2]

Hugh Martin, Songwriter, Dies at 96

Hugh Martin, the composer, lyricist, arranger and pianist best known for creating the Judy Garland standards “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Boy Next Door” and “The Trolley Song,” died on Friday at his home in Encinitas, Calif. He was 96.

His death was confirmed by his niece Suzanne Hanners.

The three songs with which he is most identified all belonged to the score of the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Although Mr. Martin shared songwriting credit with his longtime collaborator, Ralph Blane, who died in 1995, Mr. Martin insisted in his autobiography, “Hugh Martin: The Boy Next Door” (2010), that he had written all three songs by himself. Mr. Martin and Mr. Blane, who met as cast members in the 1937 Broadway revue ”Hooray for What?,” both wrote words and music, usually independently of each other before combining their efforts, having agreed to share credit on everything.

Garland initially refused to sing the holiday ballad, which began, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last,” until that second line was softened to “Let your heart be light.” “They’ll think I’m a monster to that little Margaret O’Brien,” he recalled her protesting.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is one of a triumvirate of achingly wistful seasonal ballads from World War II (the others are “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”) to have transcended their era. In his book “American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950” the composer Alec Wilder described it as “the most honest and genuine of all the attempts to wish one well musically in a season which otherwise has come to be symbolized by guilt and the dollar sign.”

Mr. Martin wrote the music and lyrics for five Broadway musicals: “Best Foot Forward” (1941, with Mr. Blane), “Look Ma, I’m Dancin’!” (1948), “Make a Wish” (1951). “High Spirits” (1964, on which he collaborated with Timothy Gray on book, music and lyrics) and the 1989 stage version of “Meet Me in St. Louis,” for which he wrote new songs.

Besides “Meet Me in St. Louis” his film credits include the movie version of “Best Foot Forward” (1943), “Abbott and Costello in Hollywood” (1945), “Athena” (1954), “The Girl Rush” (1955) and “The Girl Most Likely” (1958), all with Mr. Blane. On his own he wrote the songs for a 1958 television musical, “Hans Brinker.”

Born in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 11, 1914, Hugh Martin studied music at Birmingham Southern College. He intended to be a classical musician until he discovered George Gershwin.

“ ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ changed my life,” he recalled in a conversation with the singer and pianist Michael Feinstein in the liner notes for their 1995 album “The Hugh Martin Songbook.”

“It was Gershwin and Kern and Arlen,” he said. Those three were my top-echelon people.”

A letter he wrote to Richard Rodgers about vocal arrangements on Broadway earned him an invitation to arrange “Sing for Your Supper” for the Rodgers and Hart show “The Boys From Syracuse” in the style of the Boswell Sisters, and he began a distinguished career as a Broadway and nightclub arranger.

While working with Garland on “A Star Is Born,” he left the picture after a dispute about how to sing “The Man That Got Away,” which he didn’t want her to belt. As the musical director of “Sugar Babies” years later, he faced a similar conflict about interpretation with Ann Miller.

His score for a movie short about the primitive artist Grandma Moses, orchestrated by Mr. Wilder, became the semiclassical “New England Suite.”

In his autobiography Mr. Martin wrote of his onetime amphetamine addiction, from which he recovered. In his later years he became a Seventh-Day Adventist and an accompanist for the gospel singer Del Delker, who recorded a religiously slanted version of his holiday standard: “Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas.”

Mr. Martin is survived by a brother, Gordon, of Birmingham.