The Rest In Peace & Remembrance Thread #2

`I Love Lucy' director Bill Asher dies at 90
Jul 17, 12:34 AM (ET)

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - The director and producer behind the television classics "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched" has died. Bill Asher was 90.

His wife, Meredith, says he died Monday at a facility in Palm Desert, Calif., of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Asher was best known for his work on "I Love Lucy," where he directed Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz for 100 of the show's 181 episodes between 1952 and 1957.

He also produced and directed "The Patty Duke Show" and "Bewitched," which starred his then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery. Montgomery and Asher had three children together.

Asher brought Sally Field to TV screens in "Gidget," and took the same sensibility to movies as director of the teen romps "Beach Blanket Bingo" and "Beach Party," starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

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Donald Sobol, the creator of Encyclopedia Brown, dies at age 87.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/07/encyclopedia-brown-creator-donald-sobol-dies/

Donald Sobol, the creator of the best-selling Encyclopedia Brown series of mysteries, has passed away at the age of 87. The news of his death was made public this morning; Sobol died last week of natural causes in Miami, according to reports.

Sobol’s famous chronicles of 10-year-old Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown launched nearly 50 years ago with Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective in 1963.

Encyclopedia Brown was a proto-hacker, a bad-ass in the style of Buckaroo Banzai and MacGyver, who could sleuth a complicated crime, break it down, and solve it in the span of three pages. In addition to being a whiz kid detective, he was also an entrepreneur who created his own startup detective agency to solve mysteries for the princely sum of “25 cents per day, plus expenses.”

Brown was cooler — and nerdier — than Harry Potter, and many of the other heroes of children’s books of today. Plus, the Encyclopedia Brown books were designed to be interactive, by the standards of their time — readers could solve the mysteries along with Brown, by reading the text closely and carefully noting down the details of the story.
 
The Jeffersons' star Sherman Helmsley dead at 74

Sherman Hemsley has finally found his deluxe apartment in the sky. “The Jeffersons” star died at his home in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday at the age of 74. Hemsley, who won laughs as the grumpy George Jefferson on the CBS sitcom, a spin-off of “All in the Family,” for 11 season from 1975 to 1985, was discovered by his nurse, according to TMZ, and is believed to have died from natural causes.
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Susan
 
Chad Everett has passed away at the age of 75. He died after suffering from lung cancer for the last year and a half. Everett is best known for playing Joe Gannon in the TV series Medical Center. He also appeared in Melrose Place.

Chad Everett, dies at age 75
 
Don't watch Coronation street, but Onslow and Vernon I did know
from bbc.co.uk

Coronation Street actor Geoffrey Hughes dies aged 68


Hughes featured in Keeping up Appearances for five years
Coronation Street and Keeping up Appearances actor Geoffrey Hughes has died aged 68, his agent has said.
The actor, who was known to millions as Coronation Street binman Eddie Yeats in the 1970s and 1980s, died "peacefully in his sleep" on Friday night.
It followed a "long courageous battle" with prostate cancer, his family said.
Hughes, who lived on the Isle of Wight, was also known for his roles as Twiggy in TV comedy The Royle Family and Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances.
He had thought he had beaten prostate cancer in 2009, but was told it had returned after collapsing at home in 2010.
Hughes first appeared in 1960s shows such as Z-Cars and The Likely Lads. He was the voice of Paul McCartney in the Beatles film Yellow Submarine.
Other roles included Vernon in Heartbeat and Uncle Keith in teen drama Skins, guest-starring in episodes of Doctor Who, Casualty, Boon and The Upper Hand.
'Great comedy timing' A Coronation Street spokeswoman said: "We are very sad to hear of the death of Geoffrey Hughes.
"He created a legendary and iconic character in Eddie Yeats who will always be part of Coronation Street.
Everyone connected with the programme sends our sincerest condolences to his family."
Coronation Street star William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, said: "I am so sorry to hear about Geoffrey. He was a warm, lovable actor, with great comedy timing.
"He will be greatly missed, one of the Street's memorable characters."
Helen Worth, who plays Gail McIntyre in Coronation Street, said: "Geoff was a very dear friend for many years, and I'm very sad to hear the news of his passing.
"He was a master of gentle comedy and brought pleasure to so many people. He will be sadly missed."
Sally Lindsay, who played barmaid Shelley Unwin in Corrie, wrote on Twitter that her first TV job was playing Twiggy's girlfriend in The Royle Family, "and he was so kind RIP lovely man x".
Hughes was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the Isle of Wight in 2009, providing the official link between the island and royalty at formal events.
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Gore Vidal, celebrated author, playwright, dies
Aug 1, 2:30 AM (ET)
By HILLEL ITALIE


In a world more to his liking, Gore Vidal might have been president, or even king. He had an aristocrat's bearing - tall, handsome and composed - and an authoritative baritone ideal for summoning an aide or courtier.

But Vidal made his living - a very good living - from challenging power, not holding it. He was wealthy and famous and committed to exposing a system often led by men he knew firsthand. During the days of Franklin Roosevelt, one of the few leaders whom Vidal admired, he might have been called a "traitor to his class." The real traitors, Vidal would respond, were the upholders of his class.

The author, playwright, politician and commentator whose vast and sharpened range of published works and public remarks were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom, died Tuesday at age 86 in Los Angeles.

Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills at about 6:45 p.m. of complications from pneumonia, his nephew Burr Steers said. Vidal had been living alone in the home and had been sick for "quite a while," Steers said.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.
 
Composer Marvin Hamlisch dies at 68
Aug 7, 5:22 PM (ET)
By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) - Marvin Hamlisch was blessed with perfect pitch and an infallible ear. "I heard sounds that other children didn't hear," he wrote in his autobiography.

He turned that skill into writing and arranging compulsively memorable songs that the world was unable to stop humming - from the mournful "The Way We Were" to the jaunty theme from "The Sting."

Prolific and seeming without boundaries, Hamlisch, who died at 68 after a short illness, composed music for film heroes from James Bond and Woody Allen, for powerful singers such as Liza Minnelli and Aretha Franklin, and high-kicking dancers of the Tony-winning "A Chorus Line." To borrow one of his song titles, nobody did it better.

"He was a true musical genius, but above all that, he was a beautiful human being. I will truly miss him," said Barbra Streisand, who first met the composer in 1963 and sang his "The Way We Were" to a Grammy win in 1974. "It was his brilliantly quick mind, his generosity, and delicious sense of humor that made him a delight to be around."

Hamlisch collapsed and died Monday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, his publicist Ken Sunshine said, citing the family. Other details were not released.

Full story at IWON/AP News.

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Film critic Judith Crist dies at 90
Aug 7, 6:51 PM (ET)
By HILLEL ITALIE


NEW YORK (AP) - Judith Crist, a blunt and popular film critic for the "Today" show, TV Guide and the New York Herald Tribune whose reviews were at times so harsh that director Otto Preminger labeled her "Judas Crist," has died. She was 90.

Her son, Steven Crist, said his mother died Tuesday at her Manhattan home after a long illness.

Starting in 1963, at the Tribune, Crist wrote about and discussed thousands of movies for millions of readers and viewers, and also covered theater and books.

She was the first woman to become a full-time critic at a major U.S. newspaper and was among the first reviewers of her time to gain a national following. Roger Ebert credited her with helping to make all film critics better known, including such contemporaries as The New Yorker's Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris of the Village Voice.

Full story at IWON/AP News.
 
Italian special effects master Rambaldi dies at 86
Aug 10, 4:24 PM (ET)
By COLLEEN BARRY


MILAN (AP) - Carlo Rambaldi, a special effects master and three-time Oscar winner known as the father of "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," died Friday in southern Italy after a long illness, Italian news media reported. He was 86.

Rambaldi won visual effects Oscars for Steven Spielberg's 1982 blockbuster, Ridley Scott's film "Alien" in 1979, and John Guillermin's "King Kong" in 1976.

"Carlo Rambaldi was E.T.'s Geppetto," said Spielberg, referring to the fictional character who created Pinocchio. " All of us who marveled and wondered at his craft and artistry are deeply saddened by the news of his passing."

Full story at IWON/AP News.
 
'Cosmo' grand dame Helen Gurley Brown dies at age 90
By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY
August 13, 2012


One of the biggest pioneers in magazines - Helen Gurley Brown - has died.

Hearst announced that, "Helen passed away this morning at the McKeen Pavilion at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after a brief hospitalization." She was 90.
Known for bringing her Sex and the Single Girl notions into pop culture (long before Carrie Bradshaw entered the scene),

Gurley Brown "was an icon," said Frank Bennack Jr., CEO of Hearst Corporation in a statement. "Her formula for honest and straightforward advice about relationships, career and beauty revolutionized the magazine industry. She lived every day of her life to the fullest and will always be remembered as the quintessential 'Cosmo girl.' She will be greatly missed."

She was married to David Brown, who died in 2010, for 51 years. They were anchors in the New York publishing and Hollywood film communities, as he and partner Richard Zanuck produced some of the era's most memorable movies, among them, Cocoon and Driving Miss Daisy. When asked in a 2006 interview what the secret was to her long, happy marriage, she answered, "I married the right man. He is kind, compassionate and generous, not just to me, but to a lot of other people. You need to marry a decent, caring person."

Donations may be made to The Pussycat Foundation, c/o Karen Sanborn, Hearst Corp., 300 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, to fund media innovation at Columbia and Stanford Universities. A fall memorial will be announced at a later date.
 
Actor Ron Palillo of "Welcome Back, Kotter"

The actor best known as the nerdy high-school student Arnold Horshack on "Welcome Back, Kotter," has died in Florida.

Ron Palillo was 63.

Palillo's friend, Karen Poindexter, says Palillo died early Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens of an apparent heart attack.

Palillo was forever remembered for the character he played from 1975 to 1979 on the ABC sitcom: a nasally Brooklyn teen whose hand shot skyward and who barked out a string of "Ooohs" when a teacher posed a question.

Though his co-star on the show, John Travolta, went on to fame, Palillo struggled to expand beyond his role as Horshack.

Of Horshack, Palillo once told an interviewer from the Birmingham News: "While I loved him, I really loved him, I didn't want to do him forever."
 
VETERAN CHARACTER ACTOR DEAD AT 88

William Windom, the recognizable character actor who had a career on the small screen spanning seven decades, passed away today at age 88.
Born on September 28, 1923 in New York City and schooled at Williams College, Fordham and Columbia, Windom made his debut with the American Repertory Theatre in 1946 in productions of Henry VIII, What Every Woman Knows, John Gabriel Borkman and Androcles and the Lion. The following year, he remained on Broadway with roles in Yellow Jack and as the White Rabbit in a production of Alice in Wonderland. Windom segued onto television with early guest starring roles in series like The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, Masterpiece Playhouse and Robert Montgomery Presents. Following guest shots in other series like The Twilight Zone, The New Breed, Checkmate, Cheyenne, Ben Casey, The Lucy Show and The Donna Reed Show, Windom headlined sitcom The Farmer’s Daughter from 1963-66. Multiple TV appearances followed through the 1970s, including a one season stint on 1969-70 comedy My World and Welcome To It, which resulted in an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series.

http://www.tvmediainsights.com/2012/08/remembering-william-windom/

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Scott McKenzie, singer/songwriter, 73

Singer/songwriter Scott McKenzie, best known for the 1967 hit "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)" that helped to launch the Summer of Love, has died at age 73, according to online reports. McKenzie died Saturday (Aug. 18) in L.A. No other details about his death were immediately available.

Born Philip Blondheim, the singer decided to change his name after fans struggled to pronounce his birth moniker. McKenzie found fame with doo wop band The Abstracts, which became The Smoothies. In 1961, McKenzie and John Phillips met Dick Weissman and formed The Journeymen, which recorded three albums and seven singles for Capitol Records. The group disbanded in 1964. McKenzie and Weissman became solo performers, while Phillips formed the group The Mamas & the Papas with Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips and moved to California.
 
^^^
Wow. Thanks for the memories.

RIP, William Windom. Such a recognizable face on tv back then.

'San Francisco' embraced the flower child movement of the sixties. Great song; I still have the 45. :/ I didn't know Scott McKenzie was associated with John Phillips. Interesting.
RIP, Scott.

In other sad news:

Producer, director Tony Scott dies; apparent suicide
Prolific TV and film producer-director Tony Scott, whose small screen credits included Numb3rs and The Good Wife, died Sunday afternoon of an apparent suicide. He was 68. According to The Daily Breeze, Scott jumped to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, CA. He reportedly left a suicide note inside his car, which was parked on the bridge.
Although best known for directing big screen blockbusters Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, and Beverly Hills Cop II, Scott (alongside brother Ridley via their L.A.-based Scott Free Productions) branched out into television in 2005 as a producer on CBS’ Numb3rs. Four years later, the Scott brothers launched CBS’ The Good Wife. Their A&E miniseries Coma is scheduled to premiere in September.
In a statement, Numb3rs creators Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci called Scott “an extraordinarily creative force and an inspired, supportive leader,” adding, “The series would not have made it to air without him. His vision and enthusiasm touched everyone who worked with him. Our thoughts are with his family.”
David Krumholtz, who starred alongside Rob Morrow on the Friday night procedural, penned a tribute to Scott on Twitter Sunday. “He was wild and big and crazy and uncontrollable and he gave it his all, every moment, because he believed in his crew, his cast, and the show,” he wrote. “It saddens me that something inside him told him to take his incredible life spirit away from us, from the film making community. May he rest in peace. What a great dude.”
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I would like to add True Romance and the most awesome Man on Fire to his list of spectacular movie credits.

Read More at: http://tvline.com/2012/08/19/tony-scott-dead-suicide/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral

RIP, Tony Scott; and sincere condolences to his family.

ETA: ABC News is reporting that he had inoperable brain cancer.
 
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Phyllis Diller Dies at 95

Comedian, actress, artist, and author Phyllis Diller died Monday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 95.

“She was a true pioneer,” Diller’s longtime agent Fred Wostbrock told EW. “She was the first lady of stand up comedy. She paved the way for everybody. And she conquered television, movies, Broadway, record albums, nightclubs, books, and radio. She did it all. A true pioneer.”

The housewife-turned-advertising copywriter and mother of six got her big showbiz break in 1955 at the age of 37 when the owner of San Francisco’s now-defunct Purple Onion nightclub gave her a substitute stand-up spot one night. “When I went on, the room went totally quiet and I knew that I had this magnetic thing that you had to be born with,” Diller told EW in 2005. “You can’t buy it or even learn it.” Diller’s shtick — often revolving around her pathetic fictional husband “Fang” and her less-than-gorgeous looks (“I love to go to the doctor. Where else would a man look at me and say, ‘Take off your clothes?’”) — quickly made her famous. She became a legend to generations of female comics (“To a lot of us she was better than Bob Hope,” Roseanne Barr told EW).

In the 1960s and ’70s, Diller became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, The Flip Wilson Show, and Laugh-In, though TV series meant to showcase the comic (The Phyllis Diller Show, The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show) never took off. She continued to get work as she got older, appearing in movies like A Bug’s Life as well as TV shows such as Family Guy, 7th Heaven, and The Drew Carey Show. In 2005, the same year she published her autobiography (Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse), she appeared along with Sarah Silverman and Bob Saget in the humor documentary The Aristocrats, proving that even 88-year-olds can tell dirty jokes — in her case, in a typically zany wig and punctuated by her trademark cackle of a laugh.
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Susan
 
Jerry Nelson, the Count on 'Sesame Street' Dies

Jerry Nelson, a master of voices and puppetering who voiced Muppets including Count von Count during more than 40 years with "Sesame Street," has died. He was 78.

Also a musician and actor, he took part in dozens of Muppet projects, from the 1971 TV movie "Tales From Muppetland: The Frog Prince," to 1979's "The Muppet Movie," to the 1980s series "Fraggle Rock," to last year's "The Muppets."

Nelson joined "Sesame Street," which debuted in 1969, early in the show's run. He soon took on major characters including The Count, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Sherlock Hemlock.

"The cast and crew of 'Sesame Street' and the staff of Sesame Workshop deeply mourn the loss of cast member and creator of dozens of Muppet characters, Jerry Nelson," said a message on Sesame Street's website.

"A member of the 'Sesame Street' family for more than 40 years, he will forever be in our hearts and remembered for the artistry in his puppetry, his music, and the laughter he brought to children worldwide through his portrayal of Count von Count, Herry Monster, Fat Blue, Sherlock Hemlock, the Amazing Mumford and many other beloved characters. We will miss his extraordinary spirit and the joy he brought to our Street."

Nelson also had small, decidedly un-Muppety roles in films including "Robocop 2" and "The Nail Gun Massacre."
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Susan
 
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