The Rest In Peace & Remembrance Thread

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Japanese Mayor Killed by Mobster
Apr 17, 4:52 PM (ET)
By HIROKO TABUCHI

TOKYO (AP) - The mayor of the Japanese city of Nagasaki was shot to death in a brazen attack Tuesday by an organized crime chief apparently enraged that the city refused to compensate him after his car was damaged at a public works construction site, news agencies reported.

The shooting was rare in a country where handguns are strictly banned and only four politicians are known to have been killed since World War II.

Mayor Iccho Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back at point-blank range outside a train station Tuesday evening, Nagasaki police official Rumi Tsujimoto said.

One of the bullets struck the mayor's heart and he went into cardiac arrest, according to Nagasaki University Hospital spokesman Kenzo Kusano. Kyodo News agency and national broadcaster NHK said Ito died of his wounds early Wednesday.

Tetsuya Shiroo, a senior member of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, was wrestled to the ground by officers after the attack and arrested for attempted murder, police said.

He later admitted to shooting Ito with a handgun with the intent to kill, Nagasaki chief investigator Kazuki Umebayashi said at a news conference.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a "rigorous investigation."

It was the second attack in the last 20 years against a mayor of Nagasaki, which was destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945 and whose leaders have actively campaigned against militarism.

In 1990, Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot and seriously wounded after saying that Japan's emperor, beloved by rightists, bore some responsibility for World War II.
 
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Kitty Carlisle Hart dead at 96
3:26 p.m. EDT, April 18, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera," has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday.

Christopher Hart said his mother had been in and out of the hospital since contracting pneumonia over the Christmas holidays.

"She passed away peacefully" at home, said Hart. "She had such a wonderful life, and a great long run, it was a blessing."

Hart had appeared for years on the popular game show "To Tell the Truth" as a celebrity panelist.

The entertainer was also a tireless advocate for the arts, serving 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Arts from the first President Bush.

Full story at CNN.com.
 
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Former Russian leader Yeltsin dead
10:16 a.m. EDT, April 23, 2007

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, has died, a Kremlin official said Monday. He was 76.

Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov confirmed Yeltsin's death, but gave no cause or further information. The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified medical source as saying he had died of heart failure.

Although Yeltsin pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, many of its citizens will remember him mostly for presiding over the country's steep decline.

He was a contradictory figure, rocketing to popularity in the Communist era on pledges to fight corruption -- but proving unable, or unwilling, to prevent the looting of state industry as it moved into private hands during his nine years as Russia's first freely elected president.

Full story at CNN.com
 
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SAN FRANCISCO - David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who chronicled the Washington press corps, the Vietnam War generation and baseball, was killed in a car crash early Monday, a coroner said. He was 73.

Halberstam, a New Yorker, was a passenger in a car that was broadsided by another vehicle in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.

The accident occurred around 10:30 a.m., and the driver of the car carrying Halberstam identified him as the victim, Foucrault said. A call to Menlo Park police wasn't immediately returned.

"Looking at the accident and examining him at the scene indicated it's most likely internal injuries," Foucrault said.

The driver of the car carrying Halberstam is a student at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and was taken to Stanford Medical Center. Two others were injured.

Halberstam spoke Saturday at a UC Berkeley-sponsored event on the craft of journalism and what it means to turn reporting into a work of history.

He was born April 10, 1934, in New York City, the son of a surgeon father and teacher mother.

After attending Harvard University, Halberstam launched his career in 1955 at the Daily Times Leader, a small daily newspaper in Mississippi. By age 30 he had won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Vietnam War for the New York Times.

He quit daily journalism in 1967 and wrote 21 books covering such diverse topics as the Vietnam War, civil rights, the auto industry and a baseball pennant race. His 2002 best-seller, "War in a Time of Peace," was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.
 
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World Cup winner Alan Ball dies at 61

Ball was awarded the MBE
World Cup winner Alan Ball has died of a heart attack at the age of 61.
Ball was the youngest member of the England side that won the World Cup in 1966 and went on to win 72 caps.

The industrious midfielder started his career at Blackpool and went on to play for Everton, Arsenal and Southampton before a spell in the United States.

Ball, who collapsed outside his home after tackling a bonfire, also managed seven clubs, including Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester City.




Ball, who was awarded an MBE in 2000, is the second member of the side that beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley to die. Captain Bobby Moore died of cancer in 1993.

606: COMMENT
Your tributes to Alan Ball

Ball's son Jimmy said: "I was talking to him last night just after the football and he was in great form. We were talking about (Paul) Scholes' pass.

"And then I got a phone call in the middle of the night. It's unbelievable and very, very sad.

"I would like him to be known as a nice man with a passion for football. He had a big heart and was very generous."

Mr Ball said his father missed his mother Lesley terribly after she died from cancer three years ago and added: "I hope they are together now."

The couple were married for over 36 years.

The Football Association has announced that England's players will wear black armbands as a mark of respect to Ball during their first game at the new Wembley against Brazil on 1 June.

Sir Geoff Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the 1966 final, led the tributes to Ball.

He said: "He was the youngest member of the team and man of the match in the 1966 World Cup final.

"Socially he was always a good laugh and the 1966 team mixed a lot after then."

He added: "We are all totally devastated."

Lawrie McMenemy, who twice signed him for Southampton, told the BBC: "He was my guest at St Mary's on Saturday and I should have been playing golf with him this morning.

ALAN BALL FACTFILE
Born: Lancashire 12/05/1945
Playing career: Played for Blackpool, Everton, Arsenal, Southampton, Philadelphia Fury, Vancouver Whitecaps (player manager), Blackpool (player manager), Southampton, Eastern (Hong Kong), Bristol Rovers
Made 975 appearances in a 21-year career
Managerial career: Portsmouth, Colchester, Stoke, Exeter, Southampton, Manchester City, Portsmouth
Honours: World Cup (1966), league title (1970)

"We were very, very good friends.

"I was very fortunate to manage him. I wanted him badly not just for his ability but for his enthusiasm. Once his feet touched the grass he was like a performer on the stage.

"In his early career he was a runner, a scrapper, a fighter, a workmanlike player. At the end of his career he became the best one-touch footballer in the game.

"Alan started life as a road sweeper and ended up as the best lead violinist Southampton ever had.

"They were a tight-knit family that World Cup team but he has gone to join Bobby Moore now.

"He was about to move up to his close pal Mick Channon and start a new part of his life that he was very excited about.

"He had an enthusiasm for life, not just football, and it spread. He was a lovely fella."

His midfield partner in 1966 Sir Bobby Charlton said: "He was probably the best player that day and if it had not been for his impact the result could have been totally different.

It is very sad news which has hit everyone hard. He was a terrific character who was always bubbly and jolly and a football man through and through.

Leon Crouch, acting chairman of Southampton

"He did not appear to have a nerve in his body, and he was an inspiration to us all.

"Alan was always bright and bubbly in everything he did as a player. He went about his work with great enthusiasm and gusto and he always had a smile on his face.

"He was a sensational little player with great touch and great vision. He had great close control and although he wasn't a fast player he didn't need to be. He could see things clearly and always made the right decisions.

"He was the youngest member of our squad and we were all looking forward to our latest reunion in two weeks. I am very sad and shocked by the news. Alan will be badly missed."

England team-mate Alan Mullery said: "I just can't believe it. His nickname was 'Bouncy', he was just such a bouncy, lively 61-year-old.

"It's such a shock. He was a loveable character, heart of gold and lived football. He just loved playing for his country.

"He was a wonderful footballer to have in your side, he was so enthusiastic. He had a marvellous engine for a midfield player and had wonderful skill.

"In the World Cup final he was 5ft 10in when he started but he did so much running that day he was 5ft 5in at the end.

"When everyone else was tiring there was Bally running round the pitch."


Ball was only 21 when England won the World Cup
England team-mate Jack Charlton added: "Alan was a brave little fella. Everybody loved Alan; he was a lovely little lad.

"Every time I met him and spent time with him he was taking the mickey out of me, he was having a go at me. It was something we had going since 1966.

"I used to get annoyed with him and grab him by the shirt but it was only fun and we both knew it and I am going to miss Alan more than anybody because we had a tremendous relationship.

"I'm laughing now because I am thinking of Alan. I am not happy and I don't know why I'm laughing. It's just thinking of him. I've got so many good memories of Alan Ball."

Kevin Keegan, who played with him at Southampton, said: "He was a great player but I think as a person he was even greater

"I played with him when he was 38, I'd already been European Footballer of the Year twice but he could teach me things that I never even thought about."

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson, who played alongside Ball at Highbury in the 1970s, said: "Everyone can visualise him with his red hair and squeaky voice which is still there and will always be there.

"He was such an infectious character, an extraordinary character - his love for the game was amazing. He would argue all the time, love to talk about the game - just an amazing character."

Former Blackpool and England team-mate Jimmy Armfield said: "It is devastating news.

"He had energy, ambition, drive and passion - and if he was not passionate about something, he didn't do it."

Howard Kendall, who combined with Ball and Colin Harvey to form the 'holy trinity' at Everton, said: "We arrived at Everton in the same season and hit it off immediately.

"He was such a bubbly character, it was really Alan who made the partnership with me and Colin work as well as it did.

"This is a terrible loss for the club and for football. I'm devastated by the news, I have lost a friend and team-mate."

Ball was part of Everton's 1970 league championship-winning side and also appeared in the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico.

In 1973, he became only the second England player to be sent off in a full international when he was dismissed in a vital World Cup qualifier in Poland.

He missed the return game at Wembley as a result, a match that famously saw England fail to reach the 1974 finals and resulted in Ramsey's dismissal.

Ball went on to briefly captain his country but his international career was ended abruptly in 1975 when Ball was only 30.

In May 2005, Ball put his World Cup winners' medal and commemorative tournament cap up for auction to raise money for his family. They were sold for £140,000.

He is survived by his son, Jimmy, as well as two daughters Mandy and Keeley.

RIP Alan :(
Legend in your own lifetime
 
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`Monster Mash' singer Pickett dies at 69

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer
April 26, 2007 3:30 pm ET

NEW YORK - He does the "Monster Mash" no more.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett, whose dead-on Boris Karloff impression propelled the Halloween anthem to the top of the charts in 1962, making him one of pop music's most enduring one-hit wonders, has died of leukemia. He was 69.

Pickett, dubbed "The Guy Lombardo of Halloween," died Wednesday night at the West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, said his longtime manager, Stuart Hersh. His daughter, Nancy, and his sister, Lynda, were at Pickett's bedside.

"Monster Mash" hit the Billboard chart three times: when it debuted in 1962, reaching No. 1 the week before Halloween; again in August 1970, and for a third time in May 1973. The resurrections were appropriate for a song where Pickett gravely intoned the forever-stuck-in-your-head chorus: "He did the monster mash. ... It was a graveyard smash."

Full story at Yahoo News.
 
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Former MPAA Head Jack Valenti Dies at 85


Jack Valenti, the lobbyist who spearheaded the creation of the Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system, died Thursday afternoon in Washington, DC; he was 85. Valenti had recently been ill after suffering a stroke back in March, and had been at Johns Hopkins Hospital receiving treatment until Tuesday, when he returned home. Born in Texas, Valenti served as a pilot for the US Army Air Corps during World War II before going into advertising and political consulting. It was in that capacity that he met Lyndon B. Johnson in 1955, who was at the time the Senate Majority Leader. He later went to work for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, and was in charge of the press detail during President Kennedy's fateful trip to Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Valenti was part of the presidential motorcade when Kennedy was assassinated, six cars behind the President and his wife, and was also present at Johnson's swearing in aboard Air Force One. As Johnson assumed the presidency, Valenti became his political confidant and was dubbed "special assistant," overseeing congressional relations, diplomacy and speech editing among other duties.
It was with the film industry, though, that Valenti would gain his fame and power, as he resigned in 1966 to head the Motion Picture Association of America. Two years later, he helped come up with a system that would put to rest the industry's notorious Hays Code, which placed extreme restrictions on film content and language. His system, still in place today, devised ratings to denote the age-appropriateness for film, the now-familiar G, PG, R and X ratings (which later added PG-13 and dropped X in favor of NC-17). From the beginning it was a system constantly under fire, as its birth coincided with the burgeoning independent film movement of the late '60s, when filmmakers began aggressively pushing the boundaries of profanity, language and sexuality. One of Valenti's first battles was over the 1966 Oscar-winning film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, wherein Valenti's scrupulous and microscopic attention to detail and language would color the MPAA's working style and reputation for years to come. Throughout his career, Valenti tirelessly campaigned for the film industry, making both rich friends and bitter enemies along the way, alienating filmmakers and working hard in Washington, DC to keep Hollywood profitable. One of his most notable missteps was his derision of the home video market, which would later become one of the most profitable aspects of the film industry. He also brought the PG-13 rating into being in 1984, after furors surrounding extremely violent PG movies such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom arose, and attempted to abolish the stigma of the X rating by subsituting it with the NC-17 rating, which immediately achieved its own notoriety with the release of the high-profile flop Showgirls.

Despite Valenti's attempts to revise the MPAA and its rating system for a new era, it remained a secretive and often puzzling group, and came under fire last year for its perceived censorship practices and labyrinthine appeal system in the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. By that time, Valenti had retired two years previous in 2004, passing on leadership to Dan Glickman. He continued to campaign for both the film and TV industries, and his memoir, This Time, This Place, was set for publication in June of this year. He is survived by his wife, Mary Margaret Valenti (who was secretary to Lyndon Johnson when he met and married her), and their three children. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff
 
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Cardinals mourn passing of Hancock -- Pitcher killed in automobile accident early Sunday morning

ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning on Interstate 64 in St. Louis.
According to multiple reports, Hancock's vehicle hit a tow truck at approximately 12:30 a.m. CT and the pitcher died at the scene. He had pitched three innings in Saturday afternoon's game against the Cubs.

Sunday night's scheduled Cardinals-Cubs game, scheduled for 7:05 p.m., has been postponed.

Hancock joined the Cardinals in February of 2006. He quickly became a valuable member of the St. Louis bullpen, pitching 77 innings in his first season with the Cardinals. He was well-liked as a fun-loving, easy-going person.

Drafted in 1998 by the Red Sox, Hancock made his way through the Boston system and made his Major League debut as a member of the Red Sox in 2002. He was traded to Philadelphia before the 2003 season, spending '03 and part of '04 with the Phillies. Another trade sent him to Cincinnati, where he pitched through 2005. The Reds let him go early in Spring Training of '06, and the Cardinals quickly snapped him up.

Hancock was born in Cleveland, Miss., and attended high school in Birmingham, Ala., before attending Auburn University.
 
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Wow, just horrible news. That team loses both Darryl Kile and Josh Hancock within a span of 5 years. Absolutely tragic.
 
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Carson's Foil Tommy Newsom Dies at 78
Apr 30, 1:50 PM (ET)

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) - Tommy Newsom, the former backup bandleader on "The Tonight Show" whose "Mr. Excitement" nickname was a running joke for Johnny Carson, has died. He was 78.

Newsom died of cancer at his Portsmouth home Saturday, according to his nephew, Jim Newsom.

Newsom, who played saxophone, joined "The Tonight Show" in 1962 and rose from band member to assistant music director. He retired along with Carson in 1992.

"The Tonight Show" received five Emmy awards during Newsom's years on the show.

"I hope he will be remembered as a gifted musician," Jim Newsom said Monday in a telephone interview. "I'm sure he will be remembered for his wit and deadpan humor on 'The Tonight Show.' And to some of us a certain age, he will always be remembered as Mr. Excitement."

That was the nickname Carson gave Newsom to make light of his low-key personality and drab brown and blue suits - a sharp contrast to the flashy style of bandleader Doc Severinsen.

"He became a running character in Carson's monologue," Jim Newsom said. "Tommy enjoyed that."

Not long after the Carson era ended in 1992, Newsom remarked that his image as an ordinary guy was "fairly accurate - compared to Rambo."

"I realize things have to end sometime," Newsom said at the time. "I felt regrets at it ending and there was a sense of relief in a way."

Along with his work on "The Tonight Show," Newsom arranged and composed music for Skitch Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver and other performers.
 
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`Newhart' Sidekick Tom Poston Dies
May 1, 5:33 PM (ET)
By BOB THOMAS

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tom Poston, the tall, pasty-faced comic who found fame and fortune playing a clueless everyman on such hit television shows as "Newhart" and "Mork and Mindy," has died. He was 85.

Poston, who was married to Suzanne Pleshette of "The Bob Newhart Show," died Monday night at home after a brief illness, a family representative, Tanner Gibson, said Tuesday. The nature of his illness was not disclosed.

Bob Newhart remembered Poston as a "versatile and veteran performer and a kindhearted individual."

"Tom was always the 'go-to guy' on 'Newhart' in addition to being a good and longtime friend," Newhart said in a statement Tuesday.

Poston's run as a comic bumbler began in the mid-1950s with "The Steve Allen Show" after Allen plucked the character actor from the Broadway stage to join an ensemble of eccentrics he would conduct "man in the street" interviews with.

Don Knotts was the shaky Mr. Morrison, Louis Nye was the suave, overconfident Gordon Hathaway and Poston's character was so unnerved by the television cameras that he couldn't remember who he was. He won an Emmy playing "The Man Who Can't Remember His Name."

But when Allen moved the show from New York to Los Angeles in 1959, Poston stayed behind.

"Hollywood's not for me right now; I'm a Broadway cat," he told a reporter at the time.

When he did finally move west, he quickly began appearing in variety shows, sitcoms and films.

His movie credits included "Cold Turkey,""The Happy Hooker,""Rabbit Test" and, more recently, "Christmas With the Kranks,""Beethoven's 5th" and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement."

On "Mork and Mindy," which starred Robin Williams as a space alien, Poston was Franklin Delano Bickley, the mindless boozer with the annoying dog. On "Newhart," he was George Utley, the handyman who couldn't fix anything at the New England inn run by Newhart's character. And on Newhart's show "Bob," he was the star's dim-bulb former college roommate.

"These guys are about a half-step behind life's parade," Poston commented in a 1983 interview. "The ink on their instruction sheets is beginning to fade. But they can function and cope and don't realize they are driving people up the walls.

"In ways I don't like to admit, I'm a goof-up myself," Poston continued. "It's an essential part of my character. When these guys screw up it reminds me of my own incompetence with the small frustrations of life."

Goof-up or not, Poston was a versatile actor who made his Broadway debut in 1947 playing five roles in Jose Ferrer's "Cyrano de Bergerac."

One role called for him to engage in a duel, fall 10 feet, roll across the stage and vanish into the orchestra pit. Other actors had auditioned and failed but Poston, who in his youth had been an acrobat with the Flying Zepleys, did the stunt perfectly.

He went on to play secondary roles in Broadway comedies and starred at regional theaters in such shows as "Romanoff and Juliet" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." For 10 years he was also a panelist on the popular TV quiz show "To Tell the Truth."

He made guest appearances on scores of television shows, including "Studio One,""The Phil Silvers Show,""The Defenders,""Get Smart,""The Bob Newhart Show,""The Love Boat,""St. Elsewhere,""The Simpsons,""Coach,""Murphy Brown,""Home Improvement,""Touched by an Angel,""Will & Grace,""Dream On,""Just Shoot Me!" and "That '70s Show."

Poston and his first wife, Jean Sullivan, had a daughter, Francesca, before their marriage ended in divorce. He married his second wife, Kay Hudson, after they met while appearing in the St. Louis Light Opera, and they had a son, Jason, and daughter, Hudson.

Poston and Pleshette, who had appeared together in the 1959 Broadway play "The Golden Fleecing," had had a brief fling before marrying other people. Both now widowed, they reunited in 2000 and married the following year.

Their paths had crossed on "The Bob Newhart Show" in the 1970s. Poston made several guest appearances on the sitcom in which Pleshette played Newhart's wife.

In 2006, Pleshette underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer that her agent said was caught at an early stage.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 17, 1921, Thomas Poston moved from city to city as a child as his father hunted for work during the Depression. As a teenager, he made money as a boxer.

Following two years at Bethany College he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and flew troops to the European war zone during World War II.

Hunting for a postwar occupation, Poston read an interview with Charles Jehlinger, creative head of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and was inspired to sign up for a two-year course at the Academy.

Besides Pleshette, 70, Poston is survived by his children, Francesca Poston of Nashville, Tenn., Jason Poston of Los Angeles and Hudson Poston of Portland, Ore.

A private service was planned for immediate family. Details of a public memorial service were to be announced later.
 
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