Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Van Snowden

Puppeteer of film and television -- via the Hollywood Reporter. He played H.R. Pufnstuf and many other Krofft characters, as well as Chucky in the "Child's Play" movies, the Crypt Keeper in "Tales from the Crypt" and was the lead puppeteer on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse."

Virginia Cruzon Sanders

Model, dancer, Ziegfield Girl, actress -- via the Laramie Boomerang

Art Gilmore

Voice actor, actor, narrator and announcer -- via Variety. From the early days of radio, through hundreds of film trailers, into the television era, his distinctive voice resounds. Here's his opening of "Highway Patrol":

Louis Marks

BBC writer and producer -- via ATV News

Ralph Vicinanza

Literary agent -- via WTOP

Frank Bayer

Stage manager, production manager, casting director, production supervisor and actor -- via Playbill.com

Arthur E. Holch Jr.

Director, producer and writer of TV documentaries -- via Legacy.com and GreenwichTime.com

Romina Yan aka Romina Yankelevich De Giaccomi

Actress, screenwriter, singer and dancer -- via Zona Norte Diario

James Stovall

Theatrical actor, writer and producer -- via Broadway World

Le Sang

Martial arts master -- via Vovinam Frankfurt

Sally Menke

Film editor, best known for her work with director Quentin Tarentino -- via the L.A. Times

Monday, September 27, 2010

Vaishali Kasaravalli

Actress and director -- via the Times of India

Monica Glenshaw

Doctor who dedicated her skills to the less fortunate -- via News Day

Martin Towle King

Inventor came up with ways to enable the disabled to communicate -- via the Seattle Times

Mohammed Arkoun

Islamic scholar -- via Ismalimail

Dick Griffey

S.O.L.A.R. Records founder -- via blackamericaweb.com

Juvemario Tupinamba de Oliveira aka Mario Tupinamba aka 'Professor Raimundo'

Brazilian comedian, writer and broadcaster -- via fofoki

Jimi Heselden

Multimillionaire owner of Segway personal vehicle company -- via the Guardian. The former miner invented the Bastion, a debris-filled wire cage effective in building blast walls protecting people from rocket and mortar attacks. It made his fortune. In an unfortunate irony, Heselden died falling off a cliff at the controls of his own Segway.

Frank Crichlow

Restaurant owner and community activist -- via the Guardian

Felix Kok

Violinist and concertmaster of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra -- via the Guardian

Jessica Moore

Seton Hall student died protecting another during a shooting -- via Fox News

Moshe Lewin aka Misha Levin

Scholar of Soviet history and writer on same -- via the Guardian

Jean Samuel

A Holocaust survivor who later became a pharmacist -- via the Independent. He is made immemorial as remembered by fellow concentration camp inmate Primo Levi in Chapter 2 of Levi's book "If This Is a Man." For the last 25 years of his life, he worked vigorously as a witness and testifier to the horrors he underwent, and the possibility of keeping one's humanity from being extinguished by it.

George Blanda

An amazing athlete -- via the New York Times. He was a gifted, intelligent and enduring part of the NFL from 1949 through 1975. He could pass, he could run, he could kick -- one of the last all-round talents. And, even though I'm a Broncos fan, I admired the way he would tromp us when he was a Raider.

Gloria Stuart

Film actress -- via the Washington Post. She will be best remembered for her role as the present-day Rose in James Cameron's 1997 "Titanic" -- but her film career began in 1932, and included roles in such early Sound Era-gems such as "The Invisible Man," "Gold Diggers of 1935," "The Prisoner of Shark Island" and "Roman Scandals."

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Bob Shaw

MLB pitcher -- via Bill Schenley, groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries and the Palm Beach Post

Foster Wiley aka Mr. Tater

Street musician -- via World Music Central

Friday, September 24, 2010

Grace Bradley Boyd

Actress, fifth and final wife and true love of actor William Boyd, and keeper of the flame for his most famous characterization, that of fictional Western hero Hopalong Cassidy -- via the L.A. Times

Stuart E. Hample

Humorist, cartoonist, playwright, ad man and much more -- via the New York Times

Howard Brodie

Combat and courtroom artist - via the New York Times

Holly Eley aka Holly Mary Belinda Urquhart-Pollard

Writer, editor and gamekeeper -- via the Independent

Gifford Noel aka TNT aka DJ Trend

Drum and bass DJ -- via the BBC.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lee Stametz

Composer and musician with the Denver Center Theatre Company -- via the Denver Post

Eddie Fisher

Singer -- via Deadline Hollywood. He will perhaps be better remembered as the father of author and actress Carrie Fisher; he famously left wife Debbie Reynolds, Carrie's mother, for Elizabeth Taylor; his three subsequent marriages included one to singer Connie Stevens.

Roberto Maestas

Civil rights activist and teacher -- via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Al Pilarcik

MLB outfielder -- from the intrepid Bill Schenley,groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries and Northwest Indiana Times. He played outfield for the Yankees, Orioles, White Sox and the Kansas City Athletics. A member of the Indiana Ballball Hall of Fame.

Rev. Ambrose Lane Sr.

Anti-poverty activist and radio host -- via the Washington Post

Kenneth Franklin Weaver

Writer for National Geographic for 30-plus years, who specialized in stories on the space program -- via warrenmcelwain.com

Don Partridge

Musician known in England known as the "king of the buskers" -- via Music Week

Vinnie Doyle

Irish newspaper editor -- via the Irish Independent

Jackie Burroughs

Actress of stage, film and TV -- via Toronto City News

Malcolm Douglas

Documentary filmmaker and original "crocodile hunter" -- via the Australian

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Mike Cezilic

Sports writer -- via msnbc.com

Geoffrey Burgon

Composer for concert hall, film and television -- via the BBC

Fud Leclerc aka Fernand Urbain Dominic Leclercq

Pianist and singer -- via esctoday. He is remembered for being the first person to acquire no points at all in the Eurovision Song Contest -- but I don't think he sounds that bad. Besides, what a great name -- Fud Leclerc.

Jennifer Rardin

Author best known for her work in the spy-fi/urban fantasy genre -- via expressionstributes

Judith Merkle Riley

Professor of government and historical novelist -- via the L.A. Times

Manohari Singh

Sax man noted for his Bollywood work -- via the Independent