Monday, July 23, 2012

Sally Ride

Physicist and astronaut -- the first U.S. woman in space -- via the New York Times.



Frank Pierson

Screenwriter and director -- via the L.A. Times. He started in television, then wrote or worked on screenplays for "Cat Ballou," "Cool Hand Luke," "The Anderson Tapes," "Dog Dsy Afternoon" (for which he won the Oscar) and "In Country." Unfortunately, the first two theatrical features he made were the Streisand/Kristofferson "Star is Born" and "King of the Gypsies." He did much better in TV films such as "Citizen Cohn," "Truman," and "Conspiracy." Oh, and he was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Margaret Mahy

Children's author -- via the San Francisco Chronicle.

Stephen Dwoskin

Filmmaker -- via the Guardian.







Sylvia Woods aka the Queen of Soul Food

Restaurateur -- via the New York Times.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Simon Ward

A damn good actor -- via the Telegraph. He didn't work a lot, but I think he was one of the best of our time. He played the lead role in "Young Winston," and actually pulls Churchill off. He was the Duke of Buckingham in Lester's "Three Musketeers" trilogy. He played Vereker in "Zulu Dawn." He even made it into a Hammer film, playing assistant to Peter Cushing in "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed." More recently he worked in TV series such as "Judge John Deed" and "The Tudors." Always fun to watch --

Ginny Tyler aka Merrie Virginia Erlandson

Voice artist and Mouseketeer -- via the L.A. Times. A Disney Legend, she voiced, among many others -- Olive Oyl, various animals in "The Sword and the Stone" and "Mary Poppins," Jan in "Space Ghost," Polynesia the parrot in "Doctor Doolittle," Casper the Friendly Ghost (TV series), and all the female characters in the first 13 episodes of "Davey and Goliath."






Jacqueline Rebecca Louise de Rothschild Calmann-Levy Piatigorsky

Chess champion, tennis champion, author and sculptor -- via the L.A. Times.

Ramona Parker aka Ms. Melodie

Rapper -- via the New York Daily News.

Bob Gamm

Inventor of the KangaROO shoe, the first shoe with a pocket in it -- via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Tom Davis

Emmy-winning comic writer and performer -- via the New York Times. Half of the incredible duo of Franken and Davis, an original writer on "Saturday Night Live," he created much unforgettable laughter. Including his creations are: the Coneheads, Irving Mainway, Theodoric of York, Nick the Lounge Singer, the Continental, and many more.  A genius -- I'll miss him greatly.


Joyce Dannen Miller

Activist and labor organizer -- via the New York Times.

Else Holmelund Minarik

Children's author -- via the New York Times. Most memorably, she wrote the series of "Little Bear" beginning readers.


William Raspberry

Newspaper columnist -- via the Washington Post.

William Asher

TV director, producer and screenwriter -- via the New York Times. Will be best remembered as the cretor of "Bewitched" in conjunction with his then-wife, Elizabeth Montgomery.



Don Brinkley

Prolific television writer, director and producer -- via the New York Daily News.

Robert W. Creamer

Writer -- via Yahoo Sports. An original member of Sports Illustrated's writing staff, he wrote there for 30 years, as well as in the times. He specialized in baseball, and wrote what is considered the definitive biography of Babe Ruth, "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life"; and what is one of my top five baseball books -- "Baseball in '41: A Celebration of the 'Best Baseball Season Ever.'" He will be best remembered as one of the prominent talking heads in Ken Burns' "Baseball" miniseries.


Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Rajesh Khanna

The first Bollywood superstar -- via the Times of India.







Morgan Paull

Actor -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Best remembered as Holden in "Blade Runner."


Ann Marsden

Photographer -- via the Star-Tribune.

Willie Alexander Harry

Barber -- via the Baltimore Sun.


Willis Edwards

Civil rights activist -- via the L.A. Times.


Maria (nee Marie) Frances Hawkins Ellington Cole

Singer -- via the New York Times.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Val Patterson

Electrical engineer -- via Yahoo News and Legacy.com. Perhaps the best self-penned obituary I have yet read; it includes several opportunely timed confessions as well.

Marion Cunningham

Cook, cookbook writer, and advocate of artful home cooking -- via the New York Times.


Rosemary Furtak

Award-winning librarian who focused on art and artists' books -- via the Star-Tribune. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis now houses an internationally-recognized collection of these works, thanks to her!

Oswald "Ossie" Hibbert

Organist, keyboardist and record producer -- via the Jamaica Observer.





Mike Hershberger

Former MLB outfielder -- via indeonline.com of Massilon, OH.

Ed Stroud aka The Streak aka The Creeper

Former MLB outfielder -- via the Tribune Chronicle of Warren, OH.