Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Danny Roundfield
Basketball player -- via Sports Illustrated. He died saving his wife from drowning.
Bill Tillman
Saxophonist -- via Spinner. Best known for his work with Blood, Sweat and Tears, he also played with Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, and the Coasters; he also served as music director for Gladys Knight.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Phyllis Diller
Comedian -- via TMZ. A real pioneer -- she got her big break at The Purple Onion in 1955, and did standup, TV and film comedy ever after. Women comics were few and far between. Up to that time, save for exceptions such as Moms Mabley, Jean Carroll, and Rusty Warren, women were stooges or props in comedy. Diller made inroads in a male-dominated industrythat paved the way for a whole new legion of great talent that just happened to be female.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Tony Scott
Film director and producer -- via TMZ. Among his best films: "The Hunger," "Top Gun," "True Romance," "Crimson Tide," and "Man on Fire." My personal favorite -- the bizarre and wildly entertaining "True Romance."
William Windom
Actor -- via tvmediainsights.com. Although his obits will draw in opening adjectives such as "character" and "journeyman," he simply was a very good performer. He racked up hundreds of credits, primarily on TV -- he starred in the 1963-1966 sitcom "The Farmer's Daughter," the Thurberesque "My World and Welcome to It," and was a regular on "Murder, She Wrote," as Dr. Hazlitt, but played good guys and bad guys, creeps and authority figures, on dozens of series. He was at the center of one of Rod Serling's greatest scripts, "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar," on "Night Gallery"; he memorably played the tragic Commodore Dekker on the Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine."
In film, he notably played the prosecutor in "To Kill a Mockingbird," and the killer in "The Dectective." On stage, he took his affection for and effectiveness with the delicate whimsies of James Thurber and did extensive touring with a one-man show of the author's work. He was a craftsperson as well as an artist, willing to do his best with just about any role, big or small. A real inspiration!
In film, he notably played the prosecutor in "To Kill a Mockingbird," and the killer in "The Dectective." On stage, he took his affection for and effectiveness with the delicate whimsies of James Thurber and did extensive touring with a one-man show of the author's work. He was a craftsperson as well as an artist, willing to do his best with just about any role, big or small. A real inspiration!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Charley Martin
Radio deejay -- via the Denver Post. As morning drive-time host, with many partners (Charley and Barney, Hal and Charley), on KHOW-AM in Denver, Martin ruled the airwaves. Listening to the show was part of my mornings as a schoolboy. A long-running humor series, "Pomp & Circumstance," was a special, surrealistically funny treat!
Harry Harrison aka Henry Maxwell Dempsey
Science fiction writer -- via the Guardian. Best know for his novel, "Make Room! Make Room!," the basis for the film "Soylent Green," and for his Stainless Steel Rat series.
Phyllis Thaxter
Actress in film and on television -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Though only 21 of her 67 credits are in films, she worked in many significant ones, and with many important figures. She debuted in "30 Seconds over Tokyo"; she worked with Elia Kazan ("The Sea of Grass"), Gregory La Cava ("Living in a Big Way"), John Sturges ("Sign of the Ram"), appeared in Robert Wise's great noir Western, "Blood on the Moon" and Fred Zinneman's "Act of Violence," Michael Curtiz ("The Breaking Point" & "Jim Thorpe - All-American."
Her last film role was as the iconic Martha Kent in the 1978 "Superman."
Her last film role was as the iconic Martha Kent in the 1978 "Superman."
Jack Fertig aka Sister Boom Boom
Astrologer, activist, and member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence -- via the San Francisco Chronicle.
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