The RIP Famous Person Thread

[harrybarracuda]

A fascinating story and remarkable bravery.
RIP sir.

Retired Air Force Col. Joe M. Jackson, a Medal of Honor recipient, veteran of three wars and Air Force legend, has died.





The 95-year-old Jackson passed away over the weekend, according to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein, who made the announcement Monday morning.


His death leaves James P. Fleming as the only other living Air Force Medal of Honor recipient, according to Military Times Hall of Valor Curator Doug Sterner.


Jackson, a native of Newnan, Ga., was famous within the aviation and special operations community for his daring rescue of a team of Air Force combat controllers who were stranded at the besieged airfield of an abandoned Army Special Forces camp during the Tet Offensive.


His exploits saved the lives of three men, but risked his own, as the airfield had been the site of multiple U.S. aircraft shootdowns and aircrew fatalities over the past 24 hours.


Although Jackson has passed, his exploits and the significance of the battle he took part in were recorded in the Southeast Asia Monographs, Volume V-7, at the Airpower Research Institute of Maxwell Air Force Base, as well as first-person accounts archived by the Library of Congress.


The incident took place on May 12, 1968, at a camp for U.S. Special Forces and South Vietnamese irregular troops called Kham Duc. The base was located 16 kilometers from the Laotian border and surrounded by sweeping mountains on all sides.


During the pivotal Tet Offensive, largely seen as a turning point for the American public’s perception of the Vietnam War, Kham Duc came to be surrounded by North Vietnamese Army forces and Viet Cong fighters.


The enemy troops were part of a larger assault force that had been repelled by U.S. forces during an attack on Da Nang Air Base. After the battle for Da Nang in early February 1968, the NVA and VC melted back into the jungle and managed to evade U.S. intelligence for several months. In May, the enemy emerged and began attacking outposts surrounding the Special Forces camp and paved runway at Kham Duc.


The larger assault began May 11. Although the U.S. had by this point reinforced Kham Duc, the intense attack involving artillery, mortars and recoilless rifles being fired from tall mountains overlooking the base convinced Army Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam, to order an evacuation.


Roughly 1,000 people, including a mix of U.S. soldiers, local allies and civilian family members loyal to the American cause, needed to be airlifted out.


The evacuation began the morning of May 12 and involved cargo and helicopter transports, as well as airstrikes around the besieged camp.


Jackson was an experienced pilot by the time he arrived in Vietnam. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II and rose through the ranks from crew chief to pilot through an aviation cadet commissioning program. He flew the P-40 Warhawk and the P-63 Kingcobra during the war.

He stayed in the service as it transitioned into the Air Force and flew the F-84 Thunderjet on 107 combat missions during the Korean War.


When Vietnam began, Jackson received orders to pilot a C-123 Provider with the 311th Air Commando Squadron. Although the C-130 was quickly becoming the premier airlift provider by this time, the C-123 proved useful for landing in the remote jungles and on the short airstrips dotting the country.


Jackson almost didn’t land at Kham Duc on May 12. That morning, eight aircraft had been lost during the evacuation — one of which was a C-130 loaded to the brim with Vietnamese civilians. Jackson didn’t arrive on-station until the afternoon, however. By that point, the evacuation was finishing up, the weather was deteriorating, and the former Special Forces base was littered with burning aircraft wreckage and artillery craters.


Except there had been a mistake.


As the last C-130 took off with the final group of evacuating personnel, the commander of the airlift ordered airstrikes to be dropped on the abandoned base and its equipment.


“Negative, negative!" a C-130 pilot yelled over the radio. He reportedly punctuated his remarks with profanity as he explained that he had just reinserted three airmen on the airfield based on orders from higher up.


The cacophony of fighter pilots, cargo aircrews, forward air controllers, and battle-space commanders abruptly ended. The C-130 pilot later remembered that an “unreal” silence fell over the radio waves.


Major Gallager, Sergeant Freedman and Sergeant Lundie, the three-man Air Force combat control team that was dropped off to direct airlift in and out of Kham Duc, had been left behind in the confusion.


The men had been at the airfield since May 10, but were evacuated earlier in the day on May 12 via a bullet-riddled C-130 after their jeep containing their primary radios had been pummeled by artillery rounds. Not long after evacuating from Kham Duc, the combat control team was ordered back in, despite them being down to only emergency radios. After landing once more, they began searching compounds for personnel to help evacuate, but found no survivors.


The airmen didn’t know how close they came to being victims of their own air power, because their radios weren’t working and they couldn’t coordinate with the pilots overhead.


“They called that [airstrike] off, sent an observation plane down to see if they could locate them and they weren’t able to,” Jackson said, according to his archived interview in the Library of Congress.


At this point, the airmen on the ground — armed with only M-16 rifles and .38 caliber revolvers — were hugging dirt as they watched the North Vietnamese set up .50 caliber machine gun emplacements on either side of the runway, one of which was under the wing of the destroyed C-130.


The airmen exchanged fire with the nearest gun emplacement as the enemy tried to load the weapon. They saw an enemy gunner keel over, silencing one of the .50 cals, according to the after-action report of the battle.


The other gun continued to fire at them periodically as they watched a second group of North Vietnamese approach from the west end of the runway. The men said that blasts from exploding ammunition dumps began to surround them.


The combat controllers recounted in their after-action reports that they were convinced no one would come for them — that it was impossible to land at Kham Duc airfield now that the enemy was upon it.


"[I] never felt so lonely in all my life,” Freedman later said.


Because the airmen’s radios weren’t reaching the pilots above, the men were convinced they would be considered dead. But unbeknownst to them, two C-123 aircraft were working through the problem.


There was one C-123 pilot ahead of Jackson in the airfield’s landing pattern. He was going to fly in first and try to find the lost combat controllers.


“He went in and landed, and I watched his approach coming in off the jungle from the southwest,” Jackson said. “Even at 9,000 feet I could see tracers coming out of the jungle aimed at his airplane. And as soon as he touched down, he came under heavy attack from both sides of the runway. But he touched down, rolled down the runway and he didn’t see anybody right offhand. So, he came under this heavy attack from both sides and he applied the power and went around.”


Just as the pilot took off, the combat controllers came running out of their hiding spot. The enemy fire forced them to dive for cover once again, but the pilot at least saw them. That C-123 was out of fuel, though, so he relayed to Jackson where he had seen the three men and returned to base.


Jackson’s crew was up next.


“From 9,000 feet, I started an extremely steep landing approach,” Jackson said. “We call it an assault landing approach, where it had full flaps down to cause as much drag as possible, put the landing gear out to increase the drag, put the propellers in flat pitch, so that that would hold us back, and pitched over.”


Jackson didn’t know how fast they were descending, but he did know his air speed was maxed-out for that configuration at 135 knots.


“The rate of descent had hit the limit on the instruments,” he said. “I told the guys I’m not going to reverse the propellers, because to do that would shut down the auxiliary jet engines. And I didn’t want to take time to restart them. ... I said, ‘We’re not going to be on the ground very long.’"


Jackson’s C-123 managed to touch down in the first 100 feet of the runway, stopping exactly opposite the three lost airmen who were taking cover in a ditch.


“I was the luckiest guy in the world," Jackson said. “They started running out. ... They belly-flopped on-board the airplane.”


As the airmen jumped in, the co-pilot called out, “Oh, my god, look at that!"


“A 122 millimeter rocket had been fired directly towards the airplane," Jackson said. "It skidded down the runway and broke in half and stopped right immediately in front of the nose wheel of the airplane. I mean, really, really close. It didn’t go off. So, again, I was the luckiest guy in the world, I guess.”


The loadmaster yelled back that they were ready for take-off. Jackson hit the throttle, taxied around the unexploded ordnance and flew out of Kham Duc for good.


“As I was taking off, automatic weapons and small-arms fire was directly in front of me and probably behind me as well, from both sides of the runway,” he said. “The spot where we were parked, that spot erupted with mortar fire. They had just had time to load in some rounds in the tubes and lob them over there.”


Jackson cruised back to Da Nang Air Base as artillery fire gave way to thunder, and the weather deteriorated over the abandoned U.S. base.


Jackson would eventually be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 16, 1969.


After the Vietnam War, he served at the Pentagon and in the Department of Military Strategy at the Air War College until his retirement from the Air Force in 1974 at the rank of colonel.


Kham Duc would eventually be reoccupied by U.S. forces, but the initial withdrawal was considered a major defeat for the Americans.


Many of the bodies of the Americans who perished at Kham Duc would not be repatriated for several decades. The remains of six airmen from the downed C-130, for instance, weren’t located until the early 1990s.


A little while after the fall of Kham Duc, a friend of Jackson’s named Keith Ferris did a painting of the May 12 evacuation. He sent Jackson a slide for critiques on accuracy, to which Jackson replied that it was mostly correct.


“But you know, with the actual layout of those airplanes, the [Cessna O-2 Skymaster] that had been shot down, the helicopter on the runway and the C-130 that was wrecked right there, I said the orientation of the C-123 I was flying was not correct," Jackson told Ferris. “He told me that he had to take a little artistic liberty here to get all the action in. And I said, ‘Well, okay, you take all the artistic liberty you want to, but I’m not going back and pose for that picture again.’


“We had a little chuckle over that. Anyway, he named his picture the Miracle at Kham Duc,” Jackson said. “A little later on, I was talking with Keith and he said: ‘Really, you know, there were two miracles there that afternoon. One is that you were able to get in and get out safely. And the other one is there was not a single bullet hole in your airplane.’”

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/y...on-dies-at-95/

[tomcat]

...^any of us would have done the same...

[harrybarracuda]

...^any of us would have done the same...

[misskit]

Bidding Farewell To 'Hello, Dolly!': Actress Carol Channing Dies At 97

Channing's trademark platinum blond hair framed a face that always seemed to be smiling, her wide-eyed innocent style belied a very savvy mind, and her voice was unmistakable. She died Tuesday morning, her publicist told Broadway World. She was 97 years old.


Born in Seattle in 1921, Channing's parents were Christian Scientists. She recalls that she got her first glimpse of backstage delivering copies of The Christian Science Monitor to theaters.


"Some nights they're hyper, some nights they're slow, some nights they're sleepy, we have to nurse them; we have to find the way in to communicate with them. ... It's an electric thing for the performer; it's like plugging me in the wall."



Carol Channing on performing for live audiences



"It came over me that I was looking at the stage and backstage of a cathedral, a temple, a mosque, a mother church," Channing wrote in her memoir Just Lucky, I Guess. "I know I'm using adult words to describe a child's feelings, but I don't know how else to tell you this simple reaction of a child to a holy place."


Channing's near religious connection to her audience gave her an astounding amount of energy, and she grew irritated with those who tried to diminish the importance of theater in people's lives.


"Live theater is something that can't possibly die because we're working on their metabolism," said Channing. "Some nights they're hyper, some nights they're slow, some nights they're sleepy, we have to nurse them; we have to find the way in to communicate with them and slowly the anodes and cathodes in and it's an electric thing for the performer; it's like plugging me in the wall."


Channing's first great role was also her first big break as Lorelei Lee in the 1949 original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. But the role with which Channing will always be identified is Dolly.




It was this role in Hello, Dolly! that Channing loved most because it was life affirming in every sense. She had great respect for the show's creator, Thorton Wilder, and was deeply touched by the character's gradual ascent in this most optimistic of Broadway shows.



"It's easy to slide downhill, but who are the ones that just won't do it? Who are the diamonds in the rough that go upstream against everything?" said Channing. "That's what it was all about, that's what Thornton Wilder kept writing about."


It was the same lesson she shared with the audiences who watched her perform thousands of times in Hello, Dolly!: "Dolly Gallagher Levi stop talking to your dead husband and rejoin the human race!"

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/15/10580...ing-dies-at-97

[harrybarracuda]

Windsor Davies: It Ain't Half Hot Mum actor dies aged 88




Actor and star of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Windsor Davies, has died.
Davies, 88, who was best known as the sergeant major in the TV series, died on Thursday, his family said.
Born in Canning Town, London, he returned to his father's home village, Nant-y-Moel in Bridgend county, when World War Two broke out.

His daughter Jane Davies said he and her mother, who died in September, left a family "who will all remember them with love, laughter and gratitude".

The couple, who has been married for 62 years, had retired to France. They had five children.

Davies and It Ain't Half Hot Mum co-star Don Estelle also enjoyed a number one hit in 1975 when they recorded a version of Whispering Grass in character, a novelty hit which sold more than one million copies.

Downton Abbey actor Paul Putner said he was a "gifted actor" and "one of most generous, lovely blokes you could ever wish to meet".

'Allo 'Allo and Emmerdale star Vicki Michelle shared a picture of herself with Davies and tweeted he was one of her "favourite people", and a "genuinely lovely generous man" with a "huge presence and a huge heart".

Davies also played Oliver Smallbridge, alongside Donald Sinden, as two rival antique dealers in the long-running ITV sitcom Never The Twain.

Although overshadowed by It Ain't Half Hot Mum, it ran for more than 60 episodes.

In 1978, Davies also starred in one-off BBC drama Grand Slam, which gained cult status and was still fondly remembered years later - gaining a new lease of life with a DVD release.

Davies, who retired from acting in his 70s, was also the voice of Sergeant Major Zero in the 1980s sci-fi series Terrahawks. As well as stage appearances, he had roles in more than 20 films, including two Carry Ons.

But he will be remembered most fondly for playing Battery Sergeant Major "Shut Up" Williams in It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which ran for 56 episodes between 1974 and 1981.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46931129

[Ukan Kizmiaz]

he made me laugh

[snakeeyes]

^
Me too ,

[Davis Knowlton]

R. Lee Ermey, who played the Drill Instructor in "Full Metal Jacket" has died at 74. RIP.

[Barty]

R. Lee Ermey, who played the Drill Instructor in "Full Metal Jacket" has died at 74. RIP.

I believe he died in April 2018.

[Davis Knowlton]

^Sorry. Saw the funeral in Arlington on the news today, and erred.

[cyrille]

He was played the last post nine months ago, DK.

R. Lee Ermey died today. Played the Drill Instructor in "Full Metal Jacket", as well as in "Mississippi Burning" and others. Was great as the DI. RIP.

[uncle junior]

Died twice in less than a year........tough dude

[TizMe]

Died April 15, 2018 (aged 74) - But still worth a watch.

[harrybarracuda]

'Argo' Spy Tony Mendez Dies At 78




Tony Mendez, the CIA spy who led the rescue of six American hostages from Iran, inspiring the Oscar-winning film “Argo,” died Saturday.

He was 78.

The news was announced on Twitter by Mendez’s literary agent, Christy Fletcher, who called it “a crushing loss for his family, friends and our world.”

Attached to her tweet was a statement from his family confirming the cause of death to have been Parkinson’s disease with which he had been living for more than 10 years.

“He was surrounded with love from his family and will be sorely missed,” the family said, adding that Mendez had just turned in a manuscript for a new book.

“The last thing he and his wife, Joanna Mendez, did was get their new book to their publisher and he died feeling he had completed writing the stories that he wanted to be told.”

Mendez was widely acclaimed following the 2012 release of “Argo” starring Ben Affleck, who plays the spook in the adaptation of the 1980 mission that brought home several U.S. diplomats who were being held within the embassy in Tehran.

Affleck was among those who offered their condolences on social media following the news, praising Mendez as “a true American hero” and “a man of extraordinary grace, decency, humility and kindness.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...b0bfa693c439c6

[VocalNeal]

Windsor Davies: It Ain't Half Hot Mum actor dies aged 88




Actor and star of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Windsor Davies, has died.
Davies, 88, who was best known as the sergeant major in the TV series, died on Thursday, his family said.
Born in Canning Town, London, he returned to his father's home village, Nant-y-Moel in Bridgend county, when World War Two broke out.

His daughter Jane Davies said he and her mother, who died in September, left a family "who will all remember them with love, laughter and gratitude".

The couple, who has been married for 62 years, had retired to France. They had five children.

Davies and It Ain't Half Hot Mum co-star Don Estelle also enjoyed a number one hit in 1975 when they recorded a version of Whispering Grass in character, a novelty hit which sold more than one million copies.

Downton Abbey actor Paul Putner said he was a "gifted actor" and "one of most generous, lovely blokes you could ever wish to meet".

'Allo 'Allo and Emmerdale star Vicki Michelle shared a picture of herself with Davies and tweeted he was one of her "favourite people", and a "genuinely lovely generous man" with a "huge presence and a huge heart".

Davies also played Oliver Smallbridge, alongside Donald Sinden, as two rival antique dealers in the long-running ITV sitcom Never The Twain.

Although overshadowed by It Ain't Half Hot Mum, it ran for more than 60 episodes.

In 1978, Davies also starred in one-off BBC drama Grand Slam, which gained cult status and was still fondly remembered years later - gaining a new lease of life with a DVD release.

Davies, who retired from acting in his 70s, was also the voice of Sergeant Major Zero in the 1980s sci-fi series Terrahawks. As well as stage appearances, he had roles in more than 20 films, including two Carry Ons.

But he will be remembered most fondly for playing Battery Sergeant Major "Shut Up" Williams in It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which ran for 56 episodes between 1974 and 1981.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46931129

[harrybarracuda]

Reggie Young, whose guitar playing graced hundreds of rock, pop and country records by everyone from Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley to George Strait and Merle Haggard, died Thursday at his home in Leipers Fork, Tennessee, just outside Nashville. He was 82.

As lead guitarist for the Memphis Boys, the house band at American Studios, Young played on more than 100 of the most recognizable hits of late Sixties and early Seventies, including Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and “In the Ghetto,” followed by a brief stint in Atlanta before relocating to Music City.

The Box Tops’ “The Letter,” Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” and “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray are just a mere sampling of songs he played on throughout his career. He also lent his skills to albums by Kenny Rogers (The Gambler), Waylon Jennings (Honky Tonk Heroes) and Guy Clark (Old No. 1).

Born in Caruthersville, Missouri, in December 1936, Young, whose father was a musician who played Hawaiian lap-steel guitar, moved to Memphis at age 13. Influenced by a WSM radio show called “Two Guitars,” which featured Chet Atkins, he joined his first band in 1955, a rockabilly outfit named Eddie Bond and the Stompers, who had a 1956 hit with “Rockin’ Daddy.” The group, signed to Mercury Records, toured with Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton, with whom he played the Louisiana Hayride.

In 1964, Young began working with the Bill Black Combo, who opened shows for the Beatles on their historic 1964 U.S. tour. At the same time, he played on sessions at Muscle Shoals’ Fame Studios, before assisting in the forming of the Memphis Boys at American Studios, where he worked tirelessly from 1967 to 1972. For months, Young would play up to 20 sessions a week.

Upon moving to Nashville, Young became even more in-demand as a session player, backing an array of artists that included Tanya Tucker, Eddie Rabbitt, Rodney Crowell, John Prine and Dolly Parton. In the early Nineties, he took a break from studio work to tour with supergroup the Highwaymen — Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. In this clip of the band performing “Folsom Prison Blues,” Young plays the song’s signature solo.

In 2008, the musician was saluted as part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “Nashville Cats” series. In 2017, he released his first-ever solo album, Forever Young. A career-spanning 24-track compilation of selected cuts on which he played, Reggie Young: Session Guitar Star, is due from U.K. label Ace Records on January 25th.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...ituary-781082/

[harrybarracuda]

Only one Dambuster left now. Thank you for your service sir, and rest in peace.

Canada's last veteran of a deadly Second World War bombing raid has died at age 95.

Fred Sutherland of Rocky Mountain House, Alta., was one of two surviving members of Squadron 617, known later as the Dambusters.


The legendary unit dropped new high-tech "bouncing bombs" in 1943 on a German dam that was a key part of Adolf Hitler's industrial war machine.

In an interview last spring, Sutherland said that day stuck in his mind for 75 years.

"I was scared, I was really scared," he said. "But you can't say, 'Oh, I want to go home now.' You made up your mind and you can't let the crew down."


Fifty-three of the 133 airmen were killed. At least 1,300 others on the ground died from the bombings and subsequent floods.

Sutherland, a front gunner, was honoured for his bravery in April 2018 with a portrait by renowned painter Dan Llywelyn Hall. It was donated to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton.


The Dambusters raid was considered a critical morale booster on the homefront, heavily damaging Hitler's dams. But the legacy was complicated due to the civilian deaths, and the fact that the war continued.

That wasn't lost on Sutherland, who was only 20 years old at the time of the raid.

"If you think something's right, you're going to fight for it," he said at the portrait unveiling. "I don't know the answer, but I know I'd do it again, even knowing what it was like."


In a later operation, Sutherland bailed out of a bomber and spent three months trying to escape Nazi-occupied Europe.

Following the war, he went on to study forestry. He then worked in that field in Rocky Mountain House, far south of his hometown of Peace River.

He was married to his wife Margaret for 73 years until her death in 2017. They had three children.

"Fred was a lovely man — friendly, courteous and generous with his time," said a Dambusters Blog post marking his death.

"He never forgot that he was lucky to have survived the war while many of his comrades did not. He will be much missed by all who knew him."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...988964?cmp=rss

[Klondyke]

^
For the civil population the breaching of the dams was surely not very pleasant...

Operation Chastise

During the Second World War, the Allies hatched a secret plan to bomb three German dams. The Royal Air Force quickly formed Squadron 617, later known as "The Dambusters."

Nineteen Lancaster planes, led by a young pilot named Guy Gibson, launched the attack on May 16, 1943. The bombs breached two of the three hydroelectric dams, Möhne and Eder, causing deadly floods in the Ruhr Valley, an industrial heartland.

https://www.cbc.ca/calgary/features/dambusters/

[Klondyke]

^

Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, later called the Dam Busters, using a purpose-built "bouncing bomb" developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians – about 600 Germans and 1,000 mainly Soviet forced labourers – died. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

[cisco999]

It's distressing to see someone die, Young.

I'd sure rather die young than suffer years long disease producing pain.

[Ukan Kizmiaz]

A fascinating story and remarkable bravery.
RIP sir.

And they don't even cover his musical career - sunday papers, I'm the man etc etc

[harrybarracuda]

Michel Legrand, Oscar-winning composer, dies aged 86



The French composer Michel Legrand, who won three Oscars during a career spanning more than half a century, has died aged 86, his spokesman said.

Legrand first won an Academy Award in 1969 for the song The Windmills of Your Mind from the film The Thomas Crown Affair. He followed that with Oscars for his music for Summer of ’42 in 1972 and for Yentl in 1984. He also won five Grammys.

Legrand, who had been scheduled to hold concerts in Paris in April, died during the night, his spokesman told Agence France-Presse on Saturday.

He first began working as an accompanist and arranger in the 1960s. During his career he worked with Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Orson Welles, Jean Cocteau, Frank Sinatra and Edith Piaf.

Legrand was also known for his scores for the French New Wave director Jacques Demy for the films Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) in 1964 and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Ladies of Rochefort) in 1967, both of which received Oscar nominations.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...r-dies-aged-86

[harrybarracuda]

James Ingram, R&B singing star, dead at 66



James Ingram, the soulful, smooth voice behind R&B hits like "Just Once" and "I Don't Have The Heart," has died at the age of 66.

Ingram's longtime friend and creative partner, Debbie Allen, confirmed the news of his passing to CNN on Tuesday.

"I have lost my dearest friend and creative partner James Ingram to the Celestial Choir," Allen wrote in a tribute on Twitter. "He will always be cherished, loved and remembered for his genius, his love of family and his humanity. I am blessed to have been so close. We will forever speak his name."

The cause of Ingram's death was not revealed.

Ingram, an Ohio native, got his start as a musician with the band Revelation Funk and later played keyboards for Ray Charles. He was nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, winning for best male R&B performance for his song "One Hundred Ways" in 1981 and best R&B performance for a duo or group in 1984 for

His duet with Patti Austin, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing," earned an Oscar nomination for best original song in 1983.

Over the course of his career, Ingram also had successful collaborations with , Quincy Jones, Barry White and Dolly Parton.

He co-wrote Michael Jackson's hit song "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" with Jones.

Ingram was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards -- one in 1994 for best original song for "The Day I Fall in Love" and again in the same category the following year for "Look What Love Has Done."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/29/e...ead/index.html

[harrybarracuda]

Louisa Moritz, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' Actress, Dies at 72




Actress Louisa Moritz — one of Bill Cosby's sexual assault accusers — died last week, The Hollywood Reporter can confirm. The star reportedly died of natural causes related to her heart. She was 72.


Moritz was best known for her role as Rose in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which she starred alongside Jack Nicholson. She also appeared in the 1978 Cheech and Chong pic Up in Smoke, as well as on a handful of television shows in the '70s and '80s.

Years later, Moritz made headlines in 2015 when she joined the myriad of women who accused Cosby of sexual assault. For her part, the actress claimed that the comedian forced her to participate in oral sex in a dressing room during a Tonight Show appearance in 1971.

Moritz later filed a lawsuit against Cosby. The suit will continue despite her death.

"Louisa Moritz was a brave woman who stood up against a powerful Hollywood icon, Bill Cosby, in an effort to restore her good name and reputation, after he publicly branded her a liar when she made public her allegations of sexual abuse and assault by Mr. Cosby. Ms. Moritz was one of seven women who sued Bill Cosby for defamation. Despite her death, her claim against Mr. Cosby will continue in a federal court in Massachusetts. We look forward to a resolution of the case that will establish that Louisa was a ‘truth teller,’ so that her legacy will live forever untarnished," said Moritz's attorney Joseph Cammarata.


Added Edward Lozzi, Moritz's longtime publicist and friend: "Louisa Moritz was so full of life, talent, and she was a genius with a sixth sense for making money. Her parties in Mt. Olympus in the 1980s were wild and most popular with actors, producers, models, makeup artists, set directors, stuntmen…all of the categories. Her support of the Motion Picture Home and animal rights groups was heavy. Her hundreds of TV and film roles will keep her memory alive with her fans forever. Her support of other women who accused Bill Cosby of rape will keep her with us for years to come."

Following her acting career, Moritz — who was born in Havana, Cuba, but moved to the U.S. in the 1950s to escape political upheaval — obtained her real estate license and became a Los Angeles-area real estate agent.

Funeral arrangements and memorial service plans have yet to be announced.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...was-72-1181180

[harrybarracuda]

Dick Miller, ‘Gremlins’ and ‘Terminator’ Actor, Dies at 90




Dick Miller, a prolific screen actor best known for his role as Murray Futterman in the 1984 classic horror film “Gremlins,” has died. He was 90.


With a career spanning more than 60 years, Miller has made hundreds of on screen appearances, beginning in the 1950s with legendary director and producer Roger Corman. It was then that he starred as Walter Paisley – a character the actor would reprise throughout his career – in the cult classic “A Bucket of Blood,” before going on to land roles on projects such as “The ‘Burbs,” “Fame” and “The Terminator.”

Miller also boasts a long history of high-profile director partnerships, working with the likes of James Cameron, Ernest Dickerson, Martin Scorsese, John Sayles and, perhaps most notably, Joe Dante, who used Miller in almost every project he helmed.

In one of Dante’s earlier films, “Piranha,” Miller played Buck Gardner, a small-time real estate agent opening up a new resort on Lost River Lake. The only catch? A large school of genetically altered piranha have accidentally been released into the resort’s nearby rivers. Next up was a police chief role in the 1979 film “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” before reprising the Walter Paisley mantle as an occult bookshop owner in Dante’s 1981 horror film “The Howling.”


Other notable appearances include the 1986 cult favorite “Night of the Creeps,” where he shared the screen with Tom Atkins as a police ammunitions officer named Walt – he supplies Atkins with some necessary firepower in the face of an alien worm-zombie invasion – and a pawnshop owner in James Cameron’s 1984 hit “The Terminator; the same year he appeared in yet another of Dante’s films, “Gremlins.”

Most recently, Miller reprised the role of Walter Paisley for a final time as a rabbi in Eben McGarr’s horror film “Hanukkah.”

Miller is survived by his wife Lainie, daughter Barbara and granddaughter Autumn.

Dante called him “one of his most treasured collaborators,” writing, “I ‘grew up’ (kinda) watching Dick Miller in movies from the 50s on and was thrilled to have him in my first movie for Roger Corman.”

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/d...or-1203124265/