The RIP Famous Person Thread

[nedwalk]

British-born Australian singer Christie Allen, one of the pop sensations of the Countdown era, has died following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Her death, at her home in country Western Australia early on Tuesday, was announced in a statement by her former promoter, Mushroom Records founder Michael Gudinski.
Born in Britain in 1954, Allen shifted to Perth with her family and was signed to Mushroom Records by Gudinski in the late 1970s.
She had three top 20 singles in the Australian charts in 1979 and 1980 - Falling In Love, Goosebumps and He's My Number One - and followed up with a gold album, Magic Rhythm.


almost famous, hot in her day though

[daveboy]

Don LaFontaine voiced more than 5,000 movie trailers during his 33-year career.

[Mid]

Olin J. Stephens

1908-2008



http://nyyc.org/home/article_193/

[daveboy]

Floyd founder Wright dies at 65


Wright wrote songs on albums including Dark Side Of The Moon


Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright has died at the age of 65 from cancer.
The group released their first record in 1967 with Wright appearing alongside lead guitarist Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason. Dave Gilmour joined the band at the start of 1968 while Barrett left the group shortly afterwards. Wright penned songs on albums including Dark Side Of The Moon as well as Wish You Were Here.

[daveboy]

Movie legend Paul Newman dies.

Hollywood movie legend Paul Newman has died at the age of 83, his spokeswoman has confirmed.
Marni Tomljanovic said the blue-eyed star of films like Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid died on Friday of cancer. She gave no further details.
Newman was nominated for an Oscar 10 times, winning a best actor trophy in 1987 for The Color Of Money.
In May 2007, he said he was giving up acting because he could no longer perform to the best of his ability.
"I'm not able to work any more... at the level that I would want to," he told US broadcaster ABC.
"I was always a character actor - I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood


Paul Newman

"You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention.
"So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."
Earlier this year, he pulled out of directing a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in Connecticut because of unspecified health problems.
At the time, he denied reports that he was suffering from cancer, and issued a statement that said he was "doing nicely".
Hit films
The star won a total of three Oscars

Although his handsome looks and piercing blue eyes made him an ideal romantic lead, Newman often played rebels, tough guys and losers.
"I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."
He appeared in some 60 movies, including Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, The Sting and Hud.
In a career that spanned more than 50 years, he worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood - including Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall and Tom Hanks.
He also appeared with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in several films including Long Hot Summer and Paris Blues. In addition, he directed her in movies such as Rachel, Rachel and The Glass Menagerie.
But his most famous screen partner was undoubtedly Robert Redford, his sidekick in both Butch Cassidy and The Sting.
In addition to his Academy Award for best actor, he was given an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft."
In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work. Newman's last film role was as the voice of Doc Hudson, one of the most famous racing cars in history, in the Pixar animation Cars.

[momo8]

I loved Paul Newman, one of the great movie actors. RIP.

[jandajoy]

^^ Yes, sad he's gone. Brilliant actor and, I think, general all round good guy. I kinda grew up with his movies. Ah well, there you go. RIP

[Loy Toy]

^ Agree, the character he played in the Sting (Henry Gondorf) was absolutely brilliant and this movie is one of my favourites of all time.

[Milkman]

Who was Paul Newman? Was he the cnut on that salad dressing label?

[Deck Ape]

"sometimes nothin's a pretty cool hand"

[Bugs]

'Deep Throat' director dead at 80 - Movies - MSNBC.com

'Deep Throat' director Damiano dead at 80
1972 porn flick helped launch modern adult-entertainment industry


FORT MYERS, Fla. - Gerard Damiano, director of the pioneering pornographic film that lent its name to the Watergate whistleblower known as “Deep Throat,” has died. He was 80.

Damiano died Saturday at a Fort Myers hospital, his son, Gerard Damiano Jr., said Monday. He had suffered a stroke in September.

“He was a filmmaker and an artist and we thought of him as such,” the younger Damiano said. “Even though we weren’t allowed to see his movies, we knew he was a moviemaker, and we were proud of that.”

Damiano’s “Deep Throat” was a mainstream box-office success and helped launch the modern hardcore adult-entertainment industry. Shot in six days for just $25,000, the 1972 flick became a cultural must-see for Americans who had just lived through the sexual liberation of the 1960s...... more in the linky

[TizMe]

Bestselling author Michael Crichton dies

Michael Crichton, author of best-selling science fiction adventures including Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, has died of cancer in Los Angeles, aged 66.

Bestselling author Michael Crichton dies - Books - Entertainment - smh.com.au

[daveboy]

On The Buses actor Reg Varney dies at 92

Reg Varney, the On The Buses actor, has died aged 92, his daughter said.



Reg Varney played main character Stan Butler in the 1970s sitcom On the Buses Photo: MOVIESTORE COLLECTION LTD


The actor died following a short illness in a nursing home in Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
His daughter, Jeanne Marley, 59, said he died "peacefully" just before 2pm.
Varney, who played main character Stan Butler in the 1970s sitcom, was born in London's East End but had lived in Devon for the past 20 years.
After leaving school he took various menial jobs before becoming an actor after showing a flair for performance in working men's clubs.
During the Second World War he joined the Royal Electrical Engineers but carried on being an entertainer in various music halls.
He had a number of roles in different TV shows before achieving fame in his role in On The Buses, which began in 1969 and ran for seven series.
Afterwards Varney took on a number of film roles although it was On The Buses that he continued to be most recognised for.
In later years he went abroad on tour with a cabaret show.
Mrs Marley said he had only recently been admitted to the nursing home after he had begun suffering from a chest infection.
She said: "He's always been very young for his age, when he was in On The Buses he was playing a 35-year-old, but he was actually 50."
Varney, who had lived alone since his wife Lilian died in 2002, is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
His funeral has yet to be arranged.

[nedwalk]

a bloody good innings! thanks for the humour ..r.i.p reg!

[Norton]

For those who are African music lovers she was one of the greats.

"South Africa has held a public memorial service for Miriam Makeba, one of Africa's best-known voices and a champion of the fight against apartheid. Makeba, 76, died after a concert in Italy last week."

Farewell to 'Mama Africa' - Africa, World - The Independent

[daveboy]

Summer Wine star Staff dies at 80


Nora Batty was Kathy Staff's most enduring TV role


Actress Kathy Staff, who played Nora Batty in long-running BBC One sitcom Last Of The Summer Wine, has died.
The 80-year-old, who was born in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, also played cleaner Doris Luke in long-running ITV soap Crossroads.
And she appeared in Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, and with David Jason and Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours.
Last of the Summer Wine producer Alan Bell told BBC News the actress had been ill for some time.
"We're distraught, but we have very fond memories of her," he said.
Battleaxe Nora Batty proved to be her most enduring character.

Actor Peter Sallis, who played Norman Clegg, remembered his colleague fondly


She appeared in 243 episodes of the Yorkshire-based comedy, beginning in the first episode in January 1973.
She made her last appearance in August, at the end of the show's 29th series.
Co-star Peter Sallis said he was "terribly upset" by the loss of an "irreplaceable" colleague.
"She dominated anything that she was in. You could stop acting when Kathy was there because she was going to do it all for you," he said.
"We don't know quite for sure whether we're going to do any more episodes, but if we do she's going to be terribly missed." Staff starred alongside Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours

Sallis, who plays Cleggy in the series, joked: "Years and years ago David Frost interviewed her on television and all they seemed to talk about was her wrinkled stockings. "I got hotter and hotter under the collar and thought, why can't they have something about how marvellous it is to work with Peter Sallis? But all we got was wrinkled stockings instead."

[Mathos]

Thanks for that Dave, we visited Holmfirth where the series was and is still filmed. Nice place and Kathy was a superb actress:-




RIP Kathy Staff:-


I have a few photographs here which are not mine, they are scanned post cards. It's quite an interesting tourist village is Holmfirth.




I'll

It's an extremely interesting and picturesque little spot.

You might associate these steps with Nora Batty. (KATHY STAFF)



The famous Cafe as well.




Some of you will be familiar with the scenes above, they are all very famous in the 'Last of The Summer Wine Series'



Last of the Summer Wine


The world's longest-running sitcom seems immortal, which is ironic for a show about people in the autumn of their years.
__________________

[Niteowl]

Bettie Page, Queen of Pinups, dies at 85



Bettie Page, a legendary pinup girl whose photographs in the nude, in bondage and in naughty-but-nice poses appeared in men’s magazines and private stashes across America in the 1950s and set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious ’60s, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 85.

Bettie Page, Queen of Pinups, Dies at 85 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

[Mid]

Washington - "Deep Throat," the secret source who helped bring down US president Richard Nixon in 1974, has died at 95, The New York Times and Washington Post reported early Friday on their websites.

"Deep Throat," who helped bring down Nixon, dead at 95 - Nationmultimedia.com

[Jet Gorgon]

^ Huh. Just a week or so after the Deep Throat porn movie director passed.