The RIP Famous Person Thread

[chitown]

Actor James Whitmore dies - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety
Actor James Whitmore dies

Versatile Tony and Emmy-award winning actor James Whitmore died Friday at his Malibu home. He was 87.His son Steve Whitmore told the Associated Press his father died of lung cancer, which was diagnosed in November.
Whitmore was a many-faceted character actor who delivered strong performances, often in movies, television and especially the theater with his popular one-man shows about Truman, Will Rogers and Theodore Roosevelt. He also appeared in numerous Western TV shows, as well as crime and war pics.
His 1949 Tony award came early, for outstanding performance by a newcomer, as the Sergeant in the Broadway production of "Command Decision." The Emmy came near the end of his career as outstanding guest actor in a drama for "The Practice" in 2000.
Though Whitmore went on to appear in hundreds of films and TV shows after leaving New York for Hollywood, he remained passionate about the theater, starring in plays such as "Our Town," "Inherit the Wind" and "Death of a Salesman."
The husky, gruff-voiced actor received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for another military role in his second film, the 1949 WWII drama "Battleground."
Interesting character roles came his way in films including "Black Like Me," where he played a white man passing for black, "Planet of the Apes," as an authoritative simian and as a crook in "The Asphalt Jungle." Other notable films included "Them!," "Kiss Me Kate," "Oklahoma!," "Tora! Tora! Tora!," "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Majestic."
But he was best known for his one-man shows, playing Harry Truman in "Give 'Em Hell, Harry!," Roosevelt in "Bully" and Rogers in "Will Rogers' U.S.A." Whitmore was Oscar-nommed for the 1975 film version of the show "Give 'Em Hell, Harry."
An avid gardener, he was later known as the pitchman for Miracle-Gro plant food.
Born in White Plains, N.Y, he played for the Yale football team coached by future President Gerald R. Ford, but suffered knee injuries and turned his attention to drama on the advice of a girlfriend. He joined the Marines during his senior year, then studied acting in New York after WWII ended at the American Theater Wing.
Whitmore starred in three TV series: drama "The Law and Mr. Jones," detective show "My Friend Tony" and sitcom "Temperatures. Rising." Working consistently until recently, his last appearance was on "C.S.I.." Numerous TV guest appearances included "Gunsmoke," "The Virginian" and "Route 66."
He recently lent his name to the Barack Obama campaign, appearing at several fundraising events.
His first marriage was to Nancy Mygatt, mother of his three sons, and his second to actress Audra Lindley, with whom he often performed onstage.
In addition to his son Steve, he is survived by his third wife, Noreen; sons James Jr., an actor and director; and Dan; eight grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren

[daveboy]

Former EastEnders actress Wendy Richard has died after suffering from cancer.


Wendy Richard was best known for her role as Pauline Fowler


The television star died in the Harley Street Clinic in London with her husband John Burns by her side.
Her agent Kevin Francis said: "She was incredibly brave and retained her sense of humour right to the end."
Wendy, 65, was best known for her 20-year role as Pauline Fowler in EastEnders.
But she became a household name before that in the cult department store sitcom Are You Being Served?
Wendy also appeared in Carry On films, alongside Barbara Windsor.
She battled breast cancer in the mid-1990s and in 2002 before the disease went into remission for several years.
But she was told last year that it had returned in an aggressive form, attacking her kidneys, bones and spine.
In October, she revealed in a newspaper interview that her cancer was terminal.

Well, at least she had a good run at life. RIP Wendy.

[hillbilly]

Legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey dies



Paul Harvey, the legendary radio host whose career sharing "the rest of the story" with listeners spanned more than 70 years, has died, according to ABC Radio Networks.

Legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey dies - CNN.com

YouTube - The Rest of the Story

[Rural Surin]

Sorry Hilly, never heard of him.

[DrivingForce]

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey dies



Paul Harvey, the legendary radio host whose career sharing "the rest of the story" with listeners spanned more than 70 years, has died, according to ABC Radio Networks.

Legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey dies - CNN.com

Good day.....RIP Paul...

[daveboy]

Boxing mourns champion Finnegan


Finnegan won gold in 1968

British ex-Olympic boxing champion Chris Finnegan has died aged 64.
The former Buckinghamshire bricklayer won gold at Mexico 1968 when he beat the Soviet Union's Aleksey Kiselyov.
He turned professional soon after, taking British, Commonwealth and European titles at light-heavyweight but the world crown eluded him.
His big chance came against American champion Bob Foster in 1972 in an epic 14-round duel at Wembley, but he failed to overcome the favourite.
Finnegan's younger brother Kevin, a former British middleweight champion, passed away last October at the age of 60. "Chris Finnegan was a southpaw with a tendency to cut, but a teak-hard fighting spirit," said BBC Radio 5 Live boxing correspondent Mike Costello.
"It was a very different boxing game in 1972 and there were fewer opportunities to win, or even challenge, for world titles.
"The one opportunity he got he had the misfortune to come up against Foster at Wembley. He lost in the 14th round, but such was his struggle it was voted fight of the year by Ring Magazine.
"He very nearly got there and it's not stretching it to say that were he around today, boxing in this era, he probably would have been a world champion."

[DrivingForce]

This was a total surprise to me as I didn't even know he was ill?? He must have been fighting this while he was doing the West Wing episodes, I appreciated his style but especially in those episodes that depicted the presidential elections. I always confused him with Andy Garcia though strangely enough, they look very similar... He had a lot of top roles and movies to his credit..

By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer David Germain, Ap Movie Writer – 2 hrs 36 mins ago
AP – In this Aug. 30, 2004 file photo, actor Ron Silver speaks at the evening session of the first day of …



Actor Ron Silver, who won a Tony Award as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood producer in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" and did a political about-face from loyal Democrat to Republican activist after the Sept. 11 attacks, died Sunday at the age of 62.
"Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning" in New York City, said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped found. "He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years."
Silver, an Emmy nominee for a recurring role as a slick strategist for liberal President Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing," had a long history of balancing acting with left-leaning social and political causes.
But after the 2001 terrorist attacks, longtime Democrat Silver turned heads in Hollywood with outspoken support of President George W. Bush over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Silver spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention, began referring to himself as a "9/11 Republican" and reregistered as an independent.
In an interview with The Associated Press a month later, Silver said his support for the war on terror was costing him work in liberal-minded Hollywood.
"It's affected me very badly. I can't point to a person or a job I've lost, but this community is not very pluralistic," Silver told the AP. "I haven't worked for 10 months."
His switch to a more conservative image threatened to overshadow an esteemed career on stage, television and film, along with his long history of activism, which included co-founding the nonpartisan Creative Coalition, an advocacy group for entertainers.
"He was a talented actor, a scholar and a great believer in participatory democracy," Bronk said Sunday evening. "He was an activist who became a great artist and his contributions will never be forgotten."
His big-screen credits included "Ali," "Reversal of Fortune," "Enemies: A Love Story," "Silkwood" and "Semi-Tough."
Besides "The West Wing," Silver was a regular or had recurring roles on such TV shows as "Veronica's Closet," "Chicago Hope" and "Wiseguy." He directed and costarred in the 1993 TV movie "Lifepod," a science-fiction update of Alfred Hitchcock's "Lifeboat."
Silver's Tony for "Speed-the-Plow" came in 1988, a year after he earned his first Emmy nomination, for the murder thriller "Billionaire Boys Club."
Silver still found work despite his conservative shift, appearing in episodes of "Law & Order" and "Crossing Jordan" and such movies as "Find Me Guilty" and the Ten Commandments comedy "The Ten."
He continued his recurring role on "The West Wing," joking that he faced some taunting over his views from co-workers on the show which took place in a fiercely liberal White House administration.
"Often when I walked onto the set of 'The West Wing' some of my colleagues would greet me with a chanting of 'Ron, Ron, the neo-con.' It was all done in fun but it had an edge," Silver wrote in a Nov. 15, 2007, entry of his blog on the Pajamas Media Web site.
Silver's on-screen work rankled liberals, too. He narrated 2004's "Fahrenhype 9/11," a deconstruction of Michael Moore's Bush-bashing hit documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"Michael Moore and that faction of the party was one of the factors that did not let me support the Democratic nominee this year," Silver told the AP in 2004. "He is a charlatan in a clown suit."
Born July 2, 1946, in New York City, he was the son of Irving and May Silver. His father worked in New York's garment industry and his mother was a teacher.
Earning a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree in Chinese history from St. John's University, Silver studied drama at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio.
In the 1970s, he gradually moved from theater work in New York City into television and film. His early credits included "The Mac Davis Show," "Rhoda" and "The Stockard Channing Show."
Silver and ex-wife Lynne Miller had a son, Adam, and daughter, Alexandra.
Whichever end of the political spectrum his activism fell, Silver viewed such involvement as something of a duty for entertainers.
"I think there's almost an obligation," he said in a 1991 interview with the AP. "Many of us are very well compensated for work which a lot of people would love to do. And we also have a lot of leisure time in between jobs. ...
"They say that Hollywood is sex without substance, and Washington is substance without sex, so maybe the marriage of the two is mutually intriguing."


On a more positive note; Maybe there's some salvation on the horizon for Patrick Swayze as a new very promising new treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer was just approved by the FDA so he can receive it now. It was so promising they cut the trials short and approved it, that's very encouraging..

[Red dragon]

British actress Natasha Richardson has died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident in Canada.
Richardson, 45, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, fell on a beginners' slope at the Mont Tremblant resort in Quebec on Monday.
The family were devastated by the death of their "beloved Natasha", her husband Liam Neeson's publicist said.
Richardson died in a New York hospital, close to the home she shared with Irish actor Neeson and their two sons.
The accident happened while the actress was taking a supervised skiing lesson at the Quebec resort. She was one of the few modern actresses who was as smart as she was pretty


Film director Ken Russell


Richardson initially showed no sign of injury but about an hour later she was taken to a nearby hospital after feeling unwell. It was later confirmed her injuries were critical.
Irish actor Neeson, 56, flew from the set of his new film in Toronto to be with his wife as soon as he heard news of the accident.
He accompanied her as she was flown from Canada to Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York, on Tuesday.
Neeson, her mother Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, 72, and two sons, Michael, 13, and Daniel, 12, had gathered at her bedside. Richardson and Neeson married in 1994


Her sister, the Nip/Tuck actress Joely Richardson, was also pictured visiting the hospital.
Richardson's death was announced shortly before midnight GMT. Neeson left the Manhattan hospital in a people carrier at about 2030 local time (0030 GMT).
Alan Nierob, Neeson's publicist, said: "Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha.
"They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."
Richardson starred in films and TV but won most acclaim for her stage work.
Part of the Redgrave acting dynasty, she was the daughter of Redgrave and director Tony Richardson.
'Great actress'
Film-maker Ken Russell, who directed Richardson in her debut movie Gothic, said she was "always poised, prepared, focused and very, very bright".
Writing in The Times, the 81-year-old added: "She was one of the few modern actresses who was as smart as she was pretty, and as gentle as she was fierce."
Oscar-winning film director Sam Mendes said Richardson was "one of a kind, a magnificent actress." Mendes, who directed Richardson in the stage production of Cabaret, added: "It defies belief that this gifted, brave, tenacious, wonderful woman is gone."



The Sunday Telegraph's theatre critic, Tim Walker, said she never needed to ride on the coat-tails of her famous relations.
He said Richardson took the decision early in her career to "stand or fall on her own" and left London to begin her career in Leeds at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
"The world of acting has been deprived of a great actress, really in her prime," he said.
"She had a sort of luminous presence on the stage, but off-stage she was a very shy, easy-going, almost self-deprecating character who didn't like being made a fuss of."
Richardson, whose father director Tony died of Aids-related causes in 1991, was on the board of the US-based charity amfAR, The Foundation for Aids Research.
A spokeswoman for the charity said she was a "dedicated Aids advocate" and an "eloquent spokesperson for amfAR".
"Our hearts go out to her family. This is a catastrophic loss for them, and it is a terrible loss for amfAR and the fight against Aids," she said.
"She generously contributed her time and resources to amfAR for over 15 years."
Head injuries
It is not known exactly what happened to Richardson.
However, leading neurosurgeon Chris Chandler said a seemingly minor blow on the head can cause life-threatening injuries.
Mr Chandler, from King's College Hospital in south London, said the effects of a blow to the head may not become apparent until several hours afterwards and, if untreated, a patient can fall into a coma.
"A blow to the head can cause a bruise or rupture a blood vessel that slowly swells, causing pressure to build up inside the skull," he said.
"In the skull there is nowhere for the brain to move to so pressure continues to grow and that swelling can cause the brain to malfunction because it can limit circulation. "If that pressure is not relieved it can kill."

[melvbot]

Never heard of her until she died.

[SEA Traveler]

Originally Posted by melvbot

Never heard of her until she died.

Me either! But still RIP is offered.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

I'm reserving this space for Jade.

[Rural Surin]

Why do we care so much towards the deaths of celebrities and public figures before our own?

[melvbot]

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Why do we care so much towards the deaths of celebrities and public figures before our own?

We're not dead yet.

[DrivingForce]

Originally Posted by melvbot

We're not dead yet.

kind of hard to make note of it after the fact too..

[DrivingForce]

Originally Posted by SEA Traveler

Me either! But still RIP is offered.

didn't recognize the name but definitely recognize the face..

[English Noodles]

Originally Posted by The Gentleman Scamp

I'm reserving this space for Jade.

She died at 3.14am GMT today.

She was 27 years old and leaves two sons aged 5 and 4 years old.

RIP

[Wallalai]

RIP Alain Bashung, 14-03.2009.

Not famous in the anglo-saxon world but one of the last genius of the french rock scene.

YouTube - Osez Joséphine - Alain Bashung

YouTube - Alain Bashung - J'écume

[EmperorTud]

Reality TV star Jade Goody dies after cancer fight
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD – 2 hours ago


LONDON (AP) — Jade Goody, a dental assistant turned reality-TV star whose whirlwind journey from poverty to celebrity to tragedy became a national soap opera and morality tale in Britain, has died. The 27-year-old had cancer and died in her sleep early Sunday at her home in Essex, southeast England, her publicist Max Clifford said.
Goody gained fame at 21 in 2002, when she joined the reality television show "Big Brother," in which contestants live together for weeks and are constantly filmed. Loud and brash, she became a highly divisive star — initially mocked as an ignorant slob, then celebrated as a forthright everywoman by a hungry tabloid press.
It was a pattern of praise and condemnation that followed her for the rest of her life. Goody became a national touchstone who sparked debate about race, class and celebrity in Britain.
For some, Goody was a survivor who had overcome a tough childhood on a London housing estate. Her father was absent and often in jail, and her mother struggled with drug addiction.
But she also was reviled in the press during her stint on "Big Brother" for her weight, her big mouth and her apparent lack of general knowledge — she branded the English region of East Anglia "East Angular," and asked whether it was abroad.
She didn't win the show, but she did become a celebrity, earning millions through television and magazine appearances, an autobiography, a perfume and a series of exercise videos.
It was during a follow-up stint on a celebrity version of "Big Brother" in 2007 that Goody was labeled a racist bully for her treatment of another contestant, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. Goody bad-mouthed Shetty's cooking of Indian food, mocked her accent and referred to her as "Shilpa Poppadom." While complaints against the show skyrocketed, so did ratings.
Goody's treatment of Shetty sparked anger in India and Britain — even becoming the topic of debate during a House of Commons question-and-answer session with then Prime Minister Tony Blair. A major sponsor suspended its advertising deal with "Celebrity Big Brother," and a chain of perfume shops pulled a Goody-endorsed fragrance, ironically named "Shh..."
After television viewers voted to evict Goody from the show, Goody — herself of mixed race — insisted she wasn't a racist. "I argue like that with everybody. It wasn't just because of the color of her skin that I was that aggressive," she said during an interview on Britain's GMTV.
After the eviction, the Indian Tourism Office invited Goody to travel to the country. She did, visiting charity projects and later agreeing to appear on an Indian version of the show.
"The people of India have only seen a small part of me and I'd like to show them that there is more to me," Goody said. "I'm a mother of two, a businesswoman. I can't be all that bad."
It was during filming of the show in the summer of 2008 that Goody received a diagnosis of cervical cancer by telephone from a doctor in Britain. The camera captured the deeply personal moment, which was shown repeatedly on TV in Britain, though not in India.
The progress of her illness was chronicled in detail in the tabloid press and weekly magazines, to the unease of many.
"Goody isn't rich or famous because she won the lottery: she's rich and famous because we bought all those papers and magazines and ghosted books with her on the cover, because we watched her television series, because we cheered when she was good and booed when she was bad, because we sat around discussing her over lunch," wrote columnist India Knight in The Sunday Times. "Now she's dying, she's making us all feel bad so we want her to go away, like a broken toy that's stopped being fun."
In February, a bald and frail Goody, married fiancee Jack Tweed in an elaborate event staged at an elegant countryside hotel outside London. She reportedly sold the photos for more than $1 million.
Goody defended being paid for interviews and photo shoots.
"People will say I'm doing this for money," she said. "And they're right, I am. But not to buy flash cars or big houses — it's for my sons' future if I'm not here. I don't want my kids to have the same miserable, drug-blighted, poverty-stricken childhood I did."
Before her rise to fame, Goody worked for a period as a dental nurse. She had an unhappy childhood in a poor south London neighborhood. Her father was a heroin addict who served jail time for robbery and died in 2005, her mother a former crack addict who lost the use of an arm in a motorcycle accident.
While many empathized with Goody as she underwent surgery and chemotherapy in the public eye — filming part of the experience for another television series — she still inspired vitriol in others. A Web site was even set up, devoted to predicting when she would die.
In February 2009 Goody's publicist said the cancer had spread to her liver, bowel and groin.
Goody is survived by Tweed and her two sons Bobby and Freddie, with an ex-boyfriend, television presenter Jeff Brazier. She also is survived by her mother, Jackiey Budden.
Budden told reporters Sunday: "Family and friends would like privacy at last."
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


The Associated Press: Reality TV star Jade Goody dies after cancer fight


Tits oot


Peshed


Stacked & tarted


Cancer & marriage

[GooMaiRoo]

Harvard political science professor Samuel P. Huntington (born 4/18/1927, died on Christmas eve, 2008).

Perhaps the most important political thinker of post-World War II, Huntington rejected the economic reductionism of both capitalism and Marxism, suggesting that cultural, religious and ethnic factors drive world conflicts. He coined the term "the bloody borders of Islam". If you look at his map at the beginning of "Clash of Civilizations", it's remarkable how that single graphic of the world's nine tribes speaks volumes about who fights whom.

His ideas have been associated with war-mongering neo-conservatives, but anyone who has read his books knows otherwise. How else would one explain this quote:

"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion, but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do."

A remarkable and under-appreciated mind, that Professor Huntington. .


Huntington's clash | The Economist