Tony Dow, best known for his role as Wally Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver, has died at the age of 77.
Tony Dow, best known for role as Wally Cleaver on 'Leave It to Beaver,' dies at 77 l ABC7 - YouTube
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Tony Dow, best known for his role as Wally Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver, has died at the age of 77.
Tony Dow, best known for role as Wally Cleaver on 'Leave It to Beaver,' dies at 77 l ABC7 - YouTube
^Oops. Looks as though he is very ill, though.
'Leave It to Beaver' star Tony Dow is still alive, despite statement from his management saying he died
'''Leave It to Beaver''' star Tony Dow is still alive, despite statement from his management saying he died
David Trimble, Architect of Northern Ireland Peace Deal, Dies at 77
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LONDON—David Trimble, a former Northern Ireland first minister who won the Nobel Peace Prize for playing a key role in helping end Northern Ireland’s decades of violence, has died, the Ulster Unionist Party said Monday. He was 77.
The party said in a statement on behalf of the Trimble family that the unionist politician died earlier Monday “following a short illness.”
Trimble, who led the UUP from 1995 to 2005, was a key architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of violent conflict in Northern Ireland known as “The Troubles.”
Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, called Trimble “a towering figure of Northern Ireland and British politics” in a tweet Monday. Current UUP leader Doug Beattie praised Trimble as “man of courage and vision,” a tribute echoed by leaders from across the political divide.
The UUP was Northern Ireland’s largest Protestant unionist party when, led by Trimble, it agreed to the Good Friday peace accord.
Although a hardliner unionist when he was younger, Trimble became a politician whose efforts in compromise became pivotal in bringing together unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland’s new power-sharing government.
Like most Protestant politicians at the time, Trimble initially opposed efforts to share power with Catholics as something that would jeopardize Northern Ireland’s union with Britain. He at first refused to speak directly with Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.
He ultimately relented and in 1997 became the first unionist leader to negotiate with Sinn Fein.
Former British Prime Minister John Major said Trimble’s “brave and principled change of policy” was critical to peace in Northern Ireland.
“He thoroughly merits an honorable place amongst peacemakers,” Major said.
The peace talks began formally in 1998 and was overseen by neutral figures like former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. The outcomes were overwhelmingly ratified by public referendums in both parts of Ireland.
Trimble shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with Catholic moderate leader John Hume, head of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, for their work.
Trimble was elected first minister in Northern Ireland’s first power-sharing government the same year, with the SDLP’s Seamus Mallon as deputy first minister.
But both the UUP and the SDLP soon saw themselves eclipsed by more hardline parties—the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein. Many in Northern Ireland grew tired of Trimble and his colleagues, who appeared to be too moderate and compromising.
Trimble struggled to keep his party together as the power-sharing government was rocked by disagreements over disarming the IRA and other paramilitary groups. Senior colleagues defected to the DUP, Trimble lost his seat in Britain’s Parliament in 2005 and soon after he resigned as party leader. The following year he was appointed to the upper chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords.
Northern Ireland power-sharing has gone through many crises since then—but the peace settlement has largely endured.
“The Good Friday Agreement is something which everybody in Northern Ireland has been able to agree with,” Trimble said earlier this year. “It doesn’t mean they agree with everything. There are aspects which some people thought were a mistake, but the basic thing is that this was agreed.”
William David Trimble was born in Belfast on Oct. 15, 1944, and was educated at Queen’s University, Belfast.
He had an academic career in law before entering politics in the early 1970s, when he became involved in the hardline Vanguard Party. He surprised many when he won the leadership of the UUP in 1995.
Trimble was not always a popular leader, and his negotiations toward the peace accord attracted criticism from elements of his party.
“David faced huge challenges when he led the Ulster Unionist Party in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and persuaded his party to sign on for it,” Adams said Monday in a statement. “It is to his credit that he supported that Agreement. I thank him for that.”
“While we held fundamentally different political opinions on the way forward nonetheless I believe he was committed to making the peace process work,” Adams continued. “David’s contribution to the Good Friday Agreement and to the quarter century of relative peace that followed cannot be underestimated.”
Trimble is survived by his wife Daphne and children Richard, Victoria, Nicholas, and Sarah.
David Trimble, Architect of Northern Ireland Peace Deal, Dies at 77
Hang in there, Wally.Quote:
Originally Posted by misskit
“ I’m not dead, yet!”
Monty Python Not Dead Yet clip - YouTube
Bernard Cribbins: The Hole in the Ground Bloke passes on.
Bernard Cribbins: Doctor Who and Wombles star dies aged 93 - BBC News
Can't forget this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XX9LX2es4
Titanic and Omen actor David Warner dies at 80
Attachment 90651
Actor David Warner, who starred in films such as The Omen and Tron, has died at the age of 80 from a cancer-related illness.
His family said they were sharing the news "with an overwhelmingly heavy heart".
Warner was also known for playing Billy Zane's villainous sidekick Spicer Lovejoy in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic.
He recently appeared as naval eccentric Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins Returns.
Warner died on Sunday at Denville Hall, a care home for those in the entertainment industry.
"Over the past 18 months he approached his diagnosis with a characteristic grace and dignity," his family said in a statement given to the BBC.
"He will be missed hugely by us, his family and friends, and remembered as a kind-hearted, generous and compassionate man, partner and father, whose legacy of extraordinary work has touched the lives of so many over the years. We are heartbroken," it continued.
Warner often played the baddie, taking on villainous roles in films such as The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) and Time Bandits (1981).
Many will recall his character, photographer Keith Jennings, who met an inglorious end in 1976's supernatural classic, The Omen.
In an interview for a programme on horror films fronted by Mark Gatiss, when asked if he knew what had happened to his severed head, Warner deadpanned: "I lost it in the divorce."
Warner played Bob Cratchit in George C Scott's 1984 adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, noting it was a pleasure to play a character that wasn't a villain for a change.
He also enjoyed a successful television career, with roles in Wallander - playing Kenneth Branagh's father - Penny Dreadful, Ripper Street, Doctor Who and the original Twin Peaks among others.
Warner was also known for playing various characters in the Star Trek franchise and starred in several Doctor Who audio plays.
The Mancunian's work was recognised early on in his career with a Bafta nomination for his lead performance in Karel Reisz's 1966 film Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, opposite Vanessa Redgrave.
He went on to win an Emmy award in 1981 for outstanding supporting actor in a miniseries or special for his portrayal of Pomponius Falco in the television miniseries Masada.
The Rada-trained British star was also renowned for title roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Henry VI and Hamlet early on in his career.
Titanic and Omen actor David Warner dies at 80 - BBC News
Tony Dow aka Wally Cleaver did pass away soon after the premature announcement of his death.
^^ David Warner was certainly a great actor. He played the villain so very well.
”That’s a good question.”
Time Bandits: Evil Genius - "That's a good question" - YouTube
RIP. I was not alive when the show originally aired, but the show was a popular rerun well into the ninties. A nice piece in the post about Wally Cleaver...Quote:
Originally Posted by misskit
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...s-big-brother/
Jimmy Sohns, Who Sang ‘Gloria’ With Shadows of Knight, Dead at 75
Jimmy Sohns, lead singer of the 1960s band Shadows of Knight—best known for the hit “Gloria”—has died at the age of 75 after suffering a stroke earlier in the week.
Shadows of Knight, based in Chicago, put out three albums in five years, and their big single—originally written and recorded by Van Morrison, but not the same later recorded by Laura Branigan—hit No. 10 on the Billboard charts.
They had a few other lesser hits before the group all but disintegrated, leaving Sohns to re-form it and carry on. They put out one more album in 1970—and then again during a comeback of sorts in 2006.
Sohns was inducted into the Chicago Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and later told an interviewer he could not believe his dreams had come true.
“When I was really young, and you’re growing up and the relatives come over at Thanksgiving and Christmas and always ask you what you’re gonna be when you grow up,” he said. “I always told them a baseball star or a rock ’n roll singer. And, it was weird that it happened.”
He said Shadows of Knight went from playing for teen clubs in Chicago to the big time almost overnight.
“We were a teen club band. Teen clubs and concerts. We had this huge following. The record was taken over to the radio station before there was any printed acetates of it,” he said. “It was taken over on a reel-to-reel tape and it sold over 100,000 copies in 10 days. The rest is rock ’n roll history.”
Flashback warning.
Shadows Of Knight - Gloria (1966) - YouTube
Probably lost the will to live after seeing another fucking crook get elected.
Quote:
Philippines ex-president Fidel Ramos dies at 94
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/asia/philippines-ex-president-fidel-ramos-dies-at-94
^I just saw the news of that here. He was 94. He's lived a good life. He was a crook too (got rich when he privatized a lot of govt assets) but PH economy improved during his tenure. He was also known for having a good work ethic - early bird, aways jogged & maintained his health, etc. One of the few ppl from PH who graduated from West Point (in the USA).
RIP, President Fidel V. Ramos.
Edit : ooh, he died of/ with Covid.
Former president Fidel V. Ramos succumbs to Covid-19 | The Manila Times
Wasn't in the Marcos league though. And it seems one of his biggest achievements was eliminating 12 hour power outages.Quote:
Originally Posted by katie23
Bill Russell, 11 time NBA Champion dies at 88.
Boston Celtics great Bill Russell, 11-time NBA champion, dies at 88
Bill Russell Highlights | 4K | The Secretary of Defense - YouTube
^
Growing up in the 60s, I wasn’t much of a Star Trek fan, but I do have vivid recollections of watching, just to catch a glimpse of Lieutenant Uhura.
Shatner kissing her on an episode of Star Trek caused quite a bit of kerfuffle, even though it wasn't the first interracial kiss on television.
Imagine being that fucked up you'd get in a tizzy over something so trivial.
I loved the story:
I didn't know she:Quote:
When NBC execs learned about the kiss during production, they feared stations in the Southern states would not air the episode, so they ordered that another version of the scene be filmed. But Nichols and Shatner purposely screwed up every additional take.
Nor did I know she was ready to quit and MLK persuaded her she should stay.Quote:
sang and danced as a performer with Duke Ellington’s orchestra
Quite a woman.
RIP
^ She was indeed quite a woman. She will be missed.
^^I remember seeing some old Star Trek movies with Shatner & the original cast. Didn't know the hoo-ha abt their kiss.
Reminds me of the clip of Michael Yo, a stand-up comedian (was recommended by the YT algo). He's mixed race: dad is black, mom is Korean.
This is a clip re: his dad & segregation.
You Fought For THIS? | Michael Yo - YouTube
Abt his Asian mom (reminds me of mine, lol)
Asian Moms Never Lie | Michael Yo - YouTube
Ok, back to the famous persons who died...
@harry - I remember the brownouts (power outs) from my childhood. It was just something you dealt with & got used to. Fortunately, where I live (south of Manila) we don't get brownouts now. There are still electricity supply problems in the smaller islands.
Lots of tributes in local news re: Pres FVR (as he's known). I think he's generally considered as a good president and left a positive legacy.
I feel a bit of sadness since he was president during my childhood and it's like part of your youth going away for good. (maudlin thoughts, lol).
RIP, president FVR.
Australian music icon and lead vocalist of The Seekers, Judith Durham has passed away aged 79.
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Australian musician Judith Durham, best known as the lead singer of folk music group The Seekers, has died aged 79.
Her band sold more than 50 million records and had hits including I'll Never Find Another You, I Am Australian and Georgy Girl.
She left the group to go solo in 1968 and went on to release a number of studio albums.
Anthony Albanese, Australia's prime minister, paid tribute to Durham, calling her "a national treasure".
"Judith Durham gave voice to a new strand of our identity and helped blaze a trail for a new generation of Aussie artists," he wrote on social media. "Her kindness will be missed by many, the anthems she gave to our nation will never be forgotten."
Durham was honoured multiple times during her lengthy career, including being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to music in 1995 and the Centenary Medal in 2003.
She was also named the Victorian of the Year in 2015.
Born in Melbourne, Durham rose to international fame after joining The Seekers in 1962 alongside Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley. She became the band's lead singer the following year, aged 20.
A year after becoming joint recipients of the Australian of the Year award in 1967, the group officially disbanded, but reunited to perform on multiple occasions - the last time being 2014.
Durham married the British pianist and musical director Ron Edgeworth in 1969, who died less than 30 years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Judith Durham: Former Seekers lead singer dies aged 79 - BBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZf41UudAbI
I remember their songs quite well from my childhood. I had no idea that they were Australian!
Cancer Sucks!
Olivia Newton-John dies at age 73
Olivia Newton-John, who gained worldwide acclaim for her starring role in "Grease," died Monday morning at age 73, according to her family.
"Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends," her family wrote in a statement shared on social media. "We ask that everyone please respect the family's privacy during this very difficult time."
"Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer," the statement continued.
Originally diagnosed with breast cancer in the '90s, Newton-John was in remission for more than 20 years before it returned in 2013. She revealed in 2018 that the disease returned and metastasized to her spine.
A singer, songwriter, actress and activist, Newton-John, the granddaughter of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born was born in 1948 in Cambridge, England. When she was 5, her family relocated to Melbourne, Australia, and by her teens, she'd landed her big break, winning a talent contest on the TV show "Sing, Sing, Sing."
By 1966, Newton-John had signed a deal with Decca Records, but her major breakthrough wouldn't come until 1973, with the country-flavored hit "Let Me Be There." That same year, the Academy of Country Music named her its most promising female vocalist, and in 1974, the Country Music Association agreed, crowning her its female vocalist of the year.
The next year, the singer's career would gravitate more toward pop, as she released one of her signature songs. "I Honestly Love You," which won Grammys for record of the year and best female pop vocal performance in 1974.
Generations of fans -- particularly young girls -- would come to identify with Newton-John as she took on her most iconic film role in 1978, playing Sandy alongside John Travolta's Danny Zuko in the big-screen adaptation of the musical "Grease." The two would become one of cinema's most beloved couples, performing the duets "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights" together. Newton-John added to her solo staples with "Hopelessly Devoted to You."
In 1980, Newton-John teamed with the legendary Gene Kelly for the roller-skating fantasy "Xanadu." The movie became a cult classic, and also gave the actress another chart-topping hit from its double-platinum soundtrack. Newton-John and Travolta rekindled their onscreen romance for "Two of a Kind" in 1983, and while the film wasn't successful, once again, the actress' music was. The soundtrack went platinum and "Twist of Fate" was a top-five hit.
On the small screen, Newton-John would become a music-video pioneer, turning her super-sexy single "Physical" into a campy romp through saunas, aerobics and workout rooms, alternating ultra-fit male models with an out-of-shape every-man who could lose a few pounds. The clip propelled the song to 10 weeks at the top of the chart, and "Physical" won the 1982 Grammy for video of the year.
Newton-John charted many No. 1 hits throughout her career and sold more than 100 million albums, continuing to work right up until the recurrence of her cancer forced her postpone her 2017 tour. Earlier, she staged a well-received Las Vegas residency at the Flamingo for two years, starting in the spring of 2014.
That is sad news. She was a doll.
I Think You Might Like It - YouTube
Oh dear that's just crap link farming.Quote:
Oh dear. Two in quick succession.
She died ages ago. I should have checked the date.
Johnny Mandel, Composer Who Wrote ‘MASH’ Theme Song, Dies at 94
Attachment 91445
Johnny Mandel, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning songwriter of “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “Emily” and the theme from “M*A*S*H,” has died. He was 94.
“If Johnny Mandel had just composed ‘The Shadow of Your Smile’ – one of the most beautiful songs I have been honored to record – it would have been enough to earn his standing as one of the finest composers of our time,” Tony Bennett wrote on Twitter, including a portrait of Mandel he painted himself.
Mandel was considered one of the finest arrangers of the second half of the 20th century, providing elegant orchestral charts for a wide range of vocalists including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole and Hoagy Carmichael.
Mandel scored more than 30 films during his Hollywood career, including the 1960s films “The Americanization of Emily” (from which the hit song “Emily” emerged), “The Sandpiper” (which contained “The Shadow of Your Smile,” earning an Oscar and a Grammy for Song of the Year along with lyricist Paul Francis Webster), “Harper,” “An American Dream” (which included the Oscar-nominated song “A Time for Love”), “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and “Point Blank.”
Johnny Mandel Dead: Composer Who Wrote 'MASH' Theme Song Was 94 - Variety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWoBsUYVkCE
Indeed, been battling cancer for 30 years, last pic of here with her hubby 3 days ago, great looking at 73.Quote:
Originally Posted by misskit
Attachment 91455
NEW YORK, NY.- Lamont Dozier, the prolific songwriter and producer who was crucial to the success of Motown Records as one-third of the Holland-Dozier-Holland team, died Monday in Arizona. He was 81.
Attachment 91465
Robin Terry, the chair and chief executive of the Motown Museum in Detroit, confirmed the death but did not specify a cause.
In collaboration with the brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, Dozier wrote songs for dozens of musical acts, but the trio worked most often with Martha and the Vandellas (“Heat Wave,” “Jimmy Mack”), the Four Tops (“Bernadette,” “I Can’t Help Myself”) and especially the Supremes (“You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Baby Love”). Between 1963 and 1972, the Holland-Dozier-Holland team was responsible for more than 80 singles that hit the Top 40 of the pop or R&B charts, including 15 songs that reached No. 1. “It was as if we were playing the lottery and winning every time,” Dozier wrote in his autobiography, “How Sweet It Is” (2019, written with Scott B. Bomar).
Lamont Dozier, writer of numerous Motown hits, dies at 81
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beW9AH1Goxg
To Olivia Newton John and Judith Durham of The Seekers - RIP.
Farewell Georgie Girl and Sandy.
The Snowman author and illustrator Raymond Briggs dies aged 88
Attachment 91466
Author and illustrator Raymond Briggs, best known for the 1978 classic The Snowman, has died aged 88.
The announcement was made by his publisher, Penguin Random House.
The Snowman was first released as a picture book - and has sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide - before it was turned into a much-loved animation in 1982.
Briggs also created beloved children's books Father Christmas and Fungus The Bogeyman.
A statement from his family said: "We know that Raymond's books were loved by and touched millions of people around the world, who will be sad to hear this news. Drawings from fans - especially children's drawings - inspired by his books were treasured by Raymond and pinned up on the wall of his studio.
"He lived a rich and full life and said he felt lucky to have had both his wife Jean and his partner of over 40 years Liz in his life.
"He shared his love of nature with Liz on South Downs walks and on family holidays to Scotland and Wales. He also shared his sense of fun and craziness with his family, and with his family of artist friends - at get-togethers, fancy dress parties, and summer picnics in the garden.
The Snowman author and illustrator Raymond Briggs dies aged 88 | UK News | Sky News
Issey Miyake, influential Japanese fashion designer, dies aged 84
Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer whose timeless pleats made him an industry favorite, has died aged 84. He died of cancer on August 5, his office confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.
A funeral service has already been held with his family and close friends, his office said, adding that a memorial ceremony will not be held, in line with the designer's wishes.
Miyake rose to international prominence in the 1980s with avant-garde designs that those who could afford his luxury pieces immediately regarded as collector's items. Today, his designs are preserved at institutions including London's Victoria and Albert Museum, New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
He also found a lifelong customer in Steve Jobs, who wore his black turtlenecks almost exclusively from the 1980s onward.
Miyake was born in the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1938. The bomb that was dropped on the city in 1945 left him with a pronounced limp that would follow him through adulthood, and his mother died three years later from radiation exposure.
Determined not to be labeled as the designer who escaped the atomic bomb, he didn't mention his traumatic childhood until 2009, when he wrote about the experience in an op-ed in support of nuclear disarmament, published in the New York Times.
MORE Issey Miyake, influential Japanese fashion designer, dies aged 84 - CNN Style
Actor Anne Heche died on Friday, after succumbing to injuries from a car crash days earlier, according to friends.
She was 53 years old.
Her friend, Nancy Davis, revealed the news in a memorial post on Instagram, writing: “Heaven has a new Angel. My loving, kind, fun, endearing and beautiful friend Anne Heche went to heaven. I will miss her terribly and cherish all the beautiful memories we have shared.”
Heche was severely burned when she crashed into a Los Angeles home in the Mar Vista neighborhood on Aug. 5. Shortly after the crash, her car burst into flames, which took firefighters nearly an hour to extinguish, according to NBC News.
She was taken to a hospital and initially listed in critical condition, then she reportedly fell into a coma Aug. 8.
After Heche’s accident, the Los Angeles Police Department launched an investigation into the actor for allegedly driving under the influence and fleeing from an earlier hit-and-run, the Los Angeles Times reported. Police confirmed to the Times that they obtained a search warrant to test the actor’s blood alcohol level.
LAPD confirmed to TMZ on Aug. 11 that Heche had cocaine in her system during the accident.
“In preliminary testing, the blood draw revealed the presence of drugs,” the LAPD statement said. “The case is being investigated as felony DUI traffic collision.”
In her 2001 memoir, “Call Me Crazy,” Heche discussed her traumatic upbringing and the mental health issues that arose in her adult years.
“I’m not crazy,” she told Barbara Walters during an interview with ABC News. “But it’s a crazy life. I was raised in a crazy family, and it took 31 years to get the crazy out of me.”
Heche’s acting career began in 1987 when she starred in the long-running soap opera “Another World.” In 1991, she won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama series for the show. She has appeared in numerous movies, including the 1996 film “The Juror,” the 1997 horror film “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” 1998′s “Six Days Seven Nights,” 1997′s Donnie Brasco” and the 2002 thriller “John Q.”
The actor dated comedian and television host Ellen DeGeneres from 1997 to 2000. She was married to cameraman Coleman Laffoon from 2001 to 2007. Heche was also in a relationship with actor James Tupper from 2008 to 2018. She is survived by her two sons: 20-year-old Homer Laffoon, whose father is Coleman Laffoon, and 13-year-old Atlas, whose father is James Tupper.
Very strange story. She's been clinically dead for days by all accounts, but they kept the machine on because she's an organ donor.
They couldn't get the fire out to get her out of the car.
Poor woman and what a horrible way to go.
Anne Heche has been taken off life support and has died, a representative of the US actor has confirmed.
The 53-year-old had been taken to hospital in a critical condition after driving her car into a house in Los Angeles.
Her family had asked for her heart to keep beating until a match for organ donation was found, in respect of her wishes.
On Sunday, a spokesperson confirmed recipients had been identified and surgeons were ready to remove and transplant "multiple organs".
Anne Heche taken off life support after organ recipients identified, in respect of her wishes | Ents & Arts News | Sky News
Wolfgang Petersen, 'Das Boot,' 'Air Force One,' 'The Perfect Storm' Director, Dies at 81
Attachment 91738
Wolfgang Petersen, the acclaimed German director of such films as "Das Boot" and the Hollywood blockbusters "The Perfect Storm" and "Air Force One," died Friday at his Brentwood, California, home. He was 81.
His publicist confirmed to THR that the case of death was pancreatic cancer.
Petersen had enjoyed a resurgence of interest in his work during COVID-19 when his 1995 film "Outbreak" trended.
Born in Germany on March 14, 1941, he honed his skills as a director in the theater ahead of attending Berlin's Film and Television Academy.
He enjoyed early success on German television before his 1974 feature-film debut, the thriller "One or the Other of Us." His 1977 gay-themed TV film "Die Konsequenz" was so controversial it was banned in Bavaria.
Petersen impressed critics with his "Das Boot" (1982), a claustrophobic film about a German submarine crew during WWII. In spite of presenting a sympathetic portrait of Nazi soldiers, it was perceived as intended — an anti-war film whose message was that "in war, young people die for horrible reasons." It went on to receive six Oscar nominations.
Pivoting, his first English-language film was "The NeverEnding Story" (1984), a trippy fantasy film aimed at kids, followed by 1985's "Enemy Mine," starring Louis Gossett Jr. and Dennis Quaid. The latter did not hint at his previous artistry, nor did 1991's Hitchcock pastiche "Shattered," but he hit his stride with the taut, Clint Eastwood-starring thriller "In the Line of Fire," a big hit in 1993.
Working with Eastwood was as close as Petersen got to making a western, though his films often felt like westerns masquerading as other genres.
Following "Outbreak," he directed one of his biggest hits, the Harrison Ford actioner "Air Force One" (1997), about a U.S. president heroically rescuing the passengers on the world's most famous plane when a group of terrorists attacks.
"The Perfect Storm," from Sebastian Junger's 1997 book, was another smash in 2000, and his personal favorite. A film about fishermen who perish in monster storm was a risk even before its $150-million price tag, but it — like his best American films — once again connected with a wide array of filmgoers.
His final works were "Troy" (2004), starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom, which received mixed reviews, leading to a 2007 director's cut; the 2006 remake "Poseidon"; and the German-language comedy "Four Against the Bank" (2016).
Petersen is survived by his second wife, Maria, to whom he'd been wed for more than 40 years, his son from his first marriage, his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
Wolfgang Petersen, 'Das Boot,' 'Air Force One,' 'The Perfect Storm' Director, Dies at 81
Remembering Add Sombat, a true Thai heartthrob
Legendary actor Sombat Metanee died in his sleep at his Bangkok home on Thursday. He was 85. He was survived by his wife Karnjana and his children.
https://teakdoor.com/attachment.php?...id=91810&stc=1
Back in his heyday half a century ago, late actor Sombat Metanee was the man of every woman’s dreams, and his movies were guaranteed blockbusters. One has to wonder how he would have done in today’s Thai entertainment industry where aesthetic standards and trends are so very different.
Prior to his debut in the 60’s, Sombat was just a good-looking guy. He hadn’t really thought of a career in films – let alone becoming a top leading man. “I never thought about acting, but I was good-looking, smart; I have sex appeal,” Sombat was quoted as saying in a newspaper in 2006, took about his beginnings in the entertainment industry.
His attractiveness landed him his first acting role during the scouting for a TV series Hua Jai Pratana (Heart’s Desires). He later caught the eye of film director Noi Kamolwatin. His first leading role in Roong Petch (Diamond Rainbow) release in 1961 shot him to success and his acting career took off, skyrocketing to the point that he was in the Guinness World Record as a leading actor in the most films (617 movies).
MORE https://www.thaipbsworld.com/remembe...ai-heartthrob/
Mikhail Gorbachev Dies at 91
Mikhail Gorbachev, whose actions as the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union helped shape the world as we know it today, died after a "serious and long illness" late Tuesday, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital. He was 91.
His era started in 1985 with the reform of the Soviet system forever known by its Russian name, perestroika, and ended with the coup that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
While he was admired in the West for his role in ending the Cold War, he was a divisive figure at home, perceived to have instituted policies that precipitated the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the economic chaos and loss of superpower status that followed.
Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931, to a family of Russian-Ukrainian peasants in the village of Privolnoye, in the southwestern part of Soviet Russia.
The village was collectivized under Soviet leader’s Joseph Stalin’s first five-year plan that included forced consolidation of small landholdings into state-controlled farms, a process that claimed the lives of millions of peasants throughout the Soviet Union.
Both of Gorbachev’s grandfathers were sent to Gulag labor camps during Stalin’s repressions of the 1930s, and his family endured the 1932-33 famine.
Those early experiences shaped Gorbachev’s views on Stalinism and the use of violence as means to power, according to his biographer William Taubman.
Gorbachev joined the Communist Party while in high school. He won a scholarship to the most prestigious university in the Soviet Union, Moscow State University, where he excelled and graduated from the law faculty with the highest honors. He also met and married the love of his life, Raisa.
He attracted the attention of the Politburo in 1974 when, as party boss in the Stavropol region, his construction of the Great Stavropol Canal provided necessary irrigation and produced record crops. In 1978, he joined the ranks of the Soviet ruling elite in Moscow when he was appointed Secretary of the Central Committee.
That same year he became the party secretary responsible for agriculture as the collective farming model began to falter. Gorbachev attempted to modernize the Soviet agricultural sector by introducing mechanization.
During these years he also traveled to Western Europe in Soviet delegations which continued to expand and shape his views on the world and politics.
When Gorbachev was appointed to the top job in 1985, the U.S.S.R. was in economic, social and political decline after the so-called “stagnation” period under Leonid Brezhnev and the short-lived tenures of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.
His twin policies of perestroika — rebuilding — and glasnost — openness — aimed to restructure the Soviet system and bring transparency to its politics by loosening state censorship.
Gorbachev also sought to shift control from the Politburo to the Soviet people by implementing a democratically elected parliament.
He attempted to reform the Soviet centrally-planned economy by allowing state enterprises to determine their output levels based on demand and permitting self-financing. The state would no longer rescue unprofitable enterprises, and control shifted from state to elected workers’ collectives. Most significantly, Gorbachev also allowed foreign investors to enter the Soviet market.
His reform efforts were often undermined by bureaucrats within his own party.
A fundamental test of the new system came on April 26, 1986, when a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded and caused the world’s worst nuclear accident.
It took Gorbachev almost three weeks to address the nation on the disaster, and 20 years later he said it had perhaps been Chernobyl, rather than perestroika, that was the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Cold War was in full swing when Gorbachev took power. Five years previously, U.S. President Jimmy Carter had refused to send athletes to the Moscow Olympics or meet with anyone from the Soviet leadership to protest the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Within six years Gorbachev had withdrawn Soviet troops from Afghanistan and acted as middleman between Washington and Baghdad during the Gulf War.
Western leaders saw Gorbachev’s leadership as an opportunity to open the Iron Curtain. He visited Britain, France, Germany, Canada and many other countries during his rule. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said in a BBC interview, “I like Mr. Gorbachev. I think we can do business together.”
Some praised Gorbachev for watching the peaceful dissolution of the Eastern bloc, while others criticized him for allowing the communist systems in neighboring countries to collapse without any interference.
His far-reaching agreements on arms control paved the way for the Paris Charter that ended the Cold War and united Eastern and Western Europe.
In Nov. 1989, shortly after Gorbachev’s visit to East Germany, the Berlin wall fell.
Gorbachev repeatedly stated that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was never his end goal, but his leadership started a chain reaction that changed the world.
In 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his accomplishments in international relations. At home, however, the loss of the Eastern bloc and Gorbachev’s to sign a new Union Treaty that would refound the U.S.S.R. as a loose confederation, angered many within his own party, turning former allies into enemies.
In August 1991, while Gorbachev was on vacation with his family in Crimea, hardline politicians and the military staged a failed coup in Moscow and put him under house arrest. By the time he returned to the capital, Boris Yeltsin had seized the momentum and would become the first president of a new Russia. The Soviet Union didn’t last the year.
After his political career ended, Gorbachev established the “Gorbachev Foundation” and continued to lecture and speak out on social, economic, domestic and geopolitical issues.
His beloved Raisa, who he described as his closest confidant, died of leukemia in 1999.
He is survived by his daughter Irina, and his granddaughters Anastasia and Ksenia.
Mikhail Gorbachev, Last Soviet Leader and Architect of Perestroika, Dies at 91 - The Moscow Times
I was living in San Francisco when the Gorbachevs visited. The news articles running then said Mrs. Gorbachev would ride around the Bay Area and get out at random corner stores and supermarkets to go inside and see what kinds of goods they had. She would inquire with the store employees or owners to find out how they bought their stock. She did this because the Gorbachevs thought they were being show Potemkin shops by their handlers. They couldn’t believe that all the shops could be so well supplied.