The RIP Famous Person Thread

[S Landreth]

Ada Deer, influential Native American leader, dies at 88

Ada Deer, an esteemed Native American leader from Wisconsin and the first woman to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has died at age 88.

Deer passed away Tuesday evening from natural causes, members of her family confirmed on Wednesday. She had entered hospice care last month.

“She passed last night in peace surrounded by loved ones,” said her nephew Joe Deer, one of her primary caretakers. “We miss her, but what a life she led.”

Born August 7, 1935, on the Menominee reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, Deer is remembered as a trailblazer and fierce advocate for tribal sovereignty. She played a key role in reversing Termination Era policies of the 1950s that took away the Menominee people’s federal tribal recognition.

“Ada was one of those extraordinary people who would see something that needed to change in the world and then make it her job and everyone else’s job to see to it that it got changed,” her godson Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said. “She took America from the Termination Era to an unprecedented level of tribal sovereignty.”

Deer was the first member of the Menominee Tribe to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and went on to become the first Native American to obtain a master’s in social work from Columbia University, according to both schools’ websites.

In the early 1970s, Deer organized grassroots political movements that fought against policies that had rolled back Native American rights. The Menominee Tribe was placed under the control of a corporation in 1961, but Deer’s efforts led President Richard Nixon in 1973 to restore the tribe’s rights and repeal termination policies.

Soon after, she was elected head of the Menominee Restoration Committee and began working as a lecturer in American Indian studies and social work at the University of Wisconsin. She unsuccessfully ran twice for Wisconsin’s secretary of state and in 1992 narrowly lost a bid to become the first Native American woman elected to U.S. Congress.

President Bill Clinton appointed Deer in 1993 as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where she served for four years and helped strengthen federal protections and rights for hundreds of tribes.

She remained active in academia and Democratic politics in the years before her death and was inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame in 2019.

To her family, Deer is remembered as kind, generous and a calming presence.

“She literally was the most giving person that I have ever known, and she never expected anything back in return,” said Joe Deer. “I felt quite privileged to be so extraordinarily close to her.”

Earlier this month, Gov. Tony Evers proclaimed Aug. 7, Deer’s 88th birthday, as Ada Deer Day in Wisconsin.

“Ada was one-of-a-kind,” Evers posted Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We will remember her as a trailblazer, a changemaker, and a champion for Indigenous communities.”

[taxexile]

re. smash mouth.

He also suffered from alcoholism.

i would have thought it was his wife and kids that suffered more from his alcoholism than he did. silly fucker should have stopped drinking.

[Happy As Larry]

TV comedian and impersonator Mike Yarwood dies aged 82

Mike Yarwood, the television comedian and renowned impersonator, has died in hospital aged 82, the Royal Variety Charity has announced.

The entertainer was one of the biggest TV stars of the 1960s and 70s with hit BBC shows, famous for his impressions of former prime ministers Harold Wilson and Ted Heath, Prince Charles and the late football manager Brian Clough.
The Mike Yarwood Show in 1977 had one of the largest single Christmas Day audiences ever for a British TV programme, at 21.4 million viewers.

The Royal Variety Charity said it was deeply saddened to announce his death, saying: “He leaves behind an immeasurable void in the entertainment industry.”
It added: “Mike Yarwood quickly rose to prominence for his exceptional ability to mimic the voices and mannerisms of countless celebrities and public figures.

“His talent for impersonation brought smiles to the faces of millions and his unique ability to capture the essence of his subjects made him an icon in the comedy world.
“Throughout his career, Mike graced television screens nationwide, becoming a household name in the 1960s and 1970s.

“His variety shows, including The Mike Yarwood Show, and Mike Yarwood In Persons, captivated audiences and showcased his uncanny talent for mimicry on prime-time television for two decades.
“Mike’s family have asked that their privacy be respected during this sad and difficult time.”

Yarwood was born on 14 June 1941 in Bredbury, Greater Manchester, and was a lifelong supporter of Stockport County football club.
He spent his later years at the Royal Variety Charity’s Brinsworth House, in Twickenham, south-west London.

“If I see somebody become famous, and they’ve got tremendously predominant mannerisms and they speak a certain way which is unusual, I go for it right away,” Yarwood once said of the public figures he mimicked.
He said he was just six when he did his first impression, stuffing a cushion up his jumper and putting on a pair of glasses to impersonate Billy Bunter.

The BBC director-general, Tim Davie, said: “Mike Yarwood was simply one of the greats. Part of the golden generation of entertainers that defined television for decades.
“From Harold Wilson to Frank Spencer, his legendary impressions were always pin sharp, warm and funny. We will remember them all with a smile.

“He was rightly one of Britain’s most loved performers and will be hugely missed. Our thoughts are with his family.”
The comedian Kate Robbins posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “So sad to hear the great Mike Yarwood has died. I was lucky enough to work with him in the 80s. The guv’nor of impressionists.
“When I was Sarah Brightman to his Cliff Richard we could hardly get anything done for laughing so much. Thanks, Mike. You were always a star to me.”
Emma Freud, a BBC broadcaster, thanked the impersonator for giving her the opportunity to be part of his shows as Diana, Princess of Wales.
“Goodbye Mr Mike Yarwood,” she wrote on X. “Thank you for casting me in your shows as Princess Diana. Still incomprehensible to me that it happened but you were lovely to work with.”
Stuart Antony, an actor, paid tribute and wrote on X: “Saddened to hear that the legend Mike Yarwood has passed away. His impressions were beyond perfection … but he was just the nicest man with a wealth of stories – RIP Mike Yarwood.”
The LBC presenter Iain Dale described Yarwood as “a titan of comedy” and one of the “biggest stars of TV comedy” in the 1970s.
He tweeted: “Today we’ve lost a titan of comedy, Mike Yarwood was one of the biggest stars of TV comedy in the 1970s.
“He was the impressionist’s impressionist and blazed the trail for those that followed in his wake, yet he was sometimes underappreciated.”

TV comedian and impersonator Mike Yarwood dies aged 82 | TV comedy | The Guardian

[harrybarracuda]

Did a great Harold Wilson.

[S Landreth]

Richard Davis, Vaunted Bassist and Pop Sideman, Dies at 93

The jazz great doubled as a sideman to Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand, and was a key architect of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks

Richard Davis, the bassist and educator who played with jazz legends, pop stars, and classical composers, has died after years of hospice care, Madison 365 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report, citing his daughter Persia Davis. The virtuoso bassist and NEA Jazz Master recorded more than 20 albums under his own name and collaborated with icons including Eric Dolphy, Elvin Jones, Archie Shepp, Dorothy Ashby, Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sarah Vaughan. He cut records with Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand, playing all manner of jazz styles as well as blues, pop, rock, folk, and classical, drawing praise from Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein. Davis was 93 years old.

Born in Chicago in 1930, Davis became a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras after high school and studied at the VanderCook College of Music. In the late 1960s he was a member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra; from 1967 through 1974, he was named Best Bassist in Downbeat magazine’s International Critics’ Poll.

In the 1970s, Davis became a coveted sideman for pop artists, playing on Laura Nyro’s Smile and Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and Born to Run. He was the de facto bandleader in the sessions for Van Morrison’s classic LP Astral Weeks, and is widely credited with having influenced its sound. In 1977, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to become a professor of bass, jazz, and ensemble at the University of Wisconsin, where he would teach for decades.

In the 1990s, he created the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists with his former student Peter Dominguez. The Foundation holds annual master classes for musicians ranging from three to 18 years old. Late in his career, Davis directed efforts to foster racial unity. In 1998, he created the Retention Action Project to facilitate dialog on race and culture; in 2000, he founded the Institutes for the Healing of Racism, aiming to raise consciousness about the history and pathology of racism.

In tribute to her late father, Persia Davis wrote on a memorial page, “Richard touched the lives of thousands and will be missed by friends, family, fans, students, and colleagues around the world.”

[helge]

Mangusuhtho Buthulezi(or such) has finally died.

May he rotate in his grave, burn in hell or something even worse

[harrybarracuda]

I was thinking of putting this in a presentation...

PowerPoint software co-creator Dennis Austin dies at 76

dennis austin death: PowerPoint software co-creator Dennis Austin dies at 76 - The Economic Times

[S Landreth]

Douglas Lenat Dead: AI Researcher Spent 40 Years in Building Computer With Common Sense

Lenat, a pioneer in AI and a long-time researcher in computer science, has passed away. He passed away on Thursday in Austin, Texas. He was 72. According to his wife, Mary Shepherd, he died from bile duct cancer.

In an effort to replicate human judgment one logical rule at a time, Lenat spent over 40 years trying to teach computers common sense. Academics and programmers paid tribute to him online, praising his excellent career and determination in creating artificial general intelligence, or software that can reason.

Lenat graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics and a master's degree in applied mathematics in 1972. To earn his Ph.D., he moved to Stanford University, where he worked on software that can automatically create computer programs.

He later rose to the position of assistant professor at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon Universities, and he holds the unique distinction of having served on the scientific advisory boards of both Microsoft and Apple.

Lenat started Cycorp in 1994, a machine reasoning-focused AI startup, where he worked until his passing. Using a combination of a knowledge base and a reasoning engine, Lenat, a pioneer of neurosymbolic systems, attempted to train machines to reason. The system was used to power goods sold to businesses engaged in logistics and healthcare, and it had a natural language user interface.

Dr. Lenat created an A.I. while teaching computer science at Stanford University in the late 1970s. It was created to automate the discovery of new scientific concepts, methods, and laws through data analysis. He named the system Eurisko, a Greek term meaning "I discover."

Using a trillion-dollar budget, players in the 1981 role-playing game Traveller Trillion Credit Squadron designed and deployed a fleet of warships. He utilized this approach to evaluate the laws of the game. Go and Jeopardy are similar to chess. Later, the game was a great testing ground for cutting-edge A.I. technology.

After poring over the several volumes of the Traveller rulebook each evening, Eurisko discovered fresh strategies for winning the game. Some of them were absurd at one point; it implied that the only way to succeed was to alter the game's rules-but others showed promise.

Dr. Lenat would tweak the system every morning, steering it away from the absurd and toward the realistic. Eurisko eventually discovered an unconventional yet effective tactic under the guidance of his common sense.

Dr. Lenat participated in a Traveller tournament with several hundred other players over the Fourth of July weekend in nearby San Mateo, California. Eurisko's method helped him win the competition. The event's regulations were altered the following year to make the tactic ineffective. However, Dr. Lenat won the competition again after brainstorming with Eurisko to develop a fresh strategy.

The encounter gave rise to a fresh endeavor that would occupy him for forty years.

According to cognitive scientist Gary Marcus, he undertook an endeavor no one else dared to do. Although he failed, he had at least shown a portion of the route for those exploring the same path.

[DrWilly]

RIP Ron Barrassi - legend of AFL footy.

[harrybarracuda]

Roger Whittaker, British Folk Singer Known for ‘Durham Town,’ Dies at 87



Roger Whittaker, best known for his hit 1969 track “Durham Town,” has died at the age of 87.
Whittaker was known for his superb whistling ability, baritone singing voice and his guitar skills. Per his website, Whittaker sold over 50 million records.

“New World In The Morning” and “Albany” were among the beloved songs in the singer’s massive catalog. Prior to his rise to fame, he started his music career performing in folk clubs. His 1986 “The Skye Boat Song” duet with Des O’Connor helped to boost his stardom and Whittaker is also remembered for his version of “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

Before his time in the music industry, Whittaker spent two years in British Army unit the Kenya Regiment after being drafted into national service. He then pursued an education in medicine, enrolling in the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
In 1959, he moved to the United Kingdom to study biology, biochemistry and marine biology. But he began crafting songs during his last year at Bangor University, located in Wales.

Born on March 22, 1936 in Nairobi, Kenya to two British-born parents, Whittaker shared that the music of East Africa influenced him and his sound.

“In over 30 years of singing and playing musical sounds — the wonderful drumming, and those marvelous, infectious rhythms — have played a great part in everything I have ever written and sung,” Whittaker said, per the musician’s website.

In school, he was an avid member of the school choir and achieved high academic marks. “In the last three years of my formal education, I managed to work hard enough to get top grades in all my school exams and I had great hopes later of studying to become a teacher or a doctor.”

Whittaker’s site also welcomes visitors to leave a comment for the late singer.

“Thank you for providing a rock in this challenging world, you’ve been a friend to me for so long. Good memories,” a person named Mark wrote in the comment section.

“For you are beautiful and we have loved you dearly, more dearly than the spoken word can tell,” one Kathleen wrote.
Whittaker retired in 2012 and moved into a home in France with his wife Natalie O’Brien. Together, the two shared five children: Emily, Lauren, Jessica, Guy and Alexander.

Roger Whittaker, 'Durham Town' Folk Singer, Dies at 87

[S Landreth]

• Archaeology world mourns Damian Evans, who discovered medieval cities near Angkor Wat

The world-leading Australian Canadian archaeologist Dr Damian Evans, who played a critical role in discovering previously undocumented medieval urban areas near Angkor Wat, has died from brain lymphoma.

Close friends confirmed Evans passed away on 12 September in Paris, where he was based working at the École Française d’Extrême-Orient.

Since the 1990s, he has worked extensively in Cambodia, where his cutting-edge research using laser technology to uncover archaeological landscapes in south-east Asia that has transformed the field.

Most notably, the team’s discovery of multiple cities between 900 and 1,400 years old within greater Angkor upended key assumptions about south-east Asia’s history.

Tributes poured in for Evans from his international colleagues on Wednesday evening.

The University of Sydney’s Prof Roland Fletcher supervised Evans for his honours thesis, where he produced the first comprehensive map of the whole of greater Angkor.

It led to the Greater Angkor Project, led by Fletcher and Evans, and a major collaboration with French archeologist Christophe Pottier to produce a new overall map of the region.

“He was always extremely competent and extremely efficient,” he said. “Very good at working with people and organising.”

Alison Carter, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon, met Damian in 2008 when she was in Cambodia doing her dissertation research.

“He immediately invited me to join him on a survey project,” she posted on social media. “He barely knew me, but was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge.

“Damian was also a great writer and editor. I could always count on him to improve a manuscript draft. There were many times I thought I had made a brilliant point in my own work, only to go back and see that Damian said it first, and better.

“Damian was occasionally grumpy, but mostly warm, generous, and funny. We lost him too soon.”

From 2007 to 2015 Evans was the co-director of the University of Sydney’s Overseas Research Centre at Siem Reap-Angkor.

Following its completion, Evans was one of the first researchers to use wide-area airborne laser scanning (Lidar) technology to uncover and analyse greater Angkor’s urban and agricultural networks.

His findings transformed scholars’ understanding of the landscape from past to present day.

In 2014, Evans was awarded a starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative and moved his research to France.

The following year, his team carried out the most extensive airborne study ever taken by archaeologists – using a laser radar mounted on a helicopter to scan an area of the jungle in Cambodia comparable in size to greater London.

They discovered a network of ancient Cambodian cities, dating back to prehistory and encompassing the Angkor empire from the 9th to 15th centuries AD.

The research was described by the ERC as “the most ambitious program of archaeological lidar ever achieved in Asia”.

Fletcher said Evans’ energy and commitment working with local Cambodian authorities, including Apsara, which manages Angkor, allowed the project to be carried to completion.

“[Using Lidar] completely transformed our understanding of the middle of Angkor – it was all underneath the trees, buried in the forest, but we could see it for the first time laid bare,” he said.

“I remember colleagues sat in our research facility for hours into the night just watching these fabulous images … the information load was so massive it could only be processed slowly, like watching magic appear.

“It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”

Andy Brouwer, independent researcher with Hanuman Travel and Hanuman Films, said Evans’ name had been synonymous with “ground-breaking discoveries in understanding more about the extent of the Khmer Empire”.

Pipad Krajaejun, lecturer at Thammasat University, thanked Evans for encouraging south-east Asian archaeologists to explore the world of Lidar technology to evaluate archaeological sites.

“My memories of meeting him in Siem Reap nine years ago [are] still vivid,” he wrote on social media.

“Thank you very much for your great work and for inspiring Southeast Asian archaeologists.”

Prior to his death, Evans had joined the École Française d’Extrême-Orient to oversee a multimillion-dollar project uncovering and mapping early cities using airborne laser scanning, and was undertaking archaeological tours of Laos and Cambodia with Far Horizons.

He has received thousands of citations and appeared in numerous global documentaries and news articles, including the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel’s documentaries on Angkor.

[dirk diggler]

RIP Ron Barrassi - legend of AFL footy.

I had the pleasure of meeting this fine Gentleman at a Grand Final event in Bangkok.

RIP Big Ron

[harrybarracuda]

Giorgio Napolitano: Former Italian president and one-time communist has died aged 98



Former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano has died aged 98 after being treated in a Rome hospital for weeks.

Mr Napolitano served from 2006 to 2015 and was the first person to be elected twice to the seven-year post.

His second term began in 2013 but he stepped down two years later, citing his advancing age when he was then 89.

Supporters praised his balanced attitude and he was sometimes referred to as "King Giorgio" - but critics claimed he was excessively cautious.

Although the Italian presidential role is mostly ceremonial, in 2011 he used his powers to help steer the country through a debt crisis.

The one-time communist named ex-European Commission technocrat Mario Monti to lead a government after then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi quit in a row over spending cuts.

Two years later, Mr Napolitano broke another impasse when he installed a grand coalition under centre-left politician Enrico Letta after an inconclusive parliamentary election.

He is the first former communist - and so far the only one - to serve as head of state.

His successor, the current president Sergio Mattarella, said Mr Napolitano's life "mirrored a large part of [Italy's] history in the second half of the 20th century, with its dramas, its complexity, its goals, its hopes".

Giorgio Napolitano: Former Italian president and one-time communist has died aged 98 | World News | Sky News

[S Landreth]

Holocaust survivor Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, who warned of far-right populism in Europe, dies at age 97

Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, a Holocaust survivor who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe, has died. She was 97.

The International Auschwitz Committee said Fahidi-Pusztai died in Budapest on Monday. A cause of death was not given.

“Auschwitz survivors all over the world bid farewell to their fellow sufferer, friend and companion with deep sadness, gratitude and respect,” the group said in a statement on its website.

Fahidi-Pusztai was born in 1925 in Debrecen, Hungary, into an upper middle-class Jewish family. Her family converted to Catholicism in 1936, but that did not shield them from persecution.

After the occupation of Hungary by the German Wehrmacht in early 1944, the family was forced to move to a ghetto.

In June 1944, the Jewish population was rounded up in a brick factory and deported to the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp in several transports.

Fahidi-Pusztai was 18 years old when she and her family were deported in the last transport to Auschwitz, on June 27, 1944. Her mother and little sister Gilike were murdered immediately after their arrival. Her father succumbed to the inhumane camp conditions a few months later, the Auschwitz Committee said on its homepage.

Six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazi Germany and its henchmen across Europe during the Holocaust — including 49 members of Fahidi-Pusztai’s family, Germany’s news agency dpa reported. She was the only one who survived.

Fahidi-Pusztai was deported from Auschwitz to a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp in the town of Allendorf, in Hesse province. For 12 hours a day, she had to work as a slave laborer in an explosives factory at the Muenchmuehle concentration camp there.

In March 1945, only weeks before the end of World War II, she managed to escape on a so-called death march taking concentration camp inmates to the west as Soviet soldiers approached from the east. It was then that she was freed by American soldiers.

“It was only many years after her liberation, that Eva Fahidi began to speak about her memories of the murder of her family and her existence as a slave laborer,” Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said in Berlin.

“Her life remained marked by the loss of her family, but nevertheless, with an infinitely big heart, she persisted in her joy of life and trusted in the power of memory,” Heubner added.

After the war, Fahidi-Pusztai moved back to Hungary. She later wrote two books about her experiences and visited schools in Germany to share her traumatic experiences from the Holocaust with students and warn of the re-emergence of far-right populism in Europe.

Fahidi-Pusztai also worked closely together with the Buchenwald Memorial at the former camp site near the city of Weimar in eastern Germany, to ensure that especially the fate of Jewish women is not forgotten, the memorial wrote on its website.

“Eva Fahidi’s books, which show her to be a great stylist and clear-sighted storyteller, will remain as will her fears and warnings in the face of populist tirades and right-wing extremist violence against Jewish people and Sinti and Roma not only in her native Hungary but in many European countries,” the International Auschwitz Committee wrote in its farewell message.

Sinti and Roma minorities were also persecuted during the Nazi era.

[helge]

Eva Fahidi-Pusztai, a Holocaust survivor who spent the late years of her life warning of the re-emergence of far-right populism and discrimination against minorities across Europe,

It's coming

Because of all the socalled "democratic mainstream corrupt asshole corporate and media supported ..parties".

Not enough lamp posts and rope left for the degenerates

[harrybarracuda]

David McCallum, star of hit series ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ and ‘NCIS,’ dies at 90



LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular “NCIS” 40 years later, has died. He was 90.

McCallum died Monday of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.
“David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world. He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away,” said a statement from CBS.

Scottish-born McCallum had been doing well appearing in such films “A Night to Remember” (about the Titanic), “The Great Escape” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (as Judas). But it was “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” that made the blond actor with the Beatlesque haircut a household name in the mid-’60s.

The success of the James Bond books and films had set off a chain reaction, with secret agents proliferating on both large and small screens. Indeed, Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed some ideas as “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” was being developed, according to Jon Heitland’s “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book.”

The show, which debuted in 1964, starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, an agent in a secretive, high-tech squad of crime fighters whose initials stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Despite the Cold War, the agency had an international staff, with McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, Solo’s Russian sidekick.

The role was relatively small at first, McCallum recalled, adding in a 1998 interview that “I’d never heard of the word ‘sidekick’ before.”

The show drew mixed reviews but eventually caught on, particularly with teenage girls attracted by McCallum’s good looks and enigmatic, intellectual character. By 1965, Illya was a full partner to Vaughn’s character and both stars were mobbed during personal appearances.

The series lasted to 1968. Vaughn and McCallum reunited in 1983 for a nostalgic TV movie, “The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” in which the agents were lured out of retirement to save the world once more.

McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with an agency known by its initials — CBS’ “NCIS.” He played Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, a bookish pathologist for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, an agency handling crimes involving the Navy or the Marines. Mark Harmon played the NCIS boss.

McCallum said he thought Ducky, who sported glasses and a bow tie and had an eye for pretty women, “looked a little silly, but it was great fun to do.” He took the role seriously, too, spending time in the Los Angeles coroner’s office to gain insight into how autopsies are conducted.

Co-star Lauren Holly took to X, formerly Twitter, to mourn: “You were the kindest man. Thank you for being you.” The previously announced 20th anniversary “NCIS” marathon on Monday night will now include an “in memoriam” card in remembrance of McCallum.

The series built an audience gradually, eventually reaching the roster of top 10 shows. McCallum, who lived in New York, stayed in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica when “NCIS” was in production.

“He was a scholar and a gentleman, always gracious, a consummate professional, and never one to pass up a joke. From Day 1, it was an honor to work with him and he never let us down. He was, quite simply, a legend, said a statement from “NCIS” executive producers Steven D. Binder and David North.

McCallum’s work with “U.N.C.L.E.” brought him two Emmy nominations, and he got a third as an educator struggling with alcoholism in a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama called “Teacher, Teacher.”

In 1975, he had the title role in a short-lived science fiction series, “The Invisible Man,” and from 1979 to 1982 he played Steel in a British science fiction series, “Sapphire and Steel.” Over the years, he also appeared in guest shots in many TV shows, including “Murder, She Wrote” and “Sex and the City.”

He appeared on Broadway in a 1968 comedy, “The Flip Side,” and in a 1999 revival of “Amadeus” starring Michael Sheen and David Suchet. He also was in several off-Broadway productions.

Largely based in the U.S. from the 1960s onward, McCallum was a longtime American citizen, telling The Associated Press in 2003 that “I have always loved the freedom of this country and everything it stands for. And I live here, and I like to vote here.”

David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow in 1933. His parents were musicians; his father, also named David, played violin, his mother played cello. When David was 3, the family moved to London, where David Sr. played with the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.

Young David attended the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the oboe. He decided he wasn’t good enough, so he turned to theater, studying briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. But “I was a small, emaciated blond with a caved chest, so there weren’t an awful lot of parts for me,” he commented in a Los Angeles Times interview in 2009.

After time out for military service, he returned to London and began getting work on live television and movies, In 1957 he appeared in “Robbery Under Arms,” an adventure set in early Australia, with a rising actress, Jill Ireland. The couple married that same year.

In 1963, McCallum was part of the large cast of “The Great Escape” and he and his wife became friendly with Charles Bronson, also in the film. Ireland eventually fell in love with Bronson and she and McCallum divorced in 1967. She married Bronson in 1968.

“It all worked out fine,” McCallum said in 2009, “because soon after that I got together with Katherine (Carpenter, a former model) and we’ve been very happily married for 42 years.”

McCallum had three sons from his first marriage, Paul, Jason and Valentine, and a son and daughter from his second, Peter and Sophie. Jason died of an overdose.

“He was a true Renaissance man — he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge. For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS,” Peter McCallum said in a statement.

In 2007, when he was working on “NCIS,” McCallum told a reporter: “I’ve always felt the harder I work, the luckier I get. I believe in serendipitous things happening, but at the same time, dedicating yourself to what you do is the best way to get along in this life.”

David McCallum, star of hit series 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and 'NCIS,' dies at 90 - MyNorthwest.com

[S Landreth]

Katherine Anderson Dead, Co-Founder Of The Marvelettes Was 79

Katherine Anderson-Schaffner, a founding member of The Marvelettes, has died at age 79. A cause of death is unknown.

The tragic news was confirmed by her daughter, Keisha Schaffner, on Wednesday (Sept. 20) via Facebook.

“Some called her Kat – some called her Sis , Gamma – Momma K but my sister and I called her MOM,” she wrote in her tribute post. “She was not just a Mom to us but to many. Many people would come and sit at her table. Now if you ever sat and said, ‘Kat I need to talk.’ You already knew you were going to get true, uncut, unedited council. She wasn’t going to tell you what you wanted to hear but what you should hear. I remember friends saying I’m coming over and I would say, ‘I’m not home;’ the response would be I’m going to talk to your mom. My response would always be you know how that’s going to go right? Two hours and a box of tissue later sitting at her kitchen table, your counseling session was over. The funny part is you would come back for more.”

Schaffner reflected on her late mother’s cooking including her speciality — ribs with her one-of-a-kind sauce. She concluded, “Katherine Anderson Schaffner is and will always be one of the Original Marvelettes. Her music and Legacy will live on. So the next time you hear ‘Please Mr. Postman,’ ‘Don’t Mess With Bill,’ or ‘The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game,’ just smile and say ‘I’ll Keep Holding On.’ Mom we love you and will miss you. And yes we know — ‘It is what it is.'”

Born Katherine Elaine Anderson on January 16, 1944, the Michigan native’s career began at age 17 when she was enlisted as a background singer for her friends, Gladys Horton and Georgia Dobbins, at an Inkster High School talent show in 1961, along with Georgeanna Tillman and Juanita Cowart.

After winning fourth place, they landed an audition with Motown. Their spin on William Garrett’s “Please Mr. Postman” scored them a deal and their group name went from The Casinyets (Can’t Sing Yets) to the Marvelettes.

Dobbins was later replaced by Wanda Young. “Please Mr. Postman” peaked No. 1 for 13 weeks. Anderson reflected on the record’s impact in the 2004 book, The Original Marvelettes: Motown’s Mystery Girl Group. “We were all surprised when ‘Postman’ hit so big. The most surprised was Motown. Motown became even more known once we hit with ‘Please Mr. Postman.’ In my opinion, where Motown wanted to go. The Marvelettes came in and kicked the door open,” she stated.

Before disbanding in 1969, The Marvelettes became “an essential female part of Gordy’s ‘sound of young America,’ along with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and The Supremes,” according to The History Makers.

Anderson is survived by her children, Keisha and Kalaine Schaffner and extended family.

[dirk diggler]

Mafia boss ‘Diabolik’ dies in custody after nearly 30 years on the run, Italian reports say





Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested In Sicily on January 16 after nearly 30 years on the run.



A Mafia boss who spent nearly three decades evading law enforcement before he was arrested in January has died while receiving medical treatment, according to Italian media reports.
Matteo Messina Denaro, who is thought to have ordered dozens of Mafia-related murders for the Cosa Nostra crime group, died at the San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila, central Italy, where he had been treated for colon cancer, public broadcaster Rai reported Monday.


Before his arrest at a private health clinic in Palermo in January, the former boss of the Sicilian Mafia had been a fugitive since 1993 and was considered by Europol one of the most wanted men in Europe, prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia told CNN at the time.








Messina Denaro was given several life sentences in absentia for his many crimes, most notably in 1992 for his involvement in the murders of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.


He received his most recent life sentence in 2020 for fatal bombings in Milan, Florence and Rome in the late 1990s, and for the murder and torture of the 11-year-old son of an enemy who gave evidence against the Cosa Nostra.


Before he died, cases for the murders of Falcone and Borsellino, and for the murder of 11-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo were in the process of being brought before higher courts.











Giovanni Falcone, is seen in his office at the Italian Ministry of Justice in 1991. Matteo Messina Denaro was found guilty of the 1992 murder of Falcone and another prosecutor.



Having been a wanted man for nearly 30 years, he was the Cosa Nostra’s longest-hiding fugitive.


The January police raid at the Maddalena clinic that ended in his capture involved more than 100 agents with the anti-Mafia Carabinieri.


Anti-Mafia security forces had been closing in on Messina Denaro’s circle, seizing around €3 billion ($3.25 billion) in assets belonging to companions, relatives and associates thought to be supporting his life in hiding, and making arrests in a crackdown between 2009 and 2010. Experts told CNN at the time of his arrest that Messina Denaro no longer held the power he once did.









Capture of Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro raises questions over how he stayed free for so long



Messina Denaro – known as Diabolik – is regarded as one of the successors of Bernardo Provenzano, who was famously arrested while in hiding in a farmhouse outside Corleone, Sicily, in April 2006.


Crime was a family affair for Messina Denaro, born to a known Mafia boss in Sicily on April 26, 1962. Among those arrested in the 2009-2010 crackdown was his brother, Salvatore Messina Denaro, who refused to testify about his whereabouts.




In 2013, his sister, Patrizia Messina Denaro, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, a term she is still serving, for being a member of the Mafia.








A screengrab taken from a video shows Matteo Messina Denaro being escorted out of a Carabinieri police station after his January arrest in Palermo, Italy.




Though Messina Denaro had been in hiding for nearly 20 years, whispers of his failing health had been circulating in Sicily for months before his arrest earlier this year. There were hints of a “deal” to bring him back to the surface in exchange for better cancer care.


When he was finally nabbed, Messina Denaro admitted his identity rather than trying to use his alias, a Palermo prosecutor said at the time. Police later found at least two hideouts in the Sicilian town of Campobello di Mazara where he is thought to have lived in recent months – one in the heart of the town, according to CNN affiliate SkyTG24, and another in a fortified bunker behind a hidden door, Reuters reported citing local officials.


While on the run, Messina Denaro worked closely under Provenzano until the latter’s death in 2016, leading the way for Messina Denaro to be considered the top boss.


Felia Allum, professor of comparative organized crime and corruption at the UK’s University of Bath, said in January that Messina Denaro was the last of an old generation of Mafia bosses.
“He represents the final link between the belligerent and overt Cosa Nostra of the early 1990s and the silent, business-like Mafia of the 21st century,” she said at the time.

[Happy As Larry]

Michael Gambon, star of Harry Potter and The Singing Detective, dies aged 82

Sir Michael Gambon, whose extraordinary acting career took him from Laurence Olivier’s nascent National Theatre to screen roles in The Singing Detective and the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 82.

A statement on behalf of his wife, Lady Gambon, and son, Fergus, issued by publicist Clair Dobbs, said: “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia. Michael was 82. We ask that you respect our privacy at this painful time and thank you for your messages of support and love.”

Memorably called “The Great Gambon” by Ralph Richardson, and admired by generations of fellow actors, he excelled in plays by Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett and Alan Ayckbourn. “I owe an enormous amount to Michael,” said Ayckbourn on Thursday. “He was a remarkable stage performer. It was a privilege to watch him at work on my stuff. You couldn’t really term it acting – more an act of spontaneous combustion.” .........................................

Michael Gambon, star of Harry Potter and The Singing Detective, dies aged 82 | Michael Gambon | The Guardian

[harrybarracuda]

Senator Dianne Feinstein, trailblazer for women in US politics, dies aged 90



Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving member of the US Senate who blazed a trail for women in American politics, has died. She was 90.
Feinstein’s death at home in Washington on Thursday night brought down the curtain on a storied career that included gun control advocacy – she spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban – and documenting the CIA’s torture of foreign terrorism suspects.
Joe Biden led tributes, calling Feinstein a “pioneering American” and “true trailblazer”. The president said in a statement: “Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that’s what Jill and I will miss the most.”
For Democrats, news of the death of the first woman to represent California in the US Senate, who was also the longest-serving female senator in US history, has significant political implications.
Faced with growing questions about her age and fitness, Feinstein was due to retire at the end of her term.
The race to succeed her in a safe Democratic seat has attracted high-profile candidates, Adam Schiff, a former House intelligence chair, squaring off against fellow members of Congress Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has promised to install a Black woman in any vacant seat.
Before entering national politics, Feinstein was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco. She ran for the position twice before in 1978 the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, like Feinstein a member of the board of supervisors, saw her step into the top job.
Leaving office in 1988, Feinstein ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 before winning her Senate seat in 1992. She did so alongside Barbara Boxer, making California the first state to send two women to the Senate. Feinstein became the first woman to be a California senator because she was sworn in first, to complete an unfinished term. Feinstein was also the first Jewish female senator.
Feinstein had compiled a formidable record, notably piloting a federal assault weapons ban in 1994 and, as the first woman to head the influential Senate intelligence committee, investigating CIA torture after 9/11.
“The CIA’s actions are a stain on our values and our history,” Feinstein said, defending the release of a report that revealed CIA use of “coercive interrogation techniques in some cases amounting to torture” on at least 119 detainees.
But she sometimes drew opprobrium from the left. During Republican George W Bush’s presidency she backed the 2002 Iraq war resolution, only to later express regret. Feinstein defended surveillance programmes exposed in 2013 by the National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a leak she called “an act of treason”.
In 2020 she attracted considerable criticism for her work leading Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee, particularly in the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, the third conservative forced onto the supreme court by Republicans under Donald Trump.
Feinstein was admitted to hospital for shingles earlier this year, returning to the Senate after more than two months’ absence. The senator and her aides resisted calls for her to retire with immediate effect.
Feinstein, a six-term senator, left her mark on Washington. In November 2022, she said it was “an incredible honor to become the longest-serving woman senator in our nation’s history, and I’m forever grateful to the people of California who sent me here to represent them.
“It has been a great pleasure to watch more and more women walk the halls of the Senate. We went from two women senators when I ran for office in 1992 to 24 today – and I know that number will keep climbing.”
Of changes in women’s roles in US public life, and challenges from the reactionary right, she said: “We have seen tremendous progress, but we still have work to do.
“When I came to the Senate, Roe v Wade [the 1973 supreme court ruling which guaranteed the right to abortion] was the law of the land, a fundamental right and a clear signal that women have the right to choose what is best for themselves. The supreme court recently overturned that right. And women continue to struggle to achieve pay equality – women still only make 84 cents on the dollar compared to men in the same position and often struggle to secure workplace rights.”
Feinstein’s loss was felt keenly on Capitol Hill on Friday. During a speech on the Senate floor, the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, came close to tears as he turned to look at his colleague’s empty desk.
His voice trembling, Schumer said: “Today, we grieve. We look at that desk and we know what we’ve lost. But we also give thanks. Thanks to someone so rarefied, so brave, so graceful a presence, that someone like that served in this chamber for so many years.”
He added: “As the nation mourns this tremendous loss, we’re comforted in knowing how many mountains Dianne moved, how many lives she impacted, how many glass ceilings she shattered along the way. America is a better place because of Senator Dianne Feinstein.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: “Dianne Feinstein was a force to be reckoned with. She was one of the most powerful voices in the Senate, and she blazed a trail for generations of women who followed her into elected office. I was so grateful to have her as my role model, my mentor, and a dear friend.”
Chris Murphy of Connecticut said in a statement: “For a long time, between 1994 and the tragedy in Newtown in 2012, Dianne was often a lonely but unwavering voice on the issue of gun violence. The modern anti-gun violence movement – now more powerful than the gun lobby – simply would not exist without Dianne’s moral leadership.”
Political activists praised her legacy. Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, a progressive grassroots movement, said: “Dianne Feinstein was an icon of the Senate. In her decades of trailblazing public service, she broke ground and helped solidify what women could do in American politics again and again.
“During her time as California’s senator, she was a ground-breaking champion for gun safety, and a force accountability and transparency on the CIA’s use of torture, who expected better from our country in its darkest moments.”

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/senator-di...130050938.html

[helge]

As always never a lot of thorns on the dead roses.

[katie23]

RIP Michael Gambon - I knew him as the 2nd version of Prof. Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films.

RIP Senator Dianne Feinstein. I don't know her beliefs or policies, but kudos to her for being a woman in politics at a time when there were few women in that realm.

[cisco999]

RIP Senator Dianne Feinstein. I don't know her beliefs or policies, but kudos to her for being a woman in politics at a time when there were few women in that realm.

She was the very definition of the saying "tough old Bird".

[david44]

RIP Franny Lee a fine player and Man City stalwart

Francis Lee: Former Manchester City, England, Bolton and Derby striker dies aged 79

Last updated on

25 minutes ago25 minutes ago.From the sectionMan City
538Lee received a CBE in 2016 for his services to football and charityFormer Manchester City and England striker Francis Lee has died, aged 79.
Lee scored 148 goals in 330 appearances during an eight-year spell at City, helping the club win multiple honours, including the old First Division title in 1968.

Lee, who started his career at Bolton Wanderers, joined Derby County from City, helping the Rams win their second league title in 1975.
He also earned 27 caps for England, scoring 10 goals.
"It is with the deepest sadness and heaviest of hearts we announce the passing of former Manchester City player and chairman Francis Lee, aged 79," a City statement read, calling Lee "a club legend in every sense" and one of City's "all-time greats".
The club said Lee died on Monday morning after a long fight against cancer.
In his time at City, Lee also won an FA Cup, a League Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Charity Shield twice.
He returned to the club in 1994 as chairman, following a number of successful business ventures, spending four years in that role.
The statement continued: "Francis' wife Gill and children Charlotte, Jonny and Nik say he will be sorely missed and would like to thank everyone for their kind words."


'Just look at his face!' Lee scores stunner for Derby against Man City in 1974"Everyone at Manchester City would like to send their condolences to the friends and family of Francis at this very difficult time.
"As a mark of respect, flags around the Etihad Stadium and City Football Academy are flying at half-mast.
"More tributes from the club will follow in the coming days."
Lee, who was born in Westhoughton, Lancashire, started his career at Bolton where he broke into the side as a 16-year-old in 1959.
He went on to score 106 goals in 210 games over eight seasons before signing for City for a then club-record £60,000 fee.
"All at Bolton Wanderers are saddened to learn of the passing of former forward, Francis Lee. The thoughts of everyone at the club are with Francis' family, friends and loved ones at this difficult time," a Bolton statement read.
Following his glittering spell at City, Lee joined Derby in 1974 where he scored 30 goals over two seasons, before announcing his retirement.
"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of 1974/75 title-winner Francis Lee. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and all who knew him," a Derby statement read.
During his spell at the Rams, Lee was also involved in a moment of infamy as he clashed on the pitch with Leeds defender Norman Hunter, with the pair being sent off and escorted from the field for trading punches.
The footage aired on Match of the Day and is shared regularly across social media, with the video receiving hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, TikTok and more.
"It's a good job I didn't get in the dressing room afterwards," said Lee.
"I might have just been coming out on parole now. It wasn't play-acting you know. He had tapped me on the shoulder, hit me and split my lip with a gold ring."
Following retirement, Lee started a number of business ventures, operating in the wastepaper and haulage business before going on to make toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, handkerchiefs, cooking foil and cling film, eventually supplying most of the major retailers in the UK.
In 1985, his company. F.H Lee, merged with Hazelwood Foods and the multi-million pound business was sold in 2000.
Lee's success in business led to his return to City as chairman in 1994, but the spell was largely unsuccessful and he resigned in 1998 with the club facing relegation to the third tier.
In 2016, Lee received a CBE from the Duke of Cambridge for his services to sport and charity.
'A gentleman with a great sense of humour'

Fond tributes have been paid to Lee by friends, former footballers and pundits on social media.
Former City striker Paul Dickov said: "Such sad news to hear of the passing of Francis Lee. A gentleman, proper football man with a great sense of humour.
"The main reason I signed for Man City with his sheer love for the club & will be forever grateful. Love & condolences to all his family & friends. RIP Mr Chairman."
City fan and ex-boxing world champion Ricky Hatton said: "So saddened to hear of the passing of Francis (Franny) Lee. What a legend of a footballer & a man in general.
"Never did a man love our club more than this man. On the pitch as a player, off it as a chairman. He was blue through & through.
"Had the pleasure of being in his company so many times. Something I will never forget. A genuine Manchester treasure. Love & condolences to the family RIP Franny the king."
Former Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore wrote: "Sending sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Franny Lee."
"Had some lovely chats over the years on here and at City where he rightly had his status acknowledged by the club over the years.
"Another legend gone too soon. Rest in peace, Franny."

[david44]

Lee's famous goal embedded

Francis Lee'''s legendary Match of the Day moment with goal for Derby County against Manchester City - BBC Sport