The Wizard of OZ, a very grand movie, one that I show all the time in my house.
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The Wizard of OZ, a very grand movie, one that I show all the time in my house.
Karen Black, Easy Rider actress dies aged 74
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Karen Black earned an Oscar nomination for her role opposite Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces
Hollywood star Karen Black, who featured in cult films such as Five Easy Pieces and Nashville, has died aged 74.
Hugely prolific, the Illinois-born actress appeared in more than 100 movies over a career spanning 40 years.
She shot to fame in 1969, starring as a prostitute in Easy Rider opposite Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.
She died at a clinic in Los Angeles, three years after she was diagnosed with cancer.
Her fourth husband, Stephen Eckelberry, posted the news on his Facebook page.
"It is with great sadness that I have to report that my wife and best friend, Karen Black has just passed away, only a few minutes ago," he wrote.
"Thank you all for all your prayers and love, they meant so much to her as they did to me."
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Black landed her breakout role in 1969's Easy Rider
Stars paid tribute to Black on Twitter, including Mia Farrow who tweeted: "Wonderful Karen Black rest in peace."
Actress Juliette Lewis said: "Karen Black was my mentor and a 2nd mother to me.
She inspired everyone she came in contact with. Her spirit/strength My luv [sic] is beyond words."
Black, who was raised in a Chicago suburb, almost always played troubled, neurotic characters.
She earned an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award for her role as Rayette Dipesto in 1970 film Five Easy Pieces, opposite Jack Nicholson, as a waitress who dates an upper-class dropout.
She again starred with Nicholson a year later in Drive, He Said, which Nicholson also directed.
Final roles
Black went on to star with Robert Redford and Farrow in 1974's The Great Gatsby, for which she won a best supporting actress Golden Globe for her role as Tom Buchanan's mistress Myrtle Wilson.
She later scored a Grammy nomination in 1975 after writing and performing songs for Robert Altman's musical drama Nashville, in which she played a country singer.
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Black played Connie Black, a glamorous but mediocre country singer, in Nashville
The actress also starred as a jewel thief in what turned out to be Alfred Hitchcock's last movie, Family Plot, released in 1976.
"We used to read each other poems and limericks and he tried to catch me on my vocabulary,'' she later said of Hitchcock.
"He once said, 'You seem very perspicacious today, Miss Black.' I said, 'Oh, you mean keenly perceptive?'
"So I got him this huge, gold-embossed dictionary that said Diction-Harry, at the end of the shoot."
By the end of the 1970s, Black struggled to find quality roles and appeared mainly low-budget horror movies. In the 80s she moved into television, filming roles in series such as Miami Vice, Party of Five and Law and Order.
In 1993, she acted in a film which would turn out to actor River Phoenix's last, following his death from a drug overdose. Dark Blood was finally completed last year and was shown at a number of international film festivals.
According to film site IMDB, the actress had completed two recent projects - the drama She Loves Me Not, starring Cary Elwes and the forthcoming film The Being Experience - opposite Alan Cumming and Terrence Howard.
Despite Black's extensive filmography, she had to turn to the public to help pay her healthcare costs after she was diagnosed with cancer.
Her online funding appeal raised more than $60,000 (£38,500).
She is survived by Eckelberry and two children.
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Black starred in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Portrait
'Bossa Nova' singer Eydie Gorme dies aged 84
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Singer Eydie Gorme, who had a hit in 1963 with Blame It On The Bossa Nova, has died in Las Vegas at the age of 84, her publicist has said.
Gorme was a popular nightclub and TV singer, both with her husband Steve Lawrence and as a solo act.
In 1953, she joined what became the Tonight Show on the NBC television network. She and Lawrence also recorded Spanish-language songs which became hits in Latin America.
Gorme died after a brief illness.
Lawrence was at her bedside, along with their son, when she died on Saturday afternoon, her publicist Howard Bragman said.
Gorme, who was born to Spanish-speaking Jewish parents in New York in 1928, grew up speaking both English and Spanish.
She met Lawrence in 1953 on the set of a New York local TV programme hosted by Steve Allen which became the Tonight Show the next year. The couple married in 1957.
Gorme's biggest solo hit was Blame It On The Bossa Nova. She also scored another success on her own in 1964 with the Spanish-language song, Amor, recorded with the Mexican band Trio Los Panchos.
Pukka Pies founder, Trevor Storer, dies aged 83
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Trevor Storer started in the family bakery business but branched out when it was sold
The founder of iconic British food company, Pukka Pies, has died aged 83.
Trevor Storer, who set up the firm in his kitchen in 1963, died peacefully at home, a spokesman said.
The company, whose pies are a familiar sight in football grounds and at chip shops, makes about 60 million pies a year from its factory in Syston, Leicestershire and employs 300 people.
In a tribute released by Pukka Pies, Mr Storer was described as putting integrity at the core of the business.
'Polite to all'
The statement said: "Trevor Storer's founding values were putting quality and care first, selecting only the finest ingredients.
"He also made job security a central objective and ran the company with integrity.
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The orange Pukka Pies logo is a familiar sight at chips shops across the country
"These values remain core to the Pukka Pies culture today.
"Trevor Storer was fair and considerate and polite to all he dealt with and is remembered by all who knew him as a true gentleman."
Mr Storer started out in the family bakery but branched out on his own when it was sold.
Originally called Trevor Storer's Handmade Pie Company, the name was changed in 1964.
In 2012 the company, run by Mr Storer's sons Tim and Andrew, invested £7m in an extension to its factory.
Jon Brookes, the Charlatans drummer dies age 44.
BBC News - Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes dies age 44
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Very sad. RiP Jon. Its a stark reminder when people die young, esp when your of a similar age. Life is precious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=ZdXfkkyI1nQ
Allen Lanier, one of the founding members of the classic rock group Blue Öyster Cult, has died at age 67, the band announced on Wednesday.
“We have extremely sad news to report,” the statement read. “We've lost our friend and bandmate Allen Lanier.”
Billboard reports that the band confirmed that Lanier died after a battle with the lung disease Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The guitarist, who also played keyboard for the “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” band, retired from the group in 2006, but did make an appearance at a 2012 anniversary show.
Lanier began the Long Island band with guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, drummer Albert Bouchard, singer Les Braunstein and bassist Andrew Winters in the late 1960s. Braunstein left and Eric Bloom became their frontman before they created the name Blue Öyster Cult and joined Columbia Records in 1971.
They produced 14 studio albums, with the last being released in 2001. The group is best known for the hits “(Don't Fear) The Reaper” (1976) and “Burnin’ For You” (1981). Roeser and Bloom continue to perform.
Bloom left his own statement on his Facebook page, calling Lanier his “great friend.”
Lanier leaves behind his wife, Dory, sister Mary Anne and mother Martha.
http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/...-lung-disease?
Lisa Robin Kelly, That '70s Show actress, dies aged 43
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Kelly appeared in That '70S Show for five years
Actress Lisa Robin Kelly, who had a role in the US sitcom That `70s Show alongside Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, has died at age 43.
Her manager Craig Wyckoff said Kelly died on Wednesday at a Los Angeles addiction treatment facility where she had been admitted earlier in the week.
No official cause of death was given.
Kelly portrayed Laurie Forman, the promiscuous sister of Eric - played by Topher Grace on the Fox series, which ran from 1998 until 2006.
She left the series at the end of the fifth season in 2003. Her character was portrayed by the actress, Christina Moore, in season six.
Kelly fell out of the spotlight after leaving the show but soon began making headlines for her troubled personal life.
She was arrested in November along with her 61-year-old husband, Robert Joseph Gilliam, in connection with a disturbance at their home in North Carolina.
In June, she was arrested on suspicion of drink driving in California.
"Lisa had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility early this week where she was battling the addiction problems that have plagued her these past few years," said Wyckoff.
"I spoke to her on Monday, and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night, she lost the battle," he added.
Prior to That '70s Show, Kelly had minor roles in several US TV shows, including The X-Files, Charmed and Married With Children.
She also had roles in the TV movies Amityville Dollhouse, Late Last Night and Jawbreaker.
Paralympic athlete and wheelchair sport 'icon' Chris Hallam dies
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Chris Hallam was known as 'Shades' - a flamboyant character, instantly recognisable in sunglasses and headband
Paralympian Chris Hallam, one of the pioneers of disabled sport, has died.
The athlete won medals for swimming and wheelchair racing in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Paralympic Games.
Hallam, who was in his late 40s and lived in Pontypool, Torfaen, was a flamboyant character. He twice won the London Marathon, setting course records.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson called him an "icon in wheelchair sport" who inspired her to compete.
The wheelchair racer, who had been paralysed below the chest in a motorcycling accident, was already a good swimmer.
Within a few years, he won the 50m breaststroke at the World Disabled Games.
'Flamboyant'
He was an icon in wheelchair sport. He was edgy with this blond hair and he'd wear things like leopard print lycra suits.” - Dame Tanni Grey ThompsonHallam's London Marathon victories in record times came in 1985 and 1987, while he won medals in Paralympics in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta.
In 1986 he completed a 400 mile wheelchair ride around Wales to raise money for a centre for the disabled at Uwic (now Cardiff Metropolitan University).
He was also awarded the MBE for his contribution to disability sport.
He retired from competitive sport in 1996 and took up athletics coaching, developing a number of wheelchair racers within the Disability Sport Wales academy system.
The athlete, who had been ill for some time with cancer and had a kidney transplant over a decade ago, died on Friday.
Baroness Grey-Thompson, Wales' greatest Paralympian, said Chris Hallam had been "hugely inspirational" to her and had "broken down all the barriers" that enabled her and others to go into wheelchair athletics.
She told the BBC News website he was also believed to be the first disabled athlete to get sponsorship.
"I remember watching him doing the London Marathon in 1985 with my parents and saying to mum and dad 'I will do the London Marathon one day'.
"He was an icon in wheelchair sport. He was edgy with this blond hair and he'd wear things like leopard print Lycra suits. He was very flamboyant and a real character - not at all bland.
"Without him we wouldn't have wheelchair racing. You have to realise that back then in the '80s, the word Paralympic hadn't been invented, nobody knew anything about disability sport, there was no coverage of it. It was as if it didn't exist."
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BBC archive shows Hallam and fellow Paralympian John Harris competing, along with a young Tanni Grey receiving an award from her 'inspiration'
'Ultimate hero'
The Welsh woman, who amassed 16 Paralympic medals and won the London wheelchair marathon six times in her own sporting career, added: "I wouldn't have had my career without him.
"He was really close mates with my husband and was an usher at our wedding. He was amazing. He could be quite abrasive and rude and he would always have an opinion - he would say what he thought, which would often get him into trouble.
"He didn't suffer fools gladly and a lot of us wished we could be as direct as Chris. But he really cared about the people around him. He really helped me.
"In the Paralympic movement in Britain, he was the one who broke through. But a lot of people might not know about him because it was before social media. He broke down every barrier."
Fellow Paralympian John Harris said he got to know Chris Hallam after his accident and called him the "ultimate hero" and the "toughest man he had ever met".
'True competitor'
He was the consummate athlete who prepared for every event down to the smallest detail. He was a larger than life character that you just wanted to be near to.” - John Harris Fellow Paralympian
"I remember when we did our final 600-mile push around Wales in 1997, Chris was in a lot of pain because he was undergoing dialysis. But he wouldn't give up. He was determined, that was Chris."
Mr Harris added: "He was the consummate athlete who prepared for every event down to the smallest detail. He was a larger than life character that you just wanted to be near to.
"'Shades', as he was known, was a dear friend and will be sorely missed by everyone who ever knew him. My heart goes out to his family at this sad time."
Jim Munkley, a Disability Sport Wales board member, who went as a fellow British team member to the Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta games added: "Chris will be remembered as a true legend of Paralympic and Welsh sport. Not only was he was true competitor in every sense of the word, but he was also a great character to be around and to have known.
"Disability sport in Wales owes much to Chris and I have no doubt that we would not be where we are today without the huge contribution that he made to the development of our sport."
Free Willy actor August Schellenberg dies
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August Schellenberg was known for playing Native American roles
Canadian-born actor August Schellenberg, who was best known for starring in all three Free Willy films, has died aged 77.
His agent said he died at his Dallas, Texas, home after suffering from lung cancer.
Schellenberg first played whale trainer Randolph Johnson in 1993's Free Willy, reprising the role for the sequels released in 1995 and 1997.
He also starred in Terrence Malick film The New World opposite Christian Bale.
Born in Montreal, Schellenberg was a champion diver and boxer in his youth. He graduated from Montreal's National Theatre School of Canada in 1966 and later moved to Dallas.
Known for playing Native American roles, the actor - who was half Mohawk and half Swiss-German - earned an Emmy nomination in 2007 for his role as Chief Sitting Bull in the HBO movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
He was also nominated for three Genie awards over his career, which recognise the best in Canadian cinema, winning once for 1991 adventure Black Robe.
His other big screen credits include 1978 Donald Sutherland film Bear Island, 1994 film Iron Will opposite Kevin Spacey and 2006 family film Eight Below.
While on TV, he had roles in series such as The Littlest Hobo, Due South, Grey's Anatomy and Stargate Universe.
As well as teaching acting workshops at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Schellenberg also played the lead in an all-First Nations cast of Shakespeare's King Lear at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa last year.
"I got a call this morning from the NAC saying they have lowered their flags to honour him," Schellenberg's agent Jamie Levitt said.
NAC president Peter Herrndorf added: "August Schellenberg had been thinking about mounting King Lear in 1967, just two years before the NAC opened its doors in Ottawa.
"Through his friendship and collaboration... that dream was realised in our theatre in 2012. It was a ground-breaking and proud production."
Schellenberg is survived by his wife, actress Joan Karasevich, and three daughters.
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29 and everything going for him. How sad.
Quote:
Lee Thompson Young, an actor who played a child star on the Disney Channel show “The Famous Jett Jackson” and a detective on the hit TNT series “Rizzoli & Isles,” was found dead on Monday at his home in Los Angeles after he failed to show up for work. He was 29.
The cause was suicide, a statement from his manager said.
Mr. Young had appeared on “Rizzoli & Isles,” a police procedural set in Boston and based on novels by Tess Gerritsen, since its debut in 2010. He played Barry Frost, a computer-savvy homicide detective who can’t stand the sight of blood, who is the partner of Jane Rizzoli, played by Angie Harmon.
TNT announced on Monday that “Rizzoli & Isles” had been renewed for another season.
Mr. Young’s first major role came in 1998, when he played the title character on “The Famous Jett Jackson.” The show followed the child star of an action show who decides to move production back to suburban North Carolina from Hollywood so he can resume life with his family.
“ ‘The Famous Jett Jackson’ makes instructive drama out of the sentimental truism that family and friends trump fame and wealth,” Marc Weingarten wrote in an article about diversity on television in The New York Times. “But Jett, a hip-hop-loving kid played with guileless charm by Lee Thompson Young, is never sitcom-bland.”
Mr. Young, who grew up in South Carolina, said he sympathized with the character. “I get out of L.A. as often as I can,” he said.
Lee Thompson Young was born on Feb. 1, 1984, in Columbia, S.C. He played the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a school production when he was 10. Two years later he accompanied his mother to New York so she could attend Union Theological Seminary, and once there he found an agent.
He earned a film production degree from the University of Southern California long after he began acting professionally.
Mr. Young had recurring roles on the NBC comedy “Scrubs” and the WB superhero drama “Smallville.” He also acted in films, appearing alongside Billy Bob Thornton in the high school football drama “Friday Night Lights” (2004) and with Laurence Fishburne in “Akeelah and the Bee” (2006).
Survivors include his mother and a sister.
Elmore Leonard, crime novelist, dies aged 87
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Leonard suffered a stroke earlier
this month in Detroit
US crime writer Elmore Leonard, author of such books as Get Shorty, Maximum Bob and Out of Sight, has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke.
A statement on his official website said he had died on Tuesday morning "surrounded by his loving family".
The author of 45 novels, Leonard had been in the process of writing his 46th.
Born in New Orleans in 1925, he started out writing western stories before turning to crime fiction in the 1960s.
Renowned for his terse, no-nonsense style and sparse use of dialogue, his works inspired numerous screen adaptations.
Hombre, 3.10 to Yuma, Get Shorty and Rum Punch were among those filmed, the latter by Quentin Tarantino under the title Jackie Brown.
One of his more heroic characters, US Marshal Raylan Givens, inspired the TV series Justified, while his 1978 novel The Switch was filmed this year as Life of Crime.
Yet Leonard was not always impressed by how his books were adapted, being particularly dismayed by the two films made of his 1969 novel The Big Bounce.
"I wanted to see my books made into good movies, but for some reason they'd just be lame," he once said.
"At first that sort of thing frustrated me, but I've since learnt to live with it."
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Elmore Leonard discusses his writing style and inspirations in 2006
SELECTED NOVELS
His 10 Rules of Writing, published in 2001, contained such salutary admonishments as "never open a book with weather" and "keep your exclamation points under control".
- Hombre, 1961
- Valdez is Coming, 1970
- Fifty-Two Pickup, 1974
- LaBrava, 1983
- Freaky Deaky, 1988
- Get Shorty, 1990
- Cuba Libre, 1998
- Raylan, 2011
"I always start with the characters," he revealed in 2004. "I get to page 300 and I start thinking about the ending."
The same year he wrote A Coyote's In the House, a book for children about a coyote who befriends some canine performers in Hollywood.
His many accolades included the F Scott Fitzgerald award in 2008 and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
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Mos Def and John Hawkes star in Life of Crime, the latest Elmore Leonard adaptation
He received a further lifetime achievement prize last year, presented at America's National Book Awards.
Leonard suffered a stroke earlier this month in Detroit and had been in hospital. He died at his home in the city's Bloomfield Village suburb.
He is survived by five children, all from his first marriage, as well as 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He and his third wife Christine divorced last year.
British author Ian Rankin was among the first to pay tribute, calling Leonard a "a great writer".
"Gave me a few tips once," he wrote on Twitter. "I ignored most of them."
Journalist and author Tony Parsons also remembered Leonard as a "great writer" whose books would "never die".
^
His earlier stuff was good - like "Get Shorty".
Well he was famous in Sunderland.....
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TRIBUTES have been paid to former Mayor of Sunderland Wally Scott who was found dead in Thailand.
Mr Scott, who was 58, died in his apartment in Pattaya where he had been living for the last two-and-a-half years.
His sister Jackie Pirrie, 60, said he had been ill for a short time and finally succumbed to respiratory failure on August 16.
Mrs Pirrie last spoke to her brother a few days before he died and asked him to come home to recuperate.
“But he was happy in Thailand,” she said. “He loved the life out there.”
Formerly of Oxclose, Mr Scott represented the Washington South ward for many years after first being elected in 1984 and was Mayor of Sunderland in 1998.
He was divorced and had two daughters, Jennifer, 30, and Kate, 29, and four grandchildren. He was the older brother of Peter, 56, and Clive, 54.
During his mayoral year, one of Mr Scott’s chosen charities was the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, as he lost his only son Andrew, aged just two months.
Mrs Pirrie, of Great Lumley, said she wanted to remember his brother for all he did to help people.
“That was his life,” she said.
“He was a lovely, lovely child, always a teacher’s pet, and he was a lovely man.”
Daughter Jennifer, of Washington, said: “He brought us up as a single parent since I was 10 years old.
“Everybody seemed to love him, he was well-known in the area.
“He was a lovely, friendly person and did his best by his family.
“We lost my brother when he was a baby, which hit him hard but he fought on to look after us.”
Former Mayor and fellow councillor Bryn Sidaway said he was shocked to hear of Mr Scott’s death.
“I knew Wally very well,” Mr Sidaway said. “He was a lovely man. We go back years, to the 1980s. He was a very good ambassador for the City of Sunderland and I’m really, really sad to hear of his untimely demise.’’
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Thailand on August 16.
“We are providing consular assistance to the family at this sad time.”
Tom Christian, Descendant of Bounty Mutineer, Dies at 77
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Tom Christian was a great-great-great-grandson of Fletcher Christian, who led the mutiny on the British ship Bounty in 1789.
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Tom Christian, known as the Voice of Pitcairn for his half-century-long role in keeping his tiny South Pacific island, famed as the refuge of the Bounty mutineers, connected to the world, died at his home there on July 7. Mr. Christian, Pitcairn’s chief radio officer and a great-great-great-grandson of Fletcher Christian, the mutiny’s leader, was 77.
With his death, Pitcairn’s permanent population stands at 51.
The cause was complications of a recent stroke, his daughter Jacqueline Christian said.
Though Mr. Christian was the world’s best-known contemporary Pitcairner, word of his death — reported in the July issue of The Pitcairn Miscellany, the island’s monthly newsletter — reached a broad audience only this week, when it appeared in newspapers in Britain, Australia and New Zealand."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/wo...=pl-share&_r=0
Broadway star Julie Harris dies
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Julie Harris made her name in the play The Member of the Wedding in 1950
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Harris played Sally Bowles in the Broadway play I Am A Camera in 1952
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She acted with William Shatner in the Broadway comedy A Shot In The Dark
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Harris received 10 Tony Award nominations - more than any other performer
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She also received a special lifetime achievement award in 2002
US actress Julie Harris, a star of stage and screen who won five Tony Awards, has died at the age of 87.
Harris was best known for her roles on Broadway, where she jointly holds the record for the most Tony Award wins.
Her breakthrough came in the hit 1950 play The Member of the Wedding, which led to an Oscar nomination for a big screen adaptation three years later.
Other films included 1955's East of Eden with James Dean, while on TV she was known for the soap Knot's Landing.
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Julie Harris won three Emmy Awards for her TV performances
Harris died at her home in Massachusetts of congestive heart failure, actress and family friend Francesca James told the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
Born in Michigan, Harris made her Broadway debut in 1945 and made her name five years later in The Member of the Wedding.
Aged 24, she played the lonely 12-year-old Frankie in Carson McCullers' stage version of her novel.
Harris won her first Tony Award in 1952 for playing Sally Bowles in I Am a Camera, adapted from Christopher Isherwood's book Berlin Stories, which was later the basis of the stage and screen musical Cabaret.
Other Tony wins came for playing Joan of Arc in The Lark in 1956, for Forty Carats, a hit comedy about an older woman and a younger man in 1969, and for her role as Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln in 1973's The Last of Mrs Lincoln.
Her final competitive Tony win came for portraying poet Emily Dickinson in her one-woman show The Belle of Amherst in 1977. That performance also won a Grammy Award for best spoken word recording.
Angela Lansbury and Audra McDonald are the only other performers to have won five competitive Tonys.
Harris had five other nominations, making her the most nominated performer in the awards' history, and she received a special lifetime achievement Tony in 2002.
On the big screen, Harris appeared in more than 30 films including playing James Dean's love interest in East of Eden.
On television, she won three Emmy Awards between 1959 and 2000 as well as playing county music singer Lilimae Clements in Knot's Landing in the 1980s.
Harris had a stroke in 2001 followed by another in 2010, Francesca James told the AP.
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Comedy Pioneer: Mike Winters, seen here with brother Bernie (left) and St. Bernard Schorbitz, has died aged 82
'He was funny right up until the end': Mike Winters, British television comedy pioneer and half of 1950s double act Mike and Bernie Winters, dies aged 82
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 01:19 GMT, 26 August 2013 | UPDATED: 08:53 GMT, 26 August 2013
Mike Winters, one of the pioneers of British television comedy, has died aged 82.
The funnyman, who performed alongside his brother Bernie as Mike & Bernie Winters, passed away last week at his home in Gloucestershire with his family at his side.
Although not as well remembered as acts like Morecambe & Wise and The Two Ronnies, the brothers became household names after rising to fame in the 1950s.
His wife of 57 years Cassie told the Daily Mirror: 'He was funny right up until the end. He would be in bed and very quiet - and then he would say something that would make everyone laugh.
'He had an incredible life. In fact there were times when he couldn't believe just how incredible his life really was
'Mike did a lot of work for charity running a TV stars team and enjoyed that very much. He was also a published author and writing gave him a great deal of pleasure.'
The brothers first hit Britain's screens in 1955, and went on to make regular appearances on programmes such as Big Night Out and Sunday Night At The London Palladium.
They starred at a Royal Variety Performance in 1962. 'Do you speak French?' asked the Queen. 'No, Your Worship,' said Bernie. 'I have enough problems speaking English proper.'
In 1963 they starred alongside Frankie Howerd and Tommy Cooper in film The Cool Mikado.
In 1964 they performed a sketch alongside the Beatles and were given their own ITV comedy series in 1966.
Mike attended the City of Oxford School and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied the clarinet.
During the war he served in the Merchant Navy despite being underage. He received a medical discharge after which he enlisted in the Canadian Legion as a musician.
Born Mike and Bernie Weinstein in the 1930s, the brothers adopted the stage name Winters in the early 1950s.
They found work entertaining the troops abroad, performing in Vienna, Ulster and the Gulf.
The brothers continued their act into the 1970s but split acrimoniously in 1978 after which Bernie launched a solo career with a new partner - a giant St. Bernard dog named Schnorbitz.
Mike move to Florida where he worked with boxing manager Angelo Dundee and hosted charity nights and black-tie boxing events.
He also produced and appeared in the first British pantomime staged in Florida.
The brothers reconciled in the late 1980s but never worked together again. Bernie died from cancer aged 58, in 1991.
This thread is too morbid.
Nevertheless, RIP.
Artist and 'inspiration' John Bellany dies at 71
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John Bellany's life was explored in an interview on the BBC's Culture Show early in 2013
The artist John Bellany has died at the age of 71.
One of Scotland's best-known artists, he was born in the fishing community of Port Seton in East Lothian.
He trained at the Edinburgh College of Art and then in London. His works were exhibited and collected around the world.
After a period of ill health, he moved to Italy. His family said he died on Thursday evening, in his studio, with a paint brush in his hand.
Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland Sir John Leighton said: "John Bellany will be celebrated as one of Scotland's greatest artists of the modern era. From his early, heroic depictions of fisherfolk on the Scottish coast to the vibrant, passionate images of his later years he gave visual form to the big themes and narratives of human life.
"The retrospective show at the National Galleries last autumn demonstrated how he was able to use the drama and crises of his own life as a starting point for powerful explorations of man's struggle with fate and, as he entered his seventies, it seemed as if he was still at the top of the game.
"We are extremely sad to hear of his death but his art will remain an inspiration to artists long in to the future."
I met one of the family Angie at a wedding in Cornwall in 1980s many of them had moved to beautiful Norflok Island rated by Alan Whicker as the best place in the world a long flight of Brisbane,in the Pacific.If it is anything like Tahiti or Rarotonga ok for 10 minutes unless you like boredom,I'd almost sooner be banged up in a cell in Bournemouth with a failed Thaiophile for companyQuote:
Originally Posted by Boon Mee
^Pitcairn is very beautiful, went there 20 yrs ago, only beaten by Lord Howe is, and Lord Howe has beaches, which Pitcairn does not, both places are beautiful but you need to make your own entertainment, if cows sauntering up the main street ain't your bag.
^ arn't several still in jail for shagging the kids?
I went to Norfolk Island in 1986. No television, no phones, all night life finished at about 9pm....
Nice place to really relax and wind down.
Sounds just like Laos today.Quote:
Originally Posted by TizMe
Cliff Morgan, rugby legend and Question of Sport star, dies at 83
Thursday 29 August 2013
Welsh rugby international and broadcaster Cliff Morgan has died aged 83, the Welsh Rugby Union has confirmed.
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The sportsman, who grew up in a mining family in south Wales, played for Cardiff, Wales and the British Lions in an illustrious career.
His broadcasting career included a stint on Question of Sport and commentary duties on countless games including the Barbarians against New Zealand in 1973 when Gareth Edwards scored.
The try by his fellow Welshman was accompanied by Morgan's exultant: "This is Gareth Edwards, a dramatic start. What a score!"
Morgan suffered a stroke when he was 42 and recently coped with cancer of the vocal cords and removal of his larynx, which limited his ability to speak.
WRU president Dennis Gethin said: "I have lost a friend and we have all lost one of rugby's greats who was also a true gentleman.
"His exploits as a player for Cardiff, Wales, the Barbarians and the British and Irish Lions are legendary but he also achieved so much off the field of play.
"As a broadcaster he became one of the best known faces and voices of radio and television in the UK and as a producer and editorial executive he reached the top of his profession.
"Despite all that success, he remained a true gentleman throughout his life and always remained a true son of the Rhondda.
"He was rightly honoured during his life and he will definitely be remembered for all his contributions in so many fields of excellence."
Roger Lewis, group chief executive of the WRU, said:"Cliff Morgan epitomised the values of Welsh rugby and throughout his life remained a great ambassador for our sport and for Wales.
"He possessed remarkable ability as an outside half whose flair was rightly recognised with the top honours rugby has to offer with Wales and the British and Irish Lions.
"His face was known to millions because of his successful career and perhaps that famous voice of his will live on forever particularly when we recall his magnificent commentary of the Gareth Edwards try against New Zealand for the Barbarians in 1973."
Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Sad to hear of the great man's demise, A joy to recall his commentary of that very special match.
Barbarians Vs New Zealand 1973 - YouTube
The bard of Castledawson signs off.
Death Of A Naturalist
All year the flax-dam festered in the heart
Of the townland; green and heavy headed
Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.
Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.
Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles
Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.
There were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies,
But best of all was the warm thick slobber
Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water
In the shade of the banks. Here, every spring
I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied
Specks to range on window-sills at home,
On shelves at school, and wait and watch until
The fattening dots burst into nimble-
Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how
The daddy frog was called a bullfrog
And how he croaked and how the mammy frog
Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was
Frogspawn. You could tell the weather by frogs too
For they were yellow in the sun and brown
In rain.
Then one hot day when fields were rank
With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs
Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges
To a coarse croaking that I had not heard
Before. The air was thick with a bass chorus.
Right down the dam gross-bellied frogs were cocked
On sods; their loose necks pulsed like sails. Some hopped:
The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat
Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting.
I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings
Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew
That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.
Seamus Heaney died today
Seamus Heaney dead: World renowned poet dies aged 74 after short illness
Seamus Heaney dead: World renowned poet dies aged 74 after short illness - Mirror Online
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This world renowned poetry first came to public attention in the mid-1960s with his first major collection, Death Of A Naturalist, published in 1966
World-renowned poet Seamus Heaney has died, his family have confirmed.
The Nobel Laureate, who was 74, had been in hospital after suffering a short illness, they said.
"The death has taken place of Seamus Heaney. The poet and Nobel Laureate died in hospital in Dublin this morning after a short illness," a statement on behalf of the family said.
"The family has requested privacy at this time."
Heaney is survived by his wife, Marie, and children, Christopher, Michael and Catherine Ann.
Funeral arrangements are to be announced later.
The Nobel prize-winner was born in April 1939, the eldest of nine children, on a small farm called Mossbawn near Bellaghy in Co Derry, Northern Ireland, and his upbringing often played out in the poetry he wrote in later years.
He was educated at St Columb's College, Derry, a Catholic boarding school, and later at Queen's University Belfast, before making his home in Dublin, with periods of teaching in the US.
Heaney was an honorary fellow at Trinity College Dublin and last year was bestowed with the Seamus Heaney Professorship in Irish Writing at the university, which he described as a great honour.
His world renowned poetry first came to public attention in the mid-1960s with his first major collection, Death Of A Naturalist, published in 1966.
As the Troubles took hold later that decade, his experiences were seen through the darkened mood of his work.
Ireland's Arts Minister, Jimmy Deenihan, praised Heaney for his work as a literary great but also for promoting Ireland.
"He was just a very humble, modest man. He was very accessible," he said.
"Anywhere I have ever travelled in the world and you mention poetry and literature and the name of Seamus Heaney comes up immediately."
Mr Deenihan recently joined Heaney at an event at the Irish Embassy in Paris where the poet gave readings to an audience of 1,000 invited guests.
"He was a huge figure internationally, a great ambassador for literature obviously, but also for Ireland," the minister said.
Digging
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner's bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.
Seamus Heaney
Sir David Frost Goooooooonnnnneeee!!!!!
Last Updated: 12:13PM 01/09/2013
Veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost has died of a heart attack at the age of 74, his family said in a statement.
He died on Saturday night on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, where he was due to give a speech.
A family statement said: "His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time. A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course."
Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "My heart goes out to David Frost's family. He could be - and certainly was with me - both a friend and a fearsome interviewer."
He added: "Sir David was an extraordinary man - with charm, wit, talent, intelligence and warmth in equal measure. He made a huge impact on television and politics.
"The Nixon interviews were among the great broadcast moments - but there were many other brilliant interviews."
The media personality, journalist and comedian mixed political satire programmes with serious big name interviews - the most notable of which was with Richard Nixon and provided the inspiration for an Oscar-nominated Hollywood movie.
During a career that spanned 50 years, he presented The Frost Report, Breakfast With Frost and That Was The Week That Was.
Paying tribute to the icon, television personality Esther Rantzen said: "I think fellow interviewers have always been awestruck by David Frost's capacity to illicit memorable, sometimes historically significant quotes from all the movers and shakers or our time - presidents, prime ministers, A list celebrities - but for all of us who had the pleasure of knowing him socially, it is his kindness, generosity, loyalty and humour that we will miss so much.
"His summer party was always the best party of the year. His fund of anecdotes and his constant wit was a joy. In fact, it was always his greeting: 'a joy to meet you' and it was always a joy to meet him."
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls tweeted: "Very sorry to hear of the sudden death of Sir David Frost - he was such a friendly man, but also a brilliantly beguiling interviewer."
Stephen Fry tweeted: "Oh heavens, David Frost dead? No!! I only spoke to him on Friday and he sounded so well. Excited about a house move, full of plans … how sad."
One of The Frost Report's most enduring pieces was the "class sketch", featuring Cleese, Barker and Corbett.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K2k1iRD2f-c
Frost was a true pro of a now bygone era. The era has been replaced by giggling idiots like Anderson Cooper and "embedded journalist" cheerleaders.
Bye Bye good evening and welcome
Sir David Frost dies: Revered journalist and broadcaster suffers heart attack aged 74
Sir David is thought to have died from a suspected heart attack while aboard the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship on Saturday night.
He will always be remebered for the Nixon interviews and TW3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INxp98-2i6A
not too late for Seamus Heaney.
as a kid i used to holiday at my grandfather's farm every year for 3 months.
A place called Maghera, just up the road from Bellaghy.
All farmers around there pretty much knew each other and i can remember
Heaney's name mentioned a few times but had no idea there was a poet in the family.
RIP.
Broadcaster David Jacobs dies at 87
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Jacobs won a Sony Gold Award for outstanding contribution to radio in 1984
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Broadcaster and presenter David Jacobs, whose career spanned seven decades, has died at the age of 87, BBC announces
Jacobs, who stepped down from his Radio 2 programme last month due to ill health, died at home "surrounded by his family", the BBC said in a statement.
He started at the BBC in 1945, hosting shows including Housewives' Choice, Juke Box Jury and Any Questions.
BBC director general Tony Hall hailed him as "one of the great broadcast personalities".
"As a young and avid viewer of Jukebox Jury, I remember him every week scoring the hits and misses," he said.
"And I was still listening to him just last month as he fronted his show The David Jacobs Collection on Radio 2."
He added: "We shall all miss him tremendously."
Announcing in July that he was stepping down from his Radio 2 show, Jacobs said:
"Over the past two years Radio 2 has given me time to be treated for liver cancer and Parkinson's Disease."
Jacobs started his broadcasting career in the Royal Navy in 1944, where he was made an announcer on wartime radio station Radio SEAC.
After leaving the Navy, he began working at the BBC as an announcer and newsreader.
In 1964, he became one of the original Top of the Pops presenters and he also worked as the BBC's Eurovision Song Contest commentator before he was succeeded by Terry Wogan.
He won a Sony Gold Award for outstanding contribution to radio in 1984 and was admitted to the Sony Hall of Fame in 1995
Jacob's cream crackered,an ebullient character with a cheerful demeanour which would benefit some of our bretheren
RIP
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Leaving the world at a young age, it was reported that "Rocky V" actor Tommy Morrison died on Sunday (September 1).
According to TMZ, the heavyweight champion passed away at a Nebraska hospital with his wife by his side. He was 44.
Although the exact cause of death has not been announced, Morrison's rep did confirm that he had been in and out of the hospital for the past several months.
Back in 1996, the Oklahoma native tested positive for HIV but he later declared that the test was false.
Juke Box Jury presenter David Jacobs dies aged 87
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Household name: broadcaster David Jacobs
Published: 03 September 2013 Updated: 07:39, 03 September 2013
Tributes have been paid to broadcaster David Jacobs, who has died aged 87 after battles with Parkinson's disease and liver cancer .
Jacobs became a household name with his relaxed presentation of such peak-time radio and TV programmes as Juke Box Jury and Pick Of The Pops, What's My Line? and Any Questions?
He stepped down from his weekly Radio 2 programme last month because of ill health.
A BBC spokesman said Jacobs died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.
Bob Shennan, controller of BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, Asian Network and popular music, said: "David was a legend in broadcasting, not only for the Radio 2 audience, but for the whole population. He was a true giant of the BBC, whose career spanned seven decades on radio and television.
"His broadcast hallmarks were great taste, authority and warmth. I am sure his audience will feel they have lost a friend, as we all do here at Radio 2."
Helen Boaden, controller of BBC Radio, said: "From Jukebox Jury to Melodies For You on Radio 2, David's effortless presenting style belied his consummate professionalism."
Tony Hall, director general of the BBC, said: "I'm very sad indeed to hear the news about David.
"As a young and avid viewer of Juke Box Jury, I remember him every week scoring the hits and misses. And I was still listening to him just last month as he fronted his show The David Jacobs Collection on Radio 2.
"He was one of the great broadcast personalities, and we shall all miss him tremendously."
Disc jockey Tony Blackburn said on Twitter: "Very sad to hear that David Jacobs has passed away, another great broadcaster no longer with us. I'm proud to have known him. RIP David."
TV and radio personality Zoe Ball tweeted: "Dear David Jacobs has passed away. One of my all time favourite broadcasters. ThankYouForTheMusic RIP dear chap."
Music presenter Bob Harris told followers: "So very sad to hear the news about David Jacobs, my friend and mentor. He gave me my first-ever mention on the radio on my 15th birthday."
It was announced in July that Jacobs would step down from his Radio 2 show, which he had hosted for 16 years, after a final edition on August 4.
Jacobs's life was tinged with tragedy. His only son, Jeremy, was killed in an accident in Israel at the age of 19. And two years later his second wife, Caroline, was killed in a road accident in Spain, carrying their unborn child, only weeks after their marriage.
But he was a self-proclaimed "huge optimist" and he looked upon such calamities and also the occasional setback in his career as presenting him with new challenges for the future.
His mellifluous tones and intimate broadcasting style as a "classic" disc jockey and presenter were unmistakeable and unique.
He continued to have a massive following, even when his mix of Gershwin and Cole Porter seemed, to the younger generation, to be hopelessly dated.
His knowledge of light music and the entertainment business generally was probably unsurpassed.
David Lewis Jacobs was born on May 19 1926, and educated at Belmont College and the Strand School. His father was a fruit and vegetable importer but went bankrupt around the start of the Second World War.
Jacobs then had a series of jobs, including working on a farm and a salesman in a gentleman's outfitters.
He joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and was posted to Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon. It was at this stage in his life that he had his first experience on the airwaves, working in forces broadcasting and producing plays and comedy shows.
After leaving the Navy in 1947, he joined the BBC as a newsreader, but was sacked after giggling at a news item.
He went on to become a freelance disc jockey and radio actor. He hosted the television favourite Juke Box Jury - he described himself as "the hottest property on TV" - and the popular radio show Any Questions?
He once modestly admitted that he felt "intellectually inferior" to many of the people who appeared on that programme.
His broadcasting career took off in a big way and he made appearances on many of the most popular shows, both on radio and television.
These included royal command performances, Blankety Blank, The Frank Sinatra Show, Come Dancing, Pick Of The Pops, Miss World, What's My Line? and many more.
He was awarded the CBE in 1996 for services to broadcasting and for charitable services. These included work for cancer charities and alcohol advice groups.
Jacobs married Patricia Bradlaw in 1949. There were three daughters and the son Jeremy, who died after being hit by a lorry in 1973. This marriage was dissolved in 1972.
After his second wife Caroline died, he married Lindsay Stuart-Hutcheson in 1979.
He is survived by his three daughters from his first marriage.
ends