The RIP Famous Person Thread

[Mr Lick]

Bolton legend Nat Lofthouse dies at 85


Lofthouse scored 255 goals for Bolton

Bolton Wanderers and England legend Nat Lofthouse has died at the age of 85. The striker, who scored 255 goals in over 450 games for the Trotters between 1946 and 1960, died peacefully in his sleep at nursing home in Bolton.
"He was a one-club man and our football club meant as much to him as he did to us," said chairman Phil Gartside.
Lofthouse, who worked for Bolton in a number of roles after he hung up his boots, also scored 30 goals in 33 matches for England.
Those roles included chief coach, chief scout, caretaker and club president, with Lofthouse holding that last position until his death.
"I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Nat's family, who are very much in our thoughts at this time," added Gartside in a statement on the Bolton website.
"We will miss him but we will celebrate his life, his legacy and great times that he brought to Bolton."

[S Landreth]

Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home

MORRO BAY, Calif. — Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who inspired television viewers to trim down and pump iron decades before exercise became a national obsession, has died at age 96.

His agent Rick Hersh says LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast.
Hersh says Lalanne ate healthy and exercised every day of his life up until the end.

LaLanne credited fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and he worked over the next eight decades to transform others' lives, too.

He said, "The only way you can hurt the body is not use it." LaLanne's workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to '70s. He maintained a youthful physique into his 80s.

Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home - U.S. news - Life - msnbc.com

[The Cat]

BBC News - Composer John Barry dies aged 77

Composer John Barry dies aged 77



Barry's Bond films included Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice
Composer John Barry, famous for his work on Born Free, Midnight Cowboy and the James Bond films, has died aged 77 of a heart attack.
Born John Barry Prendergast in 1933, the York-born musician first found fame as leader of the John Barry Seven.
His arrangement of Monty Norman's James Bond theme led to him composing scores for 11 films in the series, among them Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.
His work saw him win five Oscars, while he received a Bafta fellowship in 2005

[Mr Lick]

10 February 2011 Last updated at 15:33 GMT



Former England cricketer Trevor Bailey dies in fire

Click to play


Click to play





Advertisement

Mr Bailey was found dead in the kitchen

Continue reading the main story Related Stories

• Obituary: Trevor Bailey
• Cricket mourns Test great Bailey

Former England all-rounder and BBC Test Match Special commentator Trevor Bailey has died in a fire in Essex.
Firefighters called to a smoke-logged flat in Westcliff just after 0600 GMT found the 87-year-old in the kitchen.
A woman, believed to be Mr Bailey's wife Greta, was rescued from the Crowstone Road flat.
Mr Bailey won 61 Test caps between 1949 and 1959. He has been described as one of England's great all-rounders in a series of tributes.
He played county cricket for Essex for more than 20 years and scored 1,000 runs and took 100 wickets in a year several times.
'Tremendous colleague'
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke said: "Trevor Bailey was not only one of the finest all-round cricketers this country has ever produced, he was also someone who made an enormous contribution to the game as an administrator and as a writer and broadcaster."




Former prime minister Sir John Major said: "One of my abiding memories as a small boy is of Trevor Bailey and Willie Watson batting at Lord's to save the Test match against the Australians.
"It was a superb effort, without which we would not have won back the Ashes in 1953."
Fellow Test Match Special commentator Henry Blofeld said: "He was a tremendous colleague, a great friend and man I shall miss hugely.
"To work with he was exactly like he was as a cricketer. He was canny and let nothing pass."
Essex County Cricket Club president Doug Insole said he been friends with Mr Bailey for more than 60 years. "We played football and cricket for Cambridge University and were colleagues in the Essex side for about 15 years.



Mr Bailey's body was found in the kitchen of the flat
"In the England team in the 1950s Trevor was a tower of strength - a great all rounder with a cast iron temperament.
"He was one of a kind and a very sad loss to his many friends."
A statement from Essex County Cricket Club, for whom Mr Bailey played 682 matches, said: "Everyone at Essex Cricket sends their condolences to the family and friends of Trevor at this tragic time."
Firefighters praised
Essex Fire and Rescue Service divisional officer Bob Wahl paid tribute to the firefighters who tried to save him.
"Crews did a fantastic job getting into the property quickly and searching through the smoke to find the woman," he said.
"She was in bed with the door shut and so that's probably what saved her.
"Firefighters carried her out of the property and she was left in the care of the ambulance service.
"Her husband had gone to the kitchen, which is where crews found him. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do."
The fire service has started an investigation into how the fire started, but it is not believed to be suspicious.

[Mr Lick]

I had the pleasure of meeting Trevor in the 80's when he attended a cricket match i was playing in.
He made a point of speaking with the players and was an absolute gentleman. He left some awfully good memories behind and will be sadly missed, RIP Sir

[bobo746]

AUSTRALIAN boxing fans are in mourning today after the death of Tommy Burns, one of the greatest drawcards in the fight game's Golden Age and Australian sport's matinee idol of the 1940s. Burns, who had his first professional fight at 14 at Proston near Wondai in Queensland and his last in Brisbane 18 years later, will be buried at Kemps Creek in Sydney's west today.
He died on Monday aged 88.
At his peak Burns was the biggest drawcard in Australian boxing, battling Aussie rivals Vic Patrick, George Barnes, Len Dittmar, Harry Hayes, Don "Bronco" Johnson, Mickey Tollis and Hockey Bennell as well as world class overseas fighters including the American O'Neill Bell and the Welshman Ronnie James, who became the father-in-law of rugby league great Johnny Raper.
A handsome hero, Burns struck up a well-publicised friendship with Joan Crawford while in Hollywood for a film test and had star billing in the 1949 Charles Chauvel epic Sons of Matthew which was filmed in the Gold Coast hinterland that Burns so loved
Born Geoffrey Mostyn Murphy in Mullumbimby on the NSW North Coast on May 19, 1922, he grew up in Brisbane and took the name Tommy Burns for his boxing career after the famous old Canadian world champion because he did not want his mother to find out he was a fighter.
She found out eventually as Burns became the most popular Australian boxer of his time, selling out the 14,000-seat Sydney Stadium 15 times and packing in huge crowds in Brisbane and Melbourne as well as Newcastle, Mount Isa and Tamworth.
He held the Australian welterweight title between 1947 and 1949 and retired after losing a 15-round decision for that crown against Barnes in driving rain at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in 1954. The ring apron was so slippery that Burns took off his boots and fought barefoot.
With a wide open attacking style of relentless aggression, he had 77 fights for 62 wins and eight draws and won 43 by knockout, the most celebrated being his monumental battle with Bell who had fought America's world champions Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake La Motta and Fritzie Zivic.
Burns eventually prevailed in the 11th round but Bell's punches had caused so much damage that the Australian's head swelled up like a soccer ball and both eyes slammed shut. Because he was the only one in his team who could drive, Burns had to find his own way back to his home at Narrabeen after the fight with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand trying to work the manual gearbox while at the same time trying to prise open one swollen eye to see where he was going.
Despite his success Burns always said he hated fighting. He loved the glamour, excitement and fame but said he detested physical contact.
"The man who says he likes fighting," he once remarked, "well his IQ is a cent in the dollar."

[The Muffinman]

Jane Russell

Former Hollywood actress and sex symbol Jane Russell has died at the age of 89.
The brunette was discovered by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, who cast her in his 1943 Western The Outlaw.
Some of her most memorable films include the The Paleface (1948) with Bob Hope, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) with Marilyn Monroe.
She died on Monday at her home in California of a respiratory-related illness, her daughter-in-law confirmed.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

She said the most common question asked of her was who was the best kisser in Hollywood - her response? 'Bob Hope - those blubbery lips - oh my God!'”

End Quote Lou Slocum, Vista, US

• Jane Russell: your memories

"She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman. And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle," Etta Waterfield said, recounting that Russell had remained active in her local community until illness intervened in recent weeks.
Russell was a pin-up girl in the 1940s and 1950s, but her film career had faded by the 1960s.
"Why did I quit movies? Because I was getting too old! You couldn't go on acting in those years if you were an actress over 30," she said in an interview in 1999.
In 1971, she featured in the Broadway musical Company.
Later, she appeared in TV commercials promoting brassieres, including the 18-hour bra for Playtex.
Russell married three times and adopted three children.
After experiencing problems during the adoption process, she founded the World Adoption International Agency, which has helped organise the adoptions in the US of tens of thousands of children from overseas.

BBC News - Hollywood star Jane Russell dies at 89

[genghis61]

Mountain of a man with alter ego
March 4, 2011


Cross purpose ... "Big Chris" Dale was a trailblazing mountaineer who hated skiing but loved pink things and "sparkly stuff".


Chris Dale, 1962-2011

Chris Dale was a 198-centimetre-tall mountaineer with a passion for solo climbs among the hardest peaks of Scotland, Wales and the Alps. He was also an equally enthusiastic cross-dresser who went by the name of Crystal.

His long reach allowed him to establish several bitterly tough routes that have rarely, if ever, been repeated. Where climbers today often prepare first ascents by abseiling down a rock face and practising the moves in stages, Dale preferred to lead ''on-sight'' and ''ground-up'', with no preparation.

In 2003 he climbed what he believed to be Britain's last unclimbed mountain, a rocky pinnacle called Dun Dubh - Gaelic for black fort - on the Quiraing mountains on the Isle of Skye. The 300-metre face took Dale an hour to ascend. ''If you slipped, you would fall to the bottom,'' he reported afterwards. ''It's quite precipitous. The rock is absolutely atrocious.''

Dale's other passion was women's clothing. On one occasion he was in drag when introduced to a Frenchman as ''Chris Dale''. The Frenchman misheard ''Crystal'' and the name for Dale's alter ego stuck.

As a mountaineer, the name held other resonances for Dale. A keen rock hunter, he would often climb the north faces of the Aiguille du Grepon, Grand Charmoz and the Aiguille du Plan in the Alps, in search of precious crystals to sell. In recent years he was proud of his transvestism and Crystal became a familiar, memorable sight at parties. Friends joked they did not want to meet the woman he bought clothes from.

His appearance in drag at an annual mountain guides' dinner, however, proved a step too far. When an inebriated member groped under his skirt, the long reach that served Dale so well on rock was put to devastating effect. The ensuing disciplinary action was severe; many felt he was treated harshly.

''Big Chris'' Dale was born on January 14, 1962 in Penrith, England, and educated locally until he ran truant at 16. He turned up four days later, having soloed the Old Man of Stoer, a 60-metre sandstone sea stack off the west coast of Scotland. The achievement is all the more remarkable as he had no knowledge of the route or its grade and and carried no rope.

A few years later he travelled to Australia, where he made a bold first ascent up a 180-metre sandstone face in the Blue Mountains he named Big Glassy. The upper half was entirely overhanging on soft and crumbly rock; the feat took three days.

Dale was a keen adherent to informal rules that attached great importance to ascent style. Hammering in pitons or leaving gear behind was frowned on; using a drill to place bolts a sacrilege. He was less traditional when it came to naming trails he blazed. Mountaineers studying his guides have to contend with the routes ''Vive Les Unbathed Pinkos'', ''Dog Breath in the Year of the Plague'' and ''Brain Death and Bad Craziness''.

He trained as a mountain guide but was slow to qualify owing to his difficulty with skiing. After he passed his exams, he threw his skis away.

In recent years injury prevented him from guiding and he found employment introducing disadvantaged children to the outdoors and in a climbing shop. He never boasted: his Facebook page listed the interests ''pink things, sparkly stuff and mountains''.

Chris Dale, who died of cancer aged 49, was divorced from Anita Grey. There were no children.

Telegraph, London

[chitown]

RIP Butters

[DrAndy]

She died on Monday at her home in California of a respiratory-related illness

"She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman

so she was wrong

all the obituaries say wonderful things about these wonderful people

half of them are lies and rubbish; I wonder what they will say about, say, Gary Glitter

"He was a wonderful person who had a way with kids"?

[venturalaw]

Politics
Longtime Washington Post Journalist David Broder Dies
Published March 09, 2011
| Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- David Broder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post political columnist whose even-handed treatment of Democrats and Republicans set him apart from the ideological warriors on the nation's Op-Ed pages, died Wednesday. He was 81.
Post officials said Broder died of complications from diabetes.
Broder, an Illinois native, was familiar to television viewers as a frequent panelist on NBC's "Meet the Press" Program. He appeared on the program more than 400 times, far more than any other journalist in the show's history.
To newspaper readers, he was one of the nation's most prominent syndicated columnists. A September 2007 study by the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters found that Broder was second among columnists only to George Will in the combined circulation of newspapers in which his column appeared.
He was the only one of the top five that the group did not label as either conservative or liberal.

"His even-handed approach has never wavered. He'd make a good umpire," wrote Alan Shear, editorial director of the Washington Post Writers Group, which syndicated Broder's column. "Dave is neither left nor right, and can't even be called reliably centrist. He reports exhaustively and his conclusions are grounded in hard facts."
One of his hallmarks was a special effort to meet lots of average citizens who, in the end, really decide elections. In a 1991 lecture, Broder said reporters should spend "a lot of time with voters ... walking precincts, knocking on doors, talking to people in their living rooms. If we really got clearly in our heads what it is voters are concerned about, it might be possible to let their agenda drive our agenda.
He won the Pulitzer for his columns written in 1972, the year when Richard Nixon swept to a second term over Democrat George McGovern.
In 1990, a survey of newspaper editors conducted by Washingtonian magazine rated Broder as "Best Reporter," "Hardest Working," and "Least Ideological" among more than 100 columnists.
Among the books he wrote or co-wrote were "Behind the Front Page," "Dan Quayle: The Man Who Would Be President," and "Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money."
Starting in 2001, Broder also served as a journalism professor at the University of Maryland. He also taught for a time at Duke University.
In 2008, he took a buyout from The Washington Post, ending his career as a full-time employee there. But he continued writing his twice-weekly syndicated column.
Broder was born in Chicago Heights, Ill. He graduated from the University of Chicago and served in the Army from 1951 to 1953 before beginning his journalism career at the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph. He went on to work for Congressional Quarterly, The Washington Star and The New York Times before joining The Washington Post in 1966. He covered every presidential campaign since 1960.

Longtime Washington Post Journalist David Broder Dies - FoxNews.com

[bobo746]

Mike Starr, Former Rocker of Alice in Chains Died on Tuesday Posted by Bruce Foster on March 10, 2011

Former bass player of Alice in Chains Mike Starr who also went public due to his drug troubles on Celebrity Rehab, which is a TV show, died in his Salt Lake City home on Tuesday which was around nine years later when the singer of the rock band died due to an overdose. Mike was 44. According to a spokesman for the police department of Salt Lake City they received a call regarding a body at a house and responded accordingly as there was no indication of any foul play done by the caller.
There was no information regarding the caller or the condition of the body. An autopsy will be conducted by medical examiners on Wednesday but the toxicology test results can take two months also.
After the breakthrough album release by the band in 1992 Starr got fired after some time. He was also sentenced in Texas Jail for ninety days as he stole luggage from the Houston airport.
As he was replaced by Mike Inez the band enjoyed even more success but due to the singer’s drug battles it came to halt in 1996. Decomposed body of Layne Staley who was band singer was found in an apartment in Seattle in April of 2002.
Starr also admitted that he felt deep guilt for not calling help for Staley even he warned him regarding it and was most probably the last one having seeing him alive.
With tears in his eyes Starr commented last year on the reality show which was hosted by Dr. Pinsky that he wished he had not been on sedative and would not have gone out.
He later commented on radio show that he really missed Layne and didn’t care still to date that he was removed from the group.

[Finney64]

Sad to hear about this guy passing away , found stabbed when Police raided his house a couple of days ago . Full facts yet to emerge . This vid is kind of apt under the circumstances . Smiley Culture , RIP

[genghis61]

'60s LSD figure Owsley Stanley dies in Australia

By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press – Mon Mar 14, 4:20 am ET

CANBERRA, Australia – Owsley "Bear" Stanley, a 1960s counterculture icon who worked with The Grateful Dead and was a prolific LSD producer, died in a car crash in Australia, his family said Monday. He was 76.

Lyrics sung by The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa reference Stanley and his brushes with the law, underlining his influence.

Stanley produced an estimated pound (half a kilogram) of pure LSD, or roughly 5 million "trips" of normal potency of the hallucinogenic drug, after enrolling in 1963 at the University of California at Berkeley and becoming involved in the drug scene that underpinned the hippie movement, according to the BookRags.com website.

He was an accomplished sound engineer who worked for the psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead and inspired the band's dancing bear logo.

Sam Cutler, a firm friend of Stanley since 1970 when Cutler became the band's tour manager, described him as was "a wonderful man and a great teacher."

"His death is a grievous loss to his family and the tens of thousands of people from the '60s on who were influenced by his work with The Grateful Dead," Cutler said.

Stanley, who adopted Australia as his home country in the early 1980s when he became convinced that the Northern Hemisphere was destined for a new ice age, was the son of a U.S. government attorney and his namesake grandfather, Augustus Owsley Stanley, was a Kentucky governor and U.S. senator.

Stanley was driving a car that swerved off a highway and down an embankment before hitting trees near the town of Mareeba in Queensland state Saturday. His wife was treated for minor injuries from the crash.

Stanley remained unrepentant about his pioneering role in Californian drug culture that made the name "Owsley" a slang term for quality LSD and landed him in prison for two years in the early 1970s.

"I wound up doing time for something I should have been rewarded for," he told the San Francisco Chronicle in a rare media interview in 2007.

"What I did was a community service, the way I look at it," he added.

A family statement Monday described Stanley as "our beloved patriarch."

He is survived by his wife, Sheila, four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, the statement said.

Stanley was born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in Kentucky, a state governed by his namesake grandfather from 1915 to 1919. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 months, studied ballet in Los Angeles and then enrolled at UC Berkeley. In addition to producing and advocating LSD, he adhered to an all-meat diet.

[Mr Lick]

Michael Gough obituary

Actor with poise and presence, best known as Alfred the butler in Tim Burton's Batman



The actor Michael Gough, who has died aged 94, was an arresting presence on stage, television and film for the entire postwar period, notably as the butler Alfred Pennyworth in Tim Burton's Batman movies. Eventually he just voiced roles, as with the Dodo Bird in the same director's Alice in Wonderland film last year, but always to striking effect

He was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, where his father was a rubber planter. After attending Rose Hill school, Tunbridge Wells, and Durham school, he dropped out of Wye Agricultural College in Kent in order to study acting at the Old Vic. He came to be in great demand in the West End: in Sartre's Crime Passionel (1948), he dithered as a political assassin; later that year, in Daphne du Maurier's September Tide, he set about the seduction of his mother-in-law (Gertrude Lawrence) with a fascinating delicacy when it came to removing her glasses. He played an apt and indignant Laertes to Alec Guinness's Hamlet (1951), then a passionate and neurotic son to a possessive mother in Coward's The Vortex (1952). In Ibsen's The Wild Duck (1955), he was the sardonic idealist Gregers Werle – as Kenneth Tynan put it, "oozing sincerity while letting the man's neuroses seep through the facade". The same performance prompted Caryl Brahms to perceive Gough's "extraordinary capacity for keeping speech straining at the leash; for pent-up emotion; and for the cut and parry and flash of word-play".

A busy and regular film actor, he headed the bomb-disposal squad in the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger wartime drama The Small Back Room (1949), and in The Go-Between (1970) played the father of a headstrong young woman (Julie Christie). He developed a strong line in science-fiction and horror roles, and as a film-maker himself won a prize for one of the 10 best amateur films of 1978 with his Welcome to Washington. This was a newsreel documentary of President Carter and Queen Elizabeth visiting Washington, County Durham, to honour George Washington's ancestors.

Unafraid to go out on a limb – most notably as King Lear (1974) at the Belgrade theatre, Coventry, or as the old retainer Firs to Judi Dench's Madame Ranevskaya in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1990) at the Aldwych – Gough breathed humour and humanity into all his work. His marriages to Diana Graves, Anne Leon and Anneke Wills ended in divorce, and he is survived by his fourth wife, Henrietta Lawrence, his daughter, Emma, and sons, Simon and Jasper. His daughter Polly predeceased him.

Gough's character, Alfred Pennyworth, is the loyal butler and confidant to Bruce Wayne and his superhero alter ego, played in that film and its first sequel, Batman Returns (1992), by Michael Keaton. While Wayne was portrayed by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995) and George Clooney in Batman and Robin (1997), Gough remained a constant, providing charm and quintessential Britishness to ground the various offbeat situations. Gough continued to work with Burton, in Sleepy Hollow (1999) and, as a voice artist, in The Corpse Bride (2005).
He was memorable on television as prime minister Sir Anthony Eden in Ian Curteis's Suez 1956 (1979), in the cameo role of Dr Grant in Brideshead Revisited (1981), in a splendid turn as Mikhel in Smiley's People (1982), and, most strikingly, as a dishevelled, bewhiskered, flatulent writer in Dennis Potter's Blackeyes (1989).

• Michael Gough, actor, born 23 November 1916; died 17 March 2011

[Mr Lick]

Jet Harris, The Shadows bassist, dies aged 71

Harris is reputed to be one of the first musicians in the UK to play the bass guitar

Jet Harris, the original bass player with The Shadows, has died of cancer aged 71.

The guitarist, who played on number one hits including Apache, died at his partner's home in Winchester, his agent Peter Stockton said.

Sir Cliff Richard paid tribute to his former bandmate, saying: "Jet was exactly what The Shadows and I needed - a backbone holding our sound together."

Earlier this month, Harris cancelled all his appearances due to ill health.

"Jet, the bass player, will always be an integral part of British rock 'n' roll history," Sir Cliff added. "Losing him is sad - but the great memories will stay with me. Rock on, Jet."

Mr Stockton said: "He was a man who was so courageous and determined and kept saying 'I will beat this'.
"The last time he went on stage he said he didn't want to let people down and I could see he was struggling a bit, but he got a standing ovation. Regrettably it was the last concert he did on 5 February."

Born Terence Harris in London, the guitarist got his biggest break in 1958 when he was on tour with the Most Brothers.
On the same bill as Cliff Richard and the Drifters, he later joined the group permanently and made his recording debut on Sir Cliff's third single Livin' Lovin' Doll.

Harris was awarded an MBE for services to Music in 2010

'Incredibly loyal'

In 1959, Harris was credited with coming up with the group's new name, The Shadows, and they went on to have a string of hits including Man of Mystery, The Savage and Wonderful Land.

In 1962, he left the band and had two top 30 solo hits with Besame Mucho and The Man With The Golden Arm.

He also formed a duo with ex-Shadows drummer Tony Meehan, producing the number one hit Diamonds in 1963 and scoring top five songs with Scarlett O'Hara and Applejack.

After a quiet period, Harris began touring again in the late 1970s and continued to tour intermittently around Europe for the subsequent 20 years.
In 1998 he was awarded a Fender Lifetime Achievement Award for his role in popularising the bass guitar in Britain.

He released a new album, The Journey, in 2007, and continued to tour the UK with Shadows tribute band The Rapiers.

He was made an MBE for services to Music in the 2010 New Year's Honours list. He is survived by his partner, Janet Hemingway.

A family friend speaking on her behalf said: "Jet was a one-off. He had a wonderful sense of humour and was incredibly courageous and incredibly loyal to his friends and family."

[venturalaw]

Politics
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher Dies at Age of 85
Published March 19, 2011
| FoxNews.com
Print Email Share Comments (0)
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher died Friday night from kidney and bladder cancer complications at his home in Los Angeles, according to a family statement.
The former Secretary of State worked under President Bill Clinton from 1993-1997.
Plans for a private memorial service are pending, the statement read.
Christopher was a driving force behind the Dayton Agreement, a 1995 resolution that ended the Bosnian War.


Read more: Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher Dies at Age of 85 - FoxNews.com.
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher Dies at Age of 85 - FoxNews.com

[venturalaw]

Silver Screen Legend Elizabeth Taylor Dies at Age 79
Published March 23, 2011

Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday at the age of 79.
Her rep told FOX News she died in the early morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Taylor had been hospitalized for over a month at Cedars-Sinai, where she was being treated for symptoms of congestive heart failure.
Taylor announced her congestive heart failure diagnosis in 2004.
The Oscar-winning actress had been receiving friends in her hospital room, and watched the Academy Awards to celebrate her birthday last month.
Taylor is survived by her children, Michael and Christopher Wilding by her second marriage, Liza Todd by her third, and Maria Burton, who she adopted with Richard Burton, to whom she was twice married. She also had nine grandchildren.

The Hollywood legend has had a life full of movies and several husbands - eight to be exact.


Read more: Silver Screen Legend Elizabeth Taylor Dies at Age 79 - FoxNews.com

[genghis61]

Former England spinner Fred Titmus dies, aged 78
Press Association
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 23 March 2011


Fred Titmus in action for Middlesex in August 1954.

Former England spinner Fred Titmus has died aged 78 following a long illness, his former county Middlesex have announced.

Titmus made his first-class debut in 1949 at the age of 16 and 213 days; the youngest ever Middlesex cricketer at the time. When he made his final appearance in 1982, he had established a record span of 33 seasons and at 50 years and 276 days was the fourth oldest Middlesex player, and the oldest to appear for the county at Lord's.

He made 21588 runs at 23.11, and 2830 wickets at 22.37 in 792 appearances, to establish himself as one of English cricket's finest allrounders. He played in 53 Tests between 1955 and 1975, claiming 153 wickets at 32.22, including a best of 7 for 79 against Australia in Sydney during tour of 1962-63. His highest score of 84 not out came the following year against India in Mumbai.

Titmus even came back after a horrific boating accident in the Caribbean cost him four toes.

In a statement, his former county said: "Middlesex County Cricket Club are deeply saddened to report the death of Middlesex & England legend Fred Titmus, who died this morning after a long illness. All of our thoughts and best wishes are with his wife Stephanie and family.

"Fred will be deeply missed by all those who played with him and by all those who were fortunate enough to have seen him performing for Middlesex and England."

***********

"F*ckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus" is a song by UK indie band Half Man Half Biscuit. It was on the 1985 album Back in the DHSS, and the 1988 CD ACD.

Oh I was walking round my local store
I was searching for the ten pence off Lenor
When suddenly I bumped into this guy
On seeing who it was I gave a cry
“Fuckin’ ‘Ell, It’s Fred Titmus”

[patsycat]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Elizabeth Taylor yet. Now that brought a wee tear to my eyes... I don't know how to do linkies so I shall leave that up to someone else.

[Mr Lick]

^ Post 518 Patsy.

[patsycat]

^ Post 518 Patsy.

I know, bit slow this morning. Also 3 pages in World News!!

Note to self - use the search function.

Must be the Oirish in me. Can't be having with these new fangled machines.

[Humbert]

Sidney Lumet, '12 Angry Men' and 'Network' director, dies
April 9, 2011, 11:47 AM EST


NEW YORK (AP) -- Sidney Lumet, the award-winning director of such acclaimed films as "Network," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "12 Angry Men," has died. He was 86. Lumet's death was confirmed Saturday by Marc Kusnetz, who is the husband of Lumet's stepdaughter, Leslie Gimbel. He said Lumet died during the night and had suffered from lymphoma.

[Mr Lick]

Trevor Bannister, Are You Being Served's Mr Lucas, dies aged 76



Trevor Bannister, who played the role of ladies' man Mr Lucas in the department store comedy Are You Being Served? has died at the age of 76.

He suffered a heart attack on Thursday at his allotment in Thames Ditton, Surrey, his brother John told the BBC.

"He was a good lad, we were all very fond of him," he said, adding that the actor had been doing some repair work on his shed when he became ill.

Bannister had a lengthy career including appearances in the long-running police drama Z Cars, and more recently a stint in Last of the Summer Wine.

He also made regular appearances in the theatre and in pantomime.

In 2009, he gave a reading at the funeral of his co-star Wendy Richard, who played Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and later Pauline Fowler in EastEnders.

Born on 14 August 1936 in the village of Durrington, Wiltshire, Bannister enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts after two years' national service.

His first break in theatre had come when he was hired for a repertory company in Folkestone at 15, and his West End stage debut was in 1960 when he appeared in Billy Liar, with Albert Finney.

Are You Being Served? ran from 1972 until 1985, but Bannister left the show in 1980 when it was at the height of its popularity, going on to play Peter Pitt in the 1988 BBC sitcom Wyatt's Watchdogs.

He also had minor roles in Keeping Up Appearances, The Saint and The Avengers and played three different characters in Coronation Street.

Five years ago he played Sir John Tremayne in the 70th anniversary production of the Noel Gay musical, Me And My Girl, which toured the UK.

Frank Thornton, who appeared as Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?, said he had "many, many happy memories" of Bannister. "He was a very good friend over a long time," he said.

"We often met with him and his wife – he was recently at my 90th birthday celebrations in January and that was the last time we saw him. We shall miss him sorely."

His agent, David Daly, said: "I have known and worked with Trevor Bannister as his agent for 24 years. He has been a wonderful friend as well as a very talented client and I shall miss him greatly."

[Mr Lick]

^ Captain Peacock should be worried, Mr Humphreys, Miss Brahms, Mrs Slocombe and her pussy and now Mr Lucas have all passed away in the last 4 years.