The RIP Famous Person Thread

[Mr Lick]

Oldest man in history Jiroemon Kimura dies at 116




Jiroemon Kimura received awards from Guinness World Records in April


A Japanese man recognised as the world's oldest living person, and the oldest man recorded in history, has died aged 116, local officials say.

Jiroemon Kimura died of natural causes on Wednesday in a hospital in Kyotango, Kyoto, a government statement said.

In December, Guinness World Records recorded Mr Kimura as the oldest man ever verified to have lived.

He reportedly had seven children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 13 great-great-grandchildren.

Mr Kimura was born on 19 April 1897, the same year as aviator Amelia Earhart.

He worked in his local post office until retiring and was said to have helped his son with his farming until he was around 90 years old.

He became the world's oldest living person in December, when the previous title-holder died.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent Mr Kimura a video greeting when he celebrated his 116th birthday on 19 April.

The mayor of Kyotango, which is in western Japan, also dropped by for a visit.
'Eat light to live long'

In an interview in December, his nephew, Tamotsu Miyake, said Kimura had "an amazingly strong will to live".

"He is strongly confident that he lives right and well."


World's oldest people

• Oldest woman recorded in history: Jeanne Calment, France, died 4 August 1997 aged 122
• Oldest man recorded in history: Jiroemon Kimura, Japan, died 12 June 2013 aged 116
• Oldest living man: James McCoubrey, USA, 111
• Oldest living woman: Misao Okawa, Japan, 115

• Source: Gerontology Research Group

In an interview on his 115th birthday, Mr Kimura said he was not sure why he was able to live so long.

"Maybe it's all thanks to the sun above me," he said. "I am always looking up towards the sky, that is how I am."

Journalist Kanoko Matsuyama of Bloomberg News met Mr Kimura at his home last year.
"He said his secret to his longevity was eating light to live long," Ms Matsuyama told the BBC.

"At the same time, his main carer and grand-daughter-in-law, Aiko, said his positivity helped him to live so long."

Japanese woman Misao Okawa from Osaka, who is 115 years old, will most probably inherit the title of world's oldest living person, reports say.

She is already considered the world's oldest living woman.

[Mr Lick]

Ron Davies

Ron Davies, who has died aged 70, was one of the most remarkable centre-forwards to play in English football.






His most memorable match was probably at Old Trafford in August 1969, when he scored all four goals for Southampton as they whipped Manchester United 4-1. United’s manager Matt Busby was so impressed that he declared Davies “the finest centre-forward in Europe” and tried to sign him — not for the first time. But Southampton refused Busby’s overtures.


Davies’s forte was his superiority in the air, a strength further enhanced at Southampton by the crosses of the wingers Terry Paine and John Sydenham. His timing on the header was usually impeccable, and he had the ability to adjust himself in mid-air when a cross was not perfect. He claimed that in his early days as a professional he had trained by jumping over hurdles wearing Army boots.


Davies joined the Saints in August 1966, when the club was newly promoted to the First Division, and scored 37 goals in his debut season, making him the Division’s top scorer.

The following year he found the net 28 times, equal top with George Best; in 1968-69 he scored 20 more.


Ronald Tudor Davies was born at Holywell, Flintshire, on May 25 1942. As a teenager he was rejected by Blackburn Rovers , but he was soon taken on by Chester City, in the old Fourth Division. He turned professional in July 1959, and in 1960-61 scored 23 times.


In October 1962 Davies was sold to Luton Town for £10,000. Despite his best efforts (21 goals in 32 matches), the club dropped to the Third Division, and a year later he was sold on to Norwich City for £35,000. He scored 30 times in his first season at Carrow Road, and his continuing success caused Southampton to buy him for £55,000 in August 1966.


Davies’s dominance at the Dell was ended by the emerging talent of Mick Channon, who had joined Southampton as a 17 year-old in 1965. As Channon developed as a striker, new tactics were deployed, requiring Davies to play deeper. Channon became the club’s leading scorer , and in 1973 Davies joined Portsmouth. The following year he finally moved on to Manchester United, but it was too late in his career. He made only 10 appearances — all as a substitute — before leaving English football in 1975.

He had won 29 caps for Wales, scoring nine goals. During his League career, he scored 275 times in 549 matches (134 for Southampton in 240 games).

Davies played briefly in South Africa and in the United States, then coached in Orlando, Florida, before settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he lived in a mobile home and worked in the construction industry.


Ron Davies, born May 25 1942, died May 24 2013

[Mr Lick]

Slim Whitman, US country singer, dies at 90



He reached number one in the UK singles chart with the 1955 track Rose Marie

Slim Whitman, the American country singer known for his yodelling abilities, has died at the age of 90.

His son-in-law confirmed he died of heart failure overnight on Wednesday at Orange Park Medical Centre in Jacksonville, Florida.

Whitman had a string of hits in the 1950s and through the 1970s.

His 1955 song, Rose Marie, held the record for the longest reigning number one single in the UK until Bryan Adams broke the record in 1991.

Born Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr in Tampa, Florida, in 1924, Whitman spent time in the Navy before embarking on a music career, which began after he was approached by Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who heard him singing on the radio.

Signed to RCA Records, he released his first single, I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky, in 1948.


Breakthrough

It marked the beginning of a career spanning some six decades during which he recorded more than 65 albums and sold millions of records worldwide.

Having struggled for the first few years of his musical career, Whitman's breakthrough hit came in 1952 with his cover of Bob Nolan's Love Song of the Waterfall, which peaked at number 10 in the US country chart.



Whitman was known for his ebony moustache and sideburns

While considered to have been more popular in Europe and particularly the UK than his native America, his 1952 track Indian Love Call and 1954 song Secret Love, both reached number two on the US Billboard country chart.

He had a further two top five hits in the US that same year.

Whitman's signature ebony moustache and sideburns inspired countless jokes, thanks to the TV adverts that promoted his music.

But he was a serious influence on music at the time and encouraged a young Elvis Presley when the singer made his professional debut.

In an interview with the BBC in 1973, Whitman recalled working with Presley in 1955.

"He was just a guy on the show," he said, adding: "And then he started wiggling and then he took over the show".


Filmography

Whitman was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry following the success of Rose Marie, which spent 11 weeks at the top of the UK singles chart. It reached number four in the US.

Known for his mellow, romantic melodies, he became the first country singer to play the London Palladium in 1956.

He followed the appearance with a string of hits in the UK including Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Unchain My Heart, and I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen in 1957, another UK top 10 hit.

He also appeared in the rock and roll film musical Jamboree in 1957, along with a host of other music stars, including Carl Perkins and Fats Domino.

During the 1960s, Whitman had a series of minor country hits in the US, including More Than Yesterday in 1965, Rainbows Are Back in Style in 1968 and Tomorrow Never Comes released in 1970.



His last album, Twilight on the Trail, was released in 2010

He continued to record in the early 1970s and was a guest on Wolfman Jack's popular TV music show on NBC, The Midnight Special.

"The material I did was lasting material,'' Whitman said in 1991.

"A lot of people thought I wasn't doing anything, but I was in the studio. The biggest factor is the material you choose. You hunt, you cut."

He was introduced to a much younger audience when his rendition of Indian Love Call was featured in the 1996 film Mars Attacks!

In 2003, Rob Zombie used Whitman's song I Remember You in his directorial debut, House of 1000 Corpses.

Whitman released his latest album, Twilight on the Trail, in 2012 - his first new studio record in 26 years.

Whitman told the AP news agency in 1991 he wanted to be remembered as "a nice guy."
"I don't think you've ever heard anything bad about me, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I'd like my son (Bryon) to remember me as a good dad. I'd like the people to remember me as having a good voice and a clean suit," he said.

Whitman is survived by his daughter, Sharon Beagle, and his son, Byron Whitman.

[Boon Mee]

Vince Flynn, the author of the highly successful Mitch Rapp books just died of prostate cancer. He was only 47. He will be missed.

[CNF55]

Vince Flynn, the author of the highly successful Mitch Rapp books just died of prostate cancer. He was only 47. He will be missed.

Bummer! Very much enjoyed his books.

RIP

[Boon Mee]

Vince Flynn, the author of the highly successful Mitch Rapp books just died of prostate cancer. He was only 47. He will be missed.

Bummer! Very much enjoyed his books.

RIP

And at 47 years too...same as Frank Zappa.

The prostate cancer either hits early or slowly into your 80's...

[socal]

The WOP from Supranos died at 51

Had a heart attack. Must have been doing coke and stuff. I would put money on it

[Bobcock]

In a more respectful way....



James Gandolfini

Aged 51, Heart Attack in Italy

BBC News - James Gandolfini, Sopranos star, dies in Italy aged 51

[Bazzy]

RIP Tony Soprano. The mob never got him for grassing them up.

[socal]

RIP Tony Soprano. The mob never got him for grassing them up.

Just like Billy mays, he's a coked out wop

[Loy Toy]

Now we will never know whether Tony was killed in the last Sopranos episode.

Very sad news as he was a great actor.

RIP.

[slackula]

James Gandolfini Aged 51, Heart Att

Fixed it..

[patsycat]

Woke up this morning....

Great music from Alabama 3

RIP Tony Soprano

[November Rain]

Must have been doing coke and stuff. I would put money on it

Twat!
What? All your gold bullion?

[patsycat]

See, NR, what pillocks have come here and don't understand crap.

But enjoyable to observe.

[socal]

Must have been doing coke and stuff. I would put money on it

Twat!
What? All your gold bullion?

Billy Mays

TAMPA, Fla. — An official autopsy report released Friday found that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed TV pitchman Billy Mays in June.

Mays, 50, was a pop-culture fixture with his energetic commercials pitching gadgets and cleaning products like Orange Glo and OxiClean.

---

The actor James Gandolfini - best known for his TV role as mob boss Tony Soprano - has died while in Rome.


A spokesperson for the U.S television network HBO says the star died from a suspected heart attack.


He was 51-years-old.

[November Rain]

Right, so 2 people who die at roughly the same age from cardiac related problems must have had the same triggers cause those problems? Genetics, predisposition, existing heart problems, smoking tobacco, diet etc are of no consequence? Have you informed the relevant medical councils about your amazing discovery?

[Looper]

I was sad to hear about James Gandolfini especially since he was only 51.

He did such a great job of filling out the huge character of Tony Soprano in my all time favourite TV show.

Thanks and RIP to a personal favourite.

[Loy Toy]

* Ditto, In fact I have been in mourning for the past 2 days.

What a loss.

[slackula]

What a loss.

Agreed. He made that role and totally rocked it. It's hard (impossible even) to imagine any other actor playing Tony Soprano. The entire casting was superb but Gandolfini still stood out.

[socal]

Right, so 2 people who die at roughly the same age from cardiac related problems must have had the same triggers cause those problems? Genetics, predisposition, existing heart problems, smoking tobacco, diet etc are of no consequence? Have you informed the relevant medical councils about your amazing discovery?

November Rain, , it doesn't take a medical MD to conclude that heavy set met in their 50's who die that early , have more then one thing going against them.

Rich people get bored. The acting space is rife with drug use.

[Mr Lick]

Bloody hell, this man was a god.



Mick Aston, ex-Time Team expert, dies aged 66



Prof Aston (left) with Sir Tony Robinson, the presenter of the show in which a team of experts travels the country to investigate archaeological sites


Mick Aston, a former resident academic on Channel 4's Time Team, has died at the age of 66.

He appeared on the show, which sees experts carry out archaeological digs, from its inception in 1994 until 2011.

Professor Aston lived in Somerset and taught at a number of UK universities.

Time Team's official Twitter account tweeted: "It is with a very heavy heart that we've been informed that our dear colleague Mick Aston has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family."

The exact circumstances of the death of Prof Aston, who was born and raised in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, and was known on the show for his colourful jumpers and unruly white hair, are not yet known.


'Unique man'

Close friend and former Time Team colleague Phil Harding said he had received the news from Prof Aston's son, James Aston.

He had incredible knowledge and an effortless way of making archaeology accessible to people” - Phil Harding Time Team archaeologist

Mr Harding, 62, said that although Prof Aston had suffered health problems, his death had come as a shock.

"It just seems so incredible, like a bad dream, but unfortunately this is no dream," he said.

The archaeologist said Prof Aston was a "unique man" who "everybody loved".

"He just had a way with people. I cannot believe there was anybody who disliked him, he just had such a relaxed way," he said

"He had incredible knowledge and an effortless way of making archaeology accessible to people."

Francis Pryor, who also worked on Time Team, said Prof Aston had been a "remarkable archaeologist who could really dig".

Professor Pryor said: "I will remember him fondly - [he] was a warm, loving, nice man.
"He did very good work on original British towns... and he was an authority on monastic church archaeology and early medieval archaeology."


'Passionate believer'

Prof Aston had appeared as the senior archaeologist in 19 series of the programme, in which specialists carry out an archaeological dig in the space of three days.

"In fact he was partly responsible for its creation after telling Tim Taylor, series producer, that it would be possible to evaluate a site in only three days," a biography on the Time Team website says.

It says he had worked in archaeology for more than 40 years, adding: "Mick had a childhood love of archaeology, despite his school's best attempts to dissuade him."

It adds that Prof Aston was a "passionate believer in communicating archaeology to the public".

Prof Aston studied geography with a subsidiary in archaeology at Birmingham University.

He joined the University of Bristol in 1979, organising and promoting lifelong learning and continuing education in archaeology.


'Dumbed down'

From 1996 to 2004, he was professor of landscape archaeology at the university, later becoming an emeritus professor in the same subject.

The university says on its website that alongside Time Team, Prof Aston worked on a major research project that investigated the origins of the English village at Shapwick, Somerset, and researched monastic and landscape archaeology throughout Europe.

He was also an honorary visiting professor at Exeter, Durham and Worcester universities, and had published a number of books relating to archaeology.

He loved Time Team and it would be very fitting that they could do one more dig at a location Mick would have loved” - Lee Brady Time Team fan

In July 2012, he received a lifetime achievement award at the British Archaeological Awards, a showcase for the best in UK archaeology.

Mark Horton, professor in archaeology at the university, said at the time that Prof Aston had made "the past accessible to all".

In February 2012, Prof Aston, writing in the Western Daily Press, explained his decision to quit Time Team a year earlier, saying it was because Channel 4 had altered its format and the show had been "dumbed down".

"There is a lot less archaeological content and a lot more pratting about. I was the archaeological consultant but they decided to get rid of half the archaeological team, without consulting me," he wrote.

Time Team fan Lee Brady, who set up a tribute group on social-networking site Facebook, said: "The Time Team crew and Channel 4 should commission a 'one-off' special dig in memory of Mick.

"He loved Time Team and it would be very fitting that they could do one more dig at a location Mick would have loved."

In October last year Channel 4 announced that the 20th series of Time Team would be the show's last.

The final series aired earlier this year but a number of special episodes are planned for next year.

[Mr Lick]

I Am Legend author Richard Matheson dies



Matheson also worked as a writer on numerous TV show

US sci-fi and fantasy writer Richard Matheson, who wrote the 1954 vampire novel I Am Legend, has died aged 87.

A spokesman for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films said Matheson died on Sunday in Los Angeles, but no other details were provided.

In a career spanning some 60 years, many of the author's works were adapted for both the big and small screens.

I Am Legend was his most successful, inspiring three film adaptations - most recently in 2007 starring Will Smith.

The novel was considered a landmark work in the genre, ushering in zombies and apocalyptic themes to post-WWII America.

Vincent Price starred in the first adaptation in 1964, titled as The Last Man on Earth.
Charlton Heston later starred the 1971 adaptation, Omega Man.

Born in Allendale, New Jersey, in 1926 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Matheson first began publishing science-fiction and horror stories in the 1950s.

His earlier works adapted into films included 1953 novel Hell House, 1956's The Shrinking Man and 1958's A Stir of Echoes.

The 1978 novel What Dreams May Come was also adapted into a big screen version in 1998 starring Robin Williams, which won an Oscar for best visual effects.

Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film, Duel, was also based on Matheson's short story of the same name.


Spielberg tribute

"Richard Matheson's ironic and iconic imagination created seminal science-fiction stories and gave me my first break when he wrote the short story and screenplay for Duel," Spielberg said in a statement.

"His Twilight Zones were among my favourites, and he recently worked with us on Real Steel. For me, he is in the same category as [Ray] Bradbury and [Isaac] Asimov."

Matheson also worked as a writer for numerous TV shows including The Twilight Zone, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Martian Chronicles and Amazing Stories.

He penned the teleplay Nightmare at 20,000 Feet in 1963 for The Twilight Zone, which starred William Shatner and featured the famous shot of a gremlin peering into the window of an aeroplane from its wing.

He was also responsible for writing The Twilight Zone episode Steel, which inspired the 2011 Hugh Jackman film, Reel Steel.


Will Smith starred in the 2007 film version of I Am Legend


Matheson is credited with influencing several generations of storytellers including Stephen King, who dedicated his 2006 novel, Cell, to him.

Matheson had been due to receive the visionary award at the Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films' Saturn Awards on Wednesday.

The organisation said the award would be presented posthumously and ceremony would be dedicated to the author.

[Balance]

Marc Rich Dead at 78





Marc Rich, father of modern oil trading and founder of the group that became Glencore Xstrata, has died at the age of 78, the head of his philanthropic foundation said on Wednesday. Many of the biggest players in oil and metals trading trace their roots back to Rich, whose triumph in the 1960s and 70s was to create a spot market for oil, wresting business away from the world's big oil companies.

Rich, however, was also a controversial figure. He was forced to flee the United States for Switzerland in 1983 after allegedly taking advantage of the 1980 U.S. embargo against Iran to make huge profits in illicit Iranian oil sale.

"Marc Rich passed away this morning at his home in Lucerne. He will be brought to Israel for burial," Avner Azulay, managing director of Marc Rich Foundation, said by telephone.

The Belgian-born son of Jewish refugees, Rich began his career with one of the biggest trading houses of the time, Philipp Brothers, subsequently Phibro, aged 20. He left in 1974 with a fellow graduate of the Phibro mailroom, Pincus "Pinky" Green, to set up Marc Rich and Co AG in Switzerland.

That group would eventually become Glencore.

"We are saddened to hear of the death of Marc," Glencore Xstrata Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said. "He was a friend and one of the great pioneers of the commodities trading industry, founding the company that became Glencore."
Allegations of oil trading with Iran and tax evasion later landed Rich on the FBI's most-wanted list.

He never returned to the United States after fleeing to Europe, although he received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton on the president's last day in office.


Marc Rich Has Died - Business Insider

[Mr Lick]

Bert Stern, Monroe photographer, dies in New York


Stern photographed Monroe in a Los Angeles hotel room during a three-day shoot


Famed US photographer, Bert Stern, best known for his images of Marilyn Monroe in what became known as The Last Sitting, has died at the age of 83.

Film-maker Shannah Laumeister, 43, who said the two were secretly married in 2009, confirmed he died at his home in New York on Wednesday.

Stern photographed Monroe for Vogue magazine, just weeks before she died from a drug overdose in 1962.

Other celebrities he photographed included Audrey Hepburn and Twiggy.

Laumeister said: "He'll be remembered as someone who loved women and loved taking pictures and putting things he felt strongly about in the camera.

"His images will live forever and wow generations to come," she said, adding that the Monroe images "go beyond the photograph and become a work of art".


Unique experience



In 1981, John Vassos (r) returned missing pictures of Monroe to Stern, which the photographer believed to be stolen

Stern took more than 2,500 photographs of Monroe during the intimate three-day shoot at the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles, six weeks before her death in 1962.

The nude and semi-nude images - including several which Monroe rejected for magazine publication - were published in a 1982 book titled The Last Sitting, and a second book, Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting, that came out in 2000.

In a documentary about the photographer made by Laumeister, Stern said: "It was a one-time-in-a-lifetime experience to have Marilyn Monroe in a hotel room, even though it was turned into a studio."

A collection of 36 photographs taken during The Last Sitting were auctioned in New York for nearly $150,000 (£102,581) in 2008.

Born in Brooklyn, Stern photographed a host of celebrities such as such as Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Truman Capote during a career that spanned 50 years.

He was also highly regarded as an advertising photographer, launching his career with a campaign for Smirnoff Vodka.

The image showed a V-shaped glass of vodka set in the front of an Egyptian pyramid.

Along with contemporaries Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, he is credited with transforming commercial photographs into conceptual art. He also took the publicity shots for Stanley Kubrick's 1962 drama, Lolita.

Bruce Barnes, director of the George Eastman House, a museum of photography and film in Rochester, New York, said: "He was an enormously innovative photographer, both as a commercial photographer and a photographer of celebrities and fashion models. And one of the great people in his field."

The museum is preparing to present Stern's only documentary film, Jazz on a Summer's Day, which he made in the late 1950s, about the Newport Jazz Festival.

Stern and Laumeister had been scheduled to attend a screening of Laumeister's documentary in August, Barnes said.

Stern's funeral is due to take place in New York on Friday.