The RIP Famous Person Thread

[Happy As Larry]

Mick Abrahams, original Jethro Tull guitarist and founder of blues rock band Blodwyn Pig, died Friday at 82.

Martin Barre, who succeeded Abrahams in Jethro Tull and played with the band until its dissolution in 2011, posted a tribute to his predecessor on Facebook."My friend and mentor Mick Abrahams has passed," Barre wrote. "He was so nice to me and that is something I will never forget! What a magnificent guitar player who gave us so much! Rest in peace."

Born on April 7, 1943 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Abrahams co-founded Jethro Tull in 1967 alongside vocalist Ian Anderson, bassist Glenn Cornick and drummer Clive Bunker. He played on the band's debut album, This Was, released in October 1968.
Abrahams' tenure with Jethro Tull was short-lived. He left the band in December 1968, in part because of disagreements over the band's musical direction. Abrahams brought prominent blues rock and jazz fusion elements to the group, while future releases would feature Jethro Tull's classic mix of prog and folk rock.

Following his departure from Jethro Tull, Abrahams formed the blues rock band Blodwyn Pig. They released two albums, 1969's Ahead Rings Out and 1970's Getting to This, both of which reached the Top 10 on the UK Albums Chart.
“We could hold our own with any company," Abrahams told Prog in 2018. "It didn’t bother us if we were put on the bill with Crimson or Zeppelin. Nothing changed for us, and nothing phased us.”

Original Jethro Tull Guitarist Mick Abrahams Dead at 82

[dirk diggler]

Chris Rea will not be driving home for Christmas this year.

Dead at 74.

[david44]

Chris Rea will not be driving home for Christmas this year.

Dead at 74.

Some sweet tunes, RIP me and the Stainsby girls enjoyed while Bob did the egg in the bath!

[dirk diggler]

First time be seen that, brilliant.

The Blue Cafe was my Old Man’s go-to when put on the spot to choose a song.

[harrybarracuda]

Brigitte Bardot dead: Actress, style icon and animal activist dies at 91



Film actress and style icon Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91.

Brigitte began her career as a model, appearing on the cover of Elle magazine at the age of 15. Fashion historian Nicole Parrot later recalled: “Women of my generation all remember her first cover. She represented something that had never had its place before in society or in fashion: that of the jeune fille.”

This led to her being invited to audition for her first movie role where she was introduced to screenwriter Roger Vadim.The pair fell in love and married after she turned 18.

Her acting began in 1952, at the age of 17, with appearances in the comedy Crazy for Love and the drama Manina, the Girl in the Bikini.

She made another dozen movies before her husband Vadim cast her in his directorial debut, And God Created Woman, in 1956. The film became an international success and turned Bardot into a global sex symbol, with critics coining the phrase 'sex kitten' to hail her performance.

Vadim always insisted: “I did not invent Brigitte Bardot. I simply helped her to blossom.”

Alongside her rising film career, Bardot also became a style icon - renowned for her voluminous blonde locks, full pink lips and heavy khol eyeliner, which is still copied today. She was also an early champion of the bikini, making headlines in 1953 when she wore a floral two piece on the beaches of Cannes.

The then 18-year-old Bardot helped turn skimpy swimwear into a symbol of a generation embracing freedom, pleasure and a rapidly changing consumer culture.

As well as her film and music career and covetable style, Bardot also became renowned for her groundbreaking attitude to sex as she worked her way through husbands and lovers.

She famously declared: “It is not possible to have only one man" and said there should be "no hypocrisy, no nonsense about love."

Brigitte Bardot dead: Actress, style icon and animal activist dies at 91 - Mirror Online

[taxexile]

natural beauty sans silicone or botox.



who hasn't pulled one off whilst thinking about her.

[helge]

who hasn't pulled one off whilst thinking about her.

Everyone younger than 75 ?

[Edmond]

A plethora of crusty socks to be flown at half mast.

[misskit]

Infamous ‘Monkey Christ’ Painter Dies at 94

Cecilia Giménez, whose botched attempt to restore a mural of Jesus became an internet phenomenon, has died at the age of 94. In 2012, Giménez, a then 81-year-old amateur artist, took it upon herself to touch up “Ecce Homo,” a 19th-century painting of Jesus by Elías García Martínez that hung in Santuario de Misericordia church in the small town of Borja, Spain. She later claimed the work was unfinished, and she intended to clean up the painting after taking a two-week break. She never got the chance, as the restoration sparked memes worldwide. Though initially seen as a fiasco, Giménez’s “Ecce Homo” restoration ultimately became a widely celebrated tourist attraction. The church began charging a €3.50 entry fee to onlookers flocking to see the botched Jesus in person, and ultimately donated over €50,000 to local charities. Giménez sought a share of the financial windfall to donate to muscular atrophy charities because her son suffers from the condition. In 2022, Borja celebrated the restoration’s 10th anniversary with a gala. At the time, Giménez’s niece, Marisa Ibáñez, told the New York Post that Giménez, whose mind “began to fail her,” no longer remembered the controversy surrounding her painting but felt the love it generated.

Infamous ‘Monkey Christ’ Painter Dies at 94

[misskit]

I have never laughed so hard in my life. Thank you, Cecilia, may you rest in peace.

[Edmond]

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeet


Isiah Whitlock Jr., actor who starred in The Wire, dies aged 71 | Ents & Arts News | Sky News

Clay Davis will not be reelected.

[NamPikToot]

I have never laughed so hard in my life. Thank you, Cecilia, may you rest in peace.

Self portrait, I believe

[cyrille]

I have never laughed so hard in my life. Thank you, Cecilia, may you rest in peace.

Cecilia Gimenez’s botched Monkey Christ became a global meme. The real marvel was the woman behind it | Sam Jones | The Guardian

[Happy As Larry]

Aldrich Ames, CIA officer convicted of spying for Russia, dies at age 84

Washington — Aldrich Ames, a counterintelligence officer for the CIA who spied for the Soviet Union and later Russia, has died, according to a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson.
Ames, who was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, died Monday at the age of 84 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland.

The 31-year veteran of the CIA is believed to have compromised more than 100 intelligence operations and sent a number of Soviet agents to their deaths or prison, as he traded information for large sums of money that funded his lavish lifestyle.
In pleading guilty, Ames admitted that he compromised "virtually all Soviet agents of the CIA and other American and foreign services known to me" as well as giving the Soviet Union and Russia a "huge quantity of information on United States foreign, defense and security policies." Ames divulged the identities of 10 agents, and at least nine of them were executed, according to the Defense Department.

There were a number of red flags throughout Ames' career — lie detector tests that showed deceptive answers, sudden unexplained wealth, poor job performance, alcohol abuse — but the CIA repeatedly missed or ignored the warning signs and promoted him to increasingly sensitive posts.

Born in River Falls, Wisconsin, in 1941, Ames spent part of his childhood in Southeast Asia while his father worked for the CIA.
After graduating high school and failing out of classes at the University of Chicago, Ames joined the CIA in 1962, performing clerical duties. At the same time, he attended George Washington University, graduating in 1967 with a degree in history.
In 1969, he married his first wife, who also worked for the CIA, and accepted his first assignment abroad in Ankara, Turkey, where he targeted Soviet spies for recruitment. But he was sent back to CIA headquarters in Virginia after three years when his job performance declined.

Back in the U.S., Ames' problems with alcohol began to surface at work and his marriage fell apart.
Ames went alone to his assignment in Mexico City, where he worked from 1981 to 1983. There, he met his next wife, Rosario, a cultural attaché at the Colombian Embassy and a CIA asset, who would later be charged as his accomplice.
Despite several security violations over the years, including leaving a briefcase on a train in New York that contained classified materials that could have compromised a Soviet asset, and his superiors' concerns about his heavy drinking, Ames was promoted to chief of the Soviet branch of the counterintelligence division.

By then, financial pressure was building on Ames. The divorce from his first wife had left him in debt and he had new bills to pay once Rosario came to live with him.

So, in 1985, he approached the Soviets, giving them the names of a few KGB officers secretly working for the FBI in exchange for $50,000. He later gave the KGB a list of CIA assets, dealing "a crippling blow" to the agency's Soviet operations, according to a 1994 Senate Intelligence Committee report. The KGB promised to give him more than $2 million for his cooperation. To tamp down suspicions about his newfound wealth, he told colleagues that Rosario came from a wealthy family.
He continued spying for nine more years, including in Rome, where he served from 1986 to 1989. From 1990 to 1994, he oversaw operations in Western Europe and Czechoslovakia and worked for the CIA's counternarcotics center, traveling to meet his handlers in Vienna, Bogota and Caracas.
Meanwhile, the CIA and FBI were looking for the source of the damaging compromises. In 1993, the mole hunt closed in on Ames. Investigators surveilled him for months, arresting him on Feb. 21, 1994, in Arlington, Virginia, days before he was scheduled to attend a conference in Moscow.

Nearly two months later, Ames and his wife pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their espionage activities. Ames' wife was sentenced to five years in prison.
Then-CIA Director R. James Woolsey said Ames was "a malignant betrayer of his country who killed a number of people who helped the United States and the West win the Cold War." Those agents died, Woolsey said, because a "murdering traitor wanted a bigger house and a Jaguar."

In an interview with the New York Times after his arrest, Ames explained his decision to start spying for the other side, saying money was the main motivator. But he also said the seed was planted when he regularly had lunch with a correspondent of the Communist Party newspaper Pravda in the 1970s. The Soviet threat was not as great as the U.S made it out to be, he determined.

"I know what's damaging and I know what's not damaging, and I know what the Soviet Union is really all about, and I know what's best for foreign policy and national security," he told the New York Times. "And I'm going to act on that."

Aldrich Ames, CIA officer convicted of spying for Russia, dies at age 84 - CBS News

[Salsa dancer]

Despite several security violations over the years, including leaving a briefcase on a train in New York that contained classified materials that could have compromised a Soviet asset, and his superiors' concerns about his heavy drinking, Ames was promoted to chief of the Soviet branch of the counterintelligence division.

Unbelievable! What idiot/s was/were responsible for that bit of genius ?

[Happy As Larry]

Bob Weir, co-founder of rock group the Grateful Dead, dies at age 78

Bob Weir, the veteran rock musician who helped guide the legendary band the Grateful Dead through decades of change and success, has died at age 78, according to a statement posted to his verified Instagram account on Friday.

The Instagram statement, posted by his daughter Chloe Weir, said he was surrounded by loved ones when he died. Bob Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July and “succumbed to underlying lung issues”, the statement said.
“Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music,” Chloe Weir wrote. “There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again.”

She requested privacy for the family and was thankful for the support they received. “May we honor him not only in sorrow, but in how bravely we continue with open hearts, steady steps, and the music leading us home. Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.”

Along with his late fellow Grateful Dead co-founder and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who was at the center of the Deadhead universe, Weir was one of the group’s two frontmen and main vocalists for most of the band’s 60-year history.
It was Weir who sang the verses on the band’s trademark boogie anthem, Truckin, and who wrote such key songs as Sugar Magnolia, Playing in the Band and Jack Straw.

The youthful, ponytailed “Bobby” grew into an eclectic songwriter whose handsome appearance and diverse musical influences helped broaden the band’s appeal. British newspaper the Independent called Weir “arguably rock’s greatest, if most eccentric, rhythm guitarist”.

After Garcia’s death at age 53 in 1995, Weir carved out an interesting if somewhat neglected solo career – much of it with his band, RatDog – and participated in reunions of surviving Dead members in different configurations.
Weir was born Robert Hall Parber when he was born on 16 October 1947. He was placed for adoption and raised by his parents in Atherton, California, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. He began playing the guitar at age 13 and soon began hanging out in folk clubs, performing bluegrass music
.
It was at the Palo Alto club Tangent where he first saw Garcia playing the banjo.
In 1964, he met Garcia, a San Francisco Bay Area fold musician, and the pair performed as the Warlocks, which then morphed into the Grateful Dead.

The athletic Weir, who enjoyed football, was, at 16, the youngest member of the original band and was sometimes referred to as “the kid”.
He was still in high school when he joined up with Garcia, bass guitarist Phil Lesh, organist-vocalist-harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and drummer Bill Kreutzmann.

Lesh recalled in his 2005 autobiography that he and Garcia had to make a promise to young Bob’s mother. “The long and short of it was that if Jerry and I promised to make sure that Bob got to school every day, and that he got home all right after the gigs, she would allow him to remain in the band,” wrote Lesh, who died in October 2024 at age 84. “We somehow convinced her that we would indeed see that he got to school every day. In San Francisco. At 8:00 a.m.”
Eventually Weir moved in to the communal Dead house at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco. The group’s first album, “The Grateful Dead,” was released in March 1967.

As the band’s rhythm guitarist, Weir often played little fills, riffs and figures instead of straight chords. “I derived a lot of what I do on guitar from listening to piano players,” he told GQ magazine in 2019. His musical tastes were eclectic, ranging from Chuck Berry to cowboy songs to R&B and reggae.

In 1972, he launched a solo album, Ace – a de facto Grateful Dead album featuring the band and including well-regarded Weir songs such as Cassidy, Black-Throated Wind, Mexicali Blues and Looks Like Rain. Many of his best-known songs were co-written with his old school friend, John Perry Barlow, who died in 2018.

In 2017, Weir was appointed as a United Nations development program goodwill ambassador to support the agency’s work to end poverty while fighting climate change.

Weir married Natascha Muenter in 1999. They had two daughters.

“Looking back,” Weir once said, “I guess I have lived an unusual life.”

Bob Weir, co-founder of rock group the Grateful Dead, dies at age 78 | US news | The Guardian

[harrybarracuda]

Unbelievable! What idiot/s was/were responsible for that bit of genius ?

The extent of the damage he did was staggering.

Have a look at his Wiki:

Aldrich Ames - Wikipedia

[harrybarracuda]

Thomas Kent “T.K.” Carter, the actor best known for his role as Nauls in 1982’s cult horror classic The Thing, has died. He was 69.




The actor was found dead on Friday in his Duarte, California, home after a call to 911 was made from the residence at 5:42 pm, TMZ reported. A cause of death has not been disclosed, but no foul play is suspected.
Born on December 18, 1956, in New York City and raised in Southern California, Carter began his screen career in the mid-1970s with guest roles on series such as Police Woman and Good Times.

He is best remembered as the roller-skating cook at the beleaguered Antarctic outpost in John Carpenter’s The Thing, starring Kurt Russell. The film follows 12 men in Antarctica who are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that hides in human form.
His other film appearances include Seems Like Old Times (1980), Southern Comfort (1981), Doctor Detroit (1983), Ski Patrol (1990), Space Jam (1996) and My Favorite Martian (1999).


On television, Carter memorably starred as Michael “Mike: Fulton, an elementary schoolteacher, on the NBC series Punky Brewster, which followed a young girl (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by a foster parent (George Gaynes) in Chicago.

He also took roles in The Waltons, The Jeffersons, Just Our Luck, 227, Good Morning, Miss Bliss (Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years), Family Matters, The Sinbad Show, Moesha, The Steve Harvey Show and The Nanny and Dave, plus voice roles in The Transformers and Jem.
His final acting credit was as Cliff in the FXX sitcom Dave in 2023.

T.K. Carter death: The Thing actor dies aged 69 after 911 call | The Independent

[Reverend]

Erich Von Däniken RIP

[harrybarracuda]

Erich Von Däniken RIP

Ever so slightly nutty but his books were a brilliant read for a kid.

'''Chariots of the Gods''' author Erich von Daniken dies at 90 - ABC News

[harrybarracuda]

Scott Adams, mildly amusing Dilbert cartoonist who turned into racist god botherer.

There are people who claimed they sobbed when they heard the news. FFS.

Scott Adams, Racist Streamer And ‘Dilbert’ Creator, Dies At 68

Added: Also a fucking loon.

"When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer of course he decided to again thumb his nose at the establishment and refused the standard medical protocol for the disease, instead choosing to take ivermectin".

[S Landreth]

Fashion Designer Valentino Garavani Dead at 93

His foundation posted the news on Instagram Monday, saying he died at his residence in Rome, Italy, "surrounded by his loved ones."

Valentino founded his legendary namesake brand in 1960 with business partner and longtime companion Giancarlo Giammetti.

Growing up, he was reportedly obsessed with Hollywood glamor, and his client list came to boast iconic names such as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, and Sophia Loren. In 1968, Valentino designed Jackie Kennedy Onassis' wedding dress when she tied the knot with Aristotle Onassis.

Then, in 2008, Valentino found what he called "the perfect moment to say adieu to the world of fashion," retiring after a final haute couture show in Paris, France.

At the time, he said in a statement, "My future will be filled with new interests and challenges. Some may be linked to fashion, as I have a strong desire to create and support institutions to promote the study of fashion design, and to preserve the history of the art of fashion."

[misskit]

‘Kung Fu Hustle’ Star Dies at 77

Kung Fu film legend Bruce Leung has died at 77. The actor—also known as Leung Choi-sang and Leung Siu-lung—died from heart failure, according to the Daily Mail. Leung was widely regarded as one of the “Four Dragons” of Chinese cinema, a group credited with elevating martial arts films globally alongside figures such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Ti Lung. Trained in martial arts by his father from a young age, Leung went on to appear in dozens of kung fu films, including 2004s Kung Fu Hustle, which introduced him to a new generation of fans. Jackie Chan, who previously worked with Leung on Magnificent Bodyguards, paid tribute to his longtime colleague, praising his devotion to martial arts and his lasting influence on cinema. Chan wrote in a social media post that Leung “created so many classic roles, loved by audiences and admired by colleagues,” and referred to him as a “brother” he would deeply miss. Leung is survived by a daughter from his first marriage to singer Irene Ryder, as well as a daughter and son from his second marriage to Song Xiang.

‘Kung Fu Hustle’ Star Dies at 77

[Salsa dancer]

‘We are shattered’: Peter Garrett joins tributes as Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst dies aged 70

Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst dies after pancreatic cancer battle

[misskit]