Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Bob Trendler

Bandleader -- via the Chicago Tribune. He led the WGN Orchestra and Bozo's Big Top Band.

Helen Beverley

Actress -- via Playbill.

Dan Peek

Songwriter and musician -- via Billboard.Co-founder of the band America.

Gloria Sawai

Writer -- via the CBC.

Fran Landesman

Lyricist, songwriter, poet and performer -- via the Telegraph. She wrote the lyrics for "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most."

Monday, July 25, 2011

G.D. Spradlin aka Gervase Duan Spradlin

Top-notch character actor -- via the L.A. Times. His best performances? The corrupt Senator in "Godfather II," and the officer who sends Martin Sheen on his mission in "Apocalypse Now."

Paul Bagge

Good Samaritan -- via MassLive.com. He died defending a woman from harassment.

Greg Poe

Stunt pilot -- via the AOPA.

Ifti Nasim

Poet, radio host and gay rights activist -- via the Chicago Sun-Times.

George Ramos

Journalist and mentor -- via the L.A. Times.

Michael Cakoyannis aka Mihalis Kakogiannis

Director/writer in film and theater -- via ekathimerini.com. He is best known for directing "Zorba the Greek"; lest he be remembered as a one-hit wonder, he directed other fine film adaptations of plays such as "Iphigenia," "The Trojan Women" and "The Cherry Orchard."


Linda Christian aka Blanca Rosa Welter

Actress -- via Yahoo News.

Tom Aldredge

Actor -- via the TheaterMania.

Hyman Bookbinder

Activist, lobbyist and writer for Jewish and social action causes -- via the Washington Post.

Brian Vallee

Journalist, author and activist against domestic violence -- via the Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Herb Tanney

Herb Tanney (left) and Blake Edwards on the set of "Blind Date."
Doctor and actor -- via legacy.com. A friend and doctor to film director Blake Edwards, he appeared in many of his films.

Jean Hartley

Publisher -- via the Guardian.

Dale Pontius

Political science professor and social activist -- via the Chicago Sun-Times. He heckled Joseph McCarthy.

Elliot Handler

Toymaker -- via the Washington Post. He invented Hot Wheels, and named the Barbie doll.

Jennifer Linn

Fundraiser -- via bloomberg.com.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Alex Price Kissire

DJ and broadcaster -- via the Tyler, TX Morning Telegraph.

Elwy Yost

Film critic and broadcast host -- via the Vancouver Sun.

Allison Harte aka Prudence Dykstra

Pioneering female DJ -- via mlive.com.

Terry Monaghan

World's leading authority on jazz dance, specifically swing -- via the Guardian. His Jiving Lindy Hoppers have preserved this exuberant dance form!

TP Sundararajan

Police officer and lawyer -- via the Telegraph. His petition for oversight of the temple treasure of Sri Padmanabhaswamy in Trivandrum, Kevala, India led to the opening of long-sealed vaults, revealing $7 billion of gold, gems and other riches to date.

Amy Winehouse

Singer-songwriter -- via Contact Music.

Michael Latimer

Actor, director and writer -- via the Telegraph.

Karen Khachaturian

Composer -- via panorama.am.

Frankie Daye

Actress, singer and dancer -- via Variety.

Sidney Cooper

Musician and arranger -- via the New York Daily News.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Lil Greenwood

Jazz singer -- via WKRG.

Gil Bernal

Master of the soulful sax -- via the L.A. Times. Bernal played with Lionel Hampton, Spike Jones, Ry Cooder, Quincy Jones, Little Jimmy Scott, and Ray Charles. He played all the sax breaks on the Coasters' key hits, defining soul and R & B instrumentals for decades to come. His biggest pop hit was with Duane Eddy on "Rebel Rouser."


Jacques Jouanneau

Actor -- via westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com.

Yoshio Harada

Actor -- via House of Japan.

Lillian Mobley

Teacher, and community leader and activist -- via Black Voice News.

Ed Flesh

Art director -- via the New York Times. He designed much of the garish game-show settings of the recent past, including the iconic "Wheel of Fortune."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lucien Freud

Artist -- via the New York Times. One of the greatest, and most disturbing, painters of the second half of the 20th century.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Alex Steinweiss

Graphic designer and inventor of the album cover -- via the New York Times.

Joseph Hittelman

Doctor -- via jewishjournal.com. He advocated for affordable and accesible health care for the poor, so he was persecuted and blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood

Opera expert, author and impresario -- via the Telegraph.

Bob Fraser

Television producer, writer, director, actor, and teacher-- via Backstage.

From the Telegraph: Dying as a fine art

Christopher Howse meditates on the process.

Tony Stevens

Dancer and choreographer -- via Playbill. Also, he and Michon Peacock began the taped workshop sessions for dancers that later inspired Michael Bennett to create "A Chorus Line."

Dick Dillon aka The Sky Rover

Radio traffic reporter -- via the Denver Post. He was our "eye in the sky" for decades; he also covered news such as the Big Thompson Flood, the '82 Xmas Blizzard and the crash of Flight 1713 in 1987.

Prudence de Villiers

Bookseller and gay rights activist -- via the Guardian.

Harold Garfinkel

Sociologist and professor -- via the New York Times.

Mani Kaul aka Rabindranath Kaul

Film director -- via the Hindu.

Patrick Laurence

Journalist -- via the Guardian.

Hanna Segal

Psychoanalyst -- via the Guardian.

Sean Hoare

Journalist and whistleblower -- via the Guardian.