Sunday, July 22, 2012

Simon Ward

A damn good actor -- via the Telegraph. He didn't work a lot, but I think he was one of the best of our time. He played the lead role in "Young Winston," and actually pulls Churchill off. He was the Duke of Buckingham in Lester's "Three Musketeers" trilogy. He played Vereker in "Zulu Dawn." He even made it into a Hammer film, playing assistant to Peter Cushing in "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed." More recently he worked in TV series such as "Judge John Deed" and "The Tudors." Always fun to watch --

Ginny Tyler aka Merrie Virginia Erlandson

Voice artist and Mouseketeer -- via the L.A. Times. A Disney Legend, she voiced, among many others -- Olive Oyl, various animals in "The Sword and the Stone" and "Mary Poppins," Jan in "Space Ghost," Polynesia the parrot in "Doctor Doolittle," Casper the Friendly Ghost (TV series), and all the female characters in the first 13 episodes of "Davey and Goliath."






Jacqueline Rebecca Louise de Rothschild Calmann-Levy Piatigorsky

Chess champion, tennis champion, author and sculptor -- via the L.A. Times.

Ramona Parker aka Ms. Melodie

Rapper -- via the New York Daily News.

Bob Gamm

Inventor of the KangaROO shoe, the first shoe with a pocket in it -- via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Tom Davis

Emmy-winning comic writer and performer -- via the New York Times. Half of the incredible duo of Franken and Davis, an original writer on "Saturday Night Live," he created much unforgettable laughter. Including his creations are: the Coneheads, Irving Mainway, Theodoric of York, Nick the Lounge Singer, the Continental, and many more.  A genius -- I'll miss him greatly.


Joyce Dannen Miller

Activist and labor organizer -- via the New York Times.

Else Holmelund Minarik

Children's author -- via the New York Times. Most memorably, she wrote the series of "Little Bear" beginning readers.


William Raspberry

Newspaper columnist -- via the Washington Post.

William Asher

TV director, producer and screenwriter -- via the New York Times. Will be best remembered as the cretor of "Bewitched" in conjunction with his then-wife, Elizabeth Montgomery.



Don Brinkley

Prolific television writer, director and producer -- via the New York Daily News.

Robert W. Creamer

Writer -- via Yahoo Sports. An original member of Sports Illustrated's writing staff, he wrote there for 30 years, as well as in the times. He specialized in baseball, and wrote what is considered the definitive biography of Babe Ruth, "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life"; and what is one of my top five baseball books -- "Baseball in '41: A Celebration of the 'Best Baseball Season Ever.'" He will be best remembered as one of the prominent talking heads in Ken Burns' "Baseball" miniseries.


Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Rajesh Khanna

The first Bollywood superstar -- via the Times of India.







Morgan Paull

Actor -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Best remembered as Holden in "Blade Runner."


Ann Marsden

Photographer -- via the Star-Tribune.

Willie Alexander Harry

Barber -- via the Baltimore Sun.


Willis Edwards

Civil rights activist -- via the L.A. Times.


Maria (nee Marie) Frances Hawkins Ellington Cole

Singer -- via the New York Times.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Val Patterson

Electrical engineer -- via Yahoo News and Legacy.com. Perhaps the best self-penned obituary I have yet read; it includes several opportunely timed confessions as well.

Marion Cunningham

Cook, cookbook writer, and advocate of artful home cooking -- via the New York Times.


Rosemary Furtak

Award-winning librarian who focused on art and artists' books -- via the Star-Tribune. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis now houses an internationally-recognized collection of these works, thanks to her!

Oswald "Ossie" Hibbert

Organist, keyboardist and record producer -- via the Jamaica Observer.





Mike Hershberger

Former MLB outfielder -- via indeonline.com of Massilon, OH.

Ed Stroud aka The Streak aka The Creeper

Former MLB outfielder -- via the Tribune Chronicle of Warren, OH.


Monday, July 16, 2012

Jon Lord

Organist, keyboardist, composer; founder and long-time leader of hard rock pioneers Deep Purple -- via the New York Times.















Bob Babbitt aka Robert Kreinar

Bassist with the legendary Funk Brothers, the studio band at Motown Records -- via the Detroit News. The master of the funky bottom, rivaled in his time only by Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone. A genius.

He played on more than 200 top 40 hits. Think about alllllllllllll the brilliant songs he played the bass line on -- "Ball of Confusion," "Scorpio," "Oh How Happy," "Cool Jerk," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," "War," "Mercy Mercy Me," "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- and his ultimate creation, the masterpiece "Just My Imagination." Cannot praise him too highly. He got it.















Kitty Wells aka Ellen Muriel Deason, "The Queen of Country Music"

First female country-music star -- via the New York Times.








Donald J. Sobol

Writer; creator of schoolboy mystery-solver Encyclopedia Brown -- via nj.com.


Maurice Chevit

Actor -- via news.round.co.uk.

Toby Robertson

Former artistic director of the Prospect Theatre Company -- via the Guardian.


Hiren Bhattacharyya

Poet -- via The Hindu.


Ben Kynard

Saxophonist, composer and arranger -- via kansascity.com. He wrote the jazz standard "Red Top."