Monday, September 22, 2014

Audrey Long

Actress -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Hey, you remember Audrey Long! She was in "Tall in the Saddle" with John Wayne in 1944, in Anthony Mann's brilliant  "Desperate" in 1947, and Robert Wise's first film noir, "Born to Kill," with Lawrence Tierney!




George Blackwell

Folk guitarist and jingle writer -- via the Miami Herald.

Stephen Cogil Casari

Founder of Denver's Tattered Cover Books -- via the Denver Post. 

Sheila Stewart

Radio personality -- via NBC Washington.

Eric Lynch

Comic performer -- via the Washington Post. AKA Eric the Midget

WEEKLY READER: Our roundup of stories on death, dying, mourning, and more

The bones of Richard III, as they were found in August of 2012.
 TOP STORIES



Journalist Carol Rosenberg writes about the discomfort of being assigned to Tweet at a funeral – on Poynter.org


DEATH

On KevinMD, James C. Salwitz reports on what happens when you don’t make end-of-life decisions




A symposium on art and mortality – from Australian National University


MOURNING

A mother’s orgiveness for a child’s murderer – from Robert Mann at Something Like the Truth

“Museum explores Victorian mourning customs” – via Bob Page at the Times Herald

Digital mourning and online grief – from Carl Hoover of the Waco Tribune


FUNERALS


12 of the worst things ever said at a funeral – via Caleb Wilde at Confessions of a Funeral director

Funeral potatoes: the recipe – from Barbara Schieving at Barbra Bakes (Editor’s note: It is fairly common to share such recipes in the Midwest, where post-funeral potlucks often take place in the church basement!)

Via Carol Hopkins at the Oakland Press – library donates kids’ books to local funeral homes

Pastor Timothy Raymond on “The Funeral that Was Almost a Fist Fight” in Credo Magazine

Five Myths about Funeral Directors – from Confessions of a Funeral Director (guest poster Pastor Dieter Reda)



Sheldon Patinkin

Improvisational comedian, director, teacher, and writer -- via the Chicago Tribune. One of the great figures in the Chicago theater scene, and an excellent chronicler of the subject ("Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theater" and "No Legs, No Jokes, No Chance," a history of the American musical.




Pamela Immel

Actress -- via Forest Lawn.

Terence Moakley

Disability activist -- via the New York Times.

Linda Griffiths

Actor and playwright -- via the CBC. Best know for her one-woman show "Maggie and Pierre."

Linda Griffiths - 7 - Maggie and Pierre from Theatre Museum Canada on Vimeo.

George Sluizer

Filmmaker -- via the Deccan Chronicle. Best known for making the original 1988 Dutch version of "The Vanishing" and its 1993 American remake.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Polly Bergen

Actress, singer, writer, and cosmetics entrepreneur -- via the New York Times. AKA Nellie Paulina Burgin. She was busy on stage, in TV and on film. She played the wife in the original "Cape Fear"; she won an Emmy for portraying Helen Morgan; she did solid work in the Herman Wouk WWII saga "Winds of War" and its sequel; she played the female lead in a number of Martin and Lewis films; she wound up being a big hit in a revival of Sondheim's "Follies."



U Srinivas

Mandolinist -- via the Times of India.

Elaine Lee

Actress -- via the Sydney Morning Herald.

Will Radliff

Avraham Heffner

Friday, September 19, 2014

Kenny Wheeler

Trumpeter and composer -- via the Guardian.

Giuliana Berlinguer

Director, screenwriter, and novelist -- via La Repubblica.

Wayne Tefs

Writer -- via the CBC.

Jerry Phillips

Radio host -- via the Washington Post.

David G.B. Brown

TV writer -- via Variety.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

George Hamilton IV

Johnny Rotella

Multi-instrumentalist, studio musician, and songwriter -- via the Los Angeles Daily News. His big hit, recorded by Sinatra: "Nothing But the Best."



Nigel Evans

Filmmaker -- via the Guardian.

Lee Maddux

TV writer and producer -- via Variety.

Edward L. "Buster" Jones

Voice artist and actor -- via Variety.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Jackie Cain

Half of the jazz/pop duet of Jackie & Roy -- via the Washington Post. I kid Jackie & Roy; they represent the suburban bossa nova style that rock 'n' roll saved us from in the 1960s. And Roy couldn't hit the low notes on "Samba Triste," their biggest hit. They worked for a half-century, however; they were pros.

Bill Smithies

Journalist -- and obituarist! -- via the Guardian. "His most enjoyable assignment was the five years he spent running the obituaries department – and his most memorable moment when he was asked to organise a Christmas lunch for the comment section's staff and contributors at the Kolossi Grill, a local haunt. Asked whether they would like a belly-dancer, Bill took advice and accepted. During the inevitable consternation that greeted her appearance, Bill recalled, a leading feminist contributor was asked for her response: 'She is a working woman – we should all support her!'" My kinda guy.



Teddy Riedel

Pianist and songwriter -- via Family Funeral Service. His big hit, "Judy," was released by Elvis in 1961.

Davie Lee White

Voiceover artist, drummer, radio host; best know for pronouncing the tagline, "This Bud's for you" -- via St. Louis Public Radio. At 18, at KDNT Radio, he spun records; Willie Nelson sold ads, and Bill Moyers did the news!

China Zorilla

Actress -- via El Pais.

Philip Somerville

Milliner -- via the Telegraph.

Wendell Brown

Poet -- via the L.A. Times.

Lonnie Lynn

Poet and performer -- via the New York Daily News. AKA Pops His spoken-word work can be heard on the albums of his son, the rapper Common. And hey, he played for the old ABA Denver Rockets!

Tom Skeeter

Music studio owner -- via Ultimate Classic Rock. He ran Sound City Studios, which recorded Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Metallica, and Nirvana.

Keith Wilson

Drummer -- via the Orlando Sentinel.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Weekly Reader: Stories on death, dying, mourning, and more

A day late this week, due to an over-filled schedule, as well as a plethora of stories.

TOP STORIES

In NYC, many ways to mourn 9/11 develop as the years pass – written by Denis Hamill in the New York Daily News


Funeral home offers drive-through viewings – via Bob Johnson of the Saginaw News


DEATH

The nightmare world of Iraq’s morgue workers – from Abigail Hauslohner at the Washington Post

In the Guardian, David Crystal writes about euphemisms and “a thousand words for death”

Ashya King case in Britain prompts: ‘We must stop being cowardly about death,’ by Archie King in the Independent


Don’t die a celebrity – in Epoch Times, Zachary Stieber discusses the re-evaluated 2009 death of actress Brittany Murphy, the bad TV movies that result, and various forms of post-mortem litigious carnage






MOURNING

Via Quartz and the Atlantic, Gabrielle Birkner of Modern Loss writes about differences in mourning, on 9/11 and now. And she quotes . . . me? Yes. Hope this doesn't reduce the credibility of the story for you.

Can you mourn without a body? asks David Andreatta of the Rochester, NY Democrat & Chronicle

Mourning, private and public – from Allison Hrabar in the Swarthmore Daily Gazette


CONFESSIONS OF A FUNERAL DIRECTOR

Caleb Wilde’s blog is turning out a great deal of important and interesting writing on the topic at hand – here are some highlights from this week alone:

Confessions of a Funeral Director presents: 10 Way to Save Money When You Die! That is, if you care.

Caleb Wilde of Confessions of Funeral Director tells a much more affecting story about empathy, sympathy, and becoming part of the narrative





FUNERALS

Inside NYC’s “funeral home for the stars” – via Jerry Oppenheimer for the New York Post


Funeral home ought not to have cremated Buddhist deceased – from Oren Yaniv at the New York Daily News

Funeral etiquette: what to wear? by Julie Kendrick at Kendrick Works


OBITS/TRIBUTES


Stephen Miller of Bloomberg News has found a calling in writing about those who have died. Here's his story! (Please note, he is a long-standing electronic friend of mine; however, I think his skills are extraordinary.)TOP STORIES


Andy Stapp

Founder of the American Servicemen's Union -- via the New York Times.

Henrik Have

Artist and writer -- via Avisen.


Salah El Mahdi

Boris Khimichev

Actor -- via news2night.com.


Tony Auth

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist -- via the New York Times.