Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Giorgio "George" Ardisson
Actor -- via westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com. A regular in sword-and-sandal, adventure, Western, horror, and spy films.
David Ryall
Actor on stage, screen, and TV -- via the Telegraph. A highly recognizable face, Ryall usually played unsympathetic if nor downright villainous characters, most notably Elphias Doge in the Harry Potter films, Sextus Parker in "The Pallisers," Billy Buzzle in "Bless Me, Father," and the fussy Mr. Hall in "The Singing Detective." I got to meet him during the run of the production of Peter Hall's "Tantalus" in Denver; a very sweet guy!
Buddy DeFranco
Jazz clarinetist -- via the New York Times. AKA Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo DeFranco. He started in swing but became the first true bebop clarinetist.
Rosella Towne
Actress -- via Dial M for Movies. She died on August 29 but her death was not revealed publicly until last week. Kudos again to Eve Golden for pointing this out four days ago!
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
John Fry
Music producer; founder of Ardent Records; mentor to cult power-pop pioneers Big Star -- via Consequence of Sound. About 20 percent of Stax's output was recorded at Ardent. A key architect of how American music sounded
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Joseph Sargent
Emmy-winning director of TV and film ("The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"); performer -- via Variety. AKA Giusseppe Daneiele Sorgente. An outstanding talent -- here's a partial list of his work: series such as "Gunsmoke," "Lassie," "Star Trek," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", and "The Invaders"; TV movies such as "Tribes," "The Night That Panicked America," "Amber Waves," and "Something the Lord Made"; on film, the original "Pelham" and the unique science-fiction film "Colossus: The Forbin Project." Like the rest of us, he made a few clinkers -- "Terrible Joe Moran" and "Jaws: The Revenge" being the worst. Hey, his batting average is quite high!
Brandon Stoddard
TV producer, head of programming, and executive -- via Variety. He got a ton of good TV made as an ABC executive, including "Roots," "Rich Man, Poor Man," "Masada," "The Winds of War," "QBVII," "The Day After," and "Friendly Fire." Sure, he cranked out some epic trash as "The Thorn Birds." His batting average was pretty good! It was a time when ABC fielded shows such as "Moonlighting," "Twin Peaks," "My So-Called Life," and "Max Headroom."
Monday, December 22, 2014
DEATHCETERA: Weekly roundup of stories worldwide on death, mourning, and more
TOP
STORIES
“A death in
Yangon”
– Catherine Anderson’s heart-breaking account of her lover’s public death
“What We Learned
about Death in 2014”
– from Mike Pearl on Vice
DEATH
What killed us
in 2014?
– from Marc Silver at NPR
Remembering
the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami – from Jim Gomez at ABC News
MOURNING
Public mourning:
a brief history
– by Hilda Maclean in The Conversation
From
the Metropolitan Museum of Art – their online
exhibition guide to “Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire”
FUNERALS
Funeral director
transports body in pickup truck – via Andy Wise at WCMA-TV
Alternative
funerals in Alabama
– Lucy Berry at al.com.
END-OF-LIFE
ISSUES
Charges at
nursing home highlights vulnerability of elderly – by Tatiana
Schlossberg and Nina Bernstein at the New York Times
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