Friday, February 13, 2015

Gary Owens

Disc jockey, voice actor, and much much more -- via TV Line. AKA Gary Altman. One of the original "goofball" DJs of the 1960s, Owens was also the voice of Space Ghost, wrote and performed thousands of commercials and humorous bits, and created comedy albums, wrote books, and on and on. He could play it straight, but more often his profoundly resonant baritone was in the deadpan service of merriment and hijinks. Thanks, Gary!










Chrissy Amphlett

Kesava Reddy

Novelist -- via The Hindu.

Ernest Ferlita

Playwright, writer, and teacher -- via Jesuits Central and Southern.

Celina Gonzalez

Singer and songwriter -- via Billboard.

Manrico Gammarota

Actor -- via I Love Italian Movies.

Kevin Delany

Tomie Ohtake

Artist -- via the Washington Post.

Steve Strange

Vocalist with Visage; nightclub host and promoter -- via the BBC. AKA Steven Harrington.

Ray Hathaway

Ricardo Palacios

Actor -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

David Carr

Journalist and writer -- via the New York Times. A great writer on media, who also penned an honest and riveting memoir, "The Night of the Gun," not least about his addictions. A damned shame. He was too young.

Derek Rencher

Tama Turanga Huata

Joe Simenic

Marie Jose de la Barre d'Erquelinnes, Lady Villiers

Heroine of the Resistance, and social worker -- via the Telegraph. Awarded the Croix de Guerre, her life calls out for a film of it, don't you think? She fought the Nazis and won. Later in life, she calmly disposed of a letter bomb that came to her home. Her memoir is titled, "Granny Was a Spy."




Peter Partner

Historian -- via the Guardian.


Roger Hanin

Bob Simon

Journalist -- via the New York Daily News.

Layne Tom, Jr.

Actor, and later architect -- via the Hollywood Reporter. AKA Richard Layne Tom.


Anne Naysmith

Pianist and, later, quite independent person -- via the Guardian. AKA Anne Smith.

Jorge Sassi

Actor -- via the Buenos Aires Herald.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Marvin David Levy

Composer -- via the New York Classical Review. Best known for his operatic version of "Mourning Becomes Electra," the 1998 revision of which is beginning to enter the repertoire.





Rinto Harahap

Songwriter and musician -- via the Jakarta Post.

Roman Frister

Journalist and memoirist -- via Haaretz.

Dot-A-Rock

Rapper -- via Billboard. AKA Daryl Mason. Best known as a member of the Fantastic Five.

Melanie Tem

Writer of horror and fantasy; playwright, and poet -- via locusmag.com. AKA Melanie Kubachko.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Kayla Mueller

Humanitarian worker -- via the Huffington Post.

Rex Ray

Artist -- via sfist.

Assia Djebar

Novelist, translator, and filmmaker - via the Guardian. AKA Fatima-Zohra Imalayen.

Roger James

Documentary film editor and producer -- via the Independent.

Helen Eustis

Writer -- via the New York Times.

Ed Sabol

Filmmaker; founder of NFL films -- via the Washington Post. A champion swimmer, he was selected for the 1936 Olympic team but refused to participate due to them taking place in Hitler's Germany. After stints as an actor and a salesman, he picked up a 16mm camera and convinced the NFL to let him chronicle its activities. The hyperbolic, slow-motion sagas he crafted out of the footage are now regarded as innovative and iconic.






Stanley Aronson

Mike "Bossman" Hardin

Proprietor of the iconic hamberger joint Hodad's -- via Sand Diego Community News.

Katrine Windfeld

Film and TV director -- via Screen Daily.

Richard 'Scooter' Davis

Vocalist with the Willows -- via mccalls.net. AKA Rico. Their big hit -- "Church Bells May Ring."

Monday, February 9, 2015

Deathcetera: The week in mortality and mourning

 DEATH

Is he dead or just meditating? – via TIME magazine


Dying – the checklist – from Thorin Klosowski at Lifehacker (from 2013)

‘Death with Dignity’ bill debated, defeated in Colorado House – via Megan Verlee at Colorado Public Radio




MOURNING

Closure: man kills crocodile that ate his wife – from Sean Levinson in Elite Daily

‘My Dad the Pornographer’-- by Chris Offut in the New York Times

A review of ‘Mourning Lincoln’ and ‘Lincoln’s Body’ – by Jill LePore at the New York Times

Ways to protect your digital info after death – Kimberly Palmer at U.S. News & World Report

Your last photo before death maybe a selfie – via Sophia Sleigh at the Daly Mirror

FUNERALS




Ohio has problems with hydrolysis – via Alan Johnson at the Columbus Dispatch


Indicted undertakers still working on the sly – via Mireya Villareal at CBS Dallas-Ft. Worth

Bumps in the road for those who opt for prepaid funeral plans – via Nancy Hicks at the Lincoln Journal Star

OBITS



Woman writes her own somewhat humorous obit – via Adam Rifkin at Elite Daily


Terry Carter

Maria Romero

Dubbing artist -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

Edward de Blasio

Screenwriter and producer -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

Muzeyyen Senar

Classical vocalist -- via Hurriyet. AKA 'The Diva of the Republic.'

Rune Ericson

Cinematographer -- via inMemoriam.com.

Kenji Ekuan

Industrial designer -- via the Times of India. Best known for his cretion of the iconic Kikkoman soy sauce bottle and the bullet train. He started out as a monk, taking the place of his father at the Hiroshima temple after his father died of radiation poisoning in the wake of the atomic bomb attack. He stated that he was originally inspired to design after "hearing the voices" of the decimated and abandoned streetcars, bicycles, and other machinery that littered the Hiroshima area, all wishing that they had been used more before their destruction.







Anne Moody

Writer best known for her memoir "Coming of Age in Mississippi" -- via the Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger. AKA Essie Mae Moody.

Joe B. Mauldin

Rene Lavand

Magician -- via eleco.com.ar. AKA Hector Rene Lavandera. His accomplishments are all the more impressive when you take into account the fact that he lost his right hand at the age of 9.

Andre Brink

Writer -- via the New York Times.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Dean Smith

Basketball coach -- via ESPN. A brilliant coach with integrity, he mentored some of the greatest players in history at North Carolina, including Jordan, Worthy, Stackhouse, and McAdoo, and coaches such as Karl, Moe, and Larry Brown (all Nuggets leaders later). He taught his players how to act with dignity, intelligence, and mutual respect. And he cared about his players' lives and character than about what he could get out of them on the court. He graduated about 96% of his players, an amazing statistic. A good, classy guy.