Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Ines Etienne Romeu

Tom Taplin

Verne Gagne

Wrestler -- via the Washington Post. An iconic "face" (good-guy archetype) in the ring from 1950 through the '80s, he was the mainstay and owner of the American Wrestling Association from 1960 through 1991.




T.H. Poole Sr.

Civil rights activist -- via the Orlando Sentinel.


Rene Feret

Andrew Lesnie

Jayne Meadows

Actress -- via the New York Daily News. AKA Jane Meadows Cotter.



Keith Harris

Ventriloquist -- via the Guardian.

Lenny Chernila

Poet -- via Westword.

Max Rojas

Poet -- via Periodico Correo.

E.M. Subramaniam

Monday, April 27, 2015

Don Mankiewicz

Novelist and screenwriter -- via mynewsla.com. A prolific writer for film and television, he is best remembered for writing the Oscar-nominated "I Want to Live!" -- for TV, he created "Ironside" and "Marcus Welby, M.D." For fans of marginalia, he wrote a few episodes ofthe excelent speculative sci-fi series "One Step Beyond," and the highly regarded two-part "Court Martial" episode of the original "Star Trek." Son of Herman ("Citizen Kane"), nephew of Joseph L. ("All About Eve") and father of John ("House of Cards") and uncle of Ben (TCM host and film journalist). A good union (WGA) man!

Francis Tsai

Comic book artist, illustrator, writer -- via Comic Book Resources.

Kase Kunihiko

Guitarist and front man for the Wild Ones -- via newsonjapan.com. Their big hit, a kind of Shadows cover, "Omoide no nagisa" (Beach of Memories).

Aideen O'Kelly

Actress -- via legacy.com.

Richard West

Old-school journalist extraordinare; writer and someone I wish I'd met -- via the Telegraph. It's rare that I laugh hysterically through the length of an obituary; however, Mr. West sounds exactly like so many of my insane, bold, and complex fellow journalists, who made good company almost anywhere on the planet where there's alcohol, smokes, and (free) food. 

Ellen Turner

Sid Tepper

Songwriter -- via Billboard. Best known for co-writing "Red Roses for a Blue Lady," he also wrote "Kiss of Fire" and many songs for Elvis.



Vanda Barra

Actress -- via the Hollywood Reporter.

Rex Robinson

Actor -- via digitalspy.com.


Wang Guozhen

Poet -- via fireinews.com.


Sabeen Mahmud

Human rights activist -- via CNN. Assassinated. "Things are dangerous and bad things happen. But you can't let fear control you, you'll never get anything done."

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Jim Fanning

Former MLB catcher and manager -- via the Montreal Gazette. Led the Blue Jays to their only playoff appearance, in 1981.

Sandy Whitelaw

Moira Gemmill

Design director -- via the Guardian.


Bernard Stollman

Founder of ESP-Disk Records -- via Pitchfork. He recorded a large amount of music and spoken-word performance that otherwise might have been lost. This includes Albery Ayler's classic "Spiritual Unity," and work by Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Pharaoh Sanders, the Fugs, Timothy Leary, and William S. Burroughs. CAVEAT:  It appears that Stollman never paid any of this artists.






Lois Lilienstein

Gennadi Vengerov

Actor -- via dni.ru. AKA Gennadi Aronovitch Markmann.

Nagare Hagiwara

Actor -- via the Japanese Times. AKA Mitsuo Hagiwara.

Yoichi Funado

Writer -- via Mainichi. AKA Kenji Harada.

Dick Balharry

Sixto Valencio Burgos

Cartoonist -- via Vox Populi.

Friday, April 24, 2015

M.H. Abrams

Teacher, scholar, writer, and editor -- via the New York Times. A profound analyzer of literature, he edited the first seven editions of the Norton Anthology of English Literature.



Claire Gordon

Actress -- via IMDb. Best known for her roles in films such as "Konga" and "Beat Girl."




Brian Couzens

Margaret Harrison

Peace activist -- via the Telegraph.


Peter Howell

Actor -- via Ian McKellen.

Richard Corliss

Film critic and writer -- via indiewire.

Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi

Poet -- via the Egyptian Independent.

Claudio Cunha

Actor and director -- via O Globo.

Ibrahim Yusri

Actor -- via albawaba.


Pat Dowell

Keith Shackleton

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Ann Price

Restaurateur; founder and proprietor of the famous Ann's Snack Bar in Atlanta -- via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. AKA Miss Ann. A hamburger-creating genius, including the emblematic Ghetto Burger.





Dickie Owen

Actor -- via rorkesdriftvc.com. Best known for playing Corporal Schiess in "Zulu" and the Mummy in "The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb."

Betty Lucas

Actress -- via the Sydney Morning Herald.


James Venture

Mary Doyle Keefe

The model for Rosie the Riveter -- via the Guardian.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

David T. Wilkinson

Guitarist and videographer -- via Stetson's Funeral Home. Had a local hit with the Boston group the Reveliers, "Hangin' Five."

Brian "Buzz" Leming

Willis Anderson

Writer, radio host; expert on old-time rock 'n' roll, baseball, and beer -- via legacy.com. Author of the prescient 1973 "The Beer Book" and coiner of the neologism "brewiana" (antique beer-related memorabilia).