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.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Weekly Reader: World news on death, mourning and more
OBIT
WEEKLY READER
DEATH
Video: Caitlin Doughty on the real 'Body Worlds' story -- via the Order of the Good Death
5
of the famous who feared being buried alive – via Bess Lovejoy in Mental
Floss
You
can take a test to find out if you will die in 5 years – via Sarah Knapton
at the Telegraph
Would
you like to take it? No? – via Fay Schopen in the Guardian
The
Meaning of Life Project – via Kim Evenson at Legacy
‘Too poor to
die’
– via Dawn Foster in the Guardian
A guide to
marrying the dead
– via Ella Morton at Atlas Obscura
The latest thing
for the medical world: synthetic cadavers – via HuffPost Science
Seven children’s
books that may aid them to understand death – via Maria Popova in Brain
Pickings
Does
the fear of death motivate everything we do? – via Marc Parry at the
Chronicle of Higher Education
How
to make sure your end-of-life directives are followed – Jessica Nutik
Zitter in the New York Times
New doc on dying appears –
via Rita Heidtman at TIME
5
end-of-life films – via Karen Wyatt at the Huffington Post
An
update on the phenomenon of death cafes – via Clear Barret at the Financial
Times
Weird
ways to die in Tudor England – via Helen Thompson at the Smithsonian
Museum of
Death opens branch in New Orleans – via Deepak Sani at WGNO
Conversations
on Death program comes to Colorado – via Whitney Bryan at Hometown Weekly
News
Sometimes
they come back: Rue McClanahan’s retweeted, again – via Amanda Schupak at
CBS News
Films
on dying – via John Patterson at the Guardian
A
restaurant where you dine with the dead – via Han Zhang at Munchies
10
people whose hearts were buried separately from them – via Bess Lovejoy at
Mental Floss
The
science of human decomposition – via Mo Costandi in the Guardian
A tough read:
preparing children who die for burial – via Alejandra Diaz Mattoni
Photographer
makes portraits of those about to die – via Dying Matters
What
happened to the mummy of the man who said he was John Wilkes Booth? – via Christopher
Klein in History in the Headlines
MOURNING
Mourning – a
cultural survey
– via Frannie Silverman in Modern Loss
Facebook
exec ends 30-day Jewish mourning phase – via the Chicago Tribune
Facebook
exec’s essay on grief – via Cathy Brown at Matador Network
‘My two dads’ – grieving someone
before their death – via Ryan Murdock in Modern Loss
Losing
a mother early in life – via Fay Schopen in the Guardian
A
friend helps a friend through his wife’s final illness and death – via Matthew
Teague in Esquire
‘Finding
Order, Out of Sequence’ – via Alizah Salario in the New York Times
‘How
to let go when a loved one is dying’ – via Bonnie Lawrence at PBS
How
to talk to the bereaved – via Kate Whiting in BT
How
to communicate with a grieving coworker – via Laura Shin in Forbes
15
beautiful cemeteries – via Erin Check in BuzzFeed
New
service to aid with burial, mourning info – via the Jerusalem Post
Roadside
markers – proper memorials or safety hazards? – via Ryan Robinson at
Lancaster Online
Cartoon:
A forgotten mausoleum is restored – via Andy Warner on Tumblr
One
family’s mountain pilgrimage in mourning – via Clare Ansberry in the Wall
Street Journal
Concert
aims to reconcile Jewish, Arab grief – via Elhanan Miller in the Times of
Israel
Disney’s
obsession with death – via Sean Braswell at USA Today
Oops
– BBC accidently tweets Queen Elizabeth death notice – via John vibes at
Antimedia
FUNERALS
Morticians volunteer in wake
of Chinese sinking tragedy – via Si Huan at the China Daily
New frontiers in
funerals: Would you like the deceased to make a holographic farewell? – via Lindsey
Bablan at WINK
A good idea,
actually: “comfort dogs” at a funeral home – via Richard Liebson at Lohud
Increased
affluence in Asia makes funeral expos boom – via Jonathan Kaiman at the
L.A. Times
‘Inside a Texas biker
funeral’
– via Aleem Maqbool at the BBC
Our toxic burial
practices
– via Reynard Loki at Alternet
Young people
taking up mortuary trade – via Efia Akese and Dzifa Kegey at the Graphic
(Ghana)
Try
an organic burial pod – via Bored Panda
You get what you
pay for – discount mortician indicted – via Trudie Mason at CJAD
OBITS
Pretty nifty
obituary tribute from a journalist grandson – via Peter Nikeas in the
Chicago Tribune
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Nek Chand
Outsider artist -- via the BBC. Creator of the sculpture gardens of Chandigarh. With no training, and from few resources, he created a world of beauty.
Monica Lewis
Actress and singer -- via Variety. AKA May Bloom. An emergency replacement for an eloping Peggy Lee for a Benny Goodman broadcast in 1943, Lewis had a string of post-war hits, and appeared frequently on radio and in film and television. Her most notorious success was as the first voice of Chiquita Banana. A much more pervasive and influential vocal presence culturally than one might think!
Frank Zachary
Editor and art director -- via the New York Times. He made magazines you hung on to -- the highest compliment for an editor!
Jim Ed Brown
Hall of Fame country music singer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. A regular at the Grand Ole Opry for half a century, his first hit was with his sisters as The Browns -- the classic "The Three Bells."
Jagendra Singh
Journalist -- via the Independent. Burned to death by police at the behest of a local official he criticized publicly. PLEASE be aware -- the video is unflinchingly graphic. I normally don't post such things.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Paul Bacon
Superb designer of book and record jackets -- via the New York Times. He was also a layer of the jazz . . . comb.
Callisto Cosulich
Film critic, writer, journalist, and screenwriter -- via La Stampa. Contributed to the screenplay of Bava's cult classic "Planet of the Vampires" and opened the first arthouse cinema in Italy.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Ron Moody
Actor, singer, writer, composer, and lyricist; forever Fagin in "Oliver!" -- via the New York Times. AKA Ron Moodnick. Who else could yell "Shut up and drink yer gin!" to children so winningly?
Robert Chartoff
Oscar-winning producer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. With Irwin Winkler, made many of the great films of his time -- "Rocky," "Raging Bull," "The Right Stuff," Boorman's "Point Blank," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", Reisz's "The Gambler," "True Confessions," "The New Centurions." Even his Charles Bronson vehicle "The Mechanic" is arguably Bronson's best. As the Hollywood Reporter piece states so succinctly, "Their films collected 12 Oscars and 40 nominations". He made a lot of money and he made good work -- these goals are not incompatible. Mighty impressive.
Seth Winston
Oscar-winning filmmaker and educator -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Best Live Action Short, 1991, "Session Man."
Ornette Coleman
Pulitzer-winning saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer; inventor of free jazz -- via the New York Times. Not many people create a musical genre, but that's what this genius did. In a music that prizes improvisation, he was despised early in his career for improvising too much, and for playing "the wrong notes." His recorded braveries sometimes makes the work of Parker, Davis, and Coltrane sound like mere mannerism.
He was even assaulted for this, and once had his sax destroyed as well by irate listeners. However, he pressed on. He reminded me of another dead rebel, comedian Bill Hicks. Both he and Coleman did what they needed to do onstage, and either you were down with that or you could leave. Or the artist would be happy to fight you. Comedy and music are two of the few remaining entertainment genres in which you risk getting the shit kicked out of you in the course of a night's work.
He believed one could erase, alter, ignore, fuse, mutate, spindle, mutilate, enshrine, and/or make love to all the structures and habits of all music up to that point and beyond, all at the same time. Starting with a blank conceptual slate, he cut to the chase, a musical mad scientist, a raging blank-rhyme poet, letting the music take him where it would and teaching an entire generation to do the same. AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL, full of his intelligence and feeling.
He somehow knew that the act of committing is powerful in and of itself. He somehow knew that trusting whatever sounds come out is the fantastic spontaneous heartbeat of art. Like Charles Ives, he heard music where others denied it. He heard it and made it everywhere, in every setting, with every kind of player.
He constantly innovated, trying new things with hundreds of collaborators. That is music is so engaging is a tribute to his innate musicianship -- others might make a self-indulgent mess of free jazz, but Coleman could always find the dynamic, listenable heart of any piece and send that understanding to the audience. Like a contemporary visionary, Sun Ra, he is still way ahead of his time.
He was even assaulted for this, and once had his sax destroyed as well by irate listeners. However, he pressed on. He reminded me of another dead rebel, comedian Bill Hicks. Both he and Coleman did what they needed to do onstage, and either you were down with that or you could leave. Or the artist would be happy to fight you. Comedy and music are two of the few remaining entertainment genres in which you risk getting the shit kicked out of you in the course of a night's work.
He believed one could erase, alter, ignore, fuse, mutate, spindle, mutilate, enshrine, and/or make love to all the structures and habits of all music up to that point and beyond, all at the same time. Starting with a blank conceptual slate, he cut to the chase, a musical mad scientist, a raging blank-rhyme poet, letting the music take him where it would and teaching an entire generation to do the same. AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL, full of his intelligence and feeling.
He somehow knew that the act of committing is powerful in and of itself. He somehow knew that trusting whatever sounds come out is the fantastic spontaneous heartbeat of art. Like Charles Ives, he heard music where others denied it. He heard it and made it everywhere, in every setting, with every kind of player.
He constantly innovated, trying new things with hundreds of collaborators. That is music is so engaging is a tribute to his innate musicianship -- others might make a self-indulgent mess of free jazz, but Coleman could always find the dynamic, listenable heart of any piece and send that understanding to the audience. Like a contemporary visionary, Sun Ra, he is still way ahead of his time.
Christopher Lee
Actor and singer; the last great classic horror film star -- via the Guardian. One of the hardest-working actors in film history (281 iMDB credits), Lee was the last towering figure from horror's heyday -- in terms of height (6'5") as well as power. He began his career in 1946, and worked up to the present -- nearly 70 years!
Of course, he was the definitive Dracula for Britain's Hammer horror studio -- elegant with an undercurrent of carnivorous rage -- in 1958's "The Horror of Dracula," and eight subsequent, increasingly mediocre films. His work with his dear friend Peter Cushing (25 films together) will last forever.
Beyond his work for Hammer, which included playing Frankenstein's monster ("The Curse of Frankenstein"),
the Mummy, Fu Manchu, Rasputin, and the like. He created many more indelible characterizations, primarily villainous.
In the 1970s, he briefly returned to popular consciousness as the evil assassin Scaramagna in the James Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun" in 1974.
However, it took another 25 years before his work in the "Star Wars" franchise (Count Dooku),
"Lord of the Rings""Hobbit" films (Saruman),
and five films with Tim Burton, gave him the affection and regard that he deserved.
His expert fencing stood him well in many period films, another specialty of his. There was something of another century about him -- his gravitas and focus weighted him and made simply his silent presence substantial. He also was a fine baritone, and recorded many albums of classical selections -- and many, many heavy metal albums, a genre he also loved.
He worked for directors as diverse as Burton, Peter Jackson, Robert Siodmak ("The Crimson Pirate"), John Huston ("Moulin Rouge"), Billy Wilder ("The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes"), Spielberg ("1941" -- he was an adept at comedy as well!), and Scorsese (the gentle bookseller in "Hugo").
Here is a selection of my favorite roles of his, besides those referenced above:
Resurrection Joe in "Corridors of Blood," 1958 -- as a body snatcher, he gives Karloff a run for his money
Kurt Menliff in "The Whip and the Body," 1963 -- an extremely disturbing sex-and-violence Gothic tale from Mario Bava
Franklyn Marsh, the victim of "The Disembodied Hand" segment of "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors," 1965
The Duc de Richleau in "The Devil Rides Out," 1968 -- one of Lee's few heroic roles, and one he carries off splendidly
Lord Summerisle in "The Wicker Man," 1973 -- perhaps his most terrifying characterization, as the performance is delivered in such a low-key, matter-of-fact manner
Rochefort in Richard Lester's "Three Musketeers" and "Four Musketeers" -- Droll and deadly, his duel to the death with Michael York in the latter film is one of the great swordfights ever filmed
Jinnah in "Jinnah" -- his favorite role, in a biopic that is very hard to find
A class act, a sweet guy, and a great actor.
Of course, he was the definitive Dracula for Britain's Hammer horror studio -- elegant with an undercurrent of carnivorous rage -- in 1958's "The Horror of Dracula," and eight subsequent, increasingly mediocre films. His work with his dear friend Peter Cushing (25 films together) will last forever.
Beyond his work for Hammer, which included playing Frankenstein's monster ("The Curse of Frankenstein"),
the Mummy, Fu Manchu, Rasputin, and the like. He created many more indelible characterizations, primarily villainous.
In the 1970s, he briefly returned to popular consciousness as the evil assassin Scaramagna in the James Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun" in 1974.
However, it took another 25 years before his work in the "Star Wars" franchise (Count Dooku),
"Lord of the Rings""Hobbit" films (Saruman),
and five films with Tim Burton, gave him the affection and regard that he deserved.
His expert fencing stood him well in many period films, another specialty of his. There was something of another century about him -- his gravitas and focus weighted him and made simply his silent presence substantial. He also was a fine baritone, and recorded many albums of classical selections -- and many, many heavy metal albums, a genre he also loved.
He worked for directors as diverse as Burton, Peter Jackson, Robert Siodmak ("The Crimson Pirate"), John Huston ("Moulin Rouge"), Billy Wilder ("The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes"), Spielberg ("1941" -- he was an adept at comedy as well!), and Scorsese (the gentle bookseller in "Hugo").
Here is a selection of my favorite roles of his, besides those referenced above:
Resurrection Joe in "Corridors of Blood," 1958 -- as a body snatcher, he gives Karloff a run for his money
Kurt Menliff in "The Whip and the Body," 1963 -- an extremely disturbing sex-and-violence Gothic tale from Mario Bava
Franklyn Marsh, the victim of "The Disembodied Hand" segment of "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors," 1965
The Duc de Richleau in "The Devil Rides Out," 1968 -- one of Lee's few heroic roles, and one he carries off splendidly
Lord Summerisle in "The Wicker Man," 1973 -- perhaps his most terrifying characterization, as the performance is delivered in such a low-key, matter-of-fact manner
Rochefort in Richard Lester's "Three Musketeers" and "Four Musketeers" -- Droll and deadly, his duel to the death with Michael York in the latter film is one of the great swordfights ever filmed
Jinnah in "Jinnah" -- his favorite role, in a biopic that is very hard to find
A class act, a sweet guy, and a great actor.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Jean Grualt
Screenwriter who helped establish the New Wave -- via Le Monde. A key player in French film in the '60s, though underestimated. He wrote scripts for directors such as Rivette ("Paris Belongs to Us"), Resnais ("My American Uncle"), and Rossellini ("The Rise of Louis XIV"). His chief collaboration was with Truffaut, for whom he wrote many great screen adaptations, some of my favorite films: "Jules and Jim," "The Wild Child," "The Story of Adele H.", and "Two English Girls."
William H. MacLeish
Writer -- via the Boston Globe. A specialist in environmental journalism. The son of the highly esteemed 20th-century writer Archibald, Bryan Marquard's beautifully written obit tells the story of a loving son who nonetheless had to step out of his father's shadow to find his own quite effective voice as a a writer. A compelling and well-researched archetype of the good obituary.
Sonya Rapoport
Artist -- via Temple Beth El. A pioneer in conceptual and digital art, very witty and innovative and waaaay ahead of her time.
Gilbert Lewis
Actor best known as the original King of Cartoons on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" -- via peewee.com. When the show moved from New York to L.A. in Season 2, Lewis was replaced by the great Shakespearean actor (and Blacula!) William Marshall. Still, there was something in Lewis's mien that was more disturbing -- that wall-eyed, drunken-hobo gaze that lurked at the edges of his geniality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)