RIP Dom Deluise
May 5th, 2009
2 comments
Archive
Posts Tagged ‘RIP’
RIP Patrick McGoohan
January 20th, 2009
3 comments
You are not a number. You are a free man.
Patrick McGoohan
RIP 1924-2009
Just learned of the passing of one of my personal heroes and role models, Mr. Patrick McGoohan. He shall be missed. Here’s a noice article from The Guardian, across the pond.
Patrick McGoohan: The Prisoner actor dies aged 80
Patrick McGoohan, the Emmy award-winning actor who created and starred in 1960s TV show The Prisoner, has died at the age of 80.
The actor’s son-in-law, film producer Cleve Landsberg, said today that McGoohan had died yesterday in Los Angeles after a short illness.
McGoohan was best known as the title character Number Six in surreal drama The Prisoner, which aired on ITV in the UK. He played a former spy who is held captive in a small village and constantly tries to escape.
He also won two Emmys for detective drama Columbo, playing different characters, with the first coming in 1974 and the other 16 years later.
More recently, McGoohan appeared as King Edward Longshanks in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart.
McGoohan, who was born in New York but raised in England and Ireland, came to screen prominence in ITV’s early 1960s drama series Danger Man, in which he played a secret agent.
He was also considered for the lead role in the first James Bond movie, Dr No, before Sean Connery was cast.
However, it was The Prisoner, which aired originally on ITV between 1967 and 1968, with which he was chiefly associated, writing some of the episodes himself under a different name.
His character, Number Six, spent the entire time attempting to escape from a prison – which was disguised as a holiday camp – and trying to find out the identity of his captor, the elusive Number One. He repeatedly declared: “I am not a number – I am a free man!”
In 2000, McGoohan reprised his most famous role in an episode of The Simpsons. His last acting job came in 2002, voicing a character in animation Treasure Planet.
ITV is currently remaking The Prisoner in conjunction with American cable channel AMC.It is due to air later this year.
McGoohan’s other film acting credits include Ice Station Zebra, Escape from Alcatraz, Scanners and A Time to Kill.
RIP Bettie Page
December 12th, 2008
No comments
You shall be missed
Bettie Page
RIP 1923-2008
CNN reports…
1950s pinup model Bettie Page dead at 85
“She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality,” said agent Mark Roesler in a written statement. “She is the embodiment of beauty.”
Page, said to be one of the most photographed people of the past century, became a recluse in recent decades. Yet, her images continued to be used around the world to market Bettie Page action figures, clothing lines and other merchandise.
“Her popularity as an underground, guilty pleasures phenomenon has continued to soar despite the fact that the reclusive Page disappeared almost a half century ago, leading many to believe that one of the most photographed individuals of the 20th century was already dead.” Roesler said.
The Web site, BettiePage.com, logs about 20 million hits a month, Roesler said. A TVGuide.com poll recently placed Bettie Page as the “ultimate sex goddess,” outscoring others such as Marilyn Monroe.
RIP Special Delivery ‘S.D.’ Jones
October 27th, 2008
1 comment
So long, SD! You will be missed!
S.D Jones
RIP 1945-2008
SLAM Wrestling reports…
S.D. Jones dies in Antigua
By GREG OLIVERSpecial Delivery Jones, one of the regular faces in the World Wrestling Federation heyday of the 1980s, died Sunday in Antigua, following a stroke two days ago. He was 63.
Remembered fondly by fans as a solid competitor who could believably get in the ring with the superstar giants, even if he didn’t win very often, Jones was last seen on a national broadcast at the WrestleMania 22 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in Chicago, where he inducted “Mr. U.S.A.” Tony Atlas.
Born Conrad Efraim on March 30, 1945, in Antigua, in the West Indies, he befriended Johnny Rodz in New York City while he was still working for the phone company. His wrestling career began in the mid-’70s, working for the WWWF, and heading on the road to the Mid-Atlantic territory, and Los Angeles, where he would win the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship with Porkchop Cash; Jones would later team with Tom Jones (no relation) to win the titles again. For some of the time, he was known as Roosevelt Jones, before the more familiar S.D., or Special Delivery, Jones came into prominence.
Irregardless of his success elsewhere, the 6-foot-1, 260-pound Jones will always be remembered as a quality carpenter for the WWWF and WWF, capable of winning matches or losing believably. Often, Jones would team with bigger name stars, like Andre the Giant or Rocky Johnson to battle some despicable tag teams.
At the first WrestleMania, in 1985 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Jones lost to King Kong Bundy is nine seconds. In March 2004, Jones told SLAM! Wrestling’s Steven Johnson that he was concerned that such a beating in front of a national audience would damage his career.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Jones said. But McMahon persuaded him that a humiliating loss to Bundy would achieve the company’s goal of developing a monstrous rival to the likes of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. After some contemplation, Jones took his medicine. “Bundy was the man then,” he said. On the plus side, Jones was not in the ring long enough to risk injury and, for good measure, “made a big, big, big, big payday.”
In a 2005 interview with SLAM! Wrestling’s Dave Hillhouse, Jones matter-of-factly addressed his career, and his role as enhancement talent. “Everybody knows it’s a show — promoters call the shots. Everybody knows that. Sometimes you don’t care, sometimes you care. Honestly, I knew there was no way I was going to get to that main championship, that’s for sure. I never even thought about it. A lot of us guys, we knew there was no way we were going to get up there,” he explained. “I was comfortable because I knew what they wanted. They want you to be there for Hulk Hogan and Pedro Morales; they want you to be an S.D. Jones, to be a Johnny Rodz. After a while you just get comfortable where you are, and that’s it. You’re doing a job, you’re making a living, and you just keep on going.”
At the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony for Atlas, Jones told stories about being on the road with his “best friend,” including impromptu weightlifting challenges in Egypt, Norway and Spain. No shrinking violet himself, Jones talked about lifting over 500 pounds himself; of course, Atlas could lift over 600 pounds.
Jones and Atlas met in 1980 in Allentown, Penn., and soon were a tag team, aiming for the WWWF tag titles. “We tried and we tried and we tried. I could not do it. I was the one that killed the tag, so I had to step aside,” Jones told the WWE Hall of Fame audience. Rocky Johnson replaced him in the tag and he and Atlas were soon champs — but they couldn’t get along, losing after three weeks.
After 22 years in the ring, Jones called it quits, lost a significant amount of weight, and began working for the New York Daily News, driving newspapers.
About eight months ago, he retired and moved back to his native Antigua. His remains are at Straffie’s Funeral Home in St John’s, Antigua.
Categories: News, People & Personalities, Pro Wrestling death, Passes Away, Pro Wrestling, RIP, S.D. Jones, Special Delivery Jones, WWE, WWF, WWWF
RIP Don LaFontaine
September 2nd, 2008
6 comments
Voiceover master Don LaFontaine dies at 68
That voiceover legend Don LaFontaine has passed away. He shall be missed.
Don LaFontaine
RIP 1940-2008
CNN reports the bad news…
‘In a world’ voiceover master dies at 68
Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose “In a world …” phrase on movie trailers was much copied — and much parodied — has died, according to media reports. He was 68.
LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, according to ETOnline, “Entertainment Tonight’s” Web site. He died from complications from pneumothorax, a collapsed lung that causes air to build in the pleural cavity, his agent, Vanessa Gilbert, told “ET.”
LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, began as a voice actor in the mid-1960s while working as a recording engineer, according to his Web site. His strong, slightly gravelly voice was featured on trailers for thousands of films, including “The Godfather,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” For a time in the late ’70s, LaFontaine was the official voice of Paramount Pictures.
His favorite work was one he did for the 1980 film “The Elephant Man,” he said in interviews, but whether the film was Oscar-caliber or a bomb waiting to blow, he handled every assignment equally.
“My philosophy is that you have to really believe what you’re reading, even if you think the film’s a piece of junk,” he told Swindle magazine. “Even the worst picture is someone’s favorite film, and that someone is the fan I am always talking to.”
He also provided the voice for hundreds of commercials for companies such as General Motors, Ford, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and many others, according to his Web site.
The good-humored LaFontaine was willing to poke fun at himself, particularly in a recent ad for Geico insurance, in which he gave dramatic flair to a woman’s story about her car accident. He also voiced the trailer for “The Simpsons Movie,” in which his descriptions were mimicked by commentary from the film’s characters.
But LaFontaine was most famous for his phrase “In a world …,” used by seemingly dozens of movies determined to create an otherworldly atmosphere.
LaFontaine told CNN that the scripts gave him the cues for his delivery.
“They dictate how they want to be read,” he told “Showbiz Tonight” in 2005. “It’s pretty much straightforward stuff because you know the context of the film generally going in. If it’s something like ‘King Kong,’ you have a pretty good idea of how you`re going to say it. It’s going to be a big adventure thing. And I let the [script] more or less guide what I’m going to say.”
He added that there was no secret to his movie trailer work: “I really think this is one of the few industries where everything is right up there,” he told CNN. “What you see is what you get.”
Still, he noted, it’s not like he could use his movie-trailer voice everywhere.
“If I tried to use that voice in public,” he said, “they’d be calling security.”
LaFontaine is survived by his wife, actress and singer Nita Whitaker, and three children, Christine, Skye and Elyse
RIP Isaac Hayes
August 10th, 2008
2 comments
We’ll see you on the other side, brother
Isaac Hayes RIP
1942-2008
CNN reports…
Soul legend Isaac Hayes dies
Soul singer and arranger Isaac Hayes, who won Grammy awards and an Oscar for the theme from the 1971 action film “Shaft,” has died, sheriff’s officials in Memphis, Tennessee, reported Sunday.
Relatives found Hayes, 65, unconscious in his home next to a still-running treadmill, said Steve Schular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.
Paramedics attempted to revive him and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m., the sheriff’s department said.
No foul play is suspected, the agency said in a written statement.
Hayes was a longtime songwriter and arranger for Stax Records in Memphis, playing in the studio’s backup band and crafting tunes for artists such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave in the 1960s.
He released his first solo album in 1967.
In 1971, the theme from “Shaft” became a pop hit and won an Academy Award for best original theme song. The song and the movie score also won Grammy awards for best original score and movie theme.
RIP Bobby Murcer
July 12th, 2008
No comments
NY Yankee Favorite Passes Away
Bobby Murcer 1946-2008
Just got word that one of my favorite sports broadcasters, Bobby Murcer, passed away today. The AP reports…
Ex-Yanks star, broadcaster Bobby Murcer dies at 62
NEW YORK (AP) Bobby Murcer succeeded Mickey Mantle, played in pinstripes with Don Mattingly and watched proudly from the broadcast booth when the New York Yankees returned to power.
A cherished link from former Yankees greats to the club’s current stars, Murcer died Saturday due to complications from a malignant brain tumor, the team said. He was 62.
In his final moments, Murcer was surrounded by family at Mercy Hospital in his hometown of Oklahoma City, the Yankees said. A five-time All-Star outfielder, he spent nearly four decades with New York as a player, executive and announcer.
“Bobby Murcer was a born Yankee, a great guy, very well-liked and a true friend of mine,” owner George Steinbrenner said. “I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Kay, their children and grandchildren. I will really miss the guy.”
Murcer was diagnosed with a brain tumor on Christmas Eve 2006 after having headaches. He had surgery that week in Houston and doctors later discovered the tumor was malignant. Determined to be around his beloved Yankees, Murcer returned to the broadcast booth last year and briefly this season.
The only person to play with Mantle and Mattingly, the popular Murcer hit .277 with 252 home runs and 1,043 RBIs in 17 seasons with the Yankees, San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs. He made the All-Star team in both leagues and won a Gold Glove.
“All of Major League Baseball is saddened today by the passing of Bobby Murcer, particularly on the eve of this historic All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, a place he called home for so many years,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “Bobby was a gentleman, a great ambassador for baseball, and a true leader both on and off the field. He was a man of great heart and compassion.”
Always a fan favorite in New York and known for his folksy manner as a broadcaster, Murcer won three Emmy Awards for live sports coverage. His most dramatic words came during his time as a player on one of the saddest days in Yankees history.
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