The Celebrity Obituary Thread

[Jed Cooper]

Jerry Leiber has passed away: Rock Hit Maker Jerry Leiber Dies At 78

With Mike Stoller (left) in 1992.



Leiber, far right, with Stoller & Presley in 1957.

[KC]

A friend of mine is a close relative of Mike Stoller. She felt this like "a death in the family."

Here is the Times obituary:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/arts/music/jerry-leiber-rock-n-roll-lyricist-dies-at-78.html

R.I.P.

[Gant]

When you look at the list of great songs they composed it's incredible..

Very sad he's gone

R.I.P

[LCat]

Rest in Peace, Nick Ashford!

[KC]

A couple of appreciations of Jerry Leiber from the New York Times:

Lawrence Downes

Stephen Holden

[Jed Cooper]

A couple of appreciations of Jerry Leiber from the New York Times:

Lawrence Downes

Stephen Holden

Very interesting to read, thank you.

[Jed Cooper]

Rest in Peace, Nick Ashford!

Amen!  Nick Ashford

[higashimori]

 From Billboard;

 http://www.billboard.com/news/jerry-leiber-of-hit-songwriting-team-dies-1005324432.story#/news/jerry-leiber-of-hit-songwriting-team-dies-1005324432.story

 R.I.P.

[The Schofield Kid]

John Howard Davies passed away last week, he was 72. The name may not be familar with a lot of people but I grew up watching a lot of those British comedy series in the 1970's/80's and his name would always pop up on the end credits as producer. What I didn't know was, that he started out as an actor. He very first role as Oliver Twist.



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/arts/television/john-howard-davies-tv-comedy-producer-dies-at-72.html

[Lin Sunderland]

RIP John.

He was well known for the British comedy movies and a program was on the radio today that told us about him being a child star.

[LCat]

This is a slide show of sports stars who died this year so far:

http://www.wpix.com/sports/sns-2011-sports-deaths-pictures,0,6100899.photogallery

[higashimori]

" Eve Brent, Played Jane in Tarzan Movies, Dies at 81 "

 By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/movies/eve-brent-played-jane-in-tarzan-movies-dies-at-81.html?_r=1

 

Eve Brent, a veteran character actress whose most recognizable role was Jane to Gordon Scott’s Tarzan, died on Aug. 27 in Sun Valley, Calif. She was 81.

Her death was confirmed by a representative of Pacifica Hospital of the Valley.

Ms. Brent rebooted the character of Jane, Tarzan’s civilized love interest, in the 1958 films “Tarzan and the Trappers” and “Tarzan’s Fight for Life,” after Jane was left out of the two previous Tarzan movies. She said she took the part to please her son, who was around 6 at the time. But although it raised her profile, she later concluded that it had been a disastrous career move.

“I really couldn’t get work as an actress because of Jane,” Ms. Brent told a Tarzan fan site in 2007. “You get stereotyped, at least in the business at that time.”

 

She spent the next 10 years or so acting in theater and playing bit parts in movies like the comedy “A Guide for the Married Man” (1967), in which her character was Blowsy Blonde, and the Clint Eastwood action movie “Coogan’s Bluff” (1968), in which she played a prostitute.

  

   http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/10/ashe200810#gotopage3

 R.I.P. Jane

[KC]

^ Higashimori had originally posted the above item in the Eastwood News section because Ms. Brent had a brief role in Coogan's Bluff (see last quote), but in this case, the Moderators didn't think that was enough Eastwood content to warrant a separate thread up there, so we moved it here.

[The Schofield Kid]

Charles S. Dubin, whose career as a daring director in television’s early years stalled after he refused to answer questions before Congress about Communist involvement, then robustly rebounded as he went on to direct more episodes of “M*A*S*H” than anyone else, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 92.

nytimes

[LCat]

RIP

[LCat]

Andy Whitfield died at 39. RIP, Andy.


http://tv.yahoo.com/news/spartacus-star-whitfield-dies-lymphoma-39-004301065.html

[higashimori]

Andy Whitfield died at 39. RIP, Andy.


http://tv.yahoo.com/news/spartacus-star-whitfield-dies-lymphoma-39-004301065.html

 R.I.P.   Too young.....so sad !

[higashimori]

 " Oscar Winner Cliff Robertson Dies in N.Y. at 88 "

 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/09/10/us/AP-US-Obit-Robertson.html?_r=1&emc=na

 

NEW YORK (AP) — President John F. Kennedy had just one critique when he saw photos of the actor set to play him in a World War II drama.

The year was 1963 and actor Cliff Robertson looked convincing in his costume for "PT-109," the first film to portray a sitting president. Kennedy had favored Robertson for the role, but one detail was off.

Robertson's hair was parted on the wrong side.

The actor dutifully trained his locks to part on the left and won praise for a role he'd remain proud of throughout his life.

Robertson, who went on to win an Oscar for his portrayal of a mentally disabled man in "Charly", died of natural causes Saturday afternoon in Stony Brook, a day after his 88th birthday, according to Evelyn Christel, his secretary of 53 years.

Robertson never elevated into the top ranks of leading men, but he remained a popular actor from the mid-1950s into the following century. His later roles included kindly Uncle Ben in the "Spider-Man" movies.

 

 R.I.P.

[higashimori]

 " Longtime film studio chief John Calley dies at 81 "

 Associated Press

 http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/movies/article_af91f8c1-3566-5d0b-b641-c726fba33210.html

 

John Calley, who ran three Hollywood studios that made such hits as "The Exorcist" and "Spider-Man," died Tuesday. He was 81.

Calley died at his home in Los Angeles after a lengthy illness, Sony Pictures Entertainment said.

Among the other varied and influential films produced under his tenure as a studio head were "All the President's Men," "Dirty Harry," "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Da Vinci Code."

 

After working his way up through the ranks in the network's early years, he eventually moved to Warner Bros. in 1969, a groundbreaking time for cinema. Over the years he worked with top directors including Stanley Kubrick, Clint Eastwood and Sydney Pollack.

At the Academy Awards in 2009, Calley received the honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, with the academy praising him for his "intellectual rigor, sophisticated artistic sensibilities and calm, understated manner." He was called one of the most trusted and admired figures in Hollywood.

 

   R.I.P.

[The Schofield Kid]

I read in the paper a few days ago that Frances Bay had passed away. The name wasn't familar but I just checked her page at imdb and as soon as I saw the picture I remembered her from a couple of Seinfeld episodes as Mrs. Choate. Fans of the show will never forget Jerry stealing her rye bread and running away.

She only started acting in the late 1970's but appeared in many tv shows.



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0062844/