The Celebrity Obituary Thread

[Christopher]

Things I did not know about Peter Falk:

Quote
Mr. Falk had a glass eye, resulting from an operation to remove a cancerous tumor when he was 3 years old.


Quote
Peter Michael Falk was born in Manhattan on Sept. 16, 1927, and lived for a time in the Bronx, near Yankee Stadium, but grew up mostly in Ossining, N.Y, where his father owned a clothing store and where, in spite of his missing eye, he was a high school athlete. In one story he liked to tell, after being called out at third base during a baseball game, he removed his eye and handed it to the umpire.

“You’ll do better with this,” he said

Yeah, he wasn't cross-eyed or anything.

[Lin Sunderland]

I heard about Peter;s passing on the news tonight.  

I loved him in Columbo.  There was something about him that you couldn't help but like.

RIP Peter.

[Sylvie]

RIP Mr Falk

[Doug]

R.I.P. Mr. Falk.

I love him as Columbo, but I also love him in a lot of other films.  Wings of Desire is a great one where he plays himself--with a twist.

[LCat]

Is anyone else besides me able to remember Peter Falk in a bit part from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World?

RIP, Peter Falk.

[B.C.]

Wow, rest in peace and glod bless Mr. Clemons and Mr. Falk. 

[KC]

Otto von Hapsburg is dead at the age of 98. His father was the last emperor of Austria-Hungary.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/world/europe/05hapsburg.html

Here he is in 1936, in the uniform of a captain of the Tyrolean rifleman's regiment.



R.I.P.

[LCat]

98 years is a long time to live. I don't know if I'd like to live that long.

I might have mentioned--I can't remember his name, so, I'll call him Lou-- before, who lived to be nearly 104. He climbed the subway steps here in NYC until he was 101.  He had 2 girlfriends, one, a young thing at 75. The other was 86. At 102, he started using a walker, reluctantly. He had all of his faculties.

My grandmother, at 93, was tired of living--Eating liquified food was too much effort. Also, because of going blind around that time and living in a nursing home, she was disoriented, unable to walk and bedridden.

I guess if I could get around like "Lou", then I'd still want to be here.

I say all this to say,

Rest in peace, Otto.

[higashimori]

" French choreographer Roland Petit dies "

 The Associated Press

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/07/10/petit-obit.html

 

Acclaimed choreographer Roland Petit, whose creations dazzled stages from Paris to Hollywood and inspired dancers, writers and designers has died in Geneva, aged 87.

The Paris National Opera announced Petit's death Sunday after getting word from his wife, Zizi Jeanmaire, a ballerina turned music hall performer who collaborated with her husband.

France's Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand paid tribute to him, deeming Petit "one of the major choreographers of the 20th Century."

Petit is credited with creating more than 100 ballets.

Mitterrand also noted Petit's works brought together designers like Yves Saint-Laurent for costumes, Picasso for decor and writer and poet Jacques Prevert.

 

  R.I.P Monsieur Roland Petit 

 

[KC]

Hmm, I thought someone would have posted about Betty Ford by now ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/09/us/politics/betty-ford-dies.html

Betty Ford, Former First Lady, Dies at 93
By ENID NEMY

Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the best-known rehabilitation centers in the nation, died Friday in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 93.

Her death was confirmed by Chris Chase, Mrs. Ford’s biographer.

The news of her death at Eisenhower Medical Center brought statements of condolence from President Obama, former Presidents George Bush, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, and Nancy Reagan, the former first lady.

“She was Jerry Ford’s strength through some very difficult days in our country’s history,” Mrs. Reagan said, “and I admired her courage in facing and sharing her personal struggles with all of us.”

Few first ladies have been as popular as Betty Ford, and it was her frankness and lack of pretense that made her so. She spoke often in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, discussed premarital sex and revealed that she intended to share a bed with her husband in the White House.

When her husband’s voice failed him the morning after he was defeated by Jimmy Carter in 1976, it was she who read the official concession statement with smiling grace. And when Mr. Ford died in December 2006, it was Mrs. Ford who announced his death. The six days of national mourning returned her to a spotlight she had tried to avoid in her later years, living in Rancho Mirage, Calif., a golf community southeast of Palm Springs, and tending to her clinic there, the Betty Ford Center.

R.I.P.

[B.C.]

Hmm, I thought someone would have posted about Betty Ford by now ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/09/us/politics/betty-ford-dies.html

R.I.P.

Oh yes, I happened to learn of this Saturday morning.  RIP Betty Ford.

[Lin Sunderland]

RIP  Betty Ford.   A remarkable lady.

[The Schofield Kid]

Sherwood Schwartz passed away this week. He was 94. TV writer probably best known as the creator of the tv series Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/13/local/la-me-sherwood-schwartz-20110713

[Lin Sunderland]

I used to watch Gilligan's Island, I thought it a bit silly but fun.  The Brady Bunch was OK if you liked the clean-cut-wealthy-American-family comedies, and I did back then.  I notice he also wrote for Bob Hope, that was a long career.

RIP Sherwood.

[The Schofield Kid]

British actress Googie Withers passed away in Sydney over the weekend. She was 94.

SMH

[The Schofield Kid]

Chilean singer/actor Antonio Prieto passed away from heart failure July 14, 2011, at the age of 85 in Santiago, Chile and will be buried in Vina del Mar, Chile, July 16. During his 50-year career Prieto recorded over 1000 songs, acted in more than 33 films and had the first variety television show in South America. As an actor, he is best known internationally for the role of Don Miguel Rojo, the eldest of the bandit brothers in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood. Considered by music critics as an icon of the Latin Bolero genre, his biggest international hit was “La Novia” (“The Wedding”).

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/7/prweb8648150.htm

[KC]

Wow, I had no idea he was a singer! Too bad they didn't do a musical remake of Fistful while there was still time!

R.I.P., Antonio.

[Lin Sunderland]

British actress Googie Withers passed away in Sydney over the weekend. She was 94.

SMH

I remember seeing her on stage in Melbourne in An Ideal Husband,   Googie was a very attractive woman.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/googie-withers-actress-who-found-success-on-stage-and-screen-over-nine-decades-2315365.html



Googie with her Aussie husband John McCallum.  They were married 62 years.

[Lin Sunderland]

RIP Antonio.

[GreenEyes]

Wow, I had no idea he was a singer! Too bad they didn't do a musical remake of Fistful while there was still time!

Could you imagine!?