The Celebrity Obituary Thread

[The Schofield Kid]

Dave Madden, who played band manager Reuben Kincaid on “The Partridge Family,” died Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida of congestive heart and kidney failure. He was 82.

Madden’s character was typically aggravated by the mischievous Partridge kids and tangled frequently with Danny Bonaduce’s character.

While the series starred Shirley Jones, with her real-life son David Cassidy as the resident heartthrob, it was Madden and the freckle-faced Bonaduce who became the reigning comic duo.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/dave-madden-of-the-partridge-family-dies-at-82-1201061433/

[Lin Sunderland]

The death has been announced of Pete Seeger.

I listened to his many songs protest and otherwise as I was growing up. Have always been a fan.

RIP Pete.

http://peteseeger.net/wp/?p=1921

[Lin Sunderland]

RIP Dave Madden.

The Partridge Family was such a fun show and he was tormented by the Partridge kids.

[Jed Cooper]

Rest In Peace to all the recently departed. 

[AKA23]

Wow. This really is shocking. Philip Seymour Hoffman has died.

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304626804579358943360702878?mobile=y

[Doug]

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman. This one hurts. He was one of my favorite actors. I've thought for a while that he was the best actor in his prime working today. He was brilliant in everything, whether it was in smaller roles like The Big Lebowski or The Talented Mr. Ripley or Boogie Nights, or in major roles in Capote, Doubt, or my favorite, Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. And that is only a small sampling of films he's been in, and we should have had decades more to enjoy his work. He's spoken in the past about his struggles with addiction. It looks as if the drugs won out in the end. It's very sad. He leaves behind three children.

[Doug]

Philip Seymour Hoffman Tribute

[KC]

R.I.P., Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's always sad when one so talented dies so young, and this time it's even sadder because addiction has claimed another victim.

[Jed Cooper]

I just heard about this on the radio.  So sad.  I remember first seeing him as a supporting actor in Twister.  I noticed how good he was even then.  He was a very talented actor, indeed and just a year younger than I.  R.I.P. Mr. Hoffman.

[Lin Sunderland]

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman.

He is a loss to movie making. The reason for his death is so sad. Why do such talented people do these things to themselves?

[Sylvie]

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman.

He is a loss to movie making. The reason for his death is so sad. Why do such talented people do these things to themselves?

I liked him in every part he played, but especially in "The Big Lebowsky", "Magnolia" and "Good Morning England"
Very sad news ...

[Jed Cooper]

R.I.P. Mr. Schell

Entertainment Weekly

[KC]

^ I was going to post the Maximilian Schell obit from the Times, but the Philip Seymour Hoffman news seemed to overshadow it. Anyway, here it is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/movies/maximilian-schell-oscar-winning-actor-dies-at-83.html



Both Schell and Hoffman were Oscar winners, but what a contrast in what librarians used to call "conduct of life."

R.I.P.

[AKA23]

R.I.P., Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's always sad when one so talented dies so young, and this time it's even sadder because addiction has claimed another victim.

This really is very sad. It is made all the more tragic because Philip Seymour Hoffman has three young children who will now grow up without a father I usually have a hard time feeling sympathetic for drug addicts, but in this particular case, it really does appear that Hoffman really tried to get clean. According to news reports he was clean for 23 years before relapsing recently. After his relapse, he went to rehab after becoming addicted to prescription medication and then moving onto heroin. We have so much more work to do to turn people away from these poisons that increasing number of people are turning to to medicate away the problems of life. Drugs are never the answer.

[Jed Cooper]

This really is very sad. It is made all the more tragic because Philip Seymour Hoffman has three young children who will now grow up without a father I usually have a hard time feeling sympathetic for drug addicts, but in this particular case, it really does appear that Hoffman really tried to get clean. According to news reports he was clean for 23 years before relapsing recently. After his relapse, he went to rehab after becoming addicted to prescription medication and then moving onto heroin. We have so much more work to do to turn people away from these poisons that increasing number of people are turning to to medicate away the problems of life. Drugs are never the answer.

Very well said, AKA.  I agree. 

[LCat]

I hadn't heard about Maximilian Schell. I really liked him.

Anyway, RIP to all I've missed.

LCat

[Jed Cooper]

Shirley Temple Black has passed away:  Entertainment Weekly

Through the years...







Such an icon!  Rest in peace, Mrs. Black.

[Lin Sunderland]

R.I.P. Shirley.

[Rawhide7]

Ralph Waite the father on the Waltons John Walton has passed away at the age of 85.  Great actor and even greater person from what I've read.  He will be missed!

[KC]

Surprised no one posted this yet ...

Sid Caesar, comic genius and television pioneer, died on Wednesday at 91:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/arts/television/sid-caesar-comic-who-blazed-tv-trail-dies-at-91.html

Billy Crystal provided this touching tribute to him in today's Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/arts/television/why-did-i-become-a-comic-he-inspired-me.html

R.I.P.