Anthony Minghella dies at 54
Director suffers fatal hemorrhage
By ADAM DAWTREY, ALI JAAFAR
Minghella
http://www.variety.com/VR1117982586.html
LONDON — Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director and writer of “The English Patient,” died Tuesday. He was 54.
A spokesman said he suffered a fatal hemorrhage at 5 a.m. GMT Tuesday at Charing Cross Hospital in London, where he had undergone an operation last week on a growth in his neck.
Minghella most recently directed the BBC/WeinsteinCo./HBO telepic “No 1 Ladies Detective Agency,” based on Alexander McCall Smith’s novel set in Botswana, which is due to premiere March 23 on BBC1. He co-wrote and co-exec produced the adaptation with Richard Curtis.
His last movie was “Breaking and Entering” in 2006, also for the Weinstein Co. His other movie credits include “Cold Mountain,” “The Talented Mr Ripley,” “Mr Wonderful” and “Truly Madly Deeply.”
He recently stepped down as chairman of the British Film Institute after serving four years in the role. He was a partner with Sydney Pollack in Mirage Enterprises, and served as producer on Mirage pics, including “The Interpreter,” “Catch a Fire” and “The Reader.”
He is survived by his wife Carolyn Choa, a producer, and his two children — Hannah, who was named last week as president of production at Sony Pictures Animations, and Max, an actor who is currently filming “Agora” with Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar.
His longtime collaborator and friend Harvey Weinstein said in a statement, “I am shocked and heartbroken that we have lost Anthony. He was my mentor, my partner and, most of all, my brother. The grace, joy and tenderness he brought to his films were symbolic of his life and the many people he touched. There are many personal and professional moments we have shared together and I will treasure them for the rest of my life. Our thoughts and prayers are with his beautiful family at this difficult moment.”
Jude Law, who starred in “The Talented Mr Ripley,” “Cold Mountain” and “Breaking and Entering,” said, “I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear of Anthony’s untimely death. I worked with him on three films, more than with any other director, but had come to value him more as a friend than as a colleague. He was a brilliantly talented writer and director who wrote dialogue that was a joy to speak and then put in onto the screen in a way that always looked effortless. He made work feel like fun. He was a sweet, warm, bright and funny man who was interested in everything from football to opera, films, music, literature, people and most of all his family, whom he adored and to whom I send my thoughts and love. I shall miss him hugely.”
Minghella was born Jan. 6, 1954 on the Isle of Wight, where his Italian parents ran a successful ice-cream business. He became a lecturer at Hull University, and started carving a reputation as a writer for the stage, radio and TV. He penned episodes of detective drama “Inspector Morse” and high school series “Grange Hill,” and created the Jim Henson miniseries “The Storyteller: Greek Myths.”
“Truly, Madly, Deeply,” his directorial debut from his own script, won him a BAFTA for best original screenplay. He won the best director Oscar for “The English Patient” in 1997, which also earned him an adapted screenplay nomination. He got another Oscar nomination in 2000 for the screenplay of “The Talented Mr Ripley.”
He made his only acting appearance as a TV interviewer in the final section of Joe Wright’s “Atonement.”
His next movie was supposed to be “The Ninth Life of Louis Drax” for the Weinstein Co.
He also directed his first opera, Puccini’s “Madam Butterfly,” at London’s English National Opera in 2005, later transferring to New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
Minghella’s status as a public figure in the U.K. was underlined by personal tributes from prime minister Gordon Brown and former PM Tony Blair, whom Minghella directed together in a 2005 election broadcast.
John Woodward, chief executive officer of the U.K. Film Council, commented: “Anthony was at home in many art forms, but ultimately he was one of the great British filmmakers of his generation.
“He sweated over every frame of every film, but his influence went beyond the films and he was a top ambassador for the industry both in the U.K. and internationally.
“As chairman he laid the foundations for the renaissance of the BFI and he was a brilliant member of the U.K. Film Council board for five years. Even more importantly he was 100% genuine and he believed in the goodness of others.”
Full Version: Celebrity and noted Deaths
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfE8qUi...BD_RcgD8VG4VI00
Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90
By RAVI NESSMAN – 1 hour ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.
Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.
Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.
He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.
He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.
Clarke's non-fiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."
From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. He published his best-selling "3001: The Final Odyssey" when he was 79.
Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956, "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.
When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they used as basic ideas several of Clarke's shorter pieces, including "The Sentinel," written in 1948, and "Encounter in the Dawn." As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with "2010," "2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."
In 1989, two decades after the Apollo 11 moon landings, Clarke wrote: "2001 was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on to the Sea of Tranquility. Now history and fiction have become inexorably intertwined."
Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, Arthur Charles Clark became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine "Amazing Stories" at Woolworth's. He read English writers H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon and began writing for his school magazine in his teens.
Clarke went to work as a clerk in Her Majesty's Exchequer and Audit Department in London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society and wrote his first short stories and scientific articles on space travel.
It was not until after the World War II that Clarke received a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from King's College in London.
In the wartime Royal Air Force, he was put in charge of a new radar blind-landing system.
But it was an RAF memo he wrote in 1945 about the future of communications that led him to fame. It was about the possibility of using satellites to revolutionize communications — an idea whose time had decidedly not come.
Clarke later sent it to a publication called Wireless World, which almost rejected it as too far-fetched.
Clarke married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children.
He moved to the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka in 1956 after embarking on a study of the Great Barrier Reef. He discovered that scuba-diving approximated the feeling of weightlessness that astronauts experience in space, and he remained a diving enthusiast, running his own scuba venture into old age.
"I'm perfectly operational underwater," he once said.
Clarke was linked by his computer with friends and fans around the world, spending each morning answering e-mails and browsing the Internet.
At a 90th birthday party thrown for Clarke in December, the author said he had three wishes: for Sri Lanka's raging civil war to end, for the world to embrace cleaner sources of energy and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings to be discovered.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarke once said he did not regret having never followed his novels into space, adding that he had arranged to have DNA from strands of his hair sent into orbit.
"One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time," he said. "Move over, Stephen King."
On the Net:
The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation: http://www.clarkefoundation.org
Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90
By RAVI NESSMAN – 1 hour ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.
Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.
Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.
He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.
He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.
Clarke's non-fiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."
From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. He published his best-selling "3001: The Final Odyssey" when he was 79.
Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956, "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.
When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they used as basic ideas several of Clarke's shorter pieces, including "The Sentinel," written in 1948, and "Encounter in the Dawn." As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with "2010," "2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."
In 1989, two decades after the Apollo 11 moon landings, Clarke wrote: "2001 was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on to the Sea of Tranquility. Now history and fiction have become inexorably intertwined."
Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, Arthur Charles Clark became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine "Amazing Stories" at Woolworth's. He read English writers H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon and began writing for his school magazine in his teens.
Clarke went to work as a clerk in Her Majesty's Exchequer and Audit Department in London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society and wrote his first short stories and scientific articles on space travel.
It was not until after the World War II that Clarke received a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from King's College in London.
In the wartime Royal Air Force, he was put in charge of a new radar blind-landing system.
But it was an RAF memo he wrote in 1945 about the future of communications that led him to fame. It was about the possibility of using satellites to revolutionize communications — an idea whose time had decidedly not come.
Clarke later sent it to a publication called Wireless World, which almost rejected it as too far-fetched.
Clarke married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children.
He moved to the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka in 1956 after embarking on a study of the Great Barrier Reef. He discovered that scuba-diving approximated the feeling of weightlessness that astronauts experience in space, and he remained a diving enthusiast, running his own scuba venture into old age.
"I'm perfectly operational underwater," he once said.
Clarke was linked by his computer with friends and fans around the world, spending each morning answering e-mails and browsing the Internet.
At a 90th birthday party thrown for Clarke in December, the author said he had three wishes: for Sri Lanka's raging civil war to end, for the world to embrace cleaner sources of energy and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings to be discovered.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarke once said he did not regret having never followed his novels into space, adding that he had arranged to have DNA from strands of his hair sent into orbit.
"One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time," he said. "Move over, Stephen King."
On the Net:
The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation: http://www.clarkefoundation.org
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hg...AaF_zJ7FO2VBWAw
Ex-ABBA drummer found dead at home
12 hours ago
A former drummer for the Swedish pop band ABBA has been found dead in the garden of his house on the island of Majorca.
Ola Brunkert, 62, is believed to have been the only session musician to have appeared on all the group's recordings.
A police spokeswoman said an autopsy was being carried out but investigations indicated the death was an accident and no foul play is suspected.
She said a neighbour found Mr Brunkert's body on Sunday in the garden of his house in the town of Arta.
Police believe he fell and cut his neck indoors. He then apparently tried to leave the house to seek help but collapsed in the garden.
Ex-ABBA drummer found dead at home
12 hours ago
A former drummer for the Swedish pop band ABBA has been found dead in the garden of his house on the island of Majorca.
Ola Brunkert, 62, is believed to have been the only session musician to have appeared on all the group's recordings.
A police spokeswoman said an autopsy was being carried out but investigations indicated the death was an accident and no foul play is suspected.
She said a neighbour found Mr Brunkert's body on Sunday in the garden of his house in the town of Arta.
Police believe he fell and cut his neck indoors. He then apparently tried to leave the house to seek help but collapsed in the garden.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798249...yId=25&cs=1
Actress Eva Dahlbeck dies at 87
Debuted in 1942, collaborated with Bergman
By GUNNAR REHLINActress Eva Dahlbeck, who was featured in many Ingmar Bergman films, died in Stockholm of complications of Alzheimer's disease on Feb. 8. She was 87.
Dahlbeck made her screen debut in 1942. In 1949, she played the lead in Alf Sjoberg's hit "Only a Mother," which for a while cemented her position as an actress who typically played the mother and wife roles.
Her first collaboration with Ingmar Bergman was in 1952 in "Secrets of Women." After that, she played leads in Bergman's "A Lesson in Love" (1954), "Smiles of a Summer Night" (1955), "Brink of Life" (1958) and "All These Women" (1964). For the part in "Brink of Life," she won a shared actress award at the Cannes film festival.
Bergman called her "the battleship femininity" and loved to confront her with charming but weak males. These parts were often played by Gunnar Bjornstrand, and their exchanges of words in "Smiles of a Summer Night" and "Brink of Life" have become classics.
In the end of the 1960s, Dahlbeck played one of the leads in the popular TV series "The Markurells in Wadkoping." After that she left the film business and became a succesful novelist. Her husband, Sven Lampell, died in 2007.
Actress Eva Dahlbeck dies at 87
Debuted in 1942, collaborated with Bergman
By GUNNAR REHLINActress Eva Dahlbeck, who was featured in many Ingmar Bergman films, died in Stockholm of complications of Alzheimer's disease on Feb. 8. She was 87.
Dahlbeck made her screen debut in 1942. In 1949, she played the lead in Alf Sjoberg's hit "Only a Mother," which for a while cemented her position as an actress who typically played the mother and wife roles.
Her first collaboration with Ingmar Bergman was in 1952 in "Secrets of Women." After that, she played leads in Bergman's "A Lesson in Love" (1954), "Smiles of a Summer Night" (1955), "Brink of Life" (1958) and "All These Women" (1964). For the part in "Brink of Life," she won a shared actress award at the Cannes film festival.
Bergman called her "the battleship femininity" and loved to confront her with charming but weak males. These parts were often played by Gunnar Bjornstrand, and their exchanges of words in "Smiles of a Summer Night" and "Brink of Life" have become classics.
In the end of the 1960s, Dahlbeck played one of the leads in the popular TV series "The Markurells in Wadkoping." After that she left the film business and became a succesful novelist. Her husband, Sven Lampell, died in 2007.
This one is especially sad for me personally.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7284108.stm
Beatles engineer Smith dies at 85
Norman Smith worked on records including Rubber Soul
The Beatles' engineer Norman Smith, who worked on every studio recording the band made between 1962 and 1965, has died at the age of 85.
Smith, nicknamed "Normal Norman" by John Lennon, took charge of the band's first session at Abbey Road in 1962.
Promoted to producer in 1966, he signed Pink Floyd and produced their early albums including Saucerful of Secrets.
Under the name Hurricane Smith, he also enjoyed UK chart success with singles including Don't Let It Die in 1971.
That song reached number two in the UK, while follow-up Oh Babe, What Would You Say? reached the top five on both sides of the Atlantic the following year.
Smith helped create The Beatles' early sound
His record label EMI described him as "a legendary figure in the history of EMI and British music".
"We were very saddened to hear of his passing away, and our thoughts and condolences go out to his family at this time," the statement said.
Recalling The Beatles' first session for EMI, Smith once told an interviewer: "Visually, they made quite an impression, but musically we didn't really hear their potential."
He was impressed by their sense of humour and style, which marked them out from the large number of other bands that came in to try to impress producer George Martin and earn a record deal.
Smith said he told Martin at the time: "For that alone we should sign them. Just because of their humour and the way they present themselves, they are different."
'Mood creation'
Once promoted to producer, he said he signed Pink Floyd after being impressed by their stage presentation at one of their gigs.
"I can't in all honesty say that the music meant anything at all to me," he later recalled. "In fact, I could barely call it music.
"A mood creation through sound is the best way that I could describe Floyd."
Smith, who was born in Edmonton, North London, died on 3 March.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7284108.stm
Beatles engineer Smith dies at 85
Norman Smith worked on records including Rubber Soul
The Beatles' engineer Norman Smith, who worked on every studio recording the band made between 1962 and 1965, has died at the age of 85.
Smith, nicknamed "Normal Norman" by John Lennon, took charge of the band's first session at Abbey Road in 1962.
Promoted to producer in 1966, he signed Pink Floyd and produced their early albums including Saucerful of Secrets.
Under the name Hurricane Smith, he also enjoyed UK chart success with singles including Don't Let It Die in 1971.
That song reached number two in the UK, while follow-up Oh Babe, What Would You Say? reached the top five on both sides of the Atlantic the following year.
Smith helped create The Beatles' early sound
His record label EMI described him as "a legendary figure in the history of EMI and British music".
"We were very saddened to hear of his passing away, and our thoughts and condolences go out to his family at this time," the statement said.
Recalling The Beatles' first session for EMI, Smith once told an interviewer: "Visually, they made quite an impression, but musically we didn't really hear their potential."
He was impressed by their sense of humour and style, which marked them out from the large number of other bands that came in to try to impress producer George Martin and earn a record deal.
Smith said he told Martin at the time: "For that alone we should sign them. Just because of their humour and the way they present themselves, they are different."
'Mood creation'
Once promoted to producer, he said he signed Pink Floyd after being impressed by their stage presentation at one of their gigs.
"I can't in all honesty say that the music meant anything at all to me," he later recalled. "In fact, I could barely call it music.
"A mood creation through sound is the best way that I could describe Floyd."
Smith, who was born in Edmonton, North London, died on 3 March.
another blogger's take
http://desdinova-supervillainoftheozarks.b...smith-dies.html
Norman "Hurricane" Smith Dies
The man who engineered the Beatles early LP, produced the early LPs of Pink Floyd and even had a brief singing career has died. Norman "Hurricane" Smith has died at age 85.
According to All Access: "Smith was the engineer on all of the recordings by THE BEATLES up until 1965 when EMI promoted him from engineer to producer. The last BEATLES album he recorded was "Rubber Soul." SMITH engineered the sound for approximately 180 Beatles songs in all. In 1972, SMITH, using his recording artist pseudonym of "HURRICANE SMITH," had a transatlantic hit with "Oh Babe What Would You Say?."
Smith's 1920's style hit went Top Five in America, while one of his productions "Money" by Pink Floyd couldn't crack the Top 10. "Money" wasn't that airplay friendly with the term "Bulls**t" being used. Still when you hear Smith sing you have to wonder how that became a hit. It may have been "radio friendly" but not "ear friendly."
http://desdinova-supervillainoftheozarks.b...smith-dies.html
Norman "Hurricane" Smith Dies
The man who engineered the Beatles early LP, produced the early LPs of Pink Floyd and even had a brief singing career has died. Norman "Hurricane" Smith has died at age 85.
According to All Access: "Smith was the engineer on all of the recordings by THE BEATLES up until 1965 when EMI promoted him from engineer to producer. The last BEATLES album he recorded was "Rubber Soul." SMITH engineered the sound for approximately 180 Beatles songs in all. In 1972, SMITH, using his recording artist pseudonym of "HURRICANE SMITH," had a transatlantic hit with "Oh Babe What Would You Say?."
Smith's 1920's style hit went Top Five in America, while one of his productions "Money" by Pink Floyd couldn't crack the Top 10. "Money" wasn't that airplay friendly with the term "Bulls**t" being used. Still when you hear Smith sing you have to wonder how that became a hit. It may have been "radio friendly" but not "ear friendly."
The above is ironic
considering Hurricane Smith's follow-up single, Who was it (written by Gilbert Raymond O'Sullivan) has one of the oddest lines to make it past the US censors ever in the song
Who was it that caught you falling
And put you back on your feet
Who was it that tripped you any way
(In order that the two of us would meet)
It was me and I'll tell you why
Oh! I did it because of my
Pure unabashed devotion to loving you
Who was it that tried to kiss you
Despite a very definite no
And who was it that managed to succeed
(In getting it with your fist down below)
It was me and I'll tell you why
Oh! I did it because of my
Pure unabashed devotion to loving
You and me both feel the same
We even look alike
And like it's a bloomin' shame
That because we do
People think we're you
Know what I mean
Who was it that came to see you
When there was no-one else in sight
And who was it that stayed over an hour
(And not as I'd expected over night)
It was me and I'll tell you why
Oh! I did it because of my
Pure unabashed devotion to loving
Pure unabashed devotion to loving
You, you, you, you
Who was it that caught you falling
considering Hurricane Smith's follow-up single, Who was it (written by Gilbert Raymond O'Sullivan) has one of the oddest lines to make it past the US censors ever in the song
Who was it that caught you falling
And put you back on your feet
Who was it that tripped you any way
(In order that the two of us would meet)
It was me and I'll tell you why
Oh! I did it because of my
Pure unabashed devotion to loving you
Who was it that tried to kiss you
Despite a very definite no
And who was it that managed to succeed
(In getting it with your fist down below)
It was me and I'll tell you why
Oh! I did it because of my
Pure unabashed devotion to loving
You and me both feel the same
We even look alike
And like it's a bloomin' shame
That because we do
People think we're you
Know what I mean
Who was it that came to see you
When there was no-one else in sight
And who was it that stayed over an hour
(And not as I'd expected over night)
It was me and I'll tell you why
Oh! I did it because of my
Pure unabashed devotion to loving
Pure unabashed devotion to loving
You, you, you, you
Who was it that caught you falling
Whoa. I do believe that we have a first on this board.
Ivan Dixon, of A Raisin in the Sun and "Hogan's Heroes," Dead at 76
By Kenneth Jones
19 Mar 2008
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116051.html
Ivan Dixon, the Broadway, film and TV actor with credits as diverse as A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway and "Hogan's Heroes" on television, died March 16 of complications from kidney failure in Charlotte, NC. He was 76.
Associated Press reported that friend and colleague Sidney Poitier said in a statement, "As an actor, you had to be careful. He was quite likely to walk off with the scene."
Mr. Dixon was Poitier's stunt double in the 1958 movie "The Defiant Ones." Mr. Dixon later appeared with Poitier in the 1959 Broadway play A Raisin in the Sun as Joseph Asagai, and in the film version.
His other Broadway credit was in The Cave Dwellers in 1957. His film credits included "Something of Value," "A Patch of Blue," "Nothing But a Man" and "Car Wash."
Mr. Dixon was most widely known for playing electronics and communication specialist U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on "Hogan's Heroes," the sitcom set in a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp. It put a face on the fact that African-Americans had a role to play in the winning of World War II.
"It was a pivotal role as well, because there were not as many blacks in TV series at that time," his daughter Doris Nomathande Dixon told AP. "He did have some personal issues with that role, but it also launched him into directing."
He directed hundreds of episodes of TV series, including "The Waltons," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum, P.I." and "In the Heat of the Night."
As an actor, Mr. Dixon was an Emmy Award nominee for his performance in the CBS Playhouse special "The Final War of Olly Winter."
Mr. Dixon was born April 6, 1931, in New York City, and graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham in 1954.
He won four NAACP Image Awards, the National Black Theatre Award and the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award from the Black American Cinema Society. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild of America and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
His survivors also include his wife of 53 years, Berlie Dixon of Charlotte, and a son, Alan Kimara Dixon of Oakland, CA. Two sons, Ivan Nathaniel Dixon IV and N'Gai Christopher Dixon, predeceased him.
Per Mr. Dixon's request, no memorial or funeral is planned.
By Kenneth Jones
19 Mar 2008
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116051.html
Ivan Dixon, the Broadway, film and TV actor with credits as diverse as A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway and "Hogan's Heroes" on television, died March 16 of complications from kidney failure in Charlotte, NC. He was 76.
Associated Press reported that friend and colleague Sidney Poitier said in a statement, "As an actor, you had to be careful. He was quite likely to walk off with the scene."
Mr. Dixon was Poitier's stunt double in the 1958 movie "The Defiant Ones." Mr. Dixon later appeared with Poitier in the 1959 Broadway play A Raisin in the Sun as Joseph Asagai, and in the film version.
His other Broadway credit was in The Cave Dwellers in 1957. His film credits included "Something of Value," "A Patch of Blue," "Nothing But a Man" and "Car Wash."
Mr. Dixon was most widely known for playing electronics and communication specialist U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on "Hogan's Heroes," the sitcom set in a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp. It put a face on the fact that African-Americans had a role to play in the winning of World War II.
"It was a pivotal role as well, because there were not as many blacks in TV series at that time," his daughter Doris Nomathande Dixon told AP. "He did have some personal issues with that role, but it also launched him into directing."
He directed hundreds of episodes of TV series, including "The Waltons," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum, P.I." and "In the Heat of the Night."
As an actor, Mr. Dixon was an Emmy Award nominee for his performance in the CBS Playhouse special "The Final War of Olly Winter."
Mr. Dixon was born April 6, 1931, in New York City, and graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham in 1954.
He won four NAACP Image Awards, the National Black Theatre Award and the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award from the Black American Cinema Society. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild of America and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
His survivors also include his wife of 53 years, Berlie Dixon of Charlotte, and a son, Alan Kimara Dixon of Oakland, CA. Two sons, Ivan Nathaniel Dixon IV and N'Gai Christopher Dixon, predeceased him.
Per Mr. Dixon's request, no memorial or funeral is planned.
One of the greatest stage actors died
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798270...yId=25&cs=1
Paul Scofield dies at 86
Actor won Oscar for 'A Man for All Seasons'
By ALI JAAFARLONDON — Oscar-winning British thesp Paul Scofield died Wednesday of leukemia. He was 86. His agent Rosalind Chatto confirmed the legendary actor, who won the best actor Academy award in 1967 for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons,” died in a hospital near his home in the south of England.
Though Scofield was more prolific on stage— Richard Burton once remarked “of the 10 greatest moments in theater, eight are Scofield’s”— the thesp often sparkled when plying his trade on the bigscreen.
Aside from his role in “A Man For All Seasons” — a part he also performed on stage — Scofield drew plaudits for his perfs in Tony Richardson’s “A Delicate Balance” alongside Katherine Hepburn in 1973, Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 adaptation of “Henry V,” Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show” in 1995, and Nicolas Hytner’s “The Crucible” the following year.
Among his other TV roles “Martin Chuzzlewit” and “Anna Karenina.”
His performances were often marked by his rich voice and powerful presence. His narrative skills were in demand for such projects as “Animal Farm,” “Genesis: The Creation and Flood,” “Kurosawa” and “Robinson in Space.”
Born on in Hurstpierpoint on the south coast of England, Scofield made his professional acting debut in London in January 1940.
He went on to work regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theater.
Scofield made an acclaimed debut on Broadway in 1961 in the stage version of “A Man For All Seasons,” winning a Tony for his efforts.
His turn as King Lear in 1971’s screen and stage version of William Shakespeare’s tragedy was voted the greatest Shakespearean performance ever in a 2004 poll of actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Awarded a CBE in 1956, Scofield reportedly turned down the offer of a knighthood on more than one occasion.
He was made a Companion of Honor in 2001, one of Blighty’s top honors and limited to 65 living people at any one time.
Scofield is survived by his wife, actress Joy Parker, and two children.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798270...yId=25&cs=1
Paul Scofield dies at 86
Actor won Oscar for 'A Man for All Seasons'
By ALI JAAFARLONDON — Oscar-winning British thesp Paul Scofield died Wednesday of leukemia. He was 86. His agent Rosalind Chatto confirmed the legendary actor, who won the best actor Academy award in 1967 for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons,” died in a hospital near his home in the south of England.
Though Scofield was more prolific on stage— Richard Burton once remarked “of the 10 greatest moments in theater, eight are Scofield’s”— the thesp often sparkled when plying his trade on the bigscreen.
Aside from his role in “A Man For All Seasons” — a part he also performed on stage — Scofield drew plaudits for his perfs in Tony Richardson’s “A Delicate Balance” alongside Katherine Hepburn in 1973, Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 adaptation of “Henry V,” Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show” in 1995, and Nicolas Hytner’s “The Crucible” the following year.
Among his other TV roles “Martin Chuzzlewit” and “Anna Karenina.”
His performances were often marked by his rich voice and powerful presence. His narrative skills were in demand for such projects as “Animal Farm,” “Genesis: The Creation and Flood,” “Kurosawa” and “Robinson in Space.”
Born on in Hurstpierpoint on the south coast of England, Scofield made his professional acting debut in London in January 1940.
He went on to work regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theater.
Scofield made an acclaimed debut on Broadway in 1961 in the stage version of “A Man For All Seasons,” winning a Tony for his efforts.
His turn as King Lear in 1971’s screen and stage version of William Shakespeare’s tragedy was voted the greatest Shakespearean performance ever in a 2004 poll of actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Awarded a CBE in 1956, Scofield reportedly turned down the offer of a knighthood on more than one occasion.
He was made a Companion of Honor in 2001, one of Blighty’s top honors and limited to 65 living people at any one time.
Scofield is survived by his wife, actress Joy Parker, and two children.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=mo...p;categoryId=25
Bill Hayward dies at 66
'Easy Rider' associate producer commits suicide
By ASSOCIATED PRESSAuthorities say Easy Rider associate producer Bill Hayward has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said Thursday that the 66-year-old Hayward shot himself in the heart with a handgun on March 9 in Castaic. The suicide occurred in trailer where he was living.
Hayward was the son of agent Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, all part of a Hollywood family whose talent and beauty was often outshone by its demons.
Sullavan and her daughter Bridget Hayward both died of drug overdoses in 1960.
Bill Hayward's other sister Brooke was once married to Easy Rider star Dennis Hopper, who said Thursday that Hayward "was a wonderful man and this is a great tragedy for our family."
Bill Hayward dies at 66
'Easy Rider' associate producer commits suicide
By ASSOCIATED PRESSAuthorities say Easy Rider associate producer Bill Hayward has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said Thursday that the 66-year-old Hayward shot himself in the heart with a handgun on March 9 in Castaic. The suicide occurred in trailer where he was living.
Hayward was the son of agent Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, all part of a Hollywood family whose talent and beauty was often outshone by its demons.
Sullavan and her daughter Bridget Hayward both died of drug overdoses in 1960.
Bill Hayward's other sister Brooke was once married to Easy Rider star Dennis Hopper, who said Thursday that Hayward "was a wonderful man and this is a great tragedy for our family."
AND SLIM WHITMAN IS STILL ALIVE!!!
His death was wrongly announced!!!!!
If you want to watch something funny, youtube Slim Whitman Andy Kaufman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH64weKPF60
Look at the awe in Andy Kaufman's eyes as Slim sings
I REMEMBER YOU
http://leftinaboite.blogspot.com/2008/01/s...n-is-alive.html
Ladies and gentlemen, it's official!
On 1-21, I received an e-mail from a normally very reliable source which stated that Slim Whitman had passed away. I verified this by checking Wikipedia, then proceeded to write an obituary in tribute to the man.
The story quickly became muddled however, as no other outlets were reporting the death. It was originally reported in The Tennessean, but all but the title of the story disappeared the following day. I quickly began receiving queries from concerned fans asking where I'd gotten my information. They were convinced, rightly so as it turns out, that Mr.Whitman was alive and well.
I'd like to thank the members of The Steel Guitar Forum for their original queries and information which they passed along to me. For you guys, here are some real news reports:
From The Florida Times Union:
Rumors that country crooner Slim Whitman died Sunday on his 84th birthday are, as they say, “greatly exaggerated.” Online and mainstream media reports that the famous Middleburg resident had died are wrong, he told the Times-Union today.
“I can still sing,” he said. “If you are dead, you can’t sing.” Whitman said he learned a day or so ago that an old friend was reporting that Whitman had died on his birthday.
“It got all over,” Whitman said.
And, from the original source of the premature obit, The Tennessean:
Slim Whitman would like to clear something up: He’s alive and doing pretty well despite reports of his death on Monday.
The country singer, who experienced his first surge in popularity in the ’50s, has no idea how it got started. But e-mails began circulating and next thing you know, a disc jockey was announcing it on the air, a tearful friend performing on stage was announcing it to his audience and online sources reported it in news updates, including Tennessean.com on Monday.
Advertisement
“All of a sudden on Sunday, Jan. 20, I died,” said Whitman, who turned 84 on Sunday. “I knew it was a lie. I kept looking at it. I thought, this could sort of get out of hand here. I thought, oh well, if it gets out of hand, I’ll go on a TV show and show them that I’m not dead.”
Whitman lives on his Woodpecker Paradise estate outside Jacksonville, Fla. He says he’s in great shape. The only medication he takes is an aspirin every other day because his doctor told him to. He doesn’t even wear glasses.
“As a matter of fact I don’t feel anything like 84 years old. …I don’t know why I don’t, but I don’t feel like an old man,” he said. The fact that people recognize him in the grocery store still leads him to believe he doesn’t look like an old man either.
This morning, Whitman spent time on the air for a Jacksonville radio station and he has gotten many inquiries since the news of his death circulated.
Great news for fans, and obviously Mr.Whitman! May you have many more years of great health and happiness!
His death was wrongly announced!!!!!
If you want to watch something funny, youtube Slim Whitman Andy Kaufman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH64weKPF60
Look at the awe in Andy Kaufman's eyes as Slim sings
I REMEMBER YOU
http://leftinaboite.blogspot.com/2008/01/s...n-is-alive.html
Ladies and gentlemen, it's official!
On 1-21, I received an e-mail from a normally very reliable source which stated that Slim Whitman had passed away. I verified this by checking Wikipedia, then proceeded to write an obituary in tribute to the man.
The story quickly became muddled however, as no other outlets were reporting the death. It was originally reported in The Tennessean, but all but the title of the story disappeared the following day. I quickly began receiving queries from concerned fans asking where I'd gotten my information. They were convinced, rightly so as it turns out, that Mr.Whitman was alive and well.
I'd like to thank the members of The Steel Guitar Forum for their original queries and information which they passed along to me. For you guys, here are some real news reports:
From The Florida Times Union:
Rumors that country crooner Slim Whitman died Sunday on his 84th birthday are, as they say, “greatly exaggerated.” Online and mainstream media reports that the famous Middleburg resident had died are wrong, he told the Times-Union today.
“I can still sing,” he said. “If you are dead, you can’t sing.” Whitman said he learned a day or so ago that an old friend was reporting that Whitman had died on his birthday.
“It got all over,” Whitman said.
And, from the original source of the premature obit, The Tennessean:
Slim Whitman would like to clear something up: He’s alive and doing pretty well despite reports of his death on Monday.
The country singer, who experienced his first surge in popularity in the ’50s, has no idea how it got started. But e-mails began circulating and next thing you know, a disc jockey was announcing it on the air, a tearful friend performing on stage was announcing it to his audience and online sources reported it in news updates, including Tennessean.com on Monday.
Advertisement
“All of a sudden on Sunday, Jan. 20, I died,” said Whitman, who turned 84 on Sunday. “I knew it was a lie. I kept looking at it. I thought, this could sort of get out of hand here. I thought, oh well, if it gets out of hand, I’ll go on a TV show and show them that I’m not dead.”
Whitman lives on his Woodpecker Paradise estate outside Jacksonville, Fla. He says he’s in great shape. The only medication he takes is an aspirin every other day because his doctor told him to. He doesn’t even wear glasses.
“As a matter of fact I don’t feel anything like 84 years old. …I don’t know why I don’t, but I don’t feel like an old man,” he said. The fact that people recognize him in the grocery store still leads him to believe he doesn’t look like an old man either.
This morning, Whitman spent time on the air for a Jacksonville radio station and he has gotten many inquiries since the news of his death circulated.
Great news for fans, and obviously Mr.Whitman! May you have many more years of great health and happiness!
Director Sydney Pollack dies of cancer
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack has died. He was 73.
Pollack's agent, Leslee Dart, said Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades.
Dart said Pollack was surrounded by his family.
Pollack's biggest success was the 1985 film "Out of Africa" starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, which won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.
Pollack's other notable films include the comedy "Tootsie" starring Dustin Hoffman and the romantic film "The Way We Were," which paired Redford and Barbra Streisand
Loved Sydney!
QUOTE(wicheewoman @ May 26 2008, 09:56 PM) 
Director Sydney Pollack dies of cancer
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack has died. He was 73.
Pollack's agent, Leslee Dart, said Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades.
Dart said Pollack was surrounded by his family.
Pollack's biggest success was the 1985 film "Out of Africa" starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, which won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.
Pollack's other notable films include the comedy "Tootsie" starring Dustin Hoffman and the romantic film "The Way We Were," which paired Redford and Barbra Streisand
Loved Sydney!
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack has died. He was 73.
Pollack's agent, Leslee Dart, said Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades.
Dart said Pollack was surrounded by his family.
Pollack's biggest success was the 1985 film "Out of Africa" starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, which won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.
Pollack's other notable films include the comedy "Tootsie" starring Dustin Hoffman and the romantic film "The Way We Were," which paired Redford and Barbra Streisand
Loved Sydney!
I agree -- not only was he a brilliant direct and producer -- I loved his cameo acting roles in so many of his cinematic productions and on TV, especially the recurring role he played as Eric McCormack's father on "Will and Grace". Hollywood has lost a master.
QUOTE(canjcat @ May 26 2008, 11:33 PM)
I agree -- not only was he a brilliant direct and producer -- I loved his cameo acting roles in so many of his cinematic productions and on TV, especially the recurring role he played as Eric McCormack's father on "Will and Grace". Hollywood has lost a master.
I know! I only just saw him in a cameo this weekend and I can't remember in what! I watched a lot of movies these past few days
...it may have been "New York Stories" or "Stardust Memories". I love his work..."Tootsie" is one of my all time favs, and I just love the scene with him and Dustin Hoffman in the Russian Tea Room. A great loss!
with Cousin Brucie and Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy was the best of the late 60s, early 70s.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituar...at-75-1.1815386
Ron Lundy, an iconic figure in New York radio, dies at 75
Originally published: March 16, 2010 9:08 PM
By VERNE GAY verne.gay@newsday.com
Ron Lundy, one of the iconic figures of New York radio, has died. He was 75 and had been in ill health recently, finally succumbing on Monday to a heart attack. Lundy had been living in Mississippi since his retirement in 1997.
With a very slight drawl - or perhaps major drawl to New York ears - and an infectiously affable personality, Lundy was one of the kings of radio when radio was an inescapable part of any New Yorker's media diet. "Hello luuuvvv," he'd greet listeners. "This is Ron Lundy from the greatest city in the world!" - the line famously incorporated into one of the most memorable scenes in the movie "Midnight Cowboy."
Lundy worked at WABC-AM from 1965 to 1982, part of a lineup of memorable DJs that also included Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison and Bruce Morrow. The Top 40 station's powerful 50,000-watt signal easily reached listeners a hundred miles in any direction (or many thousands of miles at night).
"He was one of those guys who you felt was your best friend when you heard him on the air," said Ingram, now living in Florida. "He was what you call on the air 'warm and friendly.' There was something in his voice that I couldn't figure out but it was just naturally him."
The music finally stopped at WABC on May 10, 1982, and the station switched to a talk format. A few years later, Lundy joined WCBS-FM/101.1, where he become an integral part of the popular oldies lineup.
Ted David - the New York radio and TV news anchor and longtime Lundy friend who broke news of his death Tuesday on the New York Radio Message Board - said "Ron was to music what Howard Stern is to this generation in talk. . . . If you were at the beach and went for a hot dog, you could continue listening to the station [and Lundy] because it would be on a radio on every beach blanket."
Radio now, he says, is so "bifurcated" with formats that there are no dominant personalities like Lundy, Ingram or Morrow.
"Ron hasn't been on the air since 1997 [but] he made such a big impression over those years that if you were to hear him again, it would be a reminder of those times on the beach or in high school when you waited around for your favorite song to come on," said Allan Sniffen, who runs the Radio Board. "I think every time one of these people passes away it like another piece of your childhood goes away too."Born in the South, Lundy became a disc jockey after serving in the Marines. Following radio gigs at several stations in Mississippi, Louisiana and finally St. Louis, he was hired at WABC in 1965. He left New York radio on Sept. 18, 1997, departing New York with his wife Shirley to his hometown of Bruce, Miss.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituar...at-75-1.1815386
Ron Lundy, an iconic figure in New York radio, dies at 75
Originally published: March 16, 2010 9:08 PM
By VERNE GAY verne.gay@newsday.com
Ron Lundy, one of the iconic figures of New York radio, has died. He was 75 and had been in ill health recently, finally succumbing on Monday to a heart attack. Lundy had been living in Mississippi since his retirement in 1997.
With a very slight drawl - or perhaps major drawl to New York ears - and an infectiously affable personality, Lundy was one of the kings of radio when radio was an inescapable part of any New Yorker's media diet. "Hello luuuvvv," he'd greet listeners. "This is Ron Lundy from the greatest city in the world!" - the line famously incorporated into one of the most memorable scenes in the movie "Midnight Cowboy."
Lundy worked at WABC-AM from 1965 to 1982, part of a lineup of memorable DJs that also included Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison and Bruce Morrow. The Top 40 station's powerful 50,000-watt signal easily reached listeners a hundred miles in any direction (or many thousands of miles at night).
"He was one of those guys who you felt was your best friend when you heard him on the air," said Ingram, now living in Florida. "He was what you call on the air 'warm and friendly.' There was something in his voice that I couldn't figure out but it was just naturally him."
The music finally stopped at WABC on May 10, 1982, and the station switched to a talk format. A few years later, Lundy joined WCBS-FM/101.1, where he become an integral part of the popular oldies lineup.
Ted David - the New York radio and TV news anchor and longtime Lundy friend who broke news of his death Tuesday on the New York Radio Message Board - said "Ron was to music what Howard Stern is to this generation in talk. . . . If you were at the beach and went for a hot dog, you could continue listening to the station [and Lundy] because it would be on a radio on every beach blanket."
Radio now, he says, is so "bifurcated" with formats that there are no dominant personalities like Lundy, Ingram or Morrow.
"Ron hasn't been on the air since 1997 [but] he made such a big impression over those years that if you were to hear him again, it would be a reminder of those times on the beach or in high school when you waited around for your favorite song to come on," said Allan Sniffen, who runs the Radio Board. "I think every time one of these people passes away it like another piece of your childhood goes away too."Born in the South, Lundy became a disc jockey after serving in the Marines. Following radio gigs at several stations in Mississippi, Louisiana and finally St. Louis, he was hired at WABC in 1965. He left New York radio on Sept. 18, 1997, departing New York with his wife Shirley to his hometown of Bruce, Miss.
http://www.thisisbrandx.com/2010/05/rip-frank-frazetta.html
Frank Frazetta died. If you've ever read pulp sci fi, you know the man's work.
Frank Frazetta died. If you've ever read pulp sci fi, you know the man's work.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.