DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[MisterCairo]

Actor Roy Dotrice has died, aged 94. He appeared in countless films and television programs, including recently Game of Thrones. He was the father of actress Michele Dotrice, best known for Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.


http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/veteran-british-actor-roy-dotrice-dies-aged-94-1.3633896

 

[MisterCairo]

I am really bummed about this. John Dunsworth, Mr. Lahey in The Trailer Park Boys, has died after a sudden illness, aged 71.

Links to follow.

Enjoy a drinky-poo, Mr. Lahey. Randy misses you...

 

[MisterCairo]

John Dunsworth as Mr. Lahey, trailer park manager on The Trailer Park Boys (right), with his character's best "friend" Randy:

http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.co...r-john-dunsworth-known-as-mr-lahey-dead-at-71

 

[MisterCairo]

Canada is crying today.

Almost unheard of outside Canada, our national "local" band (eight million albums sold in Canada), The Tragically Hip, has lost its voice and soul today.

Gord Downie, lead singer and composer/lyricist, has died from brain cancer. He announced his condition in May of last year, and the band played a national (literal) farewell tour.

Kingston, Ontario's pride and joy.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/gord-downie-obit-1.4359906

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the top comedy writers of the postwar era has died at the age of 98. Bob Schiller broke into the comedy business just after getting out the service as one of dozens of writers to be hired and fired at "Duffy's Tavern," along with stints writing for Eddie Cantor, Abbott and Costello and Ozzie and Harriet, but his most important work had to wait for television. He teamed up with another snappy young writer named Bob Weiskopf and in 1953 joined the writing staff for "I Love Lucy," where they remained for the rest of that program's run. After a stint on various variety shows in the 1960s, including those of Garry Moore, Carol Burnett, and Flip Wilson, Schiller and Weiskopf joined Norman Lear's production company, where they turned out dozens of gems for "All In The Family." Their scripts helped turn Archie Bunker from a loud-mouthed caricature to a nuanced, fully-rounded figure capable of real human emotion, and earned the team an Emmy along the way.

Schiller's favorite gag was one he lifted from his father. "Dad, do you want to be buried or cremated?" "Surprise me."

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the last great faces of the 1930s screen died this week at 100. Danielle Darrieux was one of the biggest stars of the French cinema for decades, from the 1930s to the 2010s, but her exposure in the US was rather limited. She made a big hit in the 1936 French version of "Mayerling" opposite Charles Boyer, a film that got quite a bit of play in the US, and on the strength of that performance Universal brought her to Hollywood amidst vast ballyhoo to star opposite Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in a picture called "The Rage Of Paris," in which she didn't so much act as simply be "Danielle Darrieux, French Screen Siren." This film, released in 1938, didn't have much to say to the small-town theatres that made up the bulk of the Universal market, and she decided not to stick around for another try. She returned to France, and remained there thru the war years, returning to the US for another shot in the 1950s before going home again.

She was a performer who never cared to be stereotyped, and would take on any role as long as it seemed interesting and challenging. Her most recent role to make an impression in the US was providing the voice of an Iranian grandmother in the thought-provoking animated film "Persepolis."

 

[GHT]

Did you know that Danielle Darrieux appeared in the 1955 version of Lady Chatterley's Lover , whose theme of uninhibited sexuality led to its being proscribed by Catholic censors in the United States. Lady Chatterley was banned in the UK until 1960. Strange though, every schoolboy that I knew, had read it, long before 1960.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Robert Guillaume, Emmy Award-winning star of TV's Benson, died today after battling prostate cancer. He was 89.

 

[MisterCairo]

He was one of my favourite characters growing up, some of the first "grown up" shows I watched:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-robert-guillaume-1.4369844

 

[Doctor Strange]

Music great Fats Domino!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/...-one-of-rock-n-rolls-first-stars-is-dead.html

 

[MisterCairo]

It is sad, we're at that point in time where the greats from the 50s and 60s are leaving us.

Rock and roll will never die, however...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-fats-domino-1.4370915

From 2013:

 

[Trenchfriend]

Rest in peace.

 

[Giftmacher]

So sad, rest in peace.

 

[Fading Fast]

 

[Frunobulax]

Music great Fats Domino!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/...-one-of-rock-n-rolls-first-stars-is-dead.html

Bye, Fats.

The man who stopped touring to stay home in New Orleans because, "I can't get the food I like anywhere else."


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[HadleyH1]

RIP Fats Domino.

Blue Monday

 

[Fading Fast]

Only learned from his obit that his last name really was Domino - how great is that. It has a wonderful musical sound to it.

While our hypersensitive culture today would never allow it, my dad's generation (same as Fats') gave nicknames to people like "fats" or "slim" or "big," etc. that, from many examples I saw amongst my dad's friends, were done in a fun, friendly way - not in a mean or hurtful manner. I'm sure there was plenty that started out mean and just stuck and I know there was plenty of meanness in that time - but having nicknames align to physical appearance seemed quite common back then and, many times, was not done with mean intent.

 

[Stormy]

Yep ... Domino is a fairly common surname in parts of Louisiana.

 

[Fading Fast]

Having read several obits on Fats these past few days, something just pinged in: could he have been the only music star from the '50s that wasn't cheated out of all his royalties, didn't go bankrupt, wasn't embroiled in lawsuits with his producer / record company / manager for decades?

The articles all reference his success in the '50s, his mansion, his charity work after Katrina, but none of the usual ugly bankruptcy / royalty suits / etc., that seemed de rigueur for '50s recording stars.

If he avoided all that and truly kept his money, he was either really, really smart or really, really lucky and since I don't believe in multi-decade luck, I'll go with really, really smart.

 

[Benzadmiral]

My favorite country singer Don Williams has passed away. To me, Williams' songs represented a true Southerm gentleman. Not a loud-mouthed, hell raising redneck, but a man who was intelligent and well read, whose thoughts were measured and earnest.

Williams was 78

Yes. How many country songs (this one was written by Bob McDill, I think) -- how many songs in any popular genre -- reference not only Tennessee Williams but Thomas Wolfe too??