DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Benzadmiral]

RIP

Glen Campbell was a star for something like 50 years; "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" came out in the fall of 1967. "Gentle on My Mind," I recall reading, was issued the first time, only hit about #80 on the Billboard Hot 100, then became a big hit (as it should have been) when it was re-released the next year.

He had a short period where he fell off the radar, say 1972-1975, but then "Rhinestone Cowboy" put him back on top.

No, as an actor he was no threat to Laurence Olivier. He's not very good in "True Grit" or in "Norwood"; I don't know what else he did in film. But then, Olivier couldn't play guitar the way Campbell could. So I guess it evens out.

 

[Trenchfriend]

R.I.P.

 

[Frunobulax]

R.I.P.

 

[MisterCairo]

Yes, the end of an era...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/jerry-lewis-dies-obit-1.4254934

 

[LizzieMaine]

Comedian/activist Dick Gregory has also died, at the age of 84 -- a man who proved it's possible to be a militant and still have a sense of humor, ridiculing the racists and racism of the 1960s with an uncompromising yet hilarious sense of the absurd.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Jerry Lewis is literally among my earliest memories, from back in the Martin & Lewis days. One of the last of the 50s comics.

 

[RBH]

Rest In Peace, both Mr. Gregory and Mr Lewis.... comedy and humanity from both sides of the rainbow.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Comedian/activist Dick Gregory has also died, at the age of 84 -- a man who proved it's possible to be a militant and still have a sense of humor, ridiculing the racists and racism of the 1960s with an uncompromising yet hilarious sense of the absurd.

One of my favorite Gregory lines was something like:

"I went to restaurant in the South, and the waitress said 'sorry, we don't serve colored people'. I said 'that's ok, I don't eat colored people. Now bring me some fried chicken'". Gregory recognized one of the best ways to combat racism was to point out the absurdity of it.

 

[MisterCairo]

Thomas Meehan, author of several Broadway hits such as Annie, Hairspray and The Producers, has died, aged 88:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-thomas-meehan-1.4258736

 

[LizzieMaine]

The last surviving major American swing-band vocalist of the 1930s has died at the age of 100. Bea Wain dabbled in entertaining as a child singer in the early 1920s, but it was her debut with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1936 with the co-ed vocal group Bea and Her Bachelors that first brought her to real notice. After a brief spin with Artie Shaw in 1937, she hit the jackpot in 1938 with Larry Clinton and his Orchestra and their hit Victor recording of "My Reverie." Part of that year's fad for songs drawn from classical themes, "My Reverie" was one of the biggest-selling records of the year, and Wain became "young America's favorite" overnight, topping the Billboard magazine poll of top vocalists. Her next major hit with Clinton, "Deep Purple," cemented her as a peerless singer of jazz-tinged ballads, and she began a successful solo career on radio that would last well into the 1940s.

It was as a featured vocalist on "Your Hit Parade" that she met, and married, that program's announcer, Andre Baruch, and the couple remained married for over fifty years until Baruch's death. They performed regularly on radio as a couple act, hosting big-band and nostalgia-oriented programming into the 1990s. Wain continued to perform into the first decade of the 21st Century, her voice still instantly recognizable. With her passing, the books close on an entire era of American popular music.

 

[MisterCairo]

Man, this is sad. Character actor Jay Thomas has died, no cause given, aged only 69:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-jay-thomas-1.4261210

I cannot seem to link to photos right now. I first saw him as a kid when he was on Mork and Mindy, he was the pizzeria guy if I recall. Then, of course, on Cheers until he called Rhea Perlman nasty things, and on Murphy Brown.

 

[Frunobulax]

Man, this is sad. Character actor Jay Thomas has died, no cause given, aged only 69:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-jay-thomas-1.4261210

I cannot seem to link to photos right now. I first saw him as a kid when he was on Mork and Mindy, he was the pizzeria guy if I recall. Then, of course, on Cheers until he called Rhea Perlman nasty things, and on Murphy Brown.

Never saw him in a role I didn't enjoy.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Zombie_61]

Man, this is sad. Character actor Jay Thomas has died, no cause given, aged only 69...

Several websites cited cancer as the cause, but weren't more specific than that.

 

[Frunobulax]

Several websites cited cancer as the cause, but weren't more specific than that.

So you're saying it wasn't a Zamboni? [emoji4]


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[MisterCairo]

Several websites cited cancer as the cause, but weren't more specific than that.

When I see "died at 69" or some other not so old age, I always assume that to be the case if it's not mentioned. Occasionally a heart attack.

Sad all the same...

 

[Zombie_61]

When I see "died at 69" or some other no so old age, I always assume that to be the case if it's not mentioned. Occasionally a heart attack.

Sad all the same...

It's interesting, and perhaps a little sad, that we've been conditioned to think that way. If someone dies under the age of 40, it must have been drugs or suicide. 40 to 80, it must have been cancer or some undiagnosed ailment. 80 and over, meh, he/she had a good run.

 

[MisterCairo]

It's interesting, and perhaps a little sad, that we've been conditioned to think that way. If someone dies under the age of 40, it must have been drugs or suicide. 40 to 80, it must have been cancer or some undiagnosed ailment. 80 and over, meh, he/she had a good run.

40-something to a colleague and his father: "Hey, did you hear so and so died? He was 86".

The colleague: "Well, 86 is a good age".

Father, aged 85: "That's easy for you to say..."

 

[MisterCairo]

Film director Tobe Hooper, known for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist, has died, only 74:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tobe-hooper-dead-1.4264473

 

[MisterCairo]

Playwright Bernard Pomerance, best known perhaps for The Elephant Man, has died, age 76:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-pomerance-bernard-1.4266929

 

[scotrace]

Labor Day approaching always reminds me of Jerry Lewis, who was synonymous with the weekend since the 60s. He raised more than $4.5 billion of MDA 1967-2010.
He stopped doing them, MDA went to a short show, then gave it up altogether in 2014. One wonders how they raise money now, and how much.