DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[LizzieMaine]

Althought I'm about as far from Ditko politically as it's possible to get -- in his later years he was a militant Objectivist -- he was also, indisputably, a comics genius, and I never read a story of his that wasn't worth my time.

One has haunted my memory my whole life -- when I was very young I came across a pile of old Charlton "Strange Suspense Stories" comics at my grandparents' house. I don';t know whose they were, or why they were there, but it was a rainy day so I read them. They were full of Ditko stories, including one that really stuck in my mind.

This futuristic scientist type spent his whole life trying to develop a device that could scan time and view the future, and had a cabal of rich men funding the project. They were getting impatient with him, and warned him if he didn't show them something soon, they were done with the project. Finally, he got his device to work -- and saw a world under the control of a global dictatorship run by the men who were his backers, who had used his device to further their plans of conquest. In this future world he himself was hailed as the greatest scientest of all time and lived in wealth and privilege as a trusted advisor to the ruling council. He watched it all unfold and then turned off his machine just as his backers returned demanding a report. "I'm afraid it doesn't work," he told them. "I'm afraid it'll never work."

I must've been seven or eight years old when I read that comic, but I've never forgotten that one story. It was only about six pages long, but the layout and the facial expressions and just the general flow of storytelling made more of an impression on me than any comic I've ever read. It was the first time I realized that comics could be more than just "funnybooks," and I have Steve Ditko to thank for it. May he rest in peace.

 

[Fading Fast]

Althought I'm about as far from Ditko politically as it's possible to get -- in his later years he was a militant Objectivist -- he was also, indisputably, a comics genius, and I never read a story of his that wasn't worth my time.

One has haunted my memory my whole life -- when I was very young I came across a pile of old Charlton "Strange Suspense Stories" comics at my grandparents' house. I don';t know whose they were, or why they were there, but it was a rainy day so I read them. They were full of Ditko stories, including one that really stuck in my mind.

This futuristic scientist type spent his whole life trying to develop a device that could scan time and view the future, and had a cabal of rich men funding the project. They were getting impatient with him, and warned him if he didn't show them something soon, they were done with the project. Finally, he got his device to work -- and saw a world under the control of a global dictatorship run by the men who were his backers, who had used his device to further their plans of conquest. In this future world he himself was hailed as the greatest scientest of all time and lived in wealth and privilege as a trusted advisor to the ruling council. He watched it all unfold and then turned off his machine just as his backers returned demanding a report. "I'm afraid it doesn't work," he told them. "I'm afraid it'll never work."

I must've been seven or eight years old when I read that comic, but I've never forgotten that one story. It was only about six pages long, but the layout and the facial expressions and just the general flow of storytelling made more of an impression on me than any comic I've ever read. It was the first time I realized that comics could be more than just "funnybooks," and I have Steve Ditko to thank for it. May he rest in peace.

Based on your mentioning his Objectivist views, I just read his NYT obit which references that he was strongly influenced by Ayn Rand's philosophy to the point that he created a few characters based on her ideas. As someone who leans very closely to her philosophy, it's fun and rare to find someone like Ditko pop up. I'm going to have to try to hunt out some of his work, especially some of those "Randian" characters. The story that influenced you as a kid sounds familiar, but probably because there have been other riffs on it, I doubt I read his take.

 

[Worf]

Tab Hunter - PreFab 50's/60's heartthrob died last night or today. I wasn't a huge fan but according to the bio-pic "Tab Hunter - Confidential" he seemed to have found peace with himself in the end.

Worf

 

[Zombie_61]

Tab Hunter - PreFab 50's/60's heartthrob died last night or today. I wasn't a huge fan but according to the bio-pic "Tab Hunter - Confidential" he seemed to have found peace with himself in the end.

Worf

Both CNN's and the New York Times' websites state he died on Sunday in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 86. Also according to those websites, his partner/spouse of 35 years Allan Glaser says the cause of death was a blood clot that moved from his leg to his lung, causing cardiac arrest. From the CNN website: "This was sudden and unexpected," Glaser added. "He was athletic, more like a 60-year-old not an 86-year-old."

 

[HadleyH1]

Nancy Sinatra first wife of star Frank Sinatra dies at 101


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-star-frank-sinatra-dies-at-101-idUSKBN1K406B

 

[Fading Fast]

Both CNN's and the New York Times' websites state he died on Sunday in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 86. Also according to those websites, his partner/spouse of 35 years Allan Glaser says the cause of death was a blood clot that moved from his leg to his lung, causing cardiac arrest. From the CNN website: "This was sudden and unexpected," Glaser added. "He was athletic, more like a 60-year-old not an 86-year-old."

It's funny that as a fan of old movies - and I'll watch the B-picture, etc. - I have only rarely run into an old Tab Hunter film. And since I know who he was - and am aware of his fame - I would recognize him / catch his name in the credits.

Only a year or two ago, I was wearing an Oxford cloth button-down shirt, chinos and tan bucks and a woman in her eighties said I reminded her of Tab Hunter. That's it, that's my boring story.

 

[3fingers]

^ You slippery devil. SGF needs to keep an eye on you apparently.

 

[Fading Fast]

^ You slippery devil. SGF needs to keep an eye on you apparently.

One, I'm dumb, but not dumb enough to do anything to risk losing SGF.

Two, in the last ten years, that might have been the only compliment a random woman has paid me and she was thirty plus years older than I.

 

[3fingers]

I got a "compliment" from a pretty young girl a week or so ago.
Long story, but I ended up helping to run a public swimming pool this summer.
I was helping one of the young ladies with a new to her task. When she had completed it I said "there you go, I knew you could do it." Her reply was "you're so sweet, you remind me of my grandpa."
She meant it in the best of ways, and her grandpa and I are not that far apart in age, but ouch.

 

[Fading Fast]

I got a "compliment" from a pretty young girl a week or so ago.
Long story, but I ended up helping to run a public swimming pool this summer.
I was helping one of the young ladies with a new to her task. When she had completed it I said "there you go, I knew you could do it." Her reply was "you're so sweet, you remind me of my grandpa."
She meant it in the best of ways, and her grandpa and I are not that far apart in age, but ouch.

Somewhat similarly, my mother - yes my mother - and out of nowhere, told me "you look good for your age." WTF mom, really!

 

[Zombie_61]

Somewhat similarly, my mother - yes my mother - and out of nowhere, told me "you look good for your age." WTF mom, really!

The closest thing to a compliment about my appearance that I ever received from my Mom was when I was in my late teens. We were having a conversation about who knows what, and completely off topic she said, "You remind me of Elvis when he was young." Then, after a brief pause, she followed it up with, "Except your nose is too big for your face," then turned and walked away.

 

[Worf]

Wow what a hilarious thread-jacking! I get compliments regularly... usually on whatever hat I'm wearing. I've a nice straw hat collection. With the broiling heat this summer (we're in moderate drought right now) I've been wearing lids daily. Well as my Dad used to say....

"Fast penny beats a slow dollar.."

I take what compliments I can git when ah gits em.

Worf

 

[MisterCairo]

He died last year, but I only recently heard that Benjamin Whitrow, perhaps best known in North America for playing Mr. Bennett in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series, died aged 80. He was one of my favourite English actors, and one of the best performances in P&P '95 (aka the one with Colin Firth), and that is saying something:

 

[Trenchfriend]

R.I.P., Adrian Cronauer.

 

[MisterCairo]

Yes, indeed.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainm...am-character-dead-at-79/ar-AAAjWLb?ocid=ientp

I saw the Robin Williams movie at the cinema with two friends while in high school. The Vietnam war seemed "old history" then, and it had only been over for, what, ten plus years? Cronauer would only have been in his forties or so at the time.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Screenwriter of many of the greatest films by Akira Kurosawa (and therefore many of the greatest films, full stop):

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/movies/shinobu-hashimoto-dead-screenwriter-for-kurosawa.html

Rashoman, Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress...

 

[GHT]

Battle of Britain RAF Spitfire pilot Geoffrey Wellum dies, 20th July, 2018.
The youngest Spitfire pilot to fly in the Battle of Britain during World War Two has died, it has been announced.
Sqn Ldr Geoffrey Wellum, who was just 18 when he joined the RAF in August 1939, died at his home in Cornwall on Wednesday evening aged 96.
He served with 92 Squadron and his first missions included the "dogfights" above London and the Home Counties for which the battle became known.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Trust said it was "saddened by the news".
Sqn Ldr Wellum was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and was later promoted to flight commander with 65 Squadron. He later led eight Spitfires from HMS Furious to relieve Malta.
There are now just nine WW2 Battle of Britain pilots still living.

 

[3fingers]

The veterans of the second world war are growing fewer at a rapidly increasing pace. It is incumbent upon us to remember them and share what they did with young people to insure that they do not fade into the dust of history. I am reminded of my own mortality when I think of these men being substantially younger in my childhood than I am now.

 

[GHT]

The veterans of the second world war are growing fewer at a rapidly increasing pace. It is incumbent upon us to remember them and share what they did with young people to insure that they do not fade into the dust of history. I am reminded of my own mortality when I think of these men being substantially younger in my childhood than I am now.

That is a fine appraisal of those who risked, and gave their all, for the subsequent generations to live in peace, freedom and not under the crushing heel of National Zocialism, or any other ideology that does not allow the rulers of a nation to be held to account by the people of that said nation.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Any chance this could be made into a forum with individual threads, each for a person, instead of a giant thread for many notable people? Otherwise they get buried .