The Dead Thread

Ron Taylor
March 8, 1934 - September 9, 2012
Documentary film maker passed away in Sydney, Austrailia. The cause was leukemia.
Made the documentary film about the Great White shark "Blue Water, White Death" (1971)
This would lead to work as consultant and underwater cameraman for the 1975 blockbuster "Jaws".

U.K. Telegraph: Film maker Ron Taylor

Andy Williams 12/3/1927 - 9/25/2012

The great Herbert Lom, Dies at 95

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/arts/herbert-lom-frustrated-boss-of-inspector-clouseau-dies-at-95.html?_r=1

Actor Michael O'Hare
May 6, 1952 – September 28, 2012
Best known for playing Commander Jeffrey Sinclair in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

io9: Michael O'Hare

Los Angeles children's TV show 'Sheriff' John Rovick
Oct. 2, 1919 - Oct 13,2012
Los Angeles Times: Sheriff John

Alex Karras, former NFL lineman, actor (Mongo), dies at 77.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/11/basil-plumley-army-veteran-of-three-wars-dies-at-92/

Basil Plumley, Army veteran of 3 wars, dies at 92

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley, who fought in some of the U.S. Army's bloodiest battles in three wars, died Wednesday in Columbus, Georgia. He was 92.

Plumley saw action in some of the largest battles of World War II, including the Battle of Normandy, the Battle of Salerno in Italy and Operation Market Garden.

He then fought in the Korean War, but it was his role in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam that brought him the most fame. The battle was chronicled in the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young," which was later a 2002 movie starring Mel Gibson. Sam Elliott played Plumley.

The National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia, tweeted a picture of Elliot and Plumley in noting the veteran's death.

Plumley, along with Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, led the Army's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment in the November 1965 battle that saw 450 U.S. forces face off against 2,000 troops from the North Vietnamese army in the first major engagement between the two armies. More than 230 U.S. troops were killed.

Plumley was at Landing Zone X-Ray, where 79 U.S. troops died.

"That was a long day. I was the second one in and next to the last to leave," Plumley was quoted as saying by The Bayonet in 2010 when he donated a large print of himself and Moore in Vietnam to the National Infantry Museum.

"Command Sgt. Maj. Plumley was a true American hero who spent much of his life placing his nation and its greatest ideals ahead of his own well-being," Maj. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, Texas, said in a statement Wednesday. "He served with great valor and distinction in three wars and continued to mentor soldiers and leaders well after his retirement from active duty. The command sergeant major touched countless lives in his more than 30 years in the Army."

Plumley joined the Army on March 31, 1942, and retired on December 31, 1974.

His Army awards included the Silver Star with one oak leaf cluster and the Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster.

At a reunion of Ia Drang veterans this year in Columbus, Plumley talked about the troops he helped lead, according to a report on the U.S. Army's website.

"That battalion was the best trained, in good physical shape and most disciplined that I've ever seen," he said. "We did real hard training at Fort Benning before we went into X-Ray. … But that battalion was made up of hard, disciplined, well-trained and well-commanded soldiers who didn't give a damn how rough their training is as long as you're fair about it. I was glad to have been a member of it."

Plumley was a larger-than-life figure, who had the respect of those on the battlefield, according to Joe Galloway, a reporter who was at Ia Drang and later wrote "We Were Soldiers" along with Moore. At the May reunion, he told of the scene when Plumley showed up at another Ia Drang vets reunion years earlier.

"It was up in the hospitality room, and everybody's had a few pops. All of a sudden, Sgt. Maj. Plumley arrives, steps in the door," Galloway said. "And I saw guys who had served a two-year draftee tour in the Army and had been out for 25 or 30 years, turn white, backs against the wall. As the sergeant major made his way into the room, they made their way along the wall and out the door. They were afraid he still had their name and number."

Plumley died of colon cancer, the Army statement said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_L._Plumley

Dutch adult film actress Sylvia Kristel
September 28, 1952 – October 17, 2012

Best known for playing the lead character in four of the seven Emmanuelle films but also acted in mainstream movies such as Private Lessons, Private School and the Get Smart revival film The Nude Bomb.

Boston Globe: Sylvia Kristel

Larry Hagman, film and TV actor best known for roles on "Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie," has died at age 81.

This stinks, I'm a fan. He was great in Blake Edwards' S.O.B. and if anyone has a shot of him from Sea Hunt please post it.

Underground cartoonist Manuel "Spain" Rodriguez
March 22, 1940-November 28, 2012

original Zap Comix artists who created the character Trashman.

Founder of the Mission District murals movement in San Francisco

San Francisco Chronicle: Spain Rodriguez

Spain Rodriguez webpage

RIP Dave Brubeck. Thanks for the music.

Famous modernist Brazilian architect "Oscar Niemeyer" dies at 104
If you own any Broyhill Brasilia furniture much of his work influenced the design.

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/oscar-niemeyer-in-memoriam/

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2012-12-06 15:47 ]

Drummer Ed Cassidy
May 4, 1923- Dec 7, 2012

He had jammed with such jazz greats as Dexter Gordon and Chet Baker before teaming with Randy California, his guitar-playing stepson from another marriage, to form what became the Los Angeles based band Spirit. Cassidy was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest performing rock ’n’ roll drummer. He had long been nicknamed "Mr. Skin" for his bald head.

Santa Maria Times: Ed Cassidy

Ravi Shankar.

http://news.yahoo.com/indian-sitar-virtuoso-ravi-shankar-dies-043601297.html

Birger Stromsheim, Hero on Skis in an Anti-Nazi Raid, Dies at 101
One of the real team members depicted in the movie “The Heroes of Telemark” starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/world/europe/birger-stromsheim-who-aided-raid-on-nazi-plant-dies-at-101.html?_r=0

Ray Collins
Vocalist for the Mothers of Invention
Cowritter of Penguins song "Memories of El Monte"

Variety: Ray Collins

Gerry Anderson-the creator of hit TV shows including Thunderbirds, Stingray and Joe 90, has died at the age of 83.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-20845407

I'm sure everyone already knows, but I figure he deserves documenting.

Jack Klugman, Dec 24th

Charles Durning

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/movies/charles-durning-prolific-character-actor-dies-at-89.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

General Norman Schwarzkopf.

Harry Carey Jr.

http://www.eonline.com/photos/4266/celebrity-deaths-2012-s-fallen-stars/244552

Fontella Bass

http://www.eonline.com/photos/4266/celebrity-deaths-2012-s-fallen-stars/244423

The Singing Rage, Patti Page

http://news.yahoo.com/tennessee-waltz-singer-patti-page-dies-85-194305485.html

NASA legendary German-American rocket engineer and Star Trek, the movie, technical advisor, Jesco Von Puttkamer, on December 27, 2012 at age 79...

More on Jesco's life and accomplishments here and a Youtube video interview with Jesco here.

-Tom

Huell Howser, rest in peace.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Huell-Howser-Death-California-Gold-185922911.html

Wow! I had heard he was sick & his very sudden retirement from the show biz
was out of the blue just a few months ago......RIP Huell

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2013-01-07 13:46 ]

Happy Trials, Rex.

Rex Trailer, host of ‘Boomtown’ TV show, dies at 84

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/01/10/rex-trailer-host-boomtown-show-dies/LFjejyLVQ3pbPIH7Soh3dP/story.html

Veteran radio broadcaster Frank Page passed away at the age of 87 on Jan 9, 2013
Voice of Louisiana Hayride, who helped introduce Elvis Presley to worldwide audiences on the show in 1954.

Fox Memphis: Frank Page

Conrad Bain, of "Maude" and "Diff'rent Strokes," 89.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/16/entertainment-us-usa-people-bain-idUSBRE90F1N620130116

And now Dear Abby

http://news.yahoo.com/dear-abby-advice-columnist-dies-age-94-184114087.html

Radio Disk Jockey Jimmy O'Neill
Jan. 8, 1940 - Jan 11, 2013

Worked at L.A. top 40 station KRLA. At the age of 20, he had the most popular program in his time slot, making him the youngest person ever to have a No. 1 show -- a record that still stands.

Host of ABC's "Shindig!" one of the earliest teen-oriented music TV shows. "Shindig!" featured the Who, the Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, the Beach Boys and the Righteous Brothers among its list of superstars.

Daily News: Jimmy O'Neill

Shindig!

Patty Andrews at 94 :(
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50644514

Reg Presley, lead singer of 60s British rock band The Troggs.
June 12, 1943 - February 4, 2013

BBC: Reg Presley

YouTube: Love Is All Around

Glenn Miller trombonist Paul Tanner dies at 95
Feb. 6, 2013, 1:09 PM EST
CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) -- Paul Tanner, a trombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra who later played a space-age instrument on the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations," has died at 95.

Bing: More on Paul Tanner

His stepson, Douglas Darnell, of Youngstown, Ohio, says Tanner died of pneumonia Tuesday morning at an assisted living center in Carlsbad, Calif.

Tanner performed with Miller from 1938 to 1942. During his long career, he also worked as a movie studio and ABC musician in California, and performed with Tex Beneke, Henry Mancini and Arturo Toscanini, among others.

He also helped develop the electro-theremin, a keyboard-style electronic instrument. Tanner provided its eerie sound on several Beach Boys recordings, including "Good Vibrations."

Tanner also was a music professor at UCLA for 23 years and helped write several books.

Jazz great Donald Byrd dies at 80
Feb. 7, 2013, 7:00 PM EST

WENN

Influential jazz great Donald Byrd has died, aged 80.

Bing: Videos of Donald Byrd

The news was announced by the trumpeter's nephew Alex Bugnon, who told AmoebaMusic.com that certain family members were trying to keep the death under "an unnecessary shroud of secrecy."

Byrd reportedly passed away on Monday, but details of his death have not been released.

The jazz man launched his career with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the 1950s and performed alongside the likes of John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock.

His Blue Note Records album "Black Byrd" became a bestseller for the iconic company and led to the trumpeter forming a group called The Blackbyrds in the 1970s.

Byrd's work has been sampled by hip-hop artists including Public Enemy, Nas and the Pharcyde.

A statement from his nephew reads: "Let's remember Donald as a one of a kind pioneer of the trumpet, of the many styles of music he took on, of music education. In sum, Donald was an avid, eternal student of music, until his death."

*William Watts "Buck" Biggers
June 2, 1927 – February 10, 2013
Co-creator of the Underdog, Tooter Turtle, Tennessee Tuxedo, Go Go Gophers, The World of Commander McBragg and Klondike Kat

New York Daily News: W. Watts Biggers

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*Record producer and songwriter George Francis "Shadow" Morton
September 3, 1940 – February 14, 2013

Songwriter of "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” and “I Can Never Go Home Anymore,” which became hits for the Shangri-Las.

As a producer, Mr. Morton was best known for Janis Ian’s hit single “Society’s Child,” several albums by the psychedelic rock group Vanilla Fudge; and “Too Much Too Soon” (1974), by the New York Dolls.

New York Times: "Shadow" Morton"

Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss. January 27, 1934 - February 18, 2013

British Musician Kevin Ayers
co-founded the Soft Machine
Aug 16, 1944 - Feb 18, 2013

Spin: Kevin Ayers

BBC DJ John Peel wrote in his autobiography that "Kevin Ayers' talent is so acute you could perform major eye surgery with it."

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Singer/Guitarist Tony Sheridan
early collaborator of The Beatles
May 21, 1940 - Feb 16, 2013

BBC News: Tony Sheridan

Official Tony Sheridan site

Sheridan and the Beatles recorded nine songs together, with Sheridan singing on seven of them ("My Bonnie," "The Saints," "Why (Can't You Love Me Again)," "Nobody's Child," "Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby," "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Swanee River").
But the Beatles were listed as The Beat Brothers. (The word “Beatles” did not translate in German—except as a slang term for the male sex organ).

Rick Huxley, bass player for the Dave Clark Five. Feb. 13.

Alvin Lee, 68.
Died during routine surgery
How f*cking sad

On 2013-03-07 09:25, drgoat456 wrote:
Alvin Lee, 68.
Died during routine surgery
How f*cking sad

How f*cking sad indeed. A true guitar legend.

On a Cannucky note - Stompin' Tom Connors has also died. Oh, and some fella named Hugo Chavez apparently - it's been in the news or sumthin I think.

RIP Stompin' Tom

Official website

Malachi Throne, the veteran TV actor who played Robert Wagner's boss on It Takes a Thief and the enigmatic evildoer False-Face on Batman, died Wednesday in Los Angeles of lung cancer. He was 84.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/malachi-throne-batman-star-trek-thief-429009#

"Mind if I smoke while you eat"*

Adult film actor Harry Reems (born Herbert Streicher)August 27, 1947 – March 19, 2013.

Best known work is his role in Deep Throat.

Seattle Time: Harry Reems

In 1976, Reems was convicted of obscenity for his role in the film and faced a potential five-year prison term. Celebrities including Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty came to Reems' defense, and the conviction was overturned.

After "Deep Throat," he went on to star in dozens of adult films, including "The Devil in Miss Jones."

Invented the Seventies porn star mustache.

*I don't think Harry Reems was in the scene when this line was uttered but it was said sometime during Deep Throat and he was in Deep Throat.

Paul Williams, Founder of the Rock Music Magazine 'Crawdaddy!'
May 19, 1948 - March 27, 2013

Spin: Paul Williams

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Don Payne, 'Simpsons' writer and producer

May 5, 1964 - March 26, 2013

Los Angeles Times: Don Payne

Jesus "Jess" Franco

Spanish filmmaker of Euro-horror, porn, and horror-porn films such as "The Perverse Countess","Vampyros Lesbos","The Awful Dr. Orloff","Killer Barbies","Tender Flesh","Fury in the Tropics","Hellhole Women","Mandingo Manhunter","White Cannibal Queen" and "The Diabolical Dr. Z" died at his home in Spain at age 82.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/61782

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001238/

[ Edited by: PiPhiRho 2013-04-03 21:50 ]

Anntte Funicello. She was Disney, Beach Party, and Skippy peanut butter all wrapped up in one awesome lady:

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/annette-funicello-passes-away-70-165500504.html

EVERYBODY had a crush on Annette Funicello, including GROG.

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-04-08 13:19 ]