I was way into Evel, I got to shake his hand when I was 9 at a Toy's R Us appearance.

Later on when I realized he was a creep I finally washed that hand.

I hope to God they strap a rocket to the coffin and shoot him over Snake River Canyon.

This past week was a rough one. A lot of people bit the dust.

Sean Taylor, Washington Redskins safety was shot and killed as mentioned earlier.

Friday November 30 was particularly lethal:

Shawn Springs, Washington Redskins corner back lost his NFL dad, Ron Springs, who had been in a coma.

Washington DC Area radio and TV (WPGC and BET) personality, Donnie Simpson lost his dad Calvin, who had been ill and suffering for years.

Washington DC Area radio and TV (WPGC and BET) personality, Darian Morgan (aka Big Tigger) lost his dad on the same day.

Evel Knievel as mentioned.

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Aug 22, 1928 - Dec 5, 2007

The Godfather of Electronica and one of the 20th century's greatest composers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7133571.stm

Like most musical geniuses and pioneers, he never received the acclaim that he deserved...but I'm sure he didn't sweat it.

Ike Turner, Rock Pioneer and Ex-Husband of Tina Turner, Dies at San Diego Home at Age 76
12-12-2007 1:36 PM

SAN DIEGO (Associated Press) -- Ike Turner, whose role as one of rock's critical architects was overshadowed by his ogrelike image as the man who brutally abused former wife and icon Tina Turner, died Wednesday at his home in suburban San Diego. He was 76.

He did pass away this morning" at his home in San Marcos, in northern San Diego County, said Scott M. Hanover of Thrill Entertainment Group, which managed Turner's musical career.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death, which was first reported by celebrity Web site TMZ.com.

Turner managed to rehabilitate his image somewhat in his later years, touring around the globe with his band the Kings of Rhythm and drawing critical acclaim for his work. He won a Grammy in 2007 in the traditional blues album category for "Risin' With the Blues."

But his image is forever identified as the drug-addicted, wife-abusing husband of Tina Turner. He was hauntingly portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the movie "What's Love Got To Do With It," based on Tina Turner's autobiography

Dan Fogelberg

The Free-Lance Star
IT'S NOT quite the same as losing Elvis or even, for that matter, John Lennon.

But my sense of immortality flagged a bit this week when I read about the death of Dan Fogelberg, a songwriter and folk/rock singer who was a favorite of mine.

The fact that he was only 56--not that much older than my 51--accentuated the loss of the "Power of Gold" and "Leader of the Band" writer to prostate cancer.

Yes, people in my generation have lost our share of favorite performers through the years.

To be sure, Lennon, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Croce, Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughn and scads of other performers loved by us baby boomers have gone by the wayside.

But most of them went either from their own excesses, in accidents or had their brilliant careers snuffed out by a killer.

Somehow, having a favorite performer from your high school and college years succumb to prostate cancer pretty sharply undercuts the irreverent and immortal essence of rock 'n' roll.

While some see Fogelberg as a soft-rocker best known for tunes that play in malls and elevators, I have a stack of CDs with tunes that both rock and relate the wonders of life and love.

My first thought on hearing he had lost his long battle with cancer was remembering Fogelberg at a concert at Paramount's Kings Dominion.

That made me smile, because I attended the concert with a buddy who also enjoyed Fogelberg's range of music, from rock to jazz to country.

My pal and I hadn't thought a lot about who'd be at the concert; we were just glad to have the chance to see him at a nearby venue.

That evening featured Fogelberg alone, alternating between a guitar and keyboards.

I remember leaving with the thought that I had just seen someone who truly understood using music and words to tell a story and evoking emotion.

From "Longer" to "Dancing Shoes" to "Missing You" to "Rhythm of the Rain" and so many more tunes I'll listen to for years, he had a unique style and voice that used soft tones and harmonic melodies to reel listeners in.

While the loss of Fogelberg has made me accept the fact that this will occur more and more as the years go by, I'm not giving up on another rock 'n' roll connection.

It's the fantasy, surely shared by many jackleg musicians, where I'm at a concert for say, oh, the Dave Matthews Band.

Suddenly, an announcement's made about how the drummer has sprained his ankle and can't go on.

"Anyone out there who could fill in for him, get instantly famous and make a million bucks, please run up here right away," says the announcer.

Even when I'm 80, I'm not giving up on that one.

I'll still be out there with my sticks in my back pocket, and my feet tapping--even if they never call on me.
Rob Hedelt:

B-movie queen and legendary blonde bombshell pinup JEANNE CARMEN died on Thursday after a battle with lymphoma. A 1950's Hollywood party girl and model, Carmen was known for claiming to be a close confidant of Marilyn Monroe, long rumored to have had lesbian affairs and a lover of such famous celebrities as Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

Johnny Grant, Hollywood's Honorary Mayor
May 1923 - January 2008

Johnny Grant Official Site

Master of Ceremonies of Hollywood Walk of Fame inductions.

Very well known to listeners of the Jim Healy radio show.

Jim Healy Tribute Site

[ Edited by: KING BUSHWICH THE 33RD 2008-01-09 23:26 ]

Sir Edmund Hillary

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3190797

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88.

The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called "Ed" and considering himself just an ordinary beekeeper.

"Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," Clark said in a statement.

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived," she said.

Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement -- and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Tenzing Norgay.

Sir Edmund Hillary, shown making a speech in Antarctica last year, died Thursday at 88. Although his 1953 climb of Mount Everest is a well-known accomplishment, Hillary was also one of the 20th century's great adventurers.

He had pride in his feats. Returning to base camp as the man who took the first step onto the top of the world's highest peak, he declared: "We knocked the bastard off."

The accomplishment as part of a British climbing expedition even added luster to the coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II four days later, and she knighted Hillary as one of her first act.

But he was more proud of his decades-long campaign to set up schools and health clinics in Nepal, the homeland of Tenzing Norgay, the mountain guide with whom he stood arm in arm on the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953.

FULLERTON, Calif. - Carl N. Karcher, who parlayed a $325 investment in a hot-dog cart into one of the largest hamburger chains in the West died Friday. He was 90. The founder of the Carl's Jr. fast-food chain suffered from Parkinson's disease and was being treated for pneumonia when he died at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, said Beth Mansfield, a spokeswoman for CKE Restaurants Inc. Karcher, a deeply religious father of 12, was famous in the fast-food industry for his rags-to-riches story -- a tale that was tainted in later years by an insider trading scandal and feuds with his board of directors that led to his eventual demise as chief executive officer. The company and its founder grew even more estranged in recent years when Carl's Jr., seeking to woo a younger male clientele, launched a series of ads that included a scantily clad Paris Hilton washing a car and Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner, surrounded by beautiful women, expounding on the advantages of being able to enjoy a different variety of hamburger every night of the week. In happier years, Karcher had appeared in the chain's ads himself, cutting a grandfatherly figure as he stood alongside the smiling Carl's Jr. "Happy Star" logo. Karcher was working as a bread-truck driver in South Central Los Angeles when he noticed the large number of hot dog stands in the neighborhood and saw a business opportunity. He borrowed $311 on the 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe he owned with his new bride, Margaret, added the rest in cash and bought his first pushcart hot dog stand. One cart soon became four, and by the end of World War II Karcher had opened his first restaurant, Carl's Drive-In barbecue, in Anaheim. He opened the first Carl's Jr. -- named "Jr." to distinguish it from his full-service eatery -- in 1956. "With the help and support of my wife and children, my faith in God, my good health, my belief in the free enterprise system, and my willingness to work hard, there was no way I could have failed," he wrote in his 1991 autobiography, "Never Stop Dreaming." From the beginning, Karcher wanted to appeal to a slightly higher-end customer who would pay a little more for quality fast food. Some of his restaurants had carpeting and allowed customers to have their orders delivered to their table. Karcher was also among the first to pick up on America's growing interest in healthier fast food, introducing grilled chicken sandwiches and salad bars. The business fit well with the postwar boom and California's emerging car culture. Today, Carl's Jr. has more than 1,000 locations across the West; its parent company, the Carpenteria, Calif.-based CKE Enterprises Inc., made $1.52 billion in sales in 2006 and had 29,000 employees. CKE also owns the Hardee's, La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill and Green Burrito chains. Karcher's religious and political views were always tightly interwoven with his business. The fast-food magnate began all board of directors meetings with the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi and handed out prayer cards along with Carl's Jr. coupons to people he met on the street. "I believe in certain moral principles. I'm a good Christian. I'm a conservative person," he told The Wall Street Journal for a 1993 profile. He was reviled by abortion rights activists for his contributions to anti-abortion groups and his oft-repeated story about talking a Carl's Jr. employee out of an abortion. Gay rights groups dubbed his hamburgers "bigot burgers" after Karcher supported a 1978 proposition that would have allowed school boards to fire teachers who were gay or advocated homosexuality. Karcher's initial success began to show cracks in the 1980s when he took the company public. Carl's Jr. locations in Texas and Arizona failed, ending his dream of becoming a national chain. In 1989, Karcher and his family agreed to a $664,000 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the agency alleged Karcher told six family members to sell stock ahead of an announcement that company profits would plummet by 50 percent. Karcher never admitted wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement, which he later said he viewed as a good business decision. In 1993, after increasingly bitter feuds with his board of directors and crippling personal financial losses, the 76-year-old founder was ousted as the company's CEO. Under new leadership, the company revamped its advertising, slimmed down the menu and lowered prices. When the burger chain began running its racy TV ads, the Rev. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral said Karcher was "just heartbroken that a company he founded on Christian principles has taken such an amoral act." Karcher, who rarely appeared in public in recent years,took part in a January 2007 ceremony when the city of Anaheim installed a star on its walk of fame honoring him and his wife, who had died of liver cancer in June 2006. He is survived by 11 children, Anne Marie Wiles, Patricia LaGraffe, Margaret Jean LeVecke, Carl L. Karcher, Catherine Karcher, Janelle Karcher, Father Jerome T. Karcher, Rosemary Miller, Barbara Wall, Joseph Karcher and Mary Miller; 51 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren. A daughter, Carlene Karcher, died in 1993.

My Famous Star with no picles, onions or mayo will never taste the same again!!

Rest In Peace - Jan. 10th 2008
Maila Nurmi aka VAMPIRA
Maila Nurmi, known as Vampira to all, passed away in the comforts of her Hollywood home as she slept. She was 85 years old. Being an animal lover with her own coming first before anything, if you wish to donate to Much Love Animal Rescue (http://www.muchlove.org/index.php), do so in Maila's name. Thank you for all your amazing words and sharing your beautiful heart with us over the years, Maila. May you rest forever in peace.
(From Fright Icons, Sent in by FRIGHT friend Nicole))

This was from FANGORIA's post about her passing earlier today:
Regarding funeral arrangements, “They are pending legal steps, as Maila had no relatives,” Moore reveals. “We are going to do our best to see if we can get her a spot at Hollywood Forever, and will likely plan some sort of hearse procession for her.”

Here's to you Lady.
Thanks for everything,
Laffo

Damn.

Sweet Louie Smith, 68, R&B Singer, Is Dead

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 19, 2007

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sweet Louie Smith, who was half of the R&B duo the Checkmates, died on Saturday aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean on which he and his partner, Sonny Charles, were performing. Mr. Smith was 68 and lived in Las Vegas, where the two were a long-running music act.

Mr. Charles confirmed the death.

Marvin Smith, known as Sweet Louie, and Mr. Charles were friends since childhood in Fort Wayne, Ind. They served in the Army together in the 1950s, touring in the entertainment division of the Army Special Services, after which they set their sights on Las Vegas.

The act took off in 1964 when the Checkmates started performing at the Pussycat à Go-Go, on the site of what is now the Wynn Las Vegas Resort. The group went on to perform at the Sands and Caesars Palace.

The duo’s best-known recordings include “Love Is All I Have to Give” and a remake of “Proud Mary.” Their most successful single, a Top 10 hit, was “Black Pearl,” a 1969 recording produced by Phil Spector.

Some of their career highlights included performing with Frank Sinatra at the Oakland Coliseum, a concert at Madison Square Garden with Herb Alpert, and singing the national anthem for the “Thrilla in Manila,” the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier heavyweight championship boxing match in the Philippines in 1975.

The Checkmates were inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame in 2000.

Mr. Smith is survived by his wife, Linda.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/arts/19smith.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin

Oh wow....
Boobs has died. :(

I love Ruth Wallis, she is so great! and her lyrics are hysterical!
Bless her.

RIP :(

Posted: Wed., Dec. 26, 2007, 3:24pm PT
Actress Ruth Wallis dies at 87
Known for naughty musical numbers
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ruth Wallis, whose naughty musical numbers between the 1940s and 1960s inspired the musical revue, "Boobs! The Musical," died of Alzheimer's-related causes Dec. 22 in Wallingford, Conn. She was 87.
She sang in the Isham Jones and Benny Goodman orchestras and became known as a risqué singer during the 1950s. Some of her songs were banned from radio, and her records were confiscated by Australian customs during the 60s.

She made 10 comedy albums and appeared in Las Vegas, Miami and in Australia, London and New Zealand. Among her more than 150 songs were "The Dinghy Song," which sold 250,000 copies.

Shortly after her 83rd birthday, "Boobs ! The Musical" (subtitled: The World According to Ruth Wallis) opened at the Triad Theater in New York and later transferred to Dillion's. The musical ran for nearly 300 performances with subsequent runs in New Orleans and Wichita.

Wallis is survived by a daughter, a son and a granddaughter.

Donations may be sent to Connecticut VNA Hospice 12 Case Street #356, Norwich CT, 06360.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978171.html?categoryid=15&cs=1

"It's like a Koala crapped a rainbow in my brain!"

[ Edited by: ravenne 2008-01-16 18:11 ]

Allan Melvin, aka 'Sam the Butcher' from the Brady Bunch dead at 84.

Where now is Alice going to get her meat?

Here is a clip of Allan,in a 1970's Liquid Plumber commercial
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jNFXvUxLXU0

Allan Melvin, a popular character actor who played Cpl. Henshaw on the classic 1950s sitcom "The Phil Silvers Show" and later portrayed Archie Bunker's neighbor and friend Barney on "All in the Family," has died. He was 84.

Melvin, who was in the original Broadway cast of "Stalag 17" in the early 1950s, died of cancer Thursday at his home in Brentwood, said his wife of 64 years, Amalia.

During his five-decade career, Melvin made guest appearances on numerous TV shows, including playing different roles on at least eight episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" and playing Dick Van Dyke's old Army buddy on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." He also played Sgt. Charlie Hacker on "Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C."; portrayed butcher Sam Franklin -- Alice the housekeeper's boyfriend -- on "The Brady Bunch"; and continued playing Barney when the hit "All in the Family" became "Archie Bunker's Place."

Melvin, who appeared in only one movie -- the 1968 Doris Day comedy "With Six You Get Eggroll" -- also did voice-over work in cartoons, including providing the voices of Magilla Gorilla and Bluto on "Popeye." He worked on numerous TV commercials as well, including playing Al the Plumber in the Liquid-Plumr commercials for 15 years.

After launching his show business career in the sound effects department of NBC radio in New York in 1944, Melvin began acting on radio soap operas and then moved into live television. At the same time, he did movie star impressions in Manhattan in a nightclub act written by his friend Richard Condon, who later wrote "The Manchurian Candidate." Melvin's stand-up act led to his winning "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" radio show in the late 1940s.

He was playing Reed in "Stalag 17," the hit 1951-52 Broadway play set in a German POW camp during World War II, when he first caught Silvers' attention.
"The Phil Silvers Show," originally titled "You'll Never Get Rich," was set on an Army base in Kansas and ran from 1955 to 1959. As Cpl. Henshaw, Melvin was the right-hand man to Silvers' con-man extraordinaire, Sgt. Ernie Bilko.

"He was brilliant" as Henshaw, Mickey Freeman, who played Pvt. Zimmerman on the show, told The Times on Friday. In recent years, when fans would ask Freeman how many surviving cast members were left, he would reply, "Allan Melvin and me -- that's a high mortality rate for a noncombatant unit."

Noting that Melvin "was a great mimic of voices," Freeman recalled an episode in which an officer arrived at Ft. Baxter to stop the men from gambling. One of the ways the officer did that, Freeman said, was to make them listen to his wife lecture on art. But the woman had an unusual twitch -- pulling on her skirt -- and Bilko and the other soldiers placed bets on how many times she would do that during her lecture. Freeman recalled that Melvin, as Henshaw, was positioned outside the lecture hall with a microphone, broadcasting to the other soldiers on the base -- " 'She's up to 42 now . . . 43 . . . 44, and she's not even breathing heavy.' He made a whole racetrack thing out of it," Freeman said. "He was wonderful."

Melvin was born Feb. 18, 1923, in Kansas City, Mo. His family soon moved to New York City, where he graduated from Columbia University as a journalism major.

Melvin retired from acting about 10 years ago -- long after becoming a household face who was used to people spotting him in public and saying, "Hey, Henshaw" or "Hey, Sam the Butcher." "I've enjoyed the stuff I've done," he told People magazine in 1996, "but the one you're getting paid for, that's what you enjoy most."

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Jennifer Hanson; and a grandson.

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2008-01-22 14:04 ]

Wow. Busy thread lately...

Richard Knerr, who gave the world Hula Hoop, Frisbee, dies at 82

By John Rogers
ASSOCIATED PRESS

3:35 p.m. January 17, 2008

LOS ANGELES Richard Rich Knerr is being remembered this week for creating a multimillion-dollar company out of slingshots, flying saucers and spinning hoops. But he did much more than that.
Knerr and his partner, Wham-O co-founder Arthur Spud Melin, specialized in fun with products like the Hula Hoop, the Slip 'N Slide, Silly String and the Super Ball, entertaining countless people from one end of the world to the other. They showed dogs a pretty good time, too, with another iconic Wham-O product, the Frisbee.

Knerr, who retired from the toy marketing business when he and Melin sold Wham-O in 1982, died Monday after suffering a stroke at his home in suburban Arcadia. He was 82.
Melin, his partner and lifelong friend, died in 2002.

The company motto was 'Our Business is Fun,' and that really describes both Dad and Spud, Knerr's son, Chuck Knerr, told The Associated Press on Thursday. They were two boys who just loved to have fun.

They let the whole country in on the fun in 1958 when they began selling round, plastic hoops at 98 cents apiece. People snapped them up by the millions, as seemingly everyone in America that summer attempted to spin the things around their waists, hips, necks or knees.

No sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop, Richard A. Johnson wrote in his 1985 book American Fads.

Just as quickly, however, the fad ended.

By the time September rolled around you couldn't give them away because every household in America had two and they lasted forever, Chuck Knerr recalled his father telling him.

It didn't matter because not long after that the Frisbee, which had been introduced the year before, began to catch on and not just with people. Dogs loved to play with it too.

One such animal, Ashley Whippet, became a celebrity in the 1970s because of his astounding ability to chase and catch the things.

Because dogs tended to chew up Frisbees and people tended to lose them, they proved a much more lucrative product for Wham-O than Hula Hoops had.

Knerr and Melin went into business for themselves in 1948, making $2 a day selling slingshots they made out of old orange crates in Knerr's garage. They named their fledgling company after the sound Melin liked to make every time he fired a slingshot.

The pair met by chance as teenagers outside a Pasadena movie theater. They went into business together because Melin raised falcons and they used homemade slingshots to fire meatballs at young birds to teach them to dive for prey.

Their slingshots proved so popular that their barber suggested they place an ad in a magazine and start selling them by mail order.

It sounds strange to say it now but at the time nobody ever made and sold a slingshot, Chuck Knerr said. They were always homemade.

Soon the boys were bringing home orders from the post office by the sack full, allowing them to pay off the bandsaw they had bought at a Sears store for $7 down.

Knerr would say years later that he discovered the Hula Hoop while at a sporting goods trade show in Chicago. An Australian man, during a conversation in the men's room, told him of a fitness craze sweeping his country and agreed to send him a few of the exercise tools.

Knerr and Melin were at the beach one day when they saw a former Air Force pilot named Fred Morrison playing with the flying disc he'd made. They bought the rights to it, modified it and changed its name from Pluto Platter to Frisbee, naming it after a comic strip character Knerr liked.

Wham-O introduced the Slip 'N Slide in 1961, the Limbo Game in 1962 and the Super Ball in 1966. Silly String came along in 1972 and the introduction of the Hacky Sack in 1983 created another craze.

As the years passed and Wham-O became a brand recognized the world over, its founders continued to operate it as a small business based in the suburban San Gabriel Valley. They sold it to Kransco Group Companies in 1982. Mattel bought the company from Kransco in 1994 and sold it to a group of investors in 1997. It is now based in Emeryville.

In addition to his son, Knerr is survived by his wife, Dorothy, daughters Melody Marquez and Lori Gregory, stepchildren Richard Enright and Jeanne Stokes and eight grandchildren.

Suzanne Pleshette died. :cry:

Heath Ledger will not be coming down for dinner..

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in a possible drug-related death, police said. He was 28.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper who went to let Ledger know the masseuse was there found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

The Australian-born actor was an Oscar nominee for his role in "Brokeback Mountain" and has numerous other screen credits.

Sad about Ledger...so young and such a promising actor...just adding a few more details here.

NEW YORK (Jan. 22) - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, naked in bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28.

There was no obvious indication of suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

Jim Spellman, WireImage.com
The Life and Loss of a Young Talent. Heath Ledger was discovered by a housekeeper in a New York City apartment on Tuesday afternoon. Sleeping pills were found near the acclaimed actor, 28, who was naked and in bed. Police are investigating it as a possible overdose.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment that is believed to be the home of the "Brokeback Mountain" actor, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body in the bed at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

Paparazzi and gawkers gathered outside, and several police officers put up barricades to control the crowd of about 300. Onlookers craned their necks as officers brought out a black body bag on a gurney, took it across the sidewalk and put it into a white medical examiner's office van.

As the door opened, bystanders snapped pictures with camera phones, rolled video, and said, "He's coming out!"

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was an award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on big-money parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood's bright young stars. Though his leading man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale," his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001's "Monster's Ball."

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's vengeful father in "The Patriot," in a statement. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he was one of the borough's most famous residents. "Brokeback" would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation's finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.

Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova" and Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," both released in 2005. His 2006 film "Candy" now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

But Ledger's most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He costarred in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn't be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson's Joker. Ledger's version of the "Batman" villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.

Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which only worked for an hour, the paper said.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children's store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter — carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

"It's so sad. They were really close," said Vella. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and costarred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You." Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, 'You're crazy,' my parents were like, 'Come on, you have to eat.'"

Viktor Schreckengost, influential industrial designer, is dead at 101. He passed away on Jan 26.

He is perhaps best known to my generation as the guy who created the following pedal vehicle

Viktor was also an illustrator - here is one of his works for an instruction guide to semaphores.

Many more of Schreckengost's designs can be found at his foundation's website, located here
http://www.viktorschreckengost.org/

The best on-line obituary I've found is this one ...
http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1201512814151390.xml&coll=2

Sheldon Brown, bicycle mechanic extraordinaire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Brown_(bicycle_mechanic)
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru who introduced the Beatles to transcendental meditation, has died at his home in Vlodrop, in the Netherlands. He was believed to be around 91 years old.

A spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement said he had died peacefully, apparently from "natural causes, his age".

Although the maharishi never abandoned his claim to be leading humanity towards a new era of peace and harmony, he transformed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multimillion-dollar global empire with more than 5m followers worldwide seeking his higher state of consciousness.

From the L.A. Times: - Roy Scheider, the jagged-nosed actor who brought complexity to tough-guy roles in such films as "The French Connection," "Jaws" and "All That Jazz," and was also known for political activism off the set, died Sunday afternoon at a hospital in Little Rock, Ark. He was believed to be 75, and had been battling a form of blood cancer for three years.

[ Edited by: Bora Boris 2008-02-10 23:11 ]

Former rockabilly star, politician Bobby Lee Trammell (You Mostest Girl)

Ben Chapman, 79; Gill Man in cult film 'Creature From the Black Lagoon'

As an actor, Ben Chapman never landed a star-making role. Far from it. He had small parts in only a few films, including an uncredited bit part in "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki."

But Chapman nevertheless achieved a degree of movie immortality -- and he did it without uttering a word of dialogue or even showing his face.

The 6-foot-5 ex-Marine played the title character in "Creature From the Black Lagoon," the classic 1954 3-D monster movie that quickly developed a cult following that has endured.

Chapman, a retired Honolulu real estate salesman, died Thursday of congestive heart failure at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, said his longtime companion, Merrilee Kazarian. He was 79.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-chapman24feb24,0,6196194.story

Hawaiian music icon Aunty Genoa Leilani Keawe dies at 89

HONOLULU - Aunty Genoa Leilani Keawe, one of the most enduring and beloved voices in Hawaiian music, died Monday. She was 89.

Family members say the icon of traditional music in the islands died in her sleep at home in Papakolea. Her son, Eric K. Keawe of Keawe Records, says she had suffered health problems over the last decade but always managed to bounce back into the limelight.

Known widely as Aunty Genoa, she recorded more than 20 albums, dating back to vinyl 78 rpm and 33 1/3 rpm albums, and about 150 singles.

Born Genoa Leilani Adolpho, Keawe married Edward P. Keawe-Aiko. They had 12 children.

Keawe's life in music started in Laie, centre of Mormon culture in Hawaii. She sang with the island Mormon choir and said her sister, Annie, was a great influence on her music as they sang church songs together.

She began her professional career in 1939, singing for bandstand shows in Kailua and at the Officers Club before the Second World War with George Hookano and his band.

Keawe sang on the radio and on early TV, she became a regular on the "Lucky Luck Show," hosted by Robert Luck. She also sang on the nationally broadcast "Hawaii Calls" and at several clubs and hotels on Oahu.

She received many music awards and took traditional Hawaiian music across Asia, Canada, Switzerland, Brazil and many U.S. cities. She performed on a trip to Russia when she was in her 80s.

William F. Buckley Jr. died today at age 82.

Here's what Morton Blackwell has said about him:

Those who came of age politically in the 1980s or later can hardly comprehend the influence Bill Buckley had on the modern conservative movement.

He was, by far, the most attractive and thrilling conservative intellect for decades, and more than equal in debate to any liberal intellectual, as we learned on many occasions. Conservative students of my generation, confronted with an overwhelming liberal (and often unbearably smug) faculty, were greatly reassured by the knowledge that Buckley could smash the arguments of anyone on the liberal side.

[ Edited by: mrtikibar 2008-02-27 10:12 ]

Mike Smith of 'Dave Clark Five' dies

LONDON - Dave Clark Five lead singer Mike Smith died of pneumonia Thursday, less than two weeks before the band was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was 64.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_en_mu/obit_mike_smith

Boyd Coddington, a renowned Southern California hot rod and custom car designer and builder who starred in the cable reality-TV series "American Hot Rod," has died. He was 63.

Coddington, a longtime diabetic, died Wednesday at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier of complications stemming from a recent surgery, said publicist Brad Fanshaw.

Once described by Hot Rod magazine senior editor Gray Baskerville as "the Stradivarius of car building," Coddington was a onetime maintenance repairman and machinist at Disneyland who customized cars and built hot rods at home in his off-hours before opening Hot Rods by Boyd in Stanton in 1978.

"His cars set the standards for custom automotive design because rather than just take a selection of parts from other vehicles, he would design and manufacture virtually every part for the cars that he built," said Fanshaw, former president of Hot Rods by Boyd and Boyds Wheels.

"He was the first person to utilize billet aluminum in the manufacture of automotive wheels," said Fanshaw. "Prior to that, all custom wheels were made in a cast manufacturing process where the aluminum is melted and poured into a mold. Boyd developed the use of solid aluminum and machining it and sculpting it for the final wheel.

"It gave you a much stronger wheel, a much more beautiful wheel, and you had much more design latitude when you did it that way."

Two cars built and designed by Coddington are in the permanent collection of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, which had an exhibit of his cars in the mid-1990s.

"Boyd Coddington is one of those guys who'll go down in history as one of the great names in the customizing and hot rod world," said Dick Messer, the museum's executive director.

Because of Coddington's background as a machinist and his ability to make precision parts for his cars, Messer said, "his stuff was very finely put together. A lot of the stuff he did looked like jewelry rather than automotive parts."

Coddington, Messer added, "had a great design eye. And some of the big names in the automotive world today, particularly in customizing and design, worked for Boyd at one time or another," including celebrity designers Jesse James and Chip Foose.

Among the iconic cars to come out of the Boyd shop are CheZoom, which Fanshaw described as "an extreme reinterpretation" of the classic 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air; and the Aluma-Coupe, Boyd's reinterpretation of a 1933 Ford coupe that was hand-fabricated from aluminum.

Then there's the sleek CadZZilla, a radically re-powered and re-stylized 1948 Cadillac coupe designed by ZZ Top band member Billy Gibbons and automotive designer Larry Erickson.

"It was Boyd Coddington's masterful execution, along with his team members, that created perhaps one of the most memorable customized cars in recent history," Gibbons told The Times on Thursday.

Reflecting on Coddington's career, Gibbons said: "Boyd's contributions were on a par with George Barris and all the other American car customizers combined. He will be missed."

Coddington won the America's Most Beautiful Roadster Award seven times, including an unprecedented six times in a row. He also won the Slonaker Award, another prestigious automotive award in the hot rod industry.

Honored as Hot Rod magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1988, Coddington twice received the Daimler-Chrysler Design Excellence Award.

He also was inducted into the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame and the National Rod & Custom Museum Hall of Fame, among others.

His cars have been reproduced in Testors model car kits, made into a series of Mattel Hot Wheels toys and issued by the Franklin Mint as die-cast metal models. And one of the cars he designed and built -- a 1933 Ford coupe stylized with the trademark "Boyd Look" -- was featured on the cover of Smithsonian magazine, which profiled him in 1993.

In 1997, Ernst & Young named Coddington "Entrepreneur of the Year."

[ Edited by: tiki5-0 2008-02-29 08:27 ]

Another great musical legend: Raymond Kane - Slack Key guitar

Honolulu Star article

Drummer Buddy Miles
http://www.buddymiles.com
born September 5, 1947 in Omaha, NE; died February 26, 2008
worked with guitarist Mike Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana

Gary Gygax. Geeks and nerds of the World lament.

He's not dead yet!!

.......yet

...just his career.

holy CRAP..I just HEARD he had PANCREATIC CANCER..now I feel like an INSENSITIVE ASS...which is really not a NEW feeling for me..DAMN sorry, Patrick

First Jeff Healy and now maybe Patrick Swayze someone has awoken the Road House Curse!

I hope Swayze can beat it.

[ Edited by: Bora Boris 2008-03-06 09:11 ]

On 2008-03-05 22:12, JenTiki wrote:
He's not dead yet!!

You posted in the wrong thread, Jentiki.

Try this one.....

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=13329&forum=13&36

Author Arthur C. Clarke dies.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/03/18/obit.clarke/index.html

'Hogan's Heroes' Actor Ivan Dixon Dies

13 hours ago

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Ivan Dixon, an actor, director and producer best known for his role as Kinchloe on the 1960s television series "Hogan's Heroes," has died. He was 76.

Dixon died Sunday at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte after a hemorrhage and of complications from kidney failure, said his daughter, Doris Nomathande Dixon of Charlotte.

Actor Sidney Poitier said the two men became friends after Dixon was his stunt double in the 1958 movie "The Defiant Ones."

"As an actor, you had to be careful," Poitier said in a statement. "He was quite likely to walk off with the scene."

Dixon began his acting career on Broadway in plays including "The Cave Dwellers" and "A Raisin in the Sun." On film, he appeared in "Something of Value," "A Raisin in the Sun," "A Patch of Blue," "Nothing But a Man" and the cult favorite "Car Wash."

But he was probably best known for the role of U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on "Hogan's Heroes," a satire set in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. Kinchloe, in charge of electronic communications, could mimic German officers on the radio or phone.

While her father was most proud of work in plays such as "A Raisin in the Sun" and for films such as "Nothing But a Man," he had no mixed feelings about being recognized for the role of Kinchloe, his daughter said.

"It was a pivotal role as well, because there were not as many blacks in TV series at that time," Nomathande Dixon said. "He did have some personal issues with that role, but it also launched him into directing."

Dixon also earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the CBS Playhouse special "The Final War of Olly Winter."

In addition to acting on television, he also directed hundreds of episodic shows, including "The Waltons," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum, P.I." and "In the Heat of the Night."

Born April 6, 1931, in New York City, Dixon graduated in 1954 from North Carolina Central University in Durham.

His honors include 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.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of 53 years, Berlie Dixon of Charlotte, and a son, Alan Kimara Dixon of Oakland, Calif. Two sons, Ivan Nathaniel Dixon IV and N'Gai Christopher Dixon, died previously.

At Dixon's request, the family said, no memorial or funeral is planned.

Mikey Dread

Mikey Dread, who has died aged 54, was a revolutionary force in Jamaican popular music and became known in Britain as a producer of the Clash; he produced the band's single Bankrobber and contributed to several songs on their album Sandinista! (both 1980).

Not a famous person....but another bizarre sting ray attack and death!!!

MARATHON, Fla. (March 20) - An eagle ray leaped onto a boat off the Florida Keys on Thursday and stabbed a woman with its barb, knocking her to the deck and killing her, a Florida wildlife investigator said.

A woman who was on a boat with her family off the Florida Keys died Wednesday after an eagle ray leapt out of the water and struck her in the neck with its barb, local media reports said. It's unclear whether the 55-year-old Michigan woman was killed by the eagle ray's barb or by falling after the attack. The animal is seen above on the boat.

"It's a bizarre accident," said Jorge Pino, an agent with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The woman and her family were aboard a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, off the city of Marathon in the Florida Keys, he said.

"A large ray jumped out of the water and collided with the victim and somehow the barb penetrated some part of her body, which caused her to fall back and hit her head on some portion of the vessel," Pino said. "We don't know exactly which one of those things caused her death."

Local media said the animal's barb had impaled the woman through the neck.

Eagle rays are common in warm or tropical waters and are often seen near coral reefs. The spotted creatures can grow to more than 8 feet across and have two to six short, venomous barbs near the base of their whip-like tails, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Web site.

The rays often swim near the water's surface and can leap out, especially when pursued, but are generally shy of humans.

"All rays leap out of the water from time to time but certainly to see one collide with a vessel is extremely unusual," Pino said.

the guy who invented egg mc muffins

LOS ANGELES (April 6) - Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.

Charlton Heston died in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia by his side. The two had been married for 64 years. Here, they are seen at a "90 Stars for 90 Years" party in 2002.

Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played," Heston's family said in a statement. "No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession, and to his country."

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past. "I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.

Publicist Michael Levine, who represented Heston for about 20 years, said the actor's passing represented the end of an iconic era for cinema.

Heston's Legendary Roles

'The Ten Commandments'

'Ben-Hur'

'Planet of the Apes'

'Soylent Green'

"If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore, Heston's face would be on it," Levine said. "He was a heroic figure that I don't think exists to the same degree in Hollywood today."

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.

In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."

Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were "quite a ride. ... I loved every minute of it."

Later that year, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. "The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life," President Bush said at the time.

He engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter's tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.

Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. "Ben-Hur" won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). Heston's other hits include: "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake."
An Oscar-winning actor for 'Ben-Hur,' Heston also played heroic roles in films as diverse as 'The Ten Commandments,' 'Touch of Evil' and 'Planet of the Apes.' He was 84. His family would not reveal the cause of death.

Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper").

Heston made his movie debut in the 1940s in two independent films by a college classmate, David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. He had the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1942 and was Marc Antony in Bradley's 1949 version of "Julius Caesar," for which Heston was paid $50 a week.

Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded him that they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."

Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, "Dark City," a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star "The Greatest Show On Earth," named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. More movies followed:

"The Savage," "Ruby Gentry," "The President's Lady," "Pony Express" (as Buffalo Bill Cody), "Arrowhead,""Bad for Each Other," "The Naked Jungle," "Secret of the Incas," "The Far Horizons" (as Clark of the Lewis and Clark trek), "The Private War of Major Benson," "Lucy Gallant."

Most were forgettable low-budget films, and Heston seemed destined to remain an undistinguished action star. His old boss DeMille rescued him.

The director had long planned a new version of "The Ten Commandments," which he had made as a silent in 1923 with a radically different approach that combined biblical and modern stories. He was struck by Heston's facial resemblance to Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses, especially the similar broken nose, and put the actor through a long series of tests before giving him the role.

The Hestons' newborn, Fraser Clarke Heston, played the role of the infant Moses in the film.

More films followed: the eccentric thriller "Touch of Evil," directed by Orson Welles; William Wyler's "The Big Country," costarring with Gregory Peck; a sea saga, "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" with Gary Cooper.

Then his greatest role: "Ben-Hur."

Heston wasn't the first to be considered for the remake of 1925 biblical epic. Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson had declined the film. Heston plunged into the role, rehearsing two months for the furious chariot race.

He railed at suggestions the race had been shot with a double: "I couldn't drive it well, but that wasn't necessary. All I had to do was stay on board so they could shoot me there. I didn't have to worry; MGM guaranteed I would win the race."

The huge success of "Ben-Hur" and Heston's Oscar made him one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. He combined big-screen epics like "El Cid" and "55 Days at Peking" with lesser ones such as "Diamond Head," "Will Penny" and "Airport 1975." In his later years he played cameos in such films as "Wayne's World 2" and "Tombstone."

He often returned to the theater, appearing in such plays as "A Long Day's Journey into Night" and "A Man for All Seasons." He starred as a tycoon in the prime-time soap opera, "The Colbys," a two-season spinoff of "Dynasty."

At his birth in a Chicago suburb on Oct. 4, 1923, his name was Charles Carter. His parents moved to St. Helen, Mich., where his father, Russell Carter, operated a lumber mill. Growing up in the Michigan woods with almost no playmates, young Charles read books of adventure and devised his own games while wandering the countryside with his rifle.

Charles's parents divorced, and she married Chester Heston, a factory plant superintendent in Wilmette, Ill., an upscale north Chicago suburb. Shy and feeling displaced in the big city, the boy had trouble adjusting to the new high school. He took refuge in the drama department.

"What acting offered me was the chance to be many other people," he said in a 1986 interview. "In those days I wasn't satisfied with being me."

Calling himself Charlton Heston from his mother's maiden name and his stepfather's last name, he won an acting scholarship to Northwestern University in 1941. He excelled in campus plays and appeared on Chicago radio. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and served as a radio-gunner in the Aleutians.

In 1944 he married another Northwestern drama student, Lydia Clarke, and after his army discharge in 1947, they moved to New York to seek acting jobs. Finding none, they hired on as codirectors and principal actors at a summer theater in Asheville, N.C.

Back in New York, both Hestons began finding work. With his strong 6-feet-2 build and craggily handsome face, Heston won roles in TV soap operas, plays ("Antony and Cleopatra" with Katherine Cornell) and live TV dramas such as "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth,""The Taming of the Shrew" and "Of Human Bondage."

Heston wrote several books: "The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976," published in 1978; "Beijing Diary: 1990," concerning his direction of the play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" in Chinese; "In the Arena: An Autobiography," 1995; and "Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years of American Filmmaking," 1998.

Besides Fraser, who directed his father in an adventure film, "Mother Lode," the Hestons had a daughter, Holly Ann, born Aug. 2, 1961. The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1994 at a party with Hollywood and political friends. They had been married 64 years when he died.

In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.

He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.

Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2008-04-06 07:20 ]

On 2008-04-06 07:15, VampiressRN wrote:
LOS ANGELES (April 6) - Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

Sad. I saw him in "A Man for All Seasons" on the stage at The Savoy Theatre in London c. 1988.

What, if anything, did they have to pry from his Cold, Dead Hands?

The remote control?

No, just banaynays, banaynays, banaynays.

Winona Kapuailohiamanonokalani Desha Beamer passed away on the morning of April 10th in Lahaina, Hawaii.

A noted authority on Hawaiian culture and matriarch of the musical Beamer family. She was 84.

Star Telegram

Keola Beamer Page