The Dead Thread

A place to post death notices and related posts about Death & dead people.

GLENDALE, Calif. - Artist and writer Joe Grant, who created such Disney characters as the queen-witch character in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and co-wrote "Dumbo," has died. He was 96.

Grant had a heart attack Friday while working at the drawing board in his Glendale home's studio, according to a statement released by Walt Disney Co.

Grant's time at Disney spanned more than six decades, starting with his work on early movies like "Snow White" and culminating with later films like "Pocahontas." He was named an official Disney legend at a ceremony in 1992.

"With his vast knowledge of art and literature, Grant was considered the studio's top intellectual and he had a profound influence on the films that got made," the company's statement said.

Disney hired Grant in 1933 to work on the animated short "Mickey's Gala Premiere."

He was later tapped to design the queen-witch character in "Snow White" and was made head of a department that served as a think tank for future animated projects, including "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia."

Grant also co-wrote "Dumbo" and conceived "Lady and the Tramp" with his wife.

He left the company in 1949 to start his own businesses, but returned to Disney 40 years later to work on "Aladdin,""The Lion King," "Pocahontas" and "Mulan.""We were so incredibly fortunate to have had Joe at the studio sharing his creativity and enthusiasm, and inspiring young talent for such a long time," said David Stainton, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation.

More than 70 of Grant's caricatures are included in the permeant collection at the Smithsonian Institute and he received a Ruben Award from the National Cartoonists Society in 1996.

Grant is survived by two daughters. His wife of 70 years, Jennie, died in 1991

Thought this was about the Grateful Dead. Oops...

I thought it was a thread that people stopped adding to. Of course, now that I've added to it, it's a living thread for this moment.

**And this just in, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead... **

Sorry, no one's died lately who'd I connect to Tiki Central, unless anyone's interested in Eddie Barclay or Monica Zetterlund?

No... but thanks for the update Freddie! :wink:

Will someone please fu*#in die!

[ Edited by: Unga Bunga on 2005-05-16 12:47 ]

This just in...Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Here's some interesting Dead People: Django Reinhardt, James Agee, Eliot Ness, Andy Kaufman, Irwin Shaw, Margaret Hamilton, Jim Henson & Sammy Davis, Jr. All of them died on May 16th.

What happened to the Live Thread? I was just about to post that Studs Turkel is 93 today...

On 2005-05-16 12:48, freddiefreelance wrote:
What happened to the Live Thread? I was just about to post that Studs Turkel is 93 today...

Here ya go Freddie

Does anyone else here participate in celebrity dead pools besides me?

I actually run a dead pool.

If anyone wants to get in on it for the next round, we start again in August.

Here's the site for now: http://www.geocities.com/strathkinnessjb/deadpool20042005.htm

-SBiM

Does anyone else here participate in celebrity dead pools besides me?

I used to in the 90's, but I got tired of waiting for Reagan to die.

????????????????

"Riddle me this..."

Frank Gorshin

The Riddler in the '66 Batman TV show.

Final apperance will be on the finale of CSI on Thursday night.

Good Night Frank

Trustar

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-051805gorshin_wr,0,5011001.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Henry Corden, voice of Fred Flintstone, dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Henry Corden, the voice of leopard-suited caveman Fred Flintstone's "Yabba Dabba Doo!" for more than two decades, has died. He was 85.
Corden died of emphysema Thursday night at AMI Encino Hospital, his longtime agent Don Pitts said Friday. Corden's wife of nine years, Angelina, was with him at the time.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Corden moved to New York as a child and came to Hollywood in the 1940s. His first acting role was in the 1947 Boris Karloff film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Known for playing villains, he found small parts in movies, including 1952's "The Black Castle" and "The Ten Commandments" in 1956.

"As Henry said, he always played the cold-blooded creeps," Pitts said.

Corden moved into voice acting in the 1960s, and deployed his dialect skills in bit parts for Hanna-Barbera cartoons including "Jonny Quest," "Josey and the Pussycats" and "The New Tom & Jerry Show."

He took over as the lovable loudmouth Fred Flintstone when original voice Allen Reed died in 1977. Reed had been doing Flintstone since the character was created around 1960.

The cartoon's marriage themes echoed those of "The Honeymooners," and Corden tweaked his role to approximate Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden character, Pitts said.

Corden, who lived in Encino, had been working until his health suffered about three months ago. He can most recently be heard on ubiquitous cereal commercials yelling "Barney, my Pebbles!"

In addition to his wife, Corden is survived by five children and five grandchildren. A private memorial "party" is planned, Pitts said.

Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger, dies at 91

The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA, Calif. - (KRT) - Thurl Ravenscroft of Fullerton, Calif., whose voice was known worldwide through his work in movies, TV and at Disneyland, died Sunday from prostate cancer. He was 91.

Tony the Tiger?

That was Ravenscroft.

Disneyland? Too many voices to mention, but Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and the Enchanted Tiki Room were all graced by Ravenscroft's pliable, unique voice.

Movies? How about "Cinderella,""Dumbo" and "Lady and the Tramp"?"Disneyland wouldn't have been, and wouldn't be, the same without him," said former park President Jack Lindquist. "It's all part of the experience. You can't go home with a ride, but you can go home with a memory, and part of that is the audio - the sound part of it. His voice was one of the things that made it all come alive."

Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was born Feb. 6, 1914, in Norfolk, Neb. He moved to California in 1933 to study interior design at the Otis College of Art and Design. While in school he was encouraged to go into show business and auditioned at Paramount studios to be a singer.

By the mid-1930s, he was appearing regularly on radio, first on a program titled "Goose Creek Parson." In the late 1930s, he appeared on the "The Kraft Music Hall" with Bing Crosby, singing backup in a group called the Paul Taylor Choristers. That group eventually became the Sportsmen Quartette.

After military service during World War II, he returned to Hollywood, later becoming involved in the Mellomen singing group, and began a career in radio, movies, television and commercials. The group could sing anything from rock `n' roll to bebop to barbershop, and it performed with a list of stars including Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

In 1952, Ravenscroft achieved a measure of immortality, thanks to a TV commercial.

"I'm the only man in the world that has made a career with one word: Grrrrreeeeat!" Ravenscroft roared in a 1996 interview with The Orange County Register. "When Kellogg's brought up the idea of the tiger, they sent me a caricature of Tony to see if I could create something for them. After messing around for some time I came up with the `Great!' roar, and that's how it's been since then."

Ravenscroft's involvement with Disneyland goes back to opening day in 1955, when he was the announcer for many of the ceremonies and events. His voice has been heard on numerous Disneyland attractions and rides, including Adventure Through Inner Space (1967-1986). He was the original narrator on Submarine Voyage.

In 1966, Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones teamed up to do "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for CBS. Ravenscroft recalled the Grinch fondly, saying, "That was my chance to prove I could really sing." The success of the Grinch led to other projects with Dr. Seuss, including "Horton Hears a Who" and "The Cat in the Hat."

His singing career continued into the 1970s. As a member of the Johnny Mann Singers, he sang on 28 albums, appeared on television for three seasons and performed for President Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev at the White House.

One of Ravenscroft's biggest local claims to fame undeniably was his narration of Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters, a job that began in 1973 and lasted for two decades. He told the Register upon his retirement that it was his favorite gig of all time.

"I've learned more about art doing the Pageant than I ever did in art school," he said.

Pageant scriptwriter Dan Duling remembered working with Ravenscroft as "a wonderful collaboration.

"He was a gentleman who was beloved, and is still beloved, at the pageant," Duling said. "He was considered the grandpa of the pageant. Everyone backstage adored him."

Ravenscroft possessed, said Duling, "one of the great basso voices, so distinctive. For me, it was like writing music for an instrument that has a few tones that are absolutely unmistakable. It was so distinctive that you had to play to its strengths. He could bring a kind of deep, resonant reverence to something that deserved proper respect. Also, in his folksy manner, he could be the grandpa that everybody loved," Duling said.

Another fan with memories is Werner Weiss, Web master of http://www.yesterland.com, an Internet site that highlights popular Disneyland attractions, including many that no longer exist.

"(Ravenscroft) is one of the busts in the Haunted Mansion," Weiss said. "He's uncredited, as so many cast members at the park are, but it's his face and voice. It's unusual. You actually SEE him in that attraction, a man whose voice you're heard a thousand times."

June, Ravenscroft's wife of 53 years, died in 1999 at age 80. He is survived by two children, Ron and Nancy, and four grandchildren. Services are pending.

SH*T!

Mrs. FZ just called to tell me the news...

http://members.aol.com/allthurl/ram/tangaroa.ram

:(

-Z

[ Edited by: feelin' zombified on 2005-05-24 08:50 ]

Ernest T Bass has departed Mayberry and this world

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/24/obit.morris.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

On 2005-05-24 08:06, freddiefreelance wrote:
Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger, dies at 91

I am participating in a dead pool, and this one puts me in the lead.

Eddie Albert

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050527/ap_en_ot/obit_albert

I scored some points on Eddie in my dead pool.

Looks like its a terrible time to have been involved with TV from the 60s right now...

I was more surprised that he was still alive
I wonder if Sgt Schultz is some place laying low.

'Hogan's Heroes' Actor Leon Askin Dies
VIENNA, Austria - Leon Askin, the actor who played Gen. Albert Burkhalter in the 1960s television comedy "Hogan's Heroes," has died, Austrian officials said Friday.

The actor was 97. Neither city officials nor the Vienna hospital where he died disclosed the cause or date of his death.

Askin was best known for his role as the Nazi general who constantly threatened to send the prisoner of war camp's inept commander, Col. Wilhelm Klink, to the Russian front because of his stupidity.

"Beverly Hills school children would call after me, 'Klink, Klink!'" Askin wrote on his Web site. "People driving through Beverly Hills who saw these children raising their arms in the Hitler salute couldn't continue out of sheer shock and amazement and brought traffic to a standstill."

Born Leo Aschkenasy in Vienna on Sept. 18, 1907, Askin worked as a cabaret artist in the 1930s before fleeing first to France and then to the United States to escape persecution by the Nazis.

He had roles in dozens of films, including Billy Wilder's "One, two, three" and the Austrian director Fritz Lang's "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse." In the course of his career, he appeared opposite Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Peter Ustinov.

Askin took up residence in Vienna in 1994, returning to his roots in cabaret. He also took roles in Vienna's Festwochen and the city's second opera, the Volksoper.

He was decorated with Vienna's Gold Medal of Honor, one of the most distinguished prizes the city offers.

"We have lost a huge actor and artist and a wonderful man," Mayor Michael Haeupl said in a statement.

Anne Bancroft

'Mrs. Robinson' of 'The Graduate'

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/07/bancroft.obit.ap/index.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Anne Bancroft, who won the 1962 best actress Oscar as the teacher of a young Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" but achieved greater fame as the seducer of her daughter's boyfriend in the 1967 movie "The Graduate," has died. She was 73.

She died of cancer on Monday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, spokesman John Barlow said.

Bancroft was awarded the Tony for creating the role on Broadway of poor-sighted Annie Sullivan, the teacher of Keller, who was born deaf and blind. She repeated her portrayal in the film version. Despite her Academy Award and four other nominations, "The Graduate" overshadowed her other achievements.

Dustin Hoffman delivered the famous line when he realized his girlfriend's mother was coming on to him in a hotel room: "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me ... Aren't you?"

Bancroft complained to a 2003 interviewer, "I am quite surprised that with all my work, and some of it is very, very good, that nobody talks about `The Miracle Worker.' We're talking about Mrs. Robinson. I understand the world ... I'm just a little dismayed that people aren't beyond it yet."

Her beginnings in Hollywood were unimpressive. She was signed by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1952 and given the glamour treatment. She had been acting in television as Anne Marno (her real name: Anna Maria Louise Italiano), but it sounded too ethnic for movies. The studio gave her a choice of names; she picked Bancroft "because it sounded dignified."

After a series of B pictures she escaped to Broadway in 1958 and won her first Tony opposite Henry Fonda in "Two for the Seesaw." The stage and movie versions of "The Miracle Worker" followed. Her other Academy nominations: "The Pumpkin Eater" (1964); "The Graduate" (1967); "The Turning Point" (1977); "Agnes of God" (1985).

At somepoint in the pre-cable 1970's, back when our tv channel choices were only between ABC, NBC, or CBS, one of those networks had a special on the History of the movies.

One of the scenes they showed was the early scene from the Graduate, where Mrs Robinson entices Ben into her bedroom, and seduces him. It was a surprisingly sexual scene to be shown on prime time television for that era.

I swear that next day, every boy in school who watched that special was talking about Mrs Robinson, talking about how you could see the tanlines on her breast. Although they showed probably less than a minute of that scene, images of her nudity and seduction likely lingered in our minds for a long, long time.

I may have seen Anne Bancroft on a TV showing of the 'The Miracle Worker', but if I did, I have absolutely no memories of it.

So, here's to you, Mrs Robinson....

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev on 2005-06-07 22:05 ]

I wonder if Sgt Schultz is some place laying low.

Alas he is not.

John Banner

Born - January 28, 1910
Died - January 28, 1973
John Banner is perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of the Luftwaffe prison camp guard Sergeant Hans Schultz in the TV series "Hogan's Heroes" (1965-1971). But there remains a certain irony: He was Jewish.
John Banner was born in Vienna on January 28, 1910. Because of his accent, this Austrian-Jewish actor spent much of his Hollywood career playing Nazis, starting with the propaganda drama "Seven Miles From Alcatraz" (1942). He acted in a dozen American films---both comedies and dramas--before landing the role of Sergeant Schultz.

In 1961, he portrayed Nazi leader Rudolf Hess in the gritty film "Operation Eichmann," which starred future "Hogan's Heroes" colleague Werner Klemperer. In 1968, Banner, Klemperer and Bob Crane co starred in the Hoganesque comedy flick "The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz." John later starred as Dean Jones' lovable, goofy Uncle Latzi in the short-lived CBS sitcom, "The Chicago Teddy Bears" (1971).

Another bit of irony, besides John Banner being Jewish and playing a guard in a POW camp... is that like his co-star on Hogan's Heroes, Robert Clary.... John Banner was in a concentration camp prior to his release and travel out of Nazi Occupied Germany (in the early part of the Nazi control of Germany, a trip to a concentration camp was not an automatic "death sentence"). So John Banner was lucky to leave just before the Nazi policies changed.

Sadly, he died of abdominal hemorrhage on his birthday in 1973 in his native Vienna.

MUSIC MAVERICK WARONKER DIES

Indie music maverick SI WARONKER has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 90.

The Liberty Records founder passed away in his sleep on Tuesday night (07JUN05), according to reports.

A former child violin prodigy, Waronker was forced to cut short his music career in his native Germany in the late 1930s when his Jewish family was forced to flee from the Nazis.

He founded Liberty Records in 1955 and enjoyed success with LIONEL NEWMAN's THE GIRL UPSTAIRS and CRY ME A RIVER by JULIE LONDON.

His impressive roster, at various points, featured HENRY MANCINI, exotica icon MARTIN DENNY, EDDIE COCHRAN, BOBBY VEE and surf music legends JAN + DEAN.

Waronker sold the company in the early 1960s and its catalogue is now owned by EMI Records.

Lennon Sisters’ mom dies at 85

Published Wednesday, June 15, 2005
BRANSON (AP) - Isabelle "Sis" Lennon Miller, mother of the Lennon Sisters who starred on Lawrence Welk’s popular TV show in the 1950s, died last month at the age of 85. Her death of congestive heart failure in Branson on May 1 was announced yesterday by a Los Angeles-based publicist for the family.

The publicist, Sandi Padnos, said the death had not been made public earlier because of family concerns for privacy.

Padnos said a tribute to Miller is planned June 26 in the Los Angeles area but that the exact location was not being made public.

The Lennon Sisters - Dee Dee, Peggy, Kathy and Janet - made their national debut with Welk on his Christmas program in 1955. The girls - then 16, 14, 12 and 9 - soon became one of Welk’s most popular acts. They split from him in the late 1960s, and eventually had their own television show with Jimmy Durante.

Since 1994, the Lennons have been featured performers at The Welk Champagne Theatre in Branson.

Lorna Thayer, who played waitress in 'Five Easy Pieces," dies at 85

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/11925052.htm

Knucklehead Smiff and Tigger have lost their voice

http://www.paulwinchell.com

John Fiedler, voice of Piglet, has also died. The Curse of Winnie the Pooh has begun

Luther Vandross - don't know the man or his music just know he's no longer among the living.

On 2005-07-01 15:35, johntiki wrote:
Luther Vandross - don't know the man or his music just know he's no longer among the living.

No way! :( This is what happens when I go out to mow the lawn.

[ Edited by: Turbogod on 2005-07-01 16:09 ]

Charlie the Tuna Creator Tom Rogers Dies ~ ironically while swimming alone in the family's backyard pool. resist the urge to say Sorry, Charlie

By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 8, 2005; B06

Tom Rogers, 87, a retired advertising copywriter whose beret- and sunglasses-wearing hipster tuna became an icon of pop culture, died June 24 in Charlottesville, where he lived with his son's family. He drowned while swimming alone in the family's backyard pool.

Charlie the Tuna was the likably obtuse deep-sea striver who never lived up to the taste standards of Starkist Tuna. ("Sorry, Charlie. Starkist wants tuna that tastes good, not tuna with good taste.") The character was based on an acquaintance of Mr. Rogers's who was an habitue of the beat scene in 1950s New York City, said his son, Lance Rogers. A beat musician and part-time actor who called himself Henry Nemo, the man personified one of Mr. Rogers's favorite aphorisms: "The straightest distance between two points is an angle."

"Everybody knows somebody like that, an appealing character who's totally confident but totally wrong," Lance Rogers said.

Mr. Rogers had a hand in creating other memorable ad mascots of the 1960s and '70s, the cookie-baking Keebler elves and the finicky feline in the 9 Lives cat food ads, Morris the Cat. He didn't originate the characters, his son said, but he infused them with distinctive personalities based on a lifetime of observing human nature as a screenwriter, aspiring novelist and copywriter.

Thomas Russell Rogers was born in Minneapolis and grew up during the Depression in a household run by his single mother. At times, he stayed with his grandparents in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

During Prohibition, he occasionally hung out at speakeasies, where he earned a little spending money cleaning floors and scurrying around town making deliveries for bootleggers, who presumed the police wouldn't suspect a kid. Although he was never a good student, he knew that he wanted to be a writer. When he wasn't observing speakeasy hustlers and small-time hoodlums, he was spending time at the public library. He was still a teenager when he sold his first story to a pulp detective magazine; his mother had to help him cash the twenty-dollar check.

In the early 1930s, he dropped out of high school and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, cutting trails and manning fire towers in the forests of northern Minnesota. Mr. Rogers made his way to Hollywood in the late 1930s. He considered himself a writer, although he landed a day job during World War II as a welder in a Northrop aircraft factory in Hawthorne, south of Los Angeles. He was always proud of having helped build the P-61, a double-tailed fighter-bomber known as "the Black Widow." It was the nation's first aircraft designed specifically as a night-fighter.

He also found work as a screenwriter and, increasingly, as a script doctor. He had a keen ear for dialogue, and studios began seeking him out to punch up their scripts.

In the late 1940s, he moved to New York City, where he lingered on the fringes of the beat scene, did some writing for the stage and radio and developed comedy sketches for nightclub comedians. He moved back to Minneapolis in 1951, married in 1953 and wangled a job with a local advertising agency. One of his gigs with the agency was to write and produce a weekly radio show with George Mikan, the star center for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association.

In 1960, he moved to Chicago to take a job as a copywriter with the Leo Burnett Co., which was just beginning its run as one of the hot agencies in the business. Leo Burnett was the agency that propelled Tony the Tiger, the Marlboro Man and the Jolly Green Giant into the pop-culture zeitgeist.

Charlie the Tuna sprang to life in 1961. Mr. Rogers, unlike most copywriters today, had total control over his creation -- how Charlie looked, the sound of his voice (supplied by veteran character actor Herschel Bernardi) and what he said about the product. Mr. Rogers stayed at Leo Burnett until 1980, when he retired and moved to Balsam Lake, Wis. There he took up cross-country skiing and worked on novels and a memoir of his childhood. He moved to Charlottesville in 1997.

Charlie appeared in 86 commercials and guest spots throughout the 1960s and '70s before he was retired as the Starkist spokesfish. He made a brief reappearance in the 1990s, when Starkist introduced its vacuum-packed "tuna pouches." Although Mr. Rogers was not part of the campaign, it was the same old Charlie, although slightly slimmer to suggest the health benefits of eating tuna.

Mr. Rogers's marriage to Ardyce Lind ended in 1992.

In addition to his son, survivors include two daughters, Valerie Rogers Ewing of Viroqua, Wis., and Sara Rogers DeVito of Salem, Wis.; and seven grandchildren.

WA Post

Frances Langford is dead at 92, maybe not the most well known celebrity

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/11/obit.langford.ap/index.html

but check out this reference in the obituary with her husband,

...The couple built a Polynesian-themed restaurant and marina on the Indian River called the Outrigger Resort. She entertained locals and celebrities, including Hope, until Evinrude died in 1986 and she sold the property.

Scotty's dead.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/20/obit.doohan.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and motion pictures who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died early Wednesday. He was 85.

Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) at his Redmond, Washington, home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said.

The Canadian-born Doohan fought in World War II and was wounded during the D-Day invasion, according to the StarTrek.com Web site. He was enjoying a busy career as a character actor when he auditioned for a role as an engineer in a new space adventure on NBC in 1966. A master of dialects from his early years in radio, he tried seven different accents.

"The producers asked me which one I preferred," Doohan recalled 30 years later. "I believed the Scot voice was the most commanding. So I told them, 'If this character is going to be an engineer, you'd better make him a Scotsman.' "

The series, which starred William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic Mr. Spock, attracted an enthusiastic following of science fiction fans, especially among teenagers and children, but not enough ratings power. NBC canceled it after three seasons.

When the series ended in 1969, Doohan found himself typecast as Montgomery Scott, the canny engineer with a burr in his voice. In 1973, he complained to his dentist, who advised him: "Jimmy, you're going to be Scotty long after you're dead. If I were you, I'd go with the flow."

"I took his advice," said Doohan, "and since then everything's been just lovely."

from yahoo;
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050720/ap_on_en_tv/obit_doohan

"The powerfully built Doohan, a veteran of D-Day in Normandy, spoke frankly in 1998 about his employer and his TV commander.

"I started out in the series at basic minimum_ plus 10 percent for my agent. That was added a little bit in the second year. When we finally got to our third year, Paramount told us we'd get second-year pay! That's how much they loved us."

He accused Shatner of hogging the camera, adding: "I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill. He's so insecure that all he can think about is himself."
At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case."
-----WOW, smoking saved his life back then! :)

I saw Doohan at a Star Trek convention in 1993; he was such a sweetie!

cynful cynner wrote:

"I saw Doohan at a Star Trek convention in 1993; he was such a sweetie!"

Me too! in the mid-80's. He was indeed a total dear. And, this depresses me still--a guy I knew took a picture of James kissing me on the cheek and then NEVER SENT IT TO ME. Argh. I have no idea where that guy is either. Oh well....

I too saw Scotty at a con, he told of a story about helping this girl who was on the verge of commiting suicide. I bumped into him at a hotel bar (same con?) I didn't notice him and I was in full Klingon uniform. I sat down a fe w stools from him and I'll never forget the look on his facewhen we looked into the mirror. We chatted about personal life and such. Very nice guy. I wished he was my unkle.

To honor him in true Klingon style, I promised to do this when he died: Tonight I'm going on my week long binger.

i know the wife of "Scotty's" agent ~ and was invited to a party where Scotty, Checkov and Sulu were in attendance. i've got pics somewhere. Mostly Doohan sat on the couch, pretty well buzzed. his wife is a sweetheart, treated everyone there, as if she's known you her whole life.

george takai was creepy, and hugged a little too long when taking pictures. Walter Koenig was just an angry dude. not a lotta fun to be around.

so that was my brush with the Trek Crew.

On 2005-07-20 18:52, Unkle John wrote:
I too saw Scotty at a con, he told of a story about helping this girl who was on the verge of commiting suicide.

He told that story at the convention I attended, too.

On 2005-07-21 00:51, cynfulcynner wrote:

On 2005-07-20 18:52, Unkle John wrote:
I too saw Scotty at a con, he told of a story about helping this girl who was on the verge of commiting suicide.

He told that story at the convention I attended, too.

http://www.trekdoc.com

He tells the same story in the film documentary
Trekkies

Maori actress dies
27 July 2005
By PAUL MADGWICK in GREYMOUTH

Maori actress, artist and intellectual Tungia Baker has died after a long illness.

She was best known for her role as Hira in the 1993 internationally acclaimed film The Piano, which starred Sam Neill, Harvey Keitel and Holly Hunter.

For the past 10 years she has lived on the West Coast, but as her cancer worsened she returned to the family home in Otaki, Manawatu, to be among her Ngati Raukawa people. She will be buried tomorrow.

Baker was well known in New Zealand acting circles, especially in the 1990s, when she appeared in short films and television dramas such as Mokopuna, a children's series, Mirror Mirror, and a period mini-series, Greenstone.

She featured in a 1998 Australian production, A Difficult Woman, and last appeared in a 2002 television drama, Mataku, directed by Cliff Curtis.

As well as film, Baker was a respected stage actress, with performances alongside fellow Maori actors Jim Moriarty and Rena Owen.

Having learnt to speak fluent Maori in her student years, she became respected nationally as a scholar of the language and teacher of traditional karanga (women's call).

In 1998, she collaborated with Richard Nunns on a CD using traditional instruments, and was also a prolific songwriter.

After moving to the West Coast, initially to pioneer a Maori management position at Grey Base Hospital, Baker scripted a play about Ngai Tahu prophet Te Maiharoa and was pivotal in community arts initiatives and festivals.

Her later weaving included tukutuku panels for the marae at Bruce Bay and reviving the lost art of kuta weaving.