R.I.P CELEBRITY DEATHS(NON WRESTLING) 2018

[jimsteel]

Don Sandburg, last surviving original cast member of ‘Bozo’s Circus,’ dead at 87

Don Sandburg, the last surviving original cast member of WGN-TV's legendary "Bozo's Circus," died from complications of Alzheimer's Saturday night.

Sandburg came to Chicago from Cincinnati, Ohio with two other broadcasters: Bob Bell, the original Bozo on WGN, and radio legend Wally Phillips.

From the beginning of "Bozo's Circus" in 1961, Sandburg performed and wrote on the show, and became a producer until 1969. Among his longest-lasting achievements was creating what's remembered as the "Bozo Bucket Game" or the "Grand Prize Game."

Sandburg also played the mute clown Sandy the Tramp on what would become the most successful children's television show in history. There was always a boyish innocence and charm to the character still beloved and remembered so fondly after all of these years.

After leaving the Bozo Show in 1969, he produced Sid and Marty Krofft's "The Banana Splits," and several other nationally-broadcast programs. Sandy returned to WGN for Bozo's 25th, 30th and 40th anniversary specials.

[TTX]

RIP Don.

[jimsteel]

Celeste Yarnall, who guest starred in the 1967 Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Apple” as Yeoman Martha Landon, has died. She was 74.

According to the official Star Trek website, Yarnall died on Sunday at home in Westlake Village. She had lived with ovarian cancer since 2014 and used crowdsourcing websites to help cover her medical expenses.

Yarnall is known for acting opposite Elvis Pressley in Live a Little, Love a Little and for starring in the cult classic film Eve. She also had a reputation as a “scream queen” thanks to her turn being terrorized by a headless monster in Beast of Blood.

[jimsteel]

Emmy-winning actress Peggy McCay, who portrayed Caroline Brady on Days of Our Lives for more than three decades, died Sunday from natural causes. She was 90.

McCay’s longtime co-star, Deidre Hall, confirmed the news Tuesday on Facebook. “Our dearest Peggy McCay has left us,” Hall wrote. “She was a friend, an activist and a real scrapper! I remember meeting her at the bedside of a dear, very ill friend. I backed her up as she ferociously took on doctors and nurses to make sure he had the very best care. She fought that hard for all her causes. Passionate and tireless. And how she loved being Caroline!”

In a twist of fate, McCay’s passing comes just weeks after the death of her longtime Days leading man Frank Parker.

McCay received five Daytime Emmy nominations for her work as Days‘ Caroline. She won a primetime Emmy in 1991 for her guest work on CBS’ The Trials of Rosie O’Neill. Additional credits include General Hospital, Gunsmoke and Lou Grant

[TTX]

This could go in multiple spots but

www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/paul-allen-owner-of-the-seahawks-trail-blazers-and-co-founder-of-microsoft-dies-at-65/

[jimsteel]

DENNIS HOF BUNNY RANCH OWNER DEAD AT 72

Dennis Hof -- the owner of the famous Bunny Ranch where Lamar Odom overdosed -- has passed away at the age of 72.

Law enforcement sources tell us they got a 911 call from Hof's Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada around 11 AM. We're told the call was for an unresponsive male. Detectives are currently on scene ... no foul play is suspected.

Hof had recently celebrated his birthday with a weekend-long bash that included celebs like Ron Jeremy, Flavor Flav, Afroman and Johnny Buss. According to Hof's campaign manager, Jeremy was the one who discovered his body.

Hof shot to superstardom as the star of the HBO series 'Cathouse' -- which followed him as he ran his famous brothels in Nevada.

Hof bragged about being a pimp -- and came up with his own catchphrase, "There's no business like ho business."

The most infamous incident under Hof's watch went down in October 2015 when Lamar Odom overdosed after a bender at Hof's Love Ranch South. Blood tests later revealed Lamar had cocaine in his system. Odom was placed in a coma for 3 days after the incident.

In a recent interview, Lamar revealed he suffered 12 strokes and 6 heart attacks while hospitalized for the incident.

Hof was a master when it came to publicity -- he famously hired Tiger Woods' mistress Devon James to work at the Bunny Ranch back in 2010. He fired her and at the time said, "I wish nothing but the worst for her."

Hof was currently in the middle of a campaign for State Assembly ... winning the GOP primary in June.

He was also extremely close with sex legends Heidi Fleiss and Ron Jeremy.

[jimsteel]

Mike Clark of the WRIF's Drew and Mike show dies at 63

A longtime fixture of Detroit radio has passed away. Mike Clark, who was one half of the WRIF Drew and Mike morning show died overnigt

[Vegas]

Oct 15, 2018 20:06:45 GMT -5 TTX said:

This could go in multiple spots but

www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/paul-allen-owner-of-the-seahawks-trail-blazers-and-co-founder-of-microsoft-dies-at-65/

Paul Allen back in the mid 1990s saved my Seahawks from moving to Los Angeles.

RIP

[jimsteel]

Diana Sowle, who played Charlie Bucket's mother in the beloved 1971 film "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory," has died at 88.

Sowle's representative confirmed to BBC News and Yahoo that the actress passed away Friday morning surrounded by family.

"She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend, and will be dearly missed," said a statement released by the rep.

Sowle made her onscreen debut in "Willy Wonka" as Mrs. Bucket, famously singing "Cheer Up Charlie" in one memorable scene.

"It's nice that it's still so popular, and the reason I think it's so popular is -- if you're a parent, you can send your child to that movie, there's no violence, there's no bad language and no sex," she told the Baltimore Sun in 2015 about the enduring popularity of "Willy Wonka." "And kids love the thought of going to a chocolate factory and someone wins the golden ticket and they have all these bad kids and good kids, and the bad kids lose out because they try to grab (everything) for themselves."

Speaking about the film more than 40 years after its original release, Sowles poked fun at the fact that Charlie took his Grandpa Joe to Willy Wonka's factory instead of his mother.

"Charlie should've taken his mom," she told the newspaper. "He should've said, 'Oh, that's wonderful. Now I can buy my mother a beautiful dress!' Never happened."

She was one of the last living adult cast members from the beloved film. Her co-star Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka, died in 2016 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

[jimsteel]

James Karen, Actor in 'Poltergeist' and So Much More, Dies at 94

His 200-plus onscreen appearances included 'The China Syndrome,' 'Return of the Living Dead,' 'Wall Street' and the vexing (for him) finale of 'Little House on the Prairie.'
James Karen, the instantly recognizable character actor who moved the cemetery’s headstones — but not the bodies — as the developer Mr. Teague in the modern horror classic Poltergeist, has died. He was 94.

The incredibly prolific Karen, who also was noteworthy in such films as The China Syndrome (1979) and The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and on the finale of NBC’s Little House on the Prairie — he’s the dastardly reason the town of Walnut Grove was blown up — died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home, his wife, Alba, said.

Karen, who usually portrayed authority figures, good and bad, during his seven-decade career, also appeared in three films for director Oliver Stone: as Lynch, the office manager at Jackson Steinem, where Charlie Sheen’s stockbroker character works, in Wall Street (1987); as Secretary of State William Rogers in Nixon (1995); and as a Miami Sharks executive in Any Given Sunday (1999).

The genial Karen studied under legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and made his Broadway debut in Elia Kazan’s original 1947 production of A Streetcar Named Desire, where he was the understudy to Karl Malden and worked alongside Marlon Brando.

He has a whopping 204 acting credits listed on IMDb. “People don’t know my name, but they know my face because I’ve done so damn much work,” Karen once said.

That work includes originating the role of rich attorney Lincoln Tyler in 1970 on the ABC soap opera All My Children and appearing in thousands of commercials as the TV and radio spokesman (“Why pay more?”) for Pathmark, an East Coast supermarket chain that was liquidated in 2015.