R.I.P. CELEBRITY DEATHS 2019(NON WRESTLERS)

[jimsteel]

GRANGE HILL and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Star Anna Quayle has died aged 86.

The actress, who was known for playing Ms Monroe in the hit BBC children's TV series, died after suffering from Lewy body dementia.

She appeared in 85 episodes of Grange Hill from 1990-1994 and appeared in the 1967 James Bond spoof film Casino Royal.

Anna also appeared with the Beatles in their smash-hit 1964 film A Hard Day's Night.

She played a woman who recognises John Lennon when he goes undercover.

In 1968, she won a place in children's hearts with her role as Baroness Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The actress gave a memorable rendition of the song Chu-Chi Face with the Baron, played by Gert Fröbe.

Her West End roles include star turns in And Another Thing… and Stop the World – I Want to Get Off.

She was in the cast of cult 1960s TV show The Avengers, as well as appearing in Grubstreet, Brideshead Revisited, The Sooty Show and Father Charlie.

In the 1980s, the star appeared in ITV sitcom Marjorie and Men.

Her last credited TV role was in the Adam's Family Tree TV show in 1999.

Anna was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2012.

[TTX]

Such a terrible disease. RIP.

[jimsteel]

Barrie Masters, the lead singer of the band Eddie and the Hot Rods, has died aged 63.

The band were best known for their top 10 hit in 1977, Do Anything You Wanna Do.

Formed in Canvey Island, Essex in 1975, they were part of the pub rock scene which included Dr Feelgood and Ian Dury's band Kilburn and the High Roads.

Masters was the original singer of the band, and was their only constant member.

The band kicked off their career with residencies in London clubs alongside The 101ers before being signed to Island Records in the mid-1970s.

Over the years they became known for their punk style and were often considered as one of the founding groups of the genre with their loud, frenetic live sets.

They also had top 40 hits with Teenage Depression and Quit This Town.

[jimsteel]

Diahann Carroll, Pioneering Actress on 'Julia' and 'Dynasty,' Dies at 84 from cancer


he also landed an historic Tony Award, plus an Oscar nomination for her performance in 'Claudine.'
Diahann Carroll, the captivating singer and actress who came from the Bronx to win a Tony Award, receive an Oscar nomination and make television history with her turns on Julia and Dynasty, has died Friday. She was 84.

Carroll died at her home in Los Angeles after a long bout with cancer, her daughter, producer-journalist Suzanne Kay, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Carroll was known as a Las Vegas and nightclub performer and for her performances on Broadway and in the Hollywood musicals Carmen Jones and Porgy & Bess when she was approached by an NBC executive to star as Julia Baker, a widowed nurse raising a young son, on the comedy Julia.

She didn't want to do it. "I really didn't believe that this was a show that was going to work," she said in a 1998 chat for the website The Interviews: An Oral History of Television. "I thought it was something that was going to leave someone's consciousness in a very short period of time. I thought, 'Let them go elsewhere.' "

However, when Carroll learned that Hal Kanter, the veteran screenwriter who created the show, thought she was too glamorous for the part, she was determined to change his mind. She altered her hairstyle and mastered the pilot script, quickly convincing him that she was the right woman.

Carroll thus became the first African-American female to star in a non-stereotypical role in her own primetime network series. (Several actresses portrayed a maid on ABC's Beulah in the early 1950s.)

Baker, whose husband had died in Vietnam, worked for a doctor (Lloyd Nolan) at an aerospace company; she was educated and outspoken, and she dated men (including characters played by Fred Williamson, Paul Winfield and Don Marshall) who were successful, too.

"We were saying to the country, 'We're going to present a very upper middle-class black woman raising her child, and her major concentration is not going to be about suffering in the ghetto,' " Carroll noted.

"Many people were incensed about that. They felt that [African Americans] didn't have that many opportunities on television or in film to present our plight as the underdog … they felt the [real-world] suffering was much too acute to be so trivial as to present a middle-class woman who is dealing with the business of being a nurse.

"But we were of the opinion that what we were doing was important, and we never left that point of view … even though some of that criticism of course was valid. We were of a mind that this was a different show. We were allowed to have this show."

Julia, which premiered in September 1968, finished No. 7 in the ratings in the first of its three seasons, and Carroll received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for her work.

As the sultry fashionista Dominique Deveraux — the first prominently featured African-American character on a primetime soap opera — Carroll played a much edgier character for three seasons on ABC's Dynasty and its spinoff The Colbys, delightfully dueling with fellow diva Alexis Carrington Colby (Joan Collins).

While recuperating after starring on Broadway in Agnes of God, Carroll had found herself digging Dynasty — "Isn't this the biggest hoot?" she said — and lobbied producer Aaron Spelling for a role on his series.

"They've done everything [on the show]. They've done incest, homosexuality, murder. I think they're slowly inching their way toward interracial," she recalled in a 1984 piece for People magazine. "I want to be wealthy and ruthless … I want to be the first black bitch on television."

[TTX]

RIP Diahann.

[jimsteel]

John Kirby, Savior of Donkey Kong, Dies at 79

John Joseph Kirby Jr. passed away this week from blood cancer on October 2, at age 79, surrounded by both family and friends. An attorney, Kirby is best-known for successfully defending Nintendo in a legal battle against Universal in the 1980s that saved the Donkey Kong franchise, which was being targeted by an IP infringement that claimed the Nintendo series was illegally based on King Kong. It's rumored that Nintendo named its character Kirby after the lawyer for saving its massive franchise, however, this has never been confirmed.

In addition to saving Donkey Kong from Universal, Kirby worked for Pepsi and America Online, and notably worked at the Department of Justice as the special assistant to the head of the Civil Rights Division. Kirby's life and accomplishments go well beyond his work for Nintendo, but it's his work for the Japanese games company that most -- at least on the Internet -- know him for.

While it has never been confirmed that Kirby the character is named after Kirby the lawyer, it's known that Nintendo eventually gifted John a sailboat, named Donkey Kong. It is said that Kirby enjoyed sailing with his family throughout his life, from the shore of Westhampton Beach to the waters off Shippan Point, Connecticut.

[TTX]

RIP Mr. Kirby.

[jimsteel]

Rip Taylor, Flamboyant Comic and Host of 'The $1.98 Beauty Show,' Dies at 84

Known as the "King of Confetti" and "The Crying Comedian," he made thousands of outlandish appearances on television and in nightclubs.
Rip Taylor, the exuberant comedian whose zany shtick and over-the-top delivery made him a television and nightclub mainstay for more than six decades, has died. He was 84.

Taylor died Sunday in Beverly Hills, publicist Harlan Boll announced.

Taylor became a comedy legend through pure exhilaration. Believing that the more exaggerated the gag, the bigger the laugh, he overemphasized everything, from his shaggy blonde toupee and bushy mustache to the campy props that were the basis of his bits. His jokes were far from cutting edge, but he would deliver them with such shrieking gusto, it was hard not to howl.

The self-described "King of Confetti," Taylor was famous for dousing his audience with buckets of colored paper, and anyone attending a Rip Taylor performance expected to be wearing confetti by the end of it.

As he explained during a 2011 interview with Kliph Nesteroff for the Classic Television Showbiz blog, his signature gag came about purely by accident.

"I did props and I was 'The Prop Comedian.' I was dying like hell on Merv Griffin's show. The jokes were dumb, and I tore the 5 by 8 cards, threw them up in the air and it became confetti," he recalled. "I knocked over his desk, walked up the aisle, went to Sardi's and said, 'Well, that's the end of my television career.' I went home that night. Their switchboard had lit up. They said, 'Get the guy that went crazy!' And that is how the confetti started."

One of his more memorable big-screen appearances came when he played himself in Wayne's World 2 (1993). A quest by Wayne (Mike Myers) to put on WayneStock, the ultimate music festival, gains stature when Taylor agrees to attend as a special guest.

"Rip Taylor's going to be there," Wayne tells Cassandra Wong (Tia Carrere), trying to convince her to perform. "Rip Taylor? He's a god in my country," she says. "He gets mobbed in the street."

Taylor also appeared as himself in the first three Jackass movies.

Tailor-made for television, he racked up more than 2,000 small-screen credits during his career, according to RipTaylor.com, with dozens of mayhem-filled appearances on The Tonight Show and The Mike Douglas Show alone.

His rapid-fire delivery, biting sarcasm and self-deprecating humor also made him the perfect game show guest, and he regularly showed up on The Hollywood Squares, Match Game and Super Password.

Chuck Barris took a liking to Taylor when he sat in as a panelist on The Gong Show, and when the game show guru conceived of a program to parody Miss America pageants, he tapped Taylor to host it.

Certainly one of the oddest shows ever produced, The $1.98 Beauty Show featured six contestants of all shapes and sizes competing in talent and swimsuit competitions. When the winner was selected by three celebrity judges who never said a word, she was handed a gaudy Statue of Liberty crown, a bouquet of wilting vegetables and a cash price of $1.98, which Taylor would count out in change from a coin dispenser attached to his belt.

"You win the prize. You take the cake. You get the crown and a dollar ninety eight," Taylor would warble as the winner strutted down the "Plank of Pulchritude" to applause

[jimsteel]

Longtime 38 Special and founding Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Larry Junstrom has died at the age of 70. .38 Special confirmed the news on Facebook.

"The Big Man on the Big Bass has left us," his former bandmates wrote. "He rocked arenas all over the world and succeeded in living his dream. He was truly one of a kind, a congenial traveling companion and a great friend to all with a humorous slant on life that always kept our spirits high -- a kind man with a big heart for everyone who crossed his path. There will never be another like him. We are sending our devoted love, strength and comfort to his wife Thania and Larry’s family. We will miss our friend and partner."

Junstrom formed Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1964 alongside his high school classmates Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Bob Burns. He departed the group in 1971, prior to the recording of their debut album, Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd.

Six years later, he joined Van Zant's younger brother Donnie's band, 38 Special. "My first show with 38 Special was the [1977] Super Bowl of Rock," Junstrom told Swampland in 2004. "To this day [it is] one of the biggest shows we have ever done. It was at Soldier Field in Chicago and there were about 100,000 people there. I will never forget it -- the acts on the bill were Journey, Skynyrd, Ted Nugent and several other bands. I was so nervous before that show that I could not sleep for three nights before, but once I hit the stage it was natural and everyone said I did great."

Junstrom appeared on all 12 of 38 Special's studio albums, from their self-titled 1977 debut until 2004's Drivetrain, before a hand injury forced him to retire from the group in 2014. "I know everyone tells you their fans are the best, but nobody is more loyal than a 38 fan," Junstrom told Swampland when asked about the key to the band's longevity. "We give 110 percent at everything we do and that shows in our ability to survive the trends in the music business."

[jimsteel]

Cream drummer Ginger Baker dies aged 80

Co founder of Cream, Ginger was known as one of the most innovative drummers in rock music

Legendary drummer Ginger Baker has died at the age of 80.

Co-founder of Cream, Ginger also played with Blind Faith, Hawkwind and Fela Kuti in a long career.

In a statement released on Ginger's Twitter page, his family announced: "We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning.

The musician was noted for his groundbreaking drumming technique, and his showmanship.

Pioneering rock music in the 1960s, he maintained a jazz style and sound, helping build the unique profile of his band Cream, founded with Clapton in 1966.

The group, which also included Jack Bruce, drove a change in rock music which would heavily influence the likes of Led Zeppelin and later artists.

Baker also experimented with percussion from across the globe, and held a long-time interest in African music.

In 2014 he revealed he was fighting osteoarthritis as he recorded his final album, Why?, in 2014. Then in 2016 he underwent open heart surgery and announced his retirement.

He wrote: "Just seen doctor… big shock… no more gigs for this old drummer... everything is off. Of all things I never thought it would be my heart."