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

[jimsteel]

DEATH CLAIMS ANOTHER MUSICIAN




San Antonio jazz, R&B legend Vernon ‘Spot’ Barnett dead at 83

Vernon “Spot” Barnett, the influential and dapper bandleader and saxophone player who was one of the architects of San Antonio’s fabled West Side Sound, has died.

Barnett, 83, died at his East Side home on Oct. 6 of an apparent heart attack, according to his family.

The height of Barnett’s fame was in the 1950s and ’60s, when he led the 20th Century Orchestra, the house band at the Ebony Lounge, and played in the Eastwood Country Club’s house band.

“I’ve known him since I was a teenager,” said Augie Meyers, the keyboard player for the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados, who was in the recording studio with Barnett at the beginning of the year cutting the songs “Candy Kisses” and “Just a Dream.” “Spot had the number one band in town back then.”

Along with the late Clifford Scott, Barnett defined the tenor saxophone for a generation of South Texas horn players.

“Spot was the bridge between San Antonio’s deep horn tradition established by cats like Don Albert, Jim Cullum and Clifford Scott, and the modern South Texas horn sound popularized by the West Side Horns and the Tejano big bands,” said music journalist and author Joe Nick Patoski.

Barnett performed with such greats as Bobby “Blue” Bland and Ike & Tina Turner.

Barnett was known for his beautiful tone on the saxophone, his influence on younger players and his fashion sense.

[jimsteel]

Robert Forster, Oscar-Nommed Star of ‘Jackie Brown,’ Dies at 78

Robert Forster, a prolific character actor who was nominated for an Oscar for Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” and appeared in more than 100 films, died Friday in Los Angeles of brain cancer. He was 78.

Tarantino created the bail bondsman character Max Cherry with Forster in mind, and the role netted him his first Academy Award nomination.

Most recently Forster reprised his “Breaking Bad” role as Ed in “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” which was released Friday, and appeared in Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” and in “Werewolf.”

David Lynch cast the actor with a distinctive weathered look in “Mulholland Dr.” and in the rebooted “Twin Peaks” as Sheriff Frank Truman.

“I’ve done a lot of genre pictures in my career…I’ve always liked them,” Forster told the Bleecker Street blog upon the release of 2018’s indie drama “What They Had.”

Forster played Tim Allen’s father in “Last Man Standing,” a rare comedy appearance, and played the father of a comatose mom in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” which was nominated for ensemble acting prizes by SAG and the Gotham awards.

Born in Rochester, N.Y., Forster started his career on Broadway in “Mrs. Dally Has a Lover” before John Huston cast him in “Reflections in a Golden Eye” opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando.

He appeared in “Medium Cool” for director Haskell Wexler and starred in the TV series “Banyon” — reportedly the role that Tarantino remembered when casting him in “Jackie Brown” — and appeared in movies including “Alligator,” “Olympus Has Fallen” and “American Perfekt.”

[TTX]

Stephen Moore passes

variety.com/2019/legit/news/stephen-moore-dead-dies-doctor-who-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-1203369141/

[jimsteel]

ANOTHER MUSICIAN(YOUNG)



K-POP STAR SULLI DEAD AT 25
Suicide Suspected

K-Pop singer and actress Sulli has been found dead, and police believe it might have been a suicide ... according to various reports out of South Korea.

Sulli, whose real name is Choi Jin-ri, was reportedly discovered Monday in her home south of Seoul by her manager, who went there because she hadn't answered phone calls for hours.

The K-pop star lived alone in the house, and according to one police official ... "It seems that she took her own life but we are also looking into other possibilities." Cops say no suicide note was found and there were no signs of foul play.

Sulli's best known for her time as a member of the girl band f(x), which she joined in 2009. She took a health-related break in July 2014, and left for good in August 2015 to pursue a solo career. She released a single titled "Goblin" in June.


She also acted in several TV dramas and movies, and was a popular feminist voice in the deeply conservative country ... and spoke out against cyberbullying.

Sulli became one of 4 cohosts of a South Korean talk show called "The Night of Hate Comments" in June, in which celebrity guests come on to discuss mean comments posted about them on the Internet.

On the show, Sulli talked about backlash she'd received for her lifestyle and responded to hurtful rumors.

She was 25.

[jimsteel]

Saved by the Bell Creator Sam Bobrick Dead at 87

Sam Bobrick, the acclaimed writer and playwright who created Saved by the Bell, has died at age 87. Bobrick passed away on Friday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, as a result of a stroke, according to THR. Besides Saved by the Bell, Bobrick was a writer on The Andy Griffith Show, The Flinstones, Get Smart, and Bewitched, to name a few. He scored a big award win in 1968, for writing The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which later led to him developing The Paul Lynde Show. Saved by the Bell remains his most famous credit, having run on NBC from 1989-1993, gaining massive fame and sparking an entire franchise of spinoff series, TV movies, and an upcoming revival series.

Bobrick was a Chicago native, and graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, after serving nearly four years in in the U.S. Air Force. He got into the entertainment business by writing for the children's program Captain Kangaroo, before doing work on the aforementioned TV shows, while also producing more than 40 plays in his time. Norman Is That You? ran for seven years in the US, and five years in Paris. Bobrick's co-writer Ron Clark would collaborate with him three more plays (No Hard Feelings, Murder at the Howard Johnson's and Wally's Cafe). He would also write mystery plays, and won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award in 2011, for his play The Pyschic. He even dipped into music, co-writing the song "The Girl of My Best Friend" which was performed by Elvis Presley, or "It Will Never Be Over For Me" which was performed by Los Lobos, or most recently "Totally Twisted Country" by The Cowpies.


Ironically enough, Bobrick's greatest success with Saved by the Bell came from a great failure. The show was originally called Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, and Lark Voorhies and Dennis Haskins; the premise actually followed a junior high teacher named Carrie Bliss, and her interactions with students like charming scamp Zack Morris. After airing on Disney Channel from 1988 to 1989, Miss Bliss was canceled until NBC retooled it as the Saved by the Bell we know and love. Just goes to show: persistence matters, kids. As stated, a Saved by the Bell revival series is now coming to NBC's streaming service, with the two of the stars from the retooled show (Mario Lope and Elizabeth Berkley) making their return.

[jimsteel]

Julie Gibson, star of two classic Three Stooges films

The singing comedian and dialogue coach was 106 years old.

The Three Stooges take most of the spotlight (not to mention the eye-pokes and slaps) in their films. But the iconic comedy trio needed a stellar cast of supporting actors to play the straight men, saps, stiffs, victims and love interests. With about 200 shorts made over the course of four decades, The Three Stooges worked with countless actors.

In 1942, a talented singer and ukulele player from Idaho started her screen career with two Three Stooges shorts. Julie Gibson (born Gladys Camille Sorey) got her showbiz start performing with big bands in the Pacific Northwest. That led to a gig on The Joe Penner Show, a popular CBS radio program centered around the titular comedian.

Honing her humor chops over the airwaves in the late 1930s, Gibson landed her first credited screen role in "Three Smart Saps," a Three Stooges gem released in the summer of 1942. In that one, Larry, Moe and Curly end up engaged to three daughters of a prison warden. Gibson played Stella Stevens, who is paired with Curly.

A few months later, Gibson once again teamed up with Larry, Moe and Curly in "Sock-A-Bye Baby," which coincidentally aired this past weekend on MeTV.

Gibson continued to book small roles in films throughout the 1940s and '50s, but shifted to a different and fascinating role in Hollywood in the 1960s.

In 1969, she joined the crew of Family Affair, serving as the dialogue supervisor and coach for the sitcom. She ended up married to Charles Barton, who directed more than 100 episodes of that Brian Keith-Sebastian Cabot series.

[jimsteel]

Boxer Patrick Day Dead at 27 From Brain Injuries After KO Loss to Charles Conwell


Boxer Patrick Day died Wednesday from brain injuries sustained during a violent knockout loss on Saturday, his team announced. Day was only 27.

Day (17-4-1) was knocked down 3 times -- once in the 4th, again in the 8th and finally in the 10th -- by 21-year-old rising star Charles Conwell during Saturday's fight at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.


The final knockdown was particularly brutal -- Day's head bounced off the canvas and the ref immediately stopped the fight.

Medical personnel rushed into the ring, Day was taken out of the ring in a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance which transported him to a nearby hospital.

Day suffered a seizure after the fight and then fell into a coma. He later underwent emergency brain surgery.

[jimsteel]

Former Miss Florida Valerie Ely Stabbed to Death by Son Just Feet Away from Tarzan Star Husband Ron. She was 62


Local deputies later fatally shot the suspect, Valerie and Ron's 30-year-old son Cameron Ely, outside of the couple's Santa Barbara home

The woman who was fatally stabbed inside actor Ron Ely‘s Santa Barbara home has been identified as his wife Valerie Lundeen Ely, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

To make the tragedy even more devastating, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office announced that the gruesome act had been committed by Valerie and Ron’s son, Cameron Ely. Cameron was later shot and killed by deputies.

A spokesperson with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office (SBCSO) tells PEOPLE that officers responded to a 911 call placed at the Elys’ home at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

When they arrived at the scene, deputies found Valerie, 62, dead inside the home with “multiple stab wounds,” and identified the suspect as 30-year-old Cameron.

Ron, 81, who is best known for his titular role in the 1960s Tarzan television series, was home at the time of the incident but had trouble communicating with officers because of a medical condition that impeded his speech, authorities said according to KTLA.

Still, he was able to tell them that another family member was involved in the stabbing of his wife, which occurred at the exclusive Hope Ranch home.

[jimsteel]

SOAP STAR DEATH Emmerdale’s Leah Bracknell dies aged 55 after three-year cancer battle

FORMER Emmerdale star Leah Bracknell has died aged 55.

The 90s soap favourite was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2016 but defied the odds to battle the disease for three years.

The actress passed away last month but news of her death was only revealed today.

[TTX]

Busy day for the Grim Reaper. RIP all especially Julie.