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

[on_the_edge]

A couple Detroiters. I'm glad I'm not famous or I'd be nervous right now.

[jimsteel]

'The Getaway' producer David Foster dead at 90

Prolific movie producer David Foster, who collaborated with Steve McQueen on “The Getaway” and shepherded Robert Altman’s “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 90.

Foster started in the business as a publicist representing McQueen along with Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough, Shirley MacLaine, Andy Williams and Sonny and Cher.

He left publicity and partnered with Mitchell Brower, where their first production was acclaimed 1971 Western “McCabe and Mrs. Miller.” Warren Beatty and Julie Christie starred, with Christie netting an Oscar nom.

In 1972, he produced Sam Peckinpah’s “The Getaway” in collaboration with McQueen and Ali McGraw. It became one of Peckinpah’s most financially successful films.

Foster partnered with “The Graduate” producer Larry Turman in 1974. The Turman Foster Company started out with “The Drowning Pool,” starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and continued with “Heroes,” John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” “Running Scared,” 1994’s reboot of “The Getaway” and “The River Wild.”

Foster continued producing into the 2000s with films including “The Mask of Zorro,” “Collateral Damage” and the 2011 remake of “The Thing.” He also produced the 2005 remake of “The Fog,” “Hart’s War,” as well as “Short Circuit” and “Short Circuit 2.”

An avid fan of the USC Trojans and the Apple Pan, he was an enthusiastic mentor to many in the business.

[jimsteel]

Jerry Herman, the Broadway composer who wrote 'Hello, Dolly!' and 'La Cage aux Folles,' is dead at 88

Jerry Herman, the beloved Broadway composer and lyricist whose joyful wit made classics out of musicals like "Hello, Dolly!" "Mame" and "La Cage aux Folles," has died. He was 88.

"Jerry gave us such joy through his music," goddaughter Jane Dorian said in a statement to CNN. "He was the poet laureate of our time and gave so many extraordinary songs. He touched our hearts and souls with his music and we will miss him deeply."

The musicals Herman scored, like the protagonists they starred, were all anchored by a buoyant optimism and a timeless quality even he admitted was uncommon toward the end of his nearly 40-year career. But his songs have since become standards.

"He was so insightful and perceptive," Dorian told CNN. "He really captured the soul and spirit of who we are as Americans."
Many of his most notable musicals centered around charismatic women, like "Hello, Dolly!" "Mame" and "Mack & Mabel," which starred Broadway titans Carol Channing, Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters, respectively.

But with "La Cage aux Folles" in 1983, Herman quietly broke ground on Broadway with his portrait of a gay couple who ran a drag nightclub whose relationship woes and triumphs resembled that of any heterosexual couple portrayed on stage. It was a certifiable hit, running for 1,761 performances.

"When they passed out talent, Jerry stood in line twice," Channing, who died earlier this year at 97, once said of Herman.
His work earned him four Tony Awards, including a Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. In 2010, his work was celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors alongside Oprah Winfrey and Sir Paul McCartney.

"I'm certainly aware of how different popular music is today from when I started in this business, and I realize that my songwriting is not generally in fashion," he told the New York Times in 1985. "But 'La Cage' made me feel secure about going on and just being what I am, and writing simple, hummable tunes."

[jimsteel]

Lee Mendelson, six-time Emmy Award winner for producing Charlie Brown specials for television, dies of cancer age 86

Lee Mendelson, the longtime executive producer of numerous specials for the TV animated series "Peanuts," has died, his family said.

The producer, 86, passed away at his San Francisco Bay Area home on Christmas Day, his son Jason Mendelson told CNN.
He died of congestive heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his son said.
Mendelson, originally from San Francisco, was known for his work in "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the first animated special featuring "Peanuts" characters. The producer wrote the lyrics to the special's song "Christmas Time is Here."

"We are very sad to lose our wonderful father, but Lee would have said it was serendipitous to pass on Christmas when the song he wrote with Vince Guaraldi is being heard everywhere and the program he created with Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez is being celebrated around the world," Jason Mendelson told CNN.

Lee Mendelson passed away on Christmas Day, his family said.
The special, which first aired on December 9, 1965, was an immediate critical and commercial hit, and it has since become a perennial holiday favorite.
Mendelson said in 2006 that CBS network executives initially did not love it. They feared the program would bomb with the public because of its melancholy tone, Bible verses, unusual jazz score and lack of a laugh track.

"They said, 'We'll play it once and that will be all. Good try,' " Mendelson told Pop Matters.
He and director Bill Melendez "thought we had ruined Charlie Brown forever when it was done. We kind of agreed with the network. One of the animators stood up in the back of the room -- he had had a couple of drinks -- and he said, 'It's going to run for a hundred years,' and then fell down. We all thought he was crazy, but he was more right than we were."

The special has aired for more than 50 years.
Mendelson produced dozens of specials featuring "Peanuts" characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, specials for the animated series "Cathy," as well as numerous shows and over 100 episodes of the animated series "Garfield and Friends."

[jimsteel]

Don Imus, Radio Host Who Pushed Boundaries, Dies at 79

On the air, he was an irascible, confrontational growler who led pranks and parodies that could be tasteless, obscene and sometimes racist, sexist or homophobic.

Don Imus, who tested the limits of shock radio with his irreverent attacks on celebrities, politicians, racial and ethnic groups, women, gay people and practically anyone whose head stuck up out of the foxhole, died on Friday in College Station, Texas. He was 79.
A publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, confirmed his death, at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center. The cause was not specified. On his “Imus in the Morning” show on March 16, 2009, Mr. Imus disclosed that he had prostate cancer. He was advised to have radiation treatments, but said he had chosen to treat the disease holistically.

For nearly a half-century — from his start on local stations in the West in 1968, through a succession of New York regional and national radio stations and cable networks, until his retirement in 2018 — Mr. Imus, with occasional and sometimes extended timeouts for illnesses, accidents or legal problems, entertained and offended countless millions with his mercurial outbursts.

The outpouring of sympathy after his disclosure about his prostate cancer reflected not only his wide following as a radio personality but also admiration for his private charity work, raising millions for the rehabilitation of wounded veterans of the Iraq war and for children with cancer and siblings of victims of sudden infant death syndrome. Since 1999, many of these children had spent summers on his ranch near Ribera, N.M.

[TTX]

Lee and Don...the Grim Reaper is being rough this holiday season. RIP.

[jimsteel]

Sue Lyon, Teenage Star of Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita,' Dies at 73

Lyon was a model with two acting credits to her name when she beat out a reported 800 other actors for the part of Dolores Haze.
Sue Lyon, the titular "nymphet" in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, has died. The actor was 73.

Lyon died on Thursday in Los Angeles, according to The New York Times, which broke the news. A friend, Phil Syracopoulos, told the publication that she had been in "declining health" for a while, but a cause of death was not provided.

Born in 1946 in Davenport, Iowa, Lyon was a model with two acting credits to her name when she beat out a reported 800 other actors for the part of Dolores Haze in Kubrick's Lolita, a project that was controversial from the start. Seven years old at the time of its film adaptation's release, Lolita divided critics over its depiction of a pedophile's relationship with a 12-year-old girl. After its initial publication in 1955 in France, officials in the U.K. and France banned sales of the book, which was finally published in the U.S. in 1958. In the face of naysayers, Lolita nevertheless became a bestseller and cultural sensation.

Though Nabokov was originally hired to write Lolita's screenplay, the famously finicky Kubrick rewrote much of the script which, in its final edition, portrayed Dolores Haze as a 15-year-old instead of a 12-year-old to comply with Motion Picture Production Code mandates. The movie was filmed secretly in London due to its difficult subject matter and though Lyon was 14 at the time that the film was shot, Lolita was infamously marketed with a picture of Lyon lounging in a bikini, wearing red-shaped sunglasses and licking a lollipop.

Reception of the film was mixed at the time of its release, and critics were divided over how the film treated the book's pedophilia. However, Kubrick's Lolita currently has a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, showing how critical consensus has grown more positive over time.

Lyon shot to fame after playing Haze and, two years later, appeared in John Huston's Night of the Iguana. She also starred in John Ford's 1966 film 7 Women, 1967's Tony Rome and 1970's Four Rode Out and Evel Knievel, among a few other titles. Most recently, Lyon appeared in 1980's Alligator as an "ABC Newswoman."

In her personal life, Lyon married five times, to actor and filmmaker Hampton Fancher (Blade Runner); photographer and football coach Roland Harrison; Cotton Adamson, who was a convicted murderer at the time of their marriage; Edward Weathers; and radio engineer Richard Rudman. Lyon has blamed her controversial union with Adamson, who she met via a mutual friend, for losing out on parts in the industry.

[jimsteel]

Game Of Thrones Actor Andrew Dunbar Dies Suddenly In His 30s

Actor Andrew Dunbar, best known for his work on Game of Thrones, passed away on Christmas Eve. The actor, who was only in his 30s, died suddenly in his home in Belfast, Ireland according to Belfast Live (via Yahoo News). The cause of death is unknown at this time, but his death was confirmed by a spokesperson from The Extras Department agency, who worked with Dunbar throughout his career. Dunbar appeared as an extra on the hit show, including the Battle of the B******* episode, but also appeared as Alfie Allen's body double as the character Theon Greyjoy. Our thoughts are with his family and friends right now through this difficult time.

The Extras Department also posted a touching tribute to Dunbar, expressing their sadness at his passing and highlighting that he will be remembered not only for his roles in shows like Line of Duty, Derry Girls, and Krypton, but also for the joyous person he was to anyone that met him.


"He'll be remembered in his roles as a Stark and Theon Greyjoy's Double on Game of Thrones, a corrupt Police Officer on Line of Duty, the poor fella cornered by Colum on Derry Girls, and a Rebel on Krypton to name a few

[jimsteel]

Sleepy LaBeef, enduring rockabilly cult hero, dies at 84


Sleepy LaBeef, a rock and country performer who began his career in the mid-'50s and whose concerts continued to be a draw for the rockabilly community well into this year, died Thursday at age 84. No cause of death has been given.

Although LaBeef never had any singles chart above the 60s, his legend loomed almost as large as he did -- the singer was around six-and-a-half feet tall -- at festivals where he was often the lone remaining active link to the birth of rock 'n' roll. He earned his own chapter in one of the essential books about rock’s pioneers, Peter Guralnick’s “Lost Highway: Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians.”


The death was confirmed by his family on his Facebook account. "It is with deep, agonizing sadness that we inform you of the news that this morning, Sleepy LaBeef, born Thomas Paulsley LaBeff, passed on from this life to be with the Lord," wrote his wife, Linda LaBeef. "He died at home, in his own bed, surrounded by his family who loved him, and whom he dearly loved. He lived a full and vibrant life, filled with the excitement of much travel and experience, the contentment that came from being able to spend his life doing what he loved best, and the fulfilling love of his wife, children, and grandchildren around him."

LaBeef was gigging at least as recently as September, when he performed at Switzerland's Blues to Bop Festival, a sign of his enduring popularity among roots enthusiasts in Europe as well as America.

[jimsteel]

Sports Reporter Carley McCord, Daughter-in-Law of LSU OC Steve Ensminger, Dies in Plane Crash

Louisiana sports reporter Carley McCord, the daughter-in-law of LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, died in a plane crash in Lafayette, La., on Saturday, the Associated Press confirmed.

McCord, 30, worked for Cox Sports Television, ESPN3, WDSU New Orleans and more.

A small eight-passenger plane crashed into a U.S. Post Office parking lot in Lafayette on Saturday morning, killing five people and injuring at least two, officials told NBC News. The plane, which was headed to Atlanta, was carrying six people when it took off from Lafayette Regional Airport.

Lafayette Fire Department spokesperson Alton Trahan confirmed to NBC News that the plane struck a car when it crashed. The driver of the vehicle was injured and taken to the hospital.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said the cause of the crash was still unknown as of early Saturday afternoon, according to NBC News.

An LSU spokesperson told Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger that Ensminger will coach in the Peach Bowl on Saturday.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron told ESPN's Holly Rowe that "Our thoughts and prayers out to him. Steve and his wife, his family are so distraught. Steve is a man. He knows how to handle things."

LSU will face Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. Ensminger is in his second full season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Tigers. He joined LSU's coaching staff in 2010 and played quarterback for the university from 1976-79.