R.I.P. CELEBRITY DEATHS 2020(NON WRESTLERS)

[TTX]

Makes it even sadder. RIP to all who died there.

[jimsteel]

Nicholas Parsons, host of Just a Minute, dies aged 96

Presenter of BBC Radio 4 radio comedy and TV panel show dies after short illness

Nicholas Parsons, the veteran host of the TV and radio panel show Just a Minute, has died aged 96 after a short illness, his agent said.

A statement issued by his agent, Jean Diamond, on behalf of his family, said: “Nicholas passed away in the early hours of 28 January after a short illness at the age of 96. He was with his beloved family who will miss him enormously and who wish to thank the wonderful staff at the Stoke Mandeville hospital.”

Parsons hosted Just a Minute, the Radio 4 quiz show, from its inception in 1967. Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and educated in London, he initially began his career as an actor, appearing in West End shows including Boeing-Boeing and films, and later becoming the straight man to comedian Arthur Haynes in the late 1960s. He was also a regular on the Benny Hill Show, and following Haynes’s death helmed the ITV quiz Sale of the Century between 1971 and 1983. In 2018, Parsons made headlines when he missed an episode of Just a Minute – in which contestants must avoid hesitation, repetition or deviation – his first absence in 50 years. Panellist Gyles Brandreth filled in, noting that “after 50 years at the helm [Parsons] quite rightly thinks he should be allowed a day off”.

[jimsteel]

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Drummer Reed Mullin Dead At 53

Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin has passed on at 53 years old. No cause of death has yet been revealed.

Mullin drummed for Corrosion of Conformity between 1982 and 2001, and then again from 2010 until present day. Mullin was filled in for by a series of live drummers in recent years.

[jimsteel]

Comedian Jack Burns, best known for his comedy duos with George Carlin and Avery Schreiber, has passed away at 86

Comedian and writer Jack Burns, best known for his comedy partnerships with George Carlin and Avery Schreiber, has passed away at the age of 86, as confirmed by George’s daughter Kelly Carlin. “A foundational piece of the Carlin legacy has gone to the big comedy club in the sky. Jack was one of the sharpest motherf*ckers I knew. He shaped my father’s mind in unique ways. RIP Jack Burns,” she tweeted late Sunday night.

Burn’s manager Peter Santana later released a statement, “He has been in senior care for the last two years in good spirits and surrounded by friends and cases of Diet Coke,” Santana said. “He was as sharp as a tack mentally but had not walked for two years. He achieved many great achievements but his most recent was hitting the 31 year sober mark in December. Truly a sweet and talented man.”

Burns is best remembered by comedy fans for his work in two different comedy duos. In 1959, while working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas, he connected with fellow aspiring comedian George Carlin. Together, they formed the comedy duo Burns and Carlin. For the next 3 years, they appeared together on The Tonight Show in 1960 and played hip night clubs across America. This all culminated in the release of the album Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight.

Following their split in the early 1960’s, Burns joined The Compass Players, which then made way for him to join the famed Second City. It was here he met Avery Schreiber, with whom he founded another comedy duo, Burns and Schreiber. The duo released some comedy albums, including In One Head, Out The Other and Burns’ and Schreiber’s Pure B.S.! In 1973, after performing together on every show from Merv Griffin to Mike Douglas to The Tonight Show, they got their own show with The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour. This series also included notable regular players as Fred Willard, Terri Garr, and Frank Welker, and featured guest appearances by Loretta Swift, Tina Turner, and naturally, George Carlin.

As an actor, Burns is probably best remembered for his role as Deputy Warren Ferguson on The Andy Griffith Show. He also made guest appearances on The Partridge Family, Love American Style, and Hee Haw, where he also served as head writer. In 1977, he was the first person to host Saturday Night Live under its new title (it was originally titled NBC’s Saturday Night). Additionally, he also wound up doing voice over work in the 90’s for Darkwing Duck, Animaniacs, and The Simpsons.

As a writer, he is probably best remembered for his work on The Muppet Show and the subsequent The Muppet Movie. He also worked as a writer on many variety and comedy specials in the 70’s, including for Flip Wilson, Paul Lynde, and John Ritter.

And, of course, let’s not forget the infamous brawl he got into with Andy Kaufman on the set of Friday’s, where he served as a writer and producer. The incident, which has lived on in infamy ever since it happened in 1981.

[jimsteel]

Bob Shane, Last of the Original Kingston Trio, Dies at 85

The group spearheaded a commercially successful folk revival in the late 1950s and early ’60s, with Mr. Shane singing lead most of the time.

Bob Shane, the last surviving original member of the Kingston Trio, whose smooth close harmonies helped transform folk music from a dusty niche genre into a dominant brand of pop music in the 1950s and ’60s, died on Sunday in Phoenix. He was 85.

Mr. Shane, whose whiskey baritone was the group’s most identifiable voice on hits like “Tom Dooley” and “Scotch and Soda,” sang lead on more than 80 percent of the Kingston Trio’s songs.

He didn’t just outlast the other original members, Dave Guard, who died in 1991, and Nick Reynolds, who died in 2008; he also eventually took ownership of the group’s name and devoted his life to various incarnations of the trio, from its founding in 1957 to 2004, when a heart attack forced him to stop touring.

Along the way, the trio spearheaded a reinvention of folk as a youthful mass-media phenomenon; at its peak, in 1959, the group put four albums in the Top 10 at the same time. Touring into the 21st century, the Kingston Trio remained a nostalgic presence for its fans, drawing many to its annual Trio Fantasy Camp in Scottsdale, Ariz.

[Bazzy]

Nicholas Parsons what children memories watching the television on Friday 1900hrs live from Norwich "Sale of the century" quiz show .

[TTX]

RIP to all of them.

[jimsteel]

Football Hall of Fame defensive end Doleman dies at age 58

Hall of Fame defensive end Chris Doleman, who became one of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers during 15 seasons in the league, has died. He was 58.

There was no word on the timing of Doleman’s death, but he had surgery in January 2018 to remove a brain tumor

[jimsteel]

Monique van Vooren, Actress in 'Tarzan and the She-Devil' and 'Batman,' Dies at 92

A native of Belgium, she also appeared in 'Ten Thousand Bedrooms,' 'Fearless Frank' and 'Flesh for Frankenstein.'
Monique van Vooren, the Belgian-born actress who starred as a villainess in Tarzan and the She-Devil and played the Penguin's moll in Burgess Meredith's final appearance on Batman, has died. She was 92.

Van Vooren died Saturday of cancer at her home in New York City, her son, New York realtor and occasional actor Eric Purcell, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Van Vooren also was seen in bed in a white negligee in the opening title sequence to introduce Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), the first movie Dean Martin made after his split with Jerry Lewis, and she portrayed Baroness Katrin Frankenstein in the X-rated Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), a 3D film produced by Andy Warhol.

She also was a panelist on game shows including To Tell the Truth and I've Got a Secret and a frequent guest on talk shows hosted by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Mike Douglas.

Made her onscreen debut in the Italian melodrama Tomorrow Is Too Late (1950), starring Vittorio De Sica.

In 1953, she portrayed the dark-haired ivory poacher Lyra the She-Devil opposite Raymond Burr and Lex Barker in Tarzan and the She-Devil and appeared on Broadway in John Murray Anderson's Almanac, a musical revue. (Also in the cast: Harry Belafonte, Orson Bean and Tina Louise.)

Van Vooren landed small parts in Vincente Minnelli's Gigi (1958) and Happy Anniversary (1959), starring David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor, and was the glamorous Zizi Molnari in a 1959 adaptation of Budd Schulberg's What Makes Sammy Run? on the NBC anthology series Sunday Showcase.

In 1958, she recorded an album for RCA Victor, Mink in HiFi, with the help of bandleader Skitch Henderson.

Van Vooren helped the Penguin vacuum up cash on the streets of Gotham City when she portrayed the greedy Miss Clean on ABC's Batman on the third-season 1968 episode "Penguin's Clean Sweep."

In 1974, she returned to Broadway for the musical fantasy Man on the Moon, written by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas.

Van Vooren also appeared in such films as Fearless Frank (1967), which starred Jon Voight and was an early feature from writer-director Philip Kaufman; Larry Peerce's Ash Wednesday (1973), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Henry Fonda; and Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987).

In 1964, she suggested that young nightclub performer Ronnie Walken change his name to Christopher Walken, and he went with it.

[jimsteel]

Marj Dusay, 'Star Trek' Actress and Veteran Soap Opera Player, Dies at 83

She also appeared on 'The Facts of Life' and 'The Odd Couple' and played the wife of a war hero in 'MacArthur.'
Marj Dusay, who played an alien who stole Spock's brain on Star Trek and worked on five daytime soap operas during her career, has died. She was 83.

Dusay died Tuesday, her stepdaughter Elizabeth Perine reported on Facebook. "She was quite a woman and had quite a grand life," she wrote.

Dusay also portrayed the mother of Lisa Whelchel's Blair Warner on NBC's The Facts of Life and appeared opposite Gregory Peck as the wife of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in MacArthur (1977).

The Kansas native stepped in for the late Carolyn Jones as Myrna Clegg on CBS' Capitol in 1983 and went on to play Pamela Capwell Conrad on NBC's Santa Barbara, Vivian Alamain on NBC's Days of Our Lives, the evil Vanessa Bennett on ABC's All My Children and Alexandra Spaulding on CBS' The Guiding Light.

Born Marjorie Mahoney on Feb. 20, 1936, she was raised in Russell, Kansas, and attended Kansas University. She began a modeling career in New York when she and her husband, John Dusay, moved there for his medical internship.

In Los Angeles, she became a member of The Session, an improvisational comedy troupe formed by Rob Reiner.

Dusay made her big-screen debut in the Elvis Presley movie Clambake (1967) and then appeared with Sandy Dennis in Sweet November (1968).

On the September 1968 Star Trek episode "Spock's Brain," which kicked off the show's third and final season, Dusay's Kara beams aboard the Enterprise, removes Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) brain and takes it with her to her planet.

The actress was memorable on the 1971 Odd Couple episode "What Does a Naked Lady Say to You?" when Oscar (Jack Klugman) discovers that her character, Felix's (Tony Randall) new girlfriend, is performing in a nude play.

Dusay also appeared on dozens of other shows including Hogan's Heroes, Mod Squad, Get Smart, Mannix, Phyllis, Barnaby Jones, Hart to Hart and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.