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

[jimsteel]

Friday' Star Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Dead at 62

Though "Tiny" began landing his bullying bad guy roles in the '80s, he's most famous for his hilarious turn as Deebo in "Friday" and the sequel, "Next Friday."

He also played President Lindberg in the sci-fi action film, "The Fifth Element," and more recently appeared in the box office smash hit, "The Dark Knight." He voiced the character Finnick in "Zootopia" as well.

Along with acting, Tommy had 2 short pro wrestling stints, and starred alongside Hulk Hogan -- as the bad guy, Zeus, of course -- in the 1989 film, "No Holds Barred."

Oh, and if ya didn't know, his nickname is pure irony ... "Tiny" was 6'5".

[jimsteel]

Dame Barbara Windsor dies aged 83: Carry On and EastEnders legend loses brave battle with Alzheimer's disease

[jimsteel]

Billy DeMars, 1980 Phillies hitting coach and oldest Phillie, dies at 95

Billy DeMars, the hitting coach for the 1980 world champion Phillies and the team’s oldest living alumnus, died Thursday morning. He was 95.

Mr. DeMars coached for the Phillies from 1969 to 1981, playing an instrumental role in the careers of hitters like Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, and Garry Maddox. Pete Rose said he was the best hitting coach he ever had and brought DeMars with him to Cincinnati in 1985 when Rose was the team’s player-manager.

[jimsteel]

Richard Corben Has Died, Aged 80

Richard Corben was born on October 1st, 1940 and was an accomplished and widely-recognised comic book artist, animator, illustrator and publisher. He is best known for his horror and fantasy stories, including work in Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, as well as Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal Magazine, including his series Den, from his own publishing imprint, Fantagor Press.

Famed for his use of solid blacks, stipple effects and extreme body poses, muscularity and nudity, he gained wider comic book exposure in his sixties at DC Comics drawing Hellblazer, adapting the classic horror story The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson for DC's Vertigo imprint and working with his Hellblazer writer Brian Azzarello on the Marvel Hulk series Banner and Luke Cage series, Cage, followed by The Punisher: The End with Garth Ennis, as well as Ghost Rider, Starr The Slayer, and Haunt Of Horror. He also worked on Bigfoot for IDW, Conan Of Cimmeria and Hellboy for Dark Horse.

In January 2018 he won the prestigious Grand Prix at Angoulême and presidency of the 2019 festival. Earlier this year, Parallax Studio announced preproduction on the live-action animated film To Meet the Faces You Meet based on the comic book Fever Dreams illustrated by Corben and written by Jan Strnad. Corben and Strnad recently successfully Kickstartered their latest collaboration, the collected Mutant World and Son Of Mutant World.

[Bazzy]

Barbara "Babs" Windsor what a Carry On comedy films legend and Eastenders (London soap opera) actress

[jimsteel]

Ray Perkins, former Giants, Bucs and Alabama coach and Super Bowl champion, dies at 79
Perkins hired both Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells while working for the Giants

The NFL and college football communities lost one of their most influential alumni of the 1980s on Wednesday, as former coaching great and Super Bowl champion Ray Perkins has died at the age of 79, the league announced. Perkins, who had just celebrated his birthday on Sunday, will be remembered for his work with the New York Giants, the University of Alabama and a half-dozen other programs at both the collegiate and professional levels.

A team captain at Alabama during his own college career, when he played alongside future Hall of Famers Joe Namath and Ken Stabler, Perkins is perhaps best known for his reign as the Crimson Tide head coach from 1983-1986. Hired to succeed six-time national champion Bear Bryant, one of the most accomplished coaches in college football history, he went 32-15-1 atop the staff (3-0 in bowl games), including a 19-5-1 stretch over his final two seasons.

"Ray Perkins was a great friend and an outstanding football coach who served ... Alabama with true class and integrity," current Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said Wednesday. "Coach Perkins was a great leader who had a tremendous impact on the game of football at all levels. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Lisa, and his children Tony, Mike, Rachael and Shelby."

Prior to coaching at Alabama, Perkins spent four years as the head coach of the Giants. He finished just 23-34 running the G-Men, with three losing seasons and one trip to the playoffs, but he's still revered for his hand in the hiring of two future coaching legends, Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells. The latter, a Hall of Famer and two-time Super Bowl champ, joined Perkins' staff in 1981 before succeeding Perkins as head coach two years later. Belichick, meanwhile, who's won an NFL-record six titles, was part of Perkins' original staff upon joining the Giants.

Perkins also coached the Buccaneers from 1987-1990, where a 19-41 record preceded a return to assistant jobs around the sport. Before taking up head-coaching duties at Jones College in Mississippi in 2012, he served as offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers (1978), New England Patriots (1993-1996) and Oakland Raiders (1997).

Before coaching, Perkins spent five seasons with the Baltimore Colts, who drafted him in 1966. A teammate of Johnny Unitas during the Colts' Super Bowl V championship run, he played wide receiver and caught a touchdown pass from Unitas in the 1970 AFC Championship.

[TTX]

He is the one who gave Bill Parcells his initial shot. RIP.

[jimsteel]

Country music’s first Black superstar, Charley Pride, dies of COVID-19 complications. He was 86

[jimsteel]

New Orleans Stage and Screen Actor Carol Sutton Dies at 76

[jimsteel]

Phil Linz, Unlikely Baseball Celebrity, Is Dead at 81
Never a star and rarely a starter as a Yankee in the 1960s, Linz made news not for playing baseball but for playing the harmonica.