R.I.P. CELEBRITY DEATHS 2021(NON WRESTLERS)

[jimsteel]

Larry Sellers, Actor on ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,’ Dies at 72

The Emmy-nominated actor played Cloud Dancing for five years on the CBS Western.


Sellers, an actor and stuntman of Osage, Cherokee and Lakota descent, appeared in film and TV roles in Life Goes On, Lightning Jack, Wayne’s World II, Beverly Hills, 90210, Crazy Horse and The Sopranos.

His best known role was playing Cloud Dancing on the hit CBS Western Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, a part he played from 1993-98 and one that earned him an Emmy nomination.

[jimsteel]

Cara Williams Dies: Oscar- And Emmy-Nominated Golden Age Starlet Known For ‘The Defiant Ones,’ ‘Pete And Gladys’ & More Was 96

She starred in Stanley Kramer’s drama The Defiant Ones opposite Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, appearing in December Bride spinoff Pete and Gladys opposite Harry Morgan.

Over the course of her 40-plus year screen career, Williams garnered a total of 55 screen credits. She also appeared on the film side in Girls’ Town, Happy Land, Sweet and Low-Down, In the Meantime, Darling, Laura, Something for the Boys, Don Juan Quilligan, The Spider, Boomerang!, Sitting Pretty, The Saxon Charm, Knock on Any Door, The Girl Next Door, We Go to Monte Carlo, The Great Diamond Robbery, Meet Me in Las Vegas, The Helen Morgan Story, Never Steal Anything Small, The Man from the Diners’ Club, Doctors’ Wives, The White Buffalo and The One Man Jury.

She toplined her own CBS sitcom, The Cara Williams Show, in the 1960s, also appearing on the TV side in Theatre of Romance, The Clock, The Philco Television Playhouse, The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre, The Web, Starlight Theatre, The Billy Rose Show, Suspense, Robert Montgomery Presents, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Red Skelton Hour and more.

[jimsteel]

Britain's Got Talent's David J Watson dies at 62


Comedy entertainer auditioned for the show 12 times

[jimsteel]

Dragon Ball Z Narrator and Voice Actor Joji Yanami Dies at 90

Over in Japan, reports have confirmed that Joji Yanami has passed away at the age of 90. The actor was well-known in the anime industry, and Dragon Ball Z fans will recognize his many roles in the hit shonen series.

Nikkan Sports shared the news this morning that Yanami had passed away on December 3rd. The news was confirmed by Aoni Production, the talent agency that represented Yanami so years. The company said it was at a loss over the actor's death and thanked Yanami for being so kind to all of its staff.

As for Yanami's legacy, the actor leaves behind a lot of important work and roles that fans will know easily enough. He is best known for working on Dragon Ball as he began narrating the original anime in 1986. He went on to narrate Dragon Ball Z and even returned for Dragon Ball Super and several films. During this time, Yanami was also brought into the character cast as he voiced Dr. Briefs, King Kai, Dr. Frappe, Bobbidi, and more.

Unfortunately, Yanami did end up leaving Dragon Ball Super before the show finished in 2018. The actor went on an extended break following 2015, leaving the anime to recast its narrator and side characters. This break marked Yanami's eventual retirement, and he left behind other important gigs. After all, Yanami had also worked on Astro Boy, GeGeGe no Kitaro, Inuyasha, and more.

[Bazzy]

Cornish comedian Jethro has died aged 73 R.I.P

[jimsteel]

Joe Simon, Chart-Topping R&B Singer, Dead at 85

Simon became an ordained minister after walking away from secular music.

Joe Simon, a Grammy-winning R&B singer whose hits included 1969’s “The Chokin’ Kind” and 1972’s “Power of Love” and was sampled in OutKast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” and other hip-hop classics, died Monday (Dec. 13) in his longtime hometown near Chicago. He was 85.

Born in Simmesport, La., Simon hated picking cotton and moved to Los Angeles to make it as a singer, spending his early years there homeless and living in a chicken coop. With nothing to do at night, he wrote 20 to 30 songs daily and developed his voice to the point that a label owner paid him $1,100 to record four songs written by others. He brought in local musicians including future funk greats Sly Stone and Larry Graham to play on 1964’s “My Adorable One,” which became Simon’s breakthrough hit.

[jimsteel]

Ken Kragen, Organizer of ‘We Are the World’ and ‘Hands Across America,’ Dies at 85

He also produced 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' and the 'Gambler' movies that starred Kenny Rogers, whom he managed.

Ken Kragen, who produced The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Kenny Rogers‘ Gambler movies and was the creative force behind the humanitarian projects “We Are the World” and “Hands Across America,” has died. He was 85.

Kragen died Tuesday (Dec. 14) of natural causes at his Brentwood home in Los Angeles, a family spokesperson announced. Kragen managed the careers of Rogers and other top-notch entertainers including Lionel Richie, the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Burt Reynolds, the Smothers Brothers and Trisha Yearwood, among others.

In 1985, after receiving a call from Harry Belafonte, Kragen was instrumental in rounding up the talent — including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Richie and Rogers — that appeared on the fund-raising single and album “We Are the World,” and he brought in Quincy Jones to produce the music. The project raised an estimated $64 million for poverty relief in Africa and the U.S.

A year later, Kragen returned to organize “Hands Across America,” a human chain that stretched across the U.S. and involved 6.5 million people. That raised millions to help the hungry and the homeless as well. He said that one of his proudest achievements was receiving the United Nations’ Peace Medal in 1985 for the creation of “We Are the World”; he was one of only a handful of private citizens to receive the honor.

Kragen was born on Nov. 24, 1936, in Alameda, California. His mother, Billie, was a violinist and his father, Adrian, a tax expert. He attended UC Berkeley before graduating from Harvard Business School. He joined The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as a production coordinator in 1967, then served as executive producer during the controversial show’s third and final season in 1968-69. He first met Rogers when his band, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, played on the show, and soon became his manager.

Kragen also wrote the 1994 best-selling book, Life Is a Contact Sport: Ten Great Career Strategies That Work, and with Jones, he produced a portion of the 1992 presidential inauguration for Bill Clinton. Kragen received two Emmy nominations, two MTV Awards, an American Music Award and a Manager of the Year Award from the Conference of Personal Managers and was the only person elected president of both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music.

[jimsteel]

Wanda Young, Singer of the Marvelettes’ ‘Don’t Mess With Bill,’ Dies At 78

[jimsteel]

The Roots Bassist Leonard ‘Hub' Hubbard Dies at 62

[jimsteel]

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