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The following are 12 personalities (some more familiar than others) that have passed on in the past several weeks. Most recent death is shown at the top. Note: some deaths are not reported for days, even weeks. That is why some obit updates do not appear on the top. Once again, obits are listed in order of date of death, most recent date on top. |
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July 27, 1949 - July 27, 2010 |
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Canadian actor Maury Chaykin has died after a long bout with kidney problems. He died on his birthday at the age of 61. Mark McKinney, who produced Chaykin's most recent series, the HBO sitcom "Entourage" said, "He was one of our greatest actors," adding that the cast was devastated by the death. "Maury's an actor of unparalleled gifts, you cannot learn what he had in spades, you could study for 1,000 years. He had an incredible gift, an instant quickness." Chaykin had roles in "Dances With Wolves," "The Postman," "Owning Mahoney," "Mystery, Alaska," "WarGames," "A Life Less Ordinary," and "The Adjuster." He has also been in the TV shows "C.S.I.," "Boston Legal," and the HBO series "Entourage." His acting career spans 35 years. Chaykin appeared in more than 150 movie and TV production in all, according to the Internet Movie Database.
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August 31, 1916 - July 23, 2010 |
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Daniel Schorr, who became the elder statesman of public radio after decades as a feisty television broadcaster for CBS and CNN, died at a Washington hospital. He was 93. The indefatigable Schorr, who joined National Public Radio soon after leaving CNN in the mid-1980s, became well known as a high-profile reporter at CBS News before leaving amid controversy after 23 years at the network. "He lived through so many years of history, and he put that to the service of his commentaries," Geoffrey Cowan, dean emeritus of USC's Annenberg School for Communication, said in 2004. "He never lost his edge. He was always outspoken and independent." The reporter who once covered Watergate and found himself on President Nixon's infamous "enemies list" seemed to find the perfect role for a second career as a sober commentator with the ability to put almost any event into historical perspective. "Let me put aside for a moment all his real talents as an analyst and as someone who has been witness to great events, but he has a quality of making people pay attention to him," Scott Simon, a host of the network's Weekend Edition show, told USA Today in 2006. "They want to hear him." Schorr said he "breathed the breath of freedom" at NPR. "Nobody ever told me what not to do."
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April 20, 1940 - July 16, 2010 |
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James Gammon, the gravelly voiced Hollywood actor best known for playing grizzled "good ol' boy" types in numerous movies and television shows, died of liver cancer in Costa Mesa, Calif. He was 70. He appeared twice as Deputy Virgil Bramley in the NBC western series The Road West in the 1966-1967 season, starring Barry Sullivan, Andrew Prine, and Glenn Corbett. Gammon is probably best known for his characters "Lou Brown", manager of the Cleveland Indians in the Major League movies, and "Nick Bridges", the father of Don Johnson's title character in the television series Nash Bridges. He has appeared in the films Cool Hand Luke (1967), Urban Cowboy (1980), Silverado (1985), Noon Wine (1985), Made In Heaven (1987), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Major League (1989), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Major League II (1994), Wyatt Earp (1994), Wild Bill (1995), Truman (1995), Cold Mountain (2003), and more recently Appaloosa in 2008. Gammon portrayed a Korean War veteran on the hit ABC series Grey's Anatomy. He also played Charles Goodnight in the noted western miniseries, Streets of Laredo. Though Gammon played the father of Don Johnson's title character in the television show Nash Bridges, they are but a few years difference in their ages.
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July 4, 1930 - July 13, 2010 |
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George Steinbrenner, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died of a massive heart attack in Tampa, Fla. He was 80. His death came nine months after the Yankees won their first World Series title since 2000, clinching their six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at his new Yankee Stadium, and two days after the team's longtime public-address announcer Bob Sheppard died at age 99. Steinbrenner emerged as one of the most powerful, influential and, in the eyes of many, notorious executives in sports. He was the senior club owner in baseball at his death, the man known as the Boss. In the frenetic '70s and '80s, when general managers, field managers and pitching coaches were sent spinning through Mr. Steinbrenner's revolving personnel door (Billy Martin had five stints as manager), the franchise became known as the Bronx Zoo. Having been without a pennant since 1964 when Mr. Steinbrenner bought them, enduring sagging attendance while the upstart Mets thrived, the Yankees once again became America's marquee sporting franchise. "Have I made mistakes? Yes," Steinbrenner told The New York Times in 1998. "Are there things I would do differently? Yes. "I'm human, and I have an ego. I'll admit that. But, if the goal is to win, I'll stand on my record."
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August 10, 1928 - June 13, 2010 |
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Country music singer and business entrepreneur Jimmy Dean died of natural causes at his home in Henrico, Virginia. He was 81. Four months ago, Dean, who had a number one hit "Big Bad John" in 1961, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Dean started his musical career touring with his band, The Texas Wildcats and in the 1960s hosted his own variety show, "The Jimmy Dean Show." His career included talk show and game show appearances and an acting stint in the James Bond movie "Diamonds Are Forever." Dean became best known for his 1961 recitation song about a heroic miner, "Big Bad John". Recorded in Nashville, the record went to number one on the Billboard pop charts and inspired many imitations and parodies. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The song won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. He had several more Top 40 songs including a Top 10 in 1962 with "PT-109", a song in honor of John F. Kennedy's bravery in World War II. In the early 1960s, he hosted the Tonight Show on occasion and one night introduced Roy Clark, with whom he'd remained friendly. His mid-1960s ABC-TV variety series, The Jimmy Dean Show, was one of the few to regularly present country music entertainers to a mainstream audience, including Roger Miller, George Jones, Charlie Rich and Buck Owens. In 1969, he and his brother Don founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company, which they sold in 1984, to what is now the Sara Lee Corp. Dean remained as spokesperson for the company until 2004. In 2004, he published a memoir titled "30 Years of Sausage, 50 Years of Ham."
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February 21, 1934 - June 3, 2010 |
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Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," died of a stroke. She was 76. She had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on "aging gracefully." In 2009, she had heart bypass surgery. McClanahan had an active career in off-Broadway and regional stages in the 1960s before she was tapped for TV in the 1970s for the key best-friend character on the hit series "Maude," starring Beatrice Arthur. But her most loved role came in 1985 when she co-starred with Arthur, Betty White and Estelle Getty in "The Golden Girls," a runaway hit that broke the sitcom mold by focusing on the foibles of four aging, and frequently eccentric, women living together in Miami. "Golden Girls" aimed to show "that when people mature, they add layers," she told The New York Times in 1985. "They don't turn into other creatures. The truth is we all still have our child, our adolescent, and your young woman living in us." McClanahan snagged an Emmy for her work on the show in 1987. In an Associated Press interview that year, McClanahan said Blanche was unlike any other role she had ever played.
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May 17, 1936 - May 29, 2010 |
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Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper, best known for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic "Easy Rider," died at his home in Venice, California, from complications of prostate cancer. Hopper was 74. The two-time Oscar nominee, who appeared in more than 100 films, last March got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, saying he came to Hollywood from his native Kansas at 18, "so that was my college." "Everything I've learned, I've learned from Hollywood," he said. "This has been my home and my schooling." In a wildly varied career spanning more than 50 years, Hopper appeared alongside his mentor James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" in the 1950s and played maniacs in such films as "Apocalypse Now," "Blue Velvet" and "Speed." He received two Oscar nominations, for writing "Easy Rider" (with co-star Peter Fonda and Terry Southern), and for a rare heartwarming turn as an alcoholic high-school basketball coach in the 1986 drama "Hoosiers." "Easy Rider," regarded is one of the greatest films of American cinema, helped usher in a new era in which the old Hollywood guard was forced to cede power to young filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Hopper fell ill last September. He continued working almost to the very end, both on his cable TV series "Crash" and on a book showcasing his photography. But his final months were also consumed by a bitter divorce battle with his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy.
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February 8, 1968 - May 28, 2010 |
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Gary Coleman, best known for his portrayal of the lovable, wisecracking Arnold Jackson on Diff'rent Strokes, died after he suffered an intracranial hemorrhage after falling at his Santaquin, Utah, home. He was 42. The Illinois-born Coleman, who suffered from a kidney disease that stunted his growth and required him to undergo two transplant operations, found fame early in life, guest starring on The Jeffersons and Good Times before scoring a starring role in 1978 at the age of 10 on the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes as one of two adopted sons of a rich widower. Coleman delighted audiences with his vibrant, seasoned performance, and "Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?," his rapid-fire exclamation of disbelief uttered to his on-screen brother (Todd Bridges), became one of TV's most memorable catchphrases. During Diff'rent Strokes eight-season run, Coleman starred in feature films such as 1981's On the Right Track and 1982's Jimmy The Kid, as well as TV movies like 1982's The Kid with the Broken Halo, which served as the basis for the 1982 NBC animated series The Gary Coleman Show. In the 1990s and 2000s, he popped up on a number of TV shows, including The Ben Stiller Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Simpsons, The Drew Carey Show, and Son of the Beach. Coleman, who also ran for governor during California's recall election in 2003, finishing in eighth place, most recently starred in the 2009 mockumentary Midgets Vs. Mascots...
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July 17, 1912 - May 26, 2010 |
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Art Linkletter, the genial host who parlayed his talent for the ad-libbed interview into two of television's longest-running shows, "People Are Funny" and "House Party," in the 1950s and 1960s, died at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 97. From his early days as an announcer on local radio and a roving broadcaster at state fairs, Mr. Linkletter showed a talent for ingratiating himself with his subjects and getting them to open up, often with hilarious results. He was particularly adept at putting small children at ease, which he did regularly on a segment of "House Party," a reliably amusing question-and-answer session that provided the material for his best-selling book "Kids Say the Darndest Things!" Women, who made up three-quarters of the audience for "House Party," which was broadcast in the afternoon, loved his easy, enthusiastic way with children. "I know enough about a lot of things to be interesting, but I'm not interested enough in any one thing to be boring," Mr. Linkletter told The New York Post in 1965. "I'm like everybody's next-door neighbor, only a little bit smarter." He was also genuinely curious to know what was going on in the heads of the people he interviewed. After one boy revealed that his father was a policeman who arrested lots of burglars, Mr. Linkletter asked if his mother ever worried about the risks. "Naw, she thinks it's great," he answered. "He brings home rings and bracelets and jewelry almost every week."
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June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010 |
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Lena Horne, the groundbreaking singer, actress and civil rights activist who, in 1942, became the first African-American performer to be put under contract by a major studio, died at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92. Though her movie career spanned nearly six decades and included a smattering of well-regarded films, like Stormy Weather (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), Horne was best known for her singing. Her music highpoints include blockbuster collaborations with Tony Bennett, Grammy-winning recordings of her Vegas nightclub act and her Tony-nominated performance in the Broadway musical, Calypso. Her knack for dramatic flourish and romantic renditions of jazz standards led to appearances on TV variety shows including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show, as well as a role in the big-screen musical, The Duke Is Tops (1938). Though she never found the substantial, satisfying work she sought on film, Horne did make an impact, later in life, on TV in recurring roles on The Muppet Show and The Cosby Show. Throughout her career, Horne was equally dedicated to her advocacy for civil rights. She was an early pioneer in the movement for equality, fighting for desegregation alongside such legends of the movement as Paul Robeson and Medgar Evers. She also fought with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-lynching laws. The combination of Horne's disarming talent and fierce individuality created a powerful force in breaking down racial barriers in Hollywood and beyond.
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January 25, 1918 - May 4, 2010 |
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Longtime Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, beloved by generations of fans who grew up listening to his rich voice, Southern cadence and quirky phrases on the radio, died after a months-long battle with cancer. He was 92. Harwell, a Hall of Fame announcer who called Detroit Tigers games for four-plus decades and was acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers for a catcher, announced in September that he had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the bile duct. Then 91, he took the news with characteristic poise, saying he planned to continue working on a book and other projects. "Whatever happens, I'm ready to face it," Harwell told The Associated Press on Sept. 4, 2009. "I have a great faith in God and Jesus." Shortly after Harwell's announcement, the Tigers honored him during the third inning of a game against Kansas City, showing a video tribute and giving him a chance to address the crowd at Comerica Park. "In my almost 92 years on this Earth, the good Lord has blessed me with a great journey," Harwell said at a microphone behind home plate. "The blessed part of that journey is that it's going to end here in the great state of Michigan." The team and its flagship radio station, WJR, allowed his contract to expire after the 1991 season in what became a public relations nightmare. WJR general manager Jim Long later took responsibility for the unpopular move. When Mike Ilitch bought the franchise from Tom Monaghan, he put Harwell back in the booth in 1993. Harwell chose to retire after the 2002 season.
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March 8, 1943 - May 2, 2010 |
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Lynn Redgrave, an introspective and independent player in her family's acting dynasty who became a 1960s sensation as the unconventional title character of "Georgy Girl" and later dramatized her troubled past in such one-woman stage performances as "Shakespeare for My Father" and "Nightingale," died of breast cancer. She was 67. Redgrave was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2002, had a mastectomy in January 2003 and underwent chemotherapy. Her death comes a year after her niece Natasha Richardson died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident and just a month after the death of her older brother, Corin Redgrave. Redgrave was the daughter of actor Michael Redgrave, sister of Vanessa Redgrave and aunt of Joely Richardson and the late Natasha Richardson. She first gained fame for 1966's "Georgy Girl," a comedy about an upbeat woman making the most of Swinging London. The role garnered her an Oscar nomination. She was nominated more than 30 years later for "Gods and Monsters," in which she played director James Whale's housekeeper. Over the decades, Redgrave appeared in several movies and many TV shows, including recent appearances on "Ugly Betty" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." "Vanessa was the one expected to be the great actress," Lynn Redgrave told The Associated Press in 1999. "It was always, 'Corin's the brain, Vanessa the shining star, oh, and then there's Lynn.'" She was adored by audiences, and although she embarked on a medical treatment as previews began, she never missed a show and gave magnificent performances eight times a week," said Lynne Meadow, artistic director of MTC. "We admired her strength, her talent, her courage and her enormous good heart. There wasn't a stage hand, a press rep, a box office person who didn't worship Lynn. She was true theatre royalty."
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