12/19/03 - Hope Lange - SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - Hope Lange, who starred opposite Hollywood's top actors over a decades-long career and earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 1957 film "Peyton Place," has died, her husband said Sunday. She was 70.

Lange died Friday at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica after suffering an infection caused by an intestinal inflammation known as ischemic colitis, said her husband, Charles Hollerith.

Lange split her time between homes in Los Angeles' Westwood section and New York City, said Hollerith, a former theatrical producer and vice president of the Actors' Fund of America.

Lange starred in dozens of films and television shows and captured two Emmy awards in 1969 and 1970, both for lead actress in a comedy series for her role in "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir."

Her big-screen credits included "The Best of Everything" in 1959 with Joan Crawford, "The Young Lions" in 1958 with Marlon Brando and "Peyton Place" with Lana Turner. More recently, she was in 1986's "Blue Velvet" and 1994's "Clear and Present Danger."

Actor Don Murray, who was married to Lange for several years in the 1950s, said Lange combined good looks and acting prowess.

"She was considered a great beauty who was also a serious and dedicated actor who didn't pay attention to being glamorous," Murray said.

Murray said her looks even intimidated Marilyn Monroe, who wanted Lange's naturally blonde hair dyed light brown in their 1956 film "Bus Stop."

"Marilyn complained about sharing the screen with another blonde," said Murray, who also starred in the movie. "I guess she felt competition because Hope was a young beauty."

Lange is survived by her husband, a son, actor Christopher Murray, a daughter, Patricia Murray, and two grandchildren.

12/14/03 - Jeanne Crain - (AP) - LOS ANGELES - Jeanne Crain credited her mother for bringing her up in a household free of prejudice. As a Hollywood star, she won an Oscar nomination for a role that broke racial taboos of the day — a black girl passing for white.

The winsome beauty who specialized in frothy comedies in the 1940s and whose career was capped by her starring role in the controversial Elia Kazan classic “Pinky,” died Sunday. She was 78.

Crain died of a heart attack at her Santa Barbara home, according to her son, Paul Brinkman Jr. She appeared in 64 films and many television shows during her long career, playing opposite such stars as Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas and William Holden.

“Pinky” brought Crain’s only Academy Award recognition, a nomination for best actress in 1949. It was a daring film at a time when Hollywood avoided racial controversy, about a girl who passes for white in the North but faces the bitter hatred of whites after returning to her grandmother’s home in the Deep South.

“I grew up without knowing anything about prejudice; my mother saw to that,” Crain said in 1995. “If parents would keep prejudice and intolerance to themselves for one generation, we would have a different world.”

Lena Horne and other black actresses sought the role, but Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck decided on a white star with box-office appeal.

“Pinky” was widely praised by critics but encountered opposition in the South, especially because a white man in the film wants to marry Pinky despite knowing her heritage. Marshall, Texas, banned the film, but the town’s film censoring ordinance was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The movie’s controversy enhanced Crain’s popularity. She recalled that her fan letters rose to 6,000 a week, and only 1 percent were critical.

With her lovely features, slender figure and demure manner, Crain became a leading star in the wartime and postwar years. For faraway GI’s she seemed the ideal girl back home. At 20th Century-Fox studio, her fan mail was second only to that of pin-up queen Betty Grable.

Cliched beginning
Crain’s 1943 movie debut followed the Hollywood cliche: She appeared in a swimming suit beside a pool in the all-star “The Gang’s All Here.” She was elevated to leading roles in her next films — “Home in Indiana,” “In the Meantime, Darling,” “Winged Victory” and “State Fair,” which featured Rodgers and Hammerstein’s only original score for a movie.

“Margie” (1946), an entertaining, nostalgic tale of a small-town girl in the 1920s who gets a crush on her French teacher, established Crain as an important Fox star. She followed with a musical, “You Were Meant for Me,” opposite Dan Dailey, and “An Apartment for Peggie,” a romance with William Holden.

Crain was born in Barstow, Calif., and raised in Los Angeles, where her father became head of the English department at Inglewood High School. She began winning leads in school plays at 14 and beauty contests at 15.

As Camera Girl of 1942 in Long Beach, she attracted the attention of 20th Century-Fox and was given a routine studio contract. That was soon discarded for better terms as her career rapidly ascended.

In 1945, Crain married Paul Brinkman, an actor who later became a successful businessman. The couple had seven children.

By the 1960s, her Hollywood career had dimmed. She made three films in Europe and then retired. She and Brinkman spent their time at two working ranches.

In her 70s she still received regular bundles of mail from fans who had seen her films on TV or video.

“They write as if the films were just being released,” she said wonderingly. “The films must have aged well.”

Crain’s husband died in October. She is survived by her sons, Paul Jr. and Timothy Brinkman, and three daughters, Jeanine Brinkman, Lisa Binstock and Maria Brinkman.

12/4/03 - David Hemmings - LONDON - David Hemmings, the British actor who attained international stardom as the existential fashion photographer in the 1966 film "Blow Up," has died at age 62, his agent said Thursday.

Hemmings, who also forged a successful career behind the camera directing for
cinema and TV, died of a heart attack Wednesday while filming a movie role in
Romania, said agent Liz Nelson.

Paramedics on the film set of "Samantha's Child" were unable to revive him,
Nelson said.

"He had just finished his final shots of the day and was going back to his
dressing room," she said. "He had only recently returned to acting. He opted for
a number of years to work on his own projects, directing and producing."

Born Nov. 18, 1941 in Guildford, England, Hemmings was a notable boy soprano and
was featured in English Opera Group performances of the works of Benjamin
Britten.

After his voice changed, Hemmings studied painting at the Epsom School of Art
where he staged his first exhibition at 15.

He returned to singing in his early 20s with nightclub appearances before moving
onto the stage and gradually into films.

His early British movie roles usually saw him cast as misunderstood youths and
belligerent "Teddy Boys," leading to his role in Michelangelo Antonioni (news)'s
"Blow Up."

His boyish good looks were also put to use in science-fiction romp "Barbarella"
and the film version of the stage musical "Camelot."

With 1971's "Running Scared," Hemmings began a new career as a director several
movie and TV productions in England, Australia and Canada.

The two careers ran in parallel for several years with his directing credits
including the movie "Just a Gigolo," but by the 1980s his TV directing took
precedence with shows such as "Magnum PI," "Airwolf," "The A-Team" and "Quantum
Leap."

"People thought I was dead. But I wasn't. I was just directing The A-Team," he
once remarked.

Hemmings returned to acting in 2002 with the role of Cassius in the
Oscar-winning "Gladiator." Other recent roles included parts in "Gangs of New
York," and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

Hemmings, who was divorced twice, is survived by his third wife, Lucy Williams,
and their two sons; and by a daughter from his first marriage and a son from the
second.

11/19/03 - Gene Anthony Ray - Gene Anthony Ray, who starred as Leroy, a street-smart urban teenager, in the 1980 movie "Fame" and the later television series, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 41.

The cause was complications of a stroke he had in June, and he was also H.I.V.
positive, said Jean E. Ray, his mother.

Mr. Ray was a natural fit when he was cast as Leroy in the film, which won
Academy Awards for best song and original score. Like his character in the film,
Mr. Ray had never had professional dance training but had a raw talent that
dazzled choreographers.

The actors who performed in the movie and in the television series "Fame"
portrayed students at New York's High School of the Performing Arts, which Mr.
Ray attended for a year before being kicked out. "It was too disciplined for
this wild child of mine," Mrs. Ray said.

His journey into the spotlight began at Julia Richmond High School. He performed
in a dance class there and later auditioned for Louis Falco, the choreographer
for the film "Fame." He skipped school the day of the first tryout, and "Leroy
Johnson was born," Mrs. Ray said.

Mr. Ray also played Leroy in the NBC television series "Fame," which made its
debut in 1982. It was canceled by NBC because of poor ratings but was later
picked up by MGM Television, which distributed it in syndication from 1983 to
1987.

Born on May 24, 1962, in Harlem, Mr. Ray lived on on West 153rd Street. After he
gained stardom for his roles in "Fame," Mr. Ray left school to pursue his
career.

In 1982 he toured Britain, to perform with other "Fame" cast members in 10
concerts. "The Kids From Fame," a television special about the tour, was
broadcast in the United States a year later. His other film credits include "Out
of Sync" (1995), which was directed by his "Fame" co-star Debbie Allen, and
"Eddie" (1996), which starred Whoopi Goldberg.

According to Selma Rubin, who managed Mr. Ray for 24 years, his last video
project is a one-hour BBC "Fame" reunion documentary, "Fame Remember My Name,"
which was taped in Los Angeles in April 2003 but has not yet been shown.

11/18/03 - Jonathan Brandis - LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jonathan Brandis, who from an early age appeared in a string of roles on television, commercials and film, including the starring role in 1991's "The Neverending Story 2: The Next Chapter" and two seasons on Steven Spielberg's "SeaQuest DSV," has died. He was 27.

The county coroner's office is investigating the Nov. 12 death, which was
reported by the Los Angeles Police Department as a possible suicide, Lt. Ed
Winter of the coroner's Investigations Bureau said Thursday.

The coroner performed an autopsy but the cause of death will not be announced
until the results of blood and toxicology tests are returned. The investigation
could take as long as four to six weeks.

Police said a friend of Brandis called 911 from the actor's apartment just
before midnight on Nov. 11 to report Brandis had attempted suicide. Paramedics
transported Brandis to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but he died the next day,
police Detective Gene Parshall said.

The office of Brandis' agent at Innovative Artists refused to comment.

Brandis started his career in commercials and on television, landing a recurring
role on the soap "One Life to Live" at age six. After moving with his family to
Los Angeles at age nine, he made guest appearances on such shows as "L.A. Law,"
"Who's the Boss?" and "Murder, She Wrote."

Other film credits included the Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Ladybugs," and the
martial arts comedy "Sidekicks" with Chuck Norris, and a small part in the 2002
film "Hart's War," starring Bruce Willis.

Brandis also starred as crew member Lucas Wolenczek in the underwater sci-fi
series "SeaQuest DSV," a role that garnered him a Young Artists Award in 1993
and helped turn him into a teen idol.

More on Jonathan Brandis - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The death two weeks ago of actor Jonathan Brandis, who starred as a teenage techno-prodigy on NBC's undersea drama "SeaQuest DSV" in the 1990s, has been ruled a suicide, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said on Tuesday.

Brandis, 27, the star of an ABC drama pilot, "111 Gramercy Park," that the
network passed on this year, hanged himself by a nylon rope in a hallway of his
apartment complex on Nov. 11, David Campbell (news), a spokesman for the coroner
said.

He was found unconscious by friends late that night and rushed to a hospital,
where he died the following afternoon, Campbell said.

Campbell said no suicide note was found, and investigators were "not aware of
any history or issue" that would suggest a reason for suicide. Yet, the medical
examiner found no reason to suspect foul play, he added.

Born in Danbury, Connecticut, Brandis began his career at age 5 acting in TV
commercials and landed small parts in several TV shows and movies before his
first starring role in the 1990 film "The NeverEnding Story II: The Next
Chapter."

But his big break came as the teenage whiz kid Lucas Wolenczak aboard the
fictional Deep Submergence Vehicle in Steven Spielberg (news)'s futuristic
sci-fi drama "SeaQuest DSV," which aired for two seasons on NBC starting in
September 1993.

Lucas, whose best pal was the talking dolphin Ensign Darwin, became somewhat of
a heartthrob to young viewers.

Other big-screen credits include last year's military drama "Hart's War,"
starring Bruce Willis (news), the 1992 Rodney Dangerfield (news) comedy
"Ladybugs," and a bit part in the 1987 Michael Douglas (news) thriller "Fatal
Attraction."

11/18/03 - Michael Kamen - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-nominated composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen, one of Hollywood's most sought-after musicians, died at age 55 on Tuesday after suffering from multiple sclerosis for several years, members of his family said.

Kamen died in a hospital in London, where he had lived with his wife and two
daughters, his brother Leonard said during a telephone interview from New York.

Doctors were unable to resuscitate Kamen following a "cardiac event," he said.

The native New Yorker and Juilliard School of Music Graduate was one of
Hollywood's most successful composers who worked on music for the "Lethal
Weapon" series and scored "Die Hard" among many other films.

He was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, but did not go public
about the disease until late September.

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that
causes various disabilities.

Kamen grew up in Queens, the son of liberal activists.

In the late 1960s, he helped found the New York Rock 'n' Roll Ensemble, a
critically acclaimed group that fused classical with pop and recorded five
albums before dissolving.

In the 1970s, Kamen scored ballets, served as musical director for David Bowie
(news)'s "Diamond Dogs" tour and began writing scores for film.

Although he began in Hollywood working on offbeat films like "Polyester" and
"Brazil," he turned more mainstream in the 1980s, working on the "Lethal Weapon"
series, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Mr. Holland's Opus" and "X-Men," plus
the HBO series "Band of Brothers."

In 1991, Kamen earned his first Academy Award nomination for "(Everything I Do)
I Do It for You," the Bryan Adams (news) pop hit from the movie, "Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves."

Co-written with Adams and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the song received two
Grammys (news - web sites). The three united in 1993 for "All for Love." In
1999, Kamen conducted the orchestra which backed Metallica (news - web sites) on
their S&M project.

11/18/03 - Kay Kuter - Kay E. Kuter, 78, a character actor and director best remembered for his long-running role as farmer Newt Kiley on the intertwined CBS sitcoms "Green Acres" and "Petticoat Junction," died of pulmonary complications Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank.

Kuter played farmer Newt throughout the entire run of "Petticoat Junction" from
1964 to 1970 and, after Eddie Albert's and Eva Gabor's "Green Acres" began in
1965, became one of the most frequent visitors between the two Hooterville-based
shows.

Born to show business, Kuter was the son of pioneer motion picture art director
Leo "K" Kuter and wrote a biography about him, "Picture Perfect World." His
mother was silent-screen actress Evelyn Edler, who died in July at age 103. He
studied at Pomona College and UCLA, and graduated from what is now Carnegie
Mellon University.

During his 55-year career, Kuter directed more than 50 plays and appeared in
about 200 stage productions, 50 films and 435 TV shows. He voiced Hershey's
Kisses commercials for the last 14 years.

11/13/03 - Penny Singleton - Penny Singleton, best remembered as Blondie, the scatterbrained yet often sensible character she played in 28 movies from 1938 to 1950, died Wednesday at Sherman Oaks Hospital. She was 95.

She had suffered a stroke two weeks ago, according to her longtime friend, Dick
Sheehan. Singleton was also known to later generations as the voice of Jane Jetson in the cartoon movies and TV shows about the futuristic family. But she was most identified with her role as the wife of the bumbling Dagwood Bumstead in the movies based on the popular comic strip created by ChicYoung.

The family life of the Bumsteads and their children, Alexander (Baby Dumpling)
and Cookie, along with their dog Daisy, centered around humorous and numerous misunderstandings and mishaps concerning everything from Blondie's efforts to get Dagwood's job back (he was always getting fired, it seemed) to Blondie's efforts to start a bakery business. As Mrs. Bumstead, Singleton was constantly on call to her husband's high-pitched and plaintive cry of "Blon-deeeeeee!"

Like the Andy Hardy and Charlie Chan movies of about the same era, the "Blondie"
episodes brought audiences to movie houses two or more times a year. "For a while there, Blondie was apt to turn up on the bottom half of the bill about every other time you went to the movies," John Springer and Jack Hamilton wrote in "They Had Faces Then."

Besides her movie role as Blondie, Singleton played the character on a popular
radio program from 1939 to 1950. But by the time Blondie came to television for the first time in 1957, Singleton was almost 50 years old, and the role was given to the younger Pamela Britton.

Born Dorothy McNulty on Sept. 15, 1908, in Philadelphia, Singleton was thedaughter of a newspaper typesetter. She began her career at age 7 singing songs at movie houses and performed in vaudeville. " I suppose it would be difficult for many people today to understand, but vaudeville was the most marvelous school for a child
imaginable," she told the Cincinnati Post in 1997.

She also was a talented gymnast whose coach thought she should try out for the
Olympics, but by then she had already earned money professionally and was not
considered an amateur.

By the time she was a teenager, she was getting chorus girl and other small
roles on Broadway, including doing a number with Jack Benny in a revue called
"The Great Temptations." By 1928, she had joined a road company of "Good News,"
starring opposite Jack Haley. Back on Broadway, she also sang two numbers with
Haley-"Button Up Your Overcoat" and "I Could Give Up Anything But You"-in
"Follow Thru."

While still in her 20s, she moved to Hollywood, appearing in a series of minor
roles in better movies - or sometimes better roles in minor movies - and
changing her name to Penny Singleton. She chose her first name because she had
always saved pennies; Singleton was the name of her first husband, to whom she
was married briefly.

Singleton had a role in the 1930 film version of "Good News" and in "After the
Thin Man" (1936), one of the William Powell/Myrna Loy Nick-and-Nora movies. In
the latter, Singleton, playing saucy nightclub singer Polly Byrnes, delivers
this line: "Hey, don't call me illiterate - my parents were married right here
at City Hall!"

Singleton also had a role in "Boy Meets Girl" (1938) and many other films.
By the time she was 30, she landed the role of Blondie."I was thrilled, but also
surprised," she told the Cincinnati Post in 1997. "I had been a brunette all my
life."

She quickly bleached her hair and went on to star opposite Arthur Lake, who
played Dagwood, for the next dozen years for Columbia Studios. This remarkable run of movies began with "Blondie" and included "Blondie on a Budget" (1940), in which budding actress Rita Hayworth had a role; "Blondie for Victory" (1942), "Blondie Hits the Jackpot" and the final film in the series, "Beware of Blondie" (1950). Only in 1944, a war year, was no "Blondie" movie released. None were shorter than 64 minutes or longer than 75.

Besides Hayworth, many actors who later became well known appeared with
Singleton and Lake in supporting roles, including Robert Sterling, Bruce
Bennett, William Frawley, Jimmy Durante, ZaSu Pitts, Lloyd Bridges, Glenn Ford,
Hans Conreid and Anita Louise.

The regular characters besides the Bumsteads were Dagwood's boss, JC Dithers,
played by Jonathan Hale; the beleaguered mailman, Mr. Crumb, played by Irving
Bacon (later mailmen were Eddie Acuff and Dick Wessel); and Daisy the dog,
played by a series of cute canines. The Bumstead children were played by Larry
Simms and Marjorie Kent (also known as Marjorie Ann Mutchie). Robert Sparks, who became Singleton's second husband and to whom she was married
for 22 years until his death in 1963, produced some of the Blondie movies.
In his movie guide, critic Leonard Maltin said the first Blondies "were the best
- fresh and original, with many clever touches belying the fact that they were
low-budget films." He said that by the mid-1940s, however, the movies had become
formulaic.

After the Blondie franchise died out, Singleton went on the road with a
nightclub act but became mostly inactive in Hollywood. She appeared in the film
"The Best Man" in 1964 and, briefly in 1971, she replaced her old friend Ruby
Keeler in "No No Nanette" on Broadway. (As children, Singleton and Keeler had
gone to professional children's school together in New York, where their
classmates were Milton Berle and Gene Raymond).

Almost 20 years later, Singleton was the voice of Jane Jetson in the 1990 movie
about the futuristic family. She also did Jetson projects on TV, including three
movies and the series, as well as a few guest appearances on other television
programs.

After "Blondie," Singleton became active in labor unions, particularly the
American Guild of Variety Artists, to which she was elected president in 1969.
In 1966, she was a leader in the strike to get better working conditions for
Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes.

At the age of 88, Singleton said of her career, "I loved everything I did, big
or small, it didn't matter as long as it was fun and was pleasing to people."
Singleton, who had lived in Sherman Oaks for many years, is survived by her
daughters, Dorothy Henry of Sherman Oaks and Susan Sparks of Paris; two
grandchildren and a great-grandson.

11/13/03 - Tony Thompson - Tony Thompson, one of the premier session drummers of the past twenty-five years, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles of renal cell cancer at age forty-eight. The former member of Seventies disco funk band Chic, Thompson had worked with everyone from David Bowie to Madonna to Diana Ross.

Born in New York on November 15, 1954, Thompson came to prominence on the late-Seventies disco scene, thanks to his funky, rock influenced big-beat style. After sitting in with LaBelle, Thompson met Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, with whom he formed Chic in 1976. The band's 1977 debut featured the hit "Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)," but they became disco legends with 1978's C'est Chic, which contained the number one classic "Le Freak," as well as the rollerboogie anthem "Good Times."

"The thing that was most apparent about Tony as a drummer was his sense of inventiveness and cleverness," says Rodgers. "All three of us had roots in jazz, fusion and rock, which is why he would never think of the typical R&B drum fill . . . He just cherished those brilliant moments to sparkle."

Chic disbanded in 1983, and Thompson became an in-demand session musician, working with Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, David Bowie and Madonna.

In 1985, he joined Duran Duran members Andy and John Taylor and the late Robert Palmer in the supergroup Power Station, whose hit singles "Some Like It Hot" and the T. Rex cover "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" were driven by Thompson's propulsive drumming.

A longtime rock fan, Thompson got the gig of a lifetime in 1985 when he was asked to sit in with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin when they played at the Live Aid benefit concert at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium. Thompson then joined the Zeppelin trio for some secret recording sessions in 1986. Rumors of a reunion were quashed, however, when Thompson was involved in a serious car accident later that year.

He remained a prolific session drummer throughout the late Eighties, working with Robert Palmer, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart and Jody Watley, though he was less active in the Nineties.

11/11/03 - Art Carney - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Art Carney, best known as the awkward, endearing sidekick to Jackie Gleason in the 1950s television series "The Honeymooners," has died at age 85, a Connecticut funeral home said on Tuesday.

Carney, who lived in Westbrook, Connecticut, died on Sunday after a long
illness, according to a statement issued by the local Swan Funeral Homes Inc.

Carney had a long career in vaudeville, radio, television, Broadway and
Hollywood, but is best remembered as Ed Norton, an "underground sanitation
expert" who appeared clad in a trademark T-shirt, vest and pork-pie hat on "The
Honeymooners," a classic of early live television that has enjoyed huge
popularity in syndication.

Carney's cry of "Hey, Ralphie boy!" to co-star Gleason invariably meant a new
misadventure -- or another get-rich-quick scheme gone awry. His good-natured
quirkiness and physical agility made him the perfect complement to Gleason's
easily frustrated, easily angered Ralph Kramden.

Broadcast live, the show had remarkable mishaps. When Gleason once missed a cue
to enter during a live broadcast, Carney looked inside the set refrigerator,
pulled out an orange and for almost a full minute peeled it with humorous
aplomb. The moment was remembered as a classic comedy ad-lib.

Carney won the 1974 best actor Oscar for his portrayal of an aging loner who
travels cross country with his cat in the film "Harry and Tonto." He also won
five Emmy awards.

Carney was born Nov. 4, 1918, in Mount Vernon, New York. He took a job as a jazz pianist after high school but ended up on stage impersonating such statesmen as
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

He moved on to freelancing on radio serials, mysteries and dramas in the 1940s.
Carney enlisted in the army and received a leg wound in France that gave him a
slight limp.

In 1951, Carney met Gleason while appearing on the popular variety show
"Cavalcade of Stars." There the two paired up for skits that would spin off to
become "The Honeymooners."

Privately, Carney was a shy man who fought a long battle with depression and
alcoholism.

"I'm a serious guy," he once said. "I'm not 'on' all the time, you know, as far
as being funny at home or at parties. I tend to be more of an introvert, I
think, and I think my extrovert qualities come out in my work."

"I enjoy doing comedy," he said, "but I'm not a comedian. ... I'm an actor
that's done an awful lot of comedy."

11/10/03 - Irv Kupcinet - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Irv Kupcinet, whose column has run in the Chicago Sun-Times and its predecessors for 60 years, died on Monday, the newspaper said. He was 91.

Kupcinet, who had continued his entertainment and personality-oriented column
despite a series of illnesses in recent years, was taken to a hospital on Sunday
suffering from breathing difficulties.

He began "Kup's Column" in 1943 for the Chicago Times and continued writing it
uninterrupted after the paper combined with the Chicago Sun in 1948.

The Sun-Times said his column was at one point syndicated in more than 100
newspapers around the world, from Europe to South America.

Kupcinet's abbreviated professional football career was ended by injury after
just two games and he turned to sportswriting, spicing his stories with personal
items about athletes that an editor suggested he expand.

He also became the Chicago Bears' longtime radio broadcaster and hosted one of
the early television talk shows, "At Random," beginning in 1959. It later became
"Kup's Show" and featured local celebrities, writers and activists.

Karyn, one of his two children, was an aspiring 22-year-old actress who was
murdered in Los Angeles in 1963, a crime that remains unsolved.

11/5/03 - Dorothy Fay Ritter - Dorothy Fay Ritter, a leading lady for Buck Jones, William "Wild Bill" Elliott and other sagebrush screen heroes of the 1930s and '40s, including the man she married, singing cowboy Tex Ritter, has died. She was 88.

Ritter, the mother of the late actor John Ritter, died of natural causes Nov. 5
at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills,
where she had lived since 1989, her son Tom said Wednesday. She had a stroke in
1987.

Ritter's death came less than two months after that of John, who died as a
result of an aortic dissection Sept. 11.

The daughter of a doctor in Prescott, Ariz., Ritter was born Dorothy Fay
Southworth on April 4, 1915.

She grew up in Prescott but spent her last year of high school at Hollywood
High. After attending USC, she studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art in London and the Pasadena Playhouse.

As Dorothy Fay, she played opposite Buck Jones in "Law of the Texan" (1938), the
first of three westerns with Jones, including the 1941 serial "White Eagle."

From 1938 to 1941, she appeared in about a dozen B-movie westerns made primarily
at Monogram and Columbia studios. She also was a featured player in the 1940
action serial "The Green Archer," starring Victor Jory, and had bit parts in
"The Philadelphia Story" and "Lady Be Good."

Boyd Magers, editor and publisher of Western Clippings, a film publication on
westerns, said Dorothy Ritter was "a little more forceful" than other leading
ladies in B westerns.

"She was no shrinking violet, that's for sure," Magers said. "She is not just
waving goodbye to the star as he rides away."

Magers said Ritter "was well thought of at the time. Part of that was her
personality."

The blued-eyed and brown-haired — later blond — actress was vivacious and an
extrovert.

"She was very outgoing, very charming — the sort of person who walks into a room
and the energy is driven to her," Tom Ritter said Wednesday, adding that "my
brother was very much his mom's son."

Dorothy Ritter made the first of four westerns with Tex Ritter, "Song of the
Buckaroo," in 1938. The couple married in 1941.

"I loved Tex," she said in a 1973 interview with Magers, "but I think I enjoyed
working in westerns more with Buck Jones."

As a married couple in the 1940s, the Ritters were often photographed for fan
magazines on their small ranch in what was then rural Van Nuys.

"Tex and I would get requests for autographs of not only ourselves but Tex's
horse, White Flash, too," Dorothy Ritter said in the 1973 interview. "We would
put ink on the horse's hoofs and 'autograph' pictures for the fans."

Although Dorothy Ritter went on a USO tour to Southeast Asia during World War
II, she gave up her show business career after marrying Tex, who became one of
the top 10 Western stars at the box office and a top-selling recording artist
who sang the haunting ballad used in "High Noon." He also was one of the six
original members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Tom Ritter said his mother did charity work for the United Cerebral Palsy Assn.,
the President's Commission on Employment of People With Disabilities and other
organizations, "but she really focused on her family after she married."

When he and John were growing up, Ritter said, his parents "were very loving and
very supportive in whatever my brother and I wanted to do." And although his
father had reservations about John's desire to go into acting, he said, "My
mother was especially supportive in the beginning."

The Ritters moved to Nashville in 1968. After Tex Ritter died of a heart attack
in 1974 at the age of 68, Dorothy Ritter became an official greeter at the Grand
Ole Opry. She returned to California in 1981.

It was John Ritter who contacted the London Daily Telegraph after it mistakenly
published an obituary on his mother Aug. 25, 2001, which was picked up by other
newspapers. The Daily Telegraph ran an apology five days later for publishing
what it called Dorothy Ritter's "premature obituary."

In explaining what had happened, Andrew McKie, the paper's obituaries editor,
wrote that "a member of staff at her nursing home believed her to have died
(after arriving in her room to be told that she 'had gone' — as she had, but
only to another wing of the hospital) and then phoned one of our regular
contributors who is a great friend of Mrs. Ritter."

McKie apologized, writing that "I am genuinely delighted she is still with us —
I came to like her a lot while preparing her obituary for the page."

In addition to her son, Ritter is survived by four grandchildren.

A private funeral service is being held today in Prescott. A memorial service at
the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home is pending.

 

11/5/03 - Bobby Hatfield - DETROIT - Bobby Hatfield, whose soaring tenor blended with partner Bill Medley's
silken baritone to create the "blue-eyed soul" of the Righteous Brothers, has
died in a Kalamazoo hotel, his manager said. He was 63.

Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed Wednesday evening, 30 minutes before
the duo was to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University
campus, manager David Cohen said.

The duo, whose 42-year career featured pop standbys like "Unchained Melody,"
"(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," were
in Kalamazoo to kick off a four-day series of performances in Michigan and Ohio.

"It's a shock, a real shock," Cohen said during a telephone interview. Medley,
he said, was "broken up. He's not even coherent."

The cause of death was unknown. Hatfield's body was taken to Lansing, where an
autopsy was to be performed, Joe Hakim, an executive with the Radisson Plaza
Hotel in Kalamazoo, told the Kalamazoo Gazette.

The duo's signature 1965 single, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," has been
cited by numerous sources as the most-programmed song in American radio history.
The inclusion of their songs in films such as "Top Gun," "Ghost" and "Dirty
Dancing" repeatedly re-established the Righteous brand.

Earlier this year, singer Billy Joel (news) inducted Hatfield and Medley into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Sometimes people with blue eyes transcended the limitations of what their color
and culture can actually be," Joel said. "Sometimes white people can actually be
soulful. This was a life-changing idea. It changed my life."

Robert Lee Hatfield was born Aug. 10, 1940, in Beaver Dam, Wis. His family moved
to Anaheim, Calif., when he was 4. Hatfield organized singing and instrumental
groups in high school while helping his parents with their dry cleaning
business.

An avid athlete, Hatfield considered a career in professional baseball, but
found his true calling in music — a love he pursued while attending Long Beach
State University, where he formed a band and performed at bars and proms.

Hatfield teamed up with Medley in 1962 as part of a five-piece group called The
Paramours. According to the Righteous Brothers Web site, a black Marine called
out during one of their performances, "That was righteous, brothers!"

They renamed themselves the Righteous Brothers before the release of their first
album in 1963.

"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," produced by Phil Spector in his trademark
"wall-of-sound" fashion, was released months after British rock 'n' roll was
beginning to dominate U.S. record charts and airwaves.

"We had no idea if it would be a hit," Medley once said. "It was too slow, too
long and right in the middle of the Beatles and the British Invasion."

The performing rights organization BMI, however, has tallied about 8 million
radio plays of the song.

After splitting up in 1968, the duo reunited in 1974 and returned to the top of
the charts with "Rock and Roll Heaven." They performed sporadically, then went
through another career revival in 1982.

Hatfield and Medley in later years routinely went on the road for 60 to 80 shows
a year in addition to 12-week stints in Las Vegas, where they had found work as
a lounge act during the dawn of their careers in 1962.

Note from the Underground - Bobby Hatfield was laid to rest at Pacific View Memorial Park, Newport Beach, CA. Thanks to Underground Member Kim Eazell of GravesRUs.com.

10/27/03 - Rod Roddy - LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Rod Roddy, the flashy-dressed announcer on "The Price is
Right" whose booming, jovial voice invited lucky audience members to "Come on
down!" for nearly 20 years, died Monday. He was believed to be 66.

Roddy, who suffered from colon and breast cancer, died at Century City Hospital,
according to his longtime agent, Don Pitts. He had been hospitalized for two
months.

"He had such a strong spirit. He just wouldn't give up," Pitts said Monday.

Roddy had been ill for more than two years but continued to work as much as
possible and for as long as he could, said Bob Barker, host of "The Price is
Right." Roddy had been with the game show for 17 years.

"We all admired his courage," Barker said last week. "He was always upbeat and
hopeful."

Note from the Underground - Rod Roddy was laid to rest at an unknown location in Texas. Thanks to Underground member, Lisa Burks, for that information.

10/22/03 - Fred "Rerun" Berry - LOS ANGELES - Fred Berry, the bulb-shaped, squeaky-voiced actor famous for playing red-beret-wearing Rerun on the 1970s TV sitcom "What's Happening!" has died at age 52, police said Wednesday.

Berry died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles of apparent natural causes, police
Officer Jason Lee said. The county coroner was investigating the exact nature of
the death, but friends said Berry had been in ill health due to a recent stroke.

He wore his red beret and suspenders in real life, and it was unclear whether he
originally brought his own style to the character of Rerun or whether he was
forever mimicking the character that made him famous.

Rerun was a 1970s version of latter-day goofball TV characters like Steve Urkel
from "Family Matters": loud, a little whiny, a little dim and definitely geeky.
"What's Happening!", which ran from 1976-1979, focused on three teenage friends
— Rerun, Raj and Dwayne — who learn about life, women and trouble while growing up in Los Angeles.

Among the more famous episodes was one in which Rerun joined a bizarre cult and
another in which he got busted for making bootlegged tapes of a Doobie Brothers
concert.

The name Rerun, according to Berry, referred to the character's brainlessness:
In the summer, he had to rerun all the classes he failed during the school year.

Berry's success on the show was clouded by his heavy use of marijuana and
cocaine. "There were dealers right there in the studio, people that worked
there," he said in 1996. "In the '70s, it was like that on a lot of TV shows. It
was the Hollywood lifestyle then. Everybody was doing it."

By the time "What's Happening!" ended, Berry said he had blown more than a
million dollars on drugs, cars, homes and an airplane. With no acting jobs
heading his way, Berry tried to live off his fame by charging to appear at
shopping malls.

Even later in life, he was still cashing in: lately, he earned money by calling
fans on the telephone with the service www.HollywoodIsCalling.com. About $30
would earn a fan a 30 second call.

Berry's love life was another complication. He married a dancer while in his
20s, and the two divorced, remarried and divorced again. Berry repeated that
performance with his second wife, whom he married and divorced twice (most
recently in 1991). He also married and divorced two other women.

Rerun brought Berry another brief moment of success in 1985, when "What's
Happening!" was revived as the syndicated "What's Happening Now!" Berry quit in
a contract dispute after the first season and the show ended in 1987.

By 1986, Berry says, he abandoned drugs and started to speak at churches,
schools and other groups, finally working as a minister in Madison, Ala., at the
New Shiloh Church Ministry.

He was still dabbling in show business. Berry recently appeared on the TV shows
"Star Dates" on the E! Entertainment Network, MTV's "Doggy Fizzle Televizzle"
with Snoop Dogg and in a cameo role in the David Spade ( news ) comedy film
"Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star."

10/12/03 - Bill Shoemaker - SAN MARINO, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker, who rode four Kentucky
Derby winners and was a commanding presence in thoroughbred racing for more than
40 years, died Sunday. He was 72.

Shoemaker died in his sleep at his suburban home near Santa Anita racetrack,
according to longtime friend and trainer Paddy Gallagher. Gallagher, an
assistant during Shoemaker's training career, said doctors told him Shoemaker
died of natural causes.

He had been paralyzed from the neck down since a car accident in 1991.

It was the second major death in horse racing this year. Johnny Longden, who won
the Triple Crown aboard Count Fleet in 1943 and was the only jockey to ride and
train a Kentucky Derby winner, died in February at 96.

Shoemaker broke Longden's record of 6,032 career victories in 1970 and held it
until Laffit Pincay Jr. broke Shoemaker's mark of 8,833 wins in 1999.

"He was one of the greatest human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing
in my life," said retired jockey Chris McCarron, now general manager of Santa
Anita. "Forget about his ability to communicate with horses, his compassion for
people was second to none."

Only 4-foot-11, the athlete known simply as "The Shoe" throughout his career
rode for 41 years, most of them in Southern California, considered to be the
most competitive circuit in America.

"For a man his size, wearing a size 2 1/2 shoe, he was a giant," retired Hall of
Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said.

Shoemaker broke his neck when he veered off the highway in his Ford Bronco in
suburban Los Angeles, tumbled down an embankment and rolled. He had been
drinking after playing golf and police said his blood-alcohol level was twice
the legal limit. He sued Ford and won a multimillion-dollar settlement.

He continued training horses for another six years despite being in a
wheelchair. He operated the chair by turning his head and breathing into a tube.

"I knew the last couple of years he was having problems," said Delahoussaye, who
last spoke with Shoemaker four days ago. "Shoe never let on. He was a quiet guy,
he kept a lot of things to himself. He never complained."

Pincay, who was forced to retire after breaking his neck in March, called
Shoemaker last week and told him about a trip Pincay had taken to New York to
help find a cure for paralysis.

"I told him how close they were to finding a cure and he was very excited and
sounded happy about it," Pincay said Sunday. "I know he wasn't happy in that
wheelchair, but he never complained."

In 1986, at age 54, he became the oldest jockey to win a Kentucky Derby when he
guided Ferdinand along a small opening on the rail in a ride considered one of
the greatest ever.

That win came 21 years after his previous Derby win, aboard Lucky Debonair in
1965. He won America's most famous race four times, including in 1959 with Tomy
Lee and 1955 with Swaps.

Perhaps his most famous Derby ride was one he lost, in 1957.

Dueling toward the finish line at Churchill Downs were Gallant Man, ridden by
Shoemaker, and Iron Liege, ridden by Bill Hartack.

At the sixteenth pole, Shoemaker stood up, mistaking it for the finish line. He
sat back down immediately but Gallant Man lost by a nose. He received a 15-day
suspension from the stewards for the rule violation.
The night before, Gallant Man's owner, Ralph Lowe, told Shoemaker he had a dream
about a jockey on one of his horses misjudging the finish line. Shoemaker
insisted it wouldn't happen to him. Afterward, Lowe found no fault and gave
Shoemaker $5,000 and a new car.
"I didn't make any excuses," Shoemaker said in his 1987 book "Shoemaker:
America's Greatest Jockey."
Five weeks later, Shoemaker rode Gallant Man to an eight-length victory in the
Belmont Stakes.
Besides four Derby victories, Shoemaker won two Preakness Stakes, five Belmont
Stakes and rode Ferdinand to a victory over Alysheba in the 1987 Breeders' Cup
Classic to capture Horse of the Year honors.
His last race was Feb. 3, 1990, after a yearlong tour of racetracks in North
America to exhibit his skill to fans who had never seen him. A crowd of 64,573
showed up at Santa Anita to see him and his mount, Patchy Groundfog, finish
fourth in a nationally televised race.
All told, Shoemaker rode in a record 40,350 races.
Shoemaker's riding style of sitting almost still on a horse was emulated by
generations of jockeys. His former wife, Cindy, said watching him ride was "like
listening to a pretty song or reading poetry."
Known mostly as Willie, Shoemaker was only 2 pounds when he was born in Fabens,
Texas, on Aug. 19, 1931. He was so small he was kept as an infant in a shoebox
near a fire to stay warm.
He boxed and wrestled in high school but decided to become a jockey because of
his size. He dropped out of school to ride for $75 a month plus room and board
at a La Puente, Calif., horse ranch.
He won his first race April 20, 1949, at Golden Gate Fields near San Francisco;
his final victory came nearly 41 years later, on Jan. 20, 1990.
Shoemaker loved to ride — at any time.
In 1965, he was returning to his hotel from a party at 4:30 a.m. on the day of
the Kentucky Derby when a friend suggested they go to Churchill Downs and that
Shoemaker work out a horse the friend had stabled there.
He did, wearing a tuxedo, then 12 hours later rode Lucky Debonair to his third
Derby victory.
After retirement, Shoemaker was emphatic when asked if he missed riding.
"No, I went 40 years," he said. "That's long enough. It's time to do something
else."
Two days after being released from a hospital where he underwent rehabilitation
after the 1991 car accident, Shoemaker returned to act as a trainer at Santa
Anita. He retired from training in 1997, after winning 90 races and nearly $3.7
million.
He is survived by his former wife and only child, 23-year-old Amanda.
Funeral arrangements were pending

10/5/03 - Wally George - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wally George, the feisty talk-show host whose
conservative southern California program pioneered high-volume "combat TV," has
died at age 71, his TV station said on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for KDOC, an independent over-the-air station that broadcasts to
Los Angeles and Orange counties, said George died on Sunday of pneumonia at a
local hospital. He had been ill with cancer, she said.

George, the father of actress Rebecca De Mornay (news), called his style of
broadcasting "combat TV" and was known for berating and belittling people who
did not agree with his conservative views.

KDOC is working on a tribute show for George scheduled to air this Saturday, the
spokeswoman said, adding that no decision has been made about airing reruns of
the show beyond that.

Note from the Underground - Wally George was buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, Ca. Thanks to Underground member Kim Eazell of GravesRUs.com for the info.

10/3/03 - Florence Stanley - LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actress Florence Stanley, who launched her career on Broadway
and was a regular on television shows including "Barney Miller," has died of
complications of a stroke. She was 79.

Stanley died Oct. 3 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said her husband, Martin
Newman.

She appeared on Broadway in "Fiddler on The Roof," "The Prisoner of Second
Avenue" and was in the Manhattan Theater Club's "What's Wrong with This
Picture?" before heading to Hollywood.

Her TV appearances include Judge Margaret Wilbur on "My Two Dads" and Bernice
Fish on "Barney Miller," as well as numerous guest roles on shows including
"Dharma & Greg" last year.

Stanley had film roles in this year's "Down With Love" and was the gravelly
voice of Wilhelmina Packard in the 2001 animated film "Atlantis: The Lost
Empire."

Born in Chicago, Stanley graduated from Northwestern University.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by two children and two
grandchildren.

9/30/03 Robert Kardashian - LOS ANGELES - Robert Kardashian, a lawyer who was an important figure in the
O.J. Simpson saga, has died. He was 59.

Kardashian died Tuesday night at his Encino home eight weeks after being
diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, said his ex-wife, Kris Jenner, who is
married to Olympic champion Bruce Jenner.

Simpson, a former football star the University of Southern California and in the
National Football League, camped out at Kardashian's house in the days after
Simpson's ex-wife and her friend were stabbed to death in 1994. The infamous
televised chase involving Simpson in a white Ford Bronco that transfixed the
country began after he fled Kardashian's home.

Kardashian was surrounded by his family, including his four children, when he
died, said Kris Jenner, the mother of his children.

"I will always remember him as the world's greatest father, whose first priority
in his life was his kids," she said Wednesday. "He will be lovingly missed by
his children and friends."

Kardashian married Ellen Pierson about six weeks ago, his former wife said.

Kardashian, a member of Simpson's defense team, said in a 1996 interview on
ABC's "20-20" that he questioned Simpson's innocence.

"I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes
me the greatest problems. So I _ I struggle with the blood evidence."

Kardashian, who knew Simpson for 25 years, also described him in the interview
as a spoiled athlete and confirmed earlier reports that Simpson badly failed a
lie detector test shortly after the slayings.

Simpson was acquitted in the slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and
her friend, Ronald Goldman, but was found liable for the killings in a later
civil trial and ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages.

Kardashian is survived by his wife and daughters, Kourtney, 24, Kimberly, 22,
Khloe, 19, and a son, Robert, 16.

9/29/03 - Elia Kazan - NEW YORK - Director Elia Kazan, whose triumphs included the original Broadway productions of ''Death of a Salesman'' and ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' and the Academy Award-winning film ''On the Waterfront,'' died Sunday. He was 94.

Kazan was at his home in Manhattan when he died, lawyer Floria Lasky said. She did not give a cause of death.

''A genius left us,'' said Lasky. ''He was one of the greats.''

Five of the plays he staged won Pulitzer Prizes for their authors: ''The Skin of Our Teeth,'' ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' ''Death of a Salesman,'' ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' and ''J.B.,'' for which Kazan himself won a Tony Award. Other stage credits included ''Camino Real,'' ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' and ''Tea and Sympathy.''

In Hollywood, he won Oscars for directing ''Gentleman's Agreement'' and ''On the Waterfront.'' He also did ''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,'' the film version of ''Streetcar,'' ''East of Eden,'' ''Splendor in the Grass,'' ''A Face in the Crowd'' and ''The Last Tycoon.''

He turned to writing in his 50s and produced six novels - including several best sellers - and an autobiography. The first two novels, ''America, America'' and ''The Arrangement,'' he also made into movies.

''Even when I was a boy I wanted to live three or four lives,'' he once said.

To some, Kazan diminished his stature when he went before the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the McCarthy era and named people he said had been members of the Communist Party with him in the mid-1930s.

But he insisted years later that he bore no guilt as a result of what some saw as a betrayal. ''There's a normal sadness about hurting people, but I'd rather hurt them a little than hurt myself a lot,'' he said.

In early 1999, leaders of the motion picture academy announced they would give Kazan a special Academy Award for his life's work. The decision reopened wounds and touched off a painful controversy.

On awards night, some in the audience withheld applause, though others gave him a warm reception. Director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro presented the award.

''I thank you very much. I really like to hear that and I want to thank the Academy for its courage, generosity,'' Kazan said.

He started out as a stage actor but his ambition was to direct, which he began doing in the mid-1930s. The breakthrough came when he staged Thornton Wilder's ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' in 1942 and won a New York Drama Critics Award.

He first teamed with Arthur Miller to direct ''All My Sons'' and went on to do ''Death of a Salesman,'' which one critic termed ''as exciting and devastating a theatrical blast as the nerves of modern playgoers can stand.''

His Broadway collaboration with Tennessee Williams began with ''Streetcar'' in 1947 and later included ''Camino Real,'' ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' and ''Sweet Bird of Youth.''

''He approaches a play more critically than anyone I know; you find yourself doing more revisions for him than for any other director,'' Williams once said.

Kazan, Lee Strasberg and other Group Theatre alumni founded the Actors Studio in 1948, which became a sort of spiritual home for theater people. Actors liked Kazan's approach to directing.

''Some directors regard actors as a necessary evil; others, as children to be handled,'' actress Mildred Dunnock once said, adding that Kazan treated actors ''like an equal. Once he casts you, he makes you confident.''

Kazan left Broadway and the Actors Studio in 1962 to co-direct, with Robert Whitehead, the Lincoln Center Repertory Company. He resigned after two disastrous seasons, saying he was ''not an administrator by taste.''

His friendship with Miller was never the same after his congressional testimony. Kazan talked with Miller before he testified, and Miller later wrote in his journal about a side of his friend that he had not seen before: ''He would have sacrificed me as well.''

Kazan told the committee that he had joined a unit of the Communist Party made up of members of the Group Theatre in the summer of 1934 and left 18 months later, disillusioned at ''being told what to think and say and do.''

Playwright Clifford Odets, actress Phoebe Brand and Paula Miller, Strasberg's actress-wife, were among the eight he identified as communists.

He defended his naming names on the ground that all were already known to the committee; others have said that at least half were not.

Some critics saw in as a subtext of ''On the Waterfront'' a justification for Kazan's decision to cooperate with congressional Red hunters. The movie's hero, portrayed by Marlon Brando, breaks the code of silence on the docks and courageously fingers a corrupt, murderous union boss in televised hearings.

In his 1988 autobiography, an 848-page tome titled ''Elia Kazan - A Life,'' Kazan wrote candidly of the many affairs he had over the years, including one with Marilyn Monroe.

''The affairs I've had were sources of knowledge; they were my education,'' he wrote. ''For many years, in this area and only in this area, I've used the lie, and I'm not proud of that. But I must add this: My 'womanizing' saved my life. It kept the juices pumping and saved me from drying up, turning to dust and blowing away.''

Kazan once said he turned to writing because ''I wanted to say exactly what I felt. I like to say what I feel about things directly and no matter whose play you direct or how sympathetic you are to the playwright, what you finally are trying to do is interpret his view of life. ... When I speak for myself I get a tremendous sense of liberation.''

Born Elia Kazanjoglous on Sept. 7, 1909, in what was then Constantinople, Turkey, he was the son of a Greek rug merchant. The family came to New York when Kazan was 4 and he grew up in a Greek neighborhood in Harlem and later suburban New Rochelle.

He went to Williams College, where he picked up the nickname Gadget - ''I guess because I was small, compact and eccentric,'' he once said. Shortened to Gadge, it was a name that stuck - and one that he came to loathe.

During his senior year he saw Sergei Eisenstein's film ''Potemkin'' and focused on the performing arts. After graduating with high honors, he attended the Yale University Drama School, then joined the Group Theatre in New York in 1933.

Kazan, a short, stocky intense man, preferred casual dress and was direct in social dealings.

''Gadge is the kind of man who sends a suit out to be cleaned and rumpled,'' actress Vivien Leigh once remarked. ''He doesn't believe in social amenities and, if he is bored by any individual or group, he simply departs without apology or explanation.''

Kazan married three times. With first wife Molly Day Thatcher he had four children, Judy, Chris, Nick and Katharine. After her death he married Barbara Loden and they had two sons, Leo and Marco. She died of cancer in 1967; in 1982 he married Frances Rudge.

9/27/03 - Donald O'Connor - LOS ANGELES - Entertainer Donald O'Connor, who combined comedy and acrobatics in the show-stopping "Make 'Em Laugh" number in the classic movie "Singin' in the Rain," died Saturday, his daughter said. He was 78.

O'Connor, who had been in declining health in recent years, died of heart failure at a retirement home in Calabasas, his daughter, Alicia O'Connor, told The Associated Press.

In a brief statement, the family said that among O'Connor's last words was the following quip: "I'd like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get."

O'Connor won an Emmy, but never an Oscar. He was best known for films he made in the 1950s - a series of highly successful "Francis the Talking Mule" comedies and movie musicals that put his song and dance talents to good use.

"He was such a fine man and was one of the great ones," actor Tony Curtis said Saturday.

Songs in movie musicals are often touching or exciting, but O'Connor performed a rare feat with a number that were laugh-out-loud funny.

The best, 1952's "Singin' in the Rain," also starred Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds and took a satirical look at Hollywood during the transition from silent to sound pictures.

As he sings "Make 'Em Laugh," O'Connor dances with a prop dummy and performs all manner of amusing acrobatics.

"Someone handed me a dummy that was on the stage," he recalled in a 1995 Associated Press interview. "That was the only prop I used. I did a pratfall and we wrote that down. Every time I did something that got a laugh, we wrote it down to keep in the number."

The American Film Institute's list of the top 100 American movies ever made ranked "Singin' in the Rain" at No. 10.

"He was incredible, a consummate performer. Always entertaining, always talking, always laughing," said Tim Fowlar his musical director for 30 years. "He loved to perform and that's pretty much all he knew."

Among O'Connor's other '50s musicals were "Call Me Madam," "Anything Goes" and "There's No Business Like Show Business."

He said it was a fluke that he landed in so many musicals, noting he started out as a "straight" actor. He also said his song-and-dance image came with a downside.

"Back then, when you were typecast that way, it was very difficult to get dramatic parts," he recalled. "Look at Fred Astaire, who was a darn good actor."

The "Francis" comedies, which featured a bumbling O'Connor and a talking mule, began in 1949. A few years later, the man who directed them created the "Mr. Ed" TV series.

O'Connor quit the "Francis" series in 1955, saying, "When you've made six pictures and the mule still gets more fan mail than you do .."

O'Connor also had some success in television. He won an Emmy for "The Colgate Comedy Hour" in 1954 and appeared in "The Donald O'Connor Texaco Show" from 1954 to 1955.

Born in Chicago to circus performers who went into vaudeville, O'Connor joined his family's act when he was an infant. He made his film debut at age 11 in a dancing scene with two of his brothers in "Melody for Two."

As a contract actor for Paramount, he played adolescent roles in several films, including Huckleberry Finn in "Tom Sawyer - Detective" (1938). He was Bing Crosby's kid brother in "Sing You Sinners" (1938), which he later ranked among his favorite roles.

When he grew too big for child roles, he briefly returned to vaudeville, but was soon back in Hollywood playing high-energy juvenile leads opposite such actresses as Gloria Jean and Susanna Foster.

In recent years, he continued working when he found a project he liked, such as appearing in an episode of "Tales From the Crypt."

But he said he had little desire to leave home for long stretches. He and his wife had moved to Arizona after their California home was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

"Revivals are so popular now. But doing one would mean being out in cold, cold New York for a year, a year and a half," he said. "I'd rather do something where I go in and work a week, maybe three days. Get it done and come back home."

9/26/03 - Robert Palmer - LONDON (AP) - Rock singer Robert Palmer, known for his sharp suits and hits including "Addicted to Love," died Friday in Paris of a heart attack, his manager said. He was 54.

Palmer was on a two-day break in Paris following a television recording session in Britain, his manager Mick Carter said from the French capital.

In the 1980s, Palmer became a superstar with singles which also included "Simply Irresistible" - accompanied by slick videos featuring the smartly dressed Palmer with a back-up band of attractive women, all in black outfits and glossy makeup.

A side project, Power Station, formed in 1985 with John Taylor and Andy Taylor of '80s supergroup Duran Duran, scored three U.S. Top 10 hits, including "Communication" and "Get it On."

The son of a British naval officer, Palmer was a member of several British rock bands before he hit the big time as a solo artist.He had lived in Switzerland for the past 16 years.

Known for his GQ sense of style, Palmer was named best dressed male artist by Rolling Stone in 1990.

The "Addicted to Love" video, with its miniskirted models strumming guitars as Palmer sang, became one of MTV's most-played clips, and sparked protests from some feminists.

"I'm not going to attach inappropriate significance to it because at the time it meant nothing. It's just happened to become an iconic look," Palmer once said of the video.

He had his first hit album and single, "Sneakin' Sally through the Alley," in 1974.

In his 20s, Palmer worked with a number of small-time bands including Dada, Vinegar Joe, and the Alan Bown Band, occasionally appearing in opening acts for big draw including The Who and Jimi Hendrix.

Palmer once confessed that he was not attracted to the excesses of rock 'n' roll stardom.

"I loved the music, but the excesses of rock 'n' roll never really appealed to me at all," he said. "I couldn't see the point of getting up in front of a lot of people when you weren't in control of your wits."

He was noted for dressing up and being somewhat restrained.

"I don't want to be heavy," he said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

"I can't think of another attitude to have toward an audience than a hopeful and a positive one. And if that includes such unfashionable things as sentimentality, well, I can afford it."

9/25/03 - George Plimpton - George Plimpton, the self-deprecating author of "Paper Lion" and a patron to Philip Roth, Jack Kerouac and countless other writers, has died. He was 76.

Plimpton died Thursday night at his Manhattan apartment, his longtime friend, restauranteur Elaine Kaufman, said Friday.

"I saw him the other day. He was full of energy," said Kaufman, who said she had known Plimpton for 40 years. "He was talking about a trip he took with his family to the tip of South America."

Praised as a "central figure in American letters" when inducted in 2002 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Plimpton also enjoyed a lifetime of making literature out of nonliterary pursuits.He boxed with Archie Moore, pitched to Willie Mays and performed as a trapeze artist for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus. He acted in numerous films, including "Reds" and "Good Will Hunting." He even appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons," playing a professor who runs a spelling bee.

But writers appreciated Plimpton for The Paris Review, the quarterly he helped found nearly in 1953 and ran for decades with eager passion. The magazine's high reputation rested on two traditions: publishing the work of emerging authors, including Roth and Kerouac, and an unparalleled series of interviews in which Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and others discussed their craft.

The Paris Review remained more respected than read. The subscription base was rarely higher than a few thousand and the bank account seemed to descend at will. At one point in 2001, Plimpton reported, funds dropped to $1.16. Donations from various wealthy friends kept it going.

Plimpton proved all too effective at praising others at the expense of himself. Until 2002, when he turned 75, his highest honor was being named New York City fireworks commissioner, a position that didn't officially exist. But within a month of the academy induction, the French made him a Chevalier, the Legion of Honor's highest rank. The Guild, an arts organization based on Long Island, gave him a lifetime achievement award.

In 2003, Plimpton decided to write his memoirs, signing a $750,000 deal with Little, Brown and Co.

A native of New York, Plimpton held the parallel identities of insider and outsider. He was born into society - diplomat's son - and spoke in an upper-class accent worthy of a Harvard man.

But the public knew him better as an amiable underdog, stumbling amid the feet of the giants of sports and other professions. Much of his career served as a send-up of Hemingway's famous credo: "Grace Under Pressure."

Starting in the 1950s, when he began his vocation as a "participatory" journalist, he practiced the singular art of narrating panic. In a culture where millions fantasized about being movie stars or sports heroes, the lanky, wavy-haired Plimpton dared to enter the arena himself, with results both comic and instructive.

In "Paper Lion," he documented his time training with the Detroit Lions in 1963. Allowed briefly to play quarterback, he remembered the crowd cheering as he left the field after a series of mishaps.

"I thought about the applause afterward. Some of it was, perhaps, in appreciation of the lunacy of my participation and for the fortitude it took to do it," he wrote, "but most of it, even if subconscious, I decided was in relief that I had done as badly as I had.

"It verified the assumption that the average fan would have about an amateur blundering into the brutal world of professional football. He would get slaughtered. ... The outsider did not belong, and there was comfort in that being proved."

His other books included "Bogey Man," "Out of My League" and "Shadow Box." Plimpton could also take credit for at least one memorable fictional character: Sidd Finch, a baseball pitcher of unprecedented gifts (168 mph fastball) and unlikely background (reared in the mountains of Tibet) portrayed so vividly by Plimpton in a 1985 Sports Illustrated article that many believed he existed.

He seemed to know everyone: athletes, actors, musicians, statesmen. He had deep connections to the political world, dating back to childhood, when Adlai Stevenson - the two-time presidential nominee - was a family friend and Jacqueline Kennedy a debutante he would see at dances. Robert Kennedy was a classmate at Harvard.

Plimpton maintained a light touch in his work, but he knew tragedy firsthand. He served as a volunteer for Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential run and was walking in front of him as the candidate was assassinated in the kitchen of a Los Angeles hotel.

"I had my hands around his neck," he recalled in a 2002 interview with The Associated Press, referring to gunman Sirhan Sirhan, whom he helped wrestle to the ground. Plimpton turned his head away as he spoke, his clear voice turned foggy.

"Bad stuff."

He sailed with John Kennedy, played tennis with former President Bush and rode on Air Force One with President Clinton. He witnessed a baffling encounter between Richard Nixon and Casey Stengel, when the president wanted to talk baseball and the former baseball manager wanted to discuss banking.

Sports was the common bond between Plimpton and politicians. He knew the current President Bush from his days as owner of the Texas Rangers and chatted with him shortly after Election Day 2000, when the outcome was still in doubt.

"He wanted to talk about Sidd Finch," Plimpton recalled. "I thought that was rather odd."

Plimpton was married twice: to Freddy Medora Espy, whom he divorced in 1988, and to Sara Whitehead Dudley. He had four children.

9/22/03 - Gordon Jump - LOS ANGELES - Gordon Jump, who played a befuddled radio station manager on the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" and made his mark in commercials as the lonely Maytag repairman, died Monday. He was 71.

Jump suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, said his cousin, Katherine Jump Wagner. The illness causes scarring of the air sacs of the lungs, leading to heart or respiratory failure.

Wagner, of Arcanum, Ohio, said she learned of her cousin's death from her father, also named Gordon Jump. Her cousin was under hospice care at his home southeast of Los Angeles, she said.

Jump played Arthur Carlson in "WKRP in Cincinnati," which aired on CBS from 1978-82 and featured Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman and Richard Sanders as the ragtag station's crew.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Jump began his career working at radio and TV stations in the Midwest. He worked behind the microphone and the camera, including jobs as a producer for Kansas and Ohio stations.

Jump portrayed the Maytag repairman "Ol' Lonely," a well-recognized advertising symbol, from 1989 until he retired from the role in July and another actor took over.

"Gordon was an incredibly talented actor and a remarkable human being," said Ralph Hake, chairman and chief executive officer of Maytag Corp.

Jump came to appreciate the attention he got for the ad campaign and the steady work it provided, Wagner said. But his heart was elsewhere professionally.

"What he loved more than anything was doing theater. He was a marvelous actor," she said, recalling a visit to Florida to watch him perform in "Norman, Is That You?"

Jump began his Hollywood career after moving to Los Angeles in 1963, appearing on series including "Daniel Boone," "Get Smart" and "The Partridge Family."

His dramatic roles included a part in the TV movie "Ruby and Oswald," about the assassination of President Kennedy, and "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes."

Jump is survived by his wife, four daughters and a son, Maytag said in a statement. He also had a brother, Wagner said.

Note from the Underground - Gordon Jump was laid to rest at El Toro Memorial Park, El Toro, CA. Thanks to Underground member Kim Eazell for GravesRUs.com for the info.

9/12/03 - Johnny Cash - NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 12) - Johnny Cash, ''The Man in Black'' who became a towering figure in American music with such hits as ''Folsom Prison Blues,'' ''I Walk the Line,'' and ''A Boy Named Sue,'' died Friday. He was 71.

''Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure,'' Cash's manager, Lou Robin, said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville.

He said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT.

''I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult time,'' Robin said.

Cash had been released from the hospital Wednesday after a two-week stay for treatment of an unspecified stomach ailment. The illness caused him to miss last month's MTV Music awards, where he had been nominated in seven categories.

Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.

Dozens of hit records like ''Folsom Prison Blues,'' ''I Walk the Line,'' and ''Sunday Morning Coming Down'' defined Cash's persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the working man and downtrodden.

Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice, which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to record the songs of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson.

''One Piece at a Time'' was about an assembly line worker who built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. ''A Boy Named Sue'' was a comical story of a father who gives his son a girl's name to make him tough. ''The Ballad of Ira Hayes'' told of the drunken death of an American Indian soldier who helped raise the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II, but returned to harsh racism in America.

Cash said in his 1997 autobiography ''Cash'' that he tried to speak for ''voices that were ignored or even suppressed in the entertainment media, not to mention the political and educational establishments.''

Cash's career spanned generations, with each finding something of value in his simple records, many of which used his trademark rockabilly rhythm.

Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like ''Cry! Cry! Cry!'' during that era. He had a longtime friendship and recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major influence.

He won 11 Grammys - most recently in 2003, when ''Give My Love To Rose'' earned him honors as best male country vocal performance - and numerous Country Music Association awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne Cash also were successful singers. June Carter Cash, who co-wrote Cash's hit ''Ring of Fire'' and partnered with her husband in hits such as ''Jackson,'' died in May.

The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years, and he was host of his own ABC variety show from 1969-71. In later years, he was part of the Highwayman supergroup with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson.

In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life recording with rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American Recordings. And he was back on the charts with the 2002 album ''American IV: The Man Comes Around.''

Most recently, Cash was recognized for his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song ''Hurt'' with seven nominations at last month's MTV Video Music Awards. He had hoped to attend the event but couldn't because of his hospital stay. The video won for best cinematography.

He also wrote books including two autobiographies, and acted in films and television shows.

In his 1971 hit ''Man in Black,'' Cash said his black clothing symbolized the downtrodden people in the world. Cash had been ''The Man in Black'' since he joined the Grand Ole Opry at age 25.

''Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle clothes and cowboy boots,'' he said in 1986. ''I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since.''

John R. Cash was born Feb. 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Ark., one of seven children. When he was 12, his 14-year-old brother and hero, Jack, died after an accident while sawing oak trees into fence posts. The tragedy had a lasting impact on Cash, and he later pointed to it as a possible reason his music was frequently melancholy.

He worked as a custodian and enlisted in the Air Force, learning guitar while stationed in Germany, before launching his music career after his 1954 discharge.

''All through the Air Force, I was so lonely for those three years,'' Cash told The Associated Press during a 1996 interview. ''If I couldn't have sung all those old country songs, I don't think I could have made it.''

Cash launched his career in Memphis, performing on radio station KWEM. He auditioned with Sun Records, ultimately recording the single ''Hey Porter,'' which became a hit.

Sun Records also launched the careers of Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.

''Folsom Prison Blues,'' went to No. 4 on the country charts in 1956, and featured Cash's most famous couplet: ''I shot a man in Reno/ just to watch him die.''

Cash recorded theme albums celebrating the railroads and the Old West, and decrying the mistreatment of American Indians. Two of his most popular albums were recorded live at prisons. Along the way he notched 14 No. 1 country music hits.

Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and his rowdy lifestyle early in his career, many people wrongly thought he had served prison time. He never did, though he battled addictions to pills on and off throughout his life.

He blamed fame for his vulnerability to drug addiction.

''When I was a kid, I always knew I'd sing on the radio someday. I never thought about fame until it started happening to me,'' he said in 1988. ''Then it was hard to handle. That's why I turned to pills.''

He credited June Carter Cash, whom he married in 1968, with helping him stay off drugs, though he had several relapses over the years and was treated at the Betty Ford Center in California in 1984.

June Carter Cash was the daughter of country music great Mother Maybelle Carter, and the mother of singer Carlene Carter, whose father was country singer Carl Smith. Together, June Carter and Cash had one child, John Carter Cash. He is a musician and producer.

Singer Rosanne Cash is Johnny Cash's daughter from his first marriage, to Vivian Liberto. Their other three children were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara. They divorced in 1966.

In March 1998, Cash made headlines when his California-based record company, American Recordings, took out an advertisement in the music trade magazine Billboard. The full-page ad celebrated Cash's 1998 Grammy award for best country album for ''Unchained.'' The ad showed an enraged-looking Cash in his younger years making an obscene gesture to sarcastically illustrate his thanks to country radio stations and ''the country music establishment in Nashville,'' which he felt had unfairly cast him aside.

Jennings, a close friend, once said of Cash: ''He's been like a brother to me. He's one of the greatest people in the world.''

Cash once credited his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, with encouraging him to pursue a singing career.

''My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand on you. You'll be singing for the world someday.''

Cash lived in Hendersonville, Tenn., just outside of Nashville. He also had a home in Jamaica.

9/11/03 - John Ritter - LOS ANGELES (Sept. 12) - John Ritter, whose portrayal of the bumbling but lovable Jack Tripper helped make the madcap comedy series ``Three's Company'' a smash hit in the 1970s, died of a heart problem after falling ill on the set of his new television sit-com. He was 54.

Ritter became ill Thursday while working on ABC's ``8 Simple Rules ... For Dating My Teenage Daughter,'' the hit show that became the actor's big television comeback, said Susan Wilcox, his assistant of 22 years.

The cause of his death was a tear in the aorta, the result of an unrecognized flaw in his heart, said his publicist, Lisa Kasteler. He died at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday.

Ritter, a Southern California native who would have turned 55 on Wednesday, came to prominence for his role in ``Three's Company'' and had appeared in more than 25 television movies, a number of films and on Broadway.

He made his successful return to sitcom acting last year with ``8 Simple Rules'' last year. The show was scheduled to begin its second season Sept. 23.

At the Burbank hospital where he died, Ritter was accompanied by producers and co-workers, his wife, Amy Yasbeck, and 23-year-old son Jason, Wilcox said. He is survived by three other children.

``It's just stunning, unbelievable,'' said Wilcox. ``Everybody loved John Ritter. Everybody loved working with him. ... Whatever set he was working on, he made it a very fun place.''

ABC released a statement saying: ``All of us at ABC, Touchstone Television and The Walt Disney Company are shocked and heartbroken at the terrible news of John's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children at this very difficult time.''

Ritter was the youngest son of Western film star and country musician Tex Ritter and actress Dorothy Fay. He graduated from Hollywood High School and earned a degree in drama from the University of Southern California.

``I was the class clown, but I was also student body president in high school,'' he told The Associated Press in a 1992 interview. ``I had my serious side - I idolized Bobby Kennedy, he was my role model. But so was Jerry Lewis.''

Ritter's first steady job was his role as a minister in television's ``The Waltons'' in the early 1970s.

With ``Three's Company,'' starting in 1977, his career took off. His other performances included 1996's Oscar-winning movie ``Sling Blade'' and a Broadway run in Neil Simon's ``The Dinner Party.'' He received an Emmy and other awards for his ``Three's Company'' role and was honored by the Los Angeles Music Center in June with a lifetime achievement award.

``Three's Company,'' about a bachelor sharing an apartment with two attractive women, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt, was considered racy during its run from 1977 to 1984. And Ritter worried about falling into a typecasting trap after the show ended.

``I would get scripts about 'a young swinging bachelor on the make,' and I said 'No, I've done that,''' he told the AP in the 1992 interview. ``Or they'd say, 'You're living alone and .

``What I was looking for in my time off was something a little bit different, a little serious, or funny in a different way.''

Ritter described his time on the show as ``an education'' in quick-study acting.

``When the curtain went up, no matter how long you've studied or haven't studied at all, you had to answer to the audience. We didn't do retakes. If there was a (microphone) boom in the shot, so be it,'' he said.

Ritter later starred in the television series ``Hooperman'' and the early 1990s political comedy ``Hearts Afire.'' He received two Emmy nominations for his PBS role as the voice of ``Clifford the Big Red Dog'' on the animated series.

His TV movie appearances included ``Unnatural Causes,'' Stephen King's ``It'' and ``Chance of a Lifetime.''

Ritter won popularity among independent film directors in recent years and appeared in films including ``Sling Blade,'' ``Tadpole'' in 2002, and the new feature ``Manhood.'' He appears alongside Billy Bob Thornton in the scheduled November release from Miramax ``Bad Santa.''

Ritter was married from 1977 to 1996 to Nancy Morgan, the mother of his three oldest children, Jason, Carly and Tyler. He married actress Yasbeck in 1999, the mother of Stella.

9/9/03 - Larry Hovis - SAN MARCOS, Texas -- Veteran actor, comedian, writer and teacher Larry Hovis died Tuesday following a battle with cancer. He was 67.

Hovis was perhaps best known for his role as "Sgt. Carter" in the long-running
and now syndicated television series "Hogan's Heroes." He also had a regular
role on "Gomer Pyle USMC" and was a co-creator and performer on "The Rowan and
Martin Laugh-In," one of the cutting-edge television shows of its day.

At the time of his death, Hovis was a lecturer in the Department of Theatre and
Dance at Texas State University-San Marcos. He had been employed at the
university since 1990 and taught acting and characterization.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in the main theater of the
Theatre Center at Texas State University-San Marcos.

9/7/03 - Warren Zevon - LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 — Singer-songwriter Warren Zevon is dead after a battle with cancer. He was 56.

His manager says Zevon died yesterday at his Los Angeles-area home. Zevon was known for songs like “Werewolves of London” and “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”
Zevon announced in September 2002 that he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and had been given only a few months to live.

After being diagnosed, he spent much of his time visiting with his two grown children and working on a final album, “The Wind” — which was released to critical acclaim just last month.

Note from the Underground: Warren Zevon's ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to Underground Member Lisa Burks for the information.

9/3/03 - Rand Brooks - SANTA YNEZ, Calif., Sept. 2 — The actor Rand
Brooks, who played Scarlett O'Hara's shy first husband, Charles, in
"Gone With the Wind," died on Monday at his home here. He was 84.

Mr. Brooks endeared himself to western-movie fans of the 1940's and 50's
as Lucky Jenkins, the sidekick to the hero in the Hopalong Cassidy
movies and as Cpl. Randy Boone, one of the officers who take in an
orphaned boy and his dog in the television series "Rin Tin Tin."

But it was as Charles Hamilton, Melanie Wilkes's doomed brother in "Gone
With the Wind," that he achieved screen immortality.

Mr. Brooks once said he despised his part as Scarlett's mild-mannered,
nerdy first husband. She marries Hamilton for spite, and he then goes
off to war, dying not on the battlefield but of disease — as so many
Civil War soldiers did, but movie heroes never did.

"It was an asinine part," he said. "I wanted to be more macho."

Still the role was exactly as written in Margaret Mitchell's novel. In
the proposal scene, Mitchell wrote: "He looked down at her radiantly,
his whole clean simple heart in his eyes. . . . In her queer detachment
she only thought that he looked like a calf."

After the film's release, he had relatively small parts in other movies,
then a regular role as Lucky in the Hopalong Cassidy series of westerns
in the mid- to late 1940's. Among the films, which starred William Boyd
as Hopalong, were "Hoppy's Holiday," "The Dead Don't Dream" and
"Borrowed Trouble." One of his most memorable moments on the big screen
came in 1948 when he was in "Ladies of the Chorus" opposite a young
actress named Marilyn Monroe. Mr. Brooks used to boast that he was the
first actor to give Monroe an on-screen kiss.

Television brought new opportunities, again often in westerns. Besides
being a regular on "Rin Tin Tin," Mr. Brooks had guest roles in 50's
western series including "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok," "The Lone
Ranger" and "Maverick," and in other series like "Perry Mason."

After he left show business, he ran an ambulance service that became the
largest private ambulance provider in Los Angeles County. He sold the
company in 1994 and retired to the Santa Ynez Valley where he bred
champion Andalusian horses.

While he did not much like the Hamilton part, Mr. Brooks did not shun
the 1989 50th anniversary "Gone With the Wind" cast reunion in Atlanta.
He tearfully read a letter that Olivia de Havilland had sent to the
gathering from her home in Paris. Ms. De Havilland had played Melanie
Hamilton Wilkes, the sister of Mr. Brooks's character. In the letter Ms.
de Havilland sent Mr. Brooks "my fond eternal greetings to the sole
representative of the Hamilton clan."

At one time, Mr. Brooks was married to the comedian Stan Laurel's
daughter, Lois. He is survived by his wife, Hermaine; two children; five
grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

8/30/03 - Charles Bronson - LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 — Charles Bronson, the Pennsylvania coal miner who drifted into films as a villain and became a hard-faced action star, notably in the popular “Death Wish” vengeance movies, has died. He was 81.

Bronson died Saturday of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wife at his bedside, publicist Lori Jonas said. He had been in the hospital for weeks, Jonas said.

During the height of his career, Bronson was hugely popular in Europe; the French knew him as “le sacre monstre” (the sacred monster), the Italians as “Il Brutto” (the ugly man). In 1971, he was presented a Golden Globe as “the most popular actor in the world.”

Like Clint Eastwood, whose spaghetti westerns won him stardom, Bronson had to make European films to prove his worth as a star. He left a featured-role career in Hollywood to play leads in films made in France, Italy and Spain. His blunt manner, powerful build and air of danger made him the most popular actor in those countries.
At age 50, he returned to Hollywood a star.

In a 1971 interview, he theorized on why the journey had taken him so long:
“Maybe I’m too masculine. Casting directors cast in their own, or an idealized image. Maybe I don’t look like anybody’s ideal.”

His early life gave no indication of his later fame. He was born Charles Bunchinsky on Nov. 3, 1921 — not 1922, as studio biographies claimed — in Ehrenfeld, Pa. He was the 11th of 15 children of a coal miner and his wife, both Lithuanian immigrants.

Young Charles learned the art of survival in the tough district of Scooptown, “where you had nothing to lose because you lost it already.” The Bunchinskys lived crowded in a shack, the children wearing hand-me-downs from older siblings. At the age of 6, Charles was embarrassed to attend school in his sister’s dress.

Charles’ father died when he was 10, and at 16 Charles followed his brothers into the mines. He was paid $1 per ton of coal and volunteered for perilous jobs because the pay was better. Like other toughs in Scooptown, he raised some hell and landed in jail for assault and robbery.

He might have stayed in the mines for the rest of his life except for World War II.
Drafted in 1943, he served with the Air Force in the Pacific, reportedly as a tail gunner on a B29. Having seen the outside world, he vowed not to return to the squalor of Scooptown.

He was attracted to acting not, he claimed, because of any artistic urge; he was impressed by the money movie stars could earn. He joined the Philadelphia Play and Players Troupe, painting scenery and acting a few minor roles.

At the Pasadena Playhouse school, Bronson improved his diction, supporting himself by selling Christmas cards and toys on street corners. Studio scouts saw him at the Playhouse and he was cast as a gob in the 1951 service comedy “You’re in the Navy Now” starring Gary Cooper.

As Charles Buchinsky or Buchinski, he played supporting roles in “Red Skies of Montana,” “The Marrying Kind,” “Pat and Mike” (in which he fell victim to Katharine Hepburn’s judo), “The House of Wax,” “Jubal” and other films. In 1954 he changed his last name, fearing reaction in the McCarthy era to Russian-sounding names.
Bronson’s first starring role came in 1958 with an eight-day exploitation film, “Machine Gun Kelly.” He also appeared in two brief TV series, “Man with a Camera” (1958) and “The Travels of Jamie McPheeters” (1963).

His status grew with impressive performances in “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape,” “The Battle of the Bulge,” “The Sandpiper” and “The Dirty Dozen.” But real stardom eluded him, his rough-hewn face and brusque manner not fitting the Hollywood tradition for leading men.

Alain Delon, like many French, had admired “Machine Gun Kelly,” and he invited Bronson to co-star with him in a British-French film, “Adieu, L’Ami” (“Farewell, Friend”). It made Bronson a European favorite.

Among his films abroad was a hit spaghetti western, “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Finally Hollywood took notice.

Among his starring films: “The Valachi Papers,” “Chato’s Land,” “The Mechanic,” “Valdez,” “The Stone Killer,” “Mr. Majestyk,” “Breakout,” “Hard Times,” “Breakout Pass,” “White Buffalo,” “Telefon,” “Love and Bullets,” “Death Hunt,” “Assassination,” “Messenger of Death.”

The titles indicate the nature of the films: lots of action, shooting, dead bodies. They were made on medium-size budgets, but Bronson was earning $1 million a picture before it was fashionable.

His most controversial film came in 1974 with “Death Wish.” As an affluent, liberal architect, Bronson’s life is shattered when young thugs kill his wife and rape his daughter. He vows to rid the city of such vermin, and his executions brought cheers from crime-weary audiences.

The character’s vigilantism brought widespread criticism, but “Death Wish” became one of the big moneymakers of the year. The controversy accelerated when Bernard Goetz shot youths he thought were threatening him in a New York subway.
Bronson made three more “Death Wish” films, and in 1987 he defended them:
“I think they provide satisfaction for people who are victimized by crime and look in vain for authorities to protect them. But I don’t think people try to imitate that kind of thing.”

Bronson could be as taciturn in interviews as he appeared on the screen. He remained aloof from the Hollywood scene, once observing, “I have lots of friends and yet I don’t have any.”

His first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children before divorcing.
In 1966 Bronson fell in love with the lovely blonde British actress Jill Ireland, who happened to be married to British actor David McCallum. Bronson reportedly told McCallum bluntly: “I’m going to marry your wife.”

The McCallums were divorced in 1967, and Bronson and Ireland married the following year. She co-starred in several of his films.

The Bronsons lived in a grand Bel Air mansion with seven children: two by his previous marriage, three by hers and two of their own. They also spent time in a colonial farmhouse on 260 acres in West Windsor, Vt.

Ireland lost a breast to cancer in 1984. She became a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society and wrote a bestselling book, “Life Wish.” She followed with “Life Lines,” in which she told of her struggle to rescue her 27-year-old son, Jason McCallum Bronson, from drug addiction. He died of an overdose in 1989, and she died of cancer a year later.

Bronson is survived by his wife, Kim, six children and two grandchildren. Funeral services will be private

8/9/03 - Gregory Hines