YBTL 2005 Deaths To Date
(Update
12/28/05)
Legendary cartoonist
Will Eisner who created the Spirit, a hero without superpowers, has died at the
age of 87 on Monday 01/3/05 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. where he lived. Will Eisner, an innovative comic-book
artist who created the Spirit, a hero without superpowers, and the first modern
graphic novel, "A Contract With God," died on Monday in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., where he lived. He was 87. His death came after quadruple bypass surgery, said Denis
Kitchen, his friend and publisher.
Eisner's work was notable
for its gritty, expressionist storytelling. The Spirit was a masked detective
who, like Batman, lacked superpowers. What made the Spirit strip stand out was
its verbal austerity and the film noir-like composition of its images, full of
rain and urban shadows. In fact, Eisner was the first to break out of the grid
format, expanding or contracting the panel according to the mood of a scene, or
breaking free of panels altogether to allow the image to spill across an entire
page.
Comics fans call the Spirit "The Citizen Kane" of comics for
its innovation, its seriousness and its influence. It featured a detective,
Denny Colt, who was killed off on the third page. Or so it seemed. It turned out that Colt wasn't exactly
dead. He was reborn as a man in a blue suit, a blue mask and blue gloves: the
Spirit. As Bob Andelman, the author of the forthcoming biography "Will
Eisner: A Spirited Life," describes the comic hero, he was "the
cemetery-dwelling protector of the public and pretty girls in particular."
After the Spirit solved his final case, Eisner wrote and illustrated
training manuals for the U.S. Army for a quarter century. In 1978, he returned
to commercial comics with the publication of A Contract With God, the story of
an immigrant Jew in 1930s New York. He coined the term "graphic
novel" to describe the book-length tale told in sequential pictures. He wrote dozens of books with themes
serious and frivolous. One of the comic industry's highest honors, the Eisner
Award, is named for him.
William Erwin Eisner was born March 6, 1917, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Jewish
immigrants. He knew intimately tenement life that would act as backdrops for
his art.
Ol’ Dying Bastards picks up the 20 point solo hit and 4 points
for The Harry Helmsley Award for the First Stiff of the Year for a grand total
of 24 points.
Louis
J. Robichaud, the man credited with transforming New Brunswick into a modern,
bilingual province, died Thursday 01/6/05 at the age of 79. Robichaud swept
into power at age 34, leading the Liberal Party to victory in 1960. The first
Acadian elected premier in the province, he served for 10 years. Known as
"Little Louis" because of his short height, Robichaud united the
numerous education, taxation, health-care and social welfare systems in the
province under the Program for Equal Opportunity.
His
government also revised liquor laws, created collective bargaining rights for
the civil service, established a department of youth, appointed a provincial
ombudsman, adopted a non-premium medicare system, and revitalized the
province's natural resources sector, particularly mines and forests. He also
created the Université de Moncton, and passed the Official Languages Act,
making New Brunswick the only officially bilingual province in the country.
Robichaud
said he never understood the opposition to his policies, including a campaign
by the richest man in the province, industrialist K. C. Irving.
Doctors
discovered Robichaud's cancer weeks ago, but it was already out of control,
said his former deputy minister Robert Pichette.
He
is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, three children: Paul, Rene and Monique,
along with several grandchildren.
Forrest
Tucker's Ghost, Mafia Actuary and Putnam's Tomahawk Chop score 16
points each.
Rock & roll manager and writer Danny
Sugerman, best known as the manager of the Doors and the co-author of the best-selling
Jim Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, passed away Wednesday night
01/5/05 at the age of 50 after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. Sugerman
parlayed an early love affair with the Doors' music -- detailed in his colorful
and humorous tales of rock & roll excess, Wonderland Avenue -- into a job
answering the band's fan mail at age thirteen. From that point on, he developed
a close friendship with Morrison and the rest of the quartet.
"He was a fine, good and decent man," Doors
keyboardist Ray Manzarek told Rolling Stone. "Smart as a whip with a very
high I.Q. He was my great friend. I've known him since he was fourteen years
old, and he gradually developed into one of the new breed of Jewish American
Buddhists. His heart was in the heavens and he is now in the light with the
Buddha and Jim Morrison."
Sugerman also went on to manage Iggy Pop, but he
maintained his connection with the Doors, serving as a consultant on Oliver
Stone's 1990 biopic The Doors.
Sugerman is survived by his wife Fawn (formerly Fawn
Hall), his brother Joseph and his sister Nan. A recovering addict, Sugerman was
active in such organizations as the Drug Policy Foundation, Musicians
Assistance Program and NARAS' MusiCares Foundation.
Forrest Tucker's Ghost, Black Plague, E-Brake and La Morte la Diventa all pick up 14 points plus 8 bonus points (4 for under 65, 4 for under 55) for a nifty total of 22 points each.
Named
lieutenant-governor in February, 2000, Hole was well known for her
philanthropy, and her support for literacy. A gardening enthusiast, Hole, along
with her husband, ran one of Western Canada's largest retail gardening stores.
The author of many gardening books, Hole was a regular contributor to a number
of newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun.
She also made a number of appearances on CBC TV's Canadian Gardener. She was
famous for the hugs she offered to almost everyone she met.
Last
October an addition at the Royal Alexandra Hospital was named the Lois Hole
Hospital for Women.
Mafia
Actuary and Monty Python's Dying Circus pick up 18 points each.
Ruth Warrick, one of
ALL MY CHILDREN's original cast members as the portrayer of Phoebe English
Tyler Wallingford, died 01/15/05 in her New York City home of complications
from pneumonia. She was 88.
Born in St. Joseph, MO, Warrick got her start in professional acting at NYC's
Mercury Theater, headed by actor and director Orson Welles, with whom she later
would make her film debut, in Citizen Kane. Thirty-plus film roles would
follow. Warrick first graced television in 1953 on GUIDING LIGHT, then on AS
THE WORLD TURNS and PEYTON PLACE (for which she received her first Emmy
nomination). In 1970, she joined AMC for its premiere, went on to earn a pair
of Daytime Emmy nods for her portrayal of Phoebe, and was honored last May with
a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. Her Broadway career included runs in Irene
(opposite Debbie Reynolds), Take Me Along (with Jackie Gleason) and Pal
Joey.
"Acting was Ruth's passion and her life," shares TV niece Julia Barr
(Brooke). "She was a real pip — a grand dame and a consummate
professional. I will miss her very much."
Charlie Bell, who
began his McDonald's Corp. career as a part-time worker in a suburban Sydney
restaurant and later became chief executive of the fast-food icon, died Monday
01/17/05 of colon cancer in his native Australia, McDonald's announced. He was
44.
Bell was diagnosed with cancer last May, only a month after ascending to the top job. He left the fast food giant in November, after several rounds of treatment. Bell started at a Sydney-area restaurant in 1975 and became the youngest store manager in Australia by the age of 19. From 1993 until late 1999 Bell was managing director of McDonald's Australia. He then served as president of McDonald's Europe until December 2002, when he was named president and chief operating officer and a board member of McDonald's.
"Charlie
Bell gave his all to McDonald's," said Andrew J. McKenna, chairman of the
company's board. "Even during his hospitalization and chemotherapy,
Charlie led this company with pride and determination."
Bell was replaced as CEO by Jim Skinner, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company's
third CEO in a year. Bell was chosen to follow former chief James Cantalupo,
who died of a heart attack in April 2004.
Zhao Ziyang, the
former Chinese Communist Party leader who helped pioneer reforms that launched
China's economic boom but was ousted after the 1989 Tiananmen Square
pro-democracy protests, died Monday 01/17/05 at a Beijing hospital. He was 85.
The cause of death wasn't immediately announced, but the official announcement
of Zhao's passing said he suffered from multiple ailments of the respiratory
and cardiovascular systems. Zhao had lived under house arrest for 15 years. A
premature report of his death last week prompted the Chinese comment to break
its long silence about him and disclose that he had been hospitalized.
Zhao, a former premier and dapper, articulate protege of the late supreme
leader Deng Xiaoping, helped to forge bold economic reforms in the 1980s that
brought China new prosperity and flung open its doors to the outside world. In
the end, he fell out of favor with Deng and was purged on June 24, 1989, after
the military crushed the student-led pro-democracy protests. He was accused of
"splitting the party" by supporting demonstrators who wanted a faster
pace of democratic reform.
Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, the day before martial law was
declared in Beijing, when he made a tearful visit to Tiananmen Square to talk
to student hunger strikers. He apologized to the students, saying, "I have
come too late." Usually seen dressed in tailored Western suits, Zhao
served as premier in 1980-1987, then took over as general secretary of the
Communist Party, the most powerful post in China. He helped initiate sweeping
changes that invigorated an economy mired in the ruins of the 1966-76 Cultural
Revolution. Austere central planning gave way to material incentives and market
forces that made China the world's fastest-growing economy. Those changes also
brought inflation, income gaps between the rich and poor, corruption and other
problems that Zhao would be blamed for when the conservatives drove him from
power. Deng brought Zhao to Beijing in 1980 as a vice premier and member of the
party's powerful Politburo.
Bam Morris Up The
Middle, Curb Your Dogma, Die2K, Life'll Kill Ya and Van Owens Body score 12
points each.
David Nuuhiwa Sr., 82, a
Hawaiian whose expertise brought him celebrity in California surfing circles,
died Friday 01/21/05 in Hawaii from stomach cancer. In December, he was
inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, Calif.
"Uncle" David was also a legend in the world of martial arts. From 1953 to 1965 David had 822 matches and untold honors, never having lost a bout in competition. He had won the rare red belt in Karate, of which he was one of only five in the world to hold this rank and the only American ever to hold this honor.
Among his famous feats of skill, David had battled an eight foot Watusi Warrior in Africa and had killed a charging bull with one snap of his wrist and powerful shoulders. This feat was demonstrated on such television shows as 'You Asked For It.' He also appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and the Steve Allen show and was a stuntman in the movie 'Mr. Roberts.'
Bam Morris Up The Middle picks up a gnarly 20 points for the solo
Active Squad hit, while Die2K gets 3 points for having Nuuhiwa on the Taxi
Squad.
Johnny Carson, the
long-time host of NBC television`s "Tonight Show," has died at the
age of 79 on Sunday 01/23/05.
Carson, a pioneer of late night television comedy and the talk show format in
the United States, stepped down as host of the "Tonight Show" in
1992, when he was replaced by the current host Jay Leno.
The Nebraska-born Carson had hosted the "Tonight Show" since 1962. He
interviewed scores of celebrities during his years on the ground-breaking
broadcast. Carson`s final guests were singer Bette Midler and comedian Robin
Williams. His last show was seen by an audience of 50 million across the United
States according to NBC.
Carson was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1987 and awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.
He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1999.
Deadbeats, Deadly Negative, Fecal Matter, Gone With The Wind, He's Dead John, Life is a Bitch Then You Die and To Die For score 8 points each for the Active Squad hits. Genius In the Lamp's Yes We Got a Video, Inverse Genesis and Six Feet Under score 3 points each for placing Johnny on their Taxi Squads.
Philip Johnson, the innovative
architect who promoted the "glass box" skyscraper and then smashed
the mold with daringly nostalgic post-modernist designs, has died. He was 98.
Johnson died Tuesday night 01/25/05 in New Canaan, Conn., where he lived,
according to Joel S. Ehrenkranz, his lawyer. John Elderfield, a curator at the
Museum of Modern Art, also confirmed the death Wednesday.
Philip Cortelyou Johnson was born July 8, 1906, in Cleveland, the only son of
Homer H. Johnson, a well-to-do attorney, and his wife, Louise. After graduating
with honors from Harvard in 1927 with a degree in philosophy, he toured Europe
and became interested in new styles of architecture.
That interest became his life's work in 1932, when Johnson was appointed
chairman of the department of architecture of the Museum of Modern Art in New
York. That same year, he mounted an influential exhibition, "The
International Style: Architecture 1922-1932."
Johnson's work ranged from the severe modernism of his own home to the
Chippendale-topped AT&T Building in New York City, now owned by Sony, and
the IDS Center in Minneapolis.
Crypt Kickers, Excuse Me For Coffin, Go Fish, Goodbye Cruel World, Mafia
Actuary and Yersinia Pestis all score 10 points each; 4 of those teams with
their first hit of year.
Ivan
Noble, the BBC News journalist who has been writing about his treatment for a
brain tumour for the past two years, has died aged 37. Thousands of users of
the BBC News website followed regular accounts of his cancer, which last year
included a second period of remission. In November, however, his tumour began
to grow again and last month he was admitted to a London hospice. Ivan
died on Monday 01/31/05 and leaves a wife and two children.
Pete Clifton, editor of BBC News Interactive, said: "Ivan's column and his tremendous spirit have been an inspiration to all of us - to his many readers around the world and to his colleagues at the BBC.
"He asked to write the diary soon after the original diagnosis. He
wanted to talk openly about cancer, to demystify the disease and allow
people to talk freely about it. And, as a journalist, he wanted to carry on
writing absorbing material for the site. Typically, he delivered on every
count. The dialogue that opened up between Ivan and the readers was remarkable.
We will all miss Ivan, and his column, but I think his
humour, bravery and compassion will leave a lasting impression on us all."
Ivan was born in Leeds in 1967 and was educated at comprehensive schools
in Luton and Leeds before studying German at the University of
Aston in Birmingham. He lived in East Germany from 1988 until 1990 where he
worked as a translator. After graduation he joined the BBC, initially as a
translator, then as a sub-editor in Nairobi. He became an internet journalism
trainer and in 2001 joined the BBC News website science and technology team as
a journalist.
Forrest Tucker's Ghost scores 20 points for the solo hit plus 8
bonus points (under 65 + under 55) for a whopping 28 points!
German boxing legend
Max Schmeling, one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time, has died
at age 99. The former world champion, one of Germany's biggest sports idols,
died Wednesday 02/02/05, according to his foundation in Hamburg. Born Sept. 28,
1905, of humble origins in a small town in the state of Brandenburg, Schmeling
first got interested in boxing after seeing a film about the sport.
He became the first German and European heavyweight world champion when he beat
Jack Sharkey in New York on June 12, 1930, after the American was disqualified
for a fourth-round low blow. But it was his two fights against Louis that set
off a propaganda war between the Nazi regime and the United States on the eve
of World War II. Schmeling lost his title to Sharkey two years later on a
disputed decision, but came back to knock out the previously unbeaten Louis in
the 12th round on June 19, 1936, which the Nazi regime trumpeted as a sign of
"Aryan supremacy''. Schmeling came into the fight as a 10-1 underdog, and
his victory is considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. But, in
a rematch at New York's Yankee Stadium in June 1938, Louis knocked Schmeling
out in the first round to retain the world title.
With the outbreak of war, Schmeling found himself conscripted (at the Minister
of Sport's suggestion, and with Hitler's approval) into the armed forces,
despite being, at 35, over the age of conscription. Schmeling served in the
Third Parachute Regiment for three and a half years, taking part in the May
1941 airborne invasion of Crete, during which he injured his leg and back. He
was discharged in 1943 with the rank of corporal and the Iron Cross 2nd Class
(awarded for propaganda purposes).
Having lost his farm in eastern Germany, Schmeling, then aged 42, returned to
the ring in 1947, managing three wins (all by knockout) and two losses (both on
points), before finally retiring in 1948 with a record of 56 wins, 4 draws, and
10 losses.
Following a number of agricultural ventures, Schmeling was awarded a lucrative
Coca-Cola bottling and distribution franchise in 1957, which he continued to
run until Anny Ondra's death 30 years later, after which he retired to his
Hamburg home. He became firm friends with Joe Louis, and helped financially
when the latter's health began to fail.
In a poll conducted in the era of Boris Becker, Steffi Graf and Michael
Schumacher, Max Schmeling was voted Germany's outstanding sports personality of
the century, a fitting accolade for a fine boxer (who, as one fellow fighter
eloquently put it, "could hit like a bastard") and a brave man.
22 teams score with the passing of Schmeling (18 get 8 points, 4 get 3 points). This is the most popular hit so far.
Ernst Mayr, a Harvard
University evolutionary biologist called "the Darwin of the 20th
century," died on Thursday 02/03/05, the school says. He was 100. Born in
1904 in Kempten, Germany, Mayr earned a medical degree from the University of
Greifswald in 1925. Descended from generations of doctors, he broke off his
medical career and turned his attention to zoology, earning a doctorate from
the University of Berlin just 16 months later.
A member of the Harvard faculty for more than half a century, Mayr was
considered the world's most eminent evolutionary biologist. He almost
single-handedly made the origin of species diversity the central question of
evolutionary biology that it is today, Harvard said.
In an interview with The Boston Globe before his 100th birthday last year, Mayr
said he always had "tremendous curiosity" and balked at suggestions
he stop working. "People say to me, Why don't you retire?' I say, 'My God,
why should I retire? I enjoy what I'm doing,'" he told the Globe.
Through his travels in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Mayr showed what
Darwin had never quite established: that new species arise from isolated
populations.
Mayr's death came amid renewed debate in the United States over the teaching of
evolution. One Pennsylvania school district recently became the first in the
country to begin teaching "intelligent design" -- an alternative to
evolution that contends nature was created by an all-powerful being.
Black Plague, Life'll Kill Ya and Metabolically Challenged each pick up 16 points for Mayr, now the early leader for oldest stiff of the year.
Ossie Davis, the actor distinguished for
roles dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life, died on
Friday 02/04/05. He was 87.
Davis, the husband and partner of actress Ruby Dee, was found dead Friday in
his hotel room in Miami, where he was making a film called "Retirement,"
according to Arminda Thomas, who works in his office in suburban New Rochelle,
NY.
Davis, who wrote, acted, directed and produced for the theater and Hollywood,
was a central figure among black performers of the last five decades. He and
Dee celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998 with the publication of a
dual autobiography, "In This Life Together." Their partnership called
to mind other performing couples, such as the Lunts, or Hume Cronyn and Jessica
Tandy. Davis and Dee first appeared together in the plays "Jeb," in
1946, and "Anna Lucasta," in 1946-47. Davis' first film, "No Way
Out" in 1950, was Dee's fifth. Both had key roles in the television series
"Roots: The Next Generation" (1978), "Martin Luther King: The
Dream and the Drum" (1986) and "The Stand" (1994). Davis
appeared in three Spike Lee films, including "School Daze," "Do
the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever."
Dead Like Me gets a big boost of 20 points with the solo hit.
Veteran
rhythm-and-blues singer Tyrone Davis died Wednesday 02/09/05, four months after
he suffered a stroke that left him in a coma, his business partner said. He was
66. Davis was hospitalized in September and was undergoing rehabilitation at a
suburban Chicago nursing home at the time of his death.
Born in Greenville, Miss., Davis came under the influence of blues
legends Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton and Otis Clay. He sang at
clubs in Chicago before landing his first recording contract. Davis began his
career in the 1960s, and his baritone voice and warm and romantic singing style
made him popular in the 1970s. He was best known for the hits "Can I
Change My Mind" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time" for the Dakar
label. Davis moved to Columbia Records in 1976, where he recorded several hits,
including "Give It Up (Turn It Loose)" and the ballad "In the
Mood."
As his popularity faded in the 1980s, he was released by Columbia, though
he continued to record. He was promoting his latest release when he suffered
the stroke.
Already Dead scores the 20 point solo hit, while Die2K gets
3 for the Taxi Squad score.
Playwright Arthur
Miller, the creator of The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, has died at the
age of 89 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut on Thursday evening 02/10/05, having
battled with cancer, pneumonia and a heart condition.
He was one of the most significant American writers of the 20th Century.
New York-born Miller was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman in
1949 at the age of just 33. His play The Crucible was inspired by the hysteria
of the McCarthy witch hunts which he became embroiled in. When he testified in
front of a congressional committee in 1956 he refused to reveal any names and
so was held in contempt. The decision was overturned two years later. The
Crucible, set during the Salem trials of the 1690s led to suspected witches
being killed amid mass hysteria.
Although already considered one of the foremost literary giants of his
era he was catapulted into the pop culture sphere following his marriage to
actress Monroe. The tempestuous marriage lasted just five years.
Among Miller's other plays were A View from the Bridge and later works
were The Ride Down Mount Morgan and The Last Yankee. The main character in
Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, became a symbol of the struggle of the
"little man" to realise the American Dream.
Dark Clouds and Silva Linings, Goodbye Cruel World and Hannibal Lechter's
All You Can Eat Buffet score their first 14 points of the year. Dead Like Me
rounds out the scoring for Miller.
Former
priest James Porter, whose widespread molestation of dozens of children
foreshadowed the clergy sex abuse scandal that swept the Roman Catholic church,
died Friday 02/11/05. Porter, 70, died at New England Medical Center in Boston,
where he had been treated since being transferred from a Department of
Correction medical facility last month. A cause of death was not immediately
available, but Porter's attorney had said the former priest had incurable
cancer.
Porter's case was the first high-profile one involving allegations that a
priest had molested children in his parish - and that the church had simply
moved him from parish to parish to try to avoid scandal. Porter pleaded guilty
in 1993 to molesting 28 children, but once told a television reporter that he
molested as many as 100 children during his time as a priest in the 1960s and
early 1970s in the Fall River Diocese.
Porter left the priesthood in 1974, married and became the father of four
children. He was convicted of molesting his children's teenage baby sitter in
1987, and was released from a Minnesota jail after serving four months. He
returned to face trial in Massachusetts, and in 1993 pleaded guilty to
molesting 28 children and was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison.
He was scheduled to be released in January 2004, but the state moved to
have him classified as sexually dangerous to keep him behind bars indefinitely.
During the hearing, his victims took to the stand to tell wrenching stories of
being raped or molested.
Bam Morris Up The Middle, Curb Your Dogma, Die2K and Mafia Actuary pick
up 14 points each.
Sister Lucia
Marto dos Santos, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the
Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions in the town of Fatima, died Sunday
02/13/05. She was 97. Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the
past three months and died Sunday at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 120
miles north of Lisbon.
Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in
1917 that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to them once a month and
predicting events, such as world wars, the reemergence of Christianity in
Russia, and one that Church officials say foretold the 1981 attempted
assassination of Pope John Paul II. The appearances took place on the 13th day
of each month in Fatima, a town about 70 miles north of Lisbon. The first
sighting was May 13, and the appearances continued for another five months,
ending abruptly in October. Shortly after, Jacinta and Francisco died of
respiratory diseases. But Lucia became a nun and penned two memoirs while
living in convents. In recent years she suffered from blindness and deafness.
The pope has visited the shrine in Fatima three times since becoming
pontiff in 1978, spending a few minutes with Lucia during a 1991 trip to the
site. He has claimed the Virgin of Fatima saved his life after he was shot by a
Turkish gunman in St. Peter's Square in 1981. The attack, on May 13, coincided
with the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, and John Paul credits the Virgin's
intercession for his survival. In 2000, he visited Fatima to beatify Jacinta
and Francisco.
Bam Morris Up
The Middle gets
a big 20 points for the solo hit on the soon-to-be-saint.
Actress Sandra Dee, a perky
blonde teen matinee idol of the 1950s and 1960s who played the title role in
the surfer film "Gidget," died Sunday 02/20/05 in Thousand Oaks,
California, a hospital spokeswoman said. Dee died shortly before 6 a.m. at Los
Robles Hospital & Medical Center near Los Angeles. She was 63. Dee's death
was caused by complications from kidney disease for which she had been
hospitalized for two weeks prior to her death.
A former child actress and model, Dee made her film debut
in "Until They Sail" in 1957. She rose to stardom in the 1959 film
"Gidget," about a teenage girl who falls for a surfer. The same year
Dee and Troy Donahue starred as teenage lovers in the popular film "A
Summer Place."
In 1960, Dee married Darin. Together the young duo
starred in "Come September" (1961), "If A Man Answers"
(1962), and "That Funny Feeling" (1965). Dee also took over the title
role from Debbie Reynolds in the popular "Tammy" film series,
starring in "Tammy and the Doctor," (1963) and "Tammy Tell Me
True" (1961). Dee and Darin divorced in 1967 and her career faded shortly
thereafter. She never remarried. Her popularity was briefly revived after the
film "Grease" (1978) patterned a lead character after her and named
one of its signature songs "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee."
She was portrayed last year by Kate Bosworth in the film
"Beyond the Sea," which also starred Kevin Spacey as Darin.
Deadbeats scores a big 24 points (20 for the solo hit and 4 for the Under 65 bonus) and shakes up the standings.
John Raitt, the robust
baritone who created the role of Billy Bigelow in the original New York
production of "Carousel" and sang with Doris Day in the movie
"Pajama Game," died Sunday 02/20/05. He was 88. Raitt, the father of
the blues and rock singer and songwriter Bonnie Raitt, died peacefully from complications
with pneumonia at his Pacific Palisades home. John Emmett Raitt was born Jan.
10, 1917, in Santa Ana, Calif. At Fullerton Union he excelled in track, winning
a scholarship to the University of Southern California. He concluded his
college education at the University of Redlands in 1940.
His deep, resonant voice developed early, and he sang at service clubs and
churches throughout Southern California. His professional debut came in 1940 as
a chorus singer in "HMS Pinafore" with the Los Angeles Civic Light
Opera, where he would be a frequent star in later years.
With little operatic training, he sang lead roles in "The Barber of
Seville" and "Carmen" at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. That led
to the fateful meeting with Rodgers and Hammerstein. Raitt had become well
known on the West Coast for his handsome presence and ringing voice when in
1944 he was invited to New York to try out for the role of Curly in the road
company of "Oklahoma!" He was rushed from Penn Station to the St.
James Theater and an audition with Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. In
1995, Raitt recalled: "I hadn't sung since California, so I said, `Do you
mind if I warm up?' I sang Figaro's aria from `The Barber of Seville.' Then I
sang all of Curly's songs.'" There was silence when he finished. The
problem was not his voice, which was both melodic and powerful, but his height.
At 6 feet 2 was he too tall for Curly? Hammerstein reasoned: "I'm a tall
man. Why can't Curly be tall?" Raitt was hired for the Chicago company of
"Oklahoma!"
Rodgers and Hammerstein had been working on their second collaboration,
"Carousel," and they chose Raitt for the role of the doomed hero
Billy Bigelow. Raitt astounded the opening night audience in 1945 with his
dynamic Soliloquy, which he called "practically a one-act opera which took
six and a half minutes to sing." He said Hammerstein had been inspired to
write it when he heard the newcomer sing Figaro at the audition.
Raitt's star status on Broadway was assured, and after the long run in "Carousel"
he appeared in "Magdalena," "Three Wishes for Jamie" and
"Carnival in Flanders." He lacked a big crossover to film until
"The Pajama Game" in 1954. "The Pajama Game" became a
successful movie with Raitt and several others in their stage roles and Doris
Day for popular appeal. The numbers "Hey, There," "Steam
Heat" and "Once a Year Day," choreographed by Bob Fosse, helped
make the 1957 film a delight. Despite his good notices, it was Raitt's only
starring movie (he had played two minor roles while briefly under contract to
MGM in 1940).
In his later years, Raitt was overshadowed by the fame of his blues-singing
daughter. He delighted in her success and approved of her campaigning for civil
rights, peace and other causes. "She used to be known as John Raitt's
daughter; now I'm known as Bonnie Raitt's father," he observed. After she
had become a big attraction in pop music, they sometimes appeared together,
singing duets with her song "Blowing Away" and his "Hey,
There."
In his 80s, he continued touring with a one-man show, "An Evening with
John Raitt," and made appearances with Bonnie on the Boston Pops broadcast
and her own concerts.
Bonnie and two brothers, Steven and David, were born to Raitt's first marriage
to Marjorie Haydock. They divorced in 1971. A second marriage to Kathleen Smith
Landry ended in divorce in 1981. That year he learned from an old Santa Ana
friend that Raitt's high school sweetheart had recently been widowed.
"Having played Zorba, I believe in grabbing at life," he recalled.
"So I called her and this sweet voice answered. `I'm free now,' I told
her, `and I'm coming to dinner.'"
Raitt and Rosemary Kraemer were married in 1981. Bonnie sang "Safe in Your
Arms" at the wedding. Raitt sang "My Heart's Darling" at her
1991 wedding to actor Michael O'Keefe.
Raymond
Mhlaba, an African National Congress veteran who was sentenced with Nelson
Mandela to life imprisonment in 1964 for trying to overthrow South Africa's apartheid
regime, has died at age 85. "Oom Ray," as he was widely known, died
of cancer Sunday 02/20/05 at a hospital in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth.
Born in an Eastern Cape village, Mhlaba dropped out of
school because of lack of money. He worked in a dry cleaning factory in Port
Elizabeth, an experience that turned him into a committed trade unionist and
political activist. In 1943, he joined the Communist Party, which was banned in
1950. He joined the ANC in 1944. After the ANC was banned in 1960, Mhlaba fled
to China for military training. He returned to South African in 1962 and became
commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe,
the military wing of the ANC.
Mhlaba was arrested in a sweep by security forces on the
ANC's underground headquarters at a farm in Rivonia in northern Johannesburg in
1963. Mandela, Mhlaba and six others - including Govan Mbeki, the father of the
current president - stood trial for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the
government. In June 1964 they were sentenced to life in prison and sent to
Robben Island, the notorious prison on a remote island near Cape Town. Together
with other Rivonia defendants, Mhlaba was released in 1989.
When the ANC swept to power in the first democratic
multiracial elections in 1994, Mhlaba became premier of the newly created
province of the Eastern Cape. He resigned in 1997 for health reasons and
subsequently acted as ambassador to Rwanda and Burundi.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
Bam Morris Up the Middle and Die2K each pick up 18 points for Mhlaba.
Gene Scott, the
shaggy-haired, cigar-smoking televangelist whose eccentric religious broadcasts
were beamed around the world, has died. He was 75. Scott died Monday 02/21/05
after suffering a stroke.
Hans
Bethe, who worked on the Manhattan Project and won a belated Nobel Prize in
physics in 1967 for figuring out how the sun and stars generate energy, has
died at age 98. He died at his home Sunday, 03/06/05. He had joined the faculty
at Cornell University in 1935 after fleeing Nazi Germany.
Bethe
was the last of the giants of the golden age of 20th-century physics. During
World War II, he was a key figure in the building of the first atomic bomb as
head of the Manhattan Project's theoretical physics division at Los Alamos,
N.M.
Bethe also made major discoveries about how atoms are built up from smaller particles, about what makes dying stars blow up, and how the heavier elements are produced from the ashes of these supernovas.
Excuse Me For Coffin, Mafia Actuary, Monty Python's Dying Circus and Van Owens Body receive 14 points each for Bethe. Life’ll Kill Ya gets 3 points for the Taxi Squad hit.
Country
singer Chris LeDoux died Wednesday 03/09/05 of complications from liver cancer.
He was 56. He was diagnosed with cancer last year, and was undergoing radiation
treatments. In 2000, LeDoux successfully underwent a liver transplant after
being diagnosed with liver disease. LeDoux had recorded 22 albums on his own
Lucky Man Music label when Garth Brooks mentioned his name in the hit song,
"Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" in 1989. Shortly thereafter,
LeDoux signed with Brooks' label, Capitol Nashville, where he recorded 15
albums and sold nearly six million copies.
LeDoux underwent a liver transplant in October 2000 after
being diagnosed with a rare liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis. In
November 2004, LeDoux confirmed he had been diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma,
a slow-growing cancer of the bile duct.
Born Oct. 2, 1948, in Biloxi, Miss., Chris LeDoux was raised
in Austin, Texas. His father was an Air Force pilot who moved the family
throughout the U.S. While spending time in Texas and Wyoming, LeDoux gained an
interest in music and the rodeo. In 1976, he earned the title of world champion
bareback rider from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA).
Already Dead and Monty Python's Dying Circus each
pick up 22 points (18 + 4 for Under 65).
Glenn
Davis, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1946 and helped lead Army to three
national championships, died Wednesday 03/09/05. He was 80. Davis died of
complications from prostate cancer at his home in La Quinta, located about 110
miles east of Los Angeles.
Davis starred as a halfback for Army when it won national
titles in 1944 and 1945. The Cadets and Notre Dame played to a scoreless tie in
1946, and split the national championship. Davis teamed with fullback Felix
"Doc" Blanchard as one of the most heralded backfields in the history
of college football. He was known as "Mr. Outside" to Blanchard's
"Mr. Inside."
Davis scored 59 touchdowns and gained 4,129 yards in
rushing and receiving in his college career. He still holds NCAA records for
most yards gained per play in one season, averaging 11.5 yards per carry in
1945; 8.3 career yards per carry; and he and Blanchard share the record for
most touchdowns (97) and points (585) scored by teammates in a career. In 1946,
Davis won the Heisman and was voted male athlete of the year by The Associated
Press.
In 1944, after a famous season-ending win over Navy, Gen.
Douglas MacArthur even took time out from his war duties to send this wire:
"The greatest of all Army teams ... We have stopped the war to celebrate
your magnificent success. MacArthur." After serving his military
obligation, Davis joined the Los Angeles Rams, playing on the team that won the
1951 NFL championship before a knee injury cut his career short in 1952.
Bam Morris Up The Middle, Die2K and Forrest Tucker's Ghost get 16 points each for Davis.
William
Lehman, 91, a used-car dealer who later served 20 years in the U.S. House of
Representatives and became a force on transportation legislation, died
Wednesday 03/16/05 at a hospital in Miami Beach. His heart was weakened from a
recent bout with pneumonia.
Mr. Lehman, known as "Alabama Bill" when he was
in business, owed his nickname to his birthplace. But he spent most of his
car-sales career in Miami, a district he served as a Democrat in the House from
1973 to 1993.
Lehman rose through House ranks to become chairman of a
House Appropriations Committee panel that oversaw transportation spending,
giving him broad authority over billions of dollars for highways, seaports and
mass transit systems. He helped bring federal funding for several major
transportation projects in the Miami area, including Metrorail and a causeway
in northwestern Miami-Dade that bears his name. He was unopposed for
re-election in 1988 and won in 1990 with 78 percent of the vote. He had a
liberal voting record, opposing a constitutional amendment banning
flag-burning, voting against military aid to Nicaragua's contra rebels and
against sending troops to the Persian Gulf in the first Iraq war. He also went
to Cuba in 1988 and negotiated release of three political prisoners and was an
advocate for Haitian refugees.
Die2K gets 20 points for the solo hit on a Taxi Squad Call-Up.
Diplomat
and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian George F. Kennan, who gave the name
"containment" to postwar foreign policy in a famous but anonymous
article, died Thursday 03/17/05 at his Princeton home. Kennan was 101.
Identified only as "X," Kennan laid out the
general lines of the containment policy in the journal "Foreign
Affairs" in 1947, when he was chief of the State Department's policy
planning staff. The article also predicted the collapse of Soviet Communism
decades later. "It is clear that the main element of any United States
policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm
and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies," Kennan wrote.
When the Communist Party was finally driven from power
in the Soviet Union after the failed hardline coup in August 1991, Kennan
called it "a turning point of the most momentous historical
significance."
Bury Me Shallow, Curb Your Dogma, Die2K, Forrest Tucker's Ghost, Mafia Actuary and Van Owens Body all pick up 10 points for Kennan.
Former
Labour Prime Minister Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, has died aged 92 on
03/26/05 at home in East Sussex, just 11 days after he watched his wife Audrey die
aged 91. Lord Callaghan, who would have been 93 on Sunday, recently became the
oldest living former British PM in history. He succeeded Harold Wilson as Prime
Minister in 1976, and remained in office until the Labour defeat at the General
Election in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher formed an administration.
Leonard James Callaghan was born 27 March, 1912, the son
of James Callaghan, Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy. He held each of the
major offices of Chancellor, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Prime
Minister during his career.
He entered Civil Service as a Tax Officer, 1929;
Assistant Secretary, Inland Revenue Staff Federation, 1936-47 (with an interval
during the Second World War when he served in the Royal Navy); joined the
Labour Party in 1931; Labour MP for Cardiff South 1945-50; Labour MP for SE Cardiff 1950-83; Labour MP for
Cardiff South & Penarth 1983-87; Parliamentary Secertary, Ministry of
Transport, 1947-50; Chairman, Committee on Road Safety, 1948-50; Parliamentary
and Financial Secretary, Admiralty, 1950-51; Opposition spokesman: Transport,
1951-53; Fuel and Power 1953-55; Colonial Affairs 1956-61; Shadow Chancellor
1961-64; Chancellor of the
Exchequer 1964-67; Home Secretary 1967-70; Shadow Home Secretary, 1970-71;
Opposition Spokesman on Employment, 1971-72; Shadow Foreign Secretary, 1972-74;
Secretary of State for Foreign
& Commonwealth Affairs, 1974-76; Prime Minister and First Lord of the
Treasury, 1976-79; Leader of the Labour Party, 1976-80; Leader of the
Opposition, 1979-80; Father of the House of Commons, 1983-87
He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1964, and was
appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in 1987. He
was ennobled with a life peerage on standing down as a Member of Parliament in
1987.
The Big Casino gets on the board with the solo hit on Callaghan.
Terri
Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose 15 years connected to a feeding
tube sparked an epic legal battle that went all the way to the White House and
Congress, died Thursday 03/31/05, 13 days after the tube was removed. She was
41.
Schiavo died at the Pinellas Park hospice where she lay
for years while her husband and her parents fought over her fate in the
nation's longest, most bitter right-to-die dispute.
Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after her
heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance that was believed to have been
brought on by an eating disorder. Court-appointed doctors ruled she was in a
persistent vegetative state, with no real consciousness or chance of recovery.
The feeding tube was removed with a judge's approval
March 18 after Michael Schiavo argued that his wife told him long ago she would
not want to be kept alive artificially. His in-laws disputed that, and argued
that she could get better with treatment.
During the seven-year legal battle, Florida lawmakers,
Congress and President Bush tried to intervene on behalf of her parents, but
state and federal courts at all levels repeatedly ruled in favor of her
husband.
After the tube that supplied a nutrient solution was
disconnected, protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her
hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. The
Vatican likened the removal of her feeding tube to capital punishment for an
innocent woman. The Schindlers pleaded for their daughter's life, calling the
removal of the tube "judicial homicide."
Frozen
Heads scores a big 28 points (20 for the solo hit, 4 for Under 65 and 4 for
Under 55) for being the only team leader with the foresight to pick Schiavo.
Frank
Perdue, who built a backyard egg business into one of the nation's largest
poultry processors using the folksy slogan, "It takes a tough man to make
a tender chicken," has died. He died after a brief illness at the age of
84 on Thursday 03/31/05.
At the time of his death, Perdue was chairman of the
executive committee of the board of directors of Perdue Farms Inc.,
headquartered in Salisbury, MD. Perdue turned over the day-to-day
responsibilities of running the company over to his son, Jim Perdue, in 1991.
In 1971, Perdue became his company's television pitchman,
and the first to advertise chickens by brand. His tough, folksy TV persona
helped boost sales from $56 million in 1970 to more than $1.2 billion by 1991.
Still Auditioning for the Choir Invisible gets the first solo Taxi Squad hit of the year for 5 points.
Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) died
on Saturday 04/02/05 at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST).
John Paul will be remembered for his role in the collapse
of communism in Europe and his unyielding defense of traditional Vatican
doctrines as leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics. Huge crowds had
staged a tearful vigil in St. Peter's Square, praying for a man already being
dubbed by some Catholics as "John Paul the Great." The Pope's health
had deteriorated steadily over the past decade and earlier this year took a
sharp turn for the worse.
The Pontiff, once a lithe athlete and powerful speaker,
was already racked by arthritis and Parkinson's Disease, his voice often
reduced to a raspy whisper. He was rushed to hospital twice in February and had
to have a tracheotomy to ease serious breathing problems. But he never regained
his strength from the operation and failed dramatically on two occasions to
address crowds at St. Peter's Square. On Wednesday doctors inserted a feeding
tube into his stomach to try boost his energy levels. A day later he developed
a urinary infection and high fever that soon precipitated heart failure, kidney
problems and ultimately death.
According to pre-written Church rules, the Pontiff's
mourning rites will last 9 days and his body is likely to be laid to rest in
the crypt underneath St Peter's Basilica. The conclave to elect a new Pope will
start in 15 to 20 days, with almost 120 cardinals from around the world
gathering in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to choose a successor. There is no
favorite candidate to take over. Karol Wojtyla was himself regarded as an
outsider when he was elevated to the papacy on Oct. 16, 1978. Few would have
predicted then that the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years would throw off the
stiff trappings of the papacy, travel the globe and leave an indelible mark on
history.
In over a quarter century on the world stage, he was both
a champion of the downtrodden and an often contested defender of orthodoxy
within his own church. Historians say one of the Pope's most lasting legacies
will be his role in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.
"Behold the night is over, day has dawned anew," the Pope said during
a triumphant visit to Czechoslovakia in 1990. A decade after witnessing the
fall of communism, he fulfilled another of his dreams. He visited the Holy Land
in March 2000, and, praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall, asked forgiveness for
Catholic sins against Jews over the centuries.
But while many loved the man, his message was less
popular and he was a source of deep division in his own church. Critics
constantly attacked his traditionalist stance on family issues, such as his
condemnation of contraception and homosexuality, and hope the next Pope will be
more liberal. However, he has appointed more than 95 percent of the cardinals
who will elect his successor, thus stacking the odds that his controversial
teachings will not be tampered with.
41 teams get 8 points each for the Active Squad hit,
while Cellar Dwellers and Stiff Sloths get the Taxi Squad
consolation of 3 points each.
Nobel
laureate Saul Bellow, a master of comic melancholy who in Herzog, Humboldt's
Gift and other novels both championed and mourned the soul's fate in the modern
world, died Tuesday 04/05/05 at his home in Brookline, Mass. He was 89.
The son of Russian immigrants, Bellow was born Solomon
Bellows on July 10, 1915, in Lachine, Que. He dropped the final "s"
from his last name and changed his first name to Saul when he began publishing
his writing in the 1940s.
He was the first writer to win the National Book Award
three times: in 1954 for The Adventures of Augie March, in 1965 for Herzog and
in 1971 for Mr. Sammler's Planet. In 1976, he won the Pulitzer Prize for
Humboldt's Gift. That same year Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize in
literature, cited for his "human understanding and subtle analysis of
contemporary culture." In 2003, the Library of America paid the rare tribute
of releasing work by a living writer, issuing a volume of Bellow's early
novels.
He had five wives, three sons and, at age 84, a daughter.
He met presidents (John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson) and movie stars (Marilyn
Monroe, Jack Nicholson). He feuded with writers (Truman Capote, Norman Mailer),
and helped out writers, notably William Kennedy, on whose behalf he lobbied to
get his work published.
After teaching for many years at the University of
Chicago, Bellow stunned both the literary and academic world by leaving the
city with which he was so deeply associated. In 1993, he accepted a position at
Boston University, where he taught a freshman-level class on "young men on
the make" in literature.
Crypt
Kickers, Dark Clouds and Silva Linings , Go Fish, Goodbye Cruel World and
The Big Casino each receive 12 points for Bellow.
Prince
Rainier III, whose marriage to American film star Grace Kelly brought elegance
and glamour to one of Europe's oldest dynasties, died Wednesday 04/06/05 at the
hospital treating him for heart, kidney and breathing problems. He was 81. He
had been Europe's longest-reigning monarch. Rainier, who assumed the throne on
May 9, 1949, also endured the tragedy of his famous wife's death and relentless
scandals — including international criticism of the principality's tax laws —
that plagued the final two decades of his rule.
The leader of Europe's longest-ruling royal family, the
Grimaldis, Rainier suffered recurring health problems in recent years. The silver-haired,
portly prince underwent heart surgery in 1999. He had two operations the
following year, including having a nodule removed from a lung, and was
hospitalized in 2002 for fatigue and bronchitis. Rainier's royal palace
announced his death nearly a full month after he was first admitted with a lung
infection to a heart and chest clinic that overlooks Monaco's glittering,
yacht-filled harbor. Recurrent chest infections put him in the hospital on
numerous occasions. Most recently, he was hospitalized March 7 at Monaco's
Cardio-Thoracic Center with a chest infection. He was placed in intensive care
two weeks later with heart and kidney failure and hooked up to a respirator.
Monaco had been preparing for the demise of its prince for several years.
Rainier's
heir is Crown Prince Albert, who is unmarried and has no children. Monaco
changed its succession law in 2002 to allow power to pass from a reigning
prince who has no descendants to his siblings. Albert has two sisters, Princess
Caroline and Princess Stephanie, both of whom have children.
Adios
Amigos, Bury Me Shallow, Decay NY, Forrest Tucker's Ghost, Ghostwriter, La
Morte la Diventa, Life is a Bitch, Then You Die, Metabolically Challenged,
Monty Python's Dying Circus and The Leader of the Pack and Now He's Gone
all pick up 8 points for the
monarch.
Dale
Messick, whose long-running comic strip "Brenda Starr, Reporter'' gave her
entry into the male world of the funny pages, has died at age 98. Messick,
whose strip ran in 250 newspapers at its peak in the 1950s, died Tuesday
04/05/05.
Born in South Bend, Ind., on April 11, 1906, with the
name Dalia — a moniker she jettisoned to further her career — Messick developed
her artistic skills early, scribbling illustrations on her schoolbooks and
telling stories to her classmates. She studied art and got a job at a greeting
card company, only to quit in a huff — in the depths of the Depression — when
her boss dropped her pay to make a new hire. She cried all the way home, but
regrouped, moving to New York and getting a job at another greeting card
company, working on her strips at night. Her break came when her work came to
the attention of another woman, Mollie Slott, who worked for publisher Joseph
M. Patterson. Patterson, reputed to be no fan of women cartoonists, wouldn't
take the slot for daily publication but it began running in the Sunday comics
in June 1940. The name came from a '30s debutante; she borrowed the figure and
flowing red hair from film star Rita Hayworth.
Messick, who received the National Cartoonist Society's
Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, married a man in the art
supply business, Everett George, with whom she had her daughter. She later
married attorney Oscar Strom. Neither marriage lasted.
In old age, Messick moved to Northern California to be
near her daughter and two grandchildren, Curt and Laura. She joked about
writing her autobiography, "Still Stripping at 80,'' never completed but
retitled a decade later to "Still Stripping at 90.'' She did write a
single-panel strip "Granny Glamour'' until age 92.
Messick had a stroke in 1998.
Excuse
Me For Coffin and Life'll Kill Ya each get 18 points for Messick.
Chalmers
Roberts, a former diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post and the author
of a number of books, died of congestive heart failure at his home in Bethesda,
Md., on Friday 04/08/05. He was 94.
The bulk of Roberts' reporting came in the 1950s and 60s
as the Post's chief diplomatic correspondent. He covered stories from the Cold
War to the Watts riots in 1965.
Roberts also contributed to the Post's efforts to print
the Pentagon Papers. His deep understanding of the Vietnam War and his ability
to report and write quickly is credited as part of the Post's success in
publishing the papers.
Roberts' books include "First Rough Draft: A
Journalist's Journal of Our Times," "The Nuclear Years: The Arms Race
and Arms Control 1945-70," "Washington Past and Present," and
"How Did I Get Here So Fast? Rhetorical Questions and Available Answers
From a Long and Happy Life."
Already
Dead scores 20 points for the solo hit on Roberts.
John
Fred Gourrier, who was best known for his 1960's hit "Judy in Disguise
(With Glasses)," has died at the age of 63. Gourrier, who went by the
stage name "John Fred," died Friday 04/15/05 at Tulane Hospital in
New Orleans after being ill for months.
John Fred and His Playboy Band had a regional following
in the South when they recorded their parody of the popular Beatles' song
"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" in 1967. Written by Gourrier and
fellow band member Andrew Bernard, "Judy In Disguise" was recorded in
New Orleans with the Fats Domino band Dec. 17.By the following January, it had
replaced another Beatles song, "Hello Goodbye," as the No. 1 song in
the nation and stayed at the top of the charts for two weeks.
Although "Judy in Disguise" was the only Top 40
song the group ever had, Gourrier made the charts before. He formed his first
group while he was still in high school and recorded a song titled
"Shirley."
Forrest Tucker’s Ghost scores a big 24 points (20
points for the solo hit + 4 points Under 65), while The Famous Final Scene
garners 7 points (3 points Taxi Squad + 4 points Under 65) for the One Hit
Wonder.
Cuban
salsa legend Juan Pablo Torres, member of the group "Cuban Masters,"
died at the age of 59 on Sunday 04/17/05. Torres, who also played alongside
Cachao and Patato Valdez, died late Sunday in Miami of an inoperable brain tumor
after spending days in a coma. The trombonist was born in Puerto Padre, Cuba,
in 1946.
Torres was one of the top trombonists in Cuban music, and
recorded more than a dozen albums with the likes of Bebo Valdez, Tito Puente,
Paquito D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval.
In 2001, he joined the "Cuban Masters, Los
originales" with Cachao Lopez, Patato Valdez, Jose Fajardo and Alfredo
"Chocolate" Armenteros. Their album was nominated for a Grammy as
well as a Latin Grammy.
Already Dead and Forrest Tucker’s Ghost
score 22 points each (18 points + 4 points Under 65) for the Salsa King.
Sam
Mills, an undersized linebacker who became a Pro Bowl player with New Orleans
and Carolina and was later an assistant coach for the Panthers, died Monday
04/18/05 after fighting cancer for nearly two years. He was 45. Mills, who was
diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine in August 2003 but continued to
coach Carolina's linebackers between chemotherapy treatments, died at his home.
A five-time Pro Bowl selection, the 5-foot-9, 225-pound
Mills spent the final three seasons of his 12-year NFL career with the
Panthers, beginning with their inaugural season in 1995. There is a statue of
him outside Bank of America Stadium and he is the only player in the team's
Hall of Honor. Mills spent his first nine NFL seasons with the New Orleans
Saints, following three seasons in the United States Football League. He
finished his career with 1,319 tackles while starting 173 of 181 games.
He joined the Panthers' coaching staff upon his
retirement.
Forrest
Tucker's Ghost, Monty Python's Dying Circus and No Bones About It
score 24 points each (16 points + 8 points Under 55) for the former gridiron
man.
Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen - Queensland's longest-serving
premier - has died in a Kingaroy hospital. The 94-year-old former politician
was taken to the South Burnett hospital on Monday where his condition steadily
worsened. He had been heavily sedated and was having trouble breathing. Doctors
confirmed Sir Joh passed away about 6:00pm AEST on Saturday 04/23/05 with his
family by his side. He was premier from 1968 to 1987.
The New
Zealand-born farmer from Kingaroy entered parliament in 1947. In January 1968,
Joh became Country Party leader, and seven months later was Premier of
Queensland, after the sudden death of Jack Pizzey. During his 19 years in
power, Sir Joh was renowned for his "can-do" attitude towards
development, and his uncompromising approach to unionists, protesters and political
opponents.
In the late 1980s,
the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption became increasingly embarrassing for his
government.As the situation came to a head, Sir Joh tried unsuccessfully to
sack five ministers for disloyalty, but instead he was dumped by his party and
ultimately resigned as premier on December 1, 1987.In 1991 he fought a perjury
charge arising from the Fitzgerald Inquiry, but a district court jury could not
reach a verdict. He pursued business interests until health problems restricted
him to his home at Kingaroy.
Bam
Morris Up The Middle and Die2K each garner 18 points for the
Australian leader.
Oscar-winning
actor Sir John Mills, star of more than 100 films including "Great
Expectations," "War and Peace" and "Ryan's Daughter,"
died Saturday 04/23/05 after a short illness. He was 93. Mills died at home in
Denham, west of London.
Mills, whose talent was first spotted by Noel Coward,
studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and started his career on stage,
appearing plays like "Goodbye Mr. Chips," and "Of Mice and
Men." His 1929 appearance as Hamlet at the Old Vic Theatre in London
established him as one of the most talented actors of his generation, ideally
suited to the great Shakespearean roles. Later, he headed for Hollywood,
appearing in a raft of acclaimed films. He won the 1971 Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor in "Ryan's Daughter." His film and stage credits
also include “Hamlet”, “Frankenstein”, “Big Freeze”, “Around the World in 80
Days”, “A Tale of Two Cities”, “Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death”,
“Gandhi”, “The Thirty-Nine Steps”,
“Run Wild, Run Free” and “Swiss Family Robinson”. He also appeared in
the “Cats” video as Gus the Theater Cat.
Mills is survived by his wife, playwright Mary Hayley
Bell, his son, Jonathan, and daughters Juliette and Hayley, both actors.
Ace
Reloaded: Fallen Skaters, Bloody Mary, Decay NY, Excuse Me For Coffin, Spectral
Evidence and Van Owens Body all receive 10 points each for the
accomplished actor. Ghostwriter picks up 3 points for the Taxi Squad
hit.
Jimmy Martin, a pioneering bluegrass
singer and guitarist who performed with the Blue Grass Boys and many other
musicians, died Saturday 05/14/05. He was 77. Martin died in a Nashville
hospice, more than a year after he was diagnosed with bladder cancer .
Thurl
Ravenscroft of Fullerton, Calif., whose voice was known worldwide through his
work in movies, TV and at Disneyland, died Sunday 05/22/05 from prostate
cancer. He was 91. His was the voice of Tony the Tiger, the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
mascot for over 50 years.
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was born Feb. 6, 1914, in
Norfolk, Neb. He moved to California in 1933 to study interior design at the
Otis College of Art and Design. While in school he was encouraged to go into
show business and auditioned at Paramount studios to be a singer. By the
mid-1930s, he was appearing regularly on radio, first on a program titled
"Goose Creek Parson." In the late 1930s, he appeared on the "The
Kraft Music Hall" with Bing Crosby, singing backup in a group called the
Paul Taylor Choristers. That group eventually became the Sportsmen Quartette.
After military service during World War II, he returned
to Hollywood, later becoming involved in the Mellomen singing group, and began
a career in radio, movies, television and commercials. The group could sing
anything from rock `n' roll to bebop to barbershop, and it performed with a
list of stars including Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Elvis
Presley.
In 1952, Ravenscroft achieved a measure of immortality,
thanks to a TV commercial.
"I'm the only man in the world that has made a
career with one word: Grrrrreeeeat!" Ravenscroft roared in a 1996
interview with The Orange County Register. "When Kellogg's brought up the
idea of the tiger, they sent me a caricature of Tony to see if I could create
something for them. After messing around for some time I came up with the
`Great!' roar, and that's how it's been since then."
Ravenscroft's involvement with Disneyland goes back to opening day in 1955, when he was the announcer for many of the ceremonies a