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RIP Lloyd Berry

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Fraser Heights Chapel
July 15, 2016
Lloyd Berry - November 23, 1926 - July 12, 2016
It is with great sadness we announce that Lloyd Berry passed away peacefully at Surrey Memorial Hospital on July 12,2016 after a long battle with COPD and lung cancer. He will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered by his wife, Alice and daughter Jennifer Bhatia (Zul) who lives in Lochwinnoch, Scotland. His grandsons Omar (Michelle) and Ally (Monica) Bhatia, and great grandson Cosmo live in Glasgow, Scotland. His niece Joy Brownsword is from Mill Bay on Vancouver Island.
Lloyd was born and grew up in St. James, Manitoba. He joined the army during WWII but was saved from going overseas when the war ended. After leaving the army, Lloyd came to the West Coast and never looked back.
In Vancouver, Lloyd became involved with the local theatre scene and was part of the growing theater, TV and Film industry for over the last 60 years. In the early sixties, Lloyd was involved in the creation of the Metro Theatre as its Production Manager and the early development of the Metropolitan Co-operative Theater Concept. Lloyd was in the first production of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, "The Hostage", by Brendan Behan.
Later, Lloyd moved to Calgary and was the Assistant Manager of the Calgary Allied Arts Centre and was Theater Manager for a 500 seat theatre and created a Children's Theater program. During his stay in Calgary, Lloyd was involved in setting up the ACTRA branch in Alberta, so his ACTRA ID is 09-00001. Lloyd is also a lifetime member of UBCP.
Coming back to BC in the late 60's, he worked for the Playhouse Theatre Company as its Assistant Manager and did Audience Development. Lloyd was also in the first production of the Theatre Company and he partnered in the creation of the Jabberwocky Theater for Children.
Through all the years he worked as a freelance actor and director, Lloyd never lost his desire to help people, especially children, get involved in the arts. He was a part-time administrator for the Sculptors Society of BC, a political advocate for the Arts in BC (Arts Access) and sat on the BC Arts Council.
He spent fifteen years at the Burnaby Art Centre as Supervisor of Fine Arts. He was responsible for the development of the Art Centre and created extensive visual and performing art classes as well as programs for the 300 seat James Cowan Theatre. He was able to sponsor many theatre, dance, music and visual art groups by giving them workspace and performance opportunities. Lloyd was very proud that he was able to help so many young people get started in their careers in the arts. The Centre is now known as the Shadbolt Centre for Arts in Burnaby.
The family would like to express our sincerest thanks to Dr. Davey Gin for his many years providing very kind and caring assistance.
At Lloyd's request, there will be no service held. For those who wish, memorial donations can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
BERRY, Lloyd (Lloyd Edward Berry)
Born: 11/23/1926, St. James, Manitoba, Canada
Died:  7/12/2016, Surrey, British  Columbia, Canada
Lloyd Berry’s westerns – actor:
Bordertown (TV) – 1989 (Bailiff Lathrop)
Pioneer Woman (TV) – 1973 (Slim Hall)
Sally Fieldgood & Co. – 1975
Wild Horse Hank – 1979 (foreman)
Huckleberry Finn  and His Friends – 1980 (Muff Potter)

RIP Carlos Cardán

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Actor Carlos Cardán has died

His works are unforgettable in melodramas as "Muchachitas", "I buy that woman", "Fire in the Blood,""The white and black", "North of the heart" and "La Chacala"

El Universal
7/18/2016

Mexican actor Carlos Cardan, who excelled as a villain in countless telenovelas, died today at age 83 of unknown causes.

He died at 6:30 pm on Sunday, he told Notimex staff of the House of Actor, where he lived.  There he devoted himself to painting and exhibiting his paintings.

His body is veiled in room 40 of a funeral Sullivan Street in this city.  At noon on Monday they will officiate at Mass in his honor and then move his remains to cremation.

Carlos Lopez Figueroa was his real name.  He was born on November 3, 1932 in Ciudad Lerdo, Durango.

50 years ago began his career as an actor and in that time participated in more than 150 productions in film, television and videohome.  His first job was in 1966 through the movie "The scapular" and on television with "The Constitution" (1970).

His works are unforgettable in melodramas as "Muchachitas", "I buy that woman", "Fire in the Blood,""The white and black", "North of the heart" and "La Chacala".  His most recent work was in one of the episodes of the series "Killer Women".

In theater he highlighted as part of the works: "Paraphrase Othello,""Swan Song,""Uncle Vanya" and "Let's tell lies".

External recently the desire to return to work and wanted to call the producer Juan Osorio.  In his profile of Facebook page sees Carlos Cardan reclining on a bed with a cigarette in his left hand.

Last June 10 was admitted to the Rome Angels Hospital for health complications, but three days later he was discharged.


CARDAN, Carlos (Carlos Lopez Figueroa)
Born: 11/3/1932, Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico
Died: 7/17/2016, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Carlos Cardan’s westerns – actor:
La noche del halcon – 1968
Los amores de Juan Charrasqueado – 1968 (Fernando Morales)
Por mis pistolas – 1968 (Frank)
El hombre de negro – 1969 (Esbirro de Jim)
El asesino enmascarado – 1970 (Commissioner Ponciano Mendez)
Pancho Tequila - 1970
La mula de Cullen Baker - 1971
Los desalmados - 1971
Nada de fieras – 1971
Todo el horizonte para morir - 1971
Pistolero del diablo – 1974 (Mike Nolan)
En defense propia – 1977
Matar por matar - 1979
Con la muerte en ancas – 1980 (Billy Morgan)
A Real Man – 1983 (Braulio Gomez)
Forajidas en la mira - 1985
Juan Nadia – 1990
Testigo silenciosa - 1992

RIP Tom Toner

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RIP Tom Toner

New York Times
July 10, 2016

Tom died one year ago at age 87 from complications of lung cancer. His road to Broadway began in the theater of the Carnegie Library, Homestead, PA, where, from the wings, Tom watched his big sister Vernie perform. As part of the "Greenfield Gang" at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Tom acted, put on shows, and made lifelong friends. He worked ore boats on the Great Lakes, served in Japan with the US Army, graduated from UCLA, and launched his professional acting career. Swept into the growing regional theater movement, Tom performed all over the country, and was a long time company member at the Alley Theater, Arena Stage and Old Globe. Even as a young actor, his strong talent, plus expertise at make up and wigs brought Tom plum character roles. His special treat was playing the maid or maiden aunt, then thrilling audiences with his curtain call "reveal." Tom moved to New York, performed in plays on and off Broadway (notably, A Texas Trilogy, The Good Doctor, The Elephant Man), appeared in film (including multiple Coen Brothers movies) and TV. Then, to his great delight, found himself reborn in middle-age as a "Song and Dance Man!," continuing his career in Broadway musicals, including The Secret Garden, Me and My Girl, and Ragtime. Tom was known for his ability to bring acting companies together, but as a consummate storyteller, he sometimes caused fellow actors to linger too long, and race from the Green Room, barely making their entrance. He loved walking to work from his Manhattan Plaza home, or watching the glow of Times Square and Broadway from the "tropical retreat" of his balcony. If "all the world's a stage," Tom designed the set for his own world, magically magnifying his tiny apartment to suit his vision. The fifth of nine children, Tom grew up in a rambunctious, joy-filled, Irish family. His eccentric, free spirit will be forever celebrated by his remaining siblings, Betty Jean, Mary Alice, and Bob, dozens of loving nieces and nephews, his cherished confidants, friends and colleagues. His ashes are at St Mary's Cemetery, Munhall, PA, with Mother and Pop, and part of the sidewalk sparkle at 42nd Street.


TONER, Tom (Thomas Toner)
Born: 5/25/1928, Homestead, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Died: 7/22/2015, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Tom Toner’s western – actor:
The High Chaparral (TV) – 1970 (doctor)

RIP Aldo Monti

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Actor Aldo Monti has died

He starred in classic soap operas like "Teresa" and "Ruby"

El Universal
7/19/2016

Italian actor Aldo Monti, who became a television personality and film in Mexico in the late 1960s, died today.

The National Association of Performers (ANDI) informed the press through their social networks of the news of his death.

"An actor with extensive experience in film, theater and television.  He is remembered for his participation in the melodramas ‘Entre el amor y el odio’, ‘El amor tiene cara de mujer’ and ‘El hogar que yo robé’.

He also was the director of ‘Querer volar y Obsesión asesina’. To his family and friends we express our deepest condolences and send you an embrace of solidarity.

Rest in peace! "Wrote the ANDI.

In addition to these roles he will remembered his appearances in classic soap operas of the 1960s and 1970s as "Teresa", "Ruby", and in films of the same era as “El rayo de Jalisco”, “El libro de piedra”, “Santo en el tesoro de Drácula” and “La venganza de las mujeres vampiro”.

 Monti was born in Rome on January 4, 1929 and since the 1950s lived in Mexico.


MONTI, Aldo (Monteforte Aldo Bartolomeo)
Born: 1/4/1929, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Died: 7/19/2016, Mexico

Aldo Monti’s westerns – actor:
Vivo o muerto – 1960 (Doroteo)
El rayo de Jalisco – 1962 (Genaro Vidal/Rayo de Jalisco)
Juramento de sangre - 1962

RIP Lisa Gaye

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RIP Lisa Gaye

Houston Chronicle

Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle

July 20, 2016

Lisa Gaye Ware, 1935 - 2016, went to be with The Lord July 14, 2016 in Houston at the age of 81. She was born as Leslie Gaye Griffin in Denver, Colorado on March 6, 1935. She became Lisa Gaye Ware when she married Bentley Clyde Ware who predeceased her.

She had a brilliant career as a dancer and actress under the stage name of Lisa Gaye in films such as "Rock Around the Clock", "Shake, Rattle, & Roll", and "Drums Across the River" and television shows such as "Get Smart", "I Dream of Jeannie", "Wagon Train", "Perry Mason", "The Bob Cummings Show", "Wild Wild West", "The Flying Nun" and as Gwen Kirby in "How to Marry a Millionaire" as well as multiple television shows from the 1950's - 1960's.

She retired from the public eye in 1970 to raise her daughter and to begin focusing on her devotion to her Lord Jesus Christ. She is survived by her daughter, Janell; by her many grandchildren; by her sister Debra K'ung (Debra Paget) & her son; and her brother Frank Henry Griffin Jr. & his children, his grandchildren, and his great grandchildren; & by her sister Teala Griffin Pickler's (Teala Loring's) children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren.

Her remains will be placed at the Houston National Cemetery. She is in the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A Bible Verse from Lisa to you – (John 3:16) "For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life."


GAYE, Lisa (Leslie Gaye Griffin)
Born: 3/6/1935, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Died: 7/14/2016, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

Lisa Gaye’s westerns – actress:
Drums Across the River – 1954 (Jennie)
Frontier (TV) – 1955 (Sister Marguerite)
Annie Oakley (TV) – 1956 (Vera Barker)
The Adventures of Jim Bowie (TV) 1956, 1957 (Jeanne Brasseau, Mario Miro)
Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1957, 1958 (Helen Abajinian, Nancy Walter)
The Californians (TV) – 1958 (Donna Louise)
Northwest Passage (TV) – 1958 (Natula)
Tombstone Territory (TV) – 1958, 1959 (Miss Lizette, Nancy Cooley)
Zorro (TV) – 1958 (Constancia)
Bat Masterson (TV) – 1959, 1961 (Lori Dowling/Lori La Rue, Susan Carver, Elena)
Hudson’s Bay (TV) – 1959 (Soft Snow)
Pony Express (TV) – 1959 (Lotta Lee)
Black Saddle (TV) – 1959 (Susan Kent)
Colt .45 (TV) 1959 (June Webster)
Sugarfoot (TV) – 1959 (Patricia ‘Brimstone’ Hoyt)
Cheyenne (TV) – 1960 (Jenny, Francis Scott)
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969 (Yvonne Benet, Dolores, Healing Woman, Gypsy, Rosie Lisa)
Rawhide (TV) – 1960 (Odette Laurier)
U.S. Marchal (TV) – 1960 (Marie Wallace)
Maverick (TV) – 1961 (Soledad Lozaro)
Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1961 (Sunset)
Wagon Train (TV) – 1961 (Alma Mendez)
Bronco (TV) – 1962 (Donna Coe)
Laramie (TV) – 1962 (Winona)
The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1966, 1967 (Lorolei, Lana Benson)

RIP Seamon Glass

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RIP Seamon Glass

Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2016

 September 26, 1925 - July 12, 2016 Seamon Glass, beloved husband to Yan Zhang for 23 years, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 in his Los Angeles home surrounded by family and friends. He was 90. A long-time resident of Santa Monica, California, Seamon was born in New York City on September 26, 1925. Two years after losing his father, at the age of 13, he moved to California with his mother. At the age of 17, he convinced his mother to let him serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. He returned to California following his honorable discharge in 1945. Seamon lead a full and adventurous life. He found and married the love of his life while teaching English in China. He was an actor, writer, teacher, guidance counselor, professional heavyweight boxer, merchant seaman, harbor patrol officer in Santa Monica, world traveler, and a veteran of World War II. As an actor, Seamon was best known for his work on the films, Deliverance, Slither, Damnation Alley, The Rose and This Is Not a Test, and the television shows Star Trek, Perry Mason, and Vegas.

He was a natural teacher, a great story-teller and reciter of poetry, a friend to many, and a well-loved guidance counselor for many years at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California. Seamon is survived by his wife, Yan Zhang, his son, David Glass, his granddaughter, Chelsea Glass, his cat, Ghengis, and his giant unnamed blood parrot cichlid fish. A memorial service will be held at 9 AM on Sunday, July 31, 2016 at the Public Viewing Deck located on the west end of the Santa Monica Pier next to the Harbor Patrol station and Marisol's restaurant in Santa Monica, California 90401. Please RSVP to tower13plus1@gmail.com by July 27, 2016 if you wish to attend.


GLASS, Seamon
Born: 9/26/1925, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 7/12/2016, Los Angeles, California U.S.A.

Seamon Glass’ westerns – actor:
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1973 (Acker)
Blazing Saddles – 1974 (cowboy)
Johnny Firecloud – 1975 (Grissom)
Winterhawk – 1975 (Big Smith)
Barbary Coast (TV) – 1975 (seaman)
Mr. Horn (TV) – 1979 (skinny rustler)
Bret Maverick (TV) – 1982 (Kelly)
Hawken’s Breed – 1987 (Pa Hickman)
Deadwood (TV) – 2005 (welfare worker)

RIP Gary Marshall

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'Pretty Woman' filmmaker Garry Marshall dies at age 81

Associated Press
By Lynn Elber

Garry Marshall knew how to tug at moviegoers' heartstrings, whether with unlikely love in "Pretty Woman" or sentimental loss in "Beaches."

But it was goofy, crowd-pleasing comedy that endeared the writer and director to generations of TV viewers in hit sitcoms including "Happy Days, "Laverne & Shirley" and "Mork & Mindy." Marshall, who died Tuesday at 81, said in a 1980s interview that humor was his necessary path in life.

"In the neighborhood where we grew up in, the Bronx, you only had a few choices. You were either an athlete or a gangster, or you were funny," the New York native said.

Marshall also had a memorable on-screen presence, using his hometown accent and gruff delivery in colorful supporting roles that included a practical-minded casino boss untouched by Albert Brooks' disastrous luck in "Lost in America" and a crass network executive in "Soapdish."

He died at a hospital in Burbank, California, of complications from pneumonia following a stroke, his publicist Michelle Bega said in a statement. An outpouring of respect and affection quickly followed.

Ron Howard, who starred as all-American teen Richie Cunningham on "Happy Days" before going on to become one of Hollywood's top directors, wrote on Twitter that Marshall went by a simple mantra, "Life is more important than show business."

"He was a world class boss & mentor whose creativity and leadership meant a ton to me," Howard added.

Richard Gere, who starred opposite Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman," said in a statement that "everyone loved Garry. He was a mentor and a cheerleader and one of the funniest men who ever lived. He had a heart of the purest gold and a soul full of mischief. He was Garry."

Henry Winkler, who starred as Fonzie on "Happy Days," saluted Marshall in a tweet as "larger than life, funnier than most, wise and the definition of friend."

"A great, great guy and the best casino boss in the history of film," actor-filmmaker Brooks posted on Twitter.

He rejected retirement, serving as a consultant on CBS' 2015 reboot of "The Odd Couple," starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon, and appearing in an episode this year as Oscar's father, Walter. Among his final credits was "Mother's Day," a film released last April starring Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Roberts.

Marshall, the brother of actress-director Penny Marshall, earned a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and worked at the New York Daily News. But he found he was better at writing punchlines.

He began his entertainment career in the 1960s selling jokes to comedians, then moved to writing sketches for "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar in New York. He caught the eye of comic Joey Bishop, who brought him to Los Angeles to write for "The Joey Bishop Show."

Sitcoms quickly proved to be Marshall's forte. He and then-writing partner Jerry Belson turned out scripts for the most popular comedies of the '60s, including "The Lucy Show,"''The Danny Thomas Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Marshall and Belson detoured into screenwriting in 1967 with "How Sweet It Is," starring Debbie Reynolds, and followed it up with "The Grasshopper" (1970) with Jacqueline Bisset. But the two men kept their hand in TV.

In 1970, they turned Neil Simon's Broadway hit, "The Odd Couple," into a sitcom starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall and produced by Marshall. It ran for five seasons and proved the beginning of a TV sitcom empire that lives on in unending 21st-century reruns.

In January 1979, Marshall had three of the top five comedies on the air with "Happy Days," which ran from 1974-84; "Laverne & Shirley" (1976-83), which starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, and "Mork & Mindy" (1978-82) with newcomer Robin Williams.

"The New Odd Couple," a reboot with African-American actors Ron Glass and Demond Wilson in the lead roles, aired from 1982-83 but was less successful.

Marshall defended his body of TV work, which won more viewers than honors, in his 1995 autobiography, "Wake Me When It's Funny," written with his daughter, Lori Marshall.

"Critics have knocked me for targeting society's lowest common denominator," he wrote. "I believe that television was, and still is, the only medium that can truly reach society's lowest common denominator and entertain those people who maybe can't afford a movie or a play. So why not reach them and do it well?" he said.

Penny Marshall told The New York Times in 2001 that her brother "has a life. He's not into the show business glitterati. If he has a hot movie, that's great. But if he has something that doesn't do great, he's not around those people who won't speak to you or will make you feel terrible."

After cranking out what Marshall once estimated to be 1,000 sitcom episodes, he switched his focus to the big screen with 1984's "The Flamingo Kid," a coming-of-age story starring Matt Dillon, which Marshall wrote and directed.

He concentrated on directing with his later films, including 1986's "Nothing in Common," with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason; "Overboard" (1987) starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell; "Beaches" (1988) with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey; "Pretty Woman" (1990) and "Dear God" (1996) with Greg Kinnear and Laurie Metcalf.

The Gere-Roberts pairing that helped make "Pretty Woman" a smash hit did the same for "Runaway Bride," which reunited them in 1999. "The Princess Diaries" in 2001 was another winner, although Marshall suffered a flop with "Georgia Rule" (2007), starring Jane Fonda and Lindsay Lohan.

Marshall is survived by his wife, Barbara, and the couple's three children, Lori, Kathleen and Scott.

Funeral services will be private but a memorial is being planned for his birthday on Nov. 13, his publicist's statement said.


MARSHALL, Gary
Born: 11/13/1934, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 7/19/2016, Burbank, California, U.S.A.

Gary Marshall’s westerns – producer, screenwriter, actor:
Sheriff Who? (TV) – 1967 [producer, screenwriter]
Evil Roy Slade (TV) – 1972 [producer, screenwriter]
The Long Ride Home – 2003 (Arthur)

RIP David Spielberg

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Family remembers TV, film actor who hailed from Weslaco

The Monitor
By Michael Rodriguez

Family members on Monday recalled hearing stories of David Spielberg standing in front of a mirror as a child, singing and rehearsing lines to his favorite television shows.

It was a passion the Weslaco native took with him to Austin before traveling to New York City to hone his craft on stage, and eventually to Los Angeles, California, where he lived the rest of his days after embarking on a successful career in the TV and film industry.

His success was such that before Spielberg died at the age of 77 on June 1, he had nearly 140 acting credits to his name, including large roles in One Life to Live, Christine, ER, Law & Order, Baywatch, The West Wing and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Many consider his face instantly recognizable due to the volume of his work and the scope of genres it encompassed, but to Sue Arriaga of Weslaco, Spielberg will always be family. After all, it was her mother, Consuelo, who helped raise him and his brother Joe after a family tragedy.

Arriaga said the Spielbergs lost their mother, Manuelita, when they were children and were raised by their father, George Spielberg, and Consuelo, whom David Spielberg affectionately referred to as “Mama Cello.”

“After he first went to New York, he came down here to visit us and brought a picture of the first thing he had appeared in and showed it to my mom,” Arriaga recalled. “It was a play that had something to do with a king, and the photo was of the whole cast. Then he said, ‘Mama Cello, here’s a picture of my first play.’ But when he asked my mom who she thought he was in the picture, she believed he was one of the plain-dressed actors. He laughed and said, ‘No, Mama Cello! I’m the king!’”

His wife of 27 years, Janie Spielberg, shared impressions of her late husband’s career as well as all that earned a measure of pride in their household. Perhaps none more so than the immeasurable number of households he reached.

“I think he was just such a recognizable face that people don’t even know that they’ve seen him,” Janie Spielberg said. “He’s been in so many homes for so many years, as well as on the stage, in films and voiceovers on film that I, too, am impressed by the résumé that he had. We were especially happy that he worked on the political things he did, including an HBO movie that won some awards.”

The film she was referring to was Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart,” which chronicled the HIV and AIDS crisis in 1980s New York City.

Daniel Spielberg, David and first wife Barbara Spielberg’s son, remembered his father as a man with many passions who enjoyed life.

“He was a huge TV watcher and loved dogs — Golden Retrievers — and he loved Mexican food so much he could probably eat it every single day,” Daniel said with a laugh. “He loved to walk and played football when he was in high school. His uncle owned a local movie theater, and that’s how he got interested in acting because of the movie theater there. He also loved Shakespeare and old movies from (Alfred) Hitchcock and Billy Wilder.”

The 1957 Weslaco High School graduate has since not only earned the respect of the acting world but a sense of pride from the Mid-Valley community over a native son who made good on his childhood promise.

“My mom always told us about how he said he was going to be an actor, but no one really thought anything of it until he did it,” Arriaga said.


SPIELBERG, David
Born: 1937, Weslaco, Texas, U.S.A.
Died: 6/1/1916, Weslaco, Texas, U.S.A.

David Spielberg’s western – actor:
Barbary Coast (TV) – 1975 (Jesse James)

RIP Marni Nixon

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Marni Nixon, the Voice Behind the Screen, Dies at 86

New York Times
July 25, 2016

Marni Nixon, the American cinema’s most unsung singer, died on Sunday in New York. She was 86.

The cause was breast cancer, said Randy Banner, a student and friend.

Classically trained, Ms. Nixon was throughout the 1950s and ’60s the unseen — and usually uncredited — singing voice of the stars in a spate of celebrated Hollywood films. She dubbed Deborah Kerr in “The King and I,” Natalie Wood in “West Side Story” and Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady,” among many others.

Her other covert outings included singing for Jeanne Crain in “Cheaper by the Dozen,” Janet Leigh in “Pepe” and Ida Lupino in “Jennifer.” “The ghostess with the mostest,” the newspapers called her, a description that eventually began to rankle.

Before her Hollywood days and long afterward, Ms. Nixon was an acclaimed concert singer, a specialist in contemporary music who appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic; a recitalist at Carnegie, Alice Tully and Town Halls in New York; and a featured singer on one of Leonard Bernstein’s televised young people’s concerts.

Her concerts and her many recordings — including works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Webern, Ives, Copland, Gershwin and Kern — drew wide critical praise. Yet as late as 1990, decades after Ms. Nixon had made good on her vow to perform only as herself, she remained, in the words of The Los Angeles Times, “the best known of the ghost singers.”

At midcentury, Hollywood was more inclined to cast bankable stars than trained singers in films that called for singing. As a result, generations of Americans have grown accustomed to Ms. Nixon’s voice, if not her face, in standards like “Getting to Know You,” from “The King and I”; “I Feel Pretty,” from “West Side Story”; and “I Could Have Danced All Night,” from “My Fair Lady.”

Deborah Kerr was nominated for an Academy Award in 1956 for her role as Anna in “The King and I”; the film’s soundtrack album sold hundreds of thousands of copies. For singing Anna’s part on that album, Ms. Nixon recalled, she received a total of $420.

“You always had to sign a contract that nothing would be revealed,” Ms. Nixon told the ABC News program “Nightline” in 2007. “Twentieth Century Fox, when I did ‘The King and I,’ threatened me.” She continued, “They said, if anybody ever knows that you did any part of the dubbing for Deborah Kerr, we’ll see to it that you don’t work in town again.”

Though Ms. Nixon honored the bargain, her work soon became one of Hollywood’s worst-kept secrets. She became something of a cult figure, appearing as a guest on “To Tell the Truth” and as an answer to clues featured by “Jeopardy!,” Trivial Pursuit and at least one New York Times crossword puzzle.

Her increasing renown helped bring her spectral trade into the light and encouraged her to push for official recognition. “The anonymity didn’t bother me until I sang Natalie Wood’s songs in ‘West Side Story,’ ” Ms. Nixon told The Times in 1967. “Then I saw how important my singing was to the picture. I was giving my talent, and somebody else was taking the credit.”

Although the studios seldom accorded Ms. Nixon the screen credit and royalties that she began to demand, both became customary for ghost singers.

Starting as a teenager in the late 1940s and continuing for the next two decades, Ms. Nixon lent her crystalline soprano to some 50 films, sometimes contributing just a line or two of song — sometimes just a single, seamless note — that the actress could not manage on her own.

The voice of an angel heard by Ingrid Bergman in “Joan of Arc”? It was Ms. Nixon’s.

The songs of the nightclub singer, played by Ms. Kerr, in “An Affair to Remember”? Also Ms. Nixon.

The second line of the couplet “But square-cut or pear-shape/These rocks don’t lose their shape,” with its pinpoint high note on “their,” from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”? That was Ms. Nixon too. (The film’s star Marilyn Monroe sang the rest of the number, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”)

It was a decidedly peculiar calling — and not one on which Ms. Nixon had ever planned — entailing not so much imitating actors as embodying them.

“It’s fascinating, getting inside the actresses you’re singing for,” she told The New York Journal-American in 1964. “It’s like cutting off the top of their heads and seeing what’s underneath. You have to know how they feel, as well as how they talk, in order to sing as they would sing — if they could sing.”

Over time, however, Ms. Nixon came to regard her spectacular mimetic gift as more curse than blessing. For despite her myriad accomplishments as a singer of art songs, she was obliged to spend years exorcising her ghostly cinematic presence.

“It got so I’d lent my voice to so many others that I felt it no longer belonged to me,” she told The Times in 1981. “It was eerie; I had lost part of myself.”

A petite, fine-boned woman who resembled Julie Andrews, Ms. Nixon was born Margaret Nixon McEathron on Feb. 22, 1930, in Altadena, Calif., near Los Angeles.

She began studying the violin at 4 and throughout her childhood played bit parts — “the freckle-faced brat,” she called her typical role — in a string of Hollywood movies. At 11, already possessed of a fine singing voice, she won a vocal competition at the Los Angeles County Fair and found her true calling. She became a private pupil of Vera Schwarz, a distinguished Austrian soprano who had settled in the United States.

At 17, Ms. Nixon appeared as a vocal soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Leopold Stokowski, singing in Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” She later studied opera at Tanglewood with Sarah Caldwell and Boris Goldovsky.

During her teenage years, Ms. Nixon worked as a messenger at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Knowing of her musical ability — she had perfect pitch and was an impeccable sight reader — the studio began recruiting her to furnish the singing voices of young actresses. The work helped pay for Ms. Nixon’s voice lessons.

Her first significant dubbing job was singing a Hindu lullaby for Margaret O’Brien in “The Secret Garden,” released in 1949.

Ms. Nixon did occasionally take center stage, as when she played Eliza Doolittle in a 1964 revival of “My Fair Lady” at City Center in New York. (Ms. Andrews had played the part in the original Broadway production, which opened in 1956.) In 1965, Ms. Nixon was seen on camera in a small role as a singing nun in “The Sound of Music,” starring Ms. Andrews.

On Broadway, Ms. Nixon appeared in the Sigmund Romberg musical “The Girl in Pink Tights” in 1954 and, more recently, in the musical drama “James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’ ” (2000), the 2001 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” and the 2003 revival of “Nine.”

Ms. Nixon’s first marriage, to Ernest Gold, a film composer who won an Oscar for the 1960 film “Exodus,” ended in divorce, as did her second, to Lajos Frederick Fenster. Her third husband, Albert Block, died in 2015.

Survivors include her daughters from her first marriage, Martha Carr and Melani Gold Friedman; her sisters Donyl Mern Aleman, Adair McEathron Jenkins and Ariel Lea Witbeck; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A son from her first marriage, Andrew Gold, a popular songwriter whose hit “Thank You for Being a Friend” became the theme of the NBC sitcom “The Golden Girls,” died in 2011 at 59.

Ms. Nixon’s other onscreen credits include “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” In the 1970s and ’80s, she was the host of “Boomerang,” a popular children’s television show in Seattle, where she had made her home for some years before moving to the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

She also supplied the singing voice of Grandmother Fa in Disney’s animated film “Mulan,” released in 1998. (The character’s spoken dialogue was voiced by the actress June Foray.) She taught for many years at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where she was the founding director of the vocal department.

But it was her work as a ghost that is enshrined forever in the cinematic canon: “West Side Story” won the Oscar for best picture of 1961; “My Fair Lady” won for 1964. Both films remain perennials on television.

Ms. Nixon, who continued singing until she was in her 80s, eventually came to regard her heard-but-not-seen life with affection. She paid it homage in a one-woman show, “Marni Nixon: The Voice of Hollywood,” with which she toured the country for years.

She did likewise in a memoir, “I Could Have Sung All Night,” published in 2006. (The memoir was written with a ghost, Stephen Cole, whom Ms. Nixon credited prominently on the cover and the title page.)

In the few movie musicals made today, directors tend to cast actors who are trained singers (like Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods”) or those whose star power mitigates the fact that they are not (like Helena Bonham Carter in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”).

What this means is that the ghost singers who were once a Hollywood mainstay have now, for the most part, become ghosts themselves.


NIXON, Marni (Margaret Nixon McEathron)
Born: 2/22/1930, Altadena, California, U.S.A.
Died: 7/24/2016, New York, U.S.A.

Marni Nixon’s western – voice actress:
Bonanza (TV) – 1965 [voice double for Viveca Lindfors]

RIP Lee Grant

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The New Zealand Herald
July 25, 2016

GRANT, Lee. Died Friday 22nd July, 2016, Perth, Australia. Actress and dear friend. Remembered with love by her colleagues at Mercury Theatre and Theatre Corporate.


GRANT, Lee (Leonara Elizabeth Grant)
Born: 8/3/1931  Carshalton, Surrey, England U.K.
Died: – 7/22/2016, Perth, Australia

Lee Grant’s western – actress:
White Fang (TV) – 1994 (Mrs. Dillon)

RIP Joe Napolitano

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Joe Napolitano, ‘Quantum Leap,’ ‘X-Files’ Director Dies at 67

Variety
By Lamarco McClendon
July 26, 2016

Joe Napolitano, the TV director known for his work on “Quantum Leap” and “The X-Files,” passed away on July 23 in Los Angeles after losing his battle with cancer. He was 67.

Napolitano’s career in directing and producing spanned over thirty-four years and his television credits numbered over forty episodes of prime time dramas, including “Picket Fences,” “Northern Exposure,” “E.R.” and “Boston Public.”

He directed 12 episodes of “Quantum Leap” between 1990 and 1992, four episodes of “JAG” between 1995 and 1997 and two episodes of “The X-Files” series in 1993 and 1994.

In addition to television, Joe served as first assistant director on such classic Hollywood films as “Scarface,” “Parenthood,” “Throw Momma From the Train,” “The Fisher King,” “The Untouchables,” “Body Double,” “Blow Out,” and “The Pope of Greenwich Village.”

During this time, he worked with such directors as Brian Hutton, Danny DeVito, Stuart Rosenberg, Donald P. Bellisario, Ron Howard, Howard Zieff, Terry Gilliam, Antoine Fuqua, and on multiple projects directed by Brian De Palma.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and two children, Michael and Grace.


NAPOLITANO, Joe (Joseph Ralph Napolitano)
Born: 11/22/1948, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 7/23/2016, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Joe Napolitano’s western – director:
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (TV) - 1993

RIP Joe Powell

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Joe Powell, stuntman – obituary

The Telegraph
July 27, 2016

Joe Powell, who has died aged 94, was known as the “daddy of British stuntmen” for the gut-wrenchingly high-risk feats he performed in classic adventure films such as Where Eagles Dare and The Guns of Navarone.

For The Man Who Would Be King, John Huston’s adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling story filmed in the Atlas mountains, Powell, “doubling” for Sean Connery, had to plunge 100 ft from a collapsed rope bridge into a perilous ravine: if he had missed the target area covered with boxes to cushion his fall, he would have plummeted a further 2,000 ft. The co-star Michael Caine walked away saying: “I’m not going to watch this one.” Huston was delighted, saying it was “the darnedest stunt I ever saw”.

During the course of his career Powell suffered a few broken ribs, and a broken hip after a horse fell on him, but he did not allow himself to be unduly troubled by nerves. “The thing is,” he explained, “you don’t have time to be scared – if you stop to think about what you are doing you wouldn’t do it…  I didn’t have any training so when I performed a stunt the audience were literally seeing someone fall off a cliff – it made it more realistic.”

Joseph Augustus Powell was born on March 21 1922 at the Shepherd and Flock public house, Shepherd’s Bush, where his father, Joseph, a former quartermaster sergeant in the Life Guards, was the landlord. Joe was brought up in Camden where his father had the tenancy of a pub called the Camden Head, then in Chelsea where, after the death of his father, his mother Ada (neé Blunt) ran the Prince of Wales in Dover Street.

Joe was one of five siblings; his only brother, Eddie, also became a stuntman. Whiling away his spare time while his parents were running the pub, he joined first the Cubs and then the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers Cadet Corps. He enjoyed soldiering, and soon after the outbreak of war, when he was still only 17, he joined the Grenadier Guards. To break the monotony of drill and PT he took up boxing with the regimental team, but as the war progressed he was selected for No 4 Special Service (Commando) unit, taking part in the 1942 raid on Dieppe, during which he was briefly knocked out, and in the D-Day invasion.

With the war in Europe over, Powell was sent to Germany, where he learnt to ride. He had little idea of what he was going to do apart from vague thoughts of becoming a professional boxer. But in 1946 a chance meeting at a bus stop with the actor Dennis Price led to Powell visiting the studios where Price was filming a Napoleonic-era musical with Stewart Granger called The Magic Bow.

Powell was struck by how comically unrealistic Napoleon’s “crack soldiers” were and determined that here might be an opening. “I’m going into the film industry,” he told his friends, “to bring realism into action films.”

Demobbed in the rank of sergeant, he managed to get a job as an extra at Pinewood. He was sparring at the Polytechnic Boxing Club in Regent Street and through a friendship there he ended up as a founding partner in a stunt team set up by Captain Jock Easton MC, who was just out of the SAS.

For Powell’s first big stunt, in The Small Voice, filmed at Ealing Studios, he played a motorcycle policeman pursuing a criminal gang in a car. He had to simulate being shot at, swerving off the road at 40 mph and crashing into a tree. The stunt was so lifelike that the prop man assumed Powell really had been injured.

Powell appeared in nearly 100 films, including Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), Moby Dick (1956), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). It was not unusual for him to be blown up, machine-gunned or otherwise “killed” multiple times in one picture, as when he played German soldiers in Where Eagles Dare (1968). He always insisted that he had not trained to be a stuntman, though one special skill he had was falling from heights.

As well as the rope bridge fall in The Man Who Would Be King, there was a dramatic plunge 90 ft down from the side of a sinking ship (Titanic) in A Night to Remember in 1958, filmed in Glasgow docks. Then in 1961 for The Guns of Navarone he took the role of a German shot by Gregory Peck and dropping 90 ft from a cave into the sea by the island of Rhodes. It went without a hitch, though he was heavily bruised.

Living through a golden age of films with military themes, Powell applied his own Army experience to his projects. In 1964 he took on a rare acting role in one such film, as Sgt Windridge, in Cy Endfield’s Zulu. The film contained some unusual stunts; Powell also trained the Zulus and helped choreograph the battle scenes.

In 1962 he worked on The Longest Day, the film based on Cornelius Ryan’s book about D-Day, which depicted events in which he had been involved. Visiting the set one day with the producer Darryl Zanuck, Lord Lovat was heard to say: “There’s Powell, one of my sergeants.”

Powell appeared in three Bond films and the spoof Casino Royale. In 1969, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, he stood in for Telly Savalas as the criminal mastermind Blofeld in a terrifying bobsleigh chase.

In retirement Powell kept up his keep-fit enthusiasm. Looking back on his career he was particularly proud of the fact that he had helped stunt performers to gain acceptance into Equity, the actors’ union. He had a lifelong love of the sea and was in the crew of the replica ship Mayflower II when it sailed to America in 1957.

He was twice married, first to Marguerite, known as “Clem”; she died of cancer. His second wife, Juliet, also died, and he is survived by four sons and a daughter; another daughter predeceased him.


POWELL, Joe (Joseph Augusta Powell)
Born: 3/21/1922, Shepherd’s Bush, London, England, U.K.
Died: 6/30/2016, London, England, U.K.

Joe Powell’s western – stuntman:
Africa: Texas Style - 1967

RIP Jerry Doyle

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'Babylon 5' star Jerry Doyle Dead at 60

TMZ
7/28/2016

Jerry Doyle -- best known for his role on "Babylon 5" -- died Wednesday ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us ... a call was made to his Las Vegas home yesterday afternoon after he was found unresponsive. It's unclear how the political radio talk show host and actor died ... but we're told no foul play is suspected. An autopsy is pending.

Jerry starred as security officer Michael Garibaldi from 1994 to 1998 and was married to co-star Andrea Thompson from 1995 to 1997. He worked on Wall Street before going into acting.

As of late ... Jerry hosted a nationally syndicated radio talk show, "The Jerry Doyle Show."

He was 60.


DOYLE, Jerry
Born: 7/16/1956, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 7/27/2016, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Jerry Doyle’s western – actor:
The Long Ride Home – 2003 (Sheriff)

RIP Gloria DeHaven

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Gloria DeHaven, Effervescent Star of MGM Musicals, Dies at 91

The Hollywood Reporter
By  Mike Barnes and Duane Byrge

She wandered into Charlie Chaplin’s 'Modern Times' and later appeared in 'Best Foot Forward,''Three Little Words,''Two Girls and a Sailor' and 'Out to Sea.'

Singer-actress Gloria DeHaven, the perky star of MGM musicals in the 1940s and a stalwart of show business for more than six decades, has died. She was 91.

DeHaven, who made her screen debut in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936) as Paulette Goddard's kid sister — her father served as an assistant director on the film — died Saturday while in hospice care in Las Vegas, her daughter, Faith Fincher-Finkelstein, told The Hollywood Reporter. DeHaven suffered a stroke about three months ago, she said.

The vivacious DeHaven, a studio player at MGM, appeared in a number of top films with leading stars, including Thousands Cheer (1943) with Gene Kelly;Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) with June Allyson and Van Johnson; Step Lively (1944) with Frank Sinatra; Summer Holiday (1948) with Mickey Rooney; The Doctor and the Girl (1949) with Glenn Ford and Nancy Reagan; Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) with Janet Leigh and Tony Martin; and The Girl Rush (1955) with Rosalind Russell.

In Three Little Words (1950), a biography of Tin Pan Alley songwriters Bert Kalmar (played by Fred Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton), DeHaven played her real-life mother, vaudeville star Flora Parker. She sang the 1920s tearjerker "Who’s Sorry Now?" in the film.

DeHaven also performed in numerous other movies, including Best Foot Forward (1943), Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby (1949), Summer Stock (1950), Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953), So This Is Paris (1954), Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and the dreadful Bog (1979).

Her last movie appearance came as a lovely widow and romantic interest of Jack Lemmon's character on the cruise-ship set Out to Sea (1997).

She played Annie "Tippy-toes" Wylie, a bisexual CB radio aficionado who also had an affair with the husband of Louise Lasser's character, on the fabled Norman Lear syndicated series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and had a continuing role on the short-lived 1974 ABC series Nakia, starring Robert Forster.

DeHaven also appeared on the soaps As the World Turns, Ryan’s Hope (playing a woman who for a while lived in a trailer camp) and All My Children.

Gloria Mildred DeHaven was born July 23, 1925, in Los Angeles, the daughter of Parker and actor-director Carter DeHaven. They were billed in vaudeville as the song-and-dance team “Mr. and Mrs. Carter DeHaven.”

Her father was good friends with Chaplin. "One day I came to visit my dad on the set [of Modern Times] and they needed two little girls to be in a shot with Paulette Goddard," she once recalled. "All they had us do was eat bananas and run around. I said, 'If this is show business, I'm definitely in!'"

She appeared in Susan and God (1940), the film version of a Broadway play that starred Joan Crawford, Fredric March and Rita Hayworth, and her first film under contract at MGM was Best Foot Forward with Lucille Ball. Later, she appeared in The Thin Man Goes Home (1944), the fifth of the six private detective films that starred William Powell and Myrna Loy.

In the Big Band era, she was a featured vocalist with the Bob Crosby and Jan Savitt dance bands and later headlined gigs in Las Vegas, New York and London nightclubs.

DeHaven made her Broadway debut as the star of the 1955 musical version of Seventh Heaven with Ricardo Montalban. She also toplined summer stock productions of The Sound of Music, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Hello, Dolly and Plaza Suite.

DeHaven played many guest-starring roles on TV, beginning in the halcyon days of live TV and on such shows as Robert Montgomery Presents, The Rifleman, The Defenders, Burke’s Law, Marcus Welby, M.D., Wagon Train and Gunsmoke.

Later in her career, she appeared on Fantasy Island, Quincy M.E., The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote and Touched by an Angel.

In the late 1960s, she also hosted Prize Movie, a weekday morning series on WABC-TV in New York.

DeHaven was married four times, including once to actor John Payne (Miracle on 34th Street, Kansas City Confidential) and twice to businessman Richard Fincher. All her marriages ended in divorce.


DeHAVEN, Gloria (Gloria Mildred DeHaven)
Born: 7/23/1925, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Died: 7/30/2016, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Gloria DeHaven’s westerns – actress:
Johnny Ringo (TV) – 1959 (Ronna Desmond)
The Rifleman (TV) – 1959 (Lillian Halsread)
Wagon Train (TV) – 1960 (Allison Justis)
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1974 (Carrie)
Banjo Hackett: Roamin’ Free (TV) – 1976 (Lady Jane Gray)
Outlaws: The Legend of O.B. Taggart - 1994

RIP David Huddleston

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David Huddleston, Who Played ‘The Big Lebowski,’ Dies at 85

Variety
By Maria Cavassuto
August 4, 2016

David Huddleston, a noted character actor who was most famously known for the titular role in “The Big Lebowski” died Tuesday at 85. His wife, Sarah Koeppe, told the Los Angeles Times that he died of kidney and lung disease in Santa Fe, N.M.

Huddleston’s character in the 1998 “The Big Lebowski” epitomized the types of characters he was known for — big dons or capos and tempestuous men. Although he is in only a few scenes in the film, he crosses paths with Jeff Bridges’ Lebowski character, aka “The Dude,” after a group of gang members attack “The Dude” mistaking him for Huddleston’s millionaire Lebowski. Though the film was not a hit when it first premiered, it has since become a huge cult sensation with a devoted fan base.

Before he was cast as the Big Lebowski, he guest starred on several TV shows, including “Walker Texas Ranger,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Gilmore Girls” and “The West Wing” and had a recurring role as the grandfather on “The Wonder Years.” His film credits include the title role in 1985’s “Santa Claus: The Movie,” “Capricorn One,” “Blazing Saddles” and “The Producers.”

His wife told the L.A. Times that he considered his “crowning achievement” to be the role of Benajmin Franklin in the 1997 Broadway production of “1776.”

Born in Vinton, Va., he served in the Air Force and then studied acting in New York on the G.I. Bill.

Huddleston is survived by his wife.


HUDDLESTON, David (David William Huddleston)
Born: 9/17/1930, Vinton, Virginia, U.S.A.
Died: 8/2/2016, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.

David Huddleston’s westerns – actor:
Shotgun  Slade (TV) – 1960 (Jenks)
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1971, 1973, 1974 (Arno, Dad Goodpastor, Asa, Emmett)
Bonanza (TV) – 1971, 1972 (Doc Scully, Myles Johnson)
Kung Fu (TV) -  1973, 1975 (Nathaniel, Shelby Cross)
Rio Lobo – 1970 (Dr. Jones)
Something Big – 1971 (Malachi Morton)
Bad Company – 1972 (Big Joe)
Billy Two Hats – 1974 (Copeland)
Blazing Saddles – 1974 (Olson Johnson)
Dirty Sally (TV) – 1974 (Slick)
The Gun and the Pulpit (TV) – 1974 (Mr. Ross)
Nakia (TV) – 1974
Breakheart Pass - 1975 (Dr. Molyneux)
How the West Was Won (TV) – 1976-1977 (Christy Judson)
The Oregon Trail – (TV) – 1976 (Painted Face Kelly)
Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (TV) – 1978 (Sheriff)
The Young Pioneers (TV) – 1978 (Juniper)
The Tracker – (TV) 1988 (Lane Crawford)
Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) 1994 – (Ferris Clayton)
Lucky Luke(TV) – 1992 (Ben Landon) [Season 1, Episode 1 “The Ghost Train” guest
      appearance)

RIP Robert Crawford

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Robert Crawford Sr., Emmy-Nominated Film Editor and Father of Actors, Dies at 95

The Hollywood Reporter
By Mike Barnes
8/5/2016

His sons Johnny and Bobby Crawford were child stars on the TV Westerns 'The Rifleman' and 'Laramie,' respectively. The family had quite the year in 1959.

Robert Crawford Sr., a film editor on several TV series who received an Emmy nomination the same year his sons, Johnny Crawford of The Rifleman and Bobby Crawford of Laramie, also were honored, has died. He was 95.

Crawford died July 28 from complications of pneumonia in Woodland Hills after a five-year stay at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home, his daughter, Nance Crawford, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Johnny Crawford, an original Mouseketeer, portrayed Chuck Connors' young son Mark McCain on The Rifleman, which aired on ABC from 1958-63. Bobby Crawford played the younger brother Andy Sherman on the first two seasons of NBC's Laramie, which ran from 1959-63.

Their father served as an editor on the sitcom The Bob Cummings Show, for which he received his Emmy nom in 1959. Johnny got his that year for best supporting actor (continuing character) in a dramatic series, while his older brother Bobby was tapped for best single performance by an actor for playing a kid in concentration camps in a George Roy Hill-directed installment of the anthology series Playhouse 90.

Robert Crawford also worked on such Warner Bros. TV shows as Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, Cheyenne and Lawman as well as on Gidget, The Monkees and Tarzan.

In addition, he edited and served as an associate producer on the 1965 film Indian Paint, starring Johnny (Bobby also was in the movie), and he played Det. Phil Burns on the syndicated 1959-61 series Manhunt.

Later, Crawford established his own independent editing service for commercials and spent time working on series from the Filmation animation studio. He retired in 1986 and, "freed from the confinement of a small cutting room, pursued adventures in sailing, cross-country skiing, skydiving, kayaking, hiking and bicycling and competed in the Senior Olympics," his daughter noted.

Crawford was born on Jan. 11, 1921, in New York City. His father was Bobby Crawford, who built the music publishing company DeSylva, Brown and Henderson (the trio behind such songs as "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and "Button Up Your Overcoat"). He then sold a library of tunes to Warner Bros. for a reported $7 million.

Crawford graduated high school from the New York Military Academy in 1938, moved to Los Angeles that year and worked at Columbia Pictures as a messenger, then served with the Marine Corps during World War II. After his discharge in 1946, he studied acting at Falcon Studios in Hollywood.

Crawford also trained with renowned Olympian and Hollywood fencing choreographer Ralph Faulkner — whose students also included Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone — and became a Southern California foil and sabre champion. His sons also took up the sport and even "dueled" on The Mickey Mouse Club.

In addition to Johnny (now a singer and bandleader), Bobby (a producer) and Nance (an author who also was a child actor), Crawford's survivors include his wife Elinor, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His first wife Betty, a concert pianist and actress, died in 1971, and his youngest son Cory died in 1992.

A private family memorial service will be held at the MPTF's Country House. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Sierra Club.


CRAWFORD, Robert
Born: 1/11/1921, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 7/28/2016, Woodland Hills, California, U.S.A.

Robert Crawford’s westerns – producer, film editor:
Sugarfoot (TV) – 1959, 1960 [editor]
Maverick (TV) – 1959, 1961 [editor]
Lawman (TV) – 1959, 1962 [editor]
Bronco (TV) – 1960, 1961 [editor]
Cheyenne (TV) – 1961 [editor]
Indian Paint – 1965 [producer, editor]

RIP Peter J. Chevalier

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RIP Peter J. Chevalier

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 6, 2016

Chevalier, Peter J., Chief Master Sergeant, USAF (ret.) 50, was born December 16, 1965 in Brooklyn, NY and passed away Wednesday August 3, 2016 in Orlando, Fl. after a long courageous battle with cancer. He lived the life he wanted and accomplished all he set out to do during his lifetime. Peter had a distinguished 30 year military career that involved him in extraordinary assignments. He traveled the world seeing and experiencing things most could only dream of. He took pride in being a 32nd Degree Mason and a Shriner. He had many hobbies, but had a talent for acting and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

He was a college graduate; man of many words and stories. He is survived by his wife Sheri (nee Smith), of Saint Cloud, FL; sons, Marc and Jeremy; daughter, Kristian; two grandchildren, Altrenia and Ashton of Summerfield, IL; his mother, Barbara Reid (nee Rivera); brother Richard (Susan) of Belleville, IL; and sister, Shawn (Rob) of Belleville IL; brother Antonio III of Binghamton, NY; father Antonio Chevalier II and step-mother Elaine of Atlanta GA; grandparents Antonio and Hilda of Kissimmee, FL. He leaves 3 aunts, 5 uncles, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. He is our Hero and will be greatly missed. Services: Visitation at Lake View Funeral Home, 5000 North Illinois Street, Fairview Heights, IL 62208 on Sunday, August 7, 2016 from 4-8 p.m. Service at Lake View Funeral Home on Monday, August 8, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. with interment at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, dona tions can be made to The Wounded Warrior Project or The American Cancer Society.


CHEVALIER, Peter J.
Born: 12/16/1965, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 8/3/2016, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

Peter J. Chevalier’s western – production assistant, actor:
Tales of the Frontier (TV) – 2012 (Matthew Thompson)

RIP Barry Head

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 RIP EDWARD NUGENT-HEAD

The New York Times
August 7, 2016

Barry, (Barry Head) writer, painter and humanitarian, has died on the 31 of July, 2016 at the age of 79 in his adopted home of Oaxaca, Mexico. He is survived by his partner, two children and four grandchildren.


HEAD, Barry (Edward Nugent-Heaad)
Born: 1937, U.S.A.
Died: 7/31/2016, Oaxaca, Mexico

Barry Head’s western – screenwriter:
On the Cowboy Trail (TV) - 1980

RIP Patrice Munsel

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The Spokesman-Review
By Carolyn Lamberson
August 9, 2016

Patrice Munsel, the Spokane-born opera singer who dazzled audiences around the world, has died at the age of 91.

In 1943, at age 17, Munsel won an audition with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City – performing the “Mad Scene” from “Lucia di Lammermoor” – and became the youngest singer to make a debut at the Met.

After a brief illness, Munsel died Thursday at her lakefront home in the Adirondacks of New York state, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

Munsel, known as Pat, took to the stage as a child in Spokane. In 1936, at age 10, she performed a whistling recital at a local concert hall. She began singing around town at age 12, and attended Lewis and Clark High School until she was 15, when she moved to New York to study singing.

“I think growing up in Spokane gave me a different way of looking at music than if I had been raised in New York,” she said in a 1985 interview.

The coloratura soprano made her debut at the Met after winning an “American Idol”-like talent program called “Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air,” which was broadcast nationally on the radio. On Dec. 4, 1943, she sang Philine in “Mignon,” by Ambroise Thomas.

She was 18. The ovation, according to an obituary prepared by her children, lasted a full six minutes.

“Singing the great scores at the Met came as naturally to me as singing Cole Porter on my own radio show” in the 1940s, she said in 1985. “It was merely a matter of making the best of what any good music had to offer.”

Her homecoming concert at the Fox Theater in 1943, after her successful Met audition, was a smash hit, with lines stretching around the block.

Munsel was born Patrice Munsil to Audley J. and Eunice Munsil – the Met was reportedly behind the change in spelling – on May 14, 1925. Her father was a dentist, and she was the couple’s only child. In an essay on her website, she credited her parents with being a little “off the wall.”

“In an insular city like Spokane, they were rare individualists, and thank God, since I was an only child, not much was denied to me,” she wrote. “At the age of six, I was studying ballet and tap and I aspired to be an artistic whistler.” That latter goal was inspired by the Disney cartoons she watched. “There were always birds whistling in the background so I decided to whistle my way to Hollywood.”

That all changed when she heard opera on the radio. She then dreamed of being a star at the Met.

Her dream was achieved. In her 15-year tenure, she would perform on the Met stage more than 225 times in roles both comedic and dramatic in operas such as “Lucia di Lammermoor,” “La Traviata,” “Romeo and Juliet” “Tales Of Hoffman,” “Rigoletto,” “Cosi Fan Tutte,” and “La Perichole.”

In 1950, she sang what became her most famous role, Adele in Johann Strauss II’s “Die Fledermaus.” New York Times opera critic Olin Downes said the role suited her: “She is born for Adele’s part by personality, wit, temperament,” he wrote, calling her “the bright particular star of the whole show.”

John Pennino, an archivist at the Metropolitan Opera, first saw Munsel perform in “Fledermaus.” “She had a very beautiful lyric voice,” he said, later adding, “She walked away with the show. She really did.”

Munsel’s arrival at the Met, Pennino said, coincided with World War II, when the company’s diva coloratura soprano, Lily Pons, was on the road entertaining troops. This allowed Munsel’s star to rise rather quickly.

“She also had the added ability of looks, and acting. She was wonderful onstage,” Pennino said. “When you got her in some of these soubrette roles, like Adele in ‘Fledermaus,’ or Despina in ‘Cosi fan Tutte,’ ‘La Perichole,’ she was wonderful. The people who followed her just couldn’t live up to it. She set the standards in those roles, and if you saw her in it, you saw it. That goes even to today.”

He interviewed Munsel for “Risë Stevens: A Life in Music,” his biography of the mezzo-soprano whose own Met career overlapped Munsel’s. The two of them frequently performed together.

“She was warm, and she was very generous with her memories,” Pennino said.

Perhaps chafing at the light, comedic soubrette roles she was being offered, Munsel left the Met in 1958 after singing one of her dream roles, Mimi in “La Boheme.”

“She wanted to, instead of doing so many Adeles, she wanted to do Violetta in ‘La Traviata,’ or she wanted to do Mimi in ‘La Boheme,’ rather than Musetta. She wanted to go in that direction,” Pennino said. “She wasn’t allowed to at the Met, so she left.”

As Munsel told The Spokesman-Review in 2008 she loved the tragic roles. “I loved dying. Dying was the most fun.”

She transitioned to musical theater, performing in shows such as “The Sound of Music,” “A Little Night Music,” “Kismet” and “The King and I.” She’d done a live television broadcast of the Victor Herbert operetta “Naughty Marietta” in 1955 and had her own television show, “The Patrice Munsel Show,” on ABC in 1957 and 1958. She also starred in the 1953 film “Melba,” about legendary Australian opera singer Nellie Melba.

Pennino saw her perform in “The Merry Widow” – which she performed at the opening of the State Theater at Lincoln Center in New York – and in “Mame.”

“She was good, and she was good in her television show, too,” he said.

Munsel was a versatile guest on live television variety shows, singing operatic excerpts, show tunes and popular songs, and participating in comedy sketches. Her appearances included Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theatre” in September 1951, where she performed “The Italian Street Song” from “Naughty Marietta.” She shared the screen with Johnny Carson, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Perry Como, Tony Bennett, among others.

Munsel performed a handful of times in Spokane after moving to New York. She sang at Gonzaga University’s graduation in 1968 – she was awarded an honorary doctorate – and at Expo ’74. She starred in “Mame” in 1990 while on a national tour. She was last in Spokane in 2008 to host Metropolitan Opera auditions as part of the gala reopening of the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, after serving as honorary co-chairwoman of the Fix the Fox campaign.

On Dec. 3, 1954, Munsel performed a gala concert to open the Spokane Coliseum. In the audience that night was 6-year-old Verne Windham. Windham, now program director with Spokane Public Radio and a former Spokane Symphony horn player, met Munsel a number of times over the years, including in 1990 when she was here with “Mame.”

“She was immediately so gracious,” Windham said. “And personal.”

On Thursday at 10 a.m., Windham will replay a 40-minute interview with Munsel recorded in 2008, along with a selection of her music.

“Her voice was so light, in the best sense of the word, and so clear, in a way, she came off like what she was, the girl next door from Spokane, WA, U.S.A.,” Windham said. “It was always really pleasing.” He added that he just recently listened to a recording of Munsel singing “Ave Maria.”

“It was really honest and straight ahead and beautiful,” Windham said.

Those who knew her say she was a larger-than-life personality who was a lot of fun to be around. She spoke her mind, Windham said, while her children described her as flamboyant, and said she taught them to “live and love large.”

Munsel married advertising and public relations executive Robert Schuler in 1952. Their 55-year marriage, which he chronicled in the book “The Diva and I: My Life With Metropolitan Opera Star Patrice Munsel,” lasted until his death in 2007. The couple had four children, one of whom, Rhett, died in 2005. Munsel is survived by daughters Heidi Schuler Bright and Nicole Schuler, son Scott Schuler, two grandsons and two great-granddaughters.

A decision on services is pending.


MUNSEL, Patrice (Patrice Munsil)
Born: 5/14/1925, Spokane, Washington, U.S.A.
Died: 8/4/2016, Adirondacks, New York, U.S.A.

Patrice Munsel’s western – actress:
The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1969 (Rosa Montebello)

RIP Barry Jenner

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Barry Jenner passes away at 75

Fansided
August 9, 2016
By Charles Evans

Barry Jenner who played Admiral William Ross on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine passes away at the age of 75.

ICYMI:  Jeri Ryan had competition for the role of Seven of Nine, here are the other actresses that producers considered for the part of former Borg drone on Star Trek: Voyager.

Sadly the Star Trek family lost a great today with the passing of Barry Jenner, who played Admiral William Ross on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Jenner was an accomplished television actor appearing on many popular series including Dallas, Knotts Landing, Family Matters, and of course Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

In every interview with Jenner I’ve ever seen he expresses how much he loved being a part of Star Trek. Here he is talking about his roll as an admiral during the Dominion war and paying tribute to those who really put their lives on the line as others.

Barry Jenner was an awesome actor, a delight at conventions, and a wonderful person, he will be missed by many!


JENNER, Barry (Barry Francis Jenner)
Born: 1/14/1941, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Died: 8/9/2016, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Barry Jenner’s westerns – actor:
Guns of Paradise (TV) – 1990 (Judge Melbourne)
Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) – 1994 (Frank Swain)
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