Milestone Moments: All The Celebrity Vitals

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

It does seem Betsy Arakawa was her husband's sole caregiver. In such an advanced stage of Alzheimer's he should have had a whole team but they really stuck to their privacy

What happened to Gene Hackman was tragic and unexpected given his devoted, much-younger and capable wife caring for him.
Sadly, I suppose such tragic endings are not rare among non-celebrities, but are not publicized, or, if they are, not in much detail, and not so widely.

Perhaps a family member of Gene Hackman will make a contribution to a foundation that provides care for the elderly who don’t have such resources.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Perhaps a family member of Gene Hackman will make a contribution to a foundation that provides care for the elderly who don’t have such resources.

I think this is what's drawing so much attention for those who are on the outside looking in. None of us are privy to what happened or didn't happen, why Ms. Arakawa didn't seek medical help for herself or perhaps didn't realize how ill she was until it was too late. This is likely alarming to those who have elderly relatives but not those resources.

[Dimity]

In looking at info on Hackman's family it seems his three children are all roughly the same age as his late wife.  I don't know if that caused tension in the past, I'd say probably, but who knows really.  

I will say that given the closeness in age to their step mother it's not at all surprising that they seemed to take a back seat with regard to their father's care.  Had circumstances been different and he were living with one of his children I'd assume the other children would have handled things the same way - expecting to be notified if there were issues and not being concerned about whether the relatively young sibling were going to die of an obscure fast moving illness.

[andromeda331]

It's just so sad. If someone had checked in maybe it would have been avoided or at least they would have been found sooner. I'm not blaming anyone. It's so tragic to think Gene was in his house for a week with his wife who was dead. Given he had severe Alzhemiers who knows what he thought was going on. 

[Makai]

On 3/9/2025 at 8:16 AM, Dimity said:

In looking at info on Hackman's family it seems his three children are all roughly the same age as his late wife.  I don't know if that caused tension in the past, I'd say probably, but who knows really.  

I will say that given the closeness in age to their step mother it's not at all surprising that they seemed to take a back seat with regard to their father's care.  Had circumstances been different and he were living with one of his children I'd assume the other children would have handled things the same way - expecting to be notified if there were issues and not being concerned about whether the relatively young sibling were going to die of an obscure fast moving illness.

This is a really good point. 

The Guardian article on the deaths also brought up that the couple had became more isolated after COVID and that Arakawa was vigilant to keep him from catching anything which probably really limited the likelihood that anyone was going to just stop by. 

Edited March 10 by Makai

[tearknee]

7 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

What happened to Gene Hackman was tragic and unexpected given his devoted, much-younger and capable wife caring for him.
Sadly, I suppose such tragic endings are not rare among non-celebrities, but are not publicized, or, if they are, not in much detail, and not so widely.

Perhaps a family member of Gene Hackman will make a contribution to a foundation that provides care for the elderly who don’t have such resources.

Look up Joyce Vincent :'(

[roamyn]

7 minutes ago, tearknee said:

Look up Joyce Vincent :'(

I just did.  I'd heard of cases like this from centuries past.  When it was much easier to lose track of someone.  How terribly sad that Ms. Vincent slipped through the cracks like that. Her family must be feeling terrible as they tried to contact her, not knowing she moved.

And could her family still request a refund on some of those bills that were automatically paid?  A mess the whole way round.

Edited March 9 by roamyn

[tearknee]

1 minute ago, roamyn said:

I just did.  I'd heard of cases like this from centuries past.  When it was much easier to lose track of someone.  How terribly sad that Ms. Vincent slipped through the cracks like that. Her family must be feeling terrible as they tried to contact her, not knowing she moved.

And could her family still request a refund on some of those bills that were automatically paid?  A mess the whole way round.

As noted elsewhere about this horrible case. the people in the building wouldn't be familiar with the difference in smell between rotting garbage and that of decomp and the building was noisy so no one cared about the TV constantly on or thought it odd.

[praeceptrix]

South African playwright Athol Fugard has died.

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

 

Why on earth would anyone besides his inner circle know what "state" he was in? 

This discussion over the last few days has made me realize I have a much higher regard for privacy than most posters.  

 

It was a statement, not a judgement. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I follow Ellen Barkin on Twitter.  I like her as an actress, and, well, she went to my junior high--same graduating year.   She's also been posting some political stuff I agree with.  Still . . .

She posted something yesterday about how it's a disgrace that the public is poking their noses into the highly personal affairs of the Hackman/Arakawa deaths, etc., but come on, Ellen.  You're a celebrity.  We know you hated people poking into your divorce from Ron Perelman.  You went all Alec Baldwin on the paparazzi--but what did you expect from that made-for-the-tabloids marriage?  Regular people are interested in celebrity gossip, and you have to live with it. 

 

 

 

Edited March 10 by EtheltoTillie

[BetterButter]

Gene Winfield Dies: Custom Car Designer For ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Star Trek’ & More Was 97

Digimon & Power Rangers Actor Dave Mallow Dies at 76

[praeceptrix]

Composer Sofia Gubaidulina, 93, has died.

I had not heard of her, nor sung anything by her. The obituary makes me want to ask our conductor about doing some of her music on a future program. 

[BetterButter]

Courage the Cowardly Dog Head Writer David Steven Cohen Reportedly Dies at 58

[BetterButter]

Jesse Colin Young Dies: Youngbloods Frontman Who Sang ‘Get Together’ Was 83

[giovannif7]

#RIP Jesse 😢😢😢

 

[andromeda331]

I loved that song.

[tearknee]

i love that song still

ditto the flowers in your hair song about Frisco.

[andidante]

One of my favorite songs! 

[Dimity]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I loved that song.

I have it on several of my playlists. 

[tearknee]

Oh dear, worse than CNN's website 20+ years ago:  https://user.fm/files/v2-e7a687d9649fa8fa10dc1730a5071e80/dr who - have you been telling people im dead.mp4