In Memoriam: Entertainment Industry Celebrity Deaths

[Macbeth]

20 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

Criminal defense attorney F. Lee Bailey has died, age 87. 

I'm sure many associate him with the O.J. Simpson trial but being a true crime buff, I first learned of Bailey from a TV movie about accused murderer Sam Sheppard.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/us/f-lee-bailey-dead.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/03/us/f-lee-bailey-lawyer-dies/index.html

https://deadline.com/2021/06/f-lee-bailey-dead-oj-simpson-trial-lawyer-1234768963/

I honestly thought he had already died.  

[AimingforYoko]

Clarence Williams III, Linc on The Mod Squad (and Prince's dad), dead at 81.

He had kind of a late career renaissance, but I guess The Mod Squad will always be the top line on his bio. R.I.P.

[legaleagle53]

23 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

Clarence Williams III, Linc on The Mod Squad (and Prince's dad), dead at 81.

He had kind of a late career renaissance, but I guess The Mod Squad will always be the top line on his bio. R.I.P.

And another part of my youth is gone.  RiP, Linc!

Edited June 6, 2021 by legaleagle53

[Enigma X]

49 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

Clarence Williams III, Linc on The Mod Squad (and Prince's dad), dead at 81.

He had kind of a late career renaissance, but I guess The Mod Squad will always be the top line on his bio. R.I.P.

For those who may not know. He played The Kid's, character played by Prince in Purple Rain, dad. Sorry but wanted to add to clear up possible confusion.

[VCRTracking]

He was so funny in just one scene as the radical "Kalinga" in I'M GONNA GIT U SUCKA, the 1988 Blaxploitation spoof directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans:

And with Eve (Jan Brady)Plumb as his wife!

 

 

[MissAlmond]

2 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Clarence Williams III, Linc on The Mod Squad (and Prince's dad), dead at 81.

One white Pete (Michael Cole) is the last Mod Squander standing.  R.I.P. Mr. Williams. 

[wilsie]

I loved him as Philby in "Mystery Woman"

[SunnyBeBe]

4 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

And another part of my youth is gone.  RiP, Linc!

I agree.  I used to love The Mod Squad. In this trailer each one comes on the screen, then all three run together.  

 

 

[cynicat]

14 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Clarence Williams III, Linc on The Mod Squad (and Prince's dad), dead at 81.

He had kind of a late career renaissance, but I guess The Mod Squad will always be the top line on his bio. R.I.P.

Solid.

[BW Manilowe]

On 3/23/2021 at 9:15 PM, Annber03 said:

I just saw an ad for some TV show he was in the other night, weirdly enough.

In recent years he played the grandfather, “Pops”, on The Goldbergs.

[BW Manilowe]

On 3/25/2021 at 7:19 PM, Bastet said:

That's sad.  I only "know" him from Designing Women and a couple of TV movies, but I've only ever heard great things about Jean Smart, so I figure if she married him he's a nice guy.  Their son is grown, but their daughter is just barely a teenager.  I feel sorry for all of them, and everyone else who loved him, but that's a particularly rough age to lose a parent.

The son is the biological child of Ms. Smart & Mr. Gililand; the daughter is adopted, hence the age difference. Ms. Smart is a diabetic; her pregnancy with their son was a rather problematic 1 because of it, I remember reading years ago, & she was advised not to get pregnant again. When their son got older, they pursued adoption to have another child. I think she was adopted from China.

[MissAlmond]

11 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

 I used to love The Mod Squad. In this trailer each one comes on the screen, then all three run together.  

So typical that one blonde Julie, unlike the men, was already exhausted from her brief tunnel run and needed help. 😄

I noticed Aaron Spelling's co-producer credit.  That man always knew where the money resided.

Quote

And with Eve (Jan Brady)Plumb as his wife!

Jan Brady was always about that life.  

A tribute to Clarence Williams III from Prince's estate twitter account.

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by MissAlmond

[catlover79]

RIP Mr. Williams. He was great. I liked him in everything I saw him in, particularly as a rather sinister character on the original L&O.

[MissAlmond]

 BAFTA Television Awards 2021 In Memoriam

 

[Bastet]

11 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

The son is the biological child of Ms. Smart & Mr. Gililand; the daughter is adopted, hence the age difference. Ms. Smart is a diabetic; her pregnancy with their son was a rather problematic 1 because of it, I remember reading years ago, & she was advised not to get pregnant again. When their son got older, they pursued adoption to have another child. I think she was adopted from China.

I know that, but adopted vs. biological was of no relevance to my point, which was that I feel sympathy for the entire family, especially the girl who lost a parent at a particularly vulnerable age.  (I never identify adopted children as adopted unless that's relevant to what I'm saying, given the history of differentiating them in a diminishing way.)

[andromeda331]

On 6/6/2021 at 5:02 PM, wilsie said:

I loved him as Philby in "Mystery Woman"

Me too. He was really great in those movies.

[catlover79]

Here's Mr. Williams with Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole in recent years:

[SunnyBeBe]

Love that photo of them together. I read Peggy died in 2019, so just Michael left. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

On 6/6/2021 at 5:37 PM, Enigma X said:

For those who may not know. He played The Kid's, character played by Prince in Purple Rain, dad. Sorry but wanted to add to clear up possible confusion.

lol  I read the story for clarification, because I was like, what!! He was Prince's dad?!?

 

[shapeshifter]

25 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

lol  I read the story for clarification, because I was like, what!! He was Prince's dad?!?

Fictional Dad to a fictional character played by Prince, right?

[SuprSuprElevated]

17 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Fictional Dad to a fictional character played by Prince, right?

Yes

[MissAlmond]

Claudia Barrett the damsel in distress" in the no budget camp movie Monster Robot has died, age 91.

https://deadline.com/2021/06/claudia-barrett-monster-robot-dead-obituary-science-fiction-camp-classic-1234772287/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/claudia-barrett-dead-robot-monster-1234965443/

 

[JustHereForFood]

Czech actress Libuše Šafránková has died today, just two days after her 68th birthday.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755941/?ref_=tt_ov_st

She has not been internationally famous, but one of her earliest roles and arguably the most famous one was the main character in the movie Three Nuts for Cinderella (orig. Tři oříšky pro Popelku/Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel), a Czechoslovak/East German coproduction from 1973. It is an ultimate Christmas classic in Czech Republic and Slovakia and as I understand is also known in several other countries, so I thought perhaps someone here might know her from that. Over four decades, she has played numerous roles in movies, TV and on stage, including an Oscar winning movie Kolja (for Best Foreign Language Film). She has retired in 2010's after being diagnosed with cancer, which seems to be the cause of her death.

Thank you, Libuše, for many amazing performances. RIP my favorite Cinderella.

[Wiendish Fitch]

18 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

Czech actress Libuše Šafránková has died today, just two days after her 68th birthday.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755941/?ref_=tt_ov_st

She has not been internationally famous, but one of her earliest roles and arguably the most famous one was the main character in the movie Three Nuts for Cinderella (orig. Tři oříšky pro Popelku/Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel), a Czechoslovak/East German coproduction from 1973. It is an ultimate Christmas classic in Czech Republic and Slovakia and as I understand is also known in several other countries, so I thought perhaps someone here might know her from that. Over four decades, she has played numerous roles in movies, TV and on stage, including an Oscar winning movie Kolja (for Best Foreign Language Film). She has retired in 2010's after being diagnosed with cancer, which seems to be the cause of her death.

Thank you, Libuše, for many amazing performances. RIP my favorite Cinderella.

How sad. Three Nuts for Cinderella (also known as Three Wishes for Cinderella) is a delightful film, one of the best versions of Cinderella I've seen. Ms. Safrankova put a memorably impish, spunky spin on the character. She'll be missed and not forgotten.

[praeceptrix]

14 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

Czech actress Libuše Šafránková has died today, just two days after her 68th birthday.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755941/?ref_=tt_ov_st

She has not been internationally famous, but one of her earliest roles and arguably the most famous one was the main character in the movie Three Nuts for Cinderella (orig. Tři oříšky pro Popelku/Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel), a Czechoslovak/East German coproduction from 1973. It is an ultimate Christmas classic in Czech Republic and Slovakia and as I understand is also known in several other countries, so I thought perhaps someone here might know her from that. Over four decades, she has played numerous roles in movies, TV and on stage, including an Oscar winning movie Kolja (for Best Foreign Language Film). She has retired in 2010's after being diagnosed with cancer, which seems to be the cause of her death.

Thank you, Libuše, for many amazing performances. RIP my favorite Cinderella.

I'm not familiar with her other work, but I did see Kolja when it came out. I will have to see if I can find the Cinderella film, as well as the 1991 Czech version of The Beggar's Opera she was in.

[supposebly]

4 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

Czech actress Libuše Šafránková has died today, just two days after her 68th birthday.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755941/?ref_=tt_ov_st

She has not been internationally famous, but one of her earliest roles and arguably the most famous one was the main character in the movie Three Nuts for Cinderella (orig. Tři oříšky pro Popelku/Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel), a Czechoslovak/East German coproduction from 1973. It is an ultimate Christmas classic in Czech Republic and Slovakia and as I understand is also known in several other countries, so I thought perhaps someone here might know her from that. Over four decades, she has played numerous roles in movies, TV and on stage, including an Oscar winning movie Kolja (for Best Foreign Language Film). She has retired in 2010's after being diagnosed with cancer, which seems to be the cause of her death.

Thank you, Libuše, for many amazing performances. RIP my favorite Cinderella.

And there goes a part of my childhood. The Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel played around Christmas every year in Germany. I so wanted to be her and ride that horse!

[AimingforYoko]

Character actor Ernie Lively, father to actress Blake Lively, dead at 74.

I remember him as the redneck sheriff in Passenger 57. R.I.P.

[biakbiak]

I always forget that Blake is related to Eric and Robyn. 

[AimingforYoko]

9 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I always forget that Blake is related to Eric and Robyn. 

I always thought it was a little weird that their mom married two guys with the same last name, but then I later found out Ernie took her name.

[Bort]

9 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

I always thought it was a little weird that their mom married two guys with the same last name, but then I later found out Ernie took her name.

Took her ex-husband’s name, essentially. Which is… unusual.

[legaleagle53]

Sigh. My youth just keeps on dying, little by little. Ned Beatty dead at 83.

RiP,, Ned, and thank you for bringing so many memorable characters to life for so many of my growing-up years!

[Bastet]

Ned Beatty died today at 83 (at home, of natural causes).  Despite the memorable movie roles I've seen him play (including his film debut in Deliverance), I most associate him with being Dan's dad, Ed Conner, on Roseanne.

This is interesting, from the linked (Hollywood Reporter) obituary:

Quote

 

Around this time [late '60s, when he made it to Broadway], Beatty also landed a job as a bank robber in an FBI training film.

“About a year later, I started getting arrested,” he told Backstage in 2001. “If I went into a small town somewhere, I’d get arrested. I’m serious. That’s the way cops work. They’re used to seeing pictures of bad guys. If they see you and they know that you’re a bad guy, they arrest you. So that went on for a little while, until I started getting known as a film actor.”

 

 

[AgentRXS]

Yes, I remember him best as Dan's father too. RIP Ned. Reading his age, it seems like he was only about 15 years or so older than Roseanne/John. Wow. Then again, that show was always wonky about stuff like that.

[Spartan Girl]

So many roles Ned Beatty played. There was a joke on American Dad that he’d always be that guy in Deliverance, but two others immediately pop in my mind:

Lotso in Toy Story 3 — one of the more effective Disney/Pixar shock villains.

And of course Otis to Gene Hackman’s Lex Luther in Superman.

RIP

[AimingforYoko]

40 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

So many roles Ned Beatty played. There was a joke on American Dad that he’d always be that guy in Deliverance, but two others immediately pop in my mind:

Lotso in Toy Story 3 — one of the more effective Disney/Pixar shock villains.

Don't forget Bolander on Homicide: Life On the Street.

32 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

And of course Otis to Gene Hackman’s Lex Luther in Superman.

"Otisburg? OTISBURG??!!??" Its funny, in both Superman and Deliverance, he played a loser. In his later years, he played the heavy. Pretty boys may come and go, Actors will always find work. R.I.P.

[GreekGeek]

And let's not forget Ned Beatty in Network, delivering one of the most extraordinary monologues ever penned: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork4.html

[stonehaven]

He'll always be Colonel Hollister putting Father Mulcahy through hell on one MASH episode.

[VCRTracking]

1976 was a great year for him. Not only for that memorable speech in Network, but also a small part in All the President's Men and as a secret agent in Silver Streak after Patrick McGoohan for stealing the Rembrandt letters!

I think the joke on American Dad was Roger laughing  "Poor Ned Beatty. He can play Rudy's dad all he wants but we'll always remember him being rammed in the woods in Deliverence!"

[AimingforYoko]

3 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

I think the joke on American Dad was Roger laughing  "Poor Ned Beatty. He can play Rudy's dad all he wants but we'll always remember him being rammed in the woods in Deliverence!"

There was a bit on Wings where Brian and Joe were in a video store and Brian bragged he could name any nude scene in a video Joe picked at random, and Joe picked up Deliverance, "Ned Beatty scrambling up a hill....you sure know how to kill a mood."

[giovannif7]

John Gabriel, who played Dr. Seneca Beaulac for the first decade of soap opera Ryan's Hope, has passed away at age 90. Additionally, Gabriel had recurring roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Kate & Allie and Hart To Hart. He had also previously played the Professor character on the unaired Gilligan's Island pilot, but was replaced by Russell Johnson for the series.

 

[bannana]

37 minutes ago, giovannif7 said:

John Gabriel, who played Dr. Seneca Beaulac for the first decade of soap opera Ryan's Hope, has passed away at age 90. Additionally, Gabriel had recurring roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Kate & Allie and Hart To Hart. He had also previously played the Professor character on the unaired Gilligan's Island pilot, but was replaced by Russell Johnson for the series.

 

I loved him on Ryan's Hope.

[Blergh]

5 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

1976 was a great year for him. Not only for that memorable speech in Network, but also a small part in All the President's Men and as a secret agent in Silver Streak after Patrick McGoohan for stealing the Rembrandt letters!

I think the joke on American Dad was Roger laughing  "Poor Ned Beatty. He can play Rudy's dad all he wants but we'll always remember him being rammed in the woods in Deliverence!"

But keep in mind that, he played a victim of an atrocity who wound up consoling a near-victim of the same atrocity and helped them survive a horrific ordeal. For Mr. Beatty to have taken this part for his very first movie role showed he had incredible guts- and that he had quite a lengthy and impressive movie career after that is a testimony to his talent. RIP, Mr. Beatty.

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[Spartan Girl]

Good to know Miss Teschmacher is still alive and kicking!

[Hiyo]

Actress Lisa Banes dies after getting struck by hit-and-run scooter driver.

On the small screen, the actress had roles on “One Life to Live,” “China Beach,” “The Royal Pains,” and “Nashville.”

On the big screen, she was Tom Cruise’s older love interest in 1988’s “Cocktail.” In “Gone Girl,” she was the mother of the missing woman, played by Rosamund Pike.

[bannana]

7 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

Actress Lisa Banes dies after getting struck by hit-and-run scooter driver.

On the small screen, the actress had roles on “One Life to Live,” “China Beach,” “The Royal Pains,” and “Nashville.”

On the big screen, she was Tom Cruise’s older love interest in 1988’s “Cocktail.” In “Gone Girl,” she was the mother of the missing woman, played by Rosamund Pike.

This is super sad. So tragic.

[MissAlmond]

On 6/13/2021 at 6:00 PM, Bastet said:

Ned Beatty died today at 83 (at home, of natural causes).  Despite the memorable movie roles I've seen him play (including his film debut in Deliverance), I most associate him with being Dan's dad, Ed Conner, on Roseanne.

R.I.P. to Ned Beatty.  For whatever reason, the way he said "Mr. Luthor" in Superman still makes me laugh.    

Tributes to Mr. Beatty's Otis from comic book fans.

https://comicbook.com/dc/news/ned-beatty-movies-superman-otis/

Edited June 15, 2021 by MissAlmond

[MissAlmond]

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Actress Lisa Banes dies after getting struck by hit-and-run scooter driver.

I was wondering if there were updates on her condition.  I hope they catch the person who hit her.  R.I.P. Ms. Banes.  

[Wiendish Fitch]

Lisa Banes of Gone Girl has died as the result of hit and run.

How awful. She also played Anna Kendrick's mom in the 1997 Broadway musical High Society, and Kendrick spoke very warmly of her in her memoir.

[Inquisitionist]

On 6/13/2021 at 5:59 PM, legaleagle53 said:

Sigh. My youth just keeps on dying, little by little. Ned Beatty dead at 83.

Oh, my -- I somehow missed this news until just now.  As the article states:

Quote

On television, Beatty was at his best as Det. Stanley “The Big Man” Bolander on NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street 

Time to pull out the DVDs and salute both Ned Beatty and Yaphet Kotto.  😪