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In Memoriam: Entertainment Industry Celebrity Deaths

Kromm

By Kromm
in Everything Else TV

Mr. Sparkle
Message added by Mr. Sparkle,

Reminder:

This thread is for deaths of celebrities in the entertainment business only. No notices about politicians, please. 

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Bastet
Bastet

Piss up a rope, Val Kilmer.  If your physical illness got so bad that your life utterly sucked and no end to that suffering was in sight, so that suicide was or seemed to be the best of the available

wilsie
wilsie
BetterButter
BetterButter

Olivia Newton-John Has Died At 73

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SunnyBeBe

SunnyBeBe

4 minutes ago, CountryGirl said:

That is just so heartbreaking for her daughters and other loved ones. They had appeared on the CMT awards earlier in the month, performing “Love Can Build A Bridge,” one of my favorite songs. That little moment at the end of Naomi leaning to kiss Wynonna. 💔😢

I wish I could have located that clip, but couldn't.

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andromeda331

andromeda331

5 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

That’s shocking and sad. Her poor daughters. 

Oh, that's sad. I always liked Naomi. She had a great voice and "Love Can Build a Bridge" is my favorite song of theirs. She was really great recently last year in V.C. Andrews series as Grandmere. 

3 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

Actress Joanna Barnes best known for playing Vicky in 1961's The Parent Trap and reprised the role in the 1998 remake has died, age 87. 

https://deadline.com/2022/04/joanna-barnes-dead-veteran-actress-in-the-parent-trap-was-89-obituary-1235013758/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/joanna-barnes-dead-parent-trap-auntie-mame-1235138622/

 

Oh, that's too bad. I always liked that she showed up in the remake and Vicky raised her daughter to be every bit the gold digger that she was. Of course, she was. Although she should have told her daughter to find someone else after they learned there was a twin.

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Blergh

Blergh

(edited)

I hope you all will bear with me through this post but I've long believed that names have power and what one does with the name one has been given can have unforseen and unimaginable consequences both internally and externally.

The late performer who'd been billed as Patty Duke recalled that when she was seven, some shady agents got ahold of her and instantly decided that her given name of Anna Marie was no good and then said 'You are NOW Patty and Anna Marie is dead!' And not only did she say that she wound up having to seek years of therapy over the aftermath of this but, not for nothing in her later years she insisted all her loved ones called her by her given name of Anna and even titled her autobio as Call Me Anna! 

Naomi Judd had been born as Diana Ellen Judd and then became Diana  Judd Ciminella  during her first marriage- and bestowed her firstborn daughter with the name of Christina Claire Ciminella . After divorcing her first husband Michael Cimenella , Diana decided to go all out to have herself and her firstborn daughter pursue their goals, she decided that the two needed to change their names. OK, so she reverted to her original surname of Judd but then changed her own given name to Naomi. And then either she alone or she and her firstborn decided to change the  latter's name from Christina Ciminella to Wynonna Judd. At the time saying that the girl's surname sounded 'too Italian'  (for country music) [though it may also have been for more serious reasons due to Mr. Ciminella being much later revealed to have been  the legal instead of bio father of his wife's firstborn daughter ] and that they liked the song'Get Your Kicks on Route 66' about travelling on the open road AND they liked the line mentioning the tiny town of Winona, Arizona( 'Don't forget Winona!')so they decided to use that name with an altered spelling so that it would resemble a tour bus leaving with the younger performer's foot sticking out having barely caught it in time! OK, I get that what was done was done.

But then oddly enough even when recollecting her childhood with her family in her latter bio, River of Time(2016), Miss Judd would have her family members  as well as herself call her 'Naomi' instead of 'Diana' AND even talked about having given birth to 'Baby Wy' instead of  acknowledging that the newborn's actual name of Christina and the girl would keep that name well into her teens.  In Joan Benny's bio Sunday Nights at Seven (1990) of her father Jack Benny[born Benjamin Kubelsky(1894-1974) in which she quoted passages of his own unpublished and unfinished bio that he'd titled I Always Had Shoes, Mr. Benny recounted the courtship and early marriage with his eventual wife originally called Sadye Marks who later played a character on his radio show called Mary Livingstone and, in 1948, she legally changed her name TO Mary Livingstone Benny on the grounds that 'even my husband ONLY calls me Mary'! Anyway, to his credit, Mr. Benny DID refer to her as Sadye when he recounted their earlier lives and kept doing so until he came to the part in which she got tagged   Mary- then admitted that it'  frankly been a chore to have to call her Sadye in these pages!' While at the time of Miss Judd's latter bio, I admit that I wasn't happy that she didn't accurately term herself and her elder daughter by their original names when recounting the time when they actually had been using them, I now wonder if Miss Judd may have somehow been unwilling if not unable to see herself and even her elder daughter as having had their earlier names when recounting those times! 

 I know none of us can possibly know what another person's inner struggles may be but I wonder if the issues with her and/or her daughter's drastically changed names may have possibly been a contributing factor to Miss Judd's struggles. 

 

Regardless, I hope she somehow now has peace as well as her daughters and other loved ones! 

Edited by Blergh
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Hiyo

Hiyo

Jerry verDorn, Who Played Ross on Guiding Light, Dead at 72.

He joined the cast of Guiding Light in March 1979 as attorney Ross Marler, a role he played until 2005, and for which he earned two Daytime Emmys and four additional nominations.

In 2005, verDorn moved to One Life to Live, recreating the role of Clint Buchanan (originally played by Clint Ritchie) until that ABC serial and its online revival ended in 2013. He then retired after 34 years on daytime television.

Bastet

Bastet

(edited)

Jerry verDorn was one of the best actors on GL.  He was terrific as Ross (it could be jarring to go back and watch scenes from when the character was introduced as the asshole Spaulding lawyer defending Roger for rape, since he evolved into a very different person).  I had already quit watching GL by the time they killed off Ross, but my mom still watched and called me at work to tell me.  I came out of my office so pissed off, my assistant asked me what was wrong.

Edited by Bastet
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Miss Anne Thrope

Miss Anne Thrope

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Jerry verDorn, Who Played Ross on Guiding Light, Dead at 72.

He joined the cast of Guiding Light in March 1979 as attorney Ross Marler, a role he played until 2005, and for which he earned two Daytime Emmys and four additional nominations.

In 2005, verDorn moved to One Life to Live, recreating the role of Clint Buchanan (originally played by Clint Ritchie) until that ABC serial and its online revival ended in 2013. He then retired after 34 years on daytime television.

Oh, this breaks my heart.  He was so wonderful as an actor and a person -- basing the personal estimation on the many fundraising events in which he participated in his career an in retirement.  

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Miss Anne Thrope

Miss Anne Thrope

(edited)
37 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I grew up on The Guiding Light, but I can’t recall Ross…..maybe, he joined after I didn’t watch as much.  Who was he related to?  

IIRC -- and it's been a while -- Ross showed up in Springfield to defend Roger Thorpe against charges for raping Holly.  Late '70s, early 80s?  His brother, Dr.  Justin Marler, was the real father of Philip Spaulding in a big storyline around then; and he seemed to date every available woman in Springfield --  Vanessa Chamberlain (and her fur coat), Trish Lewis, Holly Norris Thorpe, and many more.  Somewhere in there he married the mentally unbalanced  Carrie Todd and fathered Dinah Marler (Vanessa C being the mother, though they never married.) 

He was the DA of Springfield seemingly forever, and ran (successfully?) for Senate.  He ended up flinging it with and marrying Blake Thorpe despite having just been dating her mother, Holly.  The big Springfield blackout played a role -- Ross and Blake were trapped in an elevator, I think, or something like that -- and from then on, it was pretty much Blake and Ross.  Until he was unceremoniously written off the show, anyway.   

I might have timelines out of whack and possibly left out some big stuff; anyone is of course welcome to correct my recollections. 

Edited by Miss Anne Thrope
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SunnyBeBe

SunnyBeBe

3 minutes ago, Miss Anne Thrope said:

IIRC -- and it's been a while -- Ross showed up in Springfield to defend Roger Thorpe against charges for raping Holly.  Late '70s, early 80s?  His brother, Dr.  Justin Marler, was the real father of Philip Spaulding in a big storyline around then; and he seemed to date every available woman in Springfield --  Vanessa Chamberlain (and her fur coat), Trish Lewis, Holly Norris Thorpe, and many more.  Somewhere in there he married the mentally unbalanced  Carrie Todd and fathered Dinah Marler (Vanessa C being the mother, though they never married.) 

He was the DA of Springfield seemingly forever, and ran (successfully?) for Senate.  He ended up flinging it with and marrying Blake Thorpe despite having just been dating her mother, Holly.  The big Springfield blackout played a role -- Ross and Blake were trapped in an elevator, I think, or something like that -- and from then on, it was pretty much Blake and Ross.  Until he was unceremoniously written off the show, anyway.   

I might have timelines out of whack and possibly left out some big stuff; anyone is of course welcome to correct my recollections. 

Got it!  I know a lot of those names.  Thanks. 

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MissAlmond

MissAlmond

(edited)

 

11 hours ago, AuntieL said:

Another part of my youth gone. And he seemed like a genuinely nice person. RIP

Count me as another former GL viewer sad to hear Jerry verDorn has died.  

9 hours ago, Miss Anne Thrope said:

he seemed to date every available woman in Springfield -

True. LOL However, in spite of its beginnings, I thought the Ross/Blake pairing was a good one. I also loved the close friendship between Ross and Ed Bauer.

R.I.P. Jerry verDorn. 

Michael Logan on Twitter:

:

 

Edited by MissAlmond
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MissAlmond

MissAlmond

(edited)

Actor David Birney known for St. Elsewhere and Bridget Loves Bernie has died, age 83.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/david-birney-dead-actor-bridget-loves-bernie-83-1235139638/

https://deadline.com/2022/05/david-birney-dead-obituary-actor-bridget-loves-bernie-st-elsewhere-1235015128/

https://www.thewrap.com/david-birney-st-elsewhere-bridget-loves-actor-dead/

Edited by MissAlmond
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SunnyBeBe

SunnyBeBe

Just now, MissAlmond said:

Actor David Birney known for St. Elsewhere and Bridget Loves Bernie has died, age 83.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/david-birney-dead-actor-bridget-loves-bernie-83-1235139638/

https://deadline.com/2022/05/david-birney-dead-obituary-actor-bridget-loves-bernie-st-elsewhere-1235015128/

Oh no.  Another one of my favorites from childhood.  

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LegalParrot81

LegalParrot81

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/david-birney-st-elsewhere-bridget-132926444.html

I kind of remember Bridget Loves Bernie from when I was a kid, but I mostly remember him from multiple guest appearances and St. Elsewhere.  While I thought he was a good actor,  after reading some of Meredith Birney's statements about that marriage, I didn't really care for him much as a man.   

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Inquisitionist

Inquisitionist

2 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

Actor David Birney known for St. Elsewhere and Bridget Loves Bernie has died, age 83.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/david-birney-dead-actor-bridget-loves-bernie-83-1235139638/

From the article above: 

Quote

(Meanwhile, he also was playing heartthrob Mark Elliot on the CBS soap opera Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. Elliot and Donna Mills’ character got married on that program.)

LIaMST is when I first fell for David Birney.  I was 12 or 13 at the time and thought he was sooo cute.  He and Donna Mills were terrific together.

I met Birney at Boston Logan Airport in the mid-1990s.  I saw him browsing in a bookstore and asked the woman who appeared to be with him if he minded fans approaching him.  She said he actually liked that.  We had a pleasant little chat.  He was wearing a Dartmouth sweatshirt or sweater -- always very proud of his alma mater.

I think he could be a bit full of himself (there's a youtube video I can't find right now where he basically talks over his then-wife Meredith Baxter incessantly), but also a talented actor.  

I'd read a few years ago that Birney had Alzheimer's.  May he rest in peace now.

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SunnyBeBe

SunnyBeBe

1 hour ago, Shelbie said:

Bizarrely at this moment I’m watching an episode of Murder She Wrote from 1993 and David Birney is one of the guest stars. Feels really weird.

That is odd.   I got an eerie feeling once when I just happened to be reading a biography about Jim Morrison in wee morning hours,  I noticed it was July 3…..the date of his mysterious death.   

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roamyn

roamyn

On 5/3/2022 at 11:29 AM, LegalParrot81 said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/david-birney-st-elsewhere-bridget-132926444.html

I kind of remember Bridget Loves Bernie from when I was a kid, but I mostly remember him from multiple guest appearances and St. Elsewhere.  While I thought he was a good actor,  after reading some of Meredith Birney's statements about that marriage, I didn't really care for him much as a man.   

It seemed like David Birney was in everything in the 80s.

I always liked him as an actor, but I did hear some unflattering pictures of him aft his divorce from Meredith Baxter.  I wonder what he thought of her coming out.

If he was ill, at least he’s not suffering now.  Condolences to his family.

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praeceptrix

praeceptrix

Singer/songwriter Judy Henske has died.

From the linked article: "Judy Henske, who made a splash on the folk scene of the early 1960s with a versatile voice that could conjure Billie Holiday or foreshadow Janis Joplin, and performances full of offbeat stage patter, died on April 27 in hospice care in Los Angeles. She was 85."

Hiyo

Hiyo

Aw, man, that one bummed me out. Perez is probably one of my 3 favorite comic book artists of all time. His attention to detail, his storyboard skills, the emotion and body language he would put into his characters, the fact that he could do images featuring a ton of characters and you could still identify each and everyone of them...such a fantastic artist and by all accounts a nice guy as well.

Rest in peace, Mr. Perez, and thanks for the decades of amazing artwork you provided for us.

george-perez-6.jpg

marveldc.jpg?w=1031&ssl=1

394XmpYh57AvB45M8Ls6uS.jpg

legaleagle53

legaleagle53

3 hours ago, dalek said:

Really sad about George Perez.  Huge fan of his run on Wonder Woman and was happy to see him name-checked in the closing credits of the Wonder Woman movie.

THIS. His Wonder Woman was and remains the Gold Standard for me, as it was that particular reboot that I think best demonstrated who and what Diana really was and what her true mission from the Gods was meant to be.

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MissAlmond

MissAlmond

(edited)

Singer Mickey Gilley whose nightclub inspired the movie Urban Cowboy has died, age 86.

https://deadline.com/2022/05/mickey-gilley-dead-country-music-star-ran-gilleys-honky-tonk-obituary-1235018639/

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Mickey-Gilley-country-music-icon-dies-at-the-17156720.php

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/arts/music/mickey-gilley-dead.html

Edited by MissAlmond
Bastet

Bastet

Mickey Gilley could miss me with "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time"* but had a great voice, and his version of "You Don't Know Me" is my favorite of the many covers of that song -- yes, even over Ray Charles' take.

*That song at least yields a good story.  The late, great K.T. Oslin had trouble getting stations to play her "Younger Men" single - which noted the differences in sexual peaks for men and women and expressed the perspective of a woman experiencing hers looking to hook up with a man experiencing his - and when one DJ told her the song was offensive to men, she asked him if he played "Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" (where, unlike in her song's scenario, the man was older).  When he affirmed, she responded, “Don’t you think women might find that offensive?” He hung up on her.

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MissAlmond

MissAlmond

As mentioned in the BAFTA TV 2022 In Memoriam, actor Dennis Waterman has died, age 74.

https://deadline.com/2022/05/dennis-waterman-dead-the-sweeney-and-new-tricks-star-was-74-1235018866/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/dennis-waterman-dead-actor-the-sweeney-minder-1235142839/

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/may/08/dennis-waterman-minder-and-new-tricks-star-dies-aged-74

MissAlmond

MissAlmond

Character actor Jack Kehler who played the landlord in The Big Lebowski has died, age 75.

https://deadline.com/2022/05/jack-kehler-dead-big-lebowski-landlord-character-actor-was-75-1235020019/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jack-kehler-dead-actor-the-big-lebowski-man-in-the-high-castle-1235143609/

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/jack-kehler-dead-big-lebowski-lost-highway-man-in-high-castle-1235262634/

Mr. Sparkle
Message added by Mr. Sparkle,

Reminder:

This thread is for deaths of celebrities in the entertainment business only. No notices about politicians, please. 

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