In Memorium

[Darth Penguin]

really must read To Kill a Mockingbird..it's been on my list for years.

[Natalka]

Darth, I thought it used to be on the curriculum in the UK - here we studied it in Gr. 11. However, when I reread it as an adult, it was even better.

[Darth Penguin]

Darth, I thought it used to be on the curriculum in the UK - here we studied it in Gr. 11. However, when I reread it as an adult, it was even better.

IIRC, it was an optional book at "A" level(grades 11&12) for English Literature when I was at comp/high school (1976-82). After "O"levels I went into all science "A"levels..So I never would have had the chance to read it at school.

Given how much I hated re-reading Jane Eyre as an adult, it may have been a good thing.

[Darth Penguin]

Umberto Eco dies aged 84

The Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose, has died aged 84.
His family says he passed away late on Friday at his home. No further details were given.
The Name of the Rose was made into a film in 1989 starring Scottish actor Sean Connery.
Eco, who also wrote the novel Foucault's Pendulum, continued to publish new works, with Year Zero released last year.
He also wrote children's books and literary criticism.
Eco once wrote that "books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told".
"I am a philosopher," he was quoted as saying. "I write novels only on the weekends."
Eco founded the communications department at the University of San Marino in the 1980s.
He was later professor emeritus and chairman of the Higher School of Humanities of the University of Bologna.

[Natalka]

RIP - what a life he had. I love The Name of the Rose and have reread it many times.

[Natalka]

Sonny James, a Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum member, has died at age 87. James, born in Alabama, became a Nashville singer and musician and scored his first Number One in 1957 with "Young Love," a song that topped both the country and pop charts.

Have always loved that song



Sonny James enjoyed one of country music’s most successful careers. Between 1953 and 1983 he scored an impressive seventy-two chart records, forty-three of which reached the Top Ten and twenty-three of which went to #1. According to Billboard statistics, between 1960 and 1979 he spent fifty-seven weeks in the #1 chart position—more than any other country artist of the era. Known as the Southern Gentleman for his congenial personality and gracious manner, James has had his greatest success singing romantic ballads about the joys and trials of love.

http://countrymusichalloffame.org/In...il/sonny-james

[Natalka]

RIP - Lennie Baker, a longtime member of the rock-and-doo-wop band Sha Na Na died Wednesday. He was 69.

Lennie Baker was a vocalist and saxophone player for Sha Na Na, a band with a 1950s-era look and sensibility that was popular starting in the late 1960s. Baker joined the group in 1970 and toured the world with them until he retired in 2000.

He also appeared on the Sha Na Na variety TV show (1977-1981), and in the movie Grease, singing lead on the song Blue Moon, the Rogers and Hart standard that was a chart hit from the 1978 movie.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/m...t-69/80998458/

Lennie is the lead singer with the beard

[redhdlois]

Andy Bathgate at the age of 83.......I remember him when he played for Vancouver in the WHL

[Natalka]

George Kennedy, the Oscar-winning star of Cool Hand Luke, has died at age 91



Kennedy won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as prison leader Dragline alongside Paul Newman in 1967's Cool Hand Luke. It was Dragline who gave Newman's character the nickname "Cool Hand Luke" following an audacious bluff in a prison poker game.


Kennedy appeared frequently in 1970s disaster movies, including as mechanic Joe Patroni in Airport, Airport 1975, Airport '77 and The Concorde ... Airport '79. In 1974, he appeared as Sergeant Lou Slade alongside Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner in the ensemble disaster film Earthquake.

The burly, 6-foot-4 actor turned his tough-guy persona to comedy in the late 1980s, starring in the Naked Gun franchise with Leslie Nielsen.

On TV, Kennedy played rancher and Ewing family enemy Carter McKay on Dallas from 1988 to 1991 — as well as in two follow-up TV movies, 1996's Dallas: J.R. Returns and 1998's Dallas: War of the Ewings.

His last role (was) in The Gambler alongside Mark Wahlberg in 2014

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/m...s-91/81124232/

George's movies also include Spartacus, Lonely Are the Brave, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Dirty Dozen, Earthquake and Death on the Nile.


The actor also wrote books: murder mysteries Murder on Location, published in 1983, and Murder on High, released in 1984. His autobiography, Trust Me, was published in 2011.
Kennedy was married four times, the first time to Dorothy Gillooly in the 1940s, the second (and third) time to Norma Wurman. His fourth wife, Joan McCarthy, died last year.
He is survived by two children and several grandchildren.


Naked Gun

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/george-kennedy-dead-91-following-7467759#rlabs=1%20p$9

[Shwa Girl]

Nancy Reagan
Wife of former president Ronald Reagan, has died.
Age 94

She also had an acting career, like Ronald Reagan. She dated Hollywood actors like Clark Gable before becoming Ronald Reagan's second wife.

[Natalka]

Frank Sinatra Jr. has died at the age of 72, of cardiac arrest.

Sinatra Jr. followed in the footsteps of his famous father as well as worked by his side. While he was a teen he had already begun performing at clubs.

When he was 19, he was kidnapped and held for ransom, though he was released two days later and the kidnappers were caught and convicted. He later became his dad's music director and conductor.

His debut album, 1965's Young Love for Sale, was understandably influenced by his father and was also released on Reprise, which was also his father's longtime label home.

Last year, Sinatra Jr. sang The Star-Spangled Banner at Yankee Stadium and also delivered the National Anthem at Dodgers Stadium in September. He was scheduled to perform at The Peabody Daytona Beach on Wednesday, which was billed as "Frank Sinatra Jr.: "Sinatra Sings Sinatra"

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...at-72-20160316

Frank Sinatra died in 1998, at 82, of a heart attack.

[Shwa Girl]

Wow. Frank Sinatra Jr.
Sad he died of the same heart problems as his father.

[Natalka]

L.A. Law Star Larry Drake Dead at 66

RIP, Benny. The way he handled that role was groundbreaking at the time, and the series showed him as a well-rounded character, emotional, romantic, etc.



In 1988 and 1989, Drake won consecutive outstanding supporting actor Emmys for playing mentally-impaired office worker Benny Stulwicz in L.A. Law. He reprised his role in 2002's L.A. Law: The Movie.

He was also featured in Darkman (1990) and Bean (1997) and also had minor roles in episodes of 7th Heaven (2006) and Boston Legal (2008).

In addition, Drake did voiceover work on animated series such as Justice League, What's New, Scooby-Doo? and most notably Johnny Bravo from 1999-2004.

http://www.people.com/article/larry-...book_peoplemag

[walkonby]

We lost Rob Ford today.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle29327087/

[Shwa Girl]

We lost Rob Ford today.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle29327087/

As an Etobicoke city counsellor, he worked hard for his constituents. Even if you lived in Scarborough, you could call him. He fought for people in the greater Toronto area who would not get help from the local officials.

I feel for his wife and little children.
Heard this morning that, he had allergies, so the kids could not get the puppy they wanted. His brother, Doug Ford, said this morning that next week his will will get the puppy for the children.