Rolling Obituary Thread: 2015

Takao Saitô, Kurosawa's cinematographer on Ran, Sanjuro and many others

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/takao-saito-cinematographer-18-kurosawa-761859

Faten Hamama, actress who was "Lady of Arabic Cinema"

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-faten-hamama-1931-2015

http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/01/17/dixie-hall-prolific-bluegrass-songwriter-dies/21914181/

Dixie Hall, wife of Tom T. Hall. I didn't really know anything about her before this article, but what a life.

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2015/01/bo_dollis_longtime_big_chief_o.html

Theodore Emile "Bo" Dollis, the longtime Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians, died at his home in New Orleans on Jan. 20, 2015, his son confirmed. He was 71.

....He was among the first to bring the culture and sound of the Indian culture to national prominence, recording the first commercial album of Mardi Gras Indian music, the single "Handa Wanda," in 1970 – the same year that he and Monk Boudreaux of the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians appeared at the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In 1974, along with his wife Laurita Dollis, keyboardist Willie Tee, Snooks Eagilin, percussionist Uganda Roberts and saxophonist Earl Turbinton, Dollis recorded the groundbreaking album "The Wild Magnolias," melding Indian chants with sizzling funk. ...

Saw that coming. RIP

Leon Brittan

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/leon-brittan-dead-thatcher-minister-accused-of-failure-to-act-on-child-sex-abuse-dossier-dies-9995572.html

(also Anne Kirkbride the other day, mentioned on Coronation Street thread but not here)

Frank Mazzola, editor of Performance (amongst other extraordinary things):

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/frank-mazzola-film-editor-and-rebel-without-a-cause-actor-dies-at-79-1201410982/

@jeremyscahill
These obit headlines are puke-worthy: "Saudi King Abdullah: patient reformer who battled hardliners"

He's getting no RIPs from me.

For constant larfs, make sure you read Greenwald's twitter today.

@ggreenwald 2h2 hours ago
Next on CNN: Was the dearly departed King Abdullah more like MLK or Gandhi? Our panel remembers this beloved figured of peace and reform.

@ggreenwald · 1h 1 hour ago
UK orders flags flown at half-mast for King Abdullah. Will return to lecturing the world about democracy tomorrow

faith seidenberg, who desegregated mcsorley's ale house in manhattan, among other things

Joe Franklin

bummer.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/12219755/ernie-banks-former-chicago-cubs-great-dies-age-83

I got through to Joe Franklin once, as a teenager in the mid- or late-'70s. He must have been syndicated, because I'm pretty sure it was a station out of Cleveland that you could pick up in Toronto. Zero recollection of what we talked about.

(Check that--think it was this guy instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Franklin.)

VERY DIFFERENT GUY.

I interviewed Joe in his office in 1980. (The OLD office, not the neater one below.) Papers and folders and God-knows-what stacked floor-to-ceiling. He was yakking on the phone about "Gore Vidal's Caligula" ("It's terrible, people are asking for their $10 back").

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr2s7K8Qmdk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFXsMTS9MS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpf1j0cA5Hg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30984851

Demis Roussos. I suspect he might get his own thread, or the Aphrodite's Child one.

:((((((((

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=321JxxzlGio

rod mckuen

can't understand it anymore

Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31036362

What not to do. Seriously, what NOT TO DO:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2015/01/30/why-the-oz-called-colleen-mccullough-fat-and-ugly-in-her-obituary/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Marie_McCoy

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100823151

Prolific songwriter who had songs recorded by Big Maybelle, Elvis Presley, Little Jimmy Scott, Nat King Cole, Ike & Tina Turner and others died on January 20th at age 92 according to Wiki and a Yahoo Southern Soul group email listserv thing I get. She was a New Jersey-based independent songwriter who rejected offers to join well-known house songwriting operations at Stax, Motown and elsewhere

Edward Saylor one of the surviving Doolittle Raiders (three left)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/edward-j-saylor-airman-who-took-fight-to-japan-with-the-doolittle-raiders-dies-at-94.html

navy ace alexander vraciu, who once shot down six japanese bombers in eight minutes

NY Times now has obit of songwriter McCoy

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/arts/music/rose-marie-mccoy-a-songwriter-for-rock-pop-and-jazz-legends-dies-at-92.html?_r=1

http://oregonmusicnews.com/2015/02/02/don-covay-soul-singer-songwriter-dead-76/

He had been in ill health for awhile after a stroke. No larger outlets are reporting this yet. Reports of the death have also been on facebook

more online tributes starting to show up

RIP Don

Geraldine McEwan, star of theatre, television and film

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/feb/01/geraldine-mcewan-from-mrs-malaprop-to-miss-marple

LA based saxophonist Zane Musa, at 36.

http://www.laweekly.com/music/la-jazz-scene-reels-from-untimely-death-of-zane-musa-5367964

prolific churchill/holocaust/war historian martin gilbert

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31129677

Sandy Socolow, key CBS News editor/producer of the Cronkite era

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-peyronnin/broadcast-news-icon-sandy_b_6590202.html

pianist aldo ciccolini

Suzette Haden Elgin

http://io9.com/r-i-p-suzette-haden-elgin-author-poet-verbal-self-d-1684006640

Mary Healy, singer who teamed with her hubby on records, Vegas, radio and movies including The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T

http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Stage-and-Screen-Actress-Mary-Healy-Dies-at-96-20150204

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyf_A3dUI-E

Stewart Stern, screenwriter of Rebel without a Cause and The Last Movie

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/stewart-stern-dies-writer-of-rebel-without-a-cause-obituary-1201426670/

Buddy Holly & The Crickets bassist Joe B. Mauldin

http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2015-02-07/crickets-bassist-joe-b-mauldin-remembered-gentle-soul#.VNcTTPnF-So

Dean Smith:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12296176/dean-smith-former-north-carolina-tar-heels-coach-dies-age-83

Rik Mayall

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jun/09/rik-mayall-dies-comedian-actor

Fuck, nevermind. Didn't notice taht was old.

Still shocking, but yeah.

Architect Jon Jerde.

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jon-jerde-20150209-story.html#page=1

60 Minutes's Bob Simon:

http://nypost.com/2015/02/11/60-minutes-bob-simon-killed-in-car-crash/

Jerry Tarkanian; wow, these assholes are droppin' like flies

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12309861/jerry-tarkanian-was-hall-fame-coach-battled-ncaa

Steve Strange, of Visage:

http://www.vanyaland.com/2015/02/12/report-steve-strange-new-romantic-electronic-music-pioneers-visage-dead-55/

Oh fuck, and Moebius!

http://io9.com/5892148/legendary-french-artist-moebius-the-man-who-made-the-abyss-alien-and-tron-even-weirder-is-dead-at-73

Er, except that (Moebius) is from a few years ago. Never mind.

David Carr:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/business/media/david-carr-media-equation-columnist-for-the-times-is-dead-at-58.html?_r=0

jesus… really loved his work.

Ring out the old: Rolling Obituary Thread: 2016