Rolling Obituary Thread: 2019

Russell Baker, Pulitzer-Winning Times Columnist and Humorist, Dies at 93

columnists you thought were already dead

No, not Edwin Birdsong!

Jonas Mekas

RIP Jonas

I guess this will renew debate on his relationship to fascism, per J Hoberman

A remarkably well-timed death, then.

I saw JM around Anthology Film Archives (which he co-founded about 60 years ago) a lot in the '90s and 00s. I'd come looking for the new calendar and he'd smile, "Not yet, not yet."

http://www.artnews.com/2019/01/23/jonas-mekas-key-experimental-filmmaker-dies-96/

These seems to be the only mention in the Desert Sun article on Kaye Ballard about the 'complex personal life' in the title?

Ballard never married or had children. She wrote in her memoir, “I found an emotional connection with women like Liz (Smith, the admittedly bisexual syndicated columnist who was Ballard’s road manager in the 1950s) that I could never find with a man. I don’t know why or how it happened, but I do know it has kept me single my entire life.”

(also holy fuck at 'admittedly' in 2019)

RIP JM

With JM's passing the little French bistro Lucien at 1st Ave & 1st St. loses another regular. It used to be him, Taylor Mead, and Gerard Malanga there all the time and now only Gerard's left.

Diana Athill, author and editor, 101.

Oliver Mtukudzi, Zimbabwe's Afro-jazz legend

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46976005

name'll be familiar if you listened to peel in the 80s

people who were born in the '20s still use 'admittedly', AF

Sure, but that's not part of the quote, right?

Hugh McIlvanney, Scottish sports writer for Guardian and Sunday Times, aged 84

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/25/hugh-mcilvanney-veteran-sports-reporter-dies-aged-84

James Frawley

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-frawley-dead-monkees-muppet-movie-director-was-82-1178797

(xp) RIP Hugh. Another case of people you thought were dead, though his brother is a case of people you thought were alive.

(xp) RIP James.

Dušan Makavejev, 86

Worried the rule of three is going to come into play with a-g filmmakers.

RIP. I should watch something of his beyond WR.

Hugh McIlvanney, Scottish sports writer for Guardian and Sunday Times, aged 84

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/25/hugh-mcilvanney-veteran-sports-reporter-dies-aged-84

― Dan Worsley, Thursday, January 24, 2019 10:17 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

one of the greatest sportswriters to come out of the uk. i don't care for the gee-gees, one of his areas of expertise, but he was magnificent on football and boxing

iconic voice as well. a friend and i would send each other messages reading things like the lyrics to poker face in mcilvanney voice

RIP. I should watch something of his beyond WR.

― jmm, Friday, January 25, 2019 12:45 PM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

his eclipse boxset is pretty good, I really liked the case of the missing switchboard operator

I saw him introduce Switchboard Operator some years ago and he had a good sense of humor

Michel Legrand

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47013214

RIP. Great composer. Truth be told I went to see him play piano once and it was not my cup of tea as they say.

Been a healthy crop of notable deaths so far this year, and it's not even February.

I have lost my dearest friend and creative partner James Ingram to the Celestial Choir. He will always be cherished, loved and remembered for his genius, his love of family and his humanity. I am blessed to have been so close. We will forever speak his name.❤️ pic.twitter.com/TDJfpbbJWa

— Debbie Allen (@msdebbieallen) January 29, 2019

I guess his best wasn't good enough.

oof

https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2019/film/news/dick-miller-dead-dies-gremlins-terminator-1203124265/amp/

RIP dear Dick

Aww. RIP.

Anyone see the recent-ish doc about him?

noticed him in chopping mall last october, thought "i know that guy, who is he?" and imdb'd him. saw him again in gremlins a few weeks later.

a face created by a caricaturist

RIP :(

Aw, Dick Miller.

Watched Gremlins 2 last night as a memorial. Still delightful.

Jeremy Hardy RIP. Didn't know he was ill.

#Breaking Comedian Jeremy Hardy died of cancer early on Friday, his publicist Amanda Emery says pic.twitter.com/IqvpEEo8FR

— PA Showbiz (@PAshowbiz) February 1, 2019

I saw this earlier this year

Please someone tell me Jeremy Hardy has been hacked :( pic.twitter.com/t8mar6eNnJ

— Emmack (@emmackwrites) January 3, 2019

then he deleted it and posted this

Dear All, I am fine. Sent dopey shit out. Was half asleep watching NHS cancer drama with Alison Steadman called Care. Was waking and tweeting. My brain is now as sharp as it will ever be. The Prime Minister is Clement Atlee.

— Jeremy Hardy (@JeremyJHardy) January 5, 2019

I hate the fucking News Quiz guffawing bubble but I still liked him.

oh shit

Aw man he was v funny and frequently otm for a tankie

A man so bad at singing even Danny Macnamara could laugh at him. Still the highlight of song rounds in modern day ISIHAC. RIP.

"Frankly, I do not see my job as keeping our rulers on their toes; I’d rather see them hanging by their feet."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/apr/04/politicalcolumnists.comment

His opinions didn't always prove popular with his audience. In 2000, he was booed by members of the Just A Minute audience when he used the subject "parasites" to begin a rant against the royal family.

In 2004, Burnley Council cancelled one of Hardy's performances after saying in an episode of his Speaks to the Nation show that members and supporters of the British National Party (BNP) should be shot.

Hero

A quote from JH I still use on the reg, re bombing former Yugoslavia:

"When I say 'this will only make things worse', critics ask me 'well what would you do then?' To which my reply is: 'not make things worse'."

aww. will always remind me of sitting in the back of my parents car being forced to listen to radio 4 and laughing at him despite myself

one of the very few good ones on r4 :(

RIP

Hero

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 1 February 2019 10:10 (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm, closing two parts of that BBC obit is back to back bangers

the only actual joke of his I can remember is about white Britons trying to make curry in the 70s, trying to make it more palatable by adding fruit and ending up making a trifle