Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

RIP, that's sad.

Monique van Vooren

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/monique-van-vooren-dead-actress-tarzan-she-devil-batman-dies-at-92-1274182

A link for Josh in Chicago: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/mexico-second-monarch-butterfly-sanctuary-worker-found-murdered

Daniel Arap Moi, who seemed to be president of Kenya forever.

'70s TV producer-director Gene Reynolds, 96

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gene-reynolds-dead-mash-lou-grant-director-producer-was-96-978156

Straightjacket Fits guitarist Andrew Brough

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nat-music/audio/2018732703/straitjacket-fits-guitarist-andrew-brough-dies

Kirk Douglas

oh fuck
he lived long enough to see trump exonerated

103!

RIP

Man, what a run, what a life.

hats off to a legend. some innings

rip of the cap surely

damn

he had his vv severe stroke 24 years ago (as of Jan 28) and just kept going.

and i mean he lived those 24 years well

Paths of Glory is my favourite; like him in many more.

When I saw him at the post-stroke Oscars honor in 1995, I thought dat was dat for him.

No mention of the Natalie Wood sexual assault allegation?

well not til now

Had totally missed that news, but a little searching digs it up -- harrowing.

Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS star Dyanne Thorne:

https://www.straight.com/movies/1356776/ilsa-she-wolf-ss-passes-83

RIP Kirk Douglas. Someone once told my dad he looked like him and, put it this way, he was still telling us about it 20 years later

You're basically married to Catherine Zeta-Jones

Kirk Douglas awaits the postman in his front garden. pic.twitter.com/GhYmoTesbi

— Nostalgic Things (@Nostalgic_Thing) February 6, 2020

(xp) It's murder, I'm telling you.

Film Historian FX Feeney

https://www.thewrap.com/fx-feeney-la-weekly-film-critic-and-historian-dies-at-66/

Saw that, RIP. I love his Michael Mann coffee table book.

xxxp that's numberwang

Pierre Guyotat, French writer, 80. RIP.

Ah man, RIP.

Roger Kahn

https://www.mlb.com/news/roger-kahn-the-boys-of-summer-author-dies

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/orson-bean-longtime-actor-comedian-hit-killed-car-los-angeles/

Actor Orson Bean, 91

RIP

RIP, classic for Bilbo and Malkovich

Interesting to note in the Guardian's obit for Bean that his father cofounded the ACLU and his daughter married Breitbart, quite a generational shift!

Many in my age cohort saw Bean on game shows on a weekly basis.

He also wrote a book called Me and the Orgone… very into Reichian therapy. I saw him in the off-B'way musical I'm Getting My Act Together in college and there was a discussion with the student audience after; he seemed like a genial free spirit.

Many in my age cohort saw Bean on game shows on a weekly basis.
*raises hand*

(but you no doubt already knew that)

"One night in a club in Boston, I tried the name Roger Duck. No laughs. The next night, I tried Orson Bean, putting together a pompous first name and a silly second name. I got laughs, so I decided to keep it," he said.

"Orson Welles himself came into the Blue Angel one night, summoned me to his table. I sat down. He looked at me for a moment and then said, 'You stole my name!' And he meant it. Then he dismissed me with a wave of his hand."

In 1964, Bean, actor Chuck McCann and others founded The Sons of the Desert, a group devoted to "the loving study of the persons and films" of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.In 1964, Bean, actor Chuck McCann and others founded The Sons of the Desert, a group devoted to "the loving study of the persons and films" of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/orson-bean-dead-dr-quinn-actor-was-91-1000269

Many in my age cohort saw Bean on game shows on a weekly basis.

A daily basis!

Robert Conrad

Wonder if anybody ever did knock that battery off Robert Conrad's shoulder.

I recall ABC and NBC drawing to a tie in the inaugural Battle of the Network Stars, and it was decided that the contest would be decided by a 220-yard dash between the two captains, Gabe "Welcome Back Kotter" Kaplan and Robert Conrad. I think Conrad smoked him.

Conrad played G Gordon Liddy in a TV film of GGL's autobiography... and Liddy as a boy was played by Danny Lloyd of The Shining, in his second and last turn before the cameras.

Conrad became a surreptitious gay icon for his "Wild Wild West" look, I think.

sorry henry

Conrad's ego and toughness also were on display during the Battle of the Network Stars specials, where he more often than not captained the NBC squad to victory. (He did lose one memorable race to Welcome Back Kotter's Gabe Kaplan, getting caught down in the stretch.)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-conrad-dead-wild-wild-west-action-star-was-84-1119262

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

How did I misremember that?! I guess I so bought into that tough guy persona that I revised my own memory. Sheesh.

Dancer and Actress Paula Kelly Dead at 76

https://extratv.com/2020/02/08/dancer-and-actress-paula-kelly-dead-at-77/?fbclid=IwAR3gZnaLVANrHxD33abdl2qDoXTfy2KHdd_VrTeEqCmzxrR-2_wRB_F0gLw

How did I misremember that?!

The result. I have this image of Gabe Kaplan running out of gas down the stretch.

The great Mirella Freni:

https://slippedisc.com/2020/02/just-in-mirella-freni-is-dead/

Saw that on Piotr Beczała's feed. RIP.