DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Edward]

Gutted about Peter Tork's death. I am of a generation who grew up watching repeats of the Monkees in the early eighties, neither knowing nor caring that the show was already "old" at the time. Davy got all the girls (we couldn't identify with that when I was six!), Mike was the quiet one, Mickey the trickster.... but it was everyman Peter we probably laughed at most. We loved it just as much in the late nineties when they reran them all, and in 1997, I finally got to see them in Belfast, on the only reunion tour they ever did with all four members. Sheer joy. Manufactured take-off of Hard Day's Night or no, the Monkees will always be more musically important to me than the Beatles.

Airman Richard Churchill has died at the age of 99. He was the last survivor of the 76 men who escaped from Stalag Luft 111, a Nazi POW camp. Hitler personally ordered the execution of 50 of the escapees, however Richard Churchill speculated that the Nazis thought he was related to the British Prime Minister, which is why, in his view, he survived the war.

The escapades of Richard Churchill and his comrades were immortalised in the 1963 movie, The Great Escape.

It always raises a wry smile on my face that the most famous escapee of them all, as a result of the film, remains the entirely fictional Captain Virgil Hilts...

My wife and daughters just recently watched a Netflix doc on Karl Lagerfeld, one of the few male designers who actually dressed well in person. He is now gone, aged 85, and I bet having lived one hell of a life.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/karl-lagerfeld-dead-1.5024196

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An interesting character. He had style and other things going for him; he could also be a sexist ass. Not to mention some of his other, more dubious attitudes. But anyone who loved his cat like that can't be all bad, surely? I hope she's doing well. The death of a very close owner can really do a number on a cat's emotions.

Also, by his own admission, Mendonsa had "had a few drinks," which likely translates into quite a few given the number of bars-per-block around Times Square in 1945. I don't know any women who feel particularly aroused when they're randomly grabbed by a drunken sailor, no matter what the occasion.

Quite. I guess it's one of those images - much like the Churchill myth, really - that has been imbued with such pop-culture interpretation over the years that a conflicting interpretation - even from the lady herself - is still controversial. Amazing how a moment like that can be transformed - and still raise so much debate - via the simple act of being captured on film.

It would be interesting to have a non conservative woman's opinion on this 'cause far too many fellas consider if a woman says no, she really means, yes.

Granted, the US is a very different culture than the one in which I live, but truth be told I've never known a woman of i]any/i] political stripe who would react other than with a firm slap to the situation as was.

I'm rather a fan of how they subverted that image in Zak Schneider's movie version of Watchmen.

 

[MisterCairo]

Another piece of my youth has left us.

Mark Hollis, from the band Talk Talk, has died, aged 64. Only info is that he died after a short illness.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainm...p-talk-talk-dies-at-64/ar-BBU6orl?ocid=ientp2

(Sorry folks, No Doubt did NOT compose this):

 

[Formeruser012523]

Thanks for gutting me again.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Oscar-winning composer and conductor Andre Previn died today at age 89.

 

[MisterCairo]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/previn-obit-1.5037437

 

[MisterCairo]

Katherine Helmond, screen great from Soap to Who's the Boss to Brazil to Time Bandits, has died, aged 89:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/katherine-helmond-who-s-the-boss-dies-1.5039539

 

[GHT]

Oscar-winning composer and conductor Andre Previn died today at age 89.

You are quite knowledgeable on British TV, I remember a comment that you made about Morecambe & Wise. Did you ever see the hilarious sketch of Andre Previn with the madcap duo?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

You are quite knowledgeable on British TV, I remember a comment that you made about Morecambe & Wise. Did you ever see the hilarious sketch of Andre Previn with the madcap duo?

As a tribute to Mr Previn, I posted the entire sketch in the Funny Videos thread. The amazing part about the sketch was that because Previn's flight to London was delayed he had to learn his lines in a taxi from the airport to the studio. During the brief rehearsal Eric explained that the sketch had to be played with deadpan seriousness or it wouldn't work. To his credit Previn carried off the whole thing with remarkable delivery which was quite a feat for someone who was not a comedian.

On an interesting note one of Eric's lines in the sketch is "that's your lot," which you can barely make out. Those were Eric's last words when he died. On May 14, 1984 he was doing a one man show at the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury. At the end of the show he uttered those words when he walked off the stage. Moments later he collapsed from a fatal heart attack.

 

[GHT]

I'm impressed, you are some aficionado of comedy.

 

[MisterCairo]

Very sad new, Keith Flint from the great group Prodigy, took his own life, aged only 49:

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainm...gy-frontman-dead-at-49/ar-BBUlzEt?ocid=ientp2

 

[MisterCairo]

Oh my goodness, this is sad. Never a fan of the show, but it was certainly part of the background of my younger adulthood. Luke Perry, 90210 star and heartthrob for many a girl and woman, had died after a stroke, only 52:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-luke-perry-1.5042117

 

[MisterCairo]

I need to shut down the interweb.

Hockey legend and Detroit Red Wing icon Ted Lindsay has died, aged 93:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/ted-lindsay-nhl-hall-of-famer-dead-93-1.5041486

Part of "The Production Line" with Gordie Howe and Sid Abel (nod to Detroit's auto industry).

Lindsay, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, played 17 seasons in the NHL from 1944 to 1965 with a four-year break near the end of his career. He scored 379 goals and added 472 assists in 1,068 games while collecting 1,808 penalty minutes.

He is credited with starting the tradition of players skating around the ice with the Stanley Cup after winning it. Lindsay did it spontaneously after the Wings won in 1950 so fans could share in the experience.

 

[MisterCairo]

WWE star King Kong Bundy has died, aged only 61. I was never into wrasslin', but the 80s wouldn't be the 80s without the backdrop of "pro" wrestling:

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mor...-kong-bundy-dead-at-61/ar-BBUooFB?ocid=ientp2

 

[Zombie_61]

Oh my goodness, this is sad. Never a fan of the show, but it was certainly part of the background of my younger adulthood. Luke Perry, 90210 star and heartthrob for many a girl and woman, had died after a stroke, only 52...

I'm aware of Mr. Perry mostly because my wife watched 90210, though I have seen him in a few other projects. I wouldn't say I'm a fan but I didn't dislike him, and he seemed to be less "full of himself" than many celebrities. I read some online posts from his friends and co-stars (past and present) expressing their condolences, and several of them mentioned how kind he was, how generous he was with his time, and how he was always willing to act as a mentor to his younger co-stars when asked. Maybe not a "big" star in recent years, but seemed to be a decent person.

 

[Frunobulax]

WWE star King Kong Bundy has died, aged only 61. I was never into wrasslin', but the 80s wouldn't be the 80s without the backdrop of "pro" wrestling:

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mor...-kong-bundy-dead-at-61/ar-BBUooFB?ocid=ientp2

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FIVE!

Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[MisterCairo]

One of the three co-inventors of the hand-held calculator has died. Jerry Merryman was 86:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/calculator-inventor-obit-1.5044286

I received an excellent one for my grade 8 graduation in 1981. I had no idea it had only been patented seven years earlier.

Still have it, and it still works!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I remember when I saw my first calculator. The class Rich Kid had one and was going around showing everybody how, if you entered the number "07734" and turned the thing upside down, it said "hELLO."

Five years later they were giving calculators away at the grocery store for $10 worth of receipts.

 

[Fading Fast]

I remember when I saw my first calculator. The class Rich Kid had one and was going around showing everybody how, if you entered the number "07734" and turned the thing upside down, it said "hELLO."

Five years later they were giving calculators away at the grocery store for $10 worth of receipts.

I remember a kid bringing in his dad's to show and tell (or maybe it was just to show us in math class - a bit vague on that) in around 3rd or 4th grade. Also, several years later, we were supposed to get one for Trig class, which set off a firestorm of grumbling from my dad. Fortunately, as Lizzie notes, prices had come down a lot, but, at least in NJ, not to $10. I don't remember what we paid, but if it elicited that amount of grumbling, it had to be more than $10.

Side note: While I remember the stuff I learned in calculus a bit, I have very, very little memory of what trigonometry class was all about.

 

[Frunobulax]

I remember when I saw my first calculator. The class Rich Kid had one and was going around showing everybody how, if you entered the number "07734" and turned the thing upside down, it said "hELLO."

Five years later they were giving calculators away at the grocery store for $10 worth of receipts.

A little bit of Moore's Law and supply & demand working in our favor.

My first calculator, sometime in the mid-70s, was a "Melcor 1000." I ratcheted up through getting my engineering degree until I had one that could do backflips. Now I couldn't imagine carrying one.

Right after "07734" we learned "5318008."

Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Rmccamey]

I remember my first 4-function calculator. Our chemistry teacher in high school got a bunch of TI's and was selling them for $20.