DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[H.Johnson]

Patrick McGoohan, of The Prisoner, Danger Man/Secret Agent, etc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7829267.stm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUx3vj3lmT8

And earlier, the inimitable Hell Drivers. Should be compulsory viewing for students of 1950s Britain (and the cinema, for that matter). McGoohan's boss character is played with a fearsome menace that is scarcely matched.

A fine character actor. IMO he could give lessons to some of the other actors in this production who went onto greater things.

 

[donCarlos]

Famouse architect Jan Kaplicky passed away this Wednesday (14. January 2009) in his 71 years. (cause is unknown yet)

I think you may know his work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Kaplický
One of his last and most controversial works was project of a new national library in Prague. (http://media.novinky.cz/900/119004-original-ob6i9.jpg) It was cancelled, I hope the authorities will give this project one more chance.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Nancy Bird Walton AO, OBE, JStJ 1913-2009

Pioneering Australian aviatrix who became a fully qualified pilot at the age of 19 in 1934. She was instructed by the legendary aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith near Sydney, and and in 1935 opened an air ambulance service in outback New South Wales.

In 1936, Nancy Bird entered the Adelaide to Brisbane air race, and won the Ladies' Trophy. In 1938 she decided to take a break from flying. A Dutch airline company invited her to do some promotional work in Europe, and she remained there for several years, returning to Australia after World War II began to train women in the piloting skills needed to back up the men flying in the Royal Australian Air Force. At the age of 24 she married Englishman Charles Walton, and had two children. He preferred to call her "Nancy-Bird" rather than "Nancy", and she became generally known as "Nancy-Bird Walton". In 1950, she founded the Australian Women's Pilots' Association, of which she was president until 1990. In 1958, she decided to return to flying after a twenty year absence.

Despite the rsiks involved in early aviation, Nancy Bird was never involved in an accident. Her tireless work for charities and the needy resulted in her being invested as an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1966, and she was later appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). The National Trust of Australia declared her an Australian Living Treasure in 1997.

The first Airbus A380 delivered to Australian national airline Qantas in 2008 was named in her honour.

Nancy passed away at her home in Mosman, on Sydney's North Shore, January 13, 2009, aged 95.

 

[carter]

Prize-winning writer Hortense Calisher (1911-2009) dies at 97.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_en_ot/obit_calisher_2

Pulitizer Prize-winning poet and educator W.D. Snodgrass passed away this past Tuesday, 1926-2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/arts/15snodgrass.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

 

[jamespowers]

Very sad. Kids know him now as the grandfather in th super-wheelchair in SPYKIDS.
He's great as a paratrooper with Van Johnson in Battleground, but really he was one of the great screen latin lovers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d4HVq7MwQg

Don't forget that children also know him by his Villian character on Kim Possible: Senor Senior Sr. and his son Senor Senior Jr.
As seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC7Q5L3ejrg
Obviously his voice.

 

[Rundquist]

Freddie Hubbard died last week.

 

[Peacoat]

Freddie Hubbard

And what a talent he was. Although obviously known for his jazz, I discovered him through his blues playing in the late 60s, and early 70s.

 

[dhermann1]

"She who must be obeyed . . . "

All fans of dear old Hoprace Rumpole, barrister at the Olde Bailey, will be saddened to know that his creator, John Mortimer, passed away at 85. He was also famous for a wonderful autobiographical story "Voyage Round My Father", which starred Laurence Olivier as his irascible progenitor.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...R?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Let's all have a glass of port in his honor.

 

[filfoster]

Rump hole

All fans of dear old Hoprace Rumpole, barrister at the Olde Bailey, will be saddened to know that his creator, John Mortimer, passed away at 85. He was also famous for a wonderful autobiographical story "Voyage Round My Father", which starred Laurence Olivier as his irascible progenitor.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...R?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Let's all have a glass of port in his honor.

Is Leo McKern, the actor who memorably played Rumpole still living?

 

[Doctor Strange]

Nope, according to the very useful:

http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/pages-nf/main

(And before he ever played Rumpole, McKern was also very memorable as Number Two on The Prisoner - I had to mention this, considering Patrick McGoohan's recent death.)

 

[carter]

Andrew Wyeth

On January 16, 2009, Andrew Wyeth passed away at his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, after a brief illness. He was 91 years old. The cause of death is not known.

A wonderful artist has left us. RIP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wyeth#cite_note-0

 

[Foofoogal]

http://www.branduardi.info/images/wind.jpg

When I was just starting my business I went to alot of sales. One day I ran across a junky old house. I was digging around and found a large stack of large pictures.
For $4.00 I found this Andrew Wyeth print. It is called "Wind From the Sea" This does not do it justice. Mine is old and in a large original frame and not cut off like this.
Every Spring I put out my lace curtains and hang it on the wall. It takes me away to a simpler time. You can literally imagine yourself in that room with that window. It is marvelous.
Some of my finds I keep for myself and this is one.
RIP Andrew Wyeth. Thank you for my gift of art.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Wyeth family are local folks here -- Andrew could often be seen in the summer standing in line among the rest of the locals at Wasses Hot Dog Stand, just down the street from where I live, and nobody ever made a big deal over him because he wanted it that way. A colossal talent, a humble man.

 

[warbird]

The snooty artist elites and their critics often said Wyeth was not a true painter, but an illustrator. I always found that to be absurd of Wyeth and a personal favorite, Rockwell. They were artists as much as any painter and were able to convey emotion, sentimentality and a uniqueness to the world around them. I have a particular dislike for the bourgeois determining for us what we find artistic and whether we should like something or not.

In the end those critics will not be remembered, but Mr. Wyeth will be and congrats to him for it.

 

[Feraud]

On January 16, 2009, Andrew Wyeth passed away at his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, after a brief illness. He was 91 years old. The cause of death is not known.

A wonderful artist has left us. RIP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wyeth#cite_note-0

A lovely painting located at MOMA in NYC.

 

[carter]

At her insistence, a print of Wyeth's painting Master Bedroom hangs in my daughter's bedroom.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My favorite Wyeth --

"The Patriot," a portrait of logger Ralph Cline, from the next town over, donning his World War I uniform for a Memorial Day parade. A real person, with a real face and a real story -- impeccably captured here.

The real Ralph Cline.

 

[Brinybay]

A bit belated, but none-the-less...

She passed away a year ago. Just to make this interesting, I'll let you guess who. My Dad always said she was a real "looker" (old-fashioned term for saying a woman was beautiful). Of course, as a kid watching her on TV, I had no idea what he meant or that indeed she was a "looker". Here she is in 1940.

 

[Esme]

My first thought is Yvonne DeCarlo.

 

[KilroyCD]

My first thought is Yvonne DeCarlo.

Mine too, but Yvonne DeCarlo passed away two years ago.