rip prince
 

I can't believe Prince is gone, as well as Chyna!

Patty Duke so far has hurt my heart the most, she was a huge advocate for bi polar disorder. She brought the disease to the forefront for my parents, to understand what is wrong with me.

So sad about Prince. Too many legends are being taken from us too young. He was too young. What a shock.

William Schallert
 

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William Schallert, an amazingly busy “everyman” character actor for nearly seven decades who had trouble on television with Tribbles, Dobie Gillis and those identical two-of-a-kind cousins played by Patty Duke, has died. He was 93.

Schallert, who has nearly 400 credits on IMDb stretching from 1947 to 2014, died Sunday at his home in Pacific Palisades, his son Edwin said.

Schallert in 2004 made the list of TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Dads (he placed No. 39) for playing the constantly bedeviled Martin Lane — the warm-hearted father of reckless teenager Patty Lane (Duke) and the uncle of her level-headed twin cousin Cathy (also Duke) — on The Patty Duke Show, which aired from 1963-66 on ABC.

On CBS’ hip sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which ran from 1959-63, Schallert recurred as Leander Pomfritt, an English teacher often flummoxed by two students in particular: Dobie (Dwayne Hickman) and his beatnik buddy Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver). (Herbert Anderson was the first choice for the role of Pomfritt, but he chose to play the dad on Dennis the Menace.)

But for all his work — Schallert also played small-town Mississippi mayor Webb Schubert in the Oscar-winning best picture In the Heat of the Night (1967) — the actor often said that the character for which he was most recognized was Federation Undersecretary of Agricultural Affairs Nilz Baris. He’s the guy who discovered the batch of furry grain-devouring aliens in “The Trouble With Tribbles,” the classic December 1967 episode of NBC’s Star Trek.

The genial Los Angeles native starred in 1956 in the very first installment of the famed live CBS anthology series Playhouse 90, directed by John Frankenheimer, and played Admiral Hargrade, the brittle founder of CONTROL, on Get Smart; the librarian Mr. Bloomgarden on Leave It to Beaver; the fathers of Wendie Malick on Dream On and a grown-up Gidget (Caryn Richman) on The New Gidget; Agent Frank Harper on The Wild, Wild West (stepping in for Ross Martin, sidelined after a heart attack); and Mayor Norris on True Blood.

Oh, and later he was the voice of Milton the Toaster, the long-running spokesman in commercials for Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts.

Schallert served as SAG president from 1979-81, and during his tenure (which saw the actors go on strike for 94 days, with pay TV an issue for the first time), he founded the Committee for Performers With Disabilities. (Duke was SAG president after her TV dad was.)

In 1993, Schallert received the Ralph Morgan Award for service to the guild.

Roles in other science-fiction films like Them! (1954), Gog (1954) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) followed, as did work in Red Badge of Courage (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952) — though his scene was left on the cutting room floor — The High and the Mighty (1954), Written on the Wind (1956), Roger Corman’s Gunslinger (1956), Friendly Persuasion (1956) and Pillow Talk (1959).

The dependable Schallert played Walter Matthau's mild-mannered deputy (his favorite role) in the Kirk Douglas starrer Lonely Are the Brave (1962), a down-and-out ex-racer opposite Elvis Presley in Speedway (1968), a professor in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) and a sheriff in Charley Varrick (1973) with his pal, Walter Matthau.

Later, he appeared in The Jerk (1979), and director Joe Dante cast him in such films as Gremlins (1984), Innerspace (1987) and Matinee (1993).

Schallert was poised to be a leading man when he signed on to play a cartoonist whose creation comes to life in ABC’s Philbert, a pilot created by famed animator Friz Freleng. But the show never made it on the air.

Schallert was a guest star on such TV series as The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Father Knows Best, The Twilight Zone, Peter Gunn, Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Maude, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Desperate Housewives and How I Met Your Mother.

And he had recurring roles on Philip Marlowe, The Waltons, Norman Lear’s The Nancy Walker Show, The Nancy Drew Mysteries (as the lawyer father of the amateur sleuth played by Pamela Sue Martin), The Duck Factory (as Jim Carrey’s dad) and The Torkelsons as an elderly boarder who lives on Martin Lane (get it?).

He performed in numerous miniseries, including 1979’s Blind Ambition (as Richard Nixon adviser Herbert Kalmbach), 1986’s North and South, Book II (as Robert E. Lee), 1988-89’s War and Remembrance, 2008’s Recount and 2011’s Bag of Bones, recruited by Stephen King.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...ty-duke-732312

Morley Safer
 

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Morley Safer, a CBS television correspondent who brought the horrors of the Vietnam War into the living rooms of America in the 1960s and was a mainstay of the network’s newsmagazine “60 Minutes” for almost five decades, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 84.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/bu...dies.html?_r=0

Alan Young
 

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Actor-comedian Alan Young, who played the amiable straight man to a talking horse in the 1960s sitcom "Mister Ed," has died. He was 96.

Young was already a well-known radio and TV comedian, having starred in his own Emmy-winning variety show, when "Mister Ed" was being readied at comedian George Burns' production company. Burns is said to have told his staff: "Get Alan Young. He looks like the kind of guy a horse would talk to."

Mr. Ed was a golden Palomino who spoke only to his owner, Wilbur Post, played by Young. Fans enjoyed the horse's deep, droll voice ("WIL-bur-r-r-r-r") and the goofy theme song lyrics ("A horse is a horse, of course, of course ... "). Cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane supplied Mr. Ed's voice.

Young also appeared in a number of films, including "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes," ''Tom Thumb," ''The Cat from Outer Space" and "The Time Machine," the latter the 1960 classic in which, speaking in a Scottish brogue, he played time traveler Rod Taylor's friend. Young had a small role in the 2002 "Time Machine" remake.

In later years, Young found a new career writing for and voicing cartoons. He portrayed Scrooge McDuck in 65 episodes for Disney's TV series "Duck Tales" and did voice-overs for "The Great Mouse Detective."

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...l?intcmp=hpbt4

Beth Howland
 

Beth Howland, the actress best known for her role as a ditzy waitress on the 1970s and '80s CBS sitcom "Alice," has died. She was 74.

Howland was born May 28, 1941, in Boston. At 16, she landed a role on Broadway alongside Dick Van Dyke in "Bye Bye Birdie." CBS later noticed Howland on stage in the 1970 production of "Company" and brought her to Hollywood for a bit part on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Small roles on "The Love Boat" and "Little House on the Prairie" followed before she was cast as Vera Louise Gorman on "Alice," a comedy set in an Arizona greasy spoon diner based on the 1974 Martin Scorcese film, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

Howland earned four Golden Globe nominations during the comedy's 1976-85 run for her performance as the naive Vera.

After "Alice" ended, Howland largely disappeared from television acting, aside from bit parts on series including "Murder, She Wrote" and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch."

Howland created Tiger Rose Productions with actress Jennifer Warren. The company produced "You Don't Have to Die," a 1988 HBO documentary about a boy's battle against cancer that won an Academy Award for best short-subject documentary.

You were the greatest! RIP :'(
 

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You know you're getting old when so many "legends" you grew up admiring pass away. RIP Mr Ali.

I have such fond memories of watching his fights side by side with my dad.

RIP :rrose:

Bretagne, 16, last known 9/11 search dog
 

Bretagne was 2 years old when she and her handler, Denise Corliss, were part of the Texas Task Force 1 sent to the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attack brought down the buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. They spent 10 days at the scene searching rubble for human remains.

Bretagne retired from active duty at age 9. She served as an ambassador for search and rescue dogs in retirement

She was nominated for a Hero Dog Award from the American Humane Association in 2014. At 15, she was taken by Corliss to the 9-11 memorial and participated in an interview with Tom Brokaw of NBC News.

In recent weeks she was in failing health.

About two-dozen first responders lined the sidewalk leading to the veterinarian’s office and saluted Bretagne as she walked by for the final time Monday. An American flag was draped over her as she was carried out of the facility.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2745804/91.../?sf28137339=1

Gordie Howe
 

Gordie Howe, one of the greatest and most durable players in the history of hockey, who powered his Detroit Red Wings teams to four Stanley Cup championships and was 52 years old when he officially retired from playing the sport, died on Friday. He was 88.

Howe played professional hockey for 32 seasons. He was named a first- or second-team N.H.L. All-Star 21 times. The four Stanley Cups he helped the Red Wings win came in 1950, ’52, ’54 and ’55.

By the time he retired for the second and final time in 1980 as the oldest player in N.H.L. history, Howe had set records for most seasons (26), games played (1,767), goals (801), assists (1,049) and points (1,850). He won both the Hart Trophy as the N.H.L.'s most valuable player and the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top points scorer six times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/sp...smtyp=cur&_r=0

“Waltons” actress Ronnie Claire Edwards
 

Ronnie Claire Edwards, a veteran actress who is best known for playing Corabeth Godsey on “The Waltons” has died. She was 83 years old.

The Oklahoma-born actress began performing in 1963, but her most noted work was during the 1970s. She appeared on several television shows in various roles until taking the part of Corabeth on “The Waltons” in 1975. She remained with the series until 1981, appearing in over 100 episodes. She also appeared in three “Waltons” made-for-TV movies in 1982.

Remaning active into the 21st century, Edwards appeared in the films “Nobody’s Fool” (1986) with Roseanna Arquette, and “The Dead Pool” (1988) featuring Clint Eastwood. She was also in several TV movies such as “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1989), Guess Who’s Coming for Christmas” (1990), and other “Waltons” TV movie in 1993 and 1995. She also made appearances on such shows as “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Edwards also landed recurring roles in a few more TV series, such as “Boone,” “Sara,” and “Just in Time,” none of these lasting more than a season.

Ronnie Clair Edwards also wrote, along with Allen Crowe, a play called “Idols of the King.” It deals with the passionate fans of Elvis Presley.

Edwards was known as a delightful storyteller when discussing her career, and published a book, “The Knife Thrower’s Assistant: Memoris of a Human Target.”

Ronnie Claire Edwards died in her sleep on the night of June 14, 2016. She had been living in Dallas, Texas.

obit

Ann Morgan Guilbert
 

Ann Morgan Guilbert, actress who played Millie Helper on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” has died at the age of 87.

Guilbert was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She studied theater arts at Stanford University.

She is best known for her beloved role as the next door neighbor and best friend of Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) on the 1960s classic sitcom, “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” She appeared on 61 episodes of the show.

In the 1990s, she had a notable supporting role as Fran Fine’s feisty grandmother on the sitcom, “The Nanny.” Other television appearances by Guilbert include “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “That Girl.”

She also had roles in films including “Grumpier Old Men,” and as recently as 2010 she had appeared in the movie “Please Give.”

Anton Yelchin, Star Trek actor, dies at 27
 

Anton Yelchin died Sunday morning in “fatal traffic collision".

Yelchin begin his acting career appearing in shows like ER, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In 2006, he received critical acclaim for his performance in crime drama Alpha Dog and starred as the title character in the next year’s Charlie Bartlett.

The actor made his Star Trek debut in the franchise’s 2009 film, where he played Pavel Chekhov. He reprised that role in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness and again in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, which is set to arrive in theaters July 22.

Although Yelchin was most known for his Star Trek work, he made a name for himself appearing in smaller films like 2011’s Like Crazy, where he starred opposite Felicity Jones, and 2011’s The Beaver, directed by Jodie Foster and also starring Mel Gibson and Jennifer Lawrence.

He last was seen in this year’s Green Room, a horror film released this past spring.

Pat Summitt, iconic University of Tennessee basketball coach, dead at 64
 

Pat Summitt, the iconic University of Tennessee women's basketball coach who became the winningest coach in college basketball history, has died at the age of 64, several years after being diagnosed with early onset dementia, her son, Tyler, and her foundation's website say.

For 38 years, the trailblazing coach roamed courtside at Tennessee, racking up 1,098 wins against only 208 losses. Along the way, there were eight national championships and 16 conference titles that put Summitt and women's college basketball on the nation's sports map.

She stepped down as Tennessee's coach in 2012, one year after announcing her diagnosis of early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type.

After her diagnosis, Summitt played a leading role in the fight against Alzheimer's. She launched the Pat Summitt Foundation, which is dedicated to researching and educating people about the disease while also providing services to patients and caregivers.

Summit grew up in north-central Tennessee, in a family of five, according to a 2012 ESPN profile. She went to high school in Henrietta, Tennessee, where she played basketball. She later went on to attend University of Tennessee at Martin.

Summitt took over as coach the job of Tennessee Lady Volunteers at the age of 22 in 1974. She has the most career wins of any Division I men's or women's basketball coach.

During her time, Tennessee never failed to reach the NCAA tournament, never received a seed lower than No. 5 and reached 18 Final Fours.

She led the 1984 Olympic team to a gold medal, after having won an Olympic silver medal herself in 1976.

Summitt continued to hold a position as head coach emeritus of the Tennessee women's basketball team up until her death. She attended nearly every home game and many practices in the first year after stepped down as coach, though she had a less visible role in subsequent seasons. She cut back on public appearances in recent years.

Summitt was also an author of three books, her most recent released in 2014, titled "Sum it Up."

Alvin Toffler, author of 'Future Shock,'
 

NEW YORK (AP) — Alvin Toffler, a guru of the post-industrial age whose million-selling "Future Shock" and other books anticipated the disruptions and transformations brought about by the rise of digital technology, has died. He was 87.

One of the world's most famous "futurists," Toffler was far from alone in seeing the economy shift from manufacturing and mass production to a computerized and information-based model. But few were more effective at popularizing the concept, predicting the effects and assuring the public that the traumatic upheavals of modern times were part of a larger and more hopeful story.

"Future Shock," a term he first used in a 1965 magazine article, was how Toffler defined the growing feeling of anxiety brought on by the sense that life was changing at a bewildering and ever-accelerating pace. His book combined an understanding tone and page-turning urgency as he diagnosed contemporary trends and headlines, from war protests to the rising divorce rate, as symptoms of a historical cycle overturning every facet of life.

"We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots — religion, nation, community, family, or profession — are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust," he wrote.

Toffler offered a wide range of predictions and prescriptions, some more accurate than others. He forecast "a new frontier spirit" that could well lead to underwater communities, "artificial cities beneath the waves," and also anticipated the founding of space colonies — a concept that fascinated Toffler admirer Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and presidential candidate. In "Future Shock," released in 1970, he also presumed that the rising general prosperity of the 1960s would continue indefinitely.

"We made the mistake of believing the economists of the time," Toffler told Wired magazine in 1993. "They were saying, as you may recall, we've got this problem of economic growth licked. All we need to do is fine-tune the system. And we bought it."

But Toffler attracted millions of followers, including many in the business community, and the book's title became part of the general culture. Curtis Mayfield and Herbie Hancock were among the musicians who wrote songs called "Future Shock" and the book influenced such science fiction novels as John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider." More recently, Samantha Bee hosted a recurring "Future Shock" segment on Comedy Central.

Toffler is credited with another common expression, defining the feeling of being overrun with data and knowledge as "information overload."

In the decades following "Future Shock," Toffler wrote such books as "Powershift" and "The Adaptive Corporation," lectured worldwide, taught at several schools and met with everyone from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to network executives and military officials. China cited him along with Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Gates and others as the Westerners who most influenced the country even as Communist officials censored his work.

In 2002, the management consultant organization Accenture ranked him No. 8 on its list of the top 50 business intellectuals.

His most famous observation: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

After "Future Shock," Toffler also continued to sketch out how the world was changing and how to respond. In "The Third Wave," a 1980 best-seller that AOL founder Steve Case would cite as a formative influence, he looked to a high-tech society that Case, Steve Jobs and others were just starting to put in place. He forecast the spread of email, telecommuting, teleconferences, interactive media, devices that remind you "of your own appointments" and online chat rooms.

Overall, he pronounced the downfall of the old centralized hierarchy and looked forward to a more dispersed and responsive society, populated by a hybrid of consumer and producer he called "the prosumer."

Toffler collaborated on many of his books and other projects with his wife, Heidi, who survives him. He is also survived by a sister, Caroline Sitter. Toffler's daughter, Karen, died in 2000.

Toffler, a native of New York City, was born Oct. 4, 1928 to Jewish Polish immigrants. A graduate of New York University, he was a Marxist and union activist in his youth, and continued to question the fundamentals of the market economy long after his politics moderated. He knew the industrial life firsthand through his years as a factory worker in Ohio.

"I got a realistic picture of how things really are made — the energy, love and rage that are poured into ordinary things we take for granted," he later wrote.

He had dreamed of being the next John Steinbeck, but found his talents were better suited for journalism. He wrote for the pro-union publication Labor's Daily and in the 1950s was hired by Fortune magazine to be its labor columnist. The origins of "Future Shock" began in the 1960s when Toffler worked as a researcher for IBM and other technology companies.

"Much of what Toffler wrote in 'Future Shock' is now accepted common sense, but at the time it defied conventional views of reality," John Judis wrote in The New Republic in 1995.

"Americans' deepest fears of the future were expressed by George Orwell's lockstep world of 1984. But Toffler, who had spent five years in a factory, understood that Americans' greatest problem was not being consigned to the tedium of the assembly line or the office. As he put it: 'The problem is not whether man can survive regimentation and standardization. The problem ... is whether he can survive freedom.'"

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alvin-tof...48.html?ref=gs
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Rest in Peace Elie Wiesel.

July 2, 2016

"Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate and author Elie Wiesel has died at the age of 87.

Wiesel survived the World War II Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. After liberation, he went to France, then Israel and the United States, where he advocated on behalf of victims of hate and persecution around the world.

Elie Wiesel was called many things during his life: a messenger of peace, a humanitarian, a survivor. He liked to call himself simply a witness. And as a witness, he said, it was his duty to never let those who suffered be forgotten.

To forget the victims means to kill them a second time," he told NPR in April 2012. "So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death.....

..Wiesel said the world should never remain silent while humans suffer, for neutrality, he said, only aids the oppressor, never the victim."

NPR

Broadway Actor John McMartin Dies at 86
 

John McMartin, the Broadway veteran who created roles in landmark musicals including “Sweet Charity” and “Follies,” had died.

The death of the longtime actor, whose face was familiar to TV audiences from roles on “The Golden Girls,” “Murder, She Wrote” and, most recently, “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” was attributed to cancer in a paid obituary announcement in the New York Times.

On Broadway, he’d been seen in “All the Way,” the Tony winning 2014 production that starred Bryan Cranston, as well as musicals “Anything Goes” (2011) and “Grey Gardens” (2006).

McMartin, who was nominated for five Tony Awards over the course of his career, made his Broadway debut in 1961 play “The Conquering Hero,” but his first signature role came in 1966 Neil Simon-Cy Coleman musical “Sweet Charity,” in which he played the nebbishy accountant Oscar, a Tony-nominated performance he reprised in the 1969 movie version opposite Shirley MacLaine.

His association with composer Stephen Sondheim began with the short-lived but legendary 1971 premiere production of “Follies,” and he went on to star in a 1991 staging of “A Little Night Music” at the L.A.’s Ahmanson Theater, as well as a 2002 Broadway revival of “Into The Woods.”

In the early 1970s, he was a member of the New Phoenix Repertory Company during the troupe’s season on Broadway, in plays including Moliere’s “Don Juan,” O’Neill’s “The Great God Brown” and Durrenmatt’s “The Visit.” In 2001, he starred opposite Chita Rivera in the original Chicago production of Kander and Ebb’s musical adaptation of “The Visit.”

His TV credits included “Cheers” and “Frasier” as well as “The Partridge Family.” His film work included parts in “All the President’s Men,” “Blow Out” and “Kinsey.”

Garry Marshall, Happy Days creator and Pretty Woman director, dies at 81
 

Garry Marshall, the director, writer, and producer who developed such television shows as The Odd Couple and Happy Days and who helmed 18 films, including Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries, died Tuesday evening from complications of pneumonia following a stroke at a hospital in Burbank, California. He was 81.

A towering figure in the world of TV comedy, Marshall wrote for The Joey Bishop Show, The Lucy Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and went on to create and executive produce several popular sitcoms in the ’70s, including The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy.

He earned five Emmy nominations over the course of his career: four for The Odd Couple and one for Mork & Mindy.

Marshall began directing films in the ’80s, and scored his breakthrough with the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman. The movie grossed $463 million at the worldwide box office and vaulted Julia Roberts to stardom. Marshall and Roberts would reunite on 1999’s Runaway Bride and Marshall’s most recent movie, Mother’s Day.

Marshall’s other directing credits included Beaches, two Princess Diaries movies, Overboard, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s Eve. He also compiled dozens of acting credits over the years, on the big and small screens.

A native of the Bronx, New York, Marshall was the son of an industrial filmmaker and a dance instructor. He studied journalism at Northwestern University, served a stint in the army, and worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News before entering into show business.

Marshall remained active even in his final days. He recently finished a rewrite of the book for a Broadway adaptation of Pretty Woman, and Mother’s Day hit theaters in April.

He was the brother of actress/director Penny Marshall.