RIP

[Kobi]

Joe Santos, best known for playing Lt. Dennis Becker, the frustrated L.A. policeman pal of James Garner's private detective on The Rockford Files, died Friday. He was 84.

The Brooklyn native played Becker, who had a love-hate relationship with Garner's Jim Rockford, on 112 episodes of The Rockford Files, which ran on NBC from 1974-80. He was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series in 1979 and reprised the role for several telefilms.

His 40-year career was filled with roles as good cops on such series as Police Story, Magnum, P.I. and Hardcastle and McCormick and on the 1973 miniseries The Blue Knight opposite William Holden, though he played a bad guy, Consigliere Angelo Garepe, on The Sopranos.

Santos also portrayed a detective in the Al Pacino starrer The Panic in Needle Park (1971) and a reporter in the Frank Sinatra film The Detective (1968). He also was in such films as The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971), Shaft’s Big Score! (1972), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Blue Thunder (1983), The Last Boy Scout (1991) and Chronic (2015).

http://news.yahoo.com/rockford-files...lfMQRzZWMDc2M-

[Kobi]

Frank Sinatra Jr., who carried on his famous father’s legacy with his own music career and whose kidnapping as a young man added a bizarre chapter to his father’s legendary life, died Wednesday. He was 72.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/sinatra-...003227750.html

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The older he got, the more he looked like his Dad.

[Kobi]

Larry Drake, best known for playing Benny on “L.A. Law,” died on Thursday at the age of 66.

The actor’s role as office messenger Benny Stulwicz on the NBC cop drama was hailed as a revolutionary portrayal of developmental disorders for the time, and earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards in 1988 and 1989. He reprised the role in the 2002 TV movie.

He also starred in as the villain Durant in Sam Raimi‘s 1990 cult hit “Darkman” alongside Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand, as well as the direct-to-video sequel “Darkman II: The Return of Durant.”

Though he had recently taken a step back from acting to teach, Drake’s recent credits included the 2009 thriller “Dead Air,” and guest roles on “7th Heaven,” “Six Feet Under” and “Boston Legal.”

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/larry-drake...232728060.html

[Kobi]

Firefighters, police, and citizens lined the road as a State police-escorted motorcade arrived in Falmouth, Massachusetts, with the body of Deputy Sherriff John Robert Kotfila Jr. on Sunday evening.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers and citizens followed the procession from Logan Airport to pay their respects to the fallen officer of the Hillsborough County Sherriff’s Department, whose cruiser was struck by a wrong-way driver in Brandon, Florida, near Tampa, on March 12.

Kotfila was a traffic crash investigator always out helping the injured, writing reports, and investigating vehicular accidents. At 1 a.m. he was working on his fifth crash of the day that involved an adult and teenager. He had driven to Tampa General Hospital to see how they were doing and was heading home around 2:45 a.m. when he died. John had worked for the sheriff’s office for six years.

Reports say the courageous officer had actually driven his patrol car into the path of a female driver headed towards the wrong-way vehicle. Hillsborough County Sherriff David Gee hailed Kotfila’s exemplary bravery and how he gave his life so that another person could live.

Deputy John Kotfila Jr. , 30, was a third-generation police officer. He is survived by his wife and 2 young daughters.

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John was a local kid and one of the good guys.

Welcome home dude. You done good. You made us proud. Rest in peace.

[Kobi]

Actor Ken Howard, who starred in the 1970s series "The White Shadow" and served as president of SAG-AFTRA, has died at age 71.

Howard's career spanned four decades in TV, theater and film. In the CBS series "The White Shadow," which aired from 1978 to 1981, he starred as a white coach to an urban high school basketball team — a part, one of Howard's best known, that drew on the personal history of the 6 feet 6 inch tall actor, who played basketball growing up on Long Island in New York and at Amherst College.

He was a staple character actor on television, starring opposite Blythe Danner in "Adam's Rib" on ABC and appearing as the chipper Kabletown boss Hank Hooper on NBC's "30 Rock."

Howard played Thomas Jefferson on Broadway in "1776," a role he reprised in the 1972 film. He won a Tony Award for Robert Marasco's Catholic boarding school drama "Child's Play."

After making his film debut opposite Liza Minnelli in 1970's "Tell Me That You Love Me," Howard's films included "Rambo," ''In Her Shoes" and "Michael Clayton." He won an Emmy for his performance in HBO's "Grey Gardens" in 2009.

He was also familiar to viewers of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, providing an update on the union's accomplishments during the televised awards ceremony.

Howard was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 2009 and was a catalyst for its 2012 merger with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union. Combined, the groups represent 160,000 actors, broadcasters and recording artists.

Howard was the first president of SAG-AFTRA and was re-elected to the post last year.

http://news.yahoo.com/actor-ken-howa...212315843.html

[Kobi]

Joe Garagiola, legendary broadcaster and former MLB catcher, died today. He was 90.

Outside of baseball fans Garagiola is best known for his two stints as a panelist on The Today Show from 1967 – 1973 and again from 1990 – 1992. His colorful personality served him well during a broadcasting career that spanned seven decades. He had a 30-year association with NBC as a baseball announcer, providing both play-by-play duties as well as color commentary at various points during his career on television and radio.

Garagiola was born on February 12, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up across the street from future baseball legend Yogi Berra in the Italian-American neighborhood known as The Hill. The block on Elizabeth Avenue became retroactively known as “Hall of Fame Place.”

Following the end of his playing career, Garagiola entered the broadcast booth, and it was here that his personality and often self-deprecating humor shined. He called radio broadcasts for the Cardinals from 1955 – 1962. He joined NBC’s national broadcasting team in 1961 and became was a fixture of the NBC baseball crew for decades and called three World Series, 1984, 1986 and 1988.

Following his departure from NBC Sports he joined the broadcasting booth for the California Angels cable-televised games in 1990 and did part-time color commentary for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1998 – 2012.

In addition to broadcasting baseball he was a regular panelist on The Today Show and occasionally guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Other broadcasting jobs included hosting the Orange Bowl Parade and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

In 1991 he was awarded baseball’s Ford C. Frick award for outstanding broadcasting accomplishments and honored at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity...a-sr-1926-2016

[Gemme]

Comedian Garry Shandling passed away.


Garry Shandling has died at the age of 66, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

No additional details were immediately available, Shandling's publicist and agency did not return requests for comment.

The comedian, whose career has spanned decades in the industry, is known for his turns with the Larry Sanders Show and Garry Shandling Show.

He recently appeared in Marvel's Captain America: Civil War as well as in Iron Man 2 as well as cameoing in a slew of comedies including The Dictator, Funny People and Zoolander.

Born in Chicago, Shandling's family relocated to Tucson, Ariz., to help treat his older brother, Barry, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. Barry died at age 10 but the family remained.