Rolling Obituary Thread: 2016

Gene Wilder is a big sad one for me, goddammit all.

aww, gene should have his own thread. someone start one.

i made an ironic Wonka meme on Saturday to celebrate a sports result, so i blame myself

GENE WILDER

ah right yeah his old thread will do as a memorial.

Jaime Davidovich, public access TV innovator

http://artforum.com/news/id=63158

RIP Jon Polito, the reason I occasionally blurt out "Well, shit on me!"

http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-jon-polito-favorite-coen-brothers-242083#

RIP. Particularly liked his reveal in Lebowski- "I'm a brother shamus!" - and his opening speech in Miller's Crossing, which I had more or less memorized at one point.

ALWAYS PUT ONE IN DA BRAIN

I'm a brother shamus!

no more high hat for him :(
RIP always loved it when he popped up

That's what separates us from the beasts of burden, the beasts of prey.

I still shave with cold water because it contracts the metal - must at some point check if that's completely made up. RIP

Kind of blowing my mind he was only in his mid-30s when he did Crime Story.

perfectly cast as Danny DeVito/Frank's bro in Always Sunny

ETTICS

he was so good in Homicide

The David Mamet film? Didn't remember that.

The show. He was only in like the first couple of seasons and quit ('committed suicide') halfway through a season.

Unfortunately, network executives saw only the show’s dismal ratings, so after the second season Polito was pushed out to make room for the addition of Megan Russert. After Polito complained about it to the press, his hiatus became permanent, setting off an even nastier feud with Fontana after the show had Crosetti die ignobly off-screen in a suicide, one that—while arguably creating Homicide’s most memorable episode—was a frustrating and thoroughly undeserved resolution for the character. Fortunately, bygones were bygones by the time of Homicide: The Movie, and Crosetti was allowed to return in a glimpse of the afterlife, finally at peace.

The line at the time was that Polito was being wishy-washy about coming back for S3 (S2 was only 4 episodes) due to it cutting him off from other gigs, and he finally quit after the season started (in the early EPs Crosetti was 'on vacation'). This is the first i've heard about him getting bumped for Isabella Hoffman.

Jerry Heller

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jerry-heller-former-nwa-manager-dead-at-75-w437928

Richard Neville

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/04/richard-neville-obituary

One of his aphorisms was picked up by Tony Blair, 25 years later, for his New Labour election campaign: “As Richard Neville said, there is only an inch of difference between us and the Conservatives, but it is an inch worth living in.”

Hugh O'Brian, TV's Wyatt Earp (1955-61)

Good riddance phyllis schlafly

I guess that trademark office ruling was the last straw

http://thetelegraph.com/news/88795/judge-rules-against-phyllis-schlafly-in-beer-trademark-case

i said "hooray" and didn't feel guilty (re schlafly)

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/14141846_10154387553841878_2406561709039159057_n.jpg?oh=d300b6654ad40256407260659ed33cc6&oe=583C17D8

the deathzing is the coldest of zings

schlafly really was one of the most odious public figures in late-20th-century america. rest in piss.

she was a real sweet lady until the end

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/phyllis-schlafly-ban-foreign-players-major-league-baseball-because-they-take-jobs-ought-go-a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/11/phyllis-schlafly-endorses-trump-in-st-louis/

what a tumor of a person.

Sad to see Richard Neville go - that BBC drama The Trials Of Oz was a big influence on my teenaged self.

Not sid to see Phyllis Schafly go at all.

Wikipedia says soul singer Clifford Curry died yesterday in Knoxville, Tenn. Haven't seen anything else out there that confirms this, but Rob Galbraith, who worked with and knew Curry for decades, reported that Curry had been taken off life support Monday. His big hit was "She Shot a Hole in My Soul."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WywQZhpjdms

Saw it last night by way of an ilx0r's FB post about it being reacted to by another ilx0r. First ilx0r was apparently a good friend of his.

Leslie H Martinson, director of about a thousand TV shows

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leslie-martinson-dead-batman-director-921817

Prince Buster

RIP Lewis Merenstein who produced Van Morrison's Astral Weeks & John Cale's Vintage Violence

Looks like someone updated Clifford Curry's wikipedia page with his birthdate. Here's the obit

"Curry was scheduled to perform a few songs at a show at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the Holiday Inn Cedar Bluff with friends Billy Swan, Dickey Lee, The Swingin' Medallions, Buzz Cason and Kitty Wampus. The show will go on as a tribute to Curry. For more information call 865-573-2501."

Sounds like some kind of bill! I think I saw Clifford play once, as part of a package show that supported the release of a collection of Nashville R&B.

RIP the Lady Chablis, the Savannah-based trans performer.

http://savannahnow.com/news/2016-09-08/i-just-try-be-who-i-am-savannah-midnight-fans-mourn-celebrate-lady-chablis

(I think she might have been the first still-living trans woman I was aware of when I was growing up.)

Transgender actress Alexis Arquette, at 47.

http://laist.com/2016/09/11/rip_alexis_arquette.php

The one that said "Die you motherfuckers!!!!" in Pulp Fiction.

oh wow alexis arquette, RIP

Kim McGuire, "Hatchet-Face" from Cry-Baby, at 60:

http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-kim-mcguire-cry-babys-hatchet-face-242694

http://www.factmag.com/2016/09/16/don-buchla-dies-synthesizer/

http://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/shoeless-joe-author-w-p-kinsella-has-died

Edward Albee

Aw. I only got around to reading 'Who's Afraid...' about a month ago.

C. Martin Croker, voice of Zorak and Moltar among others, age 54.
http://comicbook.com/popculturenow/2016/09/18/voice-artist-c-martin-croker-has-passed-away/

Charmian Carr
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THE-SOUND-OF-MUSICs-Liesl-Charmian-Carr-Dies-at-73-20160918#

Oh man at Croker... WAY too young.