Violinist -- via the Guardian.
Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Marguerite Piazza
Soprano -- via the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Best known for her extensive appearances on "Your Shows of Shows" in early television.
Sidney Reznick
Comedy writer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Holy cow -- he worked in radio and TV. He wrote for Hope, Durante, Jolson, Merman, Silvers, Wynn, and Henry Morgan, among others. He wrote for game shows, sitcoms, variety shows.
George Armitage Miller
Cognitive psychologist -- via the New York Times. Best known for his "Magical Number Seven" paper (in which he described the phenomenon that people, on average, can only maintain seven items in their short-term memories), and for Miller's Law, which states, "In order to understand what another person is saying, you must assume it is true and try to imagine what it could be true of."
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Jonathan Hardy
Actor, writer, and director -- via the New Zealand Herald. Most notably, he wrote the screen play for "Breaker Morant."
Fern Persons
Actress -- via the Chicago Tribune. Known most for her work on stage and extensive work in Golden Age radio, in such shows as "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy," "Author's Playhouse," "The Bartons," "Hot Copy," and "Midstream." Films include "Field of Dreams" and "Hoosiers."
Friday, August 3, 2012
Don Bagley
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Edward Lee "Big Ed" Stevens
First baseman for the Dodgers and the Pirates -- via legacy.com and the Houston Chronicle. Interestingly, he was replaced in 1947 by Jackie Robinson; in 1948, he replaced Hank Greenberg.
John Keegan
Military historian, writer, and journalist -- via the Telegraph. Best known for his brilliant work "The Face of Battle."
Norman Alden aka Norman Adelberg
Character actor -- via the Hollywood Performer. He was in everything! This remarkable performer amassed 237 IMDb credits. He could be seen in the corner of your screen in everything from "The Untouchables" to "My Three Sons" to "Gunsmoke." He was the voice of Aquaman on "Superfriends." He played Coach Leroy Fedders, who drowned face-down in a bowl of Mary Hartman's soup on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." He was Frank Heflin, the scientific mastermind who aided "Electrawoman and Dynagirl" on their cheesy Chicago kids' superheroine series. He was Lou, who ran in the diner in "Back to the Future," and the lackadaisical Cameraman Bill in "Ed Wood." He was always there, and he never phoned it in. A great professional!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Gore Vidal
Author, playwright and gadfly -- via the New York Times. Always pithy and provocative, Vidal used his insider's perspective on the American political system to inform his contrarian work. Whether he was exploding the myths of American history in his novels, or writing fabulously well-written and -conceived essays, or just spouting off on the usual governmental insanity, he was a lot of fun to listen to and read. He thought of the American Empire as on its last legs, and our state on the verge of becoming a military dictatorship. He might be right. However, despite his cynicism, I believe that he espoused these thoughts in part to stimulate us to turn away from the seeming inevitable and act out of our higher selves.
UPDATE: August 2 -- the New York Times obituary referenced in my initial post contained several egregious errors -- via Gawker.
UPDATE: August 2 -- the New York Times obituary referenced in my initial post contained several egregious errors -- via Gawker.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
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