The Daily News Kernel
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(05/29/02 - 12:57 AM CST) Death and Popcorn will return some day soon. I promise. We'll call this a hiatus. |
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I'm really very sick right now but I found something out today that I had to post. Sadly, one of the greatest actors of our time died of a heart attack on Monday, November 18th, 2002. James Coburn was in some of the greatest action films of our era, including both The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. More recently he can be remembered for voicing Monsters, Inc. CEO Henry J. Waternoose III as well as for his role in Payback and his Best Supporting Oscar winning role in Affliction. He was 74. Expect much needed updates and changes as soon as I feel better or at the latest, over Thanksgiving break. |
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I have two items to report today. First, join me for a moment in remembering Producer/Director Bruce Paltrow who died this weekend while traveling in Italy with his daughter Gwyneth. He recently directed his daughter in the film Duets and was a director on the television shows Homicide:Life on the Streets and St. Elsewhere. Paltrow had been battling throat cancer and died from complications of pneumonia and a recurrence of the cancer. He was 58. The second item helps explain why you see nearly a two-month gap between this update and the last. I am working on transitioning the site to a new host. At the same time I while be scaling it back some. It seems we started with too much, which left a lot of sections of the site undeveloped. My hope is that I'll eventually be able to expand the site to something akin to what it looks like today. Thanks for your patience during this time. |
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I wish I could say that I haven't updated in a month because no one has died. That is not the case. I owe apologies to Josh Ryan Evans and Disney composer Buddy Baker as well as others for not getting them up in a timely matter. I will try to get back here to give them a proper remembrance. |
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It is my sad duty to report that actor Rod Steiger, who won an Academy Award for his role as a bigoted small-town sheriff in the racially charged 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, died on Tuesday July 9th, 2002 at age 77. |
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I was going to pop on here to report the loss of John Frankenheimer but by the time I got home to post someone else died. People just aren't lasting as long as they used to. Hollywood director John Frankenheimer, whose films included the 1960s hits The Birdman of Alcatraz and The Manchurian Candidate, died Saturday, July 6th, 2002 in Los Angeles. He was 72. Pioneering animator Ward Kimball, who helped modernize Mickey Mouse's look in 1938 and created the character Jiminy Cricket for the Disney classic Pinocchio, died Monday, July 7th, 2002 at age 88. Mexican film star Katy Jurado, who appeared in U.S. classics including High Noon and was the only Mexican actress to garner an Oscar nomination, died at the age of 74 on Friday, July 5th, 2002. Also, if anyone is interested in working on the site, please contact me at thelobby@deathandpopcorn.com. There is so much to do and not enough people to do it. |
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(6/25/02 - 1:51 PM CST) The updates are going to be a little wierd for awhile. We have alot to catch up on. To begin... Taiwanese actor Lang Hsiung, of Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, died at 72 on Thursday, May 2nd, 2002. |
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(6/23/02 - 11:39 PM CST) It's been more than a month since I promised the last update. Sorry. I took a bit of a vacation to figure some things out. I will update soon. I promise. |
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(5/16/02 - 12:20 PM CST) Please be patient. We continue to lose people day by day. I'm still trying to finish up April and then we have to look at May and then it will be June. Thanks. |
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(5/7/02 - 11:22 PM CST) Ok. Take a really deep breathe. I pomise this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you. It's May but we are just getting the March and April memorials in the bag. It was a very sad two months and we lost a lot of talent. Please join me in a moment of silence for the following additions. Ken Hughes, the veteran screenwriter and director of the popular movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang died at 79 on Saturday, March 30th, 2002. He had been ill for some time with Alzheimer's disease. You've probably seen Amelia Bachelor about a thousand times and never even noticed her. She is the one who appears in front of every Columbia Pictures trailer and film holding the torch. Unfortunately, she has died at the age of 94. Barry Took, one of Britain's most famous comedians and comic writers who helped produce "Monty Python's Flying Circus," died Sunday, March 31st, 2002 at the age of 73 after a battle with cancer. Two-time NASCAR champion Buck Baker died April 14th, 2002 at the age of 83. He was in the hospital for a procedure involving his pacemaker when he died. Damon Knight, a prolific science fiction writer and editor who helped transform pulp science fiction into a respectable genre, died Monday, April 15th, 2002 of age-related causes. He was 79. Rusty Burrell, a retired sheriff's deputy who later served as bailiff on the reality television show "The People's Court," died of lung cancer Monday, April 15th, 2002 at his home in Rosemead. He was 76. Popular UK TV star of the 1950's and 60's, Dave King, died on Wednesday, April 17th, 2002 after a short illness. He was 72. Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki balsa raft to back up a controversial theory that ancient peoples were skilled seafarers, died of cancer on Thursday, April 18th, 2002 at age 87. Layne Staley, the lead singer of "Alice in Chains" has died of a possible drug overdose at the age of 34. He was discovered at his apartment on Friday April 19th, 2002 but it was reported that he had been dead for two weeks. Linda Boreman, better known as Linda Lovelace from the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat who later became an anti-porn advocate, died Monday, April 22nd, 2002 from injuries she suffered in a car crash. She was 53. |
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(4/26/02 - 6:12 PM CST) In a bit of tragic news today the member represented by the "L" in TLC was killed in a car crash. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was killed today when her SUV rolled on a Honduran road. The R&B star was only 30. |
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(4/23/02 - 12:20 AM CST) Wow. If anyone has been paying attention, it's been a busy week for the reaper. We lost Layne Staley, Thor Heyerdahl, Buck Baker and Linda Lovelace as well as a scad of others. They may not all be movie stars but they deserve to be remembered for their contributions. It's pretty hectic right now but I promise we will be back with more detail and a proper memorial for so many lost in March and April. I guess it must be death season...rabbit season...duck season...death season... |
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(4/16/02 - 10:49 PM CST) Everyone's favorite Ice Pirate has died. Ok, Robert Urich was probably better known for his role as Dan Tanna in "Vega$" or as "Spenser: For Hire" or even as Peter Campbell on "Soap" but regardless he succumbed to cancer on Tuesday, April 16th, 2002 at the age of 55. We'll all miss him. Now if we could just get Ice Pirates on DVD. In other sad news it looks like the creator of "Maverick," "The Fugitive" and "The Rockford Files" died. It seems like just the other day I was listening to Roy Huggins talk about the new "Fugitive" with Timothy Daly and now he is gone. He passed away on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2002 at the age of 87 of natural causes. John Agar, primarily known for his roles in Westerns, died of complications from emphysema at the age of 81 on Sunday, April 7th, 2002. His most notable roles where his pairing with then wife Shirley Temple in Fort Apache and Adventure in Baltimore. Maria Felix, renowned femme fatale and Latin American actress died on her 88th birthday, Monday, April 8th, 2002 of heart failure. The creator of the pioneering interactive TV show, "Winky Dink and You," Louis (Deke) Heyward, died Tuesday, March 26th, 2002 of complications from pneumonia. He was 81. Italian producer, screenwriter and director Tonino Cervi, who worked with film greats such as Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci and Michelangelo Antonioni, died Sunday, March 31st, 2002 , of a heart attack. He was 71. |
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(3/28/02 - 11:41 PM CST) When I said I expected a third major contributor to the comedy world to die soon, I certainly didn't expect it to be the man who first paired the comedic brilliance of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. With great remorse we must report the death of the legendary director Billy Wilder. Wilder died Wednesday, March 27th, 2002 after suffering from failing health complicated by a bout of pneumonia. Bizarrelly, he died the same night as both Dudley Moore and Milton Berle who we reported on earlier, emphasizing once again the relevance of the number three in our lives. |
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(3/27/02 - 11:11 PM CST) Talk about a double shock, and I am not referring to the betting term. Both the man most famous for wearing a dress and the man most famous for playing a drunken playboy passed on in the same night. I was just working on the post for our sadly departed Dudley Moore when I find out that Milton Berle died the very same night. Given the star power of these two and the "dies in three" rule, I'm a little worried about who I am going to have to report tomorrow. These were two heavy hitting legends of the comedy world. I don't even want to imagine who could round out the trio. Hopefully it's no one. I did want to mention that my favorite Dudley Moore moment was his role as Stanley Tibbits in the hilarious film Foul Play and I will always remember Milton Berle as Mad Man Mooney from The Muppet Movie and his part in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World as J. Russell Finch which was directed by Stanley Kramer who we lost just last year. |
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(3/25/02 - 11:37 PM CST) Well, by now I imagine every website that has anything to do with movies has posted the Oscar results and given their opinion so now we are going to throw our hat in the ring. There were definitely some surprises and there were a number of films I haven't seen so I can't really say who deserves which over what but what I can say is Memento got shafted. It was only nominated for two categories, FILM EDITING and WRITING (ORIGINAL) but of those categories, no other film deserved to win more. Also, Planet of the Apes would have at least given Lord of the Rings:FOTR a run for their money. I still think FOTR would have won but at least give Planet a nod over A Beautiful Mind. I just can't imagine that decision. We've decided to nominate A Beautiful Mind becuase they made Jennifer Connelly and Russel Crowe look old. That would be like giving an Oscar to Kim Bassinger because she looked like Veronica Lake...oh, wait, never mind. Moving on then. There was one more thing I wanted to comment on that hits home here at Death and Popcorn. Did anyone besides me feel that The Memoriam this year was awfully short and lacking in those who we have lost? Just take a look at The 2001 Archives of The Kernel and In The Bag and you will see quite a number of people that should have made it into The Memoriam. Oh well, I guess we will just have to remember them here. That is what we do. Anyway, thems the Oscars and I've probably editorialized too much so far so I will leave you with the list of winners. |
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BEST PICTURE ACTOR -- LEADING |
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM *List of winners obtained from Oscars.com. |
In non Oscar related news, Itzhak Perlman and Midori's violin teacher, Dorothy DeLay of Juilliard died of cancer on Sunday, March 24th, 2002 at 84. |
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(3/20/02 - 6:57 AM CST) Rosetta LeNoire who was best known to TV audiences for her long-running role as Grandma Winslow on the television comedy "Family Matters" died Sunday, March 17th, 2002 in Teaneck, N.J., after a long illness. The nature of the illness was not disclosed. She was 90. |
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(3/17/02 - 11:08 PM CST) I knew that if I wished not to update In The Bag I would have to, so why did I wish it? Don Haig, known in the industry as the godfather of Canadian film for helping produce award-winning features and nurturing young talent, died on Saturday, March 2nd, 2002 of cancer at age 68. Irene Worth, the award-winning film and stage actress died Monday, March 11th, 2002 after a stroke near her home in Manhattan . She was 85. The father of actress Sigourney Weaver, Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, who created NBC's "Today" and "Tonight" shows died on Friday, March 15th, 2002 at his Santa Barbara home of pneumonia. He was 93. Carmelo Bene, an actor and director who stirred up Italian theater with experimental techniques influenced by the European avant-garde, has died at 64. Suffering from serious heart problems, he succumbed on Saturday, March 16th, 2002. Danilo Bata Stojkovic, a popular Yugoslav actor best known for his roles in plays and movies dealing with the country's troubled communist past, died Saturday, March 16th, 2002 after a long battle with cancer. He was 67. |
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(3/16/02 - 3:35 PM CST) Not too much in the world of entertainment worth mentioning. We are doing some clean up work on the site. If you check out the Virgin Deaths page, you will see we are making it easier for you the viewer to add content to the site. Forms make life easy, no? We will be adding these forms to some of the other pages as time goes on. We also added some more links to the Extra Butter page and will add them as we think of them. We also might be adding a new staff member to the site which is pretty exciting stuff I tell you. I will introduce her when the time comes. Also, the Oscars are coming up. That is such an exciting time for me. I love the Oscars. Check out Oscar.com for a printable ballot and have your own Oscar party. Stay tuned for our version soon. The Orvilles. Until next time, may we not have to update the In The Bag section. |
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(2/24/02 - 11:05 PM CST) After watching Cartoon Network for much of the weekend it really pains me to have to report that Chuck Jones, animator and creator of so many of my cartoon friends and companions has died. Jones drew such beloved cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. He also created a cast of characters including Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Pepe le Pew, Michigan J. Frog and so many others. Jones died of congestive heart failure at his home in the coastal community of Corona del Mar on Friday, February 22nd, 2002 at the age of 89. Lucille Lund, who won a cult following as a woman fought over by both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the 1934 Art Deco-designed horror drama "The Black Cat," died Thursday, February 21, 2002 at age 89. Lund played a variety of gangster molls, golddiggers and femmes fatales, but was best remembered as Karen in "The Black Cat," the first screen pairing of Lugosi and Karloff and the rare film in which Lugosi, better known as Dracula, played a good guy. Actor John Thaw, known to millions of TV viewers worldwide as the grumpy, music-loving detective in "Inspector Morse," died Thursday, February 21st, 2002 at 60 after a battle with throat cancer. The highly praised British series began in 1985 and lasted for 33 two-hour episodes that aired over 15 years. "Inspector Morse" had a 13-year run in the United States on PBS' "Mystery!" series, beginning in 1988, and was shown in many other countries. Byrne Piven, an actor, director and teacher who influenced generations of performers, including his son, TV and movie actor Jeremy Piven, died Monday, February 18th, 2002 of lung cancer. He was 72. During its 30 years, the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, has shaped the work of stage and film actors including John, Joan and Ann Cusack; Lili Taylor; Aidan Quinn; and the Pivens' two children, Shira and Jeremy. |
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(2/19/02 - 12:28 AM CST) I always thought Ares was immortal. Not so for Xena's Ares. New Zealand actor Kevin Smith died in a Beijing hospital after he was injured in a fall from a tower. The accident occurred on February 6 after the actor finished work on a joint US-Chinese production. The 38-year-old actor died on February 15th, 2002 from critical head injuries. He was best know for playing the Greek God of War on "Xena: Warrior Princess" and was to join Bruce Willis in an upcoming film. |
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(2/13/02 - 10:58 PM CST) I was really shocked when I heard that Waylon Jennings had to have his left foot amputated in a Phoenix hospital in December. Now, I am sad to say that it his gone a step further. One of the greatest country music stars to ever exist has passed away. Waylon Jennings died Wednesday, February 13th, 2002 after a long battle with diabetes-related health problems. He was 64. Please join me, his wife Jessi Colter, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, Emmylou Harris and a slew of others in mourning his passing. Expect a tribute album soon. |
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Author Astrid Lindgren, creator of the free-spirited, freckle-faced, pig-tailed Pippi Longstocking, died Monday, January 28th, 2002 at the age of 94. Lindgren died after a brief illness caused by a viral infection. Anyone who read the tales of Pippi as a child remembers how much fun it was to join her in her many day to day adventures. Pippi Longstocking lead the dream life of every kid growing up. She was self reliant and free, unburdened my the rules of life because although she had a father, he was away on a ship. The tales will now be remembered with a touch of sadness at the loss of the author who played a large part in childhood. Please, buy the books today and read them to your kids. Astrid Lindgren will be remembered with the likes of Shel Silverstein, H.A. Rey and A.A. Milne. Bleeding Gums Murphy has died again. Actor-singer Ron Taylor died the week of January 14th at the age of 49, from what is thought to have been a heart attack. Besides his recurring role as Bleeding Gums Murphy on "The Simpsons," he appeared on "Ally McBeal" and "Twin Peaks," created and starred in the hit Broadway musical "It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues," and appeared in more than 20 films, including "Trading Places" and "Rush Hour 2." |
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Jazz and pop legend Peggy Lee, whose sultry voice and provocative stage walk made her famous during a career that spanned four decades, has died at the age of 81. She had a heart attack on Monday, January 21st, 2001 in her Bel Air home. The singer also made her mark in Hollywood as an actress, winning an Academy Award nomination for her role as the hard-drinking singer in the 1955 jazz saga, ``Pete Kelly's Blues'' and composed songs for the 1955 Walt Disney Co. animated classic ``Lady and the Tramp'' including everyone's favorite "The Siamese Cat Song" which she both wrote and performed. The animated film also featured a character named Peg, which is a broken-down old showgirl of a dog, whose provocative walk was based on the stage-prowl of Lee. |
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Actress, writer and musician Carrie Hamilton, daughter of actress Carol Burnett, died Sunday, January 20th, 2001 of cancer. She was 38. Hamilton, whose father was the late producer Joe Hamilton, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Cente. Hamilton appeared in the television series ``Fame'' and had guest roles on other shows, including ``Murder She Wrote,'' ``Beverly Hills 90210'' and ``thirtysomething.'' She also starred in television movies and played Nadine in the movie "Shag." |
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Ted Demme, director of last year's cocaine drama ``Blow'' and nephew of Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, suffered an apparent heart attack while playing basketball and died Monday, January 14th, 2001 at the age of 38. |
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(1/8/02 - 7:42 PM CST) It is with a heavy heart that I must report that Dave Thomas, founder and spokesman for Wendy's has died due to liver cancer. Thomas died early Tuesday, January 8th, 2001 at his Florida home. He had suffered from cancer for more than a decade, underwent heart bypass surgery in 1996 and had been on kidney dialysis treatment since last year. Although Thomas retired as Wendy's chairman in 1982, he continued to do hundreds of commercials in which his down to earth smiling face can be seen offering us the next great sandwich from Wendy's. I know I am saddened by the loss and I hope you all go out and buy a Wendy's Double with Cheese, Biggie Fries and a Dr. Pepper in honor of Dave Thomas. |
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(1/7/02 - 12:09 AM CST) I just finished up the post to close out 2001. Unfortunately I have to immediately report a death in 2002. Catya Sassoon, a top junior model during the 1980s, actress, and the eldest daughter of famed hairstylist Vidal Sassoon and actress Beverly Adams Sassoon, died January 1st, 2002. She was 33 and the cause of death has not been determined. Sassoon died in her sleep on Tuesday morning at her home in Hollywood after attending a New Year's Eve party at a friend's house. |
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(1/6/02 - 8:38 PM CST) We are going to have to play catch up here for awhile. There are a number of posts required to close out a very long and sad year of deaths. I wish we could undo many of these but instead we will have to settle for keeping their names alive here at Death and Popcorn. Eileen Heckart, a drama and comedy actress who won an Oscar in 1972 for ``Butterflies are Free,'' will be the last posted death of 2001. She died of cancer on Monday December 31st, 2001 at her home in Norwalk, Connecticut. She was 82. Heckart, who had a smoky voice and a toothsome smile, was also widely known for her television appearances as Mary Richards' Aunt Flo -- a globe-trotting reporter -- on ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show.'' Sir Nigel Hawthorne, the veteran British actor died from a heart attack on Wednesday December 26th, 2001 at age 72. It is a sad and bizarre note that he recently starred in the TNT movie "Call Me Claus," playing Santa Claus. The thespian had been battling pancreatic cancer for nearly two years and recently underwent chemotherapy. While his distinguished career spanned five decades, Hawthorne's biggest success came late in life, gaining acclaim for his role as the smooth civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby on the BBC's long-running political satire, "Yes, Minister." In 1995, he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his lead role in "The Madness of King George," chronicling the fall into insanity of England's King George III. The original stage production also earned him an Olivier Award in 1992. George Harrison, the youngest member of the Beatles, lost his very long and arduous battle with cancer and died at 3:30 p.m. CST on November 29 in Los Angeles at age 58. He was with his wife Olivia and son Dhani at the time. As there is no other band or group that has ever reached the level of popularity and iconography as the Beatles, many will feel a heartfelt loss knowing the George Harrison has gone away. "Four Weddings And A Funeral" star Charlotte Coleman died after a massive asthma attack Saturday, November 17th, 2001. The 33-year-old British actress, best known for her role as Hugh Grant's eccentric flatmate Scarlett in the 1994 blockbuster, was found dead in her London flat on Wednesday. Ken Kesey, whose 1962 novel ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' celebrated the challenge to soul-crushing authority and whose drug-infused exploits inspired the hippie movement of the 1960s, died on Saturday, November 10th, 2001 of complications from liver cancer. He was 66. In a legendary 1964 trip, Kesey set off across the United States in a psychedelic painted tour bus called ``Furthur,'' throwing parties featuring LSD and holding court over a group called ``The Merry Pranksters'' whose exploits became the basis for Tom Wolfe's 1968 book ``The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.'' Lani O'Grady the former actress best known as Dick Van Patten's eldest daughter on Eight Is Enough died just a week shy of her 47th birthday in her mobile home in Castaic, California, a town north of Los Angeles. A sheriff's spokesman said the former child star apparently died of natural causes. Dagmar, the buxom blonde actress who became one of television's first sex symbols on the pioneering NBC late-night show ``Broadway Open House,'' died at age 79 on Tuesday, October 9th, 2001 at her home in Ceredo, West Virginia of natural causes. Decades before such single-name stars as Cher and Madonna rose to fame, Dagmar became an overnight sensation as the sexy dumb blonde who appeared with comedians Jerry Lester and Morey Amsterdam on NBC's vaudeville-style ``Broadway Open House,'' an early 1950s forerunner to ``The Tonight Show'' franchise. She also played a nurse on Milton Berle's ``Texaco Star Theater,'' briefly hosted her own TV show, ``Dagmar's Canteen'' on NBC, and was a regular panelist on ABC's ``Masquerade Party.'' Herbert Ross, a choreographer and the director of many Oscar-caliber films including "The Goodbye Girl" and "The Turning Point", died Tuesday October 9th, 2001 of unknown causes. He was 74. Gloria Foster, an imposing and uncompromising stage actress who, during the 1960s and '70s, played many roles previously inaccessible to African Americans, died Sept. 29 at her Manhattan home. She was 64. In 1965, she became the first black performer to play Medea in New York. She went on to portray other classical parts, including The Cherry Orchard's Madame Ranevskaya, Long Day's Journey Into Night's Mary Tyrone, Clytemnestra in Agamemnon, the title role in Brecht's Mother Courage, Volumnia in Coriolanus and both Titania and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her most famous film part by far was that of The Oracle in the sci-fi hit, "The Matrix." Her absence will be felt and she will be missed. |
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