Vivien Merchant (1929 - 1982)

Vivien Merchant took her stage name as a composite of the actress Vivien Leigh and her brother, who was a merchant seaman (cited by Michael Billington). She began acting professionally in 1942, with supporting juvenile roles in repertory, progressing to West End roles in such works as Noël Coward’s Sigh No More and Ace of […]

Barry Foster (1927 - 2002)

Barry Foster was born John Barry Foster in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, the son of a toolsetter. His family moved to Hayes, Hillingdon (then in Middlesex) when he was a few months old. He attended Southall County Grammar School. After leaving school, Foster worked as a plastics organic chemist at the local EMI Central Research Laboratories, while […]

Angus Scrimm (1926 - 2016)

Angus Scrimm Coscarelli was about to direct what would become the cult classic horror movie “Phantasm.” Up till then, he knew his lead actor chiefly as a kindly journalist who loved classical music and small, fuzzy dogs. But now he found a new, ominous Scrimm examining his makeup in the mirror. As Coscarelli watched from […]

Bud Yorkin (1926 - 2015)

Bud Yorkin was born in Washington, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in engineering from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh. In 1954, Bud Yorkin became the producer of NBC’s The Tony Martin Show, a 15-minute variety program which preceded the nightly news on Monday evenings. In 1955, he produced and directed the live 11-episode […]

Jacques Demy (1931 - 1990)

After working with the animator Paul Grimault and the filmmaker Georges Rouquier, Jacques Demy directed his first feature film, Lola, in 1961, with Anouk Aimée playing the eponymous cabaret singer. The Demy universe here emerges full-fledged. Characters burst into song (courtesy of composer and lifelong Demy-collaborator Michel Legrand); iconic Hollywood imagery is lovingly appropriated as […]

Marvin Yancy (1950 - 1985)

Marvin Yancy was born on May 31, 1950, in Chicago, Illinois, as Marvin Jerome Yancy, to Reverend Robert Yancy Sr., who was the pastor of Fountain of Life Baptist Church, at the time of his death in 1977, and his mother, Anne. This was when Marvin stepped into the pastoral role of the church that […]

Carole Cole (1944 - 2009)

Carole Cole was born in Medford, Massachusetts and was the adopted daughter of Nat King Cole and adopted sister of Natalie Cole. Her biological mother, Carol Hawkins, was the sister of Nat King Cole’s wife, Maria. Through her mother, Cole was related to educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Carole Cole received an associate’s degree at Cazenovia College […]

Tammy Vincent (1962 - 1979)

Tammy A. Vincent was an American teenager who was murdered in September 1979. Her body was not identified until 2007, twenty-eight years after her murder. Despite the fact that her identity was discovered, the case remains unsolved, although a prime suspect has been selected. It was believed she may have been a victim of the […]

Arnold Schuster (1927 - 1952)

Arnold L. Schuster (1927 – March 8, 1952) was a Brooklyn clothing salesman and amateur detective known for his involvement in the capture of bank robber Willie “The Actor” Sutton and for Schuster’s subsequent murder by either the Gambino crime family, friends of Willie Sutton, or any one of the many suspects police questioned about […]

Shawty Lo (1976 - 2016)

In 2003, Shawty Lo formed the hip hop group D4L, with fellow Atlanta-based rappers Fabo, Mook-B and Stoney. Shawty Lo subsequently launched his indie record label D4L Records. Shawty Lo self-funded the group in its early days. He explained that the group’s name stands for “Down for Life”. The group signed to the indie label […]

Keith Emerson (1944 - 2016)

Keith Emerson Santa Monica Police confirmed to Billboard that Keith Emerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and his death has been ruled a suicide. Keith Emerson, one of the most legendary keyboardists in rock history thanks to his work in Emerson, Lake & Palmer and The Nice, died at age 71 […]

Phife Dawg (1970 - 2016)

Phife Dawg Malik Taylor, the rapper known as Phife Dawg whose nimble, clever rhymes helped launch A Tribe Called Quest to both commercial and critical success, died Tuesday at the age of 45 from complications resulting from diabetes. Rolling Stone has confirmed the rapper’s death. Taylor had had health issues for years, undergoing a kidney transplant in 2008 […]

George Martin (1926 - 2016)

George Martin George Martin, the Grammy Award-winning producer affectionately known as the “Fifth Beatle,” has died at the age of 90. Martin was credited for giving The Beatles their first recording contract and subsequently produced a majority of their albums. News of George Martin’s death was confirmed by Ringo Starr. At the suggestion of Brian […]

Robert Cone (1957 - 2016)

Robert Cone was a native of Manchester, New Hampshire, born in 1957. He graduated from Memorial High School, Manchester, NH in 1975. He graduated from the United States Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1979 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Armor Branch. Cone earned a Master of Arts […]

Curtis Hanson (1945 - 2016)

Curtis Hanson was born in Reno, Nevada, and grew up in Los Angeles. He was the son of Beverly June (Curtis), a real estate agent, and Wilbur Hale “Bill” Hanson, a teacher. Hanson dropped out of high school, finding work as a freelance photographer and editor for Cinema magazine. Curtis Hanson began screenwriting in 1970, when […]

Terry Kohler (1934 - 2016)

Terry Kohler was born on May 14, 1934, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. His father was Walter J. Kohler, Jr. (1904–76), a sales executive at the Kohler Company, president of The Vollrath Company, and a three-term Governor of Wisconsin. His mother was Marie Celeste McVoy Kohler (1900-1974), a Chicago socialite who had been married and divorced and […]

Rolf Herricht (1927 - 1981)

Rolf Herricht graduated from school in 1943 after passing a ‘War Abitur’, a form of an Abitur designated to free school pupils to be mobilized. In 1945, he was drafted to the Volkssturm and assigned as an anti-aircraft battery assistant. After the war’s end, he began working as property master and stage manager in a theater […]

Jürgen Frohriep (1928 - 1993)

Jürgen Frohriep was born in the port city of Rostock. When he was 11 the war broke out, towards the end of which he was involved in national air-defence as a “Flak helper”. When the war ended, in May 1945, Frohriep, by now aged 17, found that his home city had become part of the […]

Fred Delmare (1922 - 2009)

Werner Vorndran was the son of a carpenter and a seamstress and grew up in Hüttensteinach at Sonneberg, where as an adolescent he appeared on a peasant stage. After his time in the Volksschule he learned the trade of a tool and die maker. As military volunteer he went to the marine in Bremerhaven. At […]

Günther Simon (1925 - 1972)

A bank clerk’s son, Günther Simon attended an acting school already in Gymnasium. At the age of 16, he was sent to a premilitary training camp of the Hitler Youth and then drafted to the Reich Labour Service. He volunteered to join the paratroopers in August 1943. He was captured by American troops near Normandy […]

Maurice White (1941 - 2016)

Maurice White Earth, Wind and Fire vocalist and co-founder Maurice White died in his sleep in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. A rep for the band confirmed his passing toRolling Stone. He was 74. Savor the smoothest soul and most enlightened funk from the hitmaking legends The singer had been battling Parkinson’s disease since 1992, according […]

Hannjo Hasse (1921 - 1983)

Hannjo Hasse (31 August 1921 – 5 February 1983) was an East German actor. Hasse began studying acting in 1938, and attended Lily Ackermann’s Institute for Stage Artists’ Education in Berlin. At 1941, he was drafted for the Labour Service, and later to the Army. After the end of the Second World War and his release […]

Deborah Jin (1968 - 2016)

Deborah S. Jin (November 15, 1968 – September 15, 2016) was an American physicist and fellow with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Professor Adjunct, Department of Physics at the University of Colorado; and a fellow of the JILA, a NIST joint laboratory with the University of Colorado. She is considered a pioneer in […]

Evan Mecham (1924 - 2008)

Evan Mecham (/ˈmiːkəm/ mee-kəm; May 12, 1924 – February 21, 2008) was the 17th Governor of Arizona. A decorated veteran of World War II, Mecham earned his living as an automotive dealership owner and occasional newspaper publisher. Periodic runs for political office earned him a reputation as a perennial candidate along with the nickname of […]

Rose Mofford (1922 - 2016)

Rose Mofford was born Rose Perica in Globe, Arizona, on June 10, 1922, the youngest of six children. Her parents, Frances (Oberstar) and John Perica, had immigrated to the United States from Croatia, then part of Austria–Hungary. The first female class president in the history of Globe High School, she had great success in both […]

Edward Albee (1928 - 2016)

Edward Albee was born in 1928. He was placed for adoption two weeks later and taken to Larchmont in Westchester County, New York, where he grew up. Albee’s adoptive father, Reed A. Albee, the wealthy son of vaudeville magnate Edward Franklin Albee II, owned several theaters. His adoptive mother, Reed’s third wife, Frances (Cotter), was […]

Charmain Carr (1942 - 2016)

Charmain Carr was born Charmian Anne Farnon in Chicago, Illinois, the second child of vaudeville actress Rita Oehmen and musician Brian Farnon. The couple divorced in 1957. She has two sisters, both actresses (Shannon Farnon and Darleen Carr). Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 10. While a student at San Fernando High […]

Joey Feek (1975 - 2016)

Joey Feek Country singer Joey Feek, whose final months battling cervical cancer were chronicled through a series of emotional posts on social media and her husband’s blog, died Friday. She was 40. “My wife’s greatest dream came true today,” her spouse and musical partner, Rory Feek, wrote in a blog post. “She is in Heaven. […]

Garry Shandling (1949 - 2016)

Garry Shandling Comedian, actor, writer and producer Garry Shandling, known for “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” died Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed. He was 66. A spokesman for the LAPD said they received a 911 call from Shandling’s home on Thursday, saying the comedian suffered from a “medical emergency.” […]

Theresa Saldana (1954 - 2016)

Theresa Saldana Theresa Saldana, who co-starred on The Commish and in Raging Bull but whose most lasting legacy might be the victims’ advocacy work she undertook following a near-fatal stalking incident in 1982, has died. She was 61. Two friends confirmed her death in Facebook posts Monday. She had been hospitalized in Los Angeles, but no cause of death was given. […]