Category Archives: Obituaries
Dock Ellis, 1945-2008
Dock Ellis, who famously pitched a no-hitter while on acid, passed away yesterday. “Former major league pitcher Dock Ellis dies at 63,” Los Angeles Times
Posted in Obituaries Tagged baseball, dock ellis, LSD, no-hitters, Obituaries, pirates Leave a comment
John Leonard, 1939-2008
It’s a sad day for the semi-colon. John Leonard passed away last night and I am deeply saddened by the news. I loved reading him. I don’t watch much television, but I always read his column in New York Magazine. The reviews he wrote there and in Harper’s, the New York Review of Books, and [...]
Del Martin, 1921-2008
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin From the Associated Press: [Mayor] Newsom ordered American flags at City Hall and the rainbow flag in the Castro District to be flown at half-staff. Lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin dies at 87, San Francisco Chronicle
Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008
Hayes performing at Wattstax music festival in 1972, introduced by Jesse Jackson. Hayes wanted to be a doctor, but got redirected when he won a talent contest in ninth grade by singing Nat King Cole’s “Looking Back.” –Associated Press Isaac Hayes, 65, a Creator of ’70s Soul Style, Dies
Estelle Getty, 1923-2008
Getty was evasive about her height, acknowledging only that she was “under 5 feet and under 100 pounds.” Estelle Getty, Actress, Dies at 84, New York Times
Also posted in Female performers Tagged Female performers, Golden Girls, Obituaries, television Leave a comment
Cyd Charisse, 1922-2008
Those legs. More than all the slinking Cyd Charisse did with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, it’s the manic heights she scales with Kirk Douglas in Vincente Minnelli’s careening Two Weeks in Another Town that I’m thinking of. I wish there were a clip of her first scene in the film floating around youtube. I’m [...]
Also posted in Female performers, Motion Pictures Tagged Cyd Charisse, Female performers, Kirk Douglas, Motion Pictures, Obituaries, Vincent Minnelli Leave a comment
Yves Saint Laurent, 1936-2008
From “Swann Song,” Judith Thurman’s account of Yves Saint Laurent’s final haute-couture show in 2002: There was plenty of cerebral whimsy to offset the noirish sex play: feather minis suitable for a showgirl’s wedding to a peer; a minuscule suède tunic from the sixties worn with high-heeled waders; swanky cocktail dresses that exposed a nipple; [...]
Also posted in Motion Pictures Tagged Catherine Deneuve, fashion, Luis Bunuel, Motion Pictures, Obituaries, YSL Leave a comment
Sydney Pollack, 1934-2008
Sydney Pollack, Film Director, Is Dead at 73, New York Times From Tootsie to Eyes Wide Shut, Michael Sragow, Salon Sydney Pollack, 73; Oscar-winning director and producer, Los Angeles Times “God forbid you should lose your standing as a cult failure.” YouTube
Also posted in Motion Pictures Tagged Motion Pictures, Obituaries, Sydney Pollack, Tootsie Leave a comment
Norman Mailer, 1923-2007
Mailer and Germaine Greer in 1971. From the Guardian: “It was a quiet end to one of the loudest and most controversial voices in American letters.” From Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s astonishing Town Bloody Hall, comes this immortal bit of Mailer: “If you wish me to act the clown, I will take out my [...]
The Pause and the fist: Harold Pinter, 1930-2008