RIP -- 2020 Going Into 2021 Edition

[goldenvalley]

Jul 12, 2021 17:12:24 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 12, 2021 17:02:56 GMT goldenvalley said:

What does it say about a state that has the KKK head running against a convicted felon?

He wasn’t convicted until 2000-ish, after he had left office; this election was in 1991.

But, yeah, the point still stands. Louisiana has a history of flamboyant, populist, and incredibly crooked politics going back to the Long era[1], which reminds me of another entry on that Top Ten list:

Earl and Huey are dead and Russell’s not interested.

[1] Remember the movie “Blaze” from the ‘90s? Even with artistic license, a lot of that story fell pretty close to reality.

Maybe Trump should move to Louisiana if he wants to keep running for office.

[AnBr]

Jul 12, 2021 17:32:04 GMT goldenvalley said:

Maybe Trump should move to Louisiana if he wants to keep running for office.

And after he is dead.

[andydp]

ZZ Top Bassist Dusty Hill has passed away at 72.

[Bact PhD]

Long time FSU football coach Bobby Bowden, 91:

www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31986091/long-florida-state-football-coach-bobby-bowden-dies-91

Bobby Bowden, the longtime Florida State football coach who ranks second all time in Division I wins, has died, the school announced Sunday morning.

He was 91.

Bowden was diagnosed with a terminal medical condition in July. He did not disclose what the condition was at the time, although his son Terry later told reporters that it was pancreatic cancer.

"I've always tried to serve God's purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come," Bowden said in a statement announcing the condition. "My wife Ann and our family have been life's greatest blessing. I am at peace."

Bowden also dealt with what he called a "tough" bout of COVID-19 in 2020, which came a few days after returning to his Tallahassee home from a lengthy hospital stay for an infection in his leg.

"Florida State University has lost a legend in the passing of Bobby Bowden," university president John Thrasher said in a statement.

Interesting tidbit from the Tallahassee Democrat (paywalled):

Bowden, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was married 72 years to childhood sweetheart Ann Estock. Bowden was 19, Ann 16 when they married at the home of the Justice of the Peace in Rising Fawn, Georgia. 

They lived in the same Killearn Estates home they moved into when Bowden was hired by FSU from West Virginia 45 years ago. Bowden was such a fixture in the community that his phone number was even listed in the phone book. He also allowed fans to drop off memorabilia in his carport that he'd sign and leave for pickup.

[Bact PhD]

One-time child actress Jane Withers, better known to my generation as "Josephine the Plumber" in Comet commercials in the 1970s, age 95. I didn't realize this:

But she was lured back to the big screen in 1956 when George Stevens cast her as neighbor Vashti Snythe in his 1956 epic "Giant," alongside Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.

[LFC]

I loved that movie. Haven’t seen it in decades.

[andydp]

Charlie Watts drummer for The Rolling Stones has passed at age 80

[goldenvalley]

The Stones guys are hitting 80? While I always thought of them as older than me, I didn't realize they were that much older.

[Bact PhD]

Aug 24, 2021 18:00:47 GMT goldenvalley said:

The Stones guys are hitting 80? While I always thought of them as older than me, I didn't realize they were that much older.

Yup. I remember being taken aback when they were touring the US in the early 1980s -- I was a senior in HS -- and some news piece or another mentioned that Mick Jagger was 41. Wait a minute, My Parents are the same age!!!

[AnBr]

12 X 5, their first US album was 1964. That makes three of my top 4 favorite drummers gone.

[andydp]

Aug 24, 2021 18:00:47 GMT goldenvalley said:

The Stones guys are hitting 80? While I always thought of them as older than me, I didn't realize they were that much older.

Ringo Starr is also 80. McCartney isn’t far behind.

[AnBr]

Posted by Ringo: "A couple of lads on the town Peace and love Charlie."

Attachments:

[Bact PhD]

Ed Asner, best known for his "Lou Grant" character, and activism that ruffled some feathers in Hollywood, 91:

Asner had worked for many years as a character actor in series television and movies before hitting paydirt and stardom as the tough-talking TV newsroom head Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which brought him three supporting actor Emmys. When the sitcom called it quits, he returned as the same character in a harder-hitting hourlong series, which earned him two leading actor Emmys and a total of five noms. The actor picked up two additional Emmys for his work on the miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man” and “Roots,” and won a total of seven.

More recently he appeared on “Grace & Frankie,” “Cobra Kai” and provided voices for “American Dad!”

[snip]

But he drew fire with his public pronouncements against U.S. involvement in El Salvador, which many saw as an abuse of his SAG office. While he was president an award to a former SAG president, Ronald Reagan, was rescinded because of the now U.S. president’s dissolution of the air traffic controllers’ union — although Asner himself did not vote on it. He also protested South Africa’s apartheid policies while in office.

Such controversies drew fire from Heston, an avid Reaganite, and a duel began that almost wound up in court. ... He continued to defend his political activism, calling it not a “luxury, but a necessity,” throughout his life.

I believe this makes Betty White the last surviving principal cast member from "Mary Tyler Moore."

[Bact PhD]

Longtime “Today Show” weatherman Willard Scott, 87:

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/legendary-today-show-weatherman-willard-scott-dies-87-n1278521

Willard Scott, who forecast the weather for NBC's "Today" show for more than three decades and spent 65 years at NBC, has died, Al Roker said in an Instagram post on Saturday.

[snip]

Scott, born March 7, 1934, in Alexandria, Virginia, joined "Today" in 1980 and became known for wishing fans turning 100 a happy birthday. He began his career at NBC in the company's Page Program, a learning and development program that provides exposure to the media industry. He worked at the affiliate station in Washington D.C. in 1950, according to Today.

Yeah, he was at WRC in DC well into the 1970s, before “Today” came calling.
He was also the original Ronald McDonald.

This one stings. Sigh.

[Rue Bella]

Willard Scott- that's too bad. He was always so cheerful to everyone. He used to showcase people who were 100 years old. Sad he didn't make it there himself.

[goldenvalley]

I tend to think that people who have been in the public eye since my childhood are either immortal or already dead.  I'm surprised when I hear they actually died recently.  Willard Scott is in the latter category.  

[goldenvalley]

Michael K. Williams...played Omar Little in The Wire.

[LFC]

Norm McDonald from SNL. He had apparently been battling cancer for 9 years.

[Bact PhD]

Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong, a progressive firebrand or an utter heretic, depending on the POV, age 90.

www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/john-shelby-spong-dead/2021/09/14/f6e145a0-1566-11ec-9589-31ac3173c2e5_story.html

The Right Rev. John Shelby Spong, a liberal theologian and former bishop who shook up the modern Episcopal Church, championing the inclusion of women and LGBTQ people in the clergy while promoting a nonliteral interpretation of scripture, died Sept. 12 at his home in Richmond. He was 90.

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, where Bishop Spong had preached early in his ministry, confirmed his death but did not give a specific cause. Friends said his health had declined after he was hospitalized for a stroke in 2016.

Bishop Spong was an outspoken leader of the church’s liberal wing, known for his efforts to open the faith to marginalized groups and preach a message of love and justice that would resonate in an increasingly secular age. He acquired an international profile while writing more than two dozen books, appearing on TV shows such as “Oprah” and “Larry King Live,” and serving as bishop of Newark, where he was the spiritual leader of some 40,000 northern New Jersey Episcopalians from 1979 to 2000.

[Bact PhD]

Melvin Van Peebles, director, 89:

Influential director Melvin Van Peebles has died. He was best known for his independent films Watermelon Man (1970) and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971). He was also the father of Mario Van Peebles, who directed New Jack City a generation later.

The Criterion Collection announced the news in a statement that read in part, "In an unparalleled career distinguished by relentless innovation, boundless curiosity and spiritual empathy, Melvin Van Peebles made an indelible mark on the international cultural landscape through his films, novels, plays and music."

[goldenvalley]

Tommy Kirk of Disney movie fame. I cried with him when he shot his dog in Old Yeller...used to be on Sunday night Disney show about once a year.  

[andydp]

Commander Cody of "Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen" has passed at 77.

The "commander" was actually George Frayne a professor at Rensselaer Politechinc Institute.  His best known song is "Hot Rod Lincoln".


www.wideopencountry.com/george-frayne-commander-cody-dies-at-77/#:~:text=George%20Frayne%2C%20also%20known%20as%20Commander%20Cody%2C%20died,took%20to%20flight%2C%22%20Frayne%27s%20wife%20wrote%20on%20Facebook.

[AnBr]

Sigh.

[LFC]

"Legitimate rape"-man died at age 74.

Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a conservative Missouri Republican whose comment that women’s bodies have a way of avoiding pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” sunk his bid for the U.S. Senate and became a cautionary tale for other GOP candidates, has died. He was 74.

Akin had cancer for several years, his son Perry said in a statement. He died late Sunday at his home in Wildwood, a St. Louis suburb.

“As my father’s death approached, we had people from all different walks of life share story after story of the personal impact he had on them,” Perry Akin said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“He was a devout Christian, a great father, and a friend to many. We cherish many fond memories from him driving the tractor at our annual hayride, to his riveting delivery of the freedom story at 4th of July parties dressed in the full uniform of a colonial minuteman. The family is thankful for his legacy: a man with a servant’s heart who stood for truth.”

Akin represented a Republican-leaning eastern Missouri district that included St. Louis-area suburbs for 12 years, giving up a safe seat to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012. He emerged from a crowded GOP primary to challenge then incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, only to seriously hurt Republicans’ chances of recapturing a Senate majority less than two weeks later.

Akin, a strong abortion opponent, was asked during an interview by a St. Louis television station whether he supported allowing abortions for women who have been raped. He answered that “from what I understand from doctors” that such pregnancies are “really rare.”

He added: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

His comments sparked an outcry. The Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, immediately rebuked Akin and said his campaign would allow abortions in such cases.

Criticism of Akin’s remarks clouded his U.S. Senate bid until the end, making him a symbol of how Republicans could fumble away races they had a good chance of winning with a candidate deemed too far to the right. Akin’s campaign initially said he “misspoke,” and Akin later said he was wrong.

[goldenvalley]

Oct 4, 2021 17:41:27 GMT LFC said:

"Legitimate rape"-man died at age 74.

Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a conservative Missouri Republican whose comment that women’s bodies have a way of avoiding pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” sunk his bid for the U.S. Senate and became a cautionary tale for other GOP candidates, has died. He was 74.

Akin had cancer for several years, his son Perry said in a statement. He died late Sunday at his home in Wildwood, a St. Louis suburb.

“As my father’s death approached, we had people from all different walks of life share story after story of the personal impact he had on them,” Perry Akin said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“He was a devout Christian, a great father, and a friend to many. We cherish many fond memories from him driving the tractor at our annual hayride, to his riveting delivery of the freedom story at 4th of July parties dressed in the full uniform of a colonial minuteman. The family is thankful for his legacy: a man with a servant’s heart who stood for truth.”

Akin represented a Republican-leaning eastern Missouri district that included St. Louis-area suburbs for 12 years, giving up a safe seat to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012. He emerged from a crowded GOP primary to challenge then incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, only to seriously hurt Republicans’ chances of recapturing a Senate majority less than two weeks later.

Akin, a strong abortion opponent, was asked during an interview by a St. Louis television station whether he supported allowing abortions for women who have been raped. He answered that “from what I understand from doctors” that such pregnancies are “really rare.”

He added: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

His comments sparked an outcry. The Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, immediately rebuked Akin and said his campaign would allow abortions in such cases.

Criticism of Akin’s remarks clouded his U.S. Senate bid until the end, making him a symbol of how Republicans could fumble away races they had a good chance of winning with a candidate deemed too far to the right. Akin’s campaign initially said he “misspoke,” and Akin later said he was wrong.

Now just a few short years after Akin did that, a similar statement from a Texas politician would not suffer some sort of sanction.