RIP — 2024 Edition

[Bact PhD]

Glynis Johns, best known to our age group as “Mrs. Banks” in Mary Poppins, 100

variety.com/2024/film/obituaries-people-news/glynis-johns-dead-mary-poppins-mrs-banks-1235861986/amp/

She died on the 4th. I didn’t know that “Send in the Clowns” was written for her:

Johns won a Tony for her role as Desiree Armfeldt in the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” introducing the song “Send in the Clowns” — written for her by Sondheim. In addition she was Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in 1960’s “The Sundowners.”

[Bact PhD]

Peter Schickele, musician, comedian and satirist best known as his alter ego P.D.Q. Bach, 88.

www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/pdq-bach-peter-schickele-sports-parody/

Schickele devoted himself to P.D.Q. Bach for 50 years, presenting the composer’s extensive compositional output and unique place in music history.

His works were often plays and parodies on the classical canon – for example, the 1712 Overture, Canine Cantata: Wachet, Arf! (Sleeping Dogs, Awake!), Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion, and A Little Nightmare Music.

[Bact PhD]

Charles Osgood, longtime host of “CBS Sunday Morning,” 91:

www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/23/charles-osgood-dead/

On Mr. Osgood’s watch, “Sunday Morning” continued in the Kuraltian tradition of down-home folklore blended with culture, sports and nature. There were stories about elephants painting on canvas, tractor ballets, centenarian bricklayers — interesting yarns that would never lead the evening news. He also interviewed towering figures in the arts, such as painter Andrew Wyeth, playwright Edward Albee and opera singer Plácido Domingo.

Mr. Osgood said he wanted “Sunday Morning” to be the television equivalent of the Sunday newspaper, part of a leisurely weekend routine, unhurried and free from the frenzied weekday news cycle.

[Bact PhD]

Arno Penzias, 90, Nobel laureate who helped find traces of the Big Bang:

www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/23/arno-penzias-big-bang-nobel-died-obituary/

Arno A. Penzias, who fled Nazi Germany in childhood, settled in the United States and in 1978 shared the Nobel Prize in physics for helping find vital early evidence of the Big Bang Theory about the creation of the universe, died Jan. 22 at an assisted-living center in San Francisco. He was 90.

The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said his son, David Penzias.

Along with a Bell Laboratories colleague, astronomer Robert W. Wilson, Dr. Penzias conducted groundbreaking work widely considered fundamental to one of the landmark discoveries of modern science. Their efforts offered support for the current theory of the origin and development of the entire universe and all that lies within it.

[AnBr]

Melanie 76

[Bact PhD]

Chita Rivera, multiple Tony Award-winner, 91:

www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/30/chita-rivera-dancer-broadway-dies/

Chita Rivera, the vivacious Broadway musical star who originated roles in “West Side Story,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Chicago” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” won two competitive Tony Awards, and became one of the most honored Latina entertainers of her generation, died Jan. 30 in New York. She was 91.

Her daughter, Lisa Mordente, announced the death but did not provide a specific cause.

With her raven hair, lithe frame and smoky voice, Ms. Rivera cut a mesmerizing Broadway figure for more than six decades, her name synonymous with vitality and longevity on the musical stage. She was a reliable box-office draw, whether in grand-scale New York productions, regional theater, national tours or her nightclub act, and proved choreographically adaptable from the gritty minimalism of Bob Fosse to the balletic grace of Jerome Robbins.

[Bact PhD]

I could have put this in the former “Baseball” thread. Mike Martin, longtime baseball coach at FSU, 79:

www.gainesville.com/story/sports/college/baseball/2024/02/02/florida-gators-baseball-kevin-osullivan-statement-on-mike-martin-passing/72444801007/

Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan and Florida State Hall of Fame coach Mike Martin squared off on the diamond often in high stakes games during their respective careers.

Martin, who retired from FSU in 2019 as college baseball's all-time winningest coach, died Thursday at 79 after a three-year battle with Lewy body dementia.

[Bact PhD]

Another one that could have gone in “Sports”: Former Oakland Raider and actor (Apollo Creed in Rocky) Carl Weathers, 76:

www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/39445065/carl-weathers-co-star-rocky-apollo-creed-dies-76

Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Predator" and teaching golf in "Happy Gilmore," has died. He was 76.

[snip]

Most recently, Weathers has starred in the Disney+ hit "The Mandalorian," appearing in all three seasons and earning an Emmy nomination in 2021.

[Bact PhD]

Sigh. One of my favorite musicians from my middle school years.

Eric Carmen (“All By Myself,” “Hungry Eyes”, among others), 74:

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/eric-carmen-raspberries-frontman-hungry-eyes-singer-dies-108046093

[Art Vandelay]

Hepcat frontman Greg Lee dies at 53

Bummed I never saw these guys in person.

[goldenvalley]

Mar 23, 2024 14:27:04 GMT Art Vandelay said:

Hepcat frontman Greg Lee dies at 53

Bummed I never saw these guys in person.

53? Wow.

[Bact PhD]

Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate once upon a time and later participant in the No Labels movement, 82:

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/27/politics/joe-lieberman

CNN
—
Former Democratic vice presidential nominee and Sen. Joe Lieberman has died at 82, according to a statement from his family.

“Former United States Senator Joseph I. Lieberman died this afternoon, March 27, 2024, in New York City due to complications from a fall. He was 82 years old. His beloved wife, Hadassah, and members of his family were with him as he passed. Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest,” the statement said.

[Bact PhD]

Louis Gossett, Jr., Academy Award-winning actor (“An Officer and a Gentleman”), 87:

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-win-supporting-108654344

Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.

“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir, “An Actor and a Gentleman.”

[andydp]

OJ Simpson 76

www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/o-j-simpson-dead-at-76/ar-BB1lsz82?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=0652fa0ac1fc4c8f96df00a28431e094&ei=15

[AnBr]

[Bact PhD]

Former Governor and US Senator Bob Graham, 87:

www.gainesville.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/16/bob-graham-dies-former-florida-governor-us-senator-obituary/73332740007/

Bob Graham, perhaps the most peculiar and popular politician of modern Florida history, died Tuesday. The Democratic two-term governor (1979-87) and three-term U.S. senator (1987-2005) was 87.

He passed away at 8:30 p.m. with his wife, Adele, and family by his side in a retirement community in Gainesville.

"We’re very attached and love him so much, so proud of him," Adele told the Tallahassee Democrat in a phone interview. "He was an absolute devoted person in public service, to get things done for everybody.”

As a wealthy Harvard-educated lawyer from Miami Lakes whose legislator father lost a bid for governor that kindled his son’s early political interest, Graham skillfully balanced his aristocratic pedigree with a quirky common touch.

[AnBr]

Dickey Betts, 80.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 18, 2024 19:06:39 GMT AnBr said:

Dickey Betts, 80.

This is one of those groups and guys that has been around most of my music listening life.  I always get a jolt when I realize how old these guys actually are.  It makes me older too.  

[AnBr]

One of my very first albums was the Allman Brothers Band "At Fillmore East". Betts' guitar duets were deeply embedded in my young musical awareness.

[AnBr]

Duane Eddy, 86

[goldenvalley]

May 1, 2024 22:48:50 GMT AnBr said:

Duane Eddy, 86

I had no idea who played that song...

[AnBr]

Roger Corman, 98.

[Art Vandelay]

Saxophonist David Sanborn

Sanborn performed at Woodstock as a member of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, with whom he logged his earliest recording credits. He can be heard amiably wailing on "Tuesday Heartbreak," from Wonder's Talking Book album, and James Taylor's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)." His sax famously delivers the opening salvo on Bowie's "Young Americans," as well as a running commentary throughout the song.

[AnBr]

Dabney Coleman, 92

[Bact PhD]

Ivan Boesky, a major inspiration for the movie character Gordon “Greed is Good” Gekko, 87:

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-20/ivan-boesky-imprisoned-in-insider-trading-scandal-dies-at-87?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=bd&utm_source=applenews

Financier symbolized high-flying 1980s Wall Street speculation
‘Greed is healthy,’ he once declared at a college commencement

Ivan Boesky, who reached the pinnacle of fame and fortune as a high-flying Wall Street arbitrageur in the 1980s only to be exposed as a cheat in the insider-trading scandal that defined the era, has died. He was 87.

Until I read that, I didn’t realize just how closely art imitated life in that movie. Damn, it was almost a direct quote!