Obituaries

[TMBTM]

One week after the fact, but should be mentioned here:

Producer Richard D. Zanuck

[hebrides]

RIP Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut.




http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...,6895077.story


I know this song isn't really about her, but I do remember Mission Control waking up the shuttle astronauts to the Wilson Pickett original, and I've always loved this version:

[hebrides]

Frank Pierson, writer, director, and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has died at 87:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...,3655207.story

I hadn't heard of him before, but I definitely know his work, and I bet you do too.

His screenplays include Cat Ballou, Cool Hand Luke, Presumed Innocent, and Dog Day Afternoon, for which he won an Oscar.

His television career may be even more impressive for its longevity, spanning everything from Have Gun, Will Travel, Naked City and Route 66 in the late 1950s and early 1960s all the way through The Good Wife and Mad Men. RIP.

[Frantic Canadian]

Sherman Helmsley

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...212957115.html

[hebrides]

Sigh...yet another loss in the Doctor Who family...RIP Mary Tamm, the first Romana:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...Mary-Tamm.html

[TomH1138]

I have to say, the speed at which these Doctor Who companions are dropping off is getting to be unsettling.

Rest in peace, Romana.

[bionicbob]

Geez... I remember having a HUGE crush on her as young boy.

Very sad.

[hebrides]

Playwright, author, social commentator, and screenwriter Gore Vidal has died:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...y.html?hpid=z1

[hebrides]

Mel Stuart, director of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and documentaries including The Hobart Shakespeareans, has died at 83:

http://www.suntimes.com/14390854-761...ead-at-83.html



Carlo Rambaldi, the special effects wizard who designed E.T. and won Oscars for E.T., Alien, and the 1976 King Kong remake, has died at 86:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...d06_story.html



And, as a sad followup to the Mary Tamm story, her husband died hours after delivering her eulogy. They must have been very devoted to each other.

[hebrides]

Legendary comic artist Joe Kubert has died at 85:

http://www.superherohype.com/news/ar...ert-dead-at-85

In addition to creating extremely memorable work in his own right, he also founded the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, where he sought to cultivate the next generations of artists: