Final Curtain (the Visual Arts obituary thread)*

Actor Tony Britton dies aged 95

Actor Tony Britton has died aged 95.

His daughter, TV presenter Fern Britton, announced on Twitter that he had died early on Sunday morning.

"Great actor, director and charmer," she wrote. "May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

Britton was best known for starring in BBC sitcom Don't Wait Up alongside Nigel Havers in the 1980s, as well as many British films including The Day of the Jackal.

He also appeared in Robin's Nest alongside Richard O'Sullivan and Tessa Wyatt, and films Operation Amsterdam as well as Sunday Bloody Sunday.

In 1975 he won the Broadcasting Press Guild's best actor award for his role in The Nearly Man.​

 

Peter Schreier: Leading German tenor dies at 84

Leading German tenor Peter Schreier dies at 84

 

Patricia Alice Albrecht, Who Voiced Pizzazz In Jem And The Holograms, Has Died

Patricia Alice Albrecht, Who Voiced Pizzazz In Jem And The Holograms, Has Died

 

Radio broadcaster Don Imus has died

Radio shock jock Don Imus, one of the pioneers of his genre, died Friday less than two years after retiring, according to a family statement given to NBC New York.

He was 79.

He died Friday after being hospitalized at the Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, Texas, his family said. The cause of death was not divulged, but early this year Imus said on air that he had prostate cancer.

"Deirdre, his wife of 25 years, and his son Wyatt, 21, were at his side, and his son Lt. Zachary Don Cates is returning from military service overseas," the family said.

The controversial morning personality’s last day on the radio was March 29 of last year. He announced Jan. 22 that he was retiring, telling fans: “Turn out the lights ... the party's over."
​

 

RIP actress Sue Lyon:

Sue Lyon, Star of Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita,' Dies at 73

 

Lee Mendelson, Prolific Producer of ‘Peanuts’ and ‘Garfield’ TV Specials, Dies at 86

Lee Mendelson, the producer behind more than 50 animated TV specials featuring Charlie Brown and the “Peanuts” gang, died on Christmas Day at his home in Hillsborough, Calif., after a long battle with cancer. He was 86.

Mendelson also wrote the lyrics to “Christmas Time Is Here,” a song featured in “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the 1965 special that turned “Peanuts” into a TV staple. “Charlie Brown Christmas” brought Mendelson the first of his 12 Emmys. The last came in 2015 for “It’s Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown.” Mendelson’s work with animator Lee Melendez also brought him four Peabody Awards, an Oscar nomination and two Grammy noms.

A lifelong fan of jazz, Mendelson had the inspiration to hire musician Vince Guaraldi to create original music for “Charlie Brown Christmas,” a touch that helped make the specials stand out with viewers young and old. Over the years Mendelson worked with other notable musicians such as Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, B.B. King, David Benoit, George Winston, Ed Bogas and Desiree Goyette.

A fourth-generation native of San Francisco, Mendelson attended San Mateo High School and graduated from Stanford University in 1954 with a degree in English. He became involved in radio and TV while serving in the Air Force after college.

He worked for a while for his father’s produce company before moving into local TV as a producer for San Francisco’s KPIX-TV in 1961. He earned his first Peabody for “San Francisco Pageant,” described as “a series of historic documentaries framed with style and imagination, which enriched a great city’s affection of its colorful past.”

Lee Mendelson Film Productions opened its doors in 1963. Among its first productions was a highly regarded documentary for NBC about San Francisco Giants slugger Willie Mays.

Mendelson had the idea to produce his next documentary about the world’s worst baseball player — the woebegone Charlie Brown from Charles Schulz’s beloved daily comic strip. Schulz, who also lived in Northern California, had seen the Willie Mays special and agreed to cooperate.

But while the two were working on that project, Mendelson was enlisted to produce “Charlie Brown Christmas.” The success of that special begat 1966’s “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and 1973’s “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” among many others. The “Peanuts” animated programs aired on CBS for years until ABC scooped up the rights in 2001.

In 1970 Mendelson co-created the live-action children’s program “Hot Dog” for NBC that was billed as a kid-friendly version of “Laugh-In.” Cast members included Woody Allen, Jonathan Winters, Joanne Worley and Tom Smothers.

Mendelson teamed with “Garfield” creator Jim Davis to produce the first animated short featuring the grumpy cat in 1982. Mendelson also shepherded the “Garfield and Friends” animated series from 1991-1994. He also worked with “Cathy” cartoonist Cathy Guisewite on three primetime “Cathy” animated specials that aired between 1987 and 1989.

Outside of children’s programming, Mendelson produced documentaries and network specials featuring such notables as Paul Newman, Gene Kelly, Joanne Woodward, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Flip Wilson, Whoopi Goldberg, Muhammad Ali and Carl Reiner. He worked with two 20th Century giants — John Steinbeck and Henry Fonda — on specials based on Steinbeck’s work: “Travels With Charley” and “America and Americans.”​

 

‘Game of Thrones’ actor dies suddenly at Belfast home

 

Cult actor and musician Sleepy Labeef (July 20, 1935 – December 26, 2019)

As an actor, Sleepy Labeef appeared in a sexploitation horror film entitled "The Exotic Ones," aka "The Monster and The Stripper."


Sleepy Labeef as the Swamp Thing.


The many faces of Sleepy Labeef

 

Fred Graham (correspondent) - Wikipedia

Fred Graham (October 6, 1931 – December 28, 2019) was an American journalist who served as chief anchor and managing editor of the former Court TV.

Graham was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and graduated from West End High School in Nashville, Tennessee. He later received a B.A. from Yale University in 1953, an LL.B. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1959, and a Diploma of Law from Oxford University in 1960.

He worked as a legal correspondent for the New York Times from 1965 to 1972, and then as a legal correspondent for CBS News from 1972 to 1987. He won a Peabody Award in 1974.​

 

Jazz legend, ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’ singer Jack Sheldon dead at 88

Bebop and West Coast jazz great Jack Sheldon has died at age 88.

While the charismatic and hilarious Sheldon boasted an impressive résumé that included serving as the music director and sidekick on The Merv Griffin Show for 18 years; releasing 23 albums as a bandleader between 1955 and 2007; heading his own 17-piece orchestra; working with everyone from Art Pepper, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Goodman, and Frank Sinatra to the Monkees and Tom Waits; and acting in various movies and TV shows, he is also lovingly remembered as the affable, lackadaisical crooner from the Schoolhouse Rock! cartoons of the 1970s, including "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill.”

Born on Nov. 20, 1931, Sheldon was seemingly destined to go into show business: His mother was Jen Loven, a drama teacher who founded a famous Los Angeles swimming school attended by the children of many Old Hollywood celebrities. He began playing music professionally at age 13, performed in military bands during his time in the Air Force in the late ‘40s, and eventually became a key player in the West Coast jazz scene in the 1950s.

During his lifetime, the longtime L.A. resident also racked up more than 70 screen credits, ranging from playing trumpet on the theme songs for Peter Gunn and The Munsters and on Johnny Mandel’s “The Shadow of Your Smile” from The Sandpiper, to acting in Freaky Friday, Gilligan's Island, Dragnet, Marcus Welby M.D., Petticoat Junction, Adam 12, Police Woman, The Cara Williams Show, and even his own ‘60s sitcom, Run, Buddy, Run.​

Run Buddy Run - Online

 

Another undersung musical talent leaves.

 

Once again, I apologize for living in a cave -- the back room of the cave at that. I have ridiculously belatedly learned of the death of countercultural journalist Paul Krassner, founder-editor of The Realist, who rambled with the Merry Pranksters and dropped acid with Groucho Marx, among many other adventures.

R.I.P. Paul Krassner (1932-2019) | The Comic's Comic

 

Cathy Crawford LaLonde Dies: Daughter Of Joan Crawford Was 72 – Deadline

 

Aart Staartjes, Dutch actor and television presenter

Tv-maker en Sesamstraat-icoon Aart Staartjes na ongeluk overleden

 

Stan Kirsch Dies: ‘Highlander’ Actor Was 51 – Deadline

 

Carol Serling, widow of The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, dies at 91 - PRIMETIMER

Gladys Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain’s Mother and Champion, Has Died

 

RIP Derek Fowlds (Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister, Heartbeat, Hotel Paradiso)

Yes Minister actor Derek Fowlds dies aged 82

 

Norma Michaels, Star of 'King of Queens,' Dead at 95

 

French journalist Sebastien Demorand

https://www.nouvelobs.com/food/2020...demorand-l-ancien-jure-de-masterchef-est-mort

 

Aww...I liked him very much. I was just listening to Die Zauberflöte with Schreier, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch just a few days ago.