Tag Archives: Obituary

The Professor is gone.

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220px-Russell_Johnson_Black_Saddle_1960Russell Johnson, best known for his role as the Professor on Gilligan’s Island died today at his home in Washington. He died of natural causes with his wife and daughter at his side. He was 89.

Johnson began his career in 1950 as a sailor in the Fireside Theater production of A Man Without A Country. He had the role of Chopper in The Adventures of Superman in 1953 and appeared in various westerns and science fiction movies. He played Fletcher Christian in the You Are There presentation of Mr. Christian Seizes the Bounty.

He is best known for his role as high school science teacher Roy Hinckley which ran for three years but is popular in syndication today. The Memorable Entertainment network runs two episodes a night. The professor had to come up with various fixes to the equipment and create equipment for various applications. Ironically, he appeared in the popular MacGyver television series in 1986, but we’re not sure if he had to come up with any explosive devices from two bobby-pins and a can of hair spray.

According to a FOX News report, Johnson once quipped that the only thing he couldn’t figure out is how to fix the leaky boat so they could return to civilization.

Co-star Dawn Welles posted on her Facebook page:

My 2 favorite people are now gone. The Professor past away this morning. My heart is broken.

and

Russell was a true gentleman, a good father, a great friend, and “the rest”.
I love him and shall miss him. My heart goes out to Connie and his daughter Kim. I love you.

Dawn Welles and Tina Louise are the only surviving members of a group of misfit castaways marooned after a failed “three hour tour” which seems to show no sign of stopping in syndication. Probably the best tribute an actor can receive.

This Man Chased A Nazi Fighter Plane Under The Eiffel Tower

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william-overstreetToday, people on two continents mourn the death of 92-year-old William Overstreet Jr. He was a resident of Roanoke, Virginia, a retired accountant, and like many men from his generation, a veteran of World War II. And in the spring of 1944, Overstreet did something people in France and the U.S. still talk about.

Overstreet, who died Sunday at a Roanoke hospital, is remembered for being the U.S. Army Air Corps pilot who flew underneath the Eiffel Tower’s arches in his P-51 Mustang during an aerial battle while in hot pursuit of a German fighter plane, which he ultimately shot down.

Even back in war-torn, Nazi-occupied Paris, that wasn’t something you saw every day. Or ever. And it was an act that is said to have reignited the spirits of the French resistance fighters who witnessed it from the ground. The Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted the son of one fighter, who had this to say:

One of those French Resistance fighters was the father of Bernard Marie. A French dignitary who has hosted D-Day events every year since 1984, Marie said he met Overstreet in 1994.

He knew Overstreet was well-known for his flight underneath the Eiffel Tower but didn’t understand its true importance until he spoke with his father.

“My father began shouting at me — ‘I have to meet this man,’ ” Marie said. Members of the French Resistance had seen his flight and it inspired them, including Marie’s father, he said.

“This guy has done even more than what people are thinking,” Marie said. “He lifted the spirit of the French.”

Read more at JALOPNIK

Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers dies at 74

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everlyPhil Everly, who with his brother, Don, made up the most revered vocal duo of the rock-music era, their exquisite harmonies profoundly influencing the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and countless younger-generation rock, folk and country singers, died Friday in Burbank of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Patti Everly, told The Times. He was 74.

“We are absolutely heartbroken,” she said, noting that the disease was the result of a lifetime of cigarette smoking. “He fought long and hard.”

During the height of their popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s, they charted nearly three dozen hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, among them “Cathy’s Clown,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love,” “When Will I Be Loved” and “All I Have to Do Is Dream.” The Everly Brothers were among the first 10 performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it got off the ground in 1986.

“They had that sibling sound,” said Linda Ronstadt, who scored one of the biggest hits of her career in 1975 with her recording of “When Will I Be Loved,” which Phil Everly wrote. “The information of your DNA is carried in your voice, and you can get a sound [with family] that you never get with someone who’s not blood related to you. And they were both such good singers–they were one of the foundations, one of the cornerstones of the new rock ‘n’ roll sound.”

Read more at Los Angeles Times

Tom Laughlin dies at 82; filmmaker drew huge following for ‘Billy Jack’

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tom-laughlinTom Laughlin, a filmmaker who drew a huge following for his movies about the ill-tempered, karate-chopping pacifist Billy Jack, died Thursday at a Thousand Oaks hospital. He was 82.

He had been in failing health for several years, his daughter Teresa Laughlin said.

Laughlin starred in and co-produced the four films of the 1960s and ’70s showcasing Billy Jack, a troubled Vietnam veteran who quietly promotes a message of peace when he’s not throwing bad guys through plate-glass windows.

An iconoclast who battled Hollywood studios, Laughlin fought on other fronts as well.

Laughlin founded a Montessori school in Santa Monica after he deemed the public schools unworthy of educating his children. When he decided the political system was hopelessly corrupt, he mounted three quixotic presidential campaigns. After becoming disillusioned with Catholicism, he immersed himself in Jungian psychology, writing books and counseling friends.

“He was an extraordinary Catholic for about five minutes,” Teresa Laughlin told The Times, “but once he found Jungian psychology, it supplanted everything else.”

Read more at Los Angeles Times

Hundreds Attend Lonely Veteran’s Funeral After Sad Obit Goes Viral

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ku-bigpicWorld War II vet Harold Jellicoe “Coe” Percival passed away peacefully in his sleep last month at the age of 99. According to his obituary, Harold had “no close family who can attend his funeral.”

Enter: The Internet.

After a scan of the former RAF Bomber Command ground crew member obituary appeared online last week, many took special note of the sentence asking for “any service personnel who can” to kindly attend his funeral, which was scheduled for this morning at 11 AM Blackpool time.

A call to action soon coalesced as the obit made its way around Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit.

“If you’re in the area give him the send off he deserves,” asked Sgt. Rick Clement, an Afghanistan War vet who was wounded in the line of duty. “This guy needs and deserves your help.”

More at Gawker

J. Robinson Risner, fighter pilot and leader of Hanoi Hilton prisoners, dies at 88

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By Steve Chawkins
Los Angeles Times

Brig. Gen. J. Robinson 'Robbie' Risner is credited with destroying eight MiG-15s and damaging another while assigned to the 336 Fighter Squadron in South Korea. On Sept. 21, 1952, the then-major scored double kills. He achieved ace status on Sept. 15, 1952, downing his fifth MiG-15. U.S. Air Force

Brig. Gen. J. Robinson ‘Robbie’ Risner is credited with destroying eight MiG-15s and damaging another while assigned to the 336 Fighter Squadron in South Korea. On Sept. 21, 1952, the then-major scored double kills. He achieved ace status on Sept. 15, 1952, downing his fifth MiG-15.
U.S. Air Force

The captured fighter pilot had already been through so much at the infamous Hanoi Hilton.

He had been beaten up and starved, thrown for months into a dark cell crawling with rats, held immobile with his legs pinned in stocks, and strapped with ropes so tightly that his right arm was torn from its socket. When he passed out from pain, the ropes were briefly loosened until the ordeal could start yet again.

Now, with his jailers ordering him to do a propaganda broadcast, J. Robinson Risner, in the solitude of his cell, tried to destroy his voice.

“I began pounding my throat as hard as I could,” he wrote in his 1973 memoir “The Passing of the Night.” After he delivered repeated judo chops to his larynx, he drank a paste made from acidic lye soap and intensified the burn by screaming as loud as he could into a rag he clamped over his mouth.

Read more at LA Times

Source: Stars and Stripes

Patricia Blair Dies at 80; Starred in Television’s ‘Daniel Boone’

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p-blair

Patricia Blair and Edward Mulhare in Empire of the Lost.

Patricia Blair, an actress who played resourceful women in 1960s television westerns like “Daniel Boone” and “The Rifleman,” died on Sept. 9 at her home in North Wildwood, N.J. She was 80.

The cause was breast cancer, Amber Hennessey, a friend and neighbor, said.

Standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, Ms. Blair could fit in the same frame as lanky co-stars like Fess Parker, who played Daniel Boone, and Chuck Connors, the star of “The Rifleman.” She played the hotel owner Lou Mallory on “The Rifleman” starting in 1962 and Rebecca Boone, Daniel’s wife, in the six-year run of “Daniel Boone” on NBC beginning in 1964.

Read more at New York Times

Comedy legend Jonathan Winters gone at age 87

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winters122wayMontecito, California—Legendary comedian and WWII veteran Jonathan Winters passed away yesterday in his Montecito home. He was 87. Winters was born November 11, 1925, in Dayton, Ohio.

Jonathan was a favorite on the talk show circuit and a regular on the Dean Martin Roast series. He had his own variety show on separate occasions. Although he had several characters he played, such as Aunt Maude, he is also noted for his impromptu work with props handed to him. At the end of his variety shows, Winters would be handed a stack of cards with situations which the audience had written down. He would act out the situation on the card. He was probably the first “mad libber” in the business.

Although he always seemed to wear a smile, in 1961 he suffered a breakdown and was diagnosed as bipolar. Upon his release on April Fools day in 1962, he was immediately cast in the movie “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” He also played some dramatic roles; most notably his role as Minnesota Fats opposite the late Jack Klugman on the Twilight Zone.

Winters was also an artist and author.

Arizona original Eddie Basha dies

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PHOENIX — Arizona businessman and philanthropist Eddie Basha has died at the age of 75.

Sources close to the family said Basha was taken to a hospital last week with congestive heart failure but was able to go home. He died Tuesday. The cause of death has not been released.

His family founded Bashas’ in 1910. At that time, it was a mercantile store. In 1956, the first Bashas’ grocery store opened on Seventh Avenue and Osborn Road in Phoenix.

Basha later took over the family business and grew the line of grocery stores to more than 150 locations with four well-known brands: AJ’s Fine Foods, Food City, Sportsman’s Fine Wines and Bashas’ grocery stores.

Read more at AZFamily

Famed Navy SEAL Chris Kyle slain at gun range in N. Texas

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by KHOU.com staff & Jason Whitely / WFAA

GLEN ROSE, Texas — A former U.S. Navy SEAL who gained recognition during the Iraq War was one of two people fatally shot southwest of Fort Worth on Saturday, KHOU 11 News has learned.

Sources close to the investigation identified the former SEAL as Chris Kyle, 39, author of the New York Times bestselling book, “American Sniper.”

Kyle was shot point-blank while helping another soldier who was recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome, officials said. The murders happened at a shooting range near the town of Glen Rose, about 53 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

The Erath County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert for the arrest of the suspect, who was later identified as Eddie Routh, 25. Officials warned that Routh was traveling in a Ford F-150 pickup with large tires and rims. They said he was believed to be highly trained with military experience.

Read more at KHOU