Gone With or Without fanfare

[CineMaven]

Ahhhh. That's my MSNBC!!! The United States did great things. Leaps of faith and science and imagination. Neil Armstrong. He did indeed take a giant leap for mankind. We touched another planet in our solar system.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Dang! Over 40 minutes for CNN! That does not sound like they are on the ball...or even trying to bounce it!

I am glad they interviewed Mark Kelly on MSNBC. I've met him, and he is a very gracious and considerate man.

[charliechaplinfan]

Nancy, I immediately thought of the picture of him and Casey, quite close to his own end. Did he know he was ill and still went out meeting people or was it a shock to everyone? One thing is that it's a touchstone moment for everyone, even those of us who weren't born, my parents watched it live, they were proud.

[JackFavell]

In CNN's favor, they are always conservative when reporting a death or event. I assume they want to check and double check to prevent a "Neil Young' incident.

[RedRiver]

There was an error in my own report as well. I was sure the historic event took place in August. But Neil Young? Neil Young? Of Crosby, Stills and Armstrong?

[ChiO]

But Neil Young? Neil Young? Of Crosby, Stills and Armstrong?

William Armstrong was charged with murder. His son, Jack Armstrong, was a friend of Abraham Lincoln, so Abe defended William. The trial is in YOUNG MR. LINCOLN.

William Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, and voila!...Neil Young.

Hey, Red, what happened to Nash?

[JackFavell]

Nash lives in Hawaii now.

[ChiO]

Steve Franken died on August 24 at the age of 80. Not a well-known name, but the face was instantly recognizable. For many of us, he would always be Chatsworth Osborne, Jr., the rich kid on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

One of his best known movie roles was as Levinson, the drunk waiter, in THE PARTY (Blake Edwards 1968).

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[JackFavell]

That movie is hilarious, and I am so glad he got a chance to shine in it. You'd have to be a pretty great actor to carry that scene the way he did. I've seen it before and he still made me laugh out loud watching it now.

I actually had a crush on Steve Franken when I was young. I thought he was so cute. He had these deep set intense eyes, and you just knew the guy was an inventive and talented actor who rarely got to show all he could do. It's good to see he was working right straight through till this year.



He also turned up on Bewitched, Batman, and My Favorite Martian reruns, and any number of other TV shows, which is where I first saw him. He was always the whiny sniveling rich guy, or an annoying alien or warlock with no empathy, or the sort of nerdy shy guy who couldn't get a date, who then turned out to be a jerk anyway. I just loved him.

[Rita Hayworth]

Steve Franken is one of my favorite Television Character Actor ... he is so good in what he does and a joy to see him perform.

[RedRiver]

THE PARTY just might be Blake Edwards' funniest movie. Not necessarily his best. But laugh out loud funny? Lord help me!

[Lzcutter]

Hal David, who partnered with Burt Bacharach on a number of hit songs in the 1960s, has died. For many of a certain age the Bacharach-David songs were very much part of the soundtrack of the 1960s, despite being more pop oriented than rock and roll. He and Bacharach wrote the Academy Award winning, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. Teen ido Bobby Sherman scored a Billboard hit with their This Guy's In Love with You in the early 1970s. Their songs helped a young singer named Dionne Warwick become a break-out star.

From USA Today:

Hal David, whose simple, heartfelt lyrics made a perfect fit with Burt Bacharach's quirky melodies and resulted in dozens of hit songs, including Do You Know the Way to San Jose and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, died Saturday. He was 91.

David died of complications from a stroke Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to his wife Eunice David.

He had suffered a major stroke in March and was stricken again on Tuesday, she said.

"Even at the end, Hal always had a song in his head," Eunice David said. "He was always writing notes, or asking me to take a note down, so he wouldn't forget a lyric."

David and Bacharach won an Oscar for Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), Grammys and Tonys for the songs from the hit Broadway musical "Promises, Promises, as well as other top 40 hits including "Close to You" and "That's What Friends Are For."

Many of the duo's lyrics and tunes continue to resonate in pop culture, including I Say A Little Prayer, What The World Needs Now Is Love, and This Guy's in Love with You, Their music was recorded by legendary singers including The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond and their longtime partner Dionne Warwick.

David joined the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 1974 and served as president 1980 to 1986. He was head of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from 2001 to 2011, and was Chairman Emeritus at his death.

"As a lyric writer, Hal was simple, concise and poetic — conveying volumes of meaning in fewest possible words and always in service to the music," ASCAP's current president, the songwriter Paul Williams, said in a statement. "It is no wonder that so many of his lyrics have become part of our everyday vocabulary and his songs… the backdrop of our lives."

In May, Bacharach and David received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during a White House tribute concert attended by President Obama.

Bacharach, 83, thanked Obama, saying the award for his life's work topped even the Oscars and Grammys he won for individual projects. David could not attend. Eunice David, accepted on his behalf.

"It was thrilling," she said. "Even though he wasn't there, Hal said it was the highest honor he had ever received."

More than 55 years after their first songs hit the airwaves, Obama said "these guys have still got it." He noted their music is still being recorded by such artists as Alicia Keys and John Legend.

"Above all, they stayed true to themselves," Obama said. "And with an unmistakable authenticity, they captured the emotions of our daily lives — the good times, the bad times, and everything in between."

David and Bacharach met when both worked in the Brill Building, New York's legendary Tin Pan Alley song factory where writers cranked out songs and attempted to sell them to music publishers. They scored their first big hit with Magic Moments, a million-selling record for Perry Como.

In 1962 they began writing for a young singer named Dionne Warwick, whose versatile voice conveyed the emotion of David's lyrics and easily handled the changing patterns of Bacharach's melodies. Together the trio created a succession of popular songs including Don't Make Me Over, Walk On By, I Say a Little Prayer, Do You Know the Way to San Jose, Trains and Boats and Planes, Anyone Who Has a Heart, You'll Never Get to Heaven and Always Something There to Remind Me.

The pair also wrote hit songs for numerous other singers: This Guy's in Love with You (trumpeter Herb Alpert in his vocal debut), Make It Easy on Yourself (Jerry Butler), What the World Needs Now is Love (Jackie DeShannon) and Wishin' and Hopin (Dusty Springfield). They also turned out title songs for the movies What's New, Pussycat (Tom Jones), Wives and Lovers (Jack Jones) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (Gene Pitney).

In a 1999 interview, David explained his success as a lyricist this way: "Try and tell a narrative. The songs should be like a little film, told in three or four minutes. Try to say things as simply as possible, which is probably the most difficult thing to do."

The writer, who lived in New York, often flew to Los Angeles, where he and Bacharach would hole up for a few weeks of intense songwriting. Sometimes they conferred by long-distance telephone; I Say a Little Prayer was written that way.

The hit-making team broke up after the 1973 musical remake of Lost Horizon. They had devoted two years to the movie, only to see it scorned by critics and audiences alike. Bacharach became so depressed he sequestered himself in his vacation home and refused to work.

Bacharach and David sued each other and Warwick sued them both. The cases were settled out of court in 1979 and the three went their separate ways. They reconciled in 1992 for Warwick's recording of Sunny Weather Lover.

David, meanwhile, went on to collaborate successfully with several other composers: John Barry with the title song of the James Bond film Moonraker; Albert Hammond with To All the Girls I've Loved Before, which Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson dueted on; and Henry Mancini with The Greatest Gift in The Return of the Pink Panther.

Born in New York City, David had attended public schools before studying journalism at New York University.

He served in the Army during World War II, mostly as a member of an entertainment unit in the South Pacific.

After the war, he wrote lyrics for several composers until that fateful Brill Building meeting with Bacharach.

David was married to Eunice David for 25 years. He had two sons, Jim and Craig, from a previous marriage to Anne Rauchman.

A private memorial service was planned.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I loved those songs. Some of them I still play on the piano. Oh, my. RIP Hal David, a wonderful lyricist.

[Rita Hayworth]

Micheal Clarke Duncan passed away



Green Mile star Michael Clarke Duncan dies at age 54

Los Angeles Times
By Amy Kaufman and Gina McIntyre
September 3, 2012, 3:07 p.m.
Oscar-nominated actor Michael Clarke Duncan, the star of Frank Darabont's prison tale "The Green Mile," has died. He was 54.

The Chicago native rose to fame playing a hulking death row inmate with a special psychic gift in the 1999 film, adapted from the novel by Stephen King. The role, which cast him opposite Tom Hanks, earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing roughly 315 pounds, Duncan parlayed his considerable size into a career as a Hollywood security guard, working for the likes of Will Smith and the rapper Notorious B.I.G. His first significant movie role came in 1998's "Armageddon" with Bruce Willis; Willis later helped the fledgling actor land the "Green Mile" gig.

Of his affinity for the role of the doomed John Coffey, Duncan told The Times in a 2000 interview: "I identified with John Coffey in the fact that we both had troubled times, we are both big, and by looking at us, you would be fearful of your life if you met us in a dark alley."

He had appeared on television series including "Bones," "Chuck" and "Two and a Half Men" and lent his voice to such animated movie and TV projects as "Family Guy" and the movie "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore."

Clarke had been in a romantic relationship with reality TV star the Rev. Omarosa Manigault, best known for her time on NBC's competition series "The Apprentice." The two often frequented red carpet events together, including Perez Hilton's recent 34th birthday bash and more high-profile movie premieres, like "The Green Hornet."

He suffered a myocardial infarction July 13 and never fully recovered.

Publicist Joy Fehily released a statement from Manigault, who was engaged to Duncan, saying the 54-year-old actor died Monday morning in a Los Angeles hospital after nearly two months of treatment.

[Western Guy]

Oh man, how upsetting. Such a strong, imposing actor - and a true gentle giant in real life. I recall an interview he gave where he claimed he was frequently recognized yet few knew his name. Apparently Michael always granted an autograph request but added a dollar incentive to anyone who could give his name.

RIP dear gentle soul. And God bless.