Bring Out Your Dead! The celebrity death thread....

It was John Davidson, he lived in South Orange. 


blanderson - Thank you for the correction.Dave Schmidt and Author- my mistake.I did confuse Davidson and Campbell.


Barbara Cook,89. Wonderful soprano. Took original part of the librarian in The Music Man.


Dick Gregory, a voice to reckon with to the end.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...


I was in London when Bruce Forsyth died. I'd never heard of him, but it was a huge deal there.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bruce-forsyth-frail-pals-say-11018272



DaveSchmidt said:

Dick Gregory, a voice to reckon with to the end.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...

Much, much more than a celebrity.


The father of Gary Lewis, of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, at 91:

http://variety.com/2017/film/n...


Jerry Lewis much more than father of Gary Lewis who was at best a minor celeb compared to his dad.


Rat Pack member, MD telethon on every Labor Day , comedic movies galore, half of Martin and Lewis comedy team, etc...



annielou said:

Rat Pack member, MD telethon on every Labor Day , comedic movies galore, half of Martin and Lewis comedy team, etc...

Don't forget the loopy motorist in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

(Not sure I'd confer Rat Pack membership on him. But it wasn't up to me.)


Jerry Lewis was a local boy from Irvington. 



DaveSchmidt said:

The father of Gary Lewis, of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, at 91:

http://variety.com/2017/film/n...

I think this was a joke!


Meet Jerry Lewis when I was 7. Went door to door in my little part of Bayside Queens collecting for Muscular Dystrophy telethon. Brought the pickle jar to the studio and when he came through the audience to collect money, his hand got stuck in the jar. He laughed hysterically (a kosher PICKLE jar!) and so did I.


May his memory be for a blessing.



DaveSchmidt said:



annielou said:

Rat Pack member, MD telethon on every Labor Day , comedic movies galore, half of Martin and Lewis comedy team, etc...

Don't forget the loopy motorist in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

(Not sure I'd confer Rat Pack membership on him. But it wasn't up to me.)

Yer right. I forgot about the Dean Martin feud. He was just a Rat Pack contemporary but never a member. I always confused this because of his dead-on Rat Pack impersonation in the "The Nutty Professor", one of his few favorably reviewed comedies.


He was awarded the Order of Australia for services to worldwide charity.



ska said:

Jerry Lewis was a local boy from Irvington. 

When Newark had a number of downtown movie theaters he was an usher at either the Adams or the Branford.


Sorry to bring a little politics into this thread but this from the nj.com obituary struck me in light of the last week:

"Anti-Semitism was a looming ghost from his past. During the 1930's, North Jersey was home to a pro-Nazi group called the German-American Bund. Lewis witnessed one of their parades down Chancellor Ave. in Irvington. "I stood curbside, gaping at a tangle of stars and stripes and the swastika. I started to walk away, faster and faster to pull free of the sound."

He encountered prejudice at school from both students and faculty. His fifth-grade teacher scolded him for not participating in a singalong of Christmas carols. An incident with the principal at Irvington High School got him expelled. Chiding Lewis for misbehaving in class, the administrator started a sentence, "Why is it that only the Jews...

Lewis smacked him in the mouth before he could complete his thought, according to "In Person."


I enjoyed your story, LL. Thanks for posting it.


The Nutty Professor  is freaking genius. Unfortunately, when he played the Buddy Love part, it was apparently pretty much the real Jerry Lewis.

And if you haven't seen The King Of Comedy, that's another good performance by him. Good movie too.

He was brilliant at physical comedy too. Here he mixes that with his musical ability.




And with all due respect to Dick Gregory - I have to wonder about his "comedian" credentials. I've never laughed at one thing he's said.


Oh boy. Here we go again.


writer Brian Aldiss has died! 

How many SF readers started with his gripping tales? How many newer writers were inspired by his half-opened doors into imagination? 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/21/science-fiction-author-brian-aldiss-dies-aged-92


here goes what again?

annielou said:

Oh boy. Here we go again.



John Abercrombie. LOL

Too young; just feeling bereft.


Shelley Berman. Gonna miss these old timey comedians from another era.


Walter Becker from Steely Dan.  Sad.


Shocked to see that this morning.  Those two guys, with a revolving cast of top notch musicians, generated a great body of work in the 70s.  A run of albums to be proud of.    

nan said:

Walter Becker from Steely Dan.  Sad.



sad news to wake up to - so young, and apparently, relatively quick (unwell in July). 

Such a legacy that we're left with, no doubt still some new material to be released; such a bright strong light gone from the world LOL


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