RIP Bill Russell

 

Boston Celtics great Bill Russell, 11-time NBA champion, dies at 88

 

ESPN

7/31/2022

 

Bill Russell, the cornerstone of the Boston Celtics' dynasty that won eight straight titles and 11 overall during his career, died Sunday. The Hall of Famer was 88.

Russell died "peacefully" with his wife, Jeannine, at his side, a statement posted on social media said. Arrangements for his memorial service will be announced soon, the statement said.

"But for all the winning, Bill's understanding of the struggle is what illuminated his life. From boycotting a 1961 exhibition game to unmask too-long-tolerated discrimination, to leading Mississippi's first integrated basketball camp in the combustible wake of Medgar Evans' assassination, to decades of activism ultimately recognized by his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom ... Bill called out injustice with an unforgiving candor that he intended would disrupt the status quo, and with a powerful example that, though never his humble intention, will forever inspire teamwork, selflessness and thoughtful change," the statement read.

"Bill's wife, Jeannine, and his many friends and family thank you for keeping Bill in your prayers. Perhaps you'll relive one or two of the golden moments he gave us, or recall his trademark laugh as he delighted in explaining the real story behind how those moments unfolded. And we hope each of us can find a new way to act or speak up with Bill's uncompromising, dignified and always constructive commitment to principle. That would be one last, and lasting, win for our beloved #6."

Over a 15-year period, beginning with his junior year at the University of San Francisco, Russell had the most remarkable career of any player in the history of team sports. At USF, he was a two time All-American, won two straight NCAA championships and led the team to 55 consecutive wins. And he won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics.

During his 13 years in Boston, he carried the Celtics to the NBA Finals 12 times, winning the championship 11 times. The one year the Celtics lost, in 1958 to the St. Louis Hawks, the series was tied 2-2 when Russell got hurt and was hospitalized. The Celtics lost the next two games by a total of three points.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver called Russell "the greatest champion in all of team sports" in a statement Sunday.

"I cherished my friendship with Bill and was thrilled when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I often called him basketball's Babe Ruth for how he transcended time. Bill was the ultimate winner and consummate teammate, and his influence on the NBA will be felt forever," Silver said.

A five-time MVP and 12-time All-Star, Russell was an uncanny shot blocker who revolutionized NBA defensive concepts. He finished with 21,620 career rebounds -- an average of 22.5 per game -- and led the league in rebounding four times. He had 51 rebounds in one game, 49 in two others and 12 straight seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds. Russell also averaged 15.1 points and 4.3 assists per game over his career.

Until Michael Jordan's exploits in the 1990s, Russell was considered by many as the greatest player in NBA history.

Russell was awarded the Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in 2011, the nation's highest civilian honor. And in 2017, the NBA awarded him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

William Felton Russell was born Feb. 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. His family moved to the Bay Area, where he attended McClymonds High School in Oakland. He was an awkward, unremarkable center on McClymonds' basketball team, but his size earned him a scholarship at San Francisco, where he blossomed.

"I was an innovator," Russell told The New York Times in 2011. "I started blocking shots although I had never seen shots blocked before that. The first time I did that in a game, my coach called timeout and said, 'No good defensive player ever leaves his feet.'"

Russell did it anyway, and he teamed with guard K.C. Jones to lead the Dons to 55 straight wins and national titles in 1955 and 1956. (Jones missed four games of the 1956 tournament because his eligibility had expired.) Russell was named the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1955. He then led the U.S. basketball team to victory in the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne, Australia.

With the 1956 NBA draft approaching, Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach was eager to add Russell to his lineup. Auerbach had built a high-scoring offensive machine around guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman and undersized center Ed Macauley but thought the Celtics lacked the defense and rebounding needed to transform them into a championship-caliber club. Russell, Auerbach felt, was the missing piece to the puzzle.

After the St. Louis Hawks selected Russell in the 1956 draft, Auerbach engineered a trade to land Russell for Ed Macauley.

Boston's starting five of Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Cousy, Sharman and Jim Loscutoff was a high-octane unit. The Celtics posted the best regular-season record in the NBA in 1956-57 and waltzed through the playoffs for their first NBA title, beating the Hawks.

In a rematch in the 1958 NBA Finals, the Celtics and Hawks split the first two games at Boston Garden. But Russell suffered an ankle injury in Game 3 and was ineffective the remainder of the series. The Hawks eventually won the series in the six games.

Russell and the Celtics had a stranglehold on the NBA Finals after that, going on to win 10 titles in 11 years and giving professional basketball a level of prestige it had not enjoyed before.

In the process, Russell revolutionized the game. He was a 6-foot-9 center whose lightning reflexes brought shot-blocking and other defensive maneuvers that trigger a fast-break offense into full development.

In 1966, after eight straight titles, Auerbach retired as coach and named Russell as his successor. This was hailed as a sociological advance, since Russell was the first Black coach of a major league team in any sport, let alone so distinguished a team. But neither Russell nor Auerbach saw the move that way. They felt it was simply the best way to keep winning, and as a player-coach, Russell won two more titles in the next three years.

Their biggest opponent was age. After he won his 11th championship in 1969 at age 35, Russell retired, triggering a mini-Boston rebuild. During his 13 seasons, the NBA had expanded from eight teams to 14. Russell didn't have to survive more than three playoff rounds to win a title.

"If Bill Russell came back today with the same equipment and the same brainpower, the same person exactly as he was when he landed in the NBA in 1956, he'd be the best rebounder in the league," Bob Ryan, a former Celtics beat writer for the Boston Globe, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019. "As an athlete, he was so far ahead of his time. He'd win three, four or five championships, but not 11 in 13 years, obviously."

Along with multiple titles, Russell's career also was partly defined with his rivalry against Wilt Chamberlain.

In the 1959-60 season, the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain, who averaged a record 37.6 points per game in his rookie year, made his debut with the Philadelphia Warriors. On Nov. 7, 1959, Russell's Celtics hosted Chamberlain's Warriors, and pundits called the matchup between the best offensive and defensive centers "The Big Collision" and "Battle of the Titans." While Chamberlain outscored Russell 30-22, the Celtics won 115-106, and the game was called a "new beginning of basketball."

The matchup between Russell and Chamberlain became one of basketball's greatest rivalries. One of Celtics' titles came against Wilt Chamberlain's San Francisco's Warriors teams in 1964.

Although Chamberlain outrebounded and outscored Russell over the course of their 142 career games (28.7 rebounds per game to 23.7, 28.7 points per game to 14.5) and their entire career (22.9 RPG to 22.5, 30.1 PPG to 15.1), Russell usually got the nod as the better overall player, mainly because his teams won 87 (61%) of those games.

In the eight playoff series between the two, Russell and the Celtics won seven. Russell has 11 championship rings; Chamberlain has just two, and only one was won against Russell's Celtics.

"I was the villain because I was so much bigger and stronger than anyone else out there," Chamberlain told the Boston Herald in 1995. "People tend not to root for Goliath, and Bill back then was a jovial guy and he really had a great laugh. Plus, he played on the greatest team ever.

"My team was losing and his was winning, so it would be natural that I would be jealous. Not true. I'm more than happy with the way things turned out. He was overall by far the best, and that only helped bring out the best in me."

After Russell retired from basketball, his place in its history secure, he moved into broader spheres, hosting radio and television talk shows and writing newspaper columns on general topics.

In 1973, Russell took over the Seattle SuperSonics, then a six-year-old expansion franchise that had never made the playoffs, as coach and general manager. The year before, the Sonics had won 26 games and sold 350 season tickets. Under Russell, they won 36, 43, 43 and 40, making the playoffs twice. When he resigned, they had a solid base of 5,000 season tickets and the material to reach the NBA Finals series the next two years.

Russell reportedly became frustrated at the players' reluctance to embrace his team concept. Some suggested that the problem was Russell himself; he was said to be aloof, moody and unable to accept anything but the Celtics' tradition. Ironically, Lenny Wilkens guided Seattle to a championship two years later, preaching the same team concept that Russell had tried to instill unsuccessfully.

A decade after he left Seattle, Russell gave coaching another try, replacing Jerry Reynolds as coach of the Sacramento Kings early in the 1987-88 season. The team staggered to a 17-41 record, and Russell departed midseason.

Between coaching stints, Russell was most visible as a color commentator on televised basketball games. For a time he was paired with the equally blunt Rick Barry, and the duo provided brutally frank commentary on the game. Russell was never comfortable in that setting, though, explaining to the Sacramento Bee, "The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation and people go deeper than that."

He also dabbled with acting, performing in a Seattle Children's Theatre show and an episode of "Miami Vice," and he wrote a provocative autobiography, "Second Wind."

In 1974, Russell was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1980, he was voted Greatest Player in the History of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America. He was part of the 75th Anniversary Team announced by the NBA in October 2021.

In 2013, Boston honored Russell with a statue at City Hall Plaza.

 

RUSSELL, Bill (William Felton Russell)

Born: 2/12/1934, Monroe, Louisiana, U.S.A.

Died: 7/31/2022, Mercer Island, Washington, U.S.A.

 

Bill Russell’s western – actor:

Cowboy in Africa – 1967 (Jasiri)

RIP Christophe Izard

 

Christophe Izard, creator of "Ile aux enfants", is dead

Television producer, the man who had created Casimir and his friends in 1974, was 85 years old.

Liberation

7/31/2022

 

Ile aux enfants, Wednesday visitors, Village in the clouds… He had invented French television for children in the 1970s: Christophe Izard, creator of programs for young people and television producer, died on Sunday morning. He was 85 years old.

It was his former team at Osibo Productions who announced his death on social networks. Christophe Izard guided our childhood, he made it orange and joyful , can we read in a message posted on Twitter. He lit up the small screen and transformed it into a magic skylight, inviting Casimir, Julien, M. du Snob, Léonard, Hippolyte and Mademoiselle Futaie. His name appears in the credits of the unforgettable TV shows of the 70s / 80s.

After being a member of a jazz orchestra and publishing several thrillers, Christophe Izard began his television career at the ORTF as a variety producer. From 1974, he devoted his life to youth programs. First by adapting American programs like 1, rue Sésame then by launching l'Ile aux enfants.

 

IZARD, Christophe

Born: 5/30/1937, Paris, Île de France, France

Died: 7/31/2022, Paris, Île de France, France

 

Christophe Izard’s western –producer, script supervisor:

The Legend of White Fang – 1992-1994

RIP Pat Carroll

 

Pat Carroll, Voice of Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid’ and Veteran Sitcom Actress, Dies at 95

Variety

By J. Kim Murphy

July, 31, 2022

 

Pat Carroll, a veteran actress known for her voice role as Ursula in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and whose career as an entertainer spanned seven decades, died Saturday in Cape Cod, Mass. while recovering from pneumonia. She was 95 years old.

Carroll’s death was confirmed by her representative, Derek Maki. Maki stated that Carroll died with her best friend by her side.

Born on May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, La., Patricia Ann Carroll’s family relocated to Los Angeles when she was five years old. There she began acting in local productions at a young age, before attending Catholic University of America and later enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Carroll’s first role came in 1947 in the film “Hometown Girl.” She became a regular presence on variety shows over the next three decades. Carroll earned an Emmy Award in 1956 for her work on “Sid Caesar’s House.” Additionally, the actress showed comedy chops playing regular roles on “Make Room for Daddy,” “The Jimmy Durante Show,” “The Danny Thomas Show,” “Too Close for Comfort” and “She’s the Sheriff.”

Other major appearances came on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Love Boat,” “Designing Women” and “ER.” Carroll also ran the gauntlet of game shows in 20th century television, with bows on “To Tell the Truth,” “The Match Game,” “I’ve Got a Secret,” “Password All-Stars,” “You Don’t Say” and “The $10,000 Pyramid.”

Carroll drew critical acclaim for her performance as Gertrude Stein in her one-woman theater show. The recorded version of the production netted the actress a Grammy in 1980 for best spoken word (documentary or drama).

In 1989, Carroll lent her talents to the voice performance of Ursula in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” singing the film’s showstopper number “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” Carroll deemed Ursula a career-favorite role, reprising the character across various forms of media.

Carroll is survived by her daughters, Kerry Karsian and Tara Karsian; and her granddaughter, Evan Karsian-McCormick.

 

CARROLL, Pat (Patricia Ann Angela Bridget Carroll)

Born: 5/5/1927, Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.A.

Died: 7/30/2021, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

 

Pat Carroll’s western – actress:

The Brother’s O’Toole – 1973 (Callie Burdyne)

RIP Jack Hannah

 30 Action News

By Ricky Courtney

7/31/2022

Jack Hannah, one of the founders of the Western band "The Sons of the San Joaquin" and known for his appearances in local commercials and at community events, has died.

Jack Hannah founded The Sons of the San Joaquin with his brother Joe and nephew Lon. The critically acclaimed group started performing together in 1987, released more than a dozen albums, and was inducted into the Western Music Association Hall of Fame in 2006.

Jack Hannah was born in Marshland, Missouri, in 1933 to Lon and Melba Hannah. The family moved to the San Joaquin Valley in 1937, seeking a better life amid the Great Depression.

Before his music career, Jack played football and baseball at Fresno State and became a professional baseball player, pitching in the Milwaukee Braves farm system for six seasons.

After his baseball career, Jack became a counselor and coach at Hoover High School. He led the team to two Valley Championships and was named baseball Coach of the Year for the Western Region United States in 1980 and inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.

The Sons of the San Joaquin got their start in 1987 almost by accident, when Lon approached his father and uncle with a suggestion that they play sing some cowboy songs for his grandfather's birthday celebration. The brothers had sung at church and around the family ranch when they were younger, but never professionally.

Encouraged by the performance, the trio kept singing together. The group's big break came at the 1989 Elko Nevada Cowboy Poetry Gathering, where they wowed the crowd and the other artists in attendance. That one performance would lead to offers to appear on albums and a recording deal with Warner Bros.

Many of The Sons of the San Joaquin's songs were written by Jack Hannah, and he was awarded with several Songwriter of the Year awards from the Western Music Association.

The group would perform worldwide, but the San Joaquin Valley was never far from their hearts. The trio were known for their appearances at fundraising events across Central California and appeared in a series of memorable advertisements for Evans Feed.

Jack was married for 62 years to the love of his life, Linda, and together they had four children and nine grandchildren.

A family spokesperson said a memorial service will be announced.

 

HANNAH, Jack

Born: 1933, Marshland, Missouri, U.S.A.

Died: 7/31/2022, Fresno, California, U.S.A.

RIP Paul Coker Jr.

 

Rankin/Bass Designer Paul Coker Jr. Dead at 93

Vulture.com

By Jennifer Zhan

7/29/2022

Paul Coker Jr., the artist whose Rankin/Bass designs and Mad magazine illustrations charmed children and adults alike, died at his home in New Mexico on July 23 following a brief illness. He was 93. His stepdaughter Lee Smithson Burd confirmed the news to Deadline. “Paul was lucid and had his remarkable sense of humor until the end,” she said.

Coker worked as a character designer or production designer on iconic Rankin/Bass Production stop-motion and animated holiday specials, including Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, The Easter Bunny Is Comin’ to Town, Jack Frost, and Pinocchio’s Christmas. He also oversaw the creation of characters like Kris Kringle (Mickey Rooney), Burgermeister Meisterburger (Paul Frees), Snow Miser (Dick Shawn), and Heat Miser (George S. Irving).

Even if you didn’t ring in the holidays with Coker’s festive Rankin/Bass designs, there’s a chance you’ve seen some of his other work. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in drawing and painting, Coker’s got a gig as a designer of greeting cards for Hallmark. In 1961, he became a member of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” who illustrated for Mad magazine. There, he turned figures of speech into monsters with his recurring “Horrifying Cliches” features, and provided artwork for hundreds of other articles. The Mad-man freelanced for other publications, including Playboy (where he created suggestive parodies of the Peanuts comics), Esquire, and Good Housekeeping.

In 2015, the National Cartoonists Society honored Coker’s decades-long career by awarding him the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. Andrew Farago, the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, was among those who took to Twitter to pay tribute after news of Coker’s death broke. “An incredible cartoonist, and really underrated, in my opinion,” Farago wrote. “So expressive, such economy of line…and such a joy to see his illustrations in MAD over the years.”

 

COKER Jr., Paul

Born: 3/5/1929, Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.A.

Died: 7/23/2022, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.

Paul Coker Jr.’s westerns – animator:

Festival of family Classics (TV) – 1973 [Tom Sawyer, The Ballad of Paul Bunyan, Johnny

     Appleseed, Hiawatha,

RIP Burt Metcalfe

 

Burt Metcalfe, Producer on Every Season of ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 87

After acting in 'Gidget,' 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Father of the Bride,' the 13-time Emmy nominee spent all 11 seasons on the legendary CBS comedy.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

July 29, 2022

 

Burt Metcalfe, the onetime actor from Canada who served as a producer, director and writer on all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, collecting 13 Emmy nominations along the way, has died. He was 87.

One of the show’s unsung heroes, Metcalfe died Wednesday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his wife of 43 years, actress Jan Jorden announced. (She had a recurring role as Nurse Baker on the series.)

Before he gave up full-time acting to work on the other side of the camera, Metcalfe played the surfer Lord Byron opposite Sandra Dee and James Darren in Gidget (1959), appeared on the first season of The Twilight Zone and starred on the 1961-62 CBS sitcom Father of the Bride.

Metcalfe was a producer on all but five of M*A*S*H‘s 256 episodes from 1972-83 and its showrunner for its last six seasons. He also directed 31 installments of the acclaimed CBS comedy, wrote three and acted in one.

Seven of his Emmy noms came for outstanding comedy series; incredibly, he never won once.

M*A*S*H, he once said, “is not your typical military sitcom, and I think there has always been that dedication and that kind of aspiration to doing something above the norm. And fortunately, the chemistry of the people involved, the writers, actors, producers, directors, has been of the caliber that has allowed this to happen, where everybody just had a pride in what they were doing.”

Burton Denis Metcalfe was born on March 19, 1935, in Saskatoon, Canada. He spent most of his youth in Montreal before moving in 1949 to Los Angeles and studied theater at UCLA for four years, graduating in 1955.

He made his onscreen acting debut in Mark Robson’s The Bridges of Toko Ri (1954), then served with the U.S. Navy in 1956-57.

Metcalfe portrayed the panicked neighbor Don Martin, who famously points the finger at episode star Claude Akins, on the first-season Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” which premiered in March 1960.

On Father of the Bride — based on the hit Spencer Tracy-Elizabeth Taylor 1950 film — he was newlywed Buckley Dunston opposite Myrna Fahey as his wife and Ruth Warrick and Leon Ames as his in-laws.

He played the son of Walter Pidgeon’s character in Lord Pingo in summer stock in 1963 and showed up on episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Outer Limits (the first episode), The Farmer’s Daughter, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, Hennesey and 12 O’Clock High.

Metcalfe got into production at Screen Gems in 1965 as a casting director before being promoted to executive assistant under producer Harry Ackerman (Bewitched, Flying Nun). During a hiatus, he acted for one of his last times, playing Maxwell in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

In 1970, he moved to Fox to work with Gene Reynolds as casting director and associate producer of two pilots, Anna and the King and M*A*S*H. Reynolds was a driving force behind the latter.

Metcalfe also was an executive producer on the 1983-85 follow-up AfterMASH, starring Harry Morgan, Jamie Farr and William Christopher. He segued to Warner Bros. Television in the mid-1980s before joining MTM Enterprises in 1986.

 

METCALFE, Burt (Burton Dennis Metcalfe)

Born: 3/19/1935, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Died: 7/27/2022, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Burt Metcalfe’s westerns – casting director, actor:

The Gray Ghost (TV) – 1957 (Palmer)

Death Valley Days (TV) – 1959 (Tom)

Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1959 (Ben Howard)

Fury (TV) – 1960 (Dick Thompson)

The Canadians – 1961 (Constable Springer)

Here Come the Brides (TV) – 1968-1969 [casting director]

RIP Mike Reynolds

 

Dubbing Wiki

Reynolds was a voice actor in cartoon and anime movies since the 1970s, and was also a screen actor in movies. Prior to his professional voice acting career, he had done voice work on various Radio dramas as a child, and was a merchant seaman for several years after graduating High school.

He provided his voice in the Power Rangers franchise until 2002. Two of his best-known roles are the voice of General Ivar in VR Troopers and Captain Mutiny in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy. Reynolds has also made a couple of appearances on Larry David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Reynolds retired in 2004, with his last dubbing appearance being in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, though occasionally appears at the odd convention (one of which where he cited his reason for retiring "As a famous comic book character once said I'm going too old for this kind of shit.") He also made a short return in Anime Midstream's dub of Raijin-Oh in 2009.

Reynolds passed away on July 2, 2022 at the age of 92.

REYNOLDS, Mike (Michael Lee Reynolds)

Born: 11/21/1929, U.S.A.

Died: 7/2/2022, Hemet, California, U.S.A.

 

Mike Reynolds – voice actor:

Outlaw Star (TV) – 1998 [English voice of old outlaw]

Wild ARMs: Twilight Venom (TV) – 1999-2000 [English voice of Babo]

Little Dickie – 2002 (singing cowboy)

RIP Erika Peters

 Erika Brunson, 86, animal advocate, actress, interior decorator, & furniture maker

Animals 24-7

By Merritt Clifton

May 28, 2022

 

Erika Brunson, 86, animal advocate, actress, interior decorator, & furniture maker

Rose from rough start in life to philanthropic success

Animal advocacy and spay/neuter philanthropist Erika Devore Brunson, 86, died in Los Angeles, California on May 17, 2022.

Maria Erika Knab, her original given name, was born on September 4, 1935, “in the small fishing town of Konigsberg in East Prussia,” according to an October 16, 2013 blog post by her much younger friend, actress Jolene Blalock, whose married name is Rapino.

“As a young girl,” continued Blalock,” all she knew was her small family in this quiet town. She spent her summers running along the seaside as the ocean lapped salt and seaweed over jagged rocks and the birch trees stretched out their long trunks toward the heavens.  The seals bobbed their heads, the dolphins played as dolphins do, and the whales seemed to hold court in the ocean.

“It was a postcard setting,” Blalock alleged, “until the Red Army came in and viciously forced her, her family and friends out of the only world they ever knew.”

Shortening her name to simply Erika Knab and finding her way to West Berlin, she debuted as an actress in 1955 with a bit part in the German film Eine Frau genuegt nicht, released in English as One Woman Is Not Enough.

Altogether, Erika Knab played in 21 Berlin-made films, but earned her living chiefly by dubbing the voice of Mickey Mouse in translated versions of U.S.-made cartoon features.

Apparently married for the first time in Germany, possibly to a U.S. citizen, Erika Kanb arrived in Hollywood in 1957 as Erika Peters, while still under contract to the Berolina film studio in West Berlin.

Erika Peters “kept commuting between West Berlin and Hollywood, bringing in Volkswagens,” recounted New York Times Hollywood correspondent Charles Whitbeck in 1962.  They were new Volkwagens, but because she drove them to the ships bringing them to the U.S., Erika Peters reputedly declared them to U.S. Customs as used.

Also playing roles in the films G.I. Blues and Heroes Die Young, and House of the Damned (1963), Erika Peters left the acting business after her August 1964 marriage to Beverly Hills clothing designer Sy Devore, who at age 55 was 26 years older.

Erika Knab, later Peters, became Erika Devore, but Sy Devore died of a heart attack in July 1966.  She then fought, and won, a year-long court battle against Devore’s previous wife, Mary Lou Laramore, to retain custody of Sy’s 14-year-old adopted daughter, Lisa Devore, who was heiress to most of the half-million-dollar Devore estate.

Erika Devore, according to gossip columnists, in November 1968 began dating her eventual third husband, Century Fast Foods mogul Robert M. Brunson.  Robert M. Brunson had previously been married to actress Cathy Downs (1924-1976) from 1955 until their divorce in 1963.

 

PETERS, Erika (Maria Erika Knab)

Born: 9/4/1935, Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany

Died: 5/17/2022, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Erika Peters westerns – actress:

Sugarfoot (TV) – 1960, 1961 (Inga Bernstrom, Olga Svenson)

Bonanza (TV) – 1961 (Eloise Villon)

Outlaws (TV) – 1962 (Hulda Christianson)

Death Valley Days (TV) – 1963 (Julia Farrar)

Wide Country (TV) – 1963 (Ilona Lukins)

RIP Tom Deininger

Tom Deininger was a German voice actor who died on July 22, 2022. Born in Munich, Germany on September 29, 1950. Deininger was one of the first moderators at the first private Berlin radio station Hundert, 6. He was the "story bear" at Radio Teddy. He was an actor at the Berlin Tribune and at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm. Since 2001, Deininger has also appeared in Agatha Christie's plays Die Mausefalle and Witness for the Prosecution at the Berlin Criminal Theater, as well as in the crime revue The murderer is always the gardener. In 2005 he starred in the film Polly Blue Eyes.

Deininger dubbed the role of Captain Balu in the cartoon series Käpt'n Balu and his daring crew, Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz in A Cage Full of Heroes and Herman Munster in The Munster. He also lent his voice to Uncle Beano in the series My Father is an Alien . He dubbed a number of animated series: In Digimon he played the role of Etemon, in Dragonball Z Freezer's father King Cold and in Welcome to Gravity Falls the car salesman Bud Gleeful.

DEININGER, Tom

Born: 9/29/1950, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Died: 7/22/2022,

 

Tom Deininger’s western – stuntman.

The Lone Ranger (TV) - 1949-1957 [German voice of James Parnell]

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1955-1975 [German voice of Ted Jordan,

Sergeant Preston (TV) – 1955-1957 [German voice of Robert Paquin, Dan Blocker,

Bonanza (TV) – 1959-1973 [German voice of Genna Bruder, Harry Swoger, Albert Salmi, John

     Mitchum, Don McGovern, Henry Kulky, Bill Clark]

Die for a Dollar in Tucson – 1964 [German voice of Danilo Turk 1997]

Young Maverick (TV) – 1979-1980 [German voice of George Dzundza]

Tom Sawyer’s Adventure (TV) – 1980 [German voice of Osamu Katou]

The Yellow Rose (TV) – 1983-1984 [German voice of Alex Henteloff]

Lucky Luke (TV) – 1984 [German voice of Pedro Cucaracha]

Wild Mustangs – 1985 [German voice of Richard Masur]

They Call Me Renegade – 1987 [German voice of Ron Althoff]

The New Zorro (TV) – 1990-1993 [German voice of Fish]

Arizona Road – 1991 [German voice of Franco Diogene]

City Slickers – 1991 [German voice of Josh Mostel]

Posse – 1993 [German voice of James Bigwood]

City Slickers 2 – 1994 [German voice of Josh Mostel]

Lucky Luke (TV) 2001-2003 [German voice of barkeeper]

RIP Mario Bianchi

 

.Farewell to Mario Bianchi in memory of the family. The old man was struck down by an illness

Mario Bianchi was universally known in the fishing and fish trade circles in the city of Sanremo and in Liguria. His was the career of a "self made man", from hub to sailor, from fisherman to merchant and entrepreneur.

Riviera 24

7/29/2022

 

Mario Bianchi died last Thursday at the age of 73, in via Privata Scoglio, in Sanremo, struck down by a heart attack while he was driving his car, a Mercedes. With the car he crashed into a boundary wall. The family wants to remember him like this.

 

MEMORY OF MARIO BIANCHI

Mario Bianchi: “The Man and the Sea”.

 

Mario Bianchi was universally known in the fishing and fish trade circles in the city of Sanremo and in Liguria. His was the career of a "self-made man", from shipboy to sailor, from fisherman to merchant and entrepreneur.

He began after the war as a hub on the yachts of the port of Genoa, and then returned to Sanremo and dedicated himself to professional fishing on small boats and to transporting vacationers to the sea. His innate entrepreneurial skills and profound knowledge of the sector pushed him towards the trade of fish products, first in the San Martino fish market and then in Piazza Bresca, a place that also thanks to him became the center of the city's fish trade.

In the seventies he founded "Sanremo Pesca SpA" which, in a short time, established itself as a point of reference in the national and international fishing sector and, in the headquarters of Corso Marconi, dozens of people find work who still remember him for his gruff character, the absolute inflexibility on the work which he dedicates himself day and night and which he applies to himself before others, but also to humanity and generosity.

After a period of rest due to poor health, he resumed his activity by founding another company, "Sanremo Mare srl", not disdaining to take care of his beloved sea even as a simple sailor on his boat, pleasure craft for fun. and deep sea sport fishing, continues to follow the events of the national and international fishing sector until the end.

Mario Bianchi died on Thursday 5 August 2010. He leaves behind his wife, two children and four grandchildren, whom he loved in return. His life has always been closely linked to the city of Sanremo, but above all his life was lived in function and in symbiosis with the sea.

BIANCHI, Mario

Born: 1/7/1939, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 7/27/2022, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Mario Bianchi’s westerns – director, assistant director, writer:

Black Tigress – 1967 [assistant director]

Hate Thy Neighbor – 1968 [assistant director]

Vendetta at Dawn – 1968 [assistant director]

Quinto, Fighting Proud – 1969 [assistant director]

Shango – 1970 [assistant director]

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Colt – 1971 [director]

Kill the Poker Player – 1972 [director, writer]

Fast-Hand is Still My Name – 1973 [director]

For a Book of Dollars- 1973 [director]

Zorro – 1996 [director]

 

RIP Jered Barkley

 

Jered Barclay, Screen and Stage Veteran, Dies at 91

The actor, director, photojournalist and acting coach also voiced animated roles in 'Smurfs' and 'Transformers.'

 

The Hollywood Reporter

By Etan Vlessing

July 27, 2022

 

Jered Barclay, the veteran stage and screen actor who performed in vaudeville and had voiceover roles in TV’s Smurfs and Transformers, has died. He was 91.

Barclay died Saturday in North Hollywood from MDS Leukemia, actress Myra Turley, his longtime friend with whom he performed in the two-person play A Tantalizing, directed by Harvey Perr, announced.

Also a director, photojournalist and acting coach, Barclay began his nine-decade career in 1934 at age 3, performing in vaudeville with Judy Garland, Shirley Temple and Sammy Davis Jr. At 6, he became a radio actor and at 12 traveled with the Clyde Beatty Circus before his theatrical debut at 14.

After receiving a B.A in drama from the University of Washington, Barclay moved to Los Angeles and performed on three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, in Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour and in Otto Preminger’s The Man With the Golden Arm, and he played John Compo in Roger Corman’s 1958 sci-fi fantasy flick War of the Satellites.

As Jerry Barclay, he appeared in such cowboy classics as Rawhide, Bonanza, Cheyenne, Bronco, The Dakotas, Lawman, Colt .45 and Gunslinger.  Then in 1962, he moved to New York to perform in two Edward Albee plays, as Jerry in  Zoo Story, directed by Eddie Parone, and as a young man in The American Dream, directed by Alan Schneider.

In 1963, Barclay played Meff in James Saunders’ Next Time I’ll Sing to You alongside Estelle Parsons and James Earl Jones, and on Broadway he portrayed Deuperret in Peter Weiss’ Marat Sade and Ludwig Max von Kupfer in John Osborne’s A Patriot for Me.

Barclay did animated voiceovers for Hanna-Barbera’s Foofur, The Little Rascals, Challenge of the GoBots, The Dukes, The Kwicky Koala Show and The Smurfs. He also played Cerebros in The Transformers.

In the 1980s, Barclay launched a coaching career with actors like Rue McClanahan and  Dixie Carter, as well as Johnny Depp, Liza Minnelli, Lily Tomlin, Patrick Swayze and Josh Brolin. In 1993, he became an international travel photojournalist, covering all seven continents and 108 countries for 27 publications.

 

BARCLAY, Jered

Born: 11/22/1930, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Died: 7/23/2022, North Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

 

Jered Barclay’s westerns – actor:

Cheyenne (TV) – 1957 (Les)

The Gray Ghost (TV) – 1957 (Blanton)

Valerie (TV) – 1957 (Mingo)

Gun Fever – 1958 (Singer)

Gunman from Laredo – 1959 (Jordan Keefer)

Colt .45 (TV) – 1960 (Tip Cooper)

Rawhide (TV) – 1960 (Franz Zwahlen)

Lawman (TV) – 1961 (Bert Quade)

Bronco (TV) – 1962 (Clay Ferraday)

Bonanza (TV) – 1963 (Cal Brennan)

The Dakotas (TV) – 1963 (Glenn Weems)

Gunslinger (TV) – 1967 (Lieutenant Evans)

RIP Tony Dow

 

‘Leave It to Beaver’ star Tony Dow, who played Wally Cleaver, dead at 77

New York Daily News

By Nika Shakhnazarova and Samantha Ibrahim

July 27, 2022

 

Tony Dow, best known for his role as big brother Wally in the classic TV sitcom “Leave It to Beaver” has died. He was 77.

“We have received confirmation from Christopher, Tony’s son, that Tony passed away earlier this morning, with his loving family at his side to see him through this journey,” an announcement read on Dow’s Facebook account Wednesday afternoon.

“We know that the world is collectively saddened by the loss of this incredible man. He gave so much to us all and was loved by so many. One fan said it best — ‘It is rare when there is a person who is so universally loved like Tony,’” the statement added.

His son Christopher called it “a very sad day” in the announcement.

“Although this is a very sad day, I have comfort and peace that he is in a better place. He was the best Dad anyone could ask for. He was my coach, my mentor, my voice of reason, my best friend, my best man in my wedding, and my hero,” he said in the heartfelt tribute. “My wife said something powerful and shows the kind of man he was. She said: ‘Tony was such a kind man. He had such a huge heart and I’ve never heard Tony say a bad or negative thing about anyone.’”

Dow’s death was prematurely announced on Tuesday after his wife, Lauren Shulkind, mistakenly notified the actor’s management team.

Dow’s manager said Shulkind, 75, was “very distraught” over the condition of her husband and believed he had been declared dead.

On Tuesday night, the actor’s son, Christopher Dow, shared an update on Facebook, saying his father was in hospice care and in “his last hours.”

The post came hours after the actor’s management team announced his death prematurely.

In a now-deleted post, the statement — from Frank Bilotta and Renee James — read, “It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share with you the passing of our beloved Tony this morning.

 

DOW, Tony (Anthony Lee Dow)

Born: 4/13/1945, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

Died: 7/27/2022, Topanga, California, U.S.A.

 

Tony Dow’s western – actor:

Was Once a Hero – 2022 (Doc Jennings)

 

Paul Sorvino, Prolific Goodfellas Actor and Tony Nominee, Dead at 83

"Our hearts are broken," Dee Dee Sorvino — the wife of actor Paul Sorvino, who died on Monday at age 83 — says in a release

 People

By Jen Juneau

July 25, 2022

Paul Sorvino has died. He was 83 years old.

The prolific actor died Monday morning with wife Dee Dee Sorvino by his side, according to a release.

Paul, who is the father of actors Mira Sorvino and Michael Sorvino, "passed from natural causes and had dealt with health issues over the past few years," the release reveals.

"Our hearts are broken," Dee Dee says in the release. "There will never be another Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life, and one of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen and stage."

"I am completely devastated," she added on Twitter. "The love of my life & the most wonderful man who has ever lived is gone . I am heartbroken ❤️❤️❤️."

"My father the great Paul Sorvino has passed," tweeted Mira, 54. "My heart is rent asunder- a life of love and joy and wisdom with him is over. He was the most wonderful father. I love him so much. I'm sending you love in the stars Dad as you ascend."

The actor is best known for his role in Goodfellas, in which he played Paulie Cicero, and his role as NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta on the television series Law & Order.

Paul also had roles in other projects throughout the years, including Romeo + Juliet, Reds, A Touch of Glass, Nixon and The Rocketeer, to name a few.

A character actor, Paul also appeared in The Firm, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Rules Don't Apply and more.

According to the release, Paul was also an opera singer, writer and sculptor. He received a Tony nomination for his performance in Jason Miller's 1972 Broadway play That Championship Season.

Mira recently paid tribute to her father for his 83rd birthday back in April, posting a black-and-white throwback image of the pair.

"A very Happy Birthday to my father Paul Sorvino," the actress wrote. "I miss you so much and hope to be together in person very soon!"

Mira is Paul's daughter with his first wife Lorraine Davis, with whom he also shares son Michael and daughter Amanda.

According to the release, Paul — who is survived by wife Dee Dee, whom he married in 2014, his three children and five grandchildren — will be interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

SORVINO, Paul (Paul Anthony Sorvino)

Born: 4/13/1939, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 7/25/2022, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.

 

Paul Sorvino’s westerns – actor:

Doc West (TV) – 2008 (Sheriff Roy Basehart)

Triggerman (TV) – 2008 (Sheriff Roy Basehart)

The Wild Stallion – 2009 (Nolan)

RIP Carla Cassola

 

Farewell to the actress Carla Cassola, a great theater interpreter and now acquired from Ragusa as a companion of the actor Andrea Tidona.

Ragusaoggi

July 24, 2022

 

Very active in the theater, at the cinema she is known for her participation in films by directors such as Tinto Brass, Franco Brusati, Liliana Cavani, Antonio Rezza and for having interpreted some Italian horror films such as La casa nel tempo in 1989, Demonia in 1990, both directed by Lucio Fulci, and La sect by Michele Soavi in ​​1991.

In 1993 she won the Silver Ribbon for the best female dubbing for the film Orlando in which she dubbed Tilda Swinton. You have recently participated in some Italian films such as The Torturer by Lamberto Bava in 2005 and Il boxer and ballerina by Francesco Suriano in 2008.

Many messages of condolence including that of the Garibaldi Theater Foundation in Modica: "Farewell to Carla Cassola. A great actress goes away, a great artist. Several times she has filled the stage of the Garibaldi Theater with her immense skill, her memory will remain within these walls. The Foundation tightens for the sad loss to our dear Andrea Tidona and to the whole family ". Condolences also from the editorial staff of Ragusaoggi

 

CASSOLA, Carla

Born: 12/15/1947, Taormina, Sicily, Italy

Died: 7/24/2022, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Carla Cassola’s westerns – actress:

Death Rides a Horse – 1967 (Betsy)

The Genius – 1975 (prostitute)