In Memory Of ...

[SynchroDub]

Certainly these aren't great news.
When someone dies, regardless of who he/she was, it's always sad.
My condolences to his family and his voters.

I never voted him, but let me just say that it was him that brought this country to a shithole that is today, with all his personal scandals and everything.
We have a level of corruption that not even the USA has.

With all that said, I hope he's at peace, regardless of what he did.
That's all I can say as a alien-not-proud-Italian citizen.

Originally Posted by SynchroDub

Certainly these aren't great news.
When someone dies, regardless of who he/she was, it's always sad.
My condolences to his family and his voters.

I never voted him, but let me just say that it was him that brought this country to a shithole that is today, with all his personal scandals and everything.
We have a level of corruption that not even the USA has.

With all that said, I hope he's at peace, regardless of what he did.
That's all I can say as a alien-not-proud-Italian citizen.

Yep in the UK we saw him as an utter joke who was dodgy as hell, but now you can look and laugh at our embarrassing bastards in charge

[ghost2509]

Treat Williams, ‘Hair’ and ‘Everwood’ Star, Dies at 71

Variety
msn.com
Story by J. Kim Murphy
June 12, 2023

Treat Williams, a veteran screen actor who received acclaim for his lead performance in the musical “Hair” and starred in The WB series “Everwood,” died Monday afternoon after being involved in a motorcycle accident near Dorset, Vt. He was 71.

Williams’ death was confirmed by a statement by his family, released his agency APA. Vermont State Police reported a road closure near Dorset due to a motor vehicle accident at 5:24 p.m. He was transferred to Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y.

“It is with great sadness that we report that our beloved Treat Williams has passed away tonight in Dorset, Vt. after a fatal motorcycle accident,” reads the statement. “As you can imagine, we are shocked and greatly bereaved at this time. Treat was full of love for his family, for his life and for his craft, and was truly at the top of his game in all of it. It is all so shocking right now, but please know that Treat was dearly and deeply loved and respected by his family and everyone who knew him. We are beyond devastated and ask that you respect our privacy as we deal with our grief. To all his fans, please know that Treat appreciated all of you and please continue to keep him in your hearts and prayers.”

At the age of 28, Williams received acclaim for his performance in “Hair,” Miloš Forman’s big screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. Williams earned a Golden Globe nomination in the now-defunct category new star of the year (actor). Two years later he was competing again, this time in best actor in a motion picture drama for his performance in Sidney Lumet’s “Prince of the City.”

Among Williams’ other notable film credits are his lead turn alongside Laura Dern in the coming-of-age romance “Smooth Talk,” which released in 1985 and earned Williams an Independent Spirit nomination for best male lead. He also starred in “Deep Rising,” the now cult ’90s aquatic creature feature that centered on Williams’ captain and his crew’s struggle to survive.

Williams landed his most notable role of this century with “Everwood,” starring as Dr. Andy Brown, a Manhattan neurosurgeon who relocates his family to rural Colorado after the death of his wife. Williams headlined The WB series across four seasons, earning a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series.

A television regular, Williams would often make guest appearances, with recurring roles on “White Collar,” “Chicago Fire,” “We Own This City” and “Blue Bloods.” Playing a construction family patriarch, he was a main cast member of “Chesapeake Stories,” which concluded a six-season run on the Hallmark Channel last October. Williams appeared in “Blue Bloods” in May on the episode “Irish Exits.”

Born Richard Treat Williams on Dec. 1, 1951 in Rowayton, Conn., Williams graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania before moving into an acting career. He made his screen debut in 1975 with a role in the feature “Deadly Hero” before landing the lead role of “Hair.”

Williams is survived by his wife, Pam Van Sant; and their children, Gil and Elinor Williams.

[ghost2509]

Cormac McCarthy, Author of ‘No Country for Old Men,’ Dies at 89

Variety
msn.com
Story by Carmel Dagan
June 13, 2023

Cormac McCarthy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who endured decades of obscurity and poverty before film versions of “All the Pretty Horses,” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Road” brought him a wide readership and financial security, died Tuesday in Santa Fe, N.M. His publisher, Penguin Random House, said his son John McCarthy announced his death from natural causes. He was 89.

Extremely reclusive, McCarthy shunned publicity so effectively that one critic observed, “He wasn’t even famous for it.” But Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2008 adaptation of 2005 novel “No Country for Old Men” put him momentarily in the limelight; the crime thriller, which starred Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, won Oscars for best picture, director, adapted screenplay and supporting actor.

While McCarthy’s first novel, “The Orchard Keeper,” was published in 1965, commercial success eluded him until his 1992 National Book Award-winning “All the Pretty Horses” and the film version in 2000 began to turn his career around.

Set in west Texas between 1949-1951, “Pretty Horses” was the first in McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, followed by “The Crossing” in 1994 and “Cities of the Plain” in 1998. But the film, directed by Billy Bob Thornton and starring Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz and Henry Thomas, opened to mostly negative reviews.

Peter Biskind reports in his book “Down and Dirty Business” that Thornton had been forced to cut an hour from the film by producer-distributor Harvey Weinstein, though critics questioned whether the additional footage would have improved the movie’s “arty imagery and leaden pace.”

In 2009 John Hillcoat directed a powerful film version of McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2006 novel “The Road.” A post-apocalyptic father-son story, the film starred Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall. Critical reception was largely favorable, but the bleak movie opened to modest returns at the box office.

In 2013 director Ridley Scott turned out crime drama “The Counselor” based on an original script by McCarthy. Critics were divided on the film, about the disastrously violent results of a drug deal gone bad. The movie sported A-list actors such as Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz but for many viewers McCarthy’s excessive philosophical verbiage undermined what was essentially a simple genre exercise.

The same year saw James Franco direct and co-script what Variety called an “extremely faithful” and “suitably raw” adaptation of McCarthy’s chilling 1973 novel “Child of God” that, like the book, was awash in the violence and degradation of its central character, courageously played by Scott Haze.

A bigscreen adaptation of McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian,” the novel considered by many to be his masterpiece, was long in development. In April, it was announced that Hillcoat would return to direct the adaptation with McCarthy’s son John as executive producer.

McCarthy’s work for television includes 1977’s “The Gardener’s Son,” a two-hour episode of the PBS anthology series “Visions.” Directed by Richard Pearce, it starred Penelope Allen, Ned Beatty and Kevin Conway. The author adapted his own 2006 play for the 2011 HBO telepic “The Sunset Limited.” Before filming commenced, McCarthy spent weeks in rehearsal with director Tommy Lee Jones, who starred with Samuel L. Jackson. Critics found the adaptation alternately claustrophobic — it takes place in one room — gritty and light on plot.

McCarthy also penned the five-act play “The Stonemason,” first performed in 1995.

In 2022, he published two novels, “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris.”

Born Charles McCarthy in Providence, R.I., McCarthy was 4 when his family moved to Knoxville, Tenn. He acted in high school, later drifting in and out of the U. of Tennessee as a liberal arts major without taking a degree. While stationed in Alaska with the Air Force in the 1950s, he hosted a radio show.

McCarthy was married three times. He has two sons: Cullen McCarthy, born in 1962 to his first wife Lee Holleman, and John Francis McCarthy, born in 1999 to third wife, Jennifer Winkley. He divorced his second wife, Annie DeLisle, in 1981.

[ghost2509]

John Romita Sr., An Icon of Superhero Comics, Has Died
One of the all time greatest artists of the superhero genre has passed away at the age of 93.

gizmodo.com
By James Whitbrook
June 13, 2023

The comics industry has lost one of the most prolific artists it has ever seen: John Romita Sr., a titan who defined the look of Spider-Man for generations, and other countless Marvel characters and beyond, has died.

Romita’s son, John Jr.—himself an artist in his father’s footsteps, and currently working on the latest run of Amazing Spider-Man—confirmed the news on social media tonight.

“I say this with a heavy heart, My father passed away peacefully in his sleep. He is a legend in the art world and it would be my honor to follow in his footsteps,” Romita Jr. tweeted. “Please keep your thoughts and condolences here out of respect for my family. He was the greatest man I ever met.”

Romita Sr.’s comics career began before Marvel was even Marvel, illustrating as a ghost artist at Timely Comics. After serving in the Army, Romita returned to the company—now Atlas Comics—in the early ‘50s illustrating war, horror, and romance comic, including some work on Atlas’ revival of Captain America. After a brief period at DC, Romita returned to Atlas—now Marvel—and illustrated for Avengers and Daredevil, until the series that would define his career for years to come landed in his lap: Steve Dikto had left The Amazing Spider-Man, and Stan Lee wanted Romita to step up in his place.

Taking over in August 1966 with Amazing Spider-Man #39, Romita would go on to illustrate some of the most iconic stories in the legendary superhero’s history. As well as defining the classic look of the character that is still in the minds of many the ultimate version of Peter Parker and Spider-Man, Romita helped create iconic characters like Mary Jane Watson, Rhino, Kingpin, Shocker, and more. Although Romita would leave Amazing Spider-Man due to the workload in 1971, he would still go on to illustrate the character in the Spider-Man news strip series in the late 70s, and return to the character again and again in his career.

As an art editor at Marvel after his Spider-Man run, Romita helped design the looks of even more iconic heroes and villains at the company—including the first look for Wolverine, the Punisher, Luke Cage, and Brother Voodoo. It was Romita who redesigned the Black Widow’s iconic spy suit, who created the Hobgoblin’s first appearance, and even illustrated the debut of the first female Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau. Although his contribution to Marvel Comics was vast as an art director, he would never forget the indelible mark he made on one of its most iconic heroes, returning over and over in his late career to keep illustrating the definitive comics aesthetic of Spider-Man.

Romita Sr. is survived by his wife Virginia, and his two sons. Our thoughts go out to his family in this sad time.

[ghost2509]

Glenda Jackson, Award-Winning Actress and Former Labour MP, Dead at 87 Following 'Brief Illness'
Jackson died "peacefully" at home surrounded by family, her agent said Thursday

people.com
By Jenny Haward and Nicholas Rice
June 15, 2023

Glenda Jackson, the award-winning actress and former Labour MP, has died, PEOPLE confirms. She was 87.

Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner confirmed her death in a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday.

"Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side,” the statement read.

Larner added in a personal note: "Today we lost one of the world's greatest actresses and I have lost a best friend of over fifty years."

Jackson is survived by a son and grandson, according to BBC. A cause of death wasn’t immediately provided.

Jackson — who was born in Cheshire, England in 1936 — had a storied career that spanned the entertainment and political worlds.

She won two Academy Awards in the 1970s for Women In Love and A Touch Of Class, two Emmys for Elizabeth R in 1971 and best actress in a play in 2018 when she returned to Broadway in a revival of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women.

Jackson, who also scored a BAFTA in 2019, featured in other notable roles, including Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Hedda (1975), The Incredible Sarah (1976) and Hopscotch (1980). Some of her other major theater roles included Rose (1981), Macbeth (1988) and King Lear (2019).

In 1992, Jackson turned her career to politics, becoming a Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate in the 1992 general election. Her political career lasted until 2015.

Jackson's agent said in his statement that she had recently completed filming the movie The Great Escaper alongside Michael Caine.

Tulip Siddiq, Jackson’s successor as Labour lawmaker for the London seat of Hampstead and Kilburn, said in a statement on Twitter that she was “devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has died.”

“A formidable politician, an amazing actress and a very supportive mentor to me. Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you Glenda,” Siddiq continued.

[ghost2509]

Frederic Forrest, Standout Supporting Player in ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘The Rose,’ Dies at 86

The Hollywood Reporter
yahoo.com
Chris Koseluk
June 24, 2023

Frederic Forrest, the resilient character actor best remembered for his performance as the high-strung Chef Hicks in Apocalypse Now and for his Academy Award-nominated turn as Huston Dyer, the AWOL army sergeant who captured Bette Midler’s heart in The Rose, has died. He was 86.

Forrest died Friday at his home in Santa Monica after a long illness, his friend, actor Barry Primus, told The Hollywood Reporter.

On Twitter, Midler called Forrest “a remarkable actor, and a brilliant human being, and I was lucky to have him in my life. He was at peace.”

The first of two GoFundMe pages had been created in September to help him with health care expenses.

Though rarely cast as a leading man, Forrest enjoyed a long career that included such films as Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), The Missouri Breaks (1976), It Lives Again (1978), Valley Girl (1983), The Stone Boy (1984), The Two Jakes (1990), Chasers (1994), Lassie (1994), Point Blank (1998) and The Quality of Light (2003).

His last onscreen appearance was in the 2006 remake of All the King’s Men, starring Sean Penn and Jude Law.

Forrest also left a lasting body of television work highlighted by an intense performance as the title character in the 1974 CBS telefilm Larry, the true-life story of a man with average intelligence who was institutionalized because he was thought to be mentally deficient.

He received critical acclaim for his portrayals of Petronius on Quo Vadis? (1985), the outlaw Blue Duck in the 1989 Lonesome Dove miniseries and the private investigator Lomax on the 1990 BBC miniseries Die Kinder. He also played Captain Richard Jenkins in 1987 on the first five episodes of 21 Jump Street.

“They told him that his movie debut as an 18-year-old Indian boy in When the Legends Die in 1973 would make him a star; they praised him as Cindy Williams‘ enigmatic, deceptive lover in The Conversation; they assured him that he would get an Emmy nomination as Larry, a normal boy warehoused in a mental hospital as retarded. He will be 43 years old this month, and he no longer trusts such promises,” Aljean Harmetz wrote in a 1979 New York Times profile of the actor.

In the article, Forrest put his career and views of stardom in perspective. “I don’t expect much. I’ve been around too long to have expectations,” he said. “This is a fickle town, no rhyme or reason to it. By the time you go down the driveway to pick up your mail, you’re forgotten. I waited a year after Larry to try to do something good, but no scripts came.

“They told me to hire a public relations firm to try to get an Emmy. There was no way I could do that. It goes against my grain to buy ads. I don’t want to buy a prize. I want someone to give me one. Who wants a prize if you have to hustle it?”

It appeared as if Forrest’s fortunes were going to turn in 1979 with the releases of Apocalypse Now and The Rose. His roles in those films couldn’t have been more different.

In Apocalypse Now, Coppola’s indictment of the Vietnam War, Forrest portrayed the unassuming New Orleans native Jay “Chef” Hicks. On his way to studying cooking in Paris when he was drafted, the last place Chef wanted to be was in the middle of a Southeast Asian jungle.

The crazier things got, the more on edge Chef became — evidenced by his reaction to an encounter with a tiger. “I didn’t come here for this, I don’t fucking need this. I didn’t get outta the eighth grade for this, man. … All I wanted to do is fucking cook, I just wanted to learn to fucking cook. All right, it’s all right, it’s gonna be all right … never get outta boat … bye tiger, bye tiger …”

The Rose featured Midler in her feature debut playing Mary Rose Foster, a rock diva addicted to hard living, alcohol and drugs. Patterned after Janis Joplin, the role was tailor-made for Midler’s larger-than-life persona. It was Forrest’s Huston, as her grounded, straight-talking limo driver who tries to save her from going over the edge, that perfectly balanced the rocker’s extravagant excesses. (Primus was in the movie as well.)

Forrest was hailed for his performance, receiving a Golden Globe nomination as well as the Oscar mention, but he lost to Melvyn Douglas of Being There in both races. The National Society of Film Critics did honor him as best supporting actor for his work in those 1979 movies.

Forrest’s biggest fan could have been Coppola. After The Conversation and Apocalypse Now (and later Tucker), he made the actor the romantic hero in One From the Heart (1981).

An ambitious attempt to re-create the lavish musicals of a bygone Hollywood era, the Las Vegas-set film featured Forrest and Teri Garr as a couple re-examining their relationship on their fifth wedding anniversary. Restlessness and complacency lead them to seek passion with strangers played by Nastassja Kinski and Raul Julia.

Coppola opted to shoot One From the Heart entirely on the soundstages of his newly opened Zoetrope Studios in San Francisco. He spent millions creating a casino-lined street and a portion of Vegas’ McCarran Airport, complete with runway and jet airliner. As the budget grew, so did Coppola’s battles with Paramount; ultimately, the studio pulled its support, and One From the Heart turned out to be one of the filmmaker’s biggest failures.

The experience didn’t help Forrest, either. Many thought he was miscast as the conflicted hero who bursts into song at the film’s climax. Roger Ebert described the performance as “almost transparent,” and Janet Maslin wrote, “The sets are invariably more interesting than the people who inhabit them.”

Said Coppola on Saturday in a statement: “Freddie Forrest was a sweet, much beloved person, a wonderful actor and a good friend. His loss is heartbreaking to me.”

Forrest’s next chance for stardom came when he played the title character in the noir drama Hammett (1982). Directed by Wim Wenders (and with Coppola as executive producer), the film saw legendary writer Dashiell Hammett plying his detective skills to solve a mystery.

As with One From the Heart, there seemed to be more intrigue behind the scenes than on the screen. Wenders clashed with Warner Bros. over the film’s direction, and it was left to Coppola to keep the peace. Much of the movie was reshot. Brian Keith and Ronee Blakley were replaced by Peter Boyle and Marilu Henner (then married to Forrest). Hammett played in competition at Cannes but had a disappointing reception.

“It is apparently the film’s arrogant intention to convince us that the caper we see in Hammett is the real-life story that eventually prompted Hammett to write The Maltese Falcon. That, I think, is called chutzpah,” Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times. “Hammett is not difficult to sit through. Mr. Forrest, who was miscast or, maybe, misdirected in One From the Heart, is an attractive, easygoing Hammett, a fellow who looks and behaves as if he might well be a writer. It is, however, a mostly passive role, that of the writer as observer.”

Hammett has been mostly forgotten, outside of film fanatics theorizing about Wenders’ original cut. It also failed to transform Forrest into a leading man. (Curiously, Forrest would play Hammett again in the 1992 HBO movie Citizen Cohn.)

Frederic Fenimore Forrest Jr. was born on Dec. 23, 1936, in Waxahachie, Texas. His mother, Virginia, was a homemaker, and his father owned a furniture store. Growing up, Forrest played football, ran track and went to the movies. As he noted in a 2014 interview with Alan Mercer, it almost seemed as if acting chose him.

“All we had was the picture show. There was no television, so we’d go see all the movies. We had three movie theaters in Waxahachie,” he said. “I fell into movies. I never thought about it. I didn’t think I was good at anything. I didn’t feel like I had a ‘so-called’ talent. I wasn’t good at anything people considered important. I really didn’t know what I was going to do.”

James Dean’s performance in East of Eden inspired Forrest to travel to New York in 1957 to pursue an acting career. But when he arrived at The Actors Studio, he spied Marlon Brando walking out of the building. Intimidated, he put his aspirations on hold and joined the U.S. Army.

After finishing his stint in uniform, Forrest attended Texas Christian University, where he majored in radio and television studies with a minor in theater arts. He graduated in 1960 and returned to New York to study with Sanford Meisner. He also spent time with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio.

Forrest made his New York stage debut in 1966 in Viet Rock, an antiwar off-Broadway production said to have been the inspiration for Hair. He also spent time as a member of the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, performing in such offbeat fare as Futz!, a 1967 play about a farmer who has sex with his pig. Forrest received his first film credit when its director, Tom O’Horgan, turned Futz! into a 1969 feature.

Futz! wasn’t his first on-camera appearance. Forrest was an unbilled extra on a 1967 episode of the ABC soap opera Dark Shadows. Then, in 1968, billed as Matt Garth, he starred in the sexploitation melodrama The Filthy Five as an up-and-coming boxer who falls for a prostitute.

In 1970, Forrest landed a role in Silhouettes, another off-Broadway show. When the production moved to Los Angeles for a three-month run, Forrest went along, hoping that would lead to further film and TV opportunities. Instead, after the play closed, Forrest made ends meet by making pizzas.

He also began auditing classes at Actors Studio West. While there, Forrest was spotted by director Stuart Millar, who offered him a part as Tom Black Bull in When the Legends Die, a Western starring Richard Widmark.

Forrest’s performance earned him a Globe nomination for most promising newcomer (male), and he followed with appearances in The Don Is Dead (1973); The Dion Brothers, aka The Gravy Train (1974); and the low-budget horror film It Lives Again (1978). Forrest also appeared as Lee Harvey Oswald on the 1978 CBS telefilm Ruby and Oswald.

Forrest was married to his college sweetheart Nancy Ann Whitaker from 1960-63 and to Henner from 1980-83. Both marriages ended in divorce.

Survivors include his sister.

[ghost2509]

Actor Julian Sands, 65, confirmed dead after going missing on winter hike in California

Yahoo Entertainment
yahoo.com
Raechal Shewfelt
June 27, 2023

British actor Julian Sands, known for his roles in the 1985 costume drama A Room With a View and the Warlock horror movies, has been confirmed dead after going missing months ago while hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains outside of Los Angeles. He was 65.

The news was confirmed Tuesday by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Coroner Department:

"On Saturday, June 24, 2023, at about 10 a.m., civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff’s Station after they discovered human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness. Fontana Station deputies, along with the Sheriff’s Department’s Emergency Operations Division, responded to the scene," the department said in statement. The coroner subsequently "positively identified [the remains] as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood. The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results.

"We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands."

Sands was last seen Jan. 13 on Mt. Baldy, one of many areas in that had been pummeled with ferocious snow and wind storms through an atypically wet winter. Search and rescue teams on the ground were sent in to find Sands and another hiker reported missing at the same time. However, they had been taken off the assignment due to treacherous conditions and the risk of an avalanche, and, at one point, they had to rely on helicopters and drones.

Last week, reflecting on renewed search efforts underway more than five months since Sands's disappearance, the actor's family said they "continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer," per a statement shared by the sheriff's department on June 21.

Sands was a prolific actor, whose career began in the early 1980s. His performance alongside Sam Waterston and John Malkovich in Oscar-winning 1984 film The Killing Fields led to turns in projects including the following year's adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel A Room With a View, in which he co-starred alongside Helena Bonham Carter, and, in 1989, the horror film Warlock. He returned to play the title character in Warlock: The Armageddon in 1993.

According to rumor, it was actually Sands that Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice wanted to play Lestat in the 1994 big-screen adaptation of her book. The role ultimately went to the better-known Tom Cruise.

In all, Sands appeared in more than 150 projects over his career. They include playing the title character in the 1998 remake of The Phantom of the Opera, as well as credits in the Steven Spielberg-produced horror comedy Arachnophobia in 1990, the infamous 1993 flop Boxing Helena and Oscar-winning 1995 movie Leaving Las Vegas. Other credits include the caper sequel Ocean's 13 and the action movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, plus TV's 24, Lipstick Jungle, Ghost Whisperer, Smallville and The Blacklist.

Sands explained in a December 2019 interview with Decider that he felt "the same enthusiasm more, possibly! — and curiosity and excitement at the prospect of going to work on whatever's next" at that time as he had on his very first jobs.

Born in Yorkshire, England, Sands went on to study at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, but he eventually relocated to Los Angeles. He had been married to journalist Evgenia Citkowitz, with whom he shares two daughters, since 1990; Sands and his previous wife share an adult son.In May 2020, he told The Guardian that he was the happiest when he was "close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning."

He was asked in the same conversation about the closest he had ever come to death.

"In the early '90s, in the Andes, caught in an atrocious storm above 20,000ft with three others," Sands said. "We were all in a very bad way. Some guys close to us perished; we were lucky."

He added that, at his funeral, he wanted Rufus Wainwright's cover of Judy Garland's song "Get Happy" to play. He said he hoped to be remembered as "an interesting, amusing father by my children."

Alan Arkin dead at age 89

Oscar-winning actor Alan Arkin has passed away at age 89, after a glittering six-decade career on stage and screen.

His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed the death of their father in a statement to People.

'Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed,' they said.

According to Variety, he died at his home in Carlsbad, California.

During his prolific career, Arkin won an Oscar for his role in the 2006 dark comedy Little Miss Sunshine, and a Tony in 1963 for Enter Laughing.

http://dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12251389/Alan-Arkin-dead-age-89.html

RIP, you will be sorely missed, another great has been taken from us.

[Rick Sanchez]

Darren Drozdov, who had a brief career as an NFL player and then became much more famous as a professional wrestler, has died at the age of 54.

Drozdov played college football at Maryland and made the Broncos as a defensive tackle in 1993, the only year he got on the field in the regular season. He also spent time with the Jets and Eagles, as well as in the CFL.

During the 1993 preseason, Drozdov got a measure of notoriety when he threw up on the football during a nationally televised game. Drozdov explained to reporters that vomiting was a problem he had no control over.

“I get sick a lot,” Drozdov said at the time. “I was a quarterback in high school, and I’d start throwing up on my center’s back. I don’t have a lot of control out there.”

After his pro football career ended, Drozdov’s bad stomach actually helped his career. He was featured in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat meeting Vince McMahon and throwing up in his office on command, as McMahon egged him on and called him by the nickname “Puke.”

But Drozdov’s pro wrestling career was cut short when he suffered a severe spinal cord injury during a WWF match. When another wrestler slammed Drozdov, he landed on his head and fractured two vertebrae. He never walked again.

Drozdov’s family released a statement today attributing his death to “natural causes.”

http://nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/darren-drozdov-nfl-player-turned-pro-wrestler-dies-at-54