Wednesday, December 26, 2007

HERE COMES THE MAN WITH THE ORCHID IN HIS HAND. As it is the holiday season and the very end of the year, I thought it would be fun to remind everyone of death. As is my wont at this time of year, I would like to take a moe and remember all those who departed this vale of tears during this year. So here is THE BUTCHER'S BILL FOR 2007:
  • A. I. Bezzerides, screenwriter "Kiss Me Deadly"
  • Del Reeves, singer
  • Magnus Magnusson, TV host "Mastermind"
  • Yvonne DeCarlo, actress "The Munsters"
  • Iwao Takamoto, producer "Scooby-Doo", "Super Friends"
  • Carlo Ponti, producer "Dr. Zhivago", "Smashing Time"
  • Tudor Gates, screenwriter "The Vampire Lovers", "Twins of Evil", "Barbarella"
  • Ron Carey, actor "High Anxiety", "Fatso", "Barney Miller"
  • Peter Ronson, actor "Journey to the Center of the Earth"
  • Art Buchwald, humorist/author
  • Denny Doherty, singer "The Mamas & the Papas"
  • Liz Renay, actress "The Thrill Killers"
  • E. Howard Hunt, Watergate shenanigans-doer
  • Steve Mitchell, actor "The Killing", "Thriller - Late Date"
  • Tige Andrews, actor "Star Trek - Friday's Child"
  • Sidney Sheldon, producer "Charlie's Angels"
  • Molly Ivins, political journalist/author
  • Frankie Laine, singer
  • Anna Nicole Smith, blonde
  • Sir Ian Richardson, actor "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead","Gormenghast"
  • Janet Blair, actress "Night of the Eagle aka Burn, Witch, Burn"
  • Bruce Bennett, actor "Mildred Pierce"
  • Hideo Takamatsu, actor "The Last Emperor"
  • Arthur Schlesinger Jr., historian
  • Pompin Iglesias, actor
  • John Inman, actor "Are You Being Served?"
  • Richard Jeni, comedian "Platypus Man", "The Aristocrats"
  • Betty Hutton, actress "Annie Get Your Gun"
  • Arnold Drake, screenwriter "The Flesh Eaters", "Who Killed Teddy Bear"
  • Freddie Francis, director "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors", "Tales From the Crypt"
  • Calvert DeForest, comedian "Larry Bud Melman"
  • Luther Ingram, singer "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)"
  • Marshall Rogers, comic book artist "Batman", "Dr. Strange"
  • Calvin Lockhart, actor "The Beast Must Die", "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"
  • Dave Martin, writer "Doctor Who", "co-creator of K-9"
  • Bob Clark, director "A Christmas Story", "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things", "Murder By Decree"
  • Dakota Staton, singer
  • Roscoe Lee Browne, actor "Soap"
  • Kurt Vonnegut Jr., author "Breakfast of Champions"
  • Don Ho, singer "Tiny Bubbles"
  • Tran Bach Dang, Vietnamese dude, patron saint of free soda
  • Kitty Carlisle, actress "What's My Line?", "A Night at the Opera"
  • Jean Pierre Cassel, actor "Murder on the Orient Express"
  • Boris Yeltsin, Russian leader
  • Bobby "Boris" Pickett, singer "Monster Mash"
  • Jack Valenti, former assistant to LBJ/chairman of Motion Picture Academy
  • Mstislav Rostropovich, musician
  • Dabbs Greer, actor "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", "The Vampire"
  • Tommy Newsom, band leader "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson"
  • Tom Poston, actor "Newhart", "Thriller - Masquerade"
  • Wally Schirra, astronaut
  • Curtis Harrington, director "What's the Matter with Helen", "Night Tide"
  • Jerry Falwell, hypocrit
  • Charles Nelson Reilly, actor "The Match Game", "Lidsville"
  • Nellie Lutcher, singer
  • Mala Powers, actress "Thriller - The Bride Who Died Twice"
  • Kurt Waldheim, UN secretary general/ Nazi guy
  • Ed Friendly, producer "Backstairs at the White House"
  • Chris Benoit, murderer
  • Fred Saberhagen, author "The Dracula Tape"
  • Joel Siegel, critic
  • Beverly Sills, opera singer
  • Boots Randolph, musician
  • Kerwin Matthews, actor "7th Voyage of Sinbad"
  • George Melly, singer/writer "Smashing Time"
  • Charles Lane, actor
  • Lady Bird Johnson, first lady
  • Kieron Moore, actor "Dr. Blood's Coffin", "Day of the Triffids"
  • Jerry Hadley, opera singer "Liverpool Oratorio"
  • Tammy Faye Bakker, makeup wearer
  • Mike Reid, actor "EastEnders"
  • Tom Snyder, TV host
  • Michelangelo Antonioni, director "Blow Up"
  • Ingmar Bergman, director "The Seventh Seal", "Autumn Sonata"
  • Bill Walsh, football coach
  • Tommy Makem, singer
  • Lee Hazlewood, songwriter
  • Merv Griffin, TV host/producer
  • Phil Rizzuto, baseball player
  • Michael Deaver, political consultant
  • Hilly Kristal, former owner of CBGB's
  • Miyoshi Umeki, actress "Sayonara", "Courtship of Eddie's Father"
  • Marcia Mae Jones, actress "The Gang's All Here", "Haunted House"
  • Madeleine L'Engle, author "A Wrinkle In Time"
  • Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer
  • Loretta King, actress "Bride of the Monster"
  • Jane Wyman, actress "The Lost Weekend"
  • Brett Somers, actress "The Match Game", "The Odd Couple"
  • Alice Ghostley, actress "Bewitched"
  • Karl Hardman, actor "Night of the Living Dead"
  • Marcel Marceau, mime
  • Charles B. Griffith, screenwriter "Little Shop of Horrors", "A Bucket of Blood"
  • Lois Maxwell, actress "The Haunting"
  • Ronnie Hazlehurst, composer "Yes, Minister", "The Two Ronnies", "Last of the Summer Wine"
  • George Grizzard, actor "Advise & Consent"
  • Deborah Kerr, actress "The Innocents"
  • Joey Bishop, comedian
  • Teresa Brewer, singer
  • Chef Tell, TV chef
  • Porter Wagoner, singer
  • Robert Goulet, singer
  • Linda Stein, manager "The Ramones"
  • Norman Mailer, author
  • Laraine Day, actress
  • Ira Levin, author "Rosemary's Baby"
  • Ronnie Burns, actor "The Burns & Allen Show", "The Honeymooners"
  • Dick Wilson, actor "Mr. Wilson on Charman ads"
  • Verity Lambert, producer "Doctor Who"
  • Reg Park, actor "Hercules in the Haunted World"
  • Robert Houghton Hepburn, brother of Katharine Hepburn
  • Mel Tolkin, writer "Your Show of Shows", "All in the Family"
  • Evel Knievel, daredevil
  • Ike Turner, musician
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen, composer
  • Dan Fogelberg, singer
  • Frank Morgan, saxophonist
  • Frank Capra Jr., producer
  • Jeanne Carmen, actress "The Monster of Piedras Blancas"
  • Michael Kidd, actor/choreographer "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
  • Oscar Peterson, pianist
  • Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister

2 comments:

Pax Romano said...

OK,
I met two of the late celebrities on your list - any guesses?

As for Liz Renay; I first became aware of her from John Water's Desperate Living. If you need a truly great, trashy read - go pick up her bio, "My Face, For the World To See".

Cerpts said...

Hilly Kristal and. . . . .