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

90??? These legends are ageless!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/23/john-mayall-blues-dies

Australian playwright, dramatist, theatre producer and director, Ray Lawler has passed away at the age of 103, following a short illness.

Regarded as one of the most influential figures in Australian theatre, Lawler is best known for his play, 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'. which premiered in 1955.

The play was adapted into a film, released in 1959, and which starred Angela Lansbury and Ernest Borgnine.

For its US release, the film was renamed as 'Summer of Passion'.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-28/playwright-ray-lawler-dies-aged-103/104152548

Image from the Australian National Archives, via The Conversation

Edna O'Brien

Irish author

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/28/irish-author-edna-obrien-dies?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Pokemon fans will be devastated - voice actor Rachael Lillis has died of breast cancer, aged only 46years. She voiced several characters including Misty, Jessie and others.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge9zdve9no

Billy Bean, MLB executive and 2nd MLB player to come out.
(A different person than Billy Beane from Moneyball)

https://www.fox29.com/news/mlbs-dei-executive-billy-bean-dies-age-60

OAKLAND, Calif. - Billy Bean, who became the second former Major League Baseball player to come out as gay, has died.

Bean, the league’s Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, died Tuesday after an 11-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia, according to the MLB. Bean, who was diagnosed last September, was 60 years old.

Peter Marshall, one of the rare white male TV game show hosts of the 1970s.

Peter Marshall, Longtime Host of ‘The Hollywood Squares,’ Dies at 98 (NYT gift link)

The fact that he was the father of major-leaguer Pete LaCock was a piece of trivia that young baseball fans heard more than once that decade.

Greg Kihn, whose 1976 debut album caught my eye just yesterday at SOMA Sounds.

Greg Kihn, an Iconic Figure in the Realm of Rock Music, Has Passed Away at the Age of 75 (gregkihn.com)

The Breakup Song was a damn catchy 2:56 on the radio. But I’m glad they don’t write ’em like Jeopardy anymore.

Phil Donohue - legendary talk show host.

https://www.today.com/popculture/news/phil-donahue-dies-rcna167132

yahooyahoo said:

Phil Donohue - legendary talk show host.

https://www.today.com/popculture/news/phil-donahue-dies-rcna167132

and someone who was actually canceled for opposing the Iraq war.

RIP -  a good man.

drummerboy said:

yahooyahoo said:

Phil Donohue - legendary talk show host.

https://www.today.com/popculture/news/phil-donahue-dies-rcna167132

and someone who was actually canceled for opposing the Iraq war.

RIP -  a good man.

It pretty much says everything about bigtime news media that nearly everyone on the political spectrum came around to Phil Donahue's opinion on the Iraq War, but no one ever hired him to a prominent job ever again. 

Celebrated Brazilian pianist, songwriter and arranger, Sergio Mendes, known for bringing his country's bossa nova genre to the world stage in the 1950s and 60s, has died at the age of 83, after battling long COVID.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-07/brazilian-musician-sergio-mendez-dies-at-83/104323360

marksierra said:

Celebrated Brazilian pianist, songwriter and arranger, Sergio Mendes, known for bringing his country's bossa nova genre to the world stage in the 1950s and 60s, has died at the age of 83, after battling long COVID.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-07/brazilian-musician-sergio-mendez-dies-at-83/104323360

In the 1960’s strolling in NYC with Carlos Jobim …obá … obá…obá

Vale Herbie Flowers, aged 86.

An absolute giant of the bass playing community and backbone of a monster catalogue of hit tunes and albums. 

His instantly recognisable bassline on Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side is considered one of the greatest in pop music history.

He also played bass for David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Paul McCartney, Bryan Ferry and Elton John, has died aged 86.

Born in England, Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers specialised in electric bass, double bass and tuba. He was noted as a member of Blue Mink, T. Rex and Sky.

Here he is, having some fun with Sky...

Oh no! I loved his playing!

His bio is fascinating - you hear the fun in Tuba Smarties, and never imagine he was a brass player for the Royal Air Force band. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjw41pp7vmo  

I was just reading a couple of interviews; he really seems to have been a contented man with a busy ‘retirement’. This interview was 12 years ago:

https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/sussex/22600013.interview-bassist-herbie-flowers/

(I miss Sky, too. Thank you for reminding us of them)

Aw man. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/09/entertainment/james-earl-jones-death/index.html

The Voice is silenced.

RIP

Well said. 

drummerboy said:

The Voice is silenced.

RIP

Another wonderful voice actor has left us, aged 99years. 
David Graham voiced the Daleks in the original Dr Who; he was also the voice of Parker the butler, Brains, and Gordon Tracy in puppet series Thunderbirds.  Younger families would reckon him as Grandpa in Peppa Pig.
This household is extremely sad. We loved his work, and how he made us believe his characters truly lived.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj463gx8gyo

Farewell, Minerva McGonagall. Rest in peace, Dowager Countess Grantham. Goodbye, Miss Jean Brodie. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/27/entertainment/maggie-smith-downton-abbey-potter-dead/index.html

And my wife’s favorite: Charlotte Bartlett.

She is a sheer delight in “Keeping Mum”. If you enjoy British dark comedy, I wouldn’t miss it.

And now - Kris Kristofferson!! He was 88years old, just a year younger than Maggie Smith….

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/sep/30/kris-kristofferson-us-country-singer-and-actor-dies-aged-88 

Gordon Lightfoot last year, and now Kris. 

Nick Gravenites — one of those ’60s names, like Al Kooper or Jerry Ragovoy, that you could spot in an album’s credits and know instantly you were about to discover something that would become part of your life’s soundtrack. A Long Time Comin’ has been a part of mine for ages.

Nick Gravenites, Mainstay of the San Francisco Rock Scene, Dies at 85 (NYT)

joanne said:

And now - Kris Kristofferson!! He was 88years old, just a year younger than Maggie Smith….

I didn’t see your post, Joanne, until after I posted about Nick Gravenites. The ghost of Janis Joplin must have been looking over both our shoulders.

R.I.P. Dikembe Mutombo, an always riveting basketball player and by all accounts a wonderful human being.

Also, the star of one of the all-time best GEICO commercials.

too much material for this thread this month 

Pete Rose

83 years old

John Amos, 84. Born in Newark, grew up in East Orange.

Wikipedia says he died in August but not made known til today.

yahooyahoo said:

Pete Rose

83 years old

I was never much of a fan of his, but he really got screwed over. How can the all time hits leader not be in the HOF?