RIP

[Hollylane]

Ghostbusters star Harold Ramis dies aged 69



Ramis (right) found fame in 1984's Ghostbusters

[Jet]

Met Ralph Waite in Palm Springs in 1993 at restaurant called Louise's Pantry. Nice man. He gave me his autograph for a friend of mine to raise money at an auction for disabled kids.

[Kobi]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jim Lange, the first host of the popular game show "The Dating Game," has died at his home in Mill Valley, Calif. He was 81.

Later, after "The Dating Game" brought him national recognition, he also hosted the game shows "Hollywood Connection," ''$100,000 Name That Tune" and "The New Newlywed Game."

Lange also worked as a disc jockey for decades in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, and upon his retirement from broadcasting in 2005, he was the morning DJ for KABL-FM, which specializes in playing classics from the Big Band era to the 1970s.

Memories.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...-benn-obituary

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...twing-outsider

[Kobi]

David Brenner, the wry stand-up comic and pundit from Philadelphia who as a favorite of Johnny Carson appeared more times on The Tonight Show than any other guest, died Saturday. He was 78.

By one estimate, the perpetually grinning Brenner appeared on The Tonight Show 158 times and guest-hosted the NBC late-night show on a handful of other occasions when Carson took time off. One book says he made more talk-show appearances than any other guest in history.

Brenner was born on Feb. 4, 1936, and lived in poor sections of South and West Philadelphia. His father, Louis, was a vaudeville singer, dancer and comedian who performed as “Lou Murphy,” and Brenner always said he was the funniest man he ever met. His dad gave up the stage and a Hollywood movie contract because his rabbi father objected to him working on Friday nights; three of Brenner's uncles also were rabbis, but the future comic never found the calling.

After high school, Brenner spent two years in the Army, then attended Temple University, where he majored in mass communications. He went on to write, direct or produce 115 TV documentaries, many about the plight of people fighting poverty, as the head of the documentary departments at Westinghouse Broadcasting and Metromedia Broadcasting.

Brenner, though, was discouraged that his documentary work never affected change.

At the beginning, I thought, 'Well, you just present the public with a problem and some possible solutions and society will use that information to make things better for people,' ” he said in a 2008 interview with the Philadelphia Jewish Voice. “I eventually realized my naivete. It isn’t that we’re seeking the answers; we just don’t want to implement them. So I decided rather than try to solve problems, I would help people forget ’em.”

A contemporary of Freddie Prinze, Andy Kaufman, Steve Landesberg, Gabe Kaplan, Richard Lewis and others, Brenner perfected the art of observational comedy, or, as he once described it, "dumb things that we say or do."

During his long career, Brenner also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The David Frost Show, The Mike Douglas Show, Late Show With David Letterman, Real Time With Bill Maher and The Daily Show and was a frequent guest of Howard Stern on his radio program.

He wrote five books, including 2003's I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup: How to Survive Personal and World Problems With Laughter -- Seriously.

It was said that Brenner, as a final request, "asked that $100 in small bills be placed in his left sock 'just in case tipping is recommended where I'm going.' His final resting spot will read, 'If this is supposed to be a joke -- then I don't get it!' "

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/comedia...lkA1ZJUDQwM18x

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...ra-dies-age-74

Best known for her parts in the BBC shows, Howard's Way and those (unintentionally hilarious) opening shots of Triangle. Also known for playing Alexis Colby's sister in the 80s American show Dysentery (sic)

I saw her as one of Lear's daughters in a late 80s touring version of Lear...she appeared to be wearing her Dysentery outfits at the time

RIP Kate

[Martina]

Peter Matthiessen, Author and Naturalist, Is Dead at 86

Peter Matthiessen, a roving author and naturalist whose impassioned nonfiction explored the remote endangered wilds of the world and whose prizewinning fiction often placed his mysterious protagonists in the heart of them, died Saturday. He was 86 and lived in Sagaponack, N.Y.

He had been treated for acute leukemia for more than a year. His death came as he awaited publication of his final novel, “In Paradise,” on April 8.

Mr. Matthiessen was one of the last survivors of a generation of American writers who came of age after World War II and who all seemed to know one another, socializing in New York and on Long Island’s East End as a kind of movable literary salon peopled by the likes of William Styron, James Jones, Kurt Vonnegut and E.L. Doctorow.

Article about his life -- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/bo...-at-86.html?hp

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26931337

So sad to hear this news last night.