In Memoriam : Eartha Kitt

The world lost a very distinctive voice and an most unique personality Dec 25th. Veteran actress, singer, dancer Eartha Kitt died at 81.

Through the 1950s and '60s, she performed on stage and television, in films and nightclubs.

Her best-known TV performance was as Catwoman on the '60s series Batman. Her distinctive purr was later featured in the animated film The Emperor's New Groove and the Disney Channel series The Emperor's New School, for which she won Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2008.

The biggest controversy of her career occurred in 1968, when she spoke out against the Vietnam War at a White House luncheon hosted by first lady Lady Bird Johnson.

She was investigated by the FBI and the CIA and subsequently worked almost exclusively overseas. She later returned and, in 1978, was the toast of Broadway performing in Timbuktu.

Just before she died I had downloaded several of her songs including "I Want to Be Evil" I also have a copy of her version of "Santa Baby" which was certified gold last month. Earth Kitt had one child, a daughter Kitt Shapiro from her marriage to John Barry Ryan. Kitt said this of her mother:

"I had the most amazing mother. She was not afraid of dying. She was in pain, but funny right to the end. One of the last things she said when I was talking loudly to her - like you do to a sick person - was: 'I'm dying. I'm not losing my hearing!'
"And she said, 'There won't be a burial. I'll be cremated. I don't want to take up space.'
"My mother had no regrets. She said: 'I have lived an amazing life. I did everything I ever dreamed of.' I was truly, truly blessed to have landed in her lap."

Eartha Kitt had to rise above an early life of abuse and her story is inspiring. I hope that at some point she was able to come to the saving Grace and Knowledge of Jesus. Please pray for her daughter and two grandchildren.



Eartha Kitt: A triple-threat talent for the ages - USATODAY.com

In Memoriam: Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Majel Roddenberry passed away today. While every trekker knows of her work in ST:TOS, ST:TNG, ST:DS9, ST:V, she was also involved in getting other Roddenberry projects to television. And she was genuinely a nice lady. I had the privilege of meeting and talking to her in person a few years back when she was the guest of honor at the Gen Con Game Fair. She walked right up to us while we were siting in the atrium of the Hyatt and asked us about the game we were playing. We talked for several minutes before she moved on. Very friendly. 

The story says she passed away from leukemia.  Please pray for her family.

Star Trek Universe Loses Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Oh My Aching Blog

I am not dead. Just thought I would let you know.  I have been busy with real life stuff.  The economy is affecting lots of people I know and not in a happy good way. Worst of all, lots of highly intelligent, sober individuals plan to vote for Obama. I can barely stomach the thought of President Obama.  So that in a nutshell is the source of my malaise. So in no particular order here are some things that have been weighing on my mind.

The Ohio Election
How can an obvious partisan political hack like Ohio SoS Jennifer Brunner get away with a blatant attempt to undermine the voting process. Remember her "Vote Early" plan allowed anyone to both register and vote on the same day during the last week of September, before identities could be verified. Opponents filed a suit and a judge ruled that her plan did not give the state sufficient time to validate the registrations and would be prone to fraud. Brunner appealed and the ruling was overturned by, not surprisingly, a Clinton appointed judge. 

I don't think there will be mass voter fraud at the Ohio polls next week, but the whole process is suspect now. There has already been numerous charges of fraud and what do you do when the person who is suppose to oversee the process is the one who allowed it to be abused in the first place?

Baseball
I guess if you are a fan the fact that the Rays made it to the Series is exciting. Not so exciting that they lost to the Phillies. But I am not a fan.

I Hear Dead People
I downloaded Issac Hayes's cover of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" from emusic.com . It is every bit as good as I remember it from being a kid.  Interestingly, Hayes stiffed his church. The Church of Scientology got zip from him in his will. Given that they are all about the money, I wonder if they are going after some of his estate.

Eureka
What's up with the short season of Eureka? What's up with Sci-fi doing these 13 episode seasons?  What will I watch when SG-A goes off the air?

Sick Friends
Pray for my friends who are sick. Some of them very so. Especially Dave.  He isn't doing well. Here is a recent photo. I may have had to adjust it a little.



I don't want to catch what he's got. Okay maybe I adjusted it a lot. I just wanted to graphically portray just how sick he was. And before you say anything; I am not sick, I am just disturbed. (BTW this is just a little inside joke between me and Dave).

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In Memoriam: Paul Newman

Another great has passed away. Paul Newman died last Friday at the age og 83. Everything that I think of would sound cliche about this man and his monumental talent. It is tough for me to pick a favorite movie of his. He did so many in his 50+ year career. I guess "Cool Hand Luke" is the one I think of the most although "Slapshot" was a guilty pleasure of mine for decades.

My prayers to his family and friends. He will be greatly missed.

Paul Newman (26 January 1925 - 26 September 2008)

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In Memoriam

I am having some issues which has forced me into a hiatus from blogging. But I didn't want to let to much time get by without saying anything about the loss of Bernie Mac. His, peers all tell of what a great friend and family man he was. And it was no exaggeration that he was a huge comic talent. He will be missed. My prayers go out to his family.

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In Memoriam: Harvey Korman

 


Harvey Korman, comedic genius, passed away May 29th, 2008 at the age of 81. Here's a link to a fine story about his life and career.

I loved watching Harvey on the Carol Burnett Show. I never missed it. He won 4 grammys for his work there. But the role I think everybody will always associate with Harvey is Blazing Saddles'  Hedley Lamarr


Harvey is survived by his wife and four children. Please pray for them.

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In Memoriam: Charleton Heston

Charleton Heston has passed away. He was 82. His wife of 64 years was at his side.



When I think of Charleton Heston all I can think of is "larger than life". He did so many things on screen and off and did them all well. He was a great actor, President of the SAG, President of the NRA, Medal of Freedom recipient and champion of civil rights supporting Dr. Martin Luther King.

Charelton Heston was also a Christian. He had a testimony wherein he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. To me this is especially important. While I never met Charleton in this life, I will get to meet him in the next!

Thursday Thirteen #62

13 Things About Dane Bramage
13 People Who Passed On in 2007

People tend to reflect at the end of the year on what has happened during the last 365 days. I thought I would mention 13 people who passed away this year.

1. Ike Turner, controversial Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, age 76


2. Anna Nicole Smith, Playmate, Reality TV star, age 39


3. Luciano Pavoratti, legendary Italian tenor, age 71


4. Yvonne De Carlo, actress (Lily on the "Munsters"), age 84


5. Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, former First Lady of the United States 1963-1969, age 94


6. Boris Yeltsin, Former Russian President, age 76


7. Jane Wyman, actress (Angela Channing on "Falcon Crest") and 1st wife of Ronald Reagan, age 90


8. Rex Humbard, TV Evangelist ("Cathedral of Tomorrow") age 88 A local legend as well. He used to broadcast from here in Akron (okay Cuyahoga Falls but how many of you ever heard of that place?)


9. Gen. Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay which dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, age 92


10. Tom Poston, actor (Cliff Murdock on "The Bob Newhart Show") age 85


11. Kurt Vonnegut, author ("Slaughterhouse-Five") age 84 He also wrote the controversial "Breakfast of Champions". I think my favorites were "Cat's Cradle" and "Dead Eye Dick".


12. Rev. Jerry Falwell, Founder and Chancellor of Liberty University, age 73 A moral voice and pain in liberal sides for decades


13. Robert Goulet, singer/actor (Sir Lancelot in "Camelot") age 73

This list is by no means exhaustive. Others like, Evil Knievel, Ingmar Berman,Dick "Mr. Whipple" Wilson, Joey Bishop, Alice Ghostley, Lois "Miss Moneypenny" Maxwell, and Art Buchwald also left us in 2007. Were any of these people special to you too? Let us know in the comments

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Never Forget

Today marks the 66th aniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It drew this country into the conflict that has defined what is called by many "The Greatest Generation." That generation saw evil for what it was and stepped forward to stop it. Many paid the ultimate price. Let us never forget.

In Memoriam: Kurt Vonnegut

I am sad to report that one of my all time favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., has died at age 84. Vonnegut's writing influence much of my early thinking and attitude. It was scary how much we thought alike. Kurt Voinnegut Jr is responsible for a lot of what Dane Bramage is.

The AP story mentions his best works with one exception; Breakfast of Champions.

Some of Vonnegut's books were banned and burned for alleged obscenity. He took on censorship as an active member of the PEN writers' aid group and the American Civil Liberties Union.

If you have never read BOC, I fully recommend it. If however you are one of these people who are offended by the N-bomb then stay clear. It is NOT PC at all. Though Kilgore Trout still remains one of my all time favorite characters.

Vonnegut was a staunch supporter of humanism. He felt that organized religion was one of the bad things in our society. That is where he and I split in our opinions. His life was filled with pain and suffering to the point he attempted suicide.

Vonnegut once said that of all the ways to die, he'd prefer to go out in an airplane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. He often joked about the difficulties of old age.

"When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon," Vonnegut told the AP.

"My father, like Hemingway, was a gun nut and was very unhappy late in life. But he was proud of not committing suicide. And I'll do the same, so as not to set a bad example for my children."

Despite his intellect, he had little regard for life and little hope for life after death. I pray he had time and oppurtunity to rethink his position with regards to accepting Jesus as Saviour before his end came.

In Memoriam: James Brown and Gerald Ford

I would like to just say in passing that James Brown and Gerald Ford will both be missed. Each was important to me for different reasons. Other bloggers had more elaborate tributes and more elloquant words so I won't dwell on it. My prayers to their families.

Green Lantern Creator Nodell Dies at 91

Another comic hero creator has died.

MIAMI - Martin Nodell, the creator of Green Lantern, the comic book superhero who uses his magical ring to help him fight crime, has died. He was 91.

Nodell died at a nursing home in Muskego, Wis., on Saturday of natural causes, his son Spencer Nodell told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He previously lived in West Palm Beach.

Nodell was looking for a new idea for a comic book in 1940 when he was waiting for a New York subway and saw a train operator waving a lantern displaying a green light, said Maggie Thompson, senior editor of Comics Buyer's Guide.

The rest, they say is history. I had read the Hal Jordon Green Lantern for years before I learned of the original GL. Today there are more GLs than you can shake a stick at. But they all started with this one.

"There were myriad of fans who would come up to my dad and would say `Green Lantern got me to read' or `Green Lantern got me to do something in my life,'" [son] Spencer Nodell said.

Nodell helped create another world famous character. He was part of the team that invented the Pillsbury Doughboy.

So which Green Lantern is your favorite? Alan Scott? Hal Jordon? John Stewart? Guy Gardner? Kyle Rayner? Katma Tui? That funky squirrel looking one?

X-Men Illustrator Dies in Superman Pajamas

Dave Cockrum, who revitalized the Xmen with new characters Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler died over the weekend from complications due to diabetes.

Wearing Superman pajamas and covered with his Batman blanket, comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum died Sunday.

The 63-year-old overhauled the X-Men comic and helped popularize the relatively obscure Marvel Comics in the 1970s. He helped turn the title into a publishing sensation and major film franchise.

Cockrum died in his favorite chair at his home in Belton, South Carolina, after a long battle with diabetes and related complications, his wife Paty Cockrum said Tuesday.

At Cockrum's request, there will be no public services and his body will be cremated, according to Cox Funeral Home. His ashes will be spread on his property. A family friend said he will be cremated in a Green Lantern shirt.

Click to see full image of Dave's Classic Xmen cover

I have been a fan of comics since I was a kid. Dave Cockrum was one of my favorite artists. I loved his work on the Legion of Superheroes and of course The Xmen. I think the news is trying to play up how much Dave loved comics by mentioning his pajamas and his blanket. But I think it is kind of sad. I am sure that other bloggers who are more informed on such matters will comment on how Dave created characters that went on to gross millions in comics, merchandise and movies and he had to struggle with finances in his later life. They will compare his situation, I'm sure, to the late Jack Kirby's.

I will just say that Dave had an impact on my life and he will be missed.

In Memoriam: Richard Pryor

Saturday comedian Richard Pryor passed away. He was 65. I don't think there was a routine on any of his albums that I or most of my friends hadn't memorize. Hanging out we would sometimes just say the punchlines and burst into laughter. When I got older and attended prep school I was absolutly amazed at how many wealthy white kids had also heard those same routines although they were very nervous any time they used the N-word. They laughed and kept watching me to see how I would react. Pryor's acting career had taken off and he even had a very funny (very short lived) NBC variety show.

Today I can't condone his style of comedy. I don't find the contemporary comedians; comedians who ironically might never have gotten into comedy if it were for Pryor's ground breaking work, funny at all. They have all the swearing down but they lack the ability to convey the humor of people relations the way Richard did. I view it as a bittersweet legacy and I am probably in the minority in that opinion.

Although he was not the first comedian to liberally use the N-word or the F-word or any number of other once-unspoken-in-public words, Pryor seemed to use them to greater comedic effect than anyone else. When he was at his best he was not just funny, he was laugh-out-loud, falling-down, tears-in-your-eyes funny...

Pryor's comedy also drew equally warm reactions from white comedians, including Bob Newhart, who on Saturday called Pryor "the single most seminal comedic influence in the last 50 years..."

Fellow comedian Steve Martin noted upon Pryor's death: "By expressing his heart, anger and joy, Richard Pryor took comedy to its highest form."

My prayers go out to his family and friends.

In Memoriam: Brock Peters

I was really saddened to hear that Veteran actor Brock Peters died Tuesday from pancreactic cancer. He was 78. No one will forget his powerful role as Tom Robinson in "To kill a Mockingbird". The The Telegraph says

In one courtroom scene, in which Robinson is asked by his lawyer whether he has committed the rape, the accused man answers firmly, but with tears in his eyes: "I did not, sir." According to Peters, "There wasn't a dry eye on set filming that scene… [the director] Robert Mulligan sat me down and asked me to prepare for the point where I burst into tears by only going to places in my mind where I remembered and experienced pain, and let me tell you the tears did come."

The Telegraph article does a very good job of listing Peter's significant big screen roles throughout his lifetime. T.V. soap fans will remember him as Frank Lewis in "The Young and the Restless (1982-1989). Trekkers will undoubtedly remember Peters as Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) and as Josesph Sisko, Captain Benjamin Sisko's(Avery Brooks) father. Peters also lent his distinctive bass voice to many animated shows.

He is survived by his daughter so please keep her in your prayers.

'Star Trek' Star James Doohan Dies

'Star Trek' Star James Doohan Dies

Star Trek fans everywhere are saddened by the loss of another original series actor.

James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died Wednesday. He was 85.

Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said.

He had said farewell to public life in August 2004, a few months after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

I had the pleasure of seeing Doohan twice in person. He was a great storyteller and his talent with voices was phenomenal. He really knew how to work a crowd. He made no bones about his dislike for William Shatner. I wonder if they ever reconciled. He loved his job and he accepted "Scotty" as an important part of his life. He will be greatly missed. He had an interesting take on the line "Beam me up, Scotty"

In a 1998 interview, Doohan was asked if he ever got tired of hearing the line "Beam me up, Scotty."

"I'm not tired of it at all," he replied. "Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years. It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun."

Warp speed Mr. Scott!

In Memoriam: Frank Gorshin

Frank Gorshen, the man of 100 faces died today. He is best known for his role as the Riddler in the '60s TV show Batman. Barking Moonbat Early Warning System has a tribute.

I remember also that Gorshin was a very accomplished impersonator. One of my fondest TV memories was him impersonating Kirk Douglas on stage with the real Kirk Douglas. Other accomplishments include a one man show impersonating George Burns. He was nominated for an Emmy for his role as The Riddler. He earned another Emmy nomination for a guest shot on the original "Star Trek," a 1969 episode called "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield." Trekkers know Frank played a two-toned alien. He and his wife were married for 48 years. That's a real accomplishment. He is survived by his wife and son, and a sister. He will be missed. Pray for his family.