Archive for May, 2005

Nessie hunter Frank Searle

Posted: Monday, May 30th, 2005 11:38 pm

Getting to the nub of Frank Searle is as demanding a task as proving or disproving the verity of the monster he longed to photograph. Searle, detested by many, remembered fondly by others, was in equal measure a showman, a raconteur, a hermit and a charlatan. He produced 20 pictures of “the beast” of Loch Ness which, most now believe, were created using fence posts, logs, tarpaulins and old socks. …

Frank Searle, self-styled cryptozoologist, was born on March 18, 1921. He died on March 26, 2005, aged 84. … Read full obituary


Actor Eddie Albert, 99

Posted: Friday, May 27th, 2005 4:11 pm

Green AcresLOS ANGELES — Eddie Albert whose lighthearted portrayals made him a favorite in movies and television for more than 50 years has died. He was 99. …

Albert achieved his greatest fame on television’s Green Acres … Read full obituary


Merchant-Ivory’s Ismail Merchant, 68

Posted: Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 4:10 pm

Indian-born international filmmaker Ismail Merchant died suddenly on Wednesday in a London hospital, a spokesman for his London office said. … Read full obituary


Henry Corden, voice of Fred Flintstone, 85

Posted: Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 4:09 pm

LOS ANGELES — Henry Corden, the voice of leopard-suited caveman Fred Flintstone’s “yabba dabba doo!” for more than two decades, has died. The Montreal-born actor was 85. … Read full obituary


Thurl Ravenscroft, Tony the Tiger/Disney-rides voice, 91

Posted: Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 3:08 pm

FULLERTON, Calif., May 24 (AP) - Thurl Ravenscroft, who provided the long, rumbling “They’re Grrrrreeeat!” for Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger and voiced a host of Disney characters, died here on Sunday. He was 91. …

He also lent his voice to characters on thrill rides at Disneyland, including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion, and he supplied voices for the films “Cinderella,” “The Jungle Book,” “Mary Poppins,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Lady and the Tramp” and many others. … Read full obituary


Howard Morris, “Ernest T. Bass,” 85

Posted: Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 2:51 pm

LOS ANGELES May 23, 2005 — Howard Morris, best known for playing poetry-spouting hillbilly Ernest T. Bass on the “Andy Griffith Show,” died at his home in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. He was 85. … Read full obituary


Aussie TV icon Graham Kennedy, 71

Posted: Tuesday, May 24th, 2005 8:49 pm

Television legend Graham Kennedy has died at a nursing home in the NSW southern highlands, a close friend says.

The veteran Australian entertainer suffered several long illnesses in recent years after he fell down a set of stairs in 2003, breaking his leg and skull. … Read full obituary


Yorkshire reality TV girl, 17, found in woods

Posted: Monday, May 23rd, 2005 10:48 am


A teenager has been found dead in woods near her home just weeks before she was due to star in a reality TV show.

The body of Carina Louise Stephenson, 17, from South Yorkshire, whose family spent four months in Australia living like early settlers for the programme, was found by search teams on Saturday. … Read full story


Cult movie writer Ed Kelleher, 61

Posted: Sunday, May 22nd, 2005 11:47 pm

WASHINGTON — Ed Kelleher, an offbeat screenwriter, playwright, and film critic who wrote screenplays for horror movies that have become cult classics, died May 14 at Sleepy Hollow Manor, a nursing home in Annandale, Va. He was 61 and had a degenerative brain disease…. Read full obituary


Original Riddler Frank Gorshin, 72

Posted: Wednesday, May 18th, 2005 3:52 pm

Frank GorshinFrank Gorshin, who starred as the Riddler in the TV show “Batman,” died Tuesday in Burbank, Calif., of complications from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia. He was 72.

An expert impressionist, Gorshin had a long career in television, features and on stage, but is best known for his role on the 1960s series as Batman’s green-suited nemesis. The role netted him an Emmy nom in 1966. … Read full obituary


Japanese singer, bit player Lane Nakano, 80

Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:28 pm

LOS ANGELES — Lane Nakano, who co-starred in the 1951 film “Go For Broke!,” the dramatic story of the Japanese American soldiers who fought in Europe during World War II, has died. He was 80. … Read full obituary


Disney artist Joe Grant (Snow White, Dumbo, et al.), 96, at drawing board

Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:48 am


W. Ky. basketball star Danny Rumph, 21

Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:41 am

Western Kentucky basketball player Danny Rumph collapsed and died during a pickup game in his hometown of Philadelphia.

The 21-year-old junior guard was visiting his family when he died Sunday. … Read full obituary


Peter Rodino (D-NJ), 95, brought down Nixon

Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:34 am

Washington — Peter Rodino Jr., the Democratic New Jersey congressman and House Judiciary Committee chairman who rose from relative obscurity to national prominence while presiding over articles of impeachment that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at his home in West Orange, N.J. He was 95. … Read full obituary


Carter, Clinton counsel Lloyd Cutler, 87

Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:32 am

Lloyd Cutler, the lawyer whose abilities, discretion and charm made him the quintessential Washington insider for more than half a century, died at the weekend at the age of 87 from complications from a broken hip. … Read full obituary


Afghan pop star Nasrat Parsa, 36, murdered in Canada

Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:30 am

Attacked outside his hotel after a performance in Vancouver, B.C.


Col. David H. Hackworth, 74

Posted: Friday, May 6th, 2005 2:40 pm

Washington, D.C., May 5, 2005 — Col. David H. Hackworth, the United States Army’s legendary, highly decorated guerrilla fighter and lifelong champion of the doughboy and dogface, ground-pounder and grunt, died Wednesday in Mexico. He was 74 years old. The cause of death was a form of cancer now appearing with increasing frequency among Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliants called Agents Orange and Blue. … Read full obituary


Mattachine Society co-founder Jack Nichols, 67

Posted: Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005 8:26 pm

(Cocoa, Florida) Jack Nichols, one of the pioneers of gay liberation and a prolific writer, died early Monday in hospital after a long illness. He was 67.

In 1961, Nichols along with Frank Kameny, founded the Mattachine Society of Washington — one of the earliest groups to fight for gay rights in America. … Read full obituary


Greenpeace founder Bob Hunter, 62

Posted: Monday, May 2nd, 2005 9:57 pm

Mr Hunter, who died yesterday of prostate cancer aged 62, was a founding father of Greenpeace, and the most influential of all its early leaders. A radical young columnist on the Vancouver Sun newspaper, he had volunteered in 1969 to sail to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska in a barely seaworthy charter boat to try to stop the US testing an atomic bomb. … Read full obituary