Archive for January, 2006

Coretta Scott King, 78

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 4:47 am

Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., has died. She was 78. …

When King was assassinated outside a motel room in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, Scott King channeled her grief into action. … Read full obituary

See also:
Coretta Scott King Appears At MLK Event (January 16, 2006)


Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, 55

Posted: Monday, January 30th, 2006 4:27 pm

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who chronicled the feminist struggles and successes of the baby-boomer generation in such wryly observant works as “The Heidi Chronicles” and “The Sisters Rosensweig,” has died of lymphoma at the age of 55. … Read full obituary


Therapist, author, LGBT-rights activist Betty Berzon, 78

Posted: Wednesday, January 25th, 2006 6:35 pm

Pioneering psychotherapist and writer Betty Berzon died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 78 years old.

Berzon had been sick with cancer, but still continued to see patients and write while undergoing chemotherapy. …

She [became] one of our community’s best-known, with a gift for helping gay people come to terms with their true selves and with each other. …

She was one of the founding board members for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in 1971. … Read full obituary


“Footloose” actor Chris Penn, 43 (brother of Sean)

Posted: Tuesday, January 24th, 2006 11:58 pm

Character actor Chris Penn, the younger brother of Oscar winner Sean Penn, was found dead today at an apartment near the Pacific Ocean in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica.

No cause of death was immediately determined but there were no signs of foul play, police sources said. …

Penn, 43, was a character actor who appeared in dozens of films including Reservoir Dogs, Mulholland Falls and the 2004 film Starsky & Hutch. … Read full obituary


“Combative” actor Tony Franciosa, 77

Posted: Saturday, January 21st, 2006 11:56 pm

Related:
Shelley Winters


Soul giant Wilson Pickett, 64

Posted: Thursday, January 19th, 2006 4:55 pm

Soul legend Wilson Pickett had a heart attack and died while seeking help at a hospital in Reston, Virginia, near his home in Ashburn on Thursday (January 19); he was 64 years old.

Pickett, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, helped shape modern R&B with his stripped-down classics like “In the Midnight Hour” and “Mustang Sally.” … Read full obituary


Shelley Winters, 85

Posted: Saturday, January 14th, 2006 4:27 pm

Shelley Winters, the forceful, outspoken star who graduated from blond bombshell parts to dramas, winning Academy Awards as supporting actress in The Diary of Anne Frank and A Patch of Blue, has died. She was 85. … Read full obituary


Phyllis Gates, Rock Hudson’s ex-wife

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 6:51 am

Phyllis Gates, the former wife of Hollywood star Rock Hudson and secretary to his agent, has died at the age of 80. Gates died of complications from lung cancer on 4 January at her Los Angeles home, her lawyer Mark Waldman said. …

Gates married Hudson in 1955, and they divorced in 1958. She later learned the romance was arranged to dispel rumours about Hudson’s homosexuality. … Read full obituary

See also:
The Secret Life (and Death) of Rock Hudson


Former CBS News radio anchor Neil Strawser, 78

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 5:55 am

Neil Strawser, who anchored CBS News radio coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination, died Saturday. He was 78. … Read full obituary


Irish actor Brendan Cauldwell, 83

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 5:50 am

The death has taken place of Irish actor Brendan Cauldwell at the age of 83. …

Mr Cauldwell went on to act in a host of stage, screen and radio productions over the years, including Strumpet City, Far and Away and Angela’s Ashes. … Read full obituary


Bahraini prince, 15, dies in car crash

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 4:59 am

A 15-year-old son of Bahrain’s king has been killed in an accident while driving a car, the Bahraini Royal Court says.

Prince Faisal, the sixth son of Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, died instantly after he lost control of the car he was driving and collided with a traffic light and billboard… Read full obituary


Nixon campaigner, appointee Patricia Hitt, 87

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 4:48 am

National co-chair of Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign & assistant HEW secretary.


Cavern Club founder Alan Sytner

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 4:15 am

Alan Sytner, who founded the Cavern Club, has died on holiday in France. Inspired by Paris’s underground clubs, Sytner opened the converted cellars in Mathew Street, Liverpool, in 1957, as a jazz band venue. … Read full obituary


Survey expert Joseph Waksberg, 90

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2006 3:50 am

Joseph Waksberg, who helped invent a widely used method of conducting phone surveys so they efficiently reach people with unlisted as well as listed phone numbers, has died. He was 90. … Read full obituary


Former Wolverine Dave Brown, 52

Posted: Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 3:48 pm

LUBBOCK, Texas — Dave Brown, a former Michigan All-America who played 16 seasons in the NFL and was an assistant coach at Texas Tech, died Tuesday. He was 52.

Brown suffered an apparent heart attack while playing basketball on campus… Read full obituary


Mancow guest Raymond “Cowboy Ray” Hofstatter, 45

Posted: Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 3:42 pm

Raymond “Cowboy Ray” Hofstatter, a recurring character on “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse” radio show, died Tuesday night as a result of lingering injuries from a hit-and-run auto accident last fall, WGN-Ch. 9 reported. … Read full story


Olympic swimmer Eric Namesnik, 35

Posted: Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 3:40 pm

Eric Namesnik, who won silver medals in swimming at the 1992 and ‘96 Olympics, died Wednesday following a car accident last week. He was 35. … Read full obituary


Controversial federal judge Jack Tanner, 86

Posted: Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 3:21 pm

U.S. District Court Senior Judge Jack Tanner — known for his sometimes controversial decisions, his civil rights activism and his outspoken belief that the courts ought to be a place where people of any color, gender or class could find a measure of justice and equality — died peacefully at his home with family Tuesday night. … Read full obituary


Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson, 87

Posted: Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 3:03 pm

Birgit Nilsson, the farmer’s daughter who became renown in the world’s great opera houses for her dazzling voice and among colleagues for her playful sense of humor, has died at age 87. … Read full obituary


“Controversial” mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, 90something

Posted: Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 6:58 pm

The controversial mountaineering legend, Heinrich Harrer, died peacefully over the weekend; he was in his nineties. Harrer is likely most known by younger climbers through the film, Seven Years in Tibet, which was based on his life. … Read full obituary


Former Southern Baptist leader Foy Valentine, 82

Posted: Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 6:53 pm

A former Southern Baptist leader who was known to stress that racism was sinful has died of a heart attack. …

Valentine was executive director of the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission. It’s now called the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the denomination’s public policy panel. … Read full obituary


Jazz photographer Jamie Hodgson, 76

Posted: Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 6:50 pm

Jamie Hodgson, the photographer whose haunting images of jazz musicians helped immortalise its greatest stars, has died at the age of 76. … Read full obituary


Former Rams receiver Jack Snow, 62

Posted: Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 6:34 pm

Snow, a star wide receiver for the Rams from 1965-75 and a longtime team broadcaster, died Monday night, the club said. He was 62. … Read full obituary


B.C. Supreme Court Justice James D. Taylor

Posted: Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 6:32 pm

Justice James D. Taylor, of the B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo, has died. He was 64. … Read full obituary


Former N. Ireland Sports Minister Tony Banks, 62

Posted: Monday, January 9th, 2006 5:40 pm

A Belfast-born former cabinet minister who supported moves for a national stadium in Northern Ireland died last night after suffering a stroke. … Read full obituary