Archive for March, 2008

British artist Angus Fairhurst, 41

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008 7:55 pm

Angus Fairhurst, one of the group of “Young British Artists” who came out of London’s Goldsmiths College, has died at age 41.

Spokeswoman Erica Bolton said Fairhurst committed suicide Saturday during a walk in a remote part of Scotland. … Read full obituary


Director Jules Dassin, 96

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008 4:13 pm

ATHENS (AFP) — Veteran US moviemaker Jules Dassin, who died Monday in Athens at the age of 96, was a film noir master who sought exile in Europe after being named during the anti-communist witch-hunts of the 1950s.

Dassin married the legendary Greek actress Melina Mercouri, joined her campaign for the return of Greece’s lost Parthenon marbles and was eventually awarded honorary Greek citizenship. … Read full obituary


Singer-actor Sean Levert, 39

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008 12:11 pm

Sean Levert, son of O’Jays lead singer Eddie Levert, was found dead in a Cleveland, Ohio, jail over the weekend, sources said.

Sean Levert, 39, was being held for allegedly failing to pay about $80,000 in child support. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Sean Levert was a member of the R&B group LeVert with his late brother Gerald Levert and Marc Gordon. Gerald Levert died Nov. 10, 2006 at the age of 40. … Read full obituary

Related:
Singer Gerald Levert, 40


“Killing Fields” survivor Dith Pran, 65

Posted: Sunday, March 30th, 2008 10:48 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country’s murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film “The Killing Fields,” died Sunday. He was 65. … Read full obituary


Egg McMuffin inventor Herb Peterson, 89

Posted: Friday, March 28th, 2008 1:15 pm

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Herb Peterson, who invented the Egg McMuffin as a way to introduce breakfast to McDonald’s restaurants, died Tuesday at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 89. … … Read full obituary


Oscar-winning writer Abby Mann, 80

Posted: Thursday, March 27th, 2008 10:57 pm

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Abby Mann, writer of socially conscious scripts for movies and television and winner of the 1961 Academy Award for adapted screenplay for “Judgment at Nuremberg,” has died at 80. …

Mann also won multiple Emmys, including one in 1973 for “The Marcus-Nelson Murders,” which created a maverick New York police detective named Theo Kojak. The film, starring Telly Savalas, was spun off into the long-running TV series “Kojak.” … Read full obituary


Actor Richard Widmark, 93

Posted: Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 12:38 pm

Richard Widmark, who created a villain in his first movie role who was so repellent and frightening that the actor became a star overnight, died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 93. … Read full obituary


Popeye’s chicken founder Al Copeland, 64

Posted: Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 11:17 pm

March 23, 2008 — Al Copeland, a hard-charging, high-living entrepreneur who built an empire on spicy fried chicken and fluffy white biscuits, died Sunday in Munich, Germany, of complications from cancer treatment. He was 64. … Read full obituary


Ex-WCW wrestler Chase Tatum, 34

Posted: Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 12:47 pm

Former WCW wrestler Chase Tatum was found dead late Sunday afternoon of an apparent accidental drug overdose, his father said.

Tatum, 34, was recovering from back surgery 10 days earlier to repair a degenerative disc. His father, Roy Tatum of Kennesaw, said his son had been battling a painkiller dependence for years but had made plans to enter a rehabilitation facility in Miami. … Read full obituary


Mass murderer John List, 82

Posted: Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 12:13 pm

John E. List, who escaped his drab existence as a failed New Jersey accountant by killing his family in 1971, disappearing and building a new life far away until a true-crime show on television led to his capture almost 18 years later, died on Friday. He was 82.

Mr. List died at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton four days after being taken there from the New Jersey State Prison, officials told The Associated Press. The cause was complications of pneumonia. … Read full obituary

Also:
John List at Conservative Babylon

America’s Most Wanted on John List


Beatles friend, mentor Neil Aspinall, 66

Posted: Monday, March 24th, 2008 2:38 pm

LONDON, England (AP) — Neil Aspinall, a longtime friend and business associate of The Beatles, has died in New York City at age 66.

Aspinall’s death was announced in a statement from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, and the band’s Apple Corps Ltd. company. … Read full story


4,000th U.S. soldier in Iraq

Posted: Monday, March 24th, 2008 2:37 pm

The number of US troops to die in Iraq since the invasion began five years ago hit 4,000 last night after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four soldiers. …

A US military spokesman played down the significance of the 4,000th death, which followed a day of bombings and rocket fire across the country that killed at least 60 Iraqis and left many more wounded. … Read full story


Saxophonist husband of singer Corinne Bailey Rae

Posted: Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 4:17 pm

The husband of British singer Corinne Bailey Rae has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose, sources said today. Jason Rae, 31, was discovered dead in an apartment in the Hyde Park area of Leeds in northern England. … Read full obituary


Cuban bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez, 89

Posted: Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 3:55 pm

MIAMI (AP) — Cuban bassist and composer Israel “Cachao” Lopez, who is credited with pioneering the mambo style of music, died Saturday. He was 89.

Known simply as Cachao, the Grammy-winning musician had fallen ill in the past week and died surrounded by family members at Coral Gables Hospital, spokesman Nelson Albareda said. … Read full obituary


“Easy Rider” producer Bill Hayward, suicide

Posted: Friday, March 21st, 2008 11:33 am

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Bill Hayward, the associate producer of “Easy Rider,” has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 66.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Hayward shot himself in the heart with a handgun on March 9 in Castaic. The suicide occurred in the trailer where he was living. … Read full obituary


Actor Brian Wilde, 80

Posted: Thursday, March 20th, 2008 12:32 pm

Last of the Summer Wine and Porridge actor Brian Wilde has died aged 80. …

Wilde’s son Andrew told the Press Association news agency his father suffered a fall about seven weeks ago and had not recovered. … Read full obituary


Actor Paul Scofield, 86

Posted: Thursday, March 20th, 2008 11:42 am

Paul Scofield as King Lear
Paul Scofield, one of Britain’s most acclaimed Shakespearean actors and an Academy Award winner, has died at the age of 86, his agent has said.

Scofield won the Oscar for best actor in 1967 for A Man for All Seasons, and was also nominated in 1995 for best supporting actor for Quiz Show. …

The British-born actor started his stage career in 1940. … Read full obituary


Author-artist Hugo Claus, 78

Posted: Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 10:33 pm

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Writer Hugo Claus — an artist, poet, playwright and novelist whose books painted a scathing picture of repression and hypocrisy in bourgeois Flanders — died Wednesday by euthanasia, his wife said. He was 78. … Read full obituary


Vietnam photojournalist Philip Jones Griffiths, 72

Posted: Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 10:23 pm

LONDON (AP) — Philip Jones Griffiths, a photojournalist who spent years traveling across Vietnam to capture the effects of the war on its people, died Wednesday. He was 72. …

Jones Griffiths was perhaps best known for his book “Vietnam Inc.” … Read full obituary


Actor Ivan Dixon, 76

Posted: Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 11:19 pm

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Ivan Dixon, an actor, director and producer best known for his role as Kinchloe on the 1960s television series “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died. He was 76. … Read full obituary


Vicki Van Meter, 26, child pilot, suicide

Posted: Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 6:48 pm

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Vicki Van Meter, celebrated for piloting a plane across the country at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. She was 26. … Read full obituary


Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, 90

Posted: Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 5:42 pm

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and a man considered one of the world’s top science fiction writers, has died.

He was 90. An aide announced his death Tuesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. … Read full obituary


“English Patient” director Anthony Minghella, 54

Posted: Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 8:50 am

LONDON, England (AP) — Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, who turned such literary works as “The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cold Mountain” into acclaimed movies, has died. He was 54. …

According to reports, Mingella died of a hemorrhage after a routine operation on his neck. … Read full obituary


ABBA drummer Ola Brunkert

Posted: Monday, March 17th, 2008 6:27 am

MADRID, Spain (CNN) — A drummer for the Swedish pop group ABBA has died after an apparent accident at his home in Spain, a Civil Guard spokeswoman said Monday.

Ola Brunkert was found dead late Sunday at his home in the town of Arta on Spain’s Mediterranean island of Mallorca, the spokeswoman said.

Police believe Brunkert may have fallen against a glass partition separating his home’s kitchen from the garden, and the glass broke and fatally cut his throat … Read full obituary


Screenwriter Malvin Wald, 90

Posted: Sunday, March 16th, 2008 6:48 pm

March 8, 2008 — Malvin Wald, a prolific writer for film and television best known for co-writing the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the 1948 film “The Naked City,” died Thursday of age-related causes at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his son, Alan. He was 90. … Read full obituary