Dead Celebrity Alert

Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team whose “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as “Sock it to me!” has died. He was 86.

Martin, who went on to become one of television’s busiest directors after splitting with Dan Rowan in the late 1970s, died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica, family spokesman Barry Greenberg said. …

“Laugh-in,” which debuted in January 1968, was unlike any comedy-variety show before it. Rather than relying on a series of tightly scripted song-and-dance segments, it offered up a steady, almost stream-of-consciousness run of non-sequitur jokes, political satire and madhouse antics from a cast of talented young actors and comedians that also included Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and announcer Gary Owens.

Presiding over it all were Rowan and Martin, the veteran nightclub comics whose standup banter put their own distinct spin on the show. … Read full obituary

DALLAS — The creator of the popular religious children’s television show “Davey and Goliath” has died.

A memorial service will be held May 31 at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas for Richard Towne “Dick” Sutcliffe. He died May 11 in Dallas from complications of a stroke. He was 90.

Sutcliffe created “Davey and Goliath,” a Christian-themed children’s show about a boy and his talking dog that used stop-action animation.

Along with Gumby creators Art Clokey and Ruth Clokey Goodell, Sutcliffe created the Sunday-morning series to spread a religious message without losing younger viewers with overly complicated concepts… Read full obituary

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Jim Hager, one of the Hager Twins who satirized country life with cornball one-liners on TV’s “Hee Haw,” died in Nashville, the show’s producer said Friday. He was 66.

Hager was at a coffee shop when he collapsed Thursday, Sam Lovullo said. He said he had been told that by Jon Hager, the surviving twin. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he had been taken, gave no details on the cause of death.

The twins, who were also guitarists and drummers, rose to national fame as original cast members of the TV show in 1969. With its mixture of music and country-flavored humor, the show was a huge hit. … Read full obituary

Actor who was an energetic champion of Gaelic culture in Scotland

The actor Simon MacKenzie was best known for his leading role in the long-running Gaelic television soap, Machair, in which he played the dignified head of a further education college.

He had been a BBC broadcaster on the Gaelic radio news services and went on to become Scotland’s most prolific Gaelic arts activist, appearing almost constantly in films, videos, plays and live events for nearly 30 years. …

He is survived by his long-term partner, Charlie Curran.

Simon MacKenzie, actor and activist for the Gaelic culture, was born on December 4, 1949. He died of cancer on April 8, 2008, aged 58 … Read full obituary

Actor, writer and musician Gordon Clyde was known to radio listeners for his satircal and topical piano and song spots on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week and Woman’s Hour. He also had his own weekly show on the BBC World Service.

Television viewers knew him best as the interviewer on the long running Dick Emery Show and throughout the 1960s he was one of Play School’s most popular childrens presenters. …

He later became involved with corporate presentations and his other television appearances included The Morecambe and Wise Show, No Hiding Place, and Are You Being Served?

During his career he wrote for many comedians such as Ronnie Corbett, Phil Silvers, Harry Secombe and Joan Turner. …

Gordon Clyde, actor, writer and musician, was born on May 22, 1933. He died on January 26, 2008, aged 75 … Read full obituary

Johnny Byrne was one of the most prolific and best respected TV and screenwriters of our time. He wrote for many of British television’s classic series, including All Creatures Great and Small and Doctor Who. As well as writing, he created the hugely successful rural policing drama Heartbeat. …

In 1971 he got his first taste of screenwriting with the TV movie Season of the Witch, and in 1972 scripted the Spike Milligan biopic Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. Byrne now engaged full-time in what was to be his lifelong occupation as a writer of TV drama series including Doctor Who, Space 1999, Love Hurts, One by One, Tales of the Unexpected, Noah’s Ark and Heartbeat — a series he created. But perhaps he will be best remembered for his long involvement in the much-loved TV vet series All Creatures Great and Small, for which he was story consultant and wrote some 30 episodes. …

Johnny Byrne, television screenwriter, was born in 1935. He died of cancer on April 2, 2008, aged about 77 … Read full obituary

Widely remembered for his excessive corpulence on stage and television, Willoughby Goddard spent over 40 years never trying to disguise it. It brought him authority, variety, monotony and joy. Whether he was genial or aggressive, alarming or soothing, he could be cast in all sorts of moods. Sometimes he played up self-consciously to his weightiness; sometimes it hardly mattered. He could play judges, professors, mayors, landlords, managing directors and chairmen; he could also play sundry characters of no importance whatever. …

He was the the bulky Mr Holmes in Jack Roffey’s whodunnit, No Other Verdict (Duchess, 1954), and as the “massive vulgarian” Gowing in The Diary of a Nobody (Arts), six chapters of the book by George and Weedon Grossmith, Goddard was able to “talk to his hosts with conviction” in a show adapted by Basil Dean and Richard Blake.

On television he created first a fine impression as Professor Mark Harrison in The Voices; and in the Adventures of William Tell he put the shivers up watchers as the hero’s splendidly weighty main protagonist. … Read full obituary

The body of a man, believed to be missing TV presenter Mark Speight, has been found in a remote area of London’s Paddington station, police have said.

Officers are treating the death as “unexplained” but have confirmed that the man had not been hit by a train.

Mr Speight, 42, disappeared last Monday, three months after the death of his fiancee, Natasha Collins, in the bath of the flat they shared in London. …

Mr Speight’s relatives have been informed of the discovery, police said, but a formal identification has yet to take place. …

The presenter, who was the host of BBC children’s show SMart until February, was reported missing last Monday when he failed to meet Miss Collins’ mother as arranged. … Read full story

Mike Hill was a much-liked and sometimes quirky presence at BBC television in a golden period of its satirical — and serious talk show — heyday.

He was the deputy to Rowan Ayers for the groundbreaking Late-Night Line-up presented by Joan Bakewell and Michael Dean, and went on to be executive producer of a late-night discussion programme Up Sunday in 1972-73 which featured a glittering array of talkers and performers, including John Wells, John Bird, John Fortune, Eleanor Bron, Barry Humpries, Clive James, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. …

Michael Hill, BBC producer and writer, was born on June 17, 1923. He died on March 16, 2008, aged 84 … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Stanley Kamel, well known for playing Dr. Charles Kroger on the hit USA series “Monk,” has died, Access Hollywood has learned.

Kamel was found dead in his Hollywood Hills home on Tuesday. He was 65.

Access Hollywood has learned Kamel died of a heart attack.

Kamel has appeared in numerous TV roles over the past three decades, including “The West Wing,” “Six Feet Under,” “Melrose Place,” “The Golden Girls,” “Days of Our Lives” and “Murder One.” … Read full obituary

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.

Writers Guild of America spokesman Gregg Mitchell said Mann died Tuesday. The cause of death was not given.

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.”

In a career spanning more than 50 years as a writer, director and producer, Mann returned repeatedly to morally conscious themes, doing films for television on such subjects as Martin Luther King Jr., human rights advocate Simon Weisenthal and the Teamsters. … Read full obituary

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

Wilde played Foggy in the long-running comedy series Last of The Summer Wine and Barraclough in prison sitcom Porridge, alongside Ronnie Barker.

Wilde died in his sleep on Thursday. Last of the Summer Wine creator Roy Clarke said he was “a wonderful actor”. …

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

He also appeared in 1970s children’s series The Ghosts of Motley Hall and 1980s TV comedy Kit Curran. … Read full obituary

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.

Dixon died Sunday at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte after a hemorrhage and of complications from kidney failure, said his daughter, Doris Nomathande Dixon of Charlotte. …

Dixon began his acting career on Broadway in plays including “The Cave Dwellers” and “A Raisin in the Sun.” On film, he appeared in “Something of Value,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” “A Patch of Blue,” “Nothing But a Man” and the cult favorite “Car Wash.”

But he was probably best known for the role of U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on “Hogan’s Heroes” … Read full obituary

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.

Wald wrote the story for the archetypal police drama, which ended with the now-famous line, “There are 8 million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” He and writer Albert Maltz, one of the blacklisted Hollywood 10 who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, were credited with the screenplay, which was also nominated for a Writers Guild Award. …

Born Malvin Daniel Wald in 1917, he got his start in Hollywood by following in the footsteps of his older brother Jerry… Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Car-building legend Boyd Coddington, whose testosterone-injected cable TV reality show “American Hot Rod” introduced the nation to the West Coast hot rod guru, has died. He was 63. …

Coddington, who started building cars when he was 13 and once operated a gas station in Utah, set a standard for his workmanship and creativity, with his popular “Cadzilla” creation considered a design masterpiece. The customized car based on a 1950s Cadillac was built for rocker Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. …

Coddington was a machinist by trade, working at Disneyland during the day and tinkering with cars in his home garage at night and on weekends. His rolling creations captured the imagination of car-crazy Southern Californians and soon he was building custom cars and making money.

Most often, he customized 1932 Ford “little deuce coupes.” … Read full obituary