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  Toonami Infolink :: View topic - Dead Celebrity Roundup (2005-2006 Editon) :(
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Dead Celebrity Roundup (2005-2006 Editon) :(
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Al Lewis, the cigar-chomping patriarch of "The Munsters" whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom, died after years of failing health. He was 82.

The actor was widely reported to have been born in 1910, but his son Ted Lewis said Saturday that his father was born in 1923.

Lewis, with his wife at his bedside, passed away Friday night, said Bernard White, program director at WBAI-FM, where the actor hosted a weekly radio program. White made the announcement on the air during the Saturday slot where Lewis usually appeared.

"To say that we will miss his generous, cantankerous, engaging spirit is a profound understatement," White said.

Lewis, sporting a somewhat cheesy Dracula outfit, became a pop culture icon playing the irascible father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster on the 1964-66 television show. He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on "Car 54, Where Are You?" (Watch scenes from Lewis' life -- :41)

But Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics. A former ballplayer at Thomas Jefferson High School, he achieved notoriety as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach.

He operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant, Grandpa's, where he was a regular presence -- chatting with customers, posing for pictures, signing autographs.

A ponytailed Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate against incumbent Gov. George Pataki. Lewis campaigned against draconian drug laws and the death penalty, while going to court in a losing battle to have his name appear on the ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis."

He didn't defeat Pataki, but managed to collect more 52,000 votes.

Lewis was born Alexander Meister in upstate New York before his family moved to Brooklyn, where the 6-foot-1 teen began a lifelong love affair with basketball. He later became a vaudeville and circus performer, but his career didn't take off until television did the same.

Lewis, as Officer Schnauzer, played opposite Gwynne's Officer Francis Muldoon in "Car 54, Where Are You?" -- a comedy about a Bronx police precinct that aired from 1961-63. One year later, the duo appeared together in "The Munsters," taking up residence at the fictional 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

The series, about a family of clueless creatures plunked down in middle America, was a success and ran through 1966. It forever locked Lewis in as the memorably twisted character; decades later, strangers would greet him on the street with shouts of "Grandpa!"

Unlike some television stars, Lewis never complained about getting typecast and made appearances in character for decades.

"Why would I mind?" he asked in a 1997 interview. "It pays my mortgage."

Lewis rarely slowed down, opening his restaurant and hosting his WBAI radio program. At one point during the '90s, he was a frequent guest on the Howard Stern radio show, once sending the shock jock diving for the delay button by leading an undeniably obscene chant against the Federal Communications Commission.

He also popped up in a number of movies, including the acclaimed "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and "Married to the Mob." Lewis reprised his role of Schnauzer in the movie remake of "Car 54," and appeared as a guest star on television shows such as "Taxi," "Green Acres" and "Lost in Space."

But in 2003, Lewis was hospitalized for an angioplasty. Complications during surgery led to an emergency bypass and the amputation of his right leg below the knee and all the toes on his left foot. Lewis spent the next month in a coma.

A year later, he was back offering his recollections of a seminal punk band on the DVD "Ramones Raw."

He is survived by his wife, Karen Ingenthron-Lewis, three sons and four grandchildren.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.[/quote]
PostSun Feb 05, 2006 9:17 am
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Nobuyuki

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'Star Wars' Uncle Phil Brown Dies at 89
Mon Feb 13, 8:42 AM ET


Phil Brown, who played Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen in the 1977 hit film "Star Wars," has died.

Brown died of pneumonia Thursday at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, said his wife, Ginny. He was 89.

Though Brown worked in stage and film for more than 30 years, many remember him best for his brief role as the loving uncle who tries to give Skywalker a normal childhood and keep him from knowing he has Jedi roots. Uncle Owen and his wife Beru meet an early end at the hands of imperial storm troopers.

It was "a very small part by comparison to the roles I had previously played. To be quite frank, I never gave it a thought again," Brown told the Baltimore Sun.

Brown got the part through unusual circumstances.

He moved his family to London in the 1950s after being blacklisted during the communist scare in the United States. A longtime progressive, Brown always denied being a Communist.

In London, he found work on stage and in such films as "Tropic of Cancer" (1970) and "Twilight's Last Gleaming" (1977).

In the mid-1970s, George Lucas was filming interior scenes for "Star Wars" at a London sound stage and needed an actor with a strong American accent.

Brown got the role, then spent a month or so in Tunisia filming a handful of scenes.

He returned to California in the early 1990s, quickly discovering that the role had made him a celebrity. He became a popular figure at science fiction conventions.

The son of a doctor, Brown was born in Cambridge, Mass. and graduated from Stanford University.

He was accepted in the Group Theatre in New York in 1938, and first job on Broadway was as a dancer in the play "Everywhere I Roam."

The Group Theatre folded in 1941, and Brown moved to Los Angeles looking for work in the movies.

Along with other former Group Theatre members, he formed the Actor's Laboratory, which produced critically acclaimed works in Hollywood.

He directed plays by Arthur Miller, Nikolai Gogol and Arthur Laurent. In 1948, he moved to London and played opposite Helen Hayes in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie."

Returning to Hollywood in 1949, Brown found work as a director. Two years later finished his first feature film, "The Harlem Globetrotters," starring Dorothy Dandridge and members of the famous basketball team.

But that promising start ended with the "Red Scare" and the government focus on some members of the Actor's Lab. Brown and his wife left for London and stayed for 40 years.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years; a son, Kevin, of Hawaii; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild
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"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
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PostWed Feb 15, 2006 8:18 am
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Nobuyuki

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Damn, more lost sci-fi character actors... Sad

Babylon 5's Katsulas Dies

Andreas Katsulas, the character actor known to SF fans as G'Kar on Babylon 5 and a familiar face from Star Trek and other SF&F TV shows, died Feb. 13 of lung cancer in Los Angeles, his agent, Donna Massetti, confirmed to SCI FI Wire. He was 59.

Katsulas, a longtime resident of Los Angeles, played the Narn ambassador G'Kar for five years in the syndicated cult TV series Babylon 5, starting in 1993. He reprised the role in subsequent Babylon 5 telefilms.

Katsulas was also no stranger to Trek fans, playing Romulan Cmdr. Tomalak in Star Trek: The Next Generation. His last appearance in a Trek series was as a Vissian captain on an episode of Enterprise.

Born in St. Louis, Katsulas held a master's degree in theater from Indiana University, his official Web site said. After performing in plays in St. Louis, New York and Boston, he went on to film roles in such movies as Michael Cimino's The Sicilian, which brought him to Los Angeles, then in Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me and Blake Edward's Sunset.

Katsulas moved to Los Angeles permanently in 1986 and found scores of television and film parts in everything from TV's Alien Nation and Max Headroom to the big screen's The Fugitive, in which he played the infamous one-armed man, and Executive Decision opposite Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
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"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP
PostWed Feb 15, 2006 10:51 am
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Don Knotts, TV's Barney Fife, Dies
By Louie Estrada
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 26, 2006; C08

Don Knotts, the rail-thin comic actor who was perhaps best known to millions of television viewers as the bungling Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife in "The Andy Griffith Show" and the squirrelly landlord in "Three's Company," died of lung cancer Feb. 24 at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Mr. Knotts, who often played high-strung characters, won five Emmys for Best Supporting Actor in the 1960s as the swaggering but hapless Fife. Mr. Knotts developed the idea of the deputy sheriff when he heard that Andy Griffith, with whom he had worked in the play "No Time for Sergeants," was putting together a TV pilot set in the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry.

The series was a huge success when it aired, from 1960 to 1968, consistently ranking in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings.

Fife, who grew into one of the most beloved comic characters in American popular culture, generated sympathy and laughs in scenes in which he fumbled to load his service revolver with the single bullet Griffith allotted him.

"Don meant everything," Griffith said in a telephone interview. "Don made the show. I've lost a lifetime friend."

The two actors remained close friends over the years and reprised their roles in the 1986 television movie "Return to Mayberry."

Mr. Knotts's wife, actress Francey Yarborough, said in a statement that Griffith visited Mr. Knotts at the hospital shortly before his death to say goodbye.

"Don was an actor who played comedy as opposed to a comedian who does stand-up," said Mr. Knotts's longtime manager, Sherwin Bash, in a telephone interview. "He was one of a kind."

Mr. Knotts, who lived in West Los Angeles, left television in 1965 to devote more time to family-oriented film comedies that featured his zany, bugged-eyed expressions, high-pitched voice and perfect slapstick timing.

His movie credits include "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" (1964), "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966), "The Reluctant Astronaut" (1967), "The Shakiest Gun in the West" (1968) and "The Love God?" (1969).

In the 1970s, Mr. Knotts teamed with fellow comic actor Tim Conway in the Disney movies "The Apple Dumpling Gang" and "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again."

"It's because of Don that I'm in this business," Conway said in an interview last year with the Kansas City Star. "When I used to watch the old 'Steve Allen Show,' with Don Knotts and Louie Nye and Tom Poston -- the 'Man on the Street' stuff -- I just thought Don was the funniest guy I'd ever seen. And I used to wait for that show at night."

Mr. Knotts returned to television in the late 1970s, joining the cast of ABC's popular sitcom "Three's Company" as the cad landlord Ralph Furley, a swinger who usually donned an ascot and bright, colorful leisure suits. He remained with the show until its final season in 1984.

In recent years, he had recurring roles on television, including a part on Griffith's show "Matlock" and the series "Pleasantville." He also performed in dinner theaters and did voice-over for animated films. Most recently, he was the voice of Mayor Turkey Lurkey in last year's "Chicken Little."

He was born Jesse Donald Knotts on July 21, 1924, in Morgantown, W.Va., where he grew up with three brothers. As a young man, he gravitated to the world of entertainment, starting as a ventriloquist. He lived in New York briefly before returning home and enrolling at West Virginia University.

He joined the Army during World War II and served as an entertainer. After the military, he returned to West Virginia University to finish his degree.

He worked in radio before getting his big break in the 1950s, when he won a spot to perform on "The Steve Allen Show." He drew howls from the audience playing a weatherman. The skit featured Mr. Knotts as a television weatherman forced to ad-lib the forecast without any information on the weather. As he wrote on a map about a weather system in California, stumbling over his words, it became clear he was writing "h-e-l-p."

His marriages to Kay Knotts and Loralee Knotts ended in divorce.

Survivors also include a son and a daughter.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
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"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP
PostSat Feb 25, 2006 11:51 pm
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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Darren McGavin was painting a movie set in 1945 when he learned of an opening for a small role in the show, climbed off his ladder, and returned through Columbia's front gates to land the part.

The husky, tough-talking performer went on to become one of the busiest actors in television and film, starring in five TV series, including "Mike Hammer," and endearing holiday audiences with his role as the grouchy dad in the 1983 comedy classic "A Christmas Story."

McGavin, 83, died Saturday of natural causes at a Los Angeles-area hospital with his family at his side, said his son Bogart McGavin.

McGavin also had leading roles in TV's "Riverboat" and cult favorite "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." Among his memorable portrayals was U.S. Army Gen. George Patton in the 1979 TV biography "Ike."

Despite his busy career in television, McGavin was awarded only one Emmy: in 1990 for an appearance as Candice Bergen's opinionated father in an episode of "Murphy Brown."

He lacked the prominence in films he enjoyed in television, but he registered strongly in featured roles such as the young artist in Venice in "Summertime," David Lean's 1955 film with Katharine Hepburn and Rosanno Brazzi; Frank Sinatra's crafty drug supplier in "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955); Jerry Lewis's parole officer in "The Delicate Delinquent" (1957); and the gambler Gus Sands in 1984's "The Natural" that starred Robert Redford.

He also starred alongside Don Knotts, who died Friday night, in the 1976 family comedy "No Deposit, No Return."

Throughout his television career, McGavin gained a reputation as a curmudgeon willing to bad-mouth his series and combat studio bosses.

McGavin starred in the private eye series "Mike Hammer" in the 1950s. In 1968 he told a reporter: "Hammer was a dummy. I made 72 of those shows, and I thought it was a comedy. In fact, I played it camp. He was the kind of guy who would've waved the flag for [Alabama Gov.] George Wallace."
Troubled childhood

Born in Spokane, Washington, McGavin was sketchy in interviews about his childhood. He told TV Guide in 1973 that he was a constant runaway at 10 and 11, and as a teen lived in warehouses in Tacoma, Washington, and dodged the police and welfare workers. His parents disappeared, he said.

He spent a year at College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, taking part in dramatics, then landed in Los Angeles. He washed dishes and was hired to paint sets at Columbia studio. He was working on "A Song to Remember" when an agent told him of an opening for a small role.

"I climbed off a painter's ladder and washed up at a nearby gas station," McGavin said. "I returned through Columbia's front gate with the agent." The director, Charles Vidor, hired him. No one recognized him but the paint foreman, who said, "You're fired."

McGavin studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio and began working in live TV drama and on Broadway. He appeared with Charlton Heston in "Macbeth" on TV and played Happy in "Death of a Salesman" in New York and on the road.

He is survived by his four children -- York, Megan, Bridget and Bogart -- from a previous marriage to Melanie York McGavin, Bogart McGavin said. McGavin was separated from his second wife, Kathy Brown, he said.

Services were set for March 5 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
PostSun Feb 26, 2006 4:25 pm
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Nobuyuki

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They say death comes in threes... seems to be running true. Sad

'Gunsmoke' Actor Dennis Weaver Dies
By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

Dennis Weaver, the slow-witted deputy Chester Goode in the TV classic western "Gunsmoke" and the New Mexico deputy solving New York crime in "McCloud," has died. The actor was 81.

Weaver died of complications from cancer Friday at his home in Ridgway, in southwestern Colorado, his publicist Julian Myers said.

Weaver was a struggling actor in Hollywood in 1955, earning $60 a week delivering flowers when he was offered $300 a week for a role in a new CBS television series, "Gunsmoke." By the end of his nine years with "Gunsmoke," he was earning $9,000 a week.

When Weaver first auditioned for the series, he found the character of Chester "inane." He wrote in his 2001 autobiography, "All the World's a Stage," that he said to himself: "With all my Actors Studio training, I'll correct this character by using my own experiences and drawing from myself."

The result was a well-rounded character that appealed to audiences, especially with his drawling, "Mis-ter Dil-lon."

At the end of seven hit seasons, Weaver sought other horizons. He announced his departure, but the failures of pilots for his own series caused him to return to "Gunsmoke" on a limited basis for two more years. The role brought him an Emmy in the 1958-59 season.

In 1966, Weaver starred with a 600-pound black bear in "Gentle Ben," about a family that adopts a bear as a pet. The series was well-received, but after two seasons, CBS decided it needed more adult entertainment and cancelled it.

Next came the character Sam McCloud, which Weaver called "the most satisfying role of my career."

The "McCloud" series, 1970-1977, juxtaposed a no-nonsense lawman from Taos, N.M., onto the crime-ridden streets of New York City. His wild-west tactics, such as riding his horse through Manhattan traffic, drove local policemen crazy, but he always solved the case.

He appeared in several movies, including "Touch of Evil," "Ten Wanted Men," "Gentle Giant," "Seven Angry Men," "Dragnet," "Way ... Way Out" and "The Bridges at Toko-Ri."

Weaver also was an activist for protecting the environment and combating world hunger.

He served as president of Love Is Feeding Everyone (LIFE), which fed 150,000 needy people a week in Los Angeles County. He founded the Institute of Ecolonomics, which sought solutions to economic and environmental problems. He spoke at the United Nations and Congress, as well as to college students and school children about fighting pollution and starvation.

"Earthship" was the most visible of Weaver's crusades. He and his wife Gerry built a solar-powered Colorado home out of recycled tires and cans. The thick walls helped keep the inside temperature even year around.

"When the garbage man comes," Jay Leno once quipped, "how does he know where the garbage begins and the house ends?"

Weaver responded: "If we get into the mindset of saving rather than wasting and utilizing other materials, we can save the Earth."

The tall, slender actor came by his Midwestern twang naturally. He was born June 4, 1924, in Joplin, Mo., where he excelled in high school drama and athletics. After Navy service in World War II, he enrolled at the University of Oklahoma and qualified for the Olympic decathlon.

He studied at the Actors Studio in New York and appeared in "A Streetcar Named Desire" opposite Shelley Winters and toured in "Come Back, Little Sheba" with Shirley Booth.

Universal Studio signed Weaver to a contract in 1952 but found little work for him. He freelanced in features and television until he landed "Gunsmoke."

Weaver appeared in dozens of TV movies, the most notable being the 1971 "Duel." It was a bravura performance for both fledgling director Steven Spielberg and Weaver, who played a driver menaced by a large truck that followed him down a mountain road. The film was released in theaters in 1983, after Spielberg had become director of huge moneymakers.

Weaver's other TV series include "Kentucky Jones," "Emerald Point N.A.S.," "Stone" and "Buck James." From 1973 to 1975, he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
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"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP
PostMon Feb 27, 2006 2:08 pm
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Well thats three. So we should be done for awhile.
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PostMon Feb 27, 2006 3:33 pm
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Buck Owens, a pioneer in California's honky-tonk country music scene who gained considerable celebrity as co-host of TV's "Hee-Haw," died Saturday at his home in Bakersfield. He was 76.

Owens had performed Friday night at his concert hall and eatery, Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, and after returning home had died in his sleep.

A musical maverick, Owens created a style of country music that rebelled against the syrupy, string-laden style that was in vogue in Nashville. Combining twang, honky-tonk and the rawness of rock 'n' roll, Owens helped forge the Bakersfield Sound, which would influence artists such as Gram Parsons of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Dwight Yoakam.

Owens had a string of more than 20 No. 1 records, most released from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. The Beatles and Ray Charles, among others, covered his hits. The Fab Four did "Act Naturally" with Ringo Starr singing lead; Charles had a hit with "Crying Time."

Among his biggest hits were "Together Again," "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line."

In 1969, Owens joined Roy Clark as the front men for the TV show "Hee-Haw," which featured country music and rural humor. Owens, who always appeared with his red, white and blue guitar, played the role of a hayseed, which tended to overshadow his artistic contributions to country music.

Owens' musical star was reignited in the 1980s as Yoakam's career was starting to flourish. The two performed together, and Owens was held in high esteem by a generation of country performers raised on the rock 'n' roll that Owens inspired.

Born Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. in 1929 outside Sherman, Texas, his family left a life of sharecropping to move to Arizona when he was 8. He dropped out of school at 13 to haul produce and harvest crops, and by 16 he was playing music in taverns.

He moved to Bakersfield in 1951 and spent eight years performing at the Blackboard, which billed itself as Central California's top country dance hall. Bakersfield was full of the juke joints that catered to locals and truck drivers traveling between the Bay Area and Southern California. Ferlin Husky, Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins and Tommy Collins were among the future stars sharing stages with Owens at the time.

In 1953 in Los Angeles, Owens backed Collins on a recording of "You Better Not Do That," impressing Capitol Records' country staff, which led to him being hired regularly as a studio musician. In the mid-'50s, he started writing songs with Harlan Howard, which led to his first solo recording in 1958.

In January 1961, Capitol released his self-titled debut album, which yielded the hits "Foolin' Around" and "Under the Influence of Love." Two years later, "Act Naturally" would be his first No. 1 single. Soon thereafter, he would have significant success with the so-called "freight train sound."

"Hee-Haw" ran on CBS from 1969 to 1971 and then went syndicated; in '72, Owens had his final No. 1 with "Made in Japan." He left the show in 1986 and two years later would be brought back into the spotlight via Yoakam.

Away from the music business, Owens' business interests included a Bakersfield TV station and radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix.

Owens was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996.
______________________________________


Richard Fleischer, director of such hit features as "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "The Boston Strangler," "Fantastic Voyage" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" died Saturday. He was 89.

Fleischer died of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif., said his son, Mark Fleischer.

Richard Flesicher's father, Max, and uncles Dave and Louis pioneered animated shorts in New York, starting in 1920 with the "Out of the Inkwell" series. In the '30s, they became rivals to Walt Disney with their popular Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor comedy shorts.

A quiet-spoken but firm-minded director, Fleischer never achieved the recognition of his more flamboyant contemporaries, but his name was on a wide variety of well-known films including "Doctor Dolittle" (1967), "Che!" (1969), "The New Centurions" (1972), "Soylent Green" (1973), "Mr. Majestyk" (1974), "Mandingo" (1975), "Conan the Destroyer" (1984) and "Red Sonja" (1985).

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in "Conan the Destroyer," called Fleischer "a true Hollywood legend."

"He was a man of great talent and an extraordinary director who leaves behind a legacy of amazing films," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Fleischer initially appeared to be headed on a different career path, earning a degree in psychology at Brown U. after being advised by his father to "avoid anything to do with Hollywood."

But after graduation, he enrolled in the Yale Drama School, where he founded a company that toured New England hotels.

A talent scout for RKO recommended him for a job, and he was hired to write scripts for RKO Pathe newsreels. He soon graduated to directing shorts, and after a wartime stint in the Army, returned to the studio.

His breakthrough came with 1952's "The Narrow Margin," hailed by film historian Leonard Maltin as "one of the best B pictures ever made." A thriller, it was filmed almost entirely in a railroad car on a screen stage.

He followed it with "The Happy Time," a film starring Charles Boyer and Disney child star Bobby Driscoll that led to an offer from Walt Disney himself to direct "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

When he asked Disney why he'd been chosen to helm the big-budget film of the Jules Verne classic, he was told, "Anybody who can make an actor of Bobby Driscoll has to be a great director."

Before he could take the job, however, Fleischer told Disney he'd have to get his father's permission to work for the family's longtime rival. The elder Fleischer quickly gave his hearty consent.
_________________
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."- C.S. Lewis
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"Superman can't be emo. He can't cut himself."-CP
PostMon Mar 27, 2006 10:43 pm
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Not sure if anyone would know this but did Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, X-men, Harry Potter) die? I ask because I've had many people I know tell me that he did however, I had not heard of it and can't find anything on the net that said he died.
PostTue Mar 28, 2006 4:40 pm
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Singer-songwriter Billy Preston dies at 59
By BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press Writer

Billy Preston, the exuberant keyboardist who landed dream gigs with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and enjoyed his own hit singles including "Outta Space" and "Nothing From Nothing," died Tuesday at 59.

His longtime manager, Joyce Moore, said a heart infection in November left him in a coma, and he never regained consciousness; he was taken to a Scottsdale hospital Saturday after his condition deteriorated.

Preston had battled chronic kidney failure and received a kidney transplant in 2002. But the kidney failed and he was on dialysis ever since.

Known for his big gap-toothed smile and towering Afro, Preston was a teen prodigy on the piano and organ, and lent his gospel-tinged touch to classics such as the Beatles' "Get Back" and the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?"

He broke out as a solo artist in the 1970s, winning a best instrumental Grammy in 1973 for "Outta Space," and scoring other hits with "Will It Go 'Round In Circles," "Nothing From Nothing" and "With You I'm Born Again," a duet with Syreeta Wright that became a favorite at weddings. He also wrote Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful."

Other career highlights included being a musical guest, in 1975, on the debut of "Saturday Night Live"; having a song named after him, by Miles Davis; and appearing last year on "American Idol." Among his film credits: "Blues Brothers 2000" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

His partnership with the Beatles began in early 1969 when friend George Harrison recruited him to play on "Let It Be," a back-to-basics film and record project that nearly broke down because of bickering among band members. Harrison himself quit at one point, walking out on camera after arguing with Paul McCartney.

Preston not only inspired the Beatles to get along — Harrison likened his effect to a feuding family staying on its best behavior in front of a guest — but contributed a light, bluesy solo to "Get Back," performing the song with the band on its legendary "roof top" concert, the last time the Beatles played live. He was one of many sometimes labeled "The Fifth Beatle," a title he did not discourage.

Preston remained close to Harrison and performed at Harrison's all-star charity event "The Concert for Bangladesh" — for which Preston won another Grammy — and at the "Concert for George," a tribute to Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001. He played on solo records by Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon.

Preston also toured and recorded extensively with the Rolling Stones, playing on such classic albums as "Sticky Fingers" and "Exile on Main Street." In the mid-'70s, he parted from the Stones, reportedly unhappy over not getting proper credit for "Melody" and other songs, but reunited with the band in 1997 on its "Bridges to Babylon" record.

"Billy was a fantastic and gifted musician ... a superb singer in both recording sessions and on stage," Stones singer Mick Jagger said. "He was great fun to be with onstage when touring with us and I will miss him a lot."

His sessions credits included Aretha Franklin's "Young, Gifted and Black," Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" and Sly and the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On," three of the most acclaimed albums of the last 35 years.

"His legacy is so huge I don't even know where to start," Moore said. "It's many genres, so many years. ... It's rock 'n' roll, it's soul, it's funk, it's everything. He was truly, truly, truly a genius."

A Houston native who soon moved to Los Angeles when his parents split up, Preston was in and around show business for much of his life. He was taking piano lessons at age 3 and was just 10 when he played keyboards for gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

Two years later he portrayed a young W.C. Handy_ played as an adult by Nat "King" Cole — in the 1958 biopic "St. Louis Blues." He toured with mentors and fellow piano greats Ray Charles and Little Richard in the early 1960s, first encountering the Beatles while on the road in Germany.

Cole's daughter, singer Natalie Cole, said she appreciated Preston "and his musical genius over the two decades we crossed personal and professional paths," adding: "He is my favorite keyboardist of all times."

Gospel musician Andrae Crouch, whose friendship and musical collaboration with Preston spanned four decades, said he had a knack for knowing how to play a song.

"If I played a new idea, he would know where to put it and in what category," said Crouch, who has performed with Quincy Jones and Elton John. "He was the best keyboard player in the world ... It was like having a harmonica in his mouth. He had that much control over it."

Exposed to drugs and alcohol early on, Preston had numerous personal troubles in recent years. In 1992, he was given a suspended jail sentence, but ordered incarcerated for nine months at a drug rehabilitation center for his no-contest pleas to cocaine and assault charges. Five years later, he was sentenced to three years in prison for violating probation. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and agreed to testify against other defendants in an alleged scam that netted about $1 million.

"It (jail) was a great lesson, an awakening. I needed to reflect, to get rid of some of the dead weight around me," he later said. "You take the bitter with the sweet and I have to say it was my faith that kept me going. I had nothing else to fall back on."
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PostTue Jun 06, 2006 9:08 pm
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reaper wrote:
Not sure if anyone would know this but did Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, X-men, Harry Potter) die? I ask because I've had many people I know tell me that he did however, I had not heard of it and can't find anything on the net that said he died.


No, he's alive and well. He's just one of those actors that looks so old that he always seems on the brink of death. This is a hugely exaggerated rumor, please assist in its demise.
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PostTue Jun 06, 2006 11:56 pm
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TV producer Aaron Spelling dies at 83
By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Aaron Spelling captivated generations of television viewers with shows like "Charlie's Angels" and "Beverly Hills 90210" and left an indelible stamp on American pop culture, but he never won the critical acclaim he sought.

One of the most prolific TV producers in history, Spelling chafed at the lowbrow label critics assigned his many hit series. He called his shows "mind candy" while critics referred to them as "mindless candy."

Spelling died Friday at his Los Angeles mansion after suffering a stroke on June 18, according to publicist Kevin Sasaki. He was 83.

"The knocks by the critics bother you," the man behind "Melrose Place" and "Dynasty" told The Associated Press in a 1986 interview.

"But you have a choice of proving yourself to 300 critics or 30 million fans. ... I think you're also categorized by the critics. If you do something good they almost don't want to like it."

Spelling's other hit series included "Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "Burke's Law," "The Mod Squad," "Starsky and Hutch," "T.J. Hooker," "Matt Houston," "Hart to Hart" and "Hotel." Most recently he produced "7th Heaven" and "Summerland."

He also produced more than 140 television movies. Among the most notable: "Death Sentence" (1974), "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" (1976) and "The Best Little Girl in the World" (1981).

During the 1970s and 1980s, Spelling provided series and movies exclusively for ABC and is credited for the network's rise to major status. Jokesters referred to it as "The Aaron Broadcasting Company."

"Aaron's contributions in television are unequaled. To me, he was a dear friend and a truly genuine human being," Jaclyn Smith, the only original "Charlie's Angels" actress who stayed with the show for its entire run, said in a statement Friday.

Spelling liked to cite some of his more creditable achievements, like "Family" (1976-80), a drama about a middle-class family, and "The Best Little Girl in the World."

Among his prestige films for TV: "Day One" (1989), about the making of the atomic bomb; "And the Band Played On" (1992), based on Randy Shilts' book about the AIDS crisis.

Spelling had arrived in Hollywood virtually penniless in the early 1950s. By the 1980s, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $300 million. He gave his second wife, Candy, a 40-carat diamond ring.

The Spellings' most publicized extravagance was their 56,500-square-foot French chateau in Holmby Hills. The couple bought the former Bing Crosby estate for $10 million and leveled it to the ground, along with two other houses. Construction cost was estimated at $12 million.

Born on April 22, 1923, Spelling grew up in a small house in Dallas "on the wrong side of the tracks," he wrote in his 1996 autobiography. He was the fourth son of immigrant Jews, his father from Poland, mother from Russia.

At 8, he suffered what he termed a nervous breakdown and spent a year in bed. He later considered that period the birth of his creative urge.

Spelling enlisted in the Army Air Corps after graduating from high school in 1942.

After combat and organizing entertainment in Europe during the war, he enrolled at Southern Methodist University, where he wrote and directed plays. He continued working in local theatrics after graduating.

Finding no work in New York, Spelling moved to Los Angeles, where he staged plays and acted in more than 40 TV shows and 12 movies. His skinny frame suited him for the role of a beggar in the MGM musical "Kismet." He worked for three weeks, repeating his one line: "Alms for the love of Allah."

That experience resulted in two decisions: he abandoned acting for the typewriter; he married a young actress he had been courting, Carolyn Jones, who played Morticia in "The Addams Family" series. They divorced after 13 years, and she died of cancer in 1983.

Spelling's friendship with such actor-producers as Dick Powell, Jack Webb and Alan Ladd led to his rapid rise as a prolific writer and later producer of TV series. In 1960, Powell, head of Four Star Productions, hired him to produce shows. "Burke's Law" became the first hit series Spelling created.

After Powell's death, Spelling teamed with Danny Thomas, scoring a huge success with "The Mod Squad." In 1969, Spelling began an exclusive contract with ABC. Former ABC programming chief Leonard Goldberg joined him as partner in 1972.

After ABC canceled "Dynasty" in 1989 and his contract with the network ended, Spelling found himself without a show on the air for the first time since 1960.

"I was so depressed, I would have quit, but I like TV too much," Spelling wrote in his memoir. After a year's respite, he returned with "Beverly Hills 90210," which helped launch the fledgling Fox Network. "Melrose Place" gave Fox another hit.

Throughout his career, Spelling maintained the same image: the skinny frame, slightly hawkish face. He usually posed with a pipe in his mouth, a custom he adopted early after seeing stars with pipes in fan magazine photos.

Spelling and his second wife, Candy, had two children, Tori, who became a star on the two Fox serials, and Randy, who appeared in the short-lived "Malibu Shores."
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PostSat Jun 24, 2006 3:27 pm
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Voice Actor Lennie "Pufnstuf" Weinrib Dies at 71
June 29, 2006

Voice actor Lennie Weinrib, whose most famed role was as the title character in the 1969 live-action series, H.R. PUFNSTUF (which he also co-wrote), died June 28, 2006, at his home in Chile. He was 71 years old.

For his animation career, Weinrib provided the voice for Scooby's impetuous nephew Scrappy-Doo in SCOOBY-DOO AND SCRAPPY-DOO (1979) and THE SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY-DOO PUPPY HOUR (1982). He was also in the voice cast of the first Scooby series, SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU! (1969) and THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES (1972).

Born in the Bronx on April 29, 1935, Weinrib was also a writer, producer and director. He got his start working with Spike Jones and later in the Billy Barnes revues.

Weinrib moved to Chile after marrying a Chilean woman and retiring from show business.

Weinrib first entered the world of cartoons as a voice actor on 1962's THE JETSONS. Additionally, he voiced both title characters in DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' 1968 series ROLAND AND RATTFINK, which also appeared in THE PINK PANTHER LAUGH AND THE HALF HOUR AND HALF SHOW (1976). He also created and wrote the 1970 DFE series DOCTOR DOLITTLE, in which he played Sam Scurvy.

His other roles in animated series included: the title voice in INCH HIGH, PRIVATE EYE (1971); Moonrock in THE PEBBLES AND BAMM-BAMM SHOW (1971) and THE FLINTSTONES COMEDY HOUR (1972); Stanley in THE AMAZING CHAN AND THE CHAN CLAN (1972); Gomez Addams in THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1973); Hi-Riser in WHEELIE AND THE CHOPPER BUNCH (1974); Commissioner Gordon, The Joker, The Penguin and Mr. Freeze in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN (1977); Rattle, The King and Yukayuka in THE C.B. BEARS (1977); Knock-Knock Woodpecker in THE SKATEBIRDS (1977); Dipper in SPACE-STARS (1981); Hunk and Lotor in VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE (1984); Charles and Lenny in KISSYFUR (1985); and Secret Squirrel in WAKE, RATTLE & ROLL (1990) and YO YOGI! (1991).

Weinrib was in the voice casts of HELP! IT'S THE HAIR BEAR BUNCH (1971), HONG KONG PHOOEY (1974), THE NEW TOM & JERRY SHOW (1975), JABBERJAW (1976), DYNOMUTT, DOG WONDER (1978), THE SMURFS (1981), THE KWICKY KOALA SHOW (1981), RAMBO (1986) and SABER RIDER AND THE STAR SHERIFFS (1987).

Weinrib voiced President John F. Kennedy in the hour-long 1970 NBC special UNCLE SAM MAGOO, UPA's last attempt to bring Mr. Magoo to primetime. He was in the 1970 Air Programs International special TALES OF WASHINGTON IRVING and The Count in 1971's THE POINT from Murakami-Wolf Prods. Other roles in animated TV specials were Timer in THE MAGICAL MYSTERY TRIP THROUGH LITTLE RED'S HEAD (1974) and Darzee the Tailorbird in RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI (1975).

From 1977 to 1978, he starred in Magic Mongo, a segment of the live-action The Krofft Supershow.

He had guest roles in numerous live-action TV series, including THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, PETER GUNN, DENNIS THE MENACE, THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, 77 SUNSET STRIP, MY FAVORITE MARTIAN, THE MUNSTERS, BURKE'S LAW, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE, ADAM-12, HAPPY DAYS, THE WALTONS and CHIPS.

His theatrical voice work included Secretary Bird and King Leonidas in Disney's BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971) and Prince Abadaba in BUGS BUNNY'S 3RD MOVIE: 1001 RABBIT TALES (1982).

Weinrib directed the live-action movie musicals BEACH BALL (1965) and WILD, WILD WINTER and OUT OF SIGHT (both 1966).

"At some point in the ‘80s, Lennie got bored and unhappy with the industry," cartoon and comicbook historian Mark Evanier said. "A close, trusted associate cheated him out of more money than some of us will ever see. His mother became very ill and then died, and the stress got to him. Lennie spent the last few decades in Chile, staying in touch with his old friends by phone and Internet. We either spoke or e-mailed almost every day. I'm going to miss that a lot."

Lennie Weinrib is survived by his daughter Linda, who has done voice work in the English versions of anime series.
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PostSat Jul 01, 2006 4:47 am
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Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett dies at home

Syd Barrett, the founding member of Pink Floyd, has died aged 60 at his Cambridgeshire home where he became a recluse 30 years ago. The inspirational guitarist, singer and lyricist founded the band in 1965 and was one of its biggest songwriting talents in the group’s early days. But his behaviour became erratic during the psychedelic drug haze of the 1960s and he split with the band in 1968. He has since lived reclusively in Cambridge.

A spokeswoman for Pink Floyd said: "He died very peacefully a couple of days ago." It has been reported that he died last Friday from complications related to diabetes. A spokesman said: "The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett's death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire."

His brother Alan confirmed his death, saying only: "He died peacefully at home. There will be a private family funeral in the next few days."

Pink Floyd formed in the 1960s and became one of the most successful groups ever, with worldwide album sales of more than 200 million. Known as an album band they had only one No 1 in this country, their iconic hit "Another Brick in the Wall".

Pete Paphides, The Times’s Chief Rock Critic, said that Barrett could be seen in the same context as Van Gogh - a genius who saw things differently to other people.

"He will be remembered fondly and seen as someone who created compellingly disturbing work. He was a troubled, tortured genius who saw the world differently from the rest of us and we will always be intrigued by that... With his two solo albums you get a real sense that he was someone who was processing what he saw and how his senses perceived things in a different way to the rest of us... Technically he was not a great musician but he was a great artist and one of a kind who deserves his iconic status."

Barrett is said to have come up with the name for the band by fusing the names of bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council in 1965. He created Pink Floyd with his old friend Roger Waters, and became a huge star at the age of 21. But he could hardly perform during his final days with the band, because he was taking so much LSD. When his drug-fuelled behaviour became too much, the band drafted in Dave Gilmour as guitarist, and decided not to pick Barrett up for gigs.

The song "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", written by Waters and performed during the band’s 1974 tour, is an appreciation for the contributions Barrett made to the band. It includes the lines "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. Shine on you crazy diamond. now there’s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky".

Gilmour said in an interview earlier this year that he thought that Barrett's breakdown would have happened anyway. He said: "It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it."

After a period of hibernation, Barrett re-emerged in 1970 with a pair of albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, which featured considerable support from his former bandmates.

With increasing psychological problems, Barrett withdrew into near-total reclusion after these albums and never released any more material and rarely appeared in public.

Born Roger Keith Barrett in Cambridge in 1946, he acquired the nickname Syd aged 15.
He left Pink Floyd in 1968, just as the band was about to achieve worldwide recognition, and lived in the basement of his mother Winfred’s semi-detached house where he boarded up the windows to keep out the eyes of both the press and fans.
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PostWed Jul 12, 2006 6:30 am
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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Red Buttons, the carrot-topped burlesque comedian who became a top star in early television and then in a dramatic role won the 1957 Oscar as supporting actor in "Sayonara," died Thursday. He was 87.

Buttons died of vascular disease at his home in the Century City area of Los Angeles, publicist Warren Cowan said. He had been ill for some time, and was with family members when he died, Cowan said.

With his eager manner and rapid-fire wit, Buttons excelled in every phase of show business, from the Borscht Belt of the 1930s to celebrity roasts in the 1990s. He was well known at the latter for his "never got a dinner" routine.

His greatest achievement came with his "Sayonara" role as Sgt. Joe Kelly, the soldier in the post-World War II occupation forces in Japan whose romance with a Japanese woman (Myoshi Umeki, who also won an Academy Award) ends in tragedy.

Josh Logan, who directed the James Michener story that starred Marlon Brando, was at first hesitant to cast a well-known comedian in such a somber role.

"The tests were so extensive that they could just put scenery around them and release the footage as a feature film," Buttons remarked.

Buttons' Academy Award led to other films, both dramas and comedies. They included "Imitation General," "The Big Circus," "Hatari!" "The Longest Day," "Up From the Beach," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" "The Poseidon Adventure," "Gable and Lombard" and "Pete's Dragon."

A performer since his teens, Buttons was noticed by burlesque theater owners and he became the youngest comic on the circuit. He had graduated to small roles on Broadway before being drafted in 1943.

Along with dozens of other future stars, including Mario Lanza, John Forsythe, Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb, Buttons was enlisted for "Winged Victory," the play that famed director-playwright Moss Hart created for the Air Force. Buttons also appeared in the 1944 film version, directed by George Cukor.

Discharged in 1946, Buttons returned to nightclub and theater work. In 1952, CBS signed him for a weekly show as the network's answer to NBC's Milton Berle.

"The Red Buttons Show" was first broadcast on CBS October 14, 1952, without a sponsor since the star was virtually unknown. Within a month, the show became a solid hit and advertisers were clamoring.

Buttons drew on all his past experience for monologues, songs, dances and sketches featuring such characters as a punch-drunk fighter, a scrappy street kid, a Sad Sack GI and a blundering German. The hit of the show was a silly song in which he pranced about the stage singing, "Ho! Ho! ... He! He! ... Ha! Ha! ... Strange things are happening!" It became a national craze.

After a sensational first season, "The Red Buttons Show" began to slide. Reports circulated that the star had fits of temper and frequently fired writers, and the show ended after three seasons.

"Certainly I made mistakes, and mistakes were made for me," he said in 1960. "When you go into TV cold, as I did, it's murder."
'The only Yiddish leprechaun'

While the failure was a severe blow to the normally optimistic comedian, he soon recovered and resumed his career as a guest star on TV shows. A straight role on "Suspense" brought him to the attention of Logan, who cast him for the career-making "Sayonara."

In 1966, Buttons starred in another series, "The Double Life of Henry Phyfe," as a humble accountant enlisted as a government spy. The show lasted only six months.

Over the years Buttons remained a steady performer on television, appearing on such series as "Knots Landing," "Roseanne" and "ER." He also took his act on the road, appearing at Las Vegas, Atlantic City, conventions, and returning to his beginnings in the Catskills.

Still in good health at 76 ("They call me the only Yiddish leprechaun"), he appeared in New York in 1995 with an autobiographical one-man show, "Buttons on Broadway."

It was his first Broadway show since 1948, when he appeared in a play with the unfortunate title of "Hold It." One critic, Buttons recalled, began his review: " 'Hold It?' Fold it."

Buttons was born Aaron Chwatt on February 15, 1919, son of an immigrant milliner, in a tough Manhattan neighborhood where, he once said, "you either grew up to be a judge or you went to the electric chair."

He struggled through schools in Manhattan and the Bronx -- "Mom and Pop went to school as often as I did; they should have graduated with me." He started performing at the age of 12, winning an amateur contest singing "Sweet Jenny Brown" in a sailor's suit.

At 16 he was working as a singer and bellhop in a gin mill on New York's City Island. Since all bellhops were called Buttons and Chwatt had red hair, he got his new name.

During his summer vacation, he worked as a singer on the Borscht Circuit -- the string of Catskills resorts catering to a largely Jewish clientele where Danny Kaye, Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks, Hart and others trained for stardom.

In later years, Buttons became a favorite at testimonial/roast dinners with his roaringly funny "Never got a dinner" routine. He cited famous figures who had never been so honored.

Examples: "Abe Lincoln, who said 'A house divided is a condominium,' never got a dinner"; "(Perennial presidential candidate) Jerry Brown, whose theme song is `California, Here I Go,' never got a dinner." (When he did "Buttons on Broadway," he altered the routine and named people who never did one-man shows.)

In 1982, Red Buttons finally got a dinner. The Friars Club honored him with a star-filled roast and a life-achievement award.

"When I was a kid in the Bronx and watching and dreaming from the second balcony," the guest of honor said, "in my wildest imagination I couldn't have written this scenario tonight."

Buttons was married and divorced twice in his early career. He is survived by his third wife, Alicia, their children, Amy and Adam, and a sister.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

from cnn.com
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