Celebrity Deaths

[valdez]

James Gandolfini gone at age 51.

Nooooo. Not Tony.

     He also delivered the classic "no more mister nice guy" line in True Romance.
 

[UnscreenedCaller]

Genuinely shocking and sad news. He will be missed. Way too young to die.

[Eddie Coyle]

 
        Wow, I know he wasn't in the greatest shape...but I'm still absolutely shocked by this.

[MV/Liberace!]

James Gandolfini gone at age 51.

what the fuck.

[Sardondi]

James Gandolfini gone at age 51.

What!? Oh that is such a shame. Particularly since it is Tony Soprano which will forever define him. I'm sure Gandolfini felt conflicted by that role, at once liberating and empowering, but at the same time his excellence in it restricted and confined him, perhaps even fitted him to be forever typecast. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a love-hate thing with Tony Soprano going on. But he did take an entire genre and redefine it for us with his incredibly powerful but still finely nuanced and subtle performances.

*edit* Weird quote (if it's accurate) from Tony "Paulie Walnuts" Sirico at "Deadline Hollywood": "Tony was one of my best friends in life, he was there whenever I needed him. Not only did he help me with my career, but also in life, god bless  him. He and I were always helping the troops, we even went to combat zones to visit the Marines. He will be missed." Surely he didn't refer to James Gandolfini as "Tony". I'm betting that's a misprint, typo or misquote.

[Eddie Coyle]

What!? Oh that is such a shame. Particularly since it is Tony Soprano which will forever define him. I'm sure Gandolfini felt conflicted by that role, at once liberating and empowering, but at the same time his excellence in it restricted and confined him, perhaps even fitted him to be forever typecast. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a love-hate thing with Tony Soprano going on. But he did take an entire genre and redefine it for us with his incredibly powerful but still finely nuanced and subtle performances.

Definitely a victim of Archie Bunker-syndrome, with such an iconic, defining role that no matter what roles he played...he'll always be Tony Soprano to many people. I remember a local DJ interviewing him in 2000 and he seemed to be elated that the DJ talked about Gandolfini's roles in True Romance, Get Shorty and A Civil Action. Seemed happy that somebody seemed to notice/appreciate him before the Sopranos.

            *My thoughtful brother in law just declared "guess there's no Sopranos movie, now". Cynical me responds "no, now you can be sure there is one". I always assumed Gandolfini was the guy most opposed to a film.

[The General]

Country 'music' star and infomercial pioneer Slim Whitman dead at 90.

RIP Slim Whitman.
I love his music.

[MV/Liberace!]

wow.  yet another example... if you are a celebrity of advanced age or declining health and you pass randomly into my thoughts for any measurable amount of time, you will die within a month.  the two most recent examples of this happening are annette funicello and allan arbus.

on the death of james gandolfini...


just last month i decided to plow through the entire sopranos series.  now gandolfini's dead.


based on the vandeven death curse and what i know about it, i'll make a prediction:
i've started watching seinfeld a lot recently.  one of the funniest people on that goddam show was wayne knight.





as i was watching yesterday, i got to thinking about some of knight's roles (jurassic park comes to mind first) and how hilarious he is to watch.  this, unfortunately, means he's toast.  hope i'm wrong... but this is the only way i can prove the vandeven death curse exists.

[Sardondi]

...based on the vandeven death curse and what i know about it, i'll make a prediction:
i've started watching seinfeld a lot recently.  one of the funniest people on that goddam show was wayne knight....

as i was watching yesterday, i got to thinking about some of knight's roles (jurassic park comes to mind first) and how hilarious he is to watch.  this, unfortunately, means he's toast.  hope i'm wrong... but this is the only way i can prove the vandeven death curse exists.

Not to deprive you of naming privileges, but if Wayne Knight kicks, perhaps this should be the Vandelay Curse?

[MV/Liberace!]

Not to deprive you of naming privileges, but if Wayne Knight kicks, perhaps this should be the Vandelay Curse?

i fail to see how a company as reputable as vandelay industries would want their name attached to such a thing.  i'll take the hit.  for the team.

[Sardondi]

i fail to see how a company as reputable as vandelay industries would want their name attached to such a thing.  i'll take the hit.  for the team.

You are in so much trouble now: you have waked the wife up with my howling laughter, and I'm giving your ass up.

[MV/Liberace!]

You are in so much trouble now: you have waked the wife up with my howling laughter, and I'm giving your ass up.

heh heh, awesome.  it's interesting and humorous to me that when you boil this down, it means:  if i use my fingers to push the buttons of this plastic thing on my desk in the right order and in the right amount, the wife of a man i've never met will be jolted from bed a thousand miles away.  welcome to "the future."

[Juan]

Bobby "Blue" Bland - dead at 83.

Bobby Bland-Stormy Monday Blues "www.getbluesinfo.com"

[ItsOver]

....based on the vandeven death curse and what i know about it, i'll make a prediction:
i've started watching seinfeld a lot recently.  one of the funniest people on that goddam show was wayne knight.

Wow... that's scary, "not that there's anything wrong with that."    I've recently gotten into the habit of getting a daily dose of Seinfeld during the TBS broadcasts.  You're dead on, so to speak, about Knight. My favorite episodes are when he was teamed up with Richards.  Insanity is just around the corner.

[Morgus]

Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend, dies at 86

We lost a legend today. Writer Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend and a ton of other great works, passed away at the age of 86. From movies to books to television â€" he’s done it all. And done it well.
Matheson's daughter Ali Marie announced his passing in a private Facebook post :>My beloved father passed away yesterday at home surrounded by the people and things he loved…he was funny, brilliant, loving, generous, kind, creative, and the most wonderful father ever…I miss you and love you forever Pop and I know you are now happy and healthy in a beautiful place full of love and joy you always knew was there…On the literary front, Matheson is best known for writing the aforementioned I Am Legend, Stir of Echoes, The Shrinking Man, What Dreams May Come and Hell House â€" but he's been writing since the early '50s and never stopped. His last novel, Generations, was published in 2012.
His short stories have also inspired a few feature films, including his 1970 story “Button, Button” (reimagined as a Twilight Zone ep, as well as 2009’s The Box) and “Real Steel” from 1956, which turned into Hugh Jackman’s metal-kicking boxing flick of the same name in 2011.
Matheson has been a force in sci-fi for decades, and in addition to his myriad novels and movie credits, also cut his teeth writing some of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes produced, including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “Steel” and “Little Girl Lost.” Even cooler? He also wrote the Star Trek: Original Series episode “The Enemy Within,” which featured good vs. evil versions of Capt. Kirk.
Matheson has been making great sci-fi for longer than most fans have been alive, and even if you’ve never gotten into any of his works, he’s almost certainly had an effect on someone you do like. Stephen King cites him as “ the author who influenced [him] most as a writer,” and some of his work on The Twilight Zone is groundbreaking stuff that paved the way for all the smart, serious sci-fi we enjoy today.
R.I.P. â€" you will be missed.

[ItsOver]

Matheson was definitely a legend.  "I Am Legend" is in my book collection.  Even though it has some cheesy Italian production values, "The Last Man on Earth," with another legend, Vincent Price, was the best movie version.  I believe Romero's mentioned "The Last Man on Earth" as an inspiration for "Night of the Living Dead."  Just like Art, there's nothing better than the originals.


I wonder if Noory will mention Matheson passing on tonight's show?

[PB the Deplorable]

Matheson was definitely a legend.  "I Am Legend" is in my book collection.  Even though it has some cheesy Italian production values, "The Last Man on Earth," with another legend, Vincent Price, was the best movie version.  I believe Romero's mentioned "The Last Man on Earth" as an inspiration for "Night of the Living Dead."  Just like Art, there's nothing better than the originals.


I wonder if Noory will mention Matheson passing on tonight's show?

Maybe - now that he's read it on CoastGab.

'Omega Man' starring Charleton Heston  is one of the movies based on 'I Am Legend'.

[Sardondi]

Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend, dies at 86 ...

I had thought that Phillip K. Dick was the author of Legend. I'm glad it was someone stable, with a normal, recognizable personal life like Matheson, and not that complete nut job, Dick.

...Even though it has some cheesy Italian production values, "The Last Man on Earth," with another legend, Vincent Price, was the best movie version.  I believe Romero's mentioned "The Last Man on Earth" as an inspiration for "Night of the Living Dead."  Just like Art, there's nothing better than the originals....

I enjoyed Last Man, which was much closer to the original story than the Will Smith movie.

[ItsOver]

...I enjoyed Last Man, which was much closer to the original story than the Will Smith movie.

The Will Smith abortion... speaking of third rate actors and CGI.     Smith should have just stuck with singing about Miami.


Loved  "The Last Man on Earth" as a kid.  People knocking on the front door have always made me nervous.

[ItsOver]

Maybe - now that he's read it on CoastGab.

'Omega Man' starring Charleton Heston  is one of the movies based on 'I Am Legend'.

... or maybe Tommy will notice and wake-up Noory.      Yes, "Omega Man" is another.  Heston is good but Vincent is the man when it comes to horror, IMO.  Even with "Planet of the Apes," Heston usually brings "Ben Hur" or "The Ten Commandments" to my mind.  I sure wish Hollywood still had some Prices and Hestons, instead of third rate actors alongside CGI cartoons.  

[b_dubb]

'Omega Man' starring Charleton Heston  is one of the movies based on 'I Am Legend'.

Omega Man is worth watching if only for the scene where Chuck decides to fire wildly into a building while cruising LA in a Cadillac convertible

[West of the Rockies]

Matheson also wrote Bid Time Return (better know by it's motion-picture name, Somewhere in Time) -- a bit of an Art Bell influence, eh?  Yes, he was one of the modern sci-fi behemoths.  I know this is almost blasphemous to some, but I think his writing was superior to Asimov's (who wrote over 400 books in a 50 year span -- that's 8 per year, not the sort of writing that is great for things like descriptive detail and character development).  Matheson created convincing, engaging characters.  He could write effective female characters as well, something that does evade a lot of male sci-fi fantasy writers I've noticed.

[Morgus]

Remember Richard Matheson by watching 16 classic Twilight Zone episodes:
http://www.blastr.com/2013-6-25/remember-richard-matheson-watching-16-classic-twilight-zone-eps-free

A big part of the Richard Matheson legend comes from his storied TV career.The late, great genre writer composed dozens of novels and hundreds of short stories in his more than six-decade career, not to mention numerous screenplays, but he also gave us some of the finest genre television of the 20th century, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the 16 episodes he contributed to Rod Serling's iconic series The Twilight Zone.
Among Matheson's contributions to the series are tales of a pair of scientists trying to escape Earth ("Third from the Sun"), a writer who can make anything he says reality ("A World of His Own"), a father haunted by a daughter he can't find ("Little Girl Lost") and a world where robots do all the boxing ("Steel"). There's also, of course, the legendary "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," the William Shatner-led episode that's become one of the most famous and acclaimed chapters in Twilight Zone history. And lucky for you, you can watch them all, as well as the rest of the series, right now.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

I just found out that Mystery/SciFi/Fantasy writer Jack Vance died on May 26, 2013.


Vance had some terrible stories, but also some very original and creative stories. A very enjoyable author.
The most Vancian story I can think of is the Moon Moth (a 20 page short story)-which features his trademark of interacting with weird societies and alien customs. Scifi up until then had been about aliens that were pretty much like us-but they were part cat, had pointy ears and focused on science, or where Ghengis Khan's horde in space with Birds of Prey.
Vance went out and wrote very alien aliens. Anti-heroes as well.


Links:
Obituary in the Oakland Tribune


Obituary in the New York Times


A summary of the tropes and themes explored by Vance at the tvtrope wiki.


"Awesome McCoolname: Jack Vance. Seriously."

[Eddie Coyle]

         Dennis Farina dead at 69.

         Shit, yesterday, I was just doing my impression of his yelling at Phillip Baker Hall in Midnight Run. "This fuckin' phone"

[Sardondi]

         Dennis Farina dead at 69.
         Shit, yesterday, I was just doing my impression of his yelling at Phillip Baker Hall in Midnight Run. "This fuckin' phone"

Ah, man. One of the greatest movie/tv cops/wiseguys who ever was. As good at comedy as he was straight drama. The real goods.

[Eddie Coyle]

Ah, man. One of the greatest movie/tv cops/wiseguys who ever was. As good at comedy as he was straight drama. The real goods.

Captured the simian "essence" of Angelo Buono in the 1989 TV-movie "The Hillside Stranglers" as well. And his background as a cop always lent a certain authenticity to his tough guy persona. This wasn't a guy doing Shakespeare in the Park in the East Village in 1968 or performing in a stage production of "Fortune and Men's Eyes" before being discovered.

[HorrorRetro]

         Captured the simian "essence" of Angelo Buono in the 1989 TV-movie "The Hillside Stranglers" as well.

Oh, yeah, he was really good in that.

[awguy]

         Dennis Farina dead at 69.

         Shit, yesterday, I was just doing my impression of his yelling at Phillip Baker Hall in Midnight Run. "This fuckin' phone"

How bad is this, I only know Dennis Farina as the host of Unsolved Mysteries when it made a come back on Spike-TV a few years ago.

[Eddie Coyle]

How bad is this, I only know Dennis Farina as the host of Unsolved Mysteries when it made a come back on Spike-TV a few years ago.

You're not alone. A few of my relatives today didn't really know anything he did outside of Law and Order.

Oh, yeah, he was really good in that.

Back when Network TV-movies were still good, and before this cheapo straight to DVD glut of "fact based serial killer" movies popped up. Mark Harmon as Ted Bundy, Brian Dennehy as John Wayne Gacy, Steve Railsback as Manson.