Celeb (and Celeb SO's) Obit Thread

[number8]

RIP Sho'Nuff.

[Saya]

Dr. Dre's 20 year old son found dead

[Watashi]

"Movie Trailer Voiceover Guy" Don LaFontaine is dead at 68.

[Morris Schæffer]

"Movie Trailer Voiceover Guy" Don LaFontaine is dead at 68.

Noo!

He was awesome! Did he do The Rock and Con Air?

"It was supposed to be a routine transfer."

"Secrets have a way of coming back to haunt you."

[Morris Schæffer]

A lesser known actor:

Jerry Reed Is Dead
Burt Reynolds' Smokey sidekick was 71
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a day when the film industry lost one of its finest voices, comes more sad news. Jerry Reed, the country western singer turned actor, has died aged 71.

Although primarily a singer/songwriter, Reed was perhaps best known to movie audiences for his appearances alongside Burt Reynolds in the Smokey And The Bandit movies. Reed played Cledus Snow, aka The Snowman, and proved so popular that he assumed the mantle of The Bandit when Reynolds declined to return for Smokey And The Bandit Part 3.

Born Jerry Reed Hubbard in 1937, Reed had his first real success with the self-penned song, Guitar Man, which Elvis Presley famously re-recorded (with Reed on guitar), but it wasn’t until the 1970s that he became a recording artiste of some note.

A close friend of Burt Reynolds, Reed appeared in W.W. And The Dixie Dancekings in 1974 and then Gator in 1976. A couple of Reynolds-free films followed, before Smokey And The Bandit came calling in 1977, with the sequel in 1980. As a sign of gratitude, Reynolds gave him a black Trans-am – just like the one from the movies.

After that, and after his lead turn in Part 3, Reed’s movie career – which you always felt was more of a hobby for him - faded away, although he did play the bad guy in Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy in 1998.

He died early on Monday of complications arising from emphysema.
Chris Hewitt

[Boner M]

RIP David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace, the novelist, essayist and humorist best known for his 1996 tome "Infinite Jest," was found dead last night at his home in Claremont, according to the Claremont Police Department. He was 46.

Jackie Morales, a records clerk at the Claremont Police Department, said Wallace's wife called police at 9:30 p.m. Friday saying she had returned home to find her husband had hanged himself.

Wallace won a cult following for his dark humor and ironic wit, which was on display in such books as "Girl with Curious Hair" and "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." In 1997, he received a MacArthur "genius" grant.

Born in Ithaca, New York, Wallace was teaching writing at Pomona College.

[NickGlass]

David Foster Wallace dead at 46; suicide

I was just about to post this. Certainly shocking--and disheartening--news.

[Derek]

RIP David Foster Wallace

Crazy. He was one talented dude and one of the funniest writers I've come across. Loved A Supposedly Fun Thing I'd Never Do Again and, to a lesser degree, Broom of the System. I actually just bought Infinite Jest two weeks ago.

[Milky Joe]

oh my fucking god.

...

That's pretty close to being the worst possible news I could have ever gotten. My favorite author by far. I read him every day.

[Watashi]

He hanged himself? People still do that?

Anyway, I picked up Infinite Jest while working at Borders and read a few pages. Way too verbose for me. It was like reading a different language.

[Boner M]

Anyway, I picked up Infinite Jest while working at Borders and read a few pages. Way too verbose for me. It was like reading a different language.

Always the best way to digest a novel.

[Milky Joe]

Apologies for the length, but he was not a man of few words.

[

Show Spoiler

"All right, now we're coming to what I promised and led you through the whole dull synopsis of what led up to this in hopes of. Meaning what it's like to die, what happens. Right? This is what everyone wants to know. And you do, trust me. Whether you decide to go through with it or not, whether I somehow talk you out of it the way you think I'm going to try to do or not. It's not what anyone thinks, for one thing. The truth is you already know what it's like. You already know the difference between the size and speed of everything that flashes through you and the tiny inadequate bit of it all you can ever let anyone know. As though inside you is this enormous room full of what seems like everything in the whole universe at one time or another and yet the only parts that get out have to somehow squeeze out through one of those tiny keyholes you see under the knob in older doors. As if we are all trying to see each other through these tiny keyholes.

But it does have a knob, the door can open. But not in the way you think. But what if you could? Think for a second--what if all the infinitely dense and shifting worlds of stuff inside you every moment of your life turned out now to be somehow fully open and expressible afterward, after what you think of as you has died, because what if afterward now each moment itself is an infinite sea or span of passage of time in which to express it or convey it, and you don't even need any organized English, you can as they say open the door and be in anyone else's room in all your own multiform forms and ideas and facets? Because listen--we don't have much time, here's where Lily Cache slopes slightly down and the banks start getting steep, and you can just make out the outlines of the unlit sign for the farmstand that's never open anymore, the last sign before the bridge--so listen: What exactly do you think you are? The millions and trillions of thoughts, memories, juxtapositions--even crazy ones like this, you're thinking--that flash through your head and disappear? Some sum or remainder of these? Your history? Do you know how long it's been since I told you I was a fraud?"

]

[origami_mustache]

"...famed Japanese pop singer and director Nagi Noda recently passed away due to complications during surgery for injuries she sustained in a traffic accident last year. She was only 35. Known for her quirky music videos, bizarre short films (involving weird poodle people and other anthropomorphic creatures), and the amazing album covers she designed, Noda will be sorely missed by the international art community, which can only wonder what more amazing weirdness she would have come up with in the years to come."

[shaun]

Yeah, sorry for her death and all but that picture creeps me out. A lot.

[NickGlass]

Yeah, sorry for her death and all but that picture creeps me out. A lot.

Are those tumors?

[Derek]

Yeah, sorry for her death and all but that picture creeps me out. A lot.

Psh, try watching the actual video. One of the most quietly terrifying things I've ever seen. RIP Ms. Noda.

[number8]

Paul Newman. RIP. :cry:

[Spinal]

Levi Stubbs has died. With all due respect to The Four Tops, for me, he will always be the voice of Audrey II.

[Saya]

'Dolemite' Comedian Rudy Ray Moore Dies at 71

Comedian Rudy Ray Moore, better known as "Dolemite", reportedly died on Sunday at the age of 71 from diabetes complications, according to media reports.

The death of Moore was first reported by EURweb and the site claims to have been informed of the news by comedienne Luenell, a friend of the Moore family.

Moore, whose actual name was Rudolph Frank Moore, is perhaps best known as "Dolemite," the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, "The Human Tornado."

Rudy Ray Moore was also known as the "king of the party records" and released several comedy records during the 1960s and 1970s. His style is considered to be even more rude and explicit than contemporaries like Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.

In 2008 Rudy Ray Moore reprised the character Petey Wheatstraw for the song "I live for the Funk" which featured Blowfly and Daniel Jordan.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=7T2ZTflx64U

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz5T93lJ6jQ

[Kurosawa Fan]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

:cry:

[origami_mustache]

Alton Ellis died a few days ago too



I'm Still In Love With You

[number8]

Michael Crichton. He was 66.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Wow. That was a very private illness. R.I.P.

[bac0n]

It saddens me that Studs Terkel has passed. He was such a great interview. Such a bright, vibrant man, even, nay, especially in old age. I can only hope to age that well.

[Benny Profane]

Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, dead at 62. RIP.