The world today is a little less funny and far more serious than it needs to be.
FTANG! favorite George Carlin has died of heart failure. He was 71.
What can FTANG! say that numerous other sites and people haven't already said about this ground-breaking and genuinely funny individual? He was a classic. A true classic. Your humor will be sorely missed. Thank you for all the laughs, George.
Comedian Dody Goodman has died at 93 after having been ill for some time.
She is best known for playing the mother on the soap-opera parody "Mary Hartman,Mary Hartman." Goodman also appeared in such popular films as "Grease" and "Grease 2," playing Blanche, the principal's assistant, and in "Splash."
There's been a spate of celebrity deaths lately, hasn't there? Cyd Charisse, a former co-star of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, has died after suffering an apparent heart attack. She was 86.
While most people probably don't know the name, you definitely know his creations. Oscar-winning special effects wizard, Stan Winston, has died at the age of 62.
Winston created the creatures that featured in such classic films as Jurassic Park, Terminator and Aliens.
The film veteran had been battling multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer, for seven years. He had worked with Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Tim Burton.
Quite frankly, there was a shocking death in the world of broadcast journalism today! NBC News’ Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, has died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 58!
He was also the moderator of “Meet the Press.” Russert was recording voiceovers for this Sunday’s program when he collapsed.
Among his many other duties, he hosted 'Tim Russert', a weekly interview program on MSNBC. He was also a frequent correspondent and guest on other news programs, such as The Today Show and Hardball. He co-hosted the network's presidential Election Night coverage.
In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Television sportscaster and "Wide World of Sports" host Jim McKay has died of natural causes. He was 86.
FTANG! fondly remembers his voice-over for the sports program that ran immediately after all the Saturday morning cartoons were finished. Here's the opening:
Mel Ferrer, actor, producer, director and former husband of Audrey Hepburn has died. He was 90. He had been in failing health for the past six months.
(OK... even FTANG! must admit it barely knows who this guy is... but it meets the parameters for a celebrity death notice.)
Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Bo Diddley has died of heart failure. He was 79.
Diddley was a contemporary of Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley.
Diddley was born Ellas Bates McDaniel in McComb, Mississippi. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in January 1987.
Here's a great clip of Bo. Who put the rock in Rock N Roll?
BO DIDDLEY PUT THE ROCK IN ROCK N ROLL!
Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has died in Paris following a long illness. He was 71.
Comedian, television star, film actor, Chicagoan, and Super-"C" grade Celebrity, Harvey Korman, has died after complications to the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm he suffered four months ago. He was 81.
His most memorable film role was as the outlandish Hedy Hedley Lamarr in Mel Brooks' 1974 Western satire, "Blazing Saddles."
"A world without Harvey Korman -- it's a more serious world," Brooks said. "It was very dangerous for me to work with him because if our eyes met we'd crash to the floor in comic ecstasy. It was comedy heaven to make Harvey Korman laugh."
Brooks described Korman as a "dazzling" comic talent.
"You could get rock-solid comedy out of him. He could lift the material. He always made it real, always made it work, always believed in characters he was doing," he said.
"He fought until the very end. He didn't want to die. He fought for months and months," said Kate Korman, his daughter.
Rather than post any number of Blazing Saddle clips featuring Harvey's performance as Hedy Hedley Lamarr... here’s two brief minutes of Harvey as Count de Monet in "History of the World Part 1."
Don’t get saucy with me, Bernaise!
Luc Bourdon, a promising rookie defenseman with the Vancouver Canucks, was killed in a motorcycle crash near his hometown. He was 21. Police reports indicate that Bourdon lost control of his motorcycle before hitting a tractor-trailer.
Celebrity two-fer on Memorial Day. Earle Hagen, who composed memorable themes for "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad" and other TV shows, died after having been in ill health for several months. He was 88. Hagen is the voice heard whistling the tune for "The Andy Griffith Show
Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, who achieved commercial and critical success with the gender-bending comedy "Tootsie" and the period drama (as well as FTANG! fave) "Out of Africa, has died of cancer. He was 73.
Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team that created "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" has died of respiratory complications. He was 86.
John Phillip Law, who portrayed an angel in "Barbarella" has died. He was 70.
He also portrayed Sinbad in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" starring opposite future Doctor Who Tom Baker and future Professional Martin Shaw.
And he starred in what would become the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 classic "Diabolik."
One of the founding fathers of country music, Eddy Arnold, died at the age of 89 at an assisted living facility. Billboard Magazine ranked Arnold (aka The Tennessee Plowboy) the number one country artist of all time.
Cartoonist Ted Key, whose comic strip "Hazel" about a bossy maid, has died after a 1-1/2-year battle with cancer. He was 95.
"Hazel" was a popular feature in The Saturday Evening Post from the time it debuted in 1943. It also evolved into a prime-time television series in 1961 and ran for four years on NBC and one year on CBS.
Key also created the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman for producer Jay Ward. The time-traveling dog/scientist and his pet boy made their TV debuts in 1959 in segments on the animated show "Rocky and His Friends."
Very small ‘c’ celebrity - but known to Classic (Doctor Who) Series fans - actor Bernard Archard has died at the age of 91.
