Recent...

Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, best known for hosting American television's longest-running variety show, American Bandstand, from 1957 to 1987. He also hosted the game show Pyramid and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted Times Square's New Year's Eve celebrations worldwide.

As host of American Bandstand, with his strong communication skills, he was a "primary force in legitimizing rock and roll," not only to teenagers, but also to America's adult population. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, the Talking Heads, and Simon & Garfunkel. His shows were among the first where blacks and whites performed on the same stage and the live audience seating was desegregated. Singer Paul Anka claims that his show was responsible for creating a "youth culture," and due to his youthful appearance, Clark was often referred to as "America's oldest teenager".

As a successful businessperson, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, part of which he sold late in his life. He also founded the American Bandstand Diner, a restaurant chain modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe. Beginning in 1973, he created and produced the annual American Music Awards show, similar to the Grammy Awards.

Clark suffered a massive stroke in December 2004. With speech ability still impaired, Clark returned to his New Year's Rockin' Eve show on December 31, 2005/January 1, 2006. Subsequently, he appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, and every New Year's Rockin' Eve show through the 2011/2012 show. Clark died on April 18, 2012, after suffering a heart attack following a medical procedure.


Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band.

Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative drumming style highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", "Ophelia" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". His 2007 comeback album Dirt Farmer earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #91 in the list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2010, Electric Dirt, his 2009 follow-up to Dirt Farmer, won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, an inaugural category in 2010. In 2011, his live album Ramble at the Ryman was nominated for the Grammy in the same category and won.

On April 17, 2012, his wife and daughter announced on Helm's website that he was "in the final stages of his battle with cancer" and thanked fans while requesting prayers. Two days later, Helm died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City

APRIL 16...Teddy Charles, 84, American jazz musician and composer
APRIL 15...Paul Bogart, 92, American Emmy Award-winning television director (All in the Family), natural causes.

ROBIN GIBB

Robin Hugh Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He was best known as a member of the Bee Gees, co-founded with his fraternal twin brother Maurice and older brother Barry. He had another younger brother, Andy Gibb, who was a popular solo singer.

Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the family later moved to Manchester before settling in Brisbane, Australia. Gibb began his career as part of the family trio and when the group found their first success they returned to the United Kingdom where they achieved worldwide fame. In 2004, the Bee Gees received their CBEs from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace for their "contribution to music".

With record sales estimated in excess of 200 million units, the Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups of all time. Music historian Paul Gambaccini described Gibb as "one of the major figures in the history of British music" and "one of the best white soul voices ever".

After a career spanning six decades, Gibb last performed on stage in February 2012 supporting injured British servicemen and women at a charity concert at the London Palladium. On 20 May 2012, Gibb died at the age of 62 from colorectal cancer

Richard Dawson (November 20, 1932 – June 2, 2012) was an English-born American actor, comedian, game show host and panelist in the United States. He was best known for his role as Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes, being the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976–1985 and 1994–1995, and for being a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS from 1973 to 1978.

Early life and careerDawson was born as Colin Lionel Emm in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on November 20, 1932 to an American father and English mother. At the age of 14 he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become Richard Dawson. This name he would later officially legalize. In the course of his career in comedy Dawson is known to have played the London Palladium.

In 1963, Dawson appeared in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the role of dapper Brit entertainer "Racy Tracy" Rattigan. He played a British soldier in the 1962 film The Longest Day. In 1965, Dawson had a small role at the end of the film King Rat, starring George Segal, playing 1st Recon paratrooper Captain Weaver, sent to liberate allied POWs in a Japanese prison. Having married British sex symbol Diana Dors, Dawson moved to Los Angeles, California, where he gained fame in the television show Hogan's Heroes as Cpl. Peter Newkirk. The war-related sitcom was one of the highest-rated shows on television during its six-year run from 1965 to 1971.

During the run of Hogan's Heroes, Dawson introduced sitcom costar Bob Crane (a long-time photography enthusiast) to John Henry Carpenter, who worked with the video department at Sony Electronics and had access to early video tape recorders. In later years, Carpenter, who photographed some of Crane's sexual escapades with various women, would be implicated in but acquitted of Crane's murder.

In 1967, Dawson released a psychedelic 45rpm single including the songs "His Children's Parade" and "Apples & Oranges" on Carnation Records. In 1968, Dawson was in the film The Devil's Brigade, as Private Hugh McDonald. Dawson and Dors eventually divorced, and he gained custody of both their children, Gary and Mark. Immediately following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes, Dawson performed as a regular on the popular NBC variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In from 1971 to 1973 and would also be a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1973 to 1974. Dawson also portrayed a theater director in the first season of McCloud and appeared as a panelist on the 1972–73 syndicated revival of I've Got a Secret.

After Laugh-In left the airwaves in 1973, game show pioneer Mark Goodson signed Dawson to appear as a regular on Match Game '73, alongside Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and host Gene Rayburn. Dawson, who had already served a year as panelist for Goodson's revival of I've Got a Secret, proved to be a solid and funny gameplayer and was the frequent choice of contestants for the "Head-To-Head Match" portion of the show's "Super-Match" bonus round, in which, after winning prize money in the "Audience Match" portion, the contestant and Dawson (or any celebrity the contestant chose) had to obtain an exact match to the requested fill-in-the-blank.

Dawson's position on the panel was the lower middle seat, directly below fellow regular Somers.

Dawson hosted a one-season syndicated revival of Masquerade Party in 1974; the program featured regular panelists Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell. Produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall (of Let's Make a Deal fame), the programme was not popular enough to warrant a second season.

In 1975, during his tenure as one of Match Game's regular panelists, Dawson was hired by Mark Goodson to host an upcoming project titled Family Feud, which debuted on 12 July 1976, on ABC's daytime schedule. Unlike his flop with Masquerade Party, Family Feud was a breakout hit, eventually surpassing the ratings of Match Game in late 1977. In 1978 he left Match Game and won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud.

One of his trademarks, kissing all the female contestants, was one of the things that made the show appear to be a warm and friendly program, and he soon garnered the nickname The Kissing Bandit. On the 1985 finale Dawson explained that he kissed contestants for love and luck, something his mother did with Dawson himself as a child.

In 1983, Dawson made an appearance on Mama's Family as himself, hosting an episode of Family Feud where the Harpers play as contestants (reuniting him with former Match Game co-panelists Betty White and Vicki Lawrence). After Dawson became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1984 he proudly showed his passport and photo during the introduction of an episode of Family Feud.

Dawson continued hosting the Feud until both editions were canceled; the ABC Daytime edition on June 14, 1985 and the syndicated edition three months later on September 13, 1985.

Dawson parodied his TV persona in 1987 by co-starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action film The Running Man, in which he portrayed the evil, egotistical game-show host Damon Killian. Of Dawson's performance film critic Roger Ebert (who gave the film itself thumbs down) wrote, "Playing a character who always seems three-quarters drunk, Dawson chain-smokes his way through backstage planning sessions and then pops up in front of the cameras as a cauldron of false jollity. Working the audience, milking the laughs and the tears, he is not really much different than most genuine game show hosts — and that's the film's private joke."

Dawson hosted an unsold pilot for a revival of the classic game show You Bet Your Life that was to air on NBC in 1988, but the network declined to pick up the show, which would go on to attempt two more failed revivals with hosts Buddy Hackett and Bill Cosby. On 12 September 1994, Dawson returned to the syndicated edition of Family Feud, replacing Ray Combs for what became the final season of the show's official second run (1988–1995).

On Dawson's first show upon his return he received a 25-second standing ovation when he walked on set. Afterwards he said, "If you do too much of that, I won't be able to do a show for you because I'll cry." During the revival, he did not kiss the female contestants, because of a commitment he made with his wife and daughter. The final episode aired on 26 May 1995. After Family Feud, Dawson decided to retire from show business. In 1999, he was asked to make a special appearance on the first episode of the current version of Family Feud, but decided to turn the offer down and have no further involvement with the show. In 2000, Dawson narrated TV's Funniest Game Show Moments on the Fox network.

Upon retiring, Dawson took up residence in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife since 1991, the former Gretchen Johnson, whom he met when she was a member of one of the contestant families on Family Feud in 1981. They had a daughter named Shannon Nicole Dawson.

Dawson announced this and showed a picture of his daughter on an episode in the 1994 version of the Feud — as he was greeting one of the contestants who happened to be a former contestant of his while he was a panelist on The Match Game. The episode was featured on the 25th Anniversary of Family Feud as No. 14 on the Game Show Network's Top 25 Feud Moments.

He also had two sons, Mark Dawson (born 1960) and Gary Dawson (born 1962), from his previous marriage to Diana Dors.Richard also had five grandchildren: Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson, Emma Rose Dawson, Walter "Melons" Dawson, and Lauren Dawson.

Dawson died at the age of 79 from complications of esophageal cancer on June 2, 2012, at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

BOB WELCH

Robert Lawrence "Bob" Welch, Jr. (August 31, 1945 – June 7, 2012) was an American musician. A former member of Fleetwood Mac, Welch had a briefly successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", and his signature "Sentimental Lady".

Welch was born in Los Angeles, California, into a show business family. Raised in Beverly Hills, his father was movie producer and screenwriter Robert L. Welch, who worked at Paramount Pictures in the 1940s and 1950s, producing films starring Paramount's top box office stars, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby (solo, not as a duo). He also worked as a TV producer, responsible for the 25th Annual Academy Awards TV special in 1953 and The Thin Man TV series in 1958-59. Bob's mother, Templeton Fox had been a singer and actress who worked with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre in Chicago, Illinois and appeared on TV and in movies from 1962 to 1979.

As a youngster, Welch learned clarinet, switching to guitar in his early teens. He had received his first guitar at the age of eight. The young Welch developed an interest in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock music. After graduating from high school, Welch eschewed attending Georgetown University, where he had been accepted, to move to Paris, professedly to attend the Sorbonne. Welch told People in a 1979 interview that, in Paris, "I mostly smoked hash with bearded guys five years older." He spent time "sitting in the Deux Magots café" rather than attending to his studies, and eventually returned to Southern California, where he studied French at UCLA

Dropping out of UCLA before graduation, Welch joined the Los Angeles-based interracial vocal group The Seven Souls as a guitarist in 1964,eplacing band member Ray Tusken, a guitarist who went on to become vice-president in charge of A&R for Capitol Records. The Seven Souls lost a battle of the bands competition whose prize was a recording contract with Epic Records to Sly and the Family Stone. The original line-up included lead singer Ivory Hudson, saxophonist and singer Henry Moore, drummer Ron Edge and bassist Billy Diez. (Later band members Bobby Watson and Tony Maiden subsequently formed the funk group Rufus with Chaka Khan.)The Seven Souls' 1967 release "I'm No Stranger / I Still Love You" (OKeh 7289) made no impact at the time of its release, despite subsequent issue in France and Italy. However, the B-side "I Still Love You" has become a Northern Soul anthem over the past 30 years with original copies on OKeh (or French CBS / Italian Epic) changing hands for anything up to £400. The Seven Souls broke up in 1969.

Welch moved back to Paris and started a trio, Head West, which was not a success. Welch told People Magazine, in his 1979 interview, that the two years in Paris between 1969 and 1971 were spent "living on rice and beans and sleeping on the floor." During his time in Paris Bob became friends with future CBS correspondent Ed Bradley, years later Ed came to Sunset Sound to hang out during the making of French Kiss.

Bob Welch struggled with a variety of marginal bands until 1971, when he was invited to join Fleetwood Mac, then an erstwhile English blues band that had lost two of its three front-line members, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, within a few months. Along with fellow newcomer Christine McVie, a keyboardist/singer-songwriter (formerly of the British blues band Chicken Shack) married to bassist (and long-time band member) John McVie, Bob helped to steer the band in a more melodic direction, particularly after lead guitarist/singer-songwriter Danny Kirwan left the band in 1972.

In the summer of 1971, the remaining members of Fleetwood Mac held auditions at their retreat in England, Kiln House, while seeking a guitarist to replace Spencer. Judy Wong, a friend of the band who served at times as their secretary (the Kirwan-written song "Jewel-Eyed Judy" was dedicated to her), recommended her high school friend Bob Welch to the band. Welch (who has been described as Wong's high school boyfriend) was living in Paris at the time.

The band had a few meetings with Welch and decided to hire him without actually playing with him or listening to any of his recordings. Welch was tasked for the role of rhythm guitar, backing up lead guitarist Danny Kirwan. It was felt that having an American in the band might extend Fleetwood Mac's appeal in the States. Welch eventually went to live in the band's communal home, a mansion called Benifold, which was located in Hampshire. (Using mobile equipment borrowed from The Rolling Stones, the band would record four albums at Benifold: Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin and Mystery to Me.)

In September 1971, the band released the first Fleetwood Mac album featuring Bob Welch, Future Games, with the title song written by Welch. This album was radically different from anything the band had done up to that point. The choice of Welch seemed to be paying off as there were many new fans in America who were becoming more and more interested in the band. In 1972, six months after the release of Future Games, the band released the well-received album Bare Trees, which featured Welch's song Sentimental Lady. (The song would become a much bigger hit for him five years later when he re-recorded it for his solo album French Kiss. He was backed on the album by Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham, who had replaced Welch as the band's guitarist.)

While the band was doing well in the studio, their tours were more problematic. Danny Kirwan developed an alcohol dependency and became alienated from Bob Welch and the McVies. Welch held contradictory attitudes towards Kirwan in the 18 months they were band mates in Fleetwood Mac: On the one hand, their personal relationship was difficult as Welch felt that Kirwan was playing mind games with the band; and on the other hand, Welch had enormous respect for Kirwan's musicianship.

In 1999, Welch stated: "He was a talented, gifted musician, almost equal to Pete Green in his beautiful guitar playing and faultless string bends." In a later interview, Welch said: "Danny wasn't a very lighthearted person, to say the least. He probably shouldn't have been drinking as much as he did, even at his young age.... He was always very intense about his work, as I was, but he didn't seem to ever be able to distance himself from it... and laugh about it. Danny was the definition of 'deadly serious'."

The end for Kirwan came in August 1972, during an American tour, when he stormed off stage in a violent rage after arguing with Welch. Before a concert on that year's US tour, Kirwan and Welch fought over tuning and Kirwan flew into a rage, smashing his guitar and refusing to go onstage. He reportedly smashed his head bloody on a wall in back of the stage, then moved into the sound booth to watch the show, where the band struggled without him as Welch tried to cover his guitar parts. After the fiasco of a show, he criticized the band.

Mick Fleetwood subsequently fired Kirwan, partly on the recommendation of Welch. The artistic direction of Fleetwood Mac essentially was left in the hands of Bob and Christine.

The next two and a half years proved to be the most challenging for the band. In the three albums Fleetwood Mac would release in this period, they would constantly change line-ups around the core of Mick Fleetwood, the McVies and Welch. The band then faced the ultimate challenge, a very threat to their existence, when their manager put a band on the road in America under the name Fleetwood Mac that contained none of the band members, precipitating a legal row.

Kirwan was replaced by Savoy Brown lead singer Dave Walker and Bob Weston on lead guitar. Both Walker and Weston appeared on Penguin, released in January 1973, cracking the Top 50 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart in the U.S., reaching #49. Walker's style did not mesh with Fleetwood Mac and he was amicably dismissed, failing to appear on Mac's second album of 1973, Mystery to Me, which was shipped to market six months after Penguin.

Mystery to Me contained the Welch song "Hypnotized", which got a lot of airplay on the radio in the United States and became one of the band's most recognizable Fleetwood Mac songs to date. However, Mystery to Me only reached #67 in The States, as that market became increasingly important to the band, which was shipping albums in the respectable range of 250,000 units at the time.

Fake Mac and the move to Los AngelesInternal stresses caused by line-up changes, touring and the failing marriage of Christine and John McVie (exacerbated by John's alcoholism), and an affair between lead guitarist Bob Weston and Mick Fleetwood's wife Jenny Boyd proved debilitating to the band. Mick was devastated by his wife's revelation of the affair, and Weston was sacked from the band. Mick's distress led to the cancellation of a planned tour in the United States, the band's most important market.

In what would be one of the most bizarre events in rock history, the band's manager, Clifford Davis, determined not to cancel the tour, claimed that he owned the name Fleetwood Mac. According to Bob Welch, Davis sent letters to all the remaining Fleetwood Mac band members saying he was putting a new "star-quality, headlining act" together and offering them jobs in this new band. Welch said that he believed that Davis' gambit was ignored by them all. Without telling any of the band members, he then set up a tour with a new group of musicians, booking them into venues in the United States under the name "Fleetwood Mac" even though none of the new musicians had ever played with any previous incarnation of the band.

Davis announced that Welch and John McVie had quit Fleetwood Mac, and put the "fake Mac" band out on to tour the United States. None of the "fake Mac" members was ever officially in the real band, but it was announced that Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie would be joining the band at a later date. The members of Fleetwood Mac obtained an injunction preventing the "fake Mac" from touring under their name, while Davis obtained an injunction preventing the "real Mac" from touring. The lawsuits resulting from the tour, which was aborted, put the real Fleetwood Mac out of commission for almost a year.

During this period, Bob Welch stayed in Los Angeles and connected with entertainment attorneys. Welch quickly realized that the band was being neglected by Warner Bros., the parent of their label, Reprise Records. He came to the conclusion that if the band wanted to get better treatment from Warner Bros., they would have to change their base of operation to Los Angeles. The rest of the band agreed immediately. Rock promoter Bill Graham wrote a letter to Warner Bros. to convince them that the "real" Fleetwood Mac were in fact Fleetwood, Welch and the McVies. While this did not end the legal battle, the band was able to record as Fleetwood Mac again.

Instead of getting another manager, Fleetwood Mac decided to manage themselves. After the courts ruled that the "Fleetwood Mac" name belonged to Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the two band members set up their own band management company, Seedy Management.

In 1974, for the first time in its history, Fleetwood Mac had only had one guitarist, Bob Welch, who took over lead guitarist duties. The quartet of Welch, Mick Fleetwood, and the McVies represented the ninth line-up in the band's seven year history.

Warner Bros. made a new record deal with the band, after which the quartet of Mick Fleetwood, the McVies and Welch recorded and released the album Heroes Are Hard to Find on Reprise in September 1974. The album became the band's first to crack the US Top 40 in the United States, reaching #34 on the USA Billboard 200 chart.

The Heroes Are Hard to Find tour proved to be the last for Welch. The constant touring had taken its toll on him. His marriage was failing and he felt that he had hit the end of his creative road with the band. In a 1999 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site The Penguin, Welch also said he felt somewhat estranged from the British members of the band after four years. He said he felt close to Mick Fleetwood, with whom he asserted he was running the band in 1974, but felt estranged from John and Christine McVie.

Bob Welch resigned from Fleetwood Mac in December 1974 and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Of the Fleetwood Mac albums on which Welch appeared, American album sales totaled 500,000 units shipped between 1971 and 2000 for Future Games; 1 million units of Bare Trees between 1972 and 1988; and 500,000 units of Mystery to Me between 1973 and 1976, when it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The Buckingham–Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac achieved supergroup status with the albums Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977), which shipped 5 million and 19 million units in the US, alone, both reaching #1 in the US. (Rumours, which has shipped 40 million units worldwide, is one of the most successful sound recordings ever released.) Welch's French Kiss, released in 1977, was his sole platinum album, and after his gold-certified album Three Hearts (1979), his career faded.

Mick Fleetwood continued to manage Bob Welch's career into the 1980s. In 1994, Welch sued Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie, band attorney and attorney Michael Shapiro and Warner Bros. Records for breach of contract related to underpayment of royalties. In 1978, Welch and the three band members signed a contract with Warner Bros. agreeing to an equal share of all royalties from their Fleetwood Mac albums. Welch alleged that the three subsequently had struck various deals with Warner Bros. that gave them higher royalty rates. Welch alleged that Fleetwood and the McVies had failed to inform him of the new, higher royalty rate, thus depriving him of his fair share of royalties. The breach of contract lawsuit was settled in 1996.

When Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, original band members Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were named to the Hall, as were Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Welch, who anchored the band for several years and three albums, was not. "My era was the bridge era," Welch told the Cleveland newspaper the Plain Dealer in 1998, after he was snubbed by the Hall of Fame. "It was a transition. But it was an important period in the history of the band. Mick Fleetwood dedicated a whole chapter of his biography to my era of the band and credited me with 'saving Fleetwood Mac.' Now they want to write me out of the history of the group. It hurts."

Welch went on to tell the Plain Dealer, "Mick and I co-managed the group for years. I'm the one who brought the band to Los Angeles from England, which put them in the position of hooking up with Lindsey and Stevie. I saw the band through a whole period where they barely survived, literally." At the time, Welch believed that he had been blackballed by the Hall because of the breach of contract lawsuit against Fleetwood and John and Christine McVie. At the time of his snubbing by the Hall, he believed that the falling out with three band members led them to pressuring the selection committee into excluding him from the Hall.

In a 2003 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site The Penguin, Welch revised his opinion of why he was snubbed by the Hall. He had recently attended a Fleetwood Mac show and visited the band members back stage after the show. The visit reconnected him with Mick Fleetwood, his ex-band mate and ex-manager, after being estranged for many years. (He had never been estranged from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who were not party to the lawsuit.) By 2003, Welch believed that he had been snubbed by the Hall as the directors in New York, music industry insiders, did not like his style of music. However, he did believe that the lawsuit was a factor in his being blackballed, as it prevented him from getting in touch with Mick Fleetwood, whom he was not talking to at the time of the induction, who may have otherwise have used his influence to get Welch included with other members of the band. (Jerry Garcia had used his influence to get 12 members of the Grateful Dead inducted into the Hall, including some band mates whose contributions were considered marginal.) Welch said he had also communicated with Christine McVie but was still estranged from John.

In 1975, Welch formed the short-lived hard rock power trio Paris with ex Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick and ex Todd Rundgren's Nazz drummer Thom Mooney. Paris released two albums; Paris and, after Hunt Sales replaced Mooney, Big Towne 2061. Sales' brother Tony subsequently replaced Cornick before the group split.

In a 1979 interview with People, Welch said that the two Paris albums were "ill-conceived." Because of the misfire of Paris, his finances had deteriorated until he had only $8,000 left. Mick Fleetwood and members of Fleetwood Mac would soon help him reinvigorate his career as a solo act.


In September 1977, Welch released his first solo album, French Kiss (originally to have been called Paris 3), a mainstream pop collection featuring contributions from former band mates Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie. This release brought Welch his greatest success, selling one million copies being certified by the RIAA on 5/1/78. It yielded three hit singles: a revamped version of "Sentimental Lady", which hit Billboard's Top 10, the rocker "Ebony Eyes" and "Hot Love, Cold World".

Welch followed up French Kiss with 1979's Three Hearts, an album that replicated the rock/disco fusion of French Kiss. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on 2/23/1979, and spawned the top 20 hit "Precious Love", while the follow-up single "Church" also charted. He also hosted a music video program, Hollywood Heartbeat.

Welch released solo albums into the early 1980s (The Other One, Man Overboard, Bob Welch, and Eye Contact) with decreasing success, during which time he also developed a heroin addiction.[21] After cleaning himself up in 1986, Welch turned away from performing and recording and focused his attention on songwriting for others. In the early 1990s, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he put together a short-lived group called Avenue M, which backed him on tour and recorded one song for a greatest hits compilation. He later moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1999, Welch released an experimental jazz/loop based album, Bob Welch Looks at Bop. He followed this up in 2003, with His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, which contained new recordings of songs he originally recorded with Fleetwood Mac, as well as some solo hits. In 2006, he released His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2, which mixed a half-dozen new compositions, along with a similar number of his Mac/solo remakes.

Welch appeared in 2008 performing hits live for 30 minutes on the internet from the Gibson stage.

He had been married since 1985 to Wendy Armistead Welch of Memphis, Tennessee. The couple resided in Nashville.

On June 7, 2012, Welch committed suicide in his Nashville home at around 12:15 p.m. He was found by his wife with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest; a suicide note had been left behind. According to his wife, Welch had had spinal surgery three months earlier and doctors had told him he would not get better, and he did not want her to have to care for an invalid.

Agent: Comic actor Victor Spinetti dies age 82

LONDON, Tue Jun 19
Victor Spinetti, a comic actor who appeared in three Beatles movies and won a Tony on Broadway, has died, his agent said Tuesday. He was 82.

Spinetti died Tuesday morning after suffering from cancer for several years, said Barry Burnett, the actor's close friend and agent.

Spinetti won a Tony award in 1965 for his Broadway performance in "Oh, What a Lovely War," but became most well-known for his appearances in the Beatles movies "A Hard Day's Night," `'Help," and "Magical Mystery Tour."

At a London Beatles Day event in 2010, Spinetti said he was included in the cast of "A Hard Day's Night" at George Harrison's insistence.

"He said, `you gotta be in all our films otherwise me mum wouldn't come and see `em, because she fancies you,'" Spinetti said. "That was why I was in."

On another occasion, he told how his association with the Beatles disrupted the opening night of "Oh, What a Lovely War."

I came out on stage and a group of girls at the back screamed, `Victor Spinetti, aaaah!'" he said in an interview with absoluteelsewhere.net. "They were shouting things like, `he's touched George!'"

He said he calmed the screamers by promising to answer questions about the Beatles after the show.

Spinetti also co-authored "The John Lennon Play: In His Own Write" with Adrienne Kenney. Based on the writings of John Lennon, it opened in June 1968 in London.


Vittorio Georgio Andrea Spinetti was born to an Italian father and Welsh mother in the mining village of Cwm in south Wales. Regarded as an alien during World War II, he was beaten by two neighbors and lost hearing in one ear.

Spinetti studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff before moving to London to develop his acting career.

His more than 30 film roles included the part of Hortensio in "The Taming of the Shrew" and Mog Edwards in "Under Milk Wood," both films starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. He also played the concierge in "The Return of the Pink Panther."

Spinetti was co-author of the script and did two voices for "Romeo, Juliet" - Armando Acosta's 1990 film which featured 108 cats and the actor John Hurt.

The difficulty with the script, Spinetti told The Associated Press in a 1988 interview, was blending such things as cats and cars with Shakespeare's classic verse.

"Some cats talk about cars so you have to try to get this into the script without the audience jolting out of their seats. Of course, you cannot rewrite something like the balcony scene," he said.

Barbara Windsor, a star of the "Carry On" films, said Tuesday that she had visited Spinetti at his hospice last week.

"He didn't look ill. He looked great. He was swearing a lot, like that would get rid of the illness, and we just laughed," she said.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

Don Grady
Don Louis Agrati (June 8, 1944 – June 27, 2012), better known as Don Grady, was an American actor, composer, and musician. He was best known both as one of Mickey Mouse's original Mouseketeers, and as Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons. His sister was also an actress, billed as Lani O'Grady. Their mother was a talent agent, known as Mary Grady.


Grady was born Don Louis Agrati in San Diego, California, the son of Mary B. (née Castellino), a talent agent, and Lou A. Agrati, a sausage maker. He grew up in Lafayette, California, and attended Lafayette Elementary School (where he served as school president; Stanley Junior High, where he spent only a few months before being signed by Disney and leaving the area; and Burbank High School (pictured as Don Agrati).

His acting credits included several Western series, including John Payne's The Restless Gun, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Wagon Train and The Rifleman, where he played a young man whose vocal cords were severed by Indians. He also had a role in the NBC medical drama, The Eleventh Hour. Originally the frustrated middle brother on My Three Sons, he became the confident elder brother with the departure of Mike (Tim Considine, who had earlier appeared with Grady in The New Adventures of Spin and Marty), and the adoption of Ernie (Barry Livingston), who became the new "third son."

During production of My Three Sons, Grady both appeared with his own band The Greefs on the series, and was the drummer for The Yellow Balloon, whose self-titled song became a minor hit during 1967. For a while during the run of the series, he attended Los Angeles City College.

After My Three Sons ended in 1972, Grady pursued a musical career. His works included music for the Blake Edwards comedy film Switch, the theme song for The Phil Donahue Show and for EFX, a Las Vegas multimedia stage show which starred Michael Crawford, David Cassidy, Tommy Tune, and Rick Springfield.

In the fall of 2008, Grady released Boomer: JazRokPop, a collection of songs written for and about the baby boomer generation. Boomer was his first original album as an artist since Homegrown was released by Elektra Records in 1973.

Grady married Virginia "Ginny" Lewsader in 1985, having met her at Disneyland. The couple would remain married until his death. They had two children, Joey and Tessa. After a long battle with cancer, Grady died on June 27, 2012, in Thousand Oaks, California, just 19 days after his 68th birthday. Grady died a day after his My Three Sons co-star Doris Singleton.

SAGE STALLONE, Son Of Sylvester Stallone

Sage Moonblood Stallone (May 5, 1976 – July 13, 2012) was an American actor, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was best known as being the son of actor Sylvester Stallone, who starred as Rocky Balboa in the Rocky series.

Sage Stallone made his acting debut alongside his father in the fifth installment of the Rocky franchise titled Rocky V (1990) where he played Robert Balboa, the on-screen son of his father's title character. He also appeared with his father in the 1996 disaster movie Daylight. Since then, he had only acted in low profile films. In 1996, he and film editor Bob Murawski co-founded Grindhouse Releasing, a Los Angeles based company dedicated to the restoration and preservation of exploitation films. In recent years, Stallone directed his first short film Vic which screened at the 2006 Palm Springs, California Film Festival.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Sage Stallone was the son of Sasha Czack and Sylvester Stallone. He was the brother of Seargeoh Stallone, and half-brother of Sistine, Sophia, and Scarlet Stallone. His uncle is actor and singer Frank Stallone, and his grandmother is Jackie Stallone. His stepmother is Jennifer Flavin. His godfather is actor Joe Spinell.

Stallone had not answered his door when a friend visited his apartment on July 13, 2012. The LAPD performed a welfare check, where they found him dead. Stallone had been alone in the apartment at the time of his death. He was 36 years old.

Tom Davis-Saturday Night Live

Thomas James "Tom" Davis (August 13, 1952 – July 19, 2012) was an Emmy Award-winning American writer and comedian. He is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.Davis attended The Blake School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he began his friendship and professional partnership with Franken. In 1975, Davis got his big break as one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live, where he and Franken also performed together.

Franken and Davis also wrote the screenplay for, and appeared in, the film One More Saturday Night, and had cameos in Trading Places and The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. Davis was a frequent guest on The Al Franken Show, appearing in sketches as characters including Treasury Secretary John W. Snow and a male prostitute. Davis created the SNL sketches "Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber" with Steve Martin, the "Nick The Lounge Singer" sketches with Bill Murray, and "The Continental" with Christopher Walken.

In 2010, Davis was diagnosed with tongue and neck cancer. He originally refused traditional treatment that would have left him disfigured and unable to speak. Eventually he went to Mt. Sinai, where they removed a tumor with minimally invasive robotic surgery.. He died on July 19, 2012 of throat and neck cancer.

Sylvia Woods-Famous Soul Food Restauranteur

Sylvia Woods (February 2, 1926 - July 19, 2012) was an American restauranteur who co-founded the landmark restaurant Sylvia's in Harlem on Lenox Avenue, New York City with her husband, Herbert Woods, in 1962. The soul food eatery is a popular gathering place for Harlem residents and tourists not far from the Apollo Theater.

Sylvia was born to Julia and Van Pressley in Hemingway, South Carolina. Her father, Van Pressley, died when she was just three days old from complications of injuries he received during combat in World War I. Her mother had moved to New York when she was only three so she could better provide for her family, which left her grandmother to raise her. Woods met her future husband in a bean field when she was 11 years old. Woods married her husband, Herbert, in 1944. They had four children together: Van, Bedelia, Kenneth, and Crizette. Woods graduated from high school in her hometown of Hemingway, South Carolina. Woods trained to become a beautician in New York, and also ran a beauty shop in South Carolina. Woods had also worked in a hat factory, and worked as a waitress at a restaurant called Johnson’s Luncheonette in Harlem from 1954 to 1962.

Woods then bought her own restaurant in 1962; the restaurant could seat up to 35 people. During the early 1990s, the business expanded and now seats up to 450 people. It also has a catering business. Organized and started by her son Van in 1992, Sylvia came out with her own line of soul food products that are sold nationally. Woods products include many of her special sauces, vegetables, spices, syrup, and cornbread and pancake mixes. Woods has two famous cookbooks: Sylvia’s Soul Food Cookbook, published in 1992; and Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook, published in 1999, both by William Morrow and Company. The restaurant remains owned and operated by the Woods family. In August 2011, they celebrated 50 years in Harlem.

Sylvia Woods stepped down from the day-to-day operations of the restaurant when she was 80 years old. Sylvia's is currently owned and operated by her children and grandchildren.

Woods died on July 19, 2012, at her home in Mount Vernon, New York, at the age of 86. She had suffered from from Alzheimer's disease for several years. Her husband died in 2001.

Kitty Wells


Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star. Her Top 10 hits continued until the mid-1960s, inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.

Wells ranks as the sixth most successful female vocalist in the history of Billboard's country charts, according to historian Joel Whitburn's book The Top 40 Country Hits, behind Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire, Tammy Wynette, and Tanya Tucker. In 1976, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1991, she became the third country music artist, after Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, and the eighth woman to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Wells' accomplishments earned her the nickname Queen of Country Music.
Kitty Wells died on July 16, 2012 in Madison, Tennessee, from complications of a stroke

Simon Ward


Simon Ward (19 October 1941 – 20 July 2012) was an English stage and film actor. He was known for his roles in two BBC television series: as Sir Monty Everard in Judge John Deed and as Bishop Gardiner in The Tudors.

In 1971, he played the title role of Winston Churchill in Young Winston. This was the role which brought him to national prominence, and thereafter the in-demand Ward starred in several high profile films during the mid-to-late 1970s.

The following year he played the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974), and also in 1974 he played author/veterinarian James Herriot in the successful film adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small. He played one of the lead roles (Lt. Crawford) in the 1976 aerial adventure Aces High, then starred as Lt. William Vereker in the 1979 film Zulu Dawn. He was also seen as a fictional Nazi functionary (the sympathetic one, with whom the audience is supposed to identify) in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). Later film roles included Zor-El in Supergirl (1984).

Chad Everett


Chad Everett (June 11, 1937 – July 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in more than 40 films and television series but probably was best known for his role as Dr. Joe Gannon in the television drama Medical Center which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976.

Everett was born Raymon Lee Cramton in South Bend, Indiana, to Virdeen Ruth (née Hopper) and Harry Clyde “Ted” Cramton. He was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, where he became interested in the theatre as a Fordson High School student.

After attending Wayne State University, in Detroit, he headed to Hollywood and obtained a contract with Warner Brothers studio. Agent Henry Willson signed him and changed his name to Chad Everett. Everett claims he changed his name because he tired of explaining his real name, "Raymon-no-D, Cramton-no-P."

Everett's first notable role came in an episode of ABC's 1960-1962 detective series Surfside 6. His first major role came a year later in the film Claudelle Inglish, and he subsequently played a deputy in the short-lived 1963 ABC western television series The Dakotas, which also featured Jack Elam as a fellow lawman. After appearing in a number of movies and television series in the later 1960s, he got his big break, landing the role of Dr. Joe Gannon on the innovative medical drama, Medical Center, with costar James Daly.

He appeared in numerous films and television series including Centennial, Hagen, Airplane II: The Sequel, Star Command, and Mulholland Drive. He also appeared as a guest star in more than forty television series such as Melrose Place, The Nanny, Touched by an Angel, Diagnosis: Murder, Caroline in the City, Murder, She Wrote, The Red Skelton Show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Route 66.

For many years Everett was a co-host of the Labor Day Jerry Lewis Telethon which raises money and awareness for and about the affliction of muscular dystrophy,

He also supplied the voice of Ultraman Chuck in the English version of the animated movie Ultraman: The Adventure Begins and voiced several characters in the animated television series The New Yogi Bear Show.

He hosted Trinity Broadcasting Network's "Master's Theater." He portrayed a closeted gay police officer on the December 3, 2006, episode Forever Blue of the television series, Cold Case.

Everett was selected by the family of John Wayne to be the voice of the animatronic figure of Wayne in Disney's Hollywood Studios' Great Movie Ride.

Everett married actress Shelby Grant in Tucson, Arizona, on May 22, 1966. Everett was on location in Tucson filming the 1967 movie, Return of the Gunfighter, at the time of their wedding. They had two daughters, Katherine Thorp and Shannon Everett. The couple remained married for forty-five years until her death on June 25, 2011.

Everett battled alcoholism for many years before seeking treatment from Alcoholics Anonymous. He had a much publicized argument with feminist actress Lily Tomlin during the taping of the March 31, 1972, episode of The Dick Cavett Show. Tomlin became so enraged when Everett referred to his wife as "my property" that she stormed off the set and refused to return.

Reporter Ronnie Simonsen’s admiration of Everett is an important part of How's Your News?, a documentary (about a group of mentally disabled news reporters touring the United States) in which Simonsen meets Everett near the end of the film.

Everett died July 24, 2012 at his home in Los Angeles after a year-and-a-half-long battle with lung cancer. He was 75.

William "Bill" Rafferty (June 17, 1944 – August 11, 2012) was a comedian and impressionist who hosted the game shows Every Second Counts (1984, syndicated), Card Sharks (1986–87, syndication), and Blockbusters (1987, NBC).

Rafferty was born in Queens, New York. His first national TV exposure came as a roving reporter on the NBC reality series Real People which ran from 1979-1984.

Rafferty also did some guest spots on episodes of Laugh-In in the late 1970s version of the show. During his brief game show hosting stints, Rafferty developed several catchphrases, including "dual implication", meaning that either contestant can win the game or match with the next correct answer on Blockbusters and "the land of parting gifts" which was used on both Blockbusters and Card Sharks, meaning that the person who lost the game wins whatever prizes mentioned by the announcer in the closing plug. Rafferty was the host of a television show on Retirement Living TV, called Retired and Wired, which debuted in October 2007.

Rafferty died of causes yet to be determined on the morning of August 11, 2012.

John Ingle (May 7, 1928 – September 16, 2012) was an American actor best known for his role as scheming patriarch Edward Quartermaine on the ABC soap opera General Hospital.

Herbert Lom (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012) was a Czech-born film and television actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 years he appeared in character roles, usually portraying villains early in his career and professional men in later years.

Count Dracula (1970 film)
Stars Christopher Lee in the title role, with Herbert Lom as Professor Van Helsing

Lom's English was noted for a precise, elegant delivery. He is best-known for his roles in The Ladykillers and The Pink Panther film series.

Sahara Davenport, born Antoine Ashley, (December 17, 1984 – October 1, 2012) was an American drag queen and reality television personality and classically-trained dancer. He was best known as a contestant on the second season of RuPAUL'S DRAG RACE.

A native of Dallas, Davenport began his drag career while attending Southern Methodist University. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance, he relocated to New York City, where he began performing regularly at many gay bars and nightclubs throughout the city.

Davenport has been seen on television on A&E Network's 15 Films about Madonna, Voom HD's Magnificent Obsessions, and on ABC's daytime soap opera One Life to Live. He was featured in the pilot of Judge Karen as an angry Beyoncé impersonator who sues the paparazzi. Davenport made his art film debut in Kalup Linzy's video-performance piece "Melody Set Me Free," which was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He also appeared in the music videos "Girl Problems" by the group Girl Problems and "Gettin' Over You" by David Guetta and Chris Willis.

In Antoine's own words... I was 4 years old and living in the projects of Aiken, South Carolina when Michael Jackson moon walked across the stage in his legendary Motown 25 performance. This performance and this man changed my life. I spent the rest of my childhood imitating him and any other dancer I would see on television. I was obsessed with Michael Jackson. I was even more obsessed with dance and was not afraid to test or demonstrate my abilities at any family, church, or school function. Ten years later, my family moved to Gaithersburg, MD. Although I moved to a new city, I was still up to the same old tricks (kicking and spinning a la Michael). One night after competing in a high school talent show I met Bonnie Slawson. She explained to me that she owned a studio in town and offered to train me for free. This was an extraordinary offer. It was rare that someone from my socioeconomic background was presented with such an offer. Extra-curricular activities, such as classical dance training were usually out of the budget, thus being out of the question. After meeting my mother and discussing my raw talent and potential, I became a scholarship student at Motion Mania Dance Center.

Davenport joined the cast of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2010. He was pegged as "The Dancer" when in the first episode he had to "lipsynch for your life" against his former college classmate, Shangela Laquifa Wadley. In the second episode, Davenport became a team leader when he and Pandora Boxx won the mini challenge. Sahara won the second episode elimination challenge by leading his team to earn the most money by pole dancing and selling cherry pie gift certificates on the streets of Los Angeles. In the fourth episode, Davenport gave a humorous impersonation of Whitney Houston in the Snatch Game challenge. In the Wedding Dress episode, he was in the bottom two again, but remained safe because of his lipsynch performance to Martha Wash's "Carry On". Sahara was eliminated in the sixth episode for not conveying enough of a "rock 'n' roll" attitude and being too much of a lady.

In 2011, Davenport released his second single "Go Off." A remix EP was later released on January 31, 2012, and featured a remix by Manny Lehman. "Go Off" debuted at at number fifty on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, before peaking at number thirty five. The music video for "Go Off" features cameos by Drag Race contestants Manila Luzon and Jiggly Caliente.

Prior to his death, Davenport resided in New York City with his boyfriend Karl Westerberg (Manila Luzon), who was a contestant and runner-up on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Davenport died from heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on October 1, 2012.

Sylvia Maria Kristel (28 September 1952 – 17 October 2012) was a Dutch actress who performed in over 50 movies, and was best known for playing the lead character in four of the seven Emmanuelle films. After the success of Emmanuelle, she often played roles that capitalised on that sexually provocative image, most notably starring in an adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), and a nudity-filled biopic of the World War I spy in Mata Hari. Her Emmanuelle image followed her to the United States, where she played Nicole Mallow, a maid who seduces a teenage boy, in the 1981 sex comedy Private Lessons. Another mainstream American film appearance was a brief comic turn in the Get Smart revival film The Nude Bomb in 1980.

John Clive (6 January 1933 – 14 October 2012) was an English author and actor. He is best known for his international best selling historical and social fiction, such as KG200 and Borossa.

Clive was also known as an actor, who started his career at the age of fifteen. Later he appeared on the West End stage, in plays such as Absurd Person Singular, The Wizard of Oz, Under Milk Wood, The Bandwagon at the Mermaid Theatre, The Winslow Boy, Young Woodley and Life With Father. Clive's character acting has led him to appear in comic and serious roles in films, such as The Italian Job, Yellow Submarine, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, A Clockwork Orange and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He also appeared in four of the Carry on series of comedy films including; Carry On Abroad, and Carry On Dick.

Arlen J. Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from 1965 until 2009, when he switched back to the Democratic Party. First elected in 1980, he represented his state for 30 years in the Senate. Specter was a moderate who staked out a spot in the political center
.On April 28, 2009, Specter announced that, after 44 years as an elected Republican, he was switching membership to the Democratic Party. On May 18, 2010, Specter was defeated in the Democratic primary by Joe Sestak, who then lost to Pat Toomey in the general election. Toomey succeeded Specter on January 3, 2011.

Gary Ennis Collins (April 30, 1938 – October 13, 2012) was an American film and television actor.

He co-starred, with Jack Warden and Mark Slade, in the 1965 series The Wackiest Ship in the Army. He co-starred, with Dale Robertson and Robert Random, in the 1966-68 series The Iron Horse. He starred in the 1972 television series The Sixth Sense as parapsychologist Dr. Michael Rhodes and in the 1974 series Born Free as wildlife conservationist George Adamson.

He guest-starred on dozens of television shows since the 1960s, including Perry Mason, The Virginian, Hawaii Five-O, The Six Million Dollar Man, Alf, The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels, Friends, and JAG. He had roles in the 1969 Andy Griffith film Angel in My Pocket, and in the 1970 film Airport. He played the heroic co-pilot in the 1977 film, The Night They Took Miss Beautiful.

Collins hosted the television talk show Hour Magazine from 1980 to 1988, and co-hosted the ABC television series The Home Show from 1989 to 1994. He was the host of the Miss America Pageant from 1982 to 1990.

Collins was married to former Miss America (1959), Mary Ann Mobley, from 1967 until his death in 2012; they were separated in 2011, but reconciled and he moved to her home state of Mississippi to be with her in 2012, while she battled breast cancer. They had one child: a daughter, Mary Clancy Collins. Collins was formerly married to Susan Peterson, with whom he had two children: Guy William and Melissa.

Collins died around 1 a.m. on October 13, 2012, at Biloxi Regional Medical Center in Biloxi, Mississippi.[1] The cause of death was said to be a result of natural causes.

Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people and libertarian political activist. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.

Means was active in international issues of indigenous peoples, including working with groups in Central and South America, and with the United Nations for recognition of their rights. He was active in politics at his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and at the state and national level.

Beginning an acting career in 1992, he appeared in numerous films and released his own music CD. He published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1995.

Since 1992, Means appeared as an actor in numerous films and television movies, first as the chief Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans. He appeared as Arrowhead in the made-for-TV movie The Pathfinder (1996), his second appearance in a movie adapted from a novel by James Fenimore Cooper. He appeared in Natural Born Killers (1994), as Jim Thorpe in Windrunner: A Spirited Journey, as Sitting Bull in Buffalo Girls (1995), and had a cameo in the miniseries Into the West (2005).

He was a voice actor in Disney's third highest-selling video Pocahontas (1995) and its sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), playing the title character's father, Chief Powhatan. Means was a guest actor in the 1997 Duck­man episode “Role With It,” in which Duck­man takes his fam­ily on an edu­ca­tional trip to a “gen­uine Indian reser­va­tion” — which turns out to be a casino.[24] Means appeared as Billy Twofeathers in Thomas & the Magic Railroad (2000).

Means starred in Pathfinder, a 2007 movie about Vikings' battling Native Americans in the New World. Recently Means co-starred in Rez Bomb from director Steven Lewis Simpson, the first feature filmed on his native Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He stars with Tamara Feldman and Trent Ford and Chris Robinson.

He also appeared as a character in the Access Software adventure game Under a Killing Moon. In 2004 Means made a guest appearance on the HBO program Curb Your Enthusiasm. Means played Wandering Bear, an American Indian with skills in landscaping and herbal medicine.

In 1995, Means published an autobiography, Where White Men Fear to Tread, written with Marvin J. Wolf. He recounted his own family's problems: his alcoholic father, and his own "fall into truancy, crime and drugs" before he discovered the American Indian Movement. The book drew criticism from a number of reviewers. While Patricia Holt, book editor for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the book, "It's American history – warts, wounds and all." Mari Wadsworth of the Tucson Weekly wrote, "Critical readers do well to remain skeptical of any individual, however charismatic, who claims to be the voice of authority and authenticity for any population, let alone one as diverse as the native tribes of the Americas."

Russell Means recorded a CD entitled Electric Warrior under indie label SOAR.[30] Songs include "Une Gente Indio", "Hey You, Hey Indian", "Wounded Knee Set Us Free", and "Indian Cars Go Far".

In August 2011, Means was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. His doctors told him his condition was inoperable. He told the Associated Press that he was rejecting "mainstream medical treatments in favor of traditional American Indian remedies and alternative treatments away from his home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation". In late September, Means reported that through tomotherapy, the tumor had diminished greatly. Later he said that his tumor was "95% gone." On December 5 of that year, Means stated that he "beat cancer," that he had beat "the death penalty."

The following year, however, his health continued to decline and he died on October 22, 2012, less than a month before his 73rd birthday. A family statement said, "Our dad and husband now walks among our ancestors."

ABC News said Means "spent a lifetime as a modern American Indian warrior, railed against broken treaties, fought for the return of stolen land and even took up arms against the federal government. He called national attention to the plight of impoverished tribes and often lamented the waning of Indian culture." Among the tributes were calls for "his face [to] have been on Mr. Rushmore." The Times said Means "became as well-known a Native American as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

Teri Shields (August 1, 1933 – October 31, 2012), born Theresia Anna Lilian Maria Schmon, was an American actress, film producer, socialite, and former model.



Shields was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Theresa (née Dollinger), a house cleaner, and John Schmon, a chemist. She was of German, English, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh ancestry. In 1964, she married Francis Alexander Shields. The couple's only child, Brooke (born 1965) became a well-known actress. Some months later, they filed for divorce.

She acted alongside her daughter in Wanda Nevada, Endless Love, and Backstreet Dreams.

In 2009, Brooke Shields announced that her mother was suffering from dementia. On October 31, 2012, Teri Shields died following a long illness related to her dementia, aged 79.

Actress Deborah Raffin dies at age 59
LOS ANGELES, Thu Nov 22, 08:28 PM
Deborah Raffin, an actress who ran a successful audiobook company with the help of her celebrity friends, has died. She was 59.

Raffin died Wednesday of leukemia at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, her brother, William, told the Los Angeles Times ( lat.ms/R0q9NM). She was diagnosed with the blood cancer about a year ago.

Raffin, the daughter of 20th Century Fox contract player Trudy Marshall, had roles in movies such as "Forty Carats" and "Once Is Not Enough." She also starred in television miniseries, most notably playing actress Brooke Hayward in "Haywire" and a businesswoman in "Noble House," based on the James Clavell saga set in Hong Kong.

She and her then-husband, music producer Michael Viner, launched Dove Books-on-Tape in the mid-1980s, which blossomed into a multimillion-dollar business. The company's first best-seller was Stephen Hawking's opus on the cosmos entitled "A Brief History of Time."

Raffin's job was getting celebrities to provide voices for some of the books. Among them were the nonfiction bestsellers "Anatomy of an Illness" and "The Healing Heart," both by Norman Cousins and read by Jason Robards Jr. and William Conrad, respectively.

Raffin also compiled celebrities' Christmas anecdotes for a 1990 book, "Sharing Christmas," which raised money for groups serving the homeless. It included stories from Margaret Thatcher, Kermit the Frog and Mother Teresa.

Raffin and Viner sold the company in 1997 and the couple divorced eight years later. Viner died of cancer in 2009.

Raffin is survived by her two siblings, William and Judy Holston; and a daughter, Taylor Rose Viner.

Jovan Allen Belcher (July 24, 1987 – December 1, 2012) was an American football linebacker who played for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He grew up in West Babylon, New York and was a standout high school athlete before graduating and attending the University of Maine, where he played for the Maine Black Bears football team. Belcher was named an All-American twice in college after switching in his junior year from linebacker to defensive end.

Belcher was considered a strong small-school NFL prospect, but was not selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. He was later signed as a free agent by the Chiefs and became a regular starter at inside linebacker in 2010. His most productive season was in 2011, when he had 61 tackles and 26 assists. He was re-signed by Kansas City before the 2012 season and played in the team's first 11 games. Belcher died on December 1, 2012, in an apparent murder-suicide, killing his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, before driving to the Chiefs' training facility and killing himself.

Ryan Paul Freel (March 8, 1976 – December 22, 2012) was an American professional baseball player. A utility player, Freel played second base, third base, and all three outfield positions in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, and Kansas City Royals between 2001 and 2009.

Freel was found dead on December 22, 2012 from a self-inflicted shotgun wound

Freel attended Tallahassee Community College and was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1994 amateur entry draft, but did not sign. A year later, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 1995 amateur draft. Freel played 6 seasons in the Toronto minor league system before making his Major League debut on April 4, 2001. He only played in 9 games for the Blue Jays in his rookie year, hitting .273 with 0 home runs, 3 RBI and 2 stolen bases. After the season was over, Freel was granted free agency and signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Freel played the entire 2002 season in the minor leagues with the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Devil Rays. He hit .261 with 8 home runs, 48 RBI, and 37 steals. On November 18, 2002, he signed with the Cincinnati Reds as a free agent.

In five seasons with the Reds, Freel hit .270 with 22 home runs, 104 runs batted in, and 134 stolen bases. His best season for the Reds was in 2004, when he hit .277 with 3 home runs, 28 RBI, 37 stolen bases, and 74 runs scored in 143 games. In 2007, Freel signed a two-year, $3 million contract extension with the Reds.

On December 9, 2008, Freel was traded along with two minor leaguers including Justin Turner to the Baltimore Orioles for catcher Ramón Hernández.[2] On May 8, 2009, Freel was traded once again, this time to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Joey Gathright and cash considerations. On July 2, 2009, Freel was designated for assignment to create roster space for the newly acquired Jeff Baker. On July 6, 2009, Freel and cash was traded to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later.

On August 5, 2009, Freel was designated for assignment by the Kansas City Royals. He was released on August 13, 2009. On August 28, 2009 Freel signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers. He was released 2 days later.

In April 2010, Freel signed with the independent Somerset Patriots.

On May 17, 2010, Freel announced his retirement.

Freel gained some notoriety in August of 2006 when The Dayton Daily News reported that Freel talked to an imaginary voice in his head named Farney. Said Freel: "He's a little guy who lives in my head who talks to me and I talk to him. That little midget in my head said, 'That was a great catch, Ryan,' I said, 'Hey, Farney, I don't know if that was you who really caught that ball, but that was pretty good if it was.' Everybody thinks I talk to myself, so I tell 'em I'm talking to Farney." Freel later said that Farney's name arose from a conversation with Reds trainer Mark Mann: "He actually made a comment like, 'How are the voices in your head?' We'd play around and finally this year he said, 'What's the guy's name?' I said, 'Let's call him Farney.' So now everybody's like, 'Run, Farney, run' or 'Let Farney hit today. You're not hitting very well.'"

On May 28, 2007, Freel was injured in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates when chasing a deep drive to right-center field. Freel and right fielder Norris Hopper collided, resulting in Freel's head and neck hitting Hopper and finally the warning track. He was transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was reported to be coherent with feeling in his extremities. Freel began working out on June 15, about 2 weeks after the collision. He was briefly sent to the AAA Louisville Bats for rehabilitation. Freel began getting random headaches and pains in his head, which delayed his return for another 2 weeks. On July 3, 2007, 1 month and 5 days after the accident, Freel returned to play for the Cincinnati Reds and was healthy until being placed on the 15-day DL with torn cartilage in his right knee on August 7.

In 2009 with the Baltimore Orioles, he was hit by a pickoff throw in the head while on 2nd base. He was put on the Disabled List after the injury.

On May 17, 2010, he officially retired.

Freel was a youth baseball coach with Big League Development.

Freel was twice arrested for driving under the influence. He paid a fine after the first incident, and charges were dropped for the second.

On December 22, 2012, Freel was found dead at his Jacksonville home as a result of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., KCB August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general who, while he served as Commander of U.S. Central Command, was commander of coalition forces in the Gulf War.

Schwarzkopf was born in Trenton, New Jersey. After attending Valley Forge Military Academy, Schwarzkopf, a military dependent, attended the United States Military Academy, where he graduated 43rd in his class in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He also attended the University of Southern California, where he received a Master of Science in mechanical engineering in 1964. His special field of study was guided missile engineering, a program that USC developed with the Army, which incorporated both aeronautical and mechanical training. He later attended the U.S. Army War College.

Upon graduating from West Point he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He received advanced infantry and airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was a platoon leader and served as executive officer of a company in the 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Next he was aide-de-camp to the Commanding General of the Berlin Brigade in 1960 and 1961, a crucial time in the history of that divided city (the Berlin Wall was erected by East German and Soviet forces only a week after he left).

In 1965, after completing his masters degree at USC, Schwarzkopf served at West Point as an instructor in the mechanical engineering department.During the 1970s, Schwarzkopf's star continued to rise. He attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania (delayed for a year so that he could undergo back surgery for a congenital back condition that was aggravated by his combat services), served on the Army General Staff at The Pentagon, was deputy commander of U.S. Forces Alaska under Brigadier General Willard Latham, and served as commander of the 1st Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington. After promotion to Brigadier General, he was assigned as Plans & Policy Officer (Assistant J3) at U.S. Pacific Command for two years. He then served as Assistant Division Commander (Support) of the 8th Mechanized Division and as Community Commander of Mainz, West Germany, during which the city was visited by Pope John Paul II, thus putting Schwarzkopf in charge of the U.S. security forces during the pontiff's visit. He was promoted to Major General, and given command of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

In 1988, he was promoted to General and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command. The U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida, was responsible at the time for operations in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. In his capacity as commander, Schwarzkopf prepared a detailed plan for the defense of the oil fields of the Persian Gulf against a hypothetical invasion by Iraq, among other plans.After the war, Schwarzkopf was offered the position of Chief of Staff of the United States Army by Secretary of the Army Michael P. W. Stone, but he declined.

He retired from active service in August 1991, and shortly thereafter wrote an autobiography, It Doesn't Take a Hero, published in 1992. There was some speculation in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War that he might run for political office, but he did not do so. In retirement, Schwarzkopf served as a military analyst for NBC, most recently for Operation Iraqi Freedom, along with promoting prostate cancer awareness, a disease with which he was diagnosed in 1993, and for which he was successfully treated.

Schwarzkopf donated most of his time to multiple charities, and community activities. He sat on the board for Remington, and several other high-profile corporations. On May 4, 2008, Schwarzkopf was inducted into New Jersey's Hall of Fame. He was also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Schwarzkopf lived in Tampa, Florida, until his death in 2012. Schwarzkopf died December 27, 2012, in Tampa, Florida, at age 78 due to complications from pneumonia.

He is survived by wife Brenda and children: Cynthia Schwarzkopf of Lithia, Florida, a professional coach and inspiration speaker; Jessica Schwarzkopf, film and television producer based in Tampa, Florida; and Christian Schwarzkopf.

Carl Berner (January 27, 1902 – January 7, 2013) was a German-born American supercentenarian, civic activist, and former toymaker. He was the second-oldest living verified American man behind James McCoubrey. He had also been the oldest living man in New York City for at least the last two years of his life. At the time of his death he was the second-oldest verified German-born man ever, behind Hermann Dörnemann, who lived for 111 years and 279 days

Koto Okubo(24 December 1897 – 12 January 2013) was a Japanese supercentenarian who, at the age of 115, was recognized as the oldest woman in the world and the second oldest living person in the world. At the time of her death in January 2013, she was also Japan's second oldest living person behind Jiroemon Kimura.

Koto Okubo became the oldest woman from Japan and Asia after the death of Chiyono Hasegawa on 2 December 2011. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare did not announce her name officially (only her residence and age were released). Furthermore, at that time, her record was not identified and recognized by the Gerontology Research Group. According to the GRG's list, the oldest woman from Japan was Misawo Okawa, who is 71 days younger than Okubo.

The name of Okubo was finally reported by the Japanese press on 14 September 2012,[3] and on the same day, Okubo was verified and added to the GRG list and Guinness World Records.

Okubo lived in a nursing home with her son until her death on 12 January 2013