Year: 2012

* Her last name is also known as Ellington.  She was not married to Duke Ellington.

Maria Hawkins Cole (August 1, 1922 – 10 July, 2012) was the widow of singer Nat King Cole and mother of singer Natalie Cole. She was also a jazz singer who worked most notably with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. She met Nat King Cole while they were both singing at the Zanzibar club.

Maria Cole cause of death
Maria Hawkins Ellington was born in Boston and was the niece of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. She died in a nursing home in Boca Raton, Florida, after a short battle with cancer on July 10, 2012.
Maria Cole was 89 years old at the time of her death

Ernest Borgnine, born Ermes Effron Borgnino, (January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor of television and film. His career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–66 series McHale’s Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine was also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER. He was also known for his love of Mexican food.

Ernest Borgnine cause of death
Borgnine died of renal failure (kidney failure) on 2012 July 8 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, California. His wife and children were at his side.
Ernest Borgnine was 95 years old at the time of his death

Ernest Borgnine has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6324 Hollywood Blvd. In 1996,
Borgnine won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Marty Piletti in the film Marty.

Ernest Borgnine Lifetime Achievement Award

Andy Griffith was buried within five hours of his death

Andrew Samuel “Andy” Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan’s epic film, A Face in the Crowd (1957) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead characters in the 1960–68 situation comedy, The Andy Griffith Show, and in the 1986–95 legal drama, Matlock.

Andy Griffith cause of death
Andy Griffith had a cardiac ailment, but official cause of death is not known.  Andy Griffith died around 7 AM EDT on July 3, 2012 at his home on Roanoke Island in Dare County, North Carolina.  At the request of his family, he was buried on his property on Roanoke Island within five hours of his death Andy Griffith was 86 years old at the time of his death.

Andy Griffith and Ron Howard

Silhouettes – Andy Griffith PLUS Silhouettes – The Rays

Andy Griffith discusses the character of Ben Matlock

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.

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.”

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.

Don Grady cause of death
Don Grady died after a long battle with cancer.
Don Grady was 68 years old at the time of his death

Doris Singleton (born Dorthea Singleton; September 28, 1919 – June 26, 2012) was an American actress, perhaps best remembered as Lucy Ricardo’s frenemy, the stuck-up Carolyn Appleby, in I Love Lucy.

Singleton guest starred on several other television shows including Hogan’s Heroes, The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Twilight Zone, all on CBS, and on Rod Cameron’s syndicated modern western crime drama, State Trooper. She played Laura, the girlfriend of Butch Cassidy on a 1958 episode, “The Outlaw Legion,” of the syndicated western Frontier Doctor. Singleton played the sympathetic neighbor, Susie, to Annie Fargé’s scatterbrained character “Angel Smith” in the short-lived CBS sitcom Angel (1960–61). Singleton also appeared in All in the Family as Edith’s hotel roommate, Lydia Stonehurst in the 1971 episode “Edith has Jury Duty”. She also appeared in two Perry Mason episodes, titled “The Crooked Candle” and “The Purple Woman”.

Singleton guest-starred on My Three Sons, playing two different characters who had recurring roles throughout the long run of the show. She originally played the mother of Meredith MacRae whose character Sally Morrison married original oldest son Mike Douglas (Tim Considine) in the 1964-65 season. Later she played Margaret, mother of Polly Williams (Ronne Troup) in the 1970-71 season. At the time of her death in June 2012, Singleton was the last surviving major recurring adult cast members from the “Lucy” shows. Her last major acting role was in Deadly Messages (1985), though she appeared in advertising and voice overs for many subsequent years.

Doris Singleton cause of death
Doris Singleton died from complications from cancer on June 26, 2012, in her Los Angeles home. She had no children and left no immediate survivors.
Doris Singleton was 92 years old at the time of her death.

Nora Ephron (May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger.

She is best known for her romantic comedies and was a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for three films: Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally… and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes wrote with her sister Delia Ephron. Her last film was Julie & Julia. She also co-authored the Drama Desk Award-winning theatrical production, Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

Nora Ephron cause of death
Nora Ephron died from pneumonia, a complication resulting from acute myeloid leukemia, a condition with which she was diagnosed in 2006. In her most recent book, I Remember Nothing (2010), Ephron left clues that something was wrong or that she was sick.  Nora Ephron was 71 years old at the time of her death

Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965 – June 17, 2012) was the victim in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on March 3, 1991. A bystander, George Holliday, videotaped much of the incident from a distance.

The footage showed seven officers surrounding the solitary King, with several LAPD officers repeatedly striking a helpless King with their batons while the other officers stood by watching, without taking any action to stop the beating. A portion of this footage was aired by news agencies around the world, causing public outrage that increased tension between the local black community and the LAPD and increased anger over police brutality, racism and social inequalities in Los Angeles.

Four LAPD officers were later tried in a state court for the beating; three were acquitted and the jury failed to reach a verdict for the fourth. The announcement of the acquittals sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots. A later federal trial for civil rights violations ended with two of the officers found guilty and sent to prison and the other two officers acquitted.

After LA Riots

• In 1993, King entered an alcohol rehabilitation program and was placed on probation after crashing his vehicle into a block wall in downtown Los Angeles.
• In July 1995, he was arrested by Alhambra police, who alleged that he hit his wife with his car, knocking her to the ground. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail after being convicted of hit and run. 
• On August 27, 2003, King was arrested for speeding and running a red light while under the influence of alcohol. He failed to yield to police officers and slammed his vehicle into a house, breaking his pelvis.
• On November 29, 2007, while riding home on his bicycle, King was shot in the face, arms, and back with pellets from a shotgun.
• In May 2008 King checked into the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California, which was filmed as part of the second season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
• On March 3, 2011, King was stopped by Los Angeles police for driving erratically. He was issued a citation for driving with an expired license. 
• In February 2012, King was convicted in misdemeanor for reckless driving.

Death of Rodney King
On June 17, 2012, King’s fiancée, Cynthia Kelly, found him dead in his swimming pool. Rialto Police (California) received a 911 call from Cynthia Kelly, about 5:25 a.m. PST. Responding officers found King at the bottom of the pool, removed him, and attempted to revive him. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.  Rodney King as 47 years old at the time of his death.

*Kings fiancee Cyntia Kelly was juror #5 at King’s beating trial (1992)

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 “Sentimental Lady”.

Bob Welch cause of death
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. Welch had suffered from undisclosed health issues prior to his death. Bob Welch was 66 years old at the time of his death

Sentimental Lady – Bob Welch

Ray Douglas Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951), Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers of speculative fiction. Many of Bradbury’s works have been adapted into television shows or films.

Ray Bradbury cause of death
Bradbury died in Los Angeles, California, on June 5, 2012, after a “lengthy illness”.  Ray Bradbury was 91 years old at the time of his death

The Platters was also known as “Herb Reed’s Platters”

Herb Reed (August 7, 1928 – June 4, 2012) was an American musician, vocalist and founding member of The Platters, who were known for their hits during the 1950s and 1960s. Reed, who was the last surviving original member of the group, which he co-founded with four other musicians in 1953, is credited with creating The Platters’ name. Reed thought of the group’s name after noticing that DJs in the 1950s called their records, “platters.”

Herb Reed cause of death
Reed toured throughout his career. He performed as many as 200 concerts per year until 2012, when he stopped due to declining health. He died from complications from several ailments, including heart disease, at a hospice in Boston on June 4, 2012.  Herb Reed was 83 year old at the time of his death.

The Platters were one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre. The act went through several personnel changes, with the most successful incarnation comprising lead tenor Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor. The group had 40 charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1955 and 1967, including four # 1 hits.

Herb Reed Tells the Platters Story

The Platters and the voice of Herb Reed in ”Blues in the night”