Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late–1960s as a teenager, Wright rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as “Clean Up Woman” and “Tonight Is the Night”. Wright was also prominent in her use of whistle register.
Wright won the Best R&B Song Grammy Award for composing “Where Is the Love”.
Wright died from cancer, on May 10, 2020 at her home in Miami. She was 66.
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), better known as Little Richard, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Nicknamed “The Innovator, The Originator, and The Architect of Rock and Roll”, Penniman’s most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding back beat and raspy shouted vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. Penniman’s innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk, respectively. He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come.
Little Richard cause of death
On May 9, 2020, Penniman died at the age of 87 in Tennessee. The cause of death was revealed to be bone cancer. At the time of his death, he was living with his brother in Nashville, Tennessee.
Martin Spellman IV was born in 1925 in Des Moines, Iowa. After his family moved to California, at the age of 9 he first entered the MGM studios not as a prospective actor but as a newsboy.
He became such a familiar figure at MGM that for Christmas 1937, they decided to give him a very special Christmas present. Clark Gable invited him to work as an extra for a few days on the film Test Pilot where he had an uncredited role. After that, he played Skinny in the 1938 film Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. In 1939, he co-starred in Streets of New York with Jackie Cooper. The following year he had another leading role in Son of the Navy with Jean Parker and James Dunn.
Spellman’s film career ended in 1941. He then enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Returning to civilian life, he spent 27 years in the business world, and then switched to automobile finance and insurance.
Spellman died in Vancouver, Washington in May 2020 at the age of 94.
Streets Of New York – Full Movie. Martin Spellman as William McKinley ‘Gimpy’ Smith
Brian Manion Dennehy (July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. Dennehy won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He had roles in over 180 films and in many television and stage productions. His film roles included Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), Cocoon (1985), F/X (1986), Presumed Innocent (1990), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Knight of Cups (2015). Dennehy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Willy Loman in the television film Death of a Salesman (2000).
Dennehy died on April 15, 2020, of cardiac arrest due to sepsis at his home in New Haven, Connecticut. He is survived by Arnott and his five children.
Hollywood Walk of Fame: September 14, 1979, 6666 Hollywood Blvd.
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Though he was most successful with country audiences, Rogers charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone, and sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Kenny Rogers was married five times (with each marriage lasting longer than the previous one) and had five children.
Kenneth Rogers Cause of Death
On March 20, 2020, Rogers died under hospice care at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia. He died from natural causes. Due to the national COVID-19 emergency, the family is planning a small private service at this time with a public memorial planned for a later date.
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition – Ruby don’t take your love to town Kenny Rogers – Vocal and Bass Guitar
Lyle Wesley Waggoner (April 13, 1935 – March 17, 2020) was an American actor and model, known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1974, and for playing the role of Steve Trevor and Steve Trevor Jr. on Wonder Woman from 1975 to 1979.
By the mid-1960s, Waggoner was appearing regularly in television and films, including an episode of Gunsmoke.
In 1973, Waggoner became Playgirl’s first male seminude centerfold.
Waggoner also appeared in several TV movies and minor motion pictures during the 1970s and 1980s, often cast for “hunk” appeal. He made guest appearances on numerous television series including Charlie’s Angels, The San Pedro Beach Bums, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, The Golden Girls, Ellen, and most recently The War at Home. Waggoner also played at least three roles on The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Murder, She Wrote throughout their respective runs.
Lawrence Gordon Tesler (April 24, 1945 – February 16, 2020) was an American computer scientist who worked in the field of human–computer interaction. Tesler worked at Xerox PARC, Apple, Amazon, and Yahoo!
Tesler developed the idea of copy and paste functionality and the idea of modeless software.
Tesler died in Portola Valley, California on February 16, 2020, at the age of 74
Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series The Wild Wild West, playing the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West. He portrayed World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep (later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron). In addition to acting, he was a singer, and recorded several pop/rock songs in the late 1950s and early 1960s as Bob Conrad. He hosted a weekly two-hour national radio show (The PM Show with Robert Conrad) on CRN Digital Talk Radio beginning in 2008.
Car accident
On March 31, 2003, while on Highway 4 in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills near his Alpine County home, Conrad drove his Jaguar over the center median and slammed head-on into a Subaru driven by 26-year-old Kevin Burnett. Both men suffered serious injuries. Tried on felony charges, Conrad pleaded no contest, and he was convicted of drunk driving.
He was sentenced to six months of house confinement, alcohol counseling, and five years’ probation. A civil suit filed by Kevin Burnett against Conrad was settled the following year for an undisclosed amount. In 2005, Burnett died at age 28 from perforated ulcers, which his family attributed to his difficult recovery from the crash. Conrad himself suffered severe nerve injuries from the crash, which left his right side partially paralyzed.
Robert Conrad cause of death
Conrad died of heart failure in Malibu, California, on February 8, 2020, at age 84.
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor, producer, director, philanthropist and writer. After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war films. During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films. Douglas was known for his explosive acting style, which he displayed as a criminal defense attorney in Town Without Pity (1961).
Douglas became an international star through positive reception for his leading role as an unscrupulous boxing hero in Champion (1949), which brought him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. His other early film include Young Man with a Horn (1950), playing opposite Lauren Bacall and Doris Day, Ace in the Hole opposite Jan Sterling (1951), and Detective Story (1951), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor in a Drama. He received a second Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), opposite Lana Turner, and his third nomination for portraying Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), which landed him a second Golden Globe nomination.
Health issues and death of Kirk Douglas
On January 28, 1996, Douglas suffered a severe stroke, which impaired his ability to speak. Doctors told his wife that unless there was rapid improvement, the loss of the ability to speak was likely permanent. After a regime of daily speech-language therapy that lasted several months, his ability to speak returned, although it was still limited. He was able to accept an honorary Academy Award two months later in March and thanked the audience. He wrote about this experience in his 2002 book, My Stroke of Luck, which he hoped would be an “operating manual” for others on how to handle a stroke victim in their own family.
Douglas died at his home in Beverly Hills, California surrounded by family, on February 5, 2020, at age 103. The cause of death was kept private. Douglas’s funeral was held at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on February 7, 2020.
Kirk Douglas – Transformation From 17 To 101 Years Old
