Author: John

Holly Woodlawn (born Haroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl; October 26, 1946 – December 6, 2015) was a transgender Puerto Rican actress and Warhol superstar who appeared in his movies Trash (1970) and Women in Revolt (1972).

Lou Reed refers to Woodlawn in his song “Walk on the Wild Side”, the opening verse of which describes her hitchhiking journey and gender transition:

    Holly came from Miami, F-L-A
    Hitchhiked her way across the USA
    Plucked her eyebrows on the way
    Shaved her legs and then he was a she
    She says, “Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side.”

Death

Woodlawn died of brain and liver cancer in Los Angeles on December 6, 2015.

Woodlawn fell seriously ill in June 2015, and was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She was so weak that physicians feared for her life. Tests later revealed that she had lesions on her liver and brain. The lesions were later determined to be cancer. Woodlawn’s health improved enough for her to be sent home, where she continued treatment and received in-home healthcare. She was later forced to vacate her West Hollywood, California, apartment due to flooding, and entered an assisted living facility in October.

Charles E. “Chuck” Williams (October 2, 1915 – December 5, 2015) was the founder of the Williams-Sonoma company and author and editor of dozens of books on the subject of cooking. He turned 100 in October 2015 and two months later died on December 5.

Williams bought the Ralph Morse Hardware Store in Sonoma, California in 1953. Over the next few years, he gradually converted its stock from hardware to French cookware, filling a niche in the market as European cookware was difficult to find for purchase in America at the time. The concept was successful, and he moved his operations to San Francisco in 1958. More than a decade later, in 1971, Williams-Sonoma introduced its first cookware catalog. Soon after, the business began expanding to more locations and now includes over 200 stores nationwide. In addition, in recent years, Williams-Sonoma has begun expanding into Canada, with four stores as of 2005. Chuck Williams sold Williams-Sonoma to Howard Lester in the early 1980’s.

Chuck Williams cause of death

Chuck Williams died of natural causes at his home in San Francisco.

Salvatore Loggia (January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015), known as Robert Loggia, was an American actor and director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jagged Edge.

His many television credits included appearances on Overland Trail, Target: The Corruptors!, The Untouchables, The Eleventh Hour, Breaking Point, Combat!, Custer, Columbo, Ellery Queen, High Chaparral, Gunsmoke, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Big Valley, The Wild Wild West, Rawhide, Little House on the Prairie, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, The Rockford Files (three times as three different characters), Magnum, P.I., Quincy, M.E., Kojak, Hawaii Five-0, The Bionic Woman, Falcon Crest, Frasier, The Sopranos, Monk and Oliver Stone’s miniseries Wild Palms.

His film roles included Revenge of the Pink Panther, An Officer and a Gentleman, Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771, based on the Air New Zealand Flight 103 incident, Psycho II, Scarface, Prizzi’s Honor, Over The Top, Independence Day, Necessary Roughness, Return to Me, Armed and Dangerous and Big (for which he won a Saturn Award).

Robert Loggia cause of death.

In 2010, Loggia was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and died on December 4, 2015, of complications from the disease at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 85.

Tribute to Roberto Loggia at MIFF 2011

Scott Richard Weiland (born Scott Richard Kline; October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American musician and singer-songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer for the successful rock band Stone Temple Pilots from 1986 to 2013, as well as the supergroup Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008. He also established himself as a solo artist, releasing four studio albums, a cover album, a live album and collaborations with several other musicians since 1995.

Weiland has been ranked in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader (No. 57).

Scott Weiland Cause of Death

On December 3, 2015, Weiland was found in cardiac arrest on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, just before he was scheduled to go on stage with his band The Wildabouts. He was 48 years old. No underlying cause of death was immediately given. Police later confirmed during a search of Weiland’s tour bus, small amounts of cocaine were found in the bedroom where Weiland was discovered dead. His Wildabout bandmate Delton Black was arrested and is to be charged with possession of a controlled substance after cocaine was also found in his bedroom on the same tour bus.

Drug use

• 1995 – Weiland was convicted of buying crack cocaine.
• 2005 – interview with Esquire, Weiland said that while performing in his first bands as a teenager, his drinking “escalated” and he began using cocaine for the first time.In
• December 2007 – Weiland was arrested and charged with DUI, his first arrest in over four years (since October 27, 2003).
• February 7, 2008 – Weiland checked into rehab and left in early March.
• April 2015 footage showed Weiland, who appeared in the video to be zoned out and giving a bizarre performance.
• June 2015 – Weiland claimed that he had been off drugs for 13 years. His response was directed towards comments made by Filter’s Richard Patrick, who claimed Weiland was using drugs and even his fans were pushing him closer to death saying “the fans are just sticking up for Scott, and they have no idea of what is going on behind the scenes and it’s actually they’re pushing him into his death, because they’re making him believe that whatever I did is acceptable, and I can be as high as I want and I can do as much drugs as I want.”

Stone Temple Pilots – Plush. (Singer Scott Weiland)

Velvet Revolver – Slither (Singer Scott Weiland)

Phil Taylor (September 21, 1954 – November 11, 2015), better known as “Philthy Animal” Taylor was an English rock drummer in the British heavy metal band Motörhead from 1975–1984 and 1987–1992 recording ten studio albums and the live album No Sleep ’til Hammersmith. The classic mark IV Motörhead line-up consisted of Lemmy, Taylor, and Fast Eddie Clarke.

Phil Taylor cause of death.

Phil Taylor died of Liver failure.  Phil Taylor was 61 years old at the  time of his death.

Motörhead – Ace of Spades

Albert Francis “Al” Molinaro (born Umberto Francesca Molinaro; June 24, 1919 – October 30, 2015) was an American actor. He was best known for his television sitcom roles as Al Delvecchio on Happy Days and Murray Greshler on The Odd Couple. He also starred in TV commercials for On-Cor frozen dinners for 16 years.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Molinaro studied acting and was offered guest roles on TV sitcoms, including Bewitched, Get Smart, Green Acres, and That Girl.

Al Molinaro caluse of death.

Molinaro died in a Glendale, California, hospital on October 30, 2015, at the age of 96. He is survived by his wife Betty and son Michael, who said his father’s death was the result of complications from an infected gallbladder. Molinaro had three grandchildren.

Happy Days theme

Philip Daniel “Flip” Saunders (February 23, 1955 – October 25, 2015) was an American basketball player and coach. During his career he coached the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards.

MBA History
1995–2005     Minnesota Timberwolves
2005–2008     Detroit Pistons
2009–2012     Washington Wizards
2014–2015     Minnesota Timberwolves

Flip Saunders cause of death and illness.

On August 11, 2015, it was announced that Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer from blood). He declared in August that he was being treated for this disease. Doctors considered it “very treatable and curable” and Saunders at the time said he planned to remain the Timberwolves’ head coach and president of basketball operations. However, after being hospitalized following a setback in September, it was announced that he would miss the entire 2015–16 NBA season.

Saunders died on October 25, 2015, at age 60.

Flip Saunders Gets Ejected vs Celtics – ( 1-02-2012 )

Maureen O’Hara (born Maureen FitzSimons; 17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015) was an Irish-American film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O’Hara was known for playing fiercely passionate but sensible heroines, and often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

John Ford, casted her as Angharad in How Green Was My Valley (1941), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Later in the decade, she starred as Doris Walker and the mother of a young Natalie Wood in 20th Century Fox’s Miracle on 34th Street (1947).

In 1946, she became a naturalised citizen of the United States and held dual citizenship with the US and her native Ireland. An icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, at the height of her career O’Hara was considered one of the world’s most beautiful women. She is often remembered for her onscreen chemistry with John Wayne. They made five films together between 1948 and 1972: Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, McLintock! and Big Jake.

In addition to her acting skills, O’Hara had a soprano voice and described singing as her first love.

Maureen O’Hara cause of death

Maureen O’Hara died in her sleep at her home in Idaho.  She was 95 years old at the time of her death.

*Inducted to the Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960

Maureen O’Hara – 90th Birthday Tribute

Cory Wells (born Emil Lewandowski; February 2, 1941 – October 20, 2015) was an American singer, best known as one of the three lead vocalists in the band Three Dog Night.

Cory Wells and Danny Hutton got together to form Three Dog Night in 1968.

Unlike many other rock musicians of the day, Wells was able to abstain from serious drug and alcohol problems, plus he didn’t squander his earnings on the lavish life styles of many successful rock stars. Rather, he chose to live a somewhat more moderate existence.

Wells died suddenly in his sleep on October 20, 2015 at his home in Dunkirk, New York at the age of 74.  Cause of death is not known.

Cory Wells – Try a Little Tenderness

Three Dog Night – Mama told me not to come 1970

Cory Wells – Lead singer

Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel (January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015), known by her stage name Joan Leslie, was an American actress, dancer and vaudevillian who appeared in such films during the Hollywood Golden Age such as High Sierra, Sergeant York and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

She took cameo roles in series such as Murder, She Wrote, Charlie’s Angels and The Incredible Hulk.

Leslie died on October 12, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. She was 90.

On October 8, 1960, Joan Leslie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.

Harrigan (James Cagney, Joan Leslie) (Yankee Doodle Dandy)

Fred Astaire & Joan Leslie sing My Shining Hour