Celebrity deaths, illness, divorce and remembrance
John Carroll Dye (January 31, 1963 – January 10, 2011) was an American film and television actor known for his role as Andrew in the television series Touched by an Angel.
Death of John Dye
Dye was found dead in his home in San Francisco, California on January 10, 2011, family have reported that he passed away from a heart attack.
John Dye in "The Perfect Weapon" (1/2)
Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty (April 16, 1947 – January 4, 2011) was a Scottish singer and songwriter best known for his hits "Right Down the Line" and "Baker Street". He was the son of a Scottish mother and an Irish father.
Death of Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty died on 4 January 2011, at the age of 63 of liver failure.
In November 2010, Rafferty was admitted to a hospital in Bournemouth, Dorset, suffering from liver failure. His family was told that there was little chance of his survival, although after he was taken off life support, his condition began to improve.
Related Blog
Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE (February 7, 1946 – January 2, 2011) was an English stage, film and television actor.
After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite’s first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer "Kobayashi" in The Usual Suspects, and he appeared in Alien 3, In the Name of the Father, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News, The Constant Gardener, Inception, and in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Death of Pete Postlethwaite
Postlethwaite died in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 2 January 2011 after a battle with cancer. Pete Postlethwaite was 64 at the time of his death.
Postlethwaite was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1990, and had one testicle removed.
Pete Postlethwaite talks about The Age of Stupid on BBC Breakfast
Anne Francis (September 16, 1930 – January 2, 2011) was an American actress, best known for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet (1956), and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West (1965–66). She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in Honey West. Francis holds the distinction of starring in the first TV series with a female detective character’s name in the title.
Her first leading role was in Blackboard Jungle (1955).
Anne Francis found success in television, with several appearances on The Twilight Zone, including the title character in "Jess-Belle" and as Marsha White in "The After Hours." She was a frequent guest star in 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s TV movies and programs. She appeared in two episodes of the popular TV western The Virginian.
Anne Francis was treated for lung cancer in 2007-2008. She kept her followers informed of her progress on her official website.
Death of Anne Francis
Anne Francis died on January 2, 2011, due to complications of pancreatic cancer at a retirement home in Santa Barbara, California, a city in which she was a longtime resident. Anne Francis was 80 years old at the time of her death
Movie Legends – Anne Francis
Below is my top 10 celebrity deaths in 2010
As always, my list will be different than yours.
It’s not easy to trim a long list down to just 10.
*Revised January 5, 2011. Thank you
Roberto "Bobby" Alfonso Farrell (October 6, 1949 – December 30, 2010) was a dancer and performer, best known as the male member of the successful 1970s pop and disco group Boney M.
Death of Bobby Farrell
Bobby Farrell died in a hotel in St Petersburg. He was complaining of breathing problems after performing with his band the evening before. The cause of death is still unknown. Bobby Farrell was 61 years old at the time of his death
BONEY M – DADDY COOL. Bobby Farrell on far left
Isabelle Caro (September 12, 1982 – November 17, 2010) was a French model from Marseille, France, who became well-known after appearing in a controversial ad campaign "No Anorexia" which showed Caro with vertebrae and facial bones protruding in a picture by photographer Oliviero Toscani.
Death of Isabelle Caro
Isabelle Caro died on 17 November 2010 in Tokyo, Japan, after spending about two weeks in hospital with acute respiratory disease although nobody knows the cause of her death. Her family only reported Isabelle’s death to the media on December 29, 2010.
William Lindsey "Bill" Erwin (December 2, 1914 – December 29, 2010) was an American television, film, and stage actor with over 250 television and film credits. As a veteran character actor, he was widely known for his role of Sid Fields, an embittered, irascible man on Seinfeld – for which he received an Emmy nomination – as well his regular appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Film
In the late 1950s, Erwin was in such pictures as "A Streetcar Named Desire" He played Jack Nicholson’s father in "Cry Baby Killer," He would later co-star alongside Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour in the Somewhere in Time.
Erwin has appeared in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She’s Having a Baby, Home Alone, and Dennis the Menace.
Television
His TV credits were even more numerous in the 1950s as he appeared in such television shows as I Love Lucy, Crusader, Trackdown, Colgate Theatre, "Perry Mason" and The Rifleman. In the 1960s, Erwin appeared in television shows such as: The Andy Griffith Show, Mister Ed, Maverick, The Twilight Zone, 87th Precinct, The Fugitive, and Mannix. Continuing his growing television stardom, Erwin, in the 1970s, was found in such television shows as: Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and Gunsmoke. Entering into the 1980s and 1990s, Erwin established his legacy on television by appearing in shows like ER, Highway to Heaven, Voyagers, Seinfeld, Dukes of Hazzard, Married With Children, Growing Pains, Full House, The Golden Girls, Moonlighting, My Name is Earl, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He had been on television continuously from 1948 to 2006.
In the Seinfeld episode ("The Old Man"), Erwin played Sid Fields ("Sid Fields" was the name of the writer for Abbott and Costello, and a person admired by Jerry Seinfeld), a member of the Foster-A-Grandpa Program. Erwin was Jerry’s foster grandparent, and his aggressive character and sheer hatred for Jerry made the relationship fail. Furthermore, Erwin’s character bit Kramer on the arm causing him to lose his dentures. Irwin received an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor for the role, and later reunited with Michael Richards when he guest starred on the short-lived The Michael Richards Show.
In the 2000s, Erwin appeared on Monk, The West Wing, King of Queens, Everwood and My Name Is Earl.
Death of Bill Erwin
Bill Erwin died of natural causes in Studio City.
Bill Erwin was 96 years old at the time of his death.
"The Twilight Zone" Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
Bill Erwin as Peter Kramer (The Shop Owner? – need a fact check )
Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville. Since 1994, Taylor was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
With over twenty three honorary doctoral degrees, Taylor is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, NEA Jazz Masters Award (1998) an Emmy Award (1983) for "Outstanding Informational, Cultural or Historical Programming", a Grammy Award (2004) and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts (1992), the Tiffany Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Down Beat Magazine. He was also honored in 2001 with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award, and election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education.
Death of Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor of died of heart failure.
Billy Taylor was 89 years old at the time of his death.
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free – Billy Taylor