Celebrity deaths, illness, divorce and remembrance
* America apologizes for not knowing such a legend, but some of us do.
Reg Lindsay (1929 – August 5, 2008) was a Australian Country and Western singer who won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty year music career.
Death of Reg Lindsay
Reg Lindsay died of pneumonia after a long battle with illness, surrounded by his wife Roslyn and three daughters. Red Lindsay was 75 years old at the time of his death.
Erik Darling (September 25, 1933 – August 3, 2008) was an American songwriter and a folk music artist. He was an important influence on the folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Inspired by the folk music group The Weavers, in the ’50s, he formed The Tunetellers, later called The Tarriers with actor/singer Alan Arkin. Their version of the "Banana Boat Song" reached #4 on the Billboard charts.
Darling left that group to replace Pete Seeger in The Weavers, staying with them from 1958 through 1962. He then formed The Rooftop Singers, who had a number one single with the song "Walk Right In", and his solo album True Religion for Vanguard was influential on younger folkies of the day. In 1967, Darling and Paul Bennett were co-credited for writing the song "Babe I’m Gonna Leave You," by Quicksilver Messenger Service, which appears to be a medley of Darling’s 1958 song "St. John’s River" and Joan Baez’s "Babe I’m Gonna Leave You".
He died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina from lymphoma. He was 74.
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) was a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. Through his writings, he made the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union’s labour camp system, and for these efforts, Solzhenitsyn was both awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 and exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He returned to Russia in 1994. That year, he was elected as a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Department of Language and Literature. He was the father of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a well-known conductor and pianist. He died at home after years of declining health on August 3, 2008
* Youssef Chahine is an important figure in world cinema history. But, he remains as a inor celebrity for people in Western nations.
Youssef Chahine (January 25, 1926 – July 27, 2008) was an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since 1950. He was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif.
Illness and death
Chahine was hospitalized at Ach-Chourouq hospital in Cairo in a coma following an apparent cerebral haemorrhage, on Sunday, June 15, 2008.
On Monday, June 16, 2008, Chahine was flown to Paris on an emergency flight and admitted to the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris, where his niece told AFP his condition was "critical but stable."
Youssef Chahine died in his Cairo home on Sunday July 27, 2008
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John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.
Death of Johnny Griffin
Johnny Griffin died in Availles-Limouzine, France, where he had lived for the past 24 years.
Johnny Griffin was 80 years old at the time of his death.
Cause of death is unknown for now. Griffin’s wife Miriam found him dead before he was due to give a concert.
Johnny Griffin’s last concert was July 21, 2008, in Hyères, France.
Early life and education
Griffin studied music at DuSable High School under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax. While still at high school at age 15, Griffin was playing with T-Bone Walker in a band led by Walker’s brother.
* Johnny Griffin’s biography & discography continues next page
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Johnny Griffin’s Sax Solo
Early career
Alto sax was still his instrument of choice when he joined Lionel Hampton’s big band three days after his high school graduation, but Hampton encouraged him to take up the tenor, playing alongside Arnett Cobb. He first appeared on a Los Angeles recording with Hampton’s band in 1945 at the age of 17.
In 1947, Griffin and fellow Hampton band member Joe Morris formed a sextet, where he remained for the next two years. His playing can be heard on various early Rhythm and Blues recordings for Atlantic Records. By 1951 Griffin was playing baritone sax in an R&B sextet led by former bandmate Arnett Cobb.
After returning to Chicago from two years in the Army, Griffin began establishing a reputation as one of the premiere saxophonists in that city. Thelonious Monk enthusiastically encouraged Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records to sign the young tenor, but before he could act Blue Note Records had signed Griffin.
He joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1957, and his recordings from that time include a memorable album joining together the Messengers and Thelonious Monk. Griffin then succeeded John Coltrane as a member of Monk’s Five Spot quartet; he can be heard on the album "Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot."
Recordings
As leader of his own band, his first Blue Note album Introducing Johnny Griffin in 1956, also featuring Wynton Kelly on piano, Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums, brought him critical acclaim.
A 1957 Blue Note album A Blowing Session featured him with fellow tenor players John Coltrane and Hank Mobley. He played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers for a few months in 1957, and in the Thelonious Monk Sextet and Quartet (1958). During this period, he recorded a set with Clark Terry on Serenade To a Bus Seat featuring the rhythm trio of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones.
At this stage in his career, Griffin was known as the "fastest tenor in the west", for the ease with which he could execute fast note runs with excellent intonation.
Subsequent to his three albums for Blue Note, Griffin did not get along with the label’s house engineer Rudy Van Gelder, he recorded for the Riverside label.
From 1960 to 1962 he and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis led their own quintet, recording several albums together.
Move to Europe
He went to live in France in 1963, moving to the Netherlands in 1978. Apart from appearing regularly under his own name at jazz clubs such as London’s Ronnie Scott’s, Griffin became the "first choice" sax player for visiting US musicians touring the continent during the 60s and 70s. He briefly rejoined Monk’s groups (an Octet and Nonet) in 1967.
Griffin and Davis met up again in 1970 and recorded Tough Tenors Again ‘n’ Again, and again with the Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1965 he recorded some albums with Wes Montgomery. From 1967 to 1969, he formed part of The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, and in the late 70s, recorded with Peter Herbolzheimer And His Big Band, which also included, among others, Nat Adderley, Derek Watkins, Art Farmer, Slide Hampton, Jiggs Whigham, Herb Geller, Wilton Gaynair, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Rita Reys, Jean "Toots" Thielemans, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Grady Tate, and Quincy Jones as arranger. He also recorded with the Nat Adderley Quintet in 1978, having previously recorded with Adderley in 1958.
His last concert, July 21, 2008 was played in Hyères, France. Johnny Griffin died in Availles-Limouzine, France, where he had lived for the past 24 years.
Selected discography
Introducing Johnny Griffin (1956)
A Blowing Session (1957)
The Congregation (1957)
Johnny Griffin Sextet (1958)
The Little Giant (1959)
The Big Soul Band (1960)
White Gardenia (1961; Riverside Records)
The Kerry Dancers and Other Swinging Folk (1961)
Tough Tenor Favourites (1962)
Grab This! (1962)
The Man I Love (1967)
Tough Tenors Again ‘n’ Again, with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (1970)
Bush Dance (1978)
That Old Feeling (Rita Reys, Trio Pim Jacobs ft. Johnny Griffin (1979)
Take My Hand (1988)
The Cat (1990)
Dance of Passion (1992)
Johnny Griffin/Steve Grossman Quintet (2000)
Randy Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his "The Last Lecture" speech on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Estelle Getty (July 25, 1923 – July 22, 2008) was an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actress (theatre and screen). In her later years, she retired from acting and was battling Lewy Body dementia.
Death of Estelle Getty
On July 22, 2008, at approximately 5:30 a.m. PDT, Getty died in her Hollywood Boulevard home in Los Angeles from natural causes (according to her manager), three days before her 85th birthday.
Each of Getty’s former Golden Girls co-stars reflected on her death: Rue McClanahan told the Associated Press, "Don’t feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia." Bea Arthur said in a statement, "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her." Betty White remarked, "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us."
In honor of Estelle, Lifetime TV, which airs The Golden Girls, announced that it will air ten episodes of the series featuring the best of Sophia on Friday, July 25. Fans can vote for their favorite episode on Lifetime’s website. The winning episode will be aired last in the marathon.
Related Pages: Deaths of Golden Girls Cast
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Estelle Getty Biography
Getty was born Estelle Scher. She got her start in the Yiddish theater, and her most important early role was playing Harvey Fierstein’s mother on Broadway in the play Torch Song Trilogy. However, she is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom, The Golden Girls. In it, she played the wise-cracking old Sicilian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, who was the show’s main protagonist, played by Beatrice Arthur. Getty was actually one year younger than Arthur.
She was married to Arthur Gettleman (from whose name she adapted her stage name) from 1946 until his death in 2004. Getty had two grown sons: Carl Gettleman, who lives in California, and Barry Gettleman, who lives in Florida.
She wrote her autobiography, with Steve Delsohn, titled If I Knew Then, What I Know Now. . .So What? (Contemporary Books, 1988).
In 1991 Estelle Getty opened her heart to her nephew, Steven Scher (age 29), who was in the final stages of AIDS and near death in 1991. With Steve’s parents living in England and his friends no longer able to care for him in Greensboro, North Carolina, Estelle had Steve flown out to California where she admitted him to hospice care. Steve died in January 1992. An extensive account of her act of charity was published in STAR Magazine.
In 2000, she stopped making public appearances after revealing that she had Parkinson’s Disease and osteoporosis. In 2002, it was revealed to the media that she was also suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. It was later discovered that she actually had Lewy Body Dementia, and both the Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diagnoses were incorrect. In 2003, there was a Golden Girls reunion hosted on the Lifetime television network but Getty did not appear in it due to her failing health.
Emmy Awards
1992 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
1991 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
1990 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
1989 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
1988 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Won)
1987 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
1986 – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
Golden Globe Awards
1991 – Actress In A Supporting Role – Series, Mini-Series Or Television Movie – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)
1986 – Actress In A Leading Role – Musical Or Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Won)
1985 – Actress In A Leading Role – Musical Or Comedy Series – The Golden Girls – (Nominated)