OBITUARIES
Dave Broadfoot, Royal Canadian Air Farce comedian, dead at 90
Toronto - Canada - November 04 - 2016 - Comedian and actor Dave Broadfoot has died at age 90, his family confirmed to CBC News. Broadfoot was best known for his time on the long-running comedy show Royal Canadian Air Farce on CBC radio and TV. Starting in 1973, he appeared on radio and television versions for 15 years in the classic lineup of the show, alongside cast members Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and John Morgan. Goy remembered Broadfoot as a lovely man, a skilled writer and consummate performer. "His legacy is monumental. He's a national treasure," Goy told CBC News after learning of Broadfoot's death. Dave Broadfoot's memorable characters made us laugh in a uniquely Canadian way. My sincere condolences to his loved ones", she said.
Among Broadfoot's best-known characters were the Honourable Member for Kicking Horse Pass, Sgt. Renfrew of the RCMP and Big Bobby Clobber, a hockey player who had received too many pucks to the head.
Among Broadfoot's best-known characters were the Honourable Member for Kicking Horse Pass, Sgt. Renfrew of the RCMP and Big Bobby Clobber, a hockey player who had received too many pucks to the head.
Broadfoot was a fixture with the Big Revue and the Wayne and Shuster Show beginning in the 1950s, and on radio the following decade with Funny You Should Say That. He was known for an act that blended genial satire, Canadiana-laced content, and an extensive knowledge of political and historical goings-on.
"You tell a Canadian he's apathetic and he'll answer, 'Who cares?"
"What is our culture?" Broadfoot asked in his 1995 comedy special. "It's gathering up every useless thing you've acquired throughout your life, putting it on tables on your front lawn and making other people pay for it."
Broadfoot poked fun at all regions of the country with mildly politically incorrect results, praising the peace and quiet one finds in Quebec on Canada Day, and also in an extended riff on Canadian inventiveness.
"Down East in 1846, Abraham Gesner invented kerosene. And the people loved the taste. "
And the kerosene lamp became a symbol of Canadian manhood – it's not very bright. It gets turned down a lot and when needed most, goes out."
Those jokes came from a performer who was a "proud Canadian," Goy said, and when the Air Farce took its act across the country, Broadfoot displayed his extensive knowledge of the cultural scene and best restaurants in each stop due to decades of paying his dues on the road.
"You tell a Canadian he's apathetic and he'll answer, 'Who cares?"
"What is our culture?" Broadfoot asked in his 1995 comedy special. "It's gathering up every useless thing you've acquired throughout your life, putting it on tables on your front lawn and making other people pay for it."
Broadfoot poked fun at all regions of the country with mildly politically incorrect results, praising the peace and quiet one finds in Quebec on Canada Day, and also in an extended riff on Canadian inventiveness.
"Down East in 1846, Abraham Gesner invented kerosene. And the people loved the taste. "
And the kerosene lamp became a symbol of Canadian manhood – it's not very bright. It gets turned down a lot and when needed most, goes out."
Those jokes came from a performer who was a "proud Canadian," Goy said, and when the Air Farce took its act across the country, Broadfoot displayed his extensive knowledge of the cultural scene and best restaurants in each stop due to decades of paying his dues on the road.
Born in Vancouver on December 05 - 1925, Broadfoot began hitting stages soon after serving in the navy during the Second World War. He honed his act in an embryonic Canadian entertainment industry, playing all manner of gigs from coffee shops, restaurants and clubs, producing his own variety-style cabarets or appearing at established festivals like Stratford or the Spring Thaw, the annual revue of performers that ran in Toronto for a quarter century beginning in the late 1960s. An early highlight was an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York in 1955.
He laid the groundwork for a future generation of Canadian comedians and performers writing shows such as Take a Beaver to Lunch. Upon meeting John Cleese of Monty Python fame in the late 1970s, the British comedian immediately remembered Broadfoot for his Clap Hands show which had toured England in 1965.
Those efforts as a pioneer were recognized by Canadian Comedy Awards organizers, who named their Comedic Genius award after Broadfoot.
Broadfoot left to Toronto in the mid-1960s to make his professional base in Montreal, inspired by the amount of work as the city's cultural scene expanded around the time of Expo 67 — which included the CBC show based in the city, Funny You Should Say That — as well as a relationship that led to marriage.
Broadfoot returned to Toronto after gigs dried up in Quebec. He told the Toronto Star in 1974 that the Air Farce opportunity came up just as he was considering taking his talents to America, an unimaginable development in retrospect.
He laid the groundwork for a future generation of Canadian comedians and performers writing shows such as Take a Beaver to Lunch. Upon meeting John Cleese of Monty Python fame in the late 1970s, the British comedian immediately remembered Broadfoot for his Clap Hands show which had toured England in 1965.
Those efforts as a pioneer were recognized by Canadian Comedy Awards organizers, who named their Comedic Genius award after Broadfoot.
Broadfoot left to Toronto in the mid-1960s to make his professional base in Montreal, inspired by the amount of work as the city's cultural scene expanded around the time of Expo 67 — which included the CBC show based in the city, Funny You Should Say That — as well as a relationship that led to marriage.
Broadfoot returned to Toronto after gigs dried up in Quebec. He told the Toronto Star in 1974 that the Air Farce opportunity came up just as he was considering taking his talents to America, an unimaginable development in retrospect.
"In Canada, you can be the biggest success ever and still have a very, very small bank account because that's the way we are," he said in 2003 as he received the Governor General's award. He also remarked on receiving an honour from the same government he often poked fun at.
"We're loose enough, liberal enough, accepting enough in this country, we're mature enough that we can make fun of each other and still have great respect and honour each other."
"We're loose enough, liberal enough, accepting enough in this country, we're mature enough that we can make fun of each other and still have great respect and honour each other."
The Air Farce, which had its roots in the earlier troupe The Jest Society, debuted on CBC-TV on December 09- 1973.
Broadfoot was considerably older than the rest of the cast. Luba Goy said that maturity led to a tireless work ethic that helped the group focus.
"Dave was not a procrastinator," she said. "He would come into the rehearsal all prepared, he would have his material all written and just wanted to get on with it." Abbott, Ferguson, Goy and Morgan would perform on the show and its various related specials after Broadfoot's departure up until this century, with the quartet honoured in 2000 on Canada's Walk of Fame.
"His legacy is really monumental because he is a national treasure," Goy said. "Everything we learned to be on radio and timing, we learned from Dave. He was just a master. His timing was genius. And he was a master of one-liners."
Roger Abbott died in 2011, having battled chronic lymphocytic leukemia for over a decade.
After leaving Air Farce, Broadfoot tapped into a more developed Canadian comedy circuit, making appearances at the Just For Laughs festival and on the road at comedy clubs that had sprung up across the country. He was awarded a pair of Geminis, for his 1998 comedy special, Old Enough To Say What I Want, and two years later for Old Dog, New Tricks. In 2002, he published his autobiography, also entitled Old Enough To Say What I Want. Broadfoot was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1983 and 20 years later was presented with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press
Broadfoot was considerably older than the rest of the cast. Luba Goy said that maturity led to a tireless work ethic that helped the group focus.
"Dave was not a procrastinator," she said. "He would come into the rehearsal all prepared, he would have his material all written and just wanted to get on with it." Abbott, Ferguson, Goy and Morgan would perform on the show and its various related specials after Broadfoot's departure up until this century, with the quartet honoured in 2000 on Canada's Walk of Fame.
"His legacy is really monumental because he is a national treasure," Goy said. "Everything we learned to be on radio and timing, we learned from Dave. He was just a master. His timing was genius. And he was a master of one-liners."
Roger Abbott died in 2011, having battled chronic lymphocytic leukemia for over a decade.
After leaving Air Farce, Broadfoot tapped into a more developed Canadian comedy circuit, making appearances at the Just For Laughs festival and on the road at comedy clubs that had sprung up across the country. He was awarded a pair of Geminis, for his 1998 comedy special, Old Enough To Say What I Want, and two years later for Old Dog, New Tricks. In 2002, he published his autobiography, also entitled Old Enough To Say What I Want. Broadfoot was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1983 and 20 years later was presented with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press
Dave Broadfoot was one of the great comedians. He knew the line between risque and filthy and he was master of puns. His political and historical satire were sharp and hilarious; good fun and not just mean spirited political putdowns. Dave you are sorely missed.
Being 68 years old I sometimes get a bit depressed seeing all the greats of show business passing away.The days of laughing at the wonderful antics of wonderful legends like him are gone especially now that modern comics fill their acts with bathroom humor and obscenities and I,m no prude, far from it.The obvious exception to that is Ellen who always makes me laugh without resorting to filth.RIP Dave and keep the angels laughing!
Wee Big Band leader Jim Galloway, dead at 78
Toronto - Canada - December 30 - 2014 - James (Jim) Galloway (saxophonist. clarinetist) was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, 25 miles southwest of Glasgow, Scotland, on July 28, 1936. One of the international jazz scenes most significant proponents of swing, Galloway has remained one of the most popular players on the international jazz circuit for the past few decades.He studied at the Glasgow School of Fine Arts, and worked with some of Scotland’s all-star jazz bands and ensembles before moving to Canada in 1964 to gain wide acclaim in Canada for his performances of swing, traditional, and mainstream jazz. With a well-warranted reputation as one of the leading soprano saxophonists anywhere, the accomplished musician and bandleader is known for his ability to play the difficult soprano with remarkable skill and sensitivity.
He joined bassist Jim McHarg’s Metro Stompers in 1966, taking over leadership of the band two years later, touring and performing locally with them for the next two decades. Frequently demonstrating his penchant for mainstream swing in Toronto jazz clubs throughout the ‘70s, he played with visiting greats including Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, Art Hodes, Jay McShann, Ralph Sutton, Buddy Tate, and Dick Wellstood. It was in the late ‘70s, too, that he began an international touring career, with Galloway making guest appearances at jazz festivals in Edinburgh, Nice, Bern, and Los Angeles. He has recorded albums in Austria, Canada, Holland, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, and the U.S.
In 1979, Jim Galloway introduced his 17-piece Wee Big Band as a repertory band specializing in the music of the great bands of the swing era. The Wee Big Band is reputed to have the most extensive repertoire of any big band in Canada and they recently released Blue Reverie (Sackville), the last CD to be recorded at the now- defunct Montreal Bistro in Toronto.
Since 1974, Galloway has also led a smaller swing group known as the Echoes of Swing sextet entertaining crowds of people aboard the Jazz Cruise on Holland-America cruise ships. He was host and music director for Toronto Alive on 99.9 CKFM, a weekly broadcast featuring Canadian and American soloists with a stellar Toronto rhythm section. In addition to serving as an agent for several leading Toronto jazz clubs, Jim was instrumental in establishing the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival and served as the festival's Artistic Director from 1976 until 2010.
In 2002, Jim Galloway was honoured by the Government of France with a Chevalier, one of three "Order of Arts and Letters" Awards presented to just a few hundred people worldwide each year, an elite list which includes American recipients Ornette Coleman, Marilyn Horn, Robert Redford, and Meryl Streep.
He joined bassist Jim McHarg’s Metro Stompers in 1966, taking over leadership of the band two years later, touring and performing locally with them for the next two decades. Frequently demonstrating his penchant for mainstream swing in Toronto jazz clubs throughout the ‘70s, he played with visiting greats including Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, Art Hodes, Jay McShann, Ralph Sutton, Buddy Tate, and Dick Wellstood. It was in the late ‘70s, too, that he began an international touring career, with Galloway making guest appearances at jazz festivals in Edinburgh, Nice, Bern, and Los Angeles. He has recorded albums in Austria, Canada, Holland, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, and the U.S.
In 1979, Jim Galloway introduced his 17-piece Wee Big Band as a repertory band specializing in the music of the great bands of the swing era. The Wee Big Band is reputed to have the most extensive repertoire of any big band in Canada and they recently released Blue Reverie (Sackville), the last CD to be recorded at the now- defunct Montreal Bistro in Toronto.
Since 1974, Galloway has also led a smaller swing group known as the Echoes of Swing sextet entertaining crowds of people aboard the Jazz Cruise on Holland-America cruise ships. He was host and music director for Toronto Alive on 99.9 CKFM, a weekly broadcast featuring Canadian and American soloists with a stellar Toronto rhythm section. In addition to serving as an agent for several leading Toronto jazz clubs, Jim was instrumental in establishing the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival and served as the festival's Artistic Director from 1976 until 2010.
In 2002, Jim Galloway was honoured by the Government of France with a Chevalier, one of three "Order of Arts and Letters" Awards presented to just a few hundred people worldwide each year, an elite list which includes American recipients Ornette Coleman, Marilyn Horn, Robert Redford, and Meryl Streep.
Great train robber, Ronnie Biggs dead at 84
London -England - December 18 - 2013 - Ronnie Biggs was a petty criminal who set out to transform his life with the daring heist of a mail train packed with money. Biggs, one of Britain's most notorious criminals, wrapped in a Union Jack flag, posing for photos with lingerie models Milene Zardo, left, and Francine Mello equipped with English police helmets and batons in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biggs, known for his role in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, died Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, his daughter-in-law said. He was 84. Earlier, Biggs attended a news conference to mark the release of his autobiography "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw". Biggs died Wednesday, daughter-in-law Veronica Biggs said. She did not provide details about the cause of death.
The plan worked in ways he could never have imagined. Biggs was part of a gang of at least 12 men that robbed a Glasgow-to-London Royal Mail train in the early hours of Aug. 8, 1963, switching its signals and tricking the driver into stopping in the darkness. The robbery netted 125 sacks of banknotes worth 2.6 million pounds — $7.3 million at the time, or more than $50 million today — and became known as "the heist of the century."
Biggs was soon caught and jailed, but his escape from a London prison and decades on the run turned him into a media sensation and something of a notorious British folk hero. He lived for many years beyond the reach of British justice in Rio de Janeiro, where he would regale tourists and the media alike with stories about the robbery. He appeared to enjoy thumbing his nose at the British authorities and even sold T-shirts and other memorabilia about his role in the robbery.
He was free for 35 years before voluntarily returning to England in 2001 on a private jet sponsored by The Sun tabloid.
Most of the Great Train Robbery gang was caught and sentenced to long terms in jail. Biggs got 30 years, but 15 months into his sentence he escaped from London's Wandsworth Prison by scaling a wall with a rope ladder and jumping into a waiting furniture van.
It was the start of a life on the run that would hone his image as a cheeky rascal one step ahead of the law. Biggs fled to France, then to Australia and Panama before arriving in Rio de Janeiro in 1970. By that time, life on the run and plastic surgery to change his appearance had eaten up most of his loot from the robbery.
All in all, he spent more than 30 years in Brazil making a living from his notoriety. For a fee, he regaled journalists and tourists with the story of the heist and offered T-shirts with the slogan "I went to Rio and met Ronnie Biggs ... honest."
Biggs recorded a song with punk band the Sex Pistols titled "No One Is Innocent," wrote a memoir called "Odd Man Out" and even promoted a home alarm system with the slogan: "Call the thief." "It's been a screwed-up life in many respects, but a different life," he said. Then is an interview with the associated Press in 1997 and with true British understatement, he said, "I've never been much of a 9-to-5er."
Biggs foiled repeated attempts to force him out by deportation, extradition and even kidnapping. British detectives tracked him down in 1974, but the lack of an extradition treaty with Brazil saved him. When Brazil's military government tried to deport him, Biggs produced a son Michael with a Brazilian woman and the law again prevented his expulsion.
In 1981, two men posing as journalists grabbed Biggs at a Rio restaurant, gagged him, stuffed him into a duffel bag and flew him to the Amazon River port of Belem. From there they sailed to Barbados, expecting to turn Biggs in and sell their story to the tabloids. But Barbados also had no extradition treaty with England and Barbados sent him back to Rio.
At a dive bar just down a winding street from the house where Biggs' lived in Rio de Janeiro, regulars fondly remembered the fugitive. "He never talked about the heist," said Ronaldo Mendes, a 58-year-old photographer who said he often drank with Biggs.
"He spoke a sort of English with a little Portuguese thrown in, but you could understand him. People liked him a lot and when he disappeared from Rio it was a surprise to us all." Maria do Ceu Narciso Esteves, who owns a grocery store in Rio's Santa Teresa neighborhood that Biggs frequented for decades, said he "was a good client and a good friend."
"He used to buy his whiskey here, one, two or three bottles, and also ingredients for lunches at home that he served to tourists. That's how he earned his money," said Narciso, 77. "He didn't do anything for free.
"He used to buy here on credit and always paid his bill in the end," she said. "He was a good person, a polite person and a good client." In 1997, Brazil's Supreme Court rejected an extradition request on the ground that the statute of limitations had run out. At the time, Biggs said he didn't want to go back to Britain.
"All I have to go back to is a prison cell, after all," he said. "Only a fool would want to return." But within a few years, debilitated by strokes and other ailments, Biggs began to yearn to see England again.
The Sun newspaper helped arrange his return, even chartering the private jet that flew him home. Aboard the plane was Detective Superintendent John Coles of Scotland Yard, who took Biggs into custody with the words: "I am now going to formally arrest you."
Biggs spent several years in prison, emerging as a frail shadow of his dapper "gentleman thief" image. Biggs' lawyers had long argued that he should be released on health grounds, although then-Justice Secretary Jack Straw objected, saying Biggs was "wholly unrepentant."
Unionized train drivers, mindful that railway man Jack Mills never fully recovered after being hit on the head with an iron bar during the robbery — he died seven years later — also lobbied to keep Biggs behind bars.
Finally convinced that Biggs was a dying man, officials released him on Aug. 7, 2009, a day before his 80th birthday. He had been living in a nursing home since. In late 2011, Biggs appeared at a London news conference to promote an updated version of his memoir. Unable to speak because of several strokes, he said through his son Michael Biggs that he had come to regret the train robbery and, if he could go back in time, he would now choose not to participate.
Still, he insisted he'd be remembered as a "lovable rogue." Not everyone agreed. "Biggs is not a hero. He's just an out-and-out villain," said the train driver's widow, Barbara Mills. Biggs had not been one of the ringleaders of the robbery, but he became its most famous participant. The British media remained fascinated with him until the end.
The 50th anniversary of the train robbery in 2013 brought a slew of new books and articles and the very day of Biggs' death coincided with a long-planned BBC television show about the crime. In 2002, Biggs married Raimunda Rothen, the mother of Michael. They survive him, as do two children — Chris and Farley — from his first marriage to Charmian Brent. A third son, Nicholas, died in a car crash in 1971.
Associated Press writer Jenny Barchfield in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
The plan worked in ways he could never have imagined. Biggs was part of a gang of at least 12 men that robbed a Glasgow-to-London Royal Mail train in the early hours of Aug. 8, 1963, switching its signals and tricking the driver into stopping in the darkness. The robbery netted 125 sacks of banknotes worth 2.6 million pounds — $7.3 million at the time, or more than $50 million today — and became known as "the heist of the century."
Biggs was soon caught and jailed, but his escape from a London prison and decades on the run turned him into a media sensation and something of a notorious British folk hero. He lived for many years beyond the reach of British justice in Rio de Janeiro, where he would regale tourists and the media alike with stories about the robbery. He appeared to enjoy thumbing his nose at the British authorities and even sold T-shirts and other memorabilia about his role in the robbery.
He was free for 35 years before voluntarily returning to England in 2001 on a private jet sponsored by The Sun tabloid.
Most of the Great Train Robbery gang was caught and sentenced to long terms in jail. Biggs got 30 years, but 15 months into his sentence he escaped from London's Wandsworth Prison by scaling a wall with a rope ladder and jumping into a waiting furniture van.
It was the start of a life on the run that would hone his image as a cheeky rascal one step ahead of the law. Biggs fled to France, then to Australia and Panama before arriving in Rio de Janeiro in 1970. By that time, life on the run and plastic surgery to change his appearance had eaten up most of his loot from the robbery.
All in all, he spent more than 30 years in Brazil making a living from his notoriety. For a fee, he regaled journalists and tourists with the story of the heist and offered T-shirts with the slogan "I went to Rio and met Ronnie Biggs ... honest."
Biggs recorded a song with punk band the Sex Pistols titled "No One Is Innocent," wrote a memoir called "Odd Man Out" and even promoted a home alarm system with the slogan: "Call the thief." "It's been a screwed-up life in many respects, but a different life," he said. Then is an interview with the associated Press in 1997 and with true British understatement, he said, "I've never been much of a 9-to-5er."
Biggs foiled repeated attempts to force him out by deportation, extradition and even kidnapping. British detectives tracked him down in 1974, but the lack of an extradition treaty with Brazil saved him. When Brazil's military government tried to deport him, Biggs produced a son Michael with a Brazilian woman and the law again prevented his expulsion.
In 1981, two men posing as journalists grabbed Biggs at a Rio restaurant, gagged him, stuffed him into a duffel bag and flew him to the Amazon River port of Belem. From there they sailed to Barbados, expecting to turn Biggs in and sell their story to the tabloids. But Barbados also had no extradition treaty with England and Barbados sent him back to Rio.
At a dive bar just down a winding street from the house where Biggs' lived in Rio de Janeiro, regulars fondly remembered the fugitive. "He never talked about the heist," said Ronaldo Mendes, a 58-year-old photographer who said he often drank with Biggs.
"He spoke a sort of English with a little Portuguese thrown in, but you could understand him. People liked him a lot and when he disappeared from Rio it was a surprise to us all." Maria do Ceu Narciso Esteves, who owns a grocery store in Rio's Santa Teresa neighborhood that Biggs frequented for decades, said he "was a good client and a good friend."
"He used to buy his whiskey here, one, two or three bottles, and also ingredients for lunches at home that he served to tourists. That's how he earned his money," said Narciso, 77. "He didn't do anything for free.
"He used to buy here on credit and always paid his bill in the end," she said. "He was a good person, a polite person and a good client." In 1997, Brazil's Supreme Court rejected an extradition request on the ground that the statute of limitations had run out. At the time, Biggs said he didn't want to go back to Britain.
"All I have to go back to is a prison cell, after all," he said. "Only a fool would want to return." But within a few years, debilitated by strokes and other ailments, Biggs began to yearn to see England again.
The Sun newspaper helped arrange his return, even chartering the private jet that flew him home. Aboard the plane was Detective Superintendent John Coles of Scotland Yard, who took Biggs into custody with the words: "I am now going to formally arrest you."
Biggs spent several years in prison, emerging as a frail shadow of his dapper "gentleman thief" image. Biggs' lawyers had long argued that he should be released on health grounds, although then-Justice Secretary Jack Straw objected, saying Biggs was "wholly unrepentant."
Unionized train drivers, mindful that railway man Jack Mills never fully recovered after being hit on the head with an iron bar during the robbery — he died seven years later — also lobbied to keep Biggs behind bars.
Finally convinced that Biggs was a dying man, officials released him on Aug. 7, 2009, a day before his 80th birthday. He had been living in a nursing home since. In late 2011, Biggs appeared at a London news conference to promote an updated version of his memoir. Unable to speak because of several strokes, he said through his son Michael Biggs that he had come to regret the train robbery and, if he could go back in time, he would now choose not to participate.
Still, he insisted he'd be remembered as a "lovable rogue." Not everyone agreed. "Biggs is not a hero. He's just an out-and-out villain," said the train driver's widow, Barbara Mills. Biggs had not been one of the ringleaders of the robbery, but he became its most famous participant. The British media remained fascinated with him until the end.
The 50th anniversary of the train robbery in 2013 brought a slew of new books and articles and the very day of Biggs' death coincided with a long-planned BBC television show about the crime. In 2002, Biggs married Raimunda Rothen, the mother of Michael. They survive him, as do two children — Chris and Farley — from his first marriage to Charmian Brent. A third son, Nicholas, died in a car crash in 1971.
Associated Press writer Jenny Barchfield in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
Former CBC news anchor Knowlton Nash dead at age 86
Toronto - Canada - May 24 - 2014 - Knowlton Nash, a veteran CBC broadcaster best known as long-time anchor of The National, died Saturday night at the age of 86. "Oddly enough it was shortly before 10 o’clock," said Peter Mansbridge, his successor in the anchor chair. Ten o'clock was his hour. He was Mr. Ten O’clock to us,” Mansbridge said in a phone interview late Saturday. Above is a picture of Knowlton Nash at his home in Toronto in 2006. He had been battling Parkinson's for some years, the CBC reported.
Nash had a 37-year career with Canada's public broadcaster, including ten years behind the anchor desk of The National, CBC's flagship news program. It was there that the broadcaster, whose warm eyes appeared magnified behind his over-sized glasses, earned the unofficial title: Uncle Knowlty. This moniker was a reflection of his steady, easy-going style and earnest, scholarly delivery. "He felt like family to his audience," Mansbridge said.
“There’s kind of key words about Knowlton’s legacies, the calmness of the approach, the connection with audience.” I don't understand this sentence at all.
Tributes started pouring from those who he worked with and those he covered as soon as word of Nash's death spread."Had the privilege of working many times with Knowlton Nash. The integrity, intelligence and kindness we aspire to. Thinking of you," anchor and reporter Ian Hanomansing tweeted.
Tributes poured in from some of the political leaders whom Nash had interviewed during his long career. "Arlene and I mourn the passing of Knowlton Nash, who was a friend and mentor over many years," former Ontario premier Bob Rae tweeted.
Ironically, his dedication to the craft led Nash to walk away from perhaps the most influential spot in Canadian television news in April of 1988.
Peter Mansbridge was offered a $1-million salary to co-anchor a morning show on the American network, CBS. But Mansbridge agreed to stay over a late-night cup of hot chocolate after Nash volunteered to move to The National's weekend desk. It was the strongest enticement Nash could offer Mansbridge to stay in Canada.“He was a mentor. If you were going through any kind of work crisis, you’d talk to Knowlton and he would give you fantastic advice,” said Mansbridge.
Nash had been a key player in transforming an ailing news show into a major ratings success. It was under his steady guidance that The National moved to a the 10 p.m. time slot. The National/Journal hour became an unassailable jewel in the network's crown until anchor Barbara Frum's death in 1992. Her death brought the Journal to a halt and CBC executives took another gamble with the creation of a 9 p.m. news show: Prime Time News.
Nash was also at the forefront of changes in television technology and he moved along with the times as TV production changed from black and white to colour. Mansbridge said."There were substantial changes within the way we operated and he was at the pointed end of all of those changes.”
Knowlton Nash was born on November 18, 1927, the son of a promotions manager. His mother was the first woman to fly over Hamilton, he once bragged in an interview. Except for a brief spell when Nash said he wanted to be a jockey, he always said he would be a newsman.
As a lad of 10, he put out several editions of his own weekly newspaper - six laboriously-typed pages - which he sold for less than a nickel.
He understood the business well enough to sell ad space to local merchants in exchange for bubble gum and chocolate.
In 1942, Nash began hawking The Toronto Star and The Telegram on Toronto street corners and before leaving his Forest Hill high school he was selling stories about collegiate football to The Globe and Mail.
After attending the University of Toronto, Nash was hired in 1947 by the wire service, British United Press. His weekly pay was $18.
Earlier in his career, he tried his hand at writing for the magazine True Confessions and edited prisoners' letters for True Crime.
In 1951, he began working in Washington as head of public relations for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers which organization represented about 35 million farmers in some 40 countries.
During a lengthy stint as a freelancer for the CBC and MacLeans Magazine, Nash covered everything from police courts to presidents. He followed John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and he recorded the last lengthy interview given by Robert Kennedy just before Kennedy was assassinated.
He has written books about his career: "History On The Run" (1984) and "Prime Time At Ten" (1987). He is also the author of "Kennedy And Diefenbaker" (1990) and "Visions Of Canada" (1991).
“He was right there at the front line of history, and there is no question about that ,” Mansbridge said.
"How many people can point to those milestones in their past?"
Story by Steve Fairbairn of The Canadian Press
Nash had a 37-year career with Canada's public broadcaster, including ten years behind the anchor desk of The National, CBC's flagship news program. It was there that the broadcaster, whose warm eyes appeared magnified behind his over-sized glasses, earned the unofficial title: Uncle Knowlty. This moniker was a reflection of his steady, easy-going style and earnest, scholarly delivery. "He felt like family to his audience," Mansbridge said.
“There’s kind of key words about Knowlton’s legacies, the calmness of the approach, the connection with audience.” I don't understand this sentence at all.
Tributes started pouring from those who he worked with and those he covered as soon as word of Nash's death spread."Had the privilege of working many times with Knowlton Nash. The integrity, intelligence and kindness we aspire to. Thinking of you," anchor and reporter Ian Hanomansing tweeted.
Tributes poured in from some of the political leaders whom Nash had interviewed during his long career. "Arlene and I mourn the passing of Knowlton Nash, who was a friend and mentor over many years," former Ontario premier Bob Rae tweeted.
Ironically, his dedication to the craft led Nash to walk away from perhaps the most influential spot in Canadian television news in April of 1988.
Peter Mansbridge was offered a $1-million salary to co-anchor a morning show on the American network, CBS. But Mansbridge agreed to stay over a late-night cup of hot chocolate after Nash volunteered to move to The National's weekend desk. It was the strongest enticement Nash could offer Mansbridge to stay in Canada.“He was a mentor. If you were going through any kind of work crisis, you’d talk to Knowlton and he would give you fantastic advice,” said Mansbridge.
Nash had been a key player in transforming an ailing news show into a major ratings success. It was under his steady guidance that The National moved to a the 10 p.m. time slot. The National/Journal hour became an unassailable jewel in the network's crown until anchor Barbara Frum's death in 1992. Her death brought the Journal to a halt and CBC executives took another gamble with the creation of a 9 p.m. news show: Prime Time News.
Nash was also at the forefront of changes in television technology and he moved along with the times as TV production changed from black and white to colour. Mansbridge said."There were substantial changes within the way we operated and he was at the pointed end of all of those changes.”
Knowlton Nash was born on November 18, 1927, the son of a promotions manager. His mother was the first woman to fly over Hamilton, he once bragged in an interview. Except for a brief spell when Nash said he wanted to be a jockey, he always said he would be a newsman.
As a lad of 10, he put out several editions of his own weekly newspaper - six laboriously-typed pages - which he sold for less than a nickel.
He understood the business well enough to sell ad space to local merchants in exchange for bubble gum and chocolate.
In 1942, Nash began hawking The Toronto Star and The Telegram on Toronto street corners and before leaving his Forest Hill high school he was selling stories about collegiate football to The Globe and Mail.
After attending the University of Toronto, Nash was hired in 1947 by the wire service, British United Press. His weekly pay was $18.
Earlier in his career, he tried his hand at writing for the magazine True Confessions and edited prisoners' letters for True Crime.
In 1951, he began working in Washington as head of public relations for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers which organization represented about 35 million farmers in some 40 countries.
During a lengthy stint as a freelancer for the CBC and MacLeans Magazine, Nash covered everything from police courts to presidents. He followed John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and he recorded the last lengthy interview given by Robert Kennedy just before Kennedy was assassinated.
He has written books about his career: "History On The Run" (1984) and "Prime Time At Ten" (1987). He is also the author of "Kennedy And Diefenbaker" (1990) and "Visions Of Canada" (1991).
“He was right there at the front line of history, and there is no question about that ,” Mansbridge said.
"How many people can point to those milestones in their past?"
Story by Steve Fairbairn of The Canadian Press
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. dead at 95
Los Angeles - America - May 02 -2014 - Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the son of famous musical parents who established his own lasting celebrity in two of television's most popular series, "77 Sunset Strip" and "The F.B.I.," died Friday at age 95.
Zimbalist died at his Solvang home in California's bucolic horse country, said family friend Judith Moose, who released a statement from his children Stephanie Zimbalist and Efrem Zimbalist III.
"We are heartbroken to announce the passing into peace of our beloved father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., today at his Solvang ranch," the statement read. "He actively enjoyed his life to the last day, showering love on his extended family, playing golf and visiting with close friends."
Zimbalist's stunning good looks and cool, deductive manner made him the ideal star as the hip private detective ferreting out Hollywood miscreants in "77 Sunset Strip," which aired from 1958 to 1964. As soon as that show ended he segued seamlessly into "The F.B.I." which aired from 1965 to 1974.
At the end of each episode of the latter show, after Zimbalist and his fellow G-men had captured that week's mobsters, subversives, bank robbers or spies, the series would post photos from the FBI's real-life most-wanted list. Some of those pictures led to arrests, which helped give the show the complete seal of approval of the agency's real-life director, J. Edgar Hoover.
The son of violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist and acclaimed opera singer Alma Gluck, young Efrem initially appeared headed for a musical career. He studied violin for seven years under the tutelage of Jascha Heifetz's father, but eventually developed more interest in theater.
He became an actor and "77 Sunset Strip" made him a star.
His daughter Stephanie also took up acting — and small-screen detective work, in the hit 1980s TV series "Remington Steele." Her father had a recurring role in that show as a con man.
After serving in World War II, Zimbalist made his stage debut in "The Rugged Path," starring Spencer Tracy, and appeared in other plays and a soap opera before being called to Hollywood. Warner Bros. signed him to a contract and cast him in minor film roles.
He also had a recurring role in the hit 1950s Western series "Maverick," playing con man Dandy Jim Buckley.
Then in 1958 "77 Sunset Strip" debuted, starring Zimbalist as a cultured former O.S.S. officer and language expert whose partner was Roger Smith, an Ivy League Ph.D.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., known for his starring roles in “77 Sunset Strip” and “The FBI,” stands outside his home, in this Feb. 16, 1982 file photo taken in Los Angeles, Calif.
The pair operated out of an office in the center of Hollywood's Sunset Strip where, aided by their sometime helper, Kookie, a jive-talking beatnik type who doubled as a parking lot attendant, they tracked down miscreants.
Kookie's character, played by Edd Byrnes, helped draw young viewers to the show, and his constant hair combing created the national catchphrase, "Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."
The program brought Zimbalist an Emmy nomination in 1959, but after a few seasons he tired of the long hours and what he believed were the bad scripts.
"A job like this should pay off in one of two ways: satisfaction or money. The money is not great, and there is no satisfaction," he said.
When the show faltered in 1963, Jack Webb of "Dragnet" fame was hired for an overhaul. He fired the cast except for Zimbalist, whom he made a world-traveling investigator. The repair work failed, and the series ended the following year.
Zimbalist had better luck with "The F.B.I.," which endured for a decade as one of TV's most popular shows.
Perceiving that the series could provide the real FBI with an important P.R. boost, Hoover opened the bureau's files to the show's producers and even allowed background shots to be filmed in real FBI offices.
"He never came on the set, but I knew him," Zimbalist said. "A charming man, extremely Virginia formal and an extraordinary command of the language."
In 2009 the FBI honored Zimbalist with his own special agent's badge, making him an honorary G-man in recognition of the contributions his show and his character, Inspector Lewis Erskine, made to the agency's reputation.
"We could not have asked for a better character, or a better man, to play his role," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said at the time.
During summer breaks between the two series, Warner Bros. cast Zimbalist in several feature films, including "Too Much Too Soon," ''Home Before Dark," ''The Crowded Sky," ''The Chapman Report" and "Wait Until Dark." In the latter, he played the husband of Audrey Hepburn, a blind woman terrorized by thugs in a truly frightening film.
Zimbalist also appeared in "By Love Possessed," ''Airport 1975," ''Terror Out of the Sky" and "Hot Shots."
But he would always be best known as a TV star, ironic for an actor who told The Associated Press in 1993 that when Warner Bros. hired him he had no interest in doing television. "They showed me in my contract where it said I had to," he recalled. "I ended up with my life slanted toward television and I just accept that," he said. "I think you play the hand the way it's dealt, that's all."
In the 1990s, Zimbalist recorded the voice of Alfred the butler in the cartoon version of the "Batman" TV series. That role, he said, "has made me an idol in my little grandchildren's eyes."
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was born in New York City on November 30 - 1918.
His mother, reasoning that living amid the musical elite was not the best upbringing for a boy, sent him to boarding schools where he could be toughened by others his age. But young Efrem was bashful and withdrawn in school. His only outlet was acting in campus plays.
"I walked onstage in a play at prep school, and with childish naiveté, told myself, 'Wow, I'm an actor!'" he once recalled.
He was kicked out of Yale after two years over dismal grades, which he blamed on a playboy attitude.
Afraid to go home, he stayed with a friend in New York City for three months, working as a page at NBC headquarters, where he was dazzled by the famous radio stars. Unable to break into radio as an actor, he studied at the famed Neighborhood Playhouse.
During World War II he served in the infantry, receiving a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound in his leg.
In 1945, Zimbalist married Emily McNair and they had a daughter, Nancy, and son, Efrem III.
After his wife died in 1950 he gave up acting for a time to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where his father was an artist in residence. He returned to Hollywood five years later, marrying Loranda Stephanie Spalding in 1956, and she gave birth to their daughter Stephanie.
He is survived by his children, four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
___
Biographical material in this story was written by The Associated Press' late Hollywood correspondent, Bob Thomas.
AP Photo: Wally Fong
Zimbalist died at his Solvang home in California's bucolic horse country, said family friend Judith Moose, who released a statement from his children Stephanie Zimbalist and Efrem Zimbalist III.
"We are heartbroken to announce the passing into peace of our beloved father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., today at his Solvang ranch," the statement read. "He actively enjoyed his life to the last day, showering love on his extended family, playing golf and visiting with close friends."
Zimbalist's stunning good looks and cool, deductive manner made him the ideal star as the hip private detective ferreting out Hollywood miscreants in "77 Sunset Strip," which aired from 1958 to 1964. As soon as that show ended he segued seamlessly into "The F.B.I." which aired from 1965 to 1974.
At the end of each episode of the latter show, after Zimbalist and his fellow G-men had captured that week's mobsters, subversives, bank robbers or spies, the series would post photos from the FBI's real-life most-wanted list. Some of those pictures led to arrests, which helped give the show the complete seal of approval of the agency's real-life director, J. Edgar Hoover.
The son of violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist and acclaimed opera singer Alma Gluck, young Efrem initially appeared headed for a musical career. He studied violin for seven years under the tutelage of Jascha Heifetz's father, but eventually developed more interest in theater.
He became an actor and "77 Sunset Strip" made him a star.
His daughter Stephanie also took up acting — and small-screen detective work, in the hit 1980s TV series "Remington Steele." Her father had a recurring role in that show as a con man.
After serving in World War II, Zimbalist made his stage debut in "The Rugged Path," starring Spencer Tracy, and appeared in other plays and a soap opera before being called to Hollywood. Warner Bros. signed him to a contract and cast him in minor film roles.
He also had a recurring role in the hit 1950s Western series "Maverick," playing con man Dandy Jim Buckley.
Then in 1958 "77 Sunset Strip" debuted, starring Zimbalist as a cultured former O.S.S. officer and language expert whose partner was Roger Smith, an Ivy League Ph.D.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., known for his starring roles in “77 Sunset Strip” and “The FBI,” stands outside his home, in this Feb. 16, 1982 file photo taken in Los Angeles, Calif.
The pair operated out of an office in the center of Hollywood's Sunset Strip where, aided by their sometime helper, Kookie, a jive-talking beatnik type who doubled as a parking lot attendant, they tracked down miscreants.
Kookie's character, played by Edd Byrnes, helped draw young viewers to the show, and his constant hair combing created the national catchphrase, "Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."
The program brought Zimbalist an Emmy nomination in 1959, but after a few seasons he tired of the long hours and what he believed were the bad scripts.
"A job like this should pay off in one of two ways: satisfaction or money. The money is not great, and there is no satisfaction," he said.
When the show faltered in 1963, Jack Webb of "Dragnet" fame was hired for an overhaul. He fired the cast except for Zimbalist, whom he made a world-traveling investigator. The repair work failed, and the series ended the following year.
Zimbalist had better luck with "The F.B.I.," which endured for a decade as one of TV's most popular shows.
Perceiving that the series could provide the real FBI with an important P.R. boost, Hoover opened the bureau's files to the show's producers and even allowed background shots to be filmed in real FBI offices.
"He never came on the set, but I knew him," Zimbalist said. "A charming man, extremely Virginia formal and an extraordinary command of the language."
In 2009 the FBI honored Zimbalist with his own special agent's badge, making him an honorary G-man in recognition of the contributions his show and his character, Inspector Lewis Erskine, made to the agency's reputation.
"We could not have asked for a better character, or a better man, to play his role," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said at the time.
During summer breaks between the two series, Warner Bros. cast Zimbalist in several feature films, including "Too Much Too Soon," ''Home Before Dark," ''The Crowded Sky," ''The Chapman Report" and "Wait Until Dark." In the latter, he played the husband of Audrey Hepburn, a blind woman terrorized by thugs in a truly frightening film.
Zimbalist also appeared in "By Love Possessed," ''Airport 1975," ''Terror Out of the Sky" and "Hot Shots."
But he would always be best known as a TV star, ironic for an actor who told The Associated Press in 1993 that when Warner Bros. hired him he had no interest in doing television. "They showed me in my contract where it said I had to," he recalled. "I ended up with my life slanted toward television and I just accept that," he said. "I think you play the hand the way it's dealt, that's all."
In the 1990s, Zimbalist recorded the voice of Alfred the butler in the cartoon version of the "Batman" TV series. That role, he said, "has made me an idol in my little grandchildren's eyes."
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was born in New York City on November 30 - 1918.
His mother, reasoning that living amid the musical elite was not the best upbringing for a boy, sent him to boarding schools where he could be toughened by others his age. But young Efrem was bashful and withdrawn in school. His only outlet was acting in campus plays.
"I walked onstage in a play at prep school, and with childish naiveté, told myself, 'Wow, I'm an actor!'" he once recalled.
He was kicked out of Yale after two years over dismal grades, which he blamed on a playboy attitude.
Afraid to go home, he stayed with a friend in New York City for three months, working as a page at NBC headquarters, where he was dazzled by the famous radio stars. Unable to break into radio as an actor, he studied at the famed Neighborhood Playhouse.
During World War II he served in the infantry, receiving a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound in his leg.
In 1945, Zimbalist married Emily McNair and they had a daughter, Nancy, and son, Efrem III.
After his wife died in 1950 he gave up acting for a time to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where his father was an artist in residence. He returned to Hollywood five years later, marrying Loranda Stephanie Spalding in 1956, and she gave birth to their daughter Stephanie.
He is survived by his children, four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
___
Biographical material in this story was written by The Associated Press' late Hollywood correspondent, Bob Thomas.
AP Photo: Wally Fong
Sid Caesar comic genius of 1950's television dead at 91
Los Angeles - California - America - February 11- 2014 - Sid Caesar, the prodigiously talented pioneer of TV comedy who paired with Imogene Coca in sketches that became classics and who inspired a generation of famous writers, died early Wednesday. Caesar died at his home in the Los Angeles area after a brief illness, family spokesman Eddy Friedfeld said. He was 91.
In his two most important shows, "Your Show of Shows," 1950-54, and "Caesar's Hour," 1954-57, Caesar displayed remarkable skill in pantomime, satire, mimicry, dialect and sketch comedy. And he gathered a stable of young writers who went on to worldwide fame in their own right — including Neil Simon and Woody Allen.
"The one great star that television created and who created television was Sid Caesar," said critic Joel Siegel on the TV documentary "Hail Sid Caesar! The Golden Age Of Comedy," which first aired in 2001.
While best known for his TV shows, which have been revived on DVD in recent years, he also had success on Broadway and occasional film appearances, notably in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World."
If the typical funnyman was tubby or short and scrawny, Caesar was tall and powerful, with a clown's loose limbs and rubbery face, and a trademark mole on his left cheek. But Caesar never went in for clowning or jokes. He wasn't interested. He insisted that the laughs come from the everyday. "Real life is the true comedy," he said in a 2001 interview with The Associated Press. "Then everybody knows what you're talking about." Caesar brought observational comedy to TV before the term, or such latter-day practitioners as Jerry Seinfeld, were even born.
In one celebrated routine, Caesar impersonated a gumball machine; in another, a baby; in another, a ludicrously overemotional guest on a parody of "This Is Your Life." He played an unsuspecting moviegoer getting caught between feuding lovers in a theatre. He dined at a health food restaurant, where the first course was the bouquet in the vase on the table. He was interviewed as an avant-garde jazz musician who seemed happily high on something.
The son of Jewish immigrants, Caesar was a wizard at spouting melting-pot gibberish that parodied German, Russian, French and other languages. His Professor was the epitome of goofy Germanic scholarship. Some compared him to Charlie Chaplin for his success at combining humour with touches of pathos."As wild an idea as you get, it won't go over unless it has a believable basis to start off with," he told The Associated Press in 1955. "The viewers have to see you basically as a person first, and after that you can go on into left field."
Caesar performed with such talents as Howard Morris and Nanette Fabray, but his most celebrated collaborator was the brilliant Coca, his "Your Show of Shows" co-star. Coca and Caesar performed skits that satirized the everyday — marital spats, inane advertising, strangers meeting and speaking in clichés, a parody of the Western "Shane" in which the hero was "Strange." They staged a water-logged spoof of the love scene in "From Here to Eternity." ''The Hickenloopers" husband-and-wife skits became a staple.
"The chemistry was perfect, that's all," said Coca, who died in 2001. "We never went out together and we never see each other socially. But for years we worked together from 10 in the morning to 6 or 7 at night every day of the week. What made it work is that we found the same things funny."
Caesar worked closely with his writing staff as they found inspiration in silent movies, foreign films and the absurdities of '50s postwar prosperity. Among those who wrote for Caesar: Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Simon and his brother Danny Simon, and Allen, who was providing gags to Caesar and other entertainers while still in his teens.
Carl Reiner, based his "Dick Van Dyke Show" with its fictional TV writers and their temperamental star, on his experiences at " Your Show of Shows" Simon's 1993 "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" and the 1982 movie "My Favorite Year" also were based on the Caesar show.
A 1996 roundtable discussion among Caesar and his writers was turned into a public television special. Said Simon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright: "None of us who've gone on to do other things could have done them without going through this show."
"This was playing for the Yankees; this was playing in Duke Ellington's band," said Gelbart, the creator of TV's "M-A-S-H" and screenwriter of "Tootsie." Gelbart died in 2009.
Increasing ratings competition from Lawrence Welk's variety show put "Caesar's Hour" off the air in 1957.
In 1962, Caesar starred on Broadway in the musical "Little Me," written by Simon, and was nominated for a Tony. He played seven different roles, from a comically perfect young man to a tyrannical movie director to a prince of an impoverished European kingdom.
"The fact that, night after night, they are also excruciatingly funny is a tribute to the astonishing talents of their portrayer," Newsweek magazine wrote. "In comedy, Caesar is still the best there is."
Syd Ceasar's classic TV work featuring Coca captured a new audience with the 1973 theatrical compilation film "Ten From Your Show of Shows."
He was one of the galaxy of stars who raced to find buried treasure in the 1963 comic epic "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," and in 1976 he put his pantomime skills to work in Brooks' "Silent Movie."
But he later looked back on those years as painful ones. He said he beat a severe, decades-long barbiturate and alcohol habit in 1978, when he was so low he considered suicide. "I had to come to terms with myself. 'Yes or no? Do you want to live or die?'" Deciding that he wanted to live, he recalled, was "the first step on a long journey."
Caesar was born in 1922 in Yonkers, N.Y., the third son of an Austrian-born restaurant owner and his Russian-born wife. His first dream was to become a musician, and he played saxophone in bands in his teens. But as a youngster waiting tables at his father's luncheonette, he liked to observe as well as serve the diverse clientele, and recognize the humour happening before his eyes.
His talent for comedy was discovered when he was serving in the Coast Guard during World War II and got a part in a Coast Guard musical, "Tars and Spars." He also appeared in the movie version. Wrote famed columnist Hedda Hopper: "I hear the picture's good, with Sid Caesar a four-way threat. He writes, sings, dances and makes with the comedy." That led to a few other film roles and nightclub engagements and then his breakthrough hit, a 1948 Broadway revue called "Make Mine Manhattan."
His first TV comedy-variety show, "The Admiral Broadway Revue," premiered in February 1949. But it was off the air by June. Its fatal shortcoming: unimagined popularity. It was selling more Admiral television sets than the company could make. Admiral was the sole sponsor and they pulled out after 5 months.
But everyone was ready for Caesar's subsequent efforts. "Your Show of Shows," which debuted in February 1950, and "Caesar's Hour" three years later reached as many as 60 million viewers weekly and earned its star $1 million annually at a time when $5, he later noted, bought a steak dinner for two.
When "Caesar's Hour" left the air in 1957, Caesar was only 34. But the unforgiving cycle of weekly television had taken a toll: His reliance on booze and pills for sleep every night so he could wake up and create more comedy.
It took decades for him to hit bottom. In 1977, he was onstage in Regina, Canada, doing Simon's "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" when his mind went blank. He walked off stage and checked into a hospital and went cold turkey. Recovery had begun with the help of wife Florence Caesar who would be by his side for more than 60 years; she helped him weather his demons.
Those demons included remorse about the flared-out super-stardom of his youth and how the pressures nearly killed him. But over time, he learned to view his life philosophically."You think just because something good happens, Then something bad has got to happen? Not necessarily," he said with a smile in 2003, pleased to share his hard-won wisdom: "Two good things have happened in a row."
http://www.sidcaesar.com
Associated Press writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.
In his two most important shows, "Your Show of Shows," 1950-54, and "Caesar's Hour," 1954-57, Caesar displayed remarkable skill in pantomime, satire, mimicry, dialect and sketch comedy. And he gathered a stable of young writers who went on to worldwide fame in their own right — including Neil Simon and Woody Allen.
"The one great star that television created and who created television was Sid Caesar," said critic Joel Siegel on the TV documentary "Hail Sid Caesar! The Golden Age Of Comedy," which first aired in 2001.
While best known for his TV shows, which have been revived on DVD in recent years, he also had success on Broadway and occasional film appearances, notably in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World."
If the typical funnyman was tubby or short and scrawny, Caesar was tall and powerful, with a clown's loose limbs and rubbery face, and a trademark mole on his left cheek. But Caesar never went in for clowning or jokes. He wasn't interested. He insisted that the laughs come from the everyday. "Real life is the true comedy," he said in a 2001 interview with The Associated Press. "Then everybody knows what you're talking about." Caesar brought observational comedy to TV before the term, or such latter-day practitioners as Jerry Seinfeld, were even born.
In one celebrated routine, Caesar impersonated a gumball machine; in another, a baby; in another, a ludicrously overemotional guest on a parody of "This Is Your Life." He played an unsuspecting moviegoer getting caught between feuding lovers in a theatre. He dined at a health food restaurant, where the first course was the bouquet in the vase on the table. He was interviewed as an avant-garde jazz musician who seemed happily high on something.
The son of Jewish immigrants, Caesar was a wizard at spouting melting-pot gibberish that parodied German, Russian, French and other languages. His Professor was the epitome of goofy Germanic scholarship. Some compared him to Charlie Chaplin for his success at combining humour with touches of pathos."As wild an idea as you get, it won't go over unless it has a believable basis to start off with," he told The Associated Press in 1955. "The viewers have to see you basically as a person first, and after that you can go on into left field."
Caesar performed with such talents as Howard Morris and Nanette Fabray, but his most celebrated collaborator was the brilliant Coca, his "Your Show of Shows" co-star. Coca and Caesar performed skits that satirized the everyday — marital spats, inane advertising, strangers meeting and speaking in clichés, a parody of the Western "Shane" in which the hero was "Strange." They staged a water-logged spoof of the love scene in "From Here to Eternity." ''The Hickenloopers" husband-and-wife skits became a staple.
"The chemistry was perfect, that's all," said Coca, who died in 2001. "We never went out together and we never see each other socially. But for years we worked together from 10 in the morning to 6 or 7 at night every day of the week. What made it work is that we found the same things funny."
Caesar worked closely with his writing staff as they found inspiration in silent movies, foreign films and the absurdities of '50s postwar prosperity. Among those who wrote for Caesar: Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Simon and his brother Danny Simon, and Allen, who was providing gags to Caesar and other entertainers while still in his teens.
Carl Reiner, based his "Dick Van Dyke Show" with its fictional TV writers and their temperamental star, on his experiences at " Your Show of Shows" Simon's 1993 "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" and the 1982 movie "My Favorite Year" also were based on the Caesar show.
A 1996 roundtable discussion among Caesar and his writers was turned into a public television special. Said Simon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright: "None of us who've gone on to do other things could have done them without going through this show."
"This was playing for the Yankees; this was playing in Duke Ellington's band," said Gelbart, the creator of TV's "M-A-S-H" and screenwriter of "Tootsie." Gelbart died in 2009.
Increasing ratings competition from Lawrence Welk's variety show put "Caesar's Hour" off the air in 1957.
In 1962, Caesar starred on Broadway in the musical "Little Me," written by Simon, and was nominated for a Tony. He played seven different roles, from a comically perfect young man to a tyrannical movie director to a prince of an impoverished European kingdom.
"The fact that, night after night, they are also excruciatingly funny is a tribute to the astonishing talents of their portrayer," Newsweek magazine wrote. "In comedy, Caesar is still the best there is."
Syd Ceasar's classic TV work featuring Coca captured a new audience with the 1973 theatrical compilation film "Ten From Your Show of Shows."
He was one of the galaxy of stars who raced to find buried treasure in the 1963 comic epic "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," and in 1976 he put his pantomime skills to work in Brooks' "Silent Movie."
But he later looked back on those years as painful ones. He said he beat a severe, decades-long barbiturate and alcohol habit in 1978, when he was so low he considered suicide. "I had to come to terms with myself. 'Yes or no? Do you want to live or die?'" Deciding that he wanted to live, he recalled, was "the first step on a long journey."
Caesar was born in 1922 in Yonkers, N.Y., the third son of an Austrian-born restaurant owner and his Russian-born wife. His first dream was to become a musician, and he played saxophone in bands in his teens. But as a youngster waiting tables at his father's luncheonette, he liked to observe as well as serve the diverse clientele, and recognize the humour happening before his eyes.
His talent for comedy was discovered when he was serving in the Coast Guard during World War II and got a part in a Coast Guard musical, "Tars and Spars." He also appeared in the movie version. Wrote famed columnist Hedda Hopper: "I hear the picture's good, with Sid Caesar a four-way threat. He writes, sings, dances and makes with the comedy." That led to a few other film roles and nightclub engagements and then his breakthrough hit, a 1948 Broadway revue called "Make Mine Manhattan."
His first TV comedy-variety show, "The Admiral Broadway Revue," premiered in February 1949. But it was off the air by June. Its fatal shortcoming: unimagined popularity. It was selling more Admiral television sets than the company could make. Admiral was the sole sponsor and they pulled out after 5 months.
But everyone was ready for Caesar's subsequent efforts. "Your Show of Shows," which debuted in February 1950, and "Caesar's Hour" three years later reached as many as 60 million viewers weekly and earned its star $1 million annually at a time when $5, he later noted, bought a steak dinner for two.
When "Caesar's Hour" left the air in 1957, Caesar was only 34. But the unforgiving cycle of weekly television had taken a toll: His reliance on booze and pills for sleep every night so he could wake up and create more comedy.
It took decades for him to hit bottom. In 1977, he was onstage in Regina, Canada, doing Simon's "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" when his mind went blank. He walked off stage and checked into a hospital and went cold turkey. Recovery had begun with the help of wife Florence Caesar who would be by his side for more than 60 years; she helped him weather his demons.
Those demons included remorse about the flared-out super-stardom of his youth and how the pressures nearly killed him. But over time, he learned to view his life philosophically."You think just because something good happens, Then something bad has got to happen? Not necessarily," he said with a smile in 2003, pleased to share his hard-won wisdom: "Two good things have happened in a row."
http://www.sidcaesar.com
Associated Press writer Frazier Moore in New York contributed to this report.
Activist, poet and songwriter, Pete Seeger dead at 94
New York City - America - January 27 - 2014 - Pete Seeger performs on stage during the Farm Aid 2013 concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs on Saturday Sept. 21, 2013. The banjo-picking troubadour who sang for migrant workers, college students and star-struck presidents in a career that introduced generations of Americans to their folk music heritage, died Monday at the age of 94.
Seeger's grandson, Kitama Cahill-Jackson said his grandfather died at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he'd been for six days. "He was chopping wood 10 days ago," he said.
Seeger — with his a lanky frame, banjo and full white beard — was an iconic figure in folk music. He performed with the great minstrel Woody Guthrie in his younger days and marched with Occupy Wall Street protesters in his 90s, leaning on two canes. He wrote or co-wrote If I Had a Hammer, Turn, Turn, Turn, Where Have All the Flowers Gone and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine. He lent his voice against Hitler and nuclear power. A cheerful warrior, he typically delivered his broadsides with an affable air and his banjo strapped on.
"Be wary of great leaders," he told The Associated Press two days after a 2011 Manhattan Occupy march. "Hope that there are many, many small leaders."
With The Weavers, a quartet organized in 1948, Seeger helped set the stage for a national folk revival. The group — Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman — churned out hit recordings of Goodnight Irene, Tzena, Tzena and On Top of Old Smokey.
Seeger also was credited with popularizing We Shall Overcome, which he printed in his publication People's Song, in 1948. He later said his only contribution to the anthem of the civil rights movement was changing the second word from "will" to "shall," which he said "opens up the mouth better."
"Every kid who ever sat around a campfire singing an old song is indebted in some way to Pete Seeger," Arlo Guthrie once said.
His musical career was always braided tightly with his political activism, in which he advocated for causes ranging from civil rights to the cleanup of his beloved Hudson River. Seeger said he left the Communist Party around 1950 and later renounced it. But the association dogged him for years.
He was kept off commercial television for more than a decade after tangling with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955. Repeatedly pressed by the committee to reveal whether he had sung for Communists, Seeger responded sharply: "I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American." He was charged with contempt of Congress, but the sentence was overturned on appeal.
Seeger called the 1950s, years when he was denied broadcast exposure, the high point of his career. He was on the road touring college campuses, spreading the music he, Guthrie, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter and others had created or preserved. "The most important job I did was go from college to college to college to college, one after the other, usually small ones," he told The Associated Press in 2006. "And I showed the kids there's a lot of great music in this country they never played on the radio."
His scheduled return to commercial network television on the highly rated Smothers Brothers variety show in 1967 was hailed as a nail in the coffin of the blacklist. But CBS cut out his Vietnam protest song, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, and Seeger accused the network of censorship.
He finally got to sing it five months later in a stirring return appearance, although a Detroit station cut the song's last stanza:
"Now every time I read the papers
That old feelin' comes on
We're waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on."
Seeger's output included dozens of albums and single records for adults and children. He also was the author or co-author of American Favourite Ballads, The Bells of Rhymney, How to Play the Five-String Banjo, Henscratches and Flyspecks, The Incompleat Folksinger, The Foolish Frog and Abiyoyo, Carry It On, Everybody Says Freedom and Where Have All the Flowers Gone.
He appeared in the movies To Hear My Banjo Play in 1946 and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon in 1970. A reunion concert of the original Weavers in 1980 was filmed as a documentary titled Wasn't That a Time.
By the 1990s, no longer a party member but still styling himself a communist with a small C, Seeger was heaped with national honours.
Official Washington sang along — the audience must sing, was the rule at a Seeger concert — when it lionized him at the Kennedy Centre in 1994. Then president Bill Clinton hailed him as "an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them."
Seeger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as an early influence. Ten years later, Bruce Springsteen honoured him with We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a rollicking reinterpretation of songs sung by Seeger. While pleased with the album, Seeger said he wished it was "more serious." A 2009 concert at Madison Square Garden to mark Seeger's 90th birthday featured Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder and Emmylou Harris among the performers.
Seeger was a 2014 Grammy Awards nominee in the Best Spoken Word category, which was won by Stephen Colbert.
Seeger's sometimes ambivalent relationship with rock was most famously on display when Dylan "went electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Witnesses say Seeger became furious backstage as the amped-up band played, though just how furious is debated. Seeger dismissed the legendary tale that he looked for an axe to cut Dylan's sound cable, and said his objection was not to the type of music but only that the guitar mix was so loud you couldn't hear Dylan's words.
Seeger maintained his reedy 6-foot-2 frame into old age, though he wore a hearing aid and conceded that his voice was pretty much shot. He relied on his audiences to make up for his diminished voice, feeding his listeners the lines and letting them sing out. "I can't sing much," he said. "I used to sing high and low. Now I have a growl somewhere in between." Nonetheless, in 1997 he won a Grammy for best traditional folk album, Pete.
Seeger was born in New York City on May 3, 1919, into an artistic family whose roots traced to religious dissenters of colonial America. His mother, Constance, played violin and taught; his father, Charles, a musicologist, was a consultant to the Resettlement Administration, which gave artists work during the Depression. His uncle Alan Seeger, the poet, wrote I Have a Rendezvous With Death.
Pete Seeger said he fell in love with folk music when he was 16, at a music festival in North Carolina in 1935. His half brother, Mike Seeger, and half sister, Peggy Seeger, also became noted performers. He learned the five-string banjo, an instrument he rescued from obscurity and played the rest of his life in a long-necked version of his own design. On the skin of Seeger's banjo was the phrase, "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender" — a nod to his old pal Guthrie, who emblazoned his guitar with "This machine kills fascists."
Dropping out of Harvard in 1938 after two years as a disillusioned sociology major, he hit the road, picking up folk tunes as he hitchhiked or hopped freights. "The sociology professor said, 'Don't think that you can change the world. The only thing you can do is study it,"' Seeger said in October 2011.
In 1940, with Guthrie and others, he was part of the Almanac Singers and performed benefits for disaster relief and other causes. He and Guthrie also toured migrant camps and union halls. He sang on overseas radio broadcasts for the Office of War Information early in World War II. In the Army, he spent 3½ years in Special Services, entertaining soldiers in the South Pacific, and made corporal.
Pete and Toshi Seeger were married July 20, 1943. The couple built their cabin in Beacon after World War II and stayed on the high spot of land by the Hudson River for the rest of their lives together. The couple raised three children. Toshi Seeger died in July at age 91.
The Hudson River was a particular concern of Seeger. He took the sloop Clearwater, built by volunteers in 1969, up and down the Hudson, singing to raise money to clean the water and fight polluters.
He also offered his voice in opposition to racism and the death penalty. He got himself jailed for five days for blocking traffic in Albany in 1988 in support of Tawana Brawley, a black teenager whose claim of having been raped by white men was later discredited. He continued to take part in peace protests during the war in Iraq, and he continued to lend his name to causes.
"Can't prove a damn thing, but I look upon myself as old grandpa," Seeger told the AP in 2008 when asked to reflect on his legacy. "There's not dozens of people now doing what I try to do, not hundreds, but literally thousands. The idea of using music to try to get the world together is now all over the place."
Photo/Hans Pennink/The Associated Press
Seeger's grandson, Kitama Cahill-Jackson said his grandfather died at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he'd been for six days. "He was chopping wood 10 days ago," he said.
Seeger — with his a lanky frame, banjo and full white beard — was an iconic figure in folk music. He performed with the great minstrel Woody Guthrie in his younger days and marched with Occupy Wall Street protesters in his 90s, leaning on two canes. He wrote or co-wrote If I Had a Hammer, Turn, Turn, Turn, Where Have All the Flowers Gone and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine. He lent his voice against Hitler and nuclear power. A cheerful warrior, he typically delivered his broadsides with an affable air and his banjo strapped on.
"Be wary of great leaders," he told The Associated Press two days after a 2011 Manhattan Occupy march. "Hope that there are many, many small leaders."
With The Weavers, a quartet organized in 1948, Seeger helped set the stage for a national folk revival. The group — Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman — churned out hit recordings of Goodnight Irene, Tzena, Tzena and On Top of Old Smokey.
Seeger also was credited with popularizing We Shall Overcome, which he printed in his publication People's Song, in 1948. He later said his only contribution to the anthem of the civil rights movement was changing the second word from "will" to "shall," which he said "opens up the mouth better."
"Every kid who ever sat around a campfire singing an old song is indebted in some way to Pete Seeger," Arlo Guthrie once said.
His musical career was always braided tightly with his political activism, in which he advocated for causes ranging from civil rights to the cleanup of his beloved Hudson River. Seeger said he left the Communist Party around 1950 and later renounced it. But the association dogged him for years.
He was kept off commercial television for more than a decade after tangling with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955. Repeatedly pressed by the committee to reveal whether he had sung for Communists, Seeger responded sharply: "I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American." He was charged with contempt of Congress, but the sentence was overturned on appeal.
Seeger called the 1950s, years when he was denied broadcast exposure, the high point of his career. He was on the road touring college campuses, spreading the music he, Guthrie, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter and others had created or preserved. "The most important job I did was go from college to college to college to college, one after the other, usually small ones," he told The Associated Press in 2006. "And I showed the kids there's a lot of great music in this country they never played on the radio."
His scheduled return to commercial network television on the highly rated Smothers Brothers variety show in 1967 was hailed as a nail in the coffin of the blacklist. But CBS cut out his Vietnam protest song, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, and Seeger accused the network of censorship.
He finally got to sing it five months later in a stirring return appearance, although a Detroit station cut the song's last stanza:
"Now every time I read the papers
That old feelin' comes on
We're waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on."
Seeger's output included dozens of albums and single records for adults and children. He also was the author or co-author of American Favourite Ballads, The Bells of Rhymney, How to Play the Five-String Banjo, Henscratches and Flyspecks, The Incompleat Folksinger, The Foolish Frog and Abiyoyo, Carry It On, Everybody Says Freedom and Where Have All the Flowers Gone.
He appeared in the movies To Hear My Banjo Play in 1946 and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon in 1970. A reunion concert of the original Weavers in 1980 was filmed as a documentary titled Wasn't That a Time.
By the 1990s, no longer a party member but still styling himself a communist with a small C, Seeger was heaped with national honours.
Official Washington sang along — the audience must sing, was the rule at a Seeger concert — when it lionized him at the Kennedy Centre in 1994. Then president Bill Clinton hailed him as "an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them."
Seeger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as an early influence. Ten years later, Bruce Springsteen honoured him with We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a rollicking reinterpretation of songs sung by Seeger. While pleased with the album, Seeger said he wished it was "more serious." A 2009 concert at Madison Square Garden to mark Seeger's 90th birthday featured Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder and Emmylou Harris among the performers.
Seeger was a 2014 Grammy Awards nominee in the Best Spoken Word category, which was won by Stephen Colbert.
Seeger's sometimes ambivalent relationship with rock was most famously on display when Dylan "went electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Witnesses say Seeger became furious backstage as the amped-up band played, though just how furious is debated. Seeger dismissed the legendary tale that he looked for an axe to cut Dylan's sound cable, and said his objection was not to the type of music but only that the guitar mix was so loud you couldn't hear Dylan's words.
Seeger maintained his reedy 6-foot-2 frame into old age, though he wore a hearing aid and conceded that his voice was pretty much shot. He relied on his audiences to make up for his diminished voice, feeding his listeners the lines and letting them sing out. "I can't sing much," he said. "I used to sing high and low. Now I have a growl somewhere in between." Nonetheless, in 1997 he won a Grammy for best traditional folk album, Pete.
Seeger was born in New York City on May 3, 1919, into an artistic family whose roots traced to religious dissenters of colonial America. His mother, Constance, played violin and taught; his father, Charles, a musicologist, was a consultant to the Resettlement Administration, which gave artists work during the Depression. His uncle Alan Seeger, the poet, wrote I Have a Rendezvous With Death.
Pete Seeger said he fell in love with folk music when he was 16, at a music festival in North Carolina in 1935. His half brother, Mike Seeger, and half sister, Peggy Seeger, also became noted performers. He learned the five-string banjo, an instrument he rescued from obscurity and played the rest of his life in a long-necked version of his own design. On the skin of Seeger's banjo was the phrase, "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender" — a nod to his old pal Guthrie, who emblazoned his guitar with "This machine kills fascists."
Dropping out of Harvard in 1938 after two years as a disillusioned sociology major, he hit the road, picking up folk tunes as he hitchhiked or hopped freights. "The sociology professor said, 'Don't think that you can change the world. The only thing you can do is study it,"' Seeger said in October 2011.
In 1940, with Guthrie and others, he was part of the Almanac Singers and performed benefits for disaster relief and other causes. He and Guthrie also toured migrant camps and union halls. He sang on overseas radio broadcasts for the Office of War Information early in World War II. In the Army, he spent 3½ years in Special Services, entertaining soldiers in the South Pacific, and made corporal.
Pete and Toshi Seeger were married July 20, 1943. The couple built their cabin in Beacon after World War II and stayed on the high spot of land by the Hudson River for the rest of their lives together. The couple raised three children. Toshi Seeger died in July at age 91.
The Hudson River was a particular concern of Seeger. He took the sloop Clearwater, built by volunteers in 1969, up and down the Hudson, singing to raise money to clean the water and fight polluters.
He also offered his voice in opposition to racism and the death penalty. He got himself jailed for five days for blocking traffic in Albany in 1988 in support of Tawana Brawley, a black teenager whose claim of having been raped by white men was later discredited. He continued to take part in peace protests during the war in Iraq, and he continued to lend his name to causes.
"Can't prove a damn thing, but I look upon myself as old grandpa," Seeger told the AP in 2008 when asked to reflect on his legacy. "There's not dozens of people now doing what I try to do, not hundreds, but literally thousands. The idea of using music to try to get the world together is now all over the place."
Photo/Hans Pennink/The Associated Press
Five essential songs by Pete Seeger
"If I Had a Hammer": An all-time singalong co-written in 1949 by Seeger and Lee Hays and released a year later by the Weavers under the title "The Hammer Song." Popularized in the 1960s by Peter, Paul and Mary, the song was performed countless times, all over the world, from union halls and folk festivals to the Kennedy Center in Washington.
"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy": An anti-war song written in 1967 about a platoon and its doomed, gung-ho captain in Louisiana in the 1940s. A blunt allegory about the Vietnam War, "Waist Deep" was censored by CBS producers when Seeger performed it on "The Smothers Brother Comedy Hour" in September 1967. CBS soon backed down and let the song air when Seeger returned to the program in February 1968.
"Turn! Turn! Turn!": Seeger adapted language from the book of Ecclesiastes for this plea for peace that became a Number 1 hit for the Byrds in the 1960s.
"The Bells of Rhymney": Adapted by Seeger from a Welsh poem about a mining accident and again covered by the Byrds, with a guitar riff the Beatles' George Harrison openly drew upon for "If I Needed Someone."
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?": An anti-war anthem inspired in the 1950s by words Seeger came upon in a Cossacks folk song. Additional lyrics were written by Joe Hickerson in 1960. Among those who covered it: Marlene Dietrich, Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton and U2.
"If I Had a Hammer": An all-time singalong co-written in 1949 by Seeger and Lee Hays and released a year later by the Weavers under the title "The Hammer Song." Popularized in the 1960s by Peter, Paul and Mary, the song was performed countless times, all over the world, from union halls and folk festivals to the Kennedy Center in Washington.
"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy": An anti-war song written in 1967 about a platoon and its doomed, gung-ho captain in Louisiana in the 1940s. A blunt allegory about the Vietnam War, "Waist Deep" was censored by CBS producers when Seeger performed it on "The Smothers Brother Comedy Hour" in September 1967. CBS soon backed down and let the song air when Seeger returned to the program in February 1968.
"Turn! Turn! Turn!": Seeger adapted language from the book of Ecclesiastes for this plea for peace that became a Number 1 hit for the Byrds in the 1960s.
"The Bells of Rhymney": Adapted by Seeger from a Welsh poem about a mining accident and again covered by the Byrds, with a guitar riff the Beatles' George Harrison openly drew upon for "If I Needed Someone."
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?": An anti-war anthem inspired in the 1950s by words Seeger came upon in a Cossacks folk song. Additional lyrics were written by Joe Hickerson in 1960. Among those who covered it: Marlene Dietrich, Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton and U2.
Merv Griffin, talk show host and entrepreneur dead at 82
Los Angeles - California - America - Merv Griffin, pictured above in 1975, who found fame as a singer and game show host has died at 82. Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his family released Sunday through a spokeswoman for the Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment. In mid - July of 2013, Griffin announced he was being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a recurrence of the cancer. "This is heartbreaking, not just for those of us who loved Merv personally, but for everyone around the world who has known Merv through his music, his television shows and his business,'' Nancy Reagan said in a statement. She and her late husband, former American president Ronald Reagan, became life-long friends as Griffin and Reagan met while both were actors. Griffin acted as an honorary pallbearer at the former president's funeral in 2004.
"I'm dealing with deep sadness and the realization that I will never hear that wonderful laugh of his again. He meant so much to my life, and it's hard to imagine it without him," said Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune. "I'm very upset at the news. He was a very close friend of ours, a good friend of mine and a good friend of Eva's," Zsa Zsa Gabor said of her sister, Eva Gabor, who died in 1995. Griffin and Eva Gabor were in a relationship during the 80's. "He was just a wonderful, wonderful man."
"I'm dealing with deep sadness and the realization that I will never hear that wonderful laugh of his again. He meant so much to my life, and it's hard to imagine it without him," said Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune. "I'm very upset at the news. He was a very close friend of ours, a good friend of mine and a good friend of Eva's," Zsa Zsa Gabor said of her sister, Eva Gabor, who died in 1995. Griffin and Eva Gabor were in a relationship during the 80's. "He was just a wonderful, wonderful man."
Merv Griffin was named by Forbes magazine as the richest Hollywood performer in history. He made major real estate deals once declaring, "I love the gamesmanship". The media tycoon began his career as a $100 a week radio singer in San Francisco. He formed Panda Records and released an album called Songs by Merv Griffin. Griffin soon became a nightclub singer and even scored a No. 1 hit with I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts in 1949. He then had a brief film career in the 1950s, appearing opposite the likes of Doris Day.
From 1958 to 1962, he hosted two game shows, Play Your Hunch on NBC and ABC's Keep Talking. Producers noticed his smooth-talking skills which lead to stints substituting for Jack Paar on the talk show Tonight. Griffin was considered a candidate to replace Paar when he retired in 1962 but he lost out and the program became The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
But Griffin hosted his own highly successful talk show beginning in 1965. During the The Merv Griffin Show, which aired for more than 20 years, Griffin interviewed about 25,000 guests. Of all of those, Griffin said, his favourite guest was actor and director Orson Welles, who appeared on the show almost 50 times before Welles death in 1985. Griffin described Welles as an awesome guest who was conversant on any topic.
Griffin's footprint on the entertainment world deepened when he created and produced the game shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Merv Griffin composed the theme to Jeopardy from which he earned $80,000.000 in residuals. Griffin gave all the credit to his wife, Julann for coming up with the concept and roll-out of Jeopardy back in 1963. "Julann's idea was a twist on the usual question and answer format of the quiz shows of the Fifties," he wrote in his autobiography. "Julann's idea was to give the contestants the answer, and they had to come up with the appropriate question." Jeopardy was born in 1964 and Wheel of Fortune follwed in 1975. Griffin and Julann divorced in 1974.
In the late 1980s, Griffin sold the rights to both shows to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million in American dollars retaining a share of the profits. That agreement would propel Forbes magazine to name him the richest Hollywood performer in history.
He dealt in real estate after retiring from television and he officially retired from Hollywood after selling off his game shows and investing his earnings in treasury bonds, stocks and real estate. He once bought a Caribbean island for $400 million in American dollars during the 1980s. Griffin then purchased the Beverley Hilton in Hollywood for $100 million US and made a move to control Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos in Atlantic City and the Caribbean Islands.
"I love the gamesmanship," he told Life magazine in 1988. "This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I've been involved in." That wasn't enough for the restless entrepreneur: Griffin still yearned to keep his fingers in the entertainment world. In 2007, his company began pre-production on a new syndicated game show called Merv Griffin's Crosswords which was slated to launch in September.
Griffin has a son, Tony and two grandchildren. He is also survived by his talented ex-wife Julann Griffin. Merv Griffin, pictured above in 1975, was named the richest Hollywood performer in history by Forbes magazine in the late 1980s. He made major real estate deals, once declaring, "I love the gamesmanship". There wasn't any immediate word on funeral plans. However, Griffin once joked: "I know what my epitaph will read on my tombstone. I have it all written out: 'I will not be right back after this message.'"
Story by the Associated Press
Photos by Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated Press
From 1958 to 1962, he hosted two game shows, Play Your Hunch on NBC and ABC's Keep Talking. Producers noticed his smooth-talking skills which lead to stints substituting for Jack Paar on the talk show Tonight. Griffin was considered a candidate to replace Paar when he retired in 1962 but he lost out and the program became The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
But Griffin hosted his own highly successful talk show beginning in 1965. During the The Merv Griffin Show, which aired for more than 20 years, Griffin interviewed about 25,000 guests. Of all of those, Griffin said, his favourite guest was actor and director Orson Welles, who appeared on the show almost 50 times before Welles death in 1985. Griffin described Welles as an awesome guest who was conversant on any topic.
Griffin's footprint on the entertainment world deepened when he created and produced the game shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Merv Griffin composed the theme to Jeopardy from which he earned $80,000.000 in residuals. Griffin gave all the credit to his wife, Julann for coming up with the concept and roll-out of Jeopardy back in 1963. "Julann's idea was a twist on the usual question and answer format of the quiz shows of the Fifties," he wrote in his autobiography. "Julann's idea was to give the contestants the answer, and they had to come up with the appropriate question." Jeopardy was born in 1964 and Wheel of Fortune follwed in 1975. Griffin and Julann divorced in 1974.
In the late 1980s, Griffin sold the rights to both shows to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million in American dollars retaining a share of the profits. That agreement would propel Forbes magazine to name him the richest Hollywood performer in history.
He dealt in real estate after retiring from television and he officially retired from Hollywood after selling off his game shows and investing his earnings in treasury bonds, stocks and real estate. He once bought a Caribbean island for $400 million in American dollars during the 1980s. Griffin then purchased the Beverley Hilton in Hollywood for $100 million US and made a move to control Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos in Atlantic City and the Caribbean Islands.
"I love the gamesmanship," he told Life magazine in 1988. "This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I've been involved in." That wasn't enough for the restless entrepreneur: Griffin still yearned to keep his fingers in the entertainment world. In 2007, his company began pre-production on a new syndicated game show called Merv Griffin's Crosswords which was slated to launch in September.
Griffin has a son, Tony and two grandchildren. He is also survived by his talented ex-wife Julann Griffin. Merv Griffin, pictured above in 1975, was named the richest Hollywood performer in history by Forbes magazine in the late 1980s. He made major real estate deals, once declaring, "I love the gamesmanship". There wasn't any immediate word on funeral plans. However, Griffin once joked: "I know what my epitaph will read on my tombstone. I have it all written out: 'I will not be right back after this message.'"
Story by the Associated Press
Photos by Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated Press
Phil Everly of The Everly brothers dead at 74
Los Angeles - California - America - Phil Everly, who with his brother Don formed an influential harmony duo that touched the hearts and sparked the imaginations of many has died, He was 74. Everly died on Friday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at a Burbank hospital, according to his son Jason Everly. Phil and Don Everly helped draw the blueprint of rock 'n' roll in the late 1950s and 1960s with a high harmony that captured the yearning and angst of a nation of teenage baby boomers looking for a way to express themselves beyond the simple platitudes of the pop music of the day. The Beatles, early in their career, once referred to themselves as "the English Everly Brothers." And Bob Dylan once said, "We owe these guys everything. They started it all."
The Everlys' hit records included the then-titilating "Wake Up Little Susie" and the universally identifiable "Bye Bye Love." Each featuring their twined voices with lyrics that mirrored the fatalism of country music and a rocking backbeat that more upbeat pop. These sounds and ideas would be warped by their devotees into a new kind of music that would ricochet around the world. In all, their career spanned five decades, although they performed separately from 1973 to 1983. In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, they had 19 top 40 hits.
The two broke up amid quarrelling in 1973 after 16 years of hits, then reunited in 1983, "sealing it with a hug," Phil Everly said. Although their number of hit records declined in the late 1980s, they made successful concert tours in this country and Europe. They were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the same year they had a hit pop-country record, "Born Yesterday."
Don Everly was born in 1937 in Brownie, Ky., to Ike and Margaret Everly, who were folk and country music singers. Phil Everly was born to the couple on Jan. 19, 1939, in Chicago where the Everlys moved to from Brownie when Ike grew tired of working in the coal mines. The brothers began singing country music in 1945 on their family's radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa. Their career breakthrough came when they moved to Nashville in the mid-1950s and signed a recording contract with New York-based Cadence Records.
Their breakup came dramatically during a concert at Knott's Berry Farm in California. Phil Everly threw his guitar down and walked off, prompting Don Everly to tell the crowd, "The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago." During their breakup, they pursued solo singing careers with little fanfare. Phil also appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie "Every Which Way but Loose." Don made a couple of records with friends in Nashville, performed in local nightclubs and played guitar and sang background vocals on recording sessions.
Don Everly said in a 1986 Associated Press interview that the two were successful because "we never followed trends. We did what we liked and followed our instincts. Rock 'n' roll did survive, and we were right about that. Country did survive, and we were right about that. You can mix the two but people said we couldn't." In 1988, the brothers began hosting an annual homecoming benefit concert in Central City, Ky., to raise money for the area.
The two broke up amid quarrelling in 1973 after 16 years of hits, then reunited in 1983, "sealing it with a hug," Phil Everly said. Although their number of hit records declined in the late 1980s, they made successful concert tours in this country and Europe. They were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the same year they had a hit pop-country record, "Born Yesterday."
Don Everly was born in 1937 in Brownie, Ky., to Ike and Margaret Everly, who were folk and country music singers. Phil Everly was born to the couple on Jan. 19, 1939, in Chicago where the Everlys moved to from Brownie when Ike grew tired of working in the coal mines. The brothers began singing country music in 1945 on their family's radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa. Their career breakthrough came when they moved to Nashville in the mid-1950s and signed a recording contract with New York-based Cadence Records.
Their breakup came dramatically during a concert at Knott's Berry Farm in California. Phil Everly threw his guitar down and walked off, prompting Don Everly to tell the crowd, "The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago." During their breakup, they pursued solo singing careers with little fanfare. Phil also appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie "Every Which Way but Loose." Don made a couple of records with friends in Nashville, performed in local nightclubs and played guitar and sang background vocals on recording sessions.
Don Everly said in a 1986 Associated Press interview that the two were successful because "we never followed trends. We did what we liked and followed our instincts. Rock 'n' roll did survive, and we were right about that. Country did survive, and we were right about that. You can mix the two but people said we couldn't." In 1988, the brothers began hosting an annual homecoming benefit concert in Central City, Ky., to raise money for the area.
Grand Ole Opry Star, Ray Price dead at 87
Ray Price, one of country music's most popular and influential singers and bandleaders who had more than 100 hits and was one of the last living connections to Hank Williams, died Monday. He was 87. Price died Monday afternoon at his ranch outside Mount Pleasant, Texas, said Billy Mack Jr., who was acting as a family spokesman. Billie Perryman, the wife of family friend and spokesman Tom Perryman, a DJ with KKUS-FM in Tyler, also confirmed his death.
Price was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 and it had recently spread to his liver, intestines and lungs, according East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. He stopped aggressive treatments and left the hospital last Thursday to receive hospice care at home. At the time, his wife, Janie Price, relayed what she called her husband's "final message" to his fans: "I love my fans and have devoted my life to reaching out to them. I appreciate their support all these years, and I hope I haven't let them down. I am at peace. I love Jesus. I'm going to be just fine. Don't worry about me. I'll see you again one day."
Perhaps best known for his version of the Kris Kristofferson song For the Good Times, a pop hit in 1970, the velvet-voiced Price was a giant among traditional country performers in the 1950s, `60s and `70s, as likely to defy a trend as he was to defend one. He helped invent the genre's honky-tonk sound early in his career, then took it in a more polished direction.
He reached the Billboard Hot 100 eight times from 1958-73 and had seven No. 1 hits and more than 100 titles on the Billboard country chart from 1952 to 1989. For the Good Times was his biggest crossover hit, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard pop music singles chart. His other country hits included Crazy Arms, Release Me, The Same Old Me, Heartaches by the Number, City Lights and Too Young to Die.
"If you got a pop hit, you sold a lot more records," Price said in 2000. "It was my style, really. I sang ballads, sort of laid-back. I'm still a country boy. I don't pretend to be anything else." Price was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, long after he had become dissatisfied with Nashville and returned to his home state of Texas.
His importance went well beyond hit singles. He was among the pioneers who popularized electric instruments and drums in country music. After helping to establish the bedrock 4/4 shuffle beat that can still be heard on every honky-tonk jukebox and most country radio stations in the world, Price angered traditionalists by breaking away from country. He gave early breaks to Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and other major performers.
His Danny Boy in the late 1960s was a heavily orchestrated version that crossed over to the pop charts. He then started touring with a string-laden 20-piece band that outraged his dance-hall fans. In the 1970s he sang often with symphony orchestras — in a tuxedo and cowboy boots.
Like Nelson, his good friend and contemporary, Price simply didn't care what others thought and pursued the chance to make his music the way he wanted to. "I have fought prejudice since I got in country music and I will continue to fight it," he told The Associated Press in 1981. "A lot of people want to keep country music in the minority of people. But it belongs to the world. It's art."
In the same 1981 interview, he credited the cowboy for the popularity of country music. "Everyone loves the cowboy. He's nice, humble and straightforward. And country music is the same thing. The kids have discovered what mom and pop told `em."
Price continued performing and recording well into his 70s. "I have to be in the business at least five or 10 more years," Price told The Associated Press in 2000, when he and his band were doing 100 shows a year. "Two or three years ago, we did 182," he said. "Fans come to the shows, bless their hearts, they always come." In 2007, he joined buddies Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson on a double-CD set, Last of the Breed. The trio performed on tour with the Texas swing band Asleep at the Wheel.
"I'll be surprised if we don't all get locked up somewhere," Price joked at the time.
Over the years, Price came in and out of vogue as traditional country music waxed and waned on the radio. He was a constant advocate for the old days and ways of country music and more recently re-entered the news when he took offence to comments Blake Shelton made about classic country music that included the words "old farts." The dustup drew attention on the Internet and introduced Price to a new generation of country fans.
"You should be so lucky as us old-timers," Price said in a happily cantankerous post in all capital letters. "Check back in 63 years (the year 2075) and let us know how your name and your music will be remembered."
Price earned his long-standing fame honestly, weaving himself into the story of modern country music in several ways. As a young man, Price became friends with Hank Williams, toured with the country legend and shared a house with him in Nashville. Williams even let Price use his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and the two wrote a song together, the modest Price hit Weary Blues (From Waiting). By 1952 Price was a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry. The singer had one of country music's great bands, the Cherokee Cowboys, early in his career. His lineup included at times Nelson, Miller and Johnny Paycheck.
His 1956 version of Crazy Arms became a landmark song for both Price and country music. His first No. 1 country hit, the song rode a propulsive beat into the pop top 100 as well. Using a drummer and bassist to create a country shuffle rhythm, he eventually established a sound that would become a trademark. "It was strictly country and it went pop," Price said of the song. "I never have figured that one out yet."
Price was born near Perryville, Texas, in 1926 and was raised in Dallas. He joined the Marines for World War II and then studied to be a veterinarian at North Texas Agricultural College before he decided on music as a career. Soft-spoken and urbane, Price told the AP in 1976: "I'm my own worst critic. I don't like to hear myself sing or see myself on television. I see too many mistakes."
He was one of the few who saw them.
Price was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 and it had recently spread to his liver, intestines and lungs, according East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. He stopped aggressive treatments and left the hospital last Thursday to receive hospice care at home. At the time, his wife, Janie Price, relayed what she called her husband's "final message" to his fans: "I love my fans and have devoted my life to reaching out to them. I appreciate their support all these years, and I hope I haven't let them down. I am at peace. I love Jesus. I'm going to be just fine. Don't worry about me. I'll see you again one day."
Perhaps best known for his version of the Kris Kristofferson song For the Good Times, a pop hit in 1970, the velvet-voiced Price was a giant among traditional country performers in the 1950s, `60s and `70s, as likely to defy a trend as he was to defend one. He helped invent the genre's honky-tonk sound early in his career, then took it in a more polished direction.
He reached the Billboard Hot 100 eight times from 1958-73 and had seven No. 1 hits and more than 100 titles on the Billboard country chart from 1952 to 1989. For the Good Times was his biggest crossover hit, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard pop music singles chart. His other country hits included Crazy Arms, Release Me, The Same Old Me, Heartaches by the Number, City Lights and Too Young to Die.
"If you got a pop hit, you sold a lot more records," Price said in 2000. "It was my style, really. I sang ballads, sort of laid-back. I'm still a country boy. I don't pretend to be anything else." Price was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, long after he had become dissatisfied with Nashville and returned to his home state of Texas.
His importance went well beyond hit singles. He was among the pioneers who popularized electric instruments and drums in country music. After helping to establish the bedrock 4/4 shuffle beat that can still be heard on every honky-tonk jukebox and most country radio stations in the world, Price angered traditionalists by breaking away from country. He gave early breaks to Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and other major performers.
His Danny Boy in the late 1960s was a heavily orchestrated version that crossed over to the pop charts. He then started touring with a string-laden 20-piece band that outraged his dance-hall fans. In the 1970s he sang often with symphony orchestras — in a tuxedo and cowboy boots.
Like Nelson, his good friend and contemporary, Price simply didn't care what others thought and pursued the chance to make his music the way he wanted to. "I have fought prejudice since I got in country music and I will continue to fight it," he told The Associated Press in 1981. "A lot of people want to keep country music in the minority of people. But it belongs to the world. It's art."
In the same 1981 interview, he credited the cowboy for the popularity of country music. "Everyone loves the cowboy. He's nice, humble and straightforward. And country music is the same thing. The kids have discovered what mom and pop told `em."
Price continued performing and recording well into his 70s. "I have to be in the business at least five or 10 more years," Price told The Associated Press in 2000, when he and his band were doing 100 shows a year. "Two or three years ago, we did 182," he said. "Fans come to the shows, bless their hearts, they always come." In 2007, he joined buddies Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson on a double-CD set, Last of the Breed. The trio performed on tour with the Texas swing band Asleep at the Wheel.
"I'll be surprised if we don't all get locked up somewhere," Price joked at the time.
Over the years, Price came in and out of vogue as traditional country music waxed and waned on the radio. He was a constant advocate for the old days and ways of country music and more recently re-entered the news when he took offence to comments Blake Shelton made about classic country music that included the words "old farts." The dustup drew attention on the Internet and introduced Price to a new generation of country fans.
"You should be so lucky as us old-timers," Price said in a happily cantankerous post in all capital letters. "Check back in 63 years (the year 2075) and let us know how your name and your music will be remembered."
Price earned his long-standing fame honestly, weaving himself into the story of modern country music in several ways. As a young man, Price became friends with Hank Williams, toured with the country legend and shared a house with him in Nashville. Williams even let Price use his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and the two wrote a song together, the modest Price hit Weary Blues (From Waiting). By 1952 Price was a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry. The singer had one of country music's great bands, the Cherokee Cowboys, early in his career. His lineup included at times Nelson, Miller and Johnny Paycheck.
His 1956 version of Crazy Arms became a landmark song for both Price and country music. His first No. 1 country hit, the song rode a propulsive beat into the pop top 100 as well. Using a drummer and bassist to create a country shuffle rhythm, he eventually established a sound that would become a trademark. "It was strictly country and it went pop," Price said of the song. "I never have figured that one out yet."
Price was born near Perryville, Texas, in 1926 and was raised in Dallas. He joined the Marines for World War II and then studied to be a veterinarian at North Texas Agricultural College before he decided on music as a career. Soft-spoken and urbane, Price told the AP in 1976: "I'm my own worst critic. I don't like to hear myself sing or see myself on television. I see too many mistakes."
He was one of the few who saw them.
Joan Fontaine Oscar-winner for "Suspicion" dies at age 96
Carmel - California - December 15 - 2013 - Academy Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine, who found stardom playing naive wives in Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion" and "Rebecca" and also was featured in films by Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang and Nicholas Ray, died Sunday. She was 96.
Fontaine, the sister of fellow Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, died in her sleep in her Carmel, California, home Sunday morning, said longtime friend Noel Beutel. Fontaine had been fading in recent days and died "peacefully," Beutel said.
In her later years, Fontaine had lived quietly at her Villa Fontana estate south of Carmel, enjoying its spectacular view of wind-swept Point Lobos.
Fontaine's pale, soft features and frightened stare made her ideal for melodrama and she was a major star for much of the 1940s. For Hitchcock, she was a prototype of the uneasy blondes played by Kim Novak in "Vertigo" and Tippi Hedren in "The Birds" and "Marnie." The director would later say he was most impressed by Fontaine's restraint. She would credit George Cukor, who directed her in "The Women," for urging her to "think and feel and the rest will take care of itself."
Fontaine appeared in more than 30 movies, including early roles in "The Women" and "Gunga Din," the title part in "Jane Eyre" and in Max Ophuls' historical drama "Letter from an Unknown Woman." She was also in films directed by Wilder ("The Emperor Waltz"), Lang ("Beyond a Reasonable Doubt") and, wised up and dangerous, in Ray's "Born to be Bad." She starred on Broadway in 1954 in "Tea and Sympathy" and in 1980 received an Emmy nomination for her cameo on the daytime soap "Ryan's Hope."
"You know, I've had a helluva life," Fontaine once said. "Not just the acting part. I've flown in an international balloon race. I've piloted my own plane. I've ridden to the hounds. I've done a lot of exciting things."
Fontaine had minor roles in several films in the 1930s, but received little attention and was without a studio contract when she was seated next to producer David O. Selznick at a dinner party near the decade's end. She impressed him enough to be asked to audition for "Rebecca," his first movie since "Gone With the Wind" and the American directorial debut of Hitchcock.
Just as seemingly every actress had tried out for Scarlett O'Hara, hundreds applied for the lead female role in "Rebecca," based on Daphne du Maurier's gothic bestseller about haunted Maxim de Winter and the dead first wife — the title character — he obsesses over. With Laurence Olivier as Maxim, Fontaine as the unsuspecting second wife and Judith Anderson as the dastardly housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, "Rebecca" won the Academy Award for best picture and got Fontaine the first of her three Oscar nominations.
"Miss Du Maurier never really convinced me any one could behave quite as the second Mrs. de Winter behaved and still be sweet, modest, attractive and alive," The New York Times' Frank Nugent wrote upon the film's release.
"But Miss Fontaine does it not simply with her eyes, her mouth, her hands and her words, but with her spine. Possibly it's unethical to criticize performances anatomically. Still we insist Miss Fontaine has the most expressive spine — and shoulders we've bothered to notice this season."
"Rebecca" made her a star, but she felt as out of place off screen as her character was in the film. She remembered being treated cruelly by Olivier, who openly preferred his then-lover Vivien Leigh for the role, and being ignored by the largely British cast. Her uncertainty was reinforced by Hitchcock, who would insist that he was the only one who believed in her.
Hitchcock's "Suspicion," released in 1941, and featuring Fontaine as the timid woman whose husband (Cary Grant) may or may not be a killer, brought her a best actress Oscar and dramatized one of Hollywood's legendary feuds, between Fontaine and de Havilland, a losing nominee for "Hold Back the Dawn."
Competition for the prize hardened feelings that had apparent roots in childhood ("Livvie" was a bully, Joan an attention hog) and endured into old age, with Fontaine writing bitterly about her sister in the memoir "No Bed of Roses" and telling one reporter that she could not recall "one act of kindness from Olivia all through my childhood." While they initially downplayed any problems, tension was evident in 1947 when de Havilland came offstage after winning her first Oscar, for "To Each His Own." Fontaine came forward to congratulate her and was rebuffed. Explained de Havilland's publicist: "This goes back for years and years, ever since they were children."
While Fontaine topped her sister in 1941, and picked up a third nomination for the 1943 film "The Constant Nymph," de Havilland went on to win two Oscars and was nominated three other times.
Fontaine was featured in "Jane Eyre" with Orson Welles and she and Bing Crosby got top billing in "Emperor Waltz." A few other Fontaine films: "Bed of Roses," ''A Damsel In Distress," ''Blonde Cheat," ''Ivanhoe," ''You've Gotta Stay Happy" and "You Can't Beat Love." Her most daring role came in the 1957 film "Island in the Sun," in which she had an interracial romance with Harry Belafonte. Several Southern cities banned the movie after threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
Fontaine said she left Hollywood because she was asked to play Elvis Presley's mother. "Not that I had anything against Elvis Presley. But that just wasn't my cup of tea," she said.
While making New York her home for 25 years, she appeared in about 30 dinner theatre plays. She also appeared twice on Broadway, replacing Deborah Kerr in the hit 1953 drama "Tea and Sympathy" and Julie Harris in the long-running 1968 comedy "Forty Carats." She joked once about being burglarized in the Big Apple.
"All the jewelry I lost came from me," she said. "Somehow I was the kind of a girl to whom husbands — and other men, too — gave copper frying pans. I never could quite figure it out."
In 1966, Fontaine starred in "The Devil's Own." In 1978, she played a socialite in the made-for-TV movie based on Joyce Haber's steamy novel, "The Users." In the '70s and '80s she appeared on the television series such as "The Love Boat," ''Cannon," and in "Ryan's Hope."
Show business had come naturally. Besides her Oscar-winning sister, her mother, Lillian Fontaine, appeared in more than a dozen films.
Fontaine was born Joan de Havilland in 1917 in Tokyo, where her British parents lived. Both she and her sister, born in 1916, were sickly, and their mother hoped a change of climate would improve their health when she moved the family to California in 1919 after the breakup of her marriage.
"There was always something wrong with me," Fontaine recalled. "For a while I averaged about two days a week in school. I had headaches, I had all kinds of pains. I was kept away from other children, never allowed to do the things they did."
She returned to East Asia at the age of 15, taking up amateur theatricals and studying art. After returning to California, Fontaine appeared in a play called "Call It A Day" in Los Angeles in 1937, gaining the attention of an agent who signed her to her first film, "Quality Street." Her sister was already an established film actress. Fontaine changed her last name, taking that of her mother's second husband.
She married four times. Fontaine's first husband was actor Brian Aherne; the second, film executive William Dozier; the third, film producer Collin Hudson Young. The ex-husband of actress Ida Lupino, Young produced "The Bigamist," with Lupino and Fontaine starring and Lupino directing. Fontaine's last husband was Sports Illustrated golf editor Alfred Wright Jr.
Dozier and Fontaine had a daughter, Deborah Leslie, whose godmother was actress Maureen O'Sullivan. Fontaine later adopted a child from Peru, Maritita Pareja.
Despite divorce, Fontaine remained philosophical about love and marriage.
"Goodness knows, I tried," she said after her second marriage failed. "But I think it's virtually impossible for the right kind of man to be married to a movie star."
"Something happens when he steps off a train and someone says, 'Step right this way, Mr. Fontaine.' That hurts. Any man with self-respect can't take it, and I wouldn't want to marry the other kind."
Plus, she's got "Sheldrick" eyes.
Fontaine, the sister of fellow Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, died in her sleep in her Carmel, California, home Sunday morning, said longtime friend Noel Beutel. Fontaine had been fading in recent days and died "peacefully," Beutel said.
In her later years, Fontaine had lived quietly at her Villa Fontana estate south of Carmel, enjoying its spectacular view of wind-swept Point Lobos.
Fontaine's pale, soft features and frightened stare made her ideal for melodrama and she was a major star for much of the 1940s. For Hitchcock, she was a prototype of the uneasy blondes played by Kim Novak in "Vertigo" and Tippi Hedren in "The Birds" and "Marnie." The director would later say he was most impressed by Fontaine's restraint. She would credit George Cukor, who directed her in "The Women," for urging her to "think and feel and the rest will take care of itself."
Fontaine appeared in more than 30 movies, including early roles in "The Women" and "Gunga Din," the title part in "Jane Eyre" and in Max Ophuls' historical drama "Letter from an Unknown Woman." She was also in films directed by Wilder ("The Emperor Waltz"), Lang ("Beyond a Reasonable Doubt") and, wised up and dangerous, in Ray's "Born to be Bad." She starred on Broadway in 1954 in "Tea and Sympathy" and in 1980 received an Emmy nomination for her cameo on the daytime soap "Ryan's Hope."
"You know, I've had a helluva life," Fontaine once said. "Not just the acting part. I've flown in an international balloon race. I've piloted my own plane. I've ridden to the hounds. I've done a lot of exciting things."
Fontaine had minor roles in several films in the 1930s, but received little attention and was without a studio contract when she was seated next to producer David O. Selznick at a dinner party near the decade's end. She impressed him enough to be asked to audition for "Rebecca," his first movie since "Gone With the Wind" and the American directorial debut of Hitchcock.
Just as seemingly every actress had tried out for Scarlett O'Hara, hundreds applied for the lead female role in "Rebecca," based on Daphne du Maurier's gothic bestseller about haunted Maxim de Winter and the dead first wife — the title character — he obsesses over. With Laurence Olivier as Maxim, Fontaine as the unsuspecting second wife and Judith Anderson as the dastardly housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, "Rebecca" won the Academy Award for best picture and got Fontaine the first of her three Oscar nominations.
"Miss Du Maurier never really convinced me any one could behave quite as the second Mrs. de Winter behaved and still be sweet, modest, attractive and alive," The New York Times' Frank Nugent wrote upon the film's release.
"But Miss Fontaine does it not simply with her eyes, her mouth, her hands and her words, but with her spine. Possibly it's unethical to criticize performances anatomically. Still we insist Miss Fontaine has the most expressive spine — and shoulders we've bothered to notice this season."
"Rebecca" made her a star, but she felt as out of place off screen as her character was in the film. She remembered being treated cruelly by Olivier, who openly preferred his then-lover Vivien Leigh for the role, and being ignored by the largely British cast. Her uncertainty was reinforced by Hitchcock, who would insist that he was the only one who believed in her.
Hitchcock's "Suspicion," released in 1941, and featuring Fontaine as the timid woman whose husband (Cary Grant) may or may not be a killer, brought her a best actress Oscar and dramatized one of Hollywood's legendary feuds, between Fontaine and de Havilland, a losing nominee for "Hold Back the Dawn."
Competition for the prize hardened feelings that had apparent roots in childhood ("Livvie" was a bully, Joan an attention hog) and endured into old age, with Fontaine writing bitterly about her sister in the memoir "No Bed of Roses" and telling one reporter that she could not recall "one act of kindness from Olivia all through my childhood." While they initially downplayed any problems, tension was evident in 1947 when de Havilland came offstage after winning her first Oscar, for "To Each His Own." Fontaine came forward to congratulate her and was rebuffed. Explained de Havilland's publicist: "This goes back for years and years, ever since they were children."
While Fontaine topped her sister in 1941, and picked up a third nomination for the 1943 film "The Constant Nymph," de Havilland went on to win two Oscars and was nominated three other times.
Fontaine was featured in "Jane Eyre" with Orson Welles and she and Bing Crosby got top billing in "Emperor Waltz." A few other Fontaine films: "Bed of Roses," ''A Damsel In Distress," ''Blonde Cheat," ''Ivanhoe," ''You've Gotta Stay Happy" and "You Can't Beat Love." Her most daring role came in the 1957 film "Island in the Sun," in which she had an interracial romance with Harry Belafonte. Several Southern cities banned the movie after threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
Fontaine said she left Hollywood because she was asked to play Elvis Presley's mother. "Not that I had anything against Elvis Presley. But that just wasn't my cup of tea," she said.
While making New York her home for 25 years, she appeared in about 30 dinner theatre plays. She also appeared twice on Broadway, replacing Deborah Kerr in the hit 1953 drama "Tea and Sympathy" and Julie Harris in the long-running 1968 comedy "Forty Carats." She joked once about being burglarized in the Big Apple.
"All the jewelry I lost came from me," she said. "Somehow I was the kind of a girl to whom husbands — and other men, too — gave copper frying pans. I never could quite figure it out."
In 1966, Fontaine starred in "The Devil's Own." In 1978, she played a socialite in the made-for-TV movie based on Joyce Haber's steamy novel, "The Users." In the '70s and '80s she appeared on the television series such as "The Love Boat," ''Cannon," and in "Ryan's Hope."
Show business had come naturally. Besides her Oscar-winning sister, her mother, Lillian Fontaine, appeared in more than a dozen films.
Fontaine was born Joan de Havilland in 1917 in Tokyo, where her British parents lived. Both she and her sister, born in 1916, were sickly, and their mother hoped a change of climate would improve their health when she moved the family to California in 1919 after the breakup of her marriage.
"There was always something wrong with me," Fontaine recalled. "For a while I averaged about two days a week in school. I had headaches, I had all kinds of pains. I was kept away from other children, never allowed to do the things they did."
She returned to East Asia at the age of 15, taking up amateur theatricals and studying art. After returning to California, Fontaine appeared in a play called "Call It A Day" in Los Angeles in 1937, gaining the attention of an agent who signed her to her first film, "Quality Street." Her sister was already an established film actress. Fontaine changed her last name, taking that of her mother's second husband.
She married four times. Fontaine's first husband was actor Brian Aherne; the second, film executive William Dozier; the third, film producer Collin Hudson Young. The ex-husband of actress Ida Lupino, Young produced "The Bigamist," with Lupino and Fontaine starring and Lupino directing. Fontaine's last husband was Sports Illustrated golf editor Alfred Wright Jr.
Dozier and Fontaine had a daughter, Deborah Leslie, whose godmother was actress Maureen O'Sullivan. Fontaine later adopted a child from Peru, Maritita Pareja.
Despite divorce, Fontaine remained philosophical about love and marriage.
"Goodness knows, I tried," she said after her second marriage failed. "But I think it's virtually impossible for the right kind of man to be married to a movie star."
"Something happens when he steps off a train and someone says, 'Step right this way, Mr. Fontaine.' That hurts. Any man with self-respect can't take it, and I wouldn't want to marry the other kind."
Plus, she's got "Sheldrick" eyes.
George Duke, jazz keyboardist and drummer dead at 67
Jazz keyboardist George Duke, the Grammy-winning jazz keyboardist and producer whose sound infused acoustic jazz, electronic jazz, funk, R&B and soul in a 40-year-plus career, has died. He was 67. A representative for Duke said the performer died Monday night in Los Angeles. Duke was being treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Duke's son, Rashid, thanked his father's fans in a statement Tuesday.
"The outpouring of love and support that we have received from my father's friends, fans and the entire music community has been overwhelming," he said. "Thank you all for your concern, prayers and support." Duke was born in San Rafael, Calif. He appeared on a number of Frank Zappa albums and played in the Don Ellis Orchestra, Cannonball Adderley's band and with jazz musician Stanley Clarke. Duke also played keyboard on Michael Jackson's multiplatinum 1979 album, "Off the Wall."
Duke began taking piano lessons when he was 4 years old, after seeing Duke Ellington perform. "I don't remember it too well but my mother told me I went crazy," Duke said on his website. "I ran around saying, "Get me a piano, get me a piano!'" Duke said he learned a lot about music from going to church, which helped him add a funk style to his sound. He played in high-school jazz groups and was heavily influenced by Miles Davis. He earned degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University.
On tour as part of the George Duke Trio, he performed in Los Angeles at a show where Adderley, Zappa and Quincy Jones were in attendance. Duke soon joined Zappa on a tour for a year in 1969. He joined Adderley's band in 1971. He met Clarke through Adderley, and they formed the Clarke/Duke Project. Their song "Sweet Baby" was a Top 20 hit on the Billboard pop charts. Duke became a solo artist in 1976 and released more than 30 solo albums. He also produced for Davis, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole. Duke's wife, Corine, died from cancer last year.
His latest album, "DreamWeaver," was released last month and features a touching tribute to her. He worked as musical director for the Soul Train Music Awards and other special events. He also scored songs on soundtracks for "The Five Heartbeats" and "Karate Kid III."
By MESFIN FEKADU, AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP)
"The outpouring of love and support that we have received from my father's friends, fans and the entire music community has been overwhelming," he said. "Thank you all for your concern, prayers and support." Duke was born in San Rafael, Calif. He appeared on a number of Frank Zappa albums and played in the Don Ellis Orchestra, Cannonball Adderley's band and with jazz musician Stanley Clarke. Duke also played keyboard on Michael Jackson's multiplatinum 1979 album, "Off the Wall."
Duke began taking piano lessons when he was 4 years old, after seeing Duke Ellington perform. "I don't remember it too well but my mother told me I went crazy," Duke said on his website. "I ran around saying, "Get me a piano, get me a piano!'" Duke said he learned a lot about music from going to church, which helped him add a funk style to his sound. He played in high-school jazz groups and was heavily influenced by Miles Davis. He earned degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University.
On tour as part of the George Duke Trio, he performed in Los Angeles at a show where Adderley, Zappa and Quincy Jones were in attendance. Duke soon joined Zappa on a tour for a year in 1969. He joined Adderley's band in 1971. He met Clarke through Adderley, and they formed the Clarke/Duke Project. Their song "Sweet Baby" was a Top 20 hit on the Billboard pop charts. Duke became a solo artist in 1976 and released more than 30 solo albums. He also produced for Davis, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole. Duke's wife, Corine, died from cancer last year.
His latest album, "DreamWeaver," was released last month and features a touching tribute to her. He worked as musical director for the Soul Train Music Awards and other special events. He also scored songs on soundtracks for "The Five Heartbeats" and "Karate Kid III."
By MESFIN FEKADU, AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP)
Lawrence of Arabia' star Peter O'Toole dead at 81
London - England - December 15 -2013 - Peter O'Toole, the charismatic actor who achieved instant stardom as Lawrence of Arabia and was nominated eight times for an Academy Award, has died. He was 81. O'Toole's agent Steve Kenis says the actor died Saturday at a hospital following a long illness. O'Toole began his acting career as one of the most exciting young talents on the British stage. His 1955 "Hamlet," at the Bristol Old Vic, was critically acclaimed. He got his first Oscar nomination for 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia," his last for "Venus" in 2006. With that he set the record for most nominations without ever winning, though he had accepted an honorary Oscar in 2003. A reformed — but unrepentant — hell-raiser, O'Toole long suffered from ill health. Kenis announced the death in an email on Sunday.
Mike Wallace: May 09, 1918 - April 07, 2012
The dogged, merciless reporter and interviewer who took on politicians, celebrities and other public figures in a 60-year career highlighted by the on-air confrontations that helped make 60 Minutes the most successful prime-time television news program ever, has died. CBS newsman, Mike Wallace was 93. Wallace died Saturday night, CBS spokesman Kevin Tedesco said. On CBS’ Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer said Wallace died at a care facility in New Haven, Conn., where he had lived in recent years. Until he was slowed by heart surgery as he neared his 90th birthday in 2008, Wallace continued making news, doing 60 Minutes interviews with such subjects as Jack Kevorkian and Roger Clemens. He had promised to still do occasional reports when he announced his retirement as a regular correspondent in March 2006.
Wallace said then that he had long vowed to retire “when my toes turn up” and “they’re just beginning to curl a trifle. ... It’s become apparent to me that my eyes and ears, among other appurtenances, aren’t quite what they used to be.” After bowing out as a regular, his later contribution was a May 2007 profile of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and an interview with Kevorkian, the assisted suicide doctor released from prison in June 2007 who died June 3, 2011, at age 83.
In December 2007, Wallace landed the first interview with Clemens after the star pitcher was implicated in the Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. The interview, in which Clemens maintained his innocence, was broadcast in early January 2008. Wallace was the first man hired when late CBS news producer Don Hewitt put together the staff of 60 Minutes at its inception in 1968. The show wasn’t a hit at first, but it worked its way up to the top 10 in the 1977-78 season and remained there, season after season, with Wallace as one of its mainstays. Among other things, it proved there could be big profits in TV journalism. The top 10 streak was broken in 2001, partly due to the onset of huge-drawing rated reality shows. But 60 Minutes remained in the top 25 in recent years, ranking 15th in the 2010-11 season. The show pioneered the use of “ambush interviews,” with reporter and camera crew corralling alleged wrongdoers in parking lots, hallways, wherever a comment — or at least a stricken expression — might be harvested from someone dodging the reporters’ phone calls. Such tactics were phased out over time. Wallace said they provided drama but not much good information.
And his style never was all about surprise anyway. Wallace was a master of the skeptical follow-up question, coaxing his prey with a “forgive me, but ...” or a simple, “come on.” He was known as one who did his homework, spending hours preparing for interviews, and alongside the exposés, 60 Minutes featured insightful talks with celebrities and world leaders. He was equally tough on public and private behaviour. In 1973, with the Watergate scandal growing, he sat with top Nixon aide John Ehrlichman and read a long list of alleged crimes including money laundering and obstructing justice. “All of this, Wallace noted, “by the law and order administration of Richard Nixon.” The surly Ehrlichman could only respond: “Is there a question in there somewhere?”
In the early 1990s, Wallace reduced Barbra Streisand to tears as he scolded her for being “totally self-absorbed” when she was young and mocked her for her decades of psychoanalysis. “What is it she is trying to find out that takes 20 years?” Wallace wondered. “I’m a slow learner,” Streisand told him. His late colleague Harry Reasoner once said, “There is one thing that Mike can do better than anybody else. With an angelic smile, he can ask a question that would get anyone else smashed in the face.” Wallace said he didn’t think he had an unfair advantage over his interview subjects.
“The person I’m interviewing has not been subpoenaed. He’s in charge of himself, and he lives with his subject matter every day. All I’m armed with is research.”
Wallace himself became a dramatic character in several projects, from the stage version of Frost/Nixon, when he was played by Stephen Rowe, to the 1999 film The Insider, based in part on a 1995 60 Minutes story about tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, who accused Brown & Williamson of intentionally adding nicotine to cigarettes. Christopher Plummer starred as Wallace and Russell Crowe as Wigand. Wallace was unhappy with the film, in which he was portrayed as caving to pressure to kill a story about Wigand.
Wallace maintained a hectic pace after CBS waived its long-standing rule requiring broadcasters to retire at 65. In early 1999, at age 80, he added another line to his resume by appearing on the network’s spinoff, 60 Minutes II. Wallace amassed 21 Emmy awards during his career, as well as five DuPont-Columbia journalism and five Peabody awards. In all, his television career spanned six decades, much of it spent at CBS. In 1949, he appeared as Myron Wallace in a show called Majority Rules. In the early 1950s, he was an announcer and game show host for programs such as What’s in a Word? He also found time to act in a 1954 Broadway play, Reclining Figure, directed by Abe Burrows.
In the mid-1950s came his smoke-wreathed Night Beat, a series of one-on-one interviews with everyone from an elderly Frank Lloyd Wright to a young Henry Kissinger that began on local TV in New York and then appeared on the ABC network. It was the show that first brought Wallace fame as a hard-boiled interviewer, a “Mike Malice” who rarely gave his subjects any slack.
Coronet magazine wrote in 1957: “Wallace’s interrogation had the intensity of a third degree, often the candor of a psychoanalytic session. Nothing like it had ever been known on TV. To Wallace, no guest is sacred, and he frankly dotes on controversy.”
It was also around then that Wallace did a bit as a TV newsman in the 1957 Hollywood drama A Face in the Crowd, which starred Andy Griffith as a small-town country singer who becomes a political phenomenon through his folksy television appearances. Two years later, Wallace helped create The Hate That Hate Produced, a highly charged program about the Nation of Islam that helped make a national celebrity out of Malcolm X and was later criticized as biased and inflammatory.
After holding a variety of other news and entertainment jobs, including serving as advertising pitchman for a cigarette brand, Wallace became a full-time newsman for CBS in 1963. He said it was the death of his 19-year-old son, Peter, in an accident in 1962 that made him decide to stick to serious journalism from then on. (Another son, Chris, followed his father and became a broadcast journalist, most recently as a Fox News Channel anchor.) Wallace had a short stint reporting from Vietnam, and took a sock in the jaw while covering the tumultuous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. But he didn’t fit the stereotype of the Eastern liberal journalist. He was a close friend of the Reagans and was once offered the job of Richard Nixon’s press secretary. He called his politics moderate.
The most publicized lawsuit against him was by retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who sought $120 million (U.S.) for a 1982 CBS Reports documentary, “The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception.” Westmoreland dropped the libel suit in February 1985 after a long trial. Lawyers for each side later said legal costs of the suit totalled $12 million, of which $9 million was paid by CBS. Wallace once said the case brought on depression that put him in the hospital for more than a week. “Imagine sitting day after day in the courtroom hearing yourself called every vile name imaginable,” he said.
In 1996, he appeared before the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging to urge more federal funds for depression research, saying that he had felt “lower, lower, lower than a snake’s belly” but had recovered through psychiatry and antidepressant drugs. He later disclosed that he once tried to commit suicide during that dark period. In 2005, he brought out his memoir, Between You and Me. Among those interviewing him about the book was son Chris, for Fox News Sunday. His son asked: Does he understand why people feel a disaffection from the mainstream media? “They think they’re wide-eyed commies. Liberals,” the elder Wallace replied, a notion he dismissed as “damned foolishness.”
Wallace was born Myron Wallace on May 9, 1918, in Brookline, Mass. He began his news career in Chicago in the 1940s, first as radio news writer for the Chicago Sun and then as reporter for WMAQ. He started at CBS in 1951. He was married four times. In 1986, he wed Mary Yates Wallace, the widow of his close friend and colleague, Ted Yates, who had died in 1967. Besides his wife, Wallace is survived by his son, Chris, a stepdaughter, Pauline Dora, and stepson Eames Yates.
Wallace said then that he had long vowed to retire “when my toes turn up” and “they’re just beginning to curl a trifle. ... It’s become apparent to me that my eyes and ears, among other appurtenances, aren’t quite what they used to be.” After bowing out as a regular, his later contribution was a May 2007 profile of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and an interview with Kevorkian, the assisted suicide doctor released from prison in June 2007 who died June 3, 2011, at age 83.
In December 2007, Wallace landed the first interview with Clemens after the star pitcher was implicated in the Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. The interview, in which Clemens maintained his innocence, was broadcast in early January 2008. Wallace was the first man hired when late CBS news producer Don Hewitt put together the staff of 60 Minutes at its inception in 1968. The show wasn’t a hit at first, but it worked its way up to the top 10 in the 1977-78 season and remained there, season after season, with Wallace as one of its mainstays. Among other things, it proved there could be big profits in TV journalism. The top 10 streak was broken in 2001, partly due to the onset of huge-drawing rated reality shows. But 60 Minutes remained in the top 25 in recent years, ranking 15th in the 2010-11 season. The show pioneered the use of “ambush interviews,” with reporter and camera crew corralling alleged wrongdoers in parking lots, hallways, wherever a comment — or at least a stricken expression — might be harvested from someone dodging the reporters’ phone calls. Such tactics were phased out over time. Wallace said they provided drama but not much good information.
And his style never was all about surprise anyway. Wallace was a master of the skeptical follow-up question, coaxing his prey with a “forgive me, but ...” or a simple, “come on.” He was known as one who did his homework, spending hours preparing for interviews, and alongside the exposés, 60 Minutes featured insightful talks with celebrities and world leaders. He was equally tough on public and private behaviour. In 1973, with the Watergate scandal growing, he sat with top Nixon aide John Ehrlichman and read a long list of alleged crimes including money laundering and obstructing justice. “All of this, Wallace noted, “by the law and order administration of Richard Nixon.” The surly Ehrlichman could only respond: “Is there a question in there somewhere?”
In the early 1990s, Wallace reduced Barbra Streisand to tears as he scolded her for being “totally self-absorbed” when she was young and mocked her for her decades of psychoanalysis. “What is it she is trying to find out that takes 20 years?” Wallace wondered. “I’m a slow learner,” Streisand told him. His late colleague Harry Reasoner once said, “There is one thing that Mike can do better than anybody else. With an angelic smile, he can ask a question that would get anyone else smashed in the face.” Wallace said he didn’t think he had an unfair advantage over his interview subjects.
“The person I’m interviewing has not been subpoenaed. He’s in charge of himself, and he lives with his subject matter every day. All I’m armed with is research.”
Wallace himself became a dramatic character in several projects, from the stage version of Frost/Nixon, when he was played by Stephen Rowe, to the 1999 film The Insider, based in part on a 1995 60 Minutes story about tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, who accused Brown & Williamson of intentionally adding nicotine to cigarettes. Christopher Plummer starred as Wallace and Russell Crowe as Wigand. Wallace was unhappy with the film, in which he was portrayed as caving to pressure to kill a story about Wigand.
Wallace maintained a hectic pace after CBS waived its long-standing rule requiring broadcasters to retire at 65. In early 1999, at age 80, he added another line to his resume by appearing on the network’s spinoff, 60 Minutes II. Wallace amassed 21 Emmy awards during his career, as well as five DuPont-Columbia journalism and five Peabody awards. In all, his television career spanned six decades, much of it spent at CBS. In 1949, he appeared as Myron Wallace in a show called Majority Rules. In the early 1950s, he was an announcer and game show host for programs such as What’s in a Word? He also found time to act in a 1954 Broadway play, Reclining Figure, directed by Abe Burrows.
In the mid-1950s came his smoke-wreathed Night Beat, a series of one-on-one interviews with everyone from an elderly Frank Lloyd Wright to a young Henry Kissinger that began on local TV in New York and then appeared on the ABC network. It was the show that first brought Wallace fame as a hard-boiled interviewer, a “Mike Malice” who rarely gave his subjects any slack.
Coronet magazine wrote in 1957: “Wallace’s interrogation had the intensity of a third degree, often the candor of a psychoanalytic session. Nothing like it had ever been known on TV. To Wallace, no guest is sacred, and he frankly dotes on controversy.”
It was also around then that Wallace did a bit as a TV newsman in the 1957 Hollywood drama A Face in the Crowd, which starred Andy Griffith as a small-town country singer who becomes a political phenomenon through his folksy television appearances. Two years later, Wallace helped create The Hate That Hate Produced, a highly charged program about the Nation of Islam that helped make a national celebrity out of Malcolm X and was later criticized as biased and inflammatory.
After holding a variety of other news and entertainment jobs, including serving as advertising pitchman for a cigarette brand, Wallace became a full-time newsman for CBS in 1963. He said it was the death of his 19-year-old son, Peter, in an accident in 1962 that made him decide to stick to serious journalism from then on. (Another son, Chris, followed his father and became a broadcast journalist, most recently as a Fox News Channel anchor.) Wallace had a short stint reporting from Vietnam, and took a sock in the jaw while covering the tumultuous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. But he didn’t fit the stereotype of the Eastern liberal journalist. He was a close friend of the Reagans and was once offered the job of Richard Nixon’s press secretary. He called his politics moderate.
The most publicized lawsuit against him was by retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who sought $120 million (U.S.) for a 1982 CBS Reports documentary, “The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception.” Westmoreland dropped the libel suit in February 1985 after a long trial. Lawyers for each side later said legal costs of the suit totalled $12 million, of which $9 million was paid by CBS. Wallace once said the case brought on depression that put him in the hospital for more than a week. “Imagine sitting day after day in the courtroom hearing yourself called every vile name imaginable,” he said.
In 1996, he appeared before the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging to urge more federal funds for depression research, saying that he had felt “lower, lower, lower than a snake’s belly” but had recovered through psychiatry and antidepressant drugs. He later disclosed that he once tried to commit suicide during that dark period. In 2005, he brought out his memoir, Between You and Me. Among those interviewing him about the book was son Chris, for Fox News Sunday. His son asked: Does he understand why people feel a disaffection from the mainstream media? “They think they’re wide-eyed commies. Liberals,” the elder Wallace replied, a notion he dismissed as “damned foolishness.”
Wallace was born Myron Wallace on May 9, 1918, in Brookline, Mass. He began his news career in Chicago in the 1940s, first as radio news writer for the Chicago Sun and then as reporter for WMAQ. He started at CBS in 1951. He was married four times. In 1986, he wed Mary Yates Wallace, the widow of his close friend and colleague, Ted Yates, who had died in 1967. Besides his wife, Wallace is survived by his son, Chris, a stepdaughter, Pauline Dora, and stepson Eames Yates.
MEN
Try to follow these 16 rules for good health, premium fitness and a fine sense of well-being:
1. Follow the golden rule
2. Go with what you know
3. If there is any doubt, there is no doubt
4. Always get the money up front
5. Be kind to others
6. Don't sweat the small stuff
7. Think before you act
8. Be kind to seniors; you'll be one in a few years
9. Marry always for love
10. If you're over 40, get a colonoscopy and ask your doctor about a PSA
11. Use alcohol in moderation and have at least one drink every day
12. Don't drive like a fucking maniac
13. Be chivalrous at all times and be respectful of women
14. Dress in good taste
15. Walk 5 km every day and eat less
16. Always buy a good pair of shoes and a good bed because if you're not in one, you'll be in the other
Try to follow these 16 rules for good health, premium fitness and a fine sense of well-being:
1. Follow the golden rule
2. Go with what you know
3. If there is any doubt, there is no doubt
4. Always get the money up front
5. Be kind to others
6. Don't sweat the small stuff
7. Think before you act
8. Be kind to seniors; you'll be one in a few years
9. Marry always for love
10. If you're over 40, get a colonoscopy and ask your doctor about a PSA
11. Use alcohol in moderation and have at least one drink every day
12. Don't drive like a fucking maniac
13. Be chivalrous at all times and be respectful of women
14. Dress in good taste
15. Walk 5 km every day and eat less
16. Always buy a good pair of shoes and a good bed because if you're not in one, you'll be in the other
OBITUARIES
