People we say goodbye to in 2023 | GBO (Great Big Organization) Forum

gth (Columbus OH)
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Jan 1, 2023 23:12:19 GMT -5 SUVFan likes this

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Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Jan 1, 2023 23:12:19 GMT -5

This is a continuation of the annual topics at That Other Place started by bytebug, commemorating deaths of famous and notable people during the year 2023.

Feel free to post personal reminisces you may have about those persons.

The 2022 version of this topic can be found here.

GTH

As a former fetus, I oppose abortion.

SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Jan 13, 2023 8:50:18 GMT -5 gth (Columbus OH) likes this

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Post by SUVFan on Jan 13, 2023 8:50:18 GMT -5

Lisa Marie Presley
February 1, 1968 - January 13, 2023

Someone mentioned it as a meeting ended last night and then Fox News had the headline on the chyron when I returned home -- NPR reports that, Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' only child, died Thursday, just a couple of weeks short of her next birthday. She was 54.

Lisa Marie Presley, a singer-songwriter, Elvis' only daughter and a dedicated keeper of her father's legacy, died Thursday after being hospitalized for a medical emergency. She was 54.

Her death in a Los Angeles hospital was confirmed by her mother, Priscilla, a few hours after her daughter was rushed to the hospital after having a medical emergency at home.

***

Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, shared her father's brooding charisma — the hooded eyes, the insolent smile, the low, sultry voice — and followed him professionally, releasing her own rock albums in the 2000s, and appearing on stage with Pat Benatar and Richard Hawley among others.

She even formed direct musical ties with her father, joining her voice to such Elvis recordings as "In the Ghetto" and "Don't Cry Daddy," a mournful ballad which had reminded him of the early death of his mother (and Lisa Marie's grandmother), Gladys Presley.

There's got to be more to the story of her sudden death as she was apparently doing just fine 2 days before she passed away:

She was at the Golden Globes on Tuesday, on hand to celebrate Austin Butler's award for playing her father. Just days before, she was in Memphis at Graceland — the mansion where Elvis lived, and died — on Jan. 8 to celebrate her father's birth anniversary.

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SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Jan 19, 2023 18:40:04 GMT -5 gth (Columbus OH) likes this

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Post by SUVFan on Jan 19, 2023 18:40:04 GMT -5

David Crosby
August 14, 1941 - January 19, 2023

I heard the news first listening to 70s on 7 on Serius XM heading home from dinner -- Rolling Stone's headline states, David Crosby, Iconoclastic Rocker, Dead at 81.

David Crosby, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who helped shape the sound of Sixties rock and beyond, died on Thursday at the age of 81. A source close to Crosby confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone, but did not disclose a cause.

Crosby was a founding member of the Byrds, playing guitar and contributing harmony vocals to many of their most enduring songs, including “Eight Miles High,” “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Shortly after being forced out of the group due to personality conflicts with frontman Roger McGuinn, he formed the supergroup Crosby, Stills, and Nash with Buffalo Springfield’s Stephen Stills and Graham Nash of the Hollies. The trio – which became a quartet in 1969 when Neil Young joined their ranks – played a major role in the development of folk-rock, country-rock and the emergent “California sound” that dominated rock radio throughout the mid-Seventies. Croz wrote many of their most beloved tunes, including “Almost Cut My Hair,” “Long Time Gone” and “Deja Vu.”

***

By 1967, tensions within the band reached a breaking point, culminating with Crosby’s departure from the group. Crosby and Stephen Stills, who had recently disbanded Buffalo Springfield, began writing songs together in 1968. They were soon joined by Nash, who had just quit the Hollies, and the trio performed together for the first time at the L.A. home of Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas. Their self-titled 1969 debut was a hit, producing the classic single “Suite: Judy Blues Eyes,” about Judy Collins.

The old song says that if there's a rock 'n roll heaven, you know they've got a helluva band. It just got even better.

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SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Jan 25, 2023 20:21:14 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Jan 25, 2023 20:21:14 GMT -5

Lloyd N. Morrisett
November 2, 1929- January 25, 2023

I heard the story on Disney News with David Muir:

NPR has more:

Morrisett co-founded the Sesame Workshop, originally the Children's Television Workshop, with Ganz Cooney in 1968. He served as a board member until his death.

The impetus for Sesame Street, which first aired in 1969, was both the civil rights movement and the fact that children from disadvantaged backgrounds were entering school months behind grade level, Morrisett said in a 2019 interview with member station WBUR.

"We hoped to find a way ⁠— using television ⁠— that we may help those children who would otherwise not succeed in school, do better," Morrisett said.

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SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Jan 28, 2023 11:25:45 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Jan 28, 2023 11:25:45 GMT -5

Billy Packer
February 25, 1940 - January 26, 2023

I heard about this during yesterday's 3rd round of the Torrey Pines tournament when CBS Sports put up his picture before going to a dark screen ahead of a commercial. Jim Nance worked with him and broke the news. ESPN's headline states, Billy Packer, 82, longtime Final Four basketball analyst, dies.

Longtime college basketball commentator Billy Packer, the voice of the NCAA tournament for more than 30 years, died Thursday night. He was 82.

***

[Packer's son] Mark Packer told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past three weeks with several medical issues and ultimately succumbed to kidney failure.

Billy Packer was the lead college basketball analyst for 34 straight Final Fours, first at NBC and then at CBS, while also doing work as an analyst for ACC games on Raycom. He received a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Analyst in 1993.

He was the son of longtime basketball coach Anthony Packer, who spent 16 seasons as the head coach at Lehigh. After earning all-state honors as a high schooler in Pennsylvania, Packer attended Wake Forest, where he was named All-ACC in 1961 and 1962. He helped lead the Demon Deacons to three ACC regular-season titles and their first Final Four appearance in 1962, when Packer was named to the all-region team.

Packer briefly entered coaching before getting his start as an announcer in 1972. He told The Athletic in 2019 he "never had any goal to be a broadcaster."

But within two years, Packer was on the call for NCAA tournament and Final Four games and didn't give up his seat until 2008.

I always liked Packer's straightforward, insightful commentary.

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SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Feb 9, 2023 19:21:36 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Feb 9, 2023 19:21:36 GMT -5

Burt Bacharach
May 12, 1928 - February 9, 2023

I heard the news first listening to 70s on 7 on Serius XM -- Rolling Stone's headline states, Burt Bacharach, Master Pop Composer, Dead at 94.

Bacharach’s publicist, Tina Brausam, confirmed to the Associated Press that the songwriter died of natural causes on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles.

During his 1960s heyday, Bacharach — along with his earliest and most productive partner, lyricist Hal David — wrote songs that became hits and, later, timeless standards. Among their many classics were “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “The Look of Love,” “Walk on By,” “Always Something There to Remind Me,” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.”

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SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Feb 16, 2023 19:45:02 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Feb 16, 2023 19:45:02 GMT -5

Raquel Welch
September 5, 1940 - February 15, 2023

I was stunned by the report on last night's Disney News BBC News's headline states, Raquel Welch: US actress and model dies at 82.

US actress Raquel Welch, often credited with paving the way for modern day action heroines in Hollywood films, has died at the age of 82.

The star passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning after a brief illness, her manager said.

Welch became an international sex symbol in the 1960s, widely remembered for playing a bikini-clad cavewoman in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C.

She also won a Golden Globe for her role in 1974's The Three Musketeers.

Welch was featured as the last (from 1 Million Years B.C.) of in a series of beauty queens whose posters covered the hole Andy DuFresme used for his escape tunnel in his cell in one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption:

FWIW, Raquel's name will be forever tied in my mind to the numerical sequence, 36-24-36.

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gth (Columbus OH)
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Feb 16, 2023 23:48:51 GMT -5 SUVFan likes this

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Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Feb 16, 2023 23:48:51 GMT -5

Before there was Catherine Bach aka Daisy Duke of "Dukes of Hazzard" fame, before there was Farah Fawcett or Cheryl Ladd or Jacklyn Smith of "Charlie's Angels," or supermodels Cheryl Tiegs or Brooke Shields, there was Raquel.

I saw Raquel Welch circa 2010 when Mike Huckabee, in between Presidential runs, had a Saturday evening TV show on Fox News Channel. When she appeared as a guest, at the age of 70 she looked as gorgeous as ever. She claimed, to an incredulous Huckabee, that she was not the beneficiary of cosmetic surgery. Wow.

GTH

As a former fetus, I oppose abortion.

SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Feb 19, 2023 11:03:56 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Feb 19, 2023 11:03:56 GMT -5

Stella Stevens
October 1, 1938 - February 17, 2023

A buddy sent this to me. CNN Entertainment's headline states, "Actress Stella Stevens of ‘Nutty Professor’ and ‘Poseidon Adventure’ dies at 84." Stevens' son, actor and producer Andrew Stevens was the reporter's source for the sad news.

She “had been in hospice for quite some time with stage seven Alzheimer’s,” her son told CNN.
***
His mother had more than 200 movie and TV roles, according to an obituary from the Golden Globes, which awarded her New Star of the Year in 1960 after her debut in “Say One for Me” with Bing Crosby and Debbie Reynolds.
***
Her other films included “Girls! Girls! Girls!” with Elvis Presley. She followed her film career with many TV roles in “Police Story,” “Love Boat,” “Flamingo Road” and others.

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gth (Columbus OH)
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Stuck in the middle between the Biden clowns and the Trump jokers.

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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Feb 19, 2023 22:31:54 GMT -5

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Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Feb 19, 2023 22:31:54 GMT -5

Not strictly on topic. But on Saturday (February 18), former President Jimmy Carter, 98, entered hospice care.

Carter is already the oldest former US President in history. The final chapter of Carter's history is being written.

GTH

As a former fetus, I oppose abortion.

gth (Columbus OH)
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Stuck in the middle between the Biden clowns and the Trump jokers.

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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Mar 9, 2023 23:18:31 GMT -5

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Post by gth (Columbus OH) on Mar 9, 2023 23:18:31 GMT -5

Robert Blake, 89, Emmy Award winning actor in 'Baretta' who was later tried and acquitted of murdering his wife, died today (Thursday, March 9). The stated cause of death was "heart disaster".

Born Michael James Gubitosi in New Jersey of Italian immigrant parents, he was acting from age 2. When his family moved to Los Angeles, he was a movie extra and then had a five year run in the "Little Rascals". By now he was known as Bobby Blake. continuing his acting career he landed a bit part as a little boy who sold the Humphrey Bogart character a lottery ticket in "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". As an adult actor, he had a breakthrough role in the 1967 movie "In Cold Blood," protraying a real-life murderer.

In 1975 he landed his signature TV role as LA Detective Tony Baretta who had a pet cockatoo and was known for the theme song slogan, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." Easygoing in character, he was tempermental and difficult to work with on the set. He was later reported to have battled alcohol and drug abuse issues. He won an Emmy in 1975 for "Baretta", which ran through 1978. He was later to win a second Emmy in 1993 for "Judgment Day: the John List Story," portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children. That was to prove ironic.

With his acting career slowing down, divorced from his first wife, the 67-68 year old Blake connected with 44 year old Bonny Lee Bakley in an LA jazz club. After Bakkley gave birth to a daughter named Rosie, Blake married her.

But the marriage ended when Bonnie Bakkley was shot to death outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. Blake was put on trial but acquitted in a 2004-2005 jury trial. Another jury, in a wrongful death civil trial, awarded the Bakkley family $30 million, which put Blake into bankruptcy.

A variation of Blake's signature slogan from "Baretta" goes "Don't roll the dice if you can't pay the price." Indeed.

GTH

As a former fetus, I oppose abortion.

SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Mar 25, 2023 16:06:56 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Mar 25, 2023 16:06:56 GMT -5

Annie Wersching
March 28, 1977 - January 29, 2023
I was watching a show the other night and saw a remembrance tribute to this young actress, whom I was unaware had passed away nearly 2 months ago. So I checked it out today and found this report from The Hollywood Reporter:

Annie Wersching, an actress known for her roles in TV dramas Bosch and 24, as well as her portrayal of Leslie Dean, the mother of alien superhero Karolina on Marvel’s Runaways, has died. She was 45.

Wersching died from cancer on Sunday morning in Los Angeles, a rep for the actress told The Hollywood Reporter. In a statement, her husband Stephen Full remembered his wife and the mother of their three children.

I liked her a lot in both 24 and Bosch. She appeared regularly in Bosch's first season and I was very disappointed that they killed her character off.

Annie Wersching

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SUVFan
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People we say goodbye to in 2023 Apr 5, 2023 13:42:09 GMT -5

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Post by SUVFan on Apr 5, 2023 13:42:09 GMT -5

Bob Lee
Unknown - April 4, 2023

A meme that I'll post below alerted me to this apparent tragedy. CBS News's headline states, "Tech executive Bob Lee stabbed to death in San Francisco." Apparently he was only 43.

The story:

Bob Lee, a technology executive who created Cash App and was currently chief product officer of MobileCoin, was fatally stabbed in San Francisco early Tuesday, according to the cryptocurrency platform and police.

The San Francisco Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to a report of a stabbing on Main Street at 2:35 a.m. Tuesday and found a 43-year-old man suffering from apparent stab wounds. The victim died at a hospital.

Police did not identify the victim but MobileCoin confirmed Lee's death to CBS News.

The meme, posted below, suggests without any basis I'm aware of that perhaps Lee's outspoken personality as exhibited in the tweet, might be connected to his death (Note that the tweet is about 3 years old):

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gth (Columbus OH)
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Stuck in the middle between the Biden clowns and the Trump jokers.

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People we say goodbye to in 2023 May 2, 2023 18:43:59 GMT -5

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Post by gth (Columbus OH) on May 2, 2023 18:43:59 GMT -5

Gordon Lightfoot, 84, Canadian folk singer and balladeer, died in Toronto yesterday (Monday, May 1) of natural causes. He had serious health problems that put him in the hospital in 2002.

Born in Ontario in a small town, Lightfoot was first a coffeehouse singer, then achieved fame with his wistful folk songs. Hits included "Carefree Highway," "Sundown," and two songs I consider incomparable: "Beautiful," a love song to a haunting melody; and "If You Could Read My Mind" which ironically was inspired by the breakup of Lightfoot's first marriage.

He is also known for his ballads, such as "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" and his most famous song about a certain Great Lakes ore freighter that disappeared during a violent storm: "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The aforementioned "If You Could Read My Mind" is also a ballad of sorts, with vivid imagery delivered by his incomparable voice.

In the opening lyric of "Wreck" -- "the legend lives on". RIP, Gordon Lightfoot.

GTH

As a former fetus, I oppose abortion.

gth (Columbus OH)
All Star Member

Stuck in the middle between the Biden clowns and the Trump jokers.

Posts: 12,712

People we say goodbye to in 2023 May 2, 2023 19:05:17 GMT -5

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Post by gth (Columbus OH) on May 2, 2023 19:05:17 GMT -5

Catching up on recent passings:

Harry Belafonte, 96 calypso singer and actor turned activist, died April 25, of congestive heart failure.

Born in Harlem to black parents from Jamaica and Martinique, he was raised by his mother in Jamaica and absorbed the culture there. Back in Harlem, he dropped out of high school, served in the navy in world war II, and was working as a janitor when he was given tickets to a performance at the American Negro Theater. He soon trained as a singer alongside legends Sidney Poitier and Rudy Dee. By the time of his 1956 hit "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" which set off a calypso craze, Belafonte already was a Tony Award winner for his work on Broadway. After "Day-O" he was on TV, briefly with his own TV show until he quit in 1959 rather than bow to complaints from TV stations in the South, who wanted him to have only blacks on his show instead of an integrated cast. He ultimately won, not just his Tony, but an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar as well.

Belafonte was a noted activist, a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr, and a humanitarian who received awards and recognition for his work. He was known to criticize famous blacks from Barack Obama to Jay-Z for lack of concern for the poor and social responsibility.

Last Edit: May 9, 2023 15:31:46 GMT -5 by gth (Columbus OH)

GTH

As a former fetus, I oppose abortion.