240 replies to this topic

[freyjasdottir]

Bettie Page

http://www.iht.com/a...Bettie-Page.php

[Willow]

Awww that's so sad, what a trendsetter...


RIP Bettie

[Laurie Ann]

WOW she is so pretty!! I heard on the news this morning that she past away....so sad. Rest in peace Bettie.

[Bettie Page]

Goodbye, Bettie . . .



A short history of Bettie's life: Bettie Page: An American Icon

Edited by Bettie Page, 12 December 2008 - 11:58 AM.

[axlfoley]

I saw the Bettie Page item in CNN and may she Rest In Peace. What a beautiful looking lady!

[Johnny Eck]

Good night, pretty lady . . . we'll miss you. Thanks for all the pictures

[MoonChild]

RIP Bettie!

[autumnbelle]

Van Johnson . . . rest in peace

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Van_Johnson

[autumnbelle]

Eartha Kitt . . . rest in peace!

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Eartha_Kitt

[kats_god]

Eartha Kitt . . . rest in peace!

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Eartha_Kitt

I just read that she died. Its just a shame to hear that the original Catwoman died. R.I.P. dear.

[Laurie Ann]

~I just read that she's the one that sings one of my favorite holiday songs "Santa Baby". All this time I assumed it was Marilyn Monroe that sang that song, don't ask me why. I was very sad to have read the news of her passing...but the heavens are just alittle brighter now because of her presence. RIP Kitt...you will be sadly missed here.

[Kira]

Author Harold Pinter died December 24th. He was, among other things, an outspoken critic of the reasons for going into Iraq, but of course supported the troops.

[kats_god]

Actor Ricardo Montalban, star of the hit TV series "Fantasy Island," died Wednesday in Los Angeles, a family spokesman said.


Ricardo Montalban attends the opening of a theater named for him in 2004 in Hollywood, California.

Montalban, 88, was in deteriorating health over the past several days but "died peacefully" at 6:30 a.m. at his home, son-in-law Gilbert Smith said.

He understood "it was his time," Smith said. The cause of death was not given.

Montalban rose to prominence as one of the most visible Hispanic actors in post-war Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. But his star grew as he took on television roles as the mysterious host Mr. Roarke on the hit drama "Fantasy Island" and as Captain Kirk's archnemesis Khan Noonien Singh in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

Born in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 25, 1920, Montalban knew at an early age that he wanted to be an actor. He moved to Hollywood as a teenager, and his first big break came when he was cast in a small part in a 1941 play, Tallulah Bankhead's "Her Cardboard Lover."

After starring in 13 Spanish-language films in Mexico, Montalban made his American feature film debut in 1947 in "Fiesta."

Montalban became a member of the MGM stable and was often cast in the role of the steamy Latin lover opposite such female stars as Lana Turner and Esther Williams.

While working on "Across the Wide Missouri" with MGM's biggest star, Clark Gable, Montalban suffered an injury to his spinal cord that, despite surgery, would plague him for decades to come, according to Turner Classic Movies.

It was during this early stage in his career that Montalban dedicated himself to changing Hollywood's stereotypes of Latinos.

"When I first came to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer under contract in 1945, that's when the image was at its worst," Montalban said. "They didn't realize that by trying to be colorful, they were very insulting."

Montalban played a wide range of film roles over the years, often relishing the chance to play in comedies.

As he approached midlife in the 1960s, Montalban made numerous guest appearances on television shows including "The Untouchables" and "The Lieutenant," eventually landing a recurring role as Damon West on the popular medical drama "Dr. Kildare."

During this period, Montalban secured his place in science-fiction history playing the evil but charismatic Khan in the first season of "Star Trek."

Montalban's dignified demeanor and rich accent added flair to the small screen on a number of television shows. It also established him as a popular pitchman for Maxwell House Coffee and Chrysler.

It was the role of the wise and benevolent Mr. Roarke on the 1970's hit TV series "Fantasy Island" that perhaps earned Montalban his greatest number of fans, something he called "very rewarding." iReport.com: Share your memories of Montalban

But he said he tired of hearing fans shouting "Zee plane, zee plane" when they saw him. The line was featured in the show's opening credits by another character, Tattoo.

"They think they are the only ones that thought of saying that," he told CNN during the 1990s. "People mean well, but the joke gets a little tired at times."

Montalban never tired of fighting for the rights of Latinos in Hollywood. For almost 20 years, he served as president of Nosotros, an organization he founded for the advancement of Hispanics in the entertainment industry.

"The ideals of Nosotros continue. As our community of Latinos in show business increases, so will our participation in all of the many aspects of our industry," he said in 1987.

[Yosei]

Really sad to hear this one, a favorite of mine :

Lux Interior Dies At 60

By August Brown, LA Times

Lux Interior, the singer, songwriter and founding member of the pioneering New York City horror-punk band the Cramps, died Tuesday. He was 60.


Interior, whose real name was Erick Lee Purkhiser, died at Glendale Memorial Hospital of a heart condition, according to a statement from his publicist.


With his wife, guitarist "Poison" Ivy Rorschach, Interior formed the Cramps in 1976, pairing lyrics that expressed their love of B-movie camp with ferocious rockabilly and surf-inspired instrumentation.


The band became a staple of the late '70s Manhattan punk scene emerging from clubs such as Max's Kansas City and CBGB, and was one of the first acts to realize the potential of punk rock as theater and spectacle.


Often dressed in macabre, gender-bending costumes onstage, Interior evoked a lanky, proto-goth Elvis Presley, and his band quickly became notorious for volatile and decadent live performances.



The Cramps recorded early singles at Sun Records with producer Alex Chilton of the band Big Star and had their first critical breakthrough on their debut EP "Gravest Hits.
"

The band's lack of a bassist and its antagonistic female guitarist quickly set it apart from its downtown peers and upended the traditional rock band sexual dynamic of the flamboyant, seductive female and the mysterious male guitarist.


The group was asked to open for the Police on a major tour of Britain in 1979 and reached its critical apex in the early '80s with such albums as "Psychedelic Jungle" and "Songs the Lord Taught Us.
"

While the Cramps' lineup revolved constantly, Interior and Rorschach remained the band's core through more than three decades. The Cramps never achieved much mainstream commercial success, but instead found a reliable fringe audience for more than 30 years -- they even played a notorious show for patients at Napa State Hospital in Napa, Calif.


"It's a little bit like asking a junkie how he's been able to keep on dope all these years," Interior told The Times some years ago. "It's just so much fun. You pull in to one town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' And you go to a bar and have a great rock 'n' roll show and go to the next town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.' It's hard to walk away from all that.
"

The band's influence can be clearly felt among lauded minimalist art-blues bands, including the Black Lips, the White Stripes, the Horrors and Primal Scream, whose front man, Bobby Gillespie, allegedly named his son Lux.


The Cramps' most recent album, a collection of rarities, "How to Make a Monster," was released in 2004, and the band continued to tour well into the later years of its career, wrapping up its most recent U.S. outing in November.


Interior was born in Stow, Ohio, on Oct. 21, 1948. A Times report in 2004 said that he and Rorschach (born Kristy Wallace) met in Sacramento, where they bonded "over their enrollment in an art and shamanism class and a shared affection for thrift-shop vinyl before hitting the road for New York City.
"

In 1987, there were widespread rumors of Interior's death from a heroin overdose, and half a dozen funeral wreaths were sent to Rorschach. "At first, I thought it was kind of funny," Interior told The Times. "But then it started to give me a creepy feeling.
"

"We sell a lot of records, but somehow just hearing that you've sold so many records doesn't hit you quite as much as when a lot of people call you up and are obviously really broken up because you've died