Entertainment industry obituaries

Parker released 20 singles between 1959 and 1976. They all got a lot of airplay in New Orleans. Barefootin', his sixth single, went to #2 on the R&B chart and #7 on the Hot 100 in 1966: "They're doin' a dance without any shoes. They're barefootin'." A year later, Tip Toe became his only other national chart hit. Parker was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame in 2007.

New Orleans singer-songwriter-saxophonist Robert Parker of Barefootin' fame dies at 89

http://www.offbeat.com/news/robert-parker-obit/

Peaches & Herb formed in 1966. Their hits include Reunited, Close Your Eyes, For Your Love, I Pledge My LoveLet's Fall In Love, Two Little Kids and Shake Your Groove Thing. Herb Fame (real name: Herbert Feemster) has sung and/or recorded with a succession of seven different "Peaches." Barcelona-born Meittxell Negre was Peaches #6 from 2008 to 2010. She was the only Peaches who wasn't black. Meritxell, pronounced "Mary-Chell," was runner-up on Spain's tv talent show El Trampolín in 1988, became lead singer of the Club Sutton Orchestra in 1994, moved to Nashville in 1996 and released her first CD in 2004.

Muere cantante catalana Meritxell Negre a los 48 años

https://www.diezminutos.es/teleprogr...-muere-cancer/

Sketch comedy series Monte Python's Flying Circus aired on BBC Television from 1969 to 1974 and spawned several movies, several books, several record albums and a stage play. Dallas PBS station KERA began showing episodes in October 1974 and within a year the series was airing on a majority of PBS stations – and getting high ratings. The Welsh-born Jones frequently portrayed a nude organist, a middle-aged housewife, Cardinal Biggles of the Spanish Inquisition and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote.

Terry Jones, Monty Python co-founder and Life Of Brian director, dies at 77

https://www.theguardian.com/film/202...r-dies-aged-77

Karlen also appeared in multiple episodes of Kojak, Snoops, Barnaby Jones, Quincy M.E., Bay City Blues, Hill Street Blues, Murder She Wrote, Mad About You, The Doctors, Police Story and other series.

John Karlen, Emmy-winnning actor in Dark Shadows and Cagney & Lacey, dies at 86

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/s...ney-lacey-dead

Lehrer served as moderator for 12 Presidential debates. He also wrote 20 novels and three memoirs. He was inducted into the Television Hall Of Fame in 1999.

Jim Lehrer, co-founder and longtime anchor of PBS NewsHour, dies at 85

https://www.usatoday.com/story/enter...85/4554423002/

Among the many Broadway and off-Broadway plays and musicals Lion produced are Mnemonic, The Crucible, The Wedding Singer, The Garden Of Earthly Delights, Triumph Of Love, I Hate Hamlet, Jelly's Last Jam (about ragtime pianist and singer Jelly Royal Morton), Catch Me If You Can and Angels In America: Millennium Approaches. Combined, her productions have won a total of 20 Tony awards.

Margo Lion, Tony-winning lead producer of Hairspray, dies at 75

https://www.broadway.com/buzz/198235...pray-has-died/

Jack Burns, Muppet Show writer and George Carlin comedy partner, dies at 86

https://www.thewrap.com/jack-burns-m...-dead-dies-86/

Burns played Deputy Warren Ferguson on 11 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, wrote 24 episodes of The Muppet Show and was the announcer on the 1980-82 sketch comedy show Fridays. Burns and comedy partner Avery Schreiber were well-known for their taxi routines: "Take me to the Hotel Astor, room 413." "They stop me on the third floor." "Oh, yeah yeah yeah." Here is one of their routines from a 1974 Burns & Schrieber Comedy Hour:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5mHddEKIyzk

Robert Schoen – he used the phonetic spelling Shane – formed the Kingston Trio in 1957 in San Francisco with Dave Guard and Nick Reynolds. Their name represented Kingston, Jamaica, home of then-popular calypso music. The Kingston Trio's hits include Tom Dooley, M.T.A., Greenback Dollar, A Worried Man, Desert Pete, The Tijuana Jail and The Reverend Mr. Black. At the first Grammy Awards ceremony in May 1959, Tom Dooley won for "Best Country & Western Performance," even though the song never appeared on the country chart. Go figure! The Kingston Trio also had 14 top-ten albums and five number ones. Shane was the last surviving original member.

Kingston Trio co-founder Bob Shane dies at 85

https://tasteofcountry.com/kingston-...ane-dead-dies/

Harriet Frank Jr. and her husband Irving Ravetch wrote the screenplays for several movies including Hud, Norma Rae, Murphy's Romance, Stanley & Iris, Home From The Hill, The Sound & The Fury and The Long Hot Summer. A majority were adapted from novels.

Harriet Frank Jr., writer of challenging screenplays, dies at 96

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/m...k-jr-dead.html

Dusay was a regular on the daytime dramas Capitol, Santa Barbara, Guiding Light and All My Children. (In the 1930s and '40s, many daytime radio serials were sponsored by Procter & Gamble, maker of Duz, Dreft, Camay, Ivory, Oxydol and other soaps and detergents. The programs became known as "soap operas" – and the name stuck.) Dusay also played a waitress in the 1967 Elvis Presley film Clambake and played Blair's mother on The Facts Of Life.

Marj Dusay, Star Trek actress and veteran soap opera player, dies at 83

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...was-83-1274492

Among the many series Silverman brought to television: Soap, Scooby-Doo, Cheers, Barnaby Jones, Diff'rent Strokes, All In The Family, Maude, Good Times, Real People, The Waltons, The Smurfs, The Jeffersons, The Bionic Woman, The Facts Of Life, The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels, Three's Company, Roots, Rich Man Poor Man, Fantasy Island and Eight Is Enough. Whew!

Fred Silverman, TV executive who led programming at ABC, CBS and NBC, dies at 82

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/fre...ve-1203487260/

Barbarin began playing drums when he was six and eventually switched to trombone. He released three albums as a bandleader and played on more than 20 albums by Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and other artists.

Trombonist Lucien Barbarin dies of cancer at 63

https://syncopatedtimes.com/tromboni...-cancer-at-63/

Professionally, Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney used only three of her six names. Many of her 80 novels and short stories shared titles with popular songs. Among them: Silent Night, Deck The Halls, As Time Goes By, You Belong To Me, I'll Be Seeing You, I'll Walk Alone, Every Breath You Take, On The Street Where You Live, Moonlight Becomes You, The Second Time Around and The Shadow Of Your Smile. She was an excellent writer of mysteries but she wasn't very good at coming up with original titles.

Author Mary Higgins Clark, 'Queen of Suspense,' dies at 92

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment...ge-92-68684043


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Gill co-founded British rock band band Gang Of Four in 1976. He was the band's lead guitarist and produced or co-produced their ten studio albums and two live albums. Three of their albums, Solid Gold, Songs Of The Free and Hard, charted in the US in the early 1980s. Gang Of Four had a top-ten US dance hit in 1983 with Is It Love and reached #14 on the alternative rock chart in 1991 with Don't Fix What Ain't Broke. Among their other hits are Damaged Goods and I Love A Man In Uniform.

Andy Gill, influential guitarist with Gang Of Four, dies at 64
Gill's guitar sound inspired Kurt Cobain, Michael Stipe and Red Hot Chili Peppers, whose debut album he produced.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...r-dies-aged-64

Serkin, the son of pianist Rudolf Serkin and grandson of violinist Adolf Busch, won a Grammy award in 1966 for Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist. Serkin released 72 albums. He favored the music of Mozart, Schumann, Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. Serkin also released seven albums as a member of the Tashi Quartet.

Peter Serkin, pianist with pedigree who forged a new path, dies at 72

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/a...rkin-dead.html

Beane grew up in Memphis and learned guitar from his neighbor Larry Lee, who would later become a sideman for Jimi Hendrix and Al Green. Beane recorded with Isaac Hayes (most notably the fuzztone guitar solo on Walk On By), Rufus Thomas, Al Green, George Clinton, William Bell, David Porter and others.

Legendary Funkadelic guitarist Harold Beane dies at 73

https://www.soultracks.com/story-harold-beane-dies

Reynolds was 10 when he appeared in the Our Gang short Washee Ironee. His first movie appearance (uncredited) was in the 1934 Laurel & Hardy adaptation of Babes In Toyland. Reynolds had roles in dozens of movies and tv shows including Boys Town, Santa Fe Trail, Love Finds Andy Hardy and I Love Lucy. He produced and directed hundreds of episodes of M*A*S*H, Lou Grant, F Troop, My Three Sons, The Andy Griffith Show and other series. Whew! He won six Emmy awards.

M*A*S*H co-creator and longtime television producer Gene Reynolds dies at 96

https://fox6now.com/2020/02/05/mash-...olds-has-died/

The country rock band New Riders Of The Purple Sage formed in 1969 in San Francisco. (There were three earlier groups using the name Riders Of The Purple Sage. The most famous was a 1942-52 Western swing band led by Foy Willing.) Buddy Cage, the band's pedal steel guitarist, was also a session musician who played on Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks and on albums by Anne Murray, David Bromberg, Brewer & Shipley, the Brooklyn Cowboys and other artists.

Buddy Cage, New Riders Of The Purple Sage pedal steel guitarist, dies at 73

https://bestclassicbands.com/buddy-c...riders-2-5-20/

Among his many films: Spartacus, Champion, I Walk Alone, Lust For Life, Strangers When We Meet, Gunfight At The OK Corral, Town Without Pity, The War Wagon, The Way West, The Arrangement, The Man From Snowy River, A Lovely Way To Die, Lonely Are The Brave and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Kirk Douglas, indomitable icon of Hollywood's Golden Age, dies at 103

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...artacus-670526

Conway was 24 when he began an acting career after working as a sales analyst for IBM. Among his films: Slaughterhouse Five, Jennifer 8 and Gods & Generals. He co-starred in the tv series Oz, The Bronx Is Burning and The Black Donnellys and was the voice of the 1995-2002 revival of the 1963-65 sci-fi series The Outer Limits: "There is nothing wrong with your television.....For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear....."

Kevin Conway, Gettysburg and Thirteen Days actor, dies at 77

https://www.thewrap.com/kevin-conway...or-dies-at-77/