Blind Prophecy

I hope this isn’t too morbid. After reading about the tsunamis and earthquakes this morning, I started looking for less depressing news. Instead of less depressing, I found the beginning of this… After adding to it a bit, I thought it could be shared.

Compiled from various sources:

Spalding Gray Jan 10 – Actor and writer, famous for his monologues in movies such as Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box.

Uta Hagen Jan 14 – Actress who dazzled Broadway audiences for more than 50 years, particularly as brutal Martha in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Ron O’Neal Jan 14 – was the one and only “Superfly.”

Ann Miller Jan 22 – her legs were highlighted in many musicals. Bianca in Kiss Me Kate.

Bob Keeshan “Captain Kangeroo” January 23

Jack Parr Jan 27 – created late night talk show host format

Jan Milner Feb 15 – Madge of Palmolive Ad fame “Your soaking in it.”

John Randolph Feb 24 – grandfather in Christmas Vacation and You’ve Got Mail.

Mercedes McCambridge – March 2 won an Oscar for All the King’s Men and later gave voice to the Devil in The Exorcist.

Paul Winfield March 7 – radiated strength in Sounder and parodied Colin Powell in Mars Attacks!

Robert Pastorelli March 8 – played the housepainter on “Murphy Brown”

J.J. Jackson March 17 – 1st VJ on MTV

Jan Berry March 26 – half of music group Jan and Dean “Little Old Lady from Pasadena”

Jan Sterling March 26 – got an Oscar nomination in the airliner disaster The High and the Mighty.

Peter Ustinov March 29 – won two Oscars for Spartacus and
Topkapi.

Allister Cooke March 29 – Voice of Masterpiece Theater

Carrie Snodgrass April 1 – Diary of a Madhouse Wife

Joseph James Zimmerman April 2 – Inventor of the Answering Machine

Estee Lauder April 24 – Cosmetic and Perfume Guru

Alan King May 9 – Urbane Comic

June Taylor May 16 – of “The June Taylor Dancers.”

Tony Randall May 17 – fussy half of the Odd Couple

Ronald Reagan June 5 – arguably the most successful film actor – since his movie career eventually led to the presidency.

Ray Charles June 10 – Blues Singer

Marlon Brando July 1 – arguably the greatest film actor of all time.

Jeff Smith July 7 – cook and gourmet.

Isabel Sanford July 9 – was known on TV as Louise Jefferson, but started in movies as the maid in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Charles W. Sweeney July 15 – Piloted the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

Jerry Goldsmith July 21 – composed the scores to Patton and The Omen (an Oscar winner), and his work on the first Star Trek movie became the theme for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Francis Crick, Ph. D July 28 – co-discover of DNA

Rick James Aug 6 – Singer with hit “Super Freak”

Fay Wray Aug 8 – Queen of Scream who made a monkey out of ol’ King Kong.

Julia Child Aug 13 – French Chef Bon Apetite

Elmer Bernstein Aug 18 Occar Winning Composer wrote scores for everything from The Magnificent Seven to Far From Heaven.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Aug 24,She helped to bring death “out of the closet” with On Death and Dying in 1969. Had near cult-like following during beginning of AIDS Epedemic in the 1980′s.

Laura Branigan August 26 – singer with hits “Gloria” and “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?”

Fred L. Whipple Aug 30 – Harvard astronomer who proposed the “dirty snowball” theory that revolutionized the study of comets.

Frank Thomas Sept 8 – was one of Disney’s “nine old men,” animated two dogs romantically nibbling a single strand of spaghetti in the 1955 Disney film Lady and the Tramp.

Fred Ebb September 11 – Professional partner of composer John Kander, he wrote the words for musicals like Caberet and Chicago.

Johnny Ramone – Co-founded supremely influential punk band “The Ramones.”

Katharina Dalton September 17 – Doctor who coined the phrase pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)

Russ Meyer Sept 18 – was the king of the Nudies, the man who made such cult faves as Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Vixen and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Janet Leigh Oct 4 – who elicited screams in Psycho, once married to Tony Curtis, mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.

Rodney Dangerfield Oct 5 – “I get no Respect” comedian

Jacques Derrida Oct 9 – Philosopher and father of deconstructionism.

Christopher Reeve Oct 10 – our Superman who became a real hero after his accident

Howard Keel Nov 7 – Broadway and Hollywood Musical Star

Yasser Arafat Nov 11 – Palestinian guerrilla leader turned Nobel Peace Prize winner, alternately judged as a hero and a terrorist.

Cy Coleman Nov 18 – Composer of Broadway musicals (Sweet Charity, City of Angels) and pop songs (“The Best Is Yet to Come”).

Terry Melcher Nov 19 – Wrote “Kokomo,” produced albums for many 60s groups, and Doris Day’s son. True object of Charles Manson’s murder spree in 1969.

Jay Van Andel Dec 7 – Billionaire co-founder of Amway Corp.

Reggie White Dec 26 – NFL great.

I didn’t even know some of these people had passed away. I limited the names to those I have heard of before, so it’s possible that I missed several notable folks.

Filed under: livejournal by Jere Keys