final credits - november 2005
month & page index | name index | lives by subject | sources
Keith Andes | Stan Berenstain | Jocelyn Brando | Constance Cummings | John S. Detlie | Ralph Edwards | Ailish Hurley | Clarence Laking | Marc Lawrence | Tony Meehan | Pat Morita | Sheree North | Harold Stone | Link Wray
John S. Detlie >permalink<
Set designer and architect
Detlie was a master of the make-believe. On the big screen movie fans admired his work an art director on over twenty films. At the onset of World War II, Boeing Aircraft hired him to make their work disappear.
Born in South Dakota, Detlie graduated with a degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and moved to Hollywood to apply his talent in the movies. In 1940 he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction on "Bitter Sweet." He also worked on "A Christmas Carol," "Another Thin Man," "Andy Hardy's Private Secretary" and "Captains Courageous." For three years Detlie was married to Veronica Lake, star of the film noir classic "The Blue Dahlia."
In 1942 Detlie was hired to manage the Army Corps. of Engineers project to camouflauge 26 acres of land near Seattle to hide the Boeing plant where B-17's and B-29s were being built. Detlie covered the site with a three-dimensional wire, plywood and canvas structure that made the factory look like a town, complete with trees, houses and schools.
The architecture firm Detlie worked with was impressed by his sleight of hand and eventually made him a partner. He designed a number of Seattle buildings, including a hospital, several University of Washington buildings and Temple De Hirsch.
Detlie was active in the Seattle arts movement in the 1950s, and with a small group of academics, architects and artists he formed the Allied Arts of Seattle. The group pressured Seattle City Council to create a Municipal Arts Commission, which laid the groundwork for hosting the 1962 World's Fair.
November 30, 2005 at age 96. Lung cancer.
Ailish Hurley >permalink<
Saved Inspector Morse
In the early 1970s, mystery author Colin Dexter would often stop in at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, England. Sitting at the bar doodling through crossword puzzles, Dexter came to know the pub's manager, Ailish Hurley. In the 1980s, when the popular U.K. TV series "Inspector Morse" based on Dexter's novels was filmed, they used the Randolph Hotel as their home base.
While the filming of one novel was taking place, Dexter would be writing the next. He would often bounce ideas off Hurley, and when he suggested he was tired of Morse (going so far as to kill him off) the barkeep persuaded Dexter there should be at least one more novel so fans could be forewarned. Dexter then wrote Hurley into "The Remorseful Day" as herself, and she appeared in the television drama serving actor John Thaw.
Born in Dingle, County Kerry, Hurley trained for the hotel industry in Dublin. She moved to England and went to the Randolph hotel to fill-in for six weeks. She loved serving politicians, academics and celebrities such as the Clintons who passed through the hotel.
Death announced November 28, 2005. Age 62. Cancer.
Marc Lawrence >permalink<
Actor
The second Marc Lawrence showed up in a film you knew immediately who you were dealing with: a gangster, mob boss, thug, an undertaker or just a general all-around bad guy. He was also an unwilling fall guy in a scandal that almost derailed his career.
Born Max Goldsmith, Lawrence began acting in New York in Eva Le Gallienne's renowned repertory theater (alongside John Garfield among others). Moving to Hollywood, Lawrence first appeared on screen in 1932, playing an uncredited role in "If I Had A Million" as a henchman. It was a stereotype he enjoyed playing for over 60 years in over 175 films. In 1939 alone he made 14 pictures.
Lawrence had a face scarred by severe acne, and his brooding and piercing manner made him a popular character actor whose numerous film credits include 1942's "This Gun for Hire," 1943's "The Ox-Bow Incident," 1946's "Cloak and Dagger," 1948's "Key Largo," 1950's "The Asphalt Jungle," 1976's "Marathon Man," 1978's "Foul Play," 1987's "The Big Easy" and 1992's "Ruby." At the age of 86 he was cast as mafia kingpin Carlo Gambino in HBO's 1996 biopic "Gotti."
Occasionally he was offered roles that showed his range, playing a mute hillbilly in 1941's "The Shepherd of the Hills," and more recently as an old hotel owner in "From Dusk Till Dawn" in 1996.
In 1951 two U.S. government agents knocked on the door of his Hollywood home and served Lawrence with a subpoena to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). It seems he had attended a half dozen meetings of the Communist Party in 1937 thinking that it was a good place to pick up girls. Lawrence got bored of the meetings and forgot all about them.
Quoted later that he spoke against his conscience, Lawrence testified at HUAC that he had been a member of the Communist Party and named other party members, something he felt guilty about for years. Despite his cooperation, Lawrence was blacklisted. He moved to Italy and acted in over a dozen forgettable films appearing as the token American actor.
Returning to Hollywood in 1959, Lawrence directed TV episodes for "Maverick," "M Squad," "77 Sunset Strip" and "Rawhide". In 1965, he directed, co-produced and co-wrote "Nightmare In The Sun," a low-budget film that starred John Derek and Ursula Andress.
For James Bond fans, Lawrence had two memorable appearances. In "Diamonds Are Forever" he tosses a girl (Lana Wood, Natalie's sister) out of a high hotel window who then lands in a swimming pool. "Exceptionally fine shot," Connery says, to which Lawrence replies in deadpan, "I didn't know it was a pool down there." In 1974's "The Man With The Golden Gun," Lawrence appears and dies as Christopher Lee's live human target.
Lawrence's final film was "Looney Tunes: Back in America" in 2003, playing a minor role as one of many Acme vice presidents. Lawrence's daughter, Toni, is one of Billy Bob Thornton's five former wives.
Perhaps the highest praise offered Lawrence came from a character not unlike the ones he played on screen. In the 1930s, mobster Johnny Rosselli told Columbia Picture boss Harry Cohn that Lawrence was "the best hood in films." Lawrence has a Bacon number of 2.
November 28, 2005 at age 95. Heart failure.
Tony Meehan >permalink<
Founding member and drummer, The Shadows
When the lead singer of the band Meehan was playing for had laryngitis it provided the break that gave the drummer a place in rock and roll history.
In 1958, after playing tympani with the London Youth Orchestra and abandoning a desire to become a lawyer, Meehan joined a band called The Drifters. After a U.S. doo-wop group raised objection, The Drifters re-named themselves The Shadows.
Britain's answer to Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, used the Shadows as his backup band while on tour. A severe throat infection once left room in the show for the band to play some instrumentals. One of the songs they played, "Apache", became a hit -- staying at #1 on the U.K. charts for five weeks in 1960.
Instrumental hits were not uncommon during the 1960s. The Shadows (which included Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Jet Harris) had further U.K. success with "Man of Mystery," "FBI," "The Frightened City" and "Kon-Tiki." "Apache" would probably have been a major U.S. hit but the Americans preferred a cover version by the Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann.
Meehan appeared in the Cliff Richard films "Espresso Bongo" and "The Young Ones," and as a session musician he played on records by Adam Faith, Mickie Most, Frank Ifield, Tony Sheridan and Billy Fury. Meehan was fired from The Shadows late in 1961 due to problems with punctuality [insert appropriate drummer joke here].
Meehan then worked for Decca Records as a producer. In 1964, he formed his own band, the Tony Meehan Combo, which included Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John McLaughlin, and had a minor hit with "Song of Mexico." He also produced PP Arnold, Tim Hardin and Roger Daltrey's 1977 solo album "One Of The Boys."
He reunited with Cliff and his original Shadows for "The Event" concerts at Wembley Stadium in 1989, and in later years he attended Shadows fan conventions. He spent the last few years pursuing an interest in psychology and psychiatry.
John Lennon once claimed that before Cliff Richard and the Shadows there had been nothing worth listening to in British music. As the first backing band to emerge as stars in their own right, The Shadows laid the trail for the beat-group boom that later overshadowed them in music history. Meehan was present at the infamous January 1, 1962 Decca audition in which the label turned down the Beatles. [Note: several sources list the spelling of Tony's name as Meeham]. Meehan has a Bacon number of 3.
November 28, 2005 at age 62. Head injuries suffered in a fall.
Jocelyn Brando >permalink<
Actress, sister to Marlon
Long eclipsed by her brother, Jocelyn Brando had a reputable career in her own right. She starred on Broadway in "Mister Roberts" at the same time Marlon was stunning audiences in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Marlon got to Hollywood first.
In film, Jocelyn appeared in more than a dozen titles starting with Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat" opposite Glenn Ford in 1953 and "China Venture" the same year. She appeared with Marlon in "The Ugly American" in 1963 and "The Chase" in 1966. Her last major film was "Mommie Dearest," which starred Faye Dunaway playing movie queen Joan Crawford, in 1981.
Jocelyn also appeared in more than fifty television programs including "Richard Diamond, Private Detective," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Wagon Train," "The Virginian," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Kojak." She had a recurring role as Mrs. Reeves in episodes of "Dallas" for several years. Brando has a Bacon number of 2.
November 27, 2005 at age 86.
Clarence Laking >permalink<
Canadian WWI veteran
Against his father's wishes, Clare Laking enlisted in Canada's 64th Battery in 1917. He was the last Canadian World War I veteran to have seen action, having fought on the front line. His passing leaves only four Canadian veterans from the Great War.
Laking's war ended when he was hit on the head by shrapnel while serving with the Canadian Field Artillery, 27th Battery, 4th Brigade. He suffered only a small flesh wound and was in a first-aid station when the war ended on November 11, 1918. He was awarded the French Legion of Honour and the Golden Jubilee Medal.
After the War, Laking farmed in the Peace River area in Alberta and then worked for a string of lumber companies in Toronto.
Laking remained active throughout his life, curling until the age of 96 and driving until he was 102. He held season tickets for the Toronto Maple Leafs until age 100 and was to have been honoured at a ceremony at the Air Canada Centre recently but couldn't attend due to his failing health.
The four remaining Canadian veterans of the First World War are Lloyd Clemett, 105; John Babcock, 105; William Proctor, 106; and Dwight Wilson, 104. Canada sent 650,000 troops to fight in the Great War, and 68,000 died in the conflict.
To read and hear Laking in his own words, visit the Dominion Institute's Memory Project Digital Archive.
November 26, 2005 at age 106.
Stan Berenstain >permalink<
Author
Trips to the dentist, the first day of school, having to clean your room ... this was the drama of life that Stan Berenstain and his wife wrote about in nearly 250 books over 40 years.
With more than 260 million copies sold, the "Berenstain Bears" series helped millions of parents and their children deal with life's lessons. Set in "Bear Country," the books followed the ups and downs of the Berenstain family (originally a father, mother and one son) as they lived in a five-story treehouse.
The books addressed typical childhood challenges, from watching less TV to not succumbing to the "in-crowd." Moving with changes in society over the years the stories later dealt with lessons about the environment, working mothers and teenage drug use. The only two subjects not covered were divorce and death.
Berenstain met his wife Jan while they were students at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. They often went to the zoo for drawing exercises, often sketching pictures of bears. During his stint with the U.S. army during WWII, Stan became a medical illustrator for a plastic surgeon.
After the war the couple launched a cartooning career. Their work appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, McCall's and Good Housekeeping magazine. Their first book, 1951's "The Berenstains' Baby Book" came about after their experience raising their first son. They struck on the idea writing about a family of bears and with the help of their editor at Random House, Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) the first Berenstain Bears book "The Big Honey Hunt" was published in 1962.
Geisel edited the first 17 books in the series, advising the Berenstains about drawing, character and rhyme. He asked the couple to characterise the bears as familiar actors: Papa Bear as Wallace Beery and Brother Bear as Jackie Cooper. He shortened the authors' names from Stanley and Janice to Stan and Jan to make them rhyme and fit on one line. It was Geisel who named the Bears after the Berenstains.
The bear family expanded over time with another male and female cub added. The girl bear, always wearing a pink polka-dot dress, liked to play with her "Bearbie" doll.
Critics of the series focused on the traditional, old-fashioned family structure the Berenstains portrayed, with one columnist suggesting Papa Bear was "a wimp so passive and fumbling he makes Dagwood Bumstead look like Batman."
"But that's the way it is in Bear Country," the Berenstains said in reply.
Bear Country did well, spawning two television series, stage musicals, toys, cereal, an interactive web site, DVDs and other products. Berenstain and his family managed the entire enterprise by themselves until 1997, when they hired an employee to run the computer. In later years, sons Leo and Michael were involved with writing and illustration, and many of the recent books are credited collectively to "The Berenstains."
Little known is that the Berenstains also wrote books for adults. They contributed to Playboy magazine in the 1950s, and a list of other books the Berenstains wrote includes such titles as "Beat Him When He Sneezes," "Office Lover Boy," "How To Teach Your Children About God Without Actually Scaring Them Out Of Their Wits" and "Be Good or I'll Belt Ya!"
November 26, 2006 at age 82. Lymphoma.
Pat Morita >permalink<
Actor
Born Noriyuki Morita in Isleton, California, Pat Morita was best known as 'Arnold' on the TV show "Happy Days" and 'Mr. Miyagi' in the movie "The Karate Kid," for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1984 (he lost to Haing S. Ngor, who appeared in "The Killing Fields"). "The Karate Kid" spawned three sequels, the last one in 1994 with Hilary Swank in one of her first film roles.
Morita developed spinal tuberculosis at age two and spent the most of the next nine years in Northern California hospitals. Wrapped for long periods in a full body cast, he was told he would never walk. He made sock puppets to entertain himself.
After having four vertebrae in his spine fused, Morita finally learned to walk at age 11, only to join his family just as had they had been sent to an internment camp in Arizona where they were detained for the duration of World War II. After the war, the family operated a restaurant in Sacramento, California where Morita would entertain customers with jokes and serve as master of ceremonies for group dinners.
After graduating from high school, Morita took a job with an aerospace company that designed and manufactured rocket engines. Working his way up to head of a computer operations department Morita, by now a husband and father, was seriously overweight. He decided he had taken a wrong turn in life's path, quit his job and became a standup comedian. He was billed as "the Hip Nip" and became a member of the Los Angeles improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings.
Morita appeared in over 100 movies and made over 70 television appearances. His film credits include "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "Honeymoon In Vegas," "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and "Mulan." At the time of his death he appeared in three films yet to be released.
Morita's stints with "Happy Days" bracketed a series of his own, a spin-off called "Mr. T and Tina." He became the first Japanese American to star in a series TV show but the show lasted only a month. In 1987, he headlined a detective show, "Ohara," which went through several plot changes in a run that lasted a couple of seasons. Morita had also made appearances on "Sanford and Son," "M*A*S*H," "The Odd Couple" and "Green Acres."
Early in his career as a standup, Morita was asked to fill in for Don Ho at a hotel in Honolulu. Seconds before appearing on stage he was told who had booked the club: the 25th anniversary reunion of the Survivors of Pearl Harbour. The suddenly terrified Morita turned on the charm and opened with "Before I begin, I just want to say I'm sorry about messing up your harbour." After a second of silence, a big wave of laughter started at the back and rolled forward. That night Morita became another yet survivor of Pearl Harbour and one of the most welcome Japanese faces on American screens. Morita has a Bacon number of 2.
November 24, 2005. Age 73. [Natural causes, kidney failure or heart failure].
Constance Cummings >permalink<
Actress
Seattle-born Cummings started as a Broadway chorus girl and her kicks soon caught the eye of film producer Sam Goldwyn. In 1930 he brought the 20-year-old Cummings to Hollywood to star with Ronald Colman in "The Devil To Pay." At the last minute Goldwyn changed his mind and replaced Cummings with a 17-year-old Loretta Young.
Colman took pity on the crushed actress and persuaded Columbia Pictures to step in and offer Cummings a contract. She made her film debut with Walter Huston in Howard Hawks' "The Criminal Code."
Cummings made nearly twenty films over the next four years, including "Movie Crazy" with Harold Lloyd, Frank Capra's "American Madness" and "Night After Night" with Mae West (in her film debut). She married British playwright Benn Wolf Levy (who wrote dialogue for Hitchcock's "Blackmail") in 1933 and moved to England. When she tried to make a film there she was unsuccessfully sued by Columbia Pictures.
Cumming's career in England blossomed and she soon starred in two Albert de Courville-directed thrillers, "Sinners" and "Strangers On Honeymoon." She also starred in an early television production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" in 1938.
For the next forty years Cummings was best known for her roles on British stages. A London critic called her "a film star who can act." One of her few films in the 1950s was "The Intimate Stranger," directed by the blacklisted Joseph Losey (under the pseudonym Joseph Walton). Her last notable role was in Charles Crichton's "The Battle of the Sexes" in 1959.
On stage, Cummings triumphed during the 1970s in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" opposite Laurence Olivier, and in "Wings" in a solo performance. Her performance of "Wings" on Broadway in 1979 earned her a Tony Award as Best Actress that she shared with Carole Shelley for "The Elephant Man." Cummings recreated her award-winning performance in a made-for-TV version in 1983. She appeared in a U.K. stage production of "Uncle Vanya" as recently as 2000.
Cummings was appointed Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1974. In addition to running a dairy farm of 600 acres, she spent the last years of her life serving on committees for the Arts Council and the Royal Court Theatre. Cummings has a Bacon number of .
November 23, 2005 at age 95.
Harold Stone >permalink<
Character actor
Despite nearly 40 movie credits and over 150 TV appearances, Harold Stone remained one of those faces that begged the question, "Where have I seen him before?" Such is the fate of the character actor.
Never afforded the screen time of a leading role, character actors are asked to bring their portrayal to life in mere seconds. It helps to have a strong physical presence and Harold Stone had that in spades. He was solidly built, a stocky man with a square jaw and a sculpted face. He could play ethnic types with ease and was equally convincing portraying villains and heroes.
Stone was born Harold Hochstein in New York City to a family active in Yiddish theatre. In his youth he appeared on local radio and on Broadway, and eventually made his screen debut in the 1946 Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake film noir classic "The Blue Dahlia" in an uncredited role.
Stone languished in Hollywood until he appeared with Humphrey Bogart in 1956's "The Harder They Fall." Bogart spread the word that Stone was a good actor and steady work soon followed with appearances in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man," Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus," "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and "The St. Valentine Day's Massacre." Stone was directed three times by Jerry Lewis in "The Big Mouth," "Which Way To The Front?" and "Hardly Working" in 1980 (Stone's last big screen appearance).
In between films, Stone made numerous television appearances -- about twenty a year by Stone's own estimate. "I don't think there are any roles I haven't played," he once said.
From 1954's "The Man Behind the Badge" to 1986's "Highway to Heaven," Stone often played a menacing presence on westerns, crime shows and police dramas such as "Gunsmoke," "Have Gun, Will Travel," "The Rifleman," "Zorro," "77 Sunset Strip," "Naked City," "The Untouchables," "Rawhide," "Ben Casey," "Dr. Kildare," "The Nurses" (for which he earned an Emmy nomination in 1964), "The Defenders," "Bonanza," "Gilligan's Island," "Get Smart," "The Virginian," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Mannix," "Hogan's Heroes," "The F.B.I.," "Mission: Impossible," "The Rockford Files," "Kojak" and "Barney Miller."
One of Stone's favourite roles was playing the father of David Birney's character on "Bridget Loves Bernie," a one season wonder that aired on CBS in 1972. Cult TV fans may remember him best for his role in a "Twilight Zone" episode where he played an FAA investigator trying to solve the mystery of a commercial flight that lands with no crew or passengers aboard. Stone has a Bacon number of 2.
November 18, 2005 at age 92.
Ralph Edwards >permalink<
Game show pioneer
"Ralph Edwards -- this is your life!"
His career spanned seven decades, and he was responsible for the modern TV game show and the multiple-camera, live-on-film format that is essentially still in use today.
Born into a farm family in 1913 in Merino, Colorado, Edwards was 16 when he got his first job writing radio scripts (at the rate of a dollar each) for KROW, a radio station in Oakland, California where his family eventually relocated. He majored in English at U of C, Berkeley with hopes of becoming an English teacher, but instead chose to stay in broadcasting. After graduation he worked as an actor, writer, announcer and producer for two San Francisco stations, including the legendary KFRC.
Edwards moved to New York in 1936, working freelance for CBS and NBC. By 1939 he was announcing 45 shows a week, including "The Fred Allen Show," "Lucky Strike Hit Parade," "Major Bowes's Amateur Hour" and "Life Can Be Beautiful."
In 1940, he sold the idea for "Truth or Consequences" to NBC. A year later, when American commericial television broadcast was first approved, he did a trial performance of the show for NBC Television -- their first commercial show (with 10-second spots selling for $9 each). World War II stalled the spread of television in the U.S. and "Truth or Consequences" shifted to radio until 1950 when it 're-debuted' on TV on CBS with Edwards as host.
"Truth or Consequences" featured contestants answering silly and tricky questions and made them "pay" the consequences for answering incorrectly by performing unusual and often elaborate stunts such as barking, crawling on their bellies, pushing a walnut with their nose, bathing an elephant or singing from atop a doghouse.
The show ran for 38 consecutive years on radio and television, and is credited with being the first show recorded on 35-millimeter film before a live audience using multiple cameras. The three-camera, live-on-film system was later used on "I Love Lucy," which debuted in 1951. The format, with video replacing film, is still used for sitcoms to this day.
For the radio show's 10th anniversary, Edwards announced that he was looking for an American town willing to change its name to promote the event. Residents of Hot Springs, New Mexico voted 1,294 to 295 to rename their town "Truth or Consequences" to cash in on the free publicity. Later attempts to reverse the name change failed.
Edwards turned over host duties to Jack Bailey in 1954, and in 1956 he hired Bob Barker, who hosted the show for 18 years. The program earned the first Emmy awarded for an audience participation show.
However, it will be for the game show "This Is Your Life" that Edwards will be best remembered. The program lured celebrities and lesser-knowns under false pretence to a secluded studio location where they were presented with their life stories highlighted by the voices of long-lost friends and relatives who later joined Edwards and his guest on stage. The Saturday Evening Post once called it "the weepiest show on television."
Launched on radio in 1948 as a spinoff of "Truth or Consequences," "This Is Your Life" moved to TV in 1952, running for nine years on NBC. Edwards hosted a syndicated version that ran from 1971 to 1973, and another syndicated version, hosted by Joseph Campanella, ran from 1983 to 1984. Several "This Is Your Life" specials followed. The show won Emmys in 1954 and 1955.
With two successful concepts behind him, Edwards produced more than 20 other TV shows, including "It Could Be You," "Place the Face," "Name That Tune, "Cross-Wits," "It Could Be You," "Place the Face" and "About Faces," "Funny Boners," "End of the Rainbow," "Who In the World," "The Woody Woodbury Show" and "Wide Country." In the 1980s, Ralph Edwards Productions' show "The People's Court" made a star of a retired judge by the name of Joseph Wapner.
In November, 2005 ABC announced it was planning a new version of "This is Your Life" with Regis Philbin as host.
Edwards can be heard at the Radio Hall of Fame where he was inducted in 1955. He received the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2001. For more about the station that launched a thousand careers, visit the KFRC - Bay Area Radio Museum site. Edwards has a Bacon number of 2.
November 16, 2005 at age 92. Heart failure.
Keith Andes >permalink<
Actor
Andes was a talented singer with a handsome face and a muscular build. Yet fame seemed to elude him. The highlight of his career came early -- playing lead opposite Marilyn Monroe in Fritz Lang's out-of-character 1952 romantic drama "Clash By Night."
Born in Ocean City, New Jersey, the smooth-voiced Andes was appearing on radio by the age of 12. During his stint in the Army Air Force he sang and acted in USO shows. He appeared on Broadway in "The Chocolate Soldier" -- earning the Theatre World Award for the outstanding breakout performance of 1947 -- and later starred in "Kiss Me Kate." Seeing him perform as the understudy in "Winged Victory," studio head Darryl F. Zanuck offered him a minor part in the 1944 film version.
Andes went on to appear in about 20 other movies, including playing one of the brothers in 1947's "The Farmer's Daughter" and as General George C. Marshall in 1970's "Tora! Tora! Tora!" His last major film appearance was with Al Pacino in the 1979 film "And Justice For All."
Andes had numerous roles on television including playing an amateur sleuth on "Glynis," a 1963 CBS sitcom in which Glynis Johns played his wife, and in the syndicated police drama "This Man Dawson" from 1959 to 1960.
Andes also appeared on "Sea Hunt," "Have Gun-Will Travel," "Perry Mason," "The Lucy Show," "The Outer Limits," "I Spy," "Canon" and "The Streets of San Francisco." After retiring in the late 1970s, Andes did voice-over work.
In recent years Andes was stricken with bladder cancer, suffering from back pain, had trouble walking, had a kidney that did not function and had lung problems due to his lifelong smoking. A study in contrast, Andes was an avid weight lifter despite his chain-smoking habit, and even went to the gym two days before he died.
Friends described Andes as a jokingly brusque individual, who would correct one's English and pronunciation with a sarcastic tinge. The Los Angeles County coroner's office ruled his cause of death as asphyxiation. Andes was the father of musician Mark Andes, a member at different times of pop bands Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, and Heart. Keith Andes has a Bacon number of .
November 11, 2005. Age 85. Suicide.
Link Wray >permalink<
Guitarist
He was known as "The Godfather of The Power Chord." His is credited for pioneering the use of feedback and distortion and inspiring countless thousands to pick up an electric guitar. His first hit sounded so menacing that it was banned from being played on radio -- a rare feat for an instrumental record.
Half Shawnee Indian, Fred Lincoln Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina in 1929. After living in Arizona for a while his family moved to a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Wray and his brothers Doug and Vernon played country music and Western swing as the Lazy Pine Wranglers and the Palomino Ranch Hands for several years before they landed a gig as the house band on "Milt Grant's House Party," a Washington area version of "American Bandstand." Along the way, Wray played with Sheriff Tex Davis, who later wrote "Be Bop A Lula" for Gene Vincent.
Wray and his brothers backed up acts ranging from Fats Domino to Ricky Nelson. While rehearsing a backing track for The Diamonds' "The Stroll" they came up with a powerful blues instrumental which they called "Oddball." An instant hit with the live audience (who demanded four encores when it was first played) the song was later re-titled "Rumble."
The song came to the attention of record producer Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records. Bleyer hated it, particularly after Wray poked holes in his amplifier's speakers to make it sound more like the live version. Recorded on a one track Grundig and released in 1958, "Rumble" by Link Wray and the Ray Men reached #16 on U.S. national charts. It also reached deep into the psyche of countless budding musicians who were taken by its sinister sound. Bleyer was personally attacked for putting out a record that "promoted teenage gang warfare."
After "Rumble," Wray had hits with 1959's "Rawhide" and 1963's "Jack the Ripper." If "Rumble" sounded like gang warfare, then "Jack the Ripper" sounded like a high-speed car chase, with Wray's amp recorded at the end of a hotel staircase for maximum echo effect.
Pete Townshend of The Who credits Wray as his biggest influence. Townshend re-paid the debt by writing liner notes for a 1974 Wray album. David Bowie, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jeff Beck, Ray Davies, Chris Spedding, Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen have also been quoted as saying that Wray and "Rumble" inspired them to become musicians. John Lennon's travelling jukebox included a Link Wray LP. Wray's style was considered the blueprint for heavy metal, thrash and punk music. Even 2004 U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry's re-issued college band album featured the senator as bassist covering a version of "Rawhide."
Wray's career ran hot and cold during much of the 1970s and 1980s but he enjoyed a brief period of success around 1977 when he backed rockabilly singer Robert Gordon.
Quentin Tarantino gave Wray a further dose of fame in the mid 1990s when he used "Rumble" and "Ace of Spades" in his movie "Pulp Fiction." Wray's songs also appeared in the movies "Breathless," "Desperado," "Independence Day," "12 Monkeys," "This Boy's Life," "Blow," "Johnny Suede" and "Pink Flamingos."
In 1999, "Jack the Ripper" was used in the first Taco Bell television commercial featuring the talking chihuahua. In 2002, Guitar World magazine elected Wray one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Rolling Stone magazine in a similar poll ranked Wray at #67.
Wray's focus on instrumental music came upon the advice of a doctor. He had contracted tuberculosis while serving in the Korean War and had a lung removed as a result. Wray used a Danelectro Longhorn model (with the longest neck ever manufactured on a production line guitar). The power chord -- a thundering sound created by playing fifths (two notes five notes apart, often with the lower note doubled an octave above) -- became a standard musical device among rock players.
Wray married a Danish girl by the name of Olive and spent the last three decades of his life living near Copenhagen on an island where Hans Christian Andersen once lived.
To view a video of what might be Link Wray's last recorded performance of "Rumble" contact us and we'll send you the footage by e-mail.
November 5, 2005 at age 76. Heart failure.
Sheree North >permalink<
Actress
Always have a back-up plan. That was what 20th Century Fox was thinking when they retained Sheree North as a threat to hold over their tempermental star Marilyn Monroe. North not only shared Monroe's blond hairstyle but almost exactly matched her height and measurements (for the record, 5ft 5-1/2 inches, 35-1/2-23-1/2-35-1/2).
Fox once made good on their bluff by replacing Monroe in 1955's "How to Be Very, Very Popular" in which North stole the show from veteran Betty Grable in her last screen role. "Popular" was publicised as having "the first rock'n'roll dance on the screen."
North, regarded as the last of the "Fox blondes" (a lineage that included Sonja Henie, Alice Faye, Betty Grable, June Haver, Jayne Mansfield and Monroe), made her film debut in 1951's "Excuse My Dust" starring Red Skelton. Her first few films were disappointing and she considered going to secretarial school. Her breakout role came as the result of a wild dance number in the Broadway musical "Hazel Flagg" that she re-created in the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis musical comedy film version of the stage show, retitled "Living It Up," in 1954.
North then appeared on the initial episode of "The Bing Crosby Show" on television that same year. A critic noted that she came pretty close to walking off with the show. Her film credits quickly rose to leading lady status. She soon starred in the 1956 musical "The Best Things in Life Are Free" opposite Gordon MacRae and Dan Dailey.
Over the next four decades North was featured in over fifty films including the "The Outfit" with Robert Duvall in 1973, "The Shootist" starring John Wayne in 1976 and the 1991 thriller "Defenseless" with Barbara Hershey and Sam Shepard.
Television audiences may best remember North from her guest roles on "The Virginian," "The Untouchables," "The Big Valley," "The Fugitive," "Cannon," "McMillan and Wife," "Kojak," "Hawaii Five-O," "Barnaby Jones," "Fantasy Island," "The Golden Girls" and "Murder, She Wrote." She earned Emmy nominations for appearances on "Marcus Welby, M.D." and "Archie Bunker's Place."
On the 100th episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Ed Asner's character Lou Grant fell for North playing Charlene Maguire, a saloon singer with a past. The show featured Grant wearing mauve turtlenecks and zipping around the newsroom like "a 200-pound bumblebee." North also played Kramer's mother Babs on "Seinfeld."
Unlike other studio-styled blonde bombshells such as Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren, North allowed herself to age gracefully, work without makeup and transition into older character parts. However, North never shook the Monroe legacy and was often interviewed or cast in documentaries and shows about her. Among them were the 1980 television movie "Marilyn: The Untold Story," in which she played Monroe's mother; and the documentaries "Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend" in 1987 and "Intimate Portrait: Marilyn Monroe" in 1996. North has a Bacon number of .
November 4, 2005 at age 72. Complications following surgery.