she was the first adult star (i ever saw) to have an incredibly athletic physique.
a very sexy woman.

lol....you have such a way with words. :D

I am deeply saddened by the passing of J.G. Ballard. While not a writer of horror fiction, he was quirky and absurd enough to be easily enjoyed by the horror fan. And speaking of CRASH, according to the Clute/Nicholls SF Encyclopedia,"...one publisher's reader wrote of the manuscript: 'The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.'" Definitely deserves to be read.

Can't see any of it....

http://users.erols.com/interlac/Bea_Arthur.jpg

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" and who won a Tony Award for the musical "Mame," died Saturday. She was 86.

Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give further details.

"She was a brilliant and witty woman," said Watt, who was Arthur's personal assistant for six years. "Bea will always have a special place in my heart."

Arthur first appeared in the landmark comedy series "All in the Family" as Edith Bunker's loudly outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur's own series.

In a 2008 interview with The Associated Press, Arthur said she was lucky to be discovered by TV after a long stage career, recalling with bemusement CBS executives asking about the new "girl."

"I was already 50 years old. I had done so much off-Broadway, on Broadway, but they said, `Who is that girl? Let's give her her own series,'" Arthur said.

"Maude" scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role in 1977.

The comedy flowed from Maude's efforts to cast off the traditional restraints that women faced, but the series often had a serious base. Her husband Walter (Bill Macy) became an alcoholic, and she underwent an abortion, which drew a torrent of viewer protests. Maude became a standard bearer for the growing feminist movement in America.

The ratings of "Maude" in the early years approached those of its parent, "All in the Family," but by 1977 the audience started to dwindle. A major format change was planned, but in early 1978 Arthur announced she was quitting the show.

"It's been absolutely glorious; I've loved every minute of it," she said. "But it's been six years, and I think it's time to leave."

"Golden Girls" (1985-1992) was another groundbreaking comedy, finding surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a younger, product-buying audience.

The series concerned three retirees — Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan — and the mother of Arthur's character, Estelle Getty, who lived together in a Miami apartment. In contrast to the violent "Miami Vice," the comedy was nicknamed "Miami Nice."

As Dorothy Zbornak, Arthur seemed as caustic and domineering as Maude. She was unconcerned about the similarity of the two roles. "Look — I'm 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line," she told an interviewer. "What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting."

The interplay among the four women and their relations with men fueled the comedy, and the show amassed a big audience and 10 Emmys, including two as best comedy series and individual awards for each of the stars.

In 1992, Arthur announced she was leaving "Golden Girls." The three other stars returned in "The Golden Palace," but it lasted only one season.

Arthur was born Bernice Frankel in New York City in 1922. When she was 11, her family moved to Cambridge, Md., where her father opened a clothing store. At 12 she had grown to full height, and she dreamed of being a petite blond movie star like June Allyson. There was one advantage of being tall and deep-voiced: She was chosen for the male roles in school plays.

Bernice — she hated the name and adopted her mother's nickname of Bea — overcame shyness about her size by winning over her classmates with wisecracks. She was elected the wittiest girl in her class. After two years at a junior college in Virginia, she earned a degree as a medical lab technician, but she "loathed" doing lab work at a hospital.

Acting held more appeal, and she enrolled in a drama course at the New School of Social Research in New York City. To support herself, she sang in a night spot that required her to push drinks on customers.

During this time she had a brief marriage that provided her stage name of Beatrice Arthur. In 1950, she married again, to Broadway actor and future Tony-winning director Gene Saks.

After a few years in off-Broadway and stock company plays and television dramas, Arthur's career gathered momentum with her role as Lucy Brown in the 1955 production of "The Threepenny Opera."

In 2008, when Arthur was inducted in the TV Academy Hall of Fame, Arthur pointed to the role as the highlight of her long career.

"A lot of that had to do with the fact that I felt, `Ah, yes, I belong here,'" Arthur said.

More plays and musicals followed, and she also sang in nightclubs and played small roles in TV comedy shows.

Then, in 1964, Harold Prince cast her as Yente the Matchmaker in the original company of "Fiddler on the Roof."

Arthur's biggest Broadway triumph came in 1966 as Vera Charles, Angela Lansbury's acerbic friend in the musical "Mame," directed by Saks. Richard Watts of the New York Post called her performance "a portrait in acid of a savagely witty, cynical and serpent-tongued woman."

She won the Tony as best supporting actress and repeated the role in the unsuccessful film version that also was directed by Saks, starring Lucille Ball as Mame. Arthur would play a variation of Vera Charles in "Maude" and "The Golden Girls."

In 1983, Arthur attempted another series, "Amanda's," an Americanized version of John Cleese's hilarious "Fawlty Towers." She was cast as owner of a small seaside hotel with a staff of eccentrics. It lasted a mere nine episodes.

Between series, Arthur remained active in films and theater. Among the movies: "That Kind of Woman" (1959), "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1970), Mel Brooks' "The History of the World: Part I" (1981), "For Better or Worse" (1995).

The plays included Woody Allen's "The Floating Light Bulb" and "The Bermuda Avenue Triangle," written by and costarring Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna. During 2001 and 2002 she toured the country in a one-woman show of songs and stories, "... And Then There's Bea."

Arthur and Saks divorced in 1978 after 28 years. They had two sons, Matthew and Daniel. In his long career, Saks won Tonys for "I Love My Wife," "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues." One of his Tony nominations was for "Mame."

In 1999, Arthur told an interviewer of the three influences in her career: "Sid Caesar taught me the outrageous; (method acting guru) Lee Strasberg taught me what I call reality; and ('Threepenny Opera' star) Lotte Lenya, whom I adored, taught me economy."

In recent years, Arthur made guest appearances on shows including "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Malcolm in the Middle." She was chairwoman of the Art Attack Foundation, a non-profit performing arts scholarship organization.

Arthur is survived by her sons and two granddaughters. No funeral services are planned.

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Actor Dom DeLuise, who starred in such comedy classics "The Cannonball Run" and "Blazing Saddles," died at a Los Angeles hospital Monday night.

ahhhhhh no.

christ - another piece of my childhood - gone.

Damn...

R.I.P. indeed.

RIP Dom, I always had you in my dead pool.

I think it would be hard to find someone who didn't like Dom Deluise.

and there's MD sensitive side showing again. :D

Couldn't the same argument be made for people that oppose other religions? :confused:

Yes. That sounds like Religion in general to me.

There's a difference between faiths established based upon spiritual intuitions and a cult started on a bet. Plus, scientology encourages a gradual numbing of a person to their feelings instead of wanting people to be open to experience and their emotions. Organized religions are cultlike, but still don't tell people to empty themselves regardless of how self-serving their use of doctrine might be.

On the contrary, that's EXACTLY what a number of fairly mainstream religions do.

Which mainstream ones are you referring to?

Wayne Allwine, the artiste who voiced Mickey Mouse for over three decades died in Los Angeles early Monday morning, with his wife Russi Taylor, who voices Minnie Mouse, by his side.

The 62-year-old who has been voicing the legendary cartoon character since 1977, died of complications of diabetes at UCLA Medical Center, reported Los Angeles Times.

'Wayne's great talent, deep compassion, kindness and gentle way, all of which shone brightly through his alter ego, will be greatly missed,' Disney chief executive Robert Iger said in a statement.

Allwine who had joined Disney in 1966 as a helper in the mail room, was the third person to voice Mickey Mouse since the iconic cartoon first hit movie theatres in 1928 with the animated movie Steamboat Willie.

The first to voice Mickey was Walt Disney himself and the role was later passed onto the studio's sound effects wizard Jimmy MacDonald. When MacDonald was passing on the reins to Allwine, he famously remarked, 'Just remember kid, you're only filling in for the boss.'

Allwine made his debut voicing the world's most famous mouse on The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977 and went on to voice for Disney movies, television specials, theme parks, records, toys and video games.

Allwine was also a well established sound effects editor and had won an Emmy Award in 1986 for outstanding sound editing for a series for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories.

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I hate this thread more this year than in previous. Very bad year for icons dying. :( RIP

No!
RIP Jane.

Jane? I thought it was Simone Simon.

Didn't she die years ago?

It was Jane. 94 is a pretty damn good run.

For the blues lovers here.

WANG DANG DOODLE

Koko Taylor, a Chicago musical icon who became one of the most revered female blues vocalists of her time with signature hits such as "Wang Dang Doodle," "I'm a Woman" and "Hey Bartender," died Wednesday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago of complications from gastrointestinal surgery. She was 80.

Her death came less than four weeks after her last performance, at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, where she collected her record 29th Blues Music Award. She had surgery May 19 and appeared to be recovering until taking a turn Wednesday morning, and was with friends and family when she died.

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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009...s_30104421.php

ahh fuck - i just heard this !! god dammit

WTF.......Hung himself.....WTF

Yep. A sad, sad day for all exploitation and horror fans alike.


“Kill Bill” star David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room Wednesday, his manager told FOX News Thursday.

Chuck Binder said Carradine, 72, was staying in Bangkok while shooting a movie. The film crew became aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant yesterday. When a producer went to his room, he discovered that the actor had died.

A statement on behalf of his family has yet to be released, but Binder called the death "shocking and sad."

Binder told FOXNews.com Thursday that the cause of death is "under investigation." While there have been conflicting reports as to the nature of Carradine's death, The Nation newspaper is claiming that Thai police said the actor was found hung in his hotel room from curtain rope in an apparent suicide.

The Nation reports that the hotel maid discovered Carradine's half naked body in a closet Thursday morning and that there were no signs of a struggle or assault.

Carradine was best known for his role in the television series “Kung Fu.” He is the son of noted actor John Carradine.


R.I.P.

I'm shocked that they're saying it's a suicide.

i've read 2 of his books ...

this is a guy who had problems, but loved life ...

very hard to believe

Man, that sucks. Great actor with an interesting body of work..

R.I.P

That's terrible. Koko Taylor and David Carradine in a day. Sucks so much.

So kill bill got ill and killed bill for real?
Damn...and I say that only because, I liked this one old film he was in...as some monkey guy...? The rest, whatever, not my thing.
But there was that one movie, for this, I mourn moderately.

I didn't see that coming....

R.I.P

I admired his work...
R.I.P Bill.

Circle of Iron, also known as the Silent Flute. Kickass movie.

The silent flute, that was it...that shit rocked.
~R.I.P Monkey guy~

2 celeb suicides within 3 weeks. I call conspiracy on this one. Carradine was too bad ass to off himself, and I hear Thai police are super corrupt.