Category: Worldly stuff

From CNN: Former “Gunsmoke” actor James Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon in the western TV series for 20 years, died Friday from natural causes, according to his website. He was 88.

Over the two decades of “Gunsmoke” episodes from 1955 to 1975, Arness worked with hundreds of actors, some of them just up-and-comers such as Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds and Charles Bronson. He also worked with Bette Davis.

Arness left behind a letter to his fans, which was posted on his website after his death:
“I had a wonderful life and was blessed with some many loving people and great friends. The best part of my life was my family, especially my wife, Janet. Many of you met her at Dodge City so you understand what a special person she is,” Arness wrote.

“I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for the many years of being a fan of ‘Gunsmoke,’ ‘The Thing,’ ‘How the West Was Won’ and all the other fun projects I was lucky enough to have been allowed to be a part of. I had the privilege of working with so many great actors over the years.

“I was honored to have served in the army for my country. I was at Anzio during WWII and it makes you realize how very precious life is,” Arness wrote.

“Thank you again for all the many letters, cards, emails and gifts we received from you over the years. You are and always have been truly appreciated,” he concluded.

Continue reading “James King Aurness”

German newscaster Mick Locher of channel N24 explains the meaning of the US Navy Seal Six Team emblem during a segment about the raid on Bin Laden’s compound.

“And they also have the ‘Team Six’ that carried out the mission. They don’t have the skull in their emblem for nothing,” Locher said.

The only problem is the emblem he’s describing is not that of the US Navy Seal Six Team. It’s a fan-made emblem for the fictitious “Maquis” rebel group from Star Trek and nobody knew any different at the news station. The skull to which he’s referring is that of a “klingon” and those are “bat’leths” (klingon weapons) surrounding it.

This is a perfect example of why I don’t trust broadcast news.

CNN – American actor David Carradine has been found dead, hanging by a nylon rope in a hotel room closet in Bangkok, Thailand, according to a Thai police official.

David Carradine became famous in the 1970s after starring in the television series “Kung Fu.”

Carradine became famous in the 1970s when he starred in the television series “Kung Fu.”

The rope was believed taken from the hotel room curtains, Bangkok Police Lt. Colonel Pirom Chanpirom said.

Investigators found no sign of a forced entry into Carradine’s room, Chanpirom said.

An autopsy was being conducted at a Bangkok hospital, but no results will be available for another day, he said.

A Carradine family spokeswoman issued a short statement saying the family “is devastated by the news of David’s passing.”

“Circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown, and there will be no further comment until more information can be confirmed,” the statement said.

The last survivor of the sinking of the Titanic has died aged 97.

Millvina Dean was nine weeks old when the liner sank after hitting an iceberg in the early hours of 15 April 1912, on its maiden voyage from Southampton.
The disaster resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people in the north Atlantic, largely due to a lack of lifeboats.

Miss Dean, who remembered nothing of the fateful journey, died on Sunday at the care home in Hampshire where she lived, two of her friends told the BBC.

Her family had been travelling in third class to America, where they hoped to start a new life and open a tobacconist’s shop in Kansas City.
Miss Dean’s mother, Georgetta, and two-year-old brother, Bert, also survived, but her father, Bertram, was among those who perished when the vessel sank.

If it hadn’t been for the ship going down, I’d be an American
Millvina Dean

The family returned to Southampton, where Miss Dean went on to spend most of her life.

Despite having no memories of the disaster, she always said it had shaped her life, because she should have grown up in the US instead of returning to the UK.

Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose “In a world …” phrase on movie trailers was much copied — and much parodied — has died, according to media reports. He was 68.

LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, according to ETOnline, “Entertainment Tonight’s” Web site. He died from complications from pneumothorax, a collapsed lung that causes air to build in the pleural cavity, his agent, Vanessa Gilbert, told “ET.”

LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, began as a voice actor in the mid-1960s while working as a recording engineer, according to his Web site. His strong, slightly gravelly voice was featured on trailers for thousands of films, including “The Godfather,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” For a time in the late ’70s, LaFontaine was the official voice of Paramount Pictures.

His favorite work was one he did for the 1980 film “The Elephant Man,” he said in interviews, but whether the film was Oscar-caliber or a bomb waiting to blow, he handled every assignment equally. Watch LaFontaine at work »

Continue reading “Donald LaFontaine”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs, dirty words and the demise of humanity, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday. He was 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material developed over 50 years, the bald, bearded Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Continue reading “George Denis Patrick Carlin”