Mitch Byrd obit

Mitch Byrd, Guy Gardner Artist, Passes Away

 

He was not on the list.

Mitch Byrd, longtime comic book artist probably best known for his run on Guy Gardner: Warrior with writer Beau Smith and inker Dan Davis, has passed away at 63, following a recent illness.

Byrd's big break into comics came with the independent series, Cat and Mouse, about a pair of vigilante heroes in Louisiana, with writer Roland Mann and inker Steven Butler (the first issue had a cover by the great Paul Gulacy, so I'm using a later issue with cover art by Byrd), that was first published by EFGraphics, and then at Aircel Comics (when it was a Malibu Comics imprint. Mann maintained the rights to the characters, and has revived them in recent years at his Silverline Comics)...

Byrd did other work for Malibu, but soon did what is likely his most famous run, his stint on Guy Gardner: Warrior. Byrd first did some various DC projects, like some Darkstars fill-in issues, and he co-created the Bloodlines character, Nightblade, in Green Lantern Annual #2...

Byrd's tenure on Guy Gardner: Warrior was a strange one. He joined the book with writer Chuck Dixon, who was challenged to come up with a superhero name for Guy Gardner other than, you know, Guy Gardner (this was back when Guy Gardner was using Sinestro's yellow power ring after leaving the Green Lantern Corps).

However, Emerald Twilight then came about, and Guy lost his ring. Beau Smith became the new writer on the book, and paired with Smith and inker Dan Davis, the book was fascinating, in that Smith and Byrd both clearly wanted to tell classic action adventure stories, which they DID...

But they were also forced to give Guy Gardner superpowers, and thus he was revealed to be part-alien, and he had morphing powers, where he could create weapons out of his body...

This was all during the Zero Hour crossover event, so the title got a lot of attention (Guy played a major role in the crossover). Still, Smith, Byrd and Davis managed to keep the book fantastic outside that strange conceit, and they maintained that basic action style that they had established earlier on. Byrd's dynamic yet grounded art style was a major factor in this working so well.

After Byrd left the book, he did work for Marvel, Chaos Comics, Valiant Comics, and Dark Horse, including a Predator one-shot set in Louisiana called Predator: Strange Roux (with writer Brian McDonald)....

The late 1990s saw the comic book industry go through a major bust period, and suddenly many excellent comic book artists who would normally be drawing regular titles for Marvel and DC suddenly had no gigs, and Byrd was one of those artists who had to turn to other avenues to pursue his art career, doing work for gaming companies and even some design work for HBO. He, of course, still did plenty of independent comic book work, as well.

He was always active on the convention circuit, especially Pensacon. Byrd was really what you would call an "artist's artist," as while his mainstream comic book work was mostly centered in the 1990s, his work was so well-regarded that he released MULTIPLE art books over the years. Anyone who knew Byrd's work was impressed by his art.

Byrd was particularly known for how much he loved to draw dinosaurs, and back in 2013, Bobby Hickey crowdfunded a sketchbook called Mitch Byrd: Women, Dinosaurs Sketchbook vol. 1

Byrd recently contributed a piece of art for the local Mississippi horror anthology, Mississipi Macabre, alongside his fellow Mississippi artist (and longtime friend), the great Steven Butler.

Butler and Byrd would often be found sketching at the Biloxi, MS comic book store, Three Alarm Comics.

CBR offers our condolences to Mitch Byrd's friends and family.

Brian Doerksen obit

Brian Doerksen dies after battle with Stage 4 cancer

 

He was not on the list.

Canadian Christian worship artist Brian Doerksen has died peacefully at his family home on Tuesday morning.

His family shared the news on social media saying, "On July 21, at 6:45 a.m., our Beloved Brian passed away peacefully in his sleep at his family home, surrounded by those who loved him most."

The news comes after his family asked for prayers after he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.

"Till the very end, Brian continued to love those around him, encouraging them in who they are, and shared incredible gratitude to those in the medical field who tried their best to help him. He was a beacon of light even in his final moments to his close family and friends, and loved well right to the end," the social post said.

The family thanks everyone who lifted Brian up in prayer. "Thank you to the entire community around the world that prayed, gave, and sent incredible messages of love."

Doerksen was a member at a local Mennonite Brethren church in British Columbia and graduated from the Mennonite Educational Institute in 1983. In his early twenties, he joined the staff of the Langley Vineyard Christian Fellowship and spent several years there as the worship pastor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For many years Doerksen was part of the Vineyard Churches as well as Vineyard Music Group. In that context he was extremely influential in the area of contemporary Christian worship music. He was a featured worship leader on many Vineyard worship CDs and also taught extensively on worship leading and songwriting. Doerksen's worship recordings are known for their high production values and quality songwriting.

Notable songs written by Doerksen include: "Refiner's Fire" (1990), "Light the Fire Again" (1994), "Come Now is the Time to Worship" (1998), "Faithful One" (2002), "Hope of the Nations" (2003), and "Today (As For Me and My House)" (2008). Some of these songs have been covered by a number of artists including the Oslo Gospel Choir and Phillips, Craig & Dean.

Doerksen later produced worship music through Integrity's Hosanna Music, including his albums You Shine (2002), Today (2004), Live in Europe (2005), Holy God (2006) and It's Time (2008).

He received a Gospel Music Association Dove Award in 2003, only the second Canadian to be so honoured. He also won a string of Covenant Awards during his career including four in 2005, among them: Artist of the Year, Praise And Worship Album of the Year and Praise And Worship Song of the Year. Three more Covenant Awards followed in 2006, and a further six in 2007. In 2008 he won a Juno Award for the album Holy God.

Doerksen collaborated on a musical titled Prodigal God with playwright and worship pastor Christopher Greco. The production had its debut performance in February 2010 in Vancouver, before going on tour.

Doerksen served as one of two co-pastors along with Dean Richmond, Janine Richmond, Irv Esau, and Karin Esau at an interdenominational church they started on Mother's Day 2006, called The Bridge in Abbotsford. This church met in Matsqui Village. Doerksen was a teaching and worship arts pastor and oversaw the church's growing team of worship leaders.

He led Prairie Bible Institute's School of Worship Arts starting in September 2014.

Charles Gaines obit

 Remembering Charles Gaines

He was not on the list.

AMFF was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Charles Gaines, the recipient of the 2026 Heritage Award and a true fly fishing luminary who had a remarkable impact on the world around him and those he came in contact with. Our hearts go out to his family and the angling community at large, who lost an icon today. See more photos, videos, and speeches from the Heritage Award Event back in April and Charles’ official obituary below.

Charles Latham Gaines III died of natural causes on July 21, 2026, after a short illness. He was born January 6, 1942, in Jacksonville, Florida to Margaret Shook Gaines of Birmingham, Alabama, and Charles Latham Gaines Jr. The family soon moved to Birmingham, and Charles attended Mountain Brook Grammar School, Indian Springs School, and Birmingham University School. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Birmingham Southern College, and a Master of Fine Arts degree, also cum laude, from the University of Iowa’s Creative Writing Workshop. While at Birmingham Southern, he met the love of his life, Patricia Ellisor, and they were married in 1963.

Pursuing his career as a writer and hers as a painter and sculptor, Charles and Patricia lived in Georgia, Ireland, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia, as well as Alabama. Since 2003, they divided the year between homes in Monastery, Nova Scotia and Argo, Alabama.

During a long and varied writing career, Charles published 25 books, among them the novels, Stay Hungry, a finalist for the National Book Award, Dangler, Survival Games, and the forthcoming The Passions of Saint Francis; the non-fiction New York Times and international bestseller, Pumping Iron; and the memoir, A Family Place. The book Pumping Iron and a later film of the same title written and narrated by Charles, are widely credited for having introduced both bodybuilding and Arnold Schwarzenegger to the general public.  He also wrote the scripts for two produced feature films, two award-winning feature-documentaries, and a 2-hour PBS adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “Summer,” as well as numerous segments for ABC’s  “American Sportsman,” a show for which he also directed and produced. For his television writing he was the recipient of two Emmys, and two Cine Golden Eagle Awards.

Over more than 60 years of magazine writing, Charles published articles and stories in Harpers, GEO, Sports Illustrated, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, Audubon, Forbes Life, Esquire, Men’s Journal, Playboy, Garden & Gun, Field and Stream, Sports Afield, Southern Living, among many other periodicals, and was a Contributing Editor to a number of those magazines.

A lifelong sportsman and outdoors adventurer, he was at various times during his life a dedicated wing-shooter and bird-dog trainer, a rock and ice climber, a ski instructor and winter mountaineer, a canoeist and small boat sailor, a certified diver, a (bad) bull rider, bungee-jumper, and skydiver. He was also, with Hayes Noel and Bob Gurnsey, co-inventor of the game of Paintball, co-founder of the first Paintball company, a recipient of the Paintball Lifetime Achievement Award, and an inductee into the Paintball Hall of Fame.

His favorite outdoors activity was fly-fishing, which he was fortunate enough to practice all over the world, in over 25 countries and on five continents, and his two collections of essays on the sport, The Next Valley Over and Waters Far and Near are considered to be among the best American books of that genre. He was a founding member of the US Fly Fishing Team and fished as a member of that team in World Championship Fly Fishing Competitions in New Zealand and Tasmania.

He was a Lifetime Board Member of the US Fly Fishing Team, and a US Director and National Council member of the Atlantic Salmon Federation. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus by both The Altamont School (formerly Birmingham University School) and Birmingham Southern College, and he taught periodically as an Associate Professor in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at Spalding University in Louisville, KY. In 2018 he was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame and was the 2020 recipient of the Truman Capote Prize for lifetime achievement in non-fiction. In 2026 he was awarded the prestigious Heritage Award by the Museum of American Fly Fishing for lifetime contribution to that sport and to fishery conservation. Click here for more photos, videos, and speeches from the evening.

Charles is survived by his beloved wife of more than 60 years, Patricia Ellisor Gaines; his three children, Latham, Greta, and Shelby Gaines; five grandchildren: Cassidy and Ryder Haje, and Lucy Bo, Belle, and Rose Gaines; and by his sister, Hansell Burke and her boys, Monte, Justin, and Chris.

GAINES, Charles (Charles Latham Gaines III)

 

Born: 1/6/1942, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.

 

Died: 7/21/2026, Trussville, Alabama, U.S.A.

 

 

Writer

Stripper (1985)

Stripper

5.7

Writer

1985

 

Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985)

Pumping Iron II: The Women

6.0

bookscreenplay

1985

 

Great Performances (1971)

Great Performances

7.9

TV Series

adaptation

1981

1 episode

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron (1977)

Pumping Iron

7.3

book "Pumping Iron"

1977

 

Jeff Bridges and Sally Field in Stay Hungry (1976)

Stay Hungry

5.6

screenplaynovel

1976

 

Actor

Max Julien and Vonetta McGee in Thomasine & Bushrod (1974)

Thomasine & Bushrod

6.0

Bank Customer

1974

 

Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, and Ben Gazzara in Husbands (1970)

Husbands

7.0

(as Chas. Gaines)

1970

 

Additional Crew

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron (1977)

Pumping Iron

7.3

consultant

1977

 

James Woolsey obit

James Woolsey, CIA director under Bill Clinton, dies at 84

His tenure was upended by the arrest of Aldrich Ames, a CIA traitor. In recent years, he suffered from “Havana syndrome,” his wife said. 

He was not on the list.

R. James Woolsey Jr., a Rhodes Scholar and lawyer who led the CIA and the rest of America’s intelligence community for two troubled years during the Clinton administration, as the nation’s spy services struggled to adapt to the post-Cold War era, died Tuesday at his home in Washington. He was 84.

The cause was a stroke, said his wife, Conchita Sarnoff Woolsey. She added that Mr. Woolsey had been in declining health in recent years as a result of “Havana syndrome,” the mysterious ailment that hundreds of American spies and diplomats have reported experiencing around the world.

The malady’s symptoms, which the government refers to as anomalous health incidents, include dizziness, memory problems and other neurological impairments. Mr. Woolsey began experiencing the condition following an incident in Washington in 2017 and in Istanbul the following year, according to his wife.

“We have traveled the world trying to find a cure and a treatment,” she said, “which sadly we never found.”

As the director of Central Intelligence in 1993 and 1994, Mr. Woolsey spent much of his time fighting to shore up morale and protect the nation’s intelligence agencies from sharp budget and staffing cutbacks, as Congress sought a so-called “peace dividend” following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

His tenure was upended by the FBI’s arrest in 1994 of Aldrich H. Ames, a senior CIA counterintelligence official who had spied for nine years for Moscow in what was then the worst known security breach in agency history.

Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees were openly critical when Mr. Woolsey declined to dismiss or demote anyone at the CIA, and instead reprimanded 11 current and former agency officials. Rather than focusing on individuals at fault, he highlighted a pattern of widespread inattention, citing a “systemic failure” in the agency’s inability to catch Ames, who was blamed for the deaths of at least 10 intelligence agents.

Mr. Woolsey sought to transform the agency’s culture. He was known among some staff as “the vacuum cleaner,” The Washington Post reported at the time, and told senior aides he always wanted to know more than anyone else in the room. He typically began his day reading classified cables at home at 4:30 a.m., and then arrived at CIA headquarters by 7:30 for meetings and briefings.

But he could be argumentative, even abrasive, and his relations with the White House became so strained that by the time he resigned after 23 months on the job, he complained that he could not get an appointment with the president.

White House aides said that Clinton had lost faith in his ability to overhaul CIA operations and reshape its priorities.

Still, the president praised Mr. Woolsey in a statement at the time, calling him “a staunch advocate of maintaining an intelligence capability that is second to none.”

Robert James Woolsey Jr., an only child, was born in Tulsa on Sept. 21, 1941. His father, a lawyer, was drafted into the Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. His mother was a homemaker.

Mr. Woolsey attended Stanford University, graduating with high honors and membership in Phi Beta Kappa in 1963. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford in England, and then attended Yale Law School, where he was managing editor of the law review and was awarded his degree in 1968.

Mr. Woolsey served in the Army and came to Washington in the early 1970s, as a military aide to arms control negotiator Paul Nitze. He later served as general counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee under Sen. John C. Stennis (D-Mississippi).

A so-called “defense Democrat,” Mr. Woolsey was undersecretary of the Navy from 1977 to 1979, during the Carter administration. He later found positions under two Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as a part-time, delegate-at-large to strategic arms talks and as chief negotiator of a European arms treaty.

When not in government, he worked for the Washington law firm Shea & Gardner, where he sometimes represented defense contractors and companies whose interests required that he register with the Justice Department as a foreign lobbyist.

A trim man with a bald head and thin glasses, Mr. Woolsey was little known to the public when Clinton, soon after taking office in January 1993, named him to lead an intelligence community still trying to find its footing more than a year after the Cold War had ended.

From the start, he was put on the defensive, forced to justify the need for a strong CIA in a post-Soviet world.

“Yes, we have slain a large dragon,” he said at his Senate confirmation hearings. “But we live now in a jungle filled with a bewildering variety of poisonous snakes.” He said the CIA should focus on terrorist groups and arms proliferation, as well as adversaries such as Iran and North Korea.

Mr. Woolsey was initially seen as a politically savvy expert on national affairs. In his first year, he held more than 150 meetings with members of Congress, mostly to discuss his shrinking budget.

He told the Los Angeles Times in 1994 that despite his efforts, the number of spy satellites had been “substantially reduced,” the civilian staff had been cut by one-fourth, and the military workforce had been cut by one third.

“There’s a lot of slimming down that’s taking place,” he said.

Mr. Woolsey angered one group of senators when he sternly lectured them, pointer in hand, and demanded they not only reverse the cuts but add to his budget. He clashed repeatedly with Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Arizona), who chaired the Intelligence Committee and, after Ames was arrested, charged that Mr. Woolsey acted more like a civil liberties lawyer than the head of a covert agency that had failed to keep its secrets.

Congress also was unhappy with Mr. Woolsey’s opposition to the creation of a congressionally mandated presidential commission to look at the CIA’s future role, and to Congress’s efforts to resolve a CIA and FBI turf battle over responsibilities for counterintelligence.

After leaving the CIA, Mr. Woolsey served on corporate boards and foundations and remained active in national security circles, including as a partner at Booz Allen Hamilton. He served as a senior adviser on Donald Trump’s transition team before resigning in January 2017, reportedly amid frustrations over the incoming president’s views on national security.

To the surprise of some of his former colleagues, he also published a 2021 book, “Operation Dragon: Inside the Kremlin’s Secret War on America,” in which he and co-author Ion Mihai Pacepa, a top Cold War defector from Romania, claimed that the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was rooted in a KGB plot sponsored by no less than Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader.

Mr. Woolsey’s marriage to Suzanne Haley, a former official of the National Academy of Sciences, ended in divorce. Mr. Woolsey was later married to Nancye Miller, a lobbyist, until her death in 2019. The following year, he married Conchita Sarnoff, an advocate for victims of trafficking, who had written a book about Jeffrey Epstein after covering his crimes in a series of articles for the Daily Beast.

In addition to his wife, survivors include three sons from his first marriage, Robert, Daniel and Benjamin Woolsey; two stepchildren, Cristina and Nicholas Sarnoff; and 10 grandchildren.

Mr. Woolsey had a wry sense of humor. Long after he left the CIA, he happily reminded interviewers about the pilot who stole a small airplane and crash landed on the South Lawn of the White House. The pilot was killed, but Mr. Woolsey found a punch line.

“Remember the guy who in 1994 crashed his plane onto the White House lawn?” he told an interviewer in 2002. “That was me trying to get an appointment to see President Clinton.”

Ray King obit

Tributes paid to influential soul singer Ray King

 He was not on the list.

Tributes have been paid to Ray King, one of the most influential singers in the ska and 2 Tone music genres, following the announcement of his death.

Born Vibert Cornwall in St Vincent and the Grenadines, he came to the UK in 1961 and arrived in Northampton, before moving to Coventry two years later, after being told it was the place to become a singer.

Pete Chambers, the founder of the Coventry Music Museum, said King had a stage presence "like James Brown".

"He was the kind of guy who controlled the stage with just one look, one little movement of the arm or whatever. He was a real professional and such a lovely guy and an influential guy."

In an interview with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 2010, King said his musical influences as a young man and performer ranged from Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, and Elvis Presley to Pat Boone and Doris Day.

He formed the Ray King Soul Band and performed throughout Coventry, with their first gig at The Walsgrave Club in the city.

The reputation of the band's professionalism and popularity led to a six-month residency at the Playboy Club in London, with the likes of Jimmy Hendrix and Paul McCartney joining the band on stage on an ad-hoc basis.

Among the musicians he influenced was Lynval Golding, one of the founders of The Specials.

"Ray King is such an amazing foundation for all of us musically, he's the roots. He's the guy we learn from" he told BBC CWR in a 2019 documentary about 2 Tone music.

In 2012, King was honoured with a plaque dedicated to him on the Wall of Fame at 2 Tone village in Coventry, part of the Coventry Music Museum, recognising the role he played in bringing musicians together to form bands that would become household names.

They included the likes of Golding and Jerry Dammers who formed The Specials, and Charley Anderson and Neol Davies, both founder-members of The Selecter.

Chambers said King's legacy could be found throughout the music scene in the city today.

"His legacy would be as a prime Coventry musician who did so much and cared so much about his home city."

Zale Parry obit

Zale Parry, Diving Industry Pioneer and Goodwill Ambassador, Passes Away 

She was not on the list.

Women’s diving pioneer Zale Parry has died at the age of 93, according to the Women Divers Hall of Fame and the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association. She was also called Zale Bivens.

Often celebrated as the “First Lady of Diving,” Parry was a legendary diver, actress, underwater photographer, author and advocate who dedicated her life to advancing the sport and sharing the wonder of the underwater world, according to DEMA:

“To the DEMA community, Zale was much more than a diving pioneer. She was a cherished friend, a passionate supporter, and for many years the Hall of Fame Ambassador at DEMA Show, where her warmth, generosity, and enthusiasm made everyone she met feel welcome.

“Zale’s extraordinary career spanned decades and helped define the modern diving industry. Among her many accomplishments were pioneering achievements that helped shape recreational diving as we know it today.”

Parry helped popularize scuba diving through her roles in the TV shows “Kingdom of the Sea” and “Sea Hunt” in the 1950s and ’60s and was featured on the May 23, 1955 cover of “Sports Illustrated” magazine.

She was also an advocate for underwater arts and documentation:

International Underwater Film Festival: Co-founded by Parry in 1957, this festival provided a global platform for underwater cinematographers and photographers to showcase the beauty of the ocean.

Underwater Photographic Society: She served as the first female president of the society, mentoring countless underwater image-makers.

Preserving Diving History: Co-authoring historical works on the evolution of recreational diving, Zale dedicated decades to ensuring that the roots and early pioneers of the sport were never forgotten.

Additionally, Parry was on the front lines testing untried gear and pushing technical boundaries, including:

Pioneering Hyperbaric Safety: In the early 1950s, alongside her husband, Dr. Parry Bivens, she helped design, build, and market California’s first civilian hyperbaric chamber through Scientific Underwater Research Enterprises (SURE). Their work helped lay the groundwork for civilian hyperbaric medicine and diver safety.

Setting the Deep Record: In 1954, while testing the Hope-Page non-return valve mouthpiece in open water, Parry set a women’s depth record of 209 feet/63.7 meters. Her successful test demonstrated the reliability of the safety valve, which subsequently became a standard feature on scuba regulators.

Instructional Leadership: Demonstrating an early commitment to formal diver education, Parry became the third woman to graduate from the legendary Los Angeles County Underwater Instructor Certification Course (UICC).

Parry was also a member of the inaugural class of the Women Divers Hall of Fame, who paid tribute to her this week:

“Long before opportunities for women in diving were common, Zale was breaking barriers. She set records, helped establish one of the first civilian hyperbaric chambers in California, became one of the earliest female scuba instructors, and inspired countless people through her underwater photography, television appearances, and lifelong passion for exploring the underwater world.

“More than her accomplishments, Zale will be remembered for the doors she opened for those who followed. Her legacy lives on in every woman who dares to explore, discover, teach, and lead beneath the surface.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to Zale’s family, friends, and the global diving community. Thank you, Zale, for showing us what was possible.

“Fair seas and following currents.”

As a young woman, while working in Santa Monica, California, for the Douglas Aircraft Company, after meetong co-worker (and future husband) Parry Bivens, Zale Parry became involved in pioneering diving and scientific work as reported in a 1955 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.

In 1954, Parry set a women's depth record to 209 feet, exceeding the previous record of 80 feet.

In 1954, Parry made her screen debut in Kingdom of the Sea, a Jack Douglas Production.[7] She appeared in 78 episodes of the series. Because of her work in Kingdom of the Sea, Parry was tapped by the producers of the new show, Sea Hunt. Parry referred to Sea Hunt as an "underwater western". The lead character, Mike Nelson (played by Lloyd Bridges), was introduced to an undersea problem or villain at the start of the show. By the end of the half-hour show, he had resolved the problem.

Parry's acting continued on other shows, including GE Theatre, Wagon Train, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Peter Gunn, and The Magic Circus, etcetera. Parry continued as an actor for a number of years including many commercials and as a stunt woman on a wide variety of shows involving underwater scenes. By 1967, Parry's TV work was primarily in commercials.

Parry doubled for Sophia Loren in the film Boy on a Dolphin (1957). In 2006 she was in the film Tillamook Treasure, in which she played Sam, the owner of a hardware store.

Actress

The Legend of Tillamook's Gold (2006)

The Legend of Tillamook's Gold

4.8

Hardware Store Owner

2006

 

Marineland Carnival

TV Special

Aqua-Maid

1967

 

Max Baer Jr., Donna Douglas, and Irene Ryan in Marineland Carnival (1966)

Marineland Carnival

TV Special

Aqua-Maid

1966

 

Yvonne De Carlo, Fred Gwynne, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick, and Pat Priest in Marineland Carnival: The Munsters Visit Marineland (1965)

Marineland Carnival: The Munsters Visit Marineland

5.1

TV Movie

Aqua-Maid

1965

 

Richard Basehart and David Hedison in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

7.2

TV Series

Angela Madison

1965

1 episode

 

Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt (1958)

Sea Hunt

7.7

TV Series

Woman on BoatLiza KennyQueenie Miller ...

1958–1959

7 episodes

 

Dan Dailey and Claire Kelly in Underwater Warrior (1958)

Underwater Warrior

5.3

Girl Swimmer

1958

 

Stunts

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

6.0

underwater stunts (uncredited)

1961

 

Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt (1958)

Sea Hunt

7.7

TV Series

underwater stunt double: Lynette Bernay (uncredited)

1959

1 episode

 

Thanks

Diving Into 'Blue Water, White Death' (2007)

Diving Into 'Blue Water, White Death'

Video

thanks

2007

 

Self

The Legend of Ivan Tors (2011)

The Legend of Ivan Tors

6.5

Self - Interviewee

2011

 

Diving Into 'Blue Water, White Death' (2007)

Diving Into 'Blue Water, White Death'

Video

Self

2007

 

Groucho Marx in You Bet Your Life (1950)

You Bet Your Life

8.5

TV Series

Self - Champion Skin Diver

1954

1 episode

 

Alternative name

Zale Bivens

Born

March 19, 1933Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Spouse

Parry Bivens1955 - 1963 (his death)

Other works

Co-author (with Al Tillman) of "Scuba America", a record of the early history of scuba and skin diving in the United States.

Jim Lindsey obit

Jim Lindsey, Arkansas football icon and member of 1964 national champion team, has died

 He was not on the list.

Arkansas football legend Jim Lindsey, who helped lead the Razorbacks to the program’s only national championship in 1964 and later was an influential philanthropist for the program, died Sunday evening following a lengthy illness. He was 81.

Lindsey was born on Nov. 24, 1944, in Caldwell, Arkansas, and attended Forrest City High School, where he was a star football player and signed with Frank Broyles and the Razorbacks in 1962.

“I helped recruit him, and I was his position coach,” said Barry Switzer, who was a former player and assistant coach at Arkansas before winning multiple national championships at Oklahoma and a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys. “He was a natural leader for our team and was a good player for us. We were close. I kept up with him during his time with the [Minnesota] Vikings. I just kept writing him letters of encouragement. I just told him if he played with the same effort as he gave us, he'd play a long time and his investments would pay off.”

At Arkansas, Lindsey rose to the ranks of captain and team leader in the heyday of Razorback football under Broyles. Lindsey played on teams that had a combined record of 26-6 from 1963-65 and won 22 straight games at one point, the longest winning streak for a college football program in the 1960s.

In 1964, the Razorbacks went 11-0 and defeated arch-rival and defending national champion Texas 14-13. Lindsey playing a key role in the win over the No. 1 Longhorns. He threw a key block on All-America linebacker Tommy Nobis that sprung Ken Hatfield free on his legendary 81-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The Razorbacks capped the perfect season with a 10-7 win against Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, with Lindsey making two crucial catches on the game-winning 80-yard drive late in the fourth quarter.

His 10-yard reception to the Nebraska 43 converted a third down, then he caught a 28-yard pass to the Cornhuskers' 5 that set up Bobby Burnett's go-ahead touchdown on the following play.

The Razorbacks went 10-0 in the 1965 regular season before falling 14-7 to LSU at the Cotton Bowl.

Ironically, the game that launched the 22-game win streak almost wasn’t played. It was the regular season finale against Texas Tech in Fayetteville one day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in downtown Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The two teams played the game as a somber crowd watched Arkansas claim a 27-20 win. The Razorbacks did not lose again until the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1966.

Lindsey was drafted by both the Vikings in the NFL and the Buffalo Bills in the AFL. He spent seven seasons with the Vikings as a running back under Bud Grant, including the 1969 season when the Vikings lost the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Although Lindsey’s playing career at Arkansas left a lasting legacy, he’s probably far better known as one of Northwest Arkansas’ top business leaders. He turned his NFL signing bonus into a real estate empire that has spanned more than 50 years.

"I recall him going to lunch with E.J. Ball,” Switzer said. “He was told to take his $75,000 signing bonus and buy the land between Fayetteville and Springdale. He did it. That was as good a use for a signing bonus as anyone has ever made."

He also launched a bid to become Arkansas' governor in 1976 and lost to incumbent David Pryor in the Democratic primary.

Lindsey was a noted philanthropist helping untold thousands of people in their times of need.

"The number of people he helped might have been in the thousands,” former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. “He might take care of someone's funeral costs. He might send a pile of hundreds to someone — anonymously. He might send someone 20 pies from Neal's Cafe. He had the most giving heart of anyone I knew."

Jim Watson, a close friend of Lindsey’s, echoed Nutt’s sentiment about Lindsey’s giving heart to those in need.

“I'm told by Jim's secretary that there is no end to the gifts he gave to others that she knew about and there would probably be many more she didn't know about,” Watson said. “He always was a giver, even when he was just getting started in business as an NFL football player. But as he made more money, he gave more. He was always on the lookout for someone to help."

Lindsey's Celebration of Life will be held on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at University Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

As a 21-year-old, Lindsey used his $75,000 NFL signing bonus to purchase a tract of land in Northwest Arkansas, his starting point in buying and selling real estate, an occupation he pursued during his off-seasons, and which became his main occupation after retirement from football. As of 2013, Lindsey's company owned more than 37,000 apartment units and 42 golf courses.

Lindsey Golf courses are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Courses range from 9-18 holes, with many of them featuring a links style design. These courses tend to fill a niche for affordable public golf courses, but that are maintained at country-club level standards.

In 2011, production began on a documentary film covering Lindsey's life. Narrated by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, "The Jim Lindsey Story" details Lindsey's youth in the Arkansas Delta, role during the 1964 championship season, time in the National Football League, and rise in real estate. The film features interviews with College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Broyles, former Arkansas head coach Ken Hatfield, former NFL players Fred Cox and Dave Osborn, and Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant. Executive produced by Emmy Award winners Larry Foley and Dale Carpenter, the documentary is presented by the University of Arkansas's Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism. "The Jim Lindsey Story" is scheduled for release in fall of 2013.

 

Personal information

Born    November 24, 1944

Caldwell, Arkansas, U.S.

Died    July 19, 2026 (aged 81)

Listed height   6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)

Listed weight  210 lb (95 kg)

Career information

High school     Forrest City (Forrest City, Arkansas)

College            Arkansas

NFL draft        1966: 2nd round, 27th overall pick

AFL draft        1966: 2nd round, 17th overall pick

Career history

Minnesota Vikings (1966–1972)

Awards and highlights

NFL champion (1969)

National champion (1964)

Second-team All-SWC (1964)

Career NFL statistics

Rushing yards 566

Rushing average          3.2

Receptions       56

Receiving yards          632

Total touchdowns        11

Dixon Dern obit

Dixon Dern Dies: Attorney For CAA, CBS, TV Academy & Desilu, Was 97

 

He was not on the list.

Dixon Q. Dern, the longtime entertainment attorney who worked at CBS, Desilu and United Artists TV; who represented clients such as Desi Arnaz and the Television Academy; who often served as an arbitrator for labor disputes; who helped incorporate CAA and who was a pioneer in syndicated sales and pre-financing for TV, died on July 19. That, according to an obituary posted by Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills. He was 97.

Dern began his career as an in-house counsel for United Artists Television, Desilu and CBS before founding his own firm where he represented Desi Arnaz, the Television Academy, Village Roadshow, the Bob Hope Estate and many others.

Dern was often at the nexus of power in Hollywood.

One day in the mid-seventies, Michael Ovitz showed up, closed Dern’s office door and told him he and his associates would be back for a meeting the next day. The subject of the proposed meeting was not disclosed.

“The next day five guys showed up,” said Dern. “It was the five founders of CAA. They were basically the top five guys in William Morris’ television division and they told me they were leaving William Morris and wanted to set up a new agency. So I formed a corporation. They rented a little office with fold-up desks fold-up tables. We did their legal work for them for about six months.”

Dern often served as an arbitrator under various industry collective bargaining agreements, specifically the DGA and WGA.

Dern represented the Television Academy for decades. He played a key role in settling a long-simmering feud between its Los Angeles and New York contingents.

From the Academy’s official history:

By 1976, the situation had exacerbated to the point where, at the semiannual official national board meeting at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, each chapter designated five-man negotiation teams to meet separately from the rest of the attendees for a two-day summit convened to broker a detente.

The Los Angeles contingent consisted of Michael Baugh, Dixon Dern, Hank Rieger, the late Bob Sweeney and then Los Angeles chapter president Larry Stewart, who was chairman of the negotiating committee.

Reaching a settlement took far longer than two days.

Again, from the Academy’s official history:

After much legal wrangling, the two groups agreed to sever in 1977. According to the terms of the dissolution, both would retain their national status, with the group in Los Angeles retaining its original name, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the New York body retaining the name of National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Each group would also control specific award shows: the Los Angeles-based Television Academy kept the Primetime Emmys, and jurisdiction over the Los Angeles chapter; the New York entity retained the Daytime, News, Documentary and Sports Emmys, as well as jurisdiction over the 19 chapters throughout the U.S. that produced their own local Emmy events.

Dern also learned a lot about the business while in the legal department at CBS.

“When I got there it was pre Fin-Syn, the financial interest syndication rule which later barred the networks from owning distribution rights,” he said in a 2021 interview with the Beverly Hills Bar Association, of which he was a former president. “But at the time…CBS could own its own shows. In fact, in most cases, it did and we did all the production work on them.”

Among those shows were classics like Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel and Perry Mason.

Dern later moved to Desilu when Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball were still involved there.

“One thing we did there that was, I think, instrumental to the industry: We decided to set up a syndicated sales organization. We set up Desilu Sales which became the forerunner of Paramount Television today.”

He left Desilu after Paramount acquired the company.

When Dern set up his own practice, Desi became one of his first clients and stayed with him until the day the actor/producer died. Even after Desi’s death, Dern maintained a working relationship with the family. In fact, Dern represented Lucy and Desi Arnaz Jr. in negotiating rights for Amazon’s Being the Ricardos.

Through the years, Dern also became involved in back-end television financing and pre-sales to foreign distributors.

“I had a number of clients who were producing shows and they would get the funds from the network but they wouldn’t have enough money to to finish production,” he recalled. “So you’d go out and get distributors. They were guaranteed to put up the money on delivery. Then I would go to a bank — or really I went to Lew Horowitz. He would set up the financing with a bank and then as soon as the picture was delivered the distributor would pay the bank and everybody would be happy. It’s very similar to the structure that was done in the independent film market.”

Services will be held at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills from 9:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. on July 31.

Sylvia Bugg obit

Sylvia Bugg, PBS Programming Chief, Dies at 55

PBS CEO Paula Kerger announced the news on Sunday. 

She was not on the list.

Sylvia Bugg, PBS‘ chief programming executive and general manager for general audience programming, died “unexpectedly this weekend,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger announced. She was 55.

“Over decades in public media, including her leadership at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and three chapters of service here at PBS, Sylvia shaped the programming that defines our service to the American people,” Kerger said Sunday. “She brought forward landmark films across history, science and the arts and guided our America @250 slate through a defining year.”

Bugg will be “gratefully remembered for her commitment to ensuring public media’s programming reflects a broad range of voices and perspectives,” Kerger added. “She was a strong advocate for education, both in the programs she supported and in her own life, as shown by her multiple advanced degrees, including a recent doctorate.”

No cause of death was provided. This month, PBS received five Primetime Emmy nominations.

Bugg joined PBS for a third stint just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. Previously, she was vp diversity and television content at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Bugg was PBS’ director of programming from April 2012-August 2014; her first turn came in the mid-to-late ’90s. Bugg also worked at Discovery Inc. for a dozen years.

“Our thoughts are with Sylvia’s family, friends and colleagues across public media, who are all devastated by this loss,” Kerger said. “Many have noted her grace and kindness, shown every day. She will be deeply missed.”

Bugg earned a doctorate in Education from USC and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Peter Lassally obit

Peter Lassally, Producer for Johnny Carson and David Letterman, Dies at 93

The "Host Whisperer" started out with Arthur Godfrey, spent 23 years with 'The Tonight Show' and engineered Dave's move to CBS. 

He was not on the list.

Peter Lassally, a concentration camp survivor who became known as the “Host Whisperer” for producing talk shows headlined by Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, has died. He was 93.

Lassally died Sunday of natural causes at a memory care facility in Los Angeles, his son, Tom Lassally, the partner, producer and manager at 3 Arts Entertainment, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lassally had produced programs starring Arthur Godfrey and Mike Wallace before joining Carson on NBC’s The Tonight Show, then based in New York, in 1969. He served as the quiet behind-the-scenes guy in a producing partnership with the boisterous Fred De Cordova and remained with the show until Carson’s final broadcast on May 22, 1992.

After just one week off, Lassally jumped to Late Night With David Letterman as an executive producer for what would prove to be the NBC program’s final season. When Jay Leno was picked over Letterman to replace Carson, Lassally advised Letterman what to do next.

“I said to Dave, ‘If you’re going to follow Jay Leno at 12:30 when he gets The Tonight Show, you’re going to hate yourself, you’re going to be miserable,'” Lassally recalled in a 2009 chat for the Television Academy Foundation website The Interviews.

“You’re going to think, ‘Why am I following Jay Leno when I for 12 years hosted the 12:30 show … and my reward should be The Tonight Show?’ If you agree, I’ll try to get you an 11:30 show — not knowing when I said that just how I was going to do that.”

Lassally hooked Letterman up with powerful CAA agent Michael Ovitz, and the host fielded lucrative offers in syndication, cable and broadcast before deciding to move to CBS in 1993 to topline Late Show With David Letterman from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway at 11:35 p.m.

The deal included ownership of a 12:35 a.m. program, The Late Late Show, and Lassally returned to California to set up that program with host Tom Snyder. When Snyder left after four years in March 1999, Lassally disapproved of his replacement, the snarky Craig Kilborn — he had pushed for Jon Stewart — and stepped aside. But when Kilborn quit in a salary dispute in 2004, he got his man in the charming Scottish actor-comedian Ferguson.

“I always had a good relationship with the hosts that I worked with because I would tell them the truth. That has really worked well for me. That’s how I got the title the ‘Host Whisperer,'” the two-time Emmy winner said. “I’m not good at pumping sunshine up their rears. If I didn’t like it, I can’t fake it, I can’t pretend it was good. I’m very lucky the hosts respected that.”

Peter Eduard Lassally was born on Oct. 14, 1932, in Hamburg, Germany. His father, Paul, was an importer/exporter in the coffee business, and his mother, Elsa, was a housewife.

He and his family fled Germany in 1938 on the way to England to escape the Nazis but “didn’t go far enough,” settling in Amsterdam, where he went to the same grade school as Anne Frank. After his father died and the Germans invaded the Netherlands, his mother and older sister were confined to two concentration camps from 1943-45.

The second camp, Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, “was a very strange place,” Lassally told NPR in 2012. “That’s where the Nazis fixed up the camp with all sorts of phony, wonderful decor and invited the Red Cross to come and visit and see what wonderful things they were doing.”

In 1947, Lassally came to live with an uncle in Canton, New York, where he attended St. Lawrence University after graduating from high school in Queens. Back in New York City, he worked as an usher at Radio City Music Hall and as a page (alongside Regis Philbin) at NBC.

Lassally reviewed Broadway plays for a WOR radio program hosted by Ruby Mercer and went on to produce her show, then produced the NBC radio program Nightline, where he hired Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman and Nichols & May to do short comedy bits. “That’s where I found doing what I really love more than anything else, finding talent and developing them,” he said.

Lassally produced Godfrey-hosted shows on CBS radio and television — he eventually became president of Godfrey’s production company — and in 1961 moved to PM East, a syndicated talk show from Westinghouse that was hosted by Wallace. He regularly booked Barbra Streisand on that because she lived in an apartment above the studio; she hadn’t even begun her singing career yet.

Lassally got to know Carson’s second wife, Joanne, when she asked him to produce a TV pilot for her, and she helped him get a job on The Tonight Show. De Cordova came aboard a bit later, and they enjoyed a complementary relationship, he told Mark Malkoff on a 2014 episode of The Carson Podcast.

“He would be Mr. Jolly and schmooze with the guests, which I didn’t like to do, and I would do all the work. And that worked perfectly,” he said. The pair had lunch together every day for more than two decades, often throwing in a game of poker.

Lassally had final say on all Tonight Show guests — he recognized Garry Shandling‘s potential during an appearance on The Merv Griffin Show and pursued Steven Wright after seeing him do stand-up at a Chinese restaurant — and broke in the guest hosts who sat in when Carson was on vacation.

“The gift that I keep looking for in people, whether they’re hosts or guests, is likability,” he said. “I don’t care if you have the No. 1 record or the No. 1 movie; if you’re not likable, I’d rather not put you on because I don’t think the audience will stay up.”

Joan Rivers eventually became the permanent guest host, and she assumed Lassally would follow her when she landed her own late-night show at Fox in 1986. He stayed loyal to Carson, however.

After Carson retired, Lassally convinced him to send jokes to Letterman for his monologues. “He didn’t want to force Dave to use them because of who Johnny was,” he told Malkoff. “I said, ‘No, these jokes are wonderful, and Dave would be honored and proud to do them on his show.’ He finally gave in.”

Shandling also bounced talk-show ideas off him for HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show. “Shandling and his writing partner would ask me, ‘Could this have happened?’ I would say yes and no,” he said.

In his TV Academy Foundation interview, Lassally noted that Late Show originally was to spend just one year in New York before moving to Los Angeles. However, when the program came out of the gate beating Leno in the ratings, those plans were shelved, and Lassally stayed in New York for about 2 1/2 years, longer than he would have preferred.

He was serving as a consultant on Late Late Show when he was asked to oversee the selection of a new host after Kilborn’s exit. Four finalists — Ferguson, D.L. Hughley, Michael Ian Black and Damien Fahey — emerged from more than two dozen guest hosts (among them Stewart) before Ferguson, despite his heavy Scottish burr, got the job.

Lassally retired in 2014 as executive producer of Late Late Show when Ferguson left. He collected 13 Emmy nominations during his career, with wins in 1992 for The Tonight Show and 1994 for Late Show.

“When Johnny Carson and David Letterman needed counsel and an honest opinion, they immediately went to Peter Lassally, the professor of late night,” NBC said in a statement. “His relationship to each of these giants was immeasurable, and both of them would undoubtedly say his contribution to their success was so impactful that it would be difficult to put in words. [He was] a quiet man whose influence and stature spoke volumes; his brilliance was in shaping what we watch, how we watch and why late night was, and remains, vitally significant.”

In addition to his son, survivors include his daughter, Andrea, and his grandchildren, Walker, Eloise, Annabel and Owen. His wife of 60 years, Alice, predeceased him.

“I respect talent, I’m in awe of talent,” he once said. “If you are really talented, I will put up with your craziness. Because if you’re that talented, you’re not a normal person; there’s something wacky about you.”

Chen Gang obit

Chinese Composer Chen Gang has Died, Aged 91 

Gang was best known internationally as the co-composer of the famous “Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto” 

He was not on the list.

Born in 1935, the renowned Chinese composer Chen Gang was a longtime professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and best known as the co-creator of the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, which remains one of the most frequently performed Chinese works for violin and a Western-style orchestra.

Chen first studied music with his father, the songwriter Chen Gexin, and at the age of 10 began studying piano with a Hungarian pianist in Shanghai.

From 1955 to 1959, he studied composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with Ding Shande, Sang Tong, and Soviet music experts, before staying on to teach as a professor himself after graduating. His later students included the acclaimed Chinese-American composer Jing Jing Luo.

In May 1959 at age 24, Chen partnered with his classmate He Zhanhao to write the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, which premiered under the direction of Yu Lina, and went on to become a career highlight.

or over 60 years, The Butterfly Lovers concerto has remained one of the most recognized symbolic representations of Chinese music with its unique blend of folk opera melodies with the Western symphonic structure. The concerto went on to earn five Golden Record prizes and a Platinum Record honor.

In a 2021 interview, Chen reflected on the years since creating The Butterfly Lovers, saying that the work was a “coming-of-age” piece from his student days under a very creative environment.

“It has indeed become a classic, a product of that unique era and its specific creative environment; not a single note has been altered since it was first written,” Chen says in the interview. “Amidst the contemporary call for ‘nationalization,’ this subject matter — which was the least reflective of ‘reality’ and the least aligned with ‘politics’ — was nonetheless selected by Meng Bo, then Party Secretary of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. This choice gave rise to a Chinese symphonic work that fused the dramatic structure of the Western sonata form with the melodies and performance techniques of traditional Chinese opera.”

Chen’s other works that became staples of Chinese classical music include 1970s pieces such as Miaolin’s Morning, The Golden Steel Smelting Furnace, and Sunshine in Tashkurgan — a virtuosic solo violin work frequently performed across China today. In the 1980s, he penned another violin concerto, Wang Zhaojun.

Notably, he also composed China’s first harp concerto and its first oboe concerto, as well as symphonic poems, grand choruses, and chamber ensembles. Remaining an active composer until his passing, Chen had recently completed “Symphonic Overture: Blossoms” in 2025. His works are known for their blend of tradition with abundant contemporary compositional techniques.

Our condolences to Mr. Chen’s family, friends, students, and colleagues.

Hannah Rapp obit

Rapp, 26, dies after being hit by car while cycling

 

She was not on the list.

American boxer Hannah Rapp died on Saturday after being hit by a car while cycling in Texas.

Rapp, 26, was passed by a car which suddenly came to a stop then reversed into her, according to the Brazos County sheriff's office.

The driver has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Rapp challenged for the WBC women's featherweight championship in June, losing to Tiara Brown in Orlando, which left her with an 8-1-1 record.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said in a statement: "She was an exceptional boxer, but above all, an invaluable member of our boxing family."

Brown called Rapp the "best dance partner I have ever faced as a pro" and said Rapp asked for her autograph in the lead-up to the fight.

"It filled my heart because we were getting ready for war, yet she was still asking for my autograph," said Brown. "We fought a great fight. It was my honor to share the ring with her."

Rapp, from Indiana, competed in athletics before transitioning to boxing. She turned professional in 2024 while maintaining a full-time job as a fire and life safety inspector.

Her promoter, Most Valuable Promotions, said in a statement: "Hannah made a lasting impression on everyone who had the opportunity to meet her.

"She was a gifted athlete, a valued member of the boxing community, and someone who was deeply respected by those around her.

"We are grateful to have shared a part of her journey and will honour her memory in the weeks ahead."