Michael D Ford obit

Oscar-winning British set decorator Michael Ford dies aged 90

He was not on the list.


Michael Ford, the two-time Oscar-winning set decorator whose credits included Titanic, several James Bond films and Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back has died at the age of 90.


Ford began his career in the early 1970s, working as an assistant art director on several UK features including Up The Front and The Alf Garnett Saga. He also held the same position on TV series The New Avengers.

In 1980, he took up the position of set decorator on sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, which shot at the UK’s Elstree Studios. From there, he worked on a variety of high-profile features throughout the 80s and 90s.

He received his first Oscar nomination in 1981 for his work in the art department on The Empire Strikes Back, before winning his debut Oscar the following year for Raiders Of The Lost Ark. He was again nominated in the art department of Star Wars sequel Return Of The Jedi in 1984, before winning his second Oscar in 1998 for his and art director Peter Lamont’s work on Titanic. Ford’s final credit was adventure sci-fi Wing Commander in 1999.

Reacting to the news of Ford’s passing, Lamont said: “So sorry to hear about the death of my friend and colleague Michael Ford, known affectionately as the ‘Flower Arranger’. [He] collaborated with me on seven productions (Consuming Passions, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, The Taking of Beverley Hills, Golden Eye, Titanic and finally Wing Commander) from Mexico to Morocco, LA to Luxenberg and the UK.

“He was a very talented set decorator and artist. I never ever saw him blow a fuse at work, [he was] a true gentleman and we will all miss him.”

Peter Walpole, chairman of The British Film Designers Guild, added: “Sad news to hear the passing on Michael Ford. As a production buyer and then an aspiring set decorator, I looked up to Michael with respect and awe. I concur with Peter, he was a true gentlemen. He will be sadly missed.”

Russell Nype obit

Two-Time Tony-Winning Actor Russell Nype Dies at 98 

The actor may best be remembered for his show-stopping duet with Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam.

He was not on the list.

Russell Nype, who won Tony Awards sharing the stage with Ethel Merman and Elaine Stritch, died May 27 in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 98, according to the New York Times.

Russell Nype, June Helmers, Danny Lockin, and Georgia Engel in Hello, Dolly!

Born Russell Harold Nype April 26, 1920, in Zion, Illinois, Nype attended Lake Forest College before serving in the Army during World War II. He later moved to New York, working as a ballroom dance instructor and singing in downtown nightclubs before making his Broadway debut in 1945 in the original musical Regina.

The actor also appeared in the short-lived musical Great to Be Alive! before being cast in the role of Kenneth Gibson in the 1950 Irving Berlin hit Call Me Madam, which starred Ethel Merman as fictional U.S. ambassador Mrs. Sally Adams. It was Nype's duet with Merman on “You're Just in Love” that stopped the show nightly. For his performance, Nype received a Theatre World Award as well as his first Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Nype followed that Tony-winning turn with a role in the comedy Wake Up, Darling, which played five performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1956, and a 1957 revival of Carousel that cast him as Enoch Snow.

The 1958 musical comedy Goldilocks, which starred Elaine Stritch and Don Ameche, brought Nype his second Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Nype was also seen on Broadway in a 1963 revival of Brigadoon, the original farce Once for the Asking (also in 1963), a replacement Cornelius Hackl in the original staging of Hello, Dolly! (when Merman joined the cast in the title role), and the six-performance run of the 1967 comedy The Girl in the Freudian Slip (featuring a young Bernadette Peters among its cast).

Nype's final Broadway outing was as a replacement in the 1980 Tony-winning revival of Morning’s at Seven.

On the silver screen Nype appeared in Love Story (1970), Can't Stop the Music (1980), Balboa (1983), and The Stuff (1985), while his TV credits included Frontiers of Faith, Look up and Live, Dorothy, Fantasy Island, One Day at a Time, Who's the Boss?, and Murder, She Wrote, among others. He also was seen in TV stagings of One Touch of Venus and Kiss Me, Kate.

In 1953 Nype married Diantha Lawrence, who passed away in 2015. He is survived by his son Russell, his stepson Richard Mander, and his stepdaughter Melanie Mander as well as two grandchildren.

 

Filmography

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1970    Love Story    Dean Thompson       

1980    Can't Stop the Music            Richard Montgomery    

1983    Balboa            Senator Highsmith        

1985    The Stuff            Richards

Don Peterson obit

Pioneering NASA Astronaut Don Peterson Dies at 84

He was not on the list.

Col. Don Peterson spent 24 years in the Air Force, became a NASA astronaut during the Apollo era and participated in the first spacewalk of the 30-year Space Shuttle program.

But after his death Sunday at the age of 84, his family will remember him more for his honesty and gentleness than for his stellar career.

"Don would tell you his greatest joy was caring for and spending time with his wife and family," his obituary reads. "Saying 'I love you' came easy and often from him ... He told his grandchildren, 'holding them in his rocking chair was better than floating in space.' His unconditional love for all of them will be treasured always."

Peterson was the second astronaut to die over the weekend, both in Texas. The first was Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon, who died Saturday at the age of 86.

Harding Lemay obit

 

HARDING LEMAY Obituary

He was not on the list.

Harding "Pete" Lemay, born March 16, 1922, died peacefully on May 26, 2018 at 96 years of age. The many friends and colleagues from his long and storied life mourn his passing. We knew him as a gentle and loving man of remarkable accomplishment and humanity. And we knew him as a great romantic. Our hearts go out to his beloved widow, Gloria Gardner. Playwright, teacher, memoirist, editor, and an early pioneer of television soap operas, he is said to have single- handedly written almost every episode of Another World from 1971-79 as head writer. He won a Daytime Emmy for that show and another for Guiding Light. Born into rural poverty, as the fifth of thirteen children near his mother's St. Regis Mohawk Indian reservation in North Bangor, New York, he escaped his parents' alcoholism and his father's suicide by running away to New York City at age 17, finding early refuge at the famous Brace Memorial Newsboys' Home. After Army service in World War II took him to France and Germany at the end of the war, he entered the Neighborhood Playhouse on the GI Bill to become an actor. By the mid-fifties, he was deeply ensconced in the world of books and publishing, He was co-host with Virgilia Peterson of a WNYC radio program Books in Profile leading to working at Alfred A. Knopf in 1958 as Publicity Director. He became Vice President and editor working with Elizabeth Bowen, John Updike, John Cheever. His ground-breaking memoir, Inside, Looking Out, Harper's Magazine Press (1971) was dubbed "an American classic" by Newsweek and "a literary event" by Saturday Review. It was nominated for a national book award for biography. A second memoir, Eight Years In Another World (Atheneum) was published in 1981. His deepest passion was for playwriting. He entered New Dramatists, the NYC playwrights laboratory, in 1963 along with John Guare and Lanford Wilson, where he became a long-serving board member. His 13 plays were first presented in readings and workshops at New Dramatists and featured his longtime friend and collaborator Marian Seldes. A devoted teacher, he taught literature and drama for many years at Hunter College and The New School for Social Research. As part of the Pen American Prison Writing Program, he read dozens of plays a year by incarcerated men and women. His first marriage, to actress Priscilla Amidon, ended in divorce. His second wife, Dorothy Shaw, died in 1994. He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Gloria Gardner of New York City; his son, Stephen Lemay and daughter, Susan Pain, and son-in-law, Kevin Pain; and three grandchildren.

 

Positions held

Another World

 

Story consultant (1995–1997)

Head writer (1971–1979; 1988)

As the World Turns

 

Story consultant

The Doctors

 

Head writer (1981–1982)

Guiding Light

 

Consultant (1995)

Writer (1980-1981)

Lovers and Friends/For Richer, For Poorer

 

Co-creator

Head writer (1977)

One Life to Live

 

Story consultant (1998–1999)

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards

 

Wins

 

(1975; Best Writing; Another World)

(1981; Best Writing; Guiding Light)

Nominations

 

(1977 & 1996; Best Writing; Another World)

Alan Bean obit

Astronaut and Moonwalker Alan Bean, a Former Navy Pilot, Dies at 86

He was not on the list.

Former Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, who was the fourth man to walk on the moon and later turned to painting to chronicle the moon landings on canvas, has died. He was 86.

Bean was the lunar module pilot for the second moon landing mission in November 1969. He spent 31 hours on the moon during two moonwalks, deploying surface experiments with commander Charles Conrad and collecting 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of rocks and lunar soil for study back on Earth, according to a statement from NASA and Bean's family that announced his death.

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Bean died Saturday in Houston, Texas, following a short illness, the statement said.

"As all great explorers are, Alan was a boundary pusher," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement that credited Bean with being part of 11 world records in the areas of space and aeronautics. "We will remember him fondly as the great explorer who reached out to embrace the universe."

With Bean's passing, only four of 12 Apollo moonwalkers are still alive — Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt.

Schmitt, the lunar module pilot for Apollo 17, was one of many astronauts who mourned Bean's death and paid tribute Saturday to his accomplishments that blazed trails for future space exploration.

"His enthusiasm about space and art never waned. Alan Bean is one of the great renaissance men of his generation — engineer, fighter pilot, astronaut and artist," Schmitt said in a statement, adding that the wide array of lunar samples Bean helped collect from the moon was "a scientific gift that keeps on giving today and in the future."

In 1998 NASA oral history, Bean recalled his excitement at preparing to fly to the moon.

"When you're getting ready to go to the moon, every day's like Christmas and your birthday rolled into one. I mean, can you think of anything better?" Bean said.

After Apollo, Bean commanded the second crewed flight to the United States' first space station, Skylab, in 1973. On that mission, he orbited the Earth for 59 days and traveled 24.4 million miles, setting a world record at the time.

Born March 15, 1932, in Wheeler, Texas, Bean received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas in 1955. He attended the Navy Test Pilot School and was one of 14 trainees selected by NASA for its third group of astronauts in October 1963.

"I'd always wanted to be a pilot, ever since I could remember," Bean said in the 1998 NASA oral history. "I think a lot of it just had to do with it looked exciting. It looked like brave people did that. I wanted to be brave, even though I wasn't brave at the time. I thought maybe I could learn to be, so that appealed to me."

Bean retired from NASA in 1981 and devoted much of his time to creating an artistic record of space exploration.

His Apollo-themed paintings feature canvases textured with lunar boot prints and embedded with small pieces of his moon dust-stained mission patches.

"Alan Bean was the most extraordinary person I ever met," astronaut Mike Massimino, who flew on two space shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope, said in a statement. "He was a one-of-a-kind combination of technical achievement as an astronaut and artistic achievement as a painter."

Many fellow space explorers posted tributes to Bean on Twitter.

Retired U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly said the world had not only lost "a spaceflight pioneer ... but also an exceptional artist that brought his experience back to Earth to share with the world." Kelly added: "Fair winds and following seas, Captain."

U.S. astronaut Karen Nyberg called Bean a kind, gracious and humble man and a true role model.

"As a girl who grew up with passions for spaceflight and art, Alan Bean was my hero," she wrote. "I feel fortunate to have met him."

Retired astronaut Clayton Anderson tweeted "#RIP Alan Bean. Thank you for letting me stand upon your shoulders."

Bean's wife of 40 years, Leslie Bean, said in a statement that Bean died peacefully at Houston Methodist Memorial Hospital surrounded by those who loved him.

"Alan was the strongest and kindest man I ever knew," she said. "He was the love of my life and I miss him dearly."

He is survived by his wife, a sister and two children from a prior marriage, a daughter Amy Sue and son, Clay.

Gloria LeRoy obit

Actress Gloria LeRoy has died

She was not on the list.

She had a diverse career on stage, in film, and on television. Her film career began after Norman Lear spotted her on stage and cast her in The Night They Raided Minsky's in 1968. She was perhaps best known for playing the voluptuous Mildred "Boom Boom" Turner in the 1970s sitcom All in the Family.

LeRoy was born in 1925 to vaudeville performers Loletta and Russell LeRoy in Bucyrus, Ohio. When she was a young girl the family moved to New York, where they owned a dance school, which both Gloria and her brother Kenneth studied. Kenneth went on to star on Broadway as a dancer and singer and was the first Bernardo in West Side Story. Gloria performed on Broadway in Artists and Models with Jackie Gleason in 1943 at age 17 as a Specialty Dancer. Her early career started in night clubs as a dancer and singer for Barbara Walters' father, impresario Lou Walters, at the Latin Quarter. She later headlined Nouvelle Eve, a Parisian cabaret show import, at the Hotel El Rancho Vegas from 1951 to 1952.

She was cast in a production of Hello, Dolly! (1964) as Ernestina Money, but was replaced by Mary Jo Catlett. She toured with Ann Corio's This Was Burlesque as a tassel-twirler. She also appeared in George M! A New Musical.

She had recurring roles on the soaps Days of Our Lives as Queenie (1989), The Young and the Restless as Beatrice Tucker (1998) and Passions as Ruth (2000). She appeared in Three's Company as Nancy in the episode "The Goodbye Guy" (1980), as well as on Married... with Children as Chesty LaRue in the episode "Live Nude Peg" (1997). In 2001, she appeared in the season 8 Frasier episode "A Day in May" as Mrs. Smolenski, a prospective house buyer. In 2007, LeRoy appeared in the pilot episode of Rules of Engagement. In 2009, she appeared in Season 5 of Desperate Housewives as Rose Kemper. She also appeared in season 1 and season 2 episodes of the Showtime series Shameless as Aunt Ginger. Her final appearances were in season 3 episodes of the HBO series Getting On in 2015.

LeRoy died in Los Angeles, California on May 24, 2018 at age 92.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1968      The Night They Raided Minsky's                 Mae Harris         

1971      Cold Turkey        Lottie Davenport (Masseuse)     

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight    Ida         

1974      Welcome to Arrow Beach             Ginger  

1975      The Day of the Locust     Mrs. Loomis       

1978      Bloodbrothers   Sylvia    

1980      Cheaper to Keep Her      Woman on Diving Board              

Tricks of the Trade                          

1981      Honky Tonk Freeway      Fish Restaurant Waitress              

Pennies from Heaven     A Prostitute       

1986      Sid and Nancy    Grandma            

Stewardess School           Grandma Polk   

1987      Barfly    Grandma Moses              

1990      Cool Blue             Ida          Video

1992      Body Waves       Mrs. Matthews

Final Embrace    Velvet  

1993      Snapdragon        Nurse   

1994      Bad Blood            Elderly Bank Lady            

1996      Going Home       Toni       Short

1997      Sparkler                Maxine

Jack        Mrs. Goodman

1999      The Clock             Gracie   Short

Pumpkin Hill       Gracie   Short

2000      Sordid Lives        Peggy Ingram    

Face the Music Grandma            

2001      All You Need      Nana Sabistan   

2003      Shotgun               Minnie Short

2005      The Amateurs    Mrs. Mendelson              

2010      Quit       Pawn Clerk         

2014      Out        Louise[24]           Short

 

Television

 

Year       Title       Role       Note

1972      Gunsmoke          Claire     Episode: Eleven Dollars

All in the Family                Bobbi Jo Loomis                Episode: The Threat

1973      Love, American Style                      Episode: Love and the Cozy Comrades

Cannon                                 Episode: The Perfect Alibi

The Blue Knight                                 TV film

Miracle on 34th Street   Mother #1           TV film

1974      Mannix                 Jenny    Episode: Mask for a Charade

Gunsmoke          Mady     2 episodes

The Streets of San Francisco        Mrs. Ledbetter 2 episode 1974, 1976

All in the Family                Mildred 'Boom Boom' Turner      2 episodes 1974, 1978

1975      Hot L Baltimore                 Millie    

Baretta Doris Mazurski Episode: When Dues Come Down

Petrocelli             Mrs Ames / Zasu O'Brien               2 episode

The Bob Crane Show       Lola        Episode: Son of the Campus Capers

1976      Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours              Hooker TV film

Baretta Wicked Wanda Episode: "Shoes"

In the Glitter Palace        Norma Addison                 TV film

1977      The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver     Saleslady              TV film[25]

Alice      Bar Waitress       Episode: Alice by Moonlight

1978-1979          Kaz         Mary Parnell      22 episodes

1979      But Mother!       Trixie     TV film

Topper Saleswoman       TV film

1980      Scruples               Rosie    

The Ropers         Gloria Mealy      Episode: Old Flames

Three's Company             Nancy    Episode: The Goobye Guy

1981      Behind the Screen           Drunk Lady         Episode: 1.2

1982      WKRP in Cincinnati          Sheila    1 episode

Hill Street Blues                Rena      2 episodes

1983      Automan             Landlady              Episode: Automan

1985      Crazy Like a Fox                                 Episode: The Man Who Cried Fox

It's a Living          Customer            Episode: Harassed

1986      Falcon Crest        Minister's Wife Episode: Captive Hearts

1987      Warm Hearts, Cold Feet                Waitress              TV film

Hunter Landlady              Episode: The Girl Next Door)[26]

1989      Days of Our Lives              Queenie              

1991      The Flash             Pearl      1 episode

Flash III: Deadly Nightshade         Pearl     

1993      Doogie Howser, M.D.      Nancy Jameson Episode: Dorky Housecall, M.D.

1994      The Larry Sanders Show                Helen    Episode: Next Stop Bottom

Viper     Elderly Bank Lady            

1995      Dad, the Angel & Me      Opera Diva Nanny            TV film

Weird Science    Grandma             Episode: Grampira

1996      Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman       Ilsa Lawsenstrom             Episode: Woman of the Year

ER           Beth Lang            Episode: Homeless for the Holidays

1997      Married... with Children                Stripper                Episode:Live Nude Peg

1998      Tracey Takes On...            Mrs. Jordache    Episode: Loss

3rd Rock from the Sun   Dolores                 Episode: Portrait of Tommy as an Old Man

Saved by the Bell: The New Class               Florence               Episode: Free for All

The Young and the Restless         Beatrice Tucker                 Recurring Guest Role

1999      Tracey Takes On...            Woman                Episode: Books

Chicago Hope     Alzheimer-patiente         Episode: Vanishing Acts

2000      Passions               Ruth      9 episodes

2001      Dharma & Greg                 Jeannette            Episode: How This Happened

Diagnosis Murder             Christine Wilson               Episode: The Blair Nurse Project

Frasier Mrs. Smolenskis                Episode: A Day in May

2002      Malcolm in the Middle   Martha Episode: Hal Coaches

2004      My Wife and Kids             Grandmother    Episode: Childcare Class

Charmed              Old Brenda          Episode: Charrrmed!

2006      Malcolm in the Middle   Judith    Episode: Malcolm's Money

2007      Rules of Engagement      Margaret             Episode: Pilot

2009      Desperate Housewives Rose Kemper     2 episodes

2011-2012          Shameless           Aunt Ginger        Episodes: Aunt Ginger and Summer Loving

2014      Suburgatory       Esther   1 episode

2015      Getting On          Vivian 'Mama Viv' Hartley             2 episodes, (final appearance)