Gil Brandt obit

Hall of Famer Gil Brandt passes away at age 91

He was not on the list.

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys mourn the loss of former executive Gil Brandt who passed away at the age of 91 on Thursday morning.

Brandt served as the vice president of player personnel for the Cowboys from 1960 to 1988. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Brandt first broke into scouting working part-time for the Los Angeles Rams. In 1958, Brandt got his first full-time opportunity with the San Francisco 49ers before making the move to Dallas to take a job as the chief talent scout with the Cowboys upon the franchise's inception in 1960.

In his 28 years, Brandt made an impact on scouting that is still felt in the game today. He is credited for the introduction of computers in scouting and evaluation along with the drafting of players such as Roger Staubach and Herschel Walker. He is also credited for the undrafted pick-ups of Drew Pearson, Cliff Harris and Everson Walls.

Here is a statement from owner and general manager Jerry Jones:

"We are so deeply saddened by the passing of Gil Brandt – a true icon and pioneer of our sport. Gil was at the very core of the early success of the Dallas Cowboys and continued to serve as a great ambassador for the organization for decades beyond that. His contributions cemented his spot in the Ring of Honor. He was my friend and a mentor not only to me, but to countless executives, coaches, players and broadcasters across the National Football League, which rightfully earned him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame where his legacy will be celebrated forever.

He was an innovator and set the standard for excellence in player acquisition. From the creation of the NFL Combine to revolutionizing the NFL Draft, Gil finished his over six-decade NFL career with an eye towards the future of the league and teaching fans about the sport he loved as a radio broadcaster. Gil was as good a storyteller as it gets, with a memory as sharp as a tack. His dedication to, and passion for, this game left a lasting impact on generations of Hall of Fame players and coaches. There are very few people that have been able to have the kind of generational impact that he did. Gil was as dedicated to growing this league and sport as anyone ever was, and we are all grateful and better for it.

Our hearts go out to Gil's wife, Sara, his son Hunter and all of Gil's family and friends."

Brandt worked as a photographer who specialized in new-born babies and was employed as a part-time scout for the Los Angeles Rams based on a recommendation by Elroy Hirsch. In 1958, he was hired as a full-time scout by the San Francisco 49ers.

He served as the Dallas Cowboys' chief talent scout from the club's inception in 1960. He had served as a part-time scout for the Los Angeles Rams under General Manager Tex Schramm in the 1950s. When Schramm took command of the newly formed Dallas franchise in 1960, Brandt was one of the first people he hired. Schramm, Brandt and Coach Tom Landry formed the triumvirate which guided the Cowboys for their first 29 years.

He helped pioneer many of the scouting techniques used by NFL clubs today, such as:

Creating a new scouting and evaluation system for prospects, which would later spread throughout the NFL. In the NFL Films' documentary series Finding Giants, Ernie Accorsi mentioned how then-general manager George Young built the New York Giants scouting process based on the Cowboys system.

Using computers for scouting and talent evaluations. To achieve this level of automatization, the Cowboys had to systematically define which were the traits, measurable qualities and skills that could be expressed into numbers and formulas in order for a computer to understand them. Different traits were prioritized for different positions.

Finding potential prospects in other sports such as: Bob Hayes, Cornell Green, Peter Gent, Toni Fritsch, Percy Howard, Ken Johnson, Ron Howard, Wade Manning, Manny Hendrix, Mac Percival and Colin Ridgway. The Cowboys also set up hospitality suites for coaches at the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Brandt was one of the first talent scouts to look outside of the United States and Canada for potential players. Kicker Toni Fritsch was discovered during a European tour.

Made unconventional draft choices in lower rounds based on potential, even though at the time it wasn't known if the players would ever be a part of the National Football League. For example: Roger Staubach, Herschel Walker and Chad Hennings.

The use of psychology tests to identify the mental and personality make-up of prospects.

Finding players in the undrafted free agent and small college talent pool, such as Drew Pearson, Cliff Harris, and Everson Walls.

Helped to create the NFL Scouting Combine as a centralization of the scouting evaluation process.

He also made a reputation of acquiring high draft choices by making impactful trades, which were used to select players like Randy White, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Tony Dorsett.

Brandt's dismissal from the Cowboys on May 2, 1989, completed a purge that began with Jerry Jones' purchase of the franchise just over nine weeks prior on February 25 and also resulted in Landry's ouster and Schramm's resignation.

Following the death of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins on the morning of April 9, 2022, during an interview on a Sirius XM NFL radio show later that same day, a host asked Brandt for his thoughts. Brandt replied that Haskins was "living to be dead, so to speak," and claimed that draft evaluators had criticized Haskins for his work ethic during his transition from college football to the NFL, stating, "It was always something. It was one of those, 'I'm not offsides, but they keep calling me for offsides.' It's a tragic thing. Anytime somebody dies it's tragic, especially when you're 24 years old and you've got your whole life ahead of you. Maybe if he'd have stayed in school an [extra] year, he wouldn't do silly things.

 

Career history

As an executive:

Los Angeles Rams (1955–1957)

San Francisco 49ers (1958–1959)

Dallas Cowboys (1960–1988)

Career highlights and awards

2× Super Bowl champion (VI, XII)

Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Curtis Fowlkes obit

Curtis Fowlkes, prolific trombonist who co-led The Jazz Passengers, is dead at 73

He was not on the list.

Curtis Fowlkes, whose vital and malleable trombone playing was a steadfast feature of New York’s downtown scene — most visibly with The Lounge Lizards, which he joined in the mid-1980s, and The Jazz Passengers, which he co-founded soon thereafter — died on Aug. 31 in a hospice unit at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. He was 73.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his son, Saadiah Fowlkes, tells WRTI.

With a tone that could brighten or darken to suit any setting, Fowlkes’ sound on trombone was endlessly supple, and he made his adjustments with no more outward calculation than a treebound chameleon. He was equally at home with boppish fluency or a gutbucket blare, often incorporating the array of lip slurs, wobbles and pitch slides that can make a trombone evoke a human voice. He made use of his literal voice as well, singing with an elegant, low-key flair.

“Curt was one of the funniest, warmest, most insightful people I ever met,” saxophonist Roy Nathanson, his founding partner in The Jazz Passengers, attests in a written statement. “Miraculous really, in the way he could translate that warmth, humor and insight directly into his trombone playing and singing.”

Fowlkes’ versatility and charisma made him a sought-after sideman. He recorded with Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, and the Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard, who brought him on multiple tours. He was a vital member of Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. And he had productive associations with the guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Charlie Hunter and Elliott Sharp, who each featured him on multiple albums, making a space for his rangy composure.

“He was an incredible trombone player,” says trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who enlisted Fowlkes in a number of projects over the years, including his Millennial Territory Orchestra. “And he was a total craftsman. You put a piece of music in front of him and he just played the hell out of it. I never heard him make a mistake.”

Curtis Mataw Fowlkes was born in Brooklyn on March 19, 1950, along with his fraternal twin, James, Jr. Their father, James Roxie Fowlkes, worked as a presser in the garment industry. Their mother, the former Rosa Coor, was a housewife who died when they were 15.

Fowlkes grew up in a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone that his grandfather bought in 1921, when there were few other Black families in the neighborhood. He developed his musicianship through a succession of gigs around Brooklyn, where he attended Tilden High School in East Flatbush. He received training through the CETA Artists Project, administered by the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and during his time at Manhattan Community College.

He circulated as a working musician, holding a regular gig with the Big Apple Circus, where he met Nathanson in the early ‘80s. “It almost makes no sense separating our talking together from our playing together,” Nathanson reflects, “as we both came from Brooklyn, and both shared a similar goofball sense of humor as well as dead serious love of music, jazz, Brooklyn history and any kind of storytelling.”

Fowlkes and Nathanson left the circus to join The Lounge Lizards, which John Lurie had made into an ironical flagship of the downtown scene. “In the process, Curt and I developed a musical language that corresponded with our relationship and eventually we felt we should start a band of our own,” Nathanson writes, recalling the start of The Jazz Passengers in 1987.

Reviewing that group for the New York Times the following year, Jon Pareles characterized its sound as “that of a densely dissonant hard-bop band, updating Charles Mingus’ Jazz Workshop groups, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and some of Bobby Hutcherson’s and Eric Dolphy’s 1960s Blue Note albums. But the set also included a version of ‘Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me,’ sung by Mr. Fowlkes with answering riffs from the band.”

The Jazz Passengers — also featuring vibraphonist Bill Ware, bassist Brad Jones and drummer E. J. Rodriguez — released almost a dozen albums, most of them in the 1990s. A reunion in the 2010s, heralded by an album titled Reunited, brought them back into active circulation, often in alignment with guest vocalist Deborah Harry, the lead singer of Blondie. But the rapport between Nathanson and Fowlkes was always foregrounded. “The fact that Curt and I could basically finish each other’s jokes carried over into the uncanny way our horns could pass off phrases to each other, as if we were actually sharing breath,” Nathanson says.

Fowlkes’ marriage to the former Cynthia Lewis ended in divorce last year. Along with his son and his brother, he is survived by a daughter, Elisheba Fowlkes-Dele, and three grandchildren.

As a token of his commitment to collaboration, and perhaps his ultimate calling as a sideman, Fowlkes only released one album himself: Reflect, on Knitting Factory Records in 1999. Largely featuring his own music, it captures his feel for ensemble interplay.

Fowlkes’ heart condition was congenital, and he had been struggling for some time; a GoFundMe campaign was established last month, to support his care. Even as his health faltered, he kept playing and recording music.

He can be heard on a recent series of albums by the Millennial Territory Orchestra, including Popular Culture (Community Music, Vol. 4), released last year. In December he took part in a final, forthcoming Jazz Passengers album.

His son says that he will be remembered as both a committed family man and the ultimate road musician. “His retirement plan was to die on the stage,” says Saadiah Fowlkes. “But more importantly, he lived on the stage.”

Sarah Young obit

Sarah Young, ‘Jesus Calling’ author and missionary, dies at 77

 

She was not on the list.

Sarah Young, the Presbyterian missionary and bestselling author of the popular devotional Jesus Calling and other works, has died at the age of 77.

According to a tweet posted by Mission to the World, an organization that Young had served in when a missionary, Young “passed away peacefully” on Thursday afternoon.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Sarah Young, MTW missionary and author of ‘Jesus Calling’ and numerous other devotionals,” Mission to the World tweeted.

A memorial service is planned for Sept. 9 at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, said in a press release that it was “a joy and an honor to have Sarah Young as part of our publishing family.”

“Sarah was a remarkable woman who deeply loved God. Her words have resonated with people from all walks of life, and the global impact of her work is unparalleled,” Schoenwald stated.

Laura Minchew, senior vice president of the Children’s and Gift Book Group at HarperCollins, was quoted as saying that Young “was a dear friend who will be deeply missed.”

“Through nearly 20 years of publishing with Sarah, I had a firsthand seat at seeing millions of lives changed through the Jesus Calling books,” Minchew said.

“Her books have met people in their darkest hours, taught children about Jesus, and changed lives for eternity. Knowing Sarah professionally and personally has been the privilege of a lifetime.”

Young leaves behind her husband and fellow missionary Stephen Young, two children and two grandchildren.

Born in 1946, Young graduated from Wellesley College in 1968 and earned a master’s degree in biblical studies and counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

She formerly served alongside her husband as a missionary in Japan and Australia through Mission to the World, which is the official mission board for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Young’s most famous work was Jesus Calling, a 365-day devotional originally released in 2004 that has sold tens of millions of copies and was named "Christian Book of the Year" in 2013 and 2018.

The devotional’s success led to other works under the Jesus Calling brand, including the 2021 prayer devotional Jesus Listens, children’s devotionals, Bible storybooks and journals.

Young was not without her critics in evangelicalism, as prominent blogger Tim Challies warned in a 2015 post that Jesus Calling was “a deeply troubling book” that “mimics occult practices.”

Challies quoted Young’s book in which she wrote: “I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believe He was saying. I felt awkward the first time I tried this, but I received a message. It was short, biblical, and appropriate. It addressed topics that were current in my life: trust, fear, and closeness to God. I responded by writing in my prayer journal.”

“This is not a far cry from a practice known as ‘automatic writing’ which Wikipedia describes as ‘an alleged psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. The words are claimed to arise from a subconscious, spiritual or supernatural source,’” wrote Challies at the time. “This practice is very different from the giving of biblical revelation where God worked through the thoughts, personalities, and even research of the authors.”

Last week, Thomas Nelson Publishers announced that Young’s physical health had deteriorated rapidly and called upon supporters to pray for the author.

“We received the hard news that Sarah’s health is rapidly failing,” stated Thomas Nelson. “We know that Sarah really believes in the power of prayer and prays for her readers every morning. Now, we have the precious privilege to lift up Sarah and her family. Please join us in prayer.

Gayle Hunnicutt obit

Gayle Hunnicutt obituary

Texas-born actor who made her home in the UK and was known for her roles in TV’s Fall of Eagles, The Golden Bowl and Dallas

 She was not on the list.

The acting career of Gayle Hunnicutt, who has died aged 80, could be defined in two acts. As an up-and-coming starlet in Hollywood she was often cast for her stunning beauty. Then, after marrying the British actor David Hemmings, she moved to the UK, where she played big parts in two major television series, The Golden Bowl (1972) and Fall of Eagles (1974).

After a divorce she married the journalist and editor Simon Jenkins, and alongside her acting career became a fixture of the British social scene. She may, though, be best remembered for the final three seasons of Dallas, from 1989 to 1991, in which she played Vanessa Beaumont, an English aristocrat whose long-ago affair with JR Ewing produced a son he had never known existed.

Hunnicutt was born in Texas, not far from Dallas in Fort Worth. Her father, Sam, was a colonel in the army; her mother, Mary (nee Dickerson), gave birth to Gayle while her husband was serving in New Caledonia during the second world war. Her parents did not support her desire to go to college, but she won a scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles, and paid for her time there with part-time work while studying English and theatre.

Spotted in a college production by a talent scout from Warner Brothers, she made her debut on the television naval comedy Mister Roberts at the age of 23 in 1966, and then in Roger Corman’s Peter Fonda/Nancy Sinatra film Wild Angels, about a San Pedro motorcycle gang.

Once asked whom she would most want to look like, Hunnicutt replied Audrey Hepburn, whose beauty, like hers, was often described as “porcelain” or even “cold”. But Hepburn also projected a certain vulnerability, whereas Hunnicutt seemed to carry her beauty naturally. Rather than Hollywood’s typecasting of her as a beauty queen, she needed parts that played on a contrast between fragile beauty and steely character.

She caught notice in 1967 for her role as a woman trying to con Jed Clampett out of his fortune in a two-part episode of The Beverly Hillbillies on TV, and then playing opposite James Garner in the film Marlowe (1969) as the older sister, Mavis Wald, protecting secrets in a film based on Raymond Chandler’s novel The Little Sister.

By then she had met Hemmings, at a party at the actor Peter Lawford’s beach house. She described it as love at first sight, and they married in 1968. Hemmings, already a major star after Blow Up, characterised them as the “poor man’s Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton”, and although Hunnicutt “always thought that was silly”, her new husband seemed intent on replicating the conflict of the Taylor/Burton relationship. Within three months of the wedding he began a very public affair with the actor Samantha Eggar, yet despite his serial infidelity they remained married, and moved to Britain, where their son, Nolan, was born.

She co-starred with Hemmings in In Fragment of Fear (1970) , and then was directed by him in Running Scared (1972) with Robert Powell. In 1973 she played in Scorpio, in which Michael Winner wasted the talents of Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon, then again alongside Hemmings in Voices, which was less interesting than her next horror film, The Legend of Hell House.

Being in Britain brought her theatre opportunities, and in 1973 she was in fellow-American Michael Rudman’s Hampstead theatre production of Peter Handke’s Ride Across Lake Constance, alongside Alan Howard, Jenny Agutter, Nigel Hawthorne and Nicola Pagett.

In 1972 she also starred on the small screen in the BBC’s adaptation of Henry James’s The Golden Bowl as Charlotte Stant, playing, for the first time, a transatlantic character. She followed up with another success on the BBC as the Tsarina Alexandra in Fall of Eagles (1974), and that year also played in Nuits Rouges (aka Shadowman in its English dubbed version), George Franju’s homage to the fictional criminal genius Fantômas, in which she was memorable in an Irma Vep-style bodysuit being chased by police across the Paris rooftops.

She revisited Fantômas in three episodes of the eponymous 1980 French mini-series, directed by Claude Chabrol and Luis Buñuel’s son, Juan Luis. In the BBC’s 1978 TV film Dylan she played Liz Reitel, a woman having an affair with Ronald Lacey’s Dylan Thomas, drinking his way through his ill-fated final American tour.

Hunnicutt had divorced Hemmings in 1974, and married Jenkins in 1978, by which time she was a notable presence on stage and in quality television roles. In London in 1979 she ranged from playing Hedda in the Watermill theatre’s production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler to being Peter Pan at the Shaftesbury theatre. That year she also starred in a double episode of The Return of the Saint with Ian Ogilvy, which was later repackaged as a TV movie.

She would play in another Saint TV movie, The Brazilian Connection (1989) with Simon Dutton as Simon Templar. She also returned to Raymond Chandler as a femme fatale opposite Powers Boothe in an episode of the mini-series Marlowe, Private Eye in 1983. In the first episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) opposite Jeremy Brett, she played Holmes’ great female rival, Irene Adler. In 1985 she starred as Donna Lloyd with Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon in Arthur Penn’s thriller film, Target.

Her most personal project was a two-hander, The Life and Loves of Edith Wharton, which debuted in 1995 at the Hampstead theatre and toured for many years afterwards; according to Jenkins, she identified with the troubled Anglo-American writer. Later she played the writer Mary Wollstonecraft in another two-hander, The Two Marys. Her last screen role came in a 1999 episode of CI5: The New Professionals.

Having written a book called Health and Beauty in Motherhood in 1984, two decades later she published Dearest Virginia, a moving collection of her father’s love letters written while he was serving in the South Pacific.

She and Jenkins divorced in 2009; her sale of the Primrose Hill house they had lived in for three decades became an episode of a 2012 reality show, Selling London.

She is survived by Nolan, another son, Edward, from her marriage to Jenkins, and five grandchildren, Poppy, Theo, Oscar, Dash and Nia.

 

Filmography

 

The Wild Angels (1966) as Suzie

P.J. (1968) as Maureen Preble

The Smugglers (1968 TV film) as Adrianna

Eye of the Cat (1969) as Kassia Lancaster

Marlowe (1969) as Mavis Wald

Fragment of Fear (1970) as Juliet Bristow

Freelance (1971) as Chris

The Love Machine (1971) as Astrological girl at party (uncredited)

Running Scared (1972) as Ellen Case

Voices (1973) as Claire

Scorpio (1973) as Susan

The Legend of Hell House (1973) as Ann Barrett

Nuits rouges aka Shadowman (1974)

The Spiral Staircase (1975) as Blanche

Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976) as Margie Cohn

The Sell Out (1976) as Deborah

Once in Paris... (1978) as Susan Townsend

The Saint and the Brave Goose (1979) as Annabelle West

Flashpoint Africa (1980) as Lisa Ford

The Million Dollar Face (1981 TV film) as Diana Masterson

Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1983 TV film) as Andrea Mackovich

Savage in the Orient (1983 TV film) as Julian Clydesdale

Two by Forsyth (1984 TV film)

Target (1985) as Donna Lloyd

Dream Lover (1986) as Claire

Turnaround (1987) as Pat

Silence Like Glass (1989) as Mrs. Martin

Hard to Be a God (1989)

 

Television

The Beverly Hillbillies (TV series, 1966) She portrayed Emaline Fetty, a con woman trying to extort money from the Clampetts in two episodes.

Get Smart: It Takes One to Know One (1966–67) as Octavia, a KAOS agent.

The Golden Bowl (TV miniseries, 1972) as Charlotte Slant

The Ripening Seed (1973) as Madame Dalleray

Fall of Eagles (TV miniseries, 1974) as Tsarina Alexandra

Thriller ("K Is for Killing", 1974) as Suzy Buckley

Dylan (1978) as Liz Reitel

Return of the Saint (1979) as Annabelle West

A Man Called Intrepid (TV miniseries, 1979) as Cynthia

Fantômas [fr] (French TV miniseries, 1980's) as Lady Beltham

The Martian Chronicles (TV miniseries, 1980) as Ruth Wilder

The Love Boat (“The Mallory Quest/Julie, the Vamp/The Offer”, 1980) as Janet Mallory

Taxi (1983) as Mrs. Bascome

Tales of the Unexpected ("The Luncheon", 1983) as Susan Mandeville

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ("A Scandal In Bohemia", 1984) as Irene Adler

The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (TV miniseries, 1984) as Mary Sloane

A Woman of Substance (TV miniseries, 1985) as Olivia Wainright

Strong Medicine (1986) as Lillian Hawthorne

Dream West (TV miniseries, 1986) as Maria Crittenden

Dallas (1989–1991) as Vanessa Beaumont

The Saint: The Brazilian Connection (1989) as Mrs. Cunningham

Jack Sonni obit

Jack Sonni, former Dire Straits guitarist, dies at 68

 

He was not on the list.

Jack Sonni, the musician best known for being "the other guitarist" in Dire Straits, has died, his former band members announced on Thursday. He was 68. A cause of death is currently unknown.

The official Facebook account for Dire Straits Legacy, a band that Sonni participated in alongside other former members of Dire Straits, shared the news.

"Our beloved Jack has left a void in our heart and soul," the statement reads. "We will miss you so much. You are forever with us."

Born Dec. 9, 1954 in Indiana, Penn., Sonni was drawn to music at an early age. He moved to New York in the '70s and began working as a session player. While working at a music shop in 1978, he met brothers David and Mark Knopfler, who had founded Dire Straits the year before with bassist John Illsley and drummer Pick Withers.

He joined the band for the recording sessions for their 1985 album Brothers in Arms, which became their most commercially successful record. He also accompanied the band on the subsequent tour, and became known as "the other guitarist" since both Knopfler brothers played the instrument as well.

"So sorry to hear the sad news that Jack Sonni has died, we loved having him with us on the Brothers in Arms tour, fond memories," Illsley wrote on Facebook.

Davide Pischettola/NurPhoto via Getty Images Jack Sonni performing on stage with Dire Straits Legacy

Sonni nominally retired from music in 1988 when his twin daughters were born, but returned to the stage in recent years to perform in groups like Dire Straits Legacy, a Knopfler-less group featuring Dire Straits alums. Sonni took a job as vice president of marketing for Guitar Center, and also tried his hand at writing crime fiction. As recently as June 2, Sonni posted on Facebook that he was working on "getting my novel in shape for my agent's publisher hunt." Alongside a photo of his typewriter, he shared a list of influences, including Ann Patchett's Bel Canto and Denis Johnson's Already Dead.

On June 1, Sonni shared a meditative post telling his friends and followers to "be in the moment. Celebrate the here and now. Don't dwell in the past. Cherish the memories. And above all — hug them while you can, chilluns."

Mohamed Al-Fayed obit

Mohamed Al Fayed dies as tributes paid to ex-owner of Harrods and Fulham football club

Egyptian billionaire and former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed died of old age on Wednesday, said his family in a statement - a day before the anniversary of the death of his son Dodi and Princess Diana 

He was not on the list.

Mohamed Al Fayed, the self-made Egyptian billionaire, former owner of Harrods, and father of Dodi Fayed, has died at the age of 94.

He was buried after Friday prayers following a service at Regent’s Park Mosque in London, reported Al Jazeera Egypt. He died one day before the 26th anniversary of the death of his eldest son, Dodi, and Princess Diana.

In a statement released by Fulham FC, his family said: "Mrs Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday August 30, 2023.

"He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time."

The Egyptian businessman was the owner and chairman of Fulham between 1997 and 2013 when he sold it to current owner Shahid Khan. The football club said it was "incredibly saddened" by his death.

In a tweet, the west London club said: "Everyone at Fulham was incredibly saddened to learn of the death of our former owner and chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed. We owe Mohamed a debt of gratitude for what he did for our club, and our thoughts now are with his family and friends at this sombre time."

And in a tribute on the club's website, his successor Mr Khan said: "On behalf of everyone at Fulham Football Club, I send my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mohamed Al Fayed upon the news of his passing at age 94.

"The story of Fulham cannot be told without a chapter on the positive impact of Mr Al Fayed as chairman. His legacy will be remembered for our promotion to the Premier League, a Europa League Final, and moments of magic by players and teams alike.

"I always enjoyed my time with Mr Al Fayed, who was wise, colourful and committed to Fulham, and I am forever grateful for his trust in me to succeed him as chairman in 2013. I join our supporters around the world in celebrating the memory of Mohamed Al Fayed, whose legacy will always be at the heart of our tradition at Fulham Football Club."

Al Shorouk newspaper reported that Ashraf Haider, a member of his family, wrote: "My wife’s grandfather, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, has died. We belong to God and to Him we shall return."

And Fulham Focus, a podcast created by fans of the football club, said: "Very sad to relate that reports from Egypt state that former Fulham owner & Chairman Mohamed Al Fayed has passed at the age of 94. He brought a lot of energy and drive to reviving Fulham's fortunes and the club and fans owe him a great deal. Our condolences to his family.

In the 1990s, Al Fayed was one of the richest people in the world, with an impressive list of businesses and property to his name. As the owner of luxury department store Harrods and his involvement with high-profile charities brought him into the same circles as the royal family, including Princess Diana.

His eldest son, Dodi, was friends with the royal for about a decade before romance blossomed during a yacht holiday in the south of France. However they were denied the opportunity to spend their lives together, dying side-by-side in a car crash in Paris. Al Fayed spent the rest of his life mourning the loss.

The billionaire's relationship with the royal family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana. The businessman was born in Alexandria in Egypt and came to London in the 1960s where he set about building his empire.

Mr Al Fayed had taken control of Harrods in 1985 and he had also purchased the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979; and was known for being the owner of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013. In 2010, he decided to sell Harrods to Qatar's royal family for a reported £1.5 billion and three years later he sold Fulham FC to Mr Khan, owner of American football team Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mr Al Fayed had once shown the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson around Fulham FC's Craven Cottage in 1999. The Sunday Times Rich List from 2021 reported that Mohamed Al-Fayed and family were worth around £1.7 billion.

Following the news of his passing, we look back at Al Fayed's life, and his rise to fame.

Mohamed Al Fayed was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean, the son of a school inspector. He came to London in the 1960s and set about building a business empire. Once there, the flamboyant and extrovert character was rarely out of the newspapers.

In the 1980s, he hit the headlines as he battled for control of the House of Fraser group, including its flagship store Harrods, with rival tycoon "Tiny" Rowland. Al Fayed and his brother bought a 30% stake in House Of Fraser from Mr Rowland in 1984, and took control of Harrods for £615 million the following year.

Mr Rowland's London and Rhodesian Mining Company (Lonrho) had attempted to buy Harrods but was beaten to it by the Egyptian family. Mr Rowland later accused Al Fayed of breaking into his safety deposit box at the department store.

The Egyptian was arrested in March 1998 along with Harrods security director John Macnamara and four other store staff, but was never charged. Al Fayed later expanded his business interests to include the Paris Ritz and Fulham Football Club.

Massive wealth and business deals

In the past few decades, Mr Al Fayed sold off several of his high-profile businesses. Back in 2010, he sold Harrods to Qatar for a staggering $2.4billion. While he said he would never part ways with his beloved department store, it was a row over dividends and pension funds which finally showed him it was time to say goodbye.

Speaking to the Evening Standard at the time, he said: "Of course it makes me sad ... you can go ask everyone, people don't want me to go. But first of all I can't take this. I am 77 years old, right. I have children, I have grandchildren, you know ... I have done it. And time for me now to rest. And enjoy."

Three years later, in 2013, he also said goodbye to Fulham Football Club, which he sold to billionaire Shahid Khan for $300m. However he remained the proud owner of the famous Ritz Paris Hotel, regarded by many as the most beautiful in the world. In 2016 it underwent a massive refurbishment.

Earlier this year, his wealth was estimated at $2billion (roughly £1.58million), ranking at number 1,493 globally. And in May last year, Forbes listed his wealth at $1.9billion - which is about £1.6billion.

As well as the worlds of business and royalty, he became embroiled in politics in 1994 when he was at the centre of the "cash-for-questions" scandal that rocked Westminster.

Al Fayed claimed via the Guardian he had paid then Tory MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith thousands of pounds to illegally table questions in the Commons on his behalf. Mr Smith apologised and stepped down at the 1997 election but Mr Hamilton sued Al Fayed for libel, landing himself a seven-figure legal bill and eventual bankruptcy after losing to the businessman.

Mr Hamilton, who was later heavily criticised in a Commons report into the affair, was voted out at the 1997 election and is now the leader of Ukip.

Bond with Princess Diana

While it's unknown where they first met, Princess Diana and Al Fayed's circles would have crossed regularly as he sponsored many of the charities she was involved with. Their unlikely friendship features heavily in season five of The Crown, showing Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, growing closer to the royals.

In the summer of 1997, the year after Charles and Diana were finally able to officially divorce following their five year separation, Al Fayed invited Diana and her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to join his family on his yacht in the south of France.

The 208ft superyacht was the perfect setting for family time, with photos from the time showing the loving mum playing with her sons on the deck . The boat, which has now changed hands, has nine staterooms and can hold 18 people as well as a crew of 26. Dripping in luxury, it boasted a jacuzzi, office, formal dining room and a swim platform.

And it was during this trip that Diana grew close to Al Fayed's oldest son, 42-year-old film producer Dodi. Pictures of the couple cuddling and kissing on the top deck went around the world, while Diana was photographed sunbathing, jumping into a speedboat and sitting on the stern in a contemplative mood.

They were among the last pictures of the Princess, who told her friend Rosa Monckton in a phone call from the yacht that her time there was "bliss”.

Al Fayed spent a decade after the lovers' 1997 deaths in Paris's Alma tunnel repeatedly claiming that they were murdered in a plot by the security services and the Duke of Edinburgh. But he was forced to reluctantly concede defeat after a high-profile six-month inquest in 2007 and 2008.

The jury returned unlawful killing verdicts on both Diana and Dodi, but pinned the blame on the drink-driving of their chauffeur Henri Paul, who also died in the crash. Paul was employed by the Paris Ritz, from where their journey had started on August 31, a hotel owned by Mr Al Fayed.

At the end of the inquest, coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker openly voiced suggestions of "closing ranks" at the hotel over the question of whether they knew Paul was drinking on the night of the smash.

The jury had heard allegations, strenuously denied, that key witnesses were pressurised to back Mr Al Fayed's theories and that there was a "conspiracy to pervert the truth" within the Fayed organisation. Al Fayed later announced he would accept the verdict of the inquest jury, albeit "with reservations".

Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the crash, a friend told The Sun that Dodi's apartment remains the same as it did at the time of his death.

They told the newspaper: "He often spends hours on end sitting with Dodi. After 20 years he still misses him terribly. And when he is in London he will take time out to visit Dodi’s apartment. Not one thing inside has changed since Dodi died. He will not allow anyone to move anything.

"The apartment is cleaned but it is still exactly the same as when Dodi and Diana used to spend time there."

Fulham were languishing in Division Two when he took over in 1997 but spending on players and high-profile managers including Kevin Keegan and Roy Hodgson saw them rise to the top-half of the Premier League in the early Noughties, peaking in qualification for the Europa League.

Off the pitch, fans were treated to some bizarre spectacles, including a 1999 visit from Al Fayed's friend Michael Jackson. The Harrods boss and the club faced some ridicule when, in 2011, two years after Jackson's death, a statue of him as erected at its Craven Cottage ground.

Al Fayed wanted to pay tribute to the late King of Pop, whom he was friends with and said was a fan of the club. When he sold the club in 2013, he said there would be "big trouble" if the new owner was to remove the sculpture.

But a Fulham spokesperson said at the time: "The statue is not part of the Riverside development of the stadium and will be returned to the former chairman in due course."

The billionaire's relationship with the royal family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana.

Mr Daw was nominated for supporting actor at the Baftas for his portrayal of Mr Al Fayed. Al-Fayed was named as the fourth richest person in Scotland on the Sunday Times Rich List 2023 with a fortune of £1.69 billion.

Mr Al Fayed was married twice and had five children.

Elliot Goldman obit

Elliot Goldman, Founding Executive at Arista Records, Dies at 88

He played "a substantial role in the history" of the label, says Clive Davis, then served as president and CEO of BMG Music. 

He was not on the list.

Elliot Goldman, a founding executive at Clive Davis’ Arista Records who also worked for CBS Records, BMG Music and Warner Communications during his long career in the music business, has died. He was 88.

Goldman died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home after struggling with health problems the past few months, his family said.

Goldman was executive vp and G.M. of Arista when Clive Davis launched the storied label in 1974, and he “played a substantial role in the history of Arista Records and strongly contributed to its success,” Davis said in a statement.

After leaving Arista, Goldman served as a senior vp at Warner Communications from 1982-85 and as president and CEO of BMG Music — which oversaw Arista and several RCA Records labels — from 1985-87, then was a consultant to record companies through the ’90s.

Goldman, who graduated from Cornell University in 1957 and Columbia University School of Law in 1961, started his career in New York city and state government and headed the NYC office for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1964 presidential election campaign.

He then worked in business affairs at CBS Records from 1967-74.

Goldman was on the boards of the RIAA and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and on the executive council of the T.J. Martell Foundation, and he was co-chairman of the home entertainment division of the UJA-Federation of New York.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Jill; children Ben, Elizabeth and Cathy; daughter-in-law Allysa; and grandchildren Justin, Dylan, Sophie and Olivia.

Son Ben Goldman is an A&R executive at ONErpm who spent 20 years at Sony Music as senior vp of A&R at Epic and Columbia Records, and grandson Justin Goldman was recognized as the youngest music executive on a Forbes “30 Under 30” list in 2021 and has a venture with 10k Projects.

Funeral services were held Friday. Donations in Goldman’s name can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Jamie Christopher obit

Jamie Christopher Dies: Marvel Studios And ‘Harry Potter’ Assistant Producer/Director Was 52

 

He was not on the list.

Jamie Christopher, who was an associate producer and first assistant director on such Marvel films as Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and more, died at his home today of heart complications. He was 52.

Marvel Studios executives Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito issued a joint statement on Christopher’s passing.

“We are incredibly saddened by Jamie’s passing. He has been a part of the Marvel Studios team for over a decade, and on productions like Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Widow and more. He was a calm presence behind the camera, and a wonderful, supportive crew member on set. Jamie first joined Marvel Studios as an AD on Thor: The Dark World and because of his hard work and diligence was upped to an Executive Producer on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the upcoming Fantastic Four. Jamie was a beloved member of our Marvel Studios family, and he will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.”

Christopher frequently worked with Rian Johnson, James Gunn, David Yates, and Sam Raimi, among others.

He first teamed with Johnson on The Last Jedi (2017), who brought him back to launch his Knives Out series in 2019.

Christopher also was key in the Harry Potter franchise, serving as first assistant director or first assistant director: second unit on all eight of the films released from 2001-11.

“Jamie was a good friend, and he loved making movies,” Johnson said in a statement. “He loved his crew, loved his job, the process of it and the history of it. He was truly one of the greats, and this is a heartbreaking loss for everyone who was lucky enough to work with him.”

Gunn added, “Jamie was one of the best in the film business, period, much less in his field. When I first met him, I didn’t know they made ADs like him, and he changed my view of them entirely. I loved him as a friend and a collaborator, and I’ll miss his laugh. I’m heartbroken to have lost him.”

Christopher’s first credit came with David Fincher’s Alien 3 in 1992. Other credits in the ’90s included GoldenEye, The Fifth Element, and The Mummy.

Christopher is survived by his wife, Carly, their child, Killeon, and three children from a prior marriage: Stella, Teddy, and Phoebe. No memorial plans have been announced.

Nancy Buirski obit

Nancy Buirski, ‘The Loving Story’ Director and Full Frame Doc Festival Founder, Has Died

She was not on the list.

Nancy Buirski, the award-winning documentary filmmaker known for “The Loving Story” and “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy,” has died.

Her production company Augusta Films shared the news of her death on Wednesday in a statement, writing, “Nancy’s extensive and rich body of work delved into a wide range of social, cultural and historical issues with keen insight, humanity and above all, artistry.”

Buirski directed 2011’s “The Loving Story,” a documentary about the Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia, which led to the landmark civil rights decision that struck down state laws banning interracial marriage. She received a News & Documentary Emmy for outstanding historical programming, long form, as well as a Peabody Award.

In 1998, Buirski founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which spotlights independent documentary filmmakers from around the world. She served as director of the festival until 2008.

Buirski’s most recent documentary, “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of the Midnight Cowboy,” premiered at the Venice and Telluride Film Film Festivals in 2022; the film was nominated for the Venezia Classici Award and Queer Lion at Venice.

Her other films include “A Crime on the Bayou,” “The Rape of Recy Taylor,” “By Sidney Lumet” and “Afternoon of a Faun.” Buirski also served as a producer on “Time Piece,” “Althea,” “American Masters” and “Loving,” the Oscar-nominated drama directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton. She and Nichols co-wrote the screenplay for the 2015 feature.

Buirski is survived by her sister Judith Cohen and her niece and nephew Erica and Ted Rosen.

Producer

The Donner Party

executive producer

In Development TV Mini Series

 

Gunfighter Paradise

executive producer

Post-production

 

Endangered

producer

Completed Short

 

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (2022)

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

7.7

producer

2022

 

A Crime on the Bayou (2020)

A Crime on the Bayou

6.5

producer

2020

 

Recy Taylor in The Rape of Recy Taylor (2017)

The Rape of Recy Taylor

6.7

producer

2017

 

American Masters (1985)

American Masters

8.2

TV Series

producer

2014–2017

3 episodes

 

Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in Loving (2016)

Loving

7.0

producer (produced by)

2016

 

Sidney Lumet in By Sidney Lumet (2015)

By Sidney Lumet

7.2

producer (produced by)

2015

 

Althea (2014)

Althea

7.2

producer

2014

 

Private Violence (2014)

Private Violence

6.9

consulting producer

2014

 

Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013)

Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq

7.2

producer

2013

 

The Loving Story (2011)

The Loving Story

7.6

producer

2011

 

Time Piece

7.0

producer

2006

 

Sweet Dreams (2006)

Sweet Dreams

8.6

consulting producer

2006

Ahmo Hight obit

Fitness Model Ahmo Hight Has Passed Away At 50 Years Old

 

She was not on the list.

Ahmo Hight was one of the first fitness models who enjoyed great success during her career.

Fitness model Ahmo Hight passed away at 50 years old on Tuesday morning, August 29th, 2023. Hight enjoyed a successful career as a bodybuilding competitor and as one of the very first fitness models – featured on many magazine covers including Ironman Magazine. Pro bodybuilder Chris Cormier, who raised a son with Hight, confirmed the news of her passing with Generation Iron.

While exact cause of death has not yet been disclosed, Ahmo Hight suffered an injury as she was exiting a marketplace. Ahmo seemingly slipped, fell and hit her head. Despite the injury, Hight did not go to the hospital following her fall. On Tuesday morning, Hight woke up without an appetite before going back to sleep. Shortly after she passed away around 9 a.m. Medical professionals believe that the likely cause of death was a blood clot caused by the initial injury.

Ahmo Hight enjoyed fitness and athletics from a young age. She was raised in a small town called Cloquet in Minnesota where she fell in love with gymnastics. This provided an opportunity for Hight to show off her incredible skill and develop a training routine.

Ahmo Hight trained in gymnastics everyday after school and was able to build an impressive physique to compete on stage. She was featured in a 1996 edition of Ironman magazine where she was able to discuss this lifestyle at an early age.

“WE TRAINED EVERYDAY AFTER SCHOOL. IT WAS MORE [LIKE] FAMILY. THE TRAINING WAS SO MUCH MORE ELITE THERE THAN WHAT I WAS DOING AT THE LOCAL COMMUNITY GYM. I RESPONDED TO THAT KIND OF TRAINING.”

Hight rose to prominence in 1994 after winning the Ms. Fitness USA in the Western States Division tournament and Ms. Fit Body Bay Area. This jumpstarted her career in modeling for different fitness magazines.

Ahmo Hight was one of the first models to focus on fitness – essentially dubbed the first fitness model. Combining her incredible beauty with an impressive physique, Hight helped kickstart a focus on physical fitness within the female space.

Fitness modeling then grew into an entire industry – with many magazines including the likes of Flex, Sports Illustrated, and more providing a wide variety of covers to female fitness models. Fast forward to today and you can still see the impact on social media. Fitness influencers are massively popular on apps like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

As her career as a model took off, Hight also began acting. She was featured in many cable films along with appearing on certain reality shows. This includes VH1’s “Real Chance Of Love” and “I Love Money.”

Ahmo Hight found success in many avenues due to her incredible talent and determination in the fitness world. Generation Iron sends condolences to family and friends of Ahmo Hight during this time.

Actress

Nikki Fritz and Everett Rodd in Secret Pleasures (2002)

Secret Pleasures

4.3

Cara

2002

 

Insatiable Wives (2000)

Insatiable Wives

4.5

Sandra

2000

 

Passion's Desire (2000)

Passion's Desire

4.2

Nancy

2000

 

Kim Yates in Erotic Confessions (1994)

Erotic Confessions

5.9

TV Series

Emily

1998

1 episode

 

Restless Souls (1998)

Restless Souls

4.3

Video

Mary (as Amy Hite)

1998

 

Inside Club Wild Side (1998)

Inside Club Wild Side

4.5

Angela

1998

 

Anna Nicole Smith in Anna Nicole Smith: Exposed (1998)

Anna Nicole Smith: Exposed

3.7

Video

The Maid

1998

 

Hotel Exotica (1998)

Hotel Exotica

4.3

Rachel

1998

 

Mario Lopez in Pacific Blue (1996)

Pacific Blue

5.5

TV Series

Joanne

1997

1 episode

 

Don Browne obit

Don Browne, Former NBC Executive and Telemundo President, Dies at 80

 

He was not on the list.

Don Browne, president of Telemundo Communications Group from 2005 to 2011, died Aug. 29 at his home in Miami Beach after battling a brain tumor. He was 80.

Browne was known for steering the growth of Telemundo’s original content production. Under his direction, a partnership was established with Mexico’s Televisa to bring Telemundo content to Mexico, and the company experienced record-breaking ratings.

“As a pioneer of Telemundo’s signature original content productions, Don leaves behind a legacy of championing Spanish-language media and Hispanics at Telemundo and throughout the industry,” Telemundo said in a statement. “A visionary leader, Don earned a national reputation for his leadership in the recruitment and career development of women and minorities. His memory as a dedicated father, husband, friend and mentor to so many will be cherished by all of his colleagues and the entire Telemundo family.”

Before his time running Telemundo in Miami, Browne was president and general manager of WTVJ-TV, NBC’s station based in Miami. Prior to WTVJ, Browne served as executive vice president of NBC News in New York from 1991 to 1993. During his time in New York, he oversaw “Today” show and helped launch “Dateline.”

A longtime proponent of the U.S. Spanish-language television market, Browne played an important role in NBC’s acquisition of Telemundo in 2001.

Browne’s achievements were honored when he was inducted to the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2008. He was also feted in 2006 when he received the Florida Governor’s Points of Light Award. In 2004, he was given the Ida B. Wells Award for his dedication to increasing diversity in the workplace.

Browne was known for the work he did to develop the careers of underrepresented communities, serving as a charter member of the NBC News Taskforce on Women and Minorities. He was also a member of NBC’s Taskforce on Diversity.

Born in Toms River, New Jersey, Browne graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and also played football and track and field at the University of South Carolina.

Browne’s survivors include his two sons, Christopher and Ryan; and two granddaughters. His wife, Maria, died in 2021.

Robert Klane obit

Robert Klane, ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ and ‘Where’s Poppa?’ Screenwriter, Dies at 81

He also directed 'Thank God It’s Friday,' which includes an Oscar-winning song from Donna Summer, and received an Emmy for 'Tracey Takes On.'  

He was not on the list.

Robert Klane, who wrote the screenplays for the irreverent comedy classics Weekend at Bernie’s and Where’s Poppa? and directed the disco-era favorite Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 81.

Klane died Tuesday in his Woodland Hills home of kidney failure after a long illness, his son Jon Klane announced.

He wrote for the films Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Fire Sale (1977), The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), Walk Like a Man (1987) and Folks! (1992).

Among his TV writing credits were six episodes of M*A*S*H* and The Odd Couple: Together Again, a 1973 reunion telefilm starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall that he also directed. He also wrote and produced Tracey Takes On…, winning an Emmy for his work in 1997.

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” Rob Reiner, an actor in Where’s Poppa? (1970), said in a statement. “Most people have a censor in their minds and know how far they can go. Bob didn’t have a censor. That’s what made him great and set him apart. He was fearless.”

Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), starring Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman and Terry Kiser, and directed by Ted Kotcheff, grossed $30 million off a $15 million budget and spawned a 1993 sequel that was written and directed by Klane.

The phrase “Weekend at Bernie’s” has become a verb in the Urban Dictionary to define “the act of propping up a friend who’s passed out and can’t stand on his or her own.”

Klane’s “satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death,” his son noted.

Klane was born on Oct. 17, 1941, in Port Jefferson, Long Island. His mother, Adele, was a homemaker and community volunteer, and his father, Edward, was a physician. He grew up in the Long Island communities of Patchogue and Bayport.

After graduating from Bayport High School, he earned a degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963. His creative writing instructor, Betty Smith, author of the acclaimed 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, told him he had what it took to be a novelist.

At 21, with a young family to support, Klane accepted a job in New York with the BBD&O advertising agency as a copywriter and eventually directed TV commercials for clients including Coca-Cola. But after work, he stayed up late writing his first novel, The Horse Is Dead, which Random House published in 1967.

The story about a nebbish camp counselor who’s picked on by his campers inspired none other than Jack Benny to send a letter to Klane, writing that The Horse Is Dead was “without a doubt the funniest book that I have ever read.”

Though it was never turned into a movie, the money from selling the rights to producer Nick Vanoff enabled Klane to quit advertising and concentrate full-time on writing. The result: a second novel for Random House, 1970’s Where’s Poppa?

The novel tells the story of a beleaguered lawyer who vowed to his late father that he’d never put his mother in a nursing home, but when she begins to drive him nuts, he schemes to get rid of her by any means necessary.

When producer Marvin Worth and United Artists agreed to produce it as a film starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon and directed by Carl Reiner, Klane and his family moved to Los Angeles. His screen adaptation was nominated for a WGA award.

Despite Klane’s initial objections to the tamed-down ending of Reiner’s final cut — preferring instead the suggestively Oedipal one from the book — he realized it was the right choice after learning that the studio would not have released the film otherwise, his son said. The home video release, however, included his book’s version as an alternate ending, which also was shot.

When Sarah Silverman introduced Where’s Poppa? to a revival house audience in 2009, she said: “It blew my mind … It’s so hardcore and silly and funny in a way that I think is emerging now. I was surprised it existed then.”

Klane adapted his next novel, 1975’s Fire Sale, into a film directed by and starring Alan Arkin. Klane agreed with the majority of critics who panned the movie, his son noted.

Thank God It’s Friday, which he co-wrote (uncredited), marked his film directing debut. Among the movie’s highlights is a performance of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” which won the best song Oscar in 1978.

Survivors include his third wife, J.C. Scott, whom he married in 1984; brother Larry; children David, Jon and Caitlin; and five grandchildren. Another daughter, Tracy, died in 2011.

He was also married to Linda Tesh from 1962-75 and to actress Anjanette Comer from 1976-83.

 

Writer

Tracey Takes On... (1996)

Tracey Takes On...

7.3

TV Series

writer

written by

1997

11 episodes

 

Kidz in the Wood (1995)

Kidz in the Wood

6.0

TV Movie

written by

1995

 

The Odd Couple: Together Again (1993)

The Odd Couple: Together Again

6.1

TV Movie

written by

1993

 

Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser in Weekend at Bernie's II (1993)

Weekend at Bernie's II

4.8

characters

written by

1993

 

Tom Selleck, Don Ameche, and Anne Jackson in Folks! (1992)

Folks!

5.7

written by

1992

 

Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman in Weekend at Bernie's (1989)

Weekend at Bernie's

6.4

written by

1989

 

The Ladies

5.5

TV Movie

story

teleplay

1987

 

Christopher Lloyd and Howie Mandel in Walk Like a Man (1987)

Walk Like a Man

4.7

written by

1987

 

Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill, and Jason Lively in National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

National Lampoon's European Vacation

6.2

screenplay by

1985

 

The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

The Man with One Red Shoe

5.7

Writer

1985

 

Unfaithfully Yours (1984)

Unfaithfully Yours

6.0

screenplay

1984

 

Johnny Haymer in Mr. & Mrs. Dracula (1980)

Mr. & Mrs. Dracula

6.5

TV Series

created by

written by (creator)

1980

1 episode

 

Camp Grizzly

TV Movie

creator

1980

 

Judith-Marie Bergan and Steven Keats in Where's Poppa? (1979)

Where's Poppa?

6.8

TV Movie

characters

1979

 

Jeff Goldblum, Lionel Richie, Hilary Beane, Andrea Howard, Valerie Landsburg, Mark Lonow, Terri Nunn, Chuck Sacci, Mews Small, Donna Summer, Chick Vennera, and The Commodores in Thank God It's Friday (1978)

Thank God It's Friday

5.4

Writer (uncredited)

1978

 

The Banana Company

TV Movie

Writer

1977

 

Fire Sale (1977)

Fire Sale

5.4

novel

screenplay

1977

 

Rosenthal and Jones

TV Movie

Writer

1975

 

Alan Alda, David Ogden Stiers, Gary Burghoff, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, and Loretta Swit in M*A*S*H (1972)

M*A*S*H

8.5

TV Series

teleplay by

written by

story by

1972–1975

6 episodes

 

The Michele Lee Show

5.8

TV Movie

creator

1974

 

Aces Up

TV Movie

creator

1974

 

Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)

Every Little Crook and Nanny

5.0

screenplay by

1972

 

Where's Poppa? (1970)

Where's Poppa?

6.5

based on his novel

screenplay by

1970

 

Producer

Tracey Takes On... (1996)

Tracey Takes On...

7.3

TV Series

producer

1997

11 episodes

 

Kidz in the Wood (1995)

Kidz in the Wood

6.0

TV Movie

executive producer

1995

 

Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman in Weekend at Bernie's (1989)

Weekend at Bernie's

6.4

executive producer

1989

 

The Ladies

5.5

TV Movie

producer

1987

 

Christopher Lloyd and Howie Mandel in Walk Like a Man (1987)

Walk Like a Man

4.7

executive producer

1987

 

Johnny Haymer in Mr. & Mrs. Dracula (1980)

Mr. & Mrs. Dracula

6.5

TV Series

executive producer

1980–1981

2 episodes

 

Camp Grizzly

TV Movie

producer

1980

 

Judith-Marie Bergan and Steven Keats in Where's Poppa? (1979)

Where's Poppa?

6.8

TV Movie

executive producer

1979

 

Director

The Odd Couple: Together Again (1993)

The Odd Couple: Together Again

6.1

TV Movie

Director

1993

 

Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser in Weekend at Bernie's II (1993)

Weekend at Bernie's II

4.8

Director

1993

 

Baby Boom (1988)

Baby Boom

5.8

TV Series

Director

1988

1 episode

 

Jeff Goldblum, Lionel Richie, Hilary Beane, Andrea Howard, Valerie Landsburg, Mark Lonow, Terri Nunn, Chuck Sacci, Mews Small, Donna Summer, Chick Vennera, and The Commodores in Thank God It's Friday (1978)

Thank God It's Friday

5.4

Director

1978