Gilbert Lewis obit

Gilbert Lewis, the Original King of Cartoons on 'Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,' Dies at 79

He was not on the list.

The veteran character actor introduced classic toons on the first season of the CBS Saturday morning kids show.

Gilbert Lewis, the character actor who played the kindly King of Cartoons on the first season of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, has died. He was 79.

Lewis died May 7, according to a paid obituary. Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman) on his website noted his death, calling Lewis “a terrific actor and wonderful man — very nice and very serious about acting. I liked him very much.”

Sporting a gold crown, ascot and regal coat, Lewis’ character — one of the quirky supporting players on the CBS Saturday morning show — would trumpet, “Let the cartoon begin!” before switching on an old-school film projector that ran a clip of a vintage toon.

Lewis portrayed the King of Cartoons during the first season of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, when it was filmed in New York. When production shifted to Los Angeles for its second season in 1987, Lewis was dethroned in favor of William Marshall.

A native of Philadelphia, Lewis earlier had appeared in such films as Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), The Pursuit of Happiness (1971), The Hot Rock (1972), Across 110th Street (1972), Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) and Body and Soul (1981).

Later, the actor showed up on such TV shows as Spenser: For Hire, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, China Beach, Cheers, General Hospital, Alien Nation and Law & Order and in the films Candyman (1992) and Don Juan DeMarco (1994).

Filmography

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1970      Cotton Comes to Harlem               1st Black Beret

1971      Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name?          Solomon the Cop             

1971      The Pursuit of Happiness              George Wilson  

1972      Across 110th Street         Shevvy

1972      Together for Days            Big Bubba           

1973      Gordon's War    Spanish Harry   

1989      Blaze     Rev. Marquez   

1992      Candyman           Detective Frank Valento               

1995      Don Juan DeMarco          Judge Nyland

William Bronder obit

William Bronder, Actor in Rob Reiner’s 'Stand by Me,' Dies at 84

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He also appeared in the Minnie Driver-David Duchovny romantic comedy 'Return to Me' and on dozens of TV shows.

William Bronder, a veteran character actor who stood out in the classic Rob Reiner film Stand by Me, died May 6 at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, his family announced. He was 84.

Bronder played Milo Pressman, the junkyard owner whose dog Chopper chases Gordie (Wil Wheaton) off his property as the boys embark on their adventure looking for the dead body of a man struck by a train.

Later, Pressman gets under the skin of Corey Feldman’s character, Teddy, by insulting his dad: “He’s crazier than a shithouse rat,” he says. “No wonder you’re acting the way you are, with a loony for a father.”

In the Bonnie Hunt-directed romantic comedy Return to Me (2000), starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny, Bronder played Wally, an old crony of restaurant owner Marty O’Reilly (Carroll O’Connor in his final onscreen appearance).

Bronder also appeared in such films as Flush (1977), Yes, Giorgio (1982), Cannery Row (1982) and Best Seller (1987) and on TV shows including Marcus Welby, M.D., Switch, Baretta, The Streets of San Francisco, Police Story, CHiPs, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Hill Street Blues, Hunter and Knots Landing.

A native of New York City, Bronder served in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. In the 1960s, he moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

Bronder raced pigeons for more than 50 years and was a Hall of Fame member of the FVC San Fernando Valley Pigeon Club.

Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Tona; siblings Charles Sr. and Patricia; daughters Colleen and Joan; stepchildren Gary, Crystal and Rhonda; grandchildren Charles, Christopher, Michael, Jerilee, Richard, Gary, Laura, Melissa and Jennifer; and 15 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. on June 26 at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, Calif.

Jim Wright obit

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Wright Dead At 92

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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The Father of The Wright Amendment passed today.

James "Jim" Wright Jr., the former U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House from 1987 through 1989, died Wednesday morning the age of 92.

Wright was at the center of several major Dallas/Fort Worth undertakings, including the DFW Airport and a multitude of government contracts that protected the area's mainstay aerospace industry. During his serving in the 12th Congressional District, Wright helped in securing needed flood control projects and downtown Fort Worth revitalization ventures. He was best known across the Metroplex for the Wright Amendment, a law which previously restricted air travel from Dallas Love Field.

He worked with seven Presidents. They included John F. Kennedy, who Wright convinced to visit Fort Worth in November, 1963. He was in the presidential motorcade when Kennedy was assassinated.

After an ethics inquiry spearheaded by then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, Wright resigned during his term as speaker in June of 1989. Calling the year-long House Ethics Committee investigation into speaking fees and gifts an "agonizing experience," Wright maintained his innocence, reiterating 20 years after the investigation that he was "convinced" no laws or House rules were violated.

Wright was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1954; he was re-elected 17 times. Prior to that, he served as mayor of Weatherford.

He was a confidant of Lyndon B. Johnson, who served in the U.S. Senate before becoming vice president in 1961.

At the age of 19, Wright volunteered for the U.S. Army just 3 weeks after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. At 20, he was flying combat missions in the Pacific. He frequently volunteered as a scoutmaster, boxing coach, and Sunday school teacher.

Wright is survived by his wife, Betty, and four children.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said she knew Wright personally and recalled that even during his time in Washington, he always remembered his roots.

"He was there when Kennedy was shot. He was good friends with John Kennedy and John Connally and really witnessed an incredible amount of history," she said.  "But he always kept Texas in his heart."

Pete Geren, who succeeded Wright in Congress, and who went onto serve as the Secretary of the Army in 2007 through 2009 said, "He was a leader for investment and infrastructure and transportation, water, aviation around the country. he was a go-to, if not the go-to guy in Congress when it came to transportation."

"Look at all the jobs and people he brought to Fort Worth," said Fort Worth attorney Dee Kelly. "That's going to be a lasting legacy for him. Hard to repeat what he's done for Fort Worth from that standpoint."

Kelly called Wright a friend for 42 years.

"He was a kind man, considerate man and Fort Worth owes him a debt of gratitude. I hope they remember him well because he deserves it."

Ellen Albertini Dow obit

Ellen Albertini Dow, Actress, Dies at 101; Rapping Granny in ‘Wedding Singer’

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Ellen Albertini Dow, who found acting success in her 70s and portrayed feisty grandmothers in the hit film comedies “Wedding Crashers” and “The Wedding Singer,” stealing the show in that one when she rapped onstage, died on Monday in Los Angeles. She was 101.

Her manager, Juliet Green, confirmed the death.

The sprightly Ms. Dow turned to film and television acting after retiring as a drama and acting teacher in the mid-1980s. She soon became a familiar guest star on television shows like “Seinfeld,” “Six Feet Under” and “My Name Is Earl,” and in films like “Road Trip,” “Patch Adams” and the two “Sister Act” movies.

Ms. Dow played a cocaine-abusing doyenne of disco in “54,” the 1998 paean to the nightclub Studio 54 starring Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek and Mike Myers. In “Wedding Crashers,” a 2005 Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy, she was the profane, homophobic matriarch of a blue-blooded family who insults her gay grandson during an excruciatingly awkward dinner.

Her most memorable performance was as the rapping grandmother in “The Wedding Singer” (1998), a romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Ms. Dow’s character had been singing the standard “Till There Was You” to her husband in front of a crowd at her 50th wedding anniversary celebration when she started rapping the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”

Ms. Dow told The Daily News in New York in 2005 that Mr. Sandler and the film’s director, Frank Coraci, “thought it would take days and nights” for her to deliver a usable performance.

“As soon as I started to move to it, it just came naturally,” Ms. Dow said of “Rapper’s Delight.” “I still sing it all the time.”

Ellen Albertini was born on Nov. 26, 1913, Mount Carmel, Pa., the seventh child of Italian immigrants. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theater from Cornell University, then moved to New York City, where she studied dance with Hanya Holm and Martha Graham. She also studied acting with Michael Shurtleff and Uta Hagen, performed in Yiddish theater with Molly Picon and Menasha Skulnik and worked with the mimes Marcel Marceau and Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

She married Eugene Dow, an actor, in 1951. They moved to Los Angeles, where she taught drama at Los Angeles City College. She and her husband later taught at Pierce College in the Woodland Hills neighborhood, where Ms. Dow lived at her death.

Mr. Dow died in 2004. No immediate family members survive.

Marv Hubbard obit

Former Raiders running back Marv Hubbard dies at age 68

 

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The Oakland Raiders are mourning the death of former running back Marv Hubbard.

Marv Hubbard was a member of the heyday Raiders.

The rough-and-tumble Hubbard was part of the heyday Raiders. He played for the team from 1969 to '75 and was one of the many colorful characters on those special Oakland teams.

The Raiders announced Hubbard's death on their website. He played 90 games with the Raiders, including 58 starts, and had 4,394 career yards with Oakland and 22 touchdown runs. He did not play in 1976 before joining the Detroit Lions in 1977.

Hubbard was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 1968 Common Draft, but released in preseason cuts due to an initial inability to adjust to the professional game. He met the same fate with the Denver Broncos before signing with the Hartford Knights of the Atlantic Coast Football League. Despite not being the team's full-time running back, he still led the league in rushing yards, just ahead of his tandem partner, journeyman Mel Meeks. After Hubbard's success with the Knights, the Raiders exercised a reserve clause in his previous contract and signed him to their active roster.

Hubbard was quick for his size, and powerfully built. Famous for his aggressive style, he was a fan favorite of the John Madden-led Oakland Raiders in the early to mid 1970s. "Marv Hubbard was one of the toughest players we ever had," Madden told the Contra Costa Times. "There are people that will have contact and people that won't have contact, but only a few that will have it and really enjoy it. Marv was one of those guys who truly enjoyed the collision. He would look for it."

Hubbard averaged 4.82 yards per carry during his professional career, which ranks third all time for an NFL fullback (behind only Pro Football Hall of Fame fullbacks Jim Brown and Joe Perry) and is tied for 13th for all-time top yards per carry for any player in NFL history. His career yards per carry average was higher than many of the games legendary running backs, including: Walter Payton, O. J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Emmitt Smith, and Marshall Faulk.

Hubbard was a standout for the Raiders from 1971-1974 and part of 1975, and gave Oakland's fearsome air attack a balanced running threat. He helped lead the Raiders team to four consecutive AFC Western Division titles from 1972-1975 and three consecutive AFC Conference Championship Finals from 1973-1975.[7] Hubbard led the Raiders in rushing four straight seasons from 1971-1974, and averaged over 1,000 total yards from scrimmage In each. He gained 1,100 yards rushing during the 1972 season, becoming the Raiders then all-time single season rushing leader. He rushed for a total of 4,544 rushing yards, 3,755 of which came during his four full-time years from 1971-1974. Hubbard was named to the NFL's AFC Pro Bowl Team in 1971, 1972, and 1973.

Hubbard scored 24 touchdowns (23 rushing, 1 passing) during his career, six of which were against his favorite opponent, the formidable Kansas City Chiefs. Hubbard was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated on December 17, 1973 after the Raiders won a pivotal game over the division rival Chiefs. Marv kept an enlarged graphic of that magazine cover in his office throughout his post-football career. He was also an effective pass receiver coming out of the backfield, and caught 85 passes for 624 total yards, averaged 7.4 yards per reception. According to John Madden, he also used Hubbard on kick-off and punt return teams where "Marv turned from a fullback into a linebacker"

Marv was a country musician and songwriter for a brief period after football, and released the single "Fullbacks Ain't Supposed to Cry" in 1978. He also released the tracks "Legend in His Own Mind/Country Boogie" in 2009. He went on to become a computer programmer, working for some of the insurance companies in Hartford, Connecticut.

Hubbard loved to golf and frequently donated his time and autographed memorabilia to charity celebrity tournaments. In 1975, Hubbard and Sal Bando, a third baseman for the Oakland Athletics, won the American Airlines Golf Classic, which featured pro football and baseball stars as partners, in Palm Springs, California.

On September 27, 2003, Hubbard was involved in a car accident in Castro Valley, California, in which the driver of the other car was killed. In 2004, Hubbard pleaded no contest to misdemeanor DUI. The driver who died had been making an illegal turn in a "blind spot" on an isolated section of road.

Hubbard, who started at Colgate, would have turned 69 on Thursday.