Mike Renzi obit

Composer and Musical Director Mike Renzi Dies at 80

Renzi was musical director for Peggy Lee and Mel Torme for over 25 years, worked on Sesame Street, and alongside many musical legends

 

He was not on the list.

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Mike Renzi, composer, music director, pianist, and jazz musician, has died at age 80.

Renzi was musical director for Peggy Lee and Mel Torme for over 25 years. He also worked on Sesame Street as the music director for seasons 31 through 40 and recorded Our First Christmas with singer Cynthia Crane and leads the Mike Renzi Trio.

The news of Renzi's passing was shared on Instagram by Nicolas King.

After living and working in and around Providence, he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music in 1973 and Berklee College Of Music the following year, working with local bands and as accompanist to visiting artists. Among these was Sylvia Sims and it was as a direct result of this engagement that he was hired to work with Mel Tormé. In 1976 he moved to New York City and from the late 70s onwards through the next two decades and into the early years of the twenty-first century, he appeared on scores of albums, sometimes only as pianist but most often also as arranger.

He worked on Sesame Street as the music director for seasons 31 through 40 and recorded Our First Christmas with singer Cynthia Crane and led the Mike Renzi Trio

He served as musical director for legends including Ruth Brown, Laverne Butler, Ann Hampton Callaway, Diahann Carroll, Freddy Cole, Cynthia Crane, Meredith D'Ambrosio, Blossom Dearie, Scott Hamilton, Lena Horne, Etta Jones, Jack Jones, Eartha Kitt, Steve Laspina, Cleo Laine, Peggy Lee, Jay Leonhart, Gloria Lynne, Maureen McGovern, Liza Minnelli, Gerry Mulligan, Mark Murphy, Houston Person, John Pizzarelli, Annie Ross, George Shearing, an eight-week tour with Frank Sinatra, Carol Sloane, Grady Tate and, most recently, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

Barrie Nelson obit

Barrie Nelson Has Died

 He was not on the list.

Barrie Nelson (1933-2021) was a Canadian animator.

Nelson animated for productions from Jay Ward Productions (The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends and George of the Jungle), Hubley Studio (Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature, A Windy Day and A Doonesbury Special) and Peanuts features (namely A Boy Named Charlie Brown and This Is America, Charlie Brown).

Nelson's other credentials include Puff the Magic Dragon and Cathy specials, as well as Watership Down, the "B-17" segment of Heavy Metal (which he directed), The Plague Dogs and Mrs. Doubtfire.

Nelson worked on two 1980 shorts: Open Wednesday (featuring June Foray) and Carlton Your Doorman (starring Lorenzo Music)..

A native of Winnipeg, he studied fine art at the University of Manitoba. He worked for Canadian animation studios for a number of years before moving to Hollywood, where he joined John Hubley's studio and was one of the animators of the Academy Award-winning A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature. He had a number of other animation credits, both with Hubley and on various animated television series, before making Propaganda Message for the National Film Board of Canada in 1971; the film won a gold award at the first USA International Animation Film Festival in New York City in 1972.

Nelson also worked on the 1978 animated adaptation of Watership Down and the 1990 TV special Garfield's Feline Fantasies.

Nelson also later made the short film Ten: The Magic Number, about the adoption of the metric system in Canada, for the NFB. In the United States he continued to work on animated films and television series, and made at least four short films that were submitted for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film consideration: Keep Cool (1971), Twins (1974), Opens Wednesday (1980), and You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (1984).

Nelson died in Haiku, Hawaii on September 29, 2021, at the age of 88.

Director

You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Short

Director

1984

 

Heavy Metal (1981)

Heavy Metal

6.6

Director (segment "B-17")

1981

 

Opens Wednesday

Short

Director

1980

 

Oh Canada

Short

Director

1978

 

Twins

Short

Director

1974

 

Propaganda Message (1974)

Propaganda Message

7.2

Short

Director

1974

 

Ten: The Magic Number (1973)

Ten: The Magic Number

Short

Director

1973

 

Writer

Opens Wednesday

Short

Writer

1980

 

Twins

Short

written by

1974

 

Producer

Twins

Short

producer

1974

 

Art Department

You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Short

designer

1984

 

Opens Wednesday

Short

designer

1980

 

Propaganda Message (1974)

Propaganda Message

7.2

Short

designer

1974

 

Ten: The Magic Number (1973)

Ten: The Magic Number

Short

designer

1973

 

Animation Department

Snoopy's Campfire Stories (1996)

Snoopy's Campfire Stories

7.0

Video Game

animator

1996

 

Get Ready for School, Charlie Brown! (1995)

Get Ready for School, Charlie Brown!

Video Game

animator

1995

 

Gregg Berger and Lorenzo Music in Garfield and Friends (1988)

Garfield and Friends

7.2

TV Series

animator

1994

2 episodes

 

Robin Williams, Sally Field, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, and Mara Wilson in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

Mrs. Doubtfire

7.1

animator (as Barry Nelson)

1993

 

The Music Machine: An Adventure in Agapeland

Video

animator

1990

 

Garfield Specials (1982)

Garfield Specials

7.7

TV Mini Series

key animator

animator

1984–1990

3 episodes

 

Garfield's Feline Fantasies (1990)

Garfield's Feline Fantasies

7.5

TV Short

key animator

1990

 

Cathy's Valentine (1989)

Cathy's Valentine

6.5

TV Movie

animator

1989

 

Cathy's Last Resort (1988)

Cathy's Last Resort

6.9

TV Movie

animator

1988

 

This Is America, Charlie Brown (1988)

This Is America, Charlie Brown

7.4

TV Series

animator

1988

3 episodes

 

Lorenzo Music in Garfield in Paradise (1986)

Garfield in Paradise

7.1

TV Short

animator

1986

 

Lorenzo Music in Garfield in the Rough (1984)

Garfield in the Rough

7.6

TV Short

animator

1984

 

You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Short

animator

1984

 

The Plague Dogs (1982)

The Plague Dogs

7.7

senior animator

1982

 

Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody (1982)

Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody

7.5

TV Movie

animator

1982

 

Heavy Metal (1981)

Heavy Metal

6.6

sequence director (segment "B-17")

1981

 

Opens Wednesday

Short

animator

1980

 

Carlton Your Doorman (1980)

Carlton Your Doorman

7.2

TV Movie

animator

1980

 

Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies (1979)

Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies

7.5

TV Movie

animator

1979

 

Nate the Great Goes Undercover

Short

animator

1978

 

Oh Canada

Short

animator

1978

 

Watership Down (1978)

Watership Down

7.6

animator

1978

 

A Doonesbury Special (1977)

A Doonesbury Special

6.4

Short

animator

1977

 

Everybody Rides the Carousel (1976)

Everybody Rides the Carousel

6.5

animator

1976

 

WOW Women of the World

6.2

Short

animator (as Barry Nelson)

1975

 

Twins

Short

animator

1974

 

Propaganda Message (1974)

Propaganda Message

7.2

Short

animator

1974

 

Ten: The Magic Number (1973)

Ten: The Magic Number

Short

animator

1973

 

Shinbone Alley (1970)

Shinbone Alley

5.5

animator

1970

 

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

A Boy Named Charlie Brown

7.3

animator (as Barry Nelson)

1969

 

The Night Before Christmas (1968)

The Night Before Christmas

6.8

TV Movie

animator

1968

 

Windy Day (1968)

Windy Day

6.6

Short

animator

1968

 

Bill Scott in George of the Jungle (1967)

George of the Jungle

6.7

TV Series

animator

1967

17 episodes

 

Super Chicken (1967)

Super Chicken

7.5

TV Series

animator

1967

17 episodes

 

Tom Slick (1967)

Tom Slick

7.2

TV Series

animator

1967

17 episodes

 

A Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966)

A Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Double Feature

5.4

Short

animator

1966

 

Return to Oz (1964)

Return to Oz

5.4

TV Movie

animator

1964

 

Fractured Fairy Tales (1959)

Fractured Fairy Tales

8.2

TV Series

animator (uncredited)

1959–1961

2 episodes

 

The Dudley Do-Right Show (1969)

The Dudley Do-Right Show

6.7

TV Series

animator (uncredited)

1959

1 episode

 

Animal Farm (1954)

Animal Farm

7.2

animator (uncredited)

1954

June Claman obit

 

June Faibish Claman

October 6, 1930 - September 29, 2021

She was not on the list.

June Faibish Claman, beloved wife of the late Dr. Morris Claman, cherished mother of Danielle, Holly, Shoshana, Liz, Brook, and loving grandmother of eight, died peacefully and surrounded by her family Wednesday, September 29th at her Beverly Hills, California home of 57 years. She was 90.
June was born in Jansen, Saskatchewan. Her parents Ben and Toni Faibish later moved their four children Roy, June, Harris and Brahna first to Markinch and then to Gull Lake, and later Shaunavon. While studying theatre at the University of Saskatchewan, she auditioned before visiting scouts from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London who accepted her for the class of 1953 which counted Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and Dame Sybil Thorndike among its council. Her fellow RADA classmates of the era included James Mason, Peter O'Toole and Sylvia Sims. Upon graduation, she returned to Canada to perform in Tyrone Guthrie-directed productions at Stratford's Ontario Shakespeare Festival. When Dr. Claman was accepted at the Albert Einstein Institute in the Bronx as its very first Urology intern, June moved with her husband to New York where she performed in various off-Broadway productions.

After moving to California, June starred in Shakespearean plays at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, most notably Paulina in "The Winter's Tale," Gertrude in "Hamlet" and Constance in "King John." She appeared in productions at the Mark Taper Forum, and in the Jack O'Brien-directed production of "Pygmalion" at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. She marked her final 20 years of her stage career as a resident artist of 'A Noise Within', a classical repertory company in Los Angeles.

While June's first love was the theatre, she appeared in television roles including "Frasier," "Golden Girls," "Party of Five," "General Hospital," "Days of Our Lives," and "Beverly Hills, 90210," in which she played Shannen Doherty and Jason Priestly's grandmother. Her wry humor regarding auditioning for television roles with her Royal Academy training was legendary among L.A.'s journeymen actors. While reading for a "MacGyver" role that called for a 'Beverly Hills matron in a white Jaguar,' she quipped in her trans-Atlantic theatre accent to the casting agents, "Does it help that I *AM* a Beverly Hills matron with a white Jaguar?"

Her film credits include Michael Ritchie's "The Couch Trip" and Bryan Spicer's "For Richer or Poorer."
June will be achingly missed by her devoted family, as well as by family and friends around the world from America to Canada to Britain, China to India, and New Zealand to Israel. She was a lady and true original.

She was the mother of Liz Claman, anchor of the Fox Business Network show The Claman Countdown.

Actress (15 credits)

 2020 Ghost Cocaine: The Heist Before Christmas

Cecile

 2007 The Memory Thief

Zvi's Wife

 2004-2006 Huff (TV Series)

Joy

- Red Meat (2006) ... Joy

- Sweet Release (2006) ... Joy

- The Good Doctor (2005) ... Joy

- Christmas Is Ruined (2005) ... Joy

- Lipstick on Your Panties (2004) ... Joy

 2001 Breathing Hard

Emma

 1998 Diagnosis Murder (TV Series)

Judge Bartlett

- Retribution: Part 1 (1998) ... Judge Bartlett

 1997 For Richer or Poorer

Judge Joan Northcutt

 1996 Party of Five (TV Series)

Judge

- Not So Fast (1996) ... Judge

 1993 Frasier (TV Series)

Aunt Bobbie

- Death Becomes Him (1993) ... Aunt Bobbie

 1993 Beverly Hills, 90210 (TV Series)

Georgette Walsh

- Twenty Years Ago Today (1993) ... Georgette Walsh

 1989-1990 The Bold and the Beautiful (TV Series)

Betty Burns

- Episode #1.755 (1990) ... Betty Burns

- Episode #1.754 (1990) ... Betty Burns

- Episode #1.713 (1990) ... Betty Burns

- Episode #1.710 (1990) ... Betty Burns

- Episode #1.709 (1990) ... Betty Burns

 1989 The Golden Girls (TV Series)

Phyliss

- You Gotta Have Hope (1989) ... Phyliss

 1988 The Couch Trip

Lady at Riviera

 1986 It's a Living (TV Series)

Colette Roti

- Critic's Choice (1986) ... Colette Roti

 1983 Whiz Kids (TV Series)

Matron

- Airwave Anarchy (1983) ... Matron

 1962 Discovery (TV Series)

Empress Anna

- Here There Be Giants: Vitus Bering (1962) ... Empress Anna