James MacArthur: TV Actor, Dead at 72...

James Gordon MacArthur
(December 8, 1937 – October 28, 2010)





James MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O (1970s TV series for 11 seasons).

Los Angeles-born Arthur was the adopted son of Helen Hyes and Charles MacArthur. Hyes was considered as the first lady of the American stage and Charles along with Ben Hecht wrote some of the unforgettable comedies for stage like, The Front Page and Twentieth Century.

He also made several films, including Disney's Swiss Family Robinson and The Battle of the Bulge.

Arthur leaves behind his wife, Helen Beth Duntz with whom he had a long marriage of more than 25 years. They together have four children and seven grandchildren. His previous two marriages with actresses Joyce Bulifant and Melody Patterson ended in divorce.

The cause for MacArthur’s death is attributed to natural causes. According to sources, his family was with him at the time he died.

RIP

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Paddy Mullins: Horse Racing Trainer, Dead at 91...

Paddy Mullins

(1919 - October 28, 2010)

Paddy Mullins was an Irish horse racing trainer, who will forever be remembered for sending out Dawn Run to win the 1984 Champion Hurdle and 1986 Gold Cup.

The hugely respected Mullins, who was from a farming and hunting background in Kilkenny, had a racing career spanning 52 years.

His first winner was Flash Parade, which won the 1953 La Touche at Punchestown. Although he was predominantly a jump trainer – with six Cheltenham Festival successes, four Irish National winners and 10 Irish jump trainers' title under his belt – two of his greatest successes were achieved on the Flat.

In 1973, Hurry Harriet won the Champion Stakes, an achievement he rated above Dawn Run's exploits because she beat Allez France, then the best horse in Europe. Then in 2005, two years before he handed over his Goresbridge yard to son Tom, he won the Irish Oaks with Vintage Tipple, ridden by Frankie Dettori.

But Paddy Mullins will always be associated with Dawn Run, the only horse to have won both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup. Ridden in both races by Jonjo O'Neill, she is commemorated with a statue overlooking the Cheltenham paddock.

Mullins married  his wife Maureen in 1954 and between them they founded a racing dynasty. Three of their sons – Willie, Tony and Tom –are trainers, as is Sandra McCarthy, their daughter. Their other son, George, runs a horse transport business, while two of their grandsons are successful jockeys.

Paddy Mullins passed away peacefully.

RIP
 
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Tom Bosley: Actor, Dead at 83...

Thomas Edward "Tom" Bosley
(October 1, 1927 – October 19, 2010)




Tom Bosley was an American actor, best known for portraying Howard Cunningham on the long-running ABC sitcom Happy Days. Additionally, he appeared on the series Murder, She Wrote and Father Dowling Mysteries, and originated the title role of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Fiorello!, earning the 1960 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical.

In Hollywood, Bosley found steady work appearing in the occasional movie and as a regular on weekly TV shows starring Debbie Reynolds, Dean Martin and others. During the 1990s, Bosley toured in Beauty and the Beast and Show Boat, playing Captain Andy in the latter.

Bosley made only a handful of theatrical movies. Among them: "Love With the Proper Stranger," "Divorce American Style," "The Secret War of Henry Frigg," "Yours, Mine and Ours."

Bosley married dancer Jean Eliot in 1962 and the couple had one child, Amy. Two years after his wife's death in 1978, Bosley married actress-producer Patricia Carr, who had three daughters from a previous marriage.

Bosley died of heart failure at a hospital near his home in Palm Springs, California. His agent, Sheryl Abrams, said Bosley had been battling lung cancer.

RIP

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Moss Keane: Rugby Player, Dead at 62...

Maurice Ignatius "Moss" Keane
(27 July 1948 - 5 October 2010)




Moss Keane was a former rugby union footballer who played for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.

Born in County Kerry, Ireland, Keane started out as a Gaelic footballer, playing at college level for University College Cork and winning a number of medals which included multiple Sigerson Cups. He represented Kerry at U-21 as full back. He then found rugby through a friend in college, making his international debut on 19 January 1974 against France in Paris, a game Ireland lost 9–6.

Keane became the third Irish forward after Willie John McBride and Fergus Slattery to reach 50 international appearances. He played his 51st and final international against Scotland on 3 March 1984 in Dublin. Unfortunately for Keane, Ireland lost the match 32–9. Keane was also a part of the famous Munster side that defeated the New Zealand in Thomond Park in 1978.

He toured New Zealand with the Phil Bennett's British and Irish Lions in 1977, making one Test appearance, and was also a key man in Ireland's 1974 Five Nations Championship win and their historic Triple Crown victory in 1982.

In 2009 it was reported that Keane was being treated for bowel cancer.

Keane died after losing a long battle against cancer and is survived by his wife Anne and his two daughters Sarah and Anne Marie.


RIP

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Norman Wisdom: Actor, Comedian, Dead at 95...

Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE

(4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010)

Norman Wisdom was an English comedian, singer-songwriter and actor best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin. Charlie Chaplin famously referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".

He later forged a career on Broadway and as a television actor, winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently in 1981. He was knighted in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man.

Norman Wisdom’s first marriage, to Doreen, was a wartime romance, and was quickly dissolved. In 1947 he married Freda Simpson, with whom he had a son and a daughter. That marriage was dissolved in 1969.

Six months prior to his death, Wisdom suffered a series of strokes causing a decline in his physical and mental health. He died at Abbotswood nursing home on the Isle of Man. He is survived by his two children, Nick and Jacqui.

RIP

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