James Arness: American Actor, Dead at 88...

James King Arness
(May 26, 1923 – June 3, 2011)





James Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years. Arness has the distinction of having played the role of Dillon in five separate decades: 1955 to 1975 in the weekly series, then in Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987) and four more made-for-TV Gunsmoke movies in the 1990s. In Europe Arness reached cult status for his role as Zeb Macahan in the western series How the West Was Won. His younger brother was actor Peter Graves.

James Arness disdained publicity and banned reporters from the Gunsmoke set. He was said to be a shy and sensitive man who enjoyed poetry, sailboat racing, and surfing. TV Guide dubbed him "The Greta Garbo of Dodge City".

Arness was married twice, first to Virginia Chapman from 1948 until their divorce in 1960 and then wasmarried to Janet Surtees from 1978 until his death. He had two sons, Rolf and Craig and daughter Jenny Lee.

Arness died of natural causes at his Brentwood home in Los Angeles. He is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

RIP

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Clarence Clemons: Musician, Dead at 69...

Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr.
(January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011)



Clarence Clemons was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a Friend of Mine", a duet with Jackson Browne. As a guest musician he also featured on Aretha Franklin's classic "Freeway of Love".

RIP

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Betty Ford: US First Lady, Dead at 93...

Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford
(April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011)




Betty Ford was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband Gerald Ford. As First Lady, she was active in social policy and created precedents as a politically active presidential wife. Throughout her husband's term in office, she maintained high approval ratings despite opposition from some conservative Republicans who objected to her more moderate and liberal positions on social issues.

Pro-choice on abortion and a leader in the Women's Movement, she gained fame as one of the most candid first ladies in history, commenting on every hot-button issue of the time, including feminism, drugs, abortion, and gun control. She also raised awareness of addiction when she announced her long-running battle with alcoholism in the 1970s.

Betty Ford died of natural causes at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, USA.

RIP

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Peter Falk: American Actor, Dead at 83...

Peter Michael Falk
(September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011)



Peter Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo. He appeared in numerous films such as The Princess Bride, The Great Race and Next, and television guest roles and was nominated for an Academy Award twice (for 1960's Murder, Inc. and 1961's Pocketful of Miracles), and won the Emmy Award on five occasions (four for Columbo) and the Golden Globe award once.

Falk died at his longtime Roxbury Drive Beverly Hills home. The cause of death was later revealed as cardiorespiratory arrest, with pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease as underlying causes. Falk was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Falk is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

RIP

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Dana Wynter: Actress, Dead at 79...

Dana Wynter
(8 June 1931 – 5 May 2011)




Dana Wynter was a German-born British actress, who was brought up in England and Southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than forty years beginning in the 1950s, most notably in the original version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

In 1956, Wynter married her only husband, celebrity attorney Greg Bautzer. In 1981 she divorced him. She and Bautzer had one child — Mark Ragan Bautzer.

For years, Wynter, divided her time between her homes in California and Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland.

She died of congestive heart failure at Ojai Valley Community Hospital's Continuing Care Center, California, USA.

RIP

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Jackie Cooper: Child Actor, Dead at 88...

Jackie Cooper
(September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011)





Jackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination. At age 9, he was also the youngest performer to have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role—an honor that he received for the film Skippy.

A child star in "Our Gang" Cooper was more widely known as Perry White in the Superman films.

Cooper served in the United States Navy during World War II and remained active in the reserves for the next several decades, reaching the rank of Captain. He was married three times: first to June Horne (1944-1949), with whom he had one son, John "Jack" Cooper III. He was married to Hildy Parks from (1950-1951) and to Barbara Kraus from 1954 until her death in 2009. Cooper and Kraus had three children — Russell, Julie and Cristina.

He died in a Beverly Hills hospital after a short illness. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of his naval service.

RIP

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Jeff Conaway: American Actor, Dead at 60...

Jeffrey Charles William Michael "Jeff" Conaway
(October 5, 1950 - May 27, 2011)





Jeff Conaway was an American actor best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the US television series Taxi and Babylon 5.

Conaway appeared in the original cast of the Broadway musical Grease, as an understudy to several roles including that of the lead male character, Danny Zuko. He and his friend John Travolta reunited in the 1978 motion picture musical Grease, in which Travolta played Zuko and Conaway his buddy Kenickie.

Conaway was married three times. His first short-lived marriage, at 21, to a dancer he had been seeing for two years, was annulled.[4] His second marriage, from 1980 until their divorce in 1985, was to Rona Newton-John, sister of his Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John. His third marriage was to Keri Young from 1990 until their divorce.

On May 11, 2011, Conaway was found unconscious from what was initially described as an overdose of substances believed to be pain medication. On May 26, 2011, Conaway's family took him off life support after doctors decided there was nothing they could do to revive him. Conaway died the following morning. An autopsy performed on Conaway revealed that he died of various causes, including pneumonia and encephalopathy attributable to drug overdoses.

RIP

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