Other credits include “McCloud”, “Medical Center”, and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”.
Other credits include “12 O’Clock High” (the series), OG “Dragnet”, “Run, Joe, Run”…
…and “Mannix”. (“The Sound of Darkness“, season 3, episode 10. He was “Rudy Marin”.)
Victor Willis, of the Village People.
And, since we’re coming up on America250!, a tribute to one branch of the armed services:
Thing I did not know:
Ann Blyth, actress. Other credits include “Quincy, M.E.”, “The Name of the Game”, and “The Twilight Zone” (the original).
Dr. Roy G. Jinks passed away last night. I’m sorry that I don’t have anything to link to at the moment.
Dr. Jinks was a driving force in Smith and Wesson collecting. Arguably, he was the driving force. He was one of the founders of the Smith and Wesson Collector’s Association. He was a long time S&W employee, working in multiple positions within the company (including as their official historian for quite a while). He did more to preserve S&W history than any other person. And he wrote the definitive (though about 1980) history of S&W.
This is a great loss. I will perhaps have more to say about this in the coming days. I will say that we were (sort of) friends, in the sense that he could probably have picked me out of a police lineup, and we talked pretty regularly at the Symposiums.
Shirley Lord, writer.
Excuse me. That’s “bosomy dirty book writer Shirley Lord“, as the late lamented (by me, anyway) “SPY Magazine” used to refer to her.
Lawrence gave me copies of a couple of her books one year. I have to say, “steamy” is a pretty accurate description of those books. I also would accept “kinky”.
FotB RoadRich sent over two obits:
Daveigh Chase. Other credits include “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, “Cold Case”, “S. Darko”, and “Without a Trace”.
Margaret Kerry. Other credits include “Clutch Cargo”, “The Sickle or the Cross”, and “The New 3 Stooges”.
NYT obit for Jane Yolen. (Previously.)
Anne Schedeen, actress. Credits other than one of the worst shows ever to air on television include “Ironside”, “Lanigan’s Rabbi”, and “The Six Million Dollar Man”.
William Smithers, actor. Other credits include “Quincy, M.E.”, “The Bold Ones: The New Doctors”, the good “Hawaii Five-0”, “The F.B.I.”, a minor SF TV series from the 1960s…
…and “Mannix”. (“Eight to Five, It’s a Miracle”, season 1, episode 21. He was “Salvatore Pucci”.)
Gene Shalit. THR. I realize that there’s a “don’t speak ill of the dead” factor here, but the THR story reads like a hastily and slightly re-written press release from the family.
I do remember liking the guy when I was a young person watching the “Today” show, and I’m impressed he lived to 100.
Lance Rentzel. He was 82.
Mr. Rentzel started out with the Vikings, but didn’t do that well, mostly due to injuries. He was traded to the Cowboys, and was a solid player. Quoting Wikipedia:
He was on top of the world. He married Joey Heatherton in 1969. But he had a problem.
In 1966, he exposed himself to two young girls in St. Paul. That incident didn’t get a lot of attention, and he pled down to “disorderly conduct”. But in 1970, he exposed himself to a 10-year old girl in University Park, Texas. That got more attention: Ms. Heatherton divorced him, and he was traded to the LA Rams. He was less successful there, and was suspended at the start of the 1973 season after being convicted of possession of marijuana. (He was still on probation for the indecent exposure charge.)
He also wrote a book, When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow, which I have in a box somewhere but haven’t read.
There were rumors a few weeks ago that the Christmas special was going to be cancelled, as the BBC and showrunners couldn’t find anybody who was willing to play “Doctor Who”.
Bob Packwood, former Senator from Oregon. WP (archived).
He resigned in 1995, before he could get thrown out, due to a sexual harassment scandal.
The case against Mr. Packwood, who had spent nearly half his life in the Senate, unfolded long before the #MeToo movement spurred society to take more seriously allegations of sexual misconduct against high-profile men. An inquiry by the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Ethics dragged on for more than three years before the committee recommended unanimously that he be expelled.
That recommendation was based in part on Mr. Packwood’s diary, in which he detailed his predatory behavior, including toward women he supervised. “Twenty-two staff members I made love to,” he boasted, “and probably 75 others I’ve had a passionate relationship with.”
…
Shortly after his re-election to a fifth term, The Washington Post reported that he had made uninvited advances toward 10 women, many of whom were on his staff.
“Several said he was abrupt, grabbing them without warning, kissing them forcefully and persisting until they made clear that they were not interested or had pushed him away,” The Post reported.
Before the article was published, Mr. Packwood denied the allegations and refused to cooperate with The Post. Instead, he gave the newspaper embarrassing information about some of the women’s sexual histories to undermine their credibility.
…
But the Ethics Committee’s investigation continued.
As it expanded to include accusations of corruption, Mr. Packwood stonewalled it with legal challenges. In May 1995, though, the committee issued a damning bill of particulars, saying it had “substantial credible evidence” that Mr. Packwood had committed at least 18 sexual assaults between 1969 and 1990.
It also said that he had tampered with evidence by destroying parts of his diary, an incriminating document replete with scenes out of a bodice-ripper.
“If she didn’t want me to feather her nest, why did she come into the Xerox room?” he wrote at one point. “She knew I was copying stuff in there. I had my jacket off and my sleeves rolled up, revealing the well-defined musculature of my sinewy arms, which were always bulging with desire. I know what she wanted.”
James Handy, actor. Other credits include “Crossing Jordan” (the “Quincy” of the 2000s except it sucked), “Gideon’s Crossing”, and “Walker, Texas Ranger”.
Max Kleven. Man, he had one heck of a career. Stunt work on “Cotton Comes to Harlem” and “Come Back Charleston Blue”, second unit director on “Rollerball” and “Silver Streak”, and acting credits on “The F.B.I.”, a minor SF TV series from the 1960s…
…and he was a “Mannix” five-timer, too.
This just in: Anthony Head. Other credits include “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”, “NYPD Blue”, and “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”.
Marjane Satrapi, author of the graphic novel “Persepolis”.
I haven’t read it, but “Persepolis” got a lot of praise from the usual suspects.
Peabo Bryson, musician.
Col. Bruce Crandall (US Army – ret.), Medal of Honor recipient and big damn hero, passed away on May 31st. He was 93.
On Nov. 14, 1965, Major Crandall was piloting one of several unarmed helicopters ferrying soldiers to a remote part of Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam for a search-and-destroy mission. On their fifth trip, they came under attack by enemy mortars, rockets and automatic weapons.
The ground commander ordered the helicopters to abort the mission and return to their command post. According to military records, Major Crandall decided without formal orders to organize a mission to return to the combat site after learning that medevac assistance had been suspended.
“The medevac pilots were all great pilots,” he later said. “But they weren’t allowed to land on a landing zone until it was ‘green’ for a period of five minutes” — meaning safe from incoming fire.
In subsequent landings, he and his wingman, Major Ed Freeman, delivered ammunition to soldiers trapped there and evacuated the wounded. They were credited with saving the lives of about 70 injured soldiers.
…
In the wake of the battle, Major Freeman received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and Major Crandall received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest award for valor. A group of veterans who had fought alongside both men later called for them to receive the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration.
In White House ceremonies, President George W. Bush presented the medal to Major Freeman in 2001 and Colonel Crandall (his final rank) in 2007.
“Fourteen times he flew into what they called the valley of death,” Mr. Bush said of Colonel Crandall. “He made those flights knowing that he faced what was later described as an almost unbelievably extreme risk to his life. In the course of the day, Major Crandell had three different choppers. Two were damaged so badly they could not stay in the air. Yet he kept flying until every wounded man had been evacuated.”
Press release from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. According to them, there are 63 living Medal of Honor recipients.
Robert Daley, author and deputy commissioner with the NYPD. He was 96.
Daley served as deputy commissioner of the NYPD in 1971 and 1972, a turbulent period marked by police corruption investigations, organised crime violence, major robberies and attacks on officers. He later drew on that experience in ‘Target Blue: An Insider’s View of the N.Y.P.D.’, giving readers a close look at the inner workings, pressures and contradictions of the force.
‘Prince of the City’ became his most enduring work. The book followed Robert Leuci, an NYPD narcotics detective whose cooperation with investigators exposed corruption within the department’s Special Investigation Unit. The story centred not only on criminal conduct, but on loyalty, guilt and the complicated moral code that shaped police life. Critics recognised its force, with contemporary commentary noting the power of Daley’s portrayal of the flawed policeman as a modern literary figure.
Haven’t read the book, but the movie version of it is…pretty okay. I do think it could have been trimmed down some (the movie comes in at 2:47: “The Best Years of Our Lives” comes in at 2:52).
(Archive.is is still broken. Sorry.)
The archiving service I use has been having problems for the past few days, and I’m running low on NYT share links.
Kyle Busch. ESPN. Oddly, I don’t see any coverage of this in the NYT: it looks like they’ve shuffled off the coverage to their sports vertical, “The Athletic”, which they make you pay extra to read.
41 seems awfully young these days.
Edited to add: Shortly after this went up, the NYT posted an actual obit in the obituary section. I apologize that this is paywalled, but, as I said earlier, archive.is is having problems and I only have three share links left until June 1. (No, they don’t roll over from month to month. I wish.)
Kirk Foyle. He was a local man: Tuesday night, he was eating on the patio at Green Mesquite (one of our local barbecue restaurants), when a tree fell on him. He died from his injuries the next day.
Tomorrow is promised to nobody, whether you’re a NASCAR driver or a barbecue eater. Be prepared.
Sam Sianis. He owned and ran the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, also known as the “Cheezborger cheezborger cheezborger cheeps cheeps Pepsi!” place from SNL. (Though my understanding is that sketch was also heavily influenced by the Belushi family, who were in the restaurant business as well.)
The Billy Goat Tavern is also famous for triggering Cubs fans.
Mr. Sianis’s uncle Billy bought the bar — which was originally across from Chicago Stadium (now United Center) and called the Lincoln Tavern — in 1934. After a goat wandered in the door, he renamed the bar the Billy Goat and adopted the animal as a pet.
The goat, called Murphy, became something of a celebrity himself. In 1945, the elder Mr. Sianis brought him to Game 4 of the World Series, between the Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, at Wrigley Field.
It began to rain. Murphy began to stink. The Cubs’ owner, Philip K. Wrigley, kicked them out.
As he was leaving, Billy Sianis put a curse on the team, vowing that it would never win a championship. When the Cubs lost the Series that year, he sent a note to Mr. Wrigley: “Now who stinks!”
…
In 1984, when the Cubs were contesting the National League championship, the team relented and allowed Mr. Sianis bring a goat onto the field.
But the Cubs did not win a World Series until 2016.
Watching the tiebreaking seventh game that year from the tavern, Mr. Sianis banished the curse by ringing the bell that had been worn by Murphy in 1945. The current goat stood beside him, looking as nervous as the rest of the crowd. Then it urinated on the floor. Mr. Sianis led it away.
“Don’t touch the goat,” one fan said, according to The Financial Times. “It’s bad luck.”
“Then it urinated on the floor.” I cannot tell a lie: one of the reasons I enjoy NYT obits so much is the telling details.
The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas.
The restaurant blamed major casinos and “corporate greed” for pricing average Americans out of the “quintessential American experience of affordable indulgence” in Las Vegas, it said.
“Our core value, ‘Eat big and laugh loud,’ no longer fits a city peddling $40 ‘artisanal avocado toast,’” the restaurant said.
“The honest, heavy-duty calories that built our reputation are now considered gauche by a city that has excluded the middle class and lost its swagger in the process.”
Lawrence sent over a report from Fox Las Vegas: