Global RIP thread

[unit731]

"Tom Erdelyi, better known as Tommy Ramone, the founding drummer and last surviving original member of the Ramones, the New York City band whose dizzying, short blasts of melody codified the sound of punk rock, died on Friday at his home in Ridgewood, Queens. He was 65."

 

LINK

 

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/N1oLQ55IfPA

[The_Munchmaster]

"James Garner, Rockford Files star, dies aged 86

 

James Garner, the US star of hit TV series The Rockford Files and Maverick and films including The Great Escape, has died aged 86.

 

Garner had suffered ill health since a severe stroke in 2008.

 

"Mr Garner died of natural causes," the West LA Division of the Los Angeles Police Department told the BBC, adding his body has been released to his family by a doctor.

 

Garner famously played laconic private investigator Jim Rockford.

 

He won an Emmy for the role in 1977 and starred in 122 episodes of the hugely successful show from 1974 to 1980. He returned to it in the 1990s with eight Rockford Files TV movies."

 

When I was a young lad I wanted to be just like Jim Rockford.

[Flashermac]

I grew up watching his shows, all of them.

 

 

<< Born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, Garner dropped out of school and joined the merchant marine at the end of World War II.

 

He later joined the army and served during the Korean War, where he was twice wounded. He became an actor on encouragement from a high school friend, working his way up from TV commercials.

 

People magazine described Garner as "one of Hollywood’s most likable leading men on the big screen and on TV" for 50 years. >>

 

http://www.nationmul...t-30239000.html

 

[dean]

He wasn't afraid to poke fun at the character he was playing, such as Jim Rockford or the lead in Support your local sherif. The Great Escape and Grand Prix were movies in which he more than held his own among a cast of international stars. Whenever I think of him (or Sean Connery, for that matter), I remember the fights that they had with studio/television executives over getting screwed on what they were owed. In that regard, I tend to believe the actors. If someone wants to to see an overlooked movie in which he had a supporting role in, look at "Sayonara." A late 1950's look at inter racial dating/marriage between westerners (U.S. Servicemen) and Asians (Japanese). It's hard to believe that that was only 55 years ago.

[cavanami]

Good actor and came off as a good guy!

 

RIP

[unit731]

Murphy's Romance.

Movie.

Filmed in historic Florence, Arizona.

The tree planted in front of the pharmacy on Main Street in Florence, Arizona is still there. The only tree on Main Street today.

Planted during the making of the movie. Part of the movie.

Murphy's Romance - Garner's only Academy Award nomination.

 

http://youtu.be/pboomH3ghGw

[Boo Radley]

I remember him most from the Rockford Files in the 1970s. Brings back memories watching him with my Dad. As I recall, the starting theme always began with a phonecall, a different one each episode, which was intercepted via his answerphone as he was out. His recorded message told the caller to leave their name and number and he'd get back to them. Wonder if he ever got robbed after advertising the fact he was not at home to strangers like that all the time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg1Cx26-928

[unit731]

RIP

 

The masterful comedy troupe Monty Python bid farewell to the world recently in London, performing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life†at their final reunion show, Rolling Stone reports.

 

 

"The Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five To Go shows have seen the surviving stars performing live together for the first time in 30 years.

An industry insider was quoted as saying: "Each will pocket at least £2.2 million. That's quite a tidy little sum for just 10 days of them performing material they could recite in their sleep."

 

LINK

 

 

http://youtu.be/KaDGc2LWzGo

[Boo Radley]

Last surviving Hiroshima bomb crew member dies

The last surviving member of the US air crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima has died in Georgia aged 93.

Theodore Van Kirk, also known as "Dutch", was 24 when he became the navigator of the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the bomb.

The attack killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

Van Kirk said he had "no regrets" about the mission and defended its morality, saying it helped to end the Second World War.

His son, Tom Van Kirk, paid tribute to his father, who he said remained active until the end of his life.

"I know he was recognized as a war hero, but we just knew him as a great father", he told AP.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28548475 29/07/14

[Flashermac]

<< Whether the United States should have used the atomic bomb has been debated endlessly. Van Kirk told the AP he thought it was necessary because it shortened the war and eliminated the need for an Allied land invasion that could have cost more lives on both sides.

 

“I honestly believe the use of the atomic bomb saved lives in the long run. There were a lot of lives saved. Most of the lives saved were Japanese,†Van Kirk said.

 

But it also made him wary of war.

 

“The whole World War II experience shows that wars don’t settle anything. And atomic weapons don’t settle anything,†he said. “I personally think there shouldn’t be any atomic bombs in the world – I’d like to see them all abolished.

 

“But if anyone has one,†he added, “I want to have one more than my enemy.†>>