RIP – HEAVY D

EXPIRED: 11/08/11  – Heavy D, 44, was born Dwight Arrington Myers, and founded the hip-hop group Heavy D and the Boyz. The first act signed to Uptown Records, Heavy D and the Boyz released a string of commercially successful records in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including their 1987 debut Living Large and 1989′s Big Tyme. In addition, the group provided the theme songs for both Living Color and MADtv, and Heavy D collaborated with Michael Jackson on his 1991 single, “Jam”.

Along with his music career, Heavy D also found success in front of the camera. He appeared in a number of television shows including A Different World and Living Single, as well as feature films like Life and The Cider House Rules. More recently, he made a cameo in the 2011 film Tower Heist, playing a security guard.

Making the news all that more bittersweet is the fact that Heavy D had been making a musical comeback of sorts. Last month, he delivered his first live performance in 15 years at a tribute concert for Michael Jackson in London, which he then followed up with a performance at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards.

It’s been said that because D was indeed heavy lack of movement during a long distance flight from London to his home in Los Angeles caused Heavy D to get blood clots in his legs, which killed him within days.

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RIP – SID MELTON

EXPIRED: 11/02/11 – Sid Melton, 94, was an American actor best known as 1/2 of a pair of incompetent brother carpenters on the surreal 60s sitcom, Green Acres. He played Alf Monroe, but his bother, Ralph, was actually his sister, but no-one noticed.  Or cared.

It was bizarre.

Melton was a Brooklynite who, during WW2, would entertain American soldiers with jokes and songs and skits. After the war he got roles in movies like On the Town, The Geisha Boy, The Tunnel of Love,  Lost Continent and Radar Secret Service, which earned him the nickname “Monkey Boy” by the host of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Melton also guested in The Golden Girls, Superman, I Dream of Jeannie, The Dick van Dyke Show and Make Room for Daddy.

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RIP – LEONARD STONE

EXPIRED: 11/02/11 – Leonard Stone, 87, wrote a children’s story about a kangaroo, Keepy, who never grew. He forgot about the story and went on to become an actor. He had parts on TV (The Outer Limits, Lost in Space, M*A*S*H, L.A. Law, General Hospital, Barney Miller), Tony nominated stage roles in South Pacific, Redhead, and Look Homeward, Angel. He even appeared on the game show Wheel of Fortune, winning $4,250 in cash and a trip to Bermuda.

But Stone was best known for his portrayal of Sam Beauregarde, the father of Golden Ticket winner Violet Beauregarde, in the 1971 original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in which he exclaimed to his candy-loving daughter who changes color, “Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet!”

Interestingly, long after retirement, just this year in fact, Keepy, his story about the kangaroo who never grew. was published on Kindle and Nook.

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RIP – T. MAX GRAHAM

EXPIRED: 10/27/11 – T. Max Graham, 70, was a Hollywood actor who shunned Hollywood. His acting career began in San Francisco under his real name, Neil Moran, with “Angel Unchained,” the same biker flick that started Tyne Daly’s career. Then he got a bit part in the TV cop show “Adam-12”. Next up he played the factory owner in David Lynch’s cult classic Eraserhead. But then it took an even weirder turn where he played a cop who arrested a stripper played by Vanna White in “Gypsy Angels” and Jackie Gleason’s bartender in “Sting II” and in a bit part in “Cosby.”

After realizing he would always be a small fish in a big pond, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and became a big fish in a small pond. His local theatre work there made him a star. And when big Hollywood productions came through to film this or that, he was nearly always cast. For example, he played the always hungry preacher in Ang Lee’s “Ride with the Devil” and the character of Jake in a bizarre little movie called “Bonnie & Clyde vs Dracula”.

But he was very tuned into his adopted home of Kansas City where he was such a local draw that just having him cast in a play would sell out shows at the New Theatre, Tiffany’s Attic and the Waldo Astoria.

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RIP – FRANCES BAY

 

EXPIRED: 09/15/11 – Frances Bay, 92, was a Canadian radio actress in the 1930s, but quit when she got married. She didn’t return to work for 40 years but found fame playing roles most actresses thought unglamorous.

Her first movie role came at the age of 60 in 1976 in the 1976 film “Foul Play” starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. After that she appeared on TV shows like “The Jeffersons,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Who’s The Boss?” and as Fonzie’s grandmother on “Happy Days.”

Director David Lynch loved her, and used her in his movie Blue Velvet and the TV series Twin Peaks. She also had small roles in “The Karate Kid.” “Big Top Pee-wee” and “Twins.”

Roles she might be best remembered for are Adam Sandler’s loving grandmother in the film “Happy Gilmore,” the foul-mouth whorehouse madam in “Wild At Heart,” the patient who wouldn’t die in “Grey’s Anatomy,” and the Marble Rye lady, from whom Jerry steals a loaf of bread in “Seinfeld.”

After the death of her husband in 2002, she was struck by a car, had part of her right leg amputated, and worked with a prosthetic from then on. Her last part was a recurring role as the chain-smoking, wheelchair-bound, and rarely heard Aunt Ginny on “The Middle.”

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RIP – ANDY WHITFIELD

EXPIRED: 09/11/11 – Andy Whitfield, 39, was born in Wales and moved to Australia in 1999. He had appeared in a few Australian TV shows like “Packed to the Rafters” and “McLeod’s Daughters” when a casting agency noticed the buff actor and imagined him saying “I AM SPARTACUS!”

Virtually unknown at the time, Whitfield took the role of the Thracian slave, a role made famous by Kirk Douglas in the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film, and breathed new life into it. It also breathed new life in the cable station, Starz, which filled the show, now called “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” with graphic violence and sexual scenes. After the first season ended last year, Whitfield returned to Australian to rest before the grueling shooting schedule for the next season began. It was during this time that he was diagnosed with cancer.

While waiting for Whitfield to get treatment and recover, Starz produced a 6-part prequel, “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” that aired in spring of 2011 with only a brief voiceover from the actor.

But in January, they decided they could wait no longer and filled the role of Spartacus with Liam McIntyre, another Australian actor.

Whitfield died in the arms of his wife, Vashti, just 18 months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

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RIP – CLIFF ROBERTSON

EXPIRED: 09/10/11 – Cliff Robertson, 88, struggled since the day he was born. His parents divorced when he was one year old, and his mother died a year later. His grandmother raised him when his father dropped out of the picture. It was tough.

His early career was also tough. After years studying at the Actors Studio in NYC, he made it to Broadway and then to Hollywood. But the movies he was cast in were embarrassments like “Autumn Leaves,” “Gidget” and “Sunday in New York.” Then he started to make war pictures like “PT 109” in which he played a pre-presidential JFK, and his star began to shine a bit more.

After a stint as the villain Shame on the TV show “Batman,” Robertson won an Oscar for the movie “Charly,” in which he played the title character, a mentally challenged bakery worker who becomes crazy intelligent with the help of experimental drugs. His life changes dramatically until the drugs wear off.

He was in high demand back then – with hits like “Three Days of the Condor” and many TV appearances – until he outed his boss. In 1977, Robertson, called out David Begelman, the president of Columbia Pictures, for forging his name to a $10,000 studio check. Eventually Begelman was accused of embezzling more than $60,000 from Columbia. But in three years he was running MGM, and Robertson was basically blacklisted.

In 1983, he returned to TV on “Falcon Crest” in the 1983-84 season but is probably best known to younger readers as Spiderman’s uncle in the recent “Spider-Man” trilogy.

After failing to get the backing for a sequel to “Charly,” Robertson had few options left and retired to upstate New York. He died the day after his 88th birthday.

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RIP – MARY FICKETT

EXPIRED: 09/08/11 – Mary Fickett, 83, lived her life like a soap opera. Actually, she lived it ON a soap opera!

On “The Edge of Night” she played Sally Smith starting in 1961. Then she returned to the same program as someone else entirely, as Dr. Katherine Lovell in 1967.

She also played Ruth Parker Brent on “All My Children” for 26 years from 1970-1996. When contract negotiations broke down, the show let Fickett go and hired Lee Meriwether to play the part.  Three years later, “All My Children” fired Meriwether and rehired Fickett as the original Ruth.

But after just a year, Fickett quit and retired in  2000. When “All My Children” wanted to bring the character of Ruth back two years later,  Fickett refused and the role returned to Meriwether.

Fickett moved in with her daughter in Virginia but remained in poor health til her death. ABC plans to dedicate the September 21st episode of “All My Children” to Fickett. Two days later, the series will end its network run.

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