Defamer: passings

Andy Dick Completely Ruins Local Dog's Dinner Party

Seth — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:24:07 PDT

· The totally chill dog who threw this party is really regretting having invited Andy Dick. [TMZ]
· We take a moment to remember Bo Diddley. [NY Times]
· Also, the man who invented the Pringles can passed on. His family honored his wishes of having his delicious, salty remains placed inside one of his convenient snack-tubes for eternity. [Telegraph]
· In our wildest Stupid Celebrity Tattoo fantasies, nothing—and we really do mean nothing—ever prepared us for this. [ONTD]
· An utterly non-obligatory shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal photo. [WOW Report]
· Here's an insider's guide to spotting Photoshop trickery, using an American Idol promotional shot. Clue #1: Paula Abdul is successfully seated upright without the use of visible ropes or pullies. [sciam via BoingBoing]

Defamer Pledges Allegiance To A Recently Departed Harley Korman

Seth — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:27:56 PDT

Sadness on top of sadness, as the AP has confirmed the trickle of e-mails informing us that Harvey "Hedley" Korman has passed on. In his memory, we include one of his most momentous screen speeches: the rapist-rallying monologue from Blazing Saddles, which never fails to make us laugh no matter how many times we watch it. Goodnight, sweet prince—it's time to be reunited once and for all with your beloved Froggy.

Pledge to Hedley Lamarr [YouTube]
'Carol Burnett' star Harvey Korman dies at 81 [AP]

More grim news from the week's obituary pages: ...

STV — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:27:53 PDT

More grim news from the week's obituary pages: Producer Bill Hayward, one of the unheralded principals who got Easy Rider on the road to cult immortality (and about $40 million in box office on a $400,000 budget), reportedly committed suicide March 9 in "a trailer where he lived" in Los Angeles County. A coroner's account reveals the cause of death to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the heart. Hayward, 66, is the latest of a snakebitten Hollywood family to meet an untimely demise; drug overdoses previously claimed both his mother, actress Maureen Sullavan, and his sister in 1960. [AP]

Sad news from London notes the death of Paul ...

STV — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:22:33 PDT

Sad news from London notes the death of Paul Scofield, the British stage and screen legend who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1966 for his performance as Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons. He was 86. Having first earned acclaim for his transcendent theater work in the '50s and '60s, Scofield won a Tony Award for Seasons in 1961 before following up with his film triumph five years later. He appeared in relatively few movies afterward, however, sticking primarily to stage and TV in his native England. (He was rumored to have declined a knighthood as well.) Scofield drew a second Oscar nod in 1994 for his supporting performance in Quiz Show, his next-to-last film role. He had suffered from leukemia in recent years and passed Wednesday at a hospital in Southern England. [AP]

A belated notice of passing: Ben Chapman, ...

Seth — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:14:44 PST

A belated notice of passing: Ben Chapman, a 6'5" former Marine best known for playing the title character in The Creature From the Black Lagoon, died Thursday of congestive heart failure in a Honolulu hospital. "The Creature suit was a one-piece outfit that zipped down the back with dorsal fins, hands that were gloves, feet that were like boots," he once told the Honolulu Observer, offering an uncannily similar description to the remains Janice Dickinson leaves behind after every skin-shedding. [LAT via WOW Report]

We were so preoccupied looking for Charles ...

Seth — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:29:56 PST

We were so preoccupied looking for Charles Nelson Reilly in the In Memoriam segment (who never materialized, by the by), that we completely missed the fact that Brad Renfro was absent from the montage. Usmagazine.com asked the Academy what happened, and a rep offered, "It was really an editing decision because we can't fit everyone in. There was no specific reason." Ignoring for a moment the fact that they really blew it on this one, this statement suddenly had us wondering what the whole whittling process entails. Is it just a morbid casting session, where they get a stack of headshots and go through them by committee? ("Sure, Roscoe Lee Browne has the look, but his last project bombed! OK, fine, we'll put him in the Maybe pile.") [Usmagazine.com]

Heaven's Gonna Need A Bigger Boat: Roy Scheider Dies

Seth — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:00:37 PST

Roy Scheider, the square-jawed, broken-nosed guy's guy in whose capable hands Amity Island residents and vacationers entrusted their lives, passed away yesterday in Little Rock at age 75, after a three-year fight with blood cancer. While he will forever be associated with Chief Brody, a man with a good sense for shark-hunting seafaring-vessel sizes, it was his tour-de-force song-and-dance turn in All That Jazz, playing a loose version of director Bob Fosse, that was his most accomplished and most personally favored role. If it weren't for that movie's bleak showstopper finale (above), we might never have even associated something as fleeting as mortality with someone as ruggedly substantial as Scheider. But, hey—if you gotta go, at least give 'em the old razzle dazzle on your way out.

Star of 'Jaws' and 'All That Jazz' [LAT]

The Morning After: Heath Ledger Autopsy Inconclusive

Seth — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:15:16 PST

Let's just get on with this. A round-up of where we are so far with yesterday's shocking death of Heath Ledger at age 28:
· An autopsy has proven inconclusive, and will take another 10 to 14 days before toxicology and histology reports tell us what caused his death. [CNN]
· Heath had pneumonia. [TMZ]
· Kim Ledger, Heath's father, made a statement to the press, confirming the "untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda." [skynews.com.au]

· Flowers and candles line the sidewalk outside the Broome St. apartment, which does not belong to Mary-Kate Olsen. [AP]
· Michelle Williams flew into New York from the set of Mammoth in Sweden, according to one witness, "Quiet ... not saying a word. She was in her own world." Page Six has a photo if you need to see what that looks like. [Us, Page Six]
· OK, here's a strange one: Approached for a quote last night in London, Jack Nicholson said, "I warned him." [Daily Mail]

Heath Ledger's Chilling Final Bow In 'The Dark Knight'

Seth — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:43:00 PST

So how's The Dark Knight for goodbyes? Give us anything—Brokeback Mountain's heartache, Candy's cautionary tale of—gulp—heroin addiction, even Casanova (OK, not Casanova)—but not the The Dark Knight. Not that disfigured creep in the trenchcoat. Heath's last words to us can't be a menacingly growled, "It's all...part of the plan." His last note, not "Why so serious?" scrawled across a theatrical one-sheet in fingerpainted blood. Warner Bros. has issued this statement in response to his death:

"The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news. The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent. Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends."

The irony, of course, is that The Joker will be one of Heath's greatest, destined to be referenced first, along with Brokeback, as his legend grows. Still—if the performance wasn't nightmare-fuel before... (And it was. Just watch that trailer.) Expect an immediate repositioning in the Knight campaign, with Bale's Cowled Crusader ushered back to front and center, for the time being at least. We need heroes right now.

The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger Discovered Dead By Maid; Pills Found Near Body

Seth — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:14:59 PST

OK—our hyperventilating has died down to the point where we were able to learn some more details surrounding (can't believe we are typing this) Heath Ledger's death. The NY Times's City Room blog reports:

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment building at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, according to the New York City police. Mr. Ledger was 28.
At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said.

The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of Mr. Ledger's bedroom. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities. The police said they did not suspect foul play. Officials said pills fear found near the body.

Defamer associate editor Molly Friedman was just blocks away from his home when the news broke. She'll be posting her eyewitness account momentarily, along with some video taken at the scene.

Actor Heath Ledger Is Found Dead [NY Times]

Breaking: Heath Ledger is Dead. OMFG.

Seth — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:44:49 PST

Holy fucking shit—this just in: Heath Ledger is dead. From PageSix.com:

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead today in a Broome Street apartment, apparently from a drug overdose, PageSix.com has learned...

We're in shock. Seriously. Can't. Breathe. Updates as they come.

Heath Ledger Has Died [PageSix]

"Honey, you won't believe the dream I just ...

Seth — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:55:08 PST

"Honey, you won't believe the dream I just had." Sadly, this news is no dream: Suzanne Pleshette, besting even Brenda Vaccaro for the title of TV's Most Beloved Hoarse-Voiced Female, has died after a long battle with lung cancer. Of course, we'll always associate her with Emily Hartley, the better-half of The Bob Newhart Show, but check out how hot she was back in the day! [USA Today, IMDB]

An Accurately Credited Giuliana Rancic Brings Sad News Of Brad Redfro's Passing

Seth — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:02:50 PST

E! News watchers over the weekend were likely stunned and saddened to learn of Brad Redfro's untimely death: While host Giuliana Rancic deserves credit for giving the tragedy the solemnity it deserved, we can't help but feel their moving tribute to the talented young actor might have been slightly compromised by their inability to get his fucking name right.

E! News [eonline.com]

Too Young To Die: Remembering Brad Renfro

Seth — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:25:12 PST

Brad Renfro, a child and then young-adult actor with a deceptively huge talent, died yesterday from as-yet-undetermined causes. Renfro's last big public splash came under perhaps the worst circumstances imaginable: Two days before Christmas 2005, the LAT ran a full-color photo of the unrecognizable former heartthrob in handcuffs, balding, chubby, and clearly in distress after being picked up downtown in an undercover drug sting meanspiritedly dubbed "Cancel Christmas." Renfro's drug use and run-ins with the law were no secret until that point—he was famously charged with Grand Theft 45-Foot Yacht in 2000—but the Skid Row arrest was definitely a turning point, the heartbreaking image inextricably linked with the actor from there on. Determined to turn himself around, he entered a live-in rehab facility in April of 2006, saying at the time that he was "tired of paying the consequences," and that he felt "blessed that I'm going through this now, rather than later. I'm still a kid. I'm 23."

Upon learning of his client's death, Richard Kaplan, Renfro's longtime lawyer and champion, offered, "He was working hard on his sobriety. He was doing well. He was a nice person." Renfro was also working, period, having just wrapped a part in what would become his last movie—The Informers. Based on the Bret Easton Ellis short story collection, the large ensemble film also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder, and Mickey Rourke, and follows, Short Cuts- and Magnolia-style, seven stories set in 1980s Los Angeles over the course of one week. Its one-sheet tagline, over a ceramic sculpture of a melancholy pretty boy's face: "Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever."

Troubled Actor Brad Renfro Found Dead in His Los Angeles Home at Age 25 [abcnews.go.com]

Adieu to Dick "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" ...

Seth — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:25:43 PST

Adieu to Dick "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" Wilson, dead at age 91. Writes the AP: "Wilson made more than 500 commercials as Mr. George Whipple, a man consumed with keeping bubbly housewives from fondling toilet paper. The punch line of most spots was that Whipple himself was a closeted Charmin-squeezer." Is it just us, or does that make the campaign sound like a series of subversive, 30-second porns secretly geared towards scat-fetishists? [AP]

George Osmond, father of Donny, Marie, Liesl, ...

Seth — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:00:43 PST

George Osmond, father of Donny, Marie, Liesl, Friedrick, Louisa, Kurt, Marta, and Gretl, has sadly passed away this morning at the age of 90. The family's official website doesn't yet have anything posted, but if you have even a passing interest in Mormon psychedelia, we highly recommend a visit anyway. [Fox News, osmond.com]

Robert Goulet Playing To A Packed Dinner Club In Heaven

Seth — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:05:12 PDT

We must now relay sad news, as crooner and showbiz veteran Robert Goulet has passed away today at the age of 73 while awaiting a lung transplant at Cedars Sinai. We know we recently highlighted his short-lived sitcom achievements, but for a more fitting tribute, we guide you to this medley of the buttery baritone's considerable vocal talents, as well as to his more recent self-parodying work in the memorable Super Bowl spot above. Sadly, it will no longer take just the "natural energy of Emerald nuts" to keep a mischief-making office-gremlin Goulet away.

Singer Robert Goulet Dies at 73 [AP]

Sad news: Sherman Torgan, proprietor of L.A. ...

Mark — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:27:55 PDT

Sad news: Sherman Torgan, proprietor of L.A. institution the New Beverly Cinema, has died. Take in a double-feature soon to commemorate his passing. [Cinema Is Dope]