Obituary thread

[Hurlshort]

2 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

I was always amused by Zhironovsky's party being the Liberal Democratic party like he just picked it by random generator rather than to reflect any actual belief.

Fun (?) fact, Zhiro contested the 'original' Russian Presidential election way back in 1991, coming 3rd. He only missed one election campaign since then (2004)

Hah, I assume ComradeSonicYellowMage uses the same generator to create his posts.  

[HoonDing]

Zhiro told it like it was.

[Keyrock]

RIP comedian Gilbert Gottfried.

[Amentep]

Shocked; that he was ill had passed me by entirely.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/gilbert-gottfried-dead-dies-comedian-aladdin-1235231387/

[Hurlshort]

58 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

RIP comedian Gilbert Gottfried.

Ah man. His special Gilbert from a few years ago was really well done. I feel bad for his family.

[rjshae]

I just listened to his filthiest joke ever told. It's... NSFW.

[majestic]

Well, not sure if posting this is... interesting for anyone at all except myself, but one of our local musicians died today. Apparently an accident at home, which is more often than not code for suicide. A comedian and singer/songwriter, he was most widely known for making a local version of "Heartland Rock", also often covering Bruce Springsteen.

 

It's a bit odd, one of those guys who were always there. Second generation to grow up with that music even. Just recently survived a bout with Corona too.

[Amentep]

Illustrator and Artist James Bama.

He had a lengthy career, first as a commercial artist where he did advertising art, magazine illustrations, book covers, and product images.

This included illustrations for the like of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST like this one:

But also for Argosy, Reader's Digest and others, doing both the slick glossies and the Men's Adventure mag market..

He may be best known to a legion of fans, though, for two different products. 

First, he did a lot of paper back covers like these -

But he may be best known today as the man responsible for the look of the Modern Doc Savage, illustrating the iconic first paper-back release that supplanted Walter Baumhofer's original version of the character.  

He'd go on to do dozens of Doc Savage reprint covers; when he left the series other artists (including Bob Larkin) would imitate his style (and use the same model who posed for the Doc covers, Steve Holland)

He was also did a lot of advertising art, like this for Aurora Slot cars;

But he was famously the artist responsible for the artwork on the Aurora Monster models that decorated many a Monster Kid's bedrooms:

He even did promotional illustrations for the premier of Star Trek on NBC that got used in print ads (as in TV Guide) and later was used as the cover of the first James Blish novelizations.

In the late 60s, he moved out west to Wyoming and eventually transitioned into a fine artist rather than a commercial one.  Painting whatever interested in him, he primarily did western scenes (cowboys, farmers, Native Americans, landscapes, animals), but also painted other topics (like a series on the people of China from his trip there).

Bama was 95.

[Guard Dog]

Wow, what an impressive body of work he had!

[Amentep]

Neal Adams - hugely influential comic book artist, co-creator of Ra's Al Ghul, publisher of his own comic line (Continuity comics) and ran his own advertising business.  

 

His work with Denny O'Neil revamped Batman, Green Arrow and Green Lantern and arguably ushered in Batman's rise to popularity post the 66 Batman series (at one point Batman and Detective comics were such low sellers, DC was considering cancelling them in favor of a single Batman Family giant).  He also had a run on Marvel's X-Men that predicts a number of things that would show up in the later Clairmont and Coc krum revamp of the characters.

[Pidesco]

Neal Adams' influence cannot be underestimated. Many of the greatest comics artists that started out in the 70s and 80s, could be said to have begun working as Neal Adams imitators. George Pérez, Gene Day, John Byrne, Bill Sienkiewicz or Alan Davis all owe an enormous debt to Adams. Even today, the artists that pencil in a more "realistic" style are riding Adams' coat tails. 

It's also astounding the immense gulf in quality between his 60s work and that of his peers. It's an interesting exercise to compare X-Men #55 by Werner Roth, a competent artist in the 60s, with X-men #56 by Neal Adams, both from 1969.

 

 

[Amentep]

That artwork is such a template for 70s US comic art. It really was the start of a new day when he began working in the industry.

Adams also fought for creator recognition in credits. And he stood up for other creators including helping with the efforts to get DC to recognize Siegel and Schuster with respect to creating Superman 

 

[Pidesco]

George Pérez, another acclaimed comic book artist. Cancer. He was 67.

[Amentep]

He'd been sick for awhile, so at least any pain/suffering is over.

R.I.P.

[Sarex]

Robin Parkinson Leclerc from Alo Alo.

[Raithe]

50 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Robin Parkinson Leclerc from Alo Alo.

 

[Zoraptor]

Parkinson played Ernest LeClerc, that video is his in programme brother Roger LeClerc (actor Jack Haig).

That's a minor mistake though, like showing a video of René Artois, who was executed by the Germans, instead of his identical twin who survived the war. I do wonder how them being boys from Nancy would go down as a joke nowadays, guess they might get away with it due to Kaye being gay himself. I would be irremediably triggered by a Herr Flick video with Janson instead of Gibson though.

 

[Amentep]

John Cherry, advertising executive who, with the late Jim Varney, created the character Earnest P. Worrell.  He directed the 11 Earnest films, many (if not all) of the ads and 13 of the 26 episodes of the "Hey Vern, It's Earnest" tv series.

He did a few other movies sans Varney/Earnest, including Pirates of the Plains (w/Tim Curry):

and an attempt to revive Laurel and Hardy with Bronson Pinchot (as Laurel) and longtime collaborator Gailard Sartain (as Hardy):

He sold his advertising agency in the late 1990s, but continued to direct in regional film-making, directing a number of short video films.

[Malcador]

7 minutes ago, Amentep said:

created the character Earnest P. Worrell.

A reason to celebrate his death then.

[Amentep]

3 minutes ago, Malcador said:

A reason to celebrate his death then.

Earnest Scared Stupid is an 80s masterpiece.  Even if it came out in 1991. 

[Gfted1]

Fred Ward.

[Amentep]

Fred Ward was great in TREMORS, and he made a fun noir-style detective in Supernatural Noir cable film CAST A DEADLY SPELL.  Other films he was in inclued The Right Stuff, Escape from Alcatraz, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Miami Blues, Henry and June, The Player, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Southern Comfort and Timerider.

 

EDIT Vlasta Pospíšilová, animator

Quote

Vlasta Pospíšilová died on Friday, April 15. She was 87.

Pospíšilová studied puppetry and stage design at Prague’s Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, graduating in 1956. After finishing her formal education, she joined the Jiří Trnka Studio and further developed her skills in the art of animated filmmaking under the guidance of studio founder and Czech animation legend Jiří Trnka. Pospíšilová is considered by many to be the last surviving member of Trnka’s Golden Age of Czech Puppet Animation.

 

[bugarup]

Vangelis

[Malcador]

29 minutes ago, bugarup said:

Vangelis

Well crap, he did have a good run at 79 though.  Blade Runner Blues is a favourite of mine.  Heh, also the video for Chariots of Fire is great, with him taking long drags of a cig while watching the film.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Malcador

[Zoraptor]

Vangelis started the long and storied tradition of New Zealand political parties being sued for copyright infringement after the National Party used CoF for their 1984 campaign without approval*. Normally that might be the most stupid moment in a campaign, but that was the one where the National Party leader got drunk and announced a snap (or 'schnapps') election without anyone else in the party knowing, so it has to come in 2nd.

Also Conquest of Paradise was both a great tune and completely appropriate as the theme for the Canterbury Crusaders rugby team.

*having said that I cannot find a single reference to it anywhere online, only the internet era Eminem case.