Obituaries for 2020

[berdie]

Allowing that the show ran eleven years, there may be some truth in that. (Alan Alda and Loretta Swit were the only members of the cast to appear in every season from beginning to end.) On the other hand . . .

* Wayne Rogers (Trapper John) had the last laugh when he was sued for breach of contract upon leaving after the third season---he'd never even signed a contract. He didn't like the language of the so-called "morals" clause in the contract. He starred subsequently in the 1979-1982 television hit House Calls, before a double second career as a television and film producer/writer and investment advisor.

* McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) was apparently miffed at not having been M*A*S*H's star and decided to leave over that and what he considered 20th Century Fox's callousness toward simple comforts on location. His subsequent run of starring turns in short-lived TV shows turned him into something of an industry gag, unfortunately, typically being the critic who once created "The Annual McLean Stevenson Memorial 'I'm Gonna Quit This Show and Become a Big Star' Award." In time, Stevenson would admit that walking away from M*A*S*H was the biggest mistake of his life.

* Gary Burghoff, possibly the single most typecast member of the M*A*S*H ensemble, left the show not because of ego or standing but because a) he felt burned out and that the long hours work on the show kept him too much from his family; and, b) he'd become close to McLean Stevenson and didn't feel comfortable working without him as the years passed since Stevenson's departure. Mike Farrell (B.J. Hunnicutt) actually tried to talk Burghoff out of leaving, unsuccessfully, even citing Stevenson's and Larry Linville's (Frank Burns) tanking post-M*A*S*H careers in his effort.

* Larry Linville (Burns) quit for, apparently, a purely character reason: he thought he'd taken Frank Burns as far as the character could go after finishing his five-year contract, even though he was offered a new deal.

* Marcia Strassman (Nurse Cutler in the first season) left when she had a shot at a new comedy in the works---Welcome Back, Kotter. (Where she was miserable thanks to a little deviousness on the part of the show's producer---he'd told Strassman and series creator/star Gabe Kaplan separately that one despised the other; only later did Strassman learn from Kaplan himself that he actually liked working with her and wanted more focus on the couple's home life on the show and thus more work for Strassman on it.)

[berdie]

That's interesting. Thanks.

[skeeter]

Not sure what you expected, Farr started his career about 1955 as a character actor and voice artist, Mash was his longest run in a series but after he continued working as a character and voice actor and never was a lead.

I was kidding. No better way to be typecast than to be a guy who for ten years shows up in every shot in a dress & heels. I'm not a big TV watcher beyond the mid 70s I honestly wasn't aware of his rolls after the series.

[Gefn]

Jamie Farr had a baseball stadium named after him in Toledo. Not too shabby.

I saw him last year in a TV show “The Cool KIds” with Vicky Lawrence and Martin Mull.

[jmyrlefuller]

Larry Tesler
Inventor of the "cut, copy and paste" function dies at 74



Obituary from the BBC

Wikipedia

[PeteS in CA]

Larry Tesler
Inventor of the "cut, copy and paste" function dies at 74



Obituary from the BBC

Wikipedia

Xerox PARC - research Xerox couldn't figure out how to make profitable, but Apple did (after its stumble with the Lisa).

[Smokin Joe]

Larry Tesler
Inventor of the "cut, copy and paste" function dies at 74



Obituary from the BBC

Wikipedia

God bless the man. Data transfers, especially in excel, have been made simple due to this one function alone, and editing is relatively easy because of it. RIP, sir, you have done the world a service.

[PeteS in CA]

God bless the man. Data transfers, especially in excel, have been made simple due to this one function alone, and editing is relatively easy because of it. RIP, sir, you have done the world a service.

Lots of the basic features in Apple Mac and (later) MS Windows were invented/created by Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), but in those days Xerox had an inverse Midas touch - touching gold and turning it, ummmm, brown. GUIs probably played a very large role in moving computers from use by geekasoid life-forms to ordinary people.

[TomSea]

Dixie Crush Singer Lindsey Lagestee Dead at 25 After Being Hit by a Car
Elyse Dupre

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/dixie-crush-singer-lindsey-lagestee-dead-at-25-after-being-hit-by-a-car/ar-BB10g1WF?OCID=ansmsnnews11

 I don't think she was well-known but none the less, a tragedy and a young life cut shot, rest in peace.

Another accident involving a car hitting someone, in this case, it sounds like the victim was not killed.

Meghan Trainor's Father Struck By Car in Hit-and-Run Accident
2/22/2020 by Hilary Hughes

Meghan Trainor's father is recovering from a hit-and-run accident in Los Angeles on Friday night (Feb. 21).

As TMZ first reported, Gary Trainor -- who accompanied his daughter to the 2016 Grammy Awards when she won best new artist, and played piano on a few of the tracks off her 2011 album, Only 17 -- was crossing the street in the San Fernando Valley when he was struck by a car. He was rushed to the hospital shortly thereafter, and a representative for the singer confirmed to Billboard that he's now in stable condition.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8551686/meghan-trainor-dad-car-accident

[Neverdul]

A US daredevil pilot has been killed during an attempted launch of a homemade rocket in the Californian desert.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, crash-landed his steam-powered rocket shortly after take-off near Barstow on Saturday.

A video on social media shows a rocket being fired into the sky before plummeting to the ground nearby.

Hughes was well-known for his belief that the Earth was flat. He hoped to prove his theory by going to space.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51602655


www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuBDojtefA

ETA: Not sure if he got high enough to learn the Earth is round, but he certainly did learn something about gravity.

[mountaineer]

ETA: Not sure if he got high enough to learn the Earth is round, but he certainly did learn something about gravity.

To say the least.

[TomSea]

I think, this is the same guy who had been in the news before for building his own rocket.

'Mad' Mike Hughes dies after crash-landing homemade rocket

A US daredevil pilot has been killed during an attempted launch of a homemade rocket in the Californian desert.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, crash-landed his steam-powered rocket shortly after take-off near Barstow on Saturday.

A video on social media shows a rocket being fired into the sky before plummeting to the ground nearby.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51602655

My condolences but what could be more dangerous??

[Cyber Liberty]

A US daredevil pilot has been killed during an attempted launch of a homemade rocket in the Californian desert.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, crash-landed his steam-powered rocket shortly after take-off near Barstow on Saturday.

A video on social media shows a rocket being fired into the sky before plummeting to the ground nearby.

Hughes was well-known for his belief that the Earth was flat. He hoped to prove his theory by going to space.

ETA: Not sure if he got high enough to learn the Earth is round, but he certainly did learn something about gravity.

The meme I stole from a Bookface thread on this story:

[mountaineer]

B. Smith, model-turned-TV personality, dead at 70
By Nate Day, Fox News
February 23, 2020 | 12:58pm

B. Smith, known for her modeling career and her television program “B. Smith With Style,” has died after fighting early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. She was 70.

Smith, whose full name was Barbara Smith, was married to Dan Gasby, who shared the news on Facebook on Sunday morning. ... Full story

[Gefn]

The meme I stole from a Bookface thread on this story:

True dat! @Cyber Liberty

[EasyAce]

Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician depicted in 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101

Katherine Johnson, one of the NASA mathematicians depicted in "Hidden Figures," died Monday, the administrator of NASA said. She was 101.

Johnson "was an American hero and her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter.

Johnson was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the Oscar-nominated 2016 film about trailblazing black women whose work at NASA was integral during the Space Race.

The film also stars Octavia Spencer as mathematician Dorothy Vaughan and Janelle Monáe as engineer Mary Jackson.

Johnson began working at NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ in 1953 at the Langley laboratory in Virginia. In her role there, she did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s 1961 mission Freedom 7, which was America’s first human spaceflight, according to NASA.

She was also the first woman in the Flight Research Division to receive credit as an author of a research report for her work with Ted Skopinski on detailing the equations describing an orbital spaceflight . . .

RIP to a brilliant lady.

[musiclady]

We just watched Hidden Figures again...... AMAZING story about an incredible group of women, but Katherine in particular.

I read that one of her daughters said that her Mom couldn't figure out what the fuss was about when she finally began getting the publicity she deserved.

She said she was just doing her job.

Her kind of brilliance combined with humility is a rare combination.

Rest in the Peace of your Savior, Katherine!

[EasyAce]

We just watched Hidden Figures again...... AMAZING story about an incredible group of women, but Katherine in particular.

I read that one of her daughters said that her Mom couldn't figure out what the fuss was about when she finally began getting the publicity she deserved.

She said she was just doing her job.

Her kind of brilliance combined with humility is a rare combination.

Rest in the Peace of your Savior, Katherine!

@musiclady

If you haven't read the book, you should!

[musiclady]

@musiclady

If you haven't read the book, you should!

You're right!  I should!!   

(Thanks!)

[truth_seeker]

Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician depicted in 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101

RIP to a brilliant lady.

So these gals were America's equivalent, to Bletchley Park?

Great stories.

[Neverdul]

@musiclady

If you haven't read the book, you should!

I saw the movie (a couple of times) and plan on reading the book since I got a Kindle for my birthday and some free ebooks!

[Gefn]

@musiclady

If you haven't read the book, you should!

I’m going to as well. RIP to a great lady.

[musiclady]

I saw the movie (a couple of times) and plan on reading the book since I got a Kindle for my birthday and some free ebooks!

I just ordered it from Amazon.

Shoulda done that a long time ago! 

[skeeter]

So these gals were America's equivalent, to Bletchley Park?

Great stories.

They count among the most talented code breakers we had at the time. We owe ‘em a lot.

[Neverdul]

They count among the most talented code breakers we had at the time. We owe ‘em a lot.

Katherine Johnson was not a “code breaker”. She was however a brilliant mathematician who, during the early space program and before the large scale implementation of computers, hand calculated trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program.