Obituaries for 2019

[TomSea]

Billy Drago, Actor in 'The Untouchables,' Dies at 73
Ryan Parker  MOVIES
4:18 PM PDT 6/26/2019 by

Courtesy of Photofest

Billy Drago in 'The Untouchables' (1985)
His career spanned four decades and he appeared in over 100 films, including Clint Eastwood's classic 1985 Western, 'Pale Rider.'

Billy Drago, best known for his work playing Al Capone's top henchman in The Untouchables, died Monday in Los Angeles, his rep told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 73.

Drago appeared in numerous films and TV shows over the years, including X-Files and Charmed, but he was most recognized for portraying real-life mobster Frank Nitti (always wearing a white suit) in the Brian De Palma 1987 classic.

At the time, THR's review of The Untouchables noted, "Also deserving praise on the bad guy's side is Billy Drago as the psycho, trigger-happy Frank Nitti — his mean and vicious glint is razor sharp." The character had a memorable rooftop demise at the hands of Eliot Ness, who was played by Kevin Costner.

Read more at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/untouchables-actor-bill-drago-dies-at-73-1221296

[jmyrlefuller]

Max Wright
Actor best known for his role on ALF dies at 75


Wright is the tallest person in this screenshot.

Wright broke onto Broadway in 1968 and, transitioning to screen work in the early 1970s, found work as a bit actor in films and television series in the mid-70s to the mid-80s before landing what would be his signature role, that of patriarch Willie Tanner, on the family sitcom ALF. Wright would quickly grow to hate the role (as did many of his castmates, who found ALF's owner Paul Fusco extremely difficult to work with), which later factored into the show's ending.

Wright had been retired from acting since 2005. He died of lymphoma June 26.

Obituary from the Hollywood Reporter

Wikipedia

IMDB

[musiclady]

One of the best lines in the Untouchables.....

"Where's Nitti?"

"He's in the car."

Drago's acting was so good that I was horrified with myself that I was THRILLED when he went off that roof!

[TomSea]

Of course, the Untouchables TV show didn't have Drago but I think it had the Nitti character.

------

On to other news, Rest In Peace, Justin Raimondo has passed away.

He ran that "anti-war" website that I check fairly frequently for news articles, they'd assemble a lot of news to be aware of. I can't say I agree with a lot of their editorial views but if they are respectable and I think they were to others, I respect that.



Obit: https://original.antiwar.com/Antiwar_Staff/2019/06/27/justin-raimondo-rip-1951-2019/

That website, "Salon", see, they are just pretty nasty spirited. Then, let's say you have a website and magazine called "New Republic", though, liberal,  they don't seem to be a bunch of mean-spirited jerks like some are.

[TomSea]

More on Justin Raimondo, I didn't know that part about being a "gay activist"; it made me wonder, hmmm, but guess what? The National Review just came out with a tribute to him!

   Justin Raimondo, RIP
By Michael Brendan Dougherty
June 28, 2019 9:56 AM


Justin Raimondo (WIkimedia)

Justin Raimondo died yesterday at age 67 after struggling with cancer. His obituary is a must read just for the eye-popping detail about his boyhood confrontation with a Communist psychotherapist. Raimondo was a young radical libertarian, a gay-liberation activist, and an indefatigable support of Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaigns. Yes, you read that right.  His two great passions were preserving the memory of the pre–World War II American right, and his activist news portal, Antiwar.com, which has opposed every U.S. war and military intervention since its founding in 1995.

Raimondo could be a dogged nuisance to anyone he disagreed with. He was absolutely unbearable to Jonah Goldberg. Like his political idol, the radical libertarian Murray Rothbard, Raimondo always had some new cockamamie left–right alliance against the respectable people in mind. He did not care about the reputation of his allies, or his own reputation. He was proud to be a “deplorable” long before Clinton injected that phrase into our consciousness. In his hatred of the “war party” he would embrace conspiracy theories and indulge any number of kooks. He was irresponsible and he frequently exhibited bad judgement. He could also be extraordinarily sweet.

And I couldn’t help but love him. From roughly 2002 to 2006, I would refresh his website at midnight three nights a week waiting for his link-filled columns on the Iraq War. He gave me a thorough-but-wildly-biased introduction to the history of the American Right. One that got me interested in Alcove 1 on one side, or Albert Jay Nock on the other. In those columns he introduced me to America’s Californian poet Robinson Jeffers, who was something like an environmentalist, an isolationist, and a misanthrope. An acquired taste for sure, but for that alone I’m eternally grateful. Maybe it’s an odd thing, but it was this radical gay libertarian who led me, column by column, to the Russell Kirks, Whitaker Chambers, Irving Kristols. I learned to hate Woodrow Wilson from Justin. Being entertained, appalled, and darkly thrilled by his columns set me on the road to becoming a journalist, to taking ideas seriously. We are not alike at all, and yet I owe him so much. I will always retain his libertarian-flavored hatred of war, which grows government, is destructive of our liberties, and tears families apart. An unjust war is organized mass murder. Period.


Read more at: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/justin-raimondo-rip/

BTW, if he was a big Buchanan supporter and Pat has any follow up, I'll post that too.  Justin seemed like an alright guy per many of his ventures and opinions. Be civil, that's good enough.

[truth_seeker]

Justin Raimondo reminds us, how ineffective a third Party Kook is typically.

[TomSea]

Justin Raimondo reminds us, how ineffective a third Party Kook is typically.

Or just ahead of his time? Is this in reference to Buchanan? If so...

Trump Is Pat Buchanan With Better Timing
September/October 2016

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/donald-trump-pat-buchanan-republican-america-first-nativist-214221

A lot of people would say Trump, the non-interventionist, populist angle, attitudes of being cautious of demographic change in America, immigration is similar to what Buchanan said... and I'm sure in the final analysis, someone said that before Buchanan.

If someone hasn't heard or seen the parallels with what Trump says to what Buchanan was saying, I don't know what to say. It's been talked of quite a bit.

Sometimes trailblazers set the trail and someone later is able to make more out of it.

@truth_seeker

[sneakypete]

 I will always retain his libertarian-flavored hatred of war, which grows government, is destructive of our liberties, and tears families apart. An unjust war is organized mass murder. Period.

@TomSea

Words that should be carved in stone everywhere,along with the words "There is never anything MORE necessary than a necessary war."

[jmyrlefuller]

Lou Alvarez
9/11 first responder dies at 53

Days before he died, Alvarez, a bomb-squad detective with the NYPD before being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, testified in front of Congress along with former television host Jon Stewart, demanding a renewal of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Obituary from Fox News

Out of respect for the dead... my opinions on Alvarez's behavior and associations in his last days, I'll keep to myself.

[sneakypete]

"69 rounds of Chemo"

YIKES! One thing nobody can ever call him is a quitter! He was a tough man by anyone's standards.

[Cyber Liberty]

"69 rounds of Chemo"

YIKES! One thing nobody can ever call him is a quitter! He was a tough man by anyone's standards.

I can't begin to imagine that level of suffering, @sneakypete.   

[sneakypete]

I can't begin to imagine that level of suffering, @sneakypete.   

@Cyber Liberty

I doubt anyone can that understands what it means. Our minds protect us from things like that.

[Wingnut]

I can't begin to imagine that level of suffering, @sneakypete.   

You know though.  Sometimes you just have to say WTF?  Is this really worth it.  Let me die in effing peace. 

[sneakypete]

You know though.  Sometimes you just have to say WTF?  Is this really worth it.  Let me die in effing peace.

@The Ghost

It all depends on your age,your general health otherwise,and the likelihood of a cure. At 18 it makes sense to put up with whatever you have to put up with if there is a virtual guarantee you will come out the other side healed.

At 80 it doesn't because there is no such thing as "quality of life" for most people that age. They mostly spend all day sitting around waiting to die.

[Cyber Liberty]

@The Ghost

It all depends on your age,your general health otherwise,and the likelihood of a cure. At 18 it makes sense to put up with whatever you have to put up with if there is a virtual guarantee you will come out the other side healed.

At 80 it doesn't because there is no such thing as "quality of life" for most people that age. They mostly spend all day sitting around waiting to die.

As you say, in your 80's you have a rich treasure of memories, while the young do not.  The aged are far too dignified to be playing for such low stakes, the young don't care.  That's why we refuse to give up and fight the beasts when we get to be codgers.

Never give up, @sneakypete.  Never give in.  Never let the bastards get you down.

[sneakypete]

As you say, in your 80's you have a rich treasure of memories, while the young do not.  The aged are far too dignified to be playing for such low stakes, the young don't care.  That's why we refuse to give up and fight the beasts when we get to be codgers.

Never give up, @sneakypete.  Never give in.  Never let the bastards get you down.

@Cyber Liberty

The only person that ever gets me down is me. Indian/Scots-Irish blood makes me moody at times.

[TomSea]

Jerry Carrigan, drummer who worked with Elvis, George Jones, Joan Baez, dead at age 75
Matthew Leimkuehler, Nashville Tennessean Published 9:16 p.m. ET June 25, 2019

Jerry Carrigan, a celebrated session drummer heard on famed recordings from Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings and Kenny Rogers, died last week, according to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. He was 75.

Raised on Fats Domino and Little Richard, Carrigan began his Music City career at age 13, cutting a Nashville session with Little Joe Allen and the Off Beats.

A native of Florence, Alabama, Carrigan spent spent his early adult years at the notable FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he crafted a technique on sessions with early FAME breakouts Arthur Alexander and Jimmy Hughes.

Read more at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/06/25/jerry-carrigan-celebrated-nashville-session-drummer-dead-age-75-elvis-presley/1566636001/

[jmyrlefuller]

Tyler Skaggs
Los Angeles Angels pitcher dies at 27



Skaggs, a pitcher who was in the starting rotation for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, was found dead in his hotel room prior to a game between the Angels and Texas Rangers. No cause of death has been given.

Obituary from ESPN

Wikipedia

Career stats

CC: @EasyAce

[sneakypete]

Tyler Skaggs
Los Angeles Angels pitcher dies at 27



Skaggs, a pitcher who was in the starting rotation for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, was found dead in his hotel room prior to a game between the Angels and Texas Rangers. No cause of death has been given.

 

He was obviously in good health.  Must have been something like an aneurysm that can't be predicted.

[GrouchoTex]

He was obviously in good health.  Must have been something like an aneurysm that can't be predicted.

@sneakypete
I would believe you will turn out to be correct.
Police ruled out suicide, pretty much immediately, which seems logical.
Also, no signs of foul play.
From all accounts I've read he seemed like a good guy, newly married, an upstanding young man, someone looking forward to his life and his career.
Sad when the young go.....so young.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete
I would believe you will turn out to be correct.
Police ruled out suicide, pretty much immediately, which seems logical.
Also, no signs of foul play.
From all accounts I've read he seemed like a good guy, newly married, an upstanding young man, someone looking forward to his life and his career.
Sad when the young go.....so young.

@GrouchoTex

The ONLY positive thing that can ever come out of something like this is to remind young people of just have valuable and unpredictable live and death are,and to learn to appreciate and love life.

Truth to tell,people of all ages need to be reminded of this occasionally.

[GrouchoTex]

@GrouchoTex

The ONLY positive thing that can ever come out of something like this is to remind young people of just have valuable and unpredictable live and death are,and to learn to appreciate and love life.

Truth to tell,people of all ages need to be reminded of this occasionally.

Truer words, my friend, truer words.....

[Bigun]

@GrouchoTex

The ONLY positive thing that can ever come out of something like this is to remind young people of just have valuable and unpredictable live and death are,and to learn to appreciate and love life.

Truth to tell,people of all ages need to be reminded of this occasionally.

Many years ago I worked for Dow Chemical Company and everyone had a sticker on their hard hat that read "Life is Fragile! Handle with Care!" 

Might be a good time to get that more widely spread around.

[jmyrlefuller]

Lee Iacocca
Auto industry executive who saved Chrysler dies at 94



Beginning his career at the Ford Motor Company, Lido "Lee" Iacocca, the nephew of a hot dog stand owner, took about 20 years to rise to a level of prominence at Ford but once he got there, left an indelible mark on the company, including the design of the Ford Mustang, the Ford Pinto, the Mercury Marquis and the Mercury Cougar. It was a fatal flaw in the Pinto's design that ultimately led to Iacocca's 1978 firing.

Almost immediately, Chrysler wooed Iacocca to join their company. He quickly secured a government bailout, then, after acquiescing to the feds' demands, introduced the cars that would define Chrysler's style in the 1980s: the K-car and the minivan. Having done sales work for Ford in the 1950s, Iacocca decided to become a public face of the company by appearing in the company's ads with the tagline "If you can find a better car, buy it!" He led Chrysler's takeover of American Motors Corporation primarily to get his hands on the Jeep and, to a lesser extent, the AMC Eagle. He retired in 1992 and, as a result of a failed attempt to take over the company in 1995, was barred from speaking about Chrysler for the rest of the century.

Iacocca was 94.

Obit from the Los Angeles Times

Wikipedia

[Applewood]

Well, he didn't save Chrysler all by himself.  The taxpayers bailed out the company.  Iacocca just made sure the money didn't go down the rabbit hole. 

He did take on the unions which, despite Chrysler's impending bankruptcy, still demanded huge wages for the employees. 

Rest in peace, Mr. Iacocca.