Obituary News

Home Invasion in Van Nuys; Pricey Studio Equipment Stolen

Source: Michael Ricci
March 25, 2009

Your 16 Track or Your Life! Robbers broke into a Van Nuys home early this morning and stole thousands of dollars' worth of studio recording equipment, Los Angeles police said.

The home-invasion robbery was reported about 2:30 a.m. after four or five men armed with handguns broke into the home in the 15200 block of Wyandotte Street near Bumet Avenue, said Officer Sam Park of the Los Angeles Police Department. Park said the home was occupied at the ...

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Dorothea Holt Redmond Designer Helped Create the Look of Several Hitchcock Films Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
March 22, 2009

Dorothea Holt Redmond broke ground in 1938 as the first woman to invade the “heretofore exclusively male field” of motion-picture production design, at David O. Selznick’s studio, The Times reported that year. She came to be regarded as one of the most talented illustrators in the industry. Redmond worked on seven Hitchcock films, as well as others.

Redmond, an illustrator and production designer who helped visualize several Alfred Hitchcock films and worked with Walt Disney to design a private apartment ...

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Remembering John Philip Sousa

Source: Michael Ricci
March 22, 2009

John Philip Sousa, Band Leader, Dies in Hotel at Reading

READING, Pa., Sunday, March 6. 1932 John Philip Sousa, famous American band conductor and march king of a generation ago, died unexpectedly early this morning in his room in the Abraham Lincoln Hotel from an attack of heart disease.

He came to Reading to lead the local Ringgold Band today in its 80th Anniversary concert as its guest conductor. He rehearsed the band yesterday afternoon and at that ...

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Eddie Bo Blues Singer, Pianist and Songwriter Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
March 21, 2009

Bo penned the 1960 Etta James hit 'My Dearest Darling' and 'I'm Wise,' which was made famous by Little Richard when he renamed and released it in 1956 as 'Slippin' and Slidin'.'

Eddie Bo, a New Orleans blues singer-pianist who worked with musicians such as Irma Thomas and Art Neville, died Wednesday of a heart attack, according to his booking agent, Karen Hamilton. He was 78.

Eddie Bo, whose real name was Edwin Joseph Bocage, was an accomplished keyboardist- pianist ...

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Kalman Bloch Clarinetist for L.A. Philharmonic

Source: Michael Ricci
March 21, 2009

Kalman Bloch, 95, principal clarinetist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic for nearly 45 years, died March 12 at his home in Los Angeles, according to his daughter, Michele Zukovsky, who is now one of the orchestra's co-principal clarinetists.

Bloch was born in New York on May 30, 1913, and attended Columbia College. He studied clarinet with Simeon Bellison, a legendary figure with the New York Philharmonic.

When Bloch was having trouble finding work during the Depression, Bellison encouraged him to ...

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Actress Natasha Richardson Dies After Skiing Accident

Source: Michael Ricci
March 19, 2009

The wife of actor Liam Neeson and member of the Redgrave theatrical family was 45.

Natasha Richardson, the luminous British actress from one of the world's great acting families, whose performances ranged from the highbrow drama “The Handmaid's Tale" to the lightweight comedy “The Parent Trap" and the Tony-winning Broadway production of “Cabaret," died Wednesday. She was 45.

The wife of “Schindler's List" actor Liam Neeson and the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late film director Tony Richardson ...

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Actress Natasha Richardson Dead at 45, After Ski Accident

Source: All About Jazz
March 18, 2009

One function of celebrity is to alert the rest of us to hard truths, to teach us the lessons of love and grief. Among these is the cruelest jest of fate: a child's death that precedes his or her parents.

That instructive obscenity slammed home today with the death of Natasha Richardson, a distinguished British actress who was a third-generation star of the noted Redgrave acting clan, and elder daughter of the great and controversial Vanessa Redgrave.

Richardson died two ...

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Anne Brown, Soprano Who Was Gershwin's Bess, is Dead at 96

Source: Michael Ricci
March 18, 2009

Anne Brown, a penetratingly pure soprano who literally put the Bess in “Porgy and Bess” by inspiring George Gershwin to expand the character’s part in a folk opera that was originally to be called “Porgy,” died Friday in Oslo. She was 96.

Her daughter Paula Schjelderup announced the death.

“Porgy and Bess” burst onto the American scene in 1935 as a sophisticated musical treatment of poor blacks. Critics could not make out whether it was a musical comedy, a jazz ...

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