Obituary News

Harvey Korman Life in Comedy

Source: Michael Ricci
May 30, 2008

Harvey Korman, an Emmy-winning comedic actor best known for playing the self- described “luminous second banana" for a decade on television's The Carol Burnett Show and for starring in such Mel Brooks films as Blazing Saddles, has died. He was 81. Korman, who had undergone several major operations, died Thursday at UCLA Medical Center of complications from an abdominal aortic aneurysm that ruptured four months ago, his daughter, Kate Korman, told The Times. With a knack for physical humor and ...

Continue Reading...

Actor Harvey Korman Dies

Source: All About Jazz
May 29, 2008

Harvey Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to The Carol Burnett Show and on the big screen in Blazing Saddles, died Thursday. He was 81.

Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said in a statement released by the hospital. His daughter, Kate Korman, said in the statement that it was a “miracle" that her father had ...

Continue Reading...

Joseph Pevney Star Trek Series Director Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
May 28, 2008

Joseph Pevney, versatile film, TV director worked on original Star Trek series, and in 1958 he worked on Twilight for the Gods with Rock Hudson and Cyd Charisse.

Pevney, a former Broadway actor who played supporting roles in several notable films noir in the late 1940s before directing movies such as Man of a Thousand Faces and Tammy and the Bachelor, died May 18 of age-related causes at his home in Palm Desert, said his wife, Margo.He was 96. Focusing ...

Continue Reading...

Wilfrid Mellers Musicologist and Critic Passes

Source: All About Jazz
May 27, 2008

Wilfrid Mellers, an English musicologist, composer, critic and teacher who published more than 20 books on subjects ranging from 17th-century English and French composers to the music of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, died on May 16 in Scrayingham, North Yorkshire. He was 94 and had homes in Scrayingham and the nearby city of York.

His death was confirmed by Jonathan Wainwright, director of the music department at the University of York, where Mr. Mellers taught for many years. As ...

Continue Reading...

Earle H. Hagen Emmy-Winning TV Music Composer

Source: Michael Ricci
May 27, 2008

Earle H. Hagen, the Emmy Award-winning television composer who wrote the memorable theme music for “The Andy Griffith Show," “The Dick Van Dyke Show," “I Spy" and other classic TV programs, has died. He was 88.

Hagen, who composed the jazz standard “Harlem Nocturne" and was a former big-band trombonist for Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Ray Noble, died Monday night at his home in Rancho Mirage, said his wife, Laura. He had been ill for several months. After spending ...

Continue Reading...

Jimmy McGriff, Blues Organist Crossed Musical Lines

Source: Michael Ricci
May 27, 2008

Jimmy McGriff, the acclaimed blues organist, who scored his first hit in the 1960s with an instrumental arrangement of “I've Got a Woman," then continued to record hard-swinging grooves that appealed to audiences across musical boundaries, died Saturday at a nursing home in New Jersey. He was 72. The cause of death was not known but was believed to be heart failure, said his wife, Margaret McGriff. McGriff was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis many years ago. Though sometimes described as ...

Continue Reading...

Sidney Pollack His Life & Times

Source: Michael Ricci
May 27, 2008

Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of “Out of Africa" who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including “The Way We Were" and “Tootsie," died Monday. He was 73.

Pollack, who also was a producer and actor, died of cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades, according to Leslee Dart, his publicist and friend. As a filmmaker, Pollack had a reputation for being a painstaking craftsman -- “relentless and meticulous," screenwriter and friend Robert Towne once said. ...

Continue Reading...

"Tootsie" Director Pollack Dead at 73

Source: All About Jazz
May 26, 2008

An agent for actor and director Sydney Pollack said Monday the Academy Award winner has died. He was 73.

Agent Leslee Dart said Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. She said Pollack was surrounded by family. Pollack appeared in some of the films he directed, including the gender-bending hit Tootsie, which starred Dustin Hoffman. He won producing and directing Oscars for Out of Africa in 1985. The films Pollack directed include Sketches of ...

Continue Reading...