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Post by lonegazer on Dec 21, 2009 16:34:04 GMT -5
I've seen a few of her films, but not Bongwater in which she starred with Luke. In recent pictures she looked terribly thin, just a skeletal outline really. There's so much pressure now for celebs to be thin and if they're not, then magazines and websites like to point this out and even put these images on the front of gossip magazines (in the UK).
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Post by texasgal on Dec 21, 2009 20:50:40 GMT -5
Lonegazer, I agree. In the photo that accompanied the internet announcement of her death she looks painfully thin, even anorexic. Her head looks enlarged in proportion to the rest of her, illustrating her emaciation.
Anorexia, bulimia, abuse of diuretics and laxatives can cause hypokalemia or low potassium. Potassium is associated with cardiac rhythm, and severe hypokalemia can lead to cardiac arrythmia and arrest. Anyone here old enough to remember Karen Carpenter?
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Post by texasgal on Dec 22, 2009 22:33:53 GMT -5
Kim Peek died December 19 of a heart attack suffered at his home in suburban Salt Lake City. He was 58. Mr. Peek was an American prodigious savant known as a megasavant. He became a celebrity due to being the inspiration for the character Raymond Babbitt played by Dustin Hoffman in the hit 1988 film Rain Man.
Though the Raymond Babbitt character was portrayed as being autistic, Mr. Peek was not autistic. He probably had FG syndrome, a rare genetic syndrome linked to the X chromosome.
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Post by texasgal on Jan 12, 2010 8:18:37 GMT -5
Miep Gies passed away January 11 at the age of 100. Ms. Gies was the last surviving member of the group who hid Anne Frank and her family during World War II.
Gies and several other employees of Anne Frank's father kept them safe in an annex and brought them food and supplies for 25 months during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. After the family was captured, Gies collected Anne Frank's papers for safekeeping. The papers were compiled and published in 1947 as Anne Frank:The Diary of a Young Girl.
Her efforts did not stop there. Well into her 80s she went on to travel and speak about her experiences, as well as speak out against intolerance and Holocaust denial. In 1989 the West German government awarded Gies the highest civilian medal, and in 1996 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted her.
Besides risking her life to protect those in need, Miep Gies enabled the publication of the most famous document of the Holocaust and perhaps the most famous document about human rights abuse. Published in 68 languages and read in classrooms worldwide, adapted to the small and big screens, Anne Frank's diary has allowed generations of people to learn about an extraordinarily dark period of human history and why it must never be forgotten. Miep Gies demonstrates that even in the most dismal of times, the goodness of humanity can still prevail.
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Post by startip on Jan 12, 2010 10:43:30 GMT -5
I read that book a couple of times. Thank goodness for people like Miep Gies and the differences they make in the world.
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Post by texasgal on Jan 23, 2010 19:29:35 GMT -5
English-born actress Jean Simmons (Jean Merilyn Simmons) died January 22 from lung cancer at her home in Santa Monica, California. She was 80.
Miss Simmons starred in over 60 films. Her film career was most active from the 1940's to the 1990's, including The Egyptian, The Big Country, Spartacus, The Robe, Elmer Gantry, Guys And Dolls, and How To Make An American Quilt. Her last film was made in 2008, Shadows In The Sun.
The TV appearances best known to American audiences were in three mini-series: She was the mother, Fiona Cleary, in The Thorn Birds, and she was in North And South and North And South Book II. She appeared in one episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation in which she played the part of Admiral Norah Satie, a witch-hunting obsessed investigator.
Miss Simmons was married to English actor, Stewart Granger (for the years 1950-1960) with whom she had a daughter, Tracy Granger. Miss Simmons was then married to American director Richard Brooks (1960-1977) with whom she had another daughter, Kate Brooks. The names of her daughters reflect her close friendships with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.
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Post by lonegazer on Jan 24, 2010 11:16:12 GMT -5
I love watching old films, sometimes more than newer ones. There were some really good parts for women then. I was surprised to find out that sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia De Havilland are still alive and well into their 90s, they must have really good genes. Both stubborn though as apparently they haven't talked to each other for about 70 years!
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Post by texasgal on Jan 24, 2010 12:16:49 GMT -5
I love watching old films, sometimes more than newer ones. Me too, Lonegazer. Seems like I've always known about the feud between the two sisters. Their biographer, Charles Higham, author of Sisters: The Story of Olivia De Haviland and Joan Fontaine says their strained relationship began in childhood and ultimately led to their not speaking to each other since 1975. If you go to Wikipedia and look up either sister, a summary of Higham's analysis is found in both entries.
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Post by texasgal on Jan 25, 2010 22:10:30 GMT -5
Actor and singer, Pernell Roberts, has died of cancer on January 24 at his home in Malibu, California. He was 81. Mr. Roberts was the last surviving star of the popular long-running TV western series Bonanza in which he played the part of the eldest son, Adam Cartwright, a role he played from 1959 to 1965. He then went on to act in the starring role of the TV series, Trapper John, M.D. He guest-starred in several TV shows in the 1970's and 80's and appeared many times as a stage actor.
Mr Roberts was known for his activism which included participation in the Selma to Montgomery marches for racial civil rights in 1965, and pressuring NBC to refrain from hiring white actors to portray minority characters.
Mr. Roberts was married four times. With his first wife, he had a son, his only child, Jonathan Christopher Roberts. Jonathan died in a motorcycle accident in 1989 at age 38.
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Post by texasgal on Jan 29, 2010 19:31:04 GMT -5
The United States lost two iconic authors on the same day this week, January 27.
Jerome David Salinger (J. D. Salinger) died at the age of 91. He followed his novel Catcher In The Rye, for which he is best known, with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), a collection of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled Hapworth 16, 1924, appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965. He died at his countryside home in Cornish, New Hampshire, to which he had famously reclused himself since 1953.
Howard Zinn died of an apparent heart attack while swimming in Santa Monica, CA. He was 87. Mr. Zinn was an award-winning author, playwrite, history and political science professor at Boston University. He was also a civil rights and peace activist. Author of 20 books, his best known book is the best-seller, A People's History Of The United States.
Edited to add: Author, screenwriter, and educator Erich Segal died January 17 of a heart attack. He was 72. He published a number of scholarly works as well as teaching at the university level. He acted as a visiting professor for the University of Munich, Princeton University, and Dartmouth College. He wrote widely on Greek and Latin literature. But he is best known for his romantic novel, Love Story. Love Story became the top selling work of fiction for 1970 in the U.S., and was translated into 33 languages worldwide. The motion picture of the same name (starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw) was the number one box office attraction of 1970. Segal went on to write more novels and screenplays, including the 1977 sequel to Love Story, called Oliver's Story
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Post by texasgal on Feb 11, 2010 9:04:37 GMT -5
Former U.S. Congressman Charles Nesbitt Wilson died at his home in Lufkin, TX February 10 from a heart attack. He was 76. He was a former U.S. naval officer and former 12-term Democratic U.S. Representative from the 2nd congressional district in Texas.
His "celebrity" is due to his being the subject of the non-fiction book Charlie Wilson's War and the subsequent movie of the same title which starred Tom Hanks in the title role. Congressman Wilson (no relation to "our" Wilsons) never denied his hard-partying and womanizing habits as depicted in the movie.
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Post by startip on Apr 3, 2010 2:33:22 GMT -5
RIP John Forsythe, he was 91.
Oops, correction, it looks like he was 92.
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Post by lonegazer on Apr 3, 2010 9:10:39 GMT -5
He had one of the most recognisible voices and a greatly underused actor.
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Post by startip on Apr 3, 2010 9:29:29 GMT -5
I got the info about his death on "E" if anyone is interested. I can't post a link right now cuz i'm on my phone.
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Post by texasgal on Apr 3, 2010 14:21:31 GMT -5
Yes, John Forsythe (original name John Lincoln Freund) died April 1 from pneumonia in Santa Ynez, California, aged 92.
Mr. Forsythe had a long stage, TV, and film career. Most Wilsonettes remember him as the voice of Charlie in the TV series Charlie's Angels and both Charlie's Angels film adaptations, and as Blake Carrington from the long-running Dynasty TV series. But I also remember him as Bentley Gregg from the popular 1950's TV series, Bachelor Father.
Mr. Forsythe is survived by one son, two daughters, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
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