David McCallum, Star of ‘NCIS,’ ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,’ Dies at 90.
David McCallum, who starred as Illya Kuryakin alongside Robert Vaughn’s Napoleon Solo in the 1960s hit spy drama “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and had a supporting role as pathologist Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on the top-rated series “NCIS” decades later, died Monday of natural causes in New York City. He was 90.
‘Joe The Plumber,’ who rose to fame after confronting Obama on 2008 campaign trail, dead at 49.
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who rose to national fame as “Joe the Plumber” after confronting Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail, died Sunday, his family confirmed.
Wurzelbacher, 49, died after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer in July, his wife, Katie Wurzelbacher told Fox News.
“Our hearts are broken. We lost a beloved husband, father, son, brother and friend. He made an impact on so many lives,” the widow wrote in a statement.
“When I met Joe he was already known by everyone else as ‘Joe the Plumber’ but he wrote something to me that stood out and showed me who he truly was: ‘just Joe,’” she said. “He was an average, honorable man trying to do great things for the country he loved so deeply after being thrust into the public eye for asking a question.”
Wurzelbacher became a symbol of the average Joe when the plumber challenged Obama at a campaign event in Toledo, Ohio, accusing the presidential candidate’s tax plan of going against the American Dream.
Mom and him were High School classmates.
Bob Barker, longtime ‘Price Is Right’ host, dies at 99
When producers hired Barker to host “The Price Is Right” in 1972, they hit the jackpot. The game show had faded significantly from its glory days in the late ‘50s and had been punted by two networks before it landed at CBS.
Bob Barker, the longtime host of television’s “The Price Is Right” who used his combination of comfort-food charm and deadpan humor to become an American television staple, has died, according to his longtime publicist. He was 99.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” publicist Roger Neal said in a statement Saturday.
Neal served as Barker’s publicist from 1987 to 1994 and again from 2020.
When producers hired Barker to host “The Price Is Right” in 1972, they hit the jackpot. The game show had faded significantly from its glory days in the late ‘50s and had been punted by two networks before it landed at CBS.
But in Barker, the show found its voice, and it has continued to air a decade and a half after he retired.
Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said one reason Barker became an iconic game show host was the sheer length of his career. Barker spent more than half a century on TV, taking over as host of the popular “Truth or Consequences” in 1956 and retiring from “The Price Is Right” in 2007.
“Secondly, you’ve got some game shows where the host just stands behind a podium, but Barker really interacted with regular people” who were selected as contestants. “And he was particularly good at it.”
Robert William Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, on Dec. 12, 1923, and at the age of 6 moved to a Sioux Indian reservation in Mission, South Dakota, with his mother after his father died in a workplace accident. His mother, Matilda, a schoolteacher, remarried and moved again to Missouri. After a two-year stint in the Navy at the tail end of World War II, Barker returned to Missouri to attend Drury College, now Drury University, and graduated with a degree in economics.
Barker landed a job at a radio station in Florida, and it didn’t take long for word of his smooth delivery to travel across the wires. In 1950, he moved to California to start his own radio program, “The Bob Barker Show,” in Burbank.
Television producers clearly tuned in, and Barker landed his first game show in 1956, NBC’s “Truth or Consequences,” a job he would hold for 18 years until it went off the air.
Barker gave prizes away on “The Price Is Right,” which became the longest-running daytime game show in TV history in 1990, until his retirement.
And when he wasn’t giving away the keys to brand new cars, he was a TV fixture in other time slots. In 1967, he began a 20-year run as emcee of the Miss Universe and Miss America pageants, and in 1969 he started a similarly long run as the host of the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade.
But Barker’s made-for-television image took a huge hit 1994, when a former “Price Is Right” model accused him in a lawsuit of threatening to fire her if she didn’t have sex with him. Although the model, Dian Parkinson — a 19-year veteran of the show who had been fired the previous year — ultimately dropped the suit, Barker was forced to admit publicly that the two had had a less-than-professional relationship off screen.
The scandal didn’t prevent Barker from being given an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Barker was also a longtime animal rights activist, ending each episode of “The Price Is Right” with the plea: “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.”
“I went to Mark Goodson and told him I didn’t want to be on the stage with these fur coats,” Barker told “CBS This Morning” in 2013, referring to the show’s producer. “So he took fur coats off our show.”
Barker’s longtime friend Nancy Burnet remembered him for his work in exposing animal cruelty.
“I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker, and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally,” Burnet said in a statement Saturday.
She added that the two had been friends for 40 years. “He will be missed.”
In 2013, Barker donated $1 million to move three captive elephants from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California.
The same year, Barker returned in a surprise visit to “Price Is Right” and his successor as host, Drew Carey.
“People ask me, ‘What do you miss most about ‘Price Is Right?’” Barker told Parade Magazine in 2013. “And I say, ‘The money.’ But that is not altogether true. I miss the people, too.”
Alan Arkin, Oscar-Winning Little Miss Sunshine Actor, Dead at 89.
Alan Arkin, the Academy Award and Tony Award-winning actor, has died at 89.
His death was confirmed to PEOPLE exclusively by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who jointly offered a statement on the family’s behalf: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Missing Titanic submarine found, crew killed in deep-sea catastrophe
BOSTON – The search for the missing OceanGate Titan submersible came to a tragic end Thursday when search-and-rescue teams discovered a “debris field” on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, where the crew was headed before losing contact with their surface vessel Sunday morning.
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,” U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters. “On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”
The announcement came hours after the USCG alerted the public that a robotic vehicle made the discovery.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” the USCG said just before noon. ROV stands for remotely operated vehicle. Experts were evaluating the information.
The Titan lost contact with its surface vessel, the Polar Prince, around 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday morning, about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and around 400 miles southeast of St John’s, in Canada’s Newfoundland.
“We understand debris has been found which may be the landing frame and a rear cover of the tail instrument compartment of The Titan lost on previous dives,” Richard Garriott, the president of the Explorers Club which had members on the missing sub, wrote to the group, according to a spokesman. “We hear there may be additional debris, but no updated visuals of the submersible.”
Inside the vessel were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; British businessman turned adventurer Hamish Harding; father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who are members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy officer and leading Titanic expert.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”
The U.S. Coast Guard headed a unified command that involved commercial assets, research vehicles and military counterparts from Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
Search-and-rescue crews spent the week deploying high-tech buoys, robotic vehicles known as ROVs, surface vessels and aerial searches in an effort to pinpoint the missing sub’s location.
The ROVs will remain in the area to gather more information, Mauger said, but he said he could not estimate the prospects of whether the victims’ remains could be recovered.
“This is incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, and so we’ll continue to work and search the area down there, but I don’t have an answer,” he said.
As of Thursday morning, several with the ability to reach the ocean floor had been deployed in the Atlantic as the Titan’s estimated initial supply of 96 hours of oxygen dwindled – including the Victor 6000, which descended from the French L’Atalante research vessel to the ocean floor.
A Canadian vessel, the Horizon Arctic, also deployed its ROV Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Canadian pilots picked up repeated sounds during their search.
Carl Hartsfield, a retired Navy captain and a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said during a USCG briefing that the noises had been “described as banging.”
Authorities did not elaborate and had not discovered their source on Wednesday.
Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. The man dubbed the "Unabomber" was 81.https://t.co/Ns0nw8xTtJ
— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) June 10, 2023
George Maharis Dies: ‘Route 66’ Actor Was 94
George Maharis, the Route 66 actor that left the series during the height of its popularity, died on Wednesday, May 24. He was 94.
“George is well known for his stardom in Route 66, stage productions, singing, artist, and above all a great guy would do anything for anyone. My dear friend, you’ll be terribly missed,” Maharis’ friend Marc Bahan shared in a Facebook post.
Maharis was born on September 1, 1928, in Astoria, New York. He studied at the Actors Studio and got his start working in off-Broadway productions.
His first television role came in 1958 with The Mugger. Maharis would go on to land other TV credits in shows like Naked City, Exodus and Search for Tomorrow. It would be until 1960 that he would land the role of Buz Murdock on Route 66, an indirect spinoff of Naked City that shared its same creator Stirling Silliphant. Maharis would be forced to leave the show midway through Season 3 due to health issues.
Maharis would continue acting and appear in films like Quick Before It Melts (1964), Sylvia (1965), A Covenant with Death (1967) and The Happening (1967).
In the 1970’s, Maharis returned to television and starred in shows like Night Gallery, The Mostly Deadly Game, Medical Center, Mission: Impossible, Barnaby Jones, Shaft, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Snoop Sisters, Rich Man, Poor Man, The Bionic Woman, Kojak, Fantasy Island, and many more.
Maharis’ final credit was in the film Doppelganger directed by Avi Neshar in 1993 which starred Drew Barrymore and George Newbern.
Auntie Entity exits, stage left.
Tina Turner, queen of rock ‘n’ roll, dies after long illness
Tina Turner, the musical behemoth and pioneering soul-turned-rock star, has died at age 83.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icon died at her home in Switzerland after a long illness, according to reports.
For many years, Turner has lived a reclusive life while battling ill health, including intestinal cancer in 2016 and a kidney transplant in 2017.
Throughout her career, Turner’s life was one of musical greatness and personal trauma, as she fled an abusive relationship from her musical mentor and first husband, Ike Turner, to achieve unlikely pop stardom in the ‘80s with “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
A native of Nutbush, Tennessee, the woman born Anna Mae Bullock began her singing career early – singing in the choir at Nutbush’s Spring Hill Baptist Church.
But it was seeing Ike Turner perform with his Kings of Rhythm band in 1957 that ignited Turner’s professional passion.
All-time great running back Jim Brown dies at 87.
Jim Brown, one of the greatest professional and college football players of all time, has died. He was 87.
His wife, Monique, announced Brown’s death in an Instagram post Friday afternoon. She said Brown “passed peacefully” Thursday night in their home in Los Angeles.
“To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star,” the post stated. “To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken…”
In 2020, Brown was selected to the NFL 100 all-time team and also was ranked as the No. 1 all-time player on the College Football 150 list to celebrate those sports’ anniversaries. He was named the greatest football player ever by the Sporting News in 2002.
Brown, who was selected in the first round of the 1957 draft, played nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns (1957-65) and led the league in rushing eight of those years. He rushed for 12,312 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per carry over his career. He also was named a Pro Bowler every year he played. He led the Browns to the league championship game three times, winning the title in 1964, and was named MVP three times.
He ran for at least 100 yards in 58 of his 118 regular-season games, never missing a game. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in seven seasons, including 1,527 yards in one 12-game season and 1,863 in a 14-game season.
Brown retired at 30, at the top of his career. He was filming the movie “The Dirty Dozen” during the offseason in 1966, and production went long because of bad weather. Browns owner Art Modell threatened to suspend Brown’s pay if he didn’t report to training camp on time. Brown opted to retire, saying he wanted to focus on his movie career and social issues.
Since his retirement, no Browns player has worn his No. 32, and a statue of him went up outside of FirstEnergy Stadium in 2016.
Emmy-winning actor Kirstie Alley, known for her role in the sitcom “Cheers,” the “Look Who’s Talking” films and other roles, has died of cancer, her family said in a statement Monday. She was 71.
The illness was only recently discovered, her family said.
“She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead,” the statement said. “As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
This was his only #1 hit in the U.S.
Just heard that Bart Skelton passed away back on the 25th, age 62.
Someone on twitter asked:
“What’s taking place on the other side that’s making God call back all the gun fighters?”
Shootist Jim Taylor confirmed a text I received that John Linebaugh suffered a heart attack this afternoon and has passed way.
He was a friend. He will be missed.
Lance Reddick, Known for the ‘John Wick’ Films and ‘The Wire’ has Died Aged 60
Reddick enjoyed a lengthy, varied career on the screen, and had been in the midst of promoting the new ‘John Wick’ film.
Reddick enjoyed a lengthy, varied career on the screen, and had been in the midst of promoting the new ‘John Wick’ film.
Lance Reddick as Irvin Irving on Prime Video’s ‘Bosch.’ Photo: Aaron Epstein. Copyright: Amazon Studios
Lance Reddick, an actor who brought poise, gravitas and depth to even the smallest role, has died.
Best known for movies including the ‘John Wick’ series and TV shows including ‘The Wire’, ‘Fringe,’ and ‘Bosch,’ Reddick was 60.
Who was Lance Reddick?
Born in 1962 in Baltimore, Reddick’s initial passion was for music; he attended the Peabody Preparatory Institute and completed a summer program on music theory and composition at the Walden School as a teenager. Yet acting calling to him: after earning his Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, he relocated to Boston, Massachusetts in the 1980s to start attending the Yale School of Drama in 1991.
Okay, so who’s gonna be number three?
Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.
Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.
Chaim Topol, Tevye in Film and Stage Versions of Fiddler on the Roof, Dies at 87.
Chaim Topol, who became professionally known solely by his last name in a career that included starring in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ on stage and screen and co-starring in the James Bond movie ‘For Your Eyes Only’ and the sci-fi film ‘Flash Gordon,’ died Thursday in Tel Aviv after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
No!
The Hollywood star passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning after a brief illness, her manager said.
Born Jo Raquel Tejada in 1940, Welch grew up in California, where she won teen beauty pageants and later became a local weather forecaster.
Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies, died in Rome on Monday, her agent said. She was 95.
Walter Cunningham, last surviving Apollo 7 astronaut, dies at 90.
Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from NASA’s famed Apollo 7 mission, died early Tuesday in Houston at age 90, officials said.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson confirmed Cunningham’s death in a statement. He described the late astronaut as having paved the way for future U.S. space travel as one of three members on Apollo 7, the first successful crewed space flight of NASA’s Apollo program.
Cunningham, along with Donn Eisele and Walter “Wally” Schirra, was aboard the 11-day Apollo 7 mission that launched on Oct. 11, 1968.