The Pale Flag, it has advanced Options

[PalePhoenix]

Famed attorney to the stars, Johnnie Cochran, has died at 67 (click name for various news resources). He was renowned for defending OJ Simpson in his sensational double-murder trial; and, of more recent relevance, Michael Jackson for his prior indictment of child molestation. As unpopular as litigators can oft-times be, Cochran frequently parlayed his high-ticket clients into pro bono work and other forms of civic action.

Feel free to comment on any aspect of his life and work, or death--if you consider a lawyer with a brain tumor poetic justice.

[BrentDanzig]

Charlton Heston is dead. Somebody pry the gun out of his hand. What an asshole.

[PalePhoenix]

Moses! Moses!

I would have thought this passing worthy of a full thread, but then I realized--per Brent--that this is the entertainment equivalent of the death of Jerry Falwell. Sorry, but all you fans of the actor had better remember the person who portrayed him in the movie version of "Being Charlton Heston." You damn, dirty apes.

[Bryan9000]

[PalePhoenix]

Inventor of LSD, Albert Hofmann's death still appears to be eluding both the mainstream press and the druggie press. Only Diggs, Reddits, and other rumor mills are repeating that he has [possibly] passed away. I have no particular reason to doubt that he's died, only that it seems a tad rude to report it before anyone important to his personal life may have decided to confirm.

EDIT: It is confirmed. A heart attack at home. No, he was not high at the time.

[Xaotrix]

I wasn't particularly fond of his work, but his life and times put him at the nexus of 20th C. Art, Post-Modernism, and makes him worthy of a mention here, I believe.

Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died Monday night. He was 82.

A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Mr. Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes reconceived all the mediums in which he worked.

Building on the legacies of Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell and others, he thereby helped to obscure the lines between painting and sculpture, painting and photography, photography and printmaking, sculpture and photography, sculpture and dance, sculpture and technology, technology and performance art — not to mention between art and life.

Mr. Rauschenberg was also instrumental in pushing American art onward from Abstract Expressionism, the dominant movement when he emerged during the early 1950s... (read more)

[Galahad]

It was time.*

Calif. winemaking patriarch Robert Mondavi dies

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Robert Mondavi, the pioneering vintner who helped put California wine country on the map, died at his Napa Valley home Friday. He was 94. Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville, Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm said.

He was 52 and a winemaking veteran in 1966, when he opened the winery that would help turn the Napa Valley into a world center of the industry. Clashes with a brother that included a fistfight led him to break from the family business to carry out his ambitious plans with borrowed money.

At the time, California was still primarily known for cheap jug wines. But he set out to change that, championing use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, all commonplace in the industry today. He introduced blind tastings in Napa Valley, putting his wines up against French vintages, a bold move.

Always convinced that California wines could compete with the European greats, Mondavi engaged in the first French-American wine venture when he formed a limited partnership with the legendary French vintner Baron Philippe de Rothschild to grow and make the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville. The venture's first vintage was in 1979. (AP)

(*OK, that was Orson Welles for Paul Masson, not Mondavi, but you get the point)

[irishblessing]

Dick Martin, a veteran nightclub comic who with his partner, Dan Rowan, turned a midseason replacement slot at NBC in 1968 into a hit that redefined what could be done on television, died Saturday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 86 and lived in Malibu, Calif. (NYT obit)

There are so many iconic lines, skits, and themes that began with "Laugh-In," I wouldn't know where to begin. It's a quintessential yet dated comedy venue, but its creator deserves some props, lo these decades later. I seriously believe that not a single "reality show" would exist without it. Sitcoms don't have Goldie Hawn in a bikini.

[PalePhoenix]

"Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like “The Way We Were,” “Tootsie” and “Out of Africa” were among the most successful of the 1970s and ’80s, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73." Aww. And he was Will's dad, too.

[Galahad]

One, two, and...three.

Harvey Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to ''The Carol Burnett Show'' and played a conniving politician to hilarious effect in ''Blazing Saddles,'' died Thursday. He was 81. (NYT obit)

Poor Tim Conway. Now he'll be all alone in those late-night infomercials for the CBS.

[ganymede]

Another week, another of Death's Trifecta? I just hope Gore Vidal doesn't croak.

Yves Saint Laurent, who exploded on the fashion scene in 1958 as the boy-wonder successor to Christian Dior and endured as one of the best-known and most influential couturiers of the second half of the 20th century, died on Sunday in Paris. He was 71. (NYT obit)

YSL is widely credited with getting women to wear pants. I thought that was all on the Hepburn women.

[PalePhoenix]

No matter what sort of day or week you've been having, we can guarantee it's not going to be any worse than the one Tim Russert is having. He was 58.

Tim Russert, a fixture in American homes on Sunday mornings and election nights since becoming moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” 17 years ago, died suddenly Friday after collapsing in the network’s Washington bureau. His death was announced by Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” who broke into the network’s coverage just after 3:30 p.m.

Appearing on MSNBC tonight, Dr. Michael A. Newman, Mr. Russert’s internist, said that an autopsy showed that Mr. Russert had an enlarged heart and significant coronary artery disease. (NYT)

So, he keeled over at his desk, a la Falwell. We would like to believe he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. (well, maybe somewhere more private and dignified is always preferable, but these were "at work" type-A folks who were more likely to pass where they spent 90% of their waking hours anyway)

[PalePhoenix]

Not to be overshadowed by Russert, but Stan Winston has passed.

[PalePhoenix]

[This should really be its own thread, and maybe we'll split it off if it gets a lot of response.]

JESSE HELMS IS DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. I'm thrilled! Honestly ecstatic! He and Falwell will finally be together. There was a spectacular, explosive power outage here last night, and my internet only just came back on. This was the first thing I saw (the newsfeed). Hooray. [does a small jig]

Now I'm gonna cross my fingers and say a prayer for the death of at least one Phelps.

[Bryan9000]

In semi-related news, Bozo has also died. That's two clowns down.

[ganymede]

JESSE HELMS IS DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

An interesting ode to "Helms in Hell." "Jesse Helms died today, 25 years too late, but the stench of his rotten career will always linger in the Senate, and over the South."

[Semperfidel]

Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's ''The Golden Girls,'' has died. She was 84.

Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica. (NYT obit)

I didn't know dementia, itself, could kill you, but there you go. Both Bea Arthur and Betty White are 2 years older. Have we heard from "Maude" lately? Someone go put a mirror under her nose.

[5trych9]

The "Last Lecture" professor finally dies. For those of you tired of insipid motivational speeches from people who are dying sooner than everyone else, today's your day.

[PalePhoenix]

One last day in the life of Ivan Denisovich:

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author whose books chronicled the horrors of the Soviet gulag system, has died of heart failure, his son said Monday. He was 89.

Solzhenitsyn's unflinching accounts of torment and survival in the Soviet Union's slave labor camps riveted his countrymen, whose secret history he exposed. They earned him 20 years of bitter exile, but international renown. And they inspired millions, perhaps, with the knowledge that one person's courage and integrity could, in the end, defeat the totalitarian machinery of an empire. (NYT Obit)

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[Xaotrix]

Talk about your uncanny threes. Questionably talented, bug-eyed American comedian Bernie Mac has died at age 50 from pneumonic complications. I don't think he's of particular interest to the GLBTQ community. In fact, there may be some out there secretly cheering, though I wouldn't personally know why. Did the naughty black man say something to offend you lot? I've read he used to play gay bars.

[PalePhoenix]

Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless ''Theme From Shaft'' won Academy and Grammy awards, has been found dead at home. He was 65.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office says a family member found Hayes unresponsive near a treadmill on Sunday. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis. The cause of death was not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.

His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show ''South Park.'' (NYT obit)

Sounds like a heart attack. I guess Xenu couldn't save him.

[irishblessing]

I'd like to pre-report the death of Paul Newman. He's apparently elected to go home to croak. Kinda sad. KTHXBAI.

[5trych9]

David Foster Wallace, author of "Infinite Jest," has decided shit's not so funny anymore. He hanged himself yesterday. Compared to Borges, Pynchon, and (ugh) Delillo, his postmodern style will be missed, even if he has only been teaching. He is survived by a wife, apparently, and about 24 students a semester at Pomona College in Claremont.

[JBlueEyes]

I'd like to pre-report the death of Paul Newman. He's apparently elected to go home to croak. Kinda sad. KTHXBAI.

And croak he has. Apparently, one of our rituals in a celebrity obsessed society is to mourn with an hour on Larry King. “I picture my epitaph,” he once said. “Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.”

[Bryan9000]

While we wait for Patrick Swayze to keel, Bettie Page, historic pin-up and BDSM model has also croaked. She was actually 85.

[Qweerty]

I don't think they're close enough to be the 2nd and 3rd to Bettie Page, but both Eartha Kitt and Harold Pinter have died. Theirs were rare gifts, and if you don't know who they were, you're an idiot.

[PalePhoenix]

John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76... (read more)