Departed Cultural Icons 2023

[von Corax]

First of the year.

Fred E. White (born Frederick Eugene Adams; January 13, 1955 – January 1, 2023) was an American musician. He was one of the early members of Earth, Wind & Fire. He previously played drums on Donny Hathaway's Live album.

[RJBowman]

Adam Rich has long been out of the public eye, but if you were a child in the late 1970's in America you certainly know who he is. He was a child actor who played Nicholas on the TV drama "Eight Is Enough" at a time when there weren't many children on prime time American television. He was also the voice of Presto, the Magician on the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series. He passed away yesterday at the age of 54.

He was a year younger than me.

[von Corax]

Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band The Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.

Beck was ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazines' lists rankings of the greatest guitarists. He was often called a "guitarist's guitarist". Rolling Stone described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock".

[von Corax]

Lisa Marie Presley (February 1, 1968 – January 12, 2023) was an American singer and songwriter. She was the only child of singer and actor Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Presley, as well as the sole heir to her father's estate after her grandfather and her great-grandmother died. Presley developed a career in the music business and issued three albums: To Whom It May Concern in 2003, Now What in 2005, and Storm & Grace in 2012. Her first album reached Gold certification with the Recording Industry Association of America. Presley also released non-album singles, including duets with her father using tracks he had released before he died.

[von Corax]

Robin Peter Kendall Bachman (February 18, 1953 – January 10, 2023) was a Canadian drummer and the youngest brother of guitarist, singer and songwriter Randy Bachman. He was the original drummer for both the Brave Belt and Bachman–Turner Overdrive bands. He also was sometimes credited as "Robin" or "Rob" on the liner notes of Brave Belt and BTO albums.

[morozow]

And again the Legends go away.

Inna Mikhailovna Churikova (October 5, 1943 - January 14, 2023).

Soviet and Russian actress of theater and cinema; People's Artist of the USSR (1991), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1997), the State Prize of the RSFSR named after the Vasiliev Brothers (1986) and the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1976). Full Knight of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.

The ugly girl became a great actress.
The phrase that Churikova invariably repeated in all interviews sounded like this: "If you want to be happy, love."

Kikabidze Vakhtang Konstantinovich (July 19, 1938  — January 15, 2023)

A talented Soviet actor.

[walking stick]

Les Barker, the author of comedy songs and poems many of us have loved, E G. Guide Cats For The Blind, I Can't find my Camouflage Net, I Demand To Go On An Assertiveness Course. is dead.

[von Corax]

David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 19, 2023) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of the Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/david-crosby-obit-1.6719892

[von Corax]

Lloyd N. Morrisett Jr. (November 2, 1929 – January 22, 2023) was an American experimental psychologist with a career in education, communications, and philanthropy. He was one of the founders of the Children's Television Workshop (now known as Sesame Workshop), the organization that created the children's television show Sesame Street, which Morrisett created with writer/producer Joan Ganz Cooney and puppeteer Jim Henson.

[von Corax]

This won't mean much to most people, but to anyone from Southern Ontario it's significant.

"Hurricane" Hazel McCallion, CM, OOnt (née Journeaux; February 14, 1921 – January 29, 2023) was a Canadian businesswoman and politician who served as the fifth mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, from 1978 until 2014.

McCallion was first elected in November 1978, and is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history, having served for 36 years at the time of her retirement in 2014. She was a successful candidate in twelve municipal elections, having been acclaimed twice and re-elected ten other times. Her supporters gave her the nickname "Hurricane Hazel" because of her outspoken political style with reference to the Hurricane of 1954, which had a considerable impact.

[RJBowman]

Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Adams of the small screen, has passed away from a stroke at the age of 64.

[J. Wilhelm]

Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Adams of the small screen, has passed away from a stroke at the age of 64.

Died young by today's standards

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_hMkUqyEpc

[RJBowman]

Cindy Williams, Shirley of "Laverne and Shirley", has passed away at 75.

[J. Wilhelm]

Cindy Williams, Shirley of "Laverne and Shirley", has passed away at 75.

It's very sad to see every celebrity I knew in the 70s and 80s pass away.  Unfortunately her passing may not resonate much with our BG members outside of the USA. Myself, only one country away, really didn't know Laverne & Shirley outside of our hotel room when we came to visit family in Texas every year, same for popular US shows like "Happy Days" and "The Brady Bunch," whereas series like Star Trek, The Adams Family, The Munsters and such, traveled as reruns around the World.

[Synistor 303]

Cindy Williams, Shirley of "Laverne and Shirley", has passed away at 75.

It's very sad to see every celebrity I knew in the 70s and 80s pass away.  Unfortunately her passing may not resonate much with our BG members outside of the USA. Myself, only one country away, really didn't know Laverne & Shirley outside of our hotel room when we came to visit family in Texas every year, same for popular US shows like "Happy Days" and "The Brady Bunch," whereas series like Star Trek, The Adams Family, The Munsters and such, traveled as reruns around the World.

Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days and the Brady Bunch all played down here in Australia. Also Star Trek, The Adams Family and the Munsters. The Adams Family was far more popular in Australia than it did in the US when it first came out - as was MASH.

[von Corax]

Burt Freeman Bacharach (May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists. As of 2014, he had written 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits. He was one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music.

[Sir Henry]

David Jude Jolicoeur, aka Trugoy the Dove, Plug 2 and Dave, (September 21, 1968 – February 12, 2023) was one of the three members of De La Soul, the hugely influential hip hop act, famous for their extensive use of samples, positive lyrics and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres.  Their music in the 90's was a huge contrast to the growing popularity of gangsta rap, but legal problems with the licensing of their use of samples meant that they couldn't stream their music, so haven't been part of the growth of digital music. That was finally sorted out and as of 1 March all their music will be available online.

Sadly Trugoy won't be able to enjoy the upsurge in the group's popularity that will bring, but in his last broadcast he sounded very happy to have finally sorted out the problems after all these years.

A man who took old things, reimagined and repurposed them, and produced wonderful, new, positive creations.

[von Corax]

Jo Raquel Welch (née Tejada; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. She first won attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), and Hannie Caulder (1971).

[SeVeNeVeS]

Jo Raquel Welch (née Tejada; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. She first won attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), and Hannie Caulder (1971).

one I would truely say is a 1960's Iconic image.

Spoiler: ShowHide

[Rockula]

Jo Raquel Welch (née Tejada; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. She first won attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), and Hannie Caulder (1971).

'Being a huge fan of the 'Spaghetti' western genre I have to say 'Hannie Caulder' is my favourite of those being the closest that a British film company (Tigon) came to producing something in that style. And Raquel Welch's death was coincidentally announced on the very same day I had taken delivery of the remastered Blu-ray of that film.

[von Corax]

Gordon Edward Pinsent CC FRSC (July 12, 1930 - February 25, 2023) was a Canadian actor, writer, director, and singer. He was known for his roles in numerous productions, including Away from Her, The Rowdyman, John and the Missus, A Gift to Last, Due South, The Red Green Show and Quentin Durgens, M.P. He was the voice of Babar the Elephant in television and film from 1989 to 2015.

[von Corax]

The Creature from the Black Lagoon aka Ricou Browning (February 16, 1930 – February 27, 2023) was an American film director, actor, producer, screenwriter, underwater cinematographer, and stuntman. He is best known for his underwater stunt work, especially in the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon, in which he portrayed the titular Gill-man during the film's underwater scenes (actor Ben Chapman played the Creature on land). Browning reprised the role for the underwater scenes in the film's sequels Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). Browning also co-created Flipper with Jack Cowden, and directed a number of episodes of the 1960s television series.

[Sorontar]

Gordon Edward Pinsent CC FRSC (July 12, 1930 - February 25, 2023) was a Canadian actor, writer, director, and singer. He was known for his roles in numerous productions, including Away from Her, The Rowdyman, John and the Missus, A Gift to Last, Due South, The Red Green Show and Quentin Durgens, M.P. He was the voice of Babar the Elephant in television and film from 1989 to 2015.

I have just finished (re)watching Season 1 of Due South and had been looking him up. He did a good job as the hero's ghostly father.

Sorontar

[von Corax]

The news emerged yesterday that Gordon Moore (January 3, 1929 – March 24, 2023), semiconductor pioneer, one of the founders of both Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, and the originator of the famous Moore's Law, has died. His continuing influence over all aspects of the technology which makes our hardware world can not be underestimated, and his legacy will remain with us for many decades to come.

[J. Wilhelm]

RIP Xavier López-Rodríguez aka "Chabelo" (1935_2023), a US born Mexican American comedian, television presenter, game show host and children's music singer who had been working on television for over sixty years. He was famous for being able to make a very high pitched falsetto voice and impersonating a child character named "Chabelo."