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    Unhappy Hollywood Obituaries

    Hymie the Robot on 'Get Smart,' Dies at 85...

    Dick Gautier, Hymie the Robot on 'Get Smart,' Dies at 85
    1/14/2017 - The actor started out as a stand-up comic and received a Tony nomination for playing the Elvis-like singer in the original production of 'Bye, Bye Birdie.'
    Dick Gautier, who starred on Broadway in the original production of Bye, Bye Birdie and then famously played Hymie the Robot on the sitcom Get Smart, has died. He was 85. Gautier died Friday night at an assisted living facility in Arcadia, Calif., after a long illness, his daughter Denise told The Hollywood Reporter. Gautier, who started his career as a stand-up comic, received a Tony nomination for playing Conrad Birdie, the character based on Elvis Presley, in the memorable, original 1960 production of Bye, Bye Birdie, starring Dick Van Dyke. The handsome actor appeared as Hymie on just six episodes of Get Smart over four seasons, yet he was one of the spy spoof's most popular characters.

    Hymie, who was incredibly strong and had a supercomputer for a brain and wires and components in a compartment in his chest, originally was built for the evil organization KAOS but came over to CONTROL (the good guys) because Max (Don Adams) was the first one to treat him like a real person. "When I met with the powers that be, I told them that when I was a kid in Canada I saw a man in a storefront window acting like a manikin to drum up business," he said in 2013. "If you could make him smile, you’d get $10. So, I tried, but not by acting crazy — I merely imitated his movements. I didn’t win the $10, but I got the part of Hymie, which was a little better." Eventually, Max picked Hymie to be his best man for his wedding with Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), and Gautier returned as the robot for a 1989 Get Smart TV movie.


    Dick Gautier (right) with Don Adams on 'Get Smart.'

    In 1975, Gautier starred as Robin Hood on the short-lived ABC series When Things Were Rotten, co-created by Mel Brooks, who, of course, had launched Get Smart as well. Gautier was a veteran stand-up performer and working at The Blue Angel nightclub in New York as an opener for headliner and singer Margaret Whiting when he was spotted by Bye, Bye Birdie director Gower Champion and Charles Strouse, who did the music for the production. "They asked me to read for this thing," he recalled in a 2014 interview with Kliph Nesteroff. "I was a little put off because I didn't like rock and roll. Not at that point. I said, 'I don't think it's for me. I like Jerome Kern and George Gershwin.' "They said, 'Will you at least come in and audition?' I went in and they said, 'Would you sing an Elvis song?' I said, 'I don't know any Elvis songs.' So they just played some blues and I ad-libbed and I guess they liked it. Couple months later they called.

    Gautier told his agent, "'It's not for me. I feel very inhibited and very intimidated by this whole Elvis thing because it's not me.' He said, 'It's a satire.' Then I went, 'Ohhhhh.' When he said that, then I got it. Suddenly it was OK. I got the part, got a Tony nomination, and my career was in a whole different place. I didn't work nightclubs anymore." Jesse Pearson played Conrad in the 1963 movie version. Gautier was born on Oct. 30, 1931, in Culver City, and his father, a French-Canadian, worked as a grip at MGM. He spent some time growing up in Montreal and sang and did a comedy act with a band that wound up on a local TV show in L.A.

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    Quote Originally Posted by waltky View Post
    Hymie the Robot on 'Get Smart,' Dies at 85...

    Dick Gautier, Hymie the Robot on 'Get Smart,' Dies at 85
    1/14/2017 - The actor started out as a stand-up comic and received a Tony nomination for playing the Elvis-like singer in the original production of 'Bye, Bye Birdie.'
    Get Smart was my favorite show growing up. Hymie, you will be missed.
    "For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'." John Greenleaf Whittier

    "Our minds control our bodies. Our bodies control our enemies. Our enemies control jack shit by the time we're done with them." Stick

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    I watched Get Smart growing up, and remember Gautier as Hymie, but mostly I remember him from When Things Were Rotten - Mel Brooks' early take on the Robin Hood story, sixteen years before Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I remember that show as being hysterically funny, but - as sometimes happens - I watched a couple of episodes many years later, and...meh, not so much. Anyway, Gautier was a multi-talented entertainer. RIP.
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    Red face

    She was a old booger too...

    Sleep apnea among causes of Carrie Fisher’s death
    Sun, Jun 18, 2017 - Actress Carrie Fisher died from sleep apnea and a combination of other factors, but investigators were not able to pinpoint an exact cause, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said on Friday.
    Among the factors that contributed to Fisher’s death was buildup of fatty tissue in the walls of her arteries, the agency said in a news release. The release says that the Star Wars actress showed signs of having taken multiple drugs, but investigators could not determine whether they contributed to her death in December last year. Her manner of death would be listed as undetermined, it said. Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person’s breathing pauses during sleep. The pauses might be brief or last several minutes, according to information from the US National Institutes of Health.

    Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, said he was not surprised by the results, and added that his family did not want a coroner’s investigation of his sister’s death. “We’re not enlightened. There’s nothing about this that is enlightening,” he said. “I would tell you, from my perspective, that there’s certainly no news that Carrie did drugs,” Todd Fisher said, adding that his sister wrote extensively about her drug use, and that many of the drugs she took were prescribed by doctors to try to treat her mental health conditions.

    Fisher long battled drug addiction and mental illness. She said she smoked pot at 13, used LSD by 21 and was diagnosed as bipolar at 24. She was treated with electroshock therapy and medication. “I am not shocked that part of her health was affected by drugs,” Todd Fisher said.

    He said his sister’s heart condition was probably worsened by her smoking habit, as well as the medications she took. “If you want to know what killed her, it’s all of it,” he said. Todd Fisher said it was difficult to blame doctors who treated his sister because they were trying to help her. “They were doing their best to cure a mental disorder. Can you really blame them?” Todd Fisher said. “Without her drugs, maybe she would have left long ago.”

    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../18/2003672812
    Flounder passes away...


    Stephen Furst, of ‘Animal House’ and ‘St. Elsewhere,’ Dies at 63
    June 17, 2017 — Stephen Furst, who played naive fraternity pledge Flounder in the hit movie Animal House, has died of complications from diabetes, his family said Saturday. Furst was 63.
    Furst died Friday at his home in Moorpark, California, north of Los Angeles, said his son, Nathan Furst. Furst played Kent “Flounder” Dorfman in the 1978 film that also starred John Belushi. It was Belushi's character, Blutarsky, who drew Flounder into a prank that went terribly wrong and ended up with the frantic Flounder shooting a gun loaded with blanks into a ceiling, frightening a horse so much that it died of a heart attack.


    Furst’s long list of credits included the 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere, on which he played Dr. Elliot Axelrod. He played Vir Coto and was an occasional director on the 1990s sci-fi series Babylon 5.



    Actor Stephen Furst poses for a photo in Los Angeles in May 1986. Furst's family said the "Animal House" actor died of complications from diabetes



    He also voiced characters on projects including TV’s Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and the video The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea. “He was proudest of his family, and he felt blessed and incredibly privileged to have the career that he had an enjoyed,” Nathan Furst said Saturday.


    Stephen Furst also was a director and producer, working with his other son, Griff. Their Curmudgeon Film projects included the movies My Sister’s Keeper and Cold Moon, a suspense thriller set for release in October, Griff Furst said. Stephen Furst’s survivors include his wife, Lorraine, and two grandchildren, his sons said.


    https://www.voanews.com/a/stephen-fu...s/3905098.html
    Last edited by waltky; 06-18-2017 at 12:03 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by waltky View Post
    She was a old booger too...

    Sleep apnea among causes of Carrie Fisher’s death
    Sun, Jun 18, 2017 - Actress Carrie Fisher died from sleep apnea and a combination of other factors, but investigators were not able to pinpoint an exact cause, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said on Friday.


    Flounder passes away...


    Stephen Furst, of ‘Animal House’ and ‘St. Elsewhere,’ Dies at 63
    June 17, 2017 — Stephen Furst, who played naive fraternity pledge Flounder in the hit movie Animal House, has died of complications from diabetes, his family said Saturday. Furst was 63.
    Flounder RIP
    LETS GO BRANDON
    F Joe Biden

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    Unhappy

    Let's Make a Deal Host, Monty Hall, Dead at 96...

    Monty Hall, Iconic Let's Make a Deal Host, Dead at 96
    September 30, 2017 - Game show icon Monty Hall, who co-created and hosted the original Let’s Make a Deal, has died of heart failure at the age of 96, the New York Times reports. He passed away on Saturday in his Beverly Hills, Calif. home.
    Hall launched Let’s Make a Deal in 1963. It first premiered as part of NBC’s daytime line-up before moving to ABC in 1968, where it continued through 1976. A syndicated version of Deal aired on and off through the 1970s and 80s, before returning to NBC for a brief run from 1990-91. The show was eventually revived with host Wayne Brady in 2009, with Hall putting in occasional guest appearances. In addition to Let’s Make a Deal, Hall headlined various other game shows, including The Hollywood Squares and Password All-Stars.


    “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Monty Hall, a television legend who hosted a show and created a format that has entertained audiences for more than 50 years,” Angelica McDaniel, CBS Entertainment’s Exec VP of Daytime Programs and Syndicated Program Development, said in a statement. “Monty’s infectious enthusiasm, humor and warmth were a winning combination that was evident to everyone he encountered, whether returning to make appearances on the current version of Let’s Make a Deal, or gracing us with his presence at a photo shoot celebrating CBS Daytime earlier this year. On screen, Monty made the ‘Big Deals,’ but in the game of life, he himself was one. Our hearts go out to his children, his entire family and friends.”

    Hall is survived by his three children, including actress Joanna Gleason and TV producers Sharon Hall Kessler and Richard Hall.

    https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...224526852.html

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    Unhappy

    Miguel Ferrer passes at 61...

    'NCIS: Los Angeles' star Miguel Ferrer dies at 61
    Jan 19,`17 -- Miguel Ferrer, who brought stern authority to his featured role on CBS' hit "NCIS: Los Angeles" and, before that, to NBC crime drama "Crossing Jordan," has died. CBS said Ferrer died Thursday of cancer at his Los Angeles home. He was 61.
    He had played assistant director Owen Granger on "NCIS: Los Angeles" since 2012. Before that, he played the chief medical examiner and gruff-but-supportive boss to series star Jill Hennessy for the six seasons of "Crossing Jordan." A native of Santa Monica, California, Ferrer was the son of Academy Award-winning actor Jose Ferrer and singer-actress Rosemary Clooney, and a cousin of George Clooney, who issued a statement Thursday afternoon. "Today, history will mark giant changes in our world," Clooney said, "and lost to most will be that on the same day Miguel Ferrer lost his battle to throat cancer. But not lost to his family. Miguel made the world brighter and funnier and his passing is felt so deeply in our family that events of the day ... pale in comparison. We love you Miguel. We always will."

    In his own statement, "NCIS: Los Angeles" showrunner R. Scott Gemmill called Ferrer "a man of tremendous talent who had a powerful dramatic presence onscreen, a wicked sense of humor and a huge heart. Ferrer began his career in the early 1980s with guest shots on many TV series. In 1990 he scored a signature role as FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield on David Lynch's smash series "Twin Peaks." He reprised that character for the 1992 movie "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me." He will encore yet again as Agent Rosenfield for Showtime's "Twin Peaks" revival airing this spring.

    Along with TV, Ferrer appeared in more than 40 movies, including "RoboCop," where he played the villainous Bob Morton, designer of the title character, "Iron Man 3 ," where he portrayed the vice president, and "Traffic." Voiceover credits include "Superman: The Animated Series," ''Robot Chicken" and "American Dad!" Before becoming an actor, he was a successful studio musician who played drums in a variety of bands, and toured with his mother and Bing Crosby. Survivors include his wife Lori and sons Lukas and Rafi.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

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    Unhappy

    Mary Tyler Moore passes at 80...

    US actress Mary Tyler Moore dies aged 80
    Wed, 25 Jan 2017 - The Oscar nominated actress, who rose to fame in 1960s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, has died.
    Emmy award-winning US actress Mary Tyler Moore has died aged 80, her publicist says. She was best known for her television roles in the 1960s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and the eponymous The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s. She was also nominated for a best actress Oscar in 1980 for the film Ordinary People. Mara Buxbaum said in a statement she died in the company of friends and her husband, Dr S. Robert Levine.

    'Changed television'

    Born in Brooklyn, New York, Moore moved to Los Angeles when she was eight years old and started her career in show business as a dancer aged 17. Her first appearance was in a Hotpoint advert in the 1950s, dressed as an elf. But her parts grew in size during that decade, before she landed the role of wife Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1961. In 2012, Van Dyke said working with the "beautiful, bright and talented," Moore was "an effortless piece of cake." Later, she starred as TV producer Mary Richards in her self-titled sitcom. Running for seven seasons from 1970 to 1977, it was named by Time Magazine as one of 17 shows that "changed television". Moore emerged onscreen at a time when women in leading roles were traditional housewife characters. But with her modern trousers and Jackie Kennedy-style hair, and playing a single woman, living on her own and chasing a career, she challenged that stereotype in front of millions of viewers.

    Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker created and produced the show and a number of spin-offs, as well as other hits programmes, including Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and Remington Steele. TV host Oprah Winfrey described Moore as one of her early inspirations, saying she watched her show every week as a child. "I wanted to be Mary," she said. "I wanted to live where Mary lived." Moore swapped comedy for drama in Ordinary People, playing an affluent, bitter mother who loses her son in an accident. As well as an Oscar nod, the role earned her a Golden Globe. Robert Redford, who directed the film, paid tribute to her, saying "energy, spirit and talent created a new bright spot in the television landscape".

    Co-star Timothy Hutton said in a statement: "She was a truly amazing person, a great friend, and an inspiration to all." Moore, who was married three times, endured great personal tragedy. She grew up with an alcoholic mother and suffered from alcohol problems herself - both women were treated at the Betty Ford Center. Her younger sister died of a drug overdose aged just 21 and she lost her brother to cancer at 47. In her book, After All, Moore described how she tried to help her terminally-ill brother commit suicide with drug-laced ice cream, but the attempt failed. Her only child, Richie, born during her first marriage to Richard Meeker, also struggled with drug abuse, and accidentally shot himself dead aged 24. Moore was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the 1970s and later became the international chair of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, testifying before US Congress to promote stem-cell research. She also campaigned for animal rights.

    'True great'

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    Unhappy

    Moore and Mannix in the same week...

    Mike Connors, ‘Mannix’ Star, Dies at 91
    January 26, 2017 - Mike Connors, best known for playing detective Joe Mannix on 1960s and ’70s show “Mannix,” died Thursday in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91.
    He had been diagnosed a week ago with leukemia, according to his son-in-law Mike Condon. “Mannix” ran for eight seasons from 1968 to 1975 and was the last series from Desilu Productions. Connors won a Golden Globe for his performance as a tough, athletic investigator, who in quintessential detective show style, insisted on doing things his own way and often got beat up in the process. He drove an impressive series of muscle cars including a Dodge Dart and Chevrolet Camaro.

    Desilu president Lucille Ball convinced CBS not to cancel the show despite initial poor ratings, and it caught on after being retooled into a somewhat more conventional detective series. Mannix’s secretary, played by Gail Fisher, was one of few African-American actresses on TV at the time. “Here’s Lucy” produced a crossover episode in 1971 with Connors and Ball, called “Lucy and Mannix Are Held Hostage.”


    As recently as 2007, he made a guest appearance on “Two and a Half Men.” His other TV appearances included “Murder, She Wrote,” “Love Boat,” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.” The handsome square-jawed actor also appeared in early ’60s TV series “Tightrope!” and “Today’s F.B.I.” in the early ’80s. He later played Colonel Hack Peters in Herman Wouk miniseries “War and Remembrance.”

    Born Kreker J. Ohanian in Fresno, Calif., Connors was of Armenian descent. He played basketball at UCLA where he was nicknamed “Touch,” and was credited in his first few films as Touch Connors. In the 1950s, Connors appeared in the John Wayne film “Island in the Sky” and in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.” Connors is survived by his wife Mary Lou, daughter Dena, and granddaughter Cooper.

    https://www.yahoo.com/tv/mike-connor...023000828.html

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    Mannix came on the air when I was thirteen, and was one of my great favorites.

    I see on IMDB that Connors made an appearance as Joe Mannix on a 1993 episode of a show called Diagnosis: Murder. I'll have to try to find that. I like it when an older character comes back for an encore; I wish they'd do more of that, while the actors are still around.

    RIP, 'Touch'. You were one of the great t.v. tough guys, and a fine actor.
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