Norman Jewison, whose broad range as a filmmaker was reflected in the three movies that earned him Academy Award nominations for best director — the socially conscious drama “In the Heat of the Night,” the big-budget musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and the romantic comedy “Moonstruck” — died on Saturday at his home. He was 97.
h/t Lord Dilligaf
Mary Weiss, the lead singer of iconic 1960’s all female pop group the Shangri-Las, has died. She was 75.
The ground-breaking U.S. all girl ensemble shot to global stardom on the back of a run of hit songs about teenage love, loss, tragedy, and longing.
Longtime New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent has died at 87.
The Broadbent Institute announced his death in a statement Thursday afternoon.
Dec 27 – Gaston Glock, the reclusive engineer and tycoon who developed one of the world’s best-selling handguns, died on Wednesday aged 94, Austrian news agency APA said.
The Austrian won loyal followings among police and military across the world with the weapons that bore his name. Forbes estimated his and his family’s fortune at $1.1 billion in 2021.
His rise began in the 1980s when the Austrian military was looking for a new, innovative weapon.
h/t Mauser
Singer and songwriter Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65. He was best known as the frontman of The Pogues, whose single Fairytale of New York has become a Christmas staple across Ireland and the UK.
Henry A. Kissinger, the scholar-turned-diplomat who engineered the United States’ opening to China, negotiated its exit from Vietnam, and used cunning, ambition and intellect to remake American power relationships with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, sometimes trampling on democratic values to do so, died on Wednesday, according to a statement that was released by his consulting firm. He was 100.
He died at his home in Connecticut.
h/t SDMatt
LOS ANGELES — Matthew Perry died Saturday of an apparent drowning at his Pacific Palisades home, a representative for the actor and a law enforcement source say.
h/t Sweetpea
Suzanne Somers lost her years-long battle with cancer just one day before her 77th birthday, Page Six can sadly confirm.
The actress died early Sunday morning at the age of 76, the star’s longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay, told us.
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has died at age 90.
The trail-blazing Feinstein had faced mounting health problems in recent years; her replacement will be selected by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.). Feinstein already announced she would not run for reelection in 2024, and the race for her seat is already underway.
Gary Wright, the spiritually minded singer-songwriter who helped modernize the sound of pop music with his pioneering use of synthesizers while crafting infectious and seemingly inescapable hits of the 1970s, notably “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive,” died on Monday at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. He was 80.
Who doesn’t remember this tune.
Journalist Peter C. Newman went from Czech refugee to chronicler of Canada
In September, 1940, on the night before he and his parents landed at Halifax’s Pier 21, the 11-yr-old Czech war refugee Petă Neumann stayed up late to gaze out at the Atlantic and imagine the land where they were about to make their new home. It had been a harrowing months-long run from the Nazis, he later wrote: The family had secured visas mere days before they would have been deported from Venice to certain death in Czechoslovakia; lain helpless on the beach at Biarritz, France, as a Luftwaffe gunner rained death from above; and survived the U-boat torpedoing of their convoy to Canada. Ahead of them now, young Petă envisioned more adventure in the mysterious “land of eternal snow” he had seen in newsreels.
h/t AL
Jimmy Buffett, the legendary musician and songwriter, died peacefully surrounded by his loved ones on Friday.
Robbie Robertson, the driving force behind the pioneering rock ’n’ roll group the Band, died on Wednesday. He was 80.
