RIP.

[ZapRowsdower]

From IMDb news:

Actor Bob Denver Dies at 70

Bob Denver, the resilient comic actor who became a TV legend portraying wacky first mate Gilligan on the sitcom Gilligan's Island, died last Friday; he was 70. Denver's agent confirmed the news on Tuesday, with Entertainment Tonight first reporting the death. The actor, who had undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery previously this year, passed away at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina, surrounded by his wife and four children.
Denver first appeared to TV audiences as the hip beatnik Maynard G. Krebs in the '60s sitcom The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis, playing second banana to lead Dwayne Hickman. Though the show ran for four years and made Denver a television star, it was his second big role that made him a TV icon: that of Gilligan on the zany sitcom Gilligan's Island. The TV show, created by Sherwood Schwartz and centering on seven mismatched castaways stranded on a desert island in the south Pacific, ran for only three years (1964-1967) and was derided by critics for its goofy humor, but its life in syndication proved endless. Audiences continually rediscovered the hijinks of the passengers of the SS Minnow, and its theme song ("Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale/a tale of a fateful trip…") became one of the most memorable ever written. The stars of the show - including Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer ("the Skipper too/a millionaire and his wife...") - reunited with Denver for three highly-rated TV movies; only co-star Tina Louise (the "movie star") opted out of the reunions. Unlike a number of sitcom stars, Denver was noted for being extremely generous and thoughtful to cast members, and reportedly fought for equal billing for Island co-stars Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells, aka "the Professor and Mary Ann," who in the show's first season were referred to as "the rest" in the opening credits. (Johnson, Wells, and Louise now remain the only surviving cast members.)

Despite innumerable guest appearances of various sitcoms, the persona of Gilligan stayed with Denver throughout his life, as did that of Maynard G. Krebs (Denver appeared in a 1988 Dobie Gillis reunion TV movie), and the actor entitled his autobiography Gilligan, Maynard and Me. His last role was a cameo as Gilligan himself in the 2004 spoof Miss Cast Away.

Denver is survived by his wife, Dreama, and children Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin. --Prepared by IMDb staff

I remember watching the show as a kid, and while it wasn't the greatest show on television, Gilligan was a household name, and it's easy to see why. RIP Mr. Denver. You finally got off the island, little buddy.

[Pulpmariachi]

Here's to Bob Denver.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Was never a brilliant show, but I watched it religiously as a kid. Another icon of my childhood gone.
Bon voyage, little buddy. R.I.P.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Damn, one of the really good ones has passed.

Director Robert Wise Dies at 91

Director Robert Wise, who won two Academy Awards for directing two of the most successful movie musicals of all time, West Side Story and The Sound of Music, died of heart failure yesterday; he was 91. Wise, who had just celebrated his birthday on Saturday, was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center after suddenly falling ill. Recently, the filmmaker had reportedly been in good health, and his wife, Millicent, was out of the country at the San Sebastian Film Festival, participating in a retrospective of her husband's work. An extremely versatile director whose films ranged from drama to horror to sci-fi to musicals, Wise got his start at RKO Studios as an assistant editor, a job he got thanks to his brother, who was in the studio's accounting department. Working his way up the ladder to full editor, Wise edited such films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and My Favorite Wife before nabbing an Academy Award nomination for editing the legendary Citizen Kane. He also worked with filmmaker Orson Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons, and was involved in that movie's drastic re-editing, which was requested by RKO while Welles was out of the country; the missing footage from Ambersons, and Wise's falling-out with Welles over the final product, later became the stuff of legend.

Two years after Ambersons, Wise was given his first job directing The Curse of the Cat People, which he co-directed with Gunther von Fritsch. Working on B pictures for RKO through the 40s, including the Boris Karloff vehicle The Body Snatcher, Wise came to the attention of critics with his prizefighter film The Set-Up (1949), which took place in real time. His films in the 50s were notably more high profile, starting with the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still; he also helmed So Big, Somebody Up There Likes Me, and I Want to Live, which won him his first Oscar nomination and a Best Actress award for Susan Hayward. In 1961, Wise attempted his first musical, an adaptation of the Broadway hit West Side Story, on which he worked (and reportedly clashed) with choreographer and co-director Jerome Robbins. The film, starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer (neither of whom did their own singing), was a massive hit and won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and directing honors for Wise and Robbins - neither thanked the other in their acceptance speeches. After making the creepily effective black-and-white thriller The Haunting (1963), Wise went back to musical territory with The Sound of Music (1965), the small story of a governess (Julie Andrews) in Austria that turned into a very, very big hit. Critically lambasted but a fervent, almost rabid favorite with audiences, it went on to become the highest-grossing movie ever released at that time, saved 20th Century Fox from imminent bankruptcy in the wake of Cleopatra, and won Wise his second Oscar in addition to Best Picture.

Wise's output after The Sound of Music was scattershot in quality, and as he grew older he worked less frequently, but he helmed a number of notable pictures in the 60s and 70s: The Sand Pebbles, his last Best Picture nominee; the ill-fated Julie Andrews vehicle Star!; modernistic sci-fi thriller The Andromeda Strain; possession horror flick Audrey Rose; and the first Star Trek movie, appropriately titled Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The director's last feature film was Rooftops (1989), an attempt at a contemporary urban musical. Wise went on to become the president of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of America, and found a devoted fan in filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who was said to be instrumental in getting Wise the American Film Institute's lifetime achievement award in 1998. Wise is survived by his wife, Millicent, and a son from a previous marriage. --Prepared by IMDb staff

R.I.P., Mr. Wise.

[LivingDeadGirl]

MINNEAPOLIS -- A World Wrestling Entertainment star was found dead in his hotel room Sunday in Minneapolis, where he was scheduled to appear that evening in a WWE show.

Eduardo Gory Guerrero, 38, didn't respond to a wake-up call Sunday morning, authorities said. His nephew, fellow WWE wrestler Chavo Guerrero, and hotel security at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center forced their way into the room and found him.

There were no apparent signs of foul play, police said. An autopsy was planned to determine how Guerrero died.

His nephew said Guerrero was open about past drug and alcohol abuse but had been sober for four years. Guerrero was married and had three children.

"This is a huge loss," said WWE chairman Vince McMahon. "Eddie was a wonderful, fun-loving human being. Eddie was a consummate performer."

Guerrero was a featured star on the UPN series "WWE Smackdown!" and son of Mexican wrestler Gory Guerrero. Last year, he became the second wrestler of Hispanic heritage to be WWE champion, though he lost the title four months later.

UPN also aired a special last year on his life, "Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story." The program chronicled Guerrero's childhood and his struggle with drug addiction that almost cost him his job, family and life.

[slayrrr666]

Never a big wrestling fan, but I will add an RIP, as from the post it seems nescessary to do so. Performers of any kind are idols to me, so when one goes, no matter what genre, I do feel saddened.

[Quorthon]

Eddie's gone, huh? That sucks... And right near my home. How 'bout that? I used to watch him back in the day when he was on WCW. Back when Goldberg was king shit. Then it all went to hell.

[frankenjohn]

...................................................................



Moustoppha Akkad has been dead for about five days now and no one has recognized this. How did he die, you ask? Remember the recent hotel bombings? That's how.

Rest in peace.

[Quorthon]

He wasn't the bomber was he?

[Heineken Skywalker]

quorthon said:

He wasn't the bomber was he?

Er, no. He was the producer of all of the HALLOWEEN movies.

[Quorthon]

heinekenskywalker said:

quorthon said:

He wasn't the bomber was he?

Er, no. He was the producer of all of the HALLOWEEN movies.

Ahhh. Oopsy. Lousey brain...

[slayrrr666]

RIP Moustoppha Akkad, so sorry I didn't recognize you before hand. Tomorrow, to give myself a break from my required viewing, I shall dedicate the whole day to viewing the Michael Myers films, as a testament to your legacy.

[Bartwald]

RIP indeed.

[LivingDeadGirl]

quorthon said:

I used to watch him back in the day when he was on WCW. Back when Goldberg was king shit. Then it all went to hell.

Yeah, back in the good ol' days. Just can't bring myself to watch it much anymore.
An article on MSN said he died of heart failure, didn't give any details though.

[LivingDeadGirl]

From MovieHole:

Three days later, and the death of Moustapha Akkad still stings like a wasp bite to the neck.

Terrorists. They really do seem to be winning the fight don’t they? That’s an argument I don’t want to get into here, but one thing’s for sure – Moustapha Akkad and daughter Reeme, did not deserve to have their lives abruptly ended last week when those bastards decided to bomb the Amman hotel. No one friggin does.

Akkad and his daughter Reem were among 57 people who died when three suicide bombers blew up luxury hotels in the Jordanian capital on Wednesday, attacks claimed by Al Qaeda in Iraq.

It’s enough that 75-year-old Moustapha was killed in the attacks, let alone his 30 (!) year-old daughter. A life cut well and truly short. Nothing to be proud of AT ALL.

Akkad was a hell of a man. A real battler. Love or hate his movies (he produced the “Halloween” series, and directed “The Message” and “The Lion of the Desert”) one thing you couldn’t say about the man was that he was a system-stayer. His longevity in the game can be attributed to his proficient business skills and creative mind. He was gearing up to get behind a “Halloween 9” for The Weinstein Company. That’ll be the now put on the back burner.

Rest in Peace Old Friend.