Producer Mort Abrahams died fe was 93

Mort Abrahams, associate producer of the first two "Planet of the Apes" films and producer of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." TV series, died of natural causes May 28 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 93.
Abrahams also had a story credit on sequel "Beneath the Planet of the Apes."

His other credits include "Tales of Tomorrow" which featured live TV performances by James Dean, Paul Newman, and Rod Steiger; "General Electric Theater" hosted by Ronald Reagan; as well as "Route 66," "The Third Man" TV series and "The Kraft Suspense Theater."

His feature film credits as associate producer, producer and executive producer included "Dr. Doolittle," "Goodbye Mr. Chips," "Luther," "Man in the Glass Booth," "Lost in the Stars" and "Separate Tables." He was executive producer of "The Greek Tycoon," and his last credit was as producer of "Seven Hours to Judgement."

His career in television began in 1950 when he produced "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet."

From 1989-1994 he served as producer-in-residence for the Center for Advanced Film and Television at AFI.read more

Rev. Vernon C. King died he was 48

The Rev. Vernon C. King, a member of the King Center board in Atlanta and nephew of Martin Luther King Jr., has died, the family announced Saturday.
The Rev. King, youngest son of Martin Luther King Jr.’s only brother, A.D. King Sr., died suddenly Friday in Greensboro, N.C. He was 48. The cause of death was not provided.

King was a graduate of Morehouse College and had pastored several churches in Georgia and North Carolina over the years. At the time of his death, he was senior pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Greensboro.
In addition to the King Center board in Atlanta, he served on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference board of directors, an organization Martin Luther King Jr. co-founded.
In a statement, first cousin Martin Luther King III called him “a wonderful man who served God and humanity with remarkable dedication and a beautiful spirit of humility.”
The Rev. King is survived by his wife, Robin Scott King of Washington, D.C.; two daughters, Victoria Chelsea and Venus Chantel King; his mother, Naomi B. King; a sister, Dr. Alveda C. King; and brother, the Rev. Derek B. King Sr. He was preceded in death by a brother, Mr. Alfred King II; and a sister, Darlene King.

Mickey Carrol died he was 90

Mickey Carroll died he was 90, Carrol was an American actor and one of the last surviving munchkins from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

(July 8, 1919 – May 7, 2009)

Born Michael Finocchiaro in St. Louis, Missouri, Carroll was the son of Italian immigrants.[1] At age 7, Carroll began dance lessons at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. It was there that Carroll met Jack Haley. Haley took him to Hollywood, where one of his first jobs was as "Mickey" in approximately seven of the Our Gang series. At 17 he was one of six bellhops in the 'Call for Phillip Morris' live radio ads, and at 18 was appearing in shows with Mae West.
While under contract to MGM, he went to school with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. It was Garland herself who offered him a part in The Wizard of Oz.[citation needed] He stayed with her during filming.[citation needed] Carroll was cast as Munchkinland's "Town Crier". His costume consisted of a purple cloak with a yellow flower sticking out of his striped vest. He also marched as a "Munchkin Soldier", and as one of the candy-striped "Fiddlers" who escorted Dorothy down the yellow brick road towards the Emerald City.
Soon after the success of the film, Carroll left show business, realizing that his height would prevent him from having any long-term success as an actor.
In November 2007, Carroll, along with six of the other remaining Munchkins, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Thanks to the popularity of The Wizard of Oz, Carroll made many appearances that year, serving as a grand marshal in parades, appearing on nationwide radio and TV shows, and signing thousands of autographs for fans. He helped raise money for several different charities.
On May 7, 2009, Carroll died in his sleep at the home of his caretaker in Crestwood, Missouri.[2]

Roderick Anthony Burton II AKA Dolla died he was 21

Roderick Anthony Burton II better known by his stage name Dolla, died he was 21, Dolla was an American model and rapper. Burton began his music career in 2000 with rap group Da Razkalz Cru under the stage name Bucklyte. The group quickly disbanded, so Burton worked as a model for the Sean John clothing line. In 2007, Burton signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik label and used the stage name Dolla for his releases. Dolla released three singles from 2007 to 2009. One of them, "Who the Fuck is That?" (featuring T-Pain), charted on the Billboard Hot 100. On May 18, 2009, Dolla was shot to death in Beverly Hills, and Aubrey Louis Berry was arrested for his murder.

(November 25, 1987 – May 18, 2009)

Burton was born 11/25/87 in Chicago and grew up in Los Angeles and Atlanta.[1] He was a member of the rap group, Da Razkalz Cru, going by the name Bucklyte who signed with Elektra Records in 2003 and released the single "So Fly".[2] "So Fly" did not bring the success that was desired and the group was dropped from the label soon after. That same year, he met Akon and P. Diddy, the latter of whom hired Burton as a model for his Sean John line of clothes; Burton appeared on billboards for the clothing line and modeled across the United States.[2] Under the stage name Dolla, Burton signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik label in May 2007.[3]
He made his debut with the single "Who the Fuck Is That?",
Who the Fuck is That Dolla Ft T.pain - More amazing video clips are a click awaywhich was his biggest hit, reaching #42 on the Billboard Hot 100; the edited version substituted the profanity with "heck".[2] His song, "Feelin' Myself", is featured on the Step Up soundtrack and was a "bite" of the Mac Dre song of the same name.[4] He followed his debut single up with a second single "I'm Fucked Up" in the summer of 2008. A third single, entitled "Make a Toast", produced by General Geezy and featuring T-Pain and Tay Dizm, was then officially released on November 4, 2008. It has peaked at #42 on the Billboard R&B chart.[5]


Dolla flew to Los Angeles to record the rest of his debut album, and he was shot to death on May 18, 2009 at approximately 3:10 pm. Along with his friend DJ Shabbazz, he was waiting in the Beverly Center's VIP valet parking and auto detailing lounge area behind P. F. Chang's China Bistro.[6] Later that evening, an armed 23-year-old male, Aubrey Louis Berry, was detained at the Los Angeles International Airport. Witnesses say he surrendered without a struggle. His bail was set at $5 million dollars because he was determined to be a flight risk.[7] Berry claimed self-defense, but Dolla's family disputed that; Burton family spokesman Dennis Byron stated that Berry traveled from Atlanta to Los Angeles with a firearm that was not licensed for use in California.[8] On May 22, Berry was charged with murder and assault, although he pleaded not guilty.[9]
Dolla's funeral was held May 23 in the Word of Faith Love Center in the East Point neighborhood of Atlanta.[10] The funeral was held in a Muslim style, known as Janazah.[11] He was buried in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery.[12] Singer T-Pain recently paid homage to the slain rapper by having a mural of Dolla painted on the hood of his vintage car.[13] Additionally, a YouTube video using unreleased Dolla song "Georgia Nights" has been made as a tribute to him.[14]

Norman E. Brinker died he was 78

Norman E. Brinker has died he was 78. Brinker was the founder of Brinker International, one of the largest restaurant holding companies in North America. A prominent restaurateur, Brinker has also led such companies as Jack in the Box, Steak and Ale, Bennigan's, Burger King, and Chili's.
(1931-2009)
After Brinker had graduated from college, he took a job with a small chain of diners in San Diego, California named Oscar's. At the time, Oscars' owner Bob Peterson had also opened a second chain in the area called Jack-in-the-Box; while Brinker succeed in his position, he was eventually drawn to Peterson's growing fast food business. It was at Jack-in-the-Box that Brinker flourished, helping the business expand across the Southwestern United States. Within two years of moving over to the company, he had been elevated to the position of President of the company and amassed a 20% stake in the company. Brinker developed a close professional relationship with Peterson, taking many of his business philosophies to heart and developing the food service philosophy that he attempted to follow throughout his career. Brinker said of Peterson that "Bob Peterson was really my mentor. Everything we do here today started back then. Letting ideas rise from below, treating people right -- all of that."[1]
When Jack-in-the-Box went public in the early 1960's, Brinker sold his interest in the company and moved to Dallas, Texas with the intent to open a new business. His first endeavor was a coffee shop he named after himself, Brinks. The concept was to create a restaurant that catered to the 25-44 year-old demographic, a group that was still in the early stages of developing a taste for inexpensive fast food. The shop proved successful, and he sold it two years later. Using the proceeds from the sale, he opened a new chain in 1966 with the intent to provide an affordable steak dinner to the middle class. He called his new concept Steak & Ale.[1]
With the Steak & Ale chain, Brinker originated the concept of the modern casual dinning restaurant that is now ubiquitous in the marketplace. One of the innovations that Brinker introduced with Steak & Ale was the salad bar. Besides the novel concept of having customers leave their tables to serve themselves from a salad buffet, the Dallas-based chain also created the now common stock introduction of "Hi, my name is Dirk, and I'll be your waiter tonight."[2] These ideas were part of an over all plan to establish a restaurant that was more relaxed with a more casual atmosphere. Over the next ten years, he went on to establish a niche industry that was situated between the fast food and higher priced gourmet segments of the restaurant field. By 1976 he had taken the chain had to 109 restaurants, and had successfully introduced the American consumer to the concept of the chain restaurant. He sold then his company to Pillsbury and assumed a position in the company's restaurant division.[3]
As a part of the acquisition, Brinker was given the position executive vice president of Pillsbury's restaurant operations as well as a seat on the company's board of directors.[4] During his tenure as executive VP, Brinker over saw the creation of the company's Bennigan's chain. Bennigan's was the first in a new concept of restaurants intended to attract single people, an idea that became known by the term "fern bar".[3] As his status in Pillsbury grew, Brinker was asked to take over the operations of its main fast food chain, Burger King.
By the early 1980s, Burger King's sales had begun to fade. Brinker was tasked with turning the brand around and strengthening its position aagainst its main rival, McDonald's. One of his first acts was to innate advertising plan emphasizing that claimed Burger Kings flame broiled burgers were better and larger than its rival's. The program, arguably the first attack ads on a food chain by a competitor, was controversial in that prior to it fast food ads only made allusions to the competition in a vague manner, never mentioning them by name. McDonald's sued Burger King, their ad agency at the time the J. Walter Thompson Company and Ms. Gellar. The suit was settled the following year on undisclosed terms.[5] Despite the controversy, the ad plan boosted same store-sales when sales took off. The whole situation at the time became known as the Burger Wars.[1]
He worked for the company in this capacity until 1982 when he was promoted to president of Pillsbury's foodservice division. His new role expanded his oversight to include the company's other chains including Burger King, Quik-Wok and Poppin Fresh.[4] However his new position was short lived, in 1984 he left the company to take over a small, Dallas-based gourmet burger chain called Chili's.


Norman Brinker was born on June 3, 1931 in Denver, Colorado, as an only child. His parents, Kathryn and Eugene Brinker, later moved to a 10-acre (40,000 m2) farm in Roswell, New Mexico. As a child Norman took on odd jobs to supplement the family's modest income, creating a rabbit farm at the age of 10, managing a "120-mile-long" paper route and buying and selling horses to make ends meet for the family. In high school he attended the New Mexico Military Institute. He later served in the Navy, which brought him to San Diego, California. He later attended San Diego State University (SDSU) and graduated in 1957 at the age of 26. An avid and talented polo enthusiast, in 1952 Brinker was a member of the Olympic Equestrian team, competing in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland and later competed in the 1954 pentathlon competition at the world championships in Budapest[6][7]
In June 1955 Norman married tennis player Maureen Connolly, also known as "Little Mo". The couple shared a passion for horses. Her career ended due to a freak accident on a horse at the age of 18. The couple had two daughters, Cindy Brinker (Simmons), who was born in 1957, and Brenda Brinker (Bottum), who was born in 1959. Maureen died at the age of 34 on June 21, 1969, after a 3-year-long battle with ovarian cancer.[8] The relationship between Norman and Maureen was depicted in a 1978 telefilm, Little Mo, which starred Glynnis O'Connor as Maureen, Mark Harmon as Norman, and Anne Baxter as Maureen's mother.[9]
Brinker had a brief second marriage to a woman named Margaret, whom he divorced in 1976. They had 2 children together Christina and Mark.
On 14 February 1981 Norman married a third time, to Nancy Brinker (nee Nancy Goodman). The marriage provided Nancy with funding and an immediate network of financial and political support for the foundation dedicated to the memory of Nancy's sister Susan G. Komen, which became the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and related Komen Race for the Cure. They have one son, Eric Brinker.[10] The couple were active Bush Pioneers, wealthy donors who provided $100,000 or more of financial support for George W. Bush's presidential ambitions.[11]
On January 22, 1993, Norman was seriously injured during a polo match in a high speed collision with another rider at the West Palm Beach Polo and Hunt Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.[11] Suffering serious head injuries and in what was anticipated to be a prolonged coma, three days after the accident Norman was succeeded by Ron A. McDougall as chief executive officer of Brinker International; despite his retirement,Brinker retained the title of Chairman Emeritus.[4] Norman and Nancy subsequently divorced some years after the accident, and Nancy moved on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary early in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2003.
In March 2003 Norman married his fourth wife, Toni Chapman.
He died on June 9, 2009 from aspiration pneumonia while on vacation in Colorado.[3]

Kenny Rankin died he was 69

Kenny Rankin died he was an American pop and jazz singer and songwriter from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, New York.
(Los Angeles, February 10, 1940 - June 7, 2009)
Rankin appeared on The Tonight Show more than twenty times. Host Johnny Carson was so impressed by him that he wrote the liner notes to Rankin's 1967 debut album Mind Dusters, which featured the single "Peaceful." Helen Reddy would reach #2 Adult Contemporary and #12 Pop in 1973 with a cover of it, released as her follow-up single to "I Am Woman". Georgie Fame also had a hit with this song in 1969, his only songwriting credit to hit the British charts reaching number sixteen and spending 9 weeks on the chart.[1]
Rankin was raised in New York and was introduced to music by his mother who sang at home and for friends. Early in his career he worked as a singer-songwriter, and developed a considerable following during the 70s with a steady flow of albums, three of which broke into the Top 100 of the Billboard Album Chart. His liking for jazz was evident from an early age but the times were such that in order to survive his career had to take a more pop-oriented course. By the 90s, however, he was able to angle his repertoire to accommodate his own musical preferences and to please a new audience while still keeping faith with the faithful. Rankin's warm singing style and his soft, nylon-stringed guitar sound might suggest an artist more attuned to the supper-club circuit than the jazz arena, but his work contains many touches that appeal to the jazz audience.
His accompanists might include Alan Broadbent, Mike Wofford and Bill Watrous, and on such occasions the mood slips easily into a jazz groove. His compositions have been performed by artists such as Mel Tormé and Carmen McRae, while Stan Getz said of him that he was "a horn with a heartbeat". Stephen Bishop had a major hit in 1977 with his song "On and On", which was a #11 hit in the U.S. Rankin is deeply interested in Brazilian music and his Here In My Heart, on which he used jazz guests including Michael Brecker and Ernie Watts, was recorded mostly in Rio De Janeiro. More contemporary songs were given an airing following his move to Verve Records, including the Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face" and Leon Russell's magnificent "A Song For You".
Rankin's own unique gift for reworking classic songs such as The Beatles' "Blackbird," which he recorded for his Silver Morning album, so impressed Paul McCartney that he asked Rankin to perform his interpretation of the song when McCartney and John Lennon were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Rankin died in Los Angeles from lung cancer on June 7, 2009. He was 69 years old.[2]

Kenny Rankin: Haven't We Met


Kenny Rankin-Catfish


Blackbird - Kenny Rankin


Kenny Rankin - Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

Jeff Hanson died he was 31

Jeff Hanson died he was 31. Hanson was a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist whose voice was described in a 2005 Paste review as an "angelic falsetto, a cross between Alison Krauss and Art Garfunkel that's often (understandably) mistaken for a female contralto."
(1978 – June 5, 2009)
Hanson was born Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He started learning guitar at four years old and by the age of 13 formed the emo/indie rock band M.I.J. Seven years later the band released a 7", an EP and a full album on Caulfield Records.
He began a solo career in 2003 and was signed to Kill Rock Stars Records after sending in an unsolicited demo tape. He has since released three albums for the label, Son in 2003 and Jeff Hanson in 2005. His third album for Kill Rock Stars titled Madam Owl was released on August 19 2008. Hanson's solo albums were recorded at Presto! Recording Studios.
Since 1996 Hanson resided in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Hanson was found dead on June 5, 2009 in his St. Paul apartment into which he had recently moved. The cause was a possible fall or other accident.[1]