Soupy Sales died he was 83

Soupy Sales^[2] died he was 83. Sales was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado.^[4] He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.

From 1968 to 1975, he was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of What's My Line? and appeared on several other TV game shows. During the 1980s Sales hosted his own show on WNBC-AM in New York City.

(January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009)

Sales was born Milton Supman, in Franklinton in Franklin County, North Carolina to Irving and Sadie Supman.^[5] His father, a dry goods merchant, had emigrated to America from Hungary in 1894. Sales had two siblings, Leonard Supman (deceased) and Jack Supman (born 1921).^[6] His was the only Jewish family in the town.

Sales got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Hambone" and "Chicken Bone". Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone," which was later shortened to "Soupy". When he became a disc jockey, he began using the stage name Soupy Hines. After he became established, it was decided that "Hines" was too close to the Heinz soup company, so he chose the Sales, in part after comedian Chic Sale.^[1]

Sales graduated from Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia in 1944. He then enlisted in the United States Navy and served on the USS Randall (APA-224) in the South Pacific during the latter part of World War II. He sometimes entertained his shipmates by telling jokes and playing crazy characters over the ship's public address system. One of the characters he created was "White Fang," a large dog that played outrageous practical jokes on the seamen. The sounds for "White Fang" came from a recording of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". He took the record with him when he left the Navy.

Sales enrolled in Marshall College, where he earned a Master's Degree in Journalism. While attending Marshall, he performed in nightclubs as a comedian, singer, and dancer. After graduating, he began working as a scriptwriter and disc jockey at radio station WHTN in Huntington. He moved to Cincinnati in 1949, where he worked as a morning radio DJ and performed in nightclubs. He began his television career on WKRC-TV with Soupy's Soda Shop, TV's first teen dance program, and Club Nothing!, a late-night comedy/variety program.

When WKRC canceled his TV shows, Sales moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he hosted another radio and TV series and continued his nightclub act. It was in a skit on his late night comedy/variety TV series Soupy's On! that he got his first pie in the face. Sales claimed he left the Cleveland station "for health reasons: they got sick of me."^{[citation needed]} He moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1953 and worked for WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), ABC's O&O station.

Sales is best known for his daily children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales. The show was originally called 12 O'Clock Comics, and was later known as The Soupy Sales Show. Improvised and slapstick in nature, Lunch with Soupy Sales was a rapid-fire stream of comedy sketches, gags, and puns, almost all of which resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. Sales developed pie-throwing into an art form: straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie, and countless other variations. He claimed that he and his visitors had been hit by more than 20,000 pies during his career.^[1] He recounted a time when a young fan mistakenly threw a frozen pie at his neck and he "dropped like a pile of bricks."^[1]

The show originated in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. Beginning in October 1959, it was telecast nationally on the ABC television network.

During the time that Lunch with Soupy aired in Detroit, Sales hosted a nighttime show, Soupy's On, to compete with 11 O'Clock News programs.^[7] The guest star was always a musician, and frequently a jazz performer, at a time when jazz was popular in Detroit and the city was home to twenty-four jazz clubs.^[7] Sales believed that his show helped sustain jazz in Detroit, as artists would regularly sell out their nightclub shows after appearing on Soupy's On.^[7] Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz were among the artists who appeared on the show; Miles Davis made six appearances.^[4][7] Clifford Brown's appearance on Soupy's On, according to Sales, may be the only extant footage of Brown, and has been included in Ken Burns' Jazz and an A&E Network biography about Sales.^[7]

In 1960, Soupy moved to the ABC-TV Studios in Los Angeles, California. ABC dropped the show from the network schedule in March 1961, but it continued as a local program until January 1962. The show briefly went back on the ABC network as a late night fill-in for the Steve Allen Show in 1962 but was canceled after three months. All of the puppets on the show during its Los Angeles run were also operated by Clyde Adler.

In 1964, Sales found a new weekday home at WNEW-TV in New York City. This version was seen locally until September 1966, and 260 episodes were syndicated by Screen Gems to local stations outside the New York market during the 1965–1966 season. This show marked the height of Sales' popularity. It featured guest appearances by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis^[1], Judy Garland^[8] and Sammy Davis, Jr.^[9], as well as musical groups like the Shangri-Las and The Supremes.

As with his earlier shows, Sales performed musical numbers on the show and his extensive jazz record collection was used in his TV work. "Mumbles" by Oscar Peterson with Clark Terry was Pookie's theme. "Comin' Home Baby" by Herbie Mann was the theme for Sales' "Gunninger the Mentalist" character (a parody of Dunninger the Mentalist).

This was also the period when Sales starred in the movie comedy Birds Do It. During the run of the New York show, actor Frank Nastasi played White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie, and all the "guy at the door" characters.

The New Soupy Sales Show appeared in 1978 with the same format, and ran for one season. 65 episodes were briefly syndicated, through Air Time International, to local stations in early 1979. It was taped in Los Angeles at KTLA, with Clyde Adler returning to work as a puppeteer with Sales.all puppets on Sales' show in Detroit in the 1950s and in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1962 and in 1978. Actor Frank Nastasi assumed the role of straight man and puppeteer when Sales took the show to New York from 1964 to 1966. Nastasi was originally from Detroit and had worked with Sales at WXYZ. Appearing on the show were both puppets and live performers.

The puppets were:

• White Fang, "The Biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA," who appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw with black triangular felt "claws" jutting out from the corner of the screen. Fang spoke with unintelligible short grunts and growls, which Soupy repeated back in English, for comic effect. White Fang was often the pie thrower when Soupy's jokes bombed.
• Black Tooth, "The Biggest and Sweetest Dog in the USA", also seen only as a giant black paw with white triangular felt (just the opposite of White Fang), and with more feminine, but similarly unintelligible, dialogue. Black Tooth's trademark was pulling Soupy off-camera to give loud and noisy kisses.
• Pookie the Lion, a lion puppet appearing in a large window behind Soupy (1950s), was a hipster with a rapier wit. For example: Soupy: "Do you know why my life is so miserable?" Pookie: "You got me!" Soupy: "That's why!" One of Pookie's favorite lines when greeting Soupy was, "Hey bubby... want a kiss?". In the Detroit shows, Pookie never spoke but communicated in whistles. That puppet also was used to mouth the words while pantomiming novelty records on the show.
• Hippy the Hippo, a minor character who occasionally appeared with Pookie the Lion and never spoke. Frank Nastasi gave Hippy a voice for the New York shows.

Regular live characters included:

• Peaches, Soupy's girlfriend, visually played by footage of Sales in drag.
• Philo Kvetch, a private detective played by Sales in a long-running comedy skit during the show's New York run (a parody of early 20th century fictional detective Philo Vance).
• The Mask, evil nemesis of Philo Kvetch, revealed in the last episode to be Nikita Khrushchev, who had been deposed about a year earlier.
• "Onions" Oregano, henchman of The Mask, played by Frank Nastasi, who ate loads of onions. Every time Oregano would breathe in Philo's direction, Philo would make all sorts of comic choking faces, pull out a can of air freshener, and say "Get those onions out of here!"
• Hobart and Reba, a husband and wife who lived in the potbelly stove on the New York set.
• Willie the Worm was a 35-cent toy Sales got from Woolworth's, according to WXYZ art director Jack Flechsig. With animated squeezings of his rubber air bulb, the latex accordion worm flexed in and out of a little apple. Willy was "The Sickest Worm in all of Dee-troit" and suffered from a perennial cold and comically-explosive sneeze. He helped read birthday greetings to Detroit-area kids while the show was on WXYZ. Willie didn't survive the show's move to the Big Apple.

On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me," Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" He was then hit with a pie.^[10] Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money (mostly Monopoly money^[11]) was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity. As parents' complaints increased, WNEW's management felt compelled to suspend Sales for two weeks. Young viewers picketed Channel 5. The uproar surrounding Sales' suspension increased his popularity.

Sales described the incident in his 2001 autobiography Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times.^[12]

An urban legend claimed Sales sneaked off-color humor onto his show for the amusement of his huge adult audience. This has been disproven repeatedly, including by Snopes.com. For many years, Sales had a standing offer of $10,000 to anyone who could prove he worked "blue" on his kids' shows. Nobody ever took the offer, although the rumor persisted. Sales states in his autobiography:

After many years, I think I finally figured out how these ridiculous stories got started. Kids would come home and they'd tell a dirty joke, you know, grade school humor, and the parents would say, "Where'd you hear that?" And they'd say "The Soupy Sales Show," because I happened to have the biggest show in town. And they'd call another person and say, "Gladys, did you hear the joke that Soupy Sales was telling on his show?" and the word of mouth goes on and on, until people start to believe you actually said things like that.^[12]

The show's set included a door in the background. During the show, Sales would answer a knock at the door and interact with an actor seen only as an arm. Occasionally, the person at the door was a celebrity, such as Burt Lancaster, Fess Parker or Alice Cooper. Once, while the show was being broadcast live from Detroit, Sales' studio crew pulled a prank on him: when he opened the door, he saw a topless dancer partially covered with a balloon. Some reports say the gag was furthered by the crew switching the studio monitors so that Soupy would think the stripper image was going out over the air.^[13]

A second, nonbroadcasting, camera captured the uncensored version, while a stagehand moved a balloon back and forth in the doorway, giving at least some indication to the home viewers what was supposed to be behind the door. Sales was forced to try to keep the show going without revealing the risque scene backstage.

One of the fans of the Soupy Sales show was Frank Sinatra. When Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records, he signed Sales to a recording contract. Two albums were produced with Reprise, "The Soupy Sales Show" in 1961 and "Up In The Air" in 1962.^[14]

Sales' novelty dance record, The Mouse, dates from the mid-1960s period of his career, when his show was based in New York. Sales performed The Mouse on the Ed Sullivan Show in September 1965. He appeared on the Sullivan show several times, once with The Beatles.

Sales signed with Motown Records in the late 1960s, releasing a single, "Muck-Arty Park" (a play on the 1968 hit "MacArthur Park"), as well as the album "A Bag of Soup".

From 1968 to 1975, Sales was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of What's My Line? He usually was the first panelist introduced and occupied the chair on the far left side (facing the camera), opposite Arlene Francis. In 2001, indie duo They Might Be Giants marveled to one interviewer that "Soupy Sales always knew all the jazz guys, and they all knew him. That was impressive." In 1976, Sales was the host of Junior Almost Anything Goes, ABC's Saturday morning version of their team-based physical stunt program. Sales was also a panelist on the 1980 revival of To Tell the Truth; he had appeared as a guest on the show during the mid- to late 1970s. Other game show appearances included over a dozen episodes of the original "Match Game" from 1966 to 1969, a week of shows on the 1970s edition of Match Game, a few guest spots on Hollywood Squares (December 12, 1977 & April 4, 1978) as well as a few appearances on the combined version on (The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour) in 1983–84 and a recurring role in all versions of Pyramid from 1973 to 1988 and 1991. In one episode, he repeatedly uttered the word "bacon" in an attempt to get a befuddled contestant to say "greasy things." He also made an appearance on Pictionary in 1997.

From March 1985 to March 1987, Sales hosted a midday radio show on WNBC radio in New York; Howard Stern had an afternoon show on the same station. Sales and Stern did not get along. There was an incident of Stern's cutting the strings in Sales' in-studio piano at 4:05 p.m. on May 1, 1985. On December 21, 2007, Stern revealed this was a stunt staged for "theater of the mind" and to torture Sales; in truth, the piano was never harmed.^[15]

Sales was taken off the air in the middle of his show. He had begun to complain to the audience that his contract had not been renewed and that his sidekick Ray D'Ariano had been given the time slot, so he urged listeners to complain to the station. When the show went to commercial, Sales was replaced by the station's program director, who played music for the rest of the allotted time.

^more

Josh Howard Died he was 22

The Connecticut program was stunned and saddened recently by the tragic death of cornerback Jasper Howard, who was stabbed near the campus student union, but the effects of this tragedy have rippled throughout college football, including the ACC.

Clemson starting cornerback Chris Chancellor will wear No. 6 during Saturday’s game at Miami in honor of Howard. Chancellor and Howard were teammates at Miami Edison Senior High School in Miami.

Boston College junior cornerback DeLeon Gause will also wear Howard’s No. 6 when the Eagles face Notre Dame in South Bend this Saturday.

Gause, a Miami native, played against Howard in high school and later became friends with him.

“We played against each other in high school and at the Kickoff Classic,” Gause said. “All I remember is that he was talking about me before the game. He kept saying, ‘tell (Gause) that it’s going to be a big game.’ And he came out there to play. We kept going back and forth.”

Believing that he needed to show his support for Howard, Gause searched for some way to keep his spirit close by when the Eagles play on Saturday.

“I talked with another guy who played with (Jasper), a cornerback at Clemson, Chris Chancellor. It was on his heart to (wear Jasper’s No. 6) and I thought of anything that I could do. I felt like I had to do something.”

Gause asked for and received permission to wear No. 6 from the BC coaching staff. Running back Jeff Smith will continue to wear No. 6 as well in Saturday’s game (the two play on opposite sides of the ball).

Al Martino died he was 82

Al Martino (he was born Alfred Cini), was an American singer and actor. Allmusic journalist Steve Huey states, "Martino was one of the great Italian American pop crooners, boasting a string of hit singles and albums that stretched from the early 1950s all the way into the mid 1970s. However, he was perhaps even better known for his role in The Godfather as singer Johnny Fontane, a character supposedly based on Frank Sinatra, but with eerie similarities to Martino's own career."^[1]

(born October 7, 1927 – October 13, 2009)

His Italian immigrant parents ran a masonry business, and he worked alongside his brothers as a bricklayer while growing up.^[1] However, he was more interested in music, and was inspired by Al Jolson and Perry Como to try his own hand at singing.^[1] When his boyhood friend Alfredo Cocozza changed his name to Mario Lanza and became an international opera star, the possibility of a career in music suddenly seemed plausible.^[1]

After service with the United States Navy in World War II, including being a part of the Iwo Jima invasion where he was wounded, he commenced his singing career. Adopting the stage name Al Martino (after his maternal grandfather's last name), he performed in local nightclubs for a time, and moved to New York in 1948 with Lanza's encouragement.^[1] He went on to win first place on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts television program, thanks to a rendition of Como's "If," and that exposure helped him land a recording contract with the Philadelphia based independent label, BBS.^[1]

His single "Here in My Heart" was number one in the first UK Singles Chart, published by the New Musical Express on November 14, 1952, putting him into the Guinness Book of World Records.^[2] "Here in My Heart" remained in the top position for nine weeks in the United Kingdom, setting up a record for the longest consecutive run at number one, which over half a century on, has only been beaten by four other tracks ("I Believe" (11 weeks), "Cara Mia" (10), "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (16) and "Love Is All Around" (15)).^[3] Martino has stated that Mario Lanza dropped his plans to record this song after he called Lanza in Los Angeles, California and explained that his own recording would be neglected if he did so.^[1]

A transatlantic chart-topper, "Here in My Heart" earned Martino a gold disc.^[4] Its success secured Martino a record label deal with Capitol Records, and he released three more singles — "Take My Heart," "Rachel," and "When You're Mine" — through 1953, all of which hit the U.S. Top 40.^[1] However, Martino's contract was taken over by a Mafia connected management team, which ordered Martino to pay $75,000, as a safeguard for their investment.^[1] Martino made a down payment to ensure his family's safety, then fled to the United Kingdom where his popularity allowed him to perform successfully for a time, headlining at the London Palladium.^[1] He continued to record in the UK with moderate success, but his work received no exposure back in the U.S.^[1] In 1958, thanks to the intervention of a family friend, Martino was allowed to return home and resume his recording career.^[1]

Martino faced an uphill battle re-establishing himself, especially with the counteracting arrival of rock and roll.^[1] He recorded for 20th Century Fox during the late 1950s, but the label ended up dropping him.^[1] A new album, The Exciting Voice of Al Martino (1962) secured a new deal with Capitol, and was followed by a mostly Italian language album, The Italian Voice of Al Martino.^[1] He also made several high-profile television appearances to re-establish his visibility.^[1]

He scored a major comeback hit with 1963's "I Love You Because."^[1] Arranged by Belford Hendricks, Martino's cover version went to number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one on the corresponding Easy Listening chart.^[1] The accompanying album of the same name went Top 10 in the Billboard 200, and Martino remained a regular visitor to the charts for over a decade afterwards, with hits including "Painted, Tainted Rose" (1963) plus "Always Together," "I Love You More and More Every Day", "Tears and Roses" and "We Could" (all 1964).^[1]

One of the most successful Martino hits was "Spanish Eyes", achieving several gold and platinum discs for sales.^[5] Recorded in 1965, the song reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart when re-issued in 1973.^[3] Even today, this classic by composer Bert Kaempfert (his original title for the song was "Moon Over Naples") is among the 50 most-played songs worldwide. Another hit was a disco version of "Volare", (also known as "Nel blu, Dipinto di Blu"). In 1976, it reached number one on the Italian and Flemish charts, and was in the Top Ten in Spain, The Netherlands and France, as well as in many other European countries.

In the U.S., Martino had eleven Top 40 hits in the Billboard pop singles chart in the 1960s and 1970s, with 1963's "I Love You Because" (#3) and 1964's "I Love You More and More Every Day" (#9) both reaching the Top Ten. He also sang the title song for the film, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).

Apart from singing, Martino played the role of Johnny Fontane in the 1972 film The Godfather, as well as singing the film's theme, Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather).^[6] He played the same role in The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III, as well as The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980. Martino toured the nightclub circuit extensively during the 1970s, and managed one more easy listening hit in 1978's "The Next Hundred Years."^[1] Faced with diminishing returns, he and Capitol finally parted ways in 1982, but Martino continued to perform in clubs, lounges, and casinos for some time afterward, and returned to recording in 2000 with the album, Style.^[1]

He returned to acting in 2006, when he played an aging crooner, Sal Stevens, in the short film Cutout, and appeared in film festivals around the world.

Martino died on October 13, 2009 at his childhood home in Springfield, Pennsylvania, 6 days after his 82nd birthday. Martino was survived by his wife Judi and two children.

Captain Lou Albano died he was 76

Captain Louis Vincent Albano^[4] died he was 76. Albano was an Italian American professional wrestler, manager and actor. With an over-the-top personality and a penchant for boisterous declarations, "Captain" Lou Albano was the epitome of the antagonistic manager that raised the ire of wrestlers and incited the anger of spectators. Throughout his 42-year career, Albano guided 15 different tag teams and four singles competitors to championship gold.^[4] A unique showman, with an elongated beard, rubber band facial piercings, and loud outfits, he was the forefather of the 1980s Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. Collaborating with Cyndi Lauper, Albano helped usher in wrestling's crossover success with a mainstream audience. Capitalizing on his success, he later ventured into Hollywood with various television, film, and music projects.
(July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009)

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Albano was born on July 29, 1933 in Rome, Italy.^[5] His family moved to the United States and settled in Mount Vernon, New York. He played football at and graduated from Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York.^[6] After briefly attending the University of Tennessee on a football scholarship, Albano left school to join the Army.^[4][7] During his tour, Albano became interested in professional wrestling when he was working at a bar as a bouncer and met two wrestlers.^[4] Albano made his professional wrestling debut by beating Bob Lazaro in Montreal, Quebec Canada in 1953.^[4]

Albano achieved moderate success as a tag team performer with partner Tony Altimore.^[8] Dubbed The Sicilians, Altimore and Albano competing as a stereotypical Italian gangster combo.^[4] Their realistic depiction of their characters caught the attention of actual mafiosi.^[4] In 1967, they won the United States Tag Team Championship from Arnold Skaaland and Spiros Arion.^[4][8]

Following the encouragement of fellow wrestler Bruno Sammartino, Albano transitioned from wrestling to announcing.^[4] He transformed himself into the brash, bombastic manager Captain Lou Albano. With a quick wit and a grating personality, Albano delivered memorable promos that made him wrestling's most villainous manager. He earned the scorn of the wrestling audience as he attempted to dethrone World Wide Wrestling Federation superstar and WWF champion Bruno Sammartino. In 1971, Albano achieved his objective when "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff ended Sammartino's seven year reign as champion.^[4] For the remainder of the 1970s, Albano's cadre of loyal henchmen were unable to resecure the championship once Sammartino won it back.^[4]

Albano guided singles wrestlers Pat Patterson, Don Muraco and Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine to the Intercontinental Championship.^[4] Furthermore, Albano guided fifteen teams to the WWF World Tag Team Championships, including The Valiant Brothers, The Wild Samoans, The Blackjacks, The Moondogs and The Executioners.^[4][9] By the end of his career, Albano managed over 50 different wrestlers who won two dozen championships.

Albano could also help elevate wrestlers by splitting from them. In 1982, despite being managed by the villainous Albano, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka was becoming a fan favorite due to his high-flying ring style. An interview segment revealed that Snuka had no legal contract with Albano, and thus was able to leave his manager.^[10] Shortly thereafter, a bloody beatdown by Albano, Fred Blassie and Ray Stevens, helped transform Snuka into a sympathetic figure, and triggered the most successful period of his career.^[11]

During the 1980s, Albano appeared in Cyndi Lauper's music videos for her hit songs "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "She Bop", and "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" Parlaying the venture, new WWF owner Vince McMahon devised the Rock 'n' Wrestling storyline, a collaboration and cross-promotion between the newly renamed WWF and elements of the music industry.^[12] During a public appearance at Madison Square Garden, Albano made sexist comments that outraged the singer and non-wrestling fans.^[7] Furthermore, on WWF television, Albano made the audacious claims that he was Lauper's manager, that he had secretly written her songs, and that he was the architect of her success. The two settled their differences on the MTV/WWF special The War to Settle the Score. Following Lauper's victory at the event, Albano apologized to Lauper and instantly became a fan favorite and the voice of Rock 'n' Wrestling. It was also explained that Albano had undergone surgery to remove "calcium deposits" on his medulla oblongata, and that the operation had removed his evil tendencies.^[13]

The crossover storyline, coupled with the Hulkamania phenomenon surrounding then-WWF champion Hulk Hogan and the first WrestleMania, triggered a period of unprecedented success for not only the WWF, but for the professional wrestling industry as a whole.^[1] Moreover, Albano helped cement wrestling's place within pop culture. Following the colossal success of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection, Albano left the WWF in 1986 to focus on various projects. Except for a brief return in 1994 to co-manage The Headshrinkers, Albano was retired from the wrestling industry.

Capitalizing on his new found celebrity, Albano began appearing in a vast array of television and film projects. Throughout the late 1980s, Albano appeared in Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, 227, Miami Vice, Hey Dude, Brian De Palma's Wiseguys, "Complex World" and the 1987 wrestling movie Body Slam. Expanding into music, Albano managed and performed with rockers NRBQ. He was immortalized in the song "Captain Lou" on their Lou and the Q album. Albano also periodically appeared on the John Davidson version of Hollywood Squares.

In March 1989, on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Albano had his trademark beard shaved on the air in order to star as the iconic video game character Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Along with Danny Wells, he co-starred in live action segments during interludes of the Mario cartoon, as well as providing the voice of his animated counterpart.

In 1992, Albano appeared in the John Ritter film Stay Tuned as the ring announcer for a wrestling match of the "Underworld Wrestling Federation" pitting Ritter and Pam Dawber's characters against two demonic wrestlers.

In 1996, Albano was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame.^[1] Two years later, he co-authored the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro-Wrestling along with Bert Sugar.^[14] In his final years, Albano was semi-active in the wrestling industry with appearances at reunion events, conventions, and WWE programming.^[15][16]

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Albano could often be found on local cable television promoting small businesses in Putnam, Westchester, and Dutchess counties, NY, employing the same over the top style that characterized his 1980s stardom.

During the 1990s, Albano shed 150 pounds (70 kg) following a health scare. In May 2005, Albano suffered a heart attack, but later recovered. He lived in Carmel, New York (Putnam County).

In 2008 he released his autobiography, "Often Imitated, Never Duplicated"^[17] with the foreword written by Cyndi Lauper.

Albano was one of five children born to Dr. Carmen Louis and Eleanor Albano, both deceased. The other Albano siblings are Vincent, George, Eleanor, and Carl.^[18]

Albano's brother, Carl, taught health for 32 years at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and was head of the Ridgewood High health department from 1974 until 2001.^[18] Carl Albano's students have noted that he used his brother Lou as an example of the difference between crazy and unique.

Albano died of natural causes on October 14, 2009, aged 76, while under hospice care at his home.^[19] He is survived by his wife Geri, four children and 14 grandchildren.

Championships and accomplishments

• Cauliflower Alley Club

• Other honoree (1995)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Manager of the Year (1974, 1981, 1986)
• PWI Stanley Weston Award (1994)

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum

• Class of 2009

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)^[1]
• WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tony Altimore

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Best on Interviews (1981) tied with Roddy Piper
• Worst Worked Match of the Year (1985) vs. Freddie Blassie at Nassau Coliseum

Stephen Gately died he was 33

Stephen Patrick David Gately died he was 33. Gately was an Irish pop singer, songwriter and actor, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone.^[1] All of Boyzone's studio albums hit number one in the UK, their third and last being their most successful internationally. With Boyzone Gately had a record-breaking sixteen consecutive singles enter the top five of the UK Singles Chart.^[2] He performed for millions of fans globally.^[3] He released his only solo album in 2000, after the group's initial breakup, which charted in the UK top ten and yielded three UK hit singles including the top three hit "New Beginning." Gately went on to appear variously in successful stage productions and on television programmes as well as contributing further solo tracks to various compilations and soundtracks. In 2008, he rejoined his colleagues as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings.

(17 March 1976 – 10 October 2009)

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Gately wed Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006. In 1999, he became one of the first pop stars to come out as gay.^[4][5] He was also the first ever boyband member to do so.^[6] Upon Boyzone's reformation, Gately featured as part of the first gay couple in a boyband's music video in what was to be his last music video with the band, for the song "Better".^[7] He was discovered dead at an apartment he owned with Cowles in Majorca, Spain on 10 October 2009. Tim Teeman of The Times heralded Gately as a hero of gay rights for his response to being "smoked out of the closet".^[8]

Gately grew up in severe poverty in the poor, working-class Sheriff Street area of Dublin.^[9] He was the fourth of five children; his father Martin is a decorator and his mother, Margaret (born 1949) a cleaner.^[10] His siblings are Michelle, Tony, Alan and Mark.^[11] As a teenager he appeared in various musicals and theatre performances at school, such as Juno and the Paycock.^[10]

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Gately split from his first boyfriend, Stephen Howard, in 1993. Howard became a heroin addict and in 1995 committed suicide by hanging.^[10]

On 16 June 1999, The Sun newspaper covered its front page with what it described as a "World Exclusive" and the headline, "Boyzone Stephen: I'm gay and I'm in love".^[4] At the age of 23, Gately sold his story to the newspaper because he feared a former member of Boyzone's security was about to sell the story. The Sun had two further pages on the story as well as an editorial. Gately also revealed that in 1998 he had started a relationship with the then 27 year-old Eloy de Jong, who had been in the Dutch boy band Caught in the Act.^[4] They had first met in 1995.

From 2000 to 2002, Gately suffered from depression and addiction to prescription drugs.^[10]

Gately and de Jong split up in January 2002; Gately subsequently moved back to Dublin. After remaining single for a while, Gately started dating internet businessman Andrew Cowles, who had been introduced to him by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish. Gately and Cowles held a commitment ceremony in a wedding chapel whilst on holiday in Las Vegas in 2003. On 19 March 2006, Gately entered into a civil partnership with Cowles in a ceremony in London.^[21]

His manager Louis Walsh was unaware of Gately's sexuality when he selected him for Boyzone and has said that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him, claiming that "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band".^[7]

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On 6 October 2009, Gately posted on Twitter, saying: "Still busy, lots going on. Focussing on finishing my book next so may be quiet here".^[22][23]

Gately's body was discovered on 10 October 2009 in the apartment which he owned with Cowles near Port d'Andratx on the western tip of Majorca in Spain.^{[24][25][26][27][28]} Spanish police were alerted at 1:45 pm.^[29] It was reported that he had "gone out for drinks, returned to his accommodation and fallen asleep, but never woke up."^[24] He was found squatting in an awkward way on a sofa, dressed in his pyjamas.^[23] Police said they had no reason to believe the death was related to abuse of substances such as drugs or alcohol and no suicide note or signs of violence were located on the corpse.^[29] The Gately family have enlisted celebrity solicitor Gerald Kean as their official spokesperson; Kean ruled out foul play and suicide, describing it as "just a tragic accident".^[6][30][31]

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Fans responded with messages of sympathy on the social networking website Facebook.^[22] Boyzone manager Louis Walsh is quoted as saying: "We're all absolutely devastated. I'm in complete shock. I was only with him on Monday at an awards ceremony. We don't know much about what's happened yet. I only heard after The X Factor [UK television talent show on which Walsh is a judge] and we will rally around each other this week. He was a great man."^[22][32] Walsh dropped out of the 11 October 2009 live televised results episode of The X Factor as a direct result of Gately's death.^[30][33][34] Simon Cowell addressed the issue at the start of the programme.^[30]

Irish boyband Westlife said: "We are, like everyone else, in shock today. We met Stephen Gately back in ‘98 when we first started out and since then have had the pleasure of meeting him many times. He and the Boyzone lads paved the way for us as a band. He was a friendly, positive spirit and a passionate performer. Our thoughts are with Andy and the rest of his family, his friends, his legions of fans and of course his bandmates Keith, Mikey, Shane and Ronan who will be devastated at the loss of a truly beautiful person.".^[35] Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "It's so sad. Boyzone and Stephen, they've all been part of Irish life and far wider than that, the last 15 years, and so successful, so it's a huge, huge tragedy. He was 33 years of age, 15 years at the top, a fine musician, it's just a huge tragedy to Irish entertainment, Irish music and further afield as well".^[36] Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen paid tribute: "Stephen Gately was a gifted young man with a talent for singing which brought him tremendous success as a member of Boyzone and also as a West End star. There was a joy about his music making, and his death at such a young age is both a personal and professional loss".^[36] Andrew Lloyd Webber said it is "a great loss to the musical world".^[23] Elton John said he and his partner David Furnish were "stunned" when they heard the news.^[36] Katherine Jenkins twittered of "memories 2 cherish" from a night out in the weeks leading up to his death.^[36] Stephen Fry described Gately's demise as "a dreadful shock".^[36] "This was not supposed to happen. This was not in the script", said music historian Paul Gambaccini.^[37]

Gately's bandmates flew out to Majorca on 11 October 2009.^[23][30] Louis Walsh is expected to join them soon. The surviving members of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch, issued a joint statement:

We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'.^[38]

An investigation into the circumstances of Gately's death was underway, with police concentrating on a night out he had with Cowles.^[23] A post-mortem and toxicology tests took place on 13 October and this examination showed that Gately died of natural causes due to pulmonary oedema.^[39] On 16 October, his body will be brought from Majorca to Dublin where his funeral will take place at the Church of St Laurence O'Toole the following day.^[40][41