/ Stars that died in 2023

Friday, November 27, 2009

Donald Harington died he was 73

Donald Harington died he was 73. Harington was an American Harington is acclaimed as one of America's greatest writers of fiction, if not one of its best known.
author. All but the first of his novels either take place in or have an important connection to "Stay More," a fictional Ozark Mountains town based somewhat on Drakes Creek, Arkansas, where Harington spent summers as a child.

(December 22, 1935-November 7, 2009)





Harington was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He lost nearly all of his hearing at age 12 due to meningitis. This did not prevent him from picking up and remembering the vocabulary and modes of expression among the Ozark denizens, nor in conducting his teaching career as an adult.

Though he intended to be a novelist from a very early age, his course of study and his teaching career were in art and art history. He taught art history in New York, New England, and South Dakota before returning to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, his alma mater, where he taught for 22 years before his retirement on 1 May 2008.

Entertainment Weekly called him "America's greatest unknown writer." The novelist and critic Fred Chappell said of him "Donald Harington isn't an unknown writer. He's an undiscovered continent." Novelist James Sallis, writing in the Boston Globe: "Harington's books are of a piece -- the quirkiest, most original body of work in contemporary U.S. letters."

Harington died of pneumonia, after a long illness, in Springdale on 7 November 2009.[1]

Harington's novels are available from The Toby Press in a uniform edition, with cover illustrations by Wendell Minor. Since his death, The Toby Press has made available the entire set of Harington novels as The Complete Novels of Donald Harington.

Joe Maross died he was 86, American actor, cardiac arrest

Joe Maross died he was 86. Maross was an American actor who appeared in movies and made guest appearances on many television series from the 1950s to the 1980s. He served in World War II and was stationed in Hawaii.

(February 7, 1923, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania - November 7, 2009)

Among the movies he appeared in were Run Silent, Run Deep and Elmer Gantry. The many television series he guest-starred in included Behind Closed Doors, Mission: Impossible, The Fugitive, The Outer Limits, The Invaders, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Virginian, Twelve O'Clock High, The Time Tunnel (where he portrayed George Armstrong Custer in an episode), Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, The Rockford Files, and The Twilight Zone, where he appeared in the episodes "Third from the Sun", and "The Little People".


He was a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was reputed to be an enthusiastic screener of the DVDs which studios send to Academy members for award consideration.

On November 7, 2009, he died of cardiac arrest in Glendale, California at the age of 86. [1]

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Nick Counter died he was 69, American film executive and lawyer.

James Nicholas "Nick" Counter, III died he was 69. Counter was an American lawyer who served as head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers from its founding in 1982 until March 2009.[1] (21 March 1940 – 6 November 2009)

Counter was born in Phoenix, Arizona and grew up in the Denver area where he attended Denver East. He majored in electrical engineering at University of Colorado on a Boettcher scholarship. He was a football fullback, lettering as a senior. In their 21-20 win over Missouri in 1959, he scored the winning two-point conversion the year after the play was instated.[2]

He later earned a law degree at Stanford University in 1966, then became a labor lawyer in Los Angeles. He was a key figure in the negotiations during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike and the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike.[3]

Counter died aged 69 in Los Angeles.

Hans Lund died he was 59, American poker player, cancer.

Hans "Tuna" Lund died he was 59. Lund was an American professional poker player, based in Sparks, Nevada, who won two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and was the runner-up at the 1990 WSOP Main Event.[1](c. 1949 - 2009)

Lund began playing poker tournaments in 1977 and won a bracelet at the 1978 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the $1,500 no limit hold'em event. A decade later he finished 2nd in the same event at the 1988 WSOP.[1]

At the 1990 WSOP Lund was heads-up against Mansour Matloubi. On the decisive hand, he had a slight chip lead before the hand started, when with A-9 offsuit he called a pre-flop raise from Matloubi. He raised Matloubi's bet on the 9-4-2 flop, to put him practically all-in. Matloubi called with 10-10. An ace on the turn meant Lund only had to avoid the last two tens in the deck for the championship, but a 10 came on the river. He eventually finished runner-up, with Matloubi taking the title. He also finished in the money of the main event in 1991 (19th) and 1992 (3rd).[1]

Lund went on to win a second bracelet at the 1996 WSOP in the $1,500 Ace to Five Draw event.[1]

In addition to his two bracelets, Lund won a Hall of Fame watch, the Super Bowl of Poker main event and the Best All-Around Player Award at the Diamond Jim Brady tournament.[1]

Lund retired from playing tournaments on a regular basis in 1997. He made a resurgence on the tournament circuit with two deep finishes at World Poker Tour events in 2007. He finished in 20th place at the L.A. Poker Classic, and 15th place at the Bay 101 Shooting Star. He also cashed in the 2006 WSOP Main Event and in the 2006 Five-Diamond World Poker Classic championship event.[1]

His total live tournament winnings exceed $2,900,000.[2] His 22 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,079,504 of those winnings.[3]

Lund died November 6, 2009 after a long battle with cancer.[4]

Tommy Reis died he was 95,

Thomas Edward (Tommy) Reis was a relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball in the 1938 season. He batted and threw right-handed.(August 6, 1914 – November 6, 2009)

Born in Newport, Kentucky, Reis was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Wilkes-Barre team (Eastern) in the 1937 rule V draft. He debuted with Philadelphia in 1938, then was purchased by the Boston Bees during the midseason. In eight appearances, he posted a 0-1 record with six strikeouts and a 12.27 ERA in 11.0 innings.

At the time of his death, Reis was recognized as one of the oldest living MLB players. With the death of Gene Corbett on January 28, 2009, Reis became the last living former baseball player who played at Baker Bowl, the home ballpark for the Phillies between May 2, 1895 and June 30, 1938, as a member of the Phillies.

Ron Sproat died he was 77

Ronald Sproat was an American screenwriter and playwright known for Dark Shadows.

(died 6 November 2009 in Manhattan, New York, age 77)

Sproat served as head writer on Dark Shadows and created Barnabas Collins.[3] Sproat has written for Never Too Young, a teen soap opera that aired on ABC from 1965 to 1966 and Strange Paradise, a Canadian soap opera that aired in syndication in the United States from 1969 to 1970.

In addition to television writing, Sproat has also written for musical theatre including Abie's Island Rose and Back Home: The War Brides Musical, both of which ran off Broadway.[4][5]

Sproat received his MA from the University of Michigan, and performed undergraduate work at Hamilton College. While at Hamilton College, he won the William Duncan Saunders Award for creative writing. Sproat also attended Yale University where he earned a MFA. While attending Michigan, Sproat was also the recipient of the Avery Hopwood Award.[3]

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William H. Avery died he was 98,

William Henry Avery died he was 98, Avery was an American Republican Party politician who served as the thirty-seventh Governor of Kansas from 1965 until 1967.

(August 11, 1911 – November 4, 2009)

Born in 1911 near Wakefield, Kansas, Avery graduated from the University of Kansas in 1934. While attending the KU he joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He was a member of the Wakefield School Board, and served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1951 to 1955, and in the Congress for the Republican Party from 1955 to 1965.[1]

Avery is remembered as the governor who sanctioned the executions of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, the murderers of the Clutter family, made famous by the Truman Capote book In Cold Blood. Capote describes the governor as "a wealthy farmer" conscious of public opinion. Also as governor, he dedicated a memorial in Delphos, Kansas for Abraham Lincoln and Grace Bedell, the eleven year old girl who suggested to presidential candidate Lincoln to grow his famous beard.[2]

After losing the governorship to Robert Docking in the 1966 election, Avery attempted but failed to win a seat in the Senate, losing in the primary to future U.S. presidential candidate Bob Dole. Following his retirement from politics, he worked for Clinton Oil Company and became president of Real Petroleum Company.

He was one of five former governors interviewed for the documentary The Kansas Governor, in which he proudly stated that in his many years of politics he had never played a round of golf. Avery was married to Hazel Bowles [3] (January 4, 1914 - August 17, 2004)[4] from 1940 until her death. He died on November 4, 2009 at age 98. Flags in the state were ordered lowered until November 14 in his honor.[5]

At the time of his death, he was the second oldest living governor of any state behind Albert Rosellini of Washington and was the oldest living former U.S. Representative following the September 25, 2008 death of Glenn Andrews of Alabama. Avery's death left former New York Representative William F. Walsh as the oldest living former House member.


Dickey Betts died he was 80

Early Career Forrest Richard Betts was also known as Dickey Betts Betts collaborated with  Duane Allman , introducing melodic twin guitar ha...