Ted Kowalski, Canadian singer (The Diamonds), died from heart disease he was , 79

The Diamonds were a Canadian vocal quartet of the 1950s and early 1960s who rose to prominence performing mostly cover versions of songs by black musicians. The original members were Dave Somerville

(lead), Ted Kowalski (tenor) died from heart disease he was , 79, Phil Levitt (baritone), and Bill Reed (bass).

History

1950s

In 1953, Dave Somerville was working as a sound engineer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, Canada. One of the shows produced at the CBC was Pick The Stars, a local talent show. He noticed four gentlemen practicing in the hallway for that show, and stopped to listen. After exchanging niceties, Somerville offered to be their manager. This group was composed of Stan Fisher, Ted Kowalski, Phil Levitt, and Bill Reed. They agreed and for the next several months, Somerville provided tutoring, and got practice time in un-occupied studios at the CBC.

That Christmas, the group was to sing for a Christmas party at a local church. That date conflicted with studies for a law exam of Stan Fisher, the lead singer and Fisher decided he needed the study time. Since Somerville knew all the songs, he took Fisher’s place. The audience reaction to the Dave Somerville led group was so tremendous, that the group that night decided to turn professional. In one fateful decision Fisher decided to stay in law school and not continue with the group. Somerville became the permanent lead, and that was the night The Diamonds were born.

By 1955, all members of the group had left college, and/or jobs, to sing full time. Professional musician Nat Goodman became their manager, and Goodman got the Diamonds onto Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on American television. The result of the contest was a stalemate between the Diamonds and another contestant. With the prize of being guest artist for a week on Godfrey’s show, this led to a recording contract with Coral Records. Coral released four songs, the most notable being "Black Denim Trousers & Motorcycle Boots", a cover of a recording originally by The Cheers. The Diamonds' version sold a few thousand copies, which was only enough to get them a little local recognition.

The next big step was an audition with Cleveland, Ohio, radio disc jockey Bill Randle, who aided in the success of some popular groups, such as The Crew Cuts. Randle was impressed with the Diamonds and introduced them to Mercury Records, who signed the group to a recording contract. At this time, black artists were not played on white radio stations. Mercury Records, as well as other major record companies, were designating white artists to cover the recordings of black artists for the purpose of expanding their listening audience.

The Diamonds’ first recording for Mercury was "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," a cover of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers’s version, which reached #12 in the U.S. as their first hit. They had a hit follow-up single, "The Church Bells May Ring" (originally by The Willows), which reached #14 in the U.S. They also covered songs by such black groups as The Clovers and The Heartbeats.

The Diamonds biggest hits were 1957's "Little Darlin'" (originally recorded by The Gladiolas) and 1958's "The Stroll", which was not a cover, but actually an original song written for the group by Brook Benton, from an idea by Dick Clark.^[1]

Although they were signed to do rock and roll, Mercury also paired them with Pete Rugolo in one of his "Meet" series. The album entitled "The Diamonds Meet Pete Rugolo" allowed The Diamonds to return to their roots and do some established standards.

The group sang "Little Darlin'" and "Where Mary Go" in the film, The Big Beat, and sang the theme song for another film, Kathy-O.

They had many television appearances, including the TV shows of Steve Allen, Perry Como, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett, Eddy Arnold and Paul Winchell. They also appeared on American Bandstand.

1960s and 1970s

By 1961, all original members had left the group. The members were now Jim Malone (lead vocal), Mike Douglas (baritone), Evan Fisher (tenor, who, contrary to popular belief, was not the brother of original lead, Stan Fisher), and John Felton (bass). With the ever-changing style of rock & roll and their Mercury contract expired, the Diamonds continued touring the country. There is a popular belief that The Diamonds disbanded in the early sixties. This is untrue. After their Mercury contract expired, the group recorded a single ("The Slide/Melody of Love") and an album for the independent NATHANIAL label. Jimmy Malone and Evan Fisher left the group to perform as a duo in the mid 60s.

Mike Douglas carried the torch throughout the 1960s and 70s, working in some of the most prestigious lounges in Las Vegas. The Diamonds was one of the first groups to perform at Caesars Palace. At one time, there were at least two groups performing under the Diamonds' name, principally one led by John Felton (a group that continues to perform, as of 2009, led by Gary Owens, who joined Felton in 1975)^[2], and one led by Glenn Stetson. Stetson's Diamonds worked prolifically in the 1970s and 1980s and were instrumental in the '50s music revival.

Stetson founded Little Darlin's Rock-n-Roll Palace in Kissimmee, Florida which featured numerous artists of the 1950s and early 1960s era.^[3] This created an issue that was ultimately went to court, with Stetson losing rights to use the name to the group formed by Felton (which was led by Bob Duncan at the time)^[4], and allowed the original four to use the name a few times each year.

2000s and beyond

The Diamonds received national attention once again in 2000, when the original members were invited to sing in TJ Lubinsky’s PBS production of Do-Wop 51, and again in the PBS production entitled Magic Moments-The Best Of '50s Pop in 2004.

Stetson received a heart transplant in 2000, and died in 2003. Original member Kowalski died on August 8, 2010, from heart disease, at the age of 79.^[5]

Original members

• Dave Somerville - Lead / Replaced by Jim Malone 1961
• Ted Kowalski - Tenor (died 2010) / Replaced by Evan Fisher 1958
• Phil Levitt - Baritone / Replaced by Mike Douglas 1957
• Bill Reed - Bass (died 2004) / Replaced by John Felten 1958 (died 1982)

Replacement members

• Glenn Stetson - Lead vocalist / Replaced John Felten in 1968. Mike Douglas remained with the group as the only original member that recorded for Mercury records in the fifties and early sixties. At this time, The Diamonds consisted of Glenn Stetson(Canada), Harry Harding (Canada), Danny Rankin(USA), Mike Douglas(Canada)
• Joe Derise - Vocalist and composer joined in 1969.

Discography

Original albums

• America's Number One Singing Stylists
• Meet Pete Rugolo
• Songs From The Old West
• Laughs, Singing, Laughs

Compilation albums

• America's Famous Song Stylists
• Pop Hits
• The Best of the Diamonds: The Mercury Years
• Little Darlin'
• Scrapbook of Golden Hits
• Hall of Fame
• Best of the Diamonds
• The Diamonds Songbook (2007)

Billboard charted singles

• "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" – Debut on 02/18/56, Peaked at #12.^[6][7]
• "The Church Bells May Ring" – Debut on 04/21/56, Peaked at #14
• "Love, Love, Love" – Debut 06/23/56, Peaked at #30
• "Ka-Ding-Dong" – Debut on 09/08/56, Peaked at #35
• "Soft Summer Breeze" – Debut on 09/22/56, Peaked at #34
• "Little Darlin'" – Debut on 03/16/57, Peaked at #2 for 8 weeks (Gold discs|Gold)^[8]
• "Words Of Love" – Debut on 06/24/57, Peaked at #13
• "Zip Zip" – Debut on 08/26/57, Peaked at #16
• "Silhouettes" – Debut on 11/04/57, Peaked at #10
• "The Stroll" – Debut on 12/30/57, Peaked at #4 (Gold)
• "High Sign" – Debut on 04/14/58, Peaked at #37
• "Kathy-O" – Debut on 07/28/58, Peaked at #16
• "Happy Years" – Debut on 08/04/58, Peaked at #73
• "Walking Along" – Debut on 10/27/58, Peaked at #29
• "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)" – Debut on 01/26/59, Peaked at #18
• "One Summer Night" - Debut 07/03/61, Peaked at #22

Film appearances

• The Big Beat (1958)

TV appearances

• The Eddy Arnold Show (1956)
• The Steve Allen Show (1957)

Awards and honours

• In 1984, the Canadian Juno "Hall of Fame" award by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.^[9]
• In October, 2004, inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania.^[10]
• In 2006 inducted into The Doo-Wop Hall of Fame.
  

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Patricia Neal, American actress, 1964 Academy Award winner (Hud), died of lung cancer.she was , 84

Patricia Neal ^[1] was an American actress of stage and screen died of lung cancer.she was , 84. She was best known for her roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud (1963), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

(January 20, 1926 – August 8, 2010)

Early life

Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal, in Packard, Whitley County, Kentucky, to William Burdette and Eura Petrey Neal.^[2][3] She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she attended Knoxville High School,^[4] and studied drama at Northwestern University. In later years, she became Catholic.

Career

The Fountainhead (1949)

After moving to New York, she accepted her first job as understudy in the Broadway production of The Voice of the Turtle. Next she appeared in Another Part of the Forest (1946), winning a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play, in the first presentation of the Tony awards.^[2]

In 1949, Neal made her film debut in John Loves Mary. Her appearance the same year in The Fountainhead coincided with her on-going affair with her married co-star, Gary Cooper. By 1952, Neal had starred in The Breaking Point, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Operation Pacific. She suffered a nervous breakdown around this time, following the end of her relationship with Cooper, and left Hollywood for New York, returning to Broadway in a revival of The Children's Hour, in 1952. She also acted in A Roomful of Roses in 1955 and as the mother in The Miracle Worker in 1959. In films, she starred in A Face in the Crowd (1957) and co-starred in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).

With Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd (1957)

In 1963, Neal won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Hud, co-starring with Paul Newman. When the film was initially released it was predicted she would be a nominee in the supporting actress category, but when she began collecting awards, they were always for Best Leading Actress, from the New York Film Critics, the National Board of Review and a BAFTA award from the British Academy. Three years later, in 1965, she was reunited with John Wayne in Otto Preminger's In Harm's Way winning her second BAFTA Award.

Neal was offered the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967), but turned it down, feeling it came too soon after her three 1965 strokes. She returned to the big screen in The Subject Was Roses (1968), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

She later starred as Olivia Walton in the television movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971), which was the pilot episode for The Waltons. Although she won a Golden Globe for her performance, she was not invited to reprise the role in the television series; the part went to Michael Learned. (In a 1999 interview with the Archive of American Television, Waltons creator Earl Hamner said he and producers were unsure if Neal's health would allow her to commit to the grind of a weekly television series.) Neal played a dying widowed mother trying to find a home for her three children in a moving 1975 episode of NBC's Little House on the Prairie.

In 1978, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville dedicated the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in her honor. The center serves as part of Neal's advocacy for paralysis victims. She appeared in Center advertisements throughout 2006.

In 2007, Neal worked on Silvana Vienne's innovative critically-acclaimed art movie Beyond Baklava: The Fairy Tale Story of Sylvia's Baklava, appearing as herself in the portions of the documentary talking about alternative ways to end violence in the world. Also in 2007, Neal received one of two annually-presented Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SunDeis Film Festival in Waltham, Massachusetts. (Academy Award nominee Roy Scheider was the recipient of the other.)

She often appeared on the Tony Awards telecast, possibly because she was the last surviving winner from the first ceremony. Her original Tony was lost, so she was given a replacement by Bill Irwin when they presented the Best Actress Award to Cynthia Nixon in 2006.

In April 2009, Neal received a lifetime achievement award from WorldFest Houston on the occasion of the debut of her film, Flying By. Neal was a long-term actress with Philip Langner's Theatre at Sea/Sail With the Stars productions with the Theatre Guild.

Personal life

at the Tribeca Film Festival, 2007

During the filming of The Fountainhead (1949), Neal had an affair with her married co-star, Gary Cooper, whom she had met in 1947 when she was 21 and he was 46. By 1950, Cooper's wife, Veronica, had found out about the relationship and sent Neal a telegram demanding they end it. Neal became pregnant by Cooper, but he persuaded her to have an abortion.^[5] Shortly after the abortion Cooper punched Neal in the face after he caught Kirk Douglas trying to seduce her.^[6]

The affair ended, but not before Cooper's daughter, Maria (now Maria Cooper Janis, born 1937), spat at Neal in public.^[7] Years after Cooper's death, Maria and her mother Veronica reconciled with Neal.

Neal met British writer Roald Dahl at a dinner party hosted by Lillian Hellman in 1951. They married on July 2, 1953, at Trinity Church in New York. The marriage produced five children:^[2] Olivia Twenty (April 20, 1955 – November 17, 1962); Chantal Tessa Sophia (b. 1957); Theo Matthew (b. 1960); Ophelia Magdalena (b.1964); and Lucy Neal (b. 1965). Her granddaughter Sophie Dahl is a noted actress and model.

In the early 1960s the couple suffered through grievous injury to one child and the death of another. On December 5, 1960, their son Theo, four months old, suffered brain damage when his baby carriage was struck by a taxicab in New York City. On November 17, 1962, their daughter, Olivia, died at age 7 from measles encephalitis.

While pregnant in 1965, Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms, and was in a coma for three weeks. Dahl directed her rehabilitation and she subsequently relearned to walk and talk ("I think I'm just stubborn, that's all"). On August 4, 1965, she gave birth to a healthy daughter, Lucy.

Neal and Dahl's 30-year marriage ended in divorce in 1983 after Dahl's affair with Neal's friend, Felicity Crosland.^[8]

Neal's autobiography, As I Am, was published in 1988. In 1981, Glenda Jackson played her in a television movie, The Patricia Neal Story which co-starred Dirk Bogarde as Neal's husband Roald Dahl.

Death

Neal died at her home in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, August 8, 2010, of lung cancer at age 84.^[1] She had converted to Catholicism four months before her death and was laid to rest in the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut^[9].

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1949	John Loves Mary	Mary McKinley
	The Fountainhead	Dominique Francon
	It's a Great Feeling	Herself	cameo
	The Hasty Heart	Sister Parker
1950	Bright Leaf	Margaret Jane Singleton
	The Breaking Point	Leona Charles
	Three Secrets	Phyllis Horn
1951	Operation Pacific	Lt. (j.g.) Mary Stuart
	Raton Pass	Ann Challon
	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Helen Benson
	Week-End with Father	Jean Bowen
1952	Diplomatic Courier	Joan Ross
	Washington Story	Alice Kingsley
	Something for the Birds	Anne Richards
1954	Your Woman	Contessa Germana de Torri
	Stranger from Venus	Susan North
1957	A Face in the Crowd	Marcia Jeffries
1961	Breakfast at Tiffany's	2-E (Mrs. Failenson)
1963	Hud	Alma Brown	Academy Award for Best Actress BAFTA Award National Board of Review Award New York Film Critics Nominated – Golden Globe
1964	Psyche '59	Alison Crawford
1965	In Harm's Way	Lt. Maggie Haynes	BAFTA Award
1968	Pat Neal Is Back	Herself	short subject
	The Subject Was Roses	Nettie Cleary	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
1971	The Night Digger	Maura Prince
1973	Baxter!	Dr. Roberta Clemm
	Happy Mother's Day, Love George	Cara
1974	"Kung-Fu; Blood of the Dragon"	Sarah	TV 2-part episode
1975	B Must Die	Julia
1977	Widow's Nest	Lupe
1979	The Passage	Mrs. Bergson
1979	All Quiet on the Western Front	Paul's Mother
1981	Ghost Story	Stella Hawthorne
1989	An Unremarkable Life	Frances McEllany
1991	Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker	Herself	documentary
1993	"Heidi"	Grandmother
1999	Cookie's Fortune	Jewel Mae 'Cookie' Orcutt
	From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff	Herself	documentary
2000	For the Love of May	Grammy May	short subject
2003	Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There	Herself	documentary
	Bright Leaves	Herself	documentary
2007	The Fairy Tale Story of Sylvia's Baklava	Herself	documentary feature film
2008	Shattered Glory	Mrs. Wyatt
2009	Flying By	Margie

Television

• Strindberg on Love (1960)
• Special for Women: Mother and Daughter (1961)
• The Untouchables: The Maggie Storm Story(1962)
• ESPIONAGE ---- The Weakling (1963)
• The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971)
• Ghost Story: Time of Terror (1973)
• Things in Their Season (1974)
• Eric (1975)
• Little House on the Prairie (1975)
• Tail Gunner Joe (1977)
• A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story (1978)
• The Bastard (1978) (miniseries)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
• The Patricia Neal Story (1981) (cameo)
• Love Leads the Way: A True Story (1984)
• Glitter (1984) (pilot for series)
• Shattered Vows (1984)
• Caroline? (1990)
• A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story (1992)
• Heidi (1993)

Bibliography

• Encyclopedia of Kentucky. New York, New York: Somerset Publishers. 1987. pp. 182–183. ISBN 0403099811.
• Neal, Patricia (1988). As I Am: An Autobiography. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671625012.
• Shearer, Stephen Michael (2006). Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813123917.

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Jack Parnell, British musician and bandleader (The Muppet Show), died from cancer he was , 87

John Russell Parnell was an English bandleader and musician died from cancer he was , 87.

(6 August 1923 – 8 August 2010^[1])

Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London. His father Russ Carr was a music hall artist, before becoming a theatrical agent. His uncle Val Parnell was general manager of the London Palladium.

Parnell was educated at Brighton and Hove Grammar School and studied piano from the age of five and drums for a year with Max Abrams. He made his debut, playing the drums for a concert party on the front at Scarborough in 1939. He then worked in a ballroom in Cambridge, before serving with the RAF for three years. He played in a five-piece line-up led by saxophonist Buddy Featherstonhaugh at RAF Bomber Command headquarters in High Wycombe.

During the 1940s and 1950s, he was voted best drummer in the Melody Maker poll for seven years in succession. He composed many television themes, including The Golden Shot, Family Fortunes and Love Story (for which he won the Harriet Cohen Award). In 1973, he became the first British musician to win an Emmy, for the Barbra Streisand television special produced for ATV.

He was appointed musical director for ATV in 1956, a post he held until 1981, and served as the 'real' conductor for The Muppet Show orchestra for the entire series.

He was jailed for three months for a drink-driving accident in 1979, hitting a motorcyclist who lost a leg. After this he moved from Surrey in disgrace and shortly after his wife divorced him.^[2]

In the 1970s he had formed the group The Best of British Jazz with Don Lusher, Kenny Baker, Tony Lee, Betty Smith (incorrect link removed see below~1) and Tony Archer, which performed until 1985. The group was active from 1985 to December 1999, releasing two CDs: The Best of British Vol 1 (CDSIV 6146) and The Best of British Jazz Live (MER 99100CD).

Jack Parnell had three sons (including Ric Parnell who, among many other credits, played drummer Mick Shrimpton in the movie This Is Spinal Tap) and two daughters and in 1983 moved to Southwold, Suffolk.

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Roberto Cantoral, Mexican composer, died of a heart attack he was , 75

Roberto Cantoral Garcia was a Mexican composer, singer and songwriter died of a heart attack he was , 75. ^[4] He was known for composing a string of hit Mexican songs, including El Triste, Al Final, La Barca and El Reloj.^[4][5] The Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México (English: Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico) estimated that La Barca and El Reloj have been recorded over 1,000 times by other artists like Placido Domingo, Gualberto Castro, José José, Luis Miguel, Joan Báez and Linda Ronstadt.^[6][7][8][9] In 2009, he won the Latin Grammy Trustee Award.^[8][10][11] Iconos, which was released by Marc Anthony in 2010, featured "El Triste".^[5]

(7 June 1935 – 7 August 2010)

Early life

Roberto Cantoral Garcia was born on 7 June 1935 in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas.^[8][10] From an early age, he showed an ability for music and its composition.^[8][12][13] Cantoral moved to Mexico City to attend college but dropped out to become a band leader.^[14]

Career

1950 - 1960

In 1950, Cantoral formed the Hermanos Cantoral (English: Cantoral Brothers) with Antonio Cantoral.^[8][10][13] The duo recorded "El preso número 9" (English: Prisoner Number 9) and "El crucifijo de piedra" (English: The Crucifix of Stone).^[8][10] The duo ended in 1954 with Antonio's death and Roberto formed Los Tres Caballeros (English: The Three Knights) with Chamin Correa and Leonel Gálvez who performed during Mexico's era of romantic music^[15] and traveled to Japan, Argentina and the United States.^{[10][12][16][17]}

1960 - 1980

In 1960, Cantoral went solo and achieved international fame for "Al final", "Noche no te vayas", "Regálame esta noche" and "Yo lo comprendo" (English: The End, Night [Don't You] Go, Give me the Night, and I Understand).^[12][16] In 1970, he wrote the ballad "El Triste" (English: The Sad One) by José José. In 1971, he won the OTI Festival with "Yo no voy a la guerra" (English: I'm not going to the War) and in 1973 for "Quijote".^{[8][10][12][16]} Cantoral donated the proceeds from "Pobre navidad" (English: Poor Christmas) to worldwide children institutions^[8] such as UNICEF^[16] and his song, "Plegaria de paz" (English: Prayer of Peace) was broadcast "three consecutive years at the Vatican".^[12] Cantoral composed themes for El derecho de nacer, Paloma and Pacto de amor.^[8][12]

1980 - 2000

In 1982, Cantoral was elected as Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México's Chairman of the Board for his first term.^[8][10][12]

Awards

During his lifetime, Cantoral received many awards. He received medals of merit from Adolfo López Mateos and Tito^[8]. In 1969, Cantoral won la presea Diana Cazadora and premio Cuauhtémoc de Oro (English: Diana the Huntress award and Cuauhtémoc Gold prize).^[8] He won three gold records for "El Reloj", "La Barca" and "El Triste".^[8][15]

Personal life

Cantoral resided in Rancho Viejo, Texas, just across the border from Mexico.^[4] His home, which suffered a fire in 2006 but was renovated, features a large marble clock in honor of his song, El Reloj, and several statues.^[4]

Cantoral was married to Itatí Zucchi^[1] and was the father of Mexican actress Itati Cantoral, the co-star of the Televisa television series Hasta Que El Dinero Nos Separe.^[4] Roberto Cantoral had three sons, Carlos, Roberto and José, with Zucchi.^[18][19]

Death

In 2010, Cantoral died after suffering a heart attack on a flight from Brownsville, Texas, to Mexico City.^[4] The plane made an emergency landing in Toluca, Mexico, where Cantoral was pronounced dead at the age of 75.^[4] His body was placed on public view at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.^[4] Cantoral's ashes were scattered in his hometown, Tampico, Tamaulipas.^[4]

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Bruno Cremer French actor (Is Paris Burning?, Sorcerer, Maigret). died he was ,80,

Bruno Cremer was a French actor born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, who spent a part of his career on stage, but who also found success in the cinema and on television.^[1]

(October 6, 1929 – August 7, 2010)

Biography

He was widely known in France and the French-speaking world for his interpretation of the famous detective Maigret in a television series that started in 1991 and ended in 2005 after 54 episodes.

His career on stage included creating the role of Thomas Beckett in the 1959 world premiere of the play Beckett by Jean Anouilh.

In 1957, he had a credited role in the movies for the first time in Send a Woman When the Devil Fails (also known as When a Woman Meddles and When the Woman Gets Confused), featuring Alain Delon.

He and his wife Chantal, whom he married in December 1984, had two daughters (Constance and Marie-Clémentine). From an earlier marriage, he had a son, Stéphane, who is a writer.

In 2000, he published an autobiography, Un certain jeune homme (A Certain Young Man).

Bruno Cremer, 80 years old, died on August 7, 2010, in Paris. He had been suffering from cancer for several years.^[2]

Selected filmography

• The 317th Platoon (1965)
• Is Paris Burning? (1966), directed by René Clément
• Les Gauloises bleues (1968)
• The Time to Die (1970)
• L'Alpagueur (1976)
• Sorcerer (1977), directed by William Friedkin
• A Simple Story (1978)
• Derborence (1985)
• Noce Blanche (1989), with Vanessa Paradis
• Tumultes (1990)

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Alex Johns American film producer (The Ant Bully) and television producer (Futurama), died after a long illness he was , 43,

Alex Johns was an American film and television producer. Johns is best known for his work as the co-executive producer of more than seventy episodes of the animated television series Futurama.^[1] He also the co-executive producer of the 2006 film, The Ant Bully.^[1][2]

(August 23, 1966 – August 7, 2010)

Johns was born in Roseville, California, on August 23, 1966.^[1][2] He was the grandson of actor Steve Cochran (1917-1966).^[1] Johns graduated from Escalon High School in Escalon, California, in 1984.^[2] He attended both San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego.^[1]

He began his career in the film industry by colorizing classic black-and-white movies in the late 1980s.^[2] Johns was successful in this work despite the fact that he was colorblind, which he kept a professional secret.^[1] He began working in television in the 1990s on the series, The Ren & Stimpy Show.^[1]

Matt Groening, the creator of Futurama, hired Johns to work on the show. Johns would eventually co-executive produce more than seventy episodes of Futurama during his career.^[1][2] Groening also gave Johns a prominent production role in the 1999 Christmas television special, Olive, the Other Reindeer, which starred Drew Barrymore and Ed Asner.^[1]

Film director John A. Davis hired Johns to co-executive produce the 2006 computer-animated film, The Ant Bully. In a professional twist, Johns had actually fired Davis from the production staff of Olive, the Other Reindeer in the late 1990s due to tactical and budgetery reasons.^[1] Davis spoke of the unusual situation in an interview in 2010 explaining, "Alex was in the uncomfortable position of telling me I was being replaced, but to hear his spin, it sounded like I was getting a promotion! He was awesome...He did such a great job firing me, I had to hire him! (for The Ant Bully)."^[1] The film went on to gross more than $28 million at the U.S. domestic box office.^[2]

Alex Johns died on August 7, 2010, of a long illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 45.^[1] He was survived by his mother, Xandria Walker, and four brothers - David Cimino, Michael Johns, Christopher Johns and Daniel Johns.^[2] He was predeceased by his father, Wendell Johns.^[2]

The 100th episode of Futurama, The Mutants Are Revolting, was dedicated to the memory of Alex Johns.^[3] The episode aired on September 2, 2010,

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Catfish Collins, American guitarist (James Brown, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Parliament-Funkadelic), died from cancer he was , 66

Phelps "Catfish" Collins ^[1] was a rhythm guitarist known mostly for his work in the P-Funk collective has died from cancer he was , 66. Although frequently overshadowed by his younger brother, Bootsy Collins, Catfish played on many important and influential records by Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy's Rubber Band.

(1944 – August 6, 2010)

In 1968, the Collins brothers, along with Kash Waddy and Philippe Wynne, formed a group called The Pacemakers. Later the Pacemakers were hired by James Brown to accompany his vocals, at this they became known as The J.B.'s. Some of Brown's previous band members had walked out because of money disputes. During their tenure in the J.B.'s, they recorded such classics as "Super Bad", "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine", "Soul Power", and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose". By 1971, Collins and the rest of the J.B.'s had quit James Brown. The Collins brothers and Kash Waddy formed House Guests and shortly after joined Funkadelic and contributed to the Funkadelic album America Eats Its Young. Four years later, Collins joined Bootsy's Rubber Band, which included Waddy, Joel "Razor Sharp" Johnson (keyboards), Gary "Muddbone" Cooper (drums), and Robert "P-Nut" Johnson (vocals), along with The Horny Horns. Collins has also played on albums by Deee-Lite, Freekbass, and H-Bomb.

On his early work with James Brown and Funkadelic, Catfish played a Vox Ultrasonic guitar with built-in effects.

He died on August 6, 2010 after a long battle with cancer.^[2]

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