In 2024, we've experienced the loss of several luminaries in the world of entertainment. These beloved figures—actors, comedians, musicians, singers, and coaches—have touched our lives with their talent, passion, and dedication. They've left an indelible mark on our hearts and shaped the world of entertainment in ways that will continue to inspire and influence generations to come.
Among the incredible actors who bid farewell this year, we mourn the loss of a true chameleon who effortlessly.
Freddy Schuman , better known as Freddy Sez or Freddy "Sez", was a New Yorker and supporter of the New York Yankees, known for his activities in promoting the team and encouraging fan participation died from a heart attack.he was , 85.
(May 23, 1925 – October 17, 2010)
Biography
Freddy was born on May 23, 1925, and was a resident of The Bronx for most of his life. When he was 9 years old, he suffered an accident during a stickball game, in which he lost the use of his right eye. From about 1988, until his death, he was an unofficial promoter for the Yankees.
Yankees promotion
The pan
Schuman carried a frying pan with a shamrock painted on it, which he said "Brings 'em luck." Fans were encouraged to bang on the pot with a spoon to make noise. The pot made a distinctive sound that echoed throughout the stadium and could be heard in the background during TV broadcasts. One of his pans is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame along with another at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in New Jersey.[1]
Signs
Schuman also carried a number of colorful hand-painted signs adorned with messages to encourage the team and the fans. The signs usually began with "Freddy 'sez'". Some Freddy messages included "Again & Again Yankees Prove They Are Great", and "Fans, We Got To Help Yankees Out Of Slumps". Sometimes, Schuman would give the sign to a lucky fan at the end of a game.
Schuman also took his signs and frying pan to other events, as shown below.
Route
Before the games, Schuman could be found outside Yankee Stadium. During the games, he moved throughout the stadium, making his way from the Grandstand down to the Main Section, and finally to the Field Level.
Sponsorship
Schuman can be briefly seen in a baseball themed MasterCard commercial that aired during the 2007 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. He can also be seen for a few seconds near the end of House of Pain's 1992 music video for their hit single "Jump Around". Schuman himself has claimed his tickets circa 2003 were sponsored by Modell's Sporting Goods. After his death in 2010, Schuman can be seen briefly in a Nike Boom commercial, featuring Craig Robinson and Robinson Cano.
Schuman died at the age of 85 at Lenox Hill Hospital on Sunday, October 17, 2010 after suffering a heart attack the previous Friday night.[1][4] In a tribute, the Yankees displayed some of his memorabilia and held a moment of silence prior to Game 3 of the 2010 American League Championship Series.[5]
Michael Aloysius Tabor 2010) was an American member of the Black Panther Party who was charged and tried as part of an alleged conspiracy to bomb public buildings in New York City and kill members of the New York Police Department died from complications from a stroke he was , 63. Four months into the trial Tabor and another defendant fled to Algeria. Despite his ultimate acquittal on all charges, Tabor remained in exile in Africa until his death, never returning to the United States.
(December 13, 1946 – October 17,
Tabor was born on December 13, 1946, in Harlem and joined the Black Panther Party while in his teens. In 1970, Tabor and 12 other members of the Black Panthers were charged for their involvement in a plot to kill police officers and to plant bombs in New York City commercial and public buildings, including the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Support for the prosecution's case came from undercover officers who claimed that the defendants had developed plans for a series of bombings and had conducted classes to instruct those participating in the plot how to construct explosive devices.[1]
Together with fellow defendant Richard Moore, Tabor failed to appear at their trial in February 1971, forfeited $150,000 in bail and were declared fugitives. Blank Panther leader Huey P. Newton called Moore and Tabor "enemies of the people" for evading justice while on trial and putting the other defendants and the party at risk.[2] Connie Matthews, Newton's former secretary and Tabor's wife, also left the country and was said to have taken valuable records with her.[2] The two finally surfaced in Algeria the following month together with Eldridge Cleaver.[3] The New York Times published a lengthy letter from Moore on the day before the verdicts were read explaining that they had fled the U.S. because they feared that their lives were at risk.[4] On May 13, 1971, after an eight-month-long trial, the jury in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan delivered an acquittal on all 156 counts.[5] In a statement issued from Algiers, Tabor stated that the trial represented "an attempted railroad and that the defendants' rights were flagrantly violated" and said that he was "overjoyed that the brothers are free".[1]
Algeria expelled Tabor and he and Matthews moved to Zambia in 1972, where Tabor wrote about politics and hosted a radio show. Despite repeated requests, Tabor refused to return to the United States. He died at age 63 in Lusaka, Zambia, on October 17, 2010, due to complications of multiple strokes. He was survived by his second wife, Priscilla Matanda, as well as by a daughter and three sons.[1]
Dennis Taylor was a Nashville-based musician, arranger and author died from a heart attack he was 56,. Taylor had recording credits on saxophone (alto, tenor and baritone) as well as clarinet, and as an arranger.
(November 13, 1953 – October 17, 2010)
Career
New England born, Taylor was best known for his recordings with Delbert McClinton, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Michelle Shocked, Buckwheat Zydeco and many others, and for writing a series of instructional books through Hal Leonard Publishing, in which he discussed blues playing, jazz playing and phrasing.[1] Taylor played on five Grammy nominated albums. He was a two-time nominee for the Nashville Music Awards, "Miscellaneous Wind Instrumentalist of the Year." He has appeared on, "Austin City Limits," "The Road," "Country Music Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Celebration," "Texas Connection," "ABC in Concert Country," "American Music Shop," and "Music City Tonight." On April 30, 2010, Taylor appeared on the "Imus in the Morning Program" on national TV and radio. After his solo on the song, "Givin' It Up for Your Love," Taylor's playing earned the attention and praise of host Don Imus. He was also known as a jazz educator. He also analyzed other players’ styles and offered tips for emulating and understanding work from the masters of the instrument. Some of the sax legends explained by Taylor include King Curtis, Stanley Turrentine and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. The final part of "Jazz Saxophone" features 17 solos over classic jazz standards (including Doxy, Easy Living, Maiden Voyage and So What) and a wide variety of forms and styles (minor blues, soul jazz, 3/4 time, and bebop. The theory lessons cover all the common major scale, minor scale, dominant, pentatonic chords and scales plus modes, as well as altered dominant scales and diminished options. Taylor also wrote other three other instructional books: Amazing Phrasing, Blues Saxophone and Jazz Saxophone.
Taylor was also an educator, who taught at Johnson State College in Vermont, and taught private saxophone lessons in Nashville until the time of his death. He is survived by both of his parents, as well as his wife, Nashville songwriter and publicist Karen Leipziger.
“Pinpointing all these idiosyncratic elements in other players is essential in developing your own voice,” wrote Mr. Taylor, whose own sax “voice” could vary from a sensuous growl to the kind of buzzing, bluesy howl he employed on McClinton’s “People Just Love To Talk.”[1]
Critical book review
“(In the book Amazing Phrasing) Photos and biographical information are included for each artist along with a demonstration cd recording of Dennis Taylor’s written solo. The solos are intended to closely shadow what the original artist would have played. It is obvious that Mr. Taylor has made an exhaustive effort in demonstrating all these many varied styles.” – Skip Spratt[2]
Playing style
“Dennis had an old-school kind of tone that I don’t hear in anyone else’s playing anymore. He knew how to make it sing, and he had a great sensibility for what was supposed to happen. He knew what to play, and he knew what not to play.” – Kevin McKendree
Singer/songwriter Todd Snider said, “He was a free-spirited artist. His playing was so tasteful, and he was such a warm and good person to be around. What a loss.”
Discography
Mr. Taylor's first solo recording, which received help from Kevin McKendree, also of McClinton’s band, was completed shortly before his death. The recording featured saxophone, organ and drums, some of Taylor's original compositions, and also a guest appearance by Delbert McClinton. Details on the release of the recording have not yet been released. He has appeared as a side-man on countless albums (see below for partial list).
His solo album, "Steppin' Up," features Taylor on saxophone, McKendree on organ, and three different drummers, including former Weather Report drummer Chester Thompson. Delbert McClinton also makes a guest appearance on one song. The album was recorded at The Rock House in Franklin, TN, and is expected to be released in January 2011 on Kizybosh Records.
Published works
Hal Leonard Tenor Saxophone Method Jazz Saxophone: Tenor (Hal Leonard Corp.) - ISBN: 978-1-4234-2634-9
Jazz Saxophone (Hal Leonard Corp.) - ISBN-10: 0634058495, ISBN-13: 978-0634058493
Blues Saxophone (Hal Leonard Corp.) - ISBN-10: 0634026208, ISBN-13: 978-0634026201
Amazing Phrasing (Hal Leonard Corp.) - ISBN-10: 0634035401, ISBN-13: 978-0634035401
Barbara Billingsley[1][2] was an American film, television, voice and stage actress, died she was , 94. She gained prominence in the 1950s movie The Careless Years, acting opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best–known role, that of June Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963) and its sequel Still the Beaver (1985–1988, retitled in season two as The New Leave It to Beaver).
(December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010)
Early life
Billingsley was born Barbara Lillian Combes in Los Angeles, California in 1915, the youngest child of Anglo–American parents: patrolman Robert Collyer Combes (1891–1950)[3] and his first wife, the former Lillian Agnes McLaughlin.[4] She had one elder sibling, Elizabeth (1911–1992).[5] Her parents divorced sometime before her fourth birthday, and her father, who later became an assistant chief of police,[3] remarried.[6] After her divorce, Lillian Combes went to work as a forelady at a knitting mill.[7]
Billingsley fell in love with drama in the second grade, and during her years at George Washington High School in Los Angeles (now Washington Preparatory High School), she performed in all the school plays. She was voted "Class Queen". She graduated from George Washington in 1934.[citation needed]
Name change
Until 1941, the actress used the name Barbara Combes. After 1941, when she married her first husband, Glenn Billingsley, she used Barbara Billingsley.
After Billingsley signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1957, she made her mark on TV as everyday mother June Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver, alongside other 1950s family sitcoms such as Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Make Room For Daddy and The Donna Reed Show. It debuted on CBS in 1957, to mediocre ratings and was soon cancelled. However, the show moved to ABC the following year and stayed there for the next five seasons. The show was featured in over 100 countries. Also starring on Beaver were Hugh Beaumont, in the role of Ward Cleaver, June's husband and the kids' father, as well as child actorsTony Dow in the role of Wally Cleaver and Jerry Mathers as Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver.
In the show, Billingsley often could be seen doing household chores wearing pearls and earrings. The pearls, which in real-life were Billingsley's trademark, were in turn her idea to have her alter ego wear on television. The actress had what she termed "a hollow" on her neck[3][8] and thought that wearing a strand of white pearls would lighten it up for the cameras. In later seasons, she started wearing high heels to compensate for the fact that the actors who played her sons were growing up and getting taller than she was.[3][9] So associated was the pearl necklace with the character, that an entire episode of the sequel series dealt with the necklace when lost. Billingsley had one regret about the show's lasting success: residual payments ended after six reruns in standard 1950s actors' contracts.[10]
"She was the ideal mother," Billingsley said of her character in 1997 in TV Guide. "Some people think she was weakish, but I don't. She was the love in that family. She set a good example for what a wife could be. I had two boys at home when I did the show. I think the character became kind of like me and vice versa. I've never known where one started and where one stopped." As for the idealized TV family on "Leave It to Beaver," which continues in reruns on cable more than half a century after its debut, Billingsley had her own explanation for the Cleavers' enduring appeal. "Good grief," she told TV Guide, "I think everybody would like a family like that. Wouldn't it be nice if you came home from school and there was Mom standing there with her little apron and cookies waiting?" Billingsley, however, did question her character's reactions to the Cleaver children's misbehavior, basing her concern on personal experience as the mother of two sons. As co-producer Joseph Connelly explained, "In scenes where she's mad at the boys, she's always coming over to us with the script and objecting. 'I don't see why June is so mad over what Beaver's done. I certainly wouldn't be.' As a result, many of Beaver's crimes have been rewritten into something really heinous like lying about them, in order to give his mother a strong motive for blowing her lady-like stack."[11]
After six seasons and 234 episodes, the popular series was canceled due to the cast's desire to move on to other projects, especially Mathers, who retired from acting to enter his freshman year in high school. The younger actor considered Billingsley a mentor, second mother and a close professional friend:
As I say, Barbara was always, though, a true role model for me. She was a great actress. And a lot of people, you know, when they see her talk jive talk, they always go she can do other things besides be a mom on Leave It to Beaver. And I tell them, Airplane! (1980), she's been a great comedian all her life. And in a lot of ways, just like All in the Family, we kind of stifled her, because her true talent didn't really come out in Leave it To Beaver. She was like the straight woman, but she has an awful lot of talent.
After the show's cancellation, Mathers remained her close friend for over 45 years. They were reunited on The New Leave It to Beaver. Billingsley, Mathers, Dow, Frank Bank and Ken Osmond also celebrated the show's 50th anniversary together.
After Beaver
When production of the show ended in 1963, Billingsley had become typecast as saccharine sweet and had trouble obtaining acting jobs for years. She traveled extensively abroad until the late 1970s. After an absence of 17 years from the public eye (other than appearing in two episodes of The F.B.I. in 1971), Billingsley spoofed her wholesome image with a brief appearance in the comedy Airplane! (1980), as a passenger who could "speak jive". She became the voice of Nanny and The Little Train on Muppet Babies from 1984 to 1991.
Billingsley appeared with Robin Williams and Pam Dawber in a 1982 episode of Mork & Mindy.[12] She appeared in a Leave It to Beaver reunion television movie entitled Still the Beaver in 1983. Hugh Beaumont had died the year before of a heart attack, so she played the widow. She also appeared in the subsequent revival of the series, The New Leave It to Beaver (1985–1989). In the 1997 film version of Leave It to Beaver, Billingsley played the character "Aunt Martha". In 1995, she appeared with other "TV Moms" on Roseanne. In 1998, she appeared on Candid Camera, along with June Lockhart and Isabel Sanford, as audience members in a spoof seminar on motherhood.
On October 4, 2007, she and her surviving castmates, Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank, were reunited on ABC's Good Morning America, to celebrate Leave It to Beaver's 50th anniversary. According to interviewer Tom Bergeron, both of Billingsley's co-stars, Mathers and Osmond, currently get financial advice from another co-star, Bank.
On May 6, 2008, hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she was unable to attend the Academy Leonard Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, California, where the Academy of Television Arts & Science presented "A Salute to TV Moms."
Personal life
Billingsley was married to:
Glenn Billingsley, Sr. (1912–1984), a restaurateur who was a nephew of Sherman Billingsley, the owner of the Stork Club.[13] Her husband's businesses included Billingsley's Golden Bull, Billingsley's Bocage, and the Outrigger Polynesian restaurants in Los Angeles, and a Stork Club in Key West, Florida, where the couple lived briefly after their marriage in 1941 (divorced 1947).[1][13] They had two sons, Drew and Glenn, Jr., who now own and operate Billingsley's Steak House in West Los Angeles, California, which was formerly their father's original Golden Bull restaurant.[2] By this marriage, the actress was related to actor/producer Peter Billingsley.
Roy Kellino (1912–1956), a British-born movie director who had previously been married to British actress Pamela Mason. He and Billingsley were married from 1953 until his death.
Dr. William S. Mortensen (1907–1981), whom she married in 1959.[14] By this marriage, she had stepchildren; the oldest was William Mortensen, Jr., retired Chairman of the Board of old First Federal of Santa Monica[15]
Death
Billingsley died of polymyalgia at her home in Santa Monica, California on October 16, 2010, at the age of 94.[16] She is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.[17]
Micheal Larsen[1] , known by his stage name Eyedea, was a well-known freestyle battle champion and underground rapper died from he was ,opiate toxicity 28,. His notable wins included the televised Blaze Battle sponsored by HBO (2000) and a victory at Scribble Jam (1999). He had appeared as a solo artist, and as the emcee half of the duo Eyedea & Abilities (along with longtime friend and collaborator DJ Abilities). His non-battle rhymes were generally philosophically or thematically based, and often told a definite narrative.
Johnny Sheffield was an Americanchild actor died from a heart attack. he was , 79.
(April 11, 1931 – October 15, 2010)
Early life
He was born as Jon Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actorReginald Sheffield (February 18, 1901 - December 8, 1957) and Louise Van Loon (January 21, 1905 - April 14, 1987). His older sister was Mary Alice Sheffield Cassan and his younger brother was William Hart Sheffield Cassan (actor Billy Sheffield).
His father was himself a former juvenile performer when he came to the United States from his native England. His mother, a native of New York, was a Vassar College graduate with a liberal arts education who loved books and lectured widely.
In 1938, Sheffield became a child star after he was cast in the juvenile lead of a West Coast production of the highly successful BroadwayplayOn Borrowed Time, which starred Dudley Digges and featured Victor Moore as Gramps. Sheffield played the role of Pud, a long role for a child. He later went to New York as a replacement and performed the role on Broadway.
Tarzan and other films
The following year, his father read an article in the Hollywood Reporter that asked, "Have you a Tarzan Jr. in your backyard?" He believed he did and set up an interview. MGM was searching for a suitable youngster to play the adopted son of Tarzan in its next jungle movie with stars Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. Sheffield was taken to an audition where Weissmuller chose him over more than 300 juvenile actors interviewed for the part of "Boy" in Tarzan Finds a Son (1939).[2] In that same year, Sheffield appeared in the Busby Berkeley movie musical Babes in Arms with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, classmates of his at the studio school.
He appeared with many other performers over the years, including Jeanette MacDonald, Pat O'Brien, Cesar Romero, Ronald Reagan and Beverly Garland.
Sheffield played Boy in three Tarzan movies at MGM, and in another five after the star, Weissmuller, and production of the movie series moved to RKO. Brenda Joyce played Jane in the last three Tarzan movies in which Sheffield appeared.[citation needed]
Bomba and Bantu
After he outgrew the role of Boy, the teenage Sheffield went on to star in his own jungle movie series. In 1949, he made Bomba the Jungle Boy with co-star Peggy Ann Garner. In all, he appeared as Bomba 12 times. Sheffield appeared in his last movie, as Bomba, in 1955.[citation needed]
He then made a pilot for a television series, Bantu the Zebra Boy, which was created, produced and directed by his father, Reginald Sheffield. Although the production values were high compared to other TV jungle shows of the day, a sponsor was not found and the show was never produced as a weekly series.
Personal life
Sheffield decided to leave the industry and enrolled in college to further his education. He lived and worked for a time in Arizona. John and Patricia Sheffield were married in 1959 in Yuma, Arizona. They had three children: Patrick, Stewart and Regina.
Later years
After leaving show business, Sheffield completed a businessdegree at UCLA. Turning his attention to other fields, he involved himself variously in farming, real estate and construction. For a time, he was a representative for the Santa Monica Seafood Company importing lobsters from Baja California in Mexico. In his later years Johnny Sheffield lived in Southern California where he wrote articles about his Hollywood years and sold copies of the TV pilotBantu, the Zebra Boy on video.
Death
His wife Patti said that he fell from a ladder while pruning a palm tree. Though his injuries seemed minor, he died of a heart attack four hours later on October 15, 2010 in Chula Vista, California, aged 79.[1]
Freddy was born on May 23, 1925, and was a resident of The Bronx for most of his life. When he was 9 years old, he suffered an accident during a stickball game, in which he lost the use of his right eye. From about 1988, until his death, he was an unofficial promoter for the Yankees.
