/ Stars that died in 2023

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Helen Boatwright, American soprano, died from complications from a fall she was , 94

 Helen Boatwright was an American soprano who specialized in the performance of American song died from complications from a fall she was , 94.  recorded the first full-length album of songs by composer Charles Ives and had a career that spanned more than five decades.[1][2]

(November 17, 1916 – December 1, 2010)

Early life and career

Born as Helena Johanna Strassburger in 1916, she was the youngest of six children in a large German family from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. After high school, she studied with Anna Shram Irvin[3] and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music from Oberlin College. Her operatic debut was as Anna in a production of Otto Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor at Tanglewood.
During her career, she worked with many important figures in the world of music, including conductors Leopold Stokowski, Erich Leinsdorf, Seiji Ozawa and Zubin Mehta. She also performed with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood in the 1940s, sang opposite tenor Mario Lanza in his operatic stage debut, and performed for President John F. Kennedy in the East Room of the White House in 1963. In 1954, she became the first person to record a full-length album of Ives' songs, "24 Songs" with pianist John Kirkpatrick. She also studied with composer Normand Lockwood.[citation needed]
She met her future husband, violinist Howard Boatwright (died 1999, aged 80), in Los Angeles in 1941 when they were to perform in a National Federation of Music Clubs competition.
They performed together throughout their married life in North America, Europe, and India. Many of her husband's compositions for voice were written for her. Other notable orchestral and choral groups she sang with were Paul Hindemith's Collegium Musicum, Alfred Mann's Cantata Singers, and Johannes Somary's Amor Artis Chorale.[citation needed]

Later career

In 1964, her husband became the dean of the Syracuse University School of Music andshe joined him teaching there. In 1969 the Boatwrights established a university-sponsored summer program, L'Ecole Hindemith in Vevey, Switzerland. They taught and performed there every summer until 1988. She was a professor of voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester from 1972-79, and was a guest professor at Cornell University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University.
She also gave master-classes at Glimmerglass Opera, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina and Washington University. In 2003, Syracuse University presented Boatwright with an honorary doctor of music degree. Boatwright continued to study music and teach, and in 2006, on her birthday, she celebrated with a solo concert at a local church.[citation needed]
In 1959 Helen performed the Bach B Minor Mass at the Crane School Of Music in Potsdam, New York, with the Crane Chorus and Orchestra under the direction of Robert Shaw.

Partial discography


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Hillard Elkins, American talent manager and film producer (Alice's Restaurant, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert), died from a heart attack he was , 81

Hillard (Hilly) Elkins [1] was an American theatre and film producer died from a heart attack he was , 81.[2]

(October 18, 1929 – December 1, 2010)

Born in Brooklyn in New York City, Elkins attended Erasmus Halland Midwood High Schools and Brooklyn College.[3] At the age of eighteen he already had his degree and was studying law while working in the mail room at the William Morris Agency, quickly moving up the ranks to agent and then head of the theatrical department.[4] After serving in the Korean War by making training films in Manhattan, he returned to agency work, but in 1953[3] left to open his own management company, where he represented James Coburn, Robert Culp, Steve McQueen, Mel Brooks, Herbert Ross, Charles Strouse, and Lee Adams.

Elkins turned to Broadway theatre producing in 1962 with the Garson Kanin play Come on Strong. The following year, he saw former client Sammy Davis, Jr. performing at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, and approached him about starring in a musical version of Clifford Odets' Golden Boy. When Davis expressed interest, Elkins lured Odets out of semi-retirement to write the book (revised by William Gibson when Odets died) and hired Strouse and Adams to compose the score. The 1964 Broadway production, directed by Arthur Penn, earned him Tony Award nominations for Best Musical and Best Producer of a Musical. Additional Broadway credits include Oh! Calcutta!, The Rothschilds, and Hedda Gabler and A Doll's House, the latter two with his then-wife Claire Bloom (they married in 1969 and divorced in 1972).
Elkin reunited with director Penn for his first film production, Alice's Restaurant (1969) with Arlo Guthrie. This was followed by the Golden Globe-nominated film A New Leaf (1971), screen adaptations of Oh! Calcutta! (1972) and A Doll's House (1973), and Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979).
For television, Elkins produced the documentaries Pippin: His Life and Times (1981), Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen (1996), An Evening with Quentin Crisp (1999), and Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool (2005).
Elins owned the screen rights to the Kurt Vonnegut novel Cat's Cradle, which currently is in development.
Elkins was the subject of a 1972 book, The Producer by Christopher Davis.[3]

 Additional awards and nominations
  • 1998 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special (In His Father's Shoes, winner)
  • 1997 CableACE Award for Best Children's Special, Age 7 and Older (In His Father's Shoes, nominee)
  • 1975 Tony Award for Best Play (Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, nominee)
  • 1975 Tony Award for Best Play (The Island, nominee)
  • 1975 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Foreign Play (Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, nominee)
  • 1975 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Foreign Play (The Island, nominee)
  • 1971 Tony Award for Best Musical (The Rothschilds, nominee)

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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Charles N. Millican, American academic, founding president of the University of Central Florida died he was , 94

Charles Norman Millican, Ph.D.  was the founding President of the University of Central Florida, then named Florida Technological University died he was , 94.

(October 9, 1916 – December 1, 2010)

Family and Education

Millican was born in Wilson, Arkansas. As a young man, he worked as a part-time reporter for Dun and Bradstreet while earning a bachelor of science degree in Business and Religion from Union University. He graduated in 1941 and was named pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church in Mississippi.
Millican later entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky. But, he returned to Jackson, Mississippi to serve as a coordinator for the 44th College Training Detachment of the United States Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1945.
He married Frances Hilliard on May 15, 1945 in Jackson, Tennessee.

Millican returned to school, and in 1946 earned his master of arts degree in Economics from George Peabody College, then joining the Commerce Department at his alma mater Union University. He would move south to Gainesville, Florida in 1948, to earn a Ph.D. in Business Finance and Economics from the University of Florida. Millican joined the university faculty, and was appointed the Assistant Dean of the Warrington College of Business Administration in 1956. Soon thereafter, he left for Texas where he became Dean of the School of Business Administration at Hardin-Simmons University.
In 1959 he moved to Tampa, Florida, to become Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of South Florida.

University of Central Florida Presidency

In 1965 he was appointed the founding president of a new state university in Florida, then without a name or even a campus. Millican, with the advice of a citizen advisory group, selected the name "Florida Technological University," though it is now known as the University of Central Florida.[1] The campus site he selected was just east of Orlando, Florida. He is also credited with establishing twin tenets for the university, "Accent on the Individual" and "Accent on Excellence." Millican also chose the new university's motto: "Reach for the Stars." And, he was a co-designer of its distinctive "Pegasus" seal. The highlight of Millican's presidency was at his new university's commencement ceremonies in 1973, when he played host to President Richard Nixon.
Millican stepped-down as university president on January 31, 1978, but remained on the faculty. He was given the title of "President Emeritus," and taught classes in finance. Due to his role in shaping the university, Millican is considered by many to be the "Father of UCF."[2]




Later years
After leaving UCF, Millican served as the president of nearby Lake Highland Preparatory School from 1982 to 1985, and continued as President Emeritus-Consultant until 1993. Millican returned to serve the University in 1993 as President Emeritus and Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer of the UCF Foundation. Millican died on December 1, 2010, at his home in Central Florida.[2]

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Daya Mata, American spiritual leader, Self-Realization Fellowship president (1955–2010) died she was , 96


Sri Daya MataMother of Compassion[1] who was born Faye Wright,  was the president and sanghamata (mother of the society) of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)[2] of Los Angeles, California, and the Yogoda Satsanga (YSS) Society of India.[3][4]

(January 31, 1914 – November 30, 2010)

Faye Wright was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a prominent family of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church).[5] Her ancestors were among the original Mormon pioneers[5][6] to the Salt Lake Valley. Her grandfather, Abraham Reister Wright, was an architect of the LDS Church's Salt Lake Tabernacle.[7][8] She has been listed as a "Famous Utahn" by the Utah Office of Tourism.[9]
Daya Mata first met Paramhansa Yogananda in 1931, and joined Yogananda's ashram that year. After Yogananda's death, and the passing of his successor Rajarsi Janakananda, Daya Mata became the third president of YSS/SRF in 1955.[10]

Daya Mata's brother Richard Wright served as Yogananda's personal secretary for many years,[11] appearing in his Autobiography of a Yogi. Her mother was also an SRF member. Daya Mata (Faye Wright) and Ananda Mata (Virginia Wright, Daya Mata's sister) served on the SRF Board of Directors.[12]
Daya Mata authored three volumes: Only Love': Living the Spiritual Life in a Changing World,[13] Finding the Joy Within You: Personal Counsel for God Centered Living,[14] and Enter the Quiet Heart: Creating a Loving Relationship with God.[15]
At the time of her 2010 death, Sri Daya Mata had been president of Self-Realization Fellowship since 1955. She had been living with her sister in a Sierra Madre house purchased in 1966 and commuting to SRF headquarters in Mount Washington. She was one of the first women to lead a worldwide religious organization and monastic order.[16]
She died on the evening of November 30, 2010, in Los Angeles.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Garry Gross, American fashion photographer, died from a heart attack he was , 73

Garry Gross  was an American fashion photographer who went on to specialize in dog portraiture  died from a heart attack he was , 73.[1][2]


(November 6, 1937 - November 30, 2010)

 Career

Born in New York, Gross began his career as a commercial photographer, apprenticing with photographers Francesco Scavullo and James Moore and studying with master photographers Lisette Model and Richard Avedon. His fashion and beauty photography has been featured in numerous fashion magazines over the years and his work has appeared on the covers of such magazines as GQ, Cosmopolitan, and New York Magazine.[2] Celebrities Gross has photographed include Calvin Klein, Gloria Steinem, Whitney Houston, and Lou Reed.
Gross studied with the Animal Behavior Center of New York and became a certified dog trainer in 2002,[3] using that training to begin working with dogs and creating Fine Art style portraits.[2][4] His last project was a series of large scale portraits of senior dogs and he actively supported charities that benefited rescue dogs and senior dogs.
His work has received awards from The Art Directors Club and the Advertising Club of New York.

Brooke Shields photograph controversy

Gross was the author of a controversial set of nude images taken in 1975 of a then ten-year-old Brooke Shields with the consent of her mother, Teri Shields, for the Playboy publication Sugar 'n' Spice. The images portray Shields nude, standing and sitting in a bathtub, wearing makeup and covered in oil. Two of the images were full-frontal. In 1981 Shields attempted to prevent further use of the photographs but in 1983 a US Court ruled that a child is bound by the terms of the valid, unrestricted consents to the use of photographs executed by a guardian and that the image did not breach child pornography laws.[5] In ruling, the presiding Judge stated: "The issue on this appeal is whether an infant model may disaffirm a prior unrestricted consent executed on her behalf by her parent and maintain an action pursuant to section 51 of the Civil Rights Law against her photographer for republication of photographs of her. We hold that she may not.[5]"
A photograph of one of those original photographs was produced by American artist Richard Prince,[6] an artist famous for his "reproduction photography." Prince called his version "Spiritual America," after a 1923 photograph by Alfred Stieglitz that depicts the genitals of a workhorse.[7] In 2009 "Spiritual America" was removed from the Tate Modern gallery exhibition called Pop Life: Art in a Material World[8] after protesters described the image as "obscene" and a "magnet for pedophiles,"[9] although it had been shown in New York's Guggenheim Museum in 2007 without incident.[10]
Gross has stated that "The photo has been infamous from the day I took it and I intended it to be"[6] and that he was "disappointed but not surprised” by the Tate's decision to remove the photograph.[11][12][13]

Death

Gross died from a heart attack at his home in the New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood on November 30, 2010.[14]

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Peter Hofmann, German operatic tenor, died from dementia and Parkinson's disease he was , 66

 Peter Hofmann[1] was a German operatic tenor who also worked in the rock and musical theatre fields. He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease since 1994, and ceased performing in 1999.

(22 August 1944 - 30 November 2010)

Hofmann was born in Marienbad (modern Mariánské Lázně,Czech Republic) and became a singer in a rock band before joining the army. During his military service he started studying singing which he continued to do in Karlsruhe. He made his opera debut in 1972 in Lübeck, as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. He subsequently appeared in Stuttgart, Paris, Vienna, London, Chicago and San Francisco. he is best known for singing on the heldentenor roles of Wagner, he has performed Siegmund, Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tristan and Loge, notably at the Bayreuth Festival where he first appeared in 1976. He was heard at the Metropolitan Opera from 1980 to 1988, in Lohengrin, Parsifal, Die Meistersinger and Die Walküre.
From 1990 to 1991, he played the title role in The Phantom of the Opera, in Hamburg.

Recordings

From Bayreuth, Hofmann appears as Siegmund in the 1980 Die Walküre (with Dame Gwyneth Jones as Brünnhilde) conducted by Pierre Boulez, in Patrice Chéreau's 1976 Ring production (Deutsche Grammophon), and in the title role of the 1982 Lohengrin (opposite Karan Armstrong as Elsa) conducted by Woldemar Nelsson (EuroArts), in Götz Friedrich's production.
In the studio, he made a remarkable 1978 recording of Die Zauberflöte under French conductor Alain Lombard with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Kathleen Battle which was surprisingly not widely distributed, then Fidelio (conducted by Sir Georg Solti, 1979), Parsifal (opposite Dunja Vejzovic's Kundry, led by Herbert von Karajan, 1979–80), Orfeo ed Euridice (1982) and Der fliegende Holländer (with José van Dam and Vejzovic, conducted by von Karajan, 1981–83). Hofmann is also heard in Leonard Bernstein's "live" recording of Tristan und Isolde (1981).
The 1986 live DVD performance under James Levine of Lohengrin gives some idea of Hofmann's physical appeal. He certainly looked the part of the Aryan Wagnerian figure with his piercing blue eyes, florid blond hair and a square-set facial features.

Light music career

In 1987, Hallmark published Songs for the Holidays featuring Hofmann and the soprano Deborah Sasson. At the same time as singing classic roles in opera, Hofmann was also making a number of pop albums selling well in Europe such as Rock Classics of 1987 and Love Me Tender: Peter Hofmann Sings Elvis Presley in 1992. By the late 1980s he had abandoned opera completely in favour of musical theatre, making 300 appearances in the show Phantom of the Opera in the Hamburg production of the early 1990s.
Peter Hofmann moved to live in Bayreuth and spent his time writing his autobiography and supporting research through the Peter Hofmann Parkinson Project.[2] He died in October 2010, at the age of 66.


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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Jim Kelley, American sportswriter and television journalist (Sports Illustrated), died from pancreatic cancer he was , 61

James Thomas "Jim" Kelley, Jr.  was a professional sports news columnist whose 30-year career focused primarily on the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, and the greater Buffalo area. He started covering the Sabres in 1981 for The Buffalo News, and also went on to cover the Stanley Cup Finals for 23 straight years.

(October 26, 1949[1] – November 30, 2010)

Kelley also pursued other media besides newspaper writing. He originated the weekly "Hockey Night in Buffalo", as well as "Sharpshooters" on WNSA with partner Mike Robitaille. From time to time he continued to contribute various hockey articles to ESPN.com and FOXSports.com. His experience and knowledge of hockey led The Hockey News to proclaim him in 2002–03 as one of the "100 People of Power and Influence in Hockey."[2]
Kelley was a regular co-host on Prime Time Sports, a columnist for Sports Illustrated[3], and wrote a hockey column for Sportsnet.ca; he continued writing columns for Sportsnet up until his death, with his final column being published the day of his death.

Honors

Kelley was a three-time president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. He also won the 1994–95 New York State Publisher's Award for Sports Writing Excellence, and was named one of the top five hockey writers in North America by ESPN. He was chosen as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Media Selection Committee, and a Staff Consultant to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. In 2004, Kelley earned one of hockey's highest honors, receiving the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. One year later, he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.He will also be inducted in to the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame on January 1, 2011

Hašek incident

One of the most notorious moments of Kelley's career came in the 1996–97 NHL season, while he was covering the Buffalo Sabres' first round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators. After Sabres goaltender Dominik Hašek claimed to be injured with a knee pop in Game Three of the series, Kelley wrote a column the next day that accused Hašek of having "poor mental toughness."[4] After Game Five of the series, Kelley approached Hašek for an interview. When he saw Kelley, Hašek unexpectedly yelled at him, pushed him and subsequently ripped his shirt off. He later issued a formal apology to Kelley, and was suspended three games and fined $10,000 for his actions.[5]

Battle with cancer

In his Sportsnet.ca column on Christmas Eve 2009, Kelley revealed that he was battling pancreatic cancer.[6] He died at age 61 at Buffalo General Hospital on November 30, 2010.[7] Earlier that morning at 1:30 a.m. (EST), he filed his final column for Sportsnet.ca. The subject was the Toronto Maple Leafs' status on the two-year anniversary of the hiring of Brian Burke as its general manager.[8]

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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...