/ Stars that died in 2023

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Margot Stevenson, American stage and radio actress (The Shadow) died she was , 98.

Margot Stevenson  was an American stage and radio actress, known for her role as Margo Lane in the radio adaptation of "The Shadow", opposite Orson Welles in 1938 died she was , 98..[1][2]

(February 8, 1912 – January 2, 2011)

Stevenson was born in Manhattan on February 8, 1912. [2] She was the daughter of Irish-born actor Charles Alexander Stevenson, who was 60 years old when she was born, and his second wife Frances Riley, who was 22 years old at the time.[2] She graduated from Brearley School in Manhattan.[2] Stevenson was about to enroll at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, when the Great Depression began.[2] She decided to pursue acting to earn an income instead of attending Bryn Mawr.[2]
Stevenson made her Broadway debut in The Firebird in 1932.[1]
Stevenson died at her home in Manhattan on January 2, 2011 at the age of 98.[2] She was survived by her daughter, actress Margot Avery.[1]

Filmography

Although she was primarily a stage actress, she made a number of movie appearances, including the following:


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Szeto Wah, Hong Kong political activist, died from lung cancer he was , 79.

Szeto Wah [2] was a politician of the pan-democracy camp of Hong Kong. He was formerly the chairman of The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China and a member of the Legislative Council from 1985 to 1997 and 1998 to 2004.
Although the Hong Kong government prior to as well as after the British handover shunned him for his opposition to their policies, Szeto was admired in Hong Kong politics for his strong principles, for eschewing personal gain, and for his rare political acumen. According to commentator Stephen Vines, the Chinese central government appointed Szeto to the Basic Law Drafting Committee because they appreciated his political significance, even though they disliked his ideas.[3]
Aside from his political career, Szeto was also well known for his Chinese calligraphy skills.[4] He was referred to as "Uncle Wah" (華叔) by Hong Kong people.

(28 February 1931 – 2 January 2011)


 Biography

Szeto Wah was born in Hong Kong in 1931 with ancestry from Kaiping, Guangdong.[1] Ten years later his poor family fled to their ancestral home from Hong Kong due to the Japanese bombing in Second Sino-Japanese War.[5] He enrolled in Queen's college and graduated from Grantham College of Education.[5] He entered the teaching profession in 1952,[5] and became headmaster of the GCEPSA Kwun Tong Primary School in 1961.[6]
He became a baptized Christian in 1974.[5]

Political career

1940s

Szeto was a core member of the pro-communist Hok Yau Dancing Club, of which he remained a member until 1958.[5]

1970s

In 1973 he led the Hong Kong teacher's strike protest when the government proposed to cut teachers' salaries by 15%.[5] He then founded the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union in 1974.[5] Under his leadership, the HKPTU expanded rapidly and eventually became the most powerful pressure group in the late 70s to 80s.[7] Szeto stepped down from the union president in 1990.[6]
In 1978 he led the first "Chinese- language movement" in Hong Kong to get mother-tongue classes introduced in secondary schools.[5] That same year he played a leading role in solving the Precious Blood Golden Jubilee Secondary School (寶血會金禧中學) issue involving the "Golden Jubilee school corruption incident" (金禧事件).[1] Louise do Rosario, writing in The Standard, called him the doyen of the Hong Kong pressure groups and "one of the most influential persons in Hong Kong's political scene since mid-70s.[8] He led a second Chinese language movement in 1979 when the University of Hong Kong said receiving new students do not need a passing grade in Chinese language courses.

1980s

In 1982 Szeto led an anti-Japanese protest to denounce official Japanese whitewashing of atrocities during the 1930s and 40s in China in history textbooks (such as Nanking Massacre).[5] Szeto was elected in 1985 and in 1988 to the Legislative Council through the functional constituency of the education sector.[5][6]
In 1985 Szeto, along with Martin Lee, was appointed to the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law.[5] Stephen Vines suggested Szeto was appointed because the central government appreciated his political significance, notwithstanding their dislike for his ideas.[3]
In 1989, following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, his relation with the Communist Party of China became strained.[5], Szeto established the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China which advocates an end to the single-party ruling of China,[5] and which the Beijing leadership regards as subversive. He remained the organisation's chairman for 21 years, until his death in early 2011.[6] During 1989, he and Martin Lee organised protests against Beijing and withdrew from the drafting committee of Hong Kong Basic Law after the incident. Both were banned from visiting mainland China.[5]
Szeto was a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate since 1983, but boycotted its meetings after June 1989.[9]

1990s

In 1990 Szeto would help form the United Democrats of Hong Kong,[5] considered the territory's first political party.[4] He returned to Kowloon East in 1991 and in the redrawn constituency in 1995.[1] In the 1998 and 2000 election, he was returned through the multi-member constituency in the same area. During his tenure in the Legislative Council, the group would evolve into the Democratic Party.[2] Time once described him as "democracy's foot soldier", and named him one of the 25 most influential people in Hong Kong.[4]

2000s


On 25 May 2007 Szeto Wah was speaking at a radio show broadcast from Mong Kok street hosted by Citizen's radio. The topic of the program involved the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. Eight people including Szeto were charged.[10] Critics have argued that the Hong Kong government has selectively persecuted Szeto for using unlicensed equipment when delivering the political message as other members have spoken on the radio and were not charged.[10] In a democratic conference in 2007, Szeto publicly stated that the People's Liberation Army is controlled by the Communist Party of China and not the country. He reiterated that the army is a tool to ensure the party's authoritarian rule.[11]
In 2008 he transferred more than $781,000 in donation collected by the alliance to the Hong Kong Red Cross as relief for the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.[5]
Szeto has long supported the commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen protest and his group organizes annual candlelight vigils every 4 June. The 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 drew a crowd of 150,000.[2] Although Szeto has mainly been critical of mainland authorities, he made a controversial surprising move in May 2010 in support of the Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the LegCo in 2012 after the central government had endorsed the Democratic Party's proposal to revise it.[5] Democratic Party Chairman Albert Ho said that Szeto Wah played an influential role in the decision-making process, but was not the one to make the final decision.[12]

Death and funeral

In 2010 Szeto announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, for which he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.[13] He dismissed as "crocodile tears" Regina Ip's urging of Beijing to allow him to return to the mainland. He also ruled out seeking medical attention there, saying he would seek to visit Tan Zuoren and Liu Xiaobo.[14]
Szeto died at the Prince of Wales Hospital on 2 January 2011, aged 79.[2][15] In a service at St Andrew's Church in Tsim Sha Tsui, bells tolled six long and four short times, representing the victims of the Tiananmen Square protests.[16] In accordance with his wishes, Szeto's body was cremated; half the ashes to be scattered in HK waters, the other half scattered in a garden at Cape Collinson Crematorium.[15]
Exiled mainland dissidents Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi had expressed their strong desire to attend the funeral. Pan-democrats petitioned the Hong Kong Government to allow them to enter Hong Kong to attend Szeto's funeral on compassionate grounds under the One country, two systems principle,[17] although Rita Fan said the request represented a huge dilemma for the government as it would set a precedent.[18] On 10 January, Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, declared that decision on whether to allow dissidents to enter was in the hands of the Hong Kong government; he expressed confidence that they would "handle it well".[19] On 26 January, the government announced that the application of Wang Dan to enter Hong Kong had been declined by after "careful consideration"; spokesman said the decision was made based on the potential "consequences" of allowing him in. The decision was denounced by Wang, Wu'er Kaixi, and democratic legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, saying that the government had surrendered the principle of "One country, two systems".[20]
Outgoing RTHK Director of Broadcasting Franklin Wong was criticised by his staff and others for not holding a live webcast of the funeral.[2]


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Flemming Jørgensen, Danish actor and musician (Bamses Venner), died from a heart attack he was , 63.

Flemming "Bamse" Duun Jørgensen ) was a Danish pop singer and actor, best known as lead singer of the band Bamses Venner (English: Teddy (Bear)'s Friends) died from a heart attack he was , 63.. During the recent years he also released some solo albums, the latest being Tæt på (English: Close-up) from 2010. Bamse was part of the Danish music scene for more than 35 years, and sold more than 3.5 million albums.[1]

(7 February 1947 – 1 January 2011

Flemming "Bamse" Jørgensen occasionally worked as an actor and 1986 he received a Robert Award for best male supporting actor of the year in the movie Ofelia kommer til byen (English: Ophelia comes to town).[2] Flemming "Bamse" Jørgensen died a month before his 64th birthday in the early hours of New Year's Day 2011 of a cardiac arrest in his home in Egå, a suburb to Aarhus.[2][3]



Discography

  • Din sang (1977)
  • Solen skinner (1979)
  • Bamse Live I (1980)
  • Bamse Live II (1980)
  • Lige nu (1987)
  • 1988 (1988)
  • Lidt for mig selv (1994)
  • Jul på Vimmersvej (1995)
  • Stand By Me (1999)
  • Always on My Mind (2001)
  • Be My Guest (2005)
  • Love Me Tender (2007)
  • Tæt på (2010)

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Billy Joe Patton, American golfer died he was , 88.

William Joseph Patton  was an American amateur golfer best known for almost winning the 1954 Masters Tournament died he was , 88..

(April 19, 1922[1] – January 1, 2011[2])

Patton was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 1943.
In 1954, Patton came within one stroke of being in a three-man playoff with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead for the championship. His final round 71 included a hole-in-one on the par-3 6th hole and a double bogey on the par-5 13th hole when he tried to reach the green in two and put his ball into Rae's Creek.
Patton won several amateur tournaments including the North and South Amateur three times and the Southern Amateur twice. He also won the Carolinas Open twice.
Patton played on five Walker Cup teams; 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963, and 1965 and was captain of the 1969 team. He played on the Eisenhower Trophy team in 1958 and 1962.
Patton was awarded the Bob Jones Award by the United States Golf Association in 1982.
Patton was inducted into several Halls of Fame:

Tournament wins

Results in major championships

Tournament 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP 3 LA T49 T12 CUT 8 LA T8 T13 LA CUT CUT 48 T37 CUT CUT
U.S. Open CUT DNP T36 T54 T6 LA DNP 13 T8 LA CUT DNP DNP DNP CUT DNP CUT DNP DNP
LA = Low Amateur
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
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Monday, March 7, 2011

Onie Ponder, American supercentenarian died she was , 112.

Onezima Cecelia "Onie" (née Chazal) Ponder  was an American supercentenarian. At the age of 112 years, 119 days, she was the 21st oldest person in the world at her death on December 31, 2010 and the oldest living person in the U.S state of Florida.[2]


(September 3, 1898 – December 31, 2010)

 Family

Onezima Cecelia "Onie" (Chazal) Ponder was born in Ocala, Florida on September 3, 1898. She was born to Isabel Juliana "Nita" (Hickman) Chazal (her mother) and Louis Richard Amedee Chazal (her father) at home on the corner of Ft. King and Herbert Street (now Wenona) . At the age of two, Ponder moved into a house diagonally across the street from the house she was born in. She remembers that that new house had nine rooms and indoor plumbing, which was a big deal back then as many people still used outhouses. As a child, Ponder and her seven siblings were rarely bored. Ponder said, "we used to have a lot of fun just among ourselves; we didn't need a bunch of folks coming over to entertain us."[3] According to Ponder, she had a wonderful family life as a child. Growing up, Ponder clearly remembers seeing Halley's Comet soar through the sky, and was 13 when the Titanic sank. She remembered when automobiles first rolled into town, and lived in America during World War One. Her parents stressed doing well in school, so she was sent to boarding school in Columbia, South Carolina, when she was 14. After graduating from St. Genevieve's boarding school in Asheville, North Carolina in 1916, Ponder went to the University of Florida to study accounting, graduating in 1922.[4]

Career

Onie Ponder worked all of her life, and spent much of it as a bookkeeper. During World War One, Ponder did her part by selling war bonds throughout the war. Although Ponder enjoyed working all of her life, she says that the best time she spent was with her kids. In 1920, when Ponder was 21, women were given the right to vote for the first time. Ponder voted in every election since, except for once when she was giving birth to her son Carswell. In the 2008 election, she voted for Barack Obama.

In Later years

Onie Ponder lost her sight to macular degeneration in her early 100's. At 106, Ponder was hit by a car, and then recovered. Ponder lived in Ocala, the city in which she was born, until her death in 2010. At the age of 110, the only medication Ponder took was two pills once per day. Although blinded, Ponder was still in relatively good health. In an interview with Ponder, she said, "I just love living every day and doing the best I can.” Onie Ponder embraced living day by day, and in an interview for Growing Bolder television in 2008, she said, "I don't dream, I believe in reality. I live one day at a time because, believe me, one day is enough."[5] Ponder enjoyed listening to historical audio books from the blind center. She listened to more than 200 of them.[6] Ponder credited her longevity to her active youth, “I walked everywhere. I had to; we didn’t have any cars.”

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Tove Maës, Danish actress died she was , 89

Tove Maës was a Danish actress of stage, television and film best known for her starring roles in the series of "Morten Korch" films, in particular The Red Horses. Maës was a three-time recipient of the Bodil Award for Best Actress, winning in 1954, 1971, and 1983 died she was , 89.


(30 April 1921 – 31 December 2010)

Biography

Career

Maës was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on 30 April 1921. She studied with the Danish actor Albert Luther and, in 1942, was "discovered" by Theater Director Helge Rungwald who employed Maës at the Odense Theater.[1] Shortly thereafter, Maës played the lead in Selma Lagerlof's Dunungen. Maës sought an apprenticeship at the Royal Danish Theatre after appearing there in Carl Erik Soya's Natteherberget, but was turned down. Instead, she worked at the Riddersalen theater, performing in a series of roles.
In 1946, Maës made a critically acclaimed screen debut as Ditte Godpige in the filmatization of Martin Andersen Nexø's novel, Ditte Menneskebarn (Ditte, Child of Man).[1] Her performance in the film about the hardships of a young impoverished girl received international recognition. Especially noticed was her thoroughly wholesome and pure sensualism even while bathing nude.[2] However, film reviewers in the United States (where the movie was seen in an edited version which removed any nudity) dismissed the movie as being too melodramatic.[3] Maës replied in a later interview that the American audience had never been confronted with poverty in such a realistic portrayal on screen.[1] During the 1950s, Maës performed in many of light-hearted films in the role of the sweet young ingenue. She played starring roles in several family films adapted from the popular Morten Korch novels, the first of which, The Red Horses, became the biggest box-office success in Danish cinema. Maës also was able to bring a more serious side to her acting, and in 1954, she was awarded the Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of an insane girl in Sven Aage Lorentz's experimental film, Himlen er Blå.

Maës focused again on her stage work during the 1960s with several performances at the Århus Theatre. In 1966, she caused a public reaction when she went against her usual movie persona, playing against type in the role of a prostitute named Lucy in the black comedy Galgenhumor (Gallows Humor). She explained that she was tired of playing the nice young girl.[1] She also began acting in a series of roles playing middle-aged mothers and wives. In 1971, Maës starred in the title role of Det er nat med Fru Knudsen (Curtains for Mrs. Knudsen). The film, directed by Henning Ørnbak and Leif Petersen, was an adaptation of Petersen's stage play that had debuted one year earlier with Maës in the same role. Maës' portrayal of the drunken and grotesque mother of a small-time criminal brought her the Bodil Award for Best Actress. For the 1975 comedy film Ta' det some en mand, frue! (Take it Like a Man, Miss!) she was awarded the Mathilde Prize from the Danish Women's Society. She again won the Bodil Award in 1982 for her performance as an overlooked but fantasy-filled retiree in Erik Clausen's drama Felix.
Maës is noted for a number of supporting roles on television series including the sister, Jette on Rundt om Selma, the mother in the adaptation of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, the subdued Lilly Lund on Matador, and Mrs. Zachariasen on the TV mini-series The Kingdom.

Personal life

Maës married Danish actor, writer and director Carl Ottosen in 1942. They were subsequently divorced and Maës married a second time to press photographer Jesper Gottschalck.
She died in her home on 31 December 2010 at age 89.[4] [5][6]

Filmography


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Shi Tiesheng, Chinese writer, died from a cerebral hemorrhage he was , 59.

Shi Tiesheng (史铁生)  was a Chinese novelist, known for his story which was the basis of the film Life on a String died from a cerebral hemorrhage he was , 59.. The China Daily stated regarding his essay about the park near where he lived, "Many critics have considered I and the Temple of Earth (zh:我与地坛) as one of the best Chinese prose essays of the 20th century."[1]

(1951- December 31, 2010)

Shi was born in Beijing, and graduated from Tsinghua University High School. In 1969 he was a zhiqing, or urban youth sent to a rural area of Shaanxi as part of the Down to the Countryside Movement of the Cultural Revolution. There he was paralyzed in an accident at the age of 21, and was sent back to Beijing.[2]
Shi was published for the first time in 1979. His 1983 short story "Wo de yaoyuan de quingping wan" ("My Faraway Clear Peace River") won the National Excellent Short Story Prize. The story is about a zhiquing and an old man of the village, and takes the view that the peasants suffer more over the long term than the urban youth sent from the city.[3] A sequel, "A Story of Rustication" ("Chadui de gushi") was published in 1986.[2]
In 1980 director Tian Zhuangzhuang based a short film called Our Corner on a story by Shi; it was the first film by a filmmaker of China's Fifth Generation Cinema.[4]
Shi's 1985 novella "Like a Banjo String" (命若琴弦) about a pair of blind musicians, was the basis of the 1991 film Life on a String directed by Chen Kaige.[2]
His collections of short stories include My Faraway Clear Peace River (Wo de yaoyuan de qingping wan) (1985) and Sunday (Libairi) (1988).[2]
A collection of English-language translations of his short stories was published in 1991 as Strings of Life.[5]
In 1996 his novel Notes on Principles (务虚笔记) was published. In selecting it as a notable work of Chinese literature since 1949 which could qualify as an overlooked classic, Professor Shelley W. Chan of Wittenberg University said Notes on Principles was similar to but better than Soul Mountain by Nobel Prize-winner Gao Xingjian.[6]
In 1998 his kidneys began to fail and he subsequently required dialysis three times weekly.[7]
He received the Lao She Literature Prize for Fragments Written at the Hiatuses of Sickness (病隙碎笔)(2002).[1][5]
In 2006 he published My Sojourn in Ding Yi (我的丁一之旅), about an immortal spirit that inhabits the bodies of a succession of people, including Adam, Shi Tiesheng himself, and the book's hero, Ding Yi.[7]
On the morning of December 31, 2010, Shi died of cerebral hemorrhage.[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...