/ Stars that died in 2023

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Kent Hull, American football player (Buffalo Bills), died from liver disease he was 50.



James Kent Hull was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League and United States Football League, more precisely a center for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL and Buffalo Bills of the NFL.

(January 13, 1961 – October 18, 2011)

Mississippi State University

A native of Greenwood, Mississippi Kent Hull graduated from Mississippi State University. At Mississippi State, Hull earned four football letters as the Bulldogs' center from 1979 to 1982 before going on to star first in the USFL then in the NFL.

New Jersey Generals

Hull was the starting center for the Generals from 1983 to 1985.

Buffalo Bills

As a rookie for the Buffalo Bills in 1986, Hull immediately became their starting center, replacing Will Grant, hunched between 7-year veteran Jim Ritcher at left offensive guard and fellow rookie Will Wolford at right guard for all 16 games, with Hall-of-Famer Jim Kelly as rookie quarterback under first-year head coach Marv Levy.[1] In 1988, the Bills won the AFC east division with a strong offensive line, Hull playing between Ritcher and Tim Vogler at right guard. They beat the Houston Oilers in the divisional round of the 1988–89 NFL playoffs, as Kelly passed for 244 yards and Thurman Thomas rushed for 75 yards in only 7 carries, but lost the AFC championship game to the Cincinnati Bengals. In 1989, the Bills won the AFC east division title again but lost a divisional round match of the 1989–90 NFL playoffs to the Cleveland Browns.
In 1990, the Bills won the AFC east division again, beating the Miami Dolphins in the divisional round of the 1990–91 NFL playoffs, destroying the Los Angeles Raiders 51 to 3 in the AFC championship game, but barely losing to the Bill Parcells-led New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV 20 to 19. In 1991, the Bills won the AFC east division again, beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the 1991–92 NFL playoffs, the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game but losing to the Joe Gibbs-led Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXVI. One more year of joy and frustration occurred in 1992, when the Bills won the AFC east division title again, beating the Houston Oilers in a wild-card game of the 1992–93 NFL playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round, the Miami Dolphins in the AFC championship game, but losing to the Jimmie Johnson-led Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVII. More joys and frustrations occurred in 1993, when the Bills won the AFC east division title again, beating the Los Angeles Raiders in the divisional round of the 1993–94 NFL playoffs, the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game (rushing for 229 yards, 186 by Thomas), but losing to the Johnson-led Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVIII.
The Bills ran out of gas in 1994, finishing only with a won-lost record of 7–9. But in 1995, the Bills came back to prominence by winning the AFC east divisional title to beat the Dolphins in a wild-card game of the 1995–96 NFL playoffs, rushing for a ridiculous 334 yards, as Hull mauled the opposing defensive tackles Tim Bowens and Chuck Klingbeil as thoroughly as middle linebacker Bryan Cox, but they lost a divisional round game to the Steelers. In 1996, Hull's final year in the NFL, the Bills made the playoffs but lost a wild-card game to the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 1997, he was replaced by sophomore Dusty Zeigler.
From 1986 to 1993, he played next to Ritcher at left guard, forming a fine tandem in their hurry-up offense, and in the final two years with a very strong Ruben Brown. During Hull's eleven-year career in Buffalo, he played in 121 consecutive games from 1986 to 1993, as the Bills enjoyed eight winning seasons and won four consecutive AFC titles. Named to the Pro Bowl three times, he was also one of the team's captains for his final seven years. Most notably, he was the starting center for Buffalo during their record four straight Super Bowl appearances from 1990 to 1993, though all losses.

Awards and recognition

Hull was selected to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, inducted into the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, received the Ralph C. Wilson Distinguished Service Award in 2001, was selected to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and was the 19th inductee to the Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo in 2002.

Death

Hull died[2] at home in Greenwood, Mississippi on October 18, 2011. The cause was announced as a gastrointestinal bleed stemming from chronic liver disease, a condition which he had been battling for some time.[3] A review of his career was published in the New York Times of November 7, 2011.[4]


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Tommy Grant, Canadian football player (Hamilton Tiger-Cats), died he was 76.

Tommy Grant was a star football player in the Canadian Football League.

(January 9, 1935 – October 18, 2011)

Junior football

Tommy Grant played for the Windsor AKO Fratmen junior team that played in the Canadian Junior final.

CFL

Grant played 13 years with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1956 to 1968 and one more with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1969. An all-star twice (as a running back and flanker) he rushed for 559 yards and caught 329 passes for 6542 yards in his career. He won the Gruen Trophy as the best rookie in the East in 1956 and the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1964. Most amazingly, he played in 9 Grey Cup games, all with Hamilton, winning 4 of them
Grant was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.


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Norman Corwin, American radio writer, director and producer, died he was 101.


Norman Lewis Corwin was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the 1930s and 1940s.

(May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011)

Corwin was among the first producers to regularly use entertainment—even light entertainment—to tackle serious social issues. In this area he was a peer of Orson Welles and William N. Robson, and an inspiration to other later radio/TV writers such as Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, Norman Lear, J. Michael Straczynski and Yuri Rasovsky.
He was the son of Samuel and Rose Corwin and was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Corwin was a major figure during the Golden Age of Radio. During the 1930s and 1940s he was a writer and producer of many radio programs in many genres: history, biography, fantasy, fiction, poetry and drama. He was the writer and creator of series such as The Columbia Workshop, 13 By Corwin, 26 By Corwin and others. He recently was a lecturer at the University of Southern California.
Corwin won a One World Award, two Peabody Medals, an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a duPont-Columbia Award; he was nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Lust for Life (1956). On May 12, 1990, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Lincoln College. In 1996 he received the Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from California Lutheran University. Corwin was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1993.
A documentary film on Corwin's life, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Feature) in 2006. Les Guthman's feature documentary on Mr. Corwin's career, Corwin aired on PBS in the 1990s. He was inducted into the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Diamond Circle in 1994.[1]

Contents

Biography

Marriage and children

Corwin was married in 1947 to actress Katherine Locke. They had two children – an adopted son, Anthony Leon, and a daughter, Diane Arlene. Katherine Locke died in 1995.

Religious views

Corwin was Jewish, and his parents observed Judaism. (His father, Sam Corwin, attended holiday services until his death at 110). While not an observant Jew, Corwin has infused much of his work with the ideas of the Hebrew Prophets. One of the prayerbooks of American Reform Judaism, Shaarei Tefila: Gates of Prayer, contains a portion of the Prayer from the finale of Corwin's On a Note of Triumph (see link to full text below).
Lord God of test-tube and blueprint
Who jointed molecules of dust and shook them till their name was Adam,
Who taught worms and stars how they could live together,
Appear now among the parliaments of conquerors and give instruction to their schemes:
Measure out new liberties so none shall suffer for his father's color or the credo of his choice:
Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit by postponing it pretend:
Sit at the treaty table and convoy the hopes of the little peoples through expected straits,
And press into the final seal a sign that peace will come for longer than posterities can see ahead,
That man unto his fellow man shall be a friend forever.

Early career

Corwin worked as a newspaper journalist for the Greenfield Recorder and the Springfield Republican, and later read news over WBZA in Massachusetts. He moved to New York City in 1936 and created a program for independent station WQXR. In 1938, he began working for the CBS Radio Network. CBS scheduled Norman Corwin's Words Without Music, the first usage of a writer's name in a program title; the series included two of his more famous works, The Plot to Overthrow Christmas, a fantasy in rhyme, and They Fly Through The Air, an impassioned reaction to the Spanish Civil War. In 1941 Corwin was given the timeslot and resources of the Columbia Workshop program for a full six months, under the title 26 By Corwin, which required him to conceive, write, cast, direct and produce a completely new play every seven days.[citation needed]
We Hold These Truths was first broadcast on December 15, 1941, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the United States Bill of Rights. It was written at the "invitation" (Corwin's word) of the U.S. Office of Facts and Figures. Corwin reports being on a train on his way to California to produce the program when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor war came to him. He sent a telegram to Washington at the next stop, asking if the OFF still wanted the program done. When he got to Albuquerque, a telegram was waiting for him: "the President says, 'now more than ever.'" [Corwin's notes in "More by Corwin] Many radio and movie stars of the day featured, along with an epilogue by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. With an audience of 60 million listeners it became one of the most famous ever produced on radio.[2]
Columbia Presents Corwin (1944) offered stories ranging from serious to whimsical. His most famous work is On a Note of Triumph, a celebration of the Allied victory in Europe, first broadcast on VE Day, May 8, 1945. Not knowing where he would be when the end came, broadcast historian Erik Barnouw wrote, Corwin had performers ready in both New York City and Los Angeles. The program went on (from the Los Angeles studios of CBS Radio Station KNX), with Martin Gabel as host/narrator and with William L. Shirer (via cable from New York) re-creating his role as reporter in the Compeigne forest covering the French surrender to Germany. Corwin wrote a similar program for CBS, Fourteen August, which was broadcast on V-J Day.
Corwin was the first winner of the One World Award established by the Common Council for American Unity along with the (Wendell) Willkie Memorial of Freedom House. The award's winner was given an around the world trip. He won the award for his contributions in the field of mass communication to the concept of the world becoming more unified. In June 1946, he set out from New York for a 4 month journey. He interviewed both world leaders and ordinary citizens, accompanied by a CBS recording engineer with 225 pounds of magnetic wire recording equipment. His 100 hours of recorded interviews was transcribed and took up 3700 pages. The CBS network then molded his work into a 13 part documentary that was aired in the Winter and Spring of 1947. Programs featured Great Britain, Western Europe, Sweden and Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Egypt and India, Shanghai and Cities of the Far East, The Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.[3]
Corwin wrote and directed two plays produced on Broadway, The Rivalry (1959) and The World of Carl Sandburg (1960). According to Ray Bradbury, Corwin was responsible for the eventual publication of Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.[citation needed]
Composer David Raksin's "reverent orchestral theme" for the 1950 MGM film The Next Voice You Hear... was later published with original lyrics by Corwin as a hymn, "Hasten the Day".[4]

Middle career

Corwin wrote a number of motion picture screenplays, including The Blue Veil (1951), Scandal at Scourie (1953), Lust for Life (1956), and The Story of Ruth (1961).
In the early 1970s Corwin produced and hosted the television show Norman Corwin Presents. In 1979 he hosted Academy Leaders, a weekly showcase for short animated films, such as those produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
Corwin wrote several books, which include Trivializing America; plus many essays, letters, articles and plays.

Later career

During the 1990s, Corwin returned to radio drama, producing a series of radio plays for National Public Radio. In 1993, Corwin was finally inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame after a long career. And in 2001, NPR aired six new plays by Corwin under the title More By Corwin.[5] He also lectured at USC as a visiting professor [1] and was also on the Advisory Board of the National Audio Theatre Festival. Corwin celebrated his 100th birthday in May 2010. Corwin died at the age of 101 on October 18, 2011.

Works

"Golden Age" works in radio drama

Corwin wrote and produced over 100 programs during the golden age of radio. Notable programs include:
  • The Plot to Overthrow Christmas - December 25, 1938
  • They Fly through the Air with the Greatest of Ease - February 19, 1939
  • Spoon River Anthology - March 1939
  • Descent of the Gods - August 3, 1940
  • Mary and the Fairy - August 31, 1940
  • Psalm for a Dark Year - November 9, 1940
  • We Hold These Truths - December 15, 1941
  • America at War (series) - February 14, 1942
  • The Lonesome Train - March 21, 1944
  • Untitled - May 30, 1944
  • Home For the 4th - July 4, 1944
  • El Capitan and the Corporal - July 25, 1944
  • On a Note of Triumph - May 8, 1945
  • The Undecided Molecule - July 17, 1945
  • 14 August - August 14, 1945
  • God and Uranium - August 19, 1945
  • Hollywood Fights Back - October 26, 1947
  • Could Be - September 8, 1949
  • Document A/777 - March 26, 1950

Later works in radio drama

In recent years National Public Radio commissioned a number of new plays by Corwin; the series was called More By Corwin.
  • Our Lady Of The Freedoms, And Some Of Her Friends - A play about the Statue of Liberty.
  • The Writer With The Lame Left Hand - Based on the life story of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. This production featured Ed Asner, Charles Durning, Samantha Eggar and William Shatner.
  • The Curse Of 589 is a comedy about a physicist (William Shatner) who comes across an honest-to-goodness real life fairy, with a working magic wand.

Published works

A selected listing of books by Corwin, excluding collections of his radio dramas:
  • So Say the Wise: A Community Of Modern Mind—New York: George Sully Company, 1929 — A compendium of quotations, concentrating on current personalities. Compiled by Corwin and Hazel Cooley.
  • Holes in a Stained Glass Window—Secaucus, NJ: L. Stuart, 1978 — Collection of Corwin's Essays, Articles and Poetry. Contains both Prayer for the 70s and Jerusalem Printout
  • Trivializing America—Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1983 — A best-selling critique of the failings of contemporary American culture
  • Norman Corwin's Letters/Edited by Jack Langguth—New York: Barricade Books Inc., 1994—Compilation of letters written throughout Corwin's career.
Addendum: The Plot to Overthrow Christmas (Opera; music by Walter Scharf; libretto by Norman Corwin) was written in 1960; sole performance in 2000 at Brigham Young University. The opera exists in manuscript form only. Composer and Librettest unable to agree on terms for further use. Walter Scharf died in 2003.


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Bob Brunning,British blues musician (Fleetwood Mac), died from a heart attack he was 68.


Robert "Bob" Brunning  was a British musician best known for his role as the original bass guitar player with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac.[3]

(29 June 1943 – 18 October 2011[1][2])

Fleetwood Mac

When Peter Green left the Bluesbreakers in 1967, he decided to form his own group, naming it Fleetwood Mac after the rhythm section he wanted for the band – Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Fleetwood joined up straight away, and slide guitar player Jeremy Spencer was recruited, but McVie preferred to stay with the Bluesbreakers, where he was earning a regular wage. In the meantime, Green hired Brunning on a temporary basis, hoping that McVie would change his mind.
After a few weeks McVie did change his mind, claiming that Bluesbreakers leader John Mayall was turning too far in the direction of jazz for his liking. So McVie joined, and Brunning stood down. Brunning did contribute bass guitar to one track on Fleetwood Mac's debut album Fleetwood Mac, that song being "Long Grey Mare".

Savoy Brown and teaching career

After his stint in Fleetwood Mac, he joined Savoy Brown before embarking on a career in teaching, training at The College of St. Mark & St. John, Chelsea [4]. His teaching career lasted 30 years and included appointments as the headmaster of Clapham Manor Primary School, Lambeth in the 1980s and Churchill Gardens Primary School, Pimlico in the 1990s.[5] He did not abandon music however, and played in the Brunning Sunflower Blues Band, Tramp, and later the DeLuxe Blues Band.
In 1972 he played bass guitar on the 22nd Streatham Cub Scouts LP Songs for Your Enjoyment. The album featured folk songs as well as the Scout theme song "Kumbaya".[6]

As an author

Brunning also authored many books, and wrote several about Fleetwood Mac, the British blues scene, and music in general. His works about his former group include Behind The Masks, published in 1990, 1998's Fleetwood Mac: The First 30 Years, and The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies.

Death

Brunning died on 18 October 2011, aged 68, after suffering a heart attack.[7]


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Poul Glargaard, Danish actor, died he was 69.


Poul Glargaard, [1] was a Danish actor. He joined the Aarhus Theater in 1966 and the Aalborg Theater later, entering film in 1968. He has also appeared in numerous TV programmes in Denmark.

(11 April 1942 – 17 October 2011)

Filmography



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Manfred Gerlach,German politician, last Chairman of the State Council of East Germany (1989–1990), died he was 83.


Manfred Gerlach  was a German jurist and politician (LDPD). He served as the acting Chairman of the Council of State and was thus head of state of East Germany from 6 December 1989 to 5 April 1990.[1]

(8 May 1928 – 17 October 2011)

Early life

Gerlach was born in Leipzig and became a member of the resistance during World War II. In 1943, he founded an illegal anti-fascist youth movement. He was arrested in March 1944 in connection with the plot to assassinate Hitler.

Political career

After the war, he studied law at the German Academy of State Sciences and Law "Walter Ulbricht" from 1951-54. He worked as editor-in-chief of the Liberal-Democratic newspaper in Halle/Saale. In 1964, he earned his doctorate and would became a professor two decades later, in 1984. He was a co-founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) and the Free German Youth (FDJ) in Leipzig. He was the LDPD youth leader of North-West Saxony from 1946-50. From 1947-52 He was also a member of the executive council of the Saxon LDPD from 1947-52. In the 1950s, he was a mayor (Bürgermeister and deputy Oberbürgermeister) of the city of Leipzig.[1] He served as the LDPD's Vice-Chairman until 1953. From 1954-67, he was the LDPD's General Secretary. At the LDPD's general party congress of 1967, he was elected as chairman of the LDPD. He remained chairman until 10 February 1990. From 1949 to 1990, Gerlach was a member of the People's Chamber. He was also one of the Deputy Chairmen of the Council of State (de facto Vice-President) of the German Democratic Republic from 1960 until 1990.[1]
He initially supported the pro-SED (Socialist Unity Party) line of gleichschaltung of the East German non-communist parties. However, he began to move away from total submissiveness towards the Communist politicians in the late 1970s. Under his leadership, the LDPD developed some small scale contacts with its West German counterparts, the Free Democrats (FDP). However, as a state functionary, he defended the nationalisation of the last substantive private enterprises. After Erich Honecker had personally forbidden publication of a book he authored, he began trying to find a new profile for his party and re-adopt authentic liberalism.[citation needed]
Gerlach reportedly welcomed the liberalisation in the USSR started by Mikhail Gorbachev. His support for more liberalisation and pluralism in East Germany earned him remarkable popularity; popularity which he, however, lost due to his hesitant attitude during the overthrow of SED in 1989.[2]
On 13 October 1989, Gerlach was the first important East German politician to publicly question the monopolic role of the SED.[1] His article on the date in LDPD newspaper Der Morgen arose a furore.[citation needed] However, a meeting of block party leaders the same day did not bring about any remarkable effect on the crisis East Germany had reached.[citation needed] A few days later, on 18 October, Honecker was finally deposed by his own comrades of SED.[citation needed] After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Manfred Gerlach was elected Chairman of the Council of State and thus the first non-communist head of state of the GDR.[1]
In March 1990, Gerlach's party and two other liberal parties merged into the new Bund Freier Demokraten. In November 1993, Gerlach resigned his FDP party membership.[1] In politics, he has been close to PDS during recent years. Gerlach was a signatory of the Berliner Alternatives Geschichtsforum,[3] which promoted more positive views on GDR history. Critics of the former communist regime have described these publications co-authored by former GDR high functionaries (e.g. Gerlach, Gerald Götting, Hans Modrow etc.) as whitewashing the SED dictatorship and working on the image of current Germany by using antifascist rhetoric.[4]
Gerlach had earned numerous state awards by the GDR, including the Patriotic Order of Merit and the Star of People's Friendship in 1964 and 1988 the Order of Karl Marx in 1988.

Death

On 17 October 2011, Gerlach died, aged 83, at a Berlin hospital following a long illness.[5]


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Elisabeth Tankeu, Cameroonian politician, Minister for Planning and Regional Development (1988–1992), died she was 67.

Elisabeth Tankeu was a Cameroonian politician. She was the African Union's Commissioner of Trade and Industry.[1]

(29 February 1944 – 16 October 2011) 

Political career

From 1976 to 1979 Tankeu served as Deputy Director of Planning for Cameroon and from 1980 to 1983 she was Director of the same ministry. From 1983 to 1988 she was Deputy Minister for Planning of Industries and from 1988 to 1992 Minister for Planning and Regional Development.

Personal life

Tankeu died on 16 October 2011 in a Hospital in Paris, France.[2] She was buried on 19 November 2011 in Bangoua, her husband's native town in West Cameroon.


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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...