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.
improvements in his health, Phil died on February 9, 2010, while in the hospital. He was 53 years old.[1][3][4]
The episode of Deadliest Catch featuring the Captain's passing aired on July 20, 2010, followed by a special tribute episode.
(December 19, 1956 – February 9, 2010
The popular show, one of many macho job reality series that dot the TV dial, had filmed more than half the new season when Harris fell ill. It's still unclear how the death will be handled in later episodes, a Discovery Channel spokesman said.
Original Productions, which produces "Deadliest Catch" and a number of extreme-job shows, had a crew filming at the time of Harris' stroke. Phil Segal, president of Original, said he's not sure yet how the story of Harris' injury will unfold or if it will be included after editing.
"Of course, he was fishing all the way up to the end -- he was such a special guy," Segal said. "We're so concerned about the family and the crew right now that we haven't stopped to think about how we're going to deal with this. We'll have to figure it out in the weeks and months ahead."
Harris' sons, who worked side-by-side with their father, issued this statement: "Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down. We will remember and celebrate that strength. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers."
Known for his candid manner and the ever-present cigarette dangling from his lips, Harris was a fan favorite.
"I think he epitomized the very essence of the show," said David Migdal, a longtime fan. "He was blunt, raw and real. He was the mythical Marlboro Man."
"Deadliest Catch" follows a number of crews in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia, and Harris' competitors took to Facebook and Twitter to express their condolences. Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, captains of the Time Bandit, wrote on their Facebook page: "We all share in this tremendous loss. May God bless you and keep you, Phil, you will certainly be missed."
Sig Hansen, captain of the Northwestern, reshaped his Web page with a homage to Harris, including links to photos and videos under the banner "Phil Harris was called home and will forever be remembered."
"He can't be replaced," said David Bulhack, a fervent fan in New York who'd closely followed Harris' injury a few seasons ago when a rogue wave hit the boat, tossing him out of his bed and breaking some ribs. After that injury, Harris had a blood clot that lodged in his lungs.
"He was a real character," Bulhack said. "Of course, the family's mourning, but the fans, even though we didn't really know him, we still feel like we've lost someone."
Discovery Channel's statement acknowledged what many fans loved about Harris: "We will miss his straightforward, honest, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart."
Brisco grew up in Blackwell, Oklahoma with five siblings. He was followed by his younger brother, Gerald Brisco, into sport wrestling and turned down a football scholarship at University of Oklahoma to go to Oklahoma State. He was the first Native American to win an NCAANational Championship in 1965. His winning the NCAA title was even profound in that Brisco won it during his junior year, and didn't get taken down once during the season. Brisco's first documented professional championship reign began on October 16, 1965, when he defeated Don Kent to win the NWA Missouri Junior Heavyweight Championship.[4] He held the belt for less than a month, but he regained it in November by defeating Kent once again.[4] Around this time, Brisco also wrestled for NWA Tri-State. While there, he won a couple of state titles (the Oklahoma Heavyweight Championship and the Arkansas Heavyweight Championship).[5][6] He also won his first tag team titles in this promotion, teaming with Haystacks Calhoun for his first reign as co-holder of the Tri-State version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.[7] He later held the title again, as he teamed with Gorgeous George, Jr. to win the belts on May 9, 1967.[7]
Brisco then moved to the Florida area, where he wrestled for Championship Wrestling from Florida for several years. His first title there was the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship, which he won on February 11, 1969 by defeating the Missouri Mauler.[8] He dropped the title back to the Mauler but regained it on July 8.[8] Two weeks later, he won the first of what would eventually be ten NWA Florida Tag Team Championships by teaming with Ciclon Negro.[9] Although he and Ciclon dropped the tag team belts the following month, Brisco held the Southern Heavyweight Title until November 1969, when he left the area to wrestle in Japan.[8]
When Brisco returned to Florida, he began teaming with his brother, who he had trained as a professional wrestler. He also continued competing as a singles wrestler, winning the NWA Florida Television Championship on November 27, 1970.[10] On February 16, 1971, the Briscos teamed up to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.[9] They dropped the belts the following month to Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk but regained them from the Funks in April.[9] That month, Brisco also beat Terry Funk in a singles match to win the NWA Florida Television Championship again.[10] Brisco's next major success was regaining the Southern Heavyweight Championship by defeating Dick Murdoch on June 8, 1971.[8] The title was later held up, though, after a controversial rematch with Murdoch.[8]
Brisco then took a short break from Florida wrestling to compete in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. While there, he won the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship twice by defeating the Missouri Mauler and Rip Hawk.[11]
Upon his return to Florida, he quickly won the NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Championship with a victory over Paul Jones on June 13, 1972, but he vacated the title the same day.[12] He then won his third and final Television Championship on November 7 1972.[10] Nine days later, he also won the Tag Team Championship again by teaming with his brother.[9]
Brisco's first NWA World Heavyweight Championship win was scheduled to be over Dory Funk Jr. capping off a multi-year feud, but the Funks balked, and politically maneuvered to drop the title to Harley Race instead. Jack then won the title from Race after a brief reign in Houston, Texas on July 20, 1973.[13] He defended his championship in NWA affiliated promotions across the world until losing to Giant Baba on December 4, 1974, though he regained the championship four days later.[13] Brisco defended the championship until losing it to Terry Funk on December 10, 1975. His loss continued the extensive feud between the Briscos and Funks.[13] For several years, Jack and Jerry Brisco would continue battling Terry and Dory Funk for wrestling supremacy.[citation needed] Briso's reigns as NWA World Heavyweight Champion were particularly significant as he was only the second wrestler to have won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship more than once at the time, with the other and first multi-time champion being Lou Thesz. Though his second reign was shorter than his first, it was still very significant as Brisco is still the only multi-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion to have had all of his reigns last a full year or longer.
In 1976, Brisco wrestled in several promotions and continued to add to his list of titles. He won the Memphis version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship on August 10, 1976 by defeating local favorite Jerry Lawler.[14] He also won the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship on November 26 with a victory over Bob Backlund.[15] At this time, the Briscos were also awarded the ESA International Tag Team Championship, although they did not wrestle as a team in the area.[16]
Wrestling in Florida again, Brisco teamed with his brother to win several more championships. In 1977, they defeated the team of Barry Orton, Jr. and Bob Roop to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.[9] Although they lost the title to Ox Baker and "Superstar" Billy Graham, they soon regained the belts in a rematch.[9] On January 25, 1978, they won the belts again by defeating Ivan Koloff and Mr. Saito.[9] While holding these belts, the Briscos also won the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship on February 21 with a victory over Mike Graham and Steve Keirn.[17] They dropped the United States tag belts back to Graham and Keirn but soon regained them.[17] They were defeated for the United States title by Killer Karl Kox and Bobby Duncum but were again successful in regaining the belts in a rematch.[17] The same thing happened when the Briscos faced Mr. Saito and Mr. Sato that year: they lost the belts and quickly won them back.[17] Meanwhile, the Briscos also defeated Saito and Sato to regain NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.[9] The following year, another victory over Saito and Sato earned the Briscos their final United States Tag Team Championship.[17]
The Briscos also enjoyed success in Georgia Championship Wrestling, where they won the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship twice. They competed in a tournament for the tag team belts but finished in second place after a loss to the Funks.[18] They defeated the Funks two months later, however, to win the belts.[18] On November 25, 1979, the Briscos defeated Austin Idol and The Masked Superstar to win the belts a second time.[18] Jack gave up his share of the title, however, giving it to Ole Anderson.[18] Later that year, Jack Brisco became the first NWA National Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Terry Funk in a tournament final.[19]
In 1980, Brisco resumed wrestling in Florida. He won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship again, teaming with Jimmy Garvin this time.[9] After losing the belts, Brisco followed this up by teaming with his brother to win them for a final time.[9]
The following year, Brisco won his final Southern Heavyweight Championship by defeating Bobby Jaggers.[8] Brisco finished off his time in Florida with two reigns as co-holder of Florida version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship. They won a tournament to win their first title, defeating Assassin #1 and Bobby Jaggers in the finals.[20] They lost the belts to the Funks on January 9, 1982 but regained them in a rematch seven days later.[20]
Brisco also wrestled in Puerto Rico in 1981, competing for the World Wrestling Council. He won the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship on May 30, 1981 and held the belt for almost seven months.[21] He also teamed with his brother to win the WWC North American Tag Team Championship. They defeated Los Pastores (better known as The Bushwhackers) for the title on August 8, 1981 and held it for a month and a half before dropping it to The Fabulous Kangaroos.[22] Brisco also returned to Missouri in 1981, defeating Ted DiBiase to win a second NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship.[15] He held the belt for only three weeks, however, before losing it to Ken Patera.[15]
In 1982, Brisco returned to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. He regained the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship, which had since been renamed the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, by defeating Roddy Piper on May 10, 1982.[23] Although he dropped the title back to Piper on July 7, Brisco regained the belt the following month.[23] After his matches with Piper, Brisco traded the title back and forth with Paul Jones several times. He lost the belt to Jones on September 1, 1982 but won it back on October 18.[23] Jones won the belt once again seven days later, but Brisco beat him for the championship in November.[23]
Brisco also teamed up with his brother to win the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship three times. They beat Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the belts on June 18, 1983.[24] This set up a rivalry in which the belts switched hands several times. Steamboat and Youngblood regained the belts on October 3, but the Briscos won them back on October 21.[24] The Briscos then held the title for a little over a month before dropping the belts back to Steamboat and Youngblood.[24] The Briscos won the belts back the following year, however, by defeating Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood.[24]
The Briscos acquired minority interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling, and in 1984 they convinced a majority of the shareholders (52%) to sell their shares to Vince McMahon, enabling him to increase his dominance of the professional wrestling world. Contrary to popular folklore, Jack and Jerry Brisco were never offered lifetime jobs with the WWF in exchange for selling their interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling. Jack Brisco debunked that myth in 1996 when he was interviewed by Wrestling Perspective. [25] Jack left the business in 1984, while Gerald has worked with the WWF/WWE for decades.
Years after the Montreal Screwjob, Brisco was asked during a live online chat about his thoughts on the incident. Brisco, apparently uninformed of the entire situation, criticized Bret Hart for his refusal to job. This led to a scathing response from Hart who defended his actions and mentioned a time when Ernie Ladd allegedly beat the Brisco brothers in a parking lot, stuffed them into the trunk of his car, and drove around town before dumping them out at the promoter's house. Hart finished the statement with "Jack Brisco can kiss my ass".[26][27] Brisco was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005. Brisco lived in Florida where he ran the Brisco Body Shop with brothers Gerald and Bill for over 30 years. He has also made occasional wrestling appearances such as Florida's Wrestle Reunion in January 2005.[28] Brisco is considered one of the great legendary wrestlers of the 1970s and has often been cited as such by Ric Flair during his emotional promos. Brisco and his brother, Gerald were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2008. Jack was found dead on the 1st February 2010.
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In 1986 he received an honorary "Doctor of Music" from the Curtis Institute of Music of Philadelphia, and in 1990 was honored by the American String Teachers Association as "Teacher of the Year". Mr. Cole was also honored by the Philadelphia Art Alliance and the venerable Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. In 1999 he was given the first award by the Curtis alumni.[citation needed]
Born and raised in Philadelphia, the son of Lucius Cole, a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra, he entered the first class of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1924 as a pupil of Felix Salmond and graduated in 1934. Along with Jascha Brodsky and Max Aronoff, he was a founding member of what was then known as the Swastika Quartet, in 1927. When Adolf Hitler came to power and adopted this symbol of Apollo (albeit rotated), the fledgling quartet needed a new name and, with the permission of the school's founder, Mary Louise Curtis, they were granted the name of their alma mater.
During this time, Cole was a classmate and friend of the composer Samuel Barber. Barber dedicated his Cello Sonata, op. 6 to Cole. Mr. Cole and the composer collaborated closely on its composition, reading a page at a time as it was written, until they gave the work its premiere in Town Hall in 1933. Barber wrote also wrote his Quartet, op. 11, with its famous adagio, for the Curtis Quartet.[citation needed] The ensemble played this work from manuscript for several years, and it was only when the time of publication arrived that Barber chose to make major changes: the first movement was cut down significantly, with its finale ultimately becoming the finale of what is now the third movement; and the original contrapuntal third movement was abandoned entirely in favor of a reprise of the first movement's material. Aside from Barber's admission to Cole in a letter accompanying the manuscript score sent from Rome attesting to the composer's great confidence in the slow movement, the quartet's first performance of the work in Curtis Hall is testament to the same - so rapturous was the audience's response following the adagio that the ensemble was compelled to encore it right away before continuing on to the finale. Samuel Barber also composed for the Curtis Quartet his work for voice and string quartet, Dover Beach, set to the lyric verse of the same name by Matthew Arnold. The work's vocal line was originally sung by Rose Bampton in its premiere in Curtis Hall, but as the composer was dissatisfied with the work's dramatic impact given the male personage of the text, Samuel Barber chose to sing it himself when the work was recorded in 1935. An earlier work, the Serenade, was written initially for the Curtis Quartet, though the work fell quickly from the composer's favor and is rarely played today.
The Curtis Quartet was a pioneer in its time, and earned great acclaim: as the foremost string quartet in America during the prewar years; the first touring quartet to be trained in entirely in the United States; and as the first American quartet to tour Europe, including a command performance before Mary of Teck, Queen Consort of George V of the United Kingdom. The ensemble undertook two extensive and triumphant tours of the United Kingdom and the European continent during the seasons 1936-37 and 1937-38, and were scheduled to continue the same until the outbreak of World War II. At a time when gramophone recordings were still a rarity and chamber music had not yet taken hold in the United States, the Curtis Quartet served as ambassadors, giving over 5000 concerts in its career and often presenting the first quartet performances heard by the communities in which they played. Before disbanding in 1981 upon the death of Max Aronoff, the founding nucleus of Brodsky, Aronoff, and Cole remained intact. After some initial success as students in the late 1920s, the quartet engaged Charles Jaffe as their second violinist, and it was with him that they achieved many of the aforementioned milestones. Following Jaffe's departure, the second violin position was held in turn by Louis Berman, Enrique Serratos, Mehli Mehta, Geoffrey Michaels, and, finally, Yumi Ninomiya Scott.
Cole taught at the Curtis Institute of Music for seventy-five years, first as Salmond's assistant while still a student and then in succession of his own teacher. There was a brief gap in his tenure at the school, however, during the years following World War II.[citation needed] The members of the quartet had grown dissatisfied with certain of the objectives and policies of the school and decided to found their own institution for the training of chamber and orchestral musicians, called the New School of Music,[citation needed] which was located just a few blocks from Curtis, and, for more than thirty years, served as an important training center. After returning to their duties at Curtis in 1953, Cole and the members of the quartet taught concurrently at both schools. After the 1981 death of the ensemble's violist, Max Aronoff, who was also director of the New School, the school was absorbed into Temple University where Cole and Brodsky continued to teach. During most of this time, Cole was assisted by his former student and colleague, Metta 'Billy' Watts.
Of interest as well may be mentioned Cole's primary instrument, the 1739 'Sleeping Beauty' of Domenico Montagnana. The instrument was a gift to him from a wealthy student and friend and was purchased for the then-princely sum of $17,000 in 1952. It was with this instrument that the Curtis Quartet's best known recordings for Westminster Records were made, among them the Dvorak 'American' Quartet and SmetanaQuartet in E-Minor, 'From My Life'; Mendelssohn quartets, opp. 12 and 44, no. 1; Schumann quartets, op. 41, nos. 1 and 3; Debussy and Ravel quartets; the Franck Piano Quintet; and two works of Dohnanyi, the Quartet in Db-Major, and the Piano Quintet No. 2. In these two works with piano, the [[Curtis Quartet] was joined by their longtime friend and collaborator, the pianist Vladimir 'Billy' Sokoloff.
Cole held master-classes all over the world. In 2005 he was appointed to the emeritus faculty of the Curtis Institute. He died on January 25, 2010, aged 101.[2]
WrestlingTruth.com offers its condolences to the family and friends of Georgiann Makropoulos, who passed away yesterday of a massive heart attack. She was 67 years old.
Chances are you’ve read numerous reports on the internet from Georgiann over the years; a truly selfless lady and iconic wrestling fan. You may know her as the editor of the Wrestling Chatterbox, a postal newsletter sent out for over 22 years, as well as www.wrestlingfigs.com – her site dedicated to the wrestling figurine industry and various exclusive news tid-bits she acquired from her friends in the business.
Slam Wrestling wrote:
Makropolous documented her love of wrestling in almost everything she wrote. She got hooked on wrestling as a teenager just a few months after she graduated from high school on Long Island in 1959. Her first real involvement came with fan clubs for Buddy Rogers, Bob Orton Sr., and Bruno Sammartino, staples of New York wrestling in the early 1960s. In those days, fan clubs were a way for wrestlers and their fans to interact, and for fans to get in touch by snail mail with like-minded sorts.
In 1969, then Georgiann Orsi took over the “Fan-Land” column in Wrestling World, which was the best-written, if often hyperbolic, magazine of its time. Her three- and four-page columns were chock full of addresses of fan clubs, as well as prospective vendors who sold photos, results sheets and fanzines from their basements. Some of the names she mentioned are still well known today. Rock Riddle’s fan club for Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson was regularly cited; Riddle went on to become a successful pro. Dave Burzynski earned mentioned for his quality photos for sale; that’s Supermouth Dave Drason to wrestling fans. And Georgiann cited as “really good” the San Francisco Wrestling Beat of Ed Giovanetti, the future Moondog Moretti. Makropolous collected more than photos or programs though; she collected friends, according to her many contacts in the business. She regularly undertook causes for wrestlers, such as helping to raise money for Konnan’s kidney transplant in 2007.
Louis Stanton Auchincloss[1] died he was 92. Auchincloss was an American novelist, historian, and essayist.
(September 27, 1917 – January 26, 2010)
Born in Lawrence, New York, Auchincloss was the son of Priscilla Dixon (née Stanton) and Joseph Howland Auchincloss.[2] His paternal grandfather, John Winthrop Auchincloss, was the brother of Edgar Stirling Auchincloss (father of James C. Auchincloss) and Hugh Dudley Auchincloss (father of Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr.).[3][4] He grew up among the privileged people about whom he would write, attending Groton School, and Yale University, where he was editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Although he did not complete his undergraduate studies at Yale, he was admitted to and attended law school at the University of Virginia. He graduated in 1941 and was admitted to the New York bar the same year. He was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell from 1941 to 1951 (with an interruption for war service from 1941 to 1945 in the United States Navy during World War II). After taking a break to pursue full-time writing [5], Auchincloss returned to working as a lawyer, firstly as an associate (1954–58) and then as a partner (1958–86) at Hawkins, Delafield and Wood in New York City as a wills and trusts attorney, while writing at the rate of a book a year.
Among Auchincloss's best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents, Portrait in Brownstone, and East Side Story. Other well-known novels include The Rector of Justin, the tale of a renowned headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times, and The Embezzler, a look at white-collar crime. Auchincloss is known for his closely observed portraits of old New York and New England society.
Jerome David Salinger died he was 91. Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novelThe Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980. Raised in Manhattan, Salinger began writing short stories while in secondary school, and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948 he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his subsequent work. In 1951 Salinger released his novel The Catcher in the Rye, an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonistHolden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers.[2] The novel remains widely read and controversial,[3]
selling around 250,000 copies a year.
( January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010)
The success of The Catcher in the Rye led to public attention and scrutiny: Salinger became reclusive, publishing new work less frequently. He followed Catcher with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), a collection of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.
Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton and the release in the late 1990s of memoirs written by two people close to him: Joyce Maynard, an ex-lover; and Margaret Salinger, his daughter. In 1996, a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish "Hapworth 16, 1924" in book form, but amid the ensuing publicity, the release was indefinitely delayed. He made headlines around the globe in June 2009, after filing a lawsuit against another writer for copyright infringement resulting from that writer's use of one of Salinger's characters from Catcher in the Rye.[4] Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010, at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.[5][6][7]
Jerome David Salinger was born in Manhattan, New York, on New Year's Day, 1919. His mother, Marie (née Jillich), was of Scots-Irish descent.[2] His father, Sol Salinger, was a Polish Jew who sold kosher cheese. Salinger's mother changed her name to Miriam and passed as Jewish. Salinger did not find out that his mother was not Jewish until just after his bar mitzvah.[8] He had one sibling: his older sister Doris (1911–2001).[9]
The young Salinger attended public schools on the West Side of Manhattan, then moved to the private McBurney School for ninth and tenth grade. He acted in several plays and "showed an innate talent for drama", though his father was opposed to the idea of J.D. becoming an actor.[10] He was happy to get away from his over-protective mother by entering the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania.[11] Though he had written for the school newspaper at McBurney, at Valley Forge Salinger began writing stories "under the covers [at night], with the aid of a flashlight."[12] He started his freshman year at New York University in 1936, and considered studying special education,[13] but dropped out the following spring. That fall, his father urged him to learn about the meat-importing business and he was sent to work at a company in Vienna, Austria.[14] He left Austria only a month or so before it was annexed by Nazi Germany, on March 12, 1938. He attended Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, for only one semester. In 1939, Salinger attended a Columbia University evening writing class taught by Whit Burnett, longtime editor of Story magazine. According to Burnett, Salinger did not distinguish himself until a few weeks before the end of the second semester, at which point "he suddenly came to life" and completed three stories.[15] Burnett told Salinger that his stories were skillful and accomplished, and accepted "The Young Folks", a vignette about several aimless youths, for publication in Story.[15] Salinger's debut short story was published in the magazine's March-April 1940 issue. Burnett became Salinger's mentor, and they corresponded for several years.[16]
Salinger died of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire on January 27, 2010. He was 91.[6] Salinger's literary representative commented to The New York Times that the writer had broken his hip in May 2009, but that "his health had been excellent until a rather sudden decline after the new year."[107] The representative believed that Salinger's death was not a painful one.[107]
Rubinstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of California and the University of Pittsburgh.[4] She stood just 4 feet 3 inches (130 cm) due to a deficiency of the anterior pituitary gland, which produces growth hormone. Commenting in 2002 on the challenges of being a very short statured person, Rubinstein said, "Little People are societally handicapped. They have about two minutes to present themselves as equals—and if they don’t take advantage of that chance, then people fall back on the common assumption that 'less' is less."[5]
Since 1999, she did voiceovers in television starting with the groundbreaking reality Fox Family TV Show, Scariest Places On Earth, commercials promoting movies such as Lady in the Water and products including Skittles candy. Her most recent film role came in 2007 when she made a cameo appearance in the horror film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Rubinstein became active in the fight against AIDS/HIV in 1984. She appeared in a series of advertisements, directed towards gay men specifically, promoting safer sex and AIDS awareness.[3] Rubinstein did so at risk to her own career, especially so shortly after her rise to fame, and admitted later that she did "pay a price, career-wise". She attended the first AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Walk.[8]
On December 29, 2009, it was reported that, after a month-long stay at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, her close companion and her family made the decision to take Rubinstein off life support due to both kidney and lung failure.[9] On January 2, 2010, friends reported she was not near death, and was well on her way to recovery.[10] On January 27, 2010, Rubinstein died at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles.[1]
"He was a real character," Bulhack said. "Of course, the family's mourning, but the fans, even though we didn't really know him, we still feel like we've lost someone."
