/ Stars that died in 2023

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

James Brody, American composer, died he was 68,

James Brody died he was 68. Brody was an American composer, born in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Frank J. Oteri of the American Music Center's New Music Box called Brody "an important figure in the development of electronic music in the Midwest".[1]

(July 13, 1941 – April 11, 2010)

He studied with Franz Kamin at Indiana University, under the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis, where he received a master's degree. Brody wrote the liner notes for the original Nonesuch LP of Iannis Xenakis – Electroacoustic Music. He taught composition, theory and electronic music at East Texas State University and was a lecturer at York College of Pennsylvania from 2005-2007. He also served on the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra's Board of Directors. Brody was a guest composer at the Electronic and Computer Music Studio of the Peabody Institute and a member and past president of the Baltimore Composers Forum. He hosted a radio program on WKUNM-FM in Santa Fe called Other Voices, Other Sounds. He was co-founder of music organizations in Bloomington, Indiana and San Antonio, Texas, dedicated to presenting and performing works by local composers. James Brody died in a car crash in Roseville, Minnesota, along with fellow composer Franz Kamin.[2]


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Tom Ray , American animation cartoonist (Warner Bros. Cartoons) has died he was 90

Thomas Archer Ray[1] died he was 90. Ray was an American animator.

(August 2, 1919 – April 7, 2010[2])

Ray was born in Williams, Arizona.[1] He began work at Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1937. Over the first two decades of his career, he was a junior animator who received no screen credit until Destination Earth in 1956. In 1958, he became a master animator in the Robert McKimson unit. Later, he transferred to the Chuck Jones unit, where he co-directed Adventures of the Road-Runner and several Bugs Bunny Show episodes. He followed Jones to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1963; there, he directed two Tom and Jerry compilation shorts, Matinee Mouse in 1966 and Shutter Bugged Cat in 1967.

Tom was one of the five animators who created "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" back in 1966. In addition to the Grinch, we can also thank Tom for being part of the team that brought us Daffy Duck, Tom & Jerry, Yogi Bear, and a smart-aleck, Brooklyn-type rabbit known to most of us by the name of Bugs.

His later credits include animation on Pink Panther shorts, Bakshi’s Heavy Traffic and Coonskin, Chuck Jones TV Specials, numerous Filmation and Hanna Barbera series, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. Ray directed many episodes of various series including Transformers and Garfield and Friends.

After his retirement from the Los Angeles animation business in 1998, Ray founded his own animation studio, Tomstone Animation, first located in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Ray moved his studio to Virginia Beach, Virginia just before he died in Virginia on April 7, 2010.

Ray's wife, inker/painter Anna Lois Ray, died in 1994. Ray's son, Thomas G. "Greg" Ray, and daughter, Donna Mouliot, followed him into the animation business.

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Kelly Moran,American motorcycle speedway racer died he was 49,

Kelly Moran [1] has died he was 49. Moran was a professional speedway rider who rode for a number of British clubs and also represented USA.

(September 21, 1960 — April 4, 2010)

Moran was known as "Jelly Man" and "the Wizard of Balance" for the way he would hang off his machine when cornering. He arrived in England to race for Hull in 1978 as a teenager, but his season was curtailed when he crashed heavily at Hackney and suffered multiple injuries. However, the following year he qualified for his first World Championship and finished in fourth place – losing a four rider run-off.


A dispute over terms saw Kelly make a late start to his British season with Birmingham. But he was on the move again in 1981 when he joined the Eastbourne Eagles where he became a spectacular crowd pleaser. In 1982 he qualified for his second world championship in America and finished fourth again.

However, despite experiencing his best ever season he decided to remain in California for the next three years. During this period he won back-to-back US National Championships and qualified for his third – and final – world championship in 1984 finishing with 11 points and another fourth place.

In 1986 Kelly joined his younger brother Shawn at the Sheffield Tigers where he had three successful years and helped himself to 1012.5 points at an average of 8.88. He represented his country on several occasions and it was his partnership with Shawn that helped United States team to the 1982 and 1990 World Team Cup title.

Following Sheffield's closure Kelly moved to Belle Vue with his brother, where he remained until a dip in form saw him move from Belle Vue to Swindon early in 1992. A broken collar bone interrupted his spell at Swindon, but he struggled for form in a team that was rooted at the foot of the league. He retired from speedway at the end of the season, but he made a brief comeback in 2003 racing in North America. However, his comeback lasted just the one season.





Kelly Moran died in Huntington Beach, California on April 4, 2010 from complications of emphysema.[2]
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Henry Scarpelli, American comic book artist (Archie), died he was 79,

Henry (Scap) Scarpelli, 79, of Grasmere, a cartoonist whose pen inked the famous characters of the syndicated newspaper comic strip “Archie,” died Sunday at home.

Born in Concord, he moved to Stapleton in 1945. After his marriage to Claire Lagana in 1962, he lived for a time in Dongan Hills, and Castleton Corners, before settling in Grasmere in 1969.

A graduate of Curtis High School, his first cartoons were published in the school paper, The Log.

When he was 17, Mr. Scarpelli joined the U.S. Army, and served as a radio operator and draftsman in the Army’s Signal Corps during the Korean War. He eventually became a staff cartoonist for the Fort Devens (Mass.) Dispatch.

While studying at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, he met cartoonist John Rouson of Ward Hill, and together they worked on the worldwide syndicated newspaper feature “Little Sport.” The collaboration with Mr. Rouson, Mr. Scarpelli once said, helped prepare him for a career as a professional cartoonist.

FIRST JOB

His first job in the business was in the art department at General Features, a newspaper syndicate. Soon after, the syndicate president noticed Mr. Scarpelli’s interest in cartooning, and offered him the opportunity to create his own comic feature.

His cartoon, “TV Tee-Hees,” a comic feature poking fun at those on television, eventually appeared in 150 newspapers across the country.

While watching “The Tonight Show” one night in 1965, Mr. Scarpelli and his wife were surprised to see host Johnny Carson showing off a TV Tee-Hees cartoon lampooning Carson’s famous “Here’s Johnny!” entrance.

DELL PUBLISHING

In the early 1960s, Mr. Scarpelli began working on comic books at Dell Publishing. For his first assignment, he created the art for the comic book version of the “Andy Griffith Show,” which led to his doing the artwork for “Hogan’s Heroes,” “Get Smart,” “The Flying Nun,” “Beverly Hillbillies,” “McHale’s Navy,” and “Bewitched.” He later worked at DC Comics as an artist for their teenage title, “Binky and Scooter,” and also worked on books featuring Jerry Lewis, Batman, Wonder Woman and others.

While working at DC, Mr. Scarpelli began collaborating with comic book artist Stan Goldberg, and the two continued to work together for 40 years.

Mr. Scarpelli did a stint at Marvel Comics as an artist for “Spoof” magazine, and Marvel’s teen character, Harvey.

ARRIVES AT ARCHIE

He then arrived at Archie Comics Publications, where he worked on the famous teens, Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica. After working on the artwork for Archie magazines for a number of years, he went on to do the art for the Archie syndicated newspaper feature, where his pen inked the plotline of one of the most famous angst-filled teen love triangles in history.

At Archie, Mr. Scarpelli would ink the drawings that Mr. Goldberg sketched in pencil. “There was no competition,” Mr. Goldberg said, describing their partnership as “a love affair with each ones artwork.”

They remained dear friends outside of work as well. “I never heard a bad word, and Henry didn’t have a bad word to say about anybody. Everybody enjoyed his company... I will miss him terribly.”

Mr. Scarpelli’s editorial cartoons were also featured in the Advance.

In the early 1970s, he joined his boyhood friend, Jim Sotirakis, as creative director of Mr. Sotirakis’ Manhattan audio-visual company, Sotos Productions, which created and produced videos, television and radio commercials, and presentations for major record companies and artists including The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, and The Village People.

Mr. Scarpelli and Mr. Sotirakis earned gold records for their participation in a promotion of the movie soundtrack album of The Who’s “Tommy.”

Their partnership then ventured into motion pictures, and they created and produced an independent thriller film called “The Last Victim,” which they shot primarily around Staten Island. The two went on to create Productions Two, and their first show was a Broadway production of “Elvis, the Legend Lives,” at the Palace Theatre. In addition to comics, his illustrations were also used in advertising for Howard Johnson’s and Timex.

He was a member of the National Cartoonists Society, and was the recipient in 1971, 1972, and 1974 of the “Shazam” award from the National Academy of Comic Book Arts for his work on the Archie strip.

FAMOUS SON

In 1980, Mr. Scarpelli and his wife moved to Los Angeles, where they helped to manage their son, Glenn’s acting career, which included a role on the television show “One Day at a Time.”

The Scarpelli’s returned to Staten Island in 1986, and Mr. Scarpelli returned to cartooning as the artist of the Archie newspaper strip.

During his time in the Army, Mr. Scarpelli had longed to have his work appear in the unofficial daily military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, but his dream was never realized. Decades later, in 1997, while he was drawing the storyline about Archie’s decision over prom dates, Betty or Veronica, emailed votes came in from all over the world, including from a military unit stationed in Bosnia. It was only after receiving the email from the troops that Mr. Scarpelli found out his Archie strips were running in “Stars and Stripes.”

Whenever he was asked what he liked to do for leisure, Mr. Scarpelli would say, “My hobby is my work.”

Mr. Scarpelli was a member of the Staats Post, American Legion, and was a charter member of the World War II Memorial Society.


TV Tee Hees, by Henry Scarpelli (1958)
Henry Scarpelli studied at theSchool of Visual Arts in New York City. He began his career working for a newspaper syndicate designing sales brochures and ads for feature presentations. After a while, he came up with the cartoon panel feature 'TV Tee-Hees', which appeared in 150 newspapers during the 1960s and 1970s. Later on, Scarpelli pursued a career in comic books. He first worked at Dell Publishing as the artist for comic magazine versions of such TV shows as 'The Beverly Hillbillies', 'Bewitched', 'Hogan's Heroes' and 'Get Smart'.

From there, Scarpelli moved on to major comic book publishers, such as DC, Marvel and Archie Comics. After some years of doing comic books art for Archie comics, Scarpelli was assigned to do the 'Archie' newspaper strip, both daily and Sunday.
Archie, by Henry Scarpelli (2005)

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Keith Elam, Guru American rapper(Gang Starr) died he was , 43

Keith Elam ,[2] better known by his stage name Guru,has died he was 43was an American rapper and member of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury.[3] The name Guru is a backronym that stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal and the less-often used God is Universal; he is the Ruler Universal, which are both references to the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths.
(July 17, 1962 – April 19, 2010)

Guru founded Gang Starr in 1987, and built a sizable following in the early 1990s, releasing classic albums such as Step in the Arena (1991) and Daily Operation (1992).

In 1993, he released his first solo album, Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1. The album featured collaborations with Donald Byrd, N'Dea Davenport, and Roy Ayers, while his second LP, Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality, featured Ramsey Lewis, Branford Marsalis and Jamiroquai.


His "first proper solo album", in his own words, was Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures (2005), released with the help of producer and new backup MC Solar (who is not to be confused with MC Solaar from France). The album reached #1 on the college hip-hop charts, but was a failure with both fans and critics. It still managed to sell relatively well for an independent release.


Guru's last projects were the fourth installment in the Jazzmatazz series, entirely produced by Solar, released in early June 2007, and Guru 8.0: Lost And Found, released May 19, 2008 (also in collaboration with Solar). Although there were hopes for a Gang Starr reunion, Guru stated he would not work with DJ Premier again.[4]


On February 28, 2010, Guru went into cardiac arrest and, following surgery, fell into a coma.[5][6] He was said to have woken from the coma[7] but died on April 19, 2010, after a long battle with multiple myeloma.[8]


In a letter allegedly written by Guru on his deathbed, asked that Solar should manage his posthumous image, likeness, etc. on behalf of himself, and his son KC, and wished that DJ Premier not associate himself with Guru.[9] Members of Guru's family have claimed that Solar prevented contact with him during his fatal illness.[9]

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Dorothy Height, American civil rights activist. has died she was 98,

Dorothy Irene Height[1] was an African American administrator, educator, and social activist. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.[1]


(March 24, 1912 – April 20, 2010)

Height was born in Richmond, Virginia. At an early age, she moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania. Height was admitted to Barnard College in 1929, but upon arrival, she was denied entrance because the school had an unwritten policy of admitting only two black students per year.[2] She pursued studies instead at New York University, earning a degree in 1932, and a master's degree in educational psychology the following year.[3]



Height started working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department and, at the age of twenty-five, she began a career as a civil rights activist when she joined the National Council of Negro Women. She fought for equal rights for both African Americans and women, and in 1944 she joined the national staff of the YWCA. She also served as National President of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority Incorporated from 1946 to 1957.[4] She remained active with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority thoughtout her life. While there she developed leadership training programs and interracial and ecumenical education programs.[4]


In 1957, Height was named president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held until 1997. During the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Height organized "Wednesdays in Mississippi",[5] which brought together black and white women from the North and South to create a dialogue of understanding.

American leaders regularly took her counsel, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Height also encouraged President Dwight D. Eisenhower to desegregate schools and President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint African American women to positions in government. In the mid 1960s, Height wrote a column entitled "A Woman's Word" for the weekly African-American newspaper, the New York Amsterdam News and her first column appeared in the March 20, 1965 issue on page 8.

Height served on a number of committees, including as a consultant on African affairs to the Secretary of State, the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the President's Committee on the Status of Women. In 1974, Height was named to the National Council for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which published The Belmont Report, a response to the infamous "Tuskegee Syphillis Study" and an international ethical touchstone for researchers to this day.



In 2004, Height was recognized by Barnard for her achievements as an honorary alumna during its commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.[2]



The musical stage play If This Hat Could Talk, based on her memoirs Open Wide The Freedom Gates, debuted in the middle of 2005. It showcases her unique perspective on the civil rights movement and details many of the behind-the-scenes figures and mentors who shaped her life, including Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt.


Height was the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the largest civil rights organization in the USA. She was an honored guest and seated on stage at the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.[1]


She attended the National Black Family Reunion, celebrated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., every year until her death in 2010.


On March 25, 2010 Height was admitted to Howard University Hospital in Washington D.C. for unspecified reasons. Her spokeswoman issued a statement stating that at that time she was in a "very serious, but stable" condition but that they were remaining optimistic about her recovery. On April 20, 2010, Height died at the age of ninety-eight.

Awards and honors



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Dede Allen American film editor died she was 86

Dorothea Carothers "Dede" Allen[1] [2] died she was 86. Allen was an American film editor, well-known "film editing doctor" to the major American movie studios, and one of cinema's all-time celebrated 'auteur' film editors.

Allen is best known for having edited classic films such as Dog Day Afternoon, The Hustler, Reds, and Bonnie and Clyde and for having worked with filmmakers such as Arthur Penn, Sidney Lumet, Robert Wise, Elia Kazan, and George Roy Hill. She was a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

(December 3, 1923 – April 17, 2010)

Allen was born in Cleveland, Ohio; her mother was an actress and her father worked for Union Carbide.[1] Allen worked her way up as a production runner, as a sound librarian and then as an assistant film editor at Columbia Pictures. She edited commercial and industrial films before becoming a full-fledged feature film editor. It took sixteen years working in the American film industry before Dede Allen edited her first important feature film, Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).[3] She worked closely with and was mentored by film director Robert Wise, who had also been a film editor himself (most notably having cut Orson Welles' , Citizen Kane). Wise encouraged Dede Allen to be brave and experiment with her editing.

Much like the raw editing of early dadaist filmmakers (such as René Clair) or perhaps akin to that of the French New Wave, Allen pioneered the use of audio overlaps and utilized emotional jump cuts, stylistic flourishes that brought energy and realism to characters that until that point had not been a part of classic Hollywood film editing technique. Continuity editing and screen direction (being tied to the constraints of place and time) became the low priority, while using cutting to express the micro-cultural body language of the characters and moving the plot along in an artistic, almost three-dimensional manner became her modus operandi.

Variety's Eileen Kowalski notes that, "Indeed, many of the editorial greats have been women: Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker, Anne V. Coates and Dorothy Spencer."[4]

Allen was married to film director Stephen Fleischman. Her son is renowned sound re-recording mixer Tom Fleischman.


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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...