/ Stars that died in 2023

Monday, June 7, 2010

Grizzly Smith,, American professional wrestler, died of Alzheimer's disease he was 77

Aurelian Smith was an American professional wrestler better known as Grizzly Smith died of Alzheimer's disease he was 77. He was the father of professional wrestlers Aurelian, Jr. (Jake "The Snake" Roberts), Michael (Sam Houston), and Robin (Rockin' Robin).

After his wrestling career ended, he served for a time as a backstage official in the World Wrestling Federation and a road agent in World Championship Wrestling, as recounted in Mick Foley's book Have A Nice Day.

(August 6, 1932 – June 12, 2010)

Career

Smith began competing in professional wrestling in Texas, but he worked on an oilfield part-time as well.[2] Smith also competed in Georgia, where he challenged Freddie Blassie for the NWA Georgia World Heavyweight Championship but was unable to win the title belt.[1] While wrestling in Texas, Smith met Luke Brown, who he followed to Oklahoma. Smith, who had wrestled under the ring names Jake Smith and Tiny Anderson,[1][2] began competing as Grizzly Smith, although he also wrestled as Tiny Smith. Smith and Brown formed a tag team known as The Kentuckians, and the pair used the gimmick of a pair of hillbillies.[2] Together, they won the Georgia version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship in 1962 and held them until dropping them to Lenny Montana and Gypsy Joe on November 23 of that year.[3]

The Kentuckians' biggest rivals were The Assassins, with whom they feuded in matches across the United States.[2] In many of these matches, The Assassins were joined by The Missouri Mauler and The Kentuckians teamed with Haystacks Calhoun.[4] The Kentuckians biggest win over The Assassins came while competing in the Los Angeles-based World Wrestling Association on August 8, 1965, when they defeated their rivals to win the WWA World Tag Team Championship. They held the belts for several months before dropping them to Gorilla Monsoon and Luke Graham the following January.[5] Later in 1966, Smith and Brown won the American Wrestling Association's Midwest Tag Team Championship.[6]

Smith's feud with The Assassins also took him to Western Canada, where he teamed with Don Leo Jonathan to defeat The Assassins for the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. Smith, who was wrestling under the ring name Ski Hi Jones, and Jonathan held the title from March 25, 1968 until the following month, when The Assassins regained the championship in a rematch.[7]

Smith then returned to Texas, where he was involved in a rivalry with The Spoiler. The two wrestlers feuded over the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, which Smith won from The Spoiler in June 1968.[8] The following month, Smith gained another title when he teamed with Fritz Von Erich to defeat The Spoiler and Gary Hart to win the NWA American Tag Team Championship.[9] Smith and The Spoiler continued to feud, however, and The Spoiler regained the Heavyweight Championship in August and the Team Team Championship in September.[8][9]

The Kentuckians reunited in the NWA Tri-State territory. In an April 1971 match that was scheduled to see Bill Watts and Billy Red Lyons challenge Waldo Von Erich and Karl Von Brauner for the Tri-State version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, Smith and Brown took the place of the challengers. They won the match and the title belts but were stripped of the championship later that month. They continued to pursue the belts and regained them later that month, holding them until a loss to The Spoilers later that year.[10]

After retiring as a competitor, Smith promoted wrestling events in Louisiana alongside Jack Curtis.[11] He then worked with Bill Watts in the Mid-South territory until being fired during a disagreement over wages. From there, he went to Mississippi to work with promoter George Culkin.[12]

Personal life

Smith was born in Grayson County, Texas and grew up with a brother, who died at age four, and two sisters.[2] He had two children from his first marriage, Aurelian, Jr. and a daughter. He later had two more children, Michael and Robin, from another relationship after he and his wife separated. Three of his children went on to become professional wrestlers: Aurelian, Jr. as Jake Roberts, Michael as Sam Houston, and Robin as Rockin' Robin.[13] Smith briefly married again on June 22, 1992 this time to a woman named Michelle D. Hyde who was 24 years his junior. This marriage was short lasting and ended in divorce just over a year later on September 14, 1993.

Smith retired from wrestling and moved to Louisiana, where he shared a house with his son Michael in Metairie. Smith took on a job performing maintenance in a cemetery near New Orleans' French Quarter. The pair lost most of their possessions in the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They were able to salvage some footwear and canned food, but flooding destroyed the remainder of their belongings. Smith's health had been deteriorating for several years, and he developed a staphylococcal infection after scraping his leg the day before the storm hit. He was not able to get medical attention and almost lost his leg as a result.[2][14] At the time of his death he lived in Amarillo, Texas. Smith died of Alzheimer's disease on June 12, 2010.

Smith had a strained relationship with his son Aurelian, Jr. (Jake Roberts), which Roberts stated was partially the result of his father not informing his children of the scripted nature of professional wrestling.[15] In an interview on Jake "The Snake" Roberts: Pick Your Poison, a video released by World Wrestling Entertainment, Roberts stated that his father convinced the family that his injuries in the ring were real and wore a neck brace at home to sell a storyline. On the same video , Roberts also stated that he was conceived when his father, who was dating Roberts' grandmother, raped her 12 year-old daughter. He said that the two were forced to marry against their wishes and that the resulting emotional trauma is responsible for Roberts' substance abuse and his sister's mental health problems. At age 18, his sister married a man 35 years older than she was; the man's ex-wife later kidnapped and killed Roberts' sister.[16][17]

In wrestling




  • Finishing moves
  • Signature moves

Championships and accomplishments

  • NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) (1 time) - with Luke Brown[3]
  • World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)

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Fuat Mansurov, Kazakh-born Russian conductor (Bolshoi Theatre).has died he was 82

Fuat Mansurovhas died he was 82. Mansurovhas Studied in musical technical school on a violoncello class. O.O.Uzing was the teacher of the young man. Within seven years F.Mansurov studied at the uncommon musician and has received fine musical preparation. In 1950 F.Mansurov has finished university, and in 1951 – department (course) of opera-symphonic conducting in Almaty State (nowadays National) Conservatoire of a name of Kurmangazy. Creative enthusiasm and huge work of the musician, feature of talent have resulted him to Moscow where he was improved in postgraduate study of the Moscow state conservatory of a name of P.I. Tchaikovsky.

(January, 10th 1928- June 12, 2010)


His professional career he started in 1953 at the Kazakh opera and ballet theatre of a name of Abay in Alma-Ata , where worked till 1956. In 1957 has won the First award at the Sixth World festival of youth and students in Moscow, the same year he have been appropriated with the rank "The Honored artist of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic". In 1958 has been appointed by the main conductor of just organised State symphonic orchestra of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, and in 1963 became the main conductor of the Kazakh opera and ballet theatre of a name of Abay. Simultaneously heading an orchestra of theatre, F.Mansurov since 1963 becomes the main conductor of an orchestra of the Moscow conservatory where also teaches a conducting course. In 1971 the student's orchestra of the Moscow conservatory prepared by Fuat Mansurov, has won the First award of the International competition of youth orchestras of a name of Herbert von Karajan in the Western Berlin. In 1966 at the Second All-Union competition of conductors he becomes the winner. After successful training in the Big theatre of the USSR: since 1967 year he works there to this day.


Regularly Fuat Mansurov has begun to come to Kazan with 1967. In 1968 F.Mansurov is appointed as the main conductor of Opera and ballet theatre of a name M.Dzhalil in Kazan. Simultaneously F.Mansurov conducts the State symphonic orchestra of Republic Tatarstan. He has proved as the original, deeply conceiving artist giving new treatment of classical plots, having the modern approach to an embodiment of scenic images. The repertuare range of conductor F.Mansurov is very wide and covers huge number of large symphonic compositions, opera and ballet performances. F.Mansurov worked with the largest symphonic orchestras - such, as the State academic symphonic orchestra of the USSR and the Deserved collective of Republic the Academic symphonic orchestra of the Leningrad philharmonic society.

Since 1980 Fuat Mansurov - the professor of the Moscow conservatory, the author of the dissertation in which has developed essentially new method of adaptation of young musicians in an orchestra. In 1997 the International Council of scientific development (the Russian section) has selected F.Mansurov the full member (academician) of the International Academy of sciences. He is the unique international academician among the Russian conductors.


Since 1989 he is the art director and the main conductor of the State symphonic orchestra of Republic Tatarstan. For concert programs of the State symphonic orchestra 1991-1993 F.Mansurov awarded State award of Republic Tatarstan of a name of G.Tukaj in 1994.

In July 2006 F.Mansurov has headed, instead of diseased Mstislav Rostropovich, the 9th International festival of arts under a name of Andrey Saharov, devoted to the 100 anniversary from the date of a birth of the greatest composer of 20 centuries D.D.Shostakovich who named Mansurov "the best interpreter of the products".

Huge erudition and the perfected professional skill allow F.Mansurov with success to perform in foreign countries. With his art are familiar in more than twenty countries of the world. He conducted concert programs and performances in England, USA, France, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Greece, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Australia and other countries. "The national actor of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic" (1967), "the National actor Tatar ASSR" (1975), "the National actor of the Russian Federation" (1998) is awarded ranks.

In 2004 became the honorary academician of Academy of sciences of Republic Tatarstan.

In 2005 has been awarded the order Friendship of the people.


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Les Richter, American Former NFL Player (Los Angeles Rams) and former head of operations for NASCAR, has died of a brain aneurysm he was , 79

Les Richter was a Los Angeles Rams National Football League football player, former head of operations for NASCAR and president of the Riverside International Raceway has died of a brain aneurysm he was , 79. He played in 8 Pro Bowls as a linebacker. Richter was born in Fresno, California.

(October 26, 1930 - June 12, 2010)

After graduating from the University of California in 1952, where he played guard and linebacker, he served in the U.S. Army for two years. A first-round draft choice of the NFL's New York Yanks in the 1952 NFL Draft, Richter was traded to the Los Angeles Rams for eleven players, the largest deal ever made for a single player.

During his 9 years with the Rams, Richter intercepted 16 passes and scored 193 points which included 1 touchdown, 106 extra points, and 29 field goals. Despite being selected for 8 Pro Bowls, he has never been nominated or inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

After retiring from football, Richter had been involved with auto racing in a variety of positions. He had been vice-president of special projects for International Speedway Corporation, chairman of the board for the International Race of Champions, and senior vice president of operations for NASCAR.[1]

He worked at the California Speedway at the time of his death.


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Ginette Garcin French actress, has died of cancer she was , 82,

Ginette Garcin was a French actress of stage, film and television.

(4 January 1928 – 10 June 2010)


Ginette Garcin made her musical debut with Jacques Hélian and his orchestra in 1946. She then worked with Loulou Gasté and went on to appear in Strélesky's absurdist theatre revues in Rouen. Her portrayal of Charlot to the music of Deux petits chaussons was very well received. She collaborated with Colette Vudal (who later adopted the name Colette Monroy in Paris) Mona Monick and Robert Thomas, author of some successful detective plays.

Garcin was one of the first to perform and record the songs of Boby Lapointe and Jean Yanne in the 1960s. In the 1970s she embarked on a career in film and theatre, with guidance from Audiard, Lelouch, Yanne, Boisset and Tacchella. She appeared in the television series Marc et Sophie. In 1990 she wrote the critically acclaimed Le clan des veuves in which she starred alongside Jackie Sardou for four years. In 1997 she had an acting and singing role in Le passe-muraille, a musical comedy by Marcel Aymé with Didier van Cauwelaert and Michel Legrand.


In the past decade, Ginette Garcin has played a character in the television series Famille d'accueil as well as appearing in the films La Beuze and Les Dalton. A new version of Le clan des veuves was staged at the Bouffes-Parisiens theatre in 2006.

In her later years she appeared in Raphael Mezrahi's play, Monique est demandée en caisse 12.

She died 10 June 2010 at age 82 of cancer.

Filmography

Cinema

[edit] Television

[edit] Theatre


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Christine Johnson, American opera singer and actress has died she was 98,

Christine Johnson Smith , usually credited as Christine Johnson, was an American opera singer and actress who sang at the Metropolitan Opera and other opera houses. She is best known, however, for creating the role of Nettie Fowler in the original Broadway production of Carousel.

(September 8, 1911 – June 9, 2010[1])

Johnson was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky and moved to Owensboro, Kentucky after her freshman year of high school, graduating from Owensboro High School in 1929.[2] She showed early promise, starring in school plays and singing in churches.[3] After high school, she studied voice at the Nashville Conservatory of Music and sang for radio station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee.

Johnson moved to New York City in 1937 and began to work with NBC's Radio City Music Hall and Lyn Murray and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra at CBS, sometimes touring in concerts in North America. She studied voice and operatic repertoire in New York with Ernst Knoth and Sidney Dietch. In 1941, she sang Dorabella in Così fan tutte, opening the Tanglewood opera house at Lenox, Massachusetts.[4]

In 1942 she received good notices for the role of Mrs. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, leading to an opportunity to sing the role of Bess, in Porgy and Bess, under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. Other roles followed for the contralto, with the New Opera Company of New York under Emil Cooper, at San Francisco Opera and elsewhere, in Macbeth, The Fair at Sorochyntsi, The Queen of Spades, Cavalleria rusticana, Carmen, La forza del destino, The Girl of the Golden West, the title role in Roberta, Azucena in Il trovatore and Madalenna in Rigoletto.[5] During this period, she also sang at New York's Town Hall.[3]

In 1943, Johnson won the Metropolitan Opera auditions, which led to her becoming the youngest person to ever sing the role of Erda in Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold at that opera house.[6] She appeared on CBS radio's The Squibb Show twice in 1944. There she sang "It's A Lovely Day" and "My Heart's in the Highlands" with Lyn Murray and His Orchestra.[7]

In 1945, Johnson created the role of Nettie Fowler in Carousel. Rogers and Hammerstein wrote "You'll Never Walk Alone", which has become a standard, and "June is Busting Out All Over" especially for her.[5] She also sings the role on the show's original cast album. Johnson stayed with the show for hundreds of performances and then toured and studied in Italy for a time.[3] She rejoined Carousel during the national tour and continued as Nettie through its Broadway revival in 1949.[5]

After Carousel closed, Johnson moved back to Owensboro, where she married surgeon Robert Smith in 1950 and raised two daughters, Robin and Nancy. She taught voice for many years,[5] and one of her pupils was Florence Henderson.[8] She also served on local arts committees and participated in some local productions. Johnson's husband died in 1959, and she later worked for Texas Gas Transmission Corporation until her retirement.[3]

Johnson died on June 9, 2010 at the age of 98.


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Marina Semyonova, Russian prima ballerina (Bolshoi Ballet) has died she was , 101

Marina Timofeyevna Semyonova[p] was the first Soviet-trained prima ballerina. She was born in Saint-Petersburg. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1975.

(Russian: Марина Тимофеевна Семёнова, 12 June [O.S. 30 May] 1908 – 9 June 2010)



The first great dancer formed by Agrippina Vaganova, she graduated from the Vaganova School in 1925, which "is registered in the annals of Soviet ballet as the year of the unprecedented triumph of Marina Semyonova"[1]. She worked in the Kirov Ballet until 1930 when Stalin had her transferred to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. There she married Lev Karakhan, an Old Bolshevik and Deputy Foreign Minister, best known as an advisor to Sun Yat-sen. He was purged in 1937.

Semyonova was guest with the Paris Opéra Ballet in 1935 where she danced Giselle with Serge Lifar.[2] She received the Stalin Prize for 1941 and retired in 1952. After that, she became one of the most important teachers and répétiteurs of the Bolshoi Theatre. Natalia Bessmertnova, Marina Kondratieva, Nadezhda Pavlova, Nina Sorokina, Ludmila Semenyaka, Nina Timofeyeva and Nina Ananiashvili were among her adepts.

Semyonova retired from her coaching duties at the age of 96. She is known for her friendship with young danseur Nikolay Tsiskaridze who interviewed her on several occasions. She also has a daughter by elocutionist Vsevolod Aksyonov. In 2008, the Bolshoi Theatre celebrated Semyonova's centenary. Semyonova died on 9 June 2010 in her home in Moscow, just 3 days before her 102nd birthday.


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Porfi Jiménez, Dominican-born Venezuelan musician, arranger, composer and bandleader. has died he was , 82

Porfirio Antonio Jiménez Núñez was a Dominican-Venezuelan Latin music composer, arranger, and bandleader. A native of Hato Mayor Province, he played professionally under the name Porfi Jiménez.[1]

(February 16, 1928 – June 8, 2010)


Jiménez' father died when he was three years old, and his mother gave him a trumpet when he turned eight. He began playing the instrument at school in 1940, turning himself into a professional musician two years later.[1]


Jiménez was 26 years old when he arrived in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. He started to play with orchestras led by Rafael Minaya, Pedro José Belisario and Chucho Sanoja, as well as for the Billo's Caracas Boys. In the early 1960s, he became noted for his arrangements for bolero singers Felipe Pirela and Blanca Rosa Gil. He started his own Latin music dance band in 1963. With lead vocalists Kiko Mendive and Chico Salas, Jimenez' orchestra made its recording debut on the Velvet label. He made several albums for them in the late 1960s and mid 1970s, and helped popularize the salsa[1]age.[2]



Jiménez enjoyed a huge success in the mid 1980s while recording for Sonografica label, with albums combining salsa, cumbia, and his native Dominican merengue. Some of his most popular songs include La negra Celina, Se hunde el barco, Dolores and Culu Cucú, which reached number one on the Colombian, Dominican and Venezuelan charts. Beside this, he conducted a 17-piece Jazz orchestra to promote the big band tradition by featuring his own repertoire and selected works of Thad Jones, Chico O'Farrill, among others.[1]


In January 2007 Jiménez was honored in New York City by the United Nations Orchestra, created by Dizzy Gillespie, for his long and storied career in Latin music.[3]

Jiménez died in Caracas at the age of 82 on June 8, 2010.[4]


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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...