LeRoi Moore DIED AT 46

Dave Matthews Band Member DeadTMZ has learned LeRoi Moore, the sax player in the Dave Matthews Band, has died He was 46.Moore was seriously injured in an ATV accident June 30 outside Charlottesville He had a punctured lung and broken ribs Moore went back into the ...

LeRoi Moore, was a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday

Kevin Duckworth Former Blazers center dies at 44

Former Portland Trail Blazers center Kevin Duckworth died while on a trip to the Oregon Coast to host a free basketball clinic. He was 44.

An autopsy by the state medical examiner's office found that former Portland Trail Blazer Kevin Duckworth died this week of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure.

Cardiomyopathy is a primary disease of heart muscle that, along with Duckworth's high blood pressure, resulted in enlargement of his heart, which had been failing for some time.

The Lincoln County sheriff's office confirmed the death on August 24, 2008 .

The 7-foot Duckworth averaged 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over 11 seasons in the NBA, helping Portland reach the NBA finals in 1990 and 1992. The two-time All-Star also played for San Antonio, Washington, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Former Portland Trail Blazers center Kevin Duckworth, a "gentle giant" with a feathery touch from the paint, has died.
Duckworth, part of a Trail Blazers goodwill tour, was scheduled to hold a basketball clinic on the Oregon coast when he died Monday night. The Depoe Bay Fire Department said it responded about 10 p.m. to a report of a man who was down and not breathing at Salishan Lodge at Gleneden Beach, north of Newport on the central coast.

Phoenix Suns coach Terry Porter, who played with Duckworth. Said "He was a big loving teddy bear. At times guys got frustrated because he didn't have a mean streak. He was just a great guy. He loved the team atmosphere, loved being a teammate in those successful Blazer teams."

"Kevin will be remembered by fans as one of the most popular and recognizable players to ever wear the Blazers uniform, but to people who knew him, he'll be remembered as one of the warmest and biggest-hearted," Trail Blazers president Larry Miller said.Porter said Duckworth had battled weight problems recently.

Duckworth grew up in the Chicago area and was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs out of Eastern Illinois University in 1986.

The Spurs traded him that season to the Trail Blazers, where he had his greatest success, playing with Porter, Clyde Drexler, Buck Williams and Jerome Kersey on two Western Conference championship teams.

Duckworth remained in the Portland area after he retired in 1997, doing woodwork, fishing and hunting. He ran a construction company in Northern California for a time, and a restaurant venture in Vancouver, Wash., with former NBA player Kermit Washington went out of business.

'Bo Diddley' died at 79

Guitar legend 'Bo Diddley' passes away from heart failure on Jun 2, 2008 died today (June 2) . He was 79. The rock 'n' roll pioneer, famed for his homemade square guitar, suffered a stroke in May 2007 while touring in Iowa, which was followed by a heart attack in August the same year.Doctors said the stroke had affected his ability to speak and he was convalescing in Florida when he died. Bo Diddley first came to prominence in 1955 when he topped rhythm and Blues charts with the track 'Bo Diddley', while some of his other hits included 'Who Do You Love', 'Before You Accuse Me' and 'Mona'.



Bo Diddley, a lasting influence on rock musicWith his trademark "hambone" rhythm that characterised so many of his songs and was adopted by Buddy Holly on Not Fade Away, Bruce Springsteen on She's the One and The Who on Magic Bus, Bo Diddley was a lasting influence on rhythm and blues.
"I play the guitar like I'm playin' the drums", he once said.
He was born Ellas Otha Bates in Mississippi in 1928, changing his name to McDaniel when he was adopted by his mother's cousin.
He moved with his new family to the South Side of Chicago where he acquired his Bo Diddley nickname at school. A "Diddley Bow" is a one-stringed African guitar.
In his teens, he trained as a boxer while regularly playing guitar on street corners when not in school. He built his first rectangular guitar, that was to become his hallmark, while still a student.
Bo Diddley, a lasting influence on rock musicAfter several years, he was given regular gigs at the 708 Club in 1951. This led, four years later, to a record deal with Leonard Chess's Checker label.
His first single, the classic Bo Diddley, with its characteristic beat and heavily amplified guitar, was an immediate number one on the R&B charts.
His band looked different from others. He had a woman in it, and unusual instruments like electric violin and maracas. His biggest pop successes came in 1959 when Say Man hit the Top 20, and in 1962 when You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover entered the Top 50.

New generation
His live act, a meeting of blues and rock 'n' roll, featured Jerome Green, Otis Spann, Billy Boy Arnold, Frank Kirkland, and, later, his half-sister "The Duchess".
Though his songs influenced Buddy Holly in the 1950s, it was in the following decade that his songs permeated the repertoires of the so-called British invasion bands like The Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Who, Pretty Things and The Animals.
Bo Diddley toured extensively throughout the 1960s and 70s. By supporting The Clash in 1979, he introduced his sound to a new generation.

Bo Diddley became known to a younger generation when He made cameo appearances in George Thorogood's video Bad to the Bone, and played a pawnbroker in the Eddie Murphy film Trading Places. In 1998 he appeared in Blues Brothers 2000.
In the late 1980s, he toured with Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood as The Gunslingers and released the album Live at the Ritz.
In 1989, he raised his profile further with younger audiences when he appeared with baseball star Bo Jackson in a TV commercial for sports shoes.
In 1996, he released his first major album in two decades, A Man Amongst Men, with guest artists that included Ron Wood, Keith Richards and The Shirelles.
Three years later, he received a lifetime achievement honour at the Grammy Awards, in recognition of the influence he had cast over the history of popular music.

Don S. Davis died he was 65

1942-2008


With great sadness we must report that veteran actor Don S. Davis passed away on June 29, 2008. He was 65 years old.

Don co-starred on Stargate SG-1 for the show's first seven years, helping to launch the enduring science fiction franchise. Davis played Major General George Hammond, base commander and a father figure to many of the show's characters.

He is also well-known for his portrayal of Major Garland Briggs in Twin Peaks.

Off-screen, Don was beloved by the show's cast and crew. He departed the show in 2003 due to a medical condition that restricted his workload, but returned for several guest appearances on SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis in the following years. Don worked hard to improve his health, and continued to work both on screen and off until his death.

The following message was provided by Don's representative and his wife, Ruby Fleming-Davis:


Dear Fans and Friends of Don S. Davis,

So many of you have been touched by not only the work and art of Don S. Davis, but by the man himself, who always took the time to be with you at the appearances he loved, that it is with a tremendous sense of loss I must share with you that Don passed away from a massive heart attack on Sunday morning, June 29th.

On behalf of his family and wife, Ruby, we thank you for your prayers and condolences. A family memorial where Don's ashes will be scattered in the ocean will take place in a few weeks, and should you wish to, please make a donation to the American Heart Association in Don's memory.


Born August 4, 1942 in Aurora, Missouri and raised there, Don received a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in theater and art from Southwest Missouri State College in 1965. He then served three years on active duty in the United States Army, entering as a Second Lieutenant. He rose to the rank of Captain and was stationed in Korea before completing his required tour of active duty.

Upon leaving the army, Don began working toward a Master's degree in theater at Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale, Illinois, and received his Master's degree in 1970. He taught at the University of British Columbia for a decade before returning to SIU to complete his coursework for a PhD in theater, receiving the degree in 1982.


Photo from Southern Alumni
Don's list of film and television credits is lengthy, dating back to 1982. He met Stargate co-star Richard Dean Anderson on the set of MacGyver, where Don worked as a stunt double for actor Dana Elcar.

When production on Stargate SG-1 began in 1997, the producers tapped Davis to play the base commander -- originally written to be a by-the-book antagonist, but quickly softened by Don's own personality and experience.

In 2003 Don married his soul mate and the great love of his life, Ruby Fleming-Davis. The two have resided in British Columbia with their three dogs, Teto, Ming and Charley.

Don's off-screen career as an artist blossomed especially in the years since he left Stargate. A look at his Web site, DonSDavisArt.com, reveals his tremendous gifts in painting, drawing, and woodcarving.


Don's final Stargate appearance is in Stargate: Continuum, the SG-1 DVD movie that will be released July 29 in North America and August 18 in the United Kingdom. He will also appear in the forthcoming films "Vipers," "Woodshop," and "Far Cry," according to the Internet Movie Database.

Many fans of Don's work have had the opportunity to meet him in person, as he was also a regular face at fan conventions around the world. Fans learned that behind General Hammond was a Southern gentleman with a big heart, a no-nonsense attitude, and all the love and respect one could imagine.

GateWorld's editors visited with Don in 2006, where he talked at length about his career, his time on Stargate, and his feelings about his fellow cast members. That two-part video interview, "Intimate Portrait," may be found in the Interviews archive.
Don S. Davis is a respected character actor, a nationally exhibited painter, a woodcarver, a designer, and a former theater professor and a captain in the U.S. Army. He began working in the film industry while teaching at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in the early 1980s. He left teaching to pursue acting full-time in 1987.

Aside from his seven seasons as a regular on Stargate SG-1, Davis is perhaps best known for his recurring roles as the father of Gillian Anderson's Special Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files and as Maj. Garland Briggs on Twin Peaks.

He has appeared in numerous feature films, including The Fan, Alaska, A League of Their Own, Hook, Cadence, Needful Things, Mystery Date, Look Who's Talking, Con Air, Best in Show and The 6th Day. He was a recurring player in the Stephen J. Cannell CBS series Broken Badges and has guest-starred on a multitude of shows, including Northern Exposure, L.A. Law, Knots Landing, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Nightmare Cafe, M.A.N.T.I.S., The Outer Limits (the episodes "Living Hell" and "Voice of Reason"), Poltergeist: The Legacy, The Sentinel, MacGyver and UPN's The Twilight Zone. Davis recently guest-starred on the Stargate Atlantis episode "Home."

Davis has had featured roles in the television movies Fire on the Mountain, Stepsister, Tricks, Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue, In Cold Blood, Showtime's The Prisoner of Zenda, A Dream is a Wish the Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, One More Mountain, Columbo: A Bird in Hand, Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster, Omen IV: The Awakening, Posing, Kurt Vonnegut's Theatre: All the King's Horses and The Ranger, The Cook and The Hole in the Sky, as well as the miniseries Atomic Train.

Estelle Getty died at 84

American actress Estelle Getty dead at age 84 from advance stages of dementia July 22, 2008, at approximately 5:30 a.m. PDT, Getty died in her Hollywood Boulevard home in Los Angeles from natural causes (according to her manager), three days before her 85th birthday.



Each of Getty's former Golden Girls co-stars did not attend Getty's funeral, but did reflect upon her death: Rue McClanahan told the Associated Press, "Don't feel sad about her passing. ."She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia." Bea Arthur said in a statement, "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her." Betty White remarked, "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us.








She was nominated eight times for the emmy ward and she won it twice.

Bernie Mac dies at 50

Bernie Mac was born in Chicago in 1957, Bernard Jeffrey McCollough. He grew up in Chicago, in a rougher neighborhood than most others, with a large family living under one roof. This situation provided him with a great insight into his comedy, as his family, and the situations surrounding them would be what dominated his comedy.

Mac was married to Rhonda McCullough in 1977. They had one daughter, Je'Niece (born 1978), who attended Xavier University of Louisiana where she received both her bachelors degree in Psychology and Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling. She has been married for three years and has one daughter, Jasmine, making Bernie Mac a grandfather.

Bernie Mac was hospitalized with pneumonia on August 1, 2008 and the following day, a source close to the family said that Mac was in "very, very critical" condition.[4] He was recovering from pneumonia, most likely brought on by his sarcoidosis, in a Chicago hospital. His publicist, Danica Smith, said that he was expected to make a full recovery and that he was responding well to treatment.[5]
On August 9, 2008 it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that Bernie Mac had died,[6][7] with confirmation by the Associated Press about the cause of his death.[8][9]

sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.
Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.
Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. Obama took the stage about 15 minutes later, implored Mac to "clean up your act next time," then let him off the hook, adding: "By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."
Even so, Obama's campaign later issued a rebuke, saying the senator "doesn't condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate."
But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.
"Wherever I am, I have to play," he said in 2002. "I have to put on a good show."
Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, telling jokes for spare change on subways, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy "Mo' Money" in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama "Get on the Bus."
He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.
"The majority of his core fan base will remember that when they paid their money to see Bernie Mac ... he gave them their money's worth," Steve Harvey, one of his co-stars in "Original Kings," told CNN on Saturday.
Mac went on to star in the hugely popular "Ocean's Eleven" franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney, playing a gaming-table dealer who was in on the heist. Carl Reiner, who also appeared in the "Ocean's" films, said Saturday he was "in utter shock" because he thought Mac's health was improving.
"He was just so alive," Reiner said. "I can't believe he's gone."
Mac and Ashton Kutcher topped the box office in 2005's "Guess Who," a comedy remake of the classic Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Mac played the dad who's shocked that his daughter is marrying a white man.
Mac also had starring roles in "Bad Santa," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers."
But his career and comic identity were forged in television.
In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in "Moesha," the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy. The critical and popular acclaim came after he landed his own Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," about a child-averse couple who suddenly are saddled with three children.
Mac mined laughs from the universal frustrations of parenting, often breaking the "fourth wall" to address the camera throughout the series that aired from 2001 to 2006. "C'mon, America," implored Mac, in character as the put-upon dad. "When I say I wanna kill those kids, YOU know what I mean."
The series won a Peabody Award in 2002, and Mac was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In real life, he was "the king of his household" — very much like his character on that series, his daughter, Je'niece Childress, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
"But television handcuffs you, man," he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview before the show had premiered. "Now everyone telling me what I CAN'T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, `Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?'"
He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his "The Original Kings of Comedy" co-stars Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.
Chicago music producer Carolyn Albritton said she was Bernie Mac's first manager, having met him in 1991 at Chicago's Cotton Club where she hosted an open-mike night. He was an immediate hit, Albritton said Saturday, and he asked her to help guide his career.
"From very early on I thought he was destined for success," Albritton said. "He never lost track of where he came from, and he'd often use real life experiences, his family, his friends, in his routine. After he made it, he stayed a very humble man. His family was the most important thing in the world to him."
In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he planned to retire soon.
"I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977."
Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city's South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.
In his 2004 memoir, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," Mac wrote about having a poor childhood — eating bologna for dinner — and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.
"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."
Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.
"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."
Mac's death Saturday coincided with the annual Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago, a major event in the predominantly black South Side that the comedian had previously attended.
"It's truly the passing of one of our favorite sons," said Paula Robinson, president of the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area. "He was extremely innovative in putting his life experiences in comedic form and doing it without vulgarity.
"He was an ambassador of Chicago's black community, and the national black community at large."

Isaac Hayes dies at 65

Birth:
Aug. 20, 1942
Death:
Aug. 10, 2008

Musician, Composer, Actor. A legendary artist of soul music during the 1970s, he is best known for the Oscar and Grammy Award winning score "Theme From Shaft" (1971). Born in Covington, Tennessee, he found early success as a session musician with Otis Redding. Along with David Porter, Hayes co-wrote the Sam and Dave hit "Soul Man" (1967). In addition to "Shaft", Hayes contributed to numerous movie soundtracks and showed versatility as an actor in television series such as "The Rockford Files", "The A-Team", "Hunter", "Miami Vice" and provided his voice in the animated series "South Park" as Chef. Among his film credits are "Escape from New York" (1981), "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988) and "Prime Target" (1991). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

US singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes has died at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 65.
Police were called after his wife found him unconscious next to a moving treadmill. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hayes, a flamboyant, deep-voiced performer, won an Oscar for the 1971 hit Theme From Shaft.
He was perhaps better known to a younger audience as the voice of Chef from the hit cartoon show, South Park.
The cause of death was not immediately known.

"Family members believe at this point it is a medical condition that might have led to his death," a police spokesman said, adding Hayes was being treated for "a number of medical issues".
Hayes suffered a stroke in 2006.
But he was about to begin work on a new album for Stax, the soul record label he helped build to legendary status.
British soul star Jazzie B, who became friends with Hayes after they performed together in the 1990s, described him as "a really nice man" and "as cool as ice".
"He was an equal cornerstone to the evolution of hip-hop, what's come to be known as R&B, and urban music in general," he told BBC News.
"So there's absolutely no doubt that Isaac Hayes will be truly missed and he was a very influential part of music as we hear it today."
Collin Stanback from the Stax label told the Associated Press news agency that the star "embodies everything that's soul music".
He added: "When you think of soul music, you think of Isaac Hayes - the expression, the sound and the creativity that goes along with it."
The showman
Hayes - along with Al Green, James Brown and Stevie Wonder - was one of the dominant black artists of the early 1970s.
The star, a self-taught musician, was hired in 1964 by Stax Records as a pianist and saxophonist, working as a session musician for big names such as Otis Redding.
He established a songwriting partnership with David Porter, and in the 1960s, writing hits for Sam and Dave such as Hold On, I'm Coming and Soul Man.
This success led to a recording contract, and in 1969 he shot to fame with the release of the groundbreaking album Hot Buttered Soul.

In 2002 Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The theme from the film Shaft was a number one hit in 1971. He won an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for another one for the score. The song and score also won him two Grammys.
In a statement released from The Recording Academy, the body behind the Grammys, president Neil Portnow called him a "true renaissance man".
He added: "After laying the groundwork for the Memphis soul sound through his work with Stax Records, his groundbreaking theme song and score for the movie Shaft cemented his status as a musical icon.
"The world has lost a true creative genius and a passionate humanitarian, but his indelible legacy will remain ever present.
"Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and all who were inspired by the man and his music," added Mr Portnow.
When he was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, he put his success down to good chance.
"I knew nothing about the business, or trends and things like that," he said.
"I think it was a matter of timing. I didn't know what was unfolding."
Hayes was also in several movies, including It Could Happen to You with Nicolas Cage, and Ninth Street with Martin Sheen.
He achieved a different of popularity later in life as the voice of the South Park character, Chef. But he angrily quit the show in 2006 after an episode mocked Scientology, a religious movement to which he belonged.
He was married four times and has 12 children.

Fred Crane, died at 90

Fred Crane died August 21, 2008, he was born March 22, 1918


Fred Crane spoke the first lines in the “Gone With the Wind” movie as one of the red-headed Tarleton twins flirting with Scarlett O’Hara before the Twelve Oaks barbecue.

His line doesn’t compare to Rhett Butler’s “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” but it did provoke one of Scarlett’s signature phrases: “Fiddle-dee-dee.”


Fred Crane, who played Brent Tarleton in ‘Gone With the Wind,’ was the last living, credited male actor in the 1939 film of the Pulitzer Prize novel.

Though shed of his collection, he continued to enjoy his distinction in movie history. “He enjoyed it because he thrived on the fact he spoke the very first line in the movie,” Mr. Bridges said. “It was his claim to fame.”

Mr. Crane was married five times and is survived by four children in California; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.