Orlando Cole died he was 101

Orlando Cole died he was 101 was a cello teacher who taught two generations of soloists, chamber musicians, and first cellists in a dozen leading orchestras, including Lynn Harrell, Daniel Lee, David Cole, Ronald Leonard, Lorne Munroe, Peter Stumpf, Anne Martindale Williams, Michael Grebanier, and Marcy Rosen.^[1]

(August 16, 1908 – January 25, 2010)

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.

Cole helped to found the Encore School for Strings in Hudson, Ohio, along with David Cerone, who had left his position as violin teacher at Curtis to assume the directorship of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

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 Smetana Quartet 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]

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Georgiann Makropoulos died she was 67

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.

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Louis Auchincloss died he was 92

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.

Auchincloss was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1965. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2005. He received honorary degrees from New York University (Litt.D., 1974), Pace University (1979), and The University of the South (1986).

Louis Auchincloss died from complications of a stroke at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on January 26, 2010.^[1]

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Zelda Rubinstein died she was 76

Zelda Rubinstein died she was 76. Rubinstein was an American actress and human rights activist, best known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the movies Poltergeist (1982) and its sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), and Poltergeist III (1988). She also made guest appearances in the TV spin-off Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as a seer, Christina.^[2] Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS.^[3]

(May 28, 1933[1] – January 27, 2010)

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]


Rubinstein entered the film industry comparatively late, upon returning to the United States after living in London for several years. Poltergeist was her first major film role. She remained active in film and televison from thereon, frequently portraying various psychic characters, such as her appearance on the show Ann Jillian show, Jennifer Slept Here. She also narrated the horror television series, Scariest Places on Earth, which aired in the U.S. on ABC Family and in Canada on YTV.^[6]
Rubinstein's other minor/major film roles included Sixteen Candles, Cages, Teen Witch, The Wildcard, Southland Tales and National Lampoon's Last Resort. She also contributed voice-over work for TV including Hey Arnold!, and The Flintstones. She made numerous guest appearances on network TV shows, including Caroline in the City, Martin, Mr. Belvedere, and had a starring role as Ginny Weedon in the TV series Picket Fences. Her character there was killed off in typical off-beat fashion, by falling into a freezer. ^[7] She also appeared in an episode of Tales From The Crypt in which she played the mother of a girl who has been dead for 40 years.


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]



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J. D. Salinger died he was 91

Jerome David Salinger died he was 91. Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The 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 protagonist Holden 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]


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Shirley Caddell died he was 78

Shirley Caddell , also known as Shirley Collie, was an American country music and rockabilly artist. She was the second wife of singer Willie Nelson, from 1963 to 1971.

(March 16, 1931 – January 27, 2010)

Born in Chillicothe, Missouri as Shirley Simpson, Caddell appeared as a member of the cast of ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in the late 1950s, and charted three singles on the Billboard country chart: "Dime a Dozen" at number 25 and "Why Baby Why" at number 23 (a duet with Warren Smith) in 1961; and "Willingly", a duet with Nelson, in 1962.^[1] The Nelson duet was also his first chart single. In 1963, she divorced Biff Collie, pioneer country disc jockey, to marry Nelson.





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Bud Millikan died he was 89

Harold A. "Bud" Millikan died he was 89. Millikan was the head coach of the University of Maryland Terrapins men's basketball team from 1950 to 1967. He compiled a 243–182 record. The former coach died on January 28, 2010 at the age of 89.

(October 12, 1920 – January 28, 2010)

Millikan was born in Maryville, Missouri and played on the Maryville High School (Missouri) basketball team that won the 1937 Missouri State High School Basketball Championship at a time when there were no divisions in state tournament play. He married his high school sweetheart Maxine. He followed Henry Iba who had coached at Northwest Missouri State University while Millikan was growing up in Maryville to Oklahoma A&M. ^[1] At Oklahoma State He was an "All American", president of the student body and captain of the baseball and basketball teams. He was an assistant coach to Iba in its 1944 National Championship team.^[2] Iba gave him the nickname of "Buddy" which was shortened to "Bud." Millikan who had been a member of the Oklahoma State ROTC did not serve in World War II because of asthma. He returned to coach at Maryville High School and later other schools in Iowa. Iba arranged the meeting that brought Millikan to Maryland. After Iba returned to Missouri after the interview it was announced on the radio that Millikan had accepted an offer from Southwest Missouri State University although in fact he had not formally accepted the offer but it prompted Maryland to tell him they could pay him more.^[3]
Among his players at Maryland were Gary Williams and Joe Harrington. Williams in his autobiography “Sweet Redemption” wrote, “I played for a first-rate coach in Bud Millikan, but after that, nothing was first-rate in the Maryland basketball program…You couldn’t play for Bud Millikan unless you were willing to play hard on the defensive end of the court. In practice, we would practice two and half hours of defense and spend about ten minutes on offense.”^[4]
He coached the team to an NCAA Elite 8 appearance in 1958.^[5] During his time Cole Field House was built. Millikan did not like the size of the field house saying at one point "It's like playing on a neutral court" with seats too far from the courts. His successor Lefty Driesell added a few thousand seats around the court raising the hometown decibel level.^[6]
Every senior who played for him graduated from the school. He imposed a discipline where players were required wear the team blazer when traveling and in warm-ups players wore towels around their necks in an ascot-like manner.^[7]
He died in Roswell, Georgia.
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Ralph McInerny died he was 80

Ralph Matthew McInerny died he was 80. McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. ^[1] He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June, 2009.^{[2] [3]} He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.^[4]

(February 24, 1929 – January 29, 2010)

Ralph McInerny was born Michael P. Grace on February 24, 1929 in Minnesota. Now a distinguished professor at Notre Dame, where he heads the Jaques Maritain Center, he's taught for the last 40 years in addition to his copious writing output.

Mr. McInerny first attended St. Paul's seminary, where he recieved his Bachelor's degree and went on to study at the University of Minnesota and the Universite Laval in Quebec where he got his Masters and Doctorate, graduating summa cum laude.

Mr. McInerny served in the Marine Corps between 1946 and 1947. In 1955, Ralph McInerny received a Fulbright Scholarship to Belgium from Notre Dame. He's been a professor at a number of universities, including Cornell. Loving St. Thomas Aquinas, Mr. McInerny has based a number of his writings on that famous personage, and his philosophy teachings are naturally seen through that Saint's eyes. It's probably obvious that Ralph McInerny writes from a Catholic point of view, which does limit his effectiveness to the general public, since it's based on an organized religion not shared by all.

Ralph McInerny's writings include about 67 books as well as numerous articles in Catholic magazines, and he's received a number of honorary degrees from Catholic colleges as well as the St. Thomas Aquinas medal from the American Catholic Philosophical Foundation. His first book was published in 1967, and his fictional writings include the now famous Father Dowling series, as well as the Andrew Broome mysteries. Father Dowling was made into a series on TV. Ralph McInerny has received the Achievement Award for his work from Boucheron of America.


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Apache died he was 36

RAPPER APACHE (original name Anthony Teaks) died of protracted illness on Friday. The rapper known for 1992 hit "Gangsta Bitch," had huge fan following across the world.

"Without Apache there would have been no Queen Latifah, no Naughty By Nature, no Chill Rob G., no anything" Shakim Compere, co-founder of Flavor Unit Records was quoted by boombox.com

"Apache was the string that tied all of Flavor Unit together. Without Apache none of this would be," he added.

The singer rose to same as he shared work with Queen Latifah and 45 King's Flavor Unit.

Apache's debut album Apache Ain't Shit was released in 1991 and peaked at 66 no. on the Billboard 200.

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Daniel Kerrigan died he was 70

Nancy Kerrigan's brother, Mark Kerrigan, has had a turbulent history with his parents, and was once sued by them for $105,000 in 2008, according to the Boston Herold.

Even though Kerrigan was sued by his parents, the case was ultimately dismissed.

An unemployed plumber, Mark Kerrigan, 45, was charged with assaulting his 70-year-old father, who died over the weekend after a disturbance at the family's Massachusetts home.

Robert Kerrigan pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail after his arraignment Monday in Woburn District Court.

A police report said officers responding to a 911 call at 1:30 a.m. Sunday found Daniel Kerrigan lying on the floor unconscious. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy was planned.

The report said Mark Kerrigan was found on a couch in the basement of the home in the middle-class Boston suburb of Stoneham and was "belligerent and combative" when questioned. Officers used pepper spray to subdue him and eventually arrested him.

Defense attorney Denise Moore said her client, an Army veteran who had served overseas, was on medication for post-traumatic stress syndrome and was seeing a psychiatrist.

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Earl Wild died he was 94

Earl Wild ^[1][2] died he was 94. Wild was an American pianist widely recognized as a leading virtuoso of his generation. Harold C. Schonberg called him a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class".^[3] He was known as well for his transcriptions of classical music and jazz. He was also a composer.

(November 26, 1915 – January 23, 2010)

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Wild was a musically precocious child and studied under Selmar Janson, Simon Barere and Egon Petri, among others. As a teenager, he started making transcriptions of romantic music and composition.
He was the first pianist to perform a recital on U.S. television, in 1939, as staff pianist for NBC. In 1997 he was also the first pianist to stream a performance over the Internet.^{[citation needed]}
In 1942, Arturo Toscanini invited him for a performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which was a resounding success and made him a household name. During World War II, Wild served in the United States Navy as a musician. A few years after the war he moved to the newly formed American Broadcasting Company (ABC) as a staff pianist, conductor and composer until 1968. He performed three times for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston, in 1952^[4], 1968^[5], and 1971.^[6] Wild is renowned for his virtuoso recitals and master classes held around the world, from Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo to Argentina, England and throughout the United States.
Earl Wild created virtuoso solo piano transcriptions of 12 songs by Rachmaninoff, and works on themes by Gershwin. His Grand Fantasy on Airs from Porgy and Bess, the first extended piano paraphrase on an American opera, was recorded in 1976 and had its concert premiere in Pasadena on December 17, 1977. He also wrote Seven Virtuoso Études on Popular Songs, based on Gershwin songs such as "The Man I Love", "Fascinating Rhythm" and "I Got Rhythm".^[7]
He also wrote a number of original works. These included a large-scale Easter oratorio, Revelations (1962), the choral work The Turquoise Horse (1976), and the Doo-Dah Variations, on a theme by Stephen Foster (1992), for piano and orchestra. His Sonata 2000 had its first performance by Bradley Bolen in 2003.^[8]
Wild, who was openly gay,^[9] lived in Palm Springs, California^[10] with his partner, Michael Rolland Davis.
Wild recorded extensively for Ivory Classics, an American classical music record label.
Wild died aged 94 of congestive heart disease at home in Palm Springs, California.^[11]
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James Mitchell died he was 90

James Mitchell died he was 90. Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best-known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children (1979 – 2009), theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers. Mitchell's skill at combining dance and acting was considered something of a novelty; in 1959, the critic Olga Maynard singled him out as "an important example of the new dancer-actor-singer in American ballet", pointing to his interpretive abilities and "masculine" technique.^[1]

(February 29, 1920 – January 22, 2010)

Mitchell was born in Sacramento, California. His parents emigrated from England to Northern California, where they operated a fruit farm in Turlock. In 1923, Mitchell's mother, Edith, left his father and returned to England with Mitchell's brother and sister; she and Mitchell had no further contact. Unable to run a farm while single-handedly raising his remaining son, Mitchell's father fostered him out for several years to vaudevillians Gene and Katherine King. After Mitchell's mother died, however, his father remarried and brought both of his sons, but not his daughter, back to Turlock. At age seventeen, Mitchell left Turlock for Los Angeles, where he remained close to the Kings.^[2]
While studying drama at Los Angeles City College, Mitchell was introduced to modern dance at the school of the famed teacher and choreographer, Lester Horton. After receiving his associate's degree, he joined Horton's company, where he remained for nearly four years. While working with Horton, Mitchell became a close friend of dancer Bella Lewitzky; in the 1970s, he became President of the Board of Directors of her Dance Foundation, and afterwards remained a “major longtime […] supporter” of hers.^[3] In 1944, Horton took Mitchell to New York with him to form a new dance company, but the venture abruptly collapsed.
As it happened, the failure of Horton's company was a significant turning point in Mitchell's career: while struggling to find either acting or dancing roles in New York, he successfully auditioned for Agnes de Mille, who was choreographing her first musical since Oklahoma!. Mitchell, who did not study ballet until he was in his mid-twenties^[4], was at a loss when faced with de Mille's ballet combination. Much later, describing his approach to the audition, Mitchell said, "Well, I really hadn't too much familiarity with that but I threw myself across the floor and about the third or fourth pass, Agnes cried 'Stop' and summoned me over and said 'Where on earth did you get your dance training?'".^[5] De Mille nevertheless offered Mitchell the dual position of principal dancer and assistant choreographer. Given the option between touring with Helen Hayes and dancing for de Mille, Mitchell chose de Mille.^[6] Bloomer Girl (1944) began an important artistic partnership with de Mille that lasted from 1944 to 1969 and spanned theater, film, television, and concert dance. De Mille's biographer, Carol Easton, describes him as the “quintessential male de Mille dancer” and de Mille's “closest confidant” in her artistic life.^[7] In one of her autobiographical volumes, de Mille herself said of Mitchell that he had "probably the strongest arms in the business, and the adagio style developed by him and his partners has become since a valued addition to ballet vocabulary."^[8] When, nearly thirty years later, an interviewer asked Mitchell to respond to de Mille's comments, Mitchell offered a more modest assessment of his career: "I was primarily an actor [...] and I think what Agnes was referring to was my acting and regard for the woman I was partnering. Because in the end I really was a partner. When I look at today's dancers, or I look at the great dance movies, such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--I couldn't do any of that! I know I was a dancer, but I didn't have the technique. At most I was an actor-dancer."^[9]
Mitchell's work with de Mille:

• Bloomer Girl (Broadway, 1944): principal male dancer; assistant choreographer
• Brigadoon (Broadway, 1947): Harry Beaton; assistant choreographer
• Paint Your Wagon (Broadway, 1951): Pete Billings; assistant choreographer
• Come Summer (Broadway, 1969): assistant director
• American Ballet Theatre (1950-51, 1955, 1956): Rodeo (Head Wrangler — ABT premiere cast), Fall River Legend (Pastor), Rib of Eve (Husband — world premiere cast)
• Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre (1953-54): principal dancer
• Royal Winnipeg Ballet (1964): Bitter Weird (Bridegroom)
• Oklahoma! (film, 1955): Dream Curly (excerpted in That's Dancing!)
• Omnibus (TV, 1956): featured dancer, “Art of Ballet”; featured dancer, “Art of Choreography”
• Bloomer Girl (TV, 1956): The Returned Soldier
• Gold Rush (TV, 1958): Miner

Mitchell's other close associations were with Gower Champion, Eugene Loring (with whom he also trained), and Jerome Robbins:
Gower Champion:

• Carnival! (Broadway, 1961; national tour, 1962; West End, 1963): Marco the Magnificent
• Mack & Mabel (Broadway, 1974): William Desmond Taylor
• Annie Get Your Gun (tour, 1977): assistant director

Eugene Loring:

• The Toast of New Orleans (film, 1950): Pierre — “The Tina-Lina” with Rita Moreno
• Deep in My Heart (film, 1954): Specialty dancer — “One Alone” with Cyd Charisse
• Ford Startime: Meet Cyd Charisse (TV, 1959): Partnered Cyd Charisse
• The Perry Como Show (TV, 1963): Partnered Cyd Charisse
• The 38th Academy Awards (TV, 1966): Partnered Cyd Charisse

Jerome Robbins:

• Billion Dollar Baby (Broadway, 1946): Rocky Who Dances
• American Ballet Theatre (1950-51): Facsimile
• American Theatre Laboratory (1967-69): instructor and company member

Mitchell worked consistently on stage in both musicals and straight dramas until the late 1970s, including numerous regional theatre roles across the country. His other significant credits include Broadway appearances in Carousel, First Impressions, and The Deputy; off-Broadway appearances in Winkelberg, The Threepenny Opera, Livin' the Life, and The Father; L'Histoire du Soldat at New York City Opera; and national tours of The Rainmaker (with future All My Children co-star Frances Heflin), The King and I, Funny Girl, and The Threepenny Opera.
As a film performer, Mitchell had only moderate success. In the early 1940s, he did both chorus dancing and extra work in a number of minor musicals and westerns. On the strength of his award-winning performance in Brigadoon, Mitchell was scouted by producer Michael Curtiz and signed to a contract at Warner Brothers. Curtiz initially intended to put Mitchell in a picture with Doris Day that never materialized.^[10] After several months, Mitchell eventually made two films for Warner Brothers, including Raoul Walsh's Colorado Territory, before following Curtiz to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At MGM, he played supporting roles in six films between 1949-55, most notably Anthony Mann's Border Incident, Jacques Tourneur's Stars in My Crown, and Vincente Minnelli's The Band Wagon — an experience he loathed so much that he refused to see the film^[11] — but he did not work for the studio again after appearing in the infamously over-budgeted flop The Prodigal (1955). Mitchell's film career ended abruptly after he starred in Hal R. Makelim's Western The Peacemaker (1956), the only time he was ever billed above the title. After that, it took over two decades before he made his next and what proved to be his final appearance on the big screen, The Turning Point (1977). He also co-starred with Thelma "Tad" Tadlock in the famous sponsored film A Touch of Magic presented by General Motors at the 1961 Motorama.
On television, Mitchell was considerably more active, especially in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In addition to working regularly as a dancer, Mitchell played dramatic roles in a number of TV movies and prime-time series, as well as in the anthologies that were once so popular, such as Play of the Week, Gruen Guild Playhouse, and Armstrong Circle Theatre. In 1964, he took his first contract role on a soap opera in The Edge of Night, as the corrupt Capt. Lloyd Griffin; this was followed by the entire run of Where the Heart Is (1969-73), in which he played the male lead, Julian Hathaway. During the late 1970s, he was a guest star on Lou Grant and Charlie's Angels.
Besides performing, Mitchell occasionally worked as a director and choreographer, particularly in the late 1960s and 1970s. He staged musicals at the Paper Mill Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, and The Muny, among other theatres. In 1956, he and Katherine Litz co-staged The Enchanted for American Ballet Theatre.
After Mack & Mabel flopped in 1974, Mitchell's performing career nearly ended altogether. He earned a BA from Empire State College and an MFA from Goddard College in order to teach full-time at the college level, and taught movement for actors at Juilliard, Yale University, and Drake University. In 1979, after several years of only occasional work, Mitchell was hired to play the villainous businessman Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children. Initially hired for only one year, Mitchell remained on contract through 2009. His final appearance as a contract player was September 19, 2008, although his retirement was not made official until September 30, 2009.^[12] He made a guest appearance on January 5, 2010, as part of the show's fortieth anniversary.
A character based on Mitchell appears in Anderson Ferrell's biographical dance play, Dance/Speak: The Life of Agnes De Mille, which debuted at New York Theatre Ballet in 2009.
Mitchell's longtime partner was the Oscar award-winning costume designer Albert Wolsky.^[13]
James Mitchell died on January 22, 2010, in Los Angeles, a matter of weeks before what would have been his 90th birthday. His death came after suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by pneumonia.^[14]
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