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In Memoriam

Generalzod

Immortal
Messages
31,971
I remember the days at the Kazi club in the 80's when he made appearance....RIP
 
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nöyd

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
9,808
She may well have been my first celebrity crush back in the late 70's, mind you I was only 4 or 5 years old.

I will watch Donner's Superman this weekend if I get the time.

RIP Lois.
 

horrie hastings

First Grade
Messages
7,281
Cornelia Frances has died aged 77 from bladder cancer.
Cornie as she was affectionately known was for famous for her roles as Sister Scott in The Young Doctors, Barbara Hamilton in Sons and Daughters, Morag Bellingham in Home and Away and also the presenter of The Weakest Link.
 

Life's Good

Coach
Messages
13,971
RIP - Anthony Bourdain.
His show ‘No Reservations’ fuelled my interest in getting off the beaten track when travelling.
 

Lemon Squash

First Grade
Messages
7,982
Whenever I get asked who are the three people in the world you would most want to have dinner and a drink with Anthony Bourdain was always one of my answers.

Just goes to show the Black Dog doesn’t discriminate, the guy had the best job imaginable getting paid to travel around the world and eat food and he ended it all, very sad.
 

horrie hastings

First Grade
Messages
7,281
Harry M Miller , celebrity agent and responsible for promoting musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair and many others has passed away aged 84.
 

horrie hastings

First Grade
Messages
7,281
Tab Hunter dies aged 86. Here is a bio I found on IMDB

Dreamy Tab Hunter stood out in film history as one of the hottest teen idols of the 1950s era. With blond, tanned, surfer-boy good looks, he was artificially groomed and nicknamed "The Sigh Guy" by the Hollywood studio system, yet managed to continue his career long after his "golden boy" prime.

Hunter was born Arthur Kelm on July 11, 1931 in New York City, to Gertrude (Gelien) and Charles Kelm. His father was Jewish and his mother was a German Catholic immigrant. Following his parents' divorce, Hunter grew up in California with his mother, older brother Walter, and maternal grandparents, Ida (Sonnenfleth) and John Henry Gelien. His mother changed her sons' surnames to her maiden name, Gelien. Leaving school and joining the Coast Guard at age fifteen (he lied about his age), he was eventually discharged when the age deception was revealed. Returning home, his life-long passion for horseback riding led to a job with a riding academy.

Hunter's fetching handsomeness and trim, athletic physique eventually steered the Californian toward the idea of acting. An introduction to famed agent Henry Willson had Tab signing on the dotted line and what emerged, along with a major career, was the stage moniker of "Tab Hunter." Willson was also responsible with pointing hopeful Roy Fitzgerald towards stardom under the pseudonym Rock Hudson. With no previous experience Tab made his first, albeit minor, film debut in the racially trenchant drama The Lawless (1950) starring Gail Russell and Macdonald Carey. His only line in the movie was eventually cut upon release. It didn't seem to make a difference for he co-starred in his very next film, the British-made Saturday Island (1952) co-starring a somewhat older (by ten years) Linda Darnell, which was set during WWII on a deserted, tropical South Seas isle. His shirt remained off for a good portion of the film, which certainly did not go unnoticed by his ever-growing legion of female (and male) fans.

Signed by Warner Bros., stardom was clinched a few years later with another WWII epic Battle Cry (1955), based on the Leon Uris novel, in which he again played a boyish soldier sharing torrid scenes with an older woman (this time Dorothy Malone, playing a love-starved Navy wife). Thoroughly primed as one of Hollywood's top beefcake commodities, the tabloid magazines had a field day initiating an aggressive campaign to "out" Hunter as gay, which would have ruined him. To combat the destructive tactics, Tab was seen escorting a number of Hollywood's lovelies at premieres and parties. In the meantime, he was seldom out of his military fatigues on film, keeping his fans satisfied in such popular dramas as The Sea Chase (1955), The Burning Hills (1956) and The Girl He Left Behind (1956)--the last two opposite the equally popular Natalie Wood. At around this time, Hunter managed to parlay his boy-next-door film celebrity into a singing career. He topped the charts for over a month with the single "Young Love" in 1957 and produced other "top 40" singles as well.

Like other fortunate celebrity-based singers such as Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen, his musical reign was brief. Out of it, however, came the most notable success of his film career top-billing as baseball fan Joe Hardy in the classic Faustian musical Damn Yankees (1958) opposite Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston, who recreated their devil-making Broadway roles. Musically, Tab may have been overshadowed but he brought with him major star power and the film became a crowd pleaser. He continued on with the William A. Wellman-directed Lafayette Escadrille (1958) as, yet again, a wholesome soldier, this time in World War I. More spicy love scenes came with That Kind of Woman (1959), an adult comedy-drama which focused on soldier Hunter and va-va-voom mistress Sophia Loren demonstrating some sexual chemistry on a train.

Seldom a favorite with the film critics, the 1960s brought about a career change for Tab. He begged out of his restrictive contract with Warners and ultimately paid the price. With no studio to protect him, he was at the mercy of several trumped-up lawsuits. Worse yet, handsome Troy Donahue had replaced him as the new beefcake on the block. With no film offers coming his way, he starred in his own series The Tab Hunter Show (1960), a rather featherweight sitcom that centered around his swinging bachelor pad. The series last only one season. On the positive side he clocked in with over 200 TV programs over the long stretch and was nominated for an Emmy award for his outstanding performance opposite Geraldine Page in a Playhouse 90 episode. Following the sparkling film comedy The Pleasure of His Company (1961) opposite Debbie Reynolds, the quality of his films fell off drastically as he found himself top-lining such innocuous fare as Operation Bikini (1963), Ride the Wild Surf (1964) (1965), City Under the Sea (1965) [aka War-Gods of the Deep], and Birds Do It (1966) both here and overseas. As for stage, a brief chance to star on Broadway happened in 1964 alongside the highly volatile Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams's "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore." It lasted five performances. He then started to travel the dinner theater circuit. Enduring a severe lull, Tab bounced back in the 1980s and 1990s -- more mature, less wholesome, but ever the looker. He gamely spoofed his old clean-cut image by appearing in delightfully tasteless John Waters' films as a romantic dangling carrot to heavyset transvestite "actress" Divine. Polyester (1981) was the first mainstream hit for Waters and Tab went on to team up with Allan Glaser to co-produce and co-star a Waters-like western spoof Lust in the Dust (1985).

Tab still worked as a film producer at age 70+ in Southern California. Tab also "came out" with a tell-all memoir on his Hollywood years in October of 2005. His long-time partner was film producer Allan Glaser.

Tab died on July 8, 2018, in Santa Barbara, California, three days shy of eighty seven years old. His last film role was Dark Horse (1992).
 

Apey

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
26,749
David Collins (of David & Tanya, breakfast radio hosts in Newcastle) died from cancer at age 60. He was also Sterlo's manager for decades.

https://www.theherald.com.au/story/...tributes-for-hunter-radio-star-david-collins/

Rugby league great Peter Sterling has spoken warmly about his close friend David Collins, the high-profile Hunter broadcaster who died on Monday at age 60.

The long-time host of KOFM’s breakfast radio program passed away after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Sterling, who was by his side when he passed at about 1am, said the pair had “a long friendship”.

They met in the 1980s when Sterling played for Parramatta and Collins worked at 2WS radio station, which sponsored the Eels.

“David was the ground announcer at Parramatta Stadium. I met him through the club and 2WS,” Sterling said.

“I was a mad Liverpool fan and he was a mad Arsenal fan. We got talking, more about English soccer than rugby league to start.”

Sterling was “drawn to his sense of humour and personality”.

“We became close, so much so that I asked him if he’d manage my affairs.

“I was the kind of bloke who, when I went to negotiate contracts, I was offering them money to let me stay. That wasn’t particularly good business management.”

Collins initially rejected the offer to become Sterling’s business manager. He didn’t want to ruin the friendship.

A couple of days later, he changed his mind.

There was one proviso. They’d stop doing business together if it interfered with their friendship.

“It’s now 30-odd years later – it never did,” Sterling said.

“It wasn’t a business relationship, we were mates. He had my back. We never had any problem whatsoever.

“Our friendship continued on. I’d speak to him almost daily – not about work, just catching up over things.”

KOFM Newcastle group content director Mike Byrne said there had been an outpouring of emotion for Collins.

“His passion for the craft of broadcasting was unparalleled,” Mr Byrne said.

This was evident, even as his health deteriorated.

“He had a very good nose for a good program. Even last week, he was still giving me tips,” Mr Byrne said with a wistful laugh.

Collins was one half of Australia's longest-running radio breakfast team – the David and Tanya show.

The duo was on air together for 22 years, first working at 2HD for eight years before switching to KOFM, where they ruled the airwaves for years, Mr Byrne said.

“I’ve worked with a lot of teams and duos over the years. They can be friends and mates, but these two were well beyond that. They were incredibly close.

“I think it’s one of the reasons why it’s the most successful breakfast duo we’ve ever seen, not just in Newcastle but in Australia.”

Tanya Wilks, who was with him when he died, is heartbroken.

“I promised two things ... one that I would be there to the very end and two that I would make you into a meme. Finally I get the last say … miss you already you gorgeous bugger,” she said on social media.

Byrne said Collins was often misunderstood as a character.

“If you were on team David, he was incredibly kind and generous. He was also super passionate and highly opinionated. You could easily get offside with David, as I did a number of times.”

Former Newcastle Herald sports journalist Brett Keeble, who worked with Collins to broadcast Knights games, spoke to him a fortnight ago.

“He sounded stoic but exhausted and was as comfortable and content as he could be,” Keeble said.

Keeble texted him last week to “wish his beloved England well in their World Cup semi-final against Croatia”.

“I hoped he might have seen some of the game between his two favourite footy teams – Parramatta Eels and Newcastle Knights – on Friday night,” he said.

Sterling said Collins was “disappointed when England didn’t beat Croatia that’s for sure”.

“He had plenty of disappointment in his life. He was a Parramatta fan and an English cricket fan,” he joked.

Keeble said Collins had an old-school British sense of humour and knew what his audience wanted.

“David was professional, persistent and had his finger on the Hunter’s pulse.”

He had a strong and evolving understanding of public affairs and pop culture.

“His loyal listeners adored him, but for a media professional with such a public profile, he was intensely private when not behind the microphone.

“That’s why he kept his cancer battle to himself and his nearest and dearest, and why so many people would feel equal parts shock and sadness on hearing of his passing.”
 

thorson1987

Coach
Messages
16,907
Those with young kids may have heard of this guy.

https://celebrity.nine.com.au/2018/...-stefansson-dies-from-cancer?ocid=Social-Nine

The actor who played Robbie Rotten on popular children's program, LazyTown, has died following a two-year battle with cancer.

Stefán Karl Stefánsson starred as the lovable villain in the series from its premiere in 2002 to the very last episode in 2014 (reruns still air in Australia).

images
 

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