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PsychoSy
01-21-03, 08:22 PM
1) Cancer retires Richard Crenna

Best known for his role as the the Green Beret mentor of Sly Stallone in the "Rambo" films and his role on CBS's "Chasing Amy", Emmy award winning actor Richard Crenna died this past Friday of pancreatic cancer. He was 76.

Often playing as tough-as-nails characters, Crenna was known best for his spirit and sense of humor off camera. "He was one of the brightest, nicest, funniest and most talented actors I've ever worked with. He was everyone's friend," Sly Stallone said on Saturday. His wife, Penni Crena, adds, "Even after 46 years, he had me laughing, even in the hospital."

Born in LA, Crenna began his carreer in radio at the ripe age of just 10 years old, appearing on "Burns & Allen" and later played a love-sick teenage Walter Denton in "Our Miss Brooks", moving with the show when it switched to TV.

2) Heart Failure Claims Ed "The Sheik" Farhat

Legendary grappler Edward Farhat, better known and hated as the villainous "The Sheik", and often accredited to being the man who has pioneered the more "hardcore" style of wrestling that dominates the industry today, died of heart failure this past Saturday in Williamson, Michigan. He was 75.

Farhat was born in Lansing, MI, one of 10 children of Lebanese immigrants. After concealing his age of 17, he joined the U.S. Army during World War II and dedicated his life to pro wrestling afterwards, being recruited by promoter Burt Ruby in Detroit in 1950.

Steve Slagle of The Ring Chronicle writes, "Universally hated by fans, The Sheik was nevertheless a top ratings and box office draw for promoters in the day. His bloody, emotional battles with Bobo Brazil, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Antonio Rocca, Johnny Valentine, Harley Race and Abdullah The Butcher were the stuff of legends, not to mention box office gold."

Don't confuse this guy with "The Iron Shiek" of the 70s and 80s that often teamed with Nicolai Volkoff and battered the likes of Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan. Those are different Shieks. :)

styles-T
01-21-03, 09:29 PM
Who's the 3rd? :eek:

They come in 3's..

fishlung
01-22-03, 12:09 PM
That series was called Judging Amy, not to be confused with the movie Chasing Amy .

"You send that many, don't forget one thing.... A good supply of body bags."

saturnotaku
01-22-03, 01:24 PM
My editor said he's going to wear black tomorrow to mourn the passing of the sheik. He's one of the most hardcore wrestling fanatics I've ever met.

SurfMonkey
01-22-03, 02:32 PM
It's been a really crap few months for people just falling over and dying, two of my friends have just lost a parent each(one mother - cancer, last week and one father - heart attack, Christmas ), and my mother died in mid november.

What do they know that we don't? :(

sbp
01-26-03, 03:36 AM
Originally posted by !plonk*
Who's the 3rd? :eek:

They come in 3's.. Award-winning singer, actress Nell Carter dies

Friday, January 24, 2003

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Nell Carter, who played the stout, sassy housekeeper on the 1980s sitcom Gimme a Break! and won a Tony Award in 1978 for her sultry turn in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin', died Thursday at 54.

The singer-actor collapsed in her Beverly Hills home and was found by one of her 13-year-old sons, spokesman Roger Lane said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Carter had been a diabetic for years, Lane said, and she had two brain operations in 1992 to fix aneurysms. She recovered and continued to perform, mostly on stage.

At the time of her death, Carter was in rehearsals at a Long Beach theatre for Raisin, a musical version of Raisin in the Sun.

Blessed with a big voice and strong stage presence despite her four-foot-11 height, the heavyset Carter prided herself on her range as a performer, doing musicals and drama as well as comedy.

"She was a pioneer in many ways," said fellow Tony winner Audra McDonald. "She had the ability to be such an incredible comedic musical-theatre actress, blow a song all the way to the back of the wall and then come down and be so intimate and beautiful in a ballad."

In addition to her Tony for Ain't Misbehavin', Carter received an Emmy in 1982 for a TV broadcast of the show, which was a revue of Fats Waller songs. Her quietly soulful number Mean to Me was a show highlight.

Carter garnered two more Emmy nominations in 1982 and 1983 for Gimme a Break!, playing a housekeeper to a family headed by a widower who was the town police chief. The show ran from 1981 to 1987. In 1985, an episode was broadcast live - the first for a situation comedy in nearly 30 years.

Carter also played the cruel orphanage operator Miss Hannigan in the 1997 revival of Annie and appeared in the movies The Grass Harp (1995), Modern Problems (1981) and Hair (1979).

Carter grew up in Birmingham, Ala., singing in her church choir. She sang on the gospel circuit before moving on to coffeehouses and nightclubs. She longed to sing opera, then aspired to be a belter.

From early in her career until the mid-'80s, Carter struggled with alcohol and drugs, eventually shaking her addictions through a 12-step program.

Carter was married and divorced twice. She is survived by her two sons and a daughter.

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Only 54.