Dedications: My four late friends Rory, Stan, Bryan, Jeff - shine on you crazy diamonds, they would have blogged too. Then theres Garry from Brisbane, Franco in Milan, Mike now in S.F. / my '60s-'80s gang: Ned & Joseph in Ireland; in England: Frank, Des, Guy, Clive, Joe & Joe, Ian, Ivan, Nick, David, Les, Stewart, the 3 Michaels / Catriona, Sally, Monica, Jean, Ella, Anne, Candie / and now: Daryl in N.Y., Jerry, John, Colin, Martin and Donal.

Monday 13 April 2015

Recent RIPs .....

Jackie Trent (1940-2015), aged 74. Terrific British singer and songwriter, was married to Tony Hatch.

Cynthia Lennon (1939-2015), aged 75, also died in Spain, as did Jackie Trent. Cynthia was the first wife of John Lennon and features in all the mythologies on The Beatles ....

Viv Nicholson, aged 79. The "Spend Spend Spend" lady, who won and lost a fortune on the pools in the 1960s and whose life was beset by tragedy afterwards, as her husband Keith was killed in a car crash, as was another of her husbands. Jack Rosenthal wrote a marvellous play about Viv - a real life Elsie Tanner character, she was also on the cover of a Smiths single - titled of course SPEND SPEND SPEND in 1977, with Susan Littler (who died tragically young at 34) and Jack Duttine. It would be great to see that again .... Her book was a great read too. 

Percy Sledge (1940-2015), aged 74. A major soul man from Alabama, perhaps his "When A Man Loves A Woman" was too familiar and overdone, but I always loved his "Let me wrap you in my warm and tender love"...

John Renbourn (1944-2015) aged 70. Another great British musician (like Cream's Jack Bruce who died last year) who was guitarist and songwriter, mainly with Pentangle folk group. 

Walter Grauman (1922-2015), aged 93. Prolific American television and film director - he directed 53 episodes of MURDER SHE WROTE, and the cult films LADY IN A CAGE and A RAGE TO LIVE, as well as the popular 633 SQUADRON. and popular shows like HONEY WEST and THE FUGITIVE,

Gene Saks - another 93 year old (1921-2015), Veteran actor and director, mainly known for THE ODD COUPLE, the film of MAME, and the fab CACTUS FLOWER, as well as BAREFOOT IN THE PARK and BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS.

Rik Battaglia (1927-2015), aged 88. Italian beefcake actor Rik was an Italian heart-throb who featured in several peplum films. He was Sophia Loren's co-star in the 1954 WOMAN OF THE RIVER, and his other films included SODOM AND GOMORRAH, ESTHER AND THE KING, FROM A ROMAN BALCONY, SANDOKAN THE GREAT, DUCK YOU SUCKER and many others.

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