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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 12, 2021 0:47:40 GMT -5
The last president of Apartheid South Africa, FW De Klerk, has passed away. A complex and controversial figure in South African history, who on the one hand was part of the Apartheid government and the leading political party behind the system; and on the other the man who lifted the ban on the ANC and released Nelson Mandela from Prison, leading to the first majority vote, which put Mandela in power as the first Black president of the Union of South Africa. de Klerk served as Mandela's deputy president and the pair shared the Nobel Peace Prize. de Klerk faced his own accusations under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but they backed down from leveling specific charges in the final report. de Klerk had opposed the TRC, in favor of a blanket amnesty for government officials and functionaries.
de Klerk was no great idealist, from an outsider perspective; but, he was more pragmatic than many of his colleagues and could see that South Africa, in the late 1980s, was headed towards a bloody civil war. His actions helped prevent the country from exploding and led to majority rule, with himself seen as both a representative of the Apartheid era, by those who fought the system and a traitor to those who upheld the system.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 12, 2021 12:06:08 GMT -5
RIP to Moody Blues co-founder Graeme Edge.
The X-Men will be holding a wake, in several timelines.
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Post by brutalis on Nov 12, 2021 13:00:28 GMT -5
Breathe deep, the gathering gloom, watch lights fade from every room. My heart is a bit heavier today. Just watched their DVD Rocks concert DVD 2 nights ago with tears in my eyes as their MUSIC so touches my soul. Rest ye well poet Graeme! You shall be missed yet remembered forever...
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Nov 12, 2021 23:04:01 GMT -5
RIP to Margo Guryan, who wrote and recorded Take a Picture in 1968. It's her only studio album but gosh it's a charming keeper. Margo Guryan, 1937-2021
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 13, 2021 20:40:06 GMT -5
Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland passed away, Tuesday, at the age of 79. Cleland was a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he was awarded both the Bronze and Silver Stars. As a captain, in the Army, he was in the middle of the fighting, at Khe Sanh, when another soldier's live grenade dropped off his equipment belt. Cleland went to hurl it away; but, it exploded, destroying both legs and his right arm. He dealt with PTSD, as well as the loss of his limbs, but pursued a dream to enter public service and ran for state office, in Georgia. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to head the Veterans Administration and won election to the US Senate in 1996. He lost his seat in a bitter campaign, in 2002, when the political machine backing his opponent tried to attack his patriotism, with ads that were condemned by members of both parties, particularly veterans. Cleland was later put in charge of the American Memorials Commission, in 2009. During his time running the VA, he was instrumental in efforts to get PTSD recognized as a combat wound, opening aid and services to vets who were dealing with it, a legacy that has helped thousands of veterans to this day. Regardless of politics, Max Cleland served his country honorably, both on the battlefield and in government. He upheld the bonds of his brother and sister veterans and worked to help those who suffered more than physical scars in their service to this country.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 13, 2021 23:23:55 GMT -5
We also missed one, from September (though only made public recently), which has a certain irony to it: Gavan O'Herlihy passed away on September 15, at age 70, of undisclosed, but non-COVID causes. Son of actor Dan O'Herlihy, he grew up in both America and Ireland. In 1974 he was cast as Chuck Cunningham, Richie's older brother. He only appeared in a few episodes and the character was later recast, for an episode, before being written out of the show, completely. He had semi-high profile roles in Superman III (as Brad Wilson, the high school football star who bullied Clark Kent) and the fantasy film Willow, as Airk Thaughbaer, friend to Madmartigen and a soldier in the army opposing Queen Bavmorda. One of my personal favorites was in Sharpe's Eagle, with Sean bean, where he plays Captain LeRoy, an exiled Virgina Loyalist, serving in the new South Essex Regiment, alongside Lt Richard Sharpe, an officer promoted from the ranks. He is sympathetic to Sharpe, who is treated like dirt by the other officers (except a Scotsman, Maj Lennox, the only other experienced officer in the regiment, aside from Sharpe), and aids him in battling the pompous and conniving Sir Henry Simmerson and his nephew, Lt Gibbons. (That's a young Daniel Craig, as Lt Berry) O'Herlihy relocated permanently to the UK, in the 90s, and appeared in theater and on television, including Sharpe, Jonathan Creek and Midsomer Murders. A fine actor and a chip off the old block, if you ever saw his father (the Old Man, in Robocop, grig in The Last Starfighter, and Marshal Ney, in Waterloo). As for Chuck Cunningham, my theory is that he was recruited into the CIA and all knowledge of his existence was erased, and he ended up in Vietnam, running a secret program that included one Theodore Cleaver, who everyone knows died in Vietnam!
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Post by foxley on Nov 14, 2021 1:21:53 GMT -5
He also appeared in the Jeremy Brett The Adventures Sherlock Holmes series (regarded by many of us as the finest screen portrayal of Holmes) from Granada, as John Garrideb/James Winter in the episode "The Mazarin Stone".
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 14, 2021 6:48:48 GMT -5
(...) In 1974 he was cast as Chuck Cunningham, Richie's older brother. He only appeared in a few episodes and the character was later recast, for an episode, before being written out of the show, completely. (...) As for Chuck Cunningham, my theory is that he was recruited into the CIA and all knowledge of his existence was erased, and he ended up in Vietnam, running a secret program that included one Theodore Cleaver, who everyone knows died in Vietnam! And that became the subject of many an argument in the 1980s in high school and college, when there would always be someone who either didn't see those early episodes of Happy Days or forget them, and insisted that Richie and Joanie never had an older brother...
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Post by foxley on Nov 14, 2021 7:04:15 GMT -5
(...) In 1974 he was cast as Chuck Cunningham, Richie's older brother. He only appeared in a few episodes and the character was later recast, for an episode, before being written out of the show, completely. (...) As for Chuck Cunningham, my theory is that he was recruited into the CIA and all knowledge of his existence was erased, and he ended up in Vietnam, running a secret program that included one Theodore Cleaver, who everyone knows died in Vietnam! And that became the subject of many an argument in the 1980s in high school and college, when there would always be someone who either didn't see those early episodes of Happy Days or forget them, and insisted that Richie and Joanie never had an older brother... And apparently even Howard Cunningham forgot he had an elder son, as in one of the last episodes (possibly the final episode) he makes a toast and mentions having raised two wonderful children.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 14, 2021 8:02:40 GMT -5
I knew he looked familiar, but I didn’t know him from any of the shows or movies mentioned, as I hadn’t seen them.
Then it hit me. He was the epitome of unpredictable menace as the bad-to-the-marrow sociopathic killer, Dan Suggs, in Lonesome Dove.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 14, 2021 14:18:24 GMT -5
foxley, you probably know that Lonesome Dove was directed by an Aussie, right? (Simon Wincer, who also directed Quigley Down Under, The Lighthorseman and The Phantom.)
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Post by foxley on Nov 14, 2021 15:59:49 GMT -5
foxley , you probably know that Lonesome Dove was directed by an Aussie, right? (Simon Wincer, who also directed Quigley Down Under, The Lighthorseman and The Phantom.) Sure am. I really enjoyed the Lonesome Dove mini-series (but with a cast like that, it would be hard not to).
In Australia, Wincer is probably best known for directing Phar Lap, a bio-pic about Australia's (and possibly the world's) greatest racehorse. He also directed Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, but we don't talk about that.
And if you enjoyed Quigley Down Under, Crossfire Trail is an another Wincer-directed western starring Tom Selleck that is worth checking out.
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Post by commond on Nov 14, 2021 17:42:49 GMT -5
I think you mean New Zealand's greatest racehorse
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2021 3:16:23 GMT -5
RIP to former Red Sox shortstop and part of the '07 championship team, Julio Lugo. He was only 45.
-M
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 16, 2021 9:38:45 GMT -5
RIP to former Red Sox shortstop and part of the '07 championship team, Julio Lugo. He was only 45. -M That's really young for a heart attack. Maybe he had a heart condition he was battling this entire life.
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