The RIP Thread

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Jackie Mason, comic who perfected amused outrage, dies at 93
CANVAS Arts Jul 25, 2021 7:54 PM EDT



Bobby Bank/WireImage

NEW YORK — Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.

Mason died Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks, the celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder told The Associated Press.

The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.

“Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,” he once joked. Another Mason line was: “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.” About himself, he once said: “I was so self-conscious, every time football players went into a huddle; I thought they were talking about me.”

His death was mourned far and wide, from fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who called him “one of the best,” to Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity, who hailed Mason as “irreverent, iconoclastic, funny, smart and a great American patriot.” Henry Winkler tweeted: “Now you get to make heaven laugh.”

Mason was born Jacob Maza, the son of a rabbi. His three brothers became rabbis. So did Mason, who at one time had congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Comedy eventually proved to be a more persistent calling than God.

“A person has to feel emotionally barren or empty or frustrated in order to become a comedian,” he told The Associated Press in 1987. “I don’t think people who feel comfortable or happy are motivated to become comedians. You’re searching for something and you’re willing to pay a high price to get that attention.”

Mason started in show business as a social director at a resort in the Catskills. He was the guy who got everybody up to play Simon Says, quiz games or shuffleboard. He told jokes, too. After one season, he was playing clubs throughout the Catskills for better money.

“Nobody else knew me, but in the mountains, I was a hit,” Mason recalled.

In 1961, the pint-sized comic got a big break, an appearance on Steve Allen’s weekly television variety show. His success brought him to “The Ed Sullivan Show” and other programs.

He was banned for two years from the “Sullivan” show when he allegedly gave the host the finger when Sullivan signaled to him to wrap up his act during an appearance on Oct. 18, 1964.

Mason’s act even carried him to Broadway, where he put on several one-man shows, including “Freshly Squeezed” in 2005, “Love Thy Neighbor” in 1996 and “The World According to Me” in 1988, for which he received a special Tony Award.

“I feel like Ronald Reagan tonight,” Mason joked on Tony night. “He was an actor all his life, knew nothing about politics and became president of the United States. I’m an ex-rabbi who knew nothing about acting and I’m getting a Tony Award.”

Mason called himself an observer who watched people and learned. From those observations he said he got his jokes and then tried them out on friends. “I’d rather make a fool of myself in front of two people for nothing than a thousand people who paid for a ticket,” he told the AP.

His humor could leap from computers and designer coffee to then-Sen. John Kerry, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Donald Trump. He was able to articulate the average Joe’s anger, making the indignities of life seem funny and maybe just a little bit more bearable.

“I very rarely write anything down. I just think about life a lot and try to put it into phrases that will get a joke,” he said. “I never do a joke that has a point that I don’t believe in. To me, the message and the joke is the same.”

On TV, Mason was a reliable presence, usually with a cameo on such shows as “30 Rock” or “The Simpsons” or as a reliable guest on late night chat shows. He performed in front of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and his show “Fearless” played London’s West End in 2012.

He portrayed a Jewish ex-pajama salesman in love with an Irish-Catholic widow portrayed by Lynn Redgrave in a series called “Chicken Soup” in 1989 but it didn’t last. During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the British Broadcasting Corp.’s Scottish service hired Mason as a weekly commentator. He was in “Caddyshack II,” a notorious flop.

Mason’s humor sometimes went too far, as when he touched off a controversy in New York while campaigning for GOP mayoral candidate Rudolph Giuliani against Democrat David Dinkins, who was Black. Mason had to apologize after saying, among other things, that Jews would vote for Dinkins out of guilt.

Felder, his longtime friend, told the AP that Mason had a Talmudic outlook on life: “That whatever you would say to him, he would start an argument with you.”

He is survived by his wife, producer Jyll Rosenfeld, and a daughter, Sheba.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Queen Elizabeth II Has Died (1926-2022)

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has died at 96 years old. The longest reigning Monarch in British history dedicated a life to public and voluntary service as one of the most important elements of her work.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Leslie Jordan, Actor on ‘Will & Grace‘ and ’Call Me Kat,’ Dies at 67 in Car Crash

The Emmy winner, who also stood out on 'American Horror Story' and 'The Cool Kids,' was declared dead at the scene in Hollywood.
By Miake Barnes October 24, 2022 12:06pm


Credit: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for GLAAD

Leslie Jordan, the goofy comic actor perhaps best known for his Emmy-winning turn as Beverley Leslie, the cynical foil to Megan Mullally’s Karen Walker, on Will & Grace, has died. He was 67.

Jordan was at the wheel of a BMW when he crashed into the side of a building at Cahuenga Boulevard and Romaine Street in Hollywood on Monday morning. He was declared dead at the scene and could have suffered a medical emergency beforehand.

Jordan recurs as Phil, the gay baker at the café owned by Mayim Bialik’s character, on the Fox sitcom Call Me Kat, which returned for its third season last month. He appeared in all five of the new season’s episodes so far.

His other recent work includes turns on FX’s American Horror Story — playing different characters over three seasons — and the 2018-19 Fox sitcom The Cool Kids.

The 4-foot-11 Jordan, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, first showed up as the socialite Beverley during the third season of NBC’s Will & Grace in 2001 and returned for the show’s reboot in 2017, appearing on 17 episodes of the series in all. He won his Emmy in 2006.

Will & Grace star Sean Hayes lamented his death on Twitter, noting that Jordan was “one of the funniest people I ever had the pleasure of working with.”

Jordan also recurred from 1993-95 as Lonnie Garr on the Linda Bloodworth-Thomason/Harry Thomason created CBS series Hearts Afire, starring John Ritter and Markie Post.

In another notable role, he played Earl “Brother Boy” Ingram on the stage and reprised the character — a cross-dressing homosexual obsessed with Tammy Wynette — for the 2000 indie film written and directed by Del Shores and for a 2008 series. Both the movie and TV show featured Olivia Newton-John.

He also stood out as the newspaper editor Mr. Blackly in The Help (2011), directed by Tate Taylor.

Jordan’s popularity grew during the pandemic, when his silly Instagram posts grew his followers to 5.8 million. He recently rang in the new year with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper on CNN, appeared on Fox’s The Masked Singer and guest-hosted on The Talk.

“For someone 65 years old to all of a sudden be, like, an internet star?” he said in a 2020 interview with The New York Times. “I’ve loved attention, wanted it my whole career, and I’ve never gotten this kind of attention. I mean, even on Will & Grace, winning an Emmy, it wasn’t anything like when you have social media. When you’ve become a success there, it’s unbelievable.”

Leslie Allen Jordan was born on April 29, 1955, in Chattanooga. His father, a lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army, was killed in a plane crash in Mississippi when Leslie was 11.

He moved to Atlanta, where he went back to school to study journalism and took a theater class, which convinced him to pursue acting. That brought him to Los Angeles, and in 1982, he appeared on an episode of The Fall Guy in 1986 and in the Richard Pryor movie Moving On in 1987. He also did lots of commercials.

Two years later, he was hilarious as Kyle, a wrongly imprisoned inmate who is released thanks to Murphy Brown and hired as her secretary, on a classic 1989 episode of the Candice Bergen sitcom.

“I think that was probably my kind of break,” he said. “After that aired, my agent called me. He said, ‘I’ve never had this happen. I’ve been in this business for 30 years.’ He goes, ‘Burt Reynolds wants to see you, can you do a sitcom with his wife, Loni Anderson? Mr. Spielberg’s people want to meet you for this project. Peewee Herman wants to put you on his kids show.’ I mean, it was all like one day. I had a break, a true break. I’ve just been working ever since.”

Starting in 1993, Jordan starred in the autobiographical off-Broadway show Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far. He then wrote and starred in the stage production My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, produced by Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner; that premiered in 2010.

His résumé also included regular or recurring TV stints on The People Next Door, Top of the Heap, Reasonable Doubts, Bodies of Evidence, Boston Public, Boston Legal, Con Man and Living the Dream.

After battling drug and alcohol abuse, Jordan said he was sober for more than two decades. Last year, he received the Timeless Star award from GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics for an “exemplary career that has been marked by character, wisdom and wit.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said Jordan was a “true class act when it came to sharing his platform and celebrity to help raise awareness and funds for our work to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ community.

“As someone who was very proud of their Tennessee roots, he made it a priority to help increase visibility for LGBTQ for people in the South by participating in The Concert for Love & Acceptance and serving as grand marshal at the Nashville AIDS Walk last year.”

Survivors include his sister, Jana. Her twin, Janet, died in April, and their mother, Peggy Ann, died in May.

“The world is definitely a much darker place today without the love and light of Leslie Jordan,” David Shaul, his agent, said in a statement. “Not only was he a mega talent and joy to work with, but he provided an emotional sanctuary to the nation at one of its most difficult times. What he lacked in height he made up for in generosity and greatness as a son, brother, artist, comedian, partner and human being. Knowing that he has left the world at the height of both his professional and personal life is the only solace one can have today.”

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Jerry Lee Lewis dead at 87: Rock ‘Killer’ dies days after false report
By Tracy Swartz
October 28, 2022 1:00pm* Updated


Getty Images

Rock ‘n’ roll icon Jerry Lee Lewis died at his Mississippi home Friday, representative Zach Farnum said in a news release. He was 87.

TMZ reported Wednesday that Lewis had died, but then retracted the report and blamed a bad tip.

Nicknamed “The Killer,” the electric showman was one of the first stars inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He was known for his boogie-woogie style with 1957 hits “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire.”

The rock pioneer was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, on Sept. 29, 1935. In his biography, he recalled learning to tickle the ivories at age 9, with his father mortgaging the family farm to buy him his first piano shortly thereafter. His first public performance came at the age of 14, at the opening of a car dealership.

He attended Bible school in Texas, where he was reportedly expelled for a bad attitude and misconduct, including playing rock ‘n’ roll versions of hymns.

Lewis signed with Sun Records in 1956, but his scandalous marriage to his then 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, threatened his ascent to stardom. The union — which occurred while he was still married to another woman — was revealed when Lewis embarked on a British tour in 1958. The tour was promptly canceled, and radio stations wouldn’t play his records. The couple divorced in 1970.

Lewis recorded several country albums and saw renewed interest in his career when he was inducted into the first class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Dennis Quaid played Lewis in the 1989 biopic “Great Balls of Fire!,” while Winona Ryder portrayed Myra.

Lewis won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Oct. 16 but was so ill that he couldn’t attend the awards ceremony, so Kris Kristofferson accepted the award on his behalf and presented it to him later.

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Betterman Archive

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Actor Tom Sizemore, known for tough-guy roles and scandal, dead at 61
By Steve Gorman
March 4, 20235:30 AM PSTLast Updated 2 days ago


REUTERS/Phil McCarten

March 3 (Reuters) - Actor Tom Sizemore, known as much for his struggles with drug addiction and run-ins with the law as for his tough-guy roles in such films as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down," died on Friday at age 61, said his manager, Charles Lago.

Sizemore, who was hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a brain aneurysm on Feb. 18, died in his sleep at a hospital in Burbank, California, Lago said in a statement on Friday.

A native of Detroit, where his mother worked for the city's ombudsman and his father was an attorney and philosophy professor, Sizemore attended Wayne State University and earned a graduate degree in theater from Temple University in Philadelphia.

As an aspiring actor in New York City waiting tables and performing in plays, Sizemore got his first break when director Oliver Stone cast him in a bit role as Vet #1 in the 1989 anti-war film "Born on the Fourth of July."

Additional supporting parts followed in the early 1990s, leading to a string of higher-profile work playing hard-boiled detectives in such films as Stone's 1994 mass murder drama "Natural Born Killers," the 1995 noir mystery "Devil in a Blue Dress" and 1995 cyberpunk thriller "Strange Days."

He also landed prominent supporting roles as frontier gunfighter Bat Masterson in Kevin Costner's 1994 western "Wyatt Earp," a violent sidekick to Robert De Niro's career criminal in the 1995 ensemble heist movie "Heat," and a paramedic with a messianic complex in Martin Scorsese's 1999 psycho-drama "Bringing Out the Dead."

Sizemore's first major leading role came in the 1997 horror thriller "The Relic," again playing a police detective. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2000 as best actor in a miniseries or made-for-television movie for his role as a mob snitch in "Witness Protection."

But he is best remembered for playing battle-hardened soldiers in two films - Steven Spielberg's 1998 World War Two epic "Saving Private Ryan" Ridley Scott's 2001 portrayal of the U.S. military's ill-fated 1993 raid in Mogadishu, Somalia, "Black Hawk Down."

On television, Sizemore won plaudits for his starring role as a police detective in the short-lived CBS television drama "Robbery Homicide Division." He previously had a recurring role on the ABC network's Vietnam War drama "China Beach," playing an enlisted man who falls for star Dana Delany's character.

Through it all, Sizemore's career was largely overshadowed by personal upheavals stemming from his acknowledged long-time bouts with substance abuse, which landed him in and out of jail and drug rehabilitation treatment, and a relationship with onetime Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.

He was convicted in 2003 of domestic violence against Fleiss during their stormy yearlong romance, resulting in a six-month jail sentence.

Fleiss, who had served time in jail for running a 1990s call-girl ring for Hollywood's rich and famous, testified that Sizemore stubbed a cigarette out on her and once knocked her to the ground outside his home.

Sizemore, who denied the charges but did not testify at his trial, said in a letter to the judge that he had "permitted my personal demons to take over my life." The actor, then 41, also wrote that he was "convinced that if I had not been under the influence of drugs, I would have controlled by behavior."

A separate conviction on charges of methamphetamine possession led to court-ordered drug rehab.

In 2005 he was jailed for violating terms of his probation from the domestic abuse and meth convictions by failing a drug urine test when he was caught trying to use a prosthetic penis device, called a Whizzinator, to fake the results.

Sizemore's probation was reinstated after he checked into a psychiatric hospital for treatment of chronic depression and drug dependency that a doctor said the actor had fought for years.

He was arrested again on suspicion of domestic abuse in 2016 and the following year pleaded no contest, the legal equivalent of guilty in California, and was sentenced to three year's probation.

In 2010, Sizemore parlayed his notoriety and history of addiction into an appearance with Fleiss on the third season of the VH1's reality show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew."

Sizemore chronicled his turbulent life in the 2013 memoir, "By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There."

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Lee Sun-kyun: Parasite actor, 48, found dead in apparent suicide
27th December 2023, 04:13 PST
By Kelly Ng & Jake Kwonin Singapore and Seoul


Getty

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, has been found dead in an apparent suicide in central Seoul.

Police found the body of the actor, who was 48, in a car near a city park on Wednesday. They believe Lee took his own life, Yonhap news agency reports.

Police said earlier they had received a report that he had left his home after writing a note.

He had been under investigation for alleged illegal drug use since October.

Lee's body was taken to Seoul National University Hospital after police located his car near Waryong Park. Reports say his family have refused an autopsy and he will be buried on Friday.

Police have begun an investigation to establish the details around his death, including when he arrived at the scene where his body was found, and the time of his death.

In Parasite, Lee played the patriarch of the wealthy Park family which is infiltrated by members of a poor family posing as unrelated individuals. The vicious social satire won four Oscars, including best picture.

Yonhap reported that he was suspected of taking drugs such as marijuana and ketamine with a hostess at a bar in Seoul. He had said that though he took what she gave him, he had not known that they were illicit drugs.

The hostess had reportedly told the police that he used drugs at her home multiple times - something he denied. He had earlier requested through his lawyer to take a lie detector test.

His drug tests had returned negative or inconclusive results, the report added.

Police said they regretted that Lee had died in the midst of investigations, but that the inquiry had been "conducted with [his] consent", News1 Korea reported. Lee underwent three rounds of questioning, with one session last Saturday lasting 19 hours, according to Yonhap.

Lee's agency, HODU&U Entertainment, said in a statement: "There is no way to contain the sorrow and despair. We respectfully ask that you refrain from spreading false facts based on speculation... so that [Lee's] final journey will not be unfair."

News of his death sparked strong reactions online.

"I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for him. Rest in peace," read a comment on one of the news reports.

"Aren't celebrities human? People can make mistakes in their lives. It's so sad," said another.

There was also praise for his work.

One fan, writing on X (formerly Twitter), wrote: "I laughed and cried a lot while watching your acting. Thank you."

The actor, who was married to actress Jeon Hye-jin and had two young sons with her, had a career spanning more than two decades.

He starred as the lead in dozens of films and TV shows, becoming a household name through the 2010s.

He rose to international fame with Parasite, as it became the first non-English language film to win the Best Picture Oscar.

In South Korea, celebrities are held to high standards of propriety.

Lee had a squeaky-clean, family-man image prior to his alleged drug use, but reports that emerged from the investigation caused considerable damage to his reputation.

Speaking to reporters in late October before going into a police station for questioning, he said: "I sincerely apologise for causing great disappointment to many people by being involved in such an unpleasant incident.

"I feel sorry for my family, which is enduring such difficult pain at this moment."

Lee was dropped from No Way Out, a mystery TV series that began shooting in October. According to reports, some businesses were seen taking down posters and advertisements featuring Lee from their stores.

Drug offences, including those involving usage of marijuana, are considered serious crimes in South Korea. Consumption of marijuana carries prison sentences of up to five years.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed a crackdown on drugs. This year, the country's authorities expanded its drug crimes department and the national police chief promised "a total war" on drug crimes.

Lee is not the only South Korean celebrity who had been investigated for drug use recently. Earlier this month, K-pop star G-Dragon was cleared of drug allegations after weeks of investigations.

Actor Yoo Ah-in is currently standing trial for drug use.

Additional reporting by Fan Wang

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ADDENDUM:
Lee Su-Kyun was never found with drugs on him or had any in his possession, in his car, or at his home. His drug & blood tests were all negative. Nor were there any in another actor that was also accused and under police investigation. Accusations of drug use was never founded or verified. This was a hit piece by his accuser, the S. Korean media, and police because in S. Korea you're deemed guilty in the eyes of the public from the start without evidence or first being charged. The intensity of Asian public & media scrutiny is so much worse than a lot of western tabloids.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dK_MvbOOvT0

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Tom Smothers, one half of TV comedy legends the Smothers Brothers, dies at 86
Updated December 27, 20231:12 PM ET
By The Associated Press


Louis Lanzano/AP

Tom Smothers, half of the Smothers Brothers and the co-host of one of the most socially conscious and groundbreaking television shows in the history of the medium, has died at 86.

The National Comedy Center, on behalf of his family, said in a statement Wednesday that Smothers died Tuesday at home in Santa Rosa, California, following a cancer battle.

"Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner. I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years," his brother and the duo's other half, Dick Smothers, said in the statement. "Our relationship was like a good marriage — the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed."

When "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967 it was an immediate hit, to the surprise of many who had assumed the network's expectations were so low it positioned their show opposite the top-rated "Bonanza."

A surprise TV hit that ran into the censors

But the Smothers Brothers would prove a turning point in television history, with its sharp eye for pop culture trends and young rock stars such as the Who and Buffalo Springfield, and its daring sketches — ridiculing the Establishment, railing against the Vietnam War and portraying members of the era's hippie counterculture as gentle, fun-loving spirits — found an immediate audience with young baby boomers. The show reached No. 16 in the ratings in its first season.

It also drew the ire of network censors, and after years of battling with the brothers over the show's creative content, the network abruptly canceled the program in 1970, accusing the siblings of failing to submit an episode in time for the censors to review.

Nearly 40 years later, when Smothers was awarded an honorary Emmy for his work on the show, he jokingly thanked the writers he said had gotten him fired. He also showed that the years had not dulled his outspokenness.

"It's hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war," Smothers said at the 2008 Emmy Awards as his brother sat in the audience, beaming. He dedicated his award to those "who feel compelled to speak out and are not afraid to speak to power and won't shut up and refuse to be silenced."

During the three years the show was on television, the brothers constantly battled with CBS's censors and occasionally outraged viewers as well, particularly when Smothers joked that Easter "is when Jesus comes out of his tomb and if he sees his shadow, he goes back in and we get six more weeks of winter." At Christmas, when other show hosts were sending best wishes to soldiers fighting overseas, Smothers offered his to draft dodgers who had moved to Canada.

In still another episode, the brothers returned blacklisted folk singer Pete Seeger to television for the first time in years. He performed his song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," widely viewed as ridiculing President Lyndon Johnson for the Vietnam War. When CBS refused to air the segment, the brothers brought Seeger back for another episode and he sang it again. This time, it made the air.

After the show was canceled, the brothers sued CBS for $31 million and were awarded $775,000. Their battles with the network were chronicled in the 2002 documentary "Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

"Tom Smothers was not only an extraordinary comedic talent, who, together with his brother Dick, became the most enduring comedy duo in history, entertaining the world for over six decades — but was a true champion for freedom of speech, harnessing the power of comedy to push boundaries and our political consciousness," National Comedy Center Executive Director Journey Gunderson said in a statement.

Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born Feb. 2, 1937, on Governors Island, New York, where his father, an Army major, was stationed. His brother was born two years later. In 1940 their father was transferred to the Philippines, and his wife, two sons and their sister, Sherry, accompanied him.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the family was sent home and Maj. Smothers remained. He was captured by the Japanese during the war and died in captivity. The family eventually moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach, where Smothers helped his mother take care of his brother and sister while she worked.

On the nightclub circuit, a mix of folk music and sibling rivalry

The brothers had seemed unlikely to make television history. They had spent the previous several years on the nightclub and college circuits and doing TV guest appearances, honing an offbeat comedy routine that mixed folk music with a healthy dose of sibling rivalry.

They would come on stage, Tom with a guitar in hand and Dick toting an upright bass. They would quickly break into a traditional folk song — perhaps "John Henry" or "Pretoria." After playing several bars, Tom, positioned as the dumb one, would mess it up, and then quickly claim he had meant to do that. As Dick, the serious, short-tempered one, berated him for failing to acknowledge his error, he would scream in exasperation, "Mom always liked you best!"

They continued that shtick on their show but also surrounded themselves with a talented cast of newcomers, both writers and performers.

Among the crack writing crew that Smothers headed were future actor-producer Rob Reiner, musician Mason Williams and comedian Steve Martin, who presented Smothers with the lifetime Emmy in 2008. Regular musical guests included John Hartford, Glen Campbell and Jennifer Warnes.

Bob Einstein, now better known as stuntman Super Dave Osborne, had a recurring role as Officer Judy, a dour Los Angeles police officer who once cited guest Liberace for playing the piano too fast. Leigh French, as the hippie earth mother in the segment "Share a Little Tea With Goldie," always appeared to have been drinking something brewed through more than just tea leaves.

The brothers had begun their own act when Tom, then a student at San Jose State College, formed a music group called the Casual Quintet and encouraged his younger brother to learn the bass and join. The brothers continued on as a duo after the other musicians dropped out, but because their folk music repertoire was limited, they began to intersperse it with comedy.

Their big break came in 1959 when they appeared at San Francisco's Purple Onion, then a hot spot for new talent. Booked for two weeks, they stayed a record 36. Booked into New York's Blue Angel, they won praise from The New York Times, which described them as "a pair of tart-tongued singing comedians." But to their disappointment, they couldn't get on "The Tonight Show," then hosted by Jack Paar.

"Paar kept telling our agent he didn't like folk singers — except for Burl Ives," Smothers told The Associated Press in 1964. "But one night he had a cancellation, and we went on. Everything worked right that night."

The brothers went on to appear on the TV shows of Steve Allen, Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, Andy Williams, Jack Benny and Judy Garland. Their comedy albums were big sellers and they toured the country, especially colleges.

Television first came calling in 1965, casting them in "The Smothers Brothers Show," a sitcom about a businessman (Dick) who is haunted by his late brother (Tom), a fledgling guardian angel. It lasted just one season.

Shortly after CBS canceled the "Comedy Hour," ABC picked it up as a summer replacement, but the network didn't bring it back in the fall. NBC gave them a show in 1975 but it failed to find an audience and lasted only a season.

The brothers went their separate ways for a time in the 1970s. Among other endeavors, Smothers got into the wine business, launching Remick Ridge Vineyards in Northern California's wine country.

"Originally the winery was called Smothers Brothers, but I changed the name to Remick Ridge because when people heard Smothers Brothers wine, they thought something like Milton Berle Fine Wine or Larry, Curly and Mo Vineyards," Smothers once said.

"We just kept resurfacing"

He and his brother eventually reunited to star in the musical comedy "I Love My Wife," a hit that ran on Broadway for two years. After that they went back on the road, playing casinos, performing arts centers and corporate gatherings around the country, remaining popular for decades.

"We just keep resurfacing," Smothers commented in 1997. "We're just not in everyone's face long enough to really get old."

After a successful 20th anniversary "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" in 1988, CBS buried the hatchet and brought them back.

The show was quickly canceled, though it stayed on the air long enough for Smothers to introduce the "Yo-Yo Man," a bit allowing him to demonstrate his considerable skills with a yo-yo while he and his brother kept up a steady patter of comedy. The bit remained in their act for years.

Smothers married three times and had three children. He is survived by his wife Marie, children Bo and Riley Rose, and brother Dick, in addition to other relatives. He was predeceased by his son Tom and sister Sherry.

Correction Dec. 27, 2023

An previous version of this story said Smothers' father was a Navy major. In fact, he was an Army major. And a reference to San Jose State University should have said San Jose State College.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Actor Tom Wilkinson, known for 'The Full Monty' and 'Michael Clayton,' dies at 75
DECEMBER 30, 20233:55 PM ET
Juliana Kim


Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

British actor Tom Wilkinson, known for his roles in The Full Monty and Batman Begins, died on Saturday. He was 75.

His death was confirmed by his family in a statement shared by his publicist.

"It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30th. His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time," his family said in a statement.

Wilkinson's acting career began nearly five decades ago on the British stage and British television. Soon, Wilkinson impressed audiences around the world with his role in the popular 1997 British comedy The Full Monty about a group of men who, after losing their jobs at a steel plant, form a male striptease act.

Four years later, Wilkinson gained even more critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for his role as a father coping with the death of his son in the drama film In the Bedroom.

He went on to pursue even more ambitious, complicated roles in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michael Clayton and Batman Begins.

In a 2005 interview with Fresh Air, Wilkinson attributed his interest and skill in acting to his childhood. Wilkinson had long believed he would become a farmer like the generations in his family before him. After his family lost their farm, Wilkinson experienced an identity crisis that turned out to be a boon for creativity.

"I think in a certain sense, rootlessness, in that sense, is quite good for an actor," he said. "It's not necessarily going to make an actor, but it means they are much more wide-ranging in the things that they will allow themselves to be influenced by, that they're perhaps not as set in their cultural ways as perhaps they could be if they had that thing which we crudely call a strong sense of themselves."

On Saturday, Scott Derrickson, director of the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which Wilkinson starred in, wrote on X: "Goodbye Tom Wilkinson, an amazing talent and wonderful human being."

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Starsky & Hutch actor David Soul dies aged 80

Actor and singer best known for starring role in 1970s police series has died, says his wife, Helen Snell

Betsy Reed
Editor, Guardian US


ABC Photo Archives/Disney via Getty Images

The actor David Soul, best known for his role in the television series Starsky & Hutch, has died at the age of 80, his wife, Helen Snell, said in a statement.

“David Soul – beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother – died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family,” she said in the statement. “He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend.”

“His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.”

The British American actor was best known for his role as Detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson on Starsky & Hutch, the American action TV series which ran from 1975 to 1979. Other notable roles include Joshua Bolt in the comedy western Here Comes the Bride, from 1968 to 1970, and as Officer John Davis in the 1973 film Magnum Force. Soul was also a singer with such hits as Don’t Give Up on Us and Silver Lady, which both went to number one in the UK.

Born on 28 August 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, Soul grew up in a religious family of Norwegian descent. His father, Richard Solberg, was a Lutheran minister and a history professor. “The atmosphere was strict when I was growing up but tempered by love,” Soul recalled to the Guardian in 2012. “We were a very, very religious family – we weren’t fundamentalists, just very worshipful and gave credit to God for almost everything.”

The family lived a peripatetic lifestyle to accommodate his teaching, moving from Berlin to Mexico City and eventually settling in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Soul graduated high school. While studying for a year at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, he was inspired by students who taught him to play guitar and shifted his focus to music, eventually performing in clubs in Minneapolis.

He began performing on stage in the mid-60s, and was a founding member of the Firehouse Theater in Minneapolis. Soul gained attention for his stage work touring the country with the group, particularly as the “Covered Man” on the Merv Griffin show in 1966 and 1967, where he sang while wearing a mask. Shortly thereafter came his first television appearance on Flipper. He signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1967 and began a series of guest appearances, including on Star Trek, before landing the role on Here Comes the Bride.

Soul moved to the UK in the mid-1990s, where he forged a new career on the West End stage in productions such as Comic Potential and Blood Brothers. He became a British citizen in 2004.

Soul was married five times: to Mim Solberg, in 1964; to actress Karen Carlson, with whom he shares one son, in 1968; to Patti Sherman in 1980, with whom he shares three children; and actress Julia Nickson in 1987, with whom he shares daughter China Soul, a singer-songwriter. He met Snell in 2002 on the set of the British stage production Deathtrap, and the couple married in 2010.

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