Christopher Ciccone, an artist and former dancer who was also singer Madonna’s younger brother, has died, his rep Brad Taylor confirmed to CBS News. He was 63.
He died from cancer on Oct. 4, surrounded by his husband, Ray Thacker, Taylor said in a statement.
Born on Nov. 22, 1960, in Pontiac, Michigan, Ciccone was an artist, interior decorator and designer, who began his career as a dancer. He joined the Le Group de La Palace Royale in Ottawa in 1980 before moving to New York two years later to support his older sister’s music career as a backup dancer.
Madonna, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy with her brother Christopher Ciccone at the Disney party following the awards ceremony.
Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
As Madonna’s career grew, Ciccone became more involved — serving as the art director on his sister’s Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990 and as the tour director for her The Girlie Show in 1993. He also directed music videos for megastars Dolly Parton and Tony Bennett in the 1990s.
His role expanded away from music when Ciccone took on the role of interior designer within the homes his sister owned and occupied in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.
In 2012, Ciccone released his own shoe line, The Ciccone Collection, at London Fashion Week.
He told CBS News at the time that his goal is to make the brand “accessible to everybody” and not too pricey.
“The great thing about doing shoes is that potentially everyone could have a pair. When you’re doing art, there’s only one,” Ciccone said
Ciccone, who was openly gay, claimed that his sister outed him during her 1991 interview with The Advocate.
Christopher Ciccone attends OUT Magazine and Buick’s celebration of The OUT100 on November 29, 2012, in New York City.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for OUT Magazine
Ciccone released a tell-all autobiography called “Life With My Sister Madonna,” leading to reports that the two had been estranged, but Ciccone told CBS News in 2012 that he was glad he wrote the book.
“I don’t regret any of that,” he said. “I think because of that it sort of led me to this. It gave people an opportunity to think of me as a creative person, as an artist and not just as Madonna’s brother, which is a tag I’m going to wear forever,” Ciccone said in 2012. “But I’m hopeful that at some point it will be Christopher Ciccone first. It’s cool…I’m perfectly happy being what I am.”
The two eventually made up.
“Our relationship is fine as far as I’m concerned,” he told CBS News.
Ciccone and Thacker — a British-born actor — married in 2016.
Ciccone’s death comes fewer than two weeks after the death of his and Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, from cancer. His eldest brother Anthony died in 2023.
Lucia Suarez Sang is an associate managing editor at CBSNews.com. Previously, Lucia was the director of digital content at FOX61 News in Connecticut and has previously written for outlets including FoxNews.com, Fox News Latino and the Rutland Herald.
John Amos has passed away. The Good Times actor was 84.
John Amos passed away at age 84 on August 21, 2024, in Los Angeles due to natural causes.
“It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned,” Amos’ son Kelly Christopher Amos said in a statement, via The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over. Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor.”
Amos was born on December 27, 1939, in Newark, New Jersey. He played football at Colorado State University and had training camp tryouts with the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs.
Amos’ acting career kicked off in 1970 when he played Weatherman Gordon “Gordy” Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He went on to play James Evan Sr. in 61 episodes of Good Times, though he was dismissed from the show at the end of Season 3 after clashing with the writers.
“We had a number of differences,” Amos previously said. “I felt too much emphasis was being put on J.J. in his chicken hat, saying ‘Dy-no-mite!’ every third page. I felt just as much emphasis and mileage could have been gotten out of my other two children, one of whom aspired to become a Supreme Court justice, played by Ralph Carter, and the other, BernNadette Stanis, who aspired to become a surgeon. But I wasn’t the most diplomatic guy in those days, and [the show’s producers] got tired of having their lives threatened over jokes. So they said, ‘Tell you what, why don’t we kill him off? We can get on with our lives!’ That taught me a lesson — I wasn’t as important as I thought I was to the show or to Norman Lear’s plans.”
Following that, Amos starred in series such as Future Cop, Hunter, 704 Hauser, In the House, The West Wing, The District, All About the Andersons, and more. He played Fred Wilkes in three episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
His filmography included 1982’s The Beastmaster, 1988’s Coming to America, 1990’s Die Hard 2, 2012’s Madea’s Witness Protection, 2021’s Coming 2 America, and more.
ComingSoon sends condolences to Amos’ family and friends at this time.
Outlaw country musician and Hollywood actor Kris Kristofferson died on Saturday, September 28, at his home in Maui, Hawaii. The news was announced in a press release from Essential Broadcast Media. A cause of death was not provided, just that he was surrounded by family. Kristofferson was 88 years old.
Kristofferson was born into a military family and moved frequently, as a child, due to his father’s service. He attended Pomona College, in California, and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford. While in England, he earned his master’s degree, in English literature, and attempted to enter the recording industry. He wasn’t successful with his early foray into the music industry, and he returned the United States to join the U.S. Army.
After leaving the Army, in 1965, Kristofferson moved to Nashville to try again to make it in the music business. While working as a janitor at Columbia Records, he started to make a name for himself as a songwriter. Hits like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down” were recorded by Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash. Waylon Jennings, Ray Price, and Gladys Knight also recorded Kristofferson’s songs.
Kristofferson released his first studio album, Kristofferson, in 1970, and he continued to gain recognition with 1971’s The Silver Tongued Devil and I. The next year, 1972, Kristofferson had a great showing at the Grammy Awards, as he received three nominations for Best Country Song. Ultimately, “Help Me Make It Through the Night” prevailed over “Me and Bobby McGee” and “For the Good Times.” Kristofferson was also nominated twice for Song of the Year.
While Kristofferson continued to release albums at a regular clip, he also became a familiar face on the silver screen. In the 1970s, he acted in Cisco Pike, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and more, but he really turned heads as Barbra Streisand’s co-star in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, earning a Golden Globe Award for his performance. Kristofferson continued to act into the 2010s, appearing in Heaven’s Gate, several Blade films, Tim Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes, and many other productions.
Another of Kristofferson’s major musical achievements began in 1985 when he formed the Highwaymen with fellow outlaw country music superstars Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. Across their decade-long run, they released three studio albums— 1985’s Highwayman, 1990’s Highwayman 2, and 1995’s The Road Goes on Forever—played countless shows, and starred together in Stagecoach.
New York — Dick Moss, the lawyer who won the arbitration case that created free agency for baseball players and revolutionized pay for professional athletes, has died. He was 93.
Moss died Saturday at an assisted-living residence in Santa Monica, California, the Major League Baseball Players Association said Sunday. He had been in poor health for several years.
Hired by union executive director Marvin Miller as general counsel in 1967, Moss argued the 1975 case involving pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally that led to arbitrator Peter Seitz striking down the reserve clause. That provision for a unilateral one-year renewal had been included in every contract since 1878 and had enabled teams to control players by maintaining those agreements could be extended perpetually.
Sports agent Dick Moss is seen at his home, Oct. 18, 1985, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, California.
Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
Seitz decided on Dec. 23, 1975, the clause meant only a single one-year renewal. The decision impacted all sports across North America and led to collectively bargained free agency in baseball.
“A titan of the industry. He impacted the industry at that time like few others,” said David Cone, a pitcher who was a member of the union leadership and a Moss client. “A bit eccentric, but very fun loving, just a gregarious personality, great guy to be around. Life of the party, a great guy to have a drink with.”
At the time of Seitz’s decision, the average Major League Baseball salary was just under $45,000. It rose to $76,000 in 1977 and by 2023 was $4.5 million, a 1,000-fold increase.
MLB’s revenues increased at a less steep rate, from $163 million in 1975 to more than $11 billion in 2023, a 70-fold rise.
“The difference between winning and losing was billions and billions of dollars, maybe tens of billions of dollars,” Moss said at a 25th anniversary party he threw in December 2000.
Baseball players’ gains were followed closely by other sports, with unions gaining liberalized free agency rights in the NBA in 1976 and the NFL in 1993.
Richard Maurice Moss III was born in Pittsburgh on July 30, 1931. He received degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Law School.
After two years in the Army, Moss worked for a Pittsburgh law firm, became a Pennsylvania assistant attorney general and in 1963 joined the United Steelworkers as an associate general counsel on a staff where Miller was assistant to union president David McDonald.
Miller was hired by the baseball union in 1966 and Moss joined him six months later. As Miller organized the players into a stubborn unit, Moss negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in 1968, raising the minimum salary from $6,000 to $10,000. The 1970 agreement added grievance arbitration and the 1973 deal instituted salary arbitration.
“Marvin was really the perfect man for that time,” Moss told The Associated Press in 1991. “The players trusted him. He instilled confidence and respect in the players, and he was something of a father figure to them.”
Players showed their resolve during strikes in 1972 and ’73 and a lockout in 1976. A lawsuit by Curt Flood seeking to end baseball’s antitrust exemption lost at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.
The first big breakthrough came in December 1974, when Seitz ruled in an arbitration that Oakland had breached the contract of Catfish Hunter by failing to make a $50,000 payment into a long-term annuity fund and he declared Hunter a free agent. The New York Yankees signed him to a $3.2 million, five-year deal, a sign of what players could earn without restrictions.
“Dick managed to win that case establishing something novel for baseball, the first real free agent who didn’t get there by being released,” said Donald Fehr, who worked under Miller and Moss, then headed the players’ association from 1983 to 2009. “The magnitude of the restraint was demonstrated.”
When Messersmith and McNally played seasons without contracts, the union filed grievances and Moss argued the cases before Seitz on Nov. 21 and 24 and Dec. 1, 1975. Seitz issued his decision on Dec. 23, ruling “there is no contractual bond between these players and the Los Angeles and the Montreal clubs, respectively. Absent such a contract, their clubs had no right or power … to reserve their services for their exclusive use for any period beyond the ‘renewal year’ in the contracts which these players had heretofore signed.”
Seitz’s decision was upheld by U.S. District Judge John W. Oliver in Kansas City, Missouri, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. where Moss conducted the oral argument on the union’s behalf. Free agency rules were agreed to in the labor contract of July 1976, and the first free-agent class to gain riches included future Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers.
Miller educated players on how to achieve their goals and Moss developed the legal tactics.
“Working in tandem was exactly what built the solid foundation,” said former pitcher Steve Rogers, a Moss client and longtime union official. “None of what is happening today exists without the solid foundation.”
Moss quit the union in July 1977 to become an agent, and his clients included future Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Jack Morris and Gary Carter. He negotiated Ryan’s deal for the first $1 million annual salary in 1979 and argued the case that got Fernando Valenzuela the first $1 million salary in arbitration in 1982.
In 1987, he helped expose owners’ collusive activities by giving the Chicago Cubs a blank contract for Andre Dawson, which the team filled in with a $500,000 base salary plus bonus opportunities. Owners lost three grievances and settled the cases with the union in 1990 for $280 million.
In 1992, he helped argue the grievance that led arbitrator George Nicolau to overturn Steve Howe’s lifetime ban, the pitcher’s seventh suspension for substance abuse. In both 1989 and 1994, he worked to organize a new league without ever getting teams on a field.
He is survived by his third wife, Carol Freis, whom he married in 1980, and a daughter from his second marriage, to Rolinda, Nancy Moss Ephron. Another daughter from his second marriage, Betsy, predeceased him.
Dan Evans, a popular three-term Republican governor of Washington state who went on to serve in the U.S. Senate before leaving in frustration because he felt the chamber was too rancorous and tedious, has died. He was 98.
Evans died Friday, according to the University of Washington, where he had served as a regent and where the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance bears his name.
“Dan Evans was an honorable, independent-minded public servant who put Washington state first and dedicated his life to protecting and investing in the places and people in our state,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said Saturday in a statement. “We were lucky to have him — and I have no doubt his legacy will live on for generations to come.”
FILE — Former Washington Gov. Dan Evans speaks at a Celebration of Life event for former Gov. Mike Lowry on May 31, 2017, at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Renton, Washington.
GENNA MARTIN/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Evans was a dominant force in Washington politics for decades and, until current Gov. Jay Inslee, he was the only person to be elected governor three times. In a statement posted to social media, the Democrat said it was difficult to think of another resident who had such a positive impact on so many aspects of the state.
“We all, no matter our party, can feel fortunate for the progress he led during each of his three terms as governor,” Inslee said.
Born in 1925 in Seattle, Evans was a civil engineer before entering politics. He was elected to the state Legislature in 1956 and won the governorship in 1964, beating incumbent two-term Democrat Albert D. Rosellini and prevailing in a bad year for his fellow Republicans, one which saw President Lyndon Johnson soundly defeat the GOP’s Barry Goldwater.
Known as a moderate to liberal Republican, the avid outdoorsman helped add new recreation and park areas in the state and supported clean air and water legislation. He created the nation’s first state Department of Ecology, which President Richard Nixon used as a model for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Evans also unsuccessfully pushed to create a state income tax. He opted not to run for a fourth term.
“His legacy of coming together for the greater good, despite party lines, has inspired and will continue to inspire public servants and the Evans School community,” Jodi Sandfort, the school’s dean, said in a statement.
Sandfort recalled a quote from Evans: “Accomplishing good things takes bipartisan effort, because often what we’re trying to accomplish isn’t partisan.”
After leaving the governor’s mansion in 1977, Evans stayed in Olympia, serving as president of Evergreen State College. Evans had helped create the state school when he signed an act authorizing the liberal arts college, and as governor he also backed founding the state’s community college system.
He built a national profile during his time leading the state and was the keynote speaker at the 1968 National Republican Convention. He was mentioned as a possible running mate for President Gerald Ford in 1976. Never a fan of Ronald Reagan, Evans supported Ford in 1976 and initially backed George H.W. Bush in 1980.
As a popular Republican in a predominantly Democratic state, it seemed that Evans would be a shoe-in had he decided to run for Senate. He frequently spurned such talk, saying in 1972 that “I don’t like Washington, D.C., very well … and I could not stand to be in the Senate.”
However, in 1983 Democratic Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson died in office, and Evans accepted an appointment to serve out his term. Evans opted not to stand for election in 1988, citing the “tediousness of getting decisions made.” At the time he said he was looking forward to returning home to enjoy the outdoors.
In later years, Evans served as a regent at the University of Washington, his alma mater. He also served on many nonprofit and corporate boards.
“Dad lived an exceptionally full life,” his sons — Dan Jr., Mark and Bruce Evans — said in a statement quoted by The Seattle Times. “Whether serving in public office, working to improve higher education, mentoring aspiring public servants … he just kept signing up for stuff right until the end. He touched a lot of lives. And he did this without sacrificing family.”
Evans’ wife, Nancy Bell Evans, died in January at age 90.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Frankie Beverly, the Legendary R&B singer and Philadelphia native, has passed away. He was 77.
His family shared the heartbreaking news Tuesday morning on Instagram.
According to the post, Beverly, whose real name is Howard Stanley Beverly, died on Monday, Sept. 10.
“He lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better. He lived for his music, family and friends,” the post read.
The family has not shared details regarding Beverly’s death and has asked for privacy during this difficult time.
Beverly got his start in music early, performing as a soloist in church while growing up in Philadelphia’s East Germantown neighborhood. As a teen, he sang with an ensemble called “The Silhouettes” before forming his own doo-wop group, “The Blenders.”
He formed the group “Raw Soul” in Philly in 1970, which would eventually become known as “Frankie Beverly and Maze.” Beverly then moved to San Francisco where he worked with legend Marvin Gaye, according to Beverly’s website.
“The Motown master would take the group under his wing and it was Gaye who suggested the group change their name. Frankie Beverly and Maze was born,” the website read.
Beverly was the lead singer, songwriter, producer and founder of the band Frankie Beverly and Maze.
“This is to someone who has made a significant contribution to the lives of Philadelphians,” Bass said during the dedication. “Anyone who knows music knows that Philadelphia is a music town, and Frankie has made such a contribution.”
The music of Frankie Beverly and Maze became a staple in the Black community. With songs like “Before I Let Go,” “Joy and Pain,” and “Happy Feelin’s,” their sound and soulful style became the soundtrack to cookouts, family reunions, and for some, the electric slide.
Beverly’s magnum opus “Before I Let Go”, was covered by Beyoncé in 2019 in her live album “Homecoming.”
Beverly and his band just completed their “I Wanna Thank You Farewell Tour” earlier this summer. His final shows were at The Dell Music Center in North Philadelphia. Beverly was joined on stage by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who greeted him with a bouquet of flowers on stage.
Hurts, who is famously known for having an old soul when it comes to his taste in music, posted a statement on X about Beverly’s passing, “His timeless music, his powerful words and his lasting impact. I’m devastated to hear about this one.. My prayers are with the Beverly family and the many Frankie fans across the world! His legacy will live on forever. Rest easy my friend. Long Live Frankie.”
His timeless music, his powerful words and his lasting impact. I’m devastated to hear about this one.. My prayers are with the Beverly family and the many Frankie fans across the world! His legacy will live on forever. Rest easy my friend. Long Live Frankie 🕊️
Philadelphia native Patti LaBelle also honored Beverly in an Instagram showing Beverly attending one of her performances.
“I love you Frankie! Thank you for always lifting us higher! Rest in love and peace!” LaBelle’s post read.
Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson also went to X to share how important the music legend was to him and his wife.
Music fans around the world are feeling a devastating loss today. I can’t begin to tell you how much I loved Frankie as a true musical artist but even more as a person. He was a gentle soul and always gave fans their money’s worth with every performance.
Philadelphia radio DJ Patty Jackson said Beverly’s legacy extends across music, and she praised, in particular, the lyrics of Beverly’s songs.
“His music connected. When he wrote ‘Joy and Pain,’ think of the lyrics, ‘You’re going to have joy. You’re going to have pain. You’re going to have sunshine. You’re going to have rain,’ and that’s life,” Jackson said. “He was an amazing artist who proved that he didn’t have to win all the big awards. It’s a doggone shame that he’s never won a Grammy.”
Stephanie Ballesteros is a digital managing editor at CBS Philadelphia. Before Stephanie joined the CBS Philadelphia team in February 2017, she wrote for WSVN in Miami, WAVY in Norfolk and FOX 29 in Philadelphia. Stephanie covers breaking news, crime and lifestyle content. She also produces content for the CBS Philadelphia social media pages and streaming platform.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Frankie Beverly, the Legendary R&B singer and Philadelphia native, has passed away. He was 77.
His family shared the heartbreaking news Tuesday morning on Instagram.
According to the post, Beverly, whose real name is Howard Stanley Beverly, died on Monday, Sept. 10.
“He lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better. He lived for his music, family and friends,” the post read.
The family has not shared details regarding Beverly’s death and has asked for privacy during this difficult time.
Beverly got his start in music early, performing as a soloist in church while growing up in Philadelphia’s East Germantown neighborhood. As a teen, he sang with an ensemble called “The Silhouettes” before forming his own doo-wop group, “The Blenders.”
He formed the group “Raw Soul” in Philly in 1970, which would eventually become known as “Frankie Beverly and Maze.” Beverly then moved to San Francisco where he worked with legend Marvin Gaye, according to Beverly’s website.
“The Motown master would take the group under his wing and it was Gaye who suggested the group change their name. Frankie Beverly and Maze was born,” the website read.
Beverly was the lead singer, songwriter, producer and founder of the band Frankie Beverly and Maze.
“This is to someone who has made a significant contribution to the lives of Philadelphians,” Bass said during the dedication. “Anyone who knows music knows that Philadelphia is a music town, and Frankie has made such a contribution.”
The music of Frankie Beverly and Maze became a staple in the Black community. With songs like “Before I Let Go,” “Joy and Pain,” and “Happy Feelings,” their sound and soulful style became the soundtrack to cookouts, family reunions, and for some, the electric slide.
Beverly and his band just completed their “I Wanna Thank You Farewell Tour” earlier this summer. His final shows were at The Dell Music Center in North Philadelphia. Beverly was joined on stage by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who greeted him with a bouquet of flowers on stage.
Hurts, who is famously known for having an old soul when it comes to his taste in music, posted a statement on X about Beverly’s passing, “His timeless music, his powerful words and his lasting impact. I’m devastated to hear about this one.. My prayers are with the Beverly family and the many Frankie fans across the world! His legacy will live on forever. Rest easy my friend. Long Live Frankie.”
His timeless music, his powerful words and his lasting impact. I’m devastated to hear about this one.. My prayers are with the Beverly family and the many Frankie fans across the world! His legacy will live on forever. Rest easy my friend. Long Live Frankie 🕊️
Stephanie Ballesteros is a digital managing editor at CBS Philadelphia. Before Stephanie joined the CBS Philadelphia team in February 2017, she wrote for WSVN in Miami, WAVY in Norfolk and FOX 29 in Philadelphia. Stephanie covers breaking news, crime and lifestyle content. She also produces content for the CBS Philadelphia social media pages and streaming platform.
Stage and screen actor James Earl Jones, who won Tony Awards for “The Great White Hope” and “Fences,” and whose majestic basso profundo voice would become internationally recognized as the villainous Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise, has died, his rep confirmed to CBS News. He was 93.
Jones’ rep Barry McPherson told CBS News the actor died Monday morning surrounded by his family. He didn’t provide additional details.
Tributes poured in following news of Jones’ death. Actor Mark Hamill, who played Darth Vader’s son Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” movies, wrote, “#RIP dad,” with a broken heart emoji on social media.
“There will never be another of his particular combination of graces,” actor LeVar Burton wrote.
An actor renowned for his theatrical presence in works by Shakespeare, Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Jean Genet, Anton Chekhov, August Wilson, Athol Fugard and Alfred Uhry, and in such acclaimed films as “Field of Dreams,” Jones would become even more famous for his voice, whether it was as a commercial pitchman, an announcer for CNN, the father of Disney’s animated “Lion King,” or a Dark Lord of the Sith — all the more remarkable given that as a child he suffered a stutter, which continued throughout his life.
“I stuttered so badly it was embarrassing and very painful,” Jones told CBS’ “Sunday Morning” in 2008.
Jones’ road to overcoming his stutter would lead to a monumental career on Broadway and in Hollywood, with nearly 200 film and TV credits. He broke ground on soap operas (appearing on CBS’ “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light”); worked with such directors as Stanley Kubrick, Franco Zeffirelli, George Lucas, John Sayles and James Ivory; won a Grammy for a spoken word recording; and lent his voice to recordings of works as varied as Lewis Carroll, “Sesame Street,” the King James Bible and “The Simpsons.”
In 2008, when he returned to Broadway to play Big Daddy in a revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Jones was asked if the stage was an oasis for him. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that; an oasis is a place for survival,” he remarked. “And this is about joy. … It’s a playpen.”
James Earl Jones pictured in New York City, April 7, 2005, after the opening of a revival of “On Golden Pond.”
Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images
Breakout roles
Jones was born on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi. His parents separated before his birth, and he was left to be raised by his maternal grandparents, who moved the family from their Mississippi farm to the Midwest. Growing up in the backwoods of Michigan, Jones credited an English teacher who helped him overcome his stutter, which had caused him to speak hardly a word from the time he was 6 until he was 14.
“Professor Crouch was my English teacher. And when he discovered that I secretly wrote poetry he challenged me,” Jones told “Sunday Morning.” “He said, ‘Jim, if you like words that much, you know, you should be able to say them out loud. Why don’t you get up in front of the class and read that poem that you wrote? … The only way you can prove you wrote it is to say it out loud but from memory.’”
Regaining the power of speech through poetry inspired Jones to pursue a career in the arts. After starting out pre-med at the University of Michigan, he switched to drama in his junior year. An ROTC member, Jones served in the Army as a second lieutenant beginning in 1953, training at Fort Benning in Georgia, and was assigned to Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado. He was discharged as a first lieutenant.
In New York, Jones studied at the American Theatre Wing, cleaning toilets while he auditioned for parts. He landed his first Broadway role in 1957, appeared in experimental plays off-Broadway, starred in numerous Shakespeare productions (including “Othello,” “Coriolanus,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Troilus and Cressida,” “Hamlet” and “King Lear”), was featured in the films “Dr. Strangelove” and “The Comedians,” and on TV’s “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns.”
In 1967 the Arena Stage, in Washington, D.C., reached out to Jones – then working in Europe – to star in Howard Sackler’s “The Great White Hope,” a drama inspired by the life of a Black boxer, Jack Johnson, who contended against the heavyweight champion, a White man. “Howard suggested that I start getting into shape, which was really important – theman was a boxer – butwhich I was not and am not and will never be!” Jones said to Smithsonian Magazine. “In fact, the young man who was my understudy onstage, Yaphet Kotto, resembled Jack much more than I did.”
James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, in the film version of “The Great White Hope.”
Afro Newspaper/Gado/Getty Images
In 1969 Jones won a Tony Award for “The Great White Hope” after the show transferred to Broadway. He earned an Oscar nomination for the 1970 film version.
His film work thinned in the ’70s, despite notable appearances in “Claudine,” “The Man” (as the first Black president), “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings,” “A Piece of the Action,” “The Greatest” (playing Malcolm X), and the TV movies “The Cay,” “The UFO Incident” and “Jesus of Nazareth.” He appeared onstage as Paul Robeson, Lennie in “Of Mice and Men,” and Hickman in “The Iceman Cometh.”
But it was a voiceover job for a science-fiction film that would launch his career into the stratosphere. Providing the ominous voice of Darth Vader, Jones recorded his dialogue for George Lucas’ “Star Wars” in about two-and-a-half hours. Salary: Around $7,000. “I was broke and for me that was good money,” he said. “I got lucky.”
James Earl Jones provided the menacing voice of the masked Darth Vader in “Star Wars.”
Screen Archives/Getty Images
It was easier than other voiceover jobs because no lip-syncing was involved – Darth Vader had no lips! – so Jones simply responded to the body language of David Prowse, the British actor-bodybuilder who acted the role of Vader behind the devilish mask. A breathing effect created by sound effects artist Ben Burtt, who placed a microphone inside a scuba regulator, was added to Jones’ voice, making Vader sound less than human.
Jones requested his name not appear in the credits, out of deference to Prowse. [Jones would not be credited as the voice of Vader until the release of “Return of the Jedi.”] But when he came to record the role for “The Empire Strikes Back,” Jones asked Lucas about deepening the character: “Naturally, I wanted to make Darth Vader more interesting, more subtle, more psychologically oriented,” he told the American Film Institute. “And [Lucas] said, ‘No. no. What we’re finding out is you’ve got to keep his voice on a very narrow band of inflection because he ain’t human, really.’”
But Vader was a dad. And when Jones came to record the game-changing line about Luke Skywalker’s parentage (“I am your father”), Jones was sure he was lying, and that the real truth would come out in the subsequent film.
James Earl Jones’ filmography
Beyond the “Star Wars” universe, Jones’ film and TV credits included “Roots: The Next Generation,” “Conan the Barbarian,” “Gardens of Stone,” “Coming to America,” “Matewan,” “Field of Dreams,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “Gabriel’s Fire,” “Patriot Games,” “Sneakers,” “Sommersby,” “Clear and Present Danger,” and “Cry, the Beloved Country,” in addition to numerous narration credits. He also voiced Mufasa, the father of Simba, in Disney’s “The Lion King,” and, of course, the character of Vader in all its prequel, sequel, TV and video game iterations.
It was for Jones a happy accident that the stutterer should become best known for his voice. “That’s the best irony – I am an irony,” he told “The Early Show” in 2002. “Therefore, I can’t take any credit or any pride. Pats on the shoulder don’t count. I’m just happy to be able to talk, but the irony is just wonderful and I can smile and say, ‘Oh, the Voice. The Voice of the Century, the Voice of God, the Voice of blah-blah-blah.’ It’s just irony!”
His later Broadway roles included “Othello,” “Master Harold … and the Boys,” “Fences,” “On Golden Pond,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “You Can’t Take It With You,” and “The Gin Game.”
Jones won two Emmy Awards (for “Heat Wave” and “Gabriel’s Fire”), and a Daytime Emmy for the children’s special “Summer’s End.” He was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2002, received a lifetime achievement Screen Actors Guild Award in 2009, and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2012 (which granted him EGOT status). In 2017 he received a special Tony for lifetime achievement.
In 2022 a Broadway theater, the Cort, was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor. It was the same house where he performed in “Sunrise at Campobello” in 1958. On the occasion of the renaming, Jones told “CBS Mornings” that he took great pride in the longevity of his career: “By taking one step at a time, I’ve found great treasures,” he said. “Every step I take.”
David Morgan is senior producer for CBSNews.com and the Emmy Award-winning “CBS News Sunday Morning.” He writes about film, music and the arts. He is author of the books “Monty Python Speaks” and “Knowing the Score,” and editor of “Sundancing,” about the Sundance Film Festival.
Will Jennings, an Oscar-winning writer behind mega-hits like “My Heart Will Go On” from the movie “Titanic” and “Tears in Heaven”, died at the age of 80, his talent agency confirmed to CBS News.
“May his memory be a blessing,” Sam Schwartz with The Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, Inc., told CBS News on Sunday.
No cause of death was announced, although multiple reports say he had been ill for some time.
Will Jennings, inductee during 37th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony – Show and Dinner at Marriott Marquis in New York City, New York, United States.
Stephen Lovekin/WireImage for Songwriter’s Hall of Fame
Jennings was born in Kilgore, Texas on June 27, 1944 — the youngest of three children. Before pursuing a career in Hollywood, he was a professor at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, and then at Austin State University, before teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for three years.
Throughout his career, the lyricist wrote for a variety of artists including Steve Winwood, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Mariah Carey, Jimmy Buffet, Barry Manilow and Roy Orbison.
He received two Oscars for co-writing the iconic themes for “Titanic” — which was recorded by Celine Dion — and for “An Officer and a Gentleman” alongside Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
He won a Golden Globe for best original song and Grammys for record of the year and song of the year for “Tears in Heaven” — performed by Clapton” — from the movie “Rush.”
Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings won the Academy Award for best original song for “Up Where We Belong” from “An Officer and a Gentleman.” GENTLEMAN”
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Jennings was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.
Musician Peter Wolf paid tribute to the lyricist in a social media post, writing, “‘A Lot of Good Ones Gone’ … A sad time, the passing of Will Jennings, a maestro, brilliant mind and a gentle spirit. Will shared his talents with me, ever patient and generous, he was a treasured friend and teacher, enriching my life in so many ways. It was an enormous honor to have worked with such a musical genius for so many years …To quote one of his favorite poets, W.B Yeats,’Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.’”
Jennings is survived by his wife, Carole, and his sisters, Joyce and Gloria.
Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian Grammy-winning musician whose hit “Mas Que Nada” made him a global legend, died after months of battling the effects of long COVID, his publicist Karen Vock confirmed to CBS News on Friday. He was 83.
The Brazilian pianist, songwriter and arranger died on Thursday in Los Angeles, his family said in a statement.
“His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children,” the statement Friday said. “Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold out and wildly enthusiastic houses in Paris, London and Barcelona.”
Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes sits for a portrait at home in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File
His composition “Mas Que Nada” was one of the songs that helped popularize the Brazilian music genre bossa nova worldwide in the 1960s.
In 2006, a modern version of the song topped U.S. charts, as performed by Black Eyed Peas. It was included in his album “Timeless,” produced by will.i.am and featuring Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake and the Black Eyed Peas, among others.
“Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country,” trumpet player Herb Alpert wrote on Facebook, along with a photo from decades ago, sitting next to Mendes at the piano. “He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance.”
Mendes also composed the soundtrack for the film “Pelé,” featuring saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, and even produced an album recorded by the Brazilian legendary soccer player.
Mendes won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for “Brasileiro” and two Latin Grammy Awards. He also received an Oscar nomination in 2012 for Best Original Song for “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio.”
Mendes’ family said they will provide details regarding funeral and memorial services at a later date.
Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian singer, composer, bandleader, and keyboardist who became an international sensation after moving to the United States in the 1960s, died, in Los Angeles, on September 5. According to a statement from the Mendes family, the musician’s “health had been challenged by the effects of long term COVID.” Mendes was 83 years old.
Born in the Brazilian city of Niterói, in the early 1940s, a young Mendes studied piano at a local conservatory before playing in nightclubs and touring Brazil in various bands. He released his debut album, Dance Moderno, as the bossa nova movement gained pace in 1961. Tours of North America and Europe led to collaborations with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann, followed by a move to the United States, where he formed Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’65. Despite continued success in South America, the bossa nova outfit’s first two albums sold poorly in North America, and, on the advice of producer Richard Adler, Mendes added two American singers and sang some songs in English. Nevertheless, it was the landmark Portuguese-language single “Mas Que Nada,” written by the samba legend Jorge Ben, that gave Mendes and the band—then called Brasil ’66 and soon skipping ahead to Brasil ’77—its U.S. breakthrough.
In a previously skeptical industry, “Mas Que Nada” and parent album Herb Alpert Presents: Sergio Mendes & Brazil ’66 lent Mendes a cachet that crested in 1968, when he performed the Burt Bacharach and Hal David cover “The Look of Love” at the Academy Awards. The band played bigger and bigger shows—as well as showcases for Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, plus one at the 1970 Olympics—that added rock heft to a live setup driven by his frenetic keyboard work and uproarious percussionists.
Momentum slowed, but Mendes continued to explore modern and traditional styles in the ensuing decades, including with the Bahian-influenced 1992 album Brasileiro—winner of the 1993 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album—and the 2010 album of modernized Brazilian classics Bom Tempo. He co-produced the 1983 James Bond theme song “Never Say Never Again,” by Brasil ’66 vocalist Lani Hall, and collaborated with superstars including Stevie Wonder, Milton Nascimento, and Seu Jorge. He also worked with contemporary artists like John Legend, on the Oscar-nominated “Real in Rio,” and the Black Eyed Peas on a “Mas Que Nada” remix. Will.i.am produced that unlikely collaboration’s parent album, Timeless, on which Mendes performed alongside Eyrkah Badu, Jill Scott, Justin Timberlake, and many more. He released his final album, In the Key of Joy, in 2019, in conjunction with a documentary on his life.
Fatman Scoop, the rapper, D.J., and hype man behind the sleeper hit “Be Faithful” and whose booming voice on Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control” and Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That” brought him larger fame, has died after collapsing while performing at a show in Hamden, Connecticut on August 30, confirms The New York Times. Footage of the incident showed people attempting to perform CPR on Fatman Scoop behind equipment onstage, and Hamden mayor Lauren Garrett confirmed that paramedics tried lifesaving measures. He was 56.
“Fatman Scoop was not just a world class performer, he was a father, brother, uncle and a friend,” Fatman Scoop’s family wrote in a statement on his official Instagram. “He was the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength, and courage. Fatman Scoop was known to the world as the undisputed voice of the club. His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity. His joy was infectious and the generosity he extended to all will be deeply missed but never forgotten. As we mourn the loss of Fatman Scoop, we also celebrate his remarkable life and the countless lives he touched. Fatman Scoop’s legacy is of love and brightness, it will reside in our hearts and memories forever.”
Born Isaac Freeman III in New York City in 1968, Fatman Scoop grew up in Harlem, where he learned about hip-hop up close in person from locals already flexing their skills on the street. When he began trying his hand at it, the rapper lifted his moniker from an old nickname given to him by his uncle, which nodded to his love of ice cream.
Fatman Scoop’s biggest solo success, “Be Faithful,” came as a surprise years after its release. With beats by the Crooklyn Clan that prominently sample “Love Like This” by Faith Evans, the track originally came out in 1999, but didn’t surge to No. 1 on the British Billboard singles chart until 2003. He went on to release three compilation albums over the years: 2003’s Fatman Scoop’s Party Breaks: Volume 1, 2006’s In the Club, and 2015’s Party King.
With his instantly recognizable and scratchy bellow, Fatman Scoop became a standout featured artist on some of the biggest songs of the 2000s, including Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control” and Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That.” In addition to hopping on songs with Ciara, DJ Kool, and Tech N9ne, he also brought ample energy to remixes for Timbaland, Lil Jon, and Janet Jackson. In later years, Fatman Scoop hopped on the Skrillex song “Squad Out,” and A$AP Rocky recently revealed that he’s featured on his upcoming song “Hood Happy” alongside Morrissey, Busta Rhymes, Flavor Flav, and Slick Rick.
Rapper Isaac Freeman III, known professionally as Fatman Scoop, has died after collapsing on stage during a performance in Connecticut.
The rapper, 53, was performing at Hamden Town Center Park on Friday when he experienced a medical emergency, according to Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett. He was transported to a local hospital via ambulance, Garrett said.
A video from the concert showed Scoop hyping up the crowd at Hamden’s Green and Gold Party just moments before the collapse. After he collapsed, another performer could be seen leading the crowd in prayer as a group of people huddled around the rear of the stage.
Fatman Scoop at Rod Laver Arena on November 10, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia.
Naomi Rahim / WireImage
Scoop’s tour manager Birch Michael confirmed the rapper’s death on social media. He did not provide any information about what caused Scoop’s collapse or death.
“I am honestly lost for words,” Michael posted early Saturday morning. ” You took me all over the world and had me performing alongside you on some of the biggest and greatest stages on this planet, the things you taught me have truely made me the man I am today.”
The rapper’s booking agency also confirmed his death to CBS News partner BBC News. A spokesperson for MN2S memorialized the New York native as a “beloved figure in the music world” whose “iconic voice, infectious energy, and great personality made an indelible mark on the industry.”
His family honored him in an emotional post on social media, remembering Scoop as a “father, uncle and friend” as well as a “world-class performer.
“He was the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength, and courage,” the Freeman family wrote.
Missy Elliott, who Scoop performed alongside in her 2005 single “Lose Control,” also paid tribute to the rapper.
“Prayers for Fatman Scoop family for STRENGTH during this difficult time,” she wrote on social media. “Fatman Scoop VOICE & energy have contributed to MANY songs that made the people feel HAPPY & want to dance for over 2 decades. Your IMPACT is HUGE & will be NEVER be forgotten.”
Prayers for Fatman Scoop family for STRENGTH during this difficult time🙏🏾 Fatman Scoop VOICE & energy have contributed to MANY songs that made the people feel HAPPY & want to dance for over 2 decades. Your IMPACT is HUGE & will be NEVER be forgotten..🕊️🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/e4R9Z3inKd
Scoop also provided guest vocals for Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That” and was best known for his 1999 hit single “Be Faithful.” In addition to his rap career, he was a hype man and radio personality. He was scheduled to perform at Reminisce, a British music festival, later this year. Festival organizers said on social media that they are “heartbroken” by his loss.
“Rest easy, our friend,” organizers wrote. “You will forever remain in our hearts.”
Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
Sidney Raymond Eudy, a professional wrestler known as Sid Vicious who was known for his intense persona and imposing stature, has died, his son announced Monday. He was 63.
Gunnar Eudy, one of the wrestler’s two sons, wrote on Facebook that his father died after “battling cancer for several years.”
“He was a man of strength, kindness, and love, and his presence will be greatly missed,” his son wrote. “We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we grieve this loss.”
The 6-foot-9-inch Eudy went by many names in the ring, including Sid Justice and Sycho Sid, and rose to prominence at the height of the WrestleMania craze in the 1990s. He was a two-time champion in the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) and also performed for its ’90s rival World Championship Wrestling and the United States Wrestling Association. He faced off against Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker among other stars.
In a statement, WWE called Eudy “one of the most imposing and terrifying competitors of his generation” who had a “natural charisma that immediately connected with the WWE Universe.”
“Sid’s reputation as one of the toughest and most thrilling superstars cemented his legacy in WWE, and his influence can still be seen in wrestling rings around the world,” the statement said.
Eudy was born in West Memphis, Arkansas, and lived in Tennessee for many years. Survivors include his wife, Sabrina Estes Eudy, his sons Frank and Gunnar, and his grandchildren.
John Aprea, who played young Tessio in “The Godfather Part II” and John Stamos’ father in “Full House”, died on Aug. 5 at age 83, his manager Will Levine confirmed to CBS News. He died of natural causes in Los Angeles surrounded by his loved ones.
Aprea was born in 1941 to Italian immigrants in Englewood, New Jersey. He moved to New York City in the early 1960s to pursue acting before relocating to Los Angeles.
John Aprea attends the 17th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival premiere of “Stevie D” at Island Cinema on April 26, 2016, in Newport Beach, California.
Michael Boardman/WireImage via Getty
He got his first break in the 1967 Steve McQueen classic “Bullitt” before landing the role of young Salvatore “Sal” Tessio in “The Godfather Part II.” He had originally auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone in “The Godfather”, but Al Pacino got the part.
Aprea reportedly phoned actor Abe Vigoda, who played the older version of his character in “The Godfather” and asked for his insight. Vigoda reportedly told him to “just have a good time, kid.”
John Aprea as a young Salvatore ‘Sal’ Tessio in “The Godfather: Part II”
Paramount Pictures via Getty
Aprea had said that the role was a highlight of his career, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Throughout his career, Aprea appeared in multiple TV shows and movies, including “The Montefuscos,” “The Idolmaker” and “Matt Houston.” His resume also included roles in “Mannix,” “The Rookies,” “NYPD Blue, “The Stepford Wives”, “American Anthem” and “The Game.”
Aprea recurred as the exterminator dad of Stamos’ Jesse Katsopolis on ABC’s “Full House” from 1988-1991 and reprised the role for the 2017 Netflix reboot “Fuller House.”
He is survived by his third wife Betsy Garci, his daughter Nicole from a previous marriage to actress Cherie Latimer and stepchildren Marika Parker and Valentino Garci.
Lucia Suarez Sang is an associate managing editor at CBSNews.com. Previously, Lucia was the director of digital content at FOX61 News in Connecticut and has previously written for outlets including FoxNews.com, Fox News Latino and the Rutland Herald.
French actor Alain Delon reacts as he is awarded with an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2019.
VALERY HACHE/Getty Images
A few months after his appearance at the 2019 Canners film Festival, at which he received an honorary Palme d’Or, Delon suffered a stroke, and largely stepped away from public view. That retreat from fame was something he’d been looking forward to since the previous year, he told GQ in a 2018 interview.
“Look, I had incredible luck,” He said. “I’ve been happy all my life; I filmed with the best. I did what I wanted, with who I wanted, when I wanted. I dwell on the past more than I think about the future, yes, because my past was extraordinary. Today just doesn’t compare. A life like I had doesn’t come around twice. That’s why when it comes to retirement, I have no regrets.”
Actress Claudia Cardinale, actor Alain Delon, Anouchka Delon attend the “IL Gattopardo” Premiere at the Palais des Festivals during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2010 in Cannes, France.
Houston rapper and producer BeatKing, who rose to prominence in the 2010s with his fusion of hip-hop and raw club rhythms, has died. His longtime manager, Tasha Felder, announced the news in a statement posted to her Instagram. “BeatKing has been the best part of the club for over a decade,” she wrote. “He has produced and worked with many artists, that his sound will forever live. He loved his daughters @clubgodparenting, his music and his fans. We will love him forever.” A cause of death has not yet been revealed. BeatKing was 39 years old.
Born Justin Riley in 1984, BeatKing took up drums as a child, accompanying his mother while she played piano at their local church. The MC and producer first burst out of the Houston underground scene in 2010 with his debut album, Kings of the Club, which remains one of his best-selling records. The 23-track LP featured “Crush” and “Hammer,” both of which crept into Billboard’s hip-hop chart.
BeatKing released a trove of music over the past 14 years, becoming an influential and adored figure within the Southern club scene. As a producer and rapper, he worked with fellow Southerners like 2 Chainz, T-Pain, Bun B, Slim Thug, and Gangsta Boo. In 2020, his Queendome Come collaboration “Then Leave” went viral on TikTok, proving his lasting appeal and vast reach.
In addition to his prolific music career, BeatKing (who also recorded as Club Godzilla) became easily identifiable for his arsenal of self-written slogan T-shirts. He could be seen sporting such gems as “I Unfollow Back,” “Gum Is Not Toothpaste,” and “Girls With That Lil Lite Mustache :).”
Peter Marshall, the actor and singer turned game show host who played straight man to the stars for 16 years on “The Hollywood Squares,” has died. He was 98.
Marshall died of kidney failure Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced in a statement provided to CBS News through his publicist.
Marshall helped define the form of the smooth, professional, but never-too-serious modern game show host on more than 5,000 episodes of the series that ran on NBC from 1966 to 1981.
But he was often closer to a talk show host, and the tic-tac-toe game the contestants played, while real, was all an excuse for a good time. The questions Marshall posed to regulars like Paul Lynde, George Gobel and Joan Rivers were designed to be set-ups for joke answers before the real ones followed.
“It was the easiest thing I’ve ever done in show business,” Marshall said in a 2010 interview for the Archive of American Television. “I walked in, said ‘Hello stars,’ I read questions and laughed. And it paid very well.”
TV personality Peter Marshall attends The Actors Fund’s 2015 Looking Ahead Awards at Taglyan Cultural Complex on Dec. 3, 2015, in Hollywood, California.
Paul Archuleta / Getty Images
“The Hollywood Squares” would become an American cultural institution and make Marshall a household name. It would win four Daytime Emmys for outstanding game show during his run and spawned dozens of international versions and several U.S. reboots. Not only was it a forum for such character actors as Charlie Weaver (the stage name of Cliff Arquette) and Wally Cox, but the show attracted a range of top stars as occasional guests, including Aretha Franklin, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Ed Asner and Janet Leigh.
Marshall had a warm rapport with Weaver, Lynde and others, but said that Gobel, the wry comedian, actor and variety show host, held a special place, tweeting in 2021 that it’s “no secret he was my closest friend on Hollywood Squares and my absolute all-time favorite Square!”
Marshall had lived nearly an entire show business life before he took the “Squares” podium at age 40.
He had toured with big bands starting as a teenager, had been a part of two comedy teams that appeared in nightclubs and on television, appeared in movies as a contract player for Twentieth Century Fox, and had sung in several Broadway musicals when the opportunity came up after Bert Parks, who hosted the pilot, bowed out.
“I am a singer first I am not a game show host,” Marshall told his hometown paper, the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, West Virginia in 2013, “that was just a freak opportunity. I had been on Broadway with Julie Harris and was going back to Broadway when I did the audition, and I thought it was a few weeks but that turned into 16 years.”
“The Hollywood Squares” was more strait-laced when it began, but early in its run a producer suggested they write jokes for Lynde, the ever-snarky comic actor who occupied the center square and would become as identified as Marshall with the show.
Born Ralph Pierre LaCock in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Marshall would move around the state as a child, living in Wheeling and Huntington.
His father died when Marshall was 10, and he would live with his grandparents as his mother and sister, the actress Joanne Dru, moved to New York to pursue her career in show business. Marshall would soon join them.
At 15, he toured as a singer with the Bob Chester Orchestra. He also worked as an NBC Radio page and an usher at the Paramount Theater. He was drafted during World War II and stationed in Italy, where he made his first forays onto the airways as a DJ for Armed Forces Radio. In 1949 he formed a comedy duo with Tommy Noonan, appearing in nightclubs, in theaters and on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
He became a movie contract player in the 1950s at Twentieth Century Fox, appearing in films including 1959’s “The Rookie” and 1961’s “Swingin’ Along.”
Major starring roles eluded him in Hollywood, but he would find them in musical theater.
He starred opposite Chita Rivera in “Bye Bye Birdie” in London’s West End in 1962 — Lynde had played a major role in the Broadway version that he would reprise in the film — and played his first starring role on Broadway in “Skyscraper” with Julie Harris in 1965.
He would also appear in Broadway versions of “High Button Shoes,” “The Music Man” and “42nd Street.”
After “The Hollywood Squares,” Marshall would host a few other short-lived game shows, but mostly resumed his career as a singing actor, starring in more than 800 performances of “La Cage Aux Folles” on Broadway and on tour, and singing in the 1983 film version of “Annie.”
He was married three times, the last to Laurie Stewart in 1989.
The couple survived a bout with COVID-19 early in 2021. He was hospitalized for several weeks.
His four kids include son Pete LaCock, a professional baseball player for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals. Marshall is also survived by his wife Laurie, daughters Suzanne and Jaime, son David, 12 grandchildren, and nine great-great grandchildren.
Dean Roberts, the experimental composer and multi-instrumentalist who performed in the New Zealand noise trio Thela before embarking on a series of solo projects and records with Autistic Daughters, died this week, his labels Erstwhile and Kranky announced yesterday (August 14). Roberts died in his sleep, Erstwhile’s Jon Abbey wrote, citing the musician’s sister. Roberts was 49 years old.
Roberts, then a teenager, formed Thela with Dion Workman and Paul Douglas in New Zealand in the early 1990s, rising to prominence through Auckland’s free‐music scene with a pair of albums for the U.S. label Ecstatic Peace! The first, 1995’s Thela, was a landmark of rock minimalism, blending post-hardcore guitar thrums with noise sonics and sparse percussion. The following year’s Argentina added ambient elements and glints of melody, attracting admirers of the coalescing post-rock network as well as laptop composers like Fennesz, who later collaborated with Douglas’ Rosy Parlane project.
When Thela parted ways, Roberts divided his output between releases under his own name and his White Winged Moth project, often releasing on his own label, Formacentric Disk, as well as on Mille Plateaux and Erstwhile. Though these projects tended to foreground alien frequencies and complex noise elements—particularly his improv collaboration with Thurston Moore and Dr. Chad—he also began to sing, turning barren soundscapes into uncanny folk laments. He continued in the same direction on Autistic Daughters’ two albums for Kranky, Jealousy and Diamond and Uneasy Flowers, before taking a pause from the studio and returning, from Berlin, in 2020 with Not Fire, the last studio album of his lifetime.
Among those to pay tribute was Lawrence English, who wrote on social media, “I am going to deeply miss you. Your way of transposing the world into song. Your way of finding the hidden voices in the instrument you played. Your smile & that laugh…always that laugh. To future ballads in future places.”
Charles R. Cross, the Seattle music journalist and bestselling author behind Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain and Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, has died. His family shared the news in a statement, writing, “We are sorry to share that Charles Cross has passed. He died peacefully of natural causes in his sleep on August 9th, 2024. We are all grief-stricken and trying to get through this difficult process of dealing with the next steps.” He was 67.
Cross was an integral part of Seattle’s music scene due to his work as a writer, journalist, and fan. His career began at The Rocket, Seattle’s free biweekly music magazine, back in 1982. He served as editor from 1986 on through to the publication’s end in 2000. During his time there, Cross witnessed and helped propel the rise of grunge, watching as Kurt Cobain transformed from a musician seeking drummers in The Rocket’s ads section to the Nirvana frontman gracing the cover of their publication.
In 2001, Cross published Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, which became a New York Times bestseller and won the 2002 ASCAP Award for Outstanding Biography. Over the course of four years, Cross dug through more than 400 interviews and was given access to Cobain’s private journals, lyrics, and photos by Courtney Love. He followed up his writing on Cobain with 2008’s Cobain Unseen, a collection of never-before-seen artifacts, journal entries, and pictures from Cobain’s archive that Cross gained access to while writing the initial biography. Years later, he also published 2014’s Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain.
Back before his Cobain biography, however, Cross set his heart on another musician: Bruce Springsteen. He founded the essential fanzine Backstreets Magazine in 1980. What began as a free zine passed out at a Springsteen concert in Seattle that same year turned into a massively influential, 43-year-long project highlighting the music, words, and life of the Boss and the E Street Band. It prompted Cross to write his first book, Backstreets: Springsteen, the Man and His Music, and release it in 1989.
Cross went on to write nine books in total, including the 2005 bestselling biography Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, 1991’s Led Zeppelin: Heaven and Hell, and 2019’s Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller Than Our Souls. He also co-authored Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind: Nirvana with Jim Berkenstadt, and the 2012 Heart book Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll with Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson. As a music journalist, Cross also contributed to a long list of publications, including Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Creem, Spin, and other Seattle newspapers.
