The End - the Classic Film Obituary thread 2017 [CLOSED]

nypost.com/2017/08/08/broadway-legend-barbara-cook-dead-at-89/



Barbara Cook, legendary star of the Broadway musicals “The Music Man,” “She Loves Me” and “Candide,” died this morning at 89.

The cause was respiratory failure, her son Adam LeGrant told The Post.

Slender, beautiful, blond and blessed with lyric soprano voice as clear as crystal, Cook, who was born in Atlanta, became Broadway’s most famous ingénue in the 1950s. She originated the role of Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein’s 1956 musical “Candide,” stopping the show nightly with the operatic “Glitter and Be Gay,” which became one of her signature songs.

She also originated the role of Marian the Librarian opposite Robert Preston’s Harold Hill in “The Music Man,” for which she won a Tony Award in 1957.

Her Broadway career ended in the early ’70s as she struggled with depression, alcoholism and weight gain. “Because of this package I’m in,” she once told me, “it became more difficult to get roles. They asked me to be Tug Boat Annie — what the hell have I got do with Tug Boat Annie?”

As her drinking spiraled out of control, Cook withdrew from show business. But she got sober in the ’80s and re-invented herself as the premiere interpreter of the American Songbook. She marked her return to the stage with a mesmerizing performance as Sally in a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” at Lincoln Center in 1985. Her interpretation of “Losing My Mind” has never been equaled.

Cook’s concert career took off, and she recorded many acclaimed albums — “Barbara Cook’s Broadway, “Barbara Cook at the Met” and “Mostly Sondheim: Live at Carnegie Hall.” Another of her signature songs from her ingénue days was “Vanilla Ice Cream” from the musical “She Loves Me.” “And vanilla ice cream is the last thing she ate — the God’s honest truth,” her son told The Post.

RollingStone.com

Glen Campbell, the indelible voice behind 21 Top 40 hits including "Rhinestone Cowboy," "Wichita Lineman" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," died Tuesday. He was 81. A rep for Universal Music Group, Campbell's record label, confirmed the singer's death to Rolling Stone. During a career that spanned six decades, Campbell sold over 45 million records. In 1968, one of his biggest years, he outsold the Beatles.



---

Campbell was born in 1936 in Billstown, Arkansas, the seventh son in a sharecropping family of 12 kids. "We used to watch TV by candlelight," Campbell told Rolling Stone in 2011.

In his youth, Campbell started playing guitar and became obsessed with jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. He dropped out of school when he was 14 and moved to Wyoming with an uncle who was a musician, playing gigs together at rural bars. He soon moved to Los Angeles and by 1962 had solidified a spot in the Wrecking Crew, a group of session pros. In 1963 alone he appeared on 586 cuts, and countless more throughout the decade, including the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man," Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas,” Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."

"I’d have to pick cotton for a year to make what I'd make in a week in L.A.," he said. "I learned it was crucial to play right on the edge of the beat ... It makes you drive the song more. You're ahead of the beat, but you're not." Fellow Wrecking Crew member Leon Russell called Campbell "the best guitar player I'd heard before or since. Occasionally we'd play with 50- or 60-piece orchestras. His deal was he didn't read [music], so they would play it one time for him, and he had it."

In late 1964, Brian Wilson had a nervous breakdown on tour with the Beach Boys, and the band called on Campbell to replace him on bass and high harmonies. "I took Brian’s place and that was just ... I was in heaven then – hog heaven!" Campbell remarked.

"He fit right in," said Wilson. "His main forte is he's a great guitar player, but he's even a better singer than all the rest. He could sing higher than I could!" Wilson even wrote an early song, "I Guess I'm Dumb," for Campbell. His first hit was a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's antiwar song "Universal Soldier." But Campbell's own political views tended to be conservative. "The people who are advocating burning draft cards should be hung," he said in 1965.

Campbell had his first major hit in 1967, with "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," written by Jimmy Webb, an L.A. kid with a knack for intricate ballads. "Glen's vocal power and technique was the perfect vehicle for these, in a way, very sentimental and romantic songs. And I think that you know we made some records that were very nearly perfect. 'Wichita Lineman' is a very near perfect pop record," Webb said. "I think in the process that Glen was a prime mover in the whole creation of the country crossover phenomenon that made the careers of Kenny Rogers and some other... many other artists possible."

The tune kicked off a working relationship that included the haunting Vietnam War ballad "Galveston," the tender "Gentle on My Mind" and "Wichita Lineman," Campbell's first Top 10 hit. With swelling orchestral arrangements and slick production, the songs weren't exactly considered hip in the Sixties. "They felt packaged for a middle-of-the-road, older crowd," said Tom Petty. "At first, you go, 'Oh, I don't know about that.' But it was such pure, good stuff that you had to put off your prejudices and learn to love it. It taught me not to have those prejudices." In 1967, Campbell won Grammys in both the country and pop categories.

In the summer of 1968, Campbell guest hosted the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The successful appearance led to his own variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, which he hosted from 1969 until 1972. Artists like Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt performed on the show, which also gave a national platform to rising country stars like Willie Nelson. "He exposed us to a big part of the world that would have never had the chance to see us," said Nelson. "He's always been a big help to me."

Campbell's boyish charisma led John Wayne to cast him in a co-starring role in 1969's True Grit. He later said that his acting was so amateurish that he "gave John Wayne that push to win the Academy Award." But the good times didn't last: His show was canceled; his first feature film, 1970's Norwood, flopped; and the hits dried up for a few years. Then, Campbell scored a smash with 1975's "Rhinestone Cowboy." It began a comeback that included hits "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.") and "Southern Nights." The hits slowed down again in the Eighties; in the Nineties he opened up the Glen Campbell Goodtime Theatre in Branson, Missouri

Variety

Joseph Bologna, an actor, writer and director known for his role in 1982’s “My Favorite Year” and for his long collaboration on stage and screen with wife Renee Taylor, has died after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 82.

Bologna died Sunday morning at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif. Just last month, Bologna attended a 35th anniversary screening of “My Favorite Year” in Los Angeles.

Taylor said Bologna had “a beautiful life and a beautiful death.” Bologna died two days after the couple celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary.

Bologna and Taylor co-wrote and starred in the Broadway show “Lovers and Others Strangers” in 1968. The pair earned Oscar nominations for their screenplay adaptation for the 1970 film starring Gig Young and Bea Arthur. Taylor and Bologna won a Writers Guild Award for their 1971 movie “Made For Each Other,” in which they also starred.

In all, the couple co-wrote some 22 plays and collaborated on numerous film and TV projects, including the Marlo Thomas TV special “Acts of Love and Other Comedies,” and such series as CBS’ “Calucci’s Department,” HBO’s “Bedrooms” and PBS’ “American Dream Machine.”

Bologna and Taylor were introduced by their mutual manager, Buddy Allen. The couple’s wedding was held on the stage of “The Merv Griffin Show” and featured on the talk show. Taylor noted that they renewed their vows five times over their half-century together, each time in a different religious ceremony.

A native of Brooklyn, Bologna grew up in a working-class Italian-American family and went on to serve in the Marine Corps. He then entered the advertising business in the “Mad Men” era. He directed numerous commercials before turning his focus to the stage with Taylor.

Bologna’s other film credits include 1976’s “Woman of the Year,” 1984’s “Blame It on Rio” and “The Woman in Red,” 1985’s “Transylvania 6-5000” and 1989’s “It Had to Be You.” He logged dozens of TV credits over the years, from telepics to sitcoms to dramas.

Among the notable made-fors were the 1986 miniseries “Sins” and 1983’s “One Cooks, the Other Doesn’t.” Bologna appeared opposite future “Friends” star Matt LeBlanc in the 1991 “Married With Children” spinoff “Top of the Heap” and also in the 1987-88 dramedy”Rags to Riches.” His last TV roles included guest shots on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “According to Jim” and “Everwood.”

Bologna’s last project was the upcoming film “Tango Shalom,” a comedy directed by his son, Gabriel. The elder Bologna co-wrote the screenplay with Claudio and Jos Laniado and stars alongside Taylor. The couple’s daughter, Zizi, served as music supervisor.