Our Daily Dead

Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian opposition leader whose dramatic alteration in his otherwise handsome appearance led to speculation of poisoning. Further investigation confirmed that he had been poisoned with dioxin T-2, also known as “yellow rain” and a Soviet-era derivative of agent orange.

Mr. Yushcenko fell ill after a dinner with the head of the Ukranian security service, and it has been speculated that he was poisoned by former KGB agents during the course of the dinner.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Viktor Yushchenko, dioxin, yellow rain, agent orange

Born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, New York, Dick Clark started his broadcasting career in radio while in high school. After the regular broadcaster of the Philadelphia television show “Bandstand” lost his job due to drunken driving, Clark filled in for him.

On August 5, 1957 the show went national as “American Bandstand.” Clark’s island was easy to get thrown off of–The rules for teenagers dancing on the show were strict. Boys had to wear coat and tie; girls could not wear tight sweaters or slacks. Smoke or chew gum and you were off the show.

Clark’s American Bandstand provided the first national television exposure for such rock ‘n roll stars as Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis. Clark was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Unfortunately, in December 2004 he suffered what was termed a “mild stroke”, but as a consequence was not able to fulfill his traditional duty of hosting the Times Square New Years festivities.

Not to mention the 2006 Dick Clark new year show….ugh

Naturally you’ll want to pick up your copy of Dick Clark’s Easygoing Guide to Good Grooming.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Dick Clark, American Bandstand, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Public service announcement day:

• here is a wee small something to help with that neighbor you dislike,
• here is your commute car of the week,
• we found you a ringer for your next hop over to Calaveras County
• UB313 just doesn’t work for us - too close to UB40 - keep your eye out for a naming contest,
• and if we’ve told you once we’ve told you 10,000 times - this is dangerous

And did we mention that the On Deck page is back on line?

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: commute car, Calaveras County, UB313, UB40

The Independent Online
Jack Ernest Gutteridge (Jackie Pallo), wrestler: born London 12 January 1926; married Trixie Wilson (one son); died Ramsgate, Kent 11 February 2006.

Jackie Pallo died a thousand deaths in his villainous career, and all but the last were for the benefit of a braying public. Pallo understood as well as anyone that wrestling was an entertainment best served loud and obvious, and he was one of the most skilful and reviled in the business. In his heyday, no one made people madder.

Pallo specialised in the back-breaker, a submission move that invariably had his opponent writhing in agony; its instigator later revealed it to be no more painful than a child’s kiss. For Pallo’s other trademark was revelation, and 20 years ago his tell-all memoir You Grunt, I’ll Groan (1985) delivered the last rites to a magical passing world. Everything in wrestling was bent, he said. If his career as a fighter and would-be promoter wasn’t over before, it was certainly finished on publication day.

But, without Pallo, we might never have learnt of the Boston Crab or flying head-scissors at all; it was Pallo who had sat beside the inexperienced commentator Kent Walton during the earliest television broadcasts of wrestling in the 1950s, instructing him on the names of the moves and inventing some of his own.

Technorati Tags: Jackie Pallo, wrestler, wrestling, entertainment, back-breaker, Boston Crab, flying head-scissors

NY Times
John Belluso, a young playwright who translated his own experiences with physical disability into a prolific body of promising work, died on Friday at a hotel in Manhattan. He was 36 and lived in Los Angeles.

A spokesman for the police department said an investigation was continuing but referred questions to the medical examiner’s office. Ellen Borakov, a spokesman for the medical examiner, said an initial autopsy was inconclusive and results from additional tissue testing would not be available for two weeks.

Mr. Belluso, who had Engleman-Camurdrie syndrome, a rare bone disorder that taxes the muscles, had used a wheelchair since he was 13. His work often featured characters suffering from physical maladies, and he used a mix of empathy and sharp-tongued humor to plumb their condition for deeper meaning.

In “Gretty Good Time,” his 1999 dark comedy, a young woman, a victim of polio who uses a wheelchair, longs to die but still gets laughs — and leering looks from other characters — as she plots her own demise with a mixture of wit, anger and sex appeal. Writing in The New York Times, Lawrence Van Gelder said Mr. Belluso had applied “high drama and sharp satire to questions of life and death.”

Mr. Belluso’s career had gained momentum with a pair of Off Broadway productions in 2005 — “Pyretown,” and “Henry Flamethrowa” — as well as a job writing for HBO’s “Deadwood.” Mr. Belluso was working on a play, “The Poor Itch,” about an injured soldier returning home from Iraq, for the Public Theater at the time of his death. The play remains unfinished.

Technorati Tags: John Belluso, playwright, Engleman-Camurdrie, bone disorder, Gretty Good Time, Pyretown, Henry Flamethrowa, Deadwood

NY Times
Jockey Shabalala, a member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, South Africa’s most famous a cappella ensemble, died on Saturday at his home in Ladysmith. He was 62.

His death, of natural causes, was announced by Mike Wilpizeski, a spokesman for the group’s record label, Heads Up International.

Shabalala’s brother Joseph founded and still leads the ensemble. Jockey Shabalala joined Ladysmith Black Mambazo in the 1960’s and was featured on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album, which won a Grammy for album of the year in 1986. He continued to tour and record with the group until early last year, when it won a second Grammy, for “Raise Your Spirit Higher.” He then retired from international travel to spend more time with his family but continued to perform in South Africa

The group, which fuses Zulu and gospel music traditions, was touring the United States when news of Shabalala’s death reached the members. Joseph Shabalala said they would not interrupt the tour.

Technorati Tags: Jockey Shabalala, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, cappella

So soon after the romance of Valentine’s Day we spot this test: How Long Do You Have To Live?. (For the ODDones that would be not so long given the lack of flowers, chocolate &etc delivered yesterday.)

And as of life itself wasn’t enough of a test, eh? The new Life Test covers 12 risk factors that weigh in on your life expectancy and is targeted at those over 50. The test asks this simple question: What are your chances of dying within four years?

Yikes!. So quickly doth mortality smack us in the face! Your score on this test should be as in golf - the lower score the better. Zero to five points gives you only a 4% chance of joining the silent choir for example.

Now that bad news. If you are male you have a two point handicap without even sinning further. Mayhaps a visit to the specialists in Trinidad is in order? No, not that Trinidad, this Trinidad. Say “”Hi” to the nice surgeons for us won’t you? And remember to pay homage to Stanley while you’re there too.

And the good news? “People with a body-mass index of less than 25 - which includes normal weight people - get a point while those who are overweight aren’t penalised.” Go figure, but go ahead and eat up while you’re figuring.

Now since we have no doubt tweaked your interest here is the link to this Life Test. Just don’t blame us for your score as we’ve trouble enough around the house as it is.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Valentine’s Day, test, life expectancy, chances of dying, Trinidad

LA Times
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, the irrepressible character actor and comedic entertainer who appeared in dozens of movies, including “The High and the Mighty” and “Rio Bravo,” has died. He was 80.

Gonzalez Gonzalez died of natural causes Feb. 6 at his home in Culver City, said his grandson, actor Clifton Collins Jr.

Gonzalez Gonzalez, a Texas native, first came to national public attention in 1953 when he appeared as a contestant on Groucho Marx’s TV quiz show “You Bet Your Life.”

The diminutive young man proved to be irresistible comic fodder for the quick-witted Marx.

“Pedro, we could do a great act together,” Marx said after Gonzalez Gonzalez sang a bit of “El Rancho Grande,” did a wildly funny dance demonstration and out-mugged the great comedian.

“What would we call our act if we went out together, the Two Tamales?” Marx asked.

“No,” a deadpan Gonzalez Gonzalez replied, “it would be Gonzalez Gonzalez and Marx.”

“That’s nice billing,” Marx said to the laughing audience. “Two people in the act, and I get third place!”

Technorati Tags: Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, The High and the Mighty, Rio Bravo, Groucho Marx, You Bet Your Life

LA Times
Friedrich Engel, 97, a former Nazi SS officer involved in the massacre of Italian prisoners in World War II, died overnight Feb. 4 or 5 in Hamburg, Germany, his wife, Else, said. She did not give a cause of death.

In 2002, a German court convicted Engel of 59 counts of murder and handed him a suspended seven-year jail term for the 1944 shootings in a mountain pass near the Italian city of Genoa.

An appeals court ruled in 2004 that it believed Engel was responsible for the massacre. But it quashed the conviction, saying the lower court had failed to legally prove murder and ruled out a retrial because of Engel’s age.

Engel, known in Italy as the “Butcher of Genoa,” acknowledged helping organize the May 19, 1944, shootings in reprisal for an attack on a movie theater in the city four days earlier in which five German sailors died.

However, he denied the murder charge, insisting that the shootings were ordered by German naval officers and that his unit was responsible only for selecting the victims from Genoa’s Marassi jail.

Technorati Tags: Friedrich Engel, Nazi, Butcher of Genoa

LA Times
Jean Byron, 80, an actress best known for portraying Patty Duke’s mother on the 1960s TV series “The Patty Duke Show,” died Feb. 3 from an infection following hip replacement surgery in Mobile, Ala.

As Natalie Lane, she was Duke’s “Mommo” on the ABC show that aired from 1963 to 1966. When the cast came together for a 1999 reunion show, Byron and Duke reconnected and began speaking every Sunday, they both said at the time.

Byron was born Imogene Burkhart in Paducah, Ky. That was the same name her close friend Max Shulman gave the recurring character he wrote for her on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” (CBS, 1959 to 1963). She also appeared in dozens of other television shows before retiring in 1985.

In the 1950s, she appeared in B-movies such as “Voodoo Tiger,” “Serpent of the Nile” and “Jungle Moon Men” and was briefly married to the actor Michael Ansara.

Technorati Tags: Jean Byron, Patty Duke, The Patty Duke Show, Voodoo Tiger, Serpent of the Nile, Jungle Moon Men

Give me a moment
Got to get this weight up off my chest
Don’t feed me sorrow
Pain is a poison I digest

Make no more wishes
All of my patience has been spent
Gods of the season
Lead me to my next incident ~~ “Where The Water Flows”, Collective Soul

And here is hoping that your next incident does not involve quail hunting in Texas. And while you are still pondering take a read on Infospigot’s Dead Veeps Club post.

Did you notice the update below on the Chris Penn mystery?

Yes, yes, yes. We know its Valentine’s Day. The History Channel tells us that “…the history of Valentine’s Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition…”

Valentine’s Day…shrouded in mystery…sort of fitting for most men.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Collective Soul, quail hunting, Chris Penn, Valentine’s Day, mystery

From CNN - Chris Penn revisited.
Actor Chris Penn died accidentally from an enlarged heart and the effects of a mix of multiple medications, the county coroner’s office said Monday.

“There is absolutely no indication that this is anything but an accident,” chief coroner investigator Craig Harvey said.

Penn, 40, the younger brother of Sean Penn, was found dead in his Santa Monica condominium on January 24, but the results of his autopsy and toxicology tests were not released until Monday. See also his obituary.

The primary cause of death was “nonspecific cardiomyopathy,” an oversized heart, with the “effects of multiple medication intake,” according to a statement issued by the coroner’s office.

“We know he had several prescriptions, including promethazine with codeine, which featured predominantly in his death,” Harvey said.

Promethazine with codeine is known as a highly addictive prescription medication. Promethazine is an antihistamine that prevents vomiting, while codeine suppresses coughing and relieves pain, Harvey said.

“We don’t know how much he ingested or when,” Harvey said. “There are a lot of ‘what ifs’ to be factored in.”

A full coroner’s report with further details will be available in a few weeks, Harvey said.

Technorati Tags: Chris Penn, enlarged heart, Sean Penn, cardiomyopathy, promethazine

TV Squad
Following a length battle with Alzheimer’s disease, actor Henry McGee has died at the age of 76.

McGhee will probably be known to most as the stiff-upper-lipped straight man in The Benny Hill Show and was known to the children in the U.K. as the friend of the Honey Monster who advertised the cereal Sugar Puffs.

The majority of McGhee’s roles were in U.K comedy shows, but he also made notable appearances in The Protectors, The Avengers and The Saint — in addition to some minor film roles.

Technorati Tags: Henry McGee, Benny Hill

LA Times
Lou Jones, 74, a gold medalist in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics as a member of the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team, died Feb. 3 at a hospital in New York City.

Jones set a record in the 400 meter run in the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City. His winning time of 45.4 seconds clipped four-tenths of a second off the previous world mark.

He eclipsed his own mark in the 400 meters in the Olympic trials at the Los Angeles Coliseum in June 1956 with a time of 45.2 seconds. But he fared poorly in the 400 meters in Melbourne, finishing fifth in the race, won by Charlie Jenkins, an American, from Villanova.

Born in New Rochelle, N.Y., Jones graduated from Manhattan College with a degree in business administration. He earned his master’s degree at Columbia.

Technorati Tags: Lou Jones, gold medalist, Olympics, Pan American Games

LA Times
Larry Black, 54, a gold and silver medalist in track and field at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, died Wednesday in Miami of an aneurysm, according to his wife, Cherese Black.

At the Munich Games, Black won a gold medal running the lead leg of the men’s 400-meter relay. He won a silver medal in the 200-meter dash.

A native of Miami, Black was an 11-time collegiate All-American as a sprinter for North Carolina Central University. He won an NCAA outdoor national title in the 220-yard dash in 1971.

Black’s life took a dramatic downturn after the Olympics. He became addicted to drugs and alcohol in the late 1970s and spent the next 15 years in a downward spiral. He entered a homeless shelter in 1994 that offered drug and alcohol counseling and was able to quit. He spent much of the last 10 years of his life working as a fitness counselor.

Technorati Tags: Larry Black, 1972 Olympics