Our Daily Dead

We’ve spent a few days ODDly scrounging around for notable deaths.

Ted Berkman, died at age 92 from cancer. Claim-to-fame? Well, he wrote “Bedtime for Bonzo,” that famous film associated with notably dead President Ronald Reagan. Closest we ODDfellows came to a scene with a lower primate was in a bar, in Tijuana, in 1987…—oh never mind.

Then there’s Paul Gleason, dead at 67 (so far, so near) from cancer (mesothelioma). Anyone out there in ODDland remember “The Breakfast Club?” Well, Gleason played the grouchy principal. Okay, any one remember “Die Hard?” Of course you do, but do you remember Gleason playing the deputy chief-of-police? ODDthought-of-the-day: chief-of-police = “cop.” Hummmm.

Which brings us to Donald Rudolph, who has died of Alzheimer’s in his 86th year. Rudolph won a Congressional Medal of Honor in WW II. Here’s how the New York Times described what he did: He hurled a grenade through an opening in the first pillbox, tore away the wood and tin covering with his bare hands, then dropped another grenade inside. He then grabbed a pickax and used it to pierce a second pillbox, which he took out with rifle fire and a grenade. He destroyed six more pillboxes, and when his platoon was attacked by a Japanese tank, he climbed to its top and dropped a white phosphorus grenade through the turret, killing the crew.

So when’s the last time you charged a machine gun?

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Ted Berkman, Ronald Reagan, “The Breakfast Club?”, “Die Hard?”, Donald Rudolph, New York Times

In an exclusive the Yorkshire Post reports that a notorious egg thief has plunged to his death in South Yorkshire while looking for rare bird eggs. Colin Watson, from Selby, North Yorkshire, was three-quarters of the way up a 40ft larch tree in Doncaster when he fell to his death. Mr. Watson, we presume, was apparently well know for his sticky fingers as the Post further relates that “…he was one of our most prosecuted egg collectors.” Indeed. Was.

While we are on something of a Dead kick…um, Grateful Dead that is of course, we need to alert you to a San Jose Mercury News article bringing word that “Hamza El Din, a musician and composer who helped popularize ancient traditional songs from North Africa, has died. He was 76.” Who? El Din performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 and recorded two albums for the folk label Vanguard in 1964 and 1965. Mickey Hart, a drummer with the rock band the Grateful Dead, helped produce another album, ”Eclipse”. El Din helped arrange a now historic Grateful Dead performance at the Great Pyramids in Egypt in 1978. “Oh, THAT El Din.”

Make ours Over Easy please…

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: egg thief, Hamza El Din, El Din, Newport Folk Festival, Mickey Hart, Grateful Dead, ”Eclipse”, Great Pyramids

Lloyd Bentsen, vice-presidential running mate of Michael Dukakis, is dead from complications of a stroke. Bentsen took the cheap-shot at Dan Quayle in the vice-president candidate debates, the political equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. By good accounts, Bentsen was a decent man, and this fell below his level of dignity, but did give him a moment of historical remembrance. Do good, maybe get credit; say something mean and pandering and gain fame. Go figure. Go soak your head.

Bar’s open.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Lloyd Bentsen, Michael Dukakis, Dan Quayle