This came across my desk:

“The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 2188 and Ladies Auxialiary, are asking for the support of the community to help raise funds for the family of fallen Deputy Juan Escalante. This 27 year old Deputy was killed outside his home in Cypress Park.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles are hosting a PASTA DINNER on Thursday, August 14 from 4pm to 8pm. Donations for the dinner are $10 per plate. The Eagles Hall is located at 1596 Yosemite Drive at Townsend in Eagle Rock, 90041. 323-257-8869

Any type of donation or support for the fundraiser would be greatly appreciated.

All proceeds from this fundraising event will be given to the fund set up for his wife and children.”

Bernice Mac died in a Chicago hospital from complications of pneumonia.  He was only 50 and flying high on a great career. He grew up poor on Chicago’s south side and made a name for himself in stand up comedy, eventually touring with the Original Kings of Comedy.  He was nominated twice for an Emmy, twice for a Golden Globe and won four out of the seven NAACP awards he was nominated for.

Bernie Mac will forever crack me up in Ocean’s 11 in the used car salesman scene.  “Do you moisturize?”

He lived in Chicago but did so much work in Hollywood I couldn’t not post about his his sad passing.

Robert Berning, Trader Joe’s visionary wine buyer starting in the 1970s, has died at the age of 73. His renegade approach, at the time, to bringing bargain priced wine to the masses was key to the way we think about buying wine today.

Through selling various wines under Trader Joe’s own label, he was able to skirt fair trade laws that dictated how wine could be priced and sold in California. Competitors tried to quash TJ’s efforts but in 1978 fair trade was abandoned, ushering in a whole new era in wine production and marketing.

So whether you’re swinging by TJ’s to pick up a few bottles of Two Buck Chuck or any of their other fine offerings, or browsing with the knowledgeable staff at Silver Lake Wines for the perfect wine for a special (or ordinary) occasion, pause and reflect on the man who made it all possible. And raise a glass to him while you’re at it.

Obituary in today’s LA Times by Dennis McLellan.

According to a statement at her official website, Estelle Getty, better known to lots of people as Golden Girls’ Sophia Petrillo, passed away early this morning at her home. Rest in peace, Mrs. Getty, and thank you for being a friend.

Hello friends, Mark here. Last night, an amazing artist, Kung-Fu master, L.A. resident and genuinely swell guy lost a long battle with cancer. I got to meet Michael a few times post-cancer diagnosis and he was always really excitable and pleasant to be around, even when he was pushing his way through a dense crowd while on crutches.

Excerpt from an article on Comic Book Resources:

Turner is an artist best known for his work on books like “Witchblade,” where he got his start in comics, moving on to titles such as “Black Panther,” “Superman/Batman” and his very own creator owned series “Fathom” and “Soulfire” through his publishing company Aspen Comics. A prolific artist, he’s done work for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and has provided covers to some of the best-known comics published in the last ten years, including Brad Meltzer’s “Identity Crisis.”

In 2000, Turner was diagnosed with cancer — chondrosarcoma in the right pelvis, which resulted in his loosing his hip, 40% of his pelvis and three pounds of bone. What followed was 9 months of radiation. The cancer has gone into remission and returned multiple times since he was first diagnosed.

We’ve lost quite few, young and seemingly able-bodied comic book artists lately. This high mortality rate causing my wife no small amount of concern. I reassured her that my general sloth and steady diet of puddings nearly guarantees me a long life as a grumpy nerd.

George Carlin died of heart failure last night in a Santa Monica hospital after complaining of chest pains yesterday afternoon. He had a history of heart trouble.

George Carlin is probably most famous for his “Seven Words You Can never Say On Television” routine from the early 70′s. (Please click here to see more about that.) He’s been a counterculture, telling-it-like-it-is icon for a long time since, winning four Grammies and being nominated for many other awards along the way, mostly recently for the Mark Twain award for American humor, announced just last week.

I’ve listened to a lot of George Carlin, but what stuck was a routine about words you never hear together like: “Hand me that piano!” or “please saw my legs off!” Tell us your favorite Carlin work in the comments.

Shit, George, we’re going to miss you.

(Image by Bonnie used under Creative Commons license.)

I am so sad to read that Stan Winston died yesterday. No details as of yet, but I’ll update if/when they are released.

Winston created Special Effects and Make-Up Effects for motion pictures starting in 1972. He’s best known (arguably) for the Terminator series. He also directed Pumpkinhead, which is the saddest horror movie I’ve ever seen, and a favorite.

My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

Frazier Park’s Brian Cody Prosser, an Army Staff Sargeant, became the first US soldier from California to be killed in Afghanistan after a U.S. bomb missed its target on December 5, 2001.

20 year old Army Specialist Mary J. Jaenichen, from Temecula, is California’s most recent casualty from the war in Iraq after being killed May 9th.

As of last Wednesday, of the United States’ 4563 casulaties between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 492 were from California. The Los Angeles Times has just unveiled a database of these soldiers, providing photos and memories along with the raw data of dates of death, hometowns, and where their remains are buried. If you knew any of these military men or women, the Times allows you to leave your own thoughts.

Nearly 500 Californians have lost their lives while in service to their country in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At least 58 were immigrants; more than 160 were parents, who left behind more than 300 children. One descended from two presidents; another was a Guatemalan street orphan taken in by an American family as a teenager. One high school lost six of its graduates.

More on the project at the L.A. Times. 

…photo by Doc Brown/Matthew K., used under Creative Commons…

Robert Nudelman, a man whose name is synonymous with Hollywood historic preservation efforts, has passed away.

From Eric Garcetti’s blog:

I’m saddened by the passing of Robert Nudelman, who served as the Director of Preservation Issues for Hollywood Heritage. Robert was a friend and someone with whom I worked closely during the last seven years to ensure that Hollywood’s history would be preserved and celebrated as it entered its second Golden Age.

Robert believed in Hollywood, even during times when few others did. His perseverance helped ensure that the neighborhood’s renaissance became a reality. He will be greatly missed, but his work will remain a part of Hollywood’s enduring history.

UPDATE: Patrick Range McDonald at LA Weekly shares his own memories and thoughts on Nudelman, and believes Robert’s passing will now result in a lower quality of life in Hollywood and beyond:

The death of Robert Nudelman will have a major impact on the future face of Hollywood and, as a result, Los Angeles. In fact, years from now, his passing may be seen as a turning point, when developers and accommodating politicians finally got the upper-hand over community activists in the never-ending battle to demolish much of old Hollywood in favor of a bulkier, more dense, and architecturally-uninspired new Hollywood, with huge traffic problems to boot.

On Friday night I received some sad and unexpected news – the victim in Thursday afternoon’s crash on the 101 along the Cahuenga Pass was an old friend, Polly Tolonen.

While I wasn’t close to Polly, I’d bump into on occasion and was always greeted with a beautiful smile and abundant kindness. She was a fantastic actress, funny as hell, and somehow was able to convince everyone that her turtle, Goober, had as much personality as any dog or cat (of course, maybe Goober actually had that much character).

The 32 year old Ann Arbor native had built a rather large circle of friends, as displayed by the number of people who crowded The Galley in Santa Monica an hour after a memorial was held for her this afternoon.

A brief obituary listed on Legacy.com, via the LA Times, mentions that she is survived by, “her parents, brother Larry Tolonen of Grand Rapids, MI, sister Heidi Bonetti of Dallas, TX, brother Chris Tolonen of Seattle, WA, three nephews and a niece whom she dearly loved, and scores of friends she touched along her journey.”

Comments for this entry are closed – however, Legacy.com also includes a page where friends can leave messages for Polly and her family.

In a couple years, several hundred ma-jillions of dollars in cost overruns and ten-thousands of man-hours the Battle of the Expo Line will be won and the derelict median that bisects National Boulevard immediately west of Ballona Creek will be sporting some serious light-railitude.

But for now in its raw unfinishedness it is home to the saddest thing ever, namely this shrine to Miles that I found yesterday afternoon coming off the creek’s bikeway, erected I can only presume by the guardians of their lost feline friend (click to triplify):

Screen legend Charlton Heston passed away at his Coldwater Canyon on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 84.

Its hard to know what this iconic figure will be best remembered for – parting the Red Sea as Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” growling, “Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” in “Planet of the Apes,” chariot racing in “Ben-Hur,” or possibly as a life-long vocal advocate, and President, of the National Rifle Association.

Politically, while Heston is recognized for his pro-gun and conservative views, prior to the 1980s he was anti-war, anti-gun, and active in the civil rights movement. In 1960 he campaigned for John F. Kennedy and three years later marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. Shortly after Robert Kennedy’s assassination, Heston supported the Gun Control Act of 1968.

By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican. He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. [Wikipedia]

Among his final screen roles was in a cameo in the Tim Burton 2001 remake of “Planet of the Apes,” where he repeated his final line from the original,”Damn them! Damn them all to hell!” [IMdB]

Sadly, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1628 Vine is apparently inaccessible due to construction. However, his handprints can still be touched at the Chinese.

Photo of his signature and prints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre by Legendary Classic, used under Creative Commons.

The visionary Science Fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke passed away today in Sri Lanka. As a teenager, I think I read every single one of his books. I loved getting lost in his geeky, dreamy space oriented worlds.

Most people know of him because co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick. It was based on Arthur’s book, “The Sentinel”, which was written in 1948. In the movie, his HAL character was based on an actual demonstration he witnessed in the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility with his scientist friend, John Pierce.

One of the cool things about Arthur C. Clarke was that he envisioned telecommunications satellites way before they were possible. In 1945, he wrote a paper about it which was published in Wireless World. The geostationary orbit is called the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honor. Well Arthur, your body may be gone, but your vision lives on…

Readers of a certain age will recall the TV show Rhoda (spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show). She was a famous single working woman in New York in the 70′s. She had a neurotic sister and crazy mother and a famous doorman we never saw. She fell in love with Joe and her singleton days were over. They got married and it was one of the biggest television events in history.

Joe was played by David Groh and Mr. Groh died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 68.

David Groh was born and raised in NYC, attended Brown University where he started acting, then went to London to study further on a Fulbright Scholarship. He worked on Daytime TV then hit it big with Rhoda. He also starred on Broadway and later worked often in television, guest starring on shows like The X-Files, LA Law and Law and Order. In fact, I was watching a L&O rerun last night and there he was. Mr. Groh was a lifetime member of the Actor’s Studio and taught method acting for 20 years at the Strasberg Institute.

More details at the Los Angeles Times.

I’m going to add Rhoda to my Netflix Q.

When I think of Roy Scheider, the first image that comes to mind is of his character in “Jaws,” police chief Martin Brody, a cigarette dangling from his bottom lip, as he comes face to face with the shark.

The second image that comes to mind is of Scheider as Officer Frank Murphy, piloting the LAPD’s tactical helicopter known as “Blue Thunder.”

Sadly, Quint at Aint It Cool News shares the news that Scheider passed away this weekend at the age of 75.

The New Jersey born actor also had memorable performances in “Klute,” “The French Connection,” “Marathon Man,” Cronenberg’s adaptation of “Naked Lunch,” and the television series “SeaQuest DSV.”

…more at the New York Times…