David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016) or otherwise known as David Bowie was an English and groundbreaking artist for almost five decades. The thin white duke has left us after battling a losing fight against cancer. He was a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, painter, and actor. He was a figure in popular music for over five decades, and was considered by critics and musicians as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft significantly impacted popular music. During his lifetime, he sold an estimated 140 million records worldwide. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, and in the US received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Pat Harrington, Jr.
Daniel Patrick Harrington, Jr. (August 13, 1929 – January 6, 2016), known as Pat Harrington, Jr. or simply Pat Harrington, was an American voice, stage, and television actor, best known for his role as the nosey but, good hearted building superintendent “Schneider” on the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time, co-starring Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli and aired from (1975 – 1984).
John Bradbury
John “Brad” Bradbury (16 February 1953 – 28 December 2015) was an English musician and record producer. He is best known for having been the drummer in the English Ska group The Specials. He also played drums on a Selector song titled “Gangsters” a song he shortly after re-recorded with the Specials. Brad helped the Specials to become the outstanding British band of 1979, both for their recordings and live performances. Many of their best-known songs were written by Jerry Dammers, but Brad was involved in co-writing favorites that included Gangsters and Nite Klub. The band recorded seven UK top 10 singles, including Too Much Too Young and Ghost Town, but split up in 1981. Brad continued to work with Dammers in the Special AKA, best-known for that classic political anthem Nelson Mandela.
LEMMY
Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), known as Lemmy, was an English musician, singer and songwriter who founded and fronted the rock band Motörhead. His music was one of the foundations of the heavy metal genre. He was known for his appearance (including his friendly mutton chops) and his distinctive gravelly voice. Alongside his music career, he also had many minor roles in film and television. Lemmy was born in Stoke-on-Trent and grew up in North Wales. He was influenced by rock and roll and the early Beatles, which led to him playing in several rock groups in the 1960s, including the Rockin’ Vickers. He worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and the Nice, before joining the space rock band Hawkwind in 1971, singing lead on their hit “Silver Machine“. After being fired from Hawkwind, he founded Motörhead as lead singer, bassist, songwriter and frontman. Motörhead’s success peaked in 1980 and 1981 and included the hit single “Ace of Spades“. Lemmy continued to record and tour regularly with Motörhead until his death in December 2015.
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director, known for playing a variety of roles on stage and screen, often as a complex antagonist. Rickman was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in modern and classical theatre productions. His first big television part came in 1982, but his big break was as the Vicomte de Valmont in the stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Rickman gained wider notice for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. Other notable films appearances: Dogma (1999), Quigley Down Under (1990), Robin Hood (1991), Galaxy Quest (1999), Love Actually (2003), Sweeney Todd (2007) amongst others.
Abe Vigoda
Abraham Charles “Abe” Vigoda (February 24, 1921 – January 26, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for a number of roles, especially his portrayals of Salvatore Tessio in the Francis Ford Coppola film The Godfather and Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller from 1975 to 1977 and its spinoff show Fish from 1977 to 1978… Many of us remember staying up past our bedtime and hearing the opening theme to Barney Miller on our televisions. He died at the age of 92 after decades of film and television appearances among the many on his acting resume including: Cannonball Run II (1984), The Stuff (1984), Look Who’s Talking (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), Batman – Mask of the Phantasm (voice, 1993), Sugar Hill (1994), Good Burger (1997), The Rockford Files (guest, 1978), Tales from the Darkside – episode, “A Choice of Dreams” (1986).
Angus Scrimm
Angus Scrimm (born Lawrence Rory Guy; August 19, 1926 – January 9, 2016) was an American actor and author, best known for playing the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film Phantasm and its sequels. Scrimm was born in Kansas City, Kansas. He was originally a journalist and wrote and edited for TV Guide, Cinema Magazine, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and many other publications. He has also written liner notes for many LPs and CDs for artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles, as well as Arthur Rubinstein and Itzhak Perlman. Scrimm won a Grammy (credited as Rory Guy, as were his early film roles) for his liner notes. His Phantasm role led to a steady acting career in theater and television including roles as Doctor Epstein in 1973’s Scream Bloody Murder, King Vladislas in Subspecies (1990) by Full Moon Studios and Wishmaster (narrator, 1997). Scrimm guest starred on an episode of Showtime’s horror anthology Masters of Horror and had a recurring role as an SD-6 agent on Alias.
Sam Haine is simply a writer born on the East Coast who enjoys cooking. He is the contributor of the monthly Retro Movie Review and the recurring ‘Remember This…’ column. He is the creator and writer of Hainesville (facebook.com/allhailming), has released three spoken word albums + one Electro-house single, and provides Cult Fiction to Cult Classic Goods.
sam.haine@beta.newretrowave.com
