2006 goes on...

Woah! I feel bad! Lol! Yes. James Brown, The Godfather Of Soul, died on Christmas Day! He joins a list of luminaries who have passed on this special day. The list includes WC Fields, Joan Blondell, Dean Martin, Charlie Chaplin, Billy Martin and Denver Pyle. I’m sure there are more. I saw Brown at The Lonestar Cafe in NYC in the mid-'80's before he made his comeback performing a song in one of those Rocky sequels. He was pretty amazing. His band included a horn section and three female singers all crammed on to a fairly small stage. He did his whole act. I'm glad I got to see him at least once!

On Dec. 18th Joe Barbera died at the age of 95. He was one half of the cartoon production team of Hanna-Barbera. Together they produced a huge amount of animated classics including Tom & Jerry, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, Huckleberry Hound and many others. William Hanna died in 1991. Much of The Cartoon Network’s sister station Boomerang consists of their cartoons.

Also recently departed is the writer Chris Hayward at the age of 81. He started writing the pun filled scripts for Jay Ward’s “Rocky and His Friends” (later called “The Bullwinkle Show”) where developed the character “Dudley Do-Right”. Later he wrote and/or produced episodes of GET SMART and also co-created THE MUNSTERS. He worked on other TV shows including BARNEY MILLER.

EMMETT KELLY JR.-was the son of one of the most recognizable clowns in the world. Following in his famous father’s footsteps he was a clown for over 40 years. He died on Nov. 30th at age 83.

KEVIN McCLORY-was an Irish actor, producer, screenwriter and director who was the executive producer of NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, the second screen adaptation of THUNDERBALL that brought Sean Connery back to the James Bond role after 12 year absence. McClory had in fact co-written an original screenplay that was supposed to feature the Bond character. Ian Fleming wound up adapting it to for his novel and lawsuits ensued. McClory started his career as an assistant director to John Huston on THE AFRICAN QUEEN, MOULIN ROUGE and later MOBY DICK. He was an Associate Producer of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. He was 80.

DON DOHLER-was a low budget filmmaker and founder of the SFX magazine “Cine-Magic” in the early ‘80’s. His unusual B-movies included ALIEN FACTOR, NIGHTBEAST and FIEND. He died of cancer on Dec. 2 at age

JAY McSHANN-was a jazz pianist and orchestra leader who gave Charlie Parker his first job. He was around 90.

MARTIN NODELL-was a comic book writer who co-created (with Bill Finger) the original Green Lantern (The 1940 Allen Scott version). He retired from the comic world in the early ‘50’s and went into advertising where he helped design “The Pillsbury Doughboy”. He died on Dec. 9th at 91.

MICHAEL GILDEN-was a dwarf actor whose film appearances included PULP FICTION and STAR WARS IV: RETURN OF THE JEDI. One of his last roles was on TV’s NCIS. He committed suicide on Dec. 5th. He was 44.

Tom McManamon-was the guitar player for The Popes, the band that backed Shane MacGowan in his post-Pogues solo career. He also played with Joe Strummer, Sinead O’Connor, U2 and others. He died of liver failure on Dec. 20th. He was 39.

Kyoko Kishida-was a Japanese actress. Her films included the international art house hit WOMAN IN THE DUNES. She died Dec. 17th at the age of 76.

Denis Payton-was a founding member of the ‘60’s Rock and Roll group “The Dave Clark Five” for which he played guitar, saxophone and harmonica. He died Dec. 18th after a long illness. He was 63.

Don Jardine-was a professional wrestler who worked mainly as the masked “Spoiler” in the ‘60’s & ‘70’s. He wrestled throughout the US and Canada (where he was born), He also used the names Original Super Destroyer, The Super Destroyer and The Enforcer. I saw him main event at Madison Square Garden in the mid-seventies without his mask. He died Dec. 18th of leukemia. He was 66.

Mike Evans-actor best known for his role as Lionel Jefferson in the TV sitcoms "All in the Family" and "The Jefferson’s" died of throat cancer on Dec. 14th. He was 57. He was in other TV shows of the time including RICH MAN POOR MAN, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO and LOVE AMERICAN STYLE. He also co-created the TV series GOOD TIMES.

Peter G. Spelson-was an independent actor/producer/director who’s first movie was the seldom seen Sci-Fi film THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN (which he produced & starred in). He was 77.