Mitsuharu Misawa, one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all-time, was declared dead at 10:10 p.m. Saturday night at a hospital in Hiroshima from an apparent heart attack after being being given a back suplex in a tag team title match.

Misawa would have turned 47 on June 18th.Misawa, the president of Pro Wrestling NOAH, was teaming with Go Shiozaki in a match challenging Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito for the GHC tag team championship in Hiroshima. Misawa was given the move at about 8:45 p.m. and knocked unconscious. According to eye witness reports, Saito gave Misawa a "routine" back suplex that was described as a "7" in danger on a scale of one-to-ten. He did not get up. It was chaos in the ring as they attempted to revive him using CPR and the crowd was hushed for a while, and began a "Misawa" chant. He turned purple in the ring and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

His heart stopped beating in the ring. The wrestlers were told on the bus that he had passed away.

While it is being reported that he passed away at the hospital, he may have actually passed away in the ring. Misawa was the Japanese high school national wrestling champion at 187 pounds in 1980, and was recruited by Giant Baba into All Japan Pro Wrestling. He gained his first taste of stardom in 1984 when he was chosen to be the second Tiger Mask.

After unmasking in 1990, he became an even bigger star after a series of singles matches with Jumbo Tsuruta.

He was Japan's biggest pro wrestling star of the 90s, and one could make a strong case for him as the top wrestler of the decade. He was the Wrestler of the Year in 1995, 1997 and 1999.After the death of Shohei "Giant" Baba, Misawa wrestled a little over one more year for All Japan Pro Wrestling, while working as company president. After consistently butting heads with owner Motoko Baba, the widow of Shohei Baba, he and 90% of the All Japan roster quit the company to form Pro Wrestling NOAH.

Mark Evanier is reporting at his blog that Dave Simons has died following a long battle with cancer. He was 55.

Simons began his career with Marvel in 1979 and worked on Spider-Man, Howard the Duck, Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, Red Sonja, Conan the Barbarian and other titles, generally as an inker but sometimes as a penciller. He also occasionally worked for DC, usually on that company's war books. In recent years, Simons began working in animation and may be best known for his work on the TV show Courage the Cowardly Dog. He also worked on the show's comic-book spinoff, which was published by DC. http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_06_10.html#017246


Terence Joseph Alexander (11 March 1923 - 28 May 2009)English film and television actor , best known for his role as Charlie Hungerford in the British TV drama Bergerac.He was born in London , the son of a doctor, and grew up in Yorkshire .

Alexander was educated at Ratcliffe College ,Leicestershire , and Norwood College, Harrogate and started acting in the theatre at the age of 16. During World War II he served in the British Army as a lieutenant with the 27th Lancers , and was seriously wounded by artillery fire in Italy.

He is probably best remembered as Charlie Hungerford from the detective series Bergerac , though he was also very prominent in the 1960s BBC adaptation of The Forsyte Saga . One of his early roles was in the children's series Garry Halliday.

He has appeared in many other film and television roles including three appearances in different roles in The Avengers ;Terry and June (1979-1980); Behind the Screen (1981-1982); the 1985 Doctor Who serial The Mark of the Rani ; and The New Statesman (1987). On radio he starred as The Toff in the BBC radio adaptation of the John Creasey novels. He appeared in all but one episode of Bergerac from 1981 to 1991. He appeared on the West End in comedies and farces and his credits included Move Over Mrs Markham (1971), Two and Two Make Sex (1973), There Goes The Bride (1974/5) and Fringe Benefits (1976).

Alexander later retired from acting and lived in London with his second wife, the actress Jane Downs. He died on 28 May 2009.Link ...http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0018776/

From:http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/component/content/10854?task=view

Monday, 08 June 2009 13:19 Bass guitarist Hugh Hopper has died at the age of 64, it was announced yesterday. The Kent-born musician is best known as the bass player in Soft Machine which he joined in 1968. He remained with them until 1972 but later became an important part of Soft Machine Legacy which has toured the world in recent years. Before Soft Machine Hopper worked with Daevid Allen and Robert Wyatt in the Daevid Allen Trio before forming the Wilde Flowers joined by his brother Brian, Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Richard Sinclair. But it was with Wyatt, Allen, Ayers and also Mike Ratledge that he was to make his mark on the history of progressive rock and forward-looking jazz-influenced psychedelic groups of the period and since with his innovative fuzz-bass sound.

After Soft Machine, Hopper worked with a range of groups including the influential Gilgamesh and Isotope and began an association with free jazz saxophonist Elton Dean who joined Soft Machine in 1969. Later important collaborations also included work with the late Pip Pyle, Phil Miller’s In Cahoots and since 2002 with Soft Works which later became Soft Machine Legacy. Hopper had been suffering from leukaemia in recent years. A benefit was held for him at the 100 Club in London last December. A full obituary will follow in the July print edition of Jazzwise. He will be sadly missed.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist, Kenny Rankin died June 7th

to his forumhttp://www.kennyrankin.com/rankinbbs/Read/welcome.htmlto his sitehttp://www.kennyrankin.com/

BANGKOK – Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He says Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.

The Web site of the newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide.

Carradine was a leading member of a venerable Hollywood acting family that included his father, character actor John Carradine, and brother Keith.