Sadie Corré

by Glen Barnham

Despite her height of only 4 foot 1 inch this performer achieved much and overcome prejudice to become one of this countries greatest ever pantomime cats, and had cult status with her performance in Rocky Horror Show movie.

Sadie Corré was born in 1918 in Bognor, Sussex.Her first appearance was at the age of 7 on the Palace Pier, Brighton and her first professional appearance, age 12,was ‘Trouble’ in Madam Butterfly at Streatham Hill Theatre, and she use to say with a smile that her friends said she has been trouble ever since. Audiences remarked on her acting ability when crying but did not know it was Joan Cross trying to make her laugh. In return Sadie got her own back on Joan whilst she was singing ‘One Fine Day’, when she did her best to make the great soprano laugh. Despite that she was in demand for the same part by the leading opera companies of the day. That sense of fun was to be her hallmark for the next eight decades. The next appearance was ‘Where the Rainbow Ends’, at the Holborn Empire. Films at the time included child roles with Marlene Deitrich and Richard Tauber.By this time she was 14, and had been at Italia Conti stage school for two years, where a classmate was Dinah Sheridan. After Holborn she worked in Cavalcade in 1931 for 11 months at Drury Lane. Sadie spoke very fondly of Noel Coward, who was a good friend to the entire cast during the run, and was the perfect boss and remembered with affection for his personal kindness. Other parts during the Conti period included cabaret work where her tap-dancing and comedy was recognised even at that age. The next stage work was for Cochrane during 1935/36 at the Adelphi Theatre in ‘Follow the Sun’ with Vic Oliver and Winston Churchill’s daughter Sarah was in the chorus.

Then came her big break in 1937 when a young big star by the name of Hughie Green asked her to join ‘His Gang’, where again her comedy and tap came to the fore. That act of three started at Stratford Empire on 7th August 1937 and disbanded at the outbreak of war. That act with Sadie and Hughie was top of the bill at all the No 1 theatres. It gave her the opportunity to work the same bill, as all the legendary acts of the time and her stories should have been written up, as there was more fun backstage and some stories from this great raconteur could never have been published. Such acts included Max Miller, Robb Wilton,Georgie Wood(who after seeing her impersonation of him said ‘am I that good’),and Jimmy James.

Then in 1939-40 she toured as Michael in ‘Peter Pan’. After that she spent the wartime touring the length of the country with ENSA entertaining the troops. In 1947,whilst at the Gateshead Empire there was a call from Hughie Green to find out if she was interested in touring with him in a new show called ‘Opportunity Knocks’, which opened in Leicester and continued as top of the bill at major theatres. When Sadie asked Hughie about rehearsal he said just do what you did 10 years ago and that is what happened as if the years had not separated these two professionals. After a year with Green and a huge bust up which never healed, she was always very direct, it was time to part company and move on with more tours and summer seasons, ‘Melody Inn’, with Jackson Earle when such seasons ran for a year. Sadie was asked by both Harry Tate and Hilda Baker to join there acts but declined. Other shows included Frank Randles Scandals (he locked her in a dressing room in the nude and chased her with a loaded gun but she sorted him out), Gulliver’s Travels, Folly to be Wise and Godiver Rides Again, which toured the last of the number 5’s variety theatre in 1956/58 in the last throws of old fashion variety tours with nudes but says she managed to keep her clothes on. The venues were being demolished or going over to bingo as they finished the weekly dates.

In 1948 a chance meeting with Clarkson Rose saw her take the first of many animal roles in Pantomime when engaged for ‘Goody Two Shoes’ at Kings Theatre, Hammersmith.From that day on she started a new career which was to make her one of the greatest ever panto animals who ever worked in that field.Panto experts rated her the greatest ever cat and she enjoyed that praise. Her legendary cat was child friendly never to frighten and had its own personality. Such work culminated in a four month season in 1960/61 at the London Palladium. That was with Norman Wisdom in ‘Turn Again Whitington’.Much in demand for Panto she worked with all the leading performers over four decades and helped many of those first timers from the world of pop get through such shows. Many would have been grateful for the advice coming from under the skin helping them if a problem in the show. But for those who were trouble they got suitable treatment. Some of her favourite co-stars in panto included Arthur Askey, Eddie Gray, Dana, Spike Milligan, Joe Brown, Jimmy Wheeler, Tommy Cooper, Norman Vaughan and Jess Conrad. All the biggest and best Xmas productions plus endless tours for Emile Littler of ‘Snow White’ kept her busy. Her last skin work was with Keith Harris when she played Cuddles at the 1984 Command Performance. There was other TV work as Cuddles. Only arthritis forced her to give up this work and the famous cat costume was proudly given to the Theatre Museum along with recorded memories that had the staff in stitches with laughter.

Films and TV included Funnybones, Star Wars, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Wombling Free, Dark Crystal, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Willow, Return to Oz, Brazil, Dummy Revenge of the Jedi, Carravaggio, Video Stars (BBC drama), Spike Milligan series (BBC) Mr Majieka (TVS). Two award winning documentaries(1960’s) about her were Lord Snowdon’s ‘Born to be Small’ and ‘Aquarius’(LWT) brought out the serious side of being small but also vehicles for her dynamic personality. Her role as a dancer in the film of ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ (1974) gave her cult status in many countries, and she was the favourite ‘Tranni’, and was in demand for at conventions for this cult film. In her 80’s she continued to be a star of the Internet on the Rocky Horror website. It gave this totally professional artist satisfaction and encouraged her to be available for work ‘as long as not too much running about and not in the sticks( outside of London)’. Sadie appeared at all major Variety Theatre with the exception of Finsbury Park. International tours included USA, Germany, France and Australia where her tap, panto work were in demand. She recalled that the only time she went off to the sound of her own feet was at Chorley, and even survived a number of appearances, and was a noted success, at the legendary early evening audiences on Friday nights at the Glasgow Empire.

Sadie Corré worked in all aspects of show business except circus and worked on behalf of fellow artists with her work as an active supporter of the Grand Order of Lady Ratlings, where she was a past officer of that order. She had also sat on the Board of the Variety Artists Federation.

In 2007 this very independent and active lady suffered cruel illness, a serious stroke, and went into a care home in St John’s Wood but still managed to bring a smile to staff and visitors. Sadie died 26th August aged 91.

By: Brian Scott Lipton · Aug 26, 2009 · New York

Ellie Greenwich, one of the foremost songwriters of the rock 'n' roll
era, has died at age 69, according to reports.

Greenwich's songs were the basis of the 1985 Broadway revue Leader of
the Pack, which earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. She
also appeared in the production, alongside Patrick Cassidy, Dinah
Manoff, Annie Golden, Jasmine Guy, Darlene Love, and other stars.

In addition to the song "Leader of the Pack," Greenwich wrote such
iconic hits as "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Tell Laura I Love Her"
and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." In 1991, she and Jeff Barry,
her former husband and songwriting and producing partner, were
inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Greenwich's songs were also featured in three other Broadway revues:
Uptown, It's Hot!, Andre De Shields' Harlem Nocturne, and Rock 'n'
Roll! The First 5,000 Years.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Dominick Dunne, the former Hollywood producer and best-selling author known for his Vanity Fair essays on the courtroom travails of the rich and famous, died Wednesday in New York city after a long battle with cancer.


Dominick Dunne wrote five best selling books and covered high society crimes for Vanity Fair.

Dunne, who described himself as "a high-class Zelig," was 83.

Called "Nick" by his friends, Dunne was putting the finishing touches on his final novel, which he said he planned to call "Too Much Money," when his health took a turn for the worse.

He flew to Germany earlier this month for another round of stem cell treatments at the same Bavarian clinic where the late Farrah Fawcett was treated. He was hospitalized upon his return to New York, then sent home.

As a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, Dunne was a fixture at some of the most famous trials of our times -- Claus von Bulow, William Kennedy Smith, the Menendez brothers, O.J. Simpson, Michael Skakel and Phil Spector.

He discovered his magazine writing career in his 50s, through personal tragedy -- his daughter's murder.

He vented his anger at the legal system in "Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer," following the murder trial of John Sweeney, the estranged boyfriend who strangled 22-year-old Dominique Dunne, in 1982. Sweeney spent fewer than three years in prison.

Dunne's article was published by Vanity Fair and he accepted then-editor Tina Brown's offer to write full-time for the magazine. Calling himself a "diarist," Dunne dropped bold-faced names as he spilled behind-the-scenes nuggets gleaned from courtrooms and dinner parties alike.

He bristled at one writer's oft-repeated description of him as "Judith Krantz in pants." He preferred to be known as a crime victim's advocate and frequently spoke at events sponsored by victims' groups.

The fact he personally knew many of the people he wrote about set Dunne apart from other crime writers.

Dunne wrote that he met music producer Phil Spector for dinner three times during the Simpson murder trial. "He knew every detail of the trial and story," Dunne wrote. "He carried a gun when we saw each other, but he never pulled it on me." Spector later became a defendant in a trial Dunne covered.

He spoke to CNN in June, while promoting the DVD release of a documentary of his life called "After the Party." At the time, he said he was feeling well, happy, and hopeful the treatments were working. "I'm pro stem cell," he said.

But even then, he seemed to know he was in a race against time. "I want to have one more best seller, before I cool," Dunne said. "It's wonderful to have a best seller."

He said his personal story puts the lie to the claim by another high society writer, the late F. Scott Fitzgerald, that there are no second acts in life.

"This is the third act," Dunne said. "I have a novel coming out. I finally got it finished in the clinic ... I'm calling it 'Too Much Money.' That's a hooking title."

Dunne looked back on his life during the hour-long lunchtime phone chat.

He said he had just one regret -- his failed marriage to his wife, Lenny, who died in 1997. The couple never formally divorced.

"I loved that marriage," he said. "Lenny was the love of my life. And yet I ruined it. I wasn't formed yet. The regret is that I hurt her."

Besides hosting his own show on truTV, Dunne appeared frequently on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"Dominick Dunne was one of the finest people I've known," King said. "He was a terrific writer, a raconteur, and a familiar face on 'Larry King Live' for many years. He was a wonderful human being."

In court, Dunne always dressed impeccably, wearing dark jackets and gray flannels, sharply starched shirts complete with cufflinks and club-style ties. He used a fountain pen to jot notes in small bound notebooks.

He was unabashedly pro-prosecution, although he said he "lost no sleep" over Robert Blake's acquittal on a charge of killing his wife, and was troubled by Martha Stewart's conviction on lying to investigators about a stock deal.

When Simpson's acquittal was announced in 1995, Dunne's jaw dropped and the courtroom cameras caught his expression. It became an iconic image. Simpson later was found liable in a wrongful death suit and ordered to pay more than $33 million to the victims' families.

Dunne had been battling cancer for several years -- a fight that became widely known when he collapsed in court last year while covering Simpson's Las Vegas armed robbery trial. He wasn't in court to see Simpson sentenced to prison.

Dunne's life story reads like one of his novels. He was born to a well-to-do family in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1925; his father was a cardiac specialist. Dunne attended preppy Williams College, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, winning the Bronze star.

He later found work in New York as a stage manager for "The Howdy Doody Show," a popular kids' show when television was in its infancy.

He moved to Hollywood, rubbing elbows with the biggest names in show business during the 1960s, and became a movie producer. But he soon became addicted to alcohol and drugs, hit bottom and became his own worst nightmare -- a nobody.

He sobered up and retired to a one-room cabin in Oregon to write his first novel, then headed back to New York with just a suitcase and his typewriter.

In 1985, Dunne wrote his first best-seller, "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," loosely based on a society killing. That success was followed by "People Like Us," "An Inconvenient Woman," "A Season in Purgatory," and, following the Simpson trial, "Another City, Not my Own."

His brother, the late John Gregory Dunne, was an accomplished author and was married to Joan Didion, a wit and famous writer. In fact, Dunne has said, he was so daunted by their talent that it probably delayed the start of his own writing career by decades.

Asked if he believed in past lives, Dunne, ever the firm believer in second acts, said: "I believe in future ones."

Friday, August 28 2009

Southern Californian wrestler Peter Zwissler, known professionally as Peter Goodman, has passed away. He was 29.

Zwissler was trained by Rick Bassman's Ultimate University. He was a regular with Impact Zone Wrestling in Arizona, the Alternative Wrestling Show in Southern California, and NWA Pro.

Indy Wrestling News sends its condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Peter Zwissler.

Written by Adam Lash

Tuesday, August 25 2009

Carolina wrestler "Primetime" Brian Linder, 35, died in a traffic accident early Sunday morning. Linder was trained by The American G.I. and began wrestling in 2000 for Stallion's Professional Wrestling Federation group in North Carolina. Outside of wrestling he worked as an educator and football coach in his home town of Gaffney, SC, and was an assistant principal at Whitlock Junior High School at the time of his passing. He will be laid to rest Thursday in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens after a service at Floyd's Greenlawn Chapel in Spartanburg, SC. Flowers will be accepted or memorial may be made to the Brian R. Linder Remembrance Fund, c/o Spartanburg School District 7, P.O. Box 970, Spartanburg, SC 29304. Everyone at Indy Wrestling News wishes to send its condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Brian Linder

Written by Adam Lash

Friday, August 28 2009

Motown arranger Van De Pitte dies
Susan Whitall / Detroit News Music Writer


David Van De Pitte, the arranger who helped Marvin Gaye take jazz, soul and
the rumblings of the counter-culture and turn it into the genius of "What's
Going On," died on Aug. 9 of cancer. The arranger, composer and music
director, a longtime Metro Detroiter, was 68.


He is survived by Carolyn Barnett-Goldstein, his partner of 26 years, two
daughters by a previous marriage, a brother and a sister.


The work of an arranger isn't always understood by the general public; they
often take a creative but unfinished idea and translate it into musical
language, spelling out what each musician is supposed to play.



While early Motown music was simpler, by the time Van De Pitte arrived
arrangements were complex and that unseen structure of the Motown sound was
part of its appeal.


When an arranger tweaks and advances the music, it's considered co-writing,
and Van De Pitte did that on "What's Going On." He was nominated for a
Grammy for best arranger for the album in 1971.


"We worked on that album for six, maybe eight months," Van De Pitte told The
News in 2008. "I'd go to the house and Marvin wouldn't show. He was playing
basketball. Or he was trying out for the Lions!"


Van De Pitte was born in Detroit on Oct. 28, 1941. He studied music at the
Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles, was proficient in classical, jazz
and pop music and played the bass, among other instruments.


The musician got to know famed Motown bassist James Jamerson back in
Detroit, long before they both worked at "the Factory," as they called
Motown, and Jamerson would sub for Van De Pitte playing bass in Johnny
Trudell's orchestra at the Roostertail.


Jamerson was known as a creative bass player, but Van De Pitte was one of
the few he trusted to write bass parts for him.


"He played note for note everything I wrote for him on 'What's Going On,'"
Van De Pitte said. "He may have gotten a little inspired here and
there...but he played what I wrote out of respect for me."


As a Motown staff arranger from 1968-72, and as a freelance arranger after
that, Van De Pitte arranged some of soul music, and Motown's most memorable
works.


Along with the "What's Going On" album, he arranged Gaye's "Let's Get it On"
album, as well as the songs "Still Waters (Run Deep)" by the Four Tops,
"Ball of Confusion" and "Psychedelic Shack" by the Temptations, "Darling
Dear" by the Jackson 5, "I Hear the Bells" by the Originals, "Keep on
Truckin'" by Eddie Kendricks, "Indiana Wants Me" by R. Dean Taylor, "If I
Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight, and "If You Really Love Me" by Stevie
Wonder, among many others.


He also arranged music for Martha and the Vandellas, Michael Henderson,
Stanley Turrentine, David Ruffin, Chuck Jackson, Paul Anka, Denise LaSalle,
Millie Jackson and many more.


As a music director Van De Pitte was responsible for the live music
performed on Gaye's appearances on the "Ed Sullivan Show," as well as live
appearances by the Temptations, Four Tops, Diana Ross' Las Vegas shows and
Paul Anka's concert tours.


He also composed "How About You" recorded by Diana Ross, "Please Be There"
recorded by Gloria Gaynor, and a raft of classical compositions.


As a contractor, he wrote music for ads and live shows for many
corporations, including Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.


Van De Pitte was also an adjunct professor in the Jazz Studies program at
Wayne State University from 1979-83.


He explained the difference between Motown and other soul music labels like
Stax to The News in 2008.


"The jazz thing, I think, really influenced the whole Motown thing," he
said. "When we tried to do something a little out of the pocket, out of the
norm, we could usually get away with it because Berry's ears were tuned to
the way the guys played, so it swung a little jazzy."


Van De Pitte was cremated privately, but friends and loved ones say a
memorial concert is in the works.



Actor, Comedian Sammy Petrillo has Died
Sammy Petrillo, the comedian who was often mistaken for entertainer Jerry Lewis in the 1950s, has died in a New York hospital



PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 16, 2009 – As a youngster, I loved watching a movie titled, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. The low budget film was a comedy starring a comedy team named, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo. Sammy was a clone of entertainer, Jerry Lewis. Sammy didn't have to try to imitate Jerry Lewis. The resemblance was remarkable. They could have been twins.

Jerry Lewis was never kind to Sammy Petrillo. Although Lewis did book Petrillo for a comedy spot on the Martin and Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour, Jerry Lewis also used his influence to bar Sammy from appearing on other NBC comedy shows. Lou Costello had to inform Sammy that his appearance on the Abbot and Costello, Colgate Comedy Hour was canceled, because Jerry Lewis complained to NBC that he didn't want Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo to appear on any subsequent NBC shows.

In November of 2008, Jerry Lewis tried to have Sammy Petrillo removed from his front row seat when he learned out that Petrillo was in attendance at a speaking engagement Lewis was starring in, in New York City. I was with Sammy Petrillo that night and Sammy was crushed, although he did not leave his seat. Sammy only wanted to enjoy the seminar conducted by the man who influenced his own career for such a very long time.

Sammy was a popular figure at scores of celebrity autograph shows throughout the years because of his appearance in the film with Bela Lugosi. Sammy was also a top notch comedian, appearing in night clubs across the USA beginning in the 1950s. Most importantly, Sammy was a gentle, kindhearted man who loved making people laugh. He also gave of his time freely to help needy people with legal issues, with his expertise as a trained paralegal.

Sammy Petrillo died as a result of Cancer on August 15, 2009. I was proud to represent Sammy, and honored to have him as a friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc8XOmnXgbE



CNN and ABC News is reporting that Senator Ted Kennedy has died.

The 77 year old was the youngest of the Kennedy brother and sisters.

He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May of 2008 and had successful surgery. But his health deteriorated and he suffered a seizure in January.

Of the nine Kennedy children, tonight's passing leaves just one surviving sibling. Jean Kennedy Smith is four years older than Ted.

Here is his biography from his website on Senate.gov

Edward M. Kennedy is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts and the second longest-serving current member of the Senate. He was first elected in 1962 to complete the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, who was elected President in 1960. Since then, Senator Kennedy has been re-elected to eight full terms.

Throughout his career, Senator Kennedy has been an advocate for health care, education, civil rights, immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, defending the rights of workers and their families, assisting individuals with disabilities, protecting the environment, and safeguarding and strengthening Social Security and Medicare. He is also a strong opponent of the war in Iraq.

Senator Kennedy is currently Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He also serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is Chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee. In addition, he is a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the Congressional Friends of Ireland, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Senator Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School. He lives in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Together, they have five children—Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick Kennedy, and Curran and Caroline Raclin.

Guitar Legend Les Paul Dies at 94
Thursday, August 13, 2009


New YORK — Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.

Virginia Davis of Walt Disney’s Alice Comedies passed away this morning (August 15). She was 90 years old and had been in failing health this past year.

In 1923, Davis was picked by Walt Disney in Kansas City to star in his proposed series of live action and animation shorts. Davis followed the Disney Studio to Hollywood to star in over a dozen Alice Comedies. She was Disney’s first movie star.

Later in her career, Davis appeared in Three On a Match (1932), with Joan Blondell, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, as well as The Harvey Girls (1946). Virginia was in the scene with Judy Garland and Ray Bolger where they introduced the Academy-Award winning song “On the Achison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”

Jim Dickinson, a musician and producer who helped shape the Memphis sound in an influential career that spanned more than four decades, has died. He was 67.

His wife, Mary Lindsay Dickinson, said he died Saturday in a Memphis, Tenn., hospital after three months of battling heart and intestinal bleeding problems. The couple lived in Hernando, Miss.

Dickinson recently had bypass surgery and was undergoing rehabilitation at Methodist University Hospital when he died around 4:30 a.m., his wife said.

Perhaps best known as the father of Luther and Cody Dickinson, two-thirds of the Grammy-winning North Mississippi Allstars, Dickinson recorded and produced with greats like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Big Star, the Rolling Stones and Sam and Dave.

Actor Shingo Yamashiro dies at 70
Friday 14th August, 09:08 AM JST

TOKYO —
Shingo Yamashiro, an actor and TV emcee, died of pneumonia Wednesday at a nursing home for the elderly in Tokyo, sources close to the home said Friday. He was 70. A native of Kyoto, Yamashiro, whose real name is Yasuji Watanabe, debuted as a movie actor in 1957. He starred in a TV drama called ‘‘Hakuba Doji’’ (White Horse Rider) in 1960 and acted in a series of yakuza gangster films entitled ‘‘Jingi Naki Tatakai’’ (Battle Without Honor and Humanity) in the 1970s.

He later gained popularity as a host of TV variety shows. Yamashiro had received treatment for diabetes after entering the special nursing home for the elderly in Machida, western Tokyo.

John Quade dies at 71; character actor specialized in playing heavies

Quade appeared in several Clint Eastwood films, including 'Every Which Way But Loose' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales,' and he played Sheriff Biggs in the TV mini-series 'Roots.'
By Dennis McLellan

August 12, 2009 5:53 p.m.


John Quade, a veteran character actor who specialized in playing heavies and appeared in several Clint Eastwood movies, including "Every Which Way But Loose" and its sequel "Any Which Way You Can," has died. He was 71.

Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in Rosamond, near Lancaster, said his wife, Gwen Saunders. In a more than two-decade career in films and television that began in the late 1960s, Quade played character roles in numerous TV series and in films such as "Papillon," "The Sting" and Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales." He also played Sheriff Biggs in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots."

"Everybody remembers him for 'Every Which Way But Loose' and 'Any Which Way You Can,' " Quade's wife said Wednesday. "He played Chola, the leader of the motorcycle gang. It was more of a comic relief of the movie; they were a bumbling motorcycle gang."

Although Quade's name might not be familiar to many moviegoers, his face was. In fact, he had a face made for playing heavies.

"He was one of the nicest men you'd ever want to know, but he looked mean and nasty," his wife said. "He looked like he could do murder and mayhem at any moment, but he was a big teddy bear -- the kind that he just loved little kids, but they were always afraid of him.

"His face definitely stands out in a crowd. He had to be careful he didn't overshadow scenes just by the way he looked. The first film he did with Clint Eastwood, Clint hired him for his face and told him afterward that he felt like he got a bonus because John could act."

Born John William Saunders III on April 1, 1938, in Kansas City, Kan., Quade arrived in California in 1964. "He got involved in missile and aerospace for awhile," said his wife. "He built parts that are still on the moon."

One day, she said, "He was sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of guys and this man noticed him and said, 'Have you thought about acting?'

"It had to be his face; it wasn't anything else."

Quade was appearing in a play in Hollywood in 1968 when a casting director saw him and cast him in his first TV show, an episode of "Bonanza."

In addition to his wife of 38 years, he is survived by six children, Heather Clark, John Saunders IV, Steven Saunders, Joseph Saunders, Katherine Adame; and Rebecca Saunders; his mother, Norma; his brothers, Merlin and Robert; his sisters, Joyce Copeland and Norma Jean Anderson; and 10 grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Joshua Memorial Park and Mortuary, 808 E. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster.

By STEVEN JOHNSON and GREG OLIVER -- SLAM! Wrestling


Karl Von Hess, who died this morning at the age of 90, after a long
battle with Alzheimer's disease, made his name heading to the ring in
a full-scale Nazi guise in the uneasy years after World War II.


With American patriotism in full swing, he would enter arenas with a
galling Waffen SS appearance and a "Sieg, Heil!" salute. No wonder Von
Hess, a master of minimalism, was shot at, stabbed, attacked, and
burned en route to becoming a white-hot heel in the late 1950s.

"Karl Von Hess was absolutely wonderful," said Ted Lewin, wrestler-
turned-author and illustrator in The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The
Heels. "He was very special because he didn't do a heck of a lot to
make people angry at him. All he had to do was kind of keep turning
and looking at the audience, and the audience would boo, and then he'd
turn and look at them again."

Johnny Rodz, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, said Von Hess was his
favorite heel. "He was the meanest. Who the heck comes to the ring and
breaks the steps before you get in the ring? What gives a guy that
reason?" Rodz pondered. "Anybody who sees the steps before you walk
into the ring, and you want to break them before you go into the ring,
who the heck wants to deal with him? He must be the baddest guy in
town!"

Francis Faketty -- he later officially changed his name to Karl Von
Hess -- was born in Michigan in 1919 to Hungarian immigrants, and
raised in a gritty, working class section in south Omaha. His early
life was not easy -- his accent made him prey for bullies at school
and he coped with an abusive father who drank too much and took out
his violence on Von Hess' mother.

A terrific athlete, Faketty trained himself to swim in the swift
currents of the Missouri River. "He was just an incredible human
specimen for somebody who never went to the gym," his son, John Von
Hess reflected in The Heels. "He used to swim across the Missouri
River, steal watermelons, and bring them back with him. You can
imagine what kind of feat that was." He later taught swimming and
worked as a lifeguard -- kids at Morton Park Pool in Omaha called him
Tarzan -- and started boxing and wrestling competitively.


"He was so well built, they used to call him Tarzan. He had an
incredible physique," recalled Mad Dog Vachon, another long-time Omaha
resident.


After serving aboard the USS Montpelier in World War II, where he was
a part of the Underwater Demolition Corps, the forerunner of the Navy
SEALs, Faketty kicked around carnival and athletic training shows and
worked with forgettable gimmicks like Mara Duba, the South American
Assassin, who had a pet lion.


He was in the Pacific Northwest in early 1955, at the same time Kurt
Von Poppenheim was employing a less sinister German gimmick in the
territory. When he went to the Carolinas that fall, he underwent a
makeover to Von Hess, became an immediate sensation as an out-and-out
Nazi, and was a key player in the talent movement between the
Carolinas and Vincent J. McMahon's Washington office on the East
Coast. He spoke forcefully, spewing hate, and even and even muttered a
little German, like any good storm trooper. Doctored publicity psoters
showed him with Martin Bormann and Adolf Hitler.


"Listen," he explained years later. "It was right after the war and I
had tried everything. I played different characters, and then I came
up with this gimmick of Von Hess and I played it right to the hilt."
Despite the fact he could go toe-to-toe with almost anyone, Von Hess
didn't use his grappling skills. He was hardcore -- he kept wire in
his trunks to choke people when he couldn't use the ring microphone to
do it. He threw chairs.


"In the ring, you couldn't imagine Von Hess with any sense of humor at
all, yet he had a very funny sense of humor," Lewin said. "Frank would
live that, he would refuse to sign autographs and things like that, so
he would keep that character out of the ring to a certain degree."


Von Hess' finishing move was known as the hangman or hangman's noose.
Back to back with his opponent, Von Hess would reach up and back,
grabbing his foe under the jaw, and then lean forward. Though his
victim was actually supported by Von Hess' back, it looked like
vicious hold that would really hurt.


He and "Wildman" Jackie Fargo engaged in a series of violent brawls on
TV in 1956 that drew howls of protest to the District of Columbia
Boxing Commission. "I stuck a cigar right in his face," Fargo recalled
with a laugh in The Heels. "I was really upset at him and something
was said and I just said, 'Screw you!' and pushed that cigar in his
face. If I had it to do over after it was done, I wouldn't do it. But
he walked away from it ... He was a very good wrestler, very, very
good. Nice fellow too. He could wrestle and he was pretty tough, too."
So great was the outrage that McMahon calmed matters in The Washington
Post by breaking the protection of the business.


"Von Hess is no Nazi. He uses that silly salute to point up the act
that he is the villain," McMahon acknowledged in a candor rare for the
age. Still, Von Hess set the Baltimore-Washington territory on fire in
1956 and 1957. A three-match series in Washington against frequent foe
Antonino Rocca culminated in an outdoor show at Griffith Stadium in 25
years; McMahon publicly credited Von Hess as Washington's top draw
since the heyday of Jim Londos a quarter-century before. In New York,
the state athletic commission directed him to put tape on his boots to
hide a swastika. "Too much heat," explained Vachon. "It was a
dangerous job. He could get stabbed, or shot, or anything."


In the 1960s, Von Hess cooled off and later said he felt the WWF was
anxious to put him out to pasture; he had a brief stint with a version
of the world title in Cleveland in 1963, but that was quickly dropped.
He worked in several other territories, including Tennessee and
Hawaii, left wrestling in the late 1960s, and operated trailer parks
and other businesses with his wife Lenore, who died in 2005 after 53
years of marriage. In recent years, Alzheimer's disease sapped his
memories, pleasant and unpleasant.

From Slam Sports website:

"After ten years in the wrestling business, I decided to try something easier, so I switched to lion taming." Read that quote and try to resist learning more about the incredible life of Gladys "Killem" Gillem, which came to an end Wednesday at the age of 88.

Not only was Gillem a pioneering women's wrestler, who paired against the champion Mildred Burke opened up the east coast of the United States for other women to follow, but she also tamed lions (one bit her), wrestled alligators (one bit her), ran a motel, and raised three children.

"We always knew mom was kind of different because she did whatever she wanted. You didn’t argue with her. She just wasn’t the normal every day mom," said her daughter Claire McCoy.

Born January 6, 1920 in Birmingham, Alabama, to Fred and Clara Gillem, Gladys grew up a tomboy, fishing with her dad and hanging out with his buddies. She was in and out of a handful of schools, including getting the boot from Catholic school for putting minnows in the holy water, and tossed from high school for making homemade wine.

Athletically inclined, she toured for a softball team, winning the Alabama State title. Her father died when she was 19 and Gladys eventually had to take care of her invalid mother.

While acting as the homemaker, Gillem's cooking skills improved immensely, and she would win 27 prizes for cooking -- jams, preserves, cakes, cookies -- at the Alabama State Fair. In later years, she would lament not following her culinary desires.

Instead, professional wrestling seemed like a way out.

"I got really tired of Birmingham. After awhile, I said, 'There has to be more to life than this,'" Gillem told Scott Teal's Whatever Happened To ...? newsletter in January 1995. She went to a wrestling show in Fairfield, Alabama, and saw Mildred Burke in action, and approached promoter (and Burke's husband) Billy Wolfe about getting in on the act.

"They didn't have any other girls wrestling except this one girl that had left them," Gillem told Hemmings. "They said, 'We can't take you, you are too fat.' So I said, 'You can put me on top of the car -- I'm going to be a lady wrestler.'" Wolfe and Burke relented, and took Gillem to Tennessee. Quick schooling, and beatings, in the pro game followed,with Wilma Gordon being her primary teacher.

Soon, Gillem and Burke were paired, and stayed that way for a decade.

"Gladys 'Kill 'em' Gillem would turn out to be one of the most colorful and best-fitting ring monikers in the entire wrestling game," wrote Jeff Leen in his biography of Burke, The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds and the Making of an American Legend. "She was not beautiful and she was never allowed to win. But she was a terrific performer and she played a key role in Mildred Burke's rise. With the addition of Gillem, Wolfe took a major step in the direction of building a stable of women wrestlers who could make Burke look good and at the same time draw fans of their own. This would be the linchpin of their success."

Leen spent two days with Gillem in Pensacola, playing poker and buying lottery tickets with her and her son., Johnny. "Gladys 'Killem' Gillem was an American original whose place in pro wrestling history is assured," Leen told SLAM! Wrestling. "An energetic daredevil in the ring, she was a bold and adventurous spirit who won over fans with her willingness to take things to the edge. Mildred Burke complained that Gillem bit her in the ring and had a 'cauliflower head.' But without Gladys Gillem to support her, there might not have been a Mildred Burke."

Anyone who saw the 2004 documentary Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling by director Ruth Leitman will recall Gillem stealing the movie with her colorful language and matter-of-fact talk of sleeping with Billy Wolfe to getting better bookings.

In her 2006 chat with Hemmings, Gillem was equally blunt, addressing her admissions about Wolfe in the film. She said she exposed Wolfe "for what he was. He was a lousy lay and he was a promoter. People take advantage of you."

Gillem got tired of Wolfe's tactics, which included taking 50 per cent of her pay for each match, as well as expenses, like the hotel rooms. According to Gillem, there were nights she made only two or three dollars.

So Killem Gillem up and left, heading back to Birmingham and taking it easy -- but just for a little while.

She tried riding horses for show at the local horse track, but lacking the height and the quickness to get up on the horse, Gillem moved on briefly to being a trapeze artist.

Then the lion tamer, Capt. Ernest Enger, came along and Gillem went along for the ride. Besides the taming of the lions, Gillem also learned the art of procuring an old horse from a farmer, killing and skinning it to feed the lions for a week.

Though the initial runs at being a lion tamer resulted in maulings, Gillem picked things up quickly, and went from an understudy to part-owner then full-owner, working freelance for circuses, carnivals and private parties.

While working for the Bailey Bros. Circus, she met John Aloysious Wall, whom she married while touring north of Toronto. They would have three children: Kathleen Ann Wall, John Aloysious Wall Jr., Claire Fredrica Wall (McCoy). To say children grew up in interesting circumstances would be an understatement. Gillem would, for example, put the children to sleep on top of the lion cage while they were on the road.

After a circus trip to Central America went awry when Gillem caught malaria and the promoter ran off with the money, the family settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where Gillem took work wrestling alligators. (The secret, Gillem would say, was to turn the alligator over, and rub the soft spot on their bellies.)

In 1973, Gillem bought an old, run-down, 10-room motel, and named it the Birmingham Motel. There was a "lovers welcome" sign on the porch, and offered rooms for two hours for only $10.

Despite settling down, there were still the fair share of incidents, said her daughter, recalling one. "One day I was in there and she comes running in saying, 'Get the car, get the car!' I said why. She said, 'Get the car and come with me,'" said McCoy, explaining that Gillem never learned to drive. "We go down the road and she said, 'There she is!' And mom jumps out of the car. And it’s this lady, she had this big bag; it turns out the lady had stolen the bedspread and the linen. She had rented a room and stolen it. The next thing I knew, they were going at each other and I get in the middle to stop them. I have a big hole in my ear from them pulling my earring out of my ear. I learned not to get in the middle ever again. To this date, she’ll knock the crap out of you or try her best if she gets upset. That’s the way she was. She didn’t mind standing up for herself. That’s one of the crazy memories I have. We really had to keep an eye on her."

In 2003, Gillem had emergency bypass surgery, and her health continued to deteriorate in later years. Her children took care of her, just as she once looked after her mother.

In 2006, Gillem was reflective with Hemmings, an occasional SLAM! Wrestling contributor. "I'm sitting in a wheelchair talking to you and thank God I'm breathing, that's the way I look at it. At my age, there are a lot of people who made a lot of money, but they are dead right now. My hobby is raising plants now."

Her life was indeed one of taking the bumps -- and not just in the ring when she was the heel.

"I use her as an example for my kids, you just don’t quit. You keep going to survive and don’t let people get you down," said McCoy. "Whatever happened, my mother would pick herself up and keep going. A lot of women should take a lesson from her. She didn’t need a man, she could take care of herself. My mother taught me that women are capable and they don’t have to rely on anybody. You have to take care of yourself. That’s the life she lived. She never waited for people to hand something to her."

Gillem had the scars to prove that it wasn't an easy road.

"I've learned the hard way about life," said Gillem. When you've lived as long as I have you will learn about life. You haven't had the hard knocks that I've had."

-- with files from Jamie Melissa Hemmings