Mike Shaw, who was known in the wrestling world under various names, including Makhan Singh, Norman the Lunatic and Bastion Booger, and Klondike Mike, died of a heart attack on Saturday. He was 53.

Over the last number of years, Shaw was only loosely associated with the wrestling business, making the occasional appearance at fan fests under his different gimmicks.

Shaw was always lighthearted about his various personas; it's a long way from the lovable Norman the Trucker, treasuring the teddy bears (after he was a Lunatic), to the sadistic, plotting Makhan Singh, to the religiously-inspired Friar Ferguson, to the repugnantly obese Bastion Booger.

"It's funny, in my home town here in Michigan, people on the street still call me Norman," Shaw told this writer in 1999.

He ran a wrestling school in the upper Michigan peninsula for a time, and was a bouncer in a bar in Marquette, Mich., up until 2007.

Born May 9, 1957 in Marquette, Shaw was an amateur star in nearby Skandia and at Gwinn High School in Gwinn. At high school, he won 11 varsity letters -- wrestling (Great Lakes conference heavyweight champion in his senior year), track and field (shot put), football (defensive tackle).

For a time, he played pro softball for the Milwaukee Schlitz, until the American Professional Softball Association folded before the start of its second season, while many of the players, including Shaw, were in Florida for training. It was there that he met an older wrestler (Farmer Brown? Farmer Bill? Stories varied over the years) who suggested he might have a future in the grunt and groan business.

So Shaw set off to Walter "Killer" Kowalski's school in Salem, Mass., to learn pro wrestling.

"Kowalski had a great school. He spent a lot of time with us," Shaw said. "He took a liking to me. I went in there, I was probably one of his bigger guys at that time. I was probably about 6'1", 270, 280 (pounds) at the time. I was training really hard and I had just come out of softball, so I was in really good shape."

According to Shaw, Kowalski was in the ring with the students every day, and after three months of daily training, Shaw started working the small-time shows -- Mike Stryker! -- that Killer put on near the school, and a few WWWF TV tapings as enhancement talent. Kowalski drilled into the bulky Shaw the skills needed to be a non-stop, aggressive heel.

Though still relatively new to the business, Shaw got a publicity photo done up and mailed out promotional packages to 30 territories. The Vancouver All-Star Wrestling promotion, in transition with Sandor Kovacs and Gene Kiniski making way to Al Tomko, were the first to bite. There, his odyssey began as Klondike Mike, a babyface lumberjack.

In a interview with Scott Teal's Whatever Happened To ... newsletter in 1998, Shaw credited veterans such as Moose Morowski, Dean Ho and Eric Froelich for helping him develop.

Up next was Calgary's Stampede Wrestling promotion, the territory he'd be most associated with throughout his career. Though the Vancouver All-Star tapes aired in Calgary, the Alberta promotion made no attempt to explain why Klondike Mike was suddenly a heel in town.

After struggling in Calgary near the bottom of the cards, Shaw headed to South Africa, where he was Big Ben Sharpe for a few months (he would return to South Africa many times). Upon his return to Canada, Mike Shaw saw the natural heat The Great Gama Singh was getting, and sided with him as Makhan Singh, forming what would become known as Karachi Vice.

Gama (Gadowar Singh Sahota) explained how the team came about. "Everybody still talks about the Karachi Vice. It was an accidental thing, how it came about. There was myself and Mike Shaw, who I had changed his name to Makhan Singh, and we had Steve DiSalvo and Kerry Brown. I think we were all doing an interview together, we did a few interviews for a few weeks in a row, and then it just sort of came out. 'This is the Karachi Vice', because Miami Vice, the TV show, was quite hot at the time. And then the people just picked up from that. The following week, we saw all kinds of signs coming out -- Karachi Ice, Karachi Mice and that sort of thing. We just kind of followed through and kept it going from there. It became quite a hot thing for a couple of years at least."

Coinciding with the hot run of Karachi Vice were the up-and-coming babyfaces who would end up both end up famous outside of the wrestling business for tragic reasons -- Chris Benoit and Owen Hart.

With Stampede Wrestling, like most of the territories, sputtering to an end as cable TV took over the wrestling business, Shaw took his skills to World Championship Wrestling. Promos for the incoming Norman the Lunatic ran for months before his debut. Dressed in a straightjacket, and often using a stretcher, Norman was a heel for the first six months until he was "freed" from the control of manager Teddy Long and became a babyface. Fans would sympathize with him, and hand him teddy bears.

Long-term plans for Norman got derailed when Ole Anderson took over as the booker, and he planned to stress wrestling. A cadre of heels descended on Norman the Lunatic, and pummeled him; when Shaw returned to TV, he was Trucker Norm for the three months or so until his contract expired.

Aside from indy bookings in the U.S., Shaw worked in Mexico as Aaron Grundy, "brother" to Solomon Grundy.

Having lost a hair versus mask match in Mexico, Shaw got the call to head to Connecticut and the World Wrestling Federation offices. A number of gimmicks were presented to him as options, including Bastion Booger, and two different monks -- Friar Ferguson and the Mad Monk.

"I think the Booger character would have worked if it got over as a heel, but my heart wasn't into it," conceded Shaw to Teal. "I didn't like the character. I didn't like the outfit. Don't get me wrong. I was happy to be in the WWF. It was something I wanted to do my whole career. I made a good living there."

Shaw would always agree that his career ended on a negative, where the bulk of his great work was never seen by the biggest viewership.

After wrestling, he worked at the Ojibwa Casino in security and public relations, as well as running his wrestling school.

Away from the ring, he met his wife, Kelly, while on tour of the Canadian Maritimes, and they married in May 1990. They had two children, Joshua and Amanda, who both share their father's knack for sports.

Gloria Stuart, who became the oldest person nominated for an Academy Award for her role in “Titanic,” the record-breaking box-office hit, has died. She was 100.


She died yesterday at her home in West Los Angeles, California, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing her family. She was diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago, the newspaper said.

Stuart was 87 when “Titanic,” director James Cameron’s epic fictional account of passengers aboard the doomed luxury liner, opened in December 1997. The movie followed Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) as they met, fell in love, navigated the Titanic’s strict class divisions and then tried to survive after the ship struck an iceberg.

Stuart narrates the movie as 101-year-old Rose, who joins treasure hunters searching the Titanic’s wreckage for a legendary diamond necklace. Toward the film’s end, she reveals the necklace she has secretly possessed since the night the ship sank, and drops it into the ocean.

The movie earned $1.8 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of all time. Stuart earned one of the movie’s 14 Academy Award nominations, for best supporting actress. It won 11 Oscars, including one for best picture.

“All these years -- I’ve been waiting for this a long, long time,” she said after learning of her nomination in February 1998.

She lost the Oscar to Kim Basinger, but the two shared the Screen Actors Guild award for supporting actress.

Stuart’s role in “Titanic” capped a film career that appeared to have ended, with little fanfare, decades earlier.

‘Classy Yet Seductive’

Elegant and blonde, she was a hard-working leading lady in Hollywood in the 1930s, appearing in 42 movies including “Air Mail” (1932), “Here Comes the Navy” (1934) and “Gold Diggers of 1935.” Yet stardom eluded her.

“She possessed a classy yet seductive low-pitched voice and proved herself a good actress on occasion, but no sort of instantly recognizable, larger-than-life or sympathetic persona was ever built up for her,” Variety wrote in a profile.

Stuart left acting in 1946, focusing on her family and her other love, painting, for almost 30 years. She appeared in television movies in the mid-1970s and on the big screen in “My Favorite Year” (1982) and “Mass Appeal” (1984).

Stuart said she was painting one day in May 1996 when she got a phone call inviting her to play a role in a forthcoming film about the Titanic directed by Cameron.

Hooked by Script

“Who is he?” she thought, according to her 1999 memoir, titled, “I Just Kept Hoping.”

Once she looked into the project, she was hooked. “Old Rose in the ‘Titanic’ script grabbed me instantly,” she wrote. “I knew that evening the role I wanted and waited for all these many years had arrived!”

So, finally, did the fame. People magazine named her one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998, and she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000.

Cameron and his wife, actress Suzy Amis, who met during filming of “Titanic,” hosted a party to celebrate Stuart’s 100th birthday in July 2010. “Gloria’s so alive, and her creativity, her artistry and the sparkle in her eyes is a challenge to all of us to live as fully and richly as she has,” Cameron told the guests, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Fourth of July

Gloria Frances Stewart -- she later decided the spelling “Stuart” looked better on movie marquees -- was born July 4, 1910, in Santa Monica, California.

After two semesters at the University of California- Berkeley, she began her film career by signing a seven-year contract with Universal Studios. Her first movie was “Street of Women” (1932).

She starred with James Cagney in “Here Comes the Navy” (1934), nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, and was listed with Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow in a 1932 magazine article about beautiful women.

Still, she fretted over the studio placing her in two “dreadful musicals” in 1934, “Gift of Gab” and “I Like It That Way.”

“Betty Davis and Loretta Young and Olivia de Havilland were getting wonderful dramatic parts,” she recalled in her book. “Why not me? What had I ever done to deserve all this dreck?”

Shirley Temple Films

All told, she made 42 movies during her first seven years as an actress.

Though “sick to my stomach at the thought of doing a Shirley Temple movie,” Stuart did two after moving to Twentieth Century-Fox: “Poor Little Rich Girl” (1936) and “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938).

Stuart’s first marriage, to her college sweetheart, sculptor Gordon Newell, ended in divorce after four years.

She was married to script writer Arthur Sheekman from 1934 until his death in 1978. Their daughter, Sylvia Thompson, a cookbook author, helped write her mother’s autobiography.

At 72, Stuart began another long relationship, with printer Ward Ritchie, who died in 1996.

Politically active, Stuart was an early member of the Screen Actors Guild, formed in 1933, and helped start the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League in 1936.

Former WWE and WCW wrestler Giant Gonzales (Jorge Gonzalez) died earlier this week at the age of 44, according to numerous reports in Argentina.

Gonzales, who died in Argentina, battled numerous health issues later in life after his basketball and pro wrestling careers ended.

According to the Ovacion newspaper in Argentina, the 7'6" Gonzales lived his last years "almost prostrate" because his knees could not support his bone structure and weight.

In WWE, Gonzales famously wore a body suit as part of his gimmick. One of his most memorable career matches was losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania
IX and being added to the list of opponents during Taker's Undefeated Streak.


http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_44028.shtml

Raiders legend George Blanda dies at 83



12:08 PDT -- Former Raider quarterback George Blanda, whose passing and kicking exploits during a 26-year NFL career led him to a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, has died. He was 83.

Blanda was known as the Ageless Wonder because he didn't retire until he was just short of his 49th birthday.

And some of his best work came in his last decade in the NFL, with Oakland.

After playing college ball for Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky, the Pennsylvania-born Blanda spent 10 seasons with George Halas and the Chicago Bears, helping lead them to the NFL title game in 1956.

When he left the Bears, in 1959, after a squabble over money and playing time, he retired for the first time and sat out a season.

The next season, Blanda was coaxed into joining the Houston Oilers of the American Football League.

"I signed with Houston because I knew Bud Adams (the team owner) had a lot of money," Blanda said.

As a quarterback and placekicker, he paced the Oilers to the first two AFL titles in 1960 and 1961.

"I will always think of myself as an AFL player," he once said.

Raiders owner Al Davis acquired the 39-year-old Blanda in 1967, after Blanda had put in 17 years of pro ball, for just a waiver price of $100, and Blanda played nine seasons in the Bay Area, often spectacularly, as a kicker and backup quarterback to Daryle Lamonica.

Blanda's most memorable season in Oakland was 1970, when in a five-game stretch, he won four games and tied another with his arm and/or foot, a feat that led to him being named AFC Player of the Year.

"Al Davis always liked my attitude, and my time with the Raiders was special, because it looked like my career was over" the always-blunt Blanda said. "Instead, I played another nine years, which by itself was more than twice the average playing career."

When he retired after the 1975 season, he had scored 2,002 points, a record that stood until kicker Gary Anderson broke it in the 2000 season. He also set marks for most career field-goal attempts (637), and most PATs made and attempted (943 of 959).

His 340-game career was the longest in league history, and his 26 years of service were five seasons longer than any other player.

With Davis as his presenter, Blanda was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

"Two renegades, me and Al Davis," Blanda said. "It was great."

Among other things that day, Davis said, "George Blanda inspired a whole nation in 1970. I really believe he is the greatest clutch player in the history of this game."

Blanda was voted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

After retirement, Blanda gave motivational speeches to corporate groups, played in 25 or more celebrity golf events around the country (he was a 7-handicapper) and followed another favorite sport, horse racing.

He and his wife, Betty, split time between Chicago and LaQuinta, near Palm Springs.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/27/SPSE1FKCKA.DTL#ixzz10lAvhnOC

Jackie Burroughs dead at 71



Award-winning actress Jackie Burroughs died of stomach cancer surrounded by family and close friends at her home in Toronto Wednesday afternoon. She was 71.

Born in Lancashire, England on Feb. 2, 1939, she immigrated to Canada with her family in the early 1950s. A classically trained dancer, she used every ounce of her physical and sentient being to create emotion and character on stage. Director Robin Phillips, who worked with her at the Stratford Festival, said she shared with the late William Hutt “the ability to find humour in the tragic roles and tragedy in the humorous ones.”

Best known for her continuing role as the twitchy and eccentric Hetty King in the television series Road to Avonlea, Burroughs’ legacy as an screen actress belongs to a series of luminous roles including Kate Flynn in the The Grey Fox and Maryse Holder in A Winter Tan, a film which she also co-directed and co-wrote, as well as many stage roles in both the contemporary and classic theatre. A highly creative person whose interests encompassed writing and gardening, she loved the process of acting and of challenging audiences rather than simply nailing down a performance that she could repeat every night. Actress and director Sarah Polley, who worked with her on Road to Avonlea, described her as “an artist in the most true, pure, brutal sense of the world,” and somebody who was “passionate, fierce, uncompromising, honest.”

Married briefly in the mid-1960s to the late Zalman Yanovsky of The Lovin’ Spoonful, she leaves her daughter Zoe Yanovsky (proprietor of the Kingston restaurants Chez Piggy and Pan Chancho), two grandchildren, her brother Gary and her extended family. Funeral arrangements are pending. A full obituary is forthcoming.

Entertainer Eddie Fisher dies in Los Angeles at 82

LOS ANGELES September 24, 2010 (AP)

Entertainer Eddie Fisher, whose singing career was overshadowed by scandals of his marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, has died. He was 82.

His daughter, Tricia Leigh Fisher, told The Associated Press that Fisher died Wednesday night of complications from hip surgery at a hospital in Berkeley.

Fisher sold millions of records in the 1950s with hit songs including "Thinking of You," ''Any Time" and "Oh, My Pa-pa."

His singing and good looks brought him a devoted following with teenage girls.

He married movie darling Debbie Reynolds in 1955 and they were touted as "America's favorite couple." Their daughter Carrie Fisher later became a film star herself.

But amid sensational headlines, Fisher divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959. Taylor dropped him a few years later when she fell in love with Richard Burton.

When former major league pitcher Wayne Twitchell would tell his version of how he met his wife of 39 years, the story involved her seeking
directions and him providing help.

In truth, both were out with friends when they met at a Southwest Portland pub.

"He was trying to protect my reputation," Barbara Twitchell said with a laugh. "It was 1970."

That chance meeting produced a marriage that stretched well beyond the 10-year major league career of the former Wilson High School star, who
died of cancer Thursday at 62.

Along the way, Twitchell, who was
inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, touched many other lives as a coach and friend, always willing to lend a helping hand and teach those who wanted to learn.

At the time Wayne met Barbara, he was pitching for the Portland Beavers, then the Triple A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Twitchell, the third-overall pick by Houston in the 1966 draft, spent four years in the Astros' organization before being traded to the Brewers. He appeared in two major league games that season and had an ERA of 10.80.

The following year, Wayne and Barbara were married before spring training.

"On Valentine's Day," she said with another laugh. "That way he would have to remember."

There was a lot of laughter in their lives. It offered levity to the uncertain world of pro baseball.

Twitchell thought he would make the Brewers out of spring training in 1971 but ended up traded to Philadelphia. He began the season with its Triple A affiliate, Eugene, and was called up for six games late in the season, allowing no earned runs in 16 innings.

Twitchell never pitched in minors again.

In seven years with Philadelphia, the 6-foot-6 right-hander went 33-43 with a 3.57 ERA. He was an NL All-Star in 1973 when he went 13-9 with a 2.50 ERA for the last-place Phillies.

In Philadelphia, the Twitchells lived the life of a major league couple. But they returned to Portland each offseason to remain grounded, Barbara Twitchell said. And, it was home.
Twitchellkick.jpegView full sizeCourtesy of Twitchell FamilyIn 1993, Wayne Twitchell went 13-9 with a 2.50 ERA for the last-place Philadelphia Phillies and was named to the National League All-Star team.

Wayne Twitchell took classes at Portland Community College and delved into his other passion, steelhead fishing.

"Every night I came home there would be a fish in the sink," Barbara Twitchell said.

In 1976, their first son, Matthew, was born. In 1977, Twitchell had been traded to Montreal where he spent two seasons. Then, in 1979, he was
sent to the New York Mets and finally to Seattle.

That year the moves stopped when Twitchell appeared in only four games with the Mariners and was forced to retire because of knee injuries.

"It was hard to make the transition in respect that he loved the game so much," Barbara Twitchell said, remembering the way her ultra-competitive
husband used to dissect his performances late into the night after games. "But he was happy enough to quit playing while he could still walk easily."

The family returned to Portland for good. Patrick, the couple's youngest son, was born in 1980. Twitchell got into the real estate business, but baseball never out of mind.

Both boys played the game as kids, but never at the urging of their father.

"He was a very loving father," Patrick said. "When it came to sports he was really open to kind of let us choose what we wanted to do."
twitchellbeavers.jpegView full sizeCourtesy of Twitchell FamilyWayne Twitchell spent the 1970 season with the Portland Beavers while a member of the Milwaukee Brewers organization. That was the same year he met Barbara, his wife of 39 years.

Matthew, who grew to be 6-foot-5, was a star pitcher at Wilson in 1993 and 1994. But his father never showed favoritism.

"He treated me the same as anybody else," Matthew said.

It was at Wilson that Wayne Twitchell began to have an influence on another promising young pitcher, Joey Mahalic, who is now in the Cleveland organization.

Mahalic said having a former big leaguer like Twitchell, who once walked the same high school halls as he did, coaching him made all the difference for his development

Twitchell passed on advice not only about the fundamentals of pitching, but about the mental combat between pitchers and hitters. Also, about the toll of being on the road.

Mahalic, a 32nd-round draft pick by Cleveland in 2007, kept in touch with Twitchell after graduation. They went to lunch in February before Mahalic reported to spring training.

"Just to hear someone like him give advice and know that he had done it was great," Mahalic said. "The lunches that we had made a big mark on my life and my career."

Twitchell remained a full-time volunteer coach at Wilson for 10 years after Matthew had graduated. His final full season was 2004. But he would show up for 6 a.m. practices during the preseason to help pitchers prepare for the upcoming year.

“He was a great story teller,” Wilson coach Mike Clopton said. “Very quiet and unassuming for a guy that had achieved what most kids wanted to. Giving instead of taking. He made the game real simple so the kids would understand it. He was very calming for the pitchers.”

Matthew can't recall his father's playing days. Patrick hadn't been born. Their father, who often took his boys fishing and hunting, rarely recounted his glory days unless someone
asked.

"He was always modest," Matthew said.

But it's still nice to hear about their dad's exploits on the mound and that people remember him.

When Matthew's oldest son was born three years ago in Newberg, it turned out
that the doctor had lived in Philadelphia and remembered Twitchell.

"He asked me one day if I by any chance was related to him," Matthew said.

"And I said, 'Yes, that's my father."

'Hud' scribe Irving Raveth dies
Oscar-nominated screenwriter also wrote 'Norma Rae'
By SHALINI DORE


"Hud" and "Norma Rae" scribe Irving Ravetch died Sept. 19 in Los Angeles. He was 89 and had been ailing for some time. Ravetch and his wife, Harriet Frank Jr., were Oscar-nommed for adapted screenplay on both pics.

Together they penned 18 other films between the 1960s and 1980s. Beginning in 1957, the couple collaborated on critically acclaimed screenplays for pics including Paul Newman starrers "Hombre," and "The Long, Hot Summer" besides adapting 1963's "Hud."

Other films the two co-wrote include "Conrack," "The Reivers," "The Sound and the Fury," "Home From the Hill," "The Cowboys," "Murphy's Romance" and "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs."

They were jointly given the Writers Guild of America's Laurel Award for their screenplays.

After graduating from UCLA, Ravetch joined MGM's young writers training program, where he met Frank, whom he married the following year in 1946.

For nearly a decade he mostly penned oaters such as "Vengeance Valley" until he and Frank pitched "The Long, Hot Summer," an adaptation of William Faulkner's "The Hamlet," to producer Jerry Wald.

When Wald asked Ravetch to suggest a director he proposed Martin Ritt, beginning a relationship that led to eight films, kicking off with 1958's "Summer" and including "Hud," "Norma Rae," "The Sound and the Fury," "Murphy's Romance" and "Stanley and Iris."

In an introduction to a New American Library book reprinting three Ravetch/Frank Jr. screenplays, Ritt wrote: "Our whole lives are intertwined in this work, from 'The Long, Hot Summer,' back in the '50s, on. I am proud of the movies we've made together and consider several among them the finest of my career."

Ravetch is survived by his wife, Frank; a sister and a brother.

Actor Keiju Kobayashi dies at 86
Sunday 19th September, 02:19 AM JST

TOKYO —
Japanese actor Keiju Kobayashi, whose earnest performances endeared him to viewers throughout a nearly seven-decade long career, died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital Thursday, his agency said Saturday. He was 86.

A Gunma Prefecture native, Kobayashi made his movie debut in 1942 and gained popularity in the 1950s by starring in a series of comedy films featuring salaried workers with ordinary man-next-door personalities. Appearing in about 260 movies and TV dramas with his roles ranging from prime minister to police detective, Kobayashi received medals of honor from the government for his longtime achievements and cultural contributions.

French filmmaker Claude Chabrol dies at 80

By JENNY BARCHFIELD

(AP) French movie director Claude Chabrol poses during a photocall at the 61st edition of the... Full Image

Google sponsored links Queens Coupons - 1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. It's like doing Queens at 90% off! www.Groupon.com/Queens IFC - Official Site - Check Out IFC.com - Home of Indie Film & Culture. View Videos & More IFC.com

PARIS (AP) - French director Claude Chabrol, one of the founders of the New Wave movement whose films probed the latent malice beneath the placid surface of bourgeois life, died on Sunday. He was 80.

Christophe Girard, who is responsible for cultural matters at Paris City Hall, announced the death on his blog. Other City Hall officials confirmed that Chabrol passed away, but declined to provide any details, including the cause of death.

A prolific director, Chabrol made more than 70 films and TV productions during his more than half-century-long career. His first movie, 1958's "Le Beau Serge" won him considerable critical acclaim and was widely considered a sort of manifesto for the New Wave, or "Nouvelle vague" movement - which reinvented the codes of filmmaking and revolutionized cinema starting in the late 1950s. The vastly influential movement also included directors like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

Chabrol's movies focused on the French bourgeoisie, lifting the facade of respectability to reveal the hypocrisy, violence and loathing simmering just below the surface. Often suspenseful, his work drew comparisons with that of Alfred Hitchcock.

(AP) French director Claude Chabrol and actresses Isabelle Huppert, left, and Sandrine Bonnaire,... Full Image

President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking during his trip Sunday to the western Dordogne region, compared Chabrol to two giants of French letters, Rabelais and Balzac.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon called him a "great director, producer and screenwriter (who) was one of the grand figures of the 'Nouvelle vague,' which revolutionized the style and techniques of cinema by looking at real experience, true life, that which is indiscreet and subtle."

"With the death of Claude Chabrol, French cinema has lost one of its maestros," Fillon said in a statement.

Thierry Fremaux, who runs the Cannes Film Festival, told i-Tele news channel that Chabrol "had a much more classic style" than some of the other, more experimental New Wave filmmakers. "But in this classicism there was such an audacity, such freedom and erudition that I think - and history will tell - that his thrillers ... will remain something totally unique in French cinema."

Speaking on France-Info radio, Fremaux called Chabrol's death "a real shock because he was 80 years old but he continued to work, and the energy, feeling and joie de vivre that he'd always shown made you think he'd always be around."

(AP) French actress Danielle Darrieux, in the role of Berthe Heon with Claude Chabrol playing the... Full Image

"Claude Chabrol is part of our national patrimony ... for his films and also for his personality," he said.

Serge Toubiana, who heads the Paris Cinematheque, told the same radio station that Chabrol "was a delicious, malicious man with an incredible intelligence. ... He loved to laugh, loved jokes and made jokes, sort of masked himself through joking."

Chabrol worked at a fast clip, churning out about a film every year. He wrote some original scripts, but also adapted classics of French literature, including "Madame Bovary" (1991) and stories by Guy de Maupassant, for the cinema and for television.

Chabrol's top films included "Les Biches," or "Bad Girls," from 1968 and 1970's "The Butcher," as well as the 2000 mystery "Merci pour le chocolat," with actress Isabelle Huppert, one of his favorite actresses - who starred early on in her career in Chabrol's "Violette Noiziere," (1978) and "Story of a Woman" (1988).

Chabrol's last feature film, "Bellamy" - featuring another giant of French cinema, Gerard Depardieu - came out last year.

(AP) French director Claude Chabrol shows his Golden Camera Award for his lifetime achievement... Full Image

Chabrol was born in Paris on June 24, 1930. The son of a pharmacist, he said he "completely" belonged to the sort of bourgeois social milieu that would become the fodder for his films - "otherwise I wouldn't have dared" depict it, Chabrol said in a 1987 interview.

The bourgeois "are always amusing and they can also be very mean, so it's just marvelous," he told "Mardi cinema" television program.

As a young man, he studied literature and law before writing movie reviews in the respected French film magazine "Cahiers du cinema." He had not yet turned 30 when "Le Beau Serge," the story of a man's return to his native village after a long absence, was released to critical acclaim.

A bon vivant and longtime smoker, Chabrol was rarely seen without his trademark pipe or Cuban cigar - even on set. He was also a joker and liked to ham it up for the cameras, often making grimaces and funny faces while on the red carpet.

Chabrol also acted, making Hitchcock-style cameos in many of his own films, as well as those by other directors. He last appeared in this year's "Gainsbourg," playing a music producer in filmmaker Joann Sfar's biopic about singer Serge Gainsbourg.

In 2004, he was awarded the European Film Award for the body of his work and a year later received a top honor from the Academie Francaise.

Chabrol was married three times and had three sons. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.

'Body Snatchers' movie star Kevin McCarthy dies

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

LOS ANGELES — Kevin McCarthy, a veteran Hollywood actor best known as the star of the 1956 sci-fi cult film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," has died aged 96, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

Over his 70-plus year career on stage and screen McCarthy appeared in some 50 movies and scores of TV shows, as well as theater productions.

He won a Golden Globe award for his role as Biff Loman in the 1951 film version of the Arthur Miller play "Death of a Salesman." Earlier he played Loman in the stage version of the play in London.

McCarthy was born in 1914 in the west coast city of Seattle. He began his acting career in the late 1930s with performances on Broadway, and was one of the founders of the Actor's Studio in New York.

But his biggest hit was as Miles Bennell in "Body Snatchers," in which he portrayed a medical doctor trying to warn residents of a California town that they are being replaced by emotionless alien clones raised in giant seed pods.

The low-budget film, which came at the height of the Cold War, was such a cult classic that the Library of Congress chose it in 1994 for preservation in the National Film Registry.

McCarthy also appeared in movies including "An Annapolis Story," "Buffalo Bill and the Indians," and "Piranhas," as well as TV shows such as "The Twilight Zone" and "Murder, She Wrote."

McCarthy died of natural causes at a hospital in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the newspaper reported. AFP calls to confirm his death were not immediately returned.

Georgia wrestling legend "Nightmare" Ted Allen passes away

Written by Adam Lash

Thursday, August 19, 2010

"Nightmare" Ted Allen, a legend in the Georgia wrestling community, was found dead today at the age of 54. Allen was scheduled to wrestle on an event tonight in Phenix City, Alabama. Kyle Matthews, who was Allen's scheduled opponent and travel partner, became concerned when Allen was late in picking him up and went to his residence, where he and his girlfriend reportedly found Allen dead. A veteran of the ring for over 35 years, Allen is credited with having trained the likes of Arn Anderson and Ray "Big Bossman" Traylor, among many others. In recent years he'd become one of the most helpful veterans on the Georgia wrestling scene, often going out of his way to try and help young wrestlers improve their craft. He remained active on the Georgia independent wrestling scene, though he'd recently indicated that he felt he didn't have too many matches left in him and was talking about retiring. In addition to wrestling he built and sold professional wrestling rings and accessories. Allen leaves behind two children and three grandchildren. Indy Wrestling News sends its condolences to the friends, family, and fans of "Nightmare" Ted Allen. His contributions to the wrestling industry will not forgotten anytime soon.

Written by Adam Lash Monday, August 30, 2010 Joseph Carl Bailey, Jr., known professionally as J.C. Bailey, was found dead early this morning. A cause of death is unknown. He was 27 years old. As the son of Bad 2 the Bone Wrestling (BBW) promoter Joe Bailey, J.C. spent most of his life around the wrestling business. Too young to legally wrestle or train in the state of Kentucky, he'd hold backyard wrestling matches with friends and would help out his father at shows before eventually being allowed to train in Evansville, Indiana under Tracy Smothers at the age of 16. Unlike Kentucky, Indiana didn't have an athletic commission requiring promoters, wrestlers, and even managers to get a license. As Bailey went through training he'd would begin refereeing for local organizations, including Ian Rotten's Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, before eventually making his debut as a professional wrestler in 2001. His first year of wrestling took place mostly in Eric Acker's Coliseum Championship Wrestling (CCW) in Evansville, Indiana. CCW ran weekly events at the Soldier & Sailor's Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday evenings, which appealed to area wrestlers because it was an extra show every week that they could do in addition to their regular weekend bookings. The weekly shows for Bailey, especially at such an early stage of his career, helped him improve at a rapid pace compared to his local contemporaries that didn't have the benefit of working as often. After turning 18 he'd begin working on his father's BBW shows in Kentucky. BBW at the time was one of the most active independent groups in the country, running sometimes as many as 6 shows a month, making it another group that appealed to wrestlers in the area that were looking for as many bookings as they could get. Both CCW and BBW were particularly appealing to wrestlers that worked for Ian Rotten's IWA group. The IWA was running weekly out of Clarksville, IN by this point, so working for IWA and CCW alone gave workers at least 8 steady dates a month, plus BBW dates and whatever other bookings they could get in or out of the area. While Bailey had worked for the IWA as a referee and had attended IWA events with his father, who'd help out and even promoted a couple of IWA shows in the late 90s, it was the connections he made through working other shows with IWA talent that helped get him in the door. Bailey would make his IWA debut against Corporal Robinson on January 4, 2003, in Clarksville, IN. His IWA work would be a stark departure from his high flyer roots, as right off the bat he got thrown into the IWA's vibrant death match scene. He brought a uniqueness to the scene, as he was a small high flyer that did death matches, as opposed to the larger and less athletic wrestlers that fans were used to seeing in those roles. Almost overnight he became one of the IWA's top guys and Ian Rotten, seeing Bailey's potential, took him under his wing. Rotten would tell anyone that would listen that Bailey was the future of death match wrestling and would actively try and persuade promoters to use him. In addition, Smart Mark Video (SMV) owner Mike Burns had become one of Bailey's biggest supporters, something that would help him later in his career. His innovative style and ability to take ridiculous amounts of punishment endeared Bailey to death match fans who followed him live or on video. With the help of the IWA's distribution deal with SMV, his reputation began to spread outside of his home area of Kentucky and Indiana. He appealed to Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) fans in particular and pretty soon his name would come up whenever fans talked about workers that CZW should begin using. They didn't have to wait long, as Bailey would begin appearing for CZW in the summer of 2003 as a part of an IWA invasion angle. The IWA invasion angle came about when CZW sold a series of shows to a bar in Dover, DE. While CZW was prohibited from having death matches in their home state of Pennsylvania, Delaware was a different story. To help draw and sell videos, plans were made to have an IWA invasion that would play out over the course of these summer events. By this time CZW was at the forefront of the change in death match wrestling, emphasizing action as opposed to just gore. There was far more diversity in CZW's death match ranks than IWA's and Bailey fit in perfectly. He'd appear several times during the course of the angle, both in death matches and in junior heavyweight competition. Though his initial stint with the company was short, the impression he made on the fans was overwhelmingly positive and fans clamored for his return. Bailey would return to CZW the next summer as a participant in the 2004 edition of CZW's Tournament of Death, making it to the semi finals of the tournament. Around this time Mike Burns had become heavily involved in CZW's booking, which lead to Bailey getting a full time spot with the company. Bailey would be paired with Chris Cash, Sexxxy Eddy, and Nate Webb in a feud with BLKOUT, a CZW stable that included Ruckus, Sabian, Joker, and Eddie Kingston. The feud would culminate in the Cage of Death that December, where his team were victorious in winning the match and the CZW Tag Team Championship, which would be defended under the terms that any two members of the foursome could defend the belts. It was during his second run with CZW that Bailey's role in the IWA began to diminish. Rotten was finding it increasingly hard to find buildings that would allow death matches, as he'd ended up getting kicked out of most of the ones that would allow them. As a result he began using fewer death match guys, with Bailey being among those who found themselves with fewer IWA bookings. While Bailey was a capable junior heavyweight wrestler, he'd become associated with death match and hardcore wrestling to the point where a lot of his fans weren't interested in seeing him do anything else, or at least that was the opinion of many promoters. While he'd spent the majority of the previous couple of years finding a balance between doing death matches and being a junior heavyweight, from 2004 on he mostly did just death matches. His role as a regular with CZW would also come to an end after Mike Burns quit the booking committee. With the exception of the yearly big death match tournaments, Bailey again went back to doing most of his wrestling locally in Kentucky and Indiana. It was also around this time that Bailey's personal problems with drugs began to cause him both legal and professional trouble. Bailey was arrested in September of 2006 and charged with possession in the first degree for cocaine, attempted burglary in the second degree, possession of drug paraphernalia in the first degree, and criminal mischief in the third degree. He'd spend a year in prison before being paroled and released on August 31, 2007. He'd make his return to wrestling the next day, appearing on an Insanity Pro Wrestling event in Indianapolis, IN. He'd also return to both the IWA and CZW a few weeks later, however his freedom would soon come to an end. Bailey and another man were arrested in late October after attempting to steal a 27-inch Samsung Slim Fit TV from a Wal-Mart in Bardstown, KY. The arrest received notable media attention locally after an activist group, who after hearing about injuries Bailey sustained during his arrest, held a vigil and lodged a formal complaint to the town of Bardstown on his behalf. Photographs, including his mug shot, were released to the public showing a bloody Bailey prior to his receiving medical treatment at a local hospital for his injuries. It was never reported whether or not anything ever came of the complaint filed. Though only charged with a misdemeanor, his arrest caused his parole to be revoked. He would spend the next two years in jail until he was released once again in December 2009 on parole. After his release Bailey would return to CZW, which was once again being booked by Mike Burns. The coming year would prove to be one of his most successful, as he would go on to win the 2010 edition of the IWA King of the Death Matches, the Ohio Hatchet Wrestling Death in the Valley death match tournament, and was a finalist at this year's CZW Tournament of Death, where he had arguably one of his career's best performances. Despite his problems, Bailey was one of the most well liked wrestlers on the independents. As someone who'd been involved in the wrestling business from such a young age, he was highly respected by his peers despite his young age. While saying someone loved the wrestling business has become a cliche, in the case of J.C. Bailey it was the truth. He was someone who loved it even when it didn't love him back, because it'd been all that he ever dreamed about. His unrequited love for the business made it a better place for a lot of people and helped inspire other people's passion for it. That alone should be enough for any fan to thank him and mourn his passing. Indy Wrestling News sends our condolences to the friends, family, and fans of J.C. Bailey. Written by Adam Lash Friday, August 20, 2010 Jim Wehba, known professionally as Skandor Akbar, passed away yesterday at the age of 75. While best known as a manager, Wehba began his career as a wrestler in 1963, crediting Lou Thesz with getting him into the business. His greatest successes as a wrestler were as a tag team, having won tag championships with Danny Hodge, Ox Baker, and Rocket Monroe. Wehba would go on to be one of the most hated managers of the 1980s, spending most of his time in World Class Championship Wrestling and Mid-South Wrestling. He was the manager for such stars as Kamala, One Man Gang, The Missing Link, and Cactus Jack, among many others. In recent years Wehba remained active on the independent level in Dallas, both as a manager and behind the scenes. In addition he ran a wrestling school in Dallas, Texas. His last wrestling appearance was this past Sunday for Wrecking Ball Wrestling (WBW), where he was a regular, where he managed "The Original Doink the Clown" Matt Borne. Indy Wrestling News sends our condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Jim "Skandor Akbar" Wehba. Written by Adam Lash Friday, August 27, 2010 Gertrude Vachon, known professionally as Luna Vachon, was found dead earlier today at the age of 48. Vachon was the daughter of Paul "The Butcher" Vachon and was a member of the famed Vachon wrestling family. Though her family was initially against her involvement in the professional wrestling business, Vachon began training to be a wrestler under her aunt Vivian and Lillian "The Fabulous Moolah" Ellison. Her first big break occurred in the 80s when she became a member of Kevin Sullivan's Army of Darkness in Championship Wrestling from Florida, where she began teaming with Lock (also known as Winona Little Heart) as The Daughters of Darkness. After she'd left the Florida territory her father helped get her work in Japan, where she spent nearly three years. Shortly after arriving back from Japan, she began managing The Blackhearts, a masked team consisting of her then husband Tom Nash and David Heath. They were one of the more successful independent tag teams of the early 90s, traveling all over the country and the world. Eventually though the team would split, Nash and Luna would divorce, and Vachon would end up in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In the WWF, Vachon was paired with Bam Bam Bigelow. Their most notable feud as a pair was with Doink the Clown and his pint-sized pal Dink, resulting in a mixed tag match at WrestleMania 10, which they won. The pair would eventually break up, with joining up with Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. Not long after, Vachon was inserted into the newly rejuvenated women's division, acting as the biggest foe for champion Alundra Blayze (Madusa Micelli). After several unsuccessful attempts at winning the championship, Vachon brought in Bull Nakano and managed her in a successful campaign to win the championship. Vachon though would leave the WWF not long after Nakano won the championship. It was around this time that she and David Heath, who by then began wrestling under the name The Vampire Warrior, had gotten married. The two traveled the country together, working for a variety of independent promotions. Vachon eventually would begin working for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where she aided Tommy Dreamer in his battle's with Raven and Stevie Richards. Her most memorable showing in ECW was probably her bloody steel cage match with Richards at Heatwave 1995, which she won. She'd wrap up her stay in ECW by that fall, and again began traveling all over the country with her husband. In 1997, Vachon would find herself on the national stage for the first time since leaving the WWF years earlier, when World Championship Wrestling (WCW) started up their women's division after signing Madusa "Alundra Blayze" Micelli away from the WWF. Vachon though would last with the company for only a couple months and by years end was back in the WWF. In her second run with the WWF, Vachon was first paired up with Goldust. The two would eventually feud with Marc Mero and his wife Rena "Sable" Mero, which lead to a mixed tag match at WrestleMania 14. Vachon would eventually break away from Goldust and became a member of The Oddities, a group of "freaks" that included Golga, Kurgan and The Insane Clown Posse, among others. She'd break about from the Oddities stable and again feuded with Sable, who was the WWF Women's champion at the time. The feud would be short-lived though, as behind the scenes tension between Vachon and Mero resulted in a fight between the two, resulting in Vachon's suspension. She returned in the summer of 1999, managing her husband, who was wrestling for the WWF as Gangrel. She also continued wrestling occasionally in the women's division, but she was often lost in the shuffle and was increasingly becoming someone who fit less and less with the WWF's changing views on women and what they should look like. Her time with the company would end in 2000, as she was released reportedly due an outburst backstage. She returned to the independent wrestling scene, where she was shortly joined by her husband, who also ended up getting released from the WWF. She became less and less active as the years went on, often taking long hiatuses from the business. In 2006, after 12 years of marriage, Vachon and Heath divorced, though the two remained friends. It was around this time that Vachon became active again in the business, taking bookings for a newly rejuvenated women's independent wrestling scene. Unfortunately her return to the ring would be short, as she re-aggravated an old neck injury during a match, leading to her announcing her retirement at the end of 2007. Vachon was living with her mother in Florida at the time of her passing, as she'd lost her home and most of her belongings in a house fire earlier this month. In addition to her mother, she is survived by her father, two sons, and a granddaughter. Indy Wrestling News sends our condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Gertrude "Luna" Vachon.