Published in San Francisco Chronicle on October 3, 2010
Producer Michael Rhodes dies at 74
Writer and producer worked on 'Ellery Queen,' 'Delvecchio'
By CYNTHIA LITTLETON
Variety
A memorial service for producer Michael Rhodes will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Braemar Country Club in Tarzana.
Rhodes, who died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at age 74, wrote and produced numerous TV skeins in the 1970s and '80s, including "Ellery Queen," "Delvecchio," "Operation Petticoat" and a number of telepics.
William W. 'Bill' Norton dies at 85; screenwriter became gunrunner
The action-movie specialist's best-known script was for 1968's 'The Scalphunters,' starring Burt Lancaster. But the former Communist later rededicated himself to leftist ideals and smuggled arms for rebels in Northern Ireland.
William W. ("Bill") Norton, a successful screenwriter whose post- Hollywood life took a turn as dramatic as the fast-paced action movies he once wrote when he became a gunrunner for rebels in Northern Ireland, died Oct. 2 in Santa Barbara. He was 85.
The cause of death was a heart aneurysm, said his son, television director Bill L. Norton.
Norton was best known for writing "The Scalphunters" (1968), a comedy-western directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Burt Lancaster and Ossie Davis. He went on to write several movies for actor Burt Reynolds, including "Sam Whiskey" (1969), "White Lightning" (1973) and "Gator" (1976).
He also wrote the low-budget horror flick "I Dismember Mama" (1972, originally titled "Poor Albert and Little Annie"), and "Big Bad Mama" (1974), a caper movie starring Angie Dickinson and William Shatner. Both movies have drawn cult followings.
In 1985, Norton, an ex-Communist, retired from show business and rededicated himself to the leftist ideals of his youth. He began aiding rebel groups in Central America by procuring guns for them. Later, he and his wife, Eleanor, moved to Ireland, where they became involved with an offshoot of the Irish Republican Army.
Their activities eventually led to their arrest, imprisonment and several years of exile.
"He really was like one of his movie characters, an outlaw on the run," his son said.
Norton was born on Sept. 24, 1925, in Ogden, Utah. When the Depression hit, he and his parents moved to California, settling first in Berkeley and later in El Monte, where he attended El Monte High School and became student body president. A journalism teacher there encouraged his interest in writing.
In his senior year, he conceived a child out of wedlock and was thrown out of school along with his soon-to-be-wife, Betty Conklin. (They later divorced.) Drafted into the Army, he saw combat in Europe during World War II.
After the war, he worked briefly as a reporter for an El Monte newspaper but found small-town journalism unchallenging. Proud of his working-class roots, he switched to construction work. At 21, he joined the Communist Party and was an active member for five years, until about 1950. In 1958 he was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee but refused to name names, his son said.
He worked for the California State Park Service for 11 years and wrote short stories and plays on the side. A few of his plays were made into low-budget movies, such as "The Farmer's Other Daughter" (1965), a bawdy comedy.
In 1968 he moved from the fringes of the movie business to the big leagues with "The Scalphunters," which featured Lancaster as an illiterate trapper and Davis as a well-educated escaped slave victimized by a band of scalp-hunters led by Telly Savalas. The script veers from comic to gruesome — not always successfully, critics said. But reviewers found much to like about it, including The Times' Charles Champlin, who pronounced the movie a "lively, ribald and unpredictable pleasure." Norton went on to write an additional dozen screenplays, including "Brannigan" (1975) with John Wayne. In 1985, when Norton turned 60, he decided to retire from screenwriting, partly out of a desire, his son said, to "do something important with his life."
He supported a number of Central American charities, which brought him into contact with an activist who asked him to help obtain guns for a revolutionary group in Guatemala. Norton began buying arms at local gun shows and delivering them to contacts in various parking lots around Los Angeles.
Norton, whose mother was Irish, was also sympathetic to the IRA's campaign against British rule and decided to participate in their struggle. He and his wife moved to Ireland and, using his own money, began buying guns in Southern California and smuggling them into Northern Ireland for an IRA splinter group called the Irish National Liberation Army.
On their second smuggling trip, in June of 1986, the Nortons picked up a van that had been shipped to the French port city of Le Havre from Los Angeles. They intended to drive it to Ireland, but they were apprehended by French authorities in the shipping office. Inside a hidden compartment of the van police found two submachine guns, 12 rifles, 23 revolvers and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. The Nortons and three Irish nationalists were arrested and convicted on gun-smuggling charges.
Norton was unrepentant. "If you could witness as I have the tragic results of attacks upon homes and upon whole families by masked civilian hit squads because the families were under suspicion of favoring the IRA, I think you might well be moved to the same action," he said in a 1987 L.A. Weekly article when he was incarcerated in France.
His wife was released after five months for medical reasons, but Norton served 19 months of a four-year sentence, including several months in solitary confinement. He was freed in early 1988 and was being extradited to the U.S. when Nicaragua granted him asylum. He and his wife moved to Managua and later to Cuba. He lost his ardor for communism there after watching Fidel Castro's government's failure to cope with famine. Although still fearful of prosecution in the U.S., he reentered the country in 1990, smuggled in via Mexico by his ex-wife Betty and daughter Sally.
He lived underground until he became convinced that federal authorities were no longer interested in his case and eventually settled down in Santa Barbara, where he spent his final years writing cranky letters to politicians. He had little money, having given most of it away to various causes. "He had no regard for wealth," his son said. "He drove crappy cars even when he had money and dressed in old clothes. He was not the typical Hollywood hustler."
In addition to his wife, son and daughter, Norton is survived by three other children: Joan Norton, Theresa Wolverson and Jonathan Norton; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He asked that his ashes be spread in Northern Ireland.
elaine.woo@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
This is direct news from the care home (Denville Hall)
Brenda Cowling (1935-2010) - Comedy Actress
Actress Brenda Cowling has died. She was best known for her countless roles in comedies, on film and on television, including as part of the ensemble cast in You Rang M'Lord. This role followed other appearances in Croft/Perry/Lloyd series Are You Being Served, Dads Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi de Hi.
She also made an appearance in the Bond film Octopussy, with Gertan Klauber as a German couple trying to forcefeed Roger Moore with their picnic - and in the same year appeared in Sean Connery's comeback Never Say Never Again (though her scenes were deleted). She also appeared in countless dramas - including the film The Railway Children.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0184814/
Edit - some sources suggest she was born in 1925
Soul singer Solomon Burke has died, a spokeswoman for The Netherlands' Amsterdam-Schipol airport, where his plane from Los Angeles landed Sunday, told AFP.
"I can confirm that Solomon Burke is dead," spokeswoman Antoinette Spaans said.
She could not say if the 70-year-old singer, known as the "King of Soul", had died on the flight or in the airport.
Burke was due to give a concert in Amsterdam on Tuesday with Dutch group De Dijk.
Born on March 21, 1940 in Philadelphia, the rhythm 'n blues and soul star was most famous for "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", which became the hit song from the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers".
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gN0ywP8kGvhe1lP4-9SCEZveMkIA?docId=CNG.159465f3db6b6affe62dddf979b18cf3.3f1
Eddie Platt, of Stow, Ohio, previously of Cleveland, passed away October 3, 2010.
He was born on December 8, 1921, son of the late Charlotte and Dan Platakis.
He was preceded in death by his only sibling, Margaret Bell; and his first wife, ``Bobbi'.
Eddie leaves behind his loving wife, Andrea Edwards Platt; stepson, Bill (Deidre) Kondik and their adoring girls, Elizabeth and Addison. He also leaves his brother-in-law, Tom (Gwen) Edwards and nieces and nephews.
Eddie started his musical career in high school playing saxaphone and clarinet in clubs. Ed joined the Army and Airforce and served in World War II. When World War II ended, he joined the Johnny Pecon Band, a gig he truly enjoyed. From 1948 to 1952 he started his own band, Eddie Platt and the Contrasts in 1952. From 1957 to 1967 he played the Manger Hotel in Cleveland at Hal York's 21-28 dances every Friday night, where local D.J. Bill Randle promoted the shows. Ed recorded for Epic records and got his biggest hit "Tequila", a cover record of the ``Champs', that soared to #20 on the popcharts. Another cover ``Cha-Hua-Hua' followed and climbed to #34 on the charts and was later featured in the film ``The Iron Giant'.
Television appearances included The Dick Clark Show ``Bandstand' in 1958.
Bill Randle promoted shows at St. Michaels in Cleveland and Eddie played there on a regular basis. His band backed the major acts, including Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, The Everly Brothers and The Brothers Four on the big rock and roll shows that came through town. Eddie is in the Polka Hall of Fame and was honored at the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame for musicians who transitioned from Polkas to Rock. He performed ``Waddeling Duck' Polka which he wrote, and his hit S``Tequila' at the Rock Hall ceremony.
Eddie also enjoyed tennis, golf and ballroom dancing. He will be greatly missed by all who loved him!
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