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☆ Michael McGrath, Tony Winner and ‘Spamalot’ Veteran, Dies at 65
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Michael McGrath, who won a Tony Award in 2012 for his work in the musical “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and was a regular on Broadway, Off Broadway and regional stages, known especially for comedic roles and for his ability to conjure the likes of Groucho Marx, George M. Cohan and Jackie Gleason, died on Thursday at his home in Bloomfield, N.J. His family announced the death through the publicist Lisa Goldberg. No cause was provided. Mr. McGrath was one of those stage actors who might rarely be recognized on the street yet worked steadily for decades, drawing good notices throughout. He did much of his early work at Theater by the Sea in Matunuck, R.I., where he appeared regularly from 1977 to 1991, including in the title role of a 1989 production of “George M!,” the musical about Cohan, the famed song-and-dance man.

Persons: Michael McGrath, Groucho Marx, George M, Cohan, Jackie Gleason, Lisa Goldberg, McGrath, “ George M, ” Michael Burlingame, “ McGrath, Luciano Pavarotti, “, Mel Gussow, ” Organizations: New York Times Locations: Bloomfield , N.J, Matunuck, London, Conn, New York

☆ Nicholas Hitchon, Who Aged 7 Years at a Time in ‘Up’ Films, Dies at 65
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A posting on the university’s website announced his death, from throat cancer. In the most recent installment of the series, “63 Up,” in 2019, he described his struggles with the disease. Young Nick was only 6, but he was talkative and unintimidated by cameras, so he was signed up as one of 14 youngsters to be profiled. The idea was to get a cross-section of children from Britain’s economic classes, look at their schooling and other experiences and capture their perspectives on the adult world. He endeared himself to that original television audience with his response to an interviewer who, clearly fishing for cuteness, asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Persons: Nicholas Hitchon, Hitchon, Young Nick, Nick Organizations: University of Wisconsin, Granada Television Locations: Madison, Wis, Littondale, Manchester

☆ Michael Parkinson, Famous for Interviewing the Famous, Dies at 88
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Michael Parkinson, a broadcaster known throughout Britain for his interviews with hundreds of the world’s most famous actors, musicians, athletes and politicians — many of them conducted on his long-running BBC program, called simply “Parkinson” — has died. A statement his family issued to the BBC on Thursday said that “after a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night.” It did not give a location or a specific cause. Mr. Parkinson started out in newspapers but soon became a fixture on British television, first on Granada Television and then, beginning in 1971, on “Parkinson” on the BBC. On Thursday, social media and British newspapers were awash in tributes from those who had worked with or been interviewed by Mr. Parkinson, with many praising his ability to put his subjects at ease. Nick Robinson, another BBC broadcaster, said on social media that Mr. Parkinson was “the greatest interviewer of our age.”

Persons: Michael Parkinson, —, “ Parkinson ” —, Sir Michael Parkinson, Parkinson, “ Parkinson ”, Nick Robinson, ” Organizations: BBC, Granada Television, ITV Locations: Britain

☆ Clarence Avant, Quiet Force in Black Entertainment, Dies at 92
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Avant, born in a segregated hospital in North Carolina and educated only through the ninth grade, moved easily in the high-powered world of entertainment, helping to establish the idea that Black culture and consumers were forces to be reckoned with. He started out managing a nightclub in Newark in the late 1950s and moved on to representing some of the artists he met there. Joe Glaser, a high-powered agent who handled Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and many other top acts, took Mr. Avant under his wing; perhaps, the documentary suggested, Mr. Glaser, who was white, thought it would be advantageous to have a Black man representing some of his Black clients. In any case, Mr. Avant was soon handling artists including the jazz organist Jimmy Smith and traveling in rarefied circles. Though he knew nothing about the movie business, Mr. Avant worked his brand of magic on the West Coast: Mr. Schifrin has to date been nominated for six Oscars.

Persons: Clarence Avant, Bill Withers, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, ” —, Avant, Joe Glaser, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Glaser, Jimmy Smith, Lalo Schifrin, Dizzy Gillespie, Schifrin Locations: Los Angeles, North Carolina, Newark, Argentine, West

☆ Tom Jones, Half of Record-Setting ‘Fantasticks’ Team, Dies at 95
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tom Jones, who wrote the book and lyrics for a modest musical called “The Fantasticks” that opened in 1960 in Greenwich Village and ran for an astonishing 42 years, propelled in part by its wistful opening song, “Try to Remember,” died on Friday at his home in Sharon, Conn. Mr. Jones and his frequent collaborator, Harvey Schmidt, first worked together when they were students at the University of Texas — Mr. Jones in the drama department’s directing program, Mr. Schmidt studying art but indulging his musical inclinations on the side. They kept in touch after graduating, writing songs together by mail after they were drafted during the Korean War. Mr. Jones and Mr. Robb called that show, which was loosely based on a comedy by the French playwright Edmond Rostand, “Joy Comes to Deadhorse,” and in 1956 they staged it at the University of New Mexico, where Mr. Robb was a dean. It was a big-cast production that included a small squadron of dancers.

Persons: Tom Jones, ”, Conn, Michael, Jones, Harvey Schmidt, Schmidt, Julius Monk, John Donald Robb, Mr, Robb, Edmond Rostand, “ Joy Organizations: University of Texas, University of New Locations: Greenwich Village, Sharon, New York, French, University of New Mexico

☆ Rodriguez, Singer Whose Career Was Resurrected, Dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Australia was one place where his music had found an audience, and in 1979 he was invited to tour there. He returned in 1981 for a few shows with the band Midnight Oil and released a live album in Australia. He seemed to have no idea how popular he was there, especially among white South Africans uncomfortable with apartheid and the country’s rigidly conservative culture. He joined forces with Craig Bartholomew-Strydom, a journalist who was also searching for Rodriguez, and eventually they found the singer, still living in Detroit. A 1998 tour of South Africa followed, with Rodriguez playing six sold-out shows at 5,000-seat arenas.

Persons: —, ” Stephen Segerman, you’d, Simon, Garfunkel, Rodriguez, ”, Segerman, Craig Bartholomew, Strydom Organizations: Oil, Cape Town, Beatles, Sunday Telegraph Locations: Detroit, Australia, South Africa, Britain

☆ Michael Boyd, 68, Who Invigorated the Royal Shakespeare Company, Dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Michael Billington, a theater critic for The Guardian, had criticized the outgoing director, Adrian Noble, for “attempting to create a revolution within the R.S.C. Mr. Boyd, The Guardian said in summarizing his decade of leadership, presided “over a spectacular financial and architectural turnaround.”In announcing in 2011 that he was stepping away, he said the job had begun to wear on him. He continued to direct notable productions, including “Tamburlaine, Parts I and II,” the Christopher Marlowe classic, for Theater for a New Audience in New York in 2014. It’s a bloody tale from 1587 about the warrior Tamburlaine, and Mr. Boyd didn’t hold back; the show used 144 gallons of stage blood a week. For one effect, blood was pumped from beneath the stage so that it would creep up the skirt of a particular character.

Persons: Michael Billington, Adrian Noble, ” Mr, Boyd, “ I’ve, ”, “, Christopher Marlowe, Boyd didn’t Organizations: Barbican Center, The Guardian, Armory, Guardian, Birmingham Evening, Theater Locations: London, Stratford, Avon, Manhattan, New York

☆ Jess Search, a Force in the Documentary Genre, Dies at 54
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jess Search, a producer on dozens of important documentaries and a catalyst on many more as one of the directors of Doc Society, a nonprofit organization she helped found in 2005 that supports documentary filmmakers, died on July 31 in London. She was 54. Doc Society said in a statement that the death, in a hospital, was caused by brain cancer. Search had announced last month that she was stepping away from the organization because of her illness. Search had been a central figure in the documentary scene in Britain and beyond for years.

Persons: Jess Search, Search, Matthew Barbato’s “ Alexis Arquette, ” Organizations: Doc Society Locations: London, Britain, Russian

☆ Paul Reubens, Creator of Pee-wee Herman, Is Dead at 70
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Pee-wee’s Playhouse” stands as one of the oddest, most audacious, most unclassifiable shows in television history. In one episode, Pee-wee married a fruit salad. The show arrived in the midst of Ronald Reagan’s presidential administration and harked back to another button-down era, the one Mr. Reubens lived as a child: the 1950s. ‘‘I saw it as very Norman Rockwell,” he told The New York Times in 2016, ‘‘but it was my Norman Rockwell version of the ’50s, which was more all-inclusive.”Laurence Fishburne, S. Epatha Merkerson and other actors of color were in the cast. “Not just anybody — the king!” Mr. Reubens said.

Persons: ”, “, —, Ronald Reagan’s, Reubens, ‘ ‘, Norman Rockwell, ‘, ” Laurence Fishburne, Epatha Merkerson, Gilbert Lewis, Mr Organizations: wee’s, CBS, New York Times Locations: Florida

☆ Bo Goldman, Oscar-Winning Screenwriter, Dies at 90
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bo Goldman, one of Hollywood’s most admired screenwriters, who took home Oscars for his work on “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “Melvin and Howard” (1980), died on Tuesday in Helendale, Calif. The resulting movie, which starred Jack Nicholson as a rebellious new patient who disrupts a psychiatric ward, came out in 1975 and was a career maker. Mr. Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, who shared screenwriting credit, won the Oscar for best screenplay adapted from other material; the movie was also named best picture and earned Oscars for Mr. Forman, Mr. Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, who played the fierce Nurse Ratched. “Even then I hung my head,” Mr. Goldman wrote in a 1981 essay for The New York Times about the insecurities of a writer’s life. “After all, I had adapted somebody else’s work; was it really mine?”

Persons: Bo Goldman, “ Melvin, Howard ”, Todd Field, Goldman, Milos Forman, —, Ken Kesey’s, Jack Nicholson, Lawrence Hauben, Oscar, Forman, Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Ratched, “, ” Mr Organizations: The New York Times Locations: Helendale, Calif

☆ Reeves Callaway, Maker of Really, Really Fast Cars, Dies at 75
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Reeves Callaway, who started out driving fast cars and then focused on creating them, including one that set a speed record of 254.76 miles per hour in 1988, died on July 11 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif. His company, Callaway Cars, said the cause was injuries from a fall. Mr. Callaway and his company were well known in the world of high-performance automobiles custom-made for deep-pocketed clients. Soon the modified cars coming out of his small shop were drawing attention in motor magazines and in speed competitions. A key moment came in the mid-1980s, when Alfa Romeo, the Italian auto company, sought him out.

Persons: Reeves Callaway, Callaway, Alfa Romeo, “, ” Organizations: Callaway, Mr, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati Locations: Newport Beach, Calif, Old Lyme, Conn, Italian

☆ Steve Pieters, Pastor Who Spoke of AIDS in Famed Interview, Dies at 70
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

(A stage musical, “Tammy Faye,” which opened last year in London, also incorporated the 1985 interview.) “That interview was why I needed to make the movie,” Ms. Chastain told Variety at the movie’s New York premiere in 2021. I’m 100 percent convinced that there were people — conservative Christians watching at home — who realized that they had judged their family members unlovingly. I’m convinced that that interview saved families and saved lives.”If Ms. Bakker defied expectations with that interview, Mr. Pieters long defied AIDS, surviving for decades despite repeated health struggles. What a privilege to have reached the age of 70, still dancing with joy.”

Persons: Jessica Chastain, Bakker, Tammy Faye, ”, Pieters, Randy Havens, “ Tammy Faye, Ms, Chastain, Variety, —, unlovingly, I’m, Harlan Boll, “ Locations: London, York, Glendale , Calif, Los Angeles, Hope

☆ Ellen Hovde, ‘Grey Gardens’ Documentarian, Dies at 97
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ellen Hovde, a documentarian who was one of the directors of “Grey Gardens,” the groundbreaking 1975 movie that examined the lives of two reclusive women living in a deteriorating mansion on Long Island and inspired both a Broadway musical and an HBO film, died on Feb. 16 at her home in Brooklyn. She was 97. Her death, which had not been widely reported, was confirmed last week by her children, Tessa Huxley and Mark Trevenen Huxley, who said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease. In 1969 she was a contributing editor on “Salesman,” a documentary by the Maysleses and Charlotte Zwerin that followed four salesmen as they peddled $49.95 Bibles door to door in New England and Florida. The next year she was an editor on “Gimme Shelter,” the documentary by the Maysleses and Ms. Zwerin that captured a Rolling Stones tour, including the concert at Altamont Speedway in Northern California in late 1969 at which a concertgoer was killed by a Hells Angel.

Persons: Ellen Hovde, “, Tessa Huxley, Mark Trevenen Huxley, Hovde, Albert, David, ”, Charlotte Zwerin, Zwerin Organizations: HBO, Altamont Speedway Locations: “ Grey, Long, Brooklyn, New England, Florida, Northern California

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