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Raymond Briggs dead according to the BBC Breakfast. Edit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/10/snowman-author-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88/

RIP - what a brilliant creation the snowman was

Clean bill of health: Tippi Hedren: Showed up on Melanie Griffith's Instagram for her birthday this year. Looks good. Mamie Van Doren: Very active Tweeter and just wrote a book. Also the ex-wife of living centenarian Ray Anthony. Wonder how long their son will live! Carroll Baker: retired for nearly 20 years but appeared on the Hollywood Reporter podcast in 2021 and sounded very sharp. Obviously can't tell with just audio, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt that she isn't bedridden or a melting wax dummy or whatever. Marla Gibbs: looks and sounds terrific, still acts and does talk shows/game shows. Leslie Caron: did an hour-long Q&A this June. Voice is definitely a little shakier than it used to be, but nothing else that seems especially eyebrow-raising. Barbara Eden: Doesn't really act anymore but regularly does conventions and looks to be as sharp as ever. Nothing questionable here. Mitzi Gaynor: Regular Tweeter, still seems in great shape. Barbara Bain: still pops up in the occasional thing here and there. Looks and sounds good in recentish interviews. Angie Dickinson: last recorded on video in 2019, though the Daily Mail caught her walking about last year. Unless she's declined in the past few years during COVID, seems fine Rita Moreno: probably needs no comment. Norman Lear likely slipped her the immortality juice. Gena Rowlands: not especially active but pops up on her son's Instagram from time to time (most recently July 16). No obvious signs of poor health. Lois Smith: acts regularly in high-profile stuff and just won a Tony. Seemed sharp in the acceptance speech. Claire Bloom: looked great in a lengthy 2017 interview with Norman Lloyd and still acts. Barbara Barrie: appeared at some Broadway premieres last year. Has looked virtually the same for decades now. Hmm...: Joanne Woodward: has had Alzheimer's for ~15 years now. Hasn't been photographed since 2013. Recent documentary about her and Paul Newman implies she doesn't remember her husband or her career. Frances Sternhagen: hasn't acted in a decade or so. Don't see anything from her after 2013. Never a huge name, though, and could feasibly just be peacefully retired Vivian Pickles: hasn't acted this century and don't see anything from her since this Criterion post from 2012, so who knows TL;DR pretty much all of them seem to be fit as a fiddle, with Woodward as the only one known to be in failing health. So... might as well just pick one at random! Went with Bloom.

(Wiki) Gene LeBell dead

Mary Ellin Barrett, author (wrote three novels and Irving Berlin: a Daughter's Memoir), daughter of Irving Berlin, died last month at 95: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/arts/music/mary-ellin-barrett-dead.html

But Fungus the Bogeyman - that's the best IMHO

(Wiki) Hushang Ebtehaj dead

Sir Miles Warren, NZ architect (Warren and Mahoney, Christchurch Town Hall) and gardener (Ohinetahi) mentioned here before, dead at 93. Also a Member of the Order of New Zealand and one of the Twelve Local Heroes of Christchurch (2004-2009). Only three are still alive, 7 have died since the project started in 2004. Living ones: Frank Dickson (ca. 1932) former Canterbury Savings Bank chief executive Sir Tipene O'Regan (1939) Maori leader, academic Sir Richard Hadlee (1951) Cricketer.

Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian politician who served as the 32nd President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, is 71 today. Lucas Till, American film and television actor known for his role as Havok in "X-Men: First Class" (2011), "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014) and "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016), is 32 today. He later starred in the title role of the CBS reboot of "MacGyver".

If only the committee had picked her in 2022 she would have survived the year.

New York Times says Scottsdale, Arizona for Dozier. Surprised myself, but there you go. Now, where did Raymond Briggs die? Lawdy...

Denise Dowse The 64 year old charecter actress is in a coma brought on by meningitis. Over the last 30 years she has appeared on dozens of us tv programs such as Beverly Hills 90210,Seinfeld,Grey's Anatomy Insecure, Charmed,Sister Sister ,Bones etc.

Thank God we got that all-important comment from Cliff posted! Phew I feel better. SirC

Definitely deserves a place on next year's list if she lives that long.

Olivia Newton-John puts me on 5 too.

Olivia Newton-john is 5 for me I think. The cruellest of second halves of the year.

Olivia Newton-John is a hit for a few of us here.

On this day in 1955 famous Portuguese born Brazilian samba singer , dancer, Broadway and film actress Carmen Miranda died aged 46 in Beverly Hills from a heart attack thought to have been brought on by years of alcoholism and smoking as well as latterly using barbiturates and amphetamines. Among her film credits in Hollywood were Greenwich Village (1944) with Don America, Weekend in Havana (1941) alongside Alice Faye and The Gangs all here (1943) again with Alice Faye. There were some earlier work in Brazilian films and a huge and succesful career in music. Carmen was notoriously private and discreet but there are lots of rumours and claims about men she had romances with including John Wayne and Dana Andrews. She was nicknamed early on as the Brazilian bombshell and a fruit hat was her signature fashion. On this day in 2015 former Welsh footballer Tony Millington died aged 72. He played for Wales national team as well as West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace, Peterborough and Swansea.

As the expression goes, if that man fell into a barrel of tits he'd come out sucking his thumb.

On this day in 1999 american actor Victor Mature of Hollywoods golden age died aged 86 of leukemia. His most famous role would be as Samson in 1949 Hollywood Biblical epic Samson and Delilah opposite Hedy Lamarr. Other film credits include another biblical epic The Robe (1953) playing the role of defiant Greek slave Demetrius. The story being centered around the roman military tribune responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, My Darling Clementine (1946)alongside Linda Darnell, musical comedy Red , Hot and Blue (1949) opposite leading lady Betty Hutton (Grable, Betty Hutton and Rita Hayworth being leading ladies he was cast opposite in musicals), The Long Haul (1957) with Diana Dors and and Dangerous Mission (1954) along with Piper Laurie and Vincent Price. Victor had a bit of a falling out with 20th Century Fox who he was in contract with. They wanted him to be a supporting cast member to Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward in Untamed in 1955. He refused complaining he had worked almost non stop for two years and needed a holiday. They replaced him with Richard Egan and put him on a 'friendly suspension ' Mature later signed a two film contract with Columbia Pictures but just before he began shooting his first film The Last Frontier Fox insisted he had to fulfil his contractual obligations to them first and was hauled back to film his last Fox studios film-Violent Saturday. Victor got bored of acting and retired aged 46 saying the job wasn't fun anymore and his finances were now OK. He was lured back though after 5 years to parody himself in Neil Simon cowritten film After the Fox about an ageing actor. He married 5 times and had one child from his final marriage to opera singer Loretta Sebena- as well as having previously been engaged to Rita Hayworth and Anne Shirley.

On this day in 1966 american stand up comedian and satirist Lenny Bruce died aged 40 from a morphine overdose. Drug taking paraphernalia was found by his dead body in his home in the Hollywood Hills- the photos of this were snapped up and bought by his friend Phil Spector to stop such photos being circulated and seen by the public and degrading his late friend. In 1961 Lenny was arrested on stage for using the word cocksucker and was frequently arrested over the years for similar reasons under very zealous obscenity laws at the time. Eventually he was convicted but this was overturned posthumously.

On this day in 1986 Roy Cohn , a prominent american lawyer, prosecutor and chief counsel for Joseph McCarthy during the notorious McCarthy political witch-hunt in the US in the 1950s died aged 59 from AIDS complications . A controversial figure, many of his critics have accused him of demagogury tactics in his style of arguing when pursuing prosecutions. In 1951 Cohn played a key prominent role in the famous espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg that resulted in their execution. A trial that a number of historians feel established their guilt at some level but not the case for their execution which was given impetus by political meddling and overblown exagerated bombastic rhetoric and arguing by the likes of Cohn.

Ok then! Bernard Cribbins a hit for me here! Give me points or not!

Irish Broadcaster Marian Finucane passed away at 69 years. https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0102/1104037-marian-finucane/

I know, I know, you gotta do what you love, but can't you love Scrabble?