THEGAYUK

Tag: RIP

All the latest breaking news on people who have recently died. Browse THEGAYUK’s complete collection of news, articles and commentary on people who have recently died.

  • RIP: Anne Meara Dies

    Anne Meara actress and comedian and wife of Jerry Stiller and mother of actor Ben Stiller and of actress Amy Stiller died yesterday aged 85.

     

    Extremely well-known to US Audiences, she is instantly recognisable to us as for her role as Cynthia’s meddling mother-in-law in Sex And The City. Married to Stiller for 61 years during which they constantly performed together, although he and Ben became bigger stars, Ms. Meara still appeared in over forty movies in her long career that included Fame, The Boys From Brazil, The Daytrippers and she co-starred with her son in Zoolander and The Night At The Museum.

    Here is a clip of Jerry and Anne on Good Morning Joe TV Show in 2012 when they were honoured by the Actors Fund.

    @RogerWalkerDack

  • Leading UK HIV Specialist, Martin Fisher Dies

    Professor Martin Fisher a leading HIV specialist has died. He was instrumental in field of HIV medicine and research over two decades. (more…)

  • 18-Year-Old Porn Star Commits Suicide After Being Fired

    An eighteen-year-old porn star has died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after suspected shooting at a restaurant where co-workers were.

    The Corbin Fisher star, Christopher Luke McAteer, 18, died in hospital over the weekend from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after being found in his car in Butler County, KY, Owenboro police have confirmed.

    According to reports, employees claim Ateer (Clay) had been fired for making threats. Minutes later he drove by the restaurant where co-workers were dining, firing five shots into the building before turning the gun on himself. Nobody was hurt in the drive by shooting.

    The actor’s scenes have now been removed from the Corbin Fisher service.

    A statement from his family given to NBC affiliate WECT read, “He was reared in a Christian home where he was taught about the love and sovereignty of God, and, most importantly, the grace and forgiveness found through His son, Jesus Christ

    “Thankfully, Luke knew the Lord, and had recently rededicated his life. He had been pursuing a daily relationship with Christ in the recent weeks before his unfortunate loss with the battle of depression.”

    If you’re feeling depressed suicidal and need to talk with somebody, visit: http://www.llgs.org.uk or call 0300 330 0630

  • RIP: Gay Film Maker Richard Glatzer Dies

    Filmmaker Richard Glatzer, the co-writer and co-director of Still Alice, died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Glatzer and husband Wash Westmoreland were a writing and directing team who were responsible for a string of very successful eclectic indie movies.

    Their first collaboration in 2001 was The Fluffer a comedy about a young man employed for a ‘vital role’ in the adult entertainment industry who finds himself falling for a gay-for-pay porn star whose hedonistic lifestyle may lead them both to destruction. In 2006 the pair won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for Quinceañera with a plot that focused on a multigenerational Mexican-American family preparing for their daughter’s quinceañera against the backdrop of a gentrifying neighbourhood in LA. Then Glatzer and Westmoreland executive-produced a heart-breaking movie in 2008 called Pedro about Pedro Zamora the AIDS activist who was cast on MTV’s The Real World and died aged 22,

    Their last film Still Alice is a movie about a fifty-year-old linguistics professor who develops early onset Alzheimer’s disease for which Julianne Moore won a Best Actress Academy Award. Some critics have suggested a connection between Glatzer’s own battle with ALS and the raw, honest depiction of illness in the film.

    British-born Westmoreland and Glatzer’s partner for 20 years issued the following statement:

    ‘I am devastated. Rich was my soul mate, my collaborator, my best friend and my life. Seeing him battle ALS for four years with such grace and courage inspired me and all who knew him.

    In this dark time, I take some consolation in the fact that he got to see Still Alice go out into the world. He put his heart and soul into that film, and the fact that it touched so many people was a constant joy to him.

    Thank you to everyone for this huge outpouring of love. Richard was a unique guy — opinionated, funny, caring, gregarious, generous, and so so smart. A true artist and a brilliant man. I treasure every day of the short twenty years we had together.

    I cannot believe he has gone. But in my heart and the hearts of those who loved him he will always be alive.’

    Richard Glatzer (January 28, 1952 – March 10, 2015)

  • RIP: Man Of The Year Dirk Shafer Dies

    Dirk Shafer the former Playgirl centrefold who came out as gay and then made the mockumentary ‘Man Of The Year’ about his experiences has died aged 52.

    Shafer first came to public attention when he appeared at age 27 in a photo spread in Playgirl Magazines ‘Holiday 1990’ issue, and was chosen as their Man Of The Year in 1992. He documented all the process and pressures he was under from all sides to pose as straight into the 1995 movie he directed and starred in.

    Shafer also made the movie Circuit which looked t the gay party scene, and later appeared on TV’s Will & Grace. The model and actor appeared in another Playgirl centrefold in 2012 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his first layout

  • RIP: Albert Maysles: Director Of Grey Gardens Dies

    Albert Maysles, the director who, alongside his brother David, revolutionised documentary filmmaking, died at the age of 88 Thursday night. Amongst his long body of work, he will always fondly be known for introducing Little Edie to the world in Grey Gardens which has become classic particularly among the gay community.

    In 1975 the Maysles had been making a film on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ younger sister Lee Radziwill, the brothers met Edith Bouvier Beale, Onassis’ free-spirited cousin, and her mother, affectionately known as “Big Edie.” The Maysles scrapped their planned film on Radziwill and began to film the story of Big and Little Edie living in squalor in their near-condemned Long Island mansion.

    Best known for their love of cinéma vérité the Brothers worked spanned from their documentary in 1964 The Beatles: The First US Visit to a series of movies on the artist Christo which earned them an Oscar Nomination.

    David Maysles, the younger brother died in 1987 and since then Albert has continued to make films the latest of which is Iris a profile of 93-year iconic fashion maven Iris Apfel which is being released next month.

    PS. Iris is being screened at Miami International Film Festival this weekend and Mr Maysles and Ms Apfel had agreed to an interview with THEGAYUK Film Editor Roger Walker-Dack.

  • RIP: Leonard Nimoy, Lived Long And Prospered

    The veteran classically trained actor who was known the world over as Spock the deadpan Vulcan logician whose cool head helped Captain Kirk out of many a near miss on ‘STAR TREK’ has died at aged 83.

    Back in 1968 when talking about the character he created he told a New York Times reporter, “‘It’s all in the years. Five words. That’s what they want to hear”. His early autobiography I am Not Spock was wildly misconstrued as his resentment to his ticket to fame and fortune, but he corrected that misunderstanding with his second memoir in 1995 called ‘I Am Spock’.

    In fact he was so wedded the most famous space series of all time that after his screen death he went on to direct two Star Trek movies: The Search for Spock in 1984, and The Voyage Home in 1986 for which he also wrote the story. He was in fact so much more than just an actor and enjoyed a hugely successful career that included directing the blockbuster comedy Three Men and A Baby’ acting on stage and both big and small screens as well as making several albums of his music, photography (with several exhibitions mounted of his portraiture) and prolifically producing books of his poetry.

    Among the outpouring of tributes that are all over the media today, one of the most endearing ones came from George Takei the actor who played Sulu alongside him in Star Trek for many years. He said, “Today, the world lost a great man, and I lost a great friend. We return you now to the stars, Leonard. You taught us to “Live Long And Prosper,” and you indeed did, friend. I shall miss you in so many, many ways.”

    As we Trekkies and non-Trekkies will too.

  • Lesley Gore, the party girl, dies 68

    The American singer/songwriter and out Lesley Gore who has just died aged 68 will always be very fondly remembered for her big hits in the 1960s, which became some of the very first ‘gay anthems’.

    Her infectious and popular songs that made her a worldwide success included “It’s My Party (I Can Cry If Of I Want Too)” recorded when she was just 16-years-old, and “It’s Judy’s Turn to Cry”, and “You Don’t Own Me” all had the most campest lyrics ever. In 1965, she appeared in the beach party beach party film ‘The Girls on The Beach’ in which she performed three songs: Leave Me Alone, It’s Gotta Be You and I Don’t Want to Be a Loser.

    Lesley Gore composed songs for the 1980 movie Fame for which she received an Academy Award Nomination, and she recorded her last album in 2005 entitled Ever Since. An out lesbian, who had been with her partner Lpis Sasson a jeweller designer for 33 years, Ms Gore also hosted the PBS TV series In The Life which focused ion LGBT matters in 2004.

    Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein,[ May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015)

  • OBITUARY | Steve Strange, leading light of the 80s

    Steve Strange one of the leading lights of the 1980’s new wave/punk music scene and a prominent promoter in London’s vibrant nightclub scene, has died at the age of 55.

    Strange was the lead singer and frontman of the group Visage who were closely linked to the burgeoning ‘New Romantic’ fashion movement of that period, and who were best know for their hit ‘Fade to Grey’. He and fellow band member Rusty Egan also hosted nights at the celebrated Blitz Club in Covent Garden, one of the ‘hot’ spots to be seen and hear the new music that was emerging. From there they parlayed their success into packed nights at Camden Palace which people still talk about today with such great affection. They were both members of the extraordinary colourful set that fellow member Boy George captured in his autobiographical show Taboo.

    In Blizted! his own very candid autobiography Strange made it known that he had relationships with both men and women, and wrote very open and frankly of his long battle with his heroin addiction.

    Boy George tweeted he was ‘heartbroken’ about the death of Strange adding, “he was such a big part of my life”. It’s a sentiment shared by all of us who grew up and/or ‘came out’ during that glorious time when people like Strange were real life stars and not just ‘reality’ ones.

    Steve Strange (Steven John Harrington) 28th May 1959 – 12th February 2015

  • Demis Roussos: King Of Kitsch Kaftans Dies

    Larger than life Greek pop singer Demis Roussos who started his career as part of the progressive rock group Aphrodite’s Child along with fellow member Vangelis, became a major presence as a solo artist in the UK pop scene in the mid-1970s.

    His most successful single “Forever And Ever” was No. 1 in the Charts in 1976, and he followed that with five other Top Ten Hits. As his career grew so did his waistline and so too did his signature kaftans which were the epitome of camp, and they just got bigger and brasher.

    Roussos’s other claim to fame came in June 1985, when he was one of the passengers of TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome, which was hijacked by Hezbollah-backed terrorists and diverted to Beirut. He and most of the 153 passengers were held on the plane for 17 days.

    Demis Roussos 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015

  • Anne Kirkbride And The End Of An Era

    We have lost a real TV legend. The warmth and genuine sorrow expressed at the tragic death of Anne Kirkbride shows how over four decades, the character of Deirdre Barlow had earned a place in more than just the Soap Hall of Fame.

    Think of that character – first there were the distinctive physical characteristics; the big glasses of course, the unique vocal tics and the neck vein that was so prominent it had Facebook pages devoted to it. Then you focus in on the stories and the moments.

    Scrambling desperately through the scattered contents of a lorry that had crashed into The Rovers, looking for Baby Tracey.

    Marrying Ken in the same week as the Royal Wedding and being the only woman, aside from Camilla, who came close to stealing focus from Diana.

    ”Free Deirdre”

    And of course… The Ken-Deirdre-Mike Baldwin love triangle.

    It is not exaggerating to say that the character of Deirdre was at the centre of some of the most watched and talked about TV moments of the past 40 years.

    These were big moments. To coin that horrible American phrase, watercooler moments. But such moments are getting rarer. In a time of Netflix and it’s VOD rivals and hundreds of digital TV channels, the days when a number in excess of 20 million people would sit down and watch a single TV show are long gone.

    The soaps of course still have that power to occasionally produce storylines that land on the front of the tabloids, as do reality shows. But with an increasingly splintered audience even they are not quite the big conversation pieces they would have been even 10 years ago.

    Binge watching means that we of course still talk about telly. Witness a group of Breaking Bad devotees getting together. But we now tend to watch at our own pace. The idea of a family gathering in the living room to stare at the box in the corner and watch the same thing at the same time is becoming increasing quaint, the relic of a pre internet age.

    The mourning for Anne Kirkbride is a sign of a character that we have watched several times a week over the past forty years who was part of big moments we have shared. Moments that made millions of us stop and watch.

    When Ken and Deirdre were eventually reconciled, the news was announced on the scoreboard at Old Trafford during a game between Manchester United and Arsenal. It read: “Ken and Deirdre reunited. Ken – 1, Mike – 0.” If such a storyline happened now, it would be all over Twitter and Facebook or we’d wait to catch up online at the weekend.

    TV has changed. How we watch it has changed too. In a world of often bewildering choice though, there is still a place for sharp writing and strong acting. But now technology means that we are as likely to find it as our own speed, sometimes years after the TV shows we obsess over were first produced. There may never be a soap plot that gets tens of millions of us holding our breath one night quite like Deirdre being sent to jail or the time that Mike Baldwin knocked on the door. But for those of who us who saw it, discussed it and lived it we will never forget Anne Kikbride. She was part of our conversation. She was part of our lives.

     

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