http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dick-gautier-dead-get-smart-actor-was-85-964369



Dick Gautier, who starred on Broadway in the original production of Bye, Bye Birdie and then famously played Hymie the Robot on the sitcom Get Smart, has died. He was 85.

Gautier died Friday night at an assisted living facility in Arcadia, Calif., after a long illness, his daughter Denise told The Hollywood Reporter.

Gautier, who started his career as a stand-up comic, received a Tony nomination for playing Conrad Birdie, the character based on Elvis Presley, in the memorable, original 1960 production of Bye, Bye Birdie, starring Dick Van Dyke.

The handsome actor appeared as Hymie on just six episodes of Get Smart over four seasons, yet he was one of the spy spoof's most popular characters.

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http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/7655255/magic-alex-mardas-beatles-dead



Alexis Mardas, better known to Beatles fans as "Magic Alex," has died at age 74, according to multiple news reports, including CNN Greece. He was reportedly found dead in his apartment of natural causes. News IT reported he had been dead several days before his body was found.

Mardas was probably one of the more infamous characters from the Beatles universe. John Lennon was reportedly introduced to him by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones after Mardas created a psychedelic light box for them. He was friendly with John Dunbar, who was a friend of Paul McCartney's and the husband of Marianne Faithful before she was involved with Mick Jagger.

His strange electronic gadgets were embraced by all of the Beatles, but especially Lennon, who dubbed him "Magic Alex." Some of his ideas had foresight, like the phone that dialed by voice recognition and displayed the numbers of callers. But then there were others, like the electronic brooches that made noise and flashed in no particular order, the artificial sun using laser beams and the invisible curtain that used ultrasonic vibrations to screen the Beatles from their fans.

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Lennon thought so much of him that, according to author Philip Norman, he introduced him at a group meeting as "my new guru." His friendship with the band was also demonstrated in the fact he went on several holidays with various members of the group. When Mardas married in 1968, The Beatles attended his wedding. And when The Beatles began Apple Corps, Mardas was hired to head Apple Electronics, which author Tony Bramwell in his book Magical Mystery Tours: My Life With The Beatles called "a waste of time and money." He was also chosen to design lighting for The Beatles' newly opened Apple Boutique and reportedly tried to help them buy a Greek island.

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http://lubbockonline.com/entertainment/2017-01-11/friend-allsup-guitarist-who-toured-holly-used-life-after-coin-flip-good

Friend: Allsup, guitarist who toured with Holly, used life after coin flip ‘for good’



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Steele, who spoke with the guitarist’s wife, confirmed Allsup died Wednesday. He was 85.

“Tommy’s body may have been 85, but his hands were as young as ever, and so was his mind,” said Steele, adding he’s a longtime friend of the Holly family and an avid fan and researcher of Holly and the Crickets. “He played unbelievable. It was almost effortless, or seamless.”

Allsup outlived Holly, teenage singer Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, who all died Feb. 3, 1959, when the plane they were travelling in after a show crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Holly initially offered members of his touring band, including Allsup, a spot on the four-seater aircraft he chartered after a Winter Dance Party tour across the Midwest, according to A-J Media archives.

Bob Hale, a disc jockey at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, told reporters he flipped the coin that decided whether Allsup or Valens would have the last seat.

It was Allsup who pulled out a 50-cent piece and flipped it.

He lost the coin flip and was asked decades later by music historian Bill Griggs what happened to the coin. Allsup said that he kept it.

“It saved my life,” Allsup told Griggs.

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https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/814669939726368769

Neil deGrasse Tyson Verified account
?@neiltyson
Athlete, Educator, Civil Rights Activist, Public Servant, Dad. RIP Cyril DeGrasse Tyson b. Oct 19, 1927 — d. Dec 29, 2016.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gorbachev-resigns-as-president-of-the-ussr

Mikhail Gorbachev announces that he is resigning as president of the Soviet Union. In truth, there was not much of a Soviet Union from which to resign—just four days earlier, 11 of the former Soviet republics had established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), effectively dismembering the USSR. The Soviet Union, for all intents and purposes, had already ceased to exist.

In his farewell speech to the nation, Gorbachev indicated that the recent establishment of the CIS was the primary motive for his resignation, claiming he was “concerned about the fact that the people in this country are ceasing to become citizens of a great power and the consequences may be very difficult for all of us to deal with.” In words that were sometimes prideful, sometimes resentful, Gorbachev stated that he stood on his record of achievement. He had, he claimed, overseen the Soviet Union’s trip down the “road of democracy.” His reforms “steered” the communist economy “toward the market economy.” He declared that the Russian people were “living in a new world” in which an “end has been put to the Cold War and to the arms race.” Admitting “there were mistakes made,” Gorbachev remained adamant that he “never had any regrets” about the policies he pursued.

In reality, Gorbachev had lost much of his power and prestige in the Soviet Union even before the establishment of the CIS. The economy was unstable. No one seemed pleased by Gorbachev-some opponents demanded even more political freedom while hard-liners in his government opposed any movement toward reform. In August 1991, he survived a coup attempt only through the assistance of Russian Federation president Boris Yeltsin. Following the failed attempt, Yeltsin became a vocal critic of the slow pace of economic and political reforms in the country. As Gorbachev’s power slipped away, Yeltsin took over the Kremlin and other Soviet government facilities and replaced the Soviet flag with the flag of Russia. After over 70 years of existence, the Soviet Union-America’s archenemy in the Cold War-was gone.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Bernard-Fox-Film-and-TV-Star-of-BEWITCHED-TITANIC-THE-MUMMY-and-More-Passes-Away-20161214#



BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that famous welsh actor, Bernard Fox, known to millions of fans for his iconic roles of Dr. Bombay on the hit series Bewitched and the naive, bumbling Colonel Crittendon on Hogan's Heroes, as well as key roles in Titanic (1997), The Mummy (1999) and daytimes General Hospital has died today at Valley presbyterian hospital in Van Nuys of heart failure.

Mr. FOX started his film career at the age of only 18 months and by the age of 14 he was an assistant manager of a theatre.

After his naval services in the Royal Navy during World War II he resumed his career and soon was in 30 film credits from 1956 to 2004 include two films revolving around the sinking of RMS Titanic, separated by 39 years. FOX was in both Titanic (1997) (as Colonel Archibald Gracie IV) and the earlier version of the tragedy A Night to Remember (1958) (uncredited as Frederick Fleet). In the latter, he delivered the line "Iceberg dead ahead, sir!" while playing the part of a sailor in the ship's crow's nest.

Other film roles ranged from supporting parts in broad comedies (Yellowbeard, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, and The Private Eyes, playing a homicidal butler in the last) to supplying THE VOICE of the Chairmouse in the Disney animated features The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. He played the role of Winston Havelock, a retired Air Force pilot, in the 1999 adventure film The Mummy. In 2004, FOX made his final appearance before retirement in Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes.

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