Tag: deaths

One of the nation’s most honored comedians, Bob Hope, has died at the age of 100. His longtime publicist says Hope died last night of pneumonia, while surrounded by his family at home in Toluca Lake, California. Hope was a star in vaudeville, radio, television and film — most notably a string of “Road” movies with longtime friend Bing Crosby. For decades, he took his show on the road to military bases around the world, boosting the morale of servicemen from World War Two to the first Gulf War. He was admired by his peers, and generations of younger comedians. Woody Allen called Hope “the most influential comedian for me.” Hope appeared as a guest voice on The Simpsons in Season 4’s “Lisa The Beauty Queen”.

Velvet-voiced R&B crooner Barry White, whose lush baritone and throbbing musical compositions oozed sex appeal on songs like “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” died Friday. He was 58. His canyon-deep, butter-smooth vocals emphasized his songs’ sexually charged verbal foreplay, like on 1975’s “Love Serenade,” which began with White purring: “I want you the way you came into the world, I don’t want to feel no clothes.” The heavyset musician enjoyed three decades of fame for songs like “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” and “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me.” White had a guest role on two Simpsons episodes in 1993: “Whacking Day” and “Krusty Gets Kancelled.” Read More >>>

To his friends, he was James Miller, gentle and fun-loving, passionate about hiking, mountain climbing and, above all, flight. To boxing fans, he had another identity: The Fan Man. In 1993, before a nationally televised audience, Miller paraglided into an outdoor heavyweight fight in Las Vegas between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe and proceeded to get pummeled unconscious by Bowe’s entourage. His stunt was memorialized in a way James could appreciate: Fan Man made an appearance in a 1996 episode of The Simpsons.