"Starsky & Hutch" Actor David Soul 1943-2024 Memorial Video

David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943 – January 4, 2024) was an American and British actor and singer. With a career spanning five decades, he rose to prominence for portraying Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the American television series Starsky & Hutch from 1975 to 1979. His other notable roles included Joshua Bolt on Here Come the Brides from 1968 to 1970 and as the lead actor in the 1979 American TV movie Salem's Lot. Soul also had moderate success as a film actor when he portrayed Officer John Davis in Magnum Force in 1973.

During his career he also found success as a singer, achieving a number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 with "Don't Give Up on Us," which also peaked at number one in the UK and Canada. Soul achieved a further four top 10 entries and an additional number one single on the UK Singles Chart with "Silver Lady." In the 1990s he moved to the United Kingdom and found renewed success on the West End stage. He also made cameo appearances in British TV shows, including Little Britain, Holby City, and Lewis.

Soul was a three-pack-a-day cigarette smoker for fifty years. Although he had stopped smoking ten years prior to his death, he was seriously affected by COPD and had also had a lung removed due to cancer. Soul died in a London hospital, surrounded by his family, on January 4, 2024, at the age of 80.

-- Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Soul

"Route 66" Actor George Maharis 1928-2023 Memorial Video

George Maharis (September 1, 1928 – May 24, 2023) was an American actor, singer, and visual artist who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66. Maharis also recorded several pop music albums at the height of his fame.

A string of films followed, including Quick, Before It Melts (1964), The Satan Bug and Sylvia (both 1965), A Covenant with Death and The Happening (both 1967), and The Desperados (1969).

Returning to series television in 1970, Maharis starred as criminologist Jonathan Croft in The Most Deadly Game. 

Maharis modeled fully nude for the centerfold of the July 1973 issue of Playgirl magazine, one of the first celebrities to do so. It was the magazine's second issue.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Maharis had featured roles in several television movies and also guest-starred on numerous television series, including Mission: Impossible, Fantasy Island, Kojak, McMillan & Wife, Barnaby Jones, Police Story, Cannon, Night Gallery, and Marcus Welby M.D.

George Maharis died at his Beverly Hills home on May 24, 2023, at the age of 94.

-- Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Maharis

"The Price is Right" TV Host Bob Barker 1923-2023 Memorial Video

Robert William Barker (December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023) was an American television game show host. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. He also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.

Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation and was an enrolled member of the Sioux tribe. He joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. Barker worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, he moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. He began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. Barker began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. He became an advocate for animal rights and of animal rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. He continued to make occasional appearances for several years into his retirement until 2015. Bob Barker died from natural causes at his home in the Hollywood Hills on August 26, 2023, at the age of 99. He will be interred alongside his wife at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills. -- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barker

Singer Tony Bennett 1926-2023 Memorial Video

Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He amassed many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Bennett was named an NEA Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honoree and founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York. He sold more than 50 million records worldwide and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as a U.S. Army infantryman in the European Theater. Afterward, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records and had his first number-one popular song with "Because of You" in 1951. Several popular tracks such as "Rags to Riches" followed in early 1953. He then refined his approach to encompass jazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Swings, Bennett Sings. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." His career and personal life experienced an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era. Bennett staged a comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s, putting out gold record albums again and expanding his reach to the MTV generation while keeping his musical style intact.

Bennett continued to create popular and critically praised work into the 21st century. He attracted renewed acclaim late in his career for his collaboration with Lady Gaga, which began with the album Cheek to Cheek (2014); the two performers toured together to promote the album throughout 2014 and 2015. With the release of the duo's second album, Love for Sale (2021), Bennett broke the individual record for the longest run of a top-10 album on the Billboard 200 chart for any living artist; his first top-10 record was I Left My Heart in San Francisco in 1962. Bennett also broke the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material, at the age of 95 years and 60 days.

In February 2021, Bennett revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016. Due to the slow progression of his illness, he continued to record, tour, and perform until his retirement from concerts due to physical challenges, which was announced after his final performances on August 3 and 5, 2021, at Radio City Music Hall.

Bennett died at his home in New York City on July 21, 2023, following a seven-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. His family said he kept singing to the end, lastly "Because of You." He was hailed as the "champion" and "legendary interpreter" of the Great American Songbook.

-- wikipedia

"Pal Joey" Actress & Singer Vivienne Segal 1992 Westwood Village Cemetery

Vivienne Sonia Segal (April 19, 1897 – December 29, 1992) was an American actress and singer.[1]

Early years

Segal was born on April 19, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the elder daughter of Jewish parents, Bernard Segal (a physician) and Paula (née Hahn) Segal, who encouraged Vivienne and her sister, Louise, to seek careers in show business.[2] Her obituary in The Guardian reported that her father "underwrote a local opera company in order to give her the chance to sing."[3]

Career

Segal's career began when she was 15 years old and began performing with the Philadelphia Operatic Society.[4] Her Broadway debut came in The Blue Paradise (1915),[5] a production that was underwritten by her father.[3] In 1924 and 1925, she was a member of the Ziegfeld Follies.[6] She was also a performer on the CBS Radio program Accordiana in 1934.[7]

Segal may be best remembered for creating the role of Vera Simpson in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's Pal Joey and introducing the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." Pal Joey opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre December 25, 1940, with a cast that included Gene Kelly and June Havoc.[8] She also starred as Morgan LeFay in the Rodgers and Hart revival of A Connecticut Yankee in 1942.[9] One of Lorenz Hart's last songs, "To Keep My Love Alive," was written specifically for her in this show.[3]

Since the 1940 Pal Joey production went unrecorded, a studio cast was assembled in 1950 to record the musical. In 2003, this recording was reissued on CD by Columbia Broadway Masterworks in a release featuring the full show's numbers plus two bonus tracks: Harold Lang singing "I Could Write a Book" (from the CBS TV show Shower of Stars) and Segal singing "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" on the CBS Radio show Stage Struck, interviewed by Mike Wallace recalling Hart's promise to write her a show.[10] In 1952, she played in Pal Joey again, when it was revived on Broadway.[2]

Vivienne Segal retired from acting in 1966 following a guest appearance on Perry Mason as Pauline Thorsen in "The Case of the Tsarina's Tiara."

Marriages

Segal and actor Robert Ames eloped in 1923; they divorced in 1926.[2] In 1950, she married television executive Hubbell Robinson, Jr.[1] Both unions were childless.[11]

Death

Segal died in Beverly Hills, California of heart failure on December 29, 1992, aged 95.[1] Her ashes were scattered in the Rose Garden at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Recognition

In 1952, Segal received a Donaldson Award in the Best Performance-Actress (Musical Division) category for her performance in the revival of Pal Joey.[12]

Musical theater

1915 The Blue Paradise
1917 My Lady's Glove
1917 Miss 1917
1918 Oh, Lady! Lady!!
1919 The Little Whopper
1921 A Dangerous Maid (as a replacement)
1922 The Yankee Princess
1923 Adrienne
1924 Ziegfeld Follies
1925 Ziegfeld Follies
1925 Florida Girl
1926 Castles in the Air
1926 The Desert Song
1928 The Three Musketeers

1931 The Chocolate Soldier

1938 I Married an Angel

1940 Pal Joey

1943 A Connecticut Yankee Broadway revival

1947 Music in My Heart
1950 Great to Be Alive!
1952 Pal Joey Broadway revival

Films

Year Title Role Notes

1929 Will You Remember? Short.

1930 Song of the West Virginia Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Lost film.

1930 Bride of the Regiment Countess Anna-Marie Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Lost film.

1930 Golden Dawn Dawn Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Survives in black and white.

1930 Viennese Nights Elsa Hofner Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Survives in color.

1933 Fifi Fifi Short.
1934 The Cat and the Fiddle Odette Filmed in black and white with Technicolor finale.
1934 Soup for Nuts Prima Donna Short.

References

1. William Grimes (December 30, 1992). "Vivienne Segal, 95, a Stage Star In Roles Sweet to Cynical, Is Dead". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-07. Vivienne Segal, a musical-comedy star who appeared on Broadway in 'The Desert Song,' 'No, No, Nanette,' and 'Pal Joey,' died yesterday in Los Angeles. She was 95 years old and lived in Beverly Hills. She died of heart failure, said Robert Sidney, a friend. ...
2. Stark, Bonnie Rothbart. "Vivienne Segal". Encyclopedia. Jewish Women's Archive. 
3. Harris, Dale (2 January 1993). "Unbothered and bewitching". The Guardian. England, London. p. 24. 
4. "Star Quits 'Goody' Types". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. 2 January 1940. p. 20 - Part I. 
5. "Vivienne Segal". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. 
6. "Vivienne Segal". Masterworks Broadway. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. 
7. Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 11.
8. "Playbill". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. 
9. Suskin, Steven (1990). Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre. New York: Schrimmer Books, pp. 154–157. ISBN 0-02-872625-1.
10. http://www.lorenzhart.org/disco_joey1950.htm
11. Grimes, William (30 December 1992). "Vivienne Segal, 95, a Stage Star In Roles Sweet to Cynical, Is Dead" – via NYTimes.com.
12 "The Winners of the 9th Annual Donaldson Awards 1951-1" (PDF). Billboard. June 21, 1952. p. 47. 

Sources

Sies, Luther F. Encyclopedia of American Radio: 1920-1960. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0452-3