Actor, Playwright, Artist, Comedian, Magician, "Man of A Thousand Voices" (including Mighty Mouse,) "Beloved Herring Maven"
Mr. Ira Stadlen (Stage name: "
Captain" Allen Swift) has
passed away at the age of 87. Throughout his career, Mr. Stadler voiced characters in more than 30,000 television and radio commercials, as well as cartoons such as
Underdog,
Tom and Jerry and
Diver Dan, but some might remember him most as the man who saved
Howdy Doody. His nephew
has posted a remembrance on his blog, which includes a link to a "novelty 45" mp3 recording of Swift's
"Are You Lonesome Tonight."
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Apr 28, 2010 -
13 comments
Director John Frankenheimer is dead. I don't want to make this out to be one of those "random celebrity dies and is suddenly hailed as a genius" things, but Frankenheimer's made quite a few
damn good movies (and, yes, some bad ones). While his
later works weren't nearly as great as some of his
earlier films, his gift for filming action never went away: his 1998 film
Ronin wound up on
several lists of the "best car chases on film". He was supposed to helm the upcoming
Exorcist prequel, but failing health forced him to step aside. Despite the dodgy source material, I would have really liked to see Frankenheimer's take on it. He'll be missed.
posted by toddshot
on Jul 6, 2002 -
34 comments