Archive - Mar 2008

Aloha Airlines (1946 - March 30, 2008) is an American airline headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. It operates air cargo and contract air services out of its hub at Honolulu International Airport. The airline is scheduled to discontinue passenger services on March 31, 2008, however cargo services will continue to operate.

The airlines was founded as charter carrier Trans-Pacific Airlines by publisher Ruddy Tongg as a competitor to Hawaiian Airlines, commencing operations on Aloha Friday, July 26, 1946 with a single war-surplus Douglas C-47 (DC-3) on a flight from Honolulu to Maui and Hilo 

On March 30, 2008, 10 days after placing itself under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Aloha Airlines announced that March 31, 2008, would be the last day of scheduled passenger services both on transpacific and interisland routes.

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Sean Levert (September 28, 1968 - March 30, 2008).

I grew up in the 80's and I was a DJ at that time. I vaguely remember the name Levert (singing group). And I absolutely don't remember a single song from them. His father was a member of O'Jays.

Levert died at Cleveland hospital March 30, less than an hour after he was taken there from jail. We don't know the cause of his sudden death. Searn Levert was 39 years old at the time of his death.

Levert had been in the jail since March 24 (6 days earlier) awaiting transfer to a state prison for being $80,000 behind in child support payments.

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I grew up watching WWF wrestling. Now they are WWE.

• Paul Bearer (April 10, 1954 – March 5, 2013). manager of The Undertaker, Kane, Mick Foley and Vader.
  
• 'Macho Man' Randy Savage (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011) WWF Wrester, Dies 58
• Paul Perschmann - "Playboy" Buddy Rose - (born ? - died April 28, 2009) died 56
• Gary Hart (January 24, 1942 – March 16, 2008), Died 66.
  On-screen manager
  Cause of death: Died of heart attack.
• Fabulous Moolah (July 22, 1923 – November 2, 2007), died 84
  Cause of death: Complications from surgery
  * Share your memory - Fabulous Moolah's biography, leave comment
• The Missing Link (February 28, 1939 - August 16, 2007) Died 68
  Real Name: Byron James John "Dewey" Robertson
  Cause of Death: cancer
• Crush (January 31, 1963 - August 13, 2007) Died 43
  Real Name: Brian Keith Adams
  Cause of death: Prescription medications overdose
• Chris Benoit (May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) Died 43
  Cause of death: Suicide by Hanging
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• Sensational Sherri (February 8, 1958 – June 15, 2007) Died 49
  Real Name: Sherri Russell
  Cause of death: accidental overdose
• Bad News Brown (October 22, 1943 – March 6, 2007) Died 63
  Real Name: Allen James Coage
  Cause of death: Heart Attack
• Bam Bam Bigelow (September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007) Died 45
  Real Name: Scott Charles Bigelow
  Cause of death: Drugs, Heart Problem, Diabetes
• Johnny Grunge of Public Enemy (July 10, 1966 – February 16, 2006) Died 39
  Real Name: Michael "Mike" Durham
  Cause of death: sleep apnea complications
• Eddie Guerrero (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) Died 38
  Other Ring Name: Latino Heat
  Real Name: Eduardo "Eddie" Gory Guerrero Llanes
  Cause of death: Enlarged Heart due to drug use
• Big Bossman (May 2, 1963 – September 22, 2004) Died 41
  Real Name: Raymond W. Traylor, Jr.
  Cause of death: heart attack
• Hercules (May 7, 1957 - March 6, 2004) Died 46
  Real Name: Raymond Fernandez
  Cause of death: heart disease
• Jack Tunney (1935 – January 24, 2004) Died 69
  On-screen WWF President during Hulkamania
  Cause of death: Heart Attack (unconfirmed)
• Crash Holly (August 25, 1971 - November 6, 2003) Died 32
  Real Name: Michael John Lockwood
  Other Ring Name: The Green Ghost
  Cause of death: choked on his own vomit (Drug Overdose)
• Hawk of Road Warrior (September 12, 1958 – October 19, 2003) Died 45
  Real Name: Michael James Hegstrand
  Cause of death: heart attack
• Stu Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) Died 88
  Wrestler, trainer, promoter. Father of Bret and Owen Hart.
  Real Name: Stewart Edward "Stu" Hart
  Cause of death: Sufferef pneumonia, diabetes, arthritis, then died of a stroke.
• Miss Elizabeth (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003) Died 42
  Real Name: Elizabeth Ann Hulette
  Cause of death: combination of alcohol and drugs
• Mr. Perfect (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003) Died 44
  Real Name: Curtis Michael "Curt" Hennig
  Other Ring Name: Curt Hennig
  Cause of death: acute cocaine intoxication / combination of steroids and painkillers
• "Flyboy" Rocco Rock of The Public Enemy (September 1, 1953 – September 21, 2002) Died 49
  Real Name: Theodore James Petty
  Cause of death: heart attack
• The British Bulldog (November 27, 1962 – May 18, 2002) Died 39
  Real Name: David Boy Smith
  Cause of death: heart attack (steroid, human-growth hormones)
• Yokozuna (October 2, 1966 – October 23, 2000) Died 34
  Real Name: Rodney Agatupu Anoa'i
  Cause of death: fluid in his lungs (reported heart attack/heart failure)
• Gorilla Monsoon (June 4, 1937 - October 6, 1999), Died 62
  Real Name: Robert James "Gino" Marella
  Cause of death: heart failure from diabetes
• Owen Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) Died 34
  Real Name: Owen James Hart
  Other Ring Name: The Blue Blazer
  Cause of death: 50 foot fall from ceiling to ring
• "Ravishing" Rick Rude (December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999) Died 40
  Real Name: Richard Erwin Rood
  Cause of death: overdose of "mixed medications (including Steroid)
• The Junkyard Dog (December 13, 1952 – June 2, 1998) Died 45
  Real Name: Sylvester Ritter
  Cause of death: single-car accident (fell asleep the the wheel)
• André the Giant (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993) Died 46
  Real Name: André René Roussimoff
  Cause of death: congestive heart failure
• Vince McMahon, Sr. (July 6, 1914 –May 24, 1984) Died 69
  Founder of WWF, Father of Vince McMhahon
  Real Name: Vincent James McMahon
  Cause of death: Cancer

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Herb Peterson (1919 - March 25, 2008) is most known for being the inventor of the Egg McMuffin, in 1971. The breakfast business that he pioneered with this grew to an estimated $4-5 billion dollars of annual revenues for the fast food restaurant chain McDonald's, by 1993.

As a vice president at D'Arcy Advertising in Chicago, Peterson coined McDonald's first national advertising slogan, "Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day." He later became franchise co-owner and operator of six McDonald's restaurants in and around Santa Barbara, California.

He died peacefully in Santa Barbara, aged 89, on March 25, 2008

Peterson is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

A public memorial service will be held April 23 at All Saints by the Sea church in Montecito.

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Richard Widmark (December 26, 1914 - March 24, 2008) was an Academy Award-nominated American film actor.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Widmark has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6800 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2002, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Death of Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark was 93 years old at the time of his death.
Richard's wife stated that he had a fractured a vertebra recently which worsened his condition. We don't know the exact cause of his death. But Richard Widmark had an illness for a long time.

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Biography
Widmark grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and attended Lake Forest College, where he studied acting. He taught acting at the college after graduation, before debuting on radio in 1938 in Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories. He appeared on Broadway in 1943 in Kiss and Tell. He was unable to join the military during World War II because of a perforated eardrum.

Widmark's first movie appearance was in 1947's Kiss of Death, as the giggling, sociopathic villain Tommy Udo. His most notorious scene in the film found Udo pushing a wheelchair-bound old woman (played by Mildred Dunnock) down a flight of stairs to her death. Kiss of Death was a commercial and critical success, and started Widmark's seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor for his performance. Widmark's character was also the inspiration for the song, "The Ballad of Tommy Udo", by the band Kaleidoscope.

In 1950, Widmark co-starred with Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance and Zero Mostel in Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets, and with Gene Tierney in Jules Dassin's Night and the City, which are considered classic examples of film noir. Two years later, in 1952, Widmark had his handprints cast in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. During his stint at Fox, he appeared in The Street with No Name and Don't Bother to Knock with Marilyn Monroe among other projects. His later filmography includes Vincente Minnelli's 1955 cult film The Cobweb with Lauren Bacall.

Personal Life
Widmark was married to his first wife, Jean Hazlewood, a writer, for almost 55 years, from April 5, 1942 until her death on March 2, 1997. Their daughter, Anne Heath Widmark, an artist and author, married baseball legend Sandy Koufax on January 1, 1969 (but divorced in 1982). In September 1999, Widmark married Susan Blanchard, who earlier was Henry Fonda's third wife. From the 1950s until his death on March 24, 2008, Widmark resided in Roxbury, Connecticut.

Filmograpny:

Kiss of Death (1947)
The Street with No Name (1948)
Road House (1948)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)
Slattery's Hurricane (1949)
Night and the City (1950)
Panic in the Streets (1950)
No Way Out (1950)
Halls of Montezuma (1950)
The Frogmen (1951)
Red Skies of Montana (1952)
Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
O. Henry's Full House (1952)
My Pal Gus (1952)
Destination Gobi (1953)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Take the High Ground! (1953)
Hell and High Water (1954)
Garden of Evil (1954)
Broken Lance (1954)
A Prize of Gold (1955)
The Cobweb (1955)
Backlash (1956)
Run for the Sun (1956)
The Last Wagon (1956)
Saint Joan (1957)
Time Limit (1957)
The Law and Jake Wade (1958)
The Tunnel of Love (1958)
The Trap (1959)
 Warlock (1959)
The Alamo (1960)
The Secret Ways (1961)
Two Rode Together (1961)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
How the West Was Won (1962)
The Long Ships (1964)
Flight from Ashiya (1964)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
The Bedford Incident (1965)
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
The Way West (1967)
Madigan (1968)
A Talent for Loving (1969)
Death of a Gunfighter (1969)
The Moonshine War (1970)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
The Sell-Out (1976)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
The Domino Principle (1977)
Rollercoaster (1977)
Coma (1978)
The Swarm (1978)
Bear Island (1979)
National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1982)
Hanky Panky (1982)
Who Dares Wins (1982)
Against All Odds (1984)
True Colors (1991)
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996) (documentary) 

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4000th US soldier died on Sunday March 23, 2008. The US soldiers have more fans than some of the celebrities in Hollywood.

* hollywoodmemoir.com doesn't discuss politics & religions.  Comment closed

This was a minor new and detail is sketchy.

A construction worker was found dead (hung) at Mel Gibson's property in Agoura Hills. The person who died later identified as a construction foreman who helped created movie sets for some major movies including one of the Matrix trilogy.

Mel Gibson never lived in the property.  Mel Gibson has a church in the property.  Mel's daughter was married in that church.

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Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (December 16, 1917 – March 19, 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name.

In December 2007, the occasion of his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans, bidding them good-bye.

Clarke died in Sri Lanka at 1:30am on March 19, 2008 local time, after suffering from breathing problems, according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides

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Related topic - Remembering Johnny Grant  

After our beloved Johnny Grant's passing, Hollywood is looking for a new honorary mayor of Hollywood.  It's all good and normal.  What turns my stomach is that Hollywood is considering the billboard model Angelyne as one of the strong candidates.  There are better qualifying candidates such as Monty Hall (Let's Make a Deal).  He's a Canadian but I will take Monty over Angelyne anytime.

I have a feeling that Angelyne will not become the honorary mayor of Hollywood.  But, just the fact that she is being considered is an embarrassment to the world. Hollywood is losing it's class. I am very disappointed at this.

All the classy people in Hollywood are either dead or dying.  Pretty soon, the only people left will be the ones who flash their camel toes and shoot sex movies of themselves.  Disgusting... I'm going to puke.

Related topic - Remembering Johnny Grant

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Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late January 2008. He has been undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments at the Stanford University Medical Center. His spokesman confirmed the story.  A March 5, 2008 Reuters article reports that Swayze "has a very limited amount of disease, and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far.

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My heart sunk when I heard Patrick Swayze had 5 weeks to live.  There are two different stories going on right this moment.

1. Patrick Swayze has 5 weeks to live.
2. Patrick Swayze has a small cancer, and everyone around him is optimistic. 

The sad part is that, times like this, bad news are usually accurate.

Patrick Swayze's Roadhouse buddy Jeff Healey (blind singer/guitar player) died yesterday.  Patrick's illness hits me close because  I grew up in the 80's.  Patirick Swayze was the guy who was there when I grew up.

According to statistic, Patrick Swayze has 5% of survival.  Patrick's doctor said that they cought the cancer pretty early.  We'll see...  God bless Patrick Swayze.

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I received a message from Janet Blair's daughter.
She found a video clip on YouTube and sent me a message.
I was excited to replied her.

I will not describe too much about the conversation or reveal her name.  I will keep it personal.

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Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American writer and game designer, best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson, and co-founding the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with Don Kaye in 1973. Gygax is generally acknowledged as one of the fathers of the role-playing game

Death of Ernest Gygax
Ernest Gygax died the morning of March 4, 2008, at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was in semi-retirement, having almost suffered a heart attack after receiving incorrect medication to prevent further strokes after those on April 1 and May 4, 2004. He was diagnosed with an inoperable abdominal aortic aneurysm. Even while his health failed, gaming remained very much a part of his life. Gygax was still active in the gaming community and had active Q & A forums on gaming websites such as Dragonsfoot and EN World.

“ I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else"

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LAPD arrested Charles Madrid (50) for making death threat on George Bush last week on the phone call to his ex-girlfriend.  The ex-girlfriend then notified the police.

Bail hearing is scheduled for today.  Charles Madrid is a radio technician in the city of Pacoima (Los Angeles County) with no prior criminal record.

On the phone to his ex-girlfriend (Wanda O'Hickey-Way) Madrid said "Committing this murder is not a murder, it's making a difference for the people," "I'm going to kill who needs to be killed."

After arresting Charles Madrid, LAPD asked him if he wants to kill President Bush.  "Yes", Madrid replied.

The man who helped create The Beatles' early sound

Norman Smith aka Hurricane Smith (February 22, 1923 – March 3, 2008) was a musician and record producer. He was the engineer on all of the recordings by the Beatles up until 1965 when EMI promoted him from engineer to producer. The last Beatles album he recorded was Rubber Soul, and Smith engineered the sound for approximately 180 Beatles songs in total.

A native of the North London area of Edmonton, Smith was working with the Beatles on 17 June 1965 when he was offered 15,000 pounds by the band's music publishing company, Dick James Music, to buy outright a song he had written.

Death of Norman Smith
Norman Smith was 85 years old at the time of his death.

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According to BBC radio documentary Mick Jagger was a target of Assassination in 1969 by Hells Angels.

Back in the late 60's, Rolling Stones hired Hell's Angel members as bouncers.  It kind of worked out at first.  Soon an 18 years old man was stabbed to death by a gang member at the free concert at Altamont Speedway in Northern California.

After that incident Mick Jagger stopped using Hells Angels' service.  This triggered Hells Angels to plot Mick Jagger's assassination.

The gang tried to reach Mick Jagger by sea.  But they were all thrown overboard by a storm.  All Hells Angels survived from the storm, but they never planned another assassination.