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Sarah Burke (September 3, 1982 – January 19, 2012) was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a four-time Winter X Games gold medalist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. 

Sarah Burke cause of death
Sarah Burkedied following a training accident in Utah.
Sarah Burke was 29 years old at the time of her death.

Accident
On January 10, 2012 Burke was seriously injured while training on the Park City Mountain Resort Eagle superpipe in Park City, Utah. This is the same superpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce was seriously injured in 2009. Onlookers reported that Burke had completed a trick fairly well yet fell onto her head, and the accident did not appear to be very severe. Moments later, however, she went into cardiac arrest while still on the ski slope, making her chance of survival extremely low. She was resuscitated and airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she was reported to be in a coma. The following day, she underwent neurosurgery to repair a tear in a vertebral artery. She succumbed to her injuries on January 19, 2012. Per her publicist's words, Burke's injuries had resulted in "irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest." Her organs and tissues were donated as she requested before her death.

etalk Sarah Burke at Whistler World Ski Fest

Frances Bay (January 23, 1919 – September 15, 2011) was a U.S.-based Canadian character actress, best-known for playing quirky, elderly women on film and television. She began her acting career in her mid-50s.

Bay may also be familiar from her performance in the music video for Jimmy Fallon's comedy song, Idiot Boyfriend. She made an appearance as Mrs. Pickman in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. She may be best-remembered for her performance as the hapless but loving grandmother of Adam Sandler's titular character in the 1996 film Happy Gilmore.

Frances Bay appeared as Mrs. Hamilton in the Christmas television special Christmastime with Mister Rogers. She went on to play small roles in films like The Karate Kid, Big Top Pee-wee and Twins.

Her first major television appearance occurred playing the grandmother to the character of Arthur Fonzarelli (aka "The Fonz") on Happy Days.  In 1983, she played the grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood in Faerie Tale Theatre for Showtime. In 1994, she played Mrs. Pickman in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness.

In 1986, Bay appeared as the doddery aunt of Kyle MacLachlan's character in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. This role seems to have endeared the actress to Lynch, who recast her in several subsequent works, including as a foul-mouthed madam in Wild at Heart, and as Mrs. Tremond on Twin Peaks and its movie spin-off, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

She has the distinction of appearing in the final episodes of three long-running sitcom series: Happy Days, Who's the Boss? and Seinfeld. Bay had the opportunity to play Cousin Winifred in the fourth to last episode of Road To Avonlea, for which she won a Gemini Award.

Frances Bay cause of death
Frances Bay died of pneumonia and other complications.
Frances Bay  was 92 years old at the time of her death

Jerry Seinfeld Mugs an Old Lady for her Marble Rye

The Four Freshmen is a multiple (six) Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires (Glenn Miller), The Pied Pipers (Tommy Dorsey), and The Mel-Tones (Artie Shaw), founded in the barbershop tradition. The Four Freshmen is considered a vocal band because the singers accompany themselves on guitar, trumpet, bass, and drums, among other instrumental configurations.

The group tours internationally to sold-out audiences and records jazz harmonies since its late '40s founding in the halls of the Jordan School of Music at Butler University (Indianapolis).

Ross Barbour cause of death
The last surviving founding member Ross Barbour died on August 20, 2011 from lung cancer in Simi Valley, California.  Ross Barbour was 82 years old at the time of his death

Related Blog
Bob Flanigan, Four Freshmen Founder, Dies 84 (May 15, 2011)

Robert Breer (1926 – August 12, 2011)

Robert Breer, an animator whose use of novel techniques to set lines and forms scrambling across the screen opened up a new language for film, died on Aug. 11 at his home in Tucson. He was 84.

 Swiss Army Knife with Rats and Pigeons - Robert Breer (1980)

REcreation (Robert Breer)

Gil Bernal (February 4, 1931  in Watts, Los Angeles - July 17, 2011)  was an American saxophonist (Tenor).  Gil Bernal played Jazz, Rhythm and Blues.

Gil Bernal's memorable saxophon solos:
Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" and the Robins' "Smokey Joe's Cafe."

He worked with artists such as Spike Jones, Lionel Hampton and Ry Cooder.

Gil Bernal cause of death
Gil Bernal died of congestive heart failure.
Gil Bernal was 80 years old at the time of his death.

The Robins - Smokey Joes Cafe
Gil Bernal was not a member of of The Robins.  He was a guest player.

Michael Burston (October 23, 1949 – July 9, 2011) commonly known by the stage name Würzel, was an English musician and formerly a guitarist in the British heavy metal band, Motörhead.

Wurzel Cause of Death
On 9 July 2011, Tim Butcher — longtime bass technician of Motörhead leader Lemmy — reported that Würzel had died. The cause of death was ventricular fibrillation triggered by cardiomyopathy.  Wursel was 61 years old at the time of his death

*Ventricular fibrillation: uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart.

Roberts Scott Blossom (March 25, 1924 - July 8, 2011) was an American actor and poet.

Blossom won three Obie awards. After his long career, Roberts Blossom is perhaps best known for a small role in Home Alone.

In the thriller Deranged, Blossom played the leading role as killer Ezra Cobb. In the Oscar-winning film drama The Great Gatsby (1974), he was accompanied on-screen by Robert Redford. He won the Soapy Award for his role on Another World, on which he appeared from 1976-1977. In 1990 he starred in Home Alone as Kevin McCallister's (Macaulay Culkin) snow-shoveling neighbor, Old Man Marley. In the comedy Doc Hollywood (1991), he appeared on-screen with Michael J. Fox.

He retired from acting in the late-1990s to pursue writing poetry. He lived in Berkeley, California, and resided in Southern California until his passing on July 8, 2011.

Roberts Blossom cause of death
Roberts Blossom died of natural causes.  Roberts Blossom was 87 years old at the time of his death.

"Deranged" movie trailer (1974 Roberts Blossom A.I.P.)

Important Background Story:
Joseph Brooks was waiting for a trial on charges of sexually assaulting of more than a dozen women.  He allegedly lured the women to his apartment to audition for movie roles.  He was indicted on June 23, 2009. He was being tried by Manhattan's state Supreme Court for 91 counts and charged with rape, sexual abuse, criminal sexual act, assault, and other charges.

A month ago, Joseph Brooks' son was accused of murdering a swimsuit designer.

Joseph Brooks (March 11, 1938 – May 22, 2011) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and composer. He composed the hit song "You Light Up My Life" for the film of the same name that he also wrote, directed, and produced.

In the 1960s Brooks was a composer of advertising jingles, including highly successful ones for Pepsi, "You've Got a Lot to Live", and Maxwell House, "Good to the Last Drop Feeling".

In October 1977 "You Light Up My Life" reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 popularity charts where it held the top position for 10 consecutive weeks, which was then the longest run at #1 in the chart's history. With sales of over four million copies in the United States alone, the song ultimately became the biggest hit of the 1970s. It also hit #1 Adult Contemporary and was even a Top 10 "Country" single. The passionate ballad also earned Brooks a Grammy Award for Song of the Year as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe Award and an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Award. The song was Debby Boone's first solo hit record and only Top 40 Pop hit.

Joseph Brooks Cuase of Death
Police reported on May 22, 2011, that Brooks was found dead by a friend of an apparent suicide. He was 73 years old. His body was found in his Upper East Side apartment with a plastic dry cleaning bag around his head and a towel around his neck. His body was near a helium tank with a hose on it and a suicide note.

Debby Boone You light up my life 

Severiano "Seve" Ballesteros Sota (April 9, 1957 – May 7, 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19 he finished second at the British Open. A member of a gifted golfing family, Ballesteros won five major championships between 1979 and 1988, the British Open three times, and The Masters twice. He was also successful in the Ryder Cup, helping the European team to five wins both as a player and captain, and won the World Match Play Championship a record-tying five times. He is best known for his great short game, and his erratic driving of the golf ball. He is generally regarded as the greatest Spanish golfer of all time.

Seve Bellesteros Cause of Death
On 6 May 2011, his family released a press release announcing that Ballesteros's neurological condition had "suffered a severe deterioration". He died within hours of the announcement in the early hours of 7 May 2011. 

Tiger Woods said of Ballesteros that he was "one of the most talented and exciting golfers to ever play the game"

John Barry Prendergast, OBE (November 3, 1933 – January 30, 2011) was an Oscar winning English film score composer. He was best known for composing 11 James Bond soundtracks and was hugely influential on the 007 series' distinctive style.

In a career spanning almost 50 years, Barry received a number of awards for his work, including five Academy Awards; two for Born Free, and one each for The Lion in Winter (for which he also won a BAFTA Award), Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves (for which he also won a Grammy Award).

Death of John Barry
John Barry died of a heart attack on 30 January 2011 at his Oyster Bay home.
John Barry was 77 years old at the time of his death.

John Barry - Greatest Hits

Denise Borino-Quinn (January 6, 1964 – October 27, 2010) was a television actress who had a recurring role as Ginny Sacramoni, the overweight wife of New York mob boss Johnny Sack in the television series The Sopranos.

She was born in Roseland, New Jersey. She attended the same high school West Essex High School, the same school at Sopranos creator David Chase although nearly 30 years apart.

With no acting experience she attended the casting call in Harrison, New Jersey in 2000 because to support a friend because she said that thought it would be fun to watch the crowds. She was picked from 14,000 actresses. She had been a legal assistant in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Death of Denise Borino-Quinn
Denise Borino-Quinn married Chris Quinn, Jr., in 2005. He died in March 2010.
Denise Borino-Quinn died seven months later from liver cancer.
She was 46 years old at the time of her death.

Thomas Edward "Tom" Bosley (October 1, 1927 - October 19, 2010), was an American actor, best known for his starring and supporting roles on the television shows Happy Days, Murder, She Wrote, and Father Dowling Mysteries, as well as the title role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello!

Bosley's best known role is the character Howard Cunningham, Richie Cunningham's father, in the long-running sitcom Happy Days. Bosley was also known for portraying Sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote. He also portrayed the titular Father Frank Dowling on the TV mystery series, Father Dowling Mysteries. In 2004, Bosley guest starred as a toy maker named Ben-Ami on the series finale of the Christian video series K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments. Among myriad television appearances, one notable early performance was in the "Eyes" segment of the 1969 pilot episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Joan Crawford.

Death of Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley is died of Lung Cancer
Tom Bosely was 83 years old at the time of his death

Tom Bosley in Commercial - (Blue Jacket & Glasses)

Barbara Billingsley (December 22, 1915 - October 16, 2010) was an American film, television, voice and character actress of stage, who in her five decades of television came to prominence in the 1950s in the big screen in The Careless Years opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best-known role, that of June Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver and its sequel Still the Beaver (also known as The New Leave It to Beaver).

After Leave it to Beaver
When production of the show ended in 1963, Billingsley had become typecast as saccharine sweet and had trouble obtaining acting jobs for years. She traveled extensively abroad until the late 1970s. After an absence of 17 years from the public eye (other than appearing in two episodes of The F.B.I. in 1971), Billingsley spoofed her wholesome image with a brief appearance in the comedy Airplane! (1980), as a passenger who could "speak jive". She became the voice of Nanny and The Little Train on Muppet Babies from 1984 to 1991.

Death of Barbara Billingsley
Barbara Billingsley died of polymyalgia at her home in Santa Monica, California on October 16, 2010, at the age of 94. She is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

 The State vs. Beaver.Pt.1 of 3

 Stewardess I Speak Jive! - AIRPLANE!

Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a Senator from 1959 to 2010 and was the longest-serving senator and the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress.

On June 27, 2010, Byrd became ill and was admitted to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia, for what was assumed to be heat stroke and dehydration.  However, other medical conditions emerged and Byrd was described as "seriously ill."  Robert Byrd died at approximately 3 a.m. EDT the next day at age 92

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