Hollywood Memoir

Tom Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the late 1970s and ’80s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS television network in the 1990s.

Snyder was also the pioneer anchor of the primetime "NBC News Update", in the 1970s and early 1980s, which was a one-minute capsule of news updates in primetime; later in the mid 1980s, local affiliates took over these news update timeslots for local headlines which also served as promos for the local late newscasts

Death

Snyder died on July 29, 2007 in San Francisco from complications of leukemia. He was 71 years old at the time of his death.

Snyder had one child, Anne Mari Snyder, who lives in Maui, Hawaii, and two grandchildren.

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Buy from Amazon.com: Tammy Faye’s book & DVD

Tamara "Tammy" Faye Messner (March 7, 1942 – July 20, 2007) was an American Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, author, talk show host, and television personality. She was the former wife of televangelist, and later convicted felon, Jim Bakker, and she co-hosted with him on The PTL Club from 1976 to 1987. She was known for her tendency to wear heavy makeup, particularly mascara and false eyelashes, and her eyebrows were tattooed on. She was a participant in the 2004 season of the reality show, The Surreal Life.

Death
On July 20, 2007 at 4 AM,Tammy Faye Messner died following her 11-year battle with cancer.  Tammy Faye Bakker was 65 years old at the time of her death.  What had started as colon cancer, spread to her lungs. She died in her home, said her booking agent, Joe Spotts. A family service was held the morning of July 21 in the Messner family plot in Waldron, Kansas, where her ashes were interred. The ceremony was officiated by the Rev. Randy McCain, the gay pastor of Open Door Community Church in Sherwood, Arkansas. She had frequently spoken about her medical problems, saying she hoped to be an inspiration to others. "Don’t let fear rule your life," she said. "Live one day at a time, and never be afraid." She had written on her web site in May that the doctors had stopped trying to treat the cancer. She died the day after the airing of her interview on Larry King Live on CNN. According to CNN.com, the family requested that King officially report the news on his show July 21

Buy from Amazon.com: Books, Diary, Poster, more

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson (December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969, having been the wife of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation’s cities and highways and conservation of natural resources. The former First Lady was an entrepreneur, creating the $150 million LBJ Holdings Company, and was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honors.

Cause of death:
natural causes, Lady Bird Johnson was 94 years of at time of her death

Lady Bird Johnson Tribute

Charles Lane (born as Charles Gerstle Levison January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007) was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death was the oldest living American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Cause of death: unknown (he was 102 years old at his death)

Charles Lane 100 yr celebration, TV clips review

Buy from Amazon.com: Kerwin Mathews movies, Sinbad, Gulliver

Kerwin Mathews (January 8, 1926 – July 5, 2007) was an American actor. He is best known for playing Sinbad in the 1958 Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation feature The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, where he engaged in a sword fight with animated skeletons.

Death
He died in his sleep in San Francisco on July 5, 2007 at the age of 81.

Biography
Mathews was born in Seattle, Washington, USA. He attended Janesville High School in Janesville, Wisconsin, where he had moved with his mother after his parents divorced. Mathews said that "a kind high school teacher put me in a play, and that changed my life." According to a classmate, he was a "handsome rascal" even then.After serving in the Army Air Forces, he attended and performed at nearby Milton College for two years before transferring to Beloit College on drama and music scholarships. Before acting, he was briefly a high school teacher in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

After moving to Los Angeles in 1954, Mathews acted at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he met the head of casting for Columbia Pictures, leading to a seven-year studio contract.

Mathews was best known for his roles in fantasy movies in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly Jack the Giant Killer and The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. He also notably played Lemuel Gulliver in Harryhausen’s 1960 The 3 Worlds of Gulliver. He retired from acting in 1978.

Although he felt typecast, he "looked fondly" on his Hollywood career, with his favorite role Johann Strauss II in the Disney two-part telefilm The Waltz King.

After retirement, he moved to San Francisco, where he ran a clothing and antiques shop. He died in his sleep in San Francisco on July 5, 2007 at the age of 81. He leaves behind his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll.

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• Buy from Amazon.com: Kerwin Mathews movies, Sinbad, Gulliver

Joel Siegel (July 7, 1943 – June 29, 2007) was an American film critic for the ABC morning news show Good Morning America for over 25 years. Born to a Jewish family and raised in Los Angeles, California, he graduated cum laude from UCLA. During college, he worked to register black voters in Georgia, and he spoke frequently of having met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also worked as a joke writer for Senator Robert F. Kennedy and was at the Ambassador Hotel the night the senator was assassinated.

Death
Joel Siegel died of complications from colon cancer on June 29, 2007, in New York
Joel Siegel was 63 years old when he died.

In 1981 he joined "Good Morning America" as a film critic. While Siegel worked at his reviewing, he wrote the book for The First, a Broadway musical based on the story of Jackie Robinson, for which he received a Tony Award nomination in 1982.

Anne Elisabeth Jane "Liz" Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was a Belgian-born American fashion designer and entrepreneur. Claiborne is best known for founding Liz Claiborne Inc. which in 1986 became the first company founded by a woman to make the Fortune 500

Death
She had been advised in 1997 that she had a rare form of cancer affecting the lining of the abdomen. Liz Claiborne died on June 26, 2007 at the age of 78, following a long battle with the cancer. Liz Claiborne was 78 years old when she died.

In retirement, Claiborne and Ortenberg founded a foundation that distributed millions in funding to environmental causes including funding the television series Nature on PBS television and nature conservancy projects around the world.

Christopher Michael Benoit (May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler who wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Benoit ascended to the top of his profession, holding the World heavyweight championship in both WCW and WWE, becoming one of the most popular and respected competitors in professional wrestling in the process. 

Chris Benoit’s Death

On June 25, 2007, Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their 7-year-old son Daniel were found dead in their Fayetteville, Georgia, home at around 2:30 p.m. EDT. Lieutenant Tommy Pope of the Fayette County, Georgia Sheriff’s Department reported to ABC News that police entered Benoit’s home on a "welfare check" after several missed appointments, leading to concerns. Pope also stated the police were not searching for any suspects outside of the house, as the instruments of death were located at the scene of the crime.

Detective Bo Turner of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department told television station WAGA-TV that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide. The station reported that investigators believe that Benoit murdered his wife and son over the weekend and hanged himself sometime on Monday.

Richard Bell (March 5, 1946 – June 15, 2007) was a Canadian musician. Known for his session and live performance work, he is perhaps best remembered as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band and was a keyboardist with The Band during the 1990s.

Death of Richard Bell
Bell died after a long battle with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer, on June 15, 2007 in a Toronto hospital. Richard Bell was 61 years old at the time of his death.

Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (June 3, 1927 – July 3, 2007) was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit, "Yakety Sax" (Theme music for "The Benny Hill Show") . Randolph was a major part of the "Nashville Sound" for most of his professional career.

Death
On July 3, 2007, Randolph died at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 80 years old.

Biography 
Randolph was born in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in Cadiz, Kentucky, attending high school in Evansville, Indiana.

At the end of World War II, Boots Randolph played saxophone, trombone and vibraphone in the United States Army Band. After his service in the Army, he played with Dink Welch’s Kopy Kats in Decatur, Illinois from 1948-1954. He briefly resided in Louisville, Kentucky before returning to Decatur to start his own group. He left Decatur in 1957.

During his more than forty year career, Randolph performed in hundreds of venues alongside many artists in pop, rock, jazz, and country music. He played on several albums with Elvis Presley and also performed on soundtracks for a number of Presley’s motion pictures.

Mr. Randolph recorded for Monument Records in Nashville and played on Roy Orbison’s 1963 hit, "Mean Woman Blues." He was also featured on "Little Queenie" by REO Speedwagon, "Java" by Al Hirt, "Turn On Your Lovelight" by Jerry Lee Lewis, and "Rockin’ ‘Round The Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee.

In 1977, Randolph opened a successful club of his own in Nashville’s "Printers Alley." He also frequently appeared on the television program "Hee Haw".

His final solo studio album "A Whole New Ballgame" was released June 12, 2007.

Clip of Benny Hill Show – Featuring Yakety Sax

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