Hollywood Memoir

Lawrence Vonetta McGee (January 14, 1945 – July 9, 2010) was an American actress.

Vonenna McGee became well-known for her parts in the 1972 Blaxploitation films Melinda and Hammer.

In the action thriller Shaft in Africa (1973), McGee took the role of Aleme, the daughter of an emir, who teaches John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) Ethiopian  geography. She also starred alongside Clint Eastwood in the action thriller The Eiger Sanction (1975).

Death of Vonetta McGee
In 1987, McGee married the actor Carl Lumbly; they have one child. McGee passed away from a cardiac arrest on July 9, 2010.

Vonetta McGee on Soul Train (interview)

Jacqueline Ruth "Ilene" Woods (May 5, 1929 – July 1, 2010) was an American singer and actress who voiced Cinderella in the 1950 classic film.

Woods sang for President Roosevelt at his home in Hyde Park. She also sang at the White House for President Truman, after singing for the soldiers and sailors of war.

In 2003, she was awarded a Disney Legends award for her voicework on the film Cinderella. One of her last film appearances was in Touched By An Angel as night nurse Cassie.

Death of Ilene Woods
Woods died on July 1, 2010, at age 81, from causes related to Alzheimer’s disease at a nursing home in Canoga Park. She did not recognize a lot of what was going on around her, but the nurses found that she was most comforted by "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," so they played it for her as often as possible. Her husband, Ed Shaughnessy, told the Los Angeles Times. In addition to her husband of 47 years, she was survived by their son, a daughter from her first marriage, and three grandchildren.

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

* Comment disabled for political figure *

Corey Allen (June 29, 1934 – June 27, 2010) was an American  film and television  director, writer, producer, and actor. He began his career as an actor but eventually became a television director. He may be best known for playing the character Buzz Gunderson in Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955).  He was one of the last surviving cast members of the film.

Allen turned to directing starting in the 1960s, where he worked on such television programs as Hawaii Five-O, Hill Street Blues, Ironside, Mannix, Murder, She Wrote, Police Woman, The Rockford Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation  and The Streets of San Francisco.  He won an Emmy Award, in 1984, for directing an episode of Hill Street Blues.

Death of Corey Allen
He died due to complications of Parkinson’s disease on June 27, 2010, in Hollywood, California, just two days before his 76th birthday. He was survived by a daughter, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren

Vince O’Brien of Haworth, a character actor whose long career included memorable turns as a debauched businessman in the Broadway musical comedy “Promises, Promises” and an earnest hotel doctor in Woody Allen’s film classic, “Annie Hall,” died Saturday. He was 91.

O’Brien is perhaps most recognisable as the Shell Answer Man, in television and print ads for the petroleum company.

The cause was heart failure, said his son Liam.

(June 20, 2010) Edith Shain, the nurse in Alfred Eisenstead’s famous Victory over Japan Day In Times Square photo, died in Los Angeles. She was 91.

Related Story: WWII sailor in famous kissing photo dies 86

Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor, and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean Sausage brand, he first rose to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad John"; and became a national television personality in the 1960s. His acting career included a supporting role in the 1971 James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever. He lived near Richmond, Virginia and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

In 1969, Dean went into the sausage business, starting the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. He sold the company to Sara Lee Corp. in 1984.

Death of Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean died on June 13, 2010, of natural causes at his Henrico, Virginia home at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife Donna.

Jimmy Dean – Big Bad John

Marvin Isley (August 18, 1953 – June 6, 2010) was one of the members of the family music group, The Isley Brothers and a bass guitarist. Marvin Isley the youngest of the brothers grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1972.

Death of Marvin Isley
Marvin Isley died on June 6, 2010, from complication of diabetes at the Seasons Hospice within Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 56

Isley Brothers Live – Twist and Shout
Marvin Isley on Bass Guitar

Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American  actress, known for her roles as Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama’s Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, a role that won her an Emmy Award.

Death of Rue McClanahan
McClanahan’s manager, Barbara Lawrence, said McClanahan died Thursday June 3, 2010 at 1am. of a stroke.
Rue McClanahan was 76 years old at the time of her death

"She went in peace."

* Related links: Deaths of Golden Girls cast

• Golden Girls’ actress Estelle Getty dies 84 (2010-03-17)
• Golden Girls TV star Bea Arthur dies 86 (2009-04-25)
• FYI: Betty White (88) is alive and well.

Below is my 5 most shocking deaths that I remember.

• Michael Jackson (50)
• Princess Diana (36)
• Johnny Carson (79)
• John Ritter (54)
• Steve Irwin (44)

These are the ones that I personally remember (for now)

* I remember Elvis & John Lennon’s Deaths, but I was not "shocked" at that time (I was sad).