Alaina Reed, Olivia Robinson on ‘Sesame Street’, dies 63

Alaina Reed Hall (November 10, 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American actress best known for her roles as Olivia, Gordon’s younger sister, on the long-running children’s television series Sesame Street, and Rose Lee Holloway on the NBC sitcom 227.

After 227 ended in 1990, Hall appeared in guest roles on various TV shows, including Herman’s Head and Blossom. She also provided the voice for the animated characters on Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? and Sonic the Hedgehog. In 1995, Hall co-starred on the short-lived WB sitcom Cleghorne!, starring Ellen Cleghorne. The following year she appeared in the television film The Cherokee Kid. She has since had recurring roles on Ally McBeal, Any Day Now, and ER.

In addition to stage and television work, Hall has also appeared in several films including Death Becomes Her (1992), opposite Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep, Cruel Intentions (1999), and the 2007 independent feature I’m Through with White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks).

Death of Alaina Reed Hall
Alaina Reed Hall died on December 17, 2009, aged 63, from breast cancer. At the time of her death she was married to Tamim Amini.

Sesame Street – Sing (Olivia & Linda)

Roy Disney, Walt Disney’s nephew, dies 79

Roy Edward Disney (January 10, 1930 – December 16, 2009) was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of death he was a shareholder (over 16 million shares or about 1%),and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors. He is perhaps best known for organizing the ousting of two top Disney executives: first, Ron Miller in 1984, and then Michael Eisner in 2005. He graduated from Pomona College in 1951.

Death of Roy Disney
Disney, who had been battling stomach cancer, died at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California.  He was 79 years old.

TV Evangelist Oral Roberts dies in California 91

Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Pentecostal television evangelist and was also a Christian charismatic.

Death of Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts died on December 15, 2009 at the age of 91. He had been "semi retired" living in Newport Beach, California, and according to Charity Navigator, Roberts earned $83,505 per year.

Family
On May 4, 2005 Evelyn, Roberts’ wife of 66 years, died in a Southern California hospital at the age of 88.

Roberts’ daughter, Rebecca Nash, died in an airplane crash on February 11, 1977, with her husband, businessman Marshall Nash.

Roberts’ eldest son, Ronald, committed suicide in June 1982, five months after receiving a court order to get counseling at a drug treatment center.

Two other children of Roberts are living: son Richard, a well-known evangelist and former president of Oral Roberts University (ORU), and daughter Roberta Potts, a lawyer.

Val Avery, Tough-Guy Actor in Movies, dies 85

Val Avery (July 14, 1924 – December 12, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows since the 1950s. In a career that spanned 50 years, Avery appeared in over 100 films and had appearances in over 300 television series.

Avery portrayed a cat burglar who conspires with Lieutenant Columbo to catch another criminal, the deputy police commissioner, in A Friend in Deed (1974), directed by another Cassevetes collaborator, Ben Gazzara. He also appeared in Dead Weight (1971), The Most Crucial Game (1972) and Identity Crisis (1975).

Avery appeared Cassavetes’ Too Late Blues (1961), Faces (1968), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Gloria (1980). Avery’s other appearances have come in everything from films like The Long, Hot Summer (1958), The Magnificent Seven (1960), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) The Wanderers (1979) and Donnie Brasco (1997) to TV shows like Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, The Munsters and Law & Order.

Death of Val Avery
Avery died Saturday December 12, 2009 in his Greenwich Village home. He was 85.

Gene Barry, Actor of TV, Film and Stage, Dies at 90

Gene Barry (June 14, 1919 – December 9, 2009) was an American stage, screen, and television actor.

Death of Gene Barry
Gene Barry died on December 10, 2009 at Sunrise Senior Living in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 90.He is survived by his sons, Michael and Frederick, and his daughter, Elizabeth, as well as three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Betty, preceded him in death after nearly 58 years of marriage in 2003.

Gene Barry plays Bat Masterson
Gene Barry’s filmography & Television work continues next page

Gene Barry’s filmography & Television work
Filmography

    * The Atomic City (1952)
    * The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953)
    * The War of the Worlds (1953)
    * Those Redheads from Seattle (1953)
    * Alaska Seas (1954)
    * Red Garters (1954)
    * Naked Alibi (1954)
    * Soldier of Fortune (1955)
    * The Purple Mask (1955)
    * The Houston Story (1956)
    * Back from Eternity (1956)
    * China Gate (1957)
    * The 27th Day (1957)
    * Forty Guns (1957)
    * Hong Kong Confidential (1958)
    * Thunder Road (1958)
    * Maroc 7 (1967)
    * Subterfuge (1968)
    * The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974)
    * Guyana: Crime of the Century (1979)
    * War of the Worlds (2005)

Television work

    * Our Miss Brooks (cast member from 1955 – 1956)
    * Bat Masterson (1958 – 1961)
    * Burke’s Law (1963 – 1966)
    * Prescription: Murder (1968)
    * Istanbul Express (1968)
    * The Name of the Game (1968 – 1971)
    * Do You Take This Stranger? (1971)
    * The Devil and Miss Sarah (1971)
    * The Adventurer (1972 – 1973)
    * Ransom for Alice! (1977)
    * Aspen (1977) (miniseries)
    * A Cry for Love (1980)
    * The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite (1981)
    * The Adventures of Nellie Bly (1981)
    * Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987)
    * Turn Back the Clock (1989)
    * The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991)
    * Burke’s Law (1994 – 1995)
    * These Old Broads (2001)
 

‘Remote Control’ gameshow host Ken Ober dies 52

Ken Ober (July 3, 1957 – November 15, 2009)was an American game show host, comedian, and actor.

Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he was raised in Hartford, Connecticut. Ober hosted four game shows over the course of his career. He received his break after appearing as a contestant on Star Search. He was most widely known for his role on the MTV game show Remote Control, which he hosted for three seasons, spanning 1987 to 1989, then in reruns for an additional two years. Ober was known among ’90s and ’00s audiences for his hosting jobs on Make Me Laugh, Smush, and the ESPN game show Perfect Match.

In 1995, Ober hosted a Los Angeles talk radio show with former Brady Bunch star Susan Olsen. The show, known as Ober and Olsen, aired on 97.1 KLSX. (Olsen had previously appeared on an episode of Remote Control that featured Brady Bunch cast members competing.)

In 2002, Ober served as supervising producer for Colin Quinn’s Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, which was a reunion of sorts; Quinn was the announcer on Remote Control. He was also a guest on one episode.

Ober starred in the Blues Traveler video for the song "Hook". He also had a smaller role in the same band’s videos for "Run-Around" and "The Mountains Win Again".

He served as a producer for the CBS comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine, and is also known for a series of Jenga commercials.

Death of Ken Ober
Ken Ober died at his home in Santa Monica on November 15, 2009 at the age of 52. According to friends, Ober had been feeling ill and was complaining of headaches, chronic chest pain, and flu-like symptoms the previous afternoon and did not meet them later as planned.

DC Sniper John Allen Muhammad Executed

John Allen Muhammad (December 31, 1960 – November 10, 2009) was a spree killer from the United States. With his younger partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, he carried out the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks, killing 10 people. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested in connection with the attacks on October 24, 2002, following tips from alert citizens. Born John Allen Williams, Muhammad joined the Nation of Islam in 1987 and later changed his surname to Muhammad. Drawings by Malvo describe the murders as part of a "jihad" (Arabic for "struggle in the way of God"). At Muhammad’s trial, the prosecutor claimed that the rampage was part of a plot to kill his ex-wife and regain custody of his children, but the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support this argument

Death of John Allen Muhammad

Muhammad was executed by lethal injection on November 10, 2009, at 9:11 PM EST at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia. He declined to give a last statement before his execution. His family plans to claim the body for burial in Muhammad’s native Louisiana.

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Carl Ballantine – Magician, Comedian (McHale’s Navy) Dies 92

Carl Ballantine (born Meyer Kessler; September 27, 1917 – November 3, 2009) was an American actor, magician and comedian. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine," "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World’s Greatest Magician," his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop to the wisecracking Ballantine’s mock chagrin.

Ballantine is probably best remembered as Lester Gruber, one of the PT boat sailors in the ABC sitcom McHale’s Navy (1962-1966), starring with Ernest Borgnine, Joe Flynn and Tim Conway. He made his only appearance on Broadway as Lycus the slave merchant in the 1972 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum starring Phil Silvers.[2] His most recent film appearance was in Aimee Semple McPherson, a 2006 biopic about the female evangelist.

Ballantine’s wife was actress Ceil Cabot (March 8, 1927 – January 24, 2000) He was known as an inveterate smoker of Cuban stogies.

Death of Carl Ballantine
Carl Ballantine died of natural causes on November 3, 2009 at his Hollywood, California home. He is survived by his daughters actress Sara Ballantine and Molly and his sister Esther Robinson.

Carl Ballantine

Soupy Sales, comedian from the Golden Age of Television, dies 83

Soupy Sales (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009) was an American comedian, actor, and radio-TV personality and host. He was best known for his long-running local and network children’s television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.

From 1968 to 1975, he was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of What’s My Line? and appeared on several other TV game shows. During the 1980s Sales hosted his own show on WNBC-AM in New York City.

Death of Soupy Sales:
Soupy Sales is died of cancer at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx.
Soupy Sales was 83 years old at the time of his death