JD and Katie

07/04/2024

Got a lot on my plate tomorrow!
😳🌘🌚

29/03/2024

Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died.

A statement from the family said Gossett died Friday morning. No cause of death was revealed.

Gossett’s cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and who also was a great joke teller, a relative who faced and fought racism with dignity and humor.

He broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.
Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.
“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir, “An Actor and a Gentleman.”
He had earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school’s production of “You Can’t Take It with You” while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury. “I was hooked — and so was my audience,” he wrote in his memoir. His English teacher urged him to go into Manhattan to try out for “Take a Giant Step.” He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at age 16.

“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn’t.”
Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He was soon acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen. Gossett also became friendly with James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at an offshoot of the Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.

In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” along with Sidney Poitier,Ruby Dee and Diana Sands. He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.

Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make the film version of “A Raisin in the Sun.” He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow Black people. In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in “Companions in Nightmare,” NBC’s first made-for-TV movie that starred Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neal.

This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. Driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, he was stopped by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s officer who ordered him to turn down the radio and put up the car’s roof before letting him go. Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers, who had him lean against the car and made him open the trunk while they called the car rental agency before letting him go. “Though I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel,” Gossett wrote in his memoir. “I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving.” After dinner at the hotel, he went for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he broke a law prohibiting walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. Two other officers arrived and Gossett said he was chained to a tree and handcuffed for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned. “Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,” he wrote. “But it was not going to destroy me.”

He founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn’t exist.

Gossett made a series of guest appearances on such shows as “Bonanza,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Mod Squad,” “McCloud” and a memorable turn with Richard Pryor on “The Partridge Family.”

In August 1969, Gossett had been with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate’s house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate’s murder. She and others were killed by Charles Manson’s associates that night, and he would’ve been there if he hadn’t made that stop. “There had to be a reason for my escaping this bullet,” he wrote.

Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.

Gossett appeared in such TV movies as “The Story of Satchel Paige,” “Backstairs at the White House, “The Josephine Baker Story,” for which he won another Golden Globe, and “Roots Revisited.”

Most recently he played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.”

Lou Gossett Jr was 87.

21/03/2024

Character actor, M. Emmet Walsh has passed. He was best known for his roles in the Harrison Ford-led sci-fi favorite "Blade Runner," the Oscar-winning drama "Ordinary People," and the Julia Roberts rom-com "My Best Friend's Wedding."

All in all he appeared in over 200 films and television series. In addition to his stacked filmography, the beloved talent also made a name for himself in the television sphere, starring on classic shows like "Bonanza" and "All in the Family," among many others.

M. Emmet Walsh was 88.

19/03/2024

Kensington Palace releases proof that Prince William and Kate Middleton are indeed happy together…

17/03/2024

12/03/2024

Songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist, Eric Carmen has passed.

He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Raspberries (who had a million-selling single with "Go All the Way"), and then with his solo career, including hits such as "All by Myself", "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "She Did It", "Hungry Eyes", and "Make Me Lose Control".

Eric Carmen was 74.

01/03/2024

How could it be 50 years already?!! 😳
Happy Anniversary, Cindy!!! I love you. ❤️

28/02/2024

I hate trying to prove I’m not a robot…to a robot! 😳😂😂

27/02/2024

You might not know the name, but if you watched any movies or television shows throughout the 70s, you’ll recognize him. Charles Dierkop, the busy character actor who played tough guys in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , The Sting and the 1970s Angie Dickinson series Police Woman, has passed.

Dierkop died Sunday at Sherman Oaks Hospital after a recent heart attack and bout with pneumonia, his daughter, Lynn, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Wisconsin native also appeared alongside Rod Steiger in Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker (1964), played the mobster Salvanti in Roger Corman’s The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) and was a murderous Santa Claus in the cult horror movie Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
After portraying an uncredited pool-hall hood in the Paul Newman-starring The Hustler (1961), Dierkop got to work with Newman again in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when he was hired to play Hole in the Wall Gang outlaw George “Flat Nose” Curry.
Dierkop had broken his nose in fights several times as a kid, so he was rather suited for the part.

Charles Dierkop was 87.

14/02/2024

Seems legit…🤷🏼‍♂️😂

09/02/2024

Hard to believe it’s been 60 years!
That day that music changed. February 9th, 1964…this 9 year old was glued to the little black and white TV.
“Ladies and gentlemen…The Beatles!

08/02/2024

I think we’ll be waiting a long time for this milk to expire…😂😎🤷🏼‍♂️

06/02/2024

Toby Keith has passed.

The Oklahoma-based country music star was best known for his 1993 hit song, "Should've Been a Cowboy." His breakout hit was played 3 million times on radio stations and became the most played country song of the 1990s. Among his other 20 No. 1 Billboard hits were "How Do You Like Me Now?!," "As Good As I Once Was," "My List" and "Beer for My Horses," a duet with Willie Nelson.

Keith announced that he was living with cancer in June 2022 and in September last year, he spoke of the "roller coaster" experience of going through treatment.
"You get good days and, you know, you’re up and down, up and down. It’s always zero to 60 and 60 to zero but I feel good today," Keith said, ahead of receiving the Country Icon Award at the People’s Choice Country Awards.

He continued to record and perform through his illness, appearing live over three nights in Las Vegas in December.

Toby Keith was 62.

02/02/2024

Happy Groundhog Day!
😎

28/01/2024

This month has been 3 months long! 😳
Right?!🤷🏼‍♂️

26/01/2024

Hmmm! Must be the VIP area…😳🤷🏼‍♂️😎

24/01/2024

Melanie, the singer who performed at Woodstock in 1969 and had major pop hits with “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” in the early ’70s, has passed.

No information on the cause of death was immediately given. But Melanie — full name Melanie Safka — had been in the studio earlier this month working on a new record of cover songs, “Second Hand Smoke,” for the Cleopatra label; it would have been her 32nd album.

Her three children, Leilah, Jeordie, and Beau Jarred, posted a message on Facebook, writing: “We are heartbroken, but want to thank each and every one of you for the affection you have for our Mother, and to tell you that she loved all of you so much! She was one of the most talented, strong and passionate women of the era and every word she wrote, every note she sang reflected that. Our world is much dimmer, the colors of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale with her absence today, but we know that she is still here, smiling down on all of us, on all of you, from the stars.”
Her children asked that tonight (Jan. 24), at 10 p.m. CT, “each of you lights a candle in honor of Melanie. Raise, raise them high, high up again. Illuminate the darkness, and let us all be connected in remembrance of the extraordinary woman who was wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend to so very many people.”

Melanie was 76. 😞❤️

20/01/2024

National DJ Day! Where were you back in the mid-80s??? I was playing Prince, Madonna, MC Hammer and Duran Duran!

18/01/2024

You wanna be in style don’t you???
😂😂😂

15/01/2024

Wise words.

“We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the pressing urgencies of the great cause of freedom…..a time like this demands great leaders.” - Martin Luther King Jr

14/01/2024

Joyce Randolph, the last surviving member of the classic early television show, “The Honeymooners”, has passsd.

She passed Saturday at her home in New York City. We're told she died in her sleep. She had been suffering from the effects of old age ... unable to walk. She was in hospice care at the time of her death.

Joyce played the wife of Ed Norton, played by Art Carney. They were the best friends and neighbors of Ralph Kramden, who was played by Jackie Gleason, and Audrey Meadows, who played the long-suffering Alice.

Joyce Randolph was 99.

07/01/2024

Today’s desert sunset, brought to you by God…(No filter or enhancement!)

07/01/2024

Kindness…

05/01/2024

David Soul, who starred alongside Paul Michael Glaser on the 1970s’ ABC buddy cop show Starsky and Hutch and had a No. 1 hit with the song “Don’t Give Up on Us,” has died.

Soul died Thursday after “a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family,” his wife, Helen Snell, said in a statement.

“He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend,” she said. “His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.”

David Soul was 80.

04/01/2024

Gigi, our friend from Taiwan (who’s staying with us for a couple weeks), makes incredible meals! 🥗 🥢 🍚
*We’re getting spoiled! 😳😂❤️

30/12/2023

Tom Wilkinson, the Oscar-nominated British actor known for his roles in “Shakespeare in Love”, “Michael Clayton”, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” and many others, has passed.

A statement shared by his agent on behalf of the family said Wilkinson died suddenly at home on Saturday. It didn’t provide further details.

Wilkinson was nominated for a best actor Academy Award for his work in 2001’s family drama “In The Bedroom” in 2001 and in the best supporting actor category for his role in “Michael Clayton,” a 2007 film that starred George Clooney. Wilkinson appeared in dozens of other movies, including “Batman Begins,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “The Full Monty”and “Valkyrie.”

The actor was recognized for his services to drama in 2005 when he was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire.

He was 75.

30/12/2023

Help…😳

27/12/2023

Tom Smothers, one half of the legendary comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, has passed at 86.

The late comedian/musician died peacefully at his home on Tuesday with his family at his side following a recent battle with cancer, according to his brother and co-star Dick Smothers.

“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner,” Dick said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. “I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years. Our relationship was like a good marriage – the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.”

25/12/2023

“For unto us a child is born…”
Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁🎉