Johnathan Winters Was More Than a Comedian

Jonathan Winters passed away today at 89.

Most of the articles today in print and online will focus on Winters tremendous improv skills as a comedian, but the last role in saw the talented Mr. Winters in  was a dramatic one. 

Over Christmas, I saw a great 1969 episode of the Twilight Zone with him and Jack Klugman and Winters  called "Game of Pool." was in serious drama mode. 

I won't spoil the episode for you, but it was quite gripping as both Klugman and Winters worked only with themselves and a pool table. While Winters is mostly known as a comedian that Twilight Zone episode showed no hint of  the thousands of characters than came out of his egg shaped body.

On that episode, Jonathan  Winters was just as fascinating as a dramatic one as he was a comedic one, when I was kid watching him ham it up as Robin William's  son on "Mork & Mindy".

I never understand why the Oscars has been so stingy in giving out Oscars to comedians. 

Most dramatic actors will tell you going from drama to comedy is one of the hardest things to do. However, ever since Charlie Chaplin, comedians, the goods ones, always had that ability to show a dramatic side.

Over the years,  non-Oscar winners Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and Jim Carrey and others has shown that they can give a performance best dramatic actors, yet can still tell a joke that would keep you laughing for days. 

Jonathan Winters had that type of  talent and though he is gone now, his legacy lives on in every comedian who can make you laugh with a twist of face or simple wink with a smile.

RIP funny man.


Jonathan Winters on Dean Martin Roasts Frank Sinatra.

Magic Johnson Talks About The Death of Jerry Buss on ESPN

The thing that struck me the most about Magic Johnson's comments on the death of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, was not just the love Earvin had for Mr. Buss ( and vice versa), but the fact he was a businessman, who was not really a business man.

Buss came from academia, where you are exposed to different people and different thoughts.

Many team owners today, comes from a place where most people think like them, talk like them and look like them and diversity of thought means ROI and laptops than  sit down Italian dinners and partying like Buss did with Johnson over the years.

Teams are so expensive nowadays that, its hard to find regular, fun loving owners anymore who are more people conscious than money conscious.  

Jerry Buss was  relateable to the players, but  he did not get in their way.

He allowed then GM Jerry West to do his job by not micromanage him, but was savvy enough to target Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant for the next phase of post showtime Lakers championships.

That's what great leaders do.

You put people in the right place, let them do their job and be there for them in the good times and bad.

Sadly we probably will never see an owner like Jerry Buss again (unless his daughter Jeanie Buss can take the team away from her brother Jimmy), but at least Magic Johnson has learned enough from Dr. Buss  to continues his legacy with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

R.I.P Dr. Busss Also read: LA Times: Jerry Buss dies at 80; Lakers owner brought 'Showtime' success to L.A.

R.I.P.: Howard Stern Talks About The Death His Dog Bianca

Amy Winehouse Found Dead @ 27

(Via Daily Mirror) An ambulance was called to the 27-year-old's home in Camden Square at 4.05pm this afternoon. It is not known how the Grammy award winning singer died.

A press release from the Metropolitan Police said: "Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.

“On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained."

Read more:  http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/07/23/amy-winehouse-found-dead-115875-23292089/

(Via  Huffington Post)

UPDATE: Sky News Home Affairs Correspondent Mark White reports that sources confirmed that Winehouse died of a drug overdose.
UPDATE II: In a statement to Just Jared, Monte and Avery Lipman, heads of Universal Republic Records, said: “We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer. Our prayers go out to Amy’s family, friends and fans at this difficult time.”
UPDATE III: Scotland Yard told RadarOnline.com that an autopsy on Winehouse will be performed on Sunday.
"The postmortem has not been scheduled yet but it is unlikely to take place before tomorrow. In the case of a murder it can be done

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/23/amy-winehouse-dead-singer_n_907753.html#s314557&title=Rehab

BBC News

(Via Daily Mail)

...The singer was born Amy Jade Winehouse on 14th September 1983 in Southgate, London.

Winehouse has had a troubled life which has included various stints in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.

The singer is thought to have been to rehab four times.

In an interview in 2008, her mother Janis said she would be unsurprised if her daughter died before her time.

She said: 'I've known for a long time that my daughter has problems.

'But seeing it on screen rammed it home. I realise my daughter could be dead within the year. We're watching her kill herself, slowly.

'I've already come to terms with her dead. I've steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery.

'Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road.

'I look at Heath Ledger and Britney. She's on their path. It's like watching a car crash - this person throwing all these gifts away.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2018020/Amy-Winehouse-dead--Found-dead-London-flat.html#ixzz1SxXXjp8e


What's your favorite Amy Winehouse song?


Amy Winehouse - Rehab by yafs1925

Via New York Times

"....Instantly recognizable from the heavy makeup and high beehive hairdo she borrowed from the Ronettes, Ms. Winehouse became one of the most acclaimed young singers of the 2000s, selling millions of albums, winning five Grammy Awards and kicking off the British trend of retro soul and R&B that continues today.

Yet from the moment she arrived on the international pop scene in 2007, Ms. Winehouse had an image that seemed almost defiantly self-destructive. In songs like “You Know I’m No Good,” she sang alcohol-soaked regrets of failed romances, and for many listeners the lyrics to the song “Rehab” — which won her three of the five Grammys she took in 2008 — crystallized her public persona. “They tried to make me go to rehab,” she sang, “I said, ‘No, no, no.’ ”

Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/arts/music/amy-winehouse-british-soul-singer-dies-at-27.html

(Via UK Telegraph)

Paramedics discovered her at her north London home yesterday at around 4pm yesterday, but were unable to help.

Her death follows years of widely-publicised addiction to drugs and alcohol, which saw Winehouse fade from the height of her musical success and become more talked-about for her physical decline.

On Saturday night, Winehouse's father, Mitch, a former London black cab driver who launched his own jazz career following his daughter's success, was believed to be travelling back to London from New York. The singer Michelle Gayle, a friend of the family, said that Mr Winehouse was "devastated".

Last night, friends of the star paid tribute to her extraordinary talent. The singer and actress Kelly Osbourne said: "I can't even breath right now I'm crying so hard, I just lost one of my best friends. I love you forever Amy and will never forget the real you!"

Read More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8657225/Amy-Winehouse-dies-aged-27-of-a-suspected-drug-overdose.html

What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis No More: Gary Coleman Dead At 42

(Los Angeles Times)

Gary Coleman, who soared to fame in the late 1970s as the child star of the hit sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" and whose post-TV-series life included a stint as a shopping mall security guard and an unlikely run for California governor, died Friday. He was 42.

The diminutive Coleman, whose adult height was 4 feet 8 inches, died at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage earlier this week, according to a statement from hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank.

A resident of Santaquin, Utah, Coleman had been hospitalized Wednesday and lost consciousness the next day. He was taken off life support Friday afternoon with his family at his side, the hospital said.

Born with failed kidneys, Coleman had undergone two transplants by age 14 and his growth was permanently stunted by the side effects of dialysis medications.

He was a precocious, chubby-cheeked elementary school student living in Zion, Ill., when a scout for TV producer Norman Lear spotted him in a Chicago bank commercial.

The exceptionally bright, talented and self-confident Coleman was 10 when "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted on NBC in 1978.

As the lovably outspoken 8-year-old Arnold Jackson, he was the comedic centerpiece of the series about two Harlem sons of a black housekeeper whose white boss, a wealthy widower, takes them into his Park Avenue penthouse after her death and later adopts them.

The cast of the sitcom, which ended its eight-season run in 1986 after switching to ABC, included Conrad Bain as the wealthy Philip Drummond; Todd Bridges as Arnold's older brother, Willis; Dana Plato as Drummond's daughter, Kimberly; and Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Garrett, Drummond's new housekeeper.

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