'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies at 83
March 14, 2010, 9:41 PM EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Peter Graves, the tall, stalwart actor likely best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a gang of special agents who battled evil conspirators in the long-running television series "Mission: Impossible," died Sunday.
Graves died of an apparent heart attack outside his Los Angeles home, about a week shy of his 84th birthday, publicist Sandy Brokaw said.
He had just returned from brunch with his wife and kids and collapsed before he made it into the house, Brokaw said. One of his daughters administered CPR but was unable to revive him. Graves' family doctor visited the house and believed he had a heart attack, Brokaw said.
Although Graves never achieved the stardom his older brother, James Arness, enjoyed as Marshall Matt Dillon on TV's "Gunsmoke," he had a number of memorable roles in both films and television.
Normally cast as a hero, he turned in an unforgettable performance early in his career as the treacherous Nazi spy in Billy Wilder's 1953 prisoner-of-war drama "Stalag 17."
He also masterfully lampooned his straight-arrow image when he portrayed bumbling airline pilot Clarence Oveur in the 1980 disaster movie spoof "Airplane!"
Graves appeared in dozens of films and a handful of television shows in a career of nearly 60 years.
The authority and trust he projected made him a favorite for commercials late in his life, and he was often encouraged to go into politics.
"He had this statesmanlike quality," Brokaw said. "People were always encouraging him to run for office. But he said, 'I like acting. I like being around actors.'"
Graves' career began with cheaply made exploitation films like "It Conquered the World," in which he battled a carrot-shaped monster from Venus, and "Beginning of the World," in which he fought a giant grasshopper.
He later took on equally formidable human villains each week on "Mission: Impossible."
Every show began with Graves, as agent Phelps, listening to a tape of instructions outlining his team's latest mission and explaining that if he or any of his agents were killed or captured "the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
The tape always self-destructed within seconds of being played.
The show ran on CBS from 1967 to 1973 and was revived on ABC from 1988 to 1990 with Graves back as the only original cast member.
The actor credited clever writing for the show's success.
"It made you think a little bit and kept you on the edge of your seat because you never knew what was going to happen next," he once said.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Home in an uproar
Bad enough we had to move out of our house years ago to the dumpy condo we are in now thanks to what dad did when he retired.
But this really takes the cake
"Edward Williams, 83, of Hamden, had been a CPA before retiring and was spending his golden years overseeing the funds for two nonprofits.
But, as the economy took a hit, so did his investments, and he wiped out the nonprofits’ accounts to cover his expenses, the New Haven Register reports.
Williams told officers he inappropriately wrote checks to himself for $86,250 from both the English Speaking Union and Friends of the Grove Street Cemetery, reports the Register, citing the arrest warrant.
The financial hit could mean that the English Speaking Union cannot hold its Shakespeare contest for local schoolchildren or send two teachers to England for an enrichment course, the Register reports.
“It has left the organization bankrupt. Right now, we don’t know what our future will be,” a member who did not want to be named said.
The ESU has managed to stay afloat thanks to donations from board members and the help of its current treasurer, Gilbert Hogan. But it is going to be tough considering they are a standalone chapter of the national organization.
John Edwards, president of the Grove Street Cemetery, said his members are “shocked beyond belief. He was one of the most active and best board members we had. It’s a good lesson for any small organization — you can never be too careful.”
According to the arrest warrant, Williams had $1 million put aside for his retirement, but by the early 1990s, because of poor investments, he had lost all of it and he was in debt .
He is willing to try to pay the groups back with $500 a month, according to court records.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree larceny, is free on a written promise to appear. He has not entered a plea.
First Published: Dec 3, 2009 9:52 AM EDT"
Mom and I are sick over what he did and my brother is livid at dad for not caring about what his actions might do to us.
Mom is so stressed out as to what the court might do to dad that she cries most nights over it.
But this really takes the cake
"Edward Williams, 83, of Hamden, had been a CPA before retiring and was spending his golden years overseeing the funds for two nonprofits.
But, as the economy took a hit, so did his investments, and he wiped out the nonprofits’ accounts to cover his expenses, the New Haven Register reports.
Williams told officers he inappropriately wrote checks to himself for $86,250 from both the English Speaking Union and Friends of the Grove Street Cemetery, reports the Register, citing the arrest warrant.
The financial hit could mean that the English Speaking Union cannot hold its Shakespeare contest for local schoolchildren or send two teachers to England for an enrichment course, the Register reports.
“It has left the organization bankrupt. Right now, we don’t know what our future will be,” a member who did not want to be named said.
The ESU has managed to stay afloat thanks to donations from board members and the help of its current treasurer, Gilbert Hogan. But it is going to be tough considering they are a standalone chapter of the national organization.
John Edwards, president of the Grove Street Cemetery, said his members are “shocked beyond belief. He was one of the most active and best board members we had. It’s a good lesson for any small organization — you can never be too careful.”
According to the arrest warrant, Williams had $1 million put aside for his retirement, but by the early 1990s, because of poor investments, he had lost all of it and he was in debt .
He is willing to try to pay the groups back with $500 a month, according to court records.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree larceny, is free on a written promise to appear. He has not entered a plea.
First Published: Dec 3, 2009 9:52 AM EDT"
Mom and I are sick over what he did and my brother is livid at dad for not caring about what his actions might do to us.
Mom is so stressed out as to what the court might do to dad that she cries most nights over it.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Comedian Soupy Sales dies at age 83
Comedian Soupy Sales dies at age 83
Funny man’s anything-for-a-laugh career built on pies to the face
DETROIT - Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died. He was 83.
Sales died at Thursday night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.
At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and '60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said.
"If President Eisenhower would have walked down the street, no one would have recognized him as much as Soupy," said Usher.
At the same time, Sales retained an openness to fans that turned every restaurant meal into an endless autograph-signing session, Usher said.
"He was just good to people," said Usher, a former jazz music producer who managed Sales in the 1950s and now owns Detroit-based Marine Pollution Control.
Pie-throwing trademark
Sales began his TV career in Cincinnati and Cleveland, then moved to Detroit, where he drew a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He moved to Los Angeles in 1961.
The comic's pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show.
"I'll probably be remembered for the pies, and that's all right," Sales said in a 1985 interview.
Sales was born Milton Supman on Jan. 8, 1926, in Franklinton, N.C., where his was the only Jewish family in town. His parents, owners of a dry-goods store, sold sheets to the Ku Klux Klan. The family later moved to Huntington, W.Va.
His greatest success came in New York with "The Soupy Sales Show" — an ostensible children's show that had little to do with Captain Kangaroo and other kiddie fare. Sales' manic, improvisational style also attracted an older audience that responded to his envelope-pushing antics.
Sales, who was typically clad in a black sweater and oversized bow-tie, was once suspended for a week after telling his legion of tiny listeners to empty their mothers' purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of the presidents.
The cast of "Saturday Night Live" later paid homage by asking their audience to send in their joints. His influence was also obvious in the Pee-Wee Herman character created by Paul Reubens.
Sales returned from the Navy after World War II and became a $20-a-week reporter at a West Virginia radio station. He jumped to a DJ gig, changed his name to Soupy Heinz and headed for Ohio.
Familiar television face
His first pie to the face came in 1951, when the newly christened Soupy Sales was hosting a children's show in Cleveland. In Detroit, Sales' show garnered a national reputation as he honed his act — a barrage of sketches, gags and bad puns that played in the Motor City for seven years.
After moving to Los Angeles, he eventually became a fill-in host on "The Tonight Show."
He moved to New York in 1964 and debuted "The Soupy Sales Show," with co-star puppets White Fang (the meanest dog in the United States) and Black Tooth (the nicest dog in the United States). By the time his Big Apple run ended two years later, Sales had appeared on 5,370 live television programs — the most in the medium's history, he boasted. He had a pair of albums that hit the Billboard Top 10 in 1965; "Do the Mouse" sold 250,000 copies in New York alone.
Sales remained a familiar television face, first as a regular from 1968-75 on the game show "What's My Line?" and later appearing on everything from "The Mike Douglas Show" to "The Love Boat." He played himself in the 1998 movie "Holy Man," which starred Eddie Murphy.
He joined WNBC-AM as a disc jockey in 1985, a stint best remembered because Sales filled the hours between shock jocks Don Imus and Howard Stern.
Sales is survived by his wife, Trudy, and two sons, Hunt and Tony, a pair of musicians who backed David Bowie in the band Tin Machine.
Funny man’s anything-for-a-laugh career built on pies to the face
DETROIT - Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died. He was 83.
Sales died at Thursday night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.
At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and '60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said.
"If President Eisenhower would have walked down the street, no one would have recognized him as much as Soupy," said Usher.
At the same time, Sales retained an openness to fans that turned every restaurant meal into an endless autograph-signing session, Usher said.
"He was just good to people," said Usher, a former jazz music producer who managed Sales in the 1950s and now owns Detroit-based Marine Pollution Control.
Pie-throwing trademark
Sales began his TV career in Cincinnati and Cleveland, then moved to Detroit, where he drew a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He moved to Los Angeles in 1961.
The comic's pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show.
"I'll probably be remembered for the pies, and that's all right," Sales said in a 1985 interview.
Sales was born Milton Supman on Jan. 8, 1926, in Franklinton, N.C., where his was the only Jewish family in town. His parents, owners of a dry-goods store, sold sheets to the Ku Klux Klan. The family later moved to Huntington, W.Va.
His greatest success came in New York with "The Soupy Sales Show" — an ostensible children's show that had little to do with Captain Kangaroo and other kiddie fare. Sales' manic, improvisational style also attracted an older audience that responded to his envelope-pushing antics.
Sales, who was typically clad in a black sweater and oversized bow-tie, was once suspended for a week after telling his legion of tiny listeners to empty their mothers' purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of the presidents.
The cast of "Saturday Night Live" later paid homage by asking their audience to send in their joints. His influence was also obvious in the Pee-Wee Herman character created by Paul Reubens.
Sales returned from the Navy after World War II and became a $20-a-week reporter at a West Virginia radio station. He jumped to a DJ gig, changed his name to Soupy Heinz and headed for Ohio.
Familiar television face
His first pie to the face came in 1951, when the newly christened Soupy Sales was hosting a children's show in Cleveland. In Detroit, Sales' show garnered a national reputation as he honed his act — a barrage of sketches, gags and bad puns that played in the Motor City for seven years.
After moving to Los Angeles, he eventually became a fill-in host on "The Tonight Show."
He moved to New York in 1964 and debuted "The Soupy Sales Show," with co-star puppets White Fang (the meanest dog in the United States) and Black Tooth (the nicest dog in the United States). By the time his Big Apple run ended two years later, Sales had appeared on 5,370 live television programs — the most in the medium's history, he boasted. He had a pair of albums that hit the Billboard Top 10 in 1965; "Do the Mouse" sold 250,000 copies in New York alone.
Sales remained a familiar television face, first as a regular from 1968-75 on the game show "What's My Line?" and later appearing on everything from "The Mike Douglas Show" to "The Love Boat." He played himself in the 1998 movie "Holy Man," which starred Eddie Murphy.
He joined WNBC-AM as a disc jockey in 1985, a stint best remembered because Sales filled the hours between shock jocks Don Imus and Howard Stern.
Sales is survived by his wife, Trudy, and two sons, Hunt and Tony, a pair of musicians who backed David Bowie in the band Tin Machine.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Football player Stabbed ----Update
Lawyers says arrests coming in UConn stabbing
By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writer
STORRS, Conn. (AP)—A Bloomfield man will be arrested in the stabbing death of a University of Connecticut football player, his lawyer said Monday night, as police continued to sort out what happened during a fight outside a school-sponsored dance over the weekend.
Attorney Deron Freeman declined to identify his client, but says the man and several others got into a fight “with about six” UConn football players early Sunday. Freeman says his client did not stab Jasper Howard, but was present when Howard was mortally wounded.
Freeman said police searched his client’s home in Bloomfield and removed some items. Freeman said police told him that his client and others will be arrested.
“(Police) have indicated to me that they expect to get a warrant for his arrest,” he said. “I’m not sure if I would say that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I could say that he was not involved in the actual stabbing of Mr. Howard.”
It would be the second arrest connected to the stabbing, which occurred hours after Howard starred in UConn’s homecoming victory over Louisville.
Johnny Hood, 21, of Hartford, was arraigned Monday on charges of interfering with an officer and breach of peace, but he has not been charged in Howard’s death.
Authorities said Hood gave a false name when he was questioned. His bond initially was set at $100,000, but that was reduced Monday to $10,000.
Hood’s attorney, Justin Freeman, said at the arraignment that his client is a full-time dental assistant and a part-time student at Capitol Community College, who was “at the wrong place at the wrong time,” and did not even know a homicide had occurred.
Deron Freeman, who is Justin Freeman’s brother, declined to say whether his client knows Hood, but he said there were at least a half-dozen UConn football players with Howard at the time of the stabbing.
Hood was pointed out to police at the scene by another UConn player, 19-year-old Brian Parker of Sarasota, Fla., who also was stabbed but sustained minor injuries. The sophomore wide receiver, who is academically ineligible to play this season, was treated and released from a local hospital.
Coach Randy Edsall said two other players tried in vain to save Howard’s life.
“One had Jasper in his arms and the other was pressuring where the wound went in and had blood on his hands,” Edsall said. “And those two young men are pretty deeply affected right now.”
Sophomore receiver Kashif Moore said he was the player who held Howard until help arrived. He said he did not think his friend was going to die.
“He was like in and out (of consciousness),” Moore said. “I didn’t have time to be scared.”
The state’s medical examiner’s office said Monday that Howard died from a single stab wound to the abdomen.
Howard, a junior and starting cornerback, came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown of Miami. He was the first person in his family to go to college.
UConn basketball player Kalana Greene said Monday night that Howard was a good person who wanted to help lift his family out of poverty and away from crime.
“He’s from Little Haiti in Miami, and he talked about doing everything for his mom and his two little sisters, doing something to make it out,” Greene said. “He was talking about how, ‘I’ve got to make it out to help my family out. I don’t want my family to live the life that I lived. I don’t want my kids to live the life that I lived. I want to make it good for them.”’
Center Tina Charles said Howard—nicknamed Jazz—loved to play pickup basketball with the UConn women’s team.
“He always made the games fun,” she said. “That smile would get probably any girl, that smile that he had.”
Howard’s death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father, Edsall said. Police declined to provide any additional information about the expectant mother, whom Edsall identified as Howard’s girlfriend.
Police interviewed dozens of witnesses but had made no other arrests late Monday.
“We’re pursuing active investigative leads,” UConn police Maj. Ron Blicher said.
Blicher said Howard was mortally wounded during a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The fight broke out just after a fire alarm went off in a student center, forcing around 300 people to evacuate from a party and dance sponsored by the school’s West Indian Awareness Organization.
The violence came less than 12 hours after UConn’s 38-25 homecoming victory over Louisville. Edsall identified Howard’s body at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford Sunday morning.
Students gathered for two vigils Monday night. Teammates and friends placed candles and flowers at the spot where Howard was killed, along with a poster that included the words “Live 365” next to pictures of Howard playing football and having fun.
Outside the team’s football complex, dozens of athletes and other students joined hands as punter Desi Cullen, a team captain led them in prayer.
“Value the breath you breathe,” he told the crowd. “Value every day you wake up.”
Cullen said it had been a tough day for players, as they met with Howard’s parents, who had flown up from Florida.
Earlier Monday, the campus co-op store sold out of T-shirts styled like jerseys with Howard’s No. 6.
The team will wear a sticker with Howard’s initials on its helmets for the rest of the season and will carry Howard’s helmet or jersey to away games, Edsall said.
The coach said he doesn’t know if the two teammates who helped Howard will play when the Huskies visit Big East foe West Virginia on Saturday. “I’ll honor whatever decision they want to make,” he said.
West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said plans are in the works to honor Howard at the game in Morgantown, W.Va. He said he expected the game would be very emotional for both teams.
“The youngsters from our Miami area took it very, very, very hard,” he said. “Our guys were quite shaken, as they should be and they really, really liked that young man immensely.”
Edsall said his team will resume practicing on Tuesday.
“It’ll be good for us to be getting back on the practice field tomorrow and getting a little bit of what in this tragic situation, back to a little bit of normalcy with what we have to do,” he said.
By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writer
STORRS, Conn. (AP)—A Bloomfield man will be arrested in the stabbing death of a University of Connecticut football player, his lawyer said Monday night, as police continued to sort out what happened during a fight outside a school-sponsored dance over the weekend.
Attorney Deron Freeman declined to identify his client, but says the man and several others got into a fight “with about six” UConn football players early Sunday. Freeman says his client did not stab Jasper Howard, but was present when Howard was mortally wounded.
Freeman said police searched his client’s home in Bloomfield and removed some items. Freeman said police told him that his client and others will be arrested.
“(Police) have indicated to me that they expect to get a warrant for his arrest,” he said. “I’m not sure if I would say that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I could say that he was not involved in the actual stabbing of Mr. Howard.”
It would be the second arrest connected to the stabbing, which occurred hours after Howard starred in UConn’s homecoming victory over Louisville.
Johnny Hood, 21, of Hartford, was arraigned Monday on charges of interfering with an officer and breach of peace, but he has not been charged in Howard’s death.
Authorities said Hood gave a false name when he was questioned. His bond initially was set at $100,000, but that was reduced Monday to $10,000.
Hood’s attorney, Justin Freeman, said at the arraignment that his client is a full-time dental assistant and a part-time student at Capitol Community College, who was “at the wrong place at the wrong time,” and did not even know a homicide had occurred.
Deron Freeman, who is Justin Freeman’s brother, declined to say whether his client knows Hood, but he said there were at least a half-dozen UConn football players with Howard at the time of the stabbing.
Hood was pointed out to police at the scene by another UConn player, 19-year-old Brian Parker of Sarasota, Fla., who also was stabbed but sustained minor injuries. The sophomore wide receiver, who is academically ineligible to play this season, was treated and released from a local hospital.
Coach Randy Edsall said two other players tried in vain to save Howard’s life.
“One had Jasper in his arms and the other was pressuring where the wound went in and had blood on his hands,” Edsall said. “And those two young men are pretty deeply affected right now.”
Sophomore receiver Kashif Moore said he was the player who held Howard until help arrived. He said he did not think his friend was going to die.
“He was like in and out (of consciousness),” Moore said. “I didn’t have time to be scared.”
The state’s medical examiner’s office said Monday that Howard died from a single stab wound to the abdomen.
Howard, a junior and starting cornerback, came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown of Miami. He was the first person in his family to go to college.
UConn basketball player Kalana Greene said Monday night that Howard was a good person who wanted to help lift his family out of poverty and away from crime.
“He’s from Little Haiti in Miami, and he talked about doing everything for his mom and his two little sisters, doing something to make it out,” Greene said. “He was talking about how, ‘I’ve got to make it out to help my family out. I don’t want my family to live the life that I lived. I don’t want my kids to live the life that I lived. I want to make it good for them.”’
Center Tina Charles said Howard—nicknamed Jazz—loved to play pickup basketball with the UConn women’s team.
“He always made the games fun,” she said. “That smile would get probably any girl, that smile that he had.”
Howard’s death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father, Edsall said. Police declined to provide any additional information about the expectant mother, whom Edsall identified as Howard’s girlfriend.
Police interviewed dozens of witnesses but had made no other arrests late Monday.
“We’re pursuing active investigative leads,” UConn police Maj. Ron Blicher said.
Blicher said Howard was mortally wounded during a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The fight broke out just after a fire alarm went off in a student center, forcing around 300 people to evacuate from a party and dance sponsored by the school’s West Indian Awareness Organization.
The violence came less than 12 hours after UConn’s 38-25 homecoming victory over Louisville. Edsall identified Howard’s body at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford Sunday morning.
Students gathered for two vigils Monday night. Teammates and friends placed candles and flowers at the spot where Howard was killed, along with a poster that included the words “Live 365” next to pictures of Howard playing football and having fun.
Outside the team’s football complex, dozens of athletes and other students joined hands as punter Desi Cullen, a team captain led them in prayer.
“Value the breath you breathe,” he told the crowd. “Value every day you wake up.”
Cullen said it had been a tough day for players, as they met with Howard’s parents, who had flown up from Florida.
Earlier Monday, the campus co-op store sold out of T-shirts styled like jerseys with Howard’s No. 6.
The team will wear a sticker with Howard’s initials on its helmets for the rest of the season and will carry Howard’s helmet or jersey to away games, Edsall said.
The coach said he doesn’t know if the two teammates who helped Howard will play when the Huskies visit Big East foe West Virginia on Saturday. “I’ll honor whatever decision they want to make,” he said.
West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said plans are in the works to honor Howard at the game in Morgantown, W.Va. He said he expected the game would be very emotional for both teams.
“The youngsters from our Miami area took it very, very, very hard,” he said. “Our guys were quite shaken, as they should be and they really, really liked that young man immensely.”
Edsall said his team will resume practicing on Tuesday.
“It’ll be good for us to be getting back on the practice field tomorrow and getting a little bit of what in this tragic situation, back to a little bit of normalcy with what we have to do,” he said.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Not a Football fan...but still sad news
UConn mourns stabbing death of football player
By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writer 35 minutes ago
STORRS, Conn. (AP)—A Connecticut football player who was an expectant father was stabbed to death early Sunday after an on-campus dance, just hours after helping his team to a homecoming victory.
Jasper Howard, 20, of Miami, and another student were stabbed during a fight after a fire alarm was pulled during a university sanctioned dance at the UConn Student Union just after 12:30 a.m., police said.
Police had not identified a suspect or released the name of the other victim.
Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said the team was heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Howard, a junior and the team’s starting cornerback who came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown. He became the first person in his family to go to college.
I
“I know this,” Edsall said, his eyes red and welling with tears, “he loved UConn; he loved his teammates; he loved everything about this.”
Edsall said Howard’s death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father. No additional information about the expectant mother, identified by Edsall as Howard’s girlfriend, was provided by police or the university.
The coach gathered his team at its training facility at 6 a.m. to deliver the news.
“As Jazz looks down on us, I can promise him and his family, that son or daughter will have 105 uncles,” punter Desi Cullen, a team captain, said at an afternoon news conference. “And we will do what it takes to not get through this, but to grow from it.”
UConn Police Major Ronald Blicher said this is the first homicide at the university in the more than 30 years he has been associated with the school.
Blicher said Howard was stabbed following a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The altercation broke out just after a fire alarm went off in the student center, forcing the evacuation of about 300 people, from a “Welcome Back” party and dance sponsored by the school’s West Indian Awareness Organization.
Police and the school declined to say whether any other athletes were involved in the incident.
Police cordoned off the crime scene near the university’s Gampel Pavilion basketball arena for much of the day.
“Certainly not all 300 saw this event,” Blicher said. “We have been actively interviewing people through the night and day, and we continue to seek anybody who might have information.”
Police were trying to determine whether the alarm and the fight were related.
The university community was sent messages warning them to be cautious, but Blicher said officials don’t believe anyone else is in danger and that the stabbing did not appear premeditated.
“The university does not have an individual walking around just stabbing people,” Blicher said.
Howard and the other stabbing victim were taken to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, where the second victim was treated and released. Howard was later airlifted to Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, where he died from his injuries.
Edsall drove to the hospital Sunday morning and was asked to identify Howard’s body.
“One of my sons has been taken away,” the coach said.
University President Michael Hogan told The Associated Press the stabbing is a tragedy for the entire university community.
“I was in the locker room after the game yesterday. It was such a joyous moment,” Hogan said. “To go from that game and such a victory to the developments at 12:30 last night is such a tragedy.”
Howard had a career-high 11 tackles Saturday against Louisville and made perhaps the game’s biggest play, forcing a fumble just as Louisville was about to score with UConn up 21-13 in the third quarter. UConn won 38-25, and following the game, Howard, who led the Big East in punt returns last season, talked to the AP about the play.
“I felt my hand go on the ball and I felt that I had a chance to get it out. I just stripped it out. It was a big play. We needed it,” he said.
Corey Bell, director of football operations at the University of Miami, coached Howard at Miami Edison High School.
He told The Miami-Herald Sunday that he was stunned.
“I’m real close to all my guys, but Jazz and I were real close,” Bell said. “We spoke at least once every week. He’s a great kid, coachable, dependable, real tough mentally and talented. He had dreams of getting to the next level and making it and taking care of his mom and his sister.”
A phone and e-mail message left with the Miami’s media relations department were not immediately returned.
New England Patriots cornerback Darius Butler, described by Edsall as the player who taught Howard the ropes while at UConn, was shaken by the news.
“It hasn’t settled in, but it was tough on the UConn family,” Butler said. “He’s in my thoughts and prayers.”
The school was arranging for Howard’s parents to come to Connecticut. The junior also had two teenage sisters.
The student union was reopened late Sunday, and the snack shop there was soon doing a brisk business.
Aaron Price, a 19-year-old music major, said he was a bit concerned that nobody had yet been arrested, but didn’t fear for his own safety.
“I’ve never felt unsafe,” he said. “I’ve never even thought about whether or not I felt safe.”
Gov. M. Jodi Rell visited the campus Sunday to offer her condolences and any assistance the university might need.
Edsall said the team will not practice until Tuesday, but plans on playing next Saturday at West Virginia. He said they would wear some remembrance of Howard, and would plan a more permanent memorial at the team’s training center.
“The Howard family will get through this, as well as the UConn family,” Edsall said. “Because we are determined and we are willing to make sure that Jazz will be honored in the right way, and how we do things is what he’ll be expecting out of all of us.”
By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writer 35 minutes ago
STORRS, Conn. (AP)—A Connecticut football player who was an expectant father was stabbed to death early Sunday after an on-campus dance, just hours after helping his team to a homecoming victory.
Jasper Howard, 20, of Miami, and another student were stabbed during a fight after a fire alarm was pulled during a university sanctioned dance at the UConn Student Union just after 12:30 a.m., police said.
Police had not identified a suspect or released the name of the other victim.
Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said the team was heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Howard, a junior and the team’s starting cornerback who came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown. He became the first person in his family to go to college.
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“I know this,” Edsall said, his eyes red and welling with tears, “he loved UConn; he loved his teammates; he loved everything about this.”
Edsall said Howard’s death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father. No additional information about the expectant mother, identified by Edsall as Howard’s girlfriend, was provided by police or the university.
The coach gathered his team at its training facility at 6 a.m. to deliver the news.
“As Jazz looks down on us, I can promise him and his family, that son or daughter will have 105 uncles,” punter Desi Cullen, a team captain, said at an afternoon news conference. “And we will do what it takes to not get through this, but to grow from it.”
UConn Police Major Ronald Blicher said this is the first homicide at the university in the more than 30 years he has been associated with the school.
Blicher said Howard was stabbed following a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The altercation broke out just after a fire alarm went off in the student center, forcing the evacuation of about 300 people, from a “Welcome Back” party and dance sponsored by the school’s West Indian Awareness Organization.
Police and the school declined to say whether any other athletes were involved in the incident.
Police cordoned off the crime scene near the university’s Gampel Pavilion basketball arena for much of the day.
“Certainly not all 300 saw this event,” Blicher said. “We have been actively interviewing people through the night and day, and we continue to seek anybody who might have information.”
Police were trying to determine whether the alarm and the fight were related.
The university community was sent messages warning them to be cautious, but Blicher said officials don’t believe anyone else is in danger and that the stabbing did not appear premeditated.
“The university does not have an individual walking around just stabbing people,” Blicher said.
Howard and the other stabbing victim were taken to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, where the second victim was treated and released. Howard was later airlifted to Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, where he died from his injuries.
Edsall drove to the hospital Sunday morning and was asked to identify Howard’s body.
“One of my sons has been taken away,” the coach said.
University President Michael Hogan told The Associated Press the stabbing is a tragedy for the entire university community.
“I was in the locker room after the game yesterday. It was such a joyous moment,” Hogan said. “To go from that game and such a victory to the developments at 12:30 last night is such a tragedy.”
Howard had a career-high 11 tackles Saturday against Louisville and made perhaps the game’s biggest play, forcing a fumble just as Louisville was about to score with UConn up 21-13 in the third quarter. UConn won 38-25, and following the game, Howard, who led the Big East in punt returns last season, talked to the AP about the play.
“I felt my hand go on the ball and I felt that I had a chance to get it out. I just stripped it out. It was a big play. We needed it,” he said.
Corey Bell, director of football operations at the University of Miami, coached Howard at Miami Edison High School.
He told The Miami-Herald Sunday that he was stunned.
“I’m real close to all my guys, but Jazz and I were real close,” Bell said. “We spoke at least once every week. He’s a great kid, coachable, dependable, real tough mentally and talented. He had dreams of getting to the next level and making it and taking care of his mom and his sister.”
A phone and e-mail message left with the Miami’s media relations department were not immediately returned.
New England Patriots cornerback Darius Butler, described by Edsall as the player who taught Howard the ropes while at UConn, was shaken by the news.
“It hasn’t settled in, but it was tough on the UConn family,” Butler said. “He’s in my thoughts and prayers.”
The school was arranging for Howard’s parents to come to Connecticut. The junior also had two teenage sisters.
The student union was reopened late Sunday, and the snack shop there was soon doing a brisk business.
Aaron Price, a 19-year-old music major, said he was a bit concerned that nobody had yet been arrested, but didn’t fear for his own safety.
“I’ve never felt unsafe,” he said. “I’ve never even thought about whether or not I felt safe.”
Gov. M. Jodi Rell visited the campus Sunday to offer her condolences and any assistance the university might need.
Edsall said the team will not practice until Tuesday, but plans on playing next Saturday at West Virginia. He said they would wear some remembrance of Howard, and would plan a more permanent memorial at the team’s training center.
“The Howard family will get through this, as well as the UConn family,” Edsall said. “Because we are determined and we are willing to make sure that Jazz will be honored in the right way, and how we do things is what he’ll be expecting out of all of us.”
Monday, September 14, 2009
Patrick Swayze dies at 57
Patrick Swayze dies at 57
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Patrick Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into viewers' hearts with "Dirty Dancing" and then broke them with "Ghost," died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.
Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from a particularly deadly form of cancer.
He had kept working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting "The Beast," an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot. It drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran in 2009, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.
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Swayze said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making "The Beast" because they would have taken the edge off his performance. He acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was "considerably more optimistic" than that.
"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," Swayze told ABC's Barbara Walters in early 2009. "Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it."
C. Thomas Howell, who co-starred with Swayze in "The Outsiders," "
Other celebrities used Twitter to express condolences, and "Dirty Dancing" was the top trending topic for a while Monday night, trailed by several other Swayze films.
Ashton Kutcher — whose wife, Demi Moore, co-starred with Swayze in "Ghost" — wrote: "RIP P Swayze." Kutcher also linked to a YouTube clip of the actor poking fun at himself in a classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.
And Larry King wrote: "Patrick Swayze was a wonderful actor & a terrific guy. He put his heart in everything. He was an extraordinary fighter in his battle w Cancer." King added that he'd do a tribute to Swayze on his CNN program Tuesday night.
A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad-boy Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing." As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.
A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort's sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made great use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.
It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in "(I've Had) the Time of My Life," stage productions and a sequel, 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," in which he made a cameo.
Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad "She's Like the Wind," inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi.
The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
Swayze followed that up with the 1989 action flick "Road House," in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990's "Ghost" that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee (Demi Moore) — with great frustration and longing — through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.
Swayze said at the time that he fought for the role of Sam Wheat (director Jerry Zucker wanted Kevin Kline) but once he went in for an audition and read six scenes, he got it.
Why did he want the part so badly? "It made me cry four or five times," he said of Bruce Joel Rubin's Oscar-winning script in an AP interview.
"Ghost" provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn't have won if it weren't for Swayze.
"When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick," Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show "The View."
Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," which further allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.
"I couldn't get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho," he told the AP then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced "To Wong Foo," Spielberg didn't recognize him.
Among his earlier films, Swayze was part of the star-studded lineup of up-and-comers in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders," alongside Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Swayze played Darrel "Dary" Curtis, the oldest of three wayward brothers — and essentially the father figure — in a poor family in small-town
Other '80s films included "Red Dawn," "
In the '90s, he made such eclectic films as "Point Break" (1991), in which he played the leader of a band of bank-robbing surfers, and the family Western "Tall Tale" (1995), in which he starred as Pecos Bill. He appeared on the cover of People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991, but his career tapered off toward the end of the 1990s, when he also had stay in rehab for alcohol abuse. In 2001, he appeared in the cult favorite "Donnie Darko," and in 2003 he returned to the
Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze, whose films include "Urban Cowboy."
He played football but also was drawn to dance and theater, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in "Grease." But he turned to acting in 1978 after a series of injuries.
Within a couple years of moving to
Swayze had a couple of movies in the works when his diagnosis was announced, including the drama "Powder Blue," starring Jessica Biel, Forest Whitaker and his younger brother, Don, which was scheduled for release this year.
Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in
Thursday, August 6, 2009
'80s teen flick director John Hughes dies in NYC
'80s teen flick director John Hughes dies in NYC
Aug. 6, 2009, 4:08 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- Writer-director John Hughes, Hollywood's youth impresario of the 1980s and '90s who captured and cornered the teen and pre-teen market with such favorites as "Home Alone," "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died Thursday, a spokeswoman said. He was 59.
Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan, Michelle Bega said. He was in New York to visit family.
A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from ad writer to comedy writer to silver screen champ with his affectionate and idealized portraits of teens, whether the romantic and sexual insecurity of "Sixteen Candles," or the J.D. Salinger-esque rebellion against conformity in "The Breakfast Club."
Hughes' ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and many other young performers. He also scripted the phenomenally popular "Home Alone," which made little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his vacationing family, and wrote or directed such hits as "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Pretty in Pink," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Uncle Buck."
"I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person," Culkin said. "The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."
Devin Ratray, best known for playing Culkin's older brother Buzz McCallister in the "Home Alone" films, said he remained close to Hughes over the years.
"He changed my life forever," Ratray said. "Nineteen years later, people from all over the world contact me telling me how much 'Home Alone' meant to them, their families, and their children."
Steve Martin played lead character Neal Page in the 1987 hit "Planes, Trains & Automobiles."
"John Hughes was a great director, but his gift was in screenwriting," Martin said. "He created deep and complex characters, rich in humanity and humor."
Other actors who got early breaks from Hughes included John Cusack ("Sixteen Candles"), Judd Nelson ("The Breakfast Club"), Steve Carrell ("Curly Sue") and Lili Taylor ("She's Having a Baby").
Actor Matthew Broderick worked with Hughes in 1986 when he played the title character in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
"I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes. He was a wonderful, very talented guy and my heart goes out to his family," Broderick said.
Ben Stein, who played the monotone economics teacher calling the roll and repeatedly saying "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?", said Hughes was a towering talent.
"He made a better connection with young people than anyone in Hollywood had ever made before or since," Stein said on Fox Business Network. "It's incredibly sad. He was a wonderful man, a genius, a poet. I don't think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age.
"You had a regular guy — just an ordinary guy. If you met him, you would never guess he was a big Hollywood power."
As Hughes advanced into middle age, his commercial touch faded and, in Salinger style, he increasingly withdrew from public life. His last directing credit was in 1991, for "Curly Sue," and he wrote just a handful of scripts over the past decade. He was rarely interviewed or photographed.
———
Associated Press writer Amy Westfeldt Entertainment Writer Douglas J. Rowe and Drama Writer Michael Kuchwara contributed to this report from New York. AP writer Solvej Schou contributed from Los Angeles.
Aug. 6, 2009, 4:08 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- Writer-director John Hughes, Hollywood's youth impresario of the 1980s and '90s who captured and cornered the teen and pre-teen market with such favorites as "Home Alone," "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died Thursday, a spokeswoman said. He was 59.
Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in Manhattan, Michelle Bega said. He was in New York to visit family.
A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from ad writer to comedy writer to silver screen champ with his affectionate and idealized portraits of teens, whether the romantic and sexual insecurity of "Sixteen Candles," or the J.D. Salinger-esque rebellion against conformity in "The Breakfast Club."
Hughes' ensemble comedies helped make stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and many other young performers. He also scripted the phenomenally popular "Home Alone," which made little-known Macaulay Culkin a sensation as the 8-year-old accidentally abandoned by his vacationing family, and wrote or directed such hits as "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Pretty in Pink," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Uncle Buck."
"I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person," Culkin said. "The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."
Devin Ratray, best known for playing Culkin's older brother Buzz McCallister in the "Home Alone" films, said he remained close to Hughes over the years.
"He changed my life forever," Ratray said. "Nineteen years later, people from all over the world contact me telling me how much 'Home Alone' meant to them, their families, and their children."
Steve Martin played lead character Neal Page in the 1987 hit "Planes, Trains & Automobiles."
"John Hughes was a great director, but his gift was in screenwriting," Martin said. "He created deep and complex characters, rich in humanity and humor."
Other actors who got early breaks from Hughes included John Cusack ("Sixteen Candles"), Judd Nelson ("The Breakfast Club"), Steve Carrell ("Curly Sue") and Lili Taylor ("She's Having a Baby").
Actor Matthew Broderick worked with Hughes in 1986 when he played the title character in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
"I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes. He was a wonderful, very talented guy and my heart goes out to his family," Broderick said.
Ben Stein, who played the monotone economics teacher calling the roll and repeatedly saying "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?", said Hughes was a towering talent.
"He made a better connection with young people than anyone in Hollywood had ever made before or since," Stein said on Fox Business Network. "It's incredibly sad. He was a wonderful man, a genius, a poet. I don't think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age.
"You had a regular guy — just an ordinary guy. If you met him, you would never guess he was a big Hollywood power."
As Hughes advanced into middle age, his commercial touch faded and, in Salinger style, he increasingly withdrew from public life. His last directing credit was in 1991, for "Curly Sue," and he wrote just a handful of scripts over the past decade. He was rarely interviewed or photographed.
———
Associated Press writer Amy Westfeldt Entertainment Writer Douglas J. Rowe and Drama Writer Michael Kuchwara contributed to this report from New York. AP writer Solvej Schou contributed from Los Angeles.
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