Lesley Gore,
The Alamo
John Wayne on the set of
"The Alamo," 1960. The movie set, later known as Alamo Village, was
constructed near Brackettville, Texas, on the ranch of James T.
"Happy" Shahan. Chatto Rodriquez, the general contractor of the set,
built 14 miles of tarred roads for access to the set from Brackettville. His
men sank six wells to provide 12,000 gallons of water each day and laid miles
of sewage and water lines. They also built 5,000 acres of horse corrals.
Rodriquez worked with art
designer Alfred Ybarra to create the set. Historians Randy Roberts and James
Olson describe it as "the most authentic set in the history of the
movies". More than 1.25 million adobe bricks were formed by hand to create
the walls of the former Alamo Mission. The set was an extensive three
quarter-scale replica of the mission, and has been used in 100 other westerns,
including other depictions of the battle. It took more than two years to
construct.
John Wayne was to have portrayed
Sam Houston, a bit part that would have let him focus on his first major
directing effort, but investors insisted he play a leading character. He took
on the role of Davy Crockett, handing the part of Houston to Richard Boone.
Tammi Terrell,
Tammi Terrell, born Thomasina
Winifred Montgomery (April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970), best known as a star
singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, most notably for a series of duets
with singer Marvin Gaye.
Terrell's career began as a teenager, first recording
for Scepter/Wand Records, before spending nearly two years as a member of James
Brown's Revue, recording for Brown's Try Me label. After a period attending
college, Terrell recorded briefly for Checker Records, before signing with
Motown in 1965. With Gaye, Terrell scored seven Top 40 singles on the Billboard
Hot 100, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Ain't
Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By".
Terrell's career was interrupted when she collapsed into Gaye's arms as the two
performed at a concert at Hampden–Sydney College on October 14, 1967, with Terrell
later being diagnosed with a brain tumor. The cancer caused her to leave the
music industry in 1969. By early 1970 Terrell was confined to a wheelchair,
suffered from blindness and hair loss, and weighed a scant 93 pounds. Following
her eighth and final operation on January 25, 1970, Terrell went into a coma.
She died on March 16 due to complications from brain cancer, a month shy of her
25th birthday. She is buried at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, PA
Ivan Nathaniel Dixon
Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III (April
6, 1931 – March 16, 2008) He was an actor, director, and producer best known
for his series role in Hogan's Heroes, for his role in the 1967 television film
The Final War of Olly Winter, and for directing many episodes of television
series. Active in the civil rights movement since 1961, he served as a
president of Negro Actors for Action.
In 1957, Dixon appeared on
Broadway in William Saroyan's The Cave Dwellers, following this in 1959 with an
appearance in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. In 1958, he was a stunt
double for Sidney Poitier in the film The Defiant Ones and went on to
television roles on The Twilight Zone (in the episodes "The Big Tall
Wish" and "I Am the Night—Color Me Black"), Perry Mason, and
other series. On February 20, 1962, Dixon co-starred with Dorothy Dandridge in
the "Blues for a Junkman" episode of Cain's Hundred, which was the
highest-rated episode of the series. n his best-known role, Dixon appeared as
POW Staff Sergeant James "Kinch" Kinchloe in the ensemble cast of the
television sitcom Hogan's Heroes. "Kinch" was the communications
specialist, a translator of French, and Hogan's default second in command.
Dixon played Kinchloe from 1965
to 1970, the only one of the series' long-time cast not to remain for the
entire series. Kenneth Washington succeeded Dixon for the last year of the
show's run, albeit with a different character name. From 1970 to 1993, Dixon
worked primarily as a television director on such series and TV-movies as The
Waltons, The Rockford Files, The Bionic Woman, The Eddie Capra Mysteries,
Magnum, P.I., and The A-Team. After his career as an actor and director, Dixon
was the owner-operator of radio station KONI (FM) in Maui. In 2001, he left
Hawaii for health reasons and sold the radio station in 2002. Ivan Dixon died
on March 16, 2008, aged 76, at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North
Carolina, of complications from kidney failure.
The Boxer
The lead single for Simon &
Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water (which would not be released until
almost a year later in January 1970), “The Boxer,” was released on 21 March
1969.
It took almost 100 hours to
record the song, due to Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and producer Roy Haylee
experimenting with different techniques in 3 different studios, including
recording the drum kit in front of an open elevator shaft, and placing 7
microphones around Fred Carter Jr.’s guitar.
Carter played 5 different guitars
on the song, and his audible breathing.
“The Boxer” was Simon &
Garfunkel’s first single since “Mrs. Robinson” and it charted in the Top Ten in
9 different countries, peaking at #7 in the US.
The song is frequently interpreted
as being about Bob Dylan, although Simon has always claimed it was mostly
autobiographical. Dylan recorded the song almost a year later (3 March 1970)
for his Self Portrait album, which also included Fred Carter Jr. on guitar.
Lyle Waggoner, 'The Carol Burnett Show' star, dead at 84
Lyle Waggoner, known for his work
on "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Wonder Woman," has died at
the age of 84.
The actor passed away Tuesday
after a battle with cancer, according to his rep.
In a statement obtained by Fox
News, Waggoner's rep said that the “loving husband, father, grandfather,
entrepreneur, and actor passed away peacefully at home on March 17th at the age
of 84 with his wife at his side. The cause of death was cancer.”Waggoner served
as the announcer for and played various characters in "The Carol Burnett
Show" from 1967 to 1974.
Burnett, now 86, said that she
was looking for someone with good looks in addition to comedic chops to fill
the role so that she could play her ugly duckling skits with him.
Waggoner also served as the first
centerfold for Playgirl magazine, which called him "the stuff of which
sexual fantasies are made, a 6-foot-4 hunk of gorgeous beefcake."
He then joined the cast of
"Wonder Woman," alongside Lynda Carter, as Steve Trevor, a soldier
who crash-landed on Wonder Woman's mysterious island of Amazon women.
During his time on the show,
Waggoner developed a business renting motor homes for stars to relax in during
their downtime on-set. Former President Bill Clinton even took advantage of the
service during his 1996 visit to California.
Stuart Whitman, Star of ‘The Comancheros’ and ‘The Longest Day,’ Dies at 92
March 17, 2020
Stuart Whitman, a star of Westerns alongside John Wayne like
“The Comancheros” and the war movie “The Longest Day,” died in his home Monday,
his son told TMZ. Whitman was 92.
“Old Hollywood lost another one of its true stars. Stuart Whitman
was known for his rugged roles and handsome charm. We were proud of him for his
TV, film roles and his Oscar nomination, but what we will really remember is
his exuberant love of his family and friends,” Whitman’s son Justin told TMZ.
TMZ says that Whitman had recently been in and out of the hospital
due to skin cancer that seeped into his bloodstream.
Though Whitman played across many genres, he was nominated for an
Oscar for the 1961 drama “The Mark,” in which he played a man convicted of
attempting to commit child molestation who has just been released from prison
and is trying to reform.
Born in San Francisco, Whitman got his start in TV Westerns in the
early 1950s after serving a stint in the military in the U.S. Army. He served
three years in the Corps of Engineers at Fort Lewis, Washington and was
honorably discharged in 1948.
After a stint on the series “Highway Patrol” in the late ’50s, he
got his big break in the 1959 film “The Sound and the Fury” alongside Yul
Brynner and with director Martin Ritt. He’d then twice star opposite Wayne in
both “The Comancheros” and “The Longest Day” and moved into starring roles in
films like “The Day and the Hour,” “Those Magnificent Men” and “Signpost to
Murder” in the mid-’60s.
One of Whitman’s most well known roles was in the short-lived ’60s
TV series “Cimarron Strip,” where he played the tough, but fair Marshal Jim
Crown. The show lasted just one season but solidified his reputation as a star
of the Western genre. He’d later make cameos on “Walker, Texas Ranger,”
“S.W.A.T.,” “Knight Rider” and “Fantasy Island.”
Whitman’s last on-screen role was the 2000 TV action movie “The
President’s Man,” where he reunited with Chuck Norris.
Barbarian
The word “Barbarian”
was invented by the ancient Greeks as an insulting term for anyone who didn’t
speak the Greek language - to their ears, everyone else sound
