Sheldon Dorf, who founded the world-famous Comic-Con International comic book convention, has died. He was 76.
A longtime friend, Greg Koudoulian, says the Ocean Beach, Calif., resident died at a San Diego hospital on Tuesday from kidney failure.
Dorf, a freelance artist and comic strip letterer, founded Comic-Con in San Diego in 1970 after moving from Detroit.
Actor Carl Ballantine, whose career spanned vaudeville, television, Vegas and Broadway, died Tuesday at his Hollywood home of natural causes. He was 92.
Born Meyer Kessler, he started performing magic tricks as a kid, learning them at age 9 from his barber. By 13, he was a successful enough performer to support his family.
One night a magic trick went haywire and he threw out some funny lines to cover it. Thus the Amazing Ballantine was born.
Nick Counter, who as president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) led the Hollywood studios through nearly three decades of labor negotiations, died Friday night at West Hills Hosptial in Los Angeles. He was 69.
No cause of death was given, according to an AMPTP spokesperson.
Charles Conrad, a distinguished acting teacher, died from kidney failure Oct. 29 in Port Townsend, Wash. He was 84.
Conrad coached many young actors in theater, film and TV including Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Kim Basinger, Dennis Quaid, Michelle Pfieffer, Diana Ross and Robert Duvall.
David Lloyd, writer of "Chuckles Bites the Dust," the classic "Mary Tyler Moore Show" episode that saw the WJM-TV crew struggling to contain the urge to joke about the comic circumstances surrounding the death of Chuckles the Clown, has died. He was 75.
As viewers will remember, in the popular '70s sitcom, Chuckles was shucked by an elephant while wearing a peanut costume in a parade. At episode's end, Moore, who had previously lectured her stationmates for poking fun, finds herself erupting in laughter during the minister's eulogy.
It will be interesting to see what shows up at the funeral.
Paul Wendkos, who directed the 1959 surfing classic "Gidget" and two sequels, died early Thursday at his home in Malibu.
Wendkos, who was 87 (although some reports put his age at 84), had been ill for several years following a stroke.
"Gidget," which starred Sandra Dee and James Darren, was followed by "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" in 1961and "Gidget Goes to Rome" in 1963.
Film festival programmer, historian and author Ken Wlaschin has died. He was 75.
He died at home in Palm Springs, according to Variety.
Wlaschin, a Nebraska native, was the programmer of the National Film Theater in London as well as the London Film Festival from 1969-1984. The British Film Institute website says he was the longest-serving programmer in either position and "made an enormous contribution to the international reputation of the NFT and the LFF."
Edward Woodward, the star of films including "Breaker Morant" and "The Wicker Man" and TV series "The Equalizer," died Monday. He was 79.
His agent, Janet Glass of the Eric Glass Ltd. agency, said Woodward died in a hospital in Cornwall after an illness.
Ken Ober, a comedian best known for hosting MTV's late-'80s game show "Remote Control," has died.
Ober's reps confirm that he died over the weekend at the age of 52. The cause of death was not immediately known.
