Bjorn Andresen Dies: ‘Death In Venice’ Actor Was 70

Björn Andrésen, the actor and musician who appeared in the 1971 movie Death in Venice as a teenager, has died He was 70.

His death on Saturday was confirmed in Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter by Kristian Petri and Kristina Lindström, who co-directed the 2021 doc about Andrésen, The Most Beautiful Boy in the World. No cause of death was given.

Andrésen is known for his role in Death in Venice, Italian director Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of the 1912 novella of the same name by German author Thomas Mann.

He played a striking-looking teenager, who becomes the object of desire of composer Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde).

The film led to the moniker “the most beautiful boy in the world,” a phrased coined by Visconti to the press. This would haunt Andrésen for the rest of his career, following him wherever he went. “I felt like an exotic animal in a cage,” he told The Guardian in 2003. In The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, he said it had “screwed up my life quite decently.”

Born on January 26, 1955, in Stockholm, Andrésen was raised by his grandmother after his mother’s suicide, who pushed him into acting. His performance in Death in Venice, which was screened in Cannes, made him a star, but he felt uneasy with his fame and moved to Japan, where he became a huge music icon. He remained a professional musician into his later life and continued to act in Swedish films and TV shows. In 2019, he had a small role in Ari Aster’s horror Midsommar.

John Lodge, Longtime Moody Blues Bassist, Dies at 82

The singer-songwriter played with the iconic British band for more than 50 years and penned the classics “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)” &

“Ride My See-Saw.”

Chris Dreja, co-founder of the Yardbirds, has passed away. The musician was 79.

The Legendary Primatologist/Anthropologist  Jane Goodall, 91

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/jane-goodall-famed-primatologist-anthropologist-180140040.html

Elaine Merk Binder dead at 94: The Wizard of Oz star passes away as tributes flood in

Elaine Merk Binder, one of the last surviving actors who played a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, has died at the age of 94.

The former child star's daughter Annette Phillips confirmed her passing. No cause of death has been revealed.

Elaine turned eight years old when she filmed the beloved 1939 movie. She was one of eight children who danced and sang as part of the Munchkin ensemble. 

She can be seen during the performances of Come Out, Come Out and Off to See the Wizard as one of eight dancers in a pavilion. 

Speaking about her 1938 audition for MGM, Elaine recalled: 'For me it was scary. It was my first big call for girls from a major studio.'

'I was relieved when Bud told the dance director, "She's OK." I did not have to perform like the others did. And they selected me as one of the eight who would both dance and sing.'

'We learned later that they had added girls to the Little People because they had the mistaken impression that the Little People were not athletic.'

As a teenager Elaine was offered a contract from Paramount studios but she declined and went on to study at college, graduating with degrees in music and education. 

She went on to study computer science and theology, and worked as a computer consultant for USC and First Interstate Bank. 

Fan paid tribute on X, with one writing: 'A piece of Hollywood history fades away  Elaine Merk Binder reminded us how timeless “The Wizard of Oz” truly is. Rest in peace.'

Another added: 'The Famous Wizard of Oz Will Continue forever Rip Elaine Merk.' 

The Wizard of Oz, based off of L. Frank Baum's novel, titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, hit theaters in 1939 and went on to become one of the most popular movies of all time. 

In 2023 Betty Ann Bruno, who also played a Munchkin, died at the age of 91.

In Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, he describes the Munchkins only as shorter than usual in stature and clad from top to toe in blue.

MGM decided they wanted to cast little people in the roles - and needed as many as 350 performers to act in the movie, alongside Elaine and the seven other children.

Many of the actors playing the Munchkins had led exceedingly difficult lives.

Some were from Germany and had been forced to flee the country by the Nazis’ doctrine of ‘social hygiene’, which demanded the elimination of disabled people.

About 170 came from New York. Most were old enough to have learned to survive in the city during the years of the Great Depression.

Robert Redford, 89 

Bobby Hart, co writer of many Monkees hits has died at the age of 86. Safe travels on that Last Train to Clarksville, Bobby!

"Kiss my grits" Polly Holliday, last surviving ‘Alice’ star, dead at 88 after bout with pneumonia

Polly Holliday, known for her role as Flo in “Alice,” has died at age 88.

The actress was the last surviving star of the beloved CBS sitcom, which ran for nine seasons from 1976 to 1985. Even the boy Phillip McKeon is dead. Flow was a big time favorite of the gay community and especially the Drag Queens!

Flipper frontman and bassist, Bruce "Loose" Calderwood has died at 66.

Anyone who tuned into Nirvana's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live bore witness to a legendary moment in rock music history. But those who looked a little bit closer, might have noticed more than how Kurt Cobain sang or played, but what he was wearing: a homemade t-shirt repping the punk band, Flipper. Flipper was a band beloved by Nirvana, and was instrumental in shaping the band's sound.

Graham Greene

What a loss.  He was a leader for queer youth and our lifestyle. I loved his writing and I will miss him.

Edmund White

Edmund White, a pioneer of queer literature who broke ground with his semi-autobiographical novels chronicling gay life and the gay revolution, died of natural causes on June 3 at his home in Manhattan. He was 85. Born in Cincinnati in 1940, White made a major mark in the publishing world, writing honestly about the queer experience and chronicling the evolution of a community no longer afraid to declare and celebrate its existence. He wrote more than 30 fiction and nonfiction books, including notable novels like A Boy's Own Story and The Married Man, which drew from his life, and Fanny: A Fiction, a historical novel about the author Frances Trollope and social reformer Frances Wright. Several of his works were best-sellers. The Chicago Tribune once called him "the godfather of queer lit." He was the recipient of Lambda Literary's 2018 Visionary Award, the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2018. White is survived by his husband, Michael Carroll, whom he married in 2013, and his older sister, Margaret Fleming.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on The Family, a conservative Christian ministry which was against pretty much everything LGBTQ+ died August 21st at the age of 89.

Terrance Stamp, 87, Actor General Zod, opposite Christopher Reeve's Superman; Star Wars One: Phantom Menace; Red Planet actor

Ronnie Rondell (right)

" Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 " Houston We have a Problem" , 97

Also on Apollo 8, One of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, Lovell was the first to fly to the moon twice, and the only human to have done so without landing. He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He co-authored the 1994 book Lost Moon, on which the 1995 film Apollo 13 was based. Lovell was featured in a cameo appearance in the film.

Robert Plant has paid tribute to the late English musician Terry Reid, the man who turned down the singing role in Led Zeppelin and recommended Plant instead.

Reid’s death at the age of 75 was announced on Tuesday (August 5th) Reid would still play a vital part in Zeppelin’s history, however, instead recommending Page recruit a young singer named Robert Plant and his drummer John Bonham, this after Reid witnessed the two perform together in The Band of Joy.

Terry Reid also turned down an  opportunity  to being a member of Deep Purple !

Plant continued: “His voice, his range. His songs, capturing that carefree era.

Superlungs, indeed. He catapulted me into an intense new world he chose to decline. I listen now to his album The River and shed a tear for my brother in arms.”

LOS ANGELES — Loni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station’s empowered receptionist on the hit TV comedy “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died Sunday, just days before her 80th birthday.

Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a “prolonged” illness, said her longtime publicist, Cheryl J. Kagan.

“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear wife, mother and grandmother,” Anderson’s family said in a statement.

WKRP in Cincinnati” aired from 1978 to 1982 and was set in a flagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself with rock music. The cast included Gary Sandy, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner and Jan Smithers, alongside Anderson as the sexy and smart Jennifer Marlowe.