Eve's Obits

"People are dying who never died before!"

Yet another  online “influencer” has been killed by her boyfriend—it really doesn’t pay to even have  a boyfriend, does it? I’m glad I have not been on a date since McKinley was in office. Austrian makeup artist Stefanie Pieper , 31, went missing on Nov. 23 and was found dead in a Slovenian forest on the 29 th . Her boyfriend was arrested and has reportedly confessed to her killing. Pieper, a professional makeup artist, was an online star with with her beauty tips and pluggin

French actress and model Lise Bourdin , 99, died on Nov. 28. The sister of playwright Roland Bourdin, Lise worked various office jobs before being discovered by Pierre Balmain and shot to stardom as one of Paris’s most successful post-War models (“There were pictures of me everywhere. Sometimes I was on three magazine covers at the same time”). She enjoyed a brief but successful career in films and TV in the 1950s, including costarring with Sophia Loren in The River Girl , an

Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard , 88, died on Nov. 29. Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard grew up in England; his father died in the war (Kenneth Stoppard was his stepfather). His most famous plays—often brimming with witty and deep dialogue and touching on social issues of the day—included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , Jumpers , Travesties , Night and Day , The Real Thing , Arcadia , The Invention of Love , The Coast of Utopia , and Leopoldstadt ; he also wr

Australian musical-comedy actress Toni Lamond , 93, died on Nov. 29. The daughter of performers Stella Lamond and Joe Lawman, she was a star in the waning days of vaudeville, as well as musical-comedy and variety. She also appeared in a few films and TV series (including the US shows The Bob Newhart Show, Punky Brewster, Starsky and Hutch, The Love Boat , and Murder She Wrote ). She starred in touring companies of Oliver!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game, 42nd Street, The

Brazilian actor Tony Germano , 55, died on Nov. 26 when he fell from the roof of his house in Sao Paulo, which was undergoing renovation. No foul play is suspected. Germano appeared in theater productions of Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof, The Phantom of the Opera, Jekyll & Hyde , and Miss Saigon , and recorded several albums of show tunes. He provided Portuguese voice-overs for Beauty and the Beast , Nickelodeon's Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn , and Netflix’s Go, Dog

Architect and historian Robert A.M. Stern , 86, died on Nov. 27. Stern designed such buildings as 15 Central Park West, resorts for Disney World, the George W. Bush Center in Dallas, the Museum of the American Revolution, and Philadelphia’s Comcast Center, among many others. His style varied from gawd-awful glass and concrete slabs to really rather charming post-modern designs (520 Park, the Gerald R. Ford school in Michigan, and the Jacksonville Main Library in Florida are a

German actress and boyfriend-killer Ingrid van Bergen , 94, died on Nov. 28. Born in Poland, she began her career onstage in Germany and eventually appeared in nearly 200 films and TV series. She was seen in the US in Town Without Pity  and The Counterfeit Traitor , though her career was mostly in Germany. “Acting was my whole life,” van Bergen said. “I always found my job very exciting; I loved my colleagues, the crew on set, the cameramen.” Her career was interrupted when s

Dancer and puppeteer Danny Seagren , 81, died on Nov. 10. Seagren was the first live-action Spider-Man, on nearly 400 episodes of The Electric Company (from 1974-77). He worked with Jim Henson, and played numerous characters on Sesame Street  (he was Ernie’s right hand, and occasionally filled in for Caroll Spinney as Big Bird). Seagren was a puppet designer as well, and worked on the series Spidey Super Stories, Who’s Afraid of Opera?, The Adventures of Slim Goodbody in Nut

Actor and model Ethan Browne , 52, was found dead in his home on Nov. 25; no further information is yet available. The son of singer/songwriter Jackson Browne and model/actress Phyllis Major, Ethan worked as a model, and acted in Hackers, Birds of Prey , and Raising Helen  (he’s not to be confused with the Australian actor of the same name, who stars in Home and Away ). Ethan appeared as a toddler with his father on the cover of Rolling Stone , but other than his few acting j

Michael Delano , who played the obnoxious lounge singer Johnny Venture on Rhoda , died on Oct. 20. He was 84. Delano danced on American Bandstand  as a teen, and worked as a real-life lounge singer (a career he kept up till recently). Delano was tall, handsome, and a good singer and actor, but he had rotten luck with film and TV vehicles. He costarred in the flop shows Firehouse, Flamingo Road , and Supertrain , also playing the casino manager in Ocean's Eleven  and Ocean's T

British playwright and actor Jack Shepherd , 85, died on Nov. 24. Shepherd started his career at the Royal Court Theater, and was named "most promising actor of year" in 1967, for Arnold Middleton . He also appeared in such plays as 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ruling the Roost, The Three Arrows, Let's Murder Vivaldi , and Dracula . He also wrote numerous plays, including The Incredible Journey of Sir Francis Younghusband, In Lambeth, Real Time, Comic Cuts, Half Moon, Holding Fir

Actor Jonathan Farwell , 93, died on Nov. 22. Farwell played George Rawlins on The Young and the Restless  from 1988-90, and was also seen on the soaps The Doctors, The Edge of Night , and All My Children  (as well as the 1988 film Frankenstein General Hospital ). The son of a composer and an actress, Farwell served in the US Air Force, and started his career onstage. He was seen in The Fantasticks (he created the role of El Gallo when the show was still in workshop), and pl

1960s child actor John Eimen , 76, died on Nov. 22. Eimen was a go-to performer on many TV series: he was in 11 episodes of the sitcom McKeever and the Colonel , and also turned up in The Untouchables, Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, Leave It to Beaver, Wendy and Me , and Petticoat Junction , among others. He also appeared in ads for Carnation Milk, Campbell’s Soup, and Alphabits. After aging out of the child-actor biz, Eimen became a rock singer, guitarist and songwriter, bo

British actress Jill Freud , 98, died on Nov. 24. As a teenager, she was evacuated to Oxford during the Blitz, where she lived with writer C.S. Lewis (it’s rumored that he based the character of Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe  on her). Graduating from RADA, she acted in rep theater companies and on the West End, billed as Jill Raymond. She also acted on TV and in films ( The Devil’s Disciple, Stranger at My Door, Malta Story, Torchy the Battery Boy, Crown Court

Jamaican reggae star Jimmy Cliff , 81, has died, his wife posted on Nov. 24. The singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter had such hits as "Many Rivers to Cross,” "You Can Get It If You Really Want,” "The Harder They Come,” "Reggae Night,” Hakuna Matata,” "Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” "Vietnam,” "Wild World,” and "I Can See Clearly Now,” and was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit. Cliff also acted, in such films and TV shows as Bouton Rouge, The Harder They Come, Club P

German actor Udo Kier , who appeared in more than 300 films and TV shows, died on Nov. 23. He was 81. He was born in the rubble of Cologne during a bombing, and was trained in acting in London.  He entered films in 1966, and by 1970 was already playing leads. Kier appeared in the Paul Morrissey films Flesh for Frankenstein  and Blood for Dracula , and his films The Story of O, The Stationmaster’s Wife, the appalling Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Lulu  (as Jack the Ripper), My

Ever so many musicians and singer have unalived this week (I just can’t let go of “unalived,” I am obsessed). French pop singer/songwriter Jean Guidoni , 74, died on Nov. 21. Guidoni sang about sex, gay love, AIDS, and other topics which raised eyebrows, even in France. He released 21 albums between 1978 and 2022. Musician Garry "Jellybean" Johnson , 69, died on Nov. 21; he collaborated with Prince and Rihanna, not only writing songs, but backing up on guitar and drums. Itali

Stuntman and actor Carl Ciarfalio , 72, died this week, his family announced. Carlfalio started his career as a teen at Knott’s Berry Farm. By the late 1970s he was working as a stuntman and bit player (he eventually worked his way up to stunt coordinator). His resume is astonishing, including such TV shows and movies as Knight Rider, Invaders from Mars, Sledge Hammer!, Beetlejuice, Casino, Glory, The Hunt for Red October, Wayne’s World, Get Shorty, Romy and Michele’s High Sc

Canadian-born actor Spencer LoFranco , 33, died on Nov. 18 in British Columbia; no cause of death has yet been determined. Lofranco was best known for his starring role in the 2014 crime movie Jamesy Boy , and a costarring role in 2018’s Gotti . He also appeared in At Middleton, Unbroken, Dixieland , and King Cobra . He left acting in 2018 (his recent hideous tattoos can’t have helped him get roles) and pretty much disappeared from everything but Instagram. “I was always funn

YouTube, Instagram and TikTok star Girlala , 21, was shot and killed by her boyfriend in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, on Nov. 17. Girlala worked as a hairstylist, and her videos mostly involved wigs—I had never heard of her, though I am obsessed with the Crazy Wig Lady’s videos. Girlala’s TikTok account had 300,000 followers, though searching for her now mostly turns up stories about her being “unalived” (is that a new slang expression? Because it is unintentionally hilarious)

Sioux actress and animator Dawn Little Sky , 95, died on Oct. 24. She worked as a colorist at Disney Studios (women were rarely promoted to animator at Disney), but was mostly known as an actress. She appeared in both movies ( Gypsy, Ten Who Dared, Cimarron, Duel at Diablo, Billy Two Hats, The Apple Dumpling Gang ) and TV (The Texan, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, Rawhide, Daniel Boone, Lakota Woman – Siege at Wounded Knee). In later years, Little Sky was director of a cul

Identical twin singers, dancers, and actresses Alice  and Ellen Kessler , 89, died by assisted suicide in Grünwald, Germany, on Nov. 17. Born in East Germany, the two were talented singers and dancers, fleeing to the West at 18 and appearing in clubs and revues all over Europe in the 1950s and ’60s (including a five-year run at Paris’s Lido). They also toured in the US, and appeared on the variety shows of Dean Martin, Danny Kaye, and Ed Sullivan. They acted—mostly as singers

Lawyer and occasional actor Sidney Davidoff , 86, died on Nov. 16. Davidoff passed the bar in 1963, was administrative assistant to New York Mayor John Lindsay, and found himself on Nixon’s enemies list (“a first class S.O.B., wheeler-dealer and suspected bagman”). He was senior partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, and formed the New York Advocacy Association, a "lobbying group for lobbyists” (I will back slowly away in confusion from that one). As an actor, Davidoff app

TV writer Dan McGrath, 61, died of a stroke on Nov. 14. McGrath wrote 50 episodes of The Simpsons  (including “Mr. Plow,” “Marge vs. the Monorail,” “Lady Bouvier’s Lover,” and “Itchy & Scratchy Land”), 24 Saturday Night Live s, and 11 King of the Hill s. He was also a Harvard Lampoon  writer who graduated to Saturday Night Live  (two Emmy nominations), and wrote for The PJs, Sammy , and Mission Hill . McGrath won an Emmy for the Simpsons  episode “Homer’s Phobia,” which was g

Alt-country singer/songwriter Todd Snider , 59, died of pneumonia on Nov. 14. He recently cancelled a tour after being “violently assaulted,” and was arrested after getting aggressive with police after being released from the hospital. Snider called himself a folk singer, with a gravelly voice and good guitar skills; he began touring and recording in the ’90s, and was a hit on the alt-country scene. His singles included "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues,” "Trouble," "This La

Tony-winning actress Elizabeth Franz , 84, died on Nov. 4. She started out in rep theater, and by the late ’60s was appearing on Broadway in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead . She won a Tony for the 1999 revival of Death of a Salesman , also appearing in The Cherry Orchard, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound, The Cemetery Club, Uncle Vanya, Morning’s at Seven , and The Miracle Worker , in addition to many Off-Broadway shows, and a turn in Buried Child  on the West En

Actor turned producer Ted Hartley , 100, died on Oct. 10. A U.S. Naval Academy grad, he was a jet-fighter pilot who had to retire after a 1964 crash. He turned to acting shortly thereafter, appearing in such movies and TV shows as High Plains Drifter, Peyton Place, Walk Don’t Run, Barefoot in the Park, Ice Station Zebra, The FBI, Mannix, Chopper One  (he costarred in the 1970s helicopter-cop series), Caddyshack II , and, most recently, 2012’s A Late Quartet . He and his wife

Cleto Escobedo, III , sax player and bandleader for Jimmy Kimmel Live!,  died on Nov. 11. He was 59. Escobedo and Kimmel had been childhood friends in Las Vegas, and Cleto and the Cletones played on Jimmy Kimmel Live!  since its debut in 2003. The son of musician Cleto Escobedo, Jr., Cleto III toured with Paula Abdul and several other artists, and joined Kimmel’s show with his father’s band, which he inherited. Escobedo joined a 2017 suit trying to get musicians compensated f

“ What Ever Became Of …?” author Richard Lamparski , 93, died on Nov. 11. His books—11 of them, published between 1967-89, are treasure troves of interviews with not only old movie stars, but sports, political, and arts figures. I hold Vol. 1 in my dainty little hands now, and the subjects include Adele Astaire, Gertrude Ederle, Jesse Owens, and Patsy Kelly. He touched history in a way we all wish we could, and he shared it with us. He also wrote the more recent books Hollywo

Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai  ( Ran, Harakiri, The Human Condition ), 92, died on Nov. 8. Born in Tokyo, he was a huge stage star before entering films, appearing in nearly 200 between 1954-2020. His most famous in the US were Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 medieval drama Ran , and Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition  trilogy ( No Greater Love ,  Road to Eternity , and  A Soldier’s Prayer); Nakadai eventually appeared in 11 of Kobayashi’s films. “There's just something about bein

Offbeat actress Sally Kirkand ("the Sylvia Miles of Karen Blacks"), 84, died on Nov. 11. The daughter of a Vogue  fashion editor, Kirkland began acting Off-Broadway; she hung out at Andy Warhol’s Factory, and appeared in several of his “films.” She worked steadily, but mostly in small roles—she had small or supporting roles in Going Home , The Way We Were , The Sting , Big Bad Mama , Crazy Mama , A Star Is Born , and Private Benjamin . It wasn’t till the’80s that Kirkland be

Porn star Jeanna Fine , 61, died on Nov. 10, according to the XBIZ website. Fine made her debut in 1986, and through the early 2000s appeared in hundreds of films, becoming one of the industry’s top, and most-awarded, stars. Her resume includes (I swear I am not making any of these up) Abducted by the Enema Bandit, All Anal on the Western Front, Around the World in 80 Gays, Edward Penishands, Generally Horny Hospital, Lust Tango in Paris, Moonlusting, Saturday Night Beaver, S

Stage, screen, and TV character actress Betty Harford , 97, died on Nov. 2. Harford started her career onstage with the UCLA Theater Group. She had continuing roles in The Paper Chase  (as old pal John Houseman’s secretary) and Dynasty  (as the Carringtons’ cook), and voiced Gumby’s mother, Gumba, on The Gumby Show . She also played Natalie Wood’s sister in the delightfully awful Inside Daisy Clover , and had small roles in such movies and TV shows as The Twilight Zone, The A

Jordanian-born British actor and playwright Nabil Shaban , 72, died of a brain hemorrhage on Oct. 25. Shaban was born with osteogenesis imperfect (“brittle bone syndrome”), which left him with stunted legs and lower torso. After spending most of his childhood in hospitals, Shaban studied psychology and sociology at the University of Surrey, then formed his own theater company, as no one else would cast him. He became quite a star, in London and Edinburgh, playing Hamlet , his

The Farmers’ Almanac , an entertaining annual (and calendar) containing such information as weather forecasts, planting advice, folklore, astronomy, and general advice, will cease publication as of next year. It was the oldest continuously published periodical in North America. I frequently bought their calendars, which were beautifully designed and chock-full of interesting tid-bits. The editors posted, “After more than 200 years of sharing a unique blend of weather, wit and

New Zealand director Lee Tamahori , 75, died on Nov. 7. Tamahori worked his way up as an assistant director and in TV before his first big hit, the dark Once Were Warriors (1994) brought him international fame. He went on to direct Mulholland Falls, Along Came a Spider, Die Another Day, The Devil’s Double, The Patriarch, Billions, The Convert , and an episode of The Sopranos . He became unwillingly known for his kinky private life—he and his girlfriend were into cross-dressi

Adorable, saucer-eyed British actress Pauline Collins  ( Upstairs, Downstairs, Shirley Valentine ) died on Nov. 5. She was 85. Collins was already a rising young actress ( Doctor Who, The Liver Birds ) when cast as mischievous maid Sarah on Upstairs, Downstairs (the best British series ever , and I will hear no arguments) and she stole the show. She and her husband/costar John Alderton left for an unsuccessful spin-off, Thomas and Sarah , then costarred in the delightful Wod

Glenn Clifton, 51, a singer who performed as Young Bleed , died of of a brain aneurysm, and let’s not have any wisecracks, children. The Baton Rouge native was rapping and hip-hopping from the time he really was  young. In 1995 he joined the group Concentration Camp (!), and in 1997 had his first hit with “How You Do That.” In 2010 he formed his own record company, Trap Door Entertainment. Between 1998 and 2020, Young Bleed released nine albums. “I’m the young that bleed for

Talented, versatile actress Diane Ladd , 89, died on Nov. 3. Ladd was Oscar-nominated for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore  (that’s two Flos who died this year!), Wild at Heart , and Rambling Rose . Born in Mississippi, Ladd started her career in 1950s TV and worked her way through larger parts in the ‘60s. It wasn’t till the early ‘70s—after 20 years—that she broke through with roles in Chinatown, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bluegrass, A Kiss before Dying, The Cemetery C

Singer Donna Jean Godchaux (The Grateful Dead) died on Nov. 3. She was 78. Godchaux was a backup singer (with a strong mezzo-soprano voice) for such artists as Percy Sledge (“When a Man Loves a Woman”), Elvis Presley (“Suspicious Minds,” “In the Ghetto”), Boz Scaggs, Duane Allman, Cher, Neil Diamond, and others; she sang with The Grateful Dead from 1972-79, and with the Jerry Garcia Band, the Heart of Gold Band, and her own Donna Jean Godchaux Band. She was married (from 197

Busy character actor Lee Weaver , 95, died on Sept. 22. Weaver had conspicuous supporting roles in The Bill Cosby Show, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Hill Street Blues  (as exhibitionist Buck Naked), Vanishing Point , Heaven Can Wait,   The Onion Field , Bulworth , How Stella Got Her Groove Back , Donnie Darko , The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I Spy, The Wild Wild West, Julia, Sanford and Son  (as the official who tries to take Fred’s elephant), Beverly Hills 90210, My Name is Earl, Com

French actor Tchéky Karyo , 72, died of cancer on Oct. 31. Karyo was born in Turkey but raised in France, where he started his career onstage, breaking through into movies with the 1982 film La Balance . Besides his many French films and TV shows, Karyo appeared in such international projects as La Femme Nikita, Vincent and Me, 1492, Nostradamus  (in the title role), Bad Boys, Operation Dumbo Drop, GoldenEye, Addicted to Love , and The Name of the Rose . On TV, his most famou

TV director Ralph Senensky , 102, died on Nov. 1. Senensky started his career directing regional theater, but moved into TV in the early 1960s. He helmed multiple episodes of Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, Star Trek, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The Partridge Family, Nanny and the Professor, The FBI, The Waltons , and Hart to Hart , as well as one-offs of more than 70 other shows. “Directing episodic television is like jumping on a freight train in motion,” Senensky said. “As

British experimental filmmaker Peter Watkins , 90, died on Oct. 29. Watkins’s films might be described as “mockumentaries” or “docudramas,” except I hate those words. While at the BBC, he was tasked with producing and directing a documentary on the Jacobite uprising of 1746; the result, Culloden (1965), was a You Are There -style film with modern reporters interviewing 18th-century combatants. He went on to create similar time-bending films: The War Game  (this nuclear war w

1990s child actor Floyd Roger Myers, Jr. , 42, died on Oct. 29, after years of heart problems. Myers appeared as the young Will Smith on an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , and played the young Marlon Jackson in the 1992 mini-series The Jacksons: An American Dream . He also had a bit part in the 2000 series Young Americans . Myers co-founded the Fellaship Mens Group, which, its website says, “creates safe, judgment-free spaces for men to be seen, heard, and supported.”

Porn star Dino Phillips , 55, has died, it was announced on Oct. 29. No cause was given. His resume includes such eyebrow-raising titles as Too Damn Big!, Wet Warehouse, Runway Studs, Bitanic , and Too Many Tops . Writer Sabin Gray posted that Phillips “was a sweet guy who I could always depend on to help me out with charity fundraisers and events.”

Actress and literary matricide Maria Riva —daughter of Marlene Dietrich—died on Oct. 28. She was 100. Born in Berlin to Dietrich and her husband, director Rudolf Sieber, she came to the US with her mother, and in the 1950s began acting on TV (she was also a Rheingold Beer Girl). Through the ’50s she appeared on such shows as Suspense, Studio 1, You Are There , and the unfortunately titled Climax! , but her career never really took off. After that, she pretty much devoted hers

Actress turned screenwriter Margaret DePriest , 94, died in her Greenwich Village home on Sept. 29. The Oklahoma-born DePriest started her career hosting local TV shows, acting Off-Broadway (including in The Crucible ’s premiere). She was also seen in such 1950s-60s TV series as True Story, The Catholic Hour , and The Doctors . After her acting career petered out, DePriest turned to writing, eventually becoming head writer (and winning several Daytime Emmys for) such soaps as

Five monkeys used for medical testing were killed by Mississippi police after they escaped from a crashed van on Oct. 28 (I assume the monkeys had hijacked the van and were on the run from the law). The monkeys were infected with COVID, herpes, and hepatitis C, and were described by Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson as "aggravated" and "aggressive"—heck, I am aggravated and aggressive, and I have not even been infected with COVID, herpes, or hepatitis C! Adding to the B-mov

Dennis “Denny” Devine , real-estate developer and son of B-lister Andy Devine, 86, died on Sept. 6. Denny and his brother Tad appeared in their father’s Canyon Passage  (1946), and Denny had a small role in 1958’s Lafayette Escadrille . He also appeared in his father’s 1955 This Is Your Life episode, and in a 1957 You Bet Your Life . But Devine did not follow his father into acting—he became a successful California real-estate developer (he also enjoying flying, riding motor