In 2024, we've experienced the loss of several luminaries in the world of entertainment. These beloved figures—actors, comedians, musicians, singers, and coaches—have touched our lives with their talent, passion, and dedication. They've left an indelible mark on our hearts and shaped the world of entertainment in ways that will continue to inspire and influence generations to come.
Among the incredible actors who bid farewell this year, we mourn the loss of a true chameleon who effortlessly.
Haig unsuccessfully ran for the Republican Party nomination for President in 1988. He was a fierce critic of the more moderate George H. W. Bush, and speculation was that he sought the Presidency in part because of that. When he withdrew from the race, he gave his support to the presidential campaign of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas.
Haig has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions:[29]
Haig was the host for several years of the television program World Business Review. At the time of his death he was the host of 21st Century Business, with each program a weekly business education forum that included business solutions, expert interview, commentary and field reports.[24] Haig served as a founding member of the advisory board of Newsmax Media, which publishes the nation's leading conservative web site, Newsmax.com. [25] Haig was co-chairman of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus, along with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen J. Solarz. Haig was a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) Board of Advisors. Haig was a founding Board Member of America Online.[26] On January 5, 2006, Haig participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials.[27] On May 12, 2006, Haig participated in a second White House meeting with 10 former Secretaries of State and Defense. The meeting including briefings by Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, and was followed by a discussion with President George W. Bush.[28] Haig published his memoirs, entitled Inner Circles: How America Changed The World, in 1992.
On February 19, 2010, a hospital spokesman revealed that the 85-year-old Haig had been hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore since January 28 and remained in critical condition [4]. On February 20, Haig died at the age of 85 from complications from an infection.[5]
Justin Michael Mentell[2][1] died he was 27. Mentell was an American artist and actor. Who tragically,died young in a fatal car accident in Iowa County, Wisconsin.
(December 16, 1982 – February 1, 2010)
Mentell was born in Austin, Texas. He made his stage debut at three years of age as an orphan in Miss Liberty, and went on to appear in local theater productions, among them the musical Peter Pan, in which he portrayed one of the Lost Boys. After the family moved to Waukegan, Illinois, Mentell joined the Northbrook Children's Theater, where he continued to perform on stage. He also took up speed skating, placing third at the Junior Olympics and eventually becoming a member of the U.S. Speedskating's junior national long track team.
Mentell attended Northern Illinois University (NIU), where he majored in acting. He appeared in several plays there, including Balm in Gilead, The Play's the Thing and Never the Sinner. During his sophomore year, he trained at the Moscow Art Theatre, as part of a summer exchange program sponsored by NIU's School of Theater and Dance.
At NIU he also appeared in several independent films, including At the Still Point, for which he received the Golden Reel Award for Best Actor at its 2005 Film Festival. He also appeared in "Gotham III" in 2004 and used his speed-skating skills to land a role in the 2004 roller derby comedy Roll Bounce.
Mentell was a member of the cast of television dramedyBoston Legal as Garrett Wells. He played the role from the end of the first season through February 2006. His 2009 projects included Death Walks the Streets and the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced live-action/CGI family feature G-Force for Walt Disney Pictures, which was released in theaters July 24, 2009. On February 1, 2010, Mentell died in a car crash near Hollandale, Wisconsin. According to the Iowa County Sheriff's Department, Mentell, 27, was pronounced dead at the scene around 9 a.m. The accident was said to have taken place around 3:30 a.m. after his 2005 Jeep left the roadway on Highway 39, went down an embankment and struck two trees.[1] One unconfirmed possibility is that he had fallen asleep at the wheel,[3] though his Jeep was not discovered until later in the day by a passing farmer who alerted authorities. He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle.[4][5]
He was best known for leading Congress into supporting Operation Cyclone, the largest-ever CIAcovert operation, which supplied military supplies and arms including anti-aircraft weaponary including stinger missles (which provided dramataic and effective results against the Soviet Air Force)to the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. His behind-the-scenes campaign was the subject of the non-fiction book Charlie Wilson's War and a subsequent film adaptation.
Charlie Wilson was born in the small town of Trinity, Texas, where he attended public schools and graduated from Trinity High School in 1951. While a student at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, where he received a B.S. and graduated eighth from the bottom of his class in 1956.[1] He received the second-highest number of demerits in the Academy's history.[2]
Between 1956 and 1960, Wilson served in the United States Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant. Following four years as a surface fleet officer, he was assigned to the Pentagon as part of an intelligence unit that evaluated the Soviet Union’s nuclear forces.
It is speculated that Wilson first entered politics as a teenager by running a campaign against his next-door neighbor, city councilincumbent Charles Hazard. When Wilson was 13, his dog entered Hazard's yard. Hazard retaliated by mixing crushed glass into the dog's food, causing fatal internal bleeding. Being a farmer's son, Wilson was able to get a driving permit at age 13, which enabled him to drive 96 voters, mainly black citizens from poor neighborhoods, to the polls. As they left the car,it is speculated that, he told each of them that he didn't want to influence their vote, but that the incumbent Hazard had purposely killed his dog. After Hazard was defeated by a margin of 16 votes, Wilson went to his house to tell him he shouldn't poison any more dogs.[3] Wilson cited this as "the day [he] fell in love with America." This event was retold in the 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War.
As an adult, Wilson stayed out of politics until he was moved to volunteer for the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign. In 1960, after taking 30 days' leave from the Navy, Wilson entered his name into the race for Texas state representative from his home district. This action was against the regulations of the Navy, as service members are prohibited from holding a public office while on active duty. While Wilson was back on duty, his family and friends went door to door campaigning. In 1961, at age 27, he was sworn into office in Austin, Texas.
For the next 12 years, Wilson made his reputation in the Texas legislature as the "liberal from Lufkin", viewed with suspicion by business interests. He battled for the regulation of utilities, fought for Medicaid, tax exemptions for the elderly, the Equal Rights Amendment, and a minimum wage bill. He was also one of the few prominent Texas politicians to be pro-choice. Wilson was notorious for his personal life, particularly drinking, cocaine use, womanizing, and picked up the nickname "Good Time Charlie".
In 1972, Wilson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Second District of Texas, taking office the following January. He was re-elected 11 times, but was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fifth Congress and resigned October 8, 1996.
In 1980 Wilson was accused of using cocaine at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas however the investigation by Justice Department attorney Rudolph Giuliani was dropped due to lack of evidence.[14]Liz Wickersham told investigators that she saw Charlie use cocaine only once in the Cayman Islands, however this was outside US jurisdiction.[15] In "The Charlie Wilson real story" Wilson reveals he traveled to Las Vegas in the summer of 1980, and recalls an experience with two strippers in a hot tub.
The girls had cocaine, and the music was loud. It was total happiness. And both of them had ten long, red fingernails with an endless supply of beautiful white powder....The feds spent a million bucks trying to figure out whether, when those fingernails passed under my nose, did I inhale or exhale, and I ain't telling.
When questioned about his alleged cocaine use in 2007 Wilson reaffirmed "Nobody knows the answer to that and I ain't telling".[16]
Wilson was involved in a drunken hit-and-run accident on the Washington DC's Key Bridge just before his first visit to Pakistan. A witness stated she saw Wilson's Lincoln Continental hit a Mazda and she took down his license plate however Wilson was never convicted.[15]
One time I had barely gotten out of a DUI. They made me go to a class, at 7:30 on Saturday mornings, about not drinking whiskey.
Wilson's admirers defended him in the History Channel documentary, The True Story of Charlie Wilson, stating he drank that night to ease the pain he felt for the plight of the Afghan people. After noting the incident was not portrayed in the film Charlie Wilson's War, Wilson stated "I got off easy".[15]
Wilson retired from Congress in 1997 to live in Lufkin, Texas.[18] In February 1999, Wilson married Barbara Alberstadt, a ballerina he met at a party in Washington in 1980.
In September 2007, after two months on an organ transplantation waiting list, Wilson received the heart of a 35-year-old donor. Years of heavy drinking may have put a strain on his heart; in 1985, he had been told by a doctor that he had 18 months to live.[19]
Wilson died on February 10, 2010 in the Memorial Health System in Texas. He suffered from cardiopulmonary arrest. He was pronounced dead at 12:16 P.M. Central Time.[20]
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improvements in his health, Phil died on February 9, 2010, while in the hospital. He was 53 years old.[1][3][4]
The episode of Deadliest Catch featuring the Captain's passing aired on July 20, 2010, followed by a special tribute episode.
(December 19, 1956 – February 9, 2010
The popular show, one of many macho job reality series that dot the TV dial, had filmed more than half the new season when Harris fell ill. It's still unclear how the death will be handled in later episodes, a Discovery Channel spokesman said.
Original Productions, which produces "Deadliest Catch" and a number of extreme-job shows, had a crew filming at the time of Harris' stroke. Phil Segal, president of Original, said he's not sure yet how the story of Harris' injury will unfold or if it will be included after editing.
"Of course, he was fishing all the way up to the end -- he was such a special guy," Segal said. "We're so concerned about the family and the crew right now that we haven't stopped to think about how we're going to deal with this. We'll have to figure it out in the weeks and months ahead."
Harris' sons, who worked side-by-side with their father, issued this statement: "Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down. We will remember and celebrate that strength. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers."
Known for his candid manner and the ever-present cigarette dangling from his lips, Harris was a fan favorite.
"I think he epitomized the very essence of the show," said David Migdal, a longtime fan. "He was blunt, raw and real. He was the mythical Marlboro Man."
"Deadliest Catch" follows a number of crews in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia, and Harris' competitors took to Facebook and Twitter to express their condolences. Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand, captains of the Time Bandit, wrote on their Facebook page: "We all share in this tremendous loss. May God bless you and keep you, Phil, you will certainly be missed."
Sig Hansen, captain of the Northwestern, reshaped his Web page with a homage to Harris, including links to photos and videos under the banner "Phil Harris was called home and will forever be remembered."
"He can't be replaced," said David Bulhack, a fervent fan in New York who'd closely followed Harris' injury a few seasons ago when a rogue wave hit the boat, tossing him out of his bed and breaking some ribs. After that injury, Harris had a blood clot that lodged in his lungs.
"He was a real character," Bulhack said. "Of course, the family's mourning, but the fans, even though we didn't really know him, we still feel like we've lost someone."
Discovery Channel's statement acknowledged what many fans loved about Harris: "We will miss his straightforward, honest, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart."
Brisco grew up in Blackwell, Oklahoma with five siblings. He was followed by his younger brother, Gerald Brisco, into sport wrestling and turned down a football scholarship at University of Oklahoma to go to Oklahoma State. He was the first Native American to win an NCAANational Championship in 1965. His winning the NCAA title was even profound in that Brisco won it during his junior year, and didn't get taken down once during the season. Brisco's first documented professional championship reign began on October 16, 1965, when he defeated Don Kent to win the NWA Missouri Junior Heavyweight Championship.[4] He held the belt for less than a month, but he regained it in November by defeating Kent once again.[4] Around this time, Brisco also wrestled for NWA Tri-State. While there, he won a couple of state titles (the Oklahoma Heavyweight Championship and the Arkansas Heavyweight Championship).[5][6] He also won his first tag team titles in this promotion, teaming with Haystacks Calhoun for his first reign as co-holder of the Tri-State version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship.[7] He later held the title again, as he teamed with Gorgeous George, Jr. to win the belts on May 9, 1967.[7]
Brisco then moved to the Florida area, where he wrestled for Championship Wrestling from Florida for several years. His first title there was the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship, which he won on February 11, 1969 by defeating the Missouri Mauler.[8] He dropped the title back to the Mauler but regained it on July 8.[8] Two weeks later, he won the first of what would eventually be ten NWA Florida Tag Team Championships by teaming with Ciclon Negro.[9] Although he and Ciclon dropped the tag team belts the following month, Brisco held the Southern Heavyweight Title until November 1969, when he left the area to wrestle in Japan.[8]
When Brisco returned to Florida, he began teaming with his brother, who he had trained as a professional wrestler. He also continued competing as a singles wrestler, winning the NWA Florida Television Championship on November 27, 1970.[10] On February 16, 1971, the Briscos teamed up to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.[9] They dropped the belts the following month to Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk but regained them from the Funks in April.[9] That month, Brisco also beat Terry Funk in a singles match to win the NWA Florida Television Championship again.[10] Brisco's next major success was regaining the Southern Heavyweight Championship by defeating Dick Murdoch on June 8, 1971.[8] The title was later held up, though, after a controversial rematch with Murdoch.[8]
Brisco then took a short break from Florida wrestling to compete in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. While there, he won the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship twice by defeating the Missouri Mauler and Rip Hawk.[11]
Upon his return to Florida, he quickly won the NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Championship with a victory over Paul Jones on June 13, 1972, but he vacated the title the same day.[12] He then won his third and final Television Championship on November 7 1972.[10] Nine days later, he also won the Tag Team Championship again by teaming with his brother.[9]
Brisco's first NWA World Heavyweight Championship win was scheduled to be over Dory Funk Jr. capping off a multi-year feud, but the Funks balked, and politically maneuvered to drop the title to Harley Race instead. Jack then won the title from Race after a brief reign in Houston, Texas on July 20, 1973.[13] He defended his championship in NWA affiliated promotions across the world until losing to Giant Baba on December 4, 1974, though he regained the championship four days later.[13] Brisco defended the championship until losing it to Terry Funk on December 10, 1975. His loss continued the extensive feud between the Briscos and Funks.[13] For several years, Jack and Jerry Brisco would continue battling Terry and Dory Funk for wrestling supremacy.[citation needed] Briso's reigns as NWA World Heavyweight Champion were particularly significant as he was only the second wrestler to have won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship more than once at the time, with the other and first multi-time champion being Lou Thesz. Though his second reign was shorter than his first, it was still very significant as Brisco is still the only multi-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion to have had all of his reigns last a full year or longer.
In 1976, Brisco wrestled in several promotions and continued to add to his list of titles. He won the Memphis version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship on August 10, 1976 by defeating local favorite Jerry Lawler.[14] He also won the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship on November 26 with a victory over Bob Backlund.[15] At this time, the Briscos were also awarded the ESA International Tag Team Championship, although they did not wrestle as a team in the area.[16]
Wrestling in Florida again, Brisco teamed with his brother to win several more championships. In 1977, they defeated the team of Barry Orton, Jr. and Bob Roop to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.[9] Although they lost the title to Ox Baker and "Superstar" Billy Graham, they soon regained the belts in a rematch.[9] On January 25, 1978, they won the belts again by defeating Ivan Koloff and Mr. Saito.[9] While holding these belts, the Briscos also won the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship on February 21 with a victory over Mike Graham and Steve Keirn.[17] They dropped the United States tag belts back to Graham and Keirn but soon regained them.[17] They were defeated for the United States title by Killer Karl Kox and Bobby Duncum but were again successful in regaining the belts in a rematch.[17] The same thing happened when the Briscos faced Mr. Saito and Mr. Sato that year: they lost the belts and quickly won them back.[17] Meanwhile, the Briscos also defeated Saito and Sato to regain NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.[9] The following year, another victory over Saito and Sato earned the Briscos their final United States Tag Team Championship.[17]
The Briscos also enjoyed success in Georgia Championship Wrestling, where they won the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship twice. They competed in a tournament for the tag team belts but finished in second place after a loss to the Funks.[18] They defeated the Funks two months later, however, to win the belts.[18] On November 25, 1979, the Briscos defeated Austin Idol and The Masked Superstar to win the belts a second time.[18] Jack gave up his share of the title, however, giving it to Ole Anderson.[18] Later that year, Jack Brisco became the first NWA National Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Terry Funk in a tournament final.[19]
In 1980, Brisco resumed wrestling in Florida. He won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship again, teaming with Jimmy Garvin this time.[9] After losing the belts, Brisco followed this up by teaming with his brother to win them for a final time.[9]
The following year, Brisco won his final Southern Heavyweight Championship by defeating Bobby Jaggers.[8] Brisco finished off his time in Florida with two reigns as co-holder of Florida version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship. They won a tournament to win their first title, defeating Assassin #1 and Bobby Jaggers in the finals.[20] They lost the belts to the Funks on January 9, 1982 but regained them in a rematch seven days later.[20]
Brisco also wrestled in Puerto Rico in 1981, competing for the World Wrestling Council. He won the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship on May 30, 1981 and held the belt for almost seven months.[21] He also teamed with his brother to win the WWC North American Tag Team Championship. They defeated Los Pastores (better known as The Bushwhackers) for the title on August 8, 1981 and held it for a month and a half before dropping it to The Fabulous Kangaroos.[22] Brisco also returned to Missouri in 1981, defeating Ted DiBiase to win a second NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship.[15] He held the belt for only three weeks, however, before losing it to Ken Patera.[15]
In 1982, Brisco returned to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. He regained the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship, which had since been renamed the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, by defeating Roddy Piper on May 10, 1982.[23] Although he dropped the title back to Piper on July 7, Brisco regained the belt the following month.[23] After his matches with Piper, Brisco traded the title back and forth with Paul Jones several times. He lost the belt to Jones on September 1, 1982 but won it back on October 18.[23] Jones won the belt once again seven days later, but Brisco beat him for the championship in November.[23]
Brisco also teamed up with his brother to win the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship three times. They beat Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the belts on June 18, 1983.[24] This set up a rivalry in which the belts switched hands several times. Steamboat and Youngblood regained the belts on October 3, but the Briscos won them back on October 21.[24] The Briscos then held the title for a little over a month before dropping the belts back to Steamboat and Youngblood.[24] The Briscos won the belts back the following year, however, by defeating Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood.[24]
The Briscos acquired minority interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling, and in 1984 they convinced a majority of the shareholders (52%) to sell their shares to Vince McMahon, enabling him to increase his dominance of the professional wrestling world. Contrary to popular folklore, Jack and Jerry Brisco were never offered lifetime jobs with the WWF in exchange for selling their interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling. Jack Brisco debunked that myth in 1996 when he was interviewed by Wrestling Perspective. [25] Jack left the business in 1984, while Gerald has worked with the WWF/WWE for decades.
Years after the Montreal Screwjob, Brisco was asked during a live online chat about his thoughts on the incident. Brisco, apparently uninformed of the entire situation, criticized Bret Hart for his refusal to job. This led to a scathing response from Hart who defended his actions and mentioned a time when Ernie Ladd allegedly beat the Brisco brothers in a parking lot, stuffed them into the trunk of his car, and drove around town before dumping them out at the promoter's house. Hart finished the statement with "Jack Brisco can kiss my ass".[26][27] Brisco was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005. Brisco lived in Florida where he ran the Brisco Body Shop with brothers Gerald and Bill for over 30 years. He has also made occasional wrestling appearances such as Florida's Wrestle Reunion in January 2005.[28] Brisco is considered one of the great legendary wrestlers of the 1970s and has often been cited as such by Ric Flair during his emotional promos. Brisco and his brother, Gerald were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2008. Jack was found dead on the 1st February 2010.
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In 1986 he received an honorary "Doctor of Music" from the Curtis Institute of Music of Philadelphia, and in 1990 was honored by the American String Teachers Association as "Teacher of the Year". Mr. Cole was also honored by the Philadelphia Art Alliance and the venerable Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. In 1999 he was given the first award by the Curtis alumni.[citation needed]
Born and raised in Philadelphia, the son of Lucius Cole, a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra, he entered the first class of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1924 as a pupil of Felix Salmond and graduated in 1934. Along with Jascha Brodsky and Max Aronoff, he was a founding member of what was then known as the Swastika Quartet, in 1927. When Adolf Hitler came to power and adopted this symbol of Apollo (albeit rotated), the fledgling quartet needed a new name and, with the permission of the school's founder, Mary Louise Curtis, they were granted the name of their alma mater.
During this time, Cole was a classmate and friend of the composer Samuel Barber. Barber dedicated his Cello Sonata, op. 6 to Cole. Mr. Cole and the composer collaborated closely on its composition, reading a page at a time as it was written, until they gave the work its premiere in Town Hall in 1933. Barber wrote also wrote his Quartet, op. 11, with its famous adagio, for the Curtis Quartet.[citation needed] The ensemble played this work from manuscript for several years, and it was only when the time of publication arrived that Barber chose to make major changes: the first movement was cut down significantly, with its finale ultimately becoming the finale of what is now the third movement; and the original contrapuntal third movement was abandoned entirely in favor of a reprise of the first movement's material. Aside from Barber's admission to Cole in a letter accompanying the manuscript score sent from Rome attesting to the composer's great confidence in the slow movement, the quartet's first performance of the work in Curtis Hall is testament to the same - so rapturous was the audience's response following the adagio that the ensemble was compelled to encore it right away before continuing on to the finale. Samuel Barber also composed for the Curtis Quartet his work for voice and string quartet, Dover Beach, set to the lyric verse of the same name by Matthew Arnold. The work's vocal line was originally sung by Rose Bampton in its premiere in Curtis Hall, but as the composer was dissatisfied with the work's dramatic impact given the male personage of the text, Samuel Barber chose to sing it himself when the work was recorded in 1935. An earlier work, the Serenade, was written initially for the Curtis Quartet, though the work fell quickly from the composer's favor and is rarely played today.
The Curtis Quartet was a pioneer in its time, and earned great acclaim: as the foremost string quartet in America during the prewar years; the first touring quartet to be trained in entirely in the United States; and as the first American quartet to tour Europe, including a command performance before Mary of Teck, Queen Consort of George V of the United Kingdom. The ensemble undertook two extensive and triumphant tours of the United Kingdom and the European continent during the seasons 1936-37 and 1937-38, and were scheduled to continue the same until the outbreak of World War II. At a time when gramophone recordings were still a rarity and chamber music had not yet taken hold in the United States, the Curtis Quartet served as ambassadors, giving over 5000 concerts in its career and often presenting the first quartet performances heard by the communities in which they played. Before disbanding in 1981 upon the death of Max Aronoff, the founding nucleus of Brodsky, Aronoff, and Cole remained intact. After some initial success as students in the late 1920s, the quartet engaged Charles Jaffe as their second violinist, and it was with him that they achieved many of the aforementioned milestones. Following Jaffe's departure, the second violin position was held in turn by Louis Berman, Enrique Serratos, Mehli Mehta, Geoffrey Michaels, and, finally, Yumi Ninomiya Scott.
Cole taught at the Curtis Institute of Music for seventy-five years, first as Salmond's assistant while still a student and then in succession of his own teacher. There was a brief gap in his tenure at the school, however, during the years following World War II.[citation needed] The members of the quartet had grown dissatisfied with certain of the objectives and policies of the school and decided to found their own institution for the training of chamber and orchestral musicians, called the New School of Music,[citation needed] which was located just a few blocks from Curtis, and, for more than thirty years, served as an important training center. After returning to their duties at Curtis in 1953, Cole and the members of the quartet taught concurrently at both schools. After the 1981 death of the ensemble's violist, Max Aronoff, who was also director of the New School, the school was absorbed into Temple University where Cole and Brodsky continued to teach. During most of this time, Cole was assisted by his former student and colleague, Metta 'Billy' Watts.
Of interest as well may be mentioned Cole's primary instrument, the 1739 'Sleeping Beauty' of Domenico Montagnana. The instrument was a gift to him from a wealthy student and friend and was purchased for the then-princely sum of $17,000 in 1952. It was with this instrument that the Curtis Quartet's best known recordings for Westminster Records were made, among them the Dvorak 'American' Quartet and SmetanaQuartet in E-Minor, 'From My Life'; Mendelssohn quartets, opp. 12 and 44, no. 1; Schumann quartets, op. 41, nos. 1 and 3; Debussy and Ravel quartets; the Franck Piano Quintet; and two works of Dohnanyi, the Quartet in Db-Major, and the Piano Quintet No. 2. In these two works with piano, the [[Curtis Quartet] was joined by their longtime friend and collaborator, the pianist Vladimir 'Billy' Sokoloff.
Cole held master-classes all over the world. In 2005 he was appointed to the emeritus faculty of the Curtis Institute. He died on January 25, 2010, aged 101.[2]
WrestlingTruth.com offers its condolences to the family and friends of Georgiann Makropoulos, who passed away yesterday of a massive heart attack. She was 67 years old.
Chances are you’ve read numerous reports on the internet from Georgiann over the years; a truly selfless lady and iconic wrestling fan. You may know her as the editor of the Wrestling Chatterbox, a postal newsletter sent out for over 22 years, as well as www.wrestlingfigs.com – her site dedicated to the wrestling figurine industry and various exclusive news tid-bits she acquired from her friends in the business.
Slam Wrestling wrote:
Makropolous documented her love of wrestling in almost everything she wrote. She got hooked on wrestling as a teenager just a few months after she graduated from high school on Long Island in 1959. Her first real involvement came with fan clubs for Buddy Rogers, Bob Orton Sr., and Bruno Sammartino, staples of New York wrestling in the early 1960s. In those days, fan clubs were a way for wrestlers and their fans to interact, and for fans to get in touch by snail mail with like-minded sorts.
In 1969, then Georgiann Orsi took over the “Fan-Land” column in Wrestling World, which was the best-written, if often hyperbolic, magazine of its time. Her three- and four-page columns were chock full of addresses of fan clubs, as well as prospective vendors who sold photos, results sheets and fanzines from their basements. Some of the names she mentioned are still well known today. Rock Riddle’s fan club for Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson was regularly cited; Riddle went on to become a successful pro. Dave Burzynski earned mentioned for his quality photos for sale; that’s Supermouth Dave Drason to wrestling fans. And Georgiann cited as “really good” the San Francisco Wrestling Beat of Ed Giovanetti, the future Moondog Moretti. Makropolous collected more than photos or programs though; she collected friends, according to her many contacts in the business. She regularly undertook causes for wrestlers, such as helping to raise money for Konnan’s kidney transplant in 2007.
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. died he was 85. Haig was a retired United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.[1] In 1973 Haig served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, the number-two ranking officer in the Army.[2] Haig served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, commanding all U.S. and NATO forces in Europe.
Haig unsuccessfully ran for the Republican Party nomination for President in 1988. He was a fierce critic of the more moderate George H. W. Bush, and speculation was that he sought the Presidency in part because of that. When he withdrew from the race, he gave his support to the presidential campaign of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas.
On January 5, 2006, Haig participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials.[27] On May 12, 2006, Haig participated in a second White House meeting with 10 former Secretaries of State and Defense. The meeting including briefings by Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, and was followed by a discussion with President George W. Bush.[28] Haig published his memoirs, entitled Inner Circles: How America Changed The World, in 1992.
