In Remembrance---2009

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Tony award winning actress Marilyn Cooper died last Wednesday after a long illness. She was 74.

Cooper was in the original cast of West Side Story and created the role of Agnes for Gypsy. She won her Tony for Woman of the Year.

 

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Russian ballerina Ekaterina Maximova died today; she was 70.

 

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Tony award winning dancer and choreographer Frankie Manning died yesterday. He was 94.

Manning was a dancer at the Cotton Club and appeared in several film musicals, including Hellzapoppin'. He won his Tony for helping choreograph Black and Blue. He appeared in Malcolm X and taught Denzel Washington how to do the Lindy hop for that film. He was also awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

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Country singer-songwriter Vern Gosdin, also known as "The Voice", died Tuesday of complications from a stroke. He was 74.

Among his hits were "Slow Burnin' Memory", "Do You Believe Me Now", and the CMA song of the year for 1989: "Chiseled In Stone". He also wrote "Someone to Turn To", which was recorded by the Byrds for Easy Rider.

 

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Danny Gans, a popular singer and comedian in Las Vegas (he won Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year 11 times), died today. He was 52.

 

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British actor Peter Dennis died April 18 of cancer. He was 75.

Dennis was best known for his one-man show, Bother! The Brain of Pooh, in which he read the works of A. A. Milne, but he also appeared in films (Shrek, Sideways) and television (Seinfeld, Alias). He was most recently seen in the series final of E/R.

 

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Greg Page, a former National Golden Gloves heavyweight champion died April 27 of complications from a brain injury he suffered in a 2001 fight. He was 50.

 

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Salamo Arouch, a Jewish boxer and Holocaust survivor who was forced to fight other prisoners at Auschwitz, died April 26. He was 86.

Salamo's story was told in the film Triumph of the Spirit.

 

[Mark]

Jack Kemp, former quarterback and VP nominee, dies

 

[Jamdin]

Comic legend and noted gourmand, Dom DeLuise, died Monday, May 4, 2009 at 75