R.I.P.2018

Tom Heaton was born on 13 October 1940 in Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Slither (2006), Reindeer Games (2000) and Shanghai Noon (2000). He died on 1 January 2018 in Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada.

In 1993, nine year old Jon Paul Steuer was cast in the role of Brett Butler's son Quentin Kelly on the ABC sitcom Grace Under Fire. The pilot episode aired September 29, 1993 with actor Noah Segan playing Quentin. Jon took over the role starting in episode two. During hiatus of the second season, ten year old Jon was cast in Little Giants (1994), a comedy movie co-starring with Sam Horrigan who was then 13 years old. Jon returned to his Grace Under Fire schedule and continued on the show until the end of the third season.

In May 1996, Jon's parents abruptly pulled him from the show saying that they felt the show was not a good environment for their son, citing Brett Butler's substance abuse, frequent rehab admissions and her overt sexual behavior toward 12-year-old Jon. Brett Butler was observed flashing her breasts at him on the set. When Jon left Grace Under Fire in 1996, it was his Little Giants co-star Sam Horrigan who took over the role of Quentin Kelly.

After leaving the show, when Jon interviewed for other acting jobs, he found most casting directors only wanted to question him about what it was like to work with Brett Butler, how it was working on Grace Under Fire set and why he left the show.In April 2015, Jon told an interviewer from the internet-based newspaper website, The A.V. Club, that he thought the behavior of some casting agents was very unprofessional and that he didn't appreciate how the focus during job interviews was on Brett Butler and the show, when he was supposed to be interviewing with them for another job.

It was then that Jon Paul Steuer decided to quit acting altogether. His family moved to Denver Colorado and while finishing high school, Jon worked at several jobs.

In 2003 Jon took the stage name of Jonny P. Jewels, formed the glam punk band Kill City Thrillers with four other musicians and became the lead singer. In 2005, the band changed its name to Soda Pop Kids. The band worked consistently until November 2009 when the group decided to quit.

In 2011, Jon became the fifth member of a Portland-based punk rock group called P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. They performed in nearby states and in 2014, the band went on a European tour. Jon remained with the band until his death.

In March 2015, Jon became partners with chef Sean Sigmon and invested in a vegan restaurant in Portland, Oregon called Harvest At The Bindery. The restaurant thrived for almost three years.

On January 1, 2018, at the age of 33, Jon Paul Steuer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Portland, Oregon. The day after his death, his Harvest At The Bindery restaurant partner closed down the restaurant permanently and on January 3, 2018 it was put up for sale.

Born in Wellesley, MA, USA, Buxton grew up in Larchmont, NY, USA, graduated from Northwestern University (BS) and Syracuse University (MS). After service in the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he worked in local television as a producer-director in Buffalo, N.Y. and Chicago, IL and then began his performing career as a stand-up comedian, TV host (Discovery '70 (1962), Get the Message (1964)), and stage performer ("Brigadoon", "Bye Bye Birdie", "The Tender Trap", etc.). His television writing, producing and directing work included The Odd Couple (1970), Happy Days (1974), Mork & Mindy (1978), among many others, and he created the Peabody Award-winning series Hot Dog (1970) for NBC which starred Woody Allen and Jonathan Winters. As a film and TV actor, he has appeared in Overboard (1987), Beaches (1988), Frankie and Johnny (1991), Face of a Stranger (1991), With a Vengeance (1992) and Roommates (1994), as well as many series and specials. He wrote and created voices for Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) and has done cartoon and commercial voices for innumerable projects.

Rick Hall was born on 31 January 1932 in Forest Grove, Mississippi, USA. He was a composer, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019). He was married to Linda Kay Hall. He died on 2 January 2018 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA.

Emily Dole was born on 28 September 1957 in Orange, California, USA. She was an actress, known for GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (1986), Hard Time on Planet Earth (1989) and Son in Law (1993). She died on 3 January 2018 in Orange, California, USA.

Lauren Stocks was born on 16 August 1963 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Conversations with God (2006), Relative Values (2000) and Toothpicks (2013). She was married to Stephen Deutsch. She died on 3 January 2018 in West Linn, Oregon, USA.

Spending his youth in Skåne, due to his mother's engagement at the Malmö City Theater, wasn't easy for somebody with a Stockholm accent, but Johannes avoided being bullied by cracking jokes and doing pranks. At 18 he applied to acting school but was rejected. He applied successfully later and has since worked in both Malmö and Stockholm. In 1991 he started with stand-up-comedy. During the 1990s he starred in several comedy plays in theaters in Stockholm. He biggest claim to fame though is the role as 'Joker' in the long running TV show "Rederiet".

Ray Thomas was born on 29 December 1941 in Stourport on Severn, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for Killing Eve (2018), Hittimittari (1984) and The Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin (1967). He was married to Lee Lightle. He died on 4 January 2018 in Surrey, England, UK.

Aharon Appelfeld was born on 16 February 1932 in Jadova, Storojinet, Romania [now Stara Zhadova, Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer, known for La chambre de Mariana (2025), Tsili (2014) and Vers où Israël? (2012). He was married to Judith. He died on 4 January 2018 in Petah Tikva, Israel.

Sue Barton was born on 26 November 1938 in Butte, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for Nashville (1975), Garden of Beauty (1975) and Thank God It's Friday (1978). She was married to Richard Gregson and Billy Kirkland. She died on 5 January 2018 in Pacific Grove, California, USA.

Carole Hart was born on 30 April 1943 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. She was a writer and producer, known for For the Next 7 Generations (2009), NBC Special Treat (1975) and Hot Hero Sandwich (1979). She was married to Bruce Hart. She died on 5 January 2018 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

Marián Labuda was born on 28 October 1944 in Hontianske Nemce, First Slovak Republic [now Slovakia]. He was an actor, known for Král Ubu (1996), The Garden (1995) and I Served the King of England (2006). He was married to Viera. He died on 5 January 2018 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

He was born and grew up in Istanbul. He started his career at Bakirkoy Community Center Theatre. Later he worked at Ankara State Theatre, Istanbul State Theatre and Istanbul City Theatre. He also worked in small play houses with today's famous actors and actresses. He made his place in the theatre stronger with the play Fareler ve Insanlar (Mice and Men). Although he was a known stage actor he became famous nationwide with his movies, after 1950's.

In 1970's, he took part in many Ertem Egilmez movies which contained other famous names of the time. In those movies he mostly played with actress Adile Nasit as a duo and they became a memorable couple in the minds of the audience. His most known role is Kel Mahmut (Mahmut the Bald), who is the idealist principal of a high school with troubled students in Hababam Sinifi; movie series. Kel Mahmut (a.k.a. Mahmut Hoca) tries to help those students and guide them to a better life.

Ozkul, secluded himself from public when the TV started to become popular. Yet, he appeared in some TV shows as a guest star or in small parts.

Turkish Ministry of Culture awarded him with the title State Artist, in 1998.

In his youth he had some problems with his drinking habit. After that he spent the most of his life fighting against alcohol and by the 1990s he quit drinking, completely.

Ozkul's been married for 4 times and he has 3 children from those marriages. His first wife was Sadan, the second one was a famous actress Suna Selen, the third one was Yasar and the fourth and current one is Umman Ozkul with whom he's been married for 27 years now. One of his children, Guner Ozkul, is an actress and a TV presenter.

He's been suffering from Dementia since the early 2000s and, as a result of this disease, he almost never leaves home.

He's been battling with dementia and COPD for almost two decades and on January 5th, 2018 he lost that battle. He died at his home in Istanbul, where he lived the rest of his days with his family, at the age of 93.

He had that same genuine likability factor, owned that same trademark lantern jaw and was just as appealing and gifted as his older brother, Dick Van Dyke, but, for decades, Jerry Van Dyke bore the brunt of his brother's overwhelming shadow.

Six years younger than brother Dick, the comic actor was born on July 27, 1931, in Danville, Illinois. Raised there, the crew cut blond showed an aptitude for clowning in high school. His stand-up comedy venues first took the form of dives and strip clubs throughout the Deep South in which his banjo-playing became an intricate part of the routine. At one point, Jerry was a regular on the Playboy club circuit. He then set his sights on the top showrooms in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City and became a dependable opening act.

Jerry's early career should have been rightfully interrupted when he joined the Air Force in 1952. He, instead, kept the troops laughing by performing in Special Services shows. Winning a military talent contest actually earned him a couple of appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show") and resulting TV exposure. Following his tour of duty, he nabbed variety appearances and a regular comic relief role on The Judy Garland Show (1963). He found comic acting parts as well on TV. Like brother Dick, who was a huge TV star by this time, Jerry also did a stint emceeing a game show. In Jerry's case, it was Picture This (1963).

Ever the hapless klutz and happy-go-lucky stammerer, Jerry built up his TV reputation in the early 60s. He turned down the title role in Gilligan's Island (1964), which he rightfully deemed inane, but instead chose the equally silly My Mother the Car (1965). It proved to be a detrimental career move. While "Gilligan" became a surprise hit that still runs in syndication four decades later, Jerry had to live down starring in one of the most lambasted sitcoms of all time. Truthfully, the two shows were on an equal (sub)par with each other. It was just a cruel luck of the draw that Jerry ended up biting the bullet while Gilligan's Bob Denver found cult celebrity. Jerry's subsequent two series were also one seasoners with Accidental Family (1967), a sitcom in which he more or less played himself (a nightclub comedian), and Headmaster (1970), a drama starring Andy Griffith in which he played a physical education coach. Neither did much for his career. A promising co-star role with Griffith in the film Angel in My Pocket (1969) also went nowhere. Over the years, Jerry has appeared as a guest star on a number of brother Dick's shows, including the classic The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) in which he played, of course, Dick's brother.

The genially dim character "George Utley" on Bob Newhart's 1980s series was originally created for Jerry but Tom Poston assumed the part. Good fortune finally smiled on Jerry when he won the hapless role of "Luther Van Dam", a role that capped his long career, on Coach (1989). He earned four consecutive Emmy nominations and a steady paycheck for eight seasons. His seesaw struggle and survival after nearly five decades truly paid off this time, and only proves his love for the business.

Nearing the millennium, Jerry was seen frequently on the smaller screen. In addition to guesting on such shows as "The New Addams Family," "The District," "Diagnosis Murder," "My Name Is Earl," "Committed" and "Raising Hope," the veteran actor played the regular roles as grandpa types in the sitcom fantasies Teen Angel (1997) and You Wish (1997); had the recurring grandparent role of Big Jimmy Hughes in the comedy series Yes, Dear (2000) and ended his career as a grandpa in the established sitcom The Middle (2009) starring Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn.

In later years, Jerry spent much of his time at a ranch in Arkansas where he lived with his second wife, the former Shirley Jones (not the singer/actress), and raised cattle. Tragedy struck in 1991 when one of his three children, Kelly Van Dyke, a substance abuser, took her own life. On the sly, one could also find Jerry at the poker table as part of ESPN tournaments. He died in Arkansas on January 5, 2018, aged 86.

American astronaut John Watts Young was born in San Francisco, California to parents William Hugh Young, a civil engineer, and Wanda Howland Young. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1952, after which he joined the US Navy served as fire control officer on the destroyer USS Laws until June 1953 and completed a tour in the Sea of Japan during the Korean War. He joined NASA in 1962 where he rose to the rank of Captain. He served in the NASA operations Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, and STS-9. He spent a total of 34 days, 19 hours and 39 minutes in space. He died in January of 2018 due to complications from pneumonia.

The enticing, voluptuous European beauty Greta Thyssen filled out the pages of movie magazines everywhere during the 1950s. Born on March 30, 1927, she was a freshly-scrubbed brunette when she was crowned Miss Denmark in 1952. The subsequent attention had her packing her bags for Hollywood. At that time, Marilyn Monroe had become an international sex symbol and Hollywood hopefuls were falling all over themselves to be just like her. Enter Greta, in a major, major transformation, as a statuesque, peroxide-blonde bombshell -- competing against the whistle-blowing likes of Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. With mouth-dropping measurements reported at 40-24-36, this pin-up favorite became the best piece of Danish pastry in town. She also had her eyes out for films.

Like Ms. Mansfield and Ms. Van Doren, Greta's movie career was a bust -- literally. She bordered slightly on the seamy side and was offered such roles. However, she proved a trooper and was qualified enough to handle a scattered amount of low-grade crime dramas, adventures and horror stories -- a few having since reached "cult turkey" status. Greta actually started off in the quality movie Bus Stop (1956), unbilled as a "cover girl". She also served as Ms. Monroe's double in the movie. Another small film role in Accused of Murder (1956) led to a regular role as a busty "Pirate Girl" model on the quiz show Treasure Hunt (1956) starring wolfish host Jan Murray. She momentarily took a few male minds off the horrific The Beast of Budapest (1958) and did her scream queen schtick in Terror Is a Man (1959), in which she played vulnerable to a mad scientist-turned-panther-like creature à la "The Island of Dr. Moreau".

Greta added the requisite hard-boiled touch to the noirish detective film Three Blondes in His Life (1961) opposite Jock Mahoney and showed up in Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) as well, which was another John Agar sci-fi cheapie. On television, she played a fetching foil in some of The Three Stooges shorts (Joe Besser was the third Stooge at the time) and appeared on television series, mostly crime stories, including Dragnet (1951) and Perry Mason (1957). Her film career ended dismally with the inane comedy Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967), which pretty much says this all. Toward the end, she appeared in a couple of wink-wink stage comedies such as "Pajama Tops" until the early 1970s. She then retired from acting and moved to New York City where she found success as a painter, combining representational nude figures and surrealistic allegory. Generally, Greta took advantage of the equipment she had, made this work for her, and got her "fifteen minutes".

Greta Thyssen passed away at age 90 of complications from pneumonia on January 6, 2018 at her Manhattan home.

France Gall was born on 9 October 1947 in Paris, France. She was an actress and writer, known for A Simple Favor (2018), Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) and Heartbeats (2010). She was married to Michel Berger. She died on 7 January 2018 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

Don Sullivan was born on 1 January 1929 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for The Giant Gila Monster (1959), The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) and The Rebel Set (1959). He was married to Mia May. He died on 7 January 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Shri Vallabh Vyas was an actor, known for Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), Sarfarosh (1999) and Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007). He was married to Shobha V. Vyas. He died on 7 January 2018 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Nancy Lea Owen was born in September 1926 in Decatur, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The River Rat (1984) and Abby (1974). She died on 8 January 2018 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, Donnelly Rhodes trained to be a warden in the National Park Service in Manitoba and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as an airman-mechanic before finally settling into his long and successful career as an actor. Rhodes studied at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Center and was a member of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School in Canada. After making his professional debut on stage as Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire, he became a contract player for Universal Pictures in the U.S., landing film and television roles ranging from a gunslinger in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) to a country singer in The Hard Part Begins (1973) to various guest appearances in series such as Mission: Impossible (1966). Later, he was popular as the suave Phillip Chancellor Sr. on The Young and the Restless (1973), but left the show in 1976 to avoid devoting too much of his career to the one role. He continued to work steadily, taking roles in a wide variety of television and theatrical movies and making guest appearances on more than 100 television series. Major TV roles saw him range from dim-witted escaped con Dutch on Soap (1977) to veterinarian and family man Dr. Grant Roberts on the popular Canadian family series Danger Bay (1983). More recently, he has appeared in a number of TV movies as well as in guest spots on popular series such as Sliders (1995) and The X-Files (1993). Rhodes' diverse interests include music and horses, but his real passion is boats. He has said that if he hadn't succeeded as an actor, he would have pursued a career as a naval architect.

Marge Rowland was born on 29 July 1949 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. She is known for The Matrix (1999), GoldenEye (1995) and Octopussy (1983). She died on 8 January 2018 in Laguna Woods, California, USA.

Denise LaSalle was born on 16 July 1934 in The Island, LeFlore County, Mississippi, USA. She was married to James E. Wolfe Jr., Bill Jones and Artic Craig. She died on 8 January 2018 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA.

Terence Marsh was born on 14 November 1931 in London, England, UK. He was a production designer and art director, known for Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Hunt for Red October (1990) and Oliver! (1968). He was married to Sandra Marsh and Lorna Wrapson. He died on 9 January 2018 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.

John Thompson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a producer and assistant director, known for Brooklyn's Finest (2009), Criminal (2016) and The Expendables (2010). He was married to Tatiana Thompson. He died on 9 January 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.