R.I.P. 2010: the 50s

Early boomers will remember them (l to r starting at the top): Art Linkletter (TV's People Are Funny) Pernell Roberts (Bonanza), singer Eddie Fisher, Peter Graves (Fury was his first fame), singer Lena Horne, actor Kevin McCarthy (seen here in Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Mitch Miller, Patricia Neal, author J.D. Salinger, actor Tony Curtis. Not pictured here but elsewhere on this blog: Fess Parker (Davy Crockett) , Barbara Billingsley (Leave It To Beaver.) Memories of them remain. May they rest in peace. Click collage to enlarge.

R.I.P. 2010: the 60s

Early and middle boomers remember them from the 60s: Lynn Redgrave (Georgy Girl), Robert Culp (I Spy), Ted Sorenson (Special Counsel and speechwriter for JFK), director Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), Stewart Udall (JFK's Secretary of Interior), Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider), author George Leonard, operatic star Joan Sutherland. Not pictured: Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), country singer Jimmy Dean and Walter F. Morrison, creator of the Frisbee. May they rest in peace. We remember them.

Kate R.I.P.

Kate McGarrigle in 1976, when she and her sister Ann were first achieving recognition as the McGarrigle Sisters. They really blazed the trail for so many later women singers in the contemporary folk-influenced vein. I remember being in their apartment in Manhattan once--one large room was ringed with motel keys, from their tours. Kate was born in 1946--the first year of the Baby Boom--and she died in 2010. So she also symbolizes the boomers who passed on this year, having made their contribution to the ongoing flow. Here's a nice blog tribute to her.

R.I.P.: 70s, 80s

Some of those we lost in 2010 who made the 70s and 80s brighter for Boomers: (l to r across) James MacArthur (Hawaii Five 0), Irving Kirschner (directed The Empire Strikes Back, Robocop, etc.), Stephen J. Cannell (created many TV classic series including The Rockford Files), John Forsythe (Dynasty, Charlie's Angels), Rue McClanahan (Golden Girls), Tom Bosley (Happy Days), soul singer Teddy Pendergrass, director Blake Edwards (10), actor Leslie Nielsen (Airplane, Naked Gun etc.) actor Jill Clayburgh, best known for the groundbreaking Hollywood film An Unmarried Woman. Others include Daniel Schorr who reported on Watergate for CBS, and Alexander Haig, of that Nixon administration; Gary Coleman, Dixie Burke.