RIP

[tServo]

Or perhaps the Diva in the movie was was Maria Callas.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by tServo

Or perhaps the Diva in the movie was was Maria Callas.

The IMDB trivia page for the film echoes my surmise:

"The titular character was allegedly inspired by famous opera diva Jessye Norman."

[Dr Sardonicus]

Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, father of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Born Benjamin Auerbach in Jerusalem in 1927, Dr. Emanuel was the son of Penina and Ezekiel Auerbach, a Jerusalem pharmacist. The family had fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe in 1905, leaving their home in Odessa, which was then part of the Russian empire and now a city in southern Ukraine.

The family changed its last name to Emanuel to honor Emanuel Auerbach, the 18-year-old brother of young Benjamin who died of an infection in 1933 after a bullet struck him in the knee after ricocheting off the pavement from a nearby conflict between protesters and police during the British occupation of Palestine.

[ewmayer]

Diahann Carroll, ‘Julia’ Star & Trailblazing Actress, Dies At 84

In recent years I enjoyed her work in the USA crime-drama series White Collar, when she was in her late 70s. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer way back in 1997 and was declared clear after 9 weeks of radiation therapy. Per IMDB, "The Hollywood star’s daughter, Suzanne Kay, told CBS News that her mother had been battling breast cancer" -- it's not clear to me whether this was the original cancer recurring after over 2 decades, or a new, separate one.

[xilman]

Ginger Baker

[kladner]

Originally Posted by xilman

Ginger Baker

[Dr Sardonicus]

Comedian Rip Taylor

Taylor was known for his over-the-top delivery and penchant for confetti showers. He frequently appeared on TV game shows, and was a judge on “The Gong Show.” That show’s host and creator, Chuck Barris, was so impressed by Taylor’s jokes as a judge that he offered him the position of host of “The $1.98 Beauty Show.”

[Dr Sardonicus]

Joshua Brown

Dallas police still have no suspects or motive in the murder of Joshua Brown, a key witness in the Amber Guyger trial, according to a terse statement issued by police chief U. Reneé Hall Sunday night that officially confirmed the identity of the man gunned down outside his own apartment complex two days earlier.

“Today at approximately 12 p.m., the Dallas County Medical Examiner confirmed the identity of Joshua Brown to the Dallas Police Department,” Hall’s statement said. “Brown, a witness in the Amber Guyger trial, was shot and killed Friday, Oct. 4 in the 4600 block of Cedar Springs Road. There are no suspects or motives at this time. We are committed to solving this case and will work diligently to apprehend the individuals responsible for Brown’s death.”

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Joshua Brown

I'll bet that it was the police themselves who did it.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

I'll bet that it was the police themselves who did it.

Given the circumstances -- he was a witness in a case that resulted in a (now former) Dallas police officer going to prison for gunning down a neighbor in his own living room -- it's a possibility I would not dismiss out of hand.

I do not know whether Mr. Brown received any threats prior to or after his testimony. I do know that he moved after his neighbor was shot dead.

The convicted former police officer, Amber Guyger, got 10 years, and could be paroled in 5 years.

Witnesses being murdered after they have testified is not an unknown occurrence in this country (though prospective witnesses being murdered before they can testify is perhaps more common). An instance from the Nineteenth Century is US Army Captain Silas Soule, who refused criminal orders at Sand Creek and testified against his commander, John Chivington. Soule was gunned down on the streets of Denver. AFAIK the case was never solved.

[ewmayer]

Re. the late Jessye Norman, an NC reader shared this memory yesterday:

I had the great privilege of singing on stage at the MET with Jessye Norman. I was a new plebe in the Met’s “Young Artists Apprenticeship Program” in the late ’80’s and was singing “Harlekin” in the second cast of Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.” I was not scheduled to sing with first cast, which included Norman, Troyianos, King, Battle and Upshaw, but when the fist cast baritone became indisposed, well, there I was… on stage with all these stars with whom I’d never rehearsed and hadn’t really even met. When I sang my little aria (actually a little song “kleines lied”) I was hovering over Jessye as she was spawled on her “wüste insel” and praying that I didn’t screw up (it was, in fact, only the 3rd time I’d ever sung opera on stage with orchestra and doing so at the Met was… uh… intimidating). I made it through the night and was feeling so relieved at the curtain call… then, as we left the stage, I stepped on the long trail of her Ariadne costume and she did one of those nick moves and I thought I’d strangled her…. mortified, my only words to her were “omg I am so sorry what Have I done?” She smiled at me and said, ‘Don’t worry darling, you sang beautifully and can step on my train anytime you want!” True story that. Needless to say, sometimes I can’t even believe it happened…

and btw – I went on to have a long and unimportant singing career.

That she, indeed, retired before the age woe set in (said MET “Ariadne” was, I believe, her last) might be her strongest career move because you can bet there were venues willling to pay her millions to sing poorly had she not had the self awareness that it was time to retire!