RIP

[Uncwilly]

The man that was opposed to launching the Space Shuttle Challenger on that fateful day.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/07/974534021/remembering-allan-mcdonald-he-refused-to-approve-challenger-launch-exposed-cover

[Dr Sardonicus]

Yaphet Kotto

Kotto drew plaudits for roles as the first Black Bond villain - dictator Dr. Kananga - in 1973's "Live and Let Die," and an Emmy nomination for playing real-life Ugandan strongman Idi Amin in the TV movie "Raid on Entebbe," about the IDF operation in 1976 to rescue dozens of Israelis on a plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

He then took on a villainous xenomorph as ship engineer Dennis Parker in Ridley Scott's claustrophobic sci-fi horror film "Alien" in 1979, and fought alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987's dystopian thriller "Running Man."

At the height of his fame, he turned down the role of Captain Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" - a decision he later said he regretted.

Kotto's later years saw him play Lieutenant Al Giardello in the gritty TV police procedural "Homicide: Life on the Street."

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Yaphet Kotto

Many will only remember him for his role in Alien. I took several other people to see it when it ran in the local theater after being released. After the "egg" scene, I spent most of the rest of it looking at the floor. That was then. I have watched it several times in much more recent years. It does not bother me at all now.

[Uncwilly]

Glynn Lunney, NASA Flight Director With A Key Role In Saving Apollo 13, Dies At 84

[ixfd64]

Originally Posted by xilman

One should never say anything but good about the dead, or so I have been told.

Accordingly, my response is: good!

Something something Clarence Darrow.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Glynn Lunney, NASA Flight Director With A Key Role In Saving Apollo 13, Dies At 84

Gene Kranz is still living. Chris Kraft passed away in 2019.

I imagine NASA pulled in everybody to get Apollo 13 home. Their creative on-the-fly engineering to get the lithium hydroxide canisters from the command module to work in the lunar module was amazing. It was literally making a square peg fit into a round hole.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Eric Talley

When a gunman opened fire inside King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo., on Monday, Talley, 51, was among the first responders to run in the door. He was fatally shot along with nine other people, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said in a news conference.
<snip>
In 2013, he was part of a trio of officers who rescued 11 small ducklings and their mother that were trapped in a drainage ditch, the Daily Camera reported. During the nearly one-hour-long operation, the paper reported, officers first used a net to try to catch the family of ducklings.

When that didn't work, Talley trudged through the calf-deep water to round up the ducks by hand as another officer grabbed them one by one.

"He was drenched after this," Boulder police Sgt. Jack Walker said of Talley at the time. "They would go into these little pipes and he would have to try and fish them out."
<snip]

[Dr Sardonicus]

Larry McMurtry

DALLAS (AP) - Larry McMurtry, the prolific and popular author who took readers back to the old American West in his Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lonesome Dove" and returned them to modern-day landscapes in works such as his emotional tale of a mother-daughter relationship in "Terms of Endearment," has died. He was 84.

McMurtry died Thursday night of heart failure, according to a family statement issued through a publicist on Friday.

[masser]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Larry McMurtry

Also wrote "The Last Picture Show" which is one of the finest movies ever made.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Larry McMurtry

For me, "Lonesome Dove" was as good as it gets. I read years ago that Tommy Lee Jones was not the first choice to play "Woodrow Call." It was Jon Voight. He had other obligations and could not take the role. Voight did play the role in the sequel. IIRC, the only actors to appear in both were Rick Schroder, Chris Cooper, and William Sanderson.

I saw "Terms of Endearment" many years ago. One of McMutry's books, "Horseman, Pass By" was adapted for the big screen and titled "Hud" with Paul Newman playing the lead character.

[Dr Sardonicus]

G. Gordon Liddy

WASHINGTON (AP) - G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, died Tuesday at age 90 at his daughter's home in Virginia.

His son, Thomas Liddy, confirmed the death but did not reveal the cause, other than to say it was not related to COVID-19.

Liddy, a former FBI agent and Army veteran, was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate burglary, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He spent four years and four months in prison, including more than 100 days in solitary confinement.