Tag Archives: the 1960s

The New York Times reports: Mitzi Gaynor, the bubbly red-haired actress, singer and dancer who landed one of the most coveted movie roles of the mid-20th century, the female lead in “South Pacific,” but who abandoned film as the era of movie musicals came to an end, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 93. “South Pacific” was a …

The New York Times reports: Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian-born pianist, composer and arranger who brought bossa nova music to a global audience in the 1960s through his ensemble, Brasil ’66, and remained a force in popular music for more than six decades, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 83. His family said in a statement that his death, …

Yvonne Craig, best known for playing Batgirl in the campy 60s series Batman, has died of breast cancer at the age of 78. “In the end, her mind still wanted to fight but her body had given up,” her family said in a statement. A trained dancer, she began her career at The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and used …

From the clip recap: Actor, activist, prolific meme-generator, and cultural icon George Takei graces Big Think with his presence today in this powerful 5-minute clip. Takei explores Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s ambitious and progressive vision for the future: “Roddenberry felt that the Enterprise was a metaphor for starship earth and the strength of this starship lay in its diversity.” …

Variety reports: “A historically accurate film about the Stonewall Riots would center the stories of queer and gender-noncomforming people of color like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson,” a MoveOn petition reads. “Not relegate them to background characters in the service of a white cis-male fictional protagonist.” The trailer for Roland Emmerich’s film about the 1969 Stonewall riots just debuted …

Via the Associated Press: Percy Sledge, who soared from part-time singer and hospital orderly to lasting fame with his aching, forlorn performance on the classic “When a Man Loves a Woman,” died Tuesday in Louisiana. He was 74. Dr. William “Beau” Clark, coroner for East Baton Rouge Parish, confirmed to The Associated Press that Sledge died early Tuesday morning, about …

Stereogum recaps: Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson is one of the most legendary figures in music, a guy who wrote and produced dozens of classic songs and helped shape the album as music’s preeminent artistic statement. He’s also a bit of an oddball, which makes him an ideal subject for a Hollywood biopic. Just such a movie is coming to …

Donna Douglas, known to you as Elly May Clampett, has died at the age of 81. Born in September 1933, Douglas was married at age 16, had a child and later divorced, all before she moved to New York and earned a role in an acclaimed episode of the “Twilight Zone” in 1959, according to the Internet Movie Database. After …

She said as she sat in the host’s chair in order to show her most flattering side.

Boy Culture has the rest of the quiz and its answers, many of which are jokes. Of the first 20 questions, I only got three right.

Superstar of the 60s Eydie Gormé, also well-known for her career-long onstage partnership with her husband Steve Lawrence, has died at the age of 84. “Legendary singer and performer Eydie Gorme passed away peacefully today at Sunrise Hospital following a brief illness,” [spokesman Howard] Bragman said in a statement. “She was surrounded by her husband, son and other loved ones …

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the iconic band The Doors, has died at the age of 74. Manzarek founded The Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock ‘n’ roll acts to emerge from the 1960s and continues to resonate with fans decades after Morrison’s death brought the …

Richie Havens has died at the age 72.   “The Roots Agency represented Richie Havens for many years and regrets to post of his passing on April 22, 2013,” the agency posted on its website. “His fiery, poignant, soulful singing style has remained unique and ageless since his historic appearance at Woodstock in 1969,” the agency continued. “For four decades, Havens …

Motown-era pop star Fontella Bass died of heart disease on Wednesday at the age of 72. After some early recordings with Little Milton’s Bobbin label in St. Louis, she joined Chess and released her first records on its Checker subsidiary in early 1965. The first two, “Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing” and “You’ll Miss Me (When I’m Gone),” duets …