Cindy Morgan Dies: ‘Caddyshack’ And ‘Tron’ Actress Was 69
Morgan played Lacey Underall in Caddyshack opposite Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Rodney Dangerfield. She was the county club owner’s niece whose electric allure captured every male’s attention.
Her film resume includes Tron and Galaxis, Silent Fury, and Up Yours, among other movies.
Her TV appearances included The Love Boat, CHiPs, The Fall Guy, Falcon Crest, Matlock and more.
Donald Wildmon Dies: Led Film & TV Boycotts For American Family Assn., Was 85
Donald E. Wildmon, whose American Family Association led boycotts over sexuality and gay themes in American TV shows and in the arts, died on Dec. 28 in Tupelo, Miss. He was 85.
Wildmon-led groups ran full-page advertisements denouncing the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue for what it called “steamy sex scenes”; and picketed a Hollywood studio over Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.
In 1982, Wildmon called for national brands to withdraw ads from an NBC-TV movie written by the poet Maya Angelou, Sister, Sister. Wildmon claimed the film promoted “negative stereotyping of Christian people.”
He also led attacks on the National Endowment for the Arts over its grants for work that many conservatives considered obscene.
The pastor founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977, later renamed the American Family Association.
BURN IN HELL FLANDERS!!
Sarah Rice, American Actress and Singer, dies of Cancer at 68
One of her early roles was that of Louisa in The Fantasticks. On Broadway, she created the original role of Johanna in Sweeney Todd (1979). She is also known for her Montreal performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, and her operatic performances in The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville and The Student Prince.
Author Terry Bisson, 81, died in the early hours of January 10, 2024.
First novel Wyrldmaker appeared in 1981, followed by World Fantasy finalist Talking Man (1986) and Fire on the Mountain (1988). Other novels include Voyage to the Red Planet (1990), Pirates of the Universe (1990), The Pickup Artist (2001), and Any Day Now (2012). He completed the late Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (1997), and has co-written YA novels with Stephanie Spinner, written children’s books about NASCAR racing as ‘‘T.B. Calhoun,’’ produced numerous film and TV novelizations and media tie-ins, and written non-fiction titles, notably On A Move: The Story of Mumia Abu-Jamal (2001).
Bisson rose to prominence in the SF field with Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, and Nebula Award winning story ‘‘Bears Discover Fire’’ (1990). Other notable short stories include Hugo finalists ‘‘Press Ann’’ (1991), ‘‘The Shadow Knows’’ (1993), ‘‘Dead Man’s Curve’’ (1994), ‘‘Get Me to the Church on Time’’ (1998); Nebula Award nominees ‘‘They’re Made out of Meat’’ (1991) and ‘‘Necronauts’’ (1995); Hugo, World Fantasy, and Nebula Award finalist ‘‘England Underway’’ (1993); Nebula Award winner and Hugo and Sturgeon finalist ‘‘macs’’ (1999); and novellas Dear Abbey (2003) and Planet of Mystery (2008). His short fiction has been collected in Bears Discover Fire (1993), In the Upper Room and Other Likely Stories (2000), Numbers Don’t Lie (2003), Greetings & Other Stories (2005), Billy’s Book (2009), and TVA Baby (2011). The Left Left Behind (2009) includes the title story, a play, and an interview and autobiography.
Porn Star Jesse Jane Dead at 43
Authorities responded to a call for a welfare check at a residence in Moore, Oklahoma, Jane’s hometown. She was found dead along with her boyfriend, Brett Hasenmuller, a St. Louis, Missouri native. The cause of death was a suspected overdose, with final results pending from an Oklahoma State Medical Examiner investigation.
A popular adult film performer of the early 2000s, Jane started her career in the mainstream modeling industry, participating in beauty pageants and appearing in a cameo role in Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. She is probably best known for her role in 2005’s Pirates, an adult movie distributed by the production company Digital Playground that was made on a budget of $1 million and was touted as one of the highest-budget porn films of all time. Jane reprised her role as first officer Jules in a 2008 sequel, Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge, which cost an estimated $8 million.
Gary Graham Dies: ‘Alien Nation’ & ‘Star Trek’ Actor Was 73
Born June 6, 1950, in Long Beach, CA, Graham began making appearances on episodic TV in the mid-1970s, including one-off roles in Eight Is Enough, Starsky and Hutch, Police Woman and The Incredible Hulk.
His acting career continued steadily through the 1980s, with appearances on CHiPs, The Dukes of Hazzard, and, in one of his more memorable roles of the period, as a hitman in a 1985 episode of Moonlighting. His feature film credits of the era included a role as the brother of Tom Cruise’s character in 1983’s All the Right Moves.
His signature role came in 1989, when he was cast in the starring role of Detective Matthew Sikes in the television series Alien Nation. The series lasted only one season, but Graham would reprise the role in TV movies Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994), Alien Nation: Body and Soul (1995), Alien Nation: Millennium (1996), Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996), and Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy (1997).
Graham became part of the Star Trek universe in 2001 when he was cast in Star Trek: Enterprise in the recurring role of Vulcan Ambassador Soval (Graham had appeared as a different character in a 1995 episode of Star Trek: Voyager). He appeared as a character named Ragnar in the 2007 video Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, and reprised that role in the series Star Trek: Renegade.
William O’Connell Dies: Memorable ‘Star Trek’ Villain And In Clint Eastwood Films Was 94
William O’Connell, whose extensive TV and film acting credits in the 1960s and ’70s included a memorably villainous role on Star Trek and a string of adversaries in the films of his frequent collaborator Clint Eastwood, died January 15 at his home in Sherman Oaks, CA. He was 94.
O’Connell scored a lengthy roster of TV episodic credits in the 1960s, becoming a busy character actor of the day. He had small roles, often nameless characters distinguished only by their job titles — Flagman, Cabbie, Field Rep. #1 — in Highway Patrol, Peter Gunn and The Twilight Zone, also popping up on Dennis the Menace, My Three Sons, The Outer Limits, Bonanza, The Munsters, Batman and The Lucy Show.
His most memorable TV role from the era came in 1967, when he was cast in the Season 2 “Journey to Babel” episode of Star Trek as Thelev, a duplicitous Orion agent disguised as an Andorian ambassador. His mission to destroy the Enterprise was unsuccessful, but he did manage to wound William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk with a poison knife.
On the big screen, O’Connell was most familiar for frequent, if occasionally small and often adversarial, roles in the 1960s and ’70s films of his friend Clint Eastwood, including Paint Your Wagon, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Every Which Way but Loose and its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can.
Born May 12, 1929 in Los Angeles, O’Connell served in the Korean War as a 1st LT in the 45th Infantry. He received many decorations including the Bronze Star.