Actor Joe Don Baker, died May 7, he was 89.
Born February 12, 1936, in Groesbeck, Texas, Baker played football for North Texas State College and, upon graduating in 1959, served a two-year stint in the Army before moving to New York City to study acting at the Actor’s Studio. He would remain a lifelong member of the famed organization.
After some time performing on the New York stage – he appeared on Broadway in 1963’s Marathon ’33 and, a year later, in Blues for Mister Charlie. He then moved to Los Angeles and launched a TV and film career that included guest appearances on such series as Honey West, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Mission: Impossible, Lancer and The Streets of San Francisco, among many others. Early film roles included small parts in Cool Hand Luke and The Valachi Papers.
His signature role came in 1973, when he took up a four-foot-long hickory club as the weapon of choice for Walking Tall‘s justice-seeking Sheriff Buford Pusser. Critics may have scoffed, but the movie, directed by Phil Karlson, was a hit with audiences caught up in the 1970s vigilante-film craze that included Death Wish, Dirty Harry and even Taxi Driver.
Georgia-based rock band Drive-By Truckers dedicated a three-song run on its 2004 album The Dirty South to Pusser and Walking Tall, telling the tell from the other side of the law on “The Boys From Alabama,” “Cottonseed” and “The Buford Stick.”
Baker also appeared in three James Bond films of the 1980s and ’90s. He played a bad guy in The Living Daylights (1987) opposite Timothy Dalton as Bond, and a 007 ally CIA agent in the Pierce Brosnan-led GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
Legendary gay adult film actor Colton Ford found dead on Palm Springs hiking trail, he was 62.
Ford, born Glenn Soukesian, started his adult entertainment career in 2001, at the age of 40, with credits including studio collaborations with Falcon Studios, Centurion and more, alongside user generated content later in his career. He received the GayVN Award for Gay Performer of the Year in 2003.
Ford was also a club/dance house music singer-songwriter and a film star, appearing in 2005 documentary Naked Fame, which followed his transition from adult film to the music industry. He also appeared in several music videos.
Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson, Dead at 79.
“Duck Dynasty” centered on the Robertson family and their duck-calling business. It aired on A&E from 2012 to 2017, though a reboot of the series was set for 2025.
Phil Robertson was the president of the family business, Duck Commander.
Robertson was an evangelical Christian and conservative who sometimes dipped into political issues. He endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the 2016 presidential contest.
Years before becoming famous on television, Robertson played football at Louisana Tech. He was a starting quarterback while NFL legend Terry Bradshaw was his backup.
Robertson later founded Duck Commander in 1972. The "Duck Dynasty" television show premiered 40 years later, in 2012, before it ended in 2017.
During a December episode of "Unashamed with the Robertson Family," Robertson's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease was announced. His son Willie Robertson later spoke with Fox News Digital by phone, saying that Phil was "battling a lot of different things right now."
Turns out he was just a rich grifter that said stupid shit because that was the style
at the time, and he was probably a racist homophobe misogynist and many other
things as well. And the world moves on.
Rick Derringer, who had a No. 1 hit with The McCoys in “Hang on Sloopy,” created a classic rock staple in “Rock and Roll, Hootchie Koo,” produced the Edgar Winter Group’s hit “Frankenstein” and songs for “Weird” Al Yankovic, died Monday. He was 77.
Born Richard Zehringer on August 5, 1947, in Celina, Ohio, Derringer was 17 when his band The McCoys opened for The Strangeloves, who picked the young group to record its song “My Girl Sloopy.” Derringer had the title and lyrics changed, and with its loping rhythm and singalong chorus “Hang on Sloopy” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early October. The Strangeloves provided the music, and Derringer and company did the singing.
The McCoys followed up with the Top 10 cover of “Fever,” and the group’s eponymous debut LP reached No. 44 on the Billboard album chart. But ensuing singles and albums failed to catch fire, and the group split in 1969.
By the early 1970s, Derringer was playing in separate bands fronted by Texas-based brothers Edgar and Johny Winter. The latter was a revered blues guitarist, and the former led Edgar Winter’s White Trash and later The Edgar Winter Group. That band struck gold — and later double platinum — with the late-1972 LP They Only Come Out at Night, which spawned the appropriately titled chart-topping instrumental “Frankenstein” and catchy “Free Ride,” which reached the Billboard Top 15.
Derringer also played on two more Edgar Winter studio LPs — 1974’s Shock Treatment hit No. 13 and went gold, and another was titled The Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer — and a live disc.
Along the way, Derringer released his first solo album, All American Boy, in 1973. It featured “Rock and Roll, Hootchie Koo,” whose hot guitar riff and invitation to shout along propelled the track and album into the Top 25. The song remains a staple on classic rock radio.