| Coordinates | 55°45′06″N37°37′04″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Jack Wild |
| Caption | Wild as "The Artful Dodger" in Oliver! |
| Birth name | Jack Wild |
| Birth date | September 30, 1952 |
| Birth place | Royton, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom |
| Death date | March 01, 2006 |
| Death place | Tebworth, Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1964-2005 |
| Spouse | Gaynor Jones (1976 - 1985)Claire Harding (2005 - 2006) |
Jack Wild (30 September 1952 – 1 March 2006) was a British actor who achieved fame for his leading role in the 1969 children's TV series H.R. Pufnstuf and for his performances in both stage and screen productions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, and Oliver Reed. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16 for the role of the Artful Dodger in Oliver!.
Wild had an older brother named Arthur, who was also an actor and appeared in the London stage version of Oliver!. Arthur Wild died in September 2000.
Jack Wild appeared with actor Mark Lester in two films: Oliver! (1968) and Melody (1971).
Category:1952 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Cancer deaths in England Category:Deaths from oral cancer Category:British child actors Category:English child actors Category:English film actors Category:English television actors Category:People from Royton
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| Coordinates | 55°45′06″N37°37′04″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Simon Dee |
| Birth name | Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd |
| Birth date | July 28, 1935 |
| Birth place | Manchester, England |
| Death date | August 29, 2009 |
| Resting place coordinates | |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Disc Jockey, Broadcaster |
| Education | Brighton College, Shrewsbury School |
| Spouse | Berry "Bunny" Cooper Sarah Terry (1975-?) Judith Wilson |
| Children | 4Domino Henty-Dodd (daughter)Taliesin Henty-Dodd (son) |
Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd (28 July 1935 – 29 August 2009
In August 1964 Radio Atlanta merged with Caroline and became Radio Caroline South. Dee transferred to the former Atlanta ship when the original ship sailed to an anchorage off the Isle of Man to become Radio Caroline North.
Dee fell out with the station management as well and they terminated his contract after only a few months. There was friction between Dee and David Frost, part-owner of London Weekend, after whose show Dee's was broadcast. Both were talk shows, and Frost thought that some of Dee's items would make the shows too similar. Dee felt that Frost was deliberately sabotaging his show. After a bizarre interview with actor George Lazenby, who outlined at length his theories about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the show was dropped. of Prime Minister Harold Wilson dressed as Chinese dictator Mao Zedong. Pirate radio had become a political issue and, in the run up to the general election that summer, Radio Caroline International launched a campaign in support of the Conservative Party, which supported commercial radio. Dee later claimed that there was an Establishment plot against him because of his open opposition to Wilson, and later released government files show that he was indeed being monitored by the Security Service.
Having alienated both the BBC and independent television, Dee disappeared from the airwaves. He signed on for unemployment benefit at the Fulham labour exchange, giving rise to considerable press coverage. Unable to revive his show business career, he took a job as a bus driver. He also had several court appearances and in 1974 he served 28 days in Pentonville prison for non-payment of rates on his former Chelsea home. Every time he left his cell, the prisoners on his wing shouted, "It's Siiiiiimon Dee!" He was so shocked by prison that he swore he would never get into debt again. On another occasion he was jailed for vandalising a lavatory seat with Petula Clark's face painted on it, which he thought was disrespectful to her. The magistrate who sentenced him was the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment and his ex-boss, Bill Cotton.
Category:Deaths from bone cancer Category:Cancer deaths in England Category:Old Salopians Category:English radio personalities Category:English television presenters Category:English radio DJs Category:Offshore radio broadcasters Category:1935 births Category:2009 deaths
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| Coordinates | 55°45′06″N37°37′04″N |
|---|---|
| Caption | At the 61st Academy Awards; Governor's House, March 29, 1989 |
| Birth name | River Jude Bottom |
| Birth date | August 23, 1970 |
| Birth place | Metolius, Oregon, United States |
| Death date | October 31, 1993 |
| Death place | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actor, musician, activist |
| Years active | 1982–1993 |
Phoenix began acting at age 10. He appeared in diverse roles, making his first notable appearance in the 1986 film Stand by Me, a well-received coming-of-age film based on a novella by Stephen King. Phoenix made a transition into more adult-oriented roles with Running on Empty (1988), playing the son of fugitive parents in a well-received performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and My Own Private Idaho (1991), playing a gay hustler in search for his estranged mother. For his performance in the latter, Phoenix garnered enormous praise and won a Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, along with Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics. He was listed by John Willis as one of twelve "promising new actors of 1986" and was hailed as highly talented by such critics as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.
On October 31, 1993, Phoenix died of a drug overdose on the sidewalk outside the West Hollywood nightclub the Viper Room.
In an interview with People, Phoenix described his parents as "hippieish". His father was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California, and had a daughter from a previous relationship, Jodene, who later changed her name to Trust. In 1968, Phoenix's mother left her family in New York City and travelled across the United States, meeting John Lee Bottom while hitchhiking in northern California. They married on September 13, 1969, less than one year after meeting. In 1973, the family joined a religious cult called the Children of God as missionaries. While living in Crockett, Texas, their second child Rain Joan of Arc Bottom was born on November 21, 1972. Their third child was born on October 28, 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Joaquin Rafael Bottom.
On July 5, 1976, Libertad Mariposa Bottom was born, while the family had settled in Caracas, Venezuela, where the Children of God had stationed them to work as missionaries and fruit gatherers. Although John Bottom was later designated the cult's "Archbishop of Venezuela and the Caribbean", their family received no financial support from the group and lived in poverty. Phoenix often played guitar while he and Rain sang on street corners for money and food to support their ever-growing family.
Arlyn and John eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God; Arlyn would later tell a journalist that she and her husband were opposed to the cult's practice of Flirty Fishing, stating: "The group was being distorted by the leader, David Berg, who was getting powerful and wealthy. He sought to attract rich disciples through sex. No way."
Fearing the cult was moving in a negative direction, the Bottom family left the group and stayed for a period with a church in Venezuela. It was during the last years in South America that the entire Phoenix family converted to veganism, encouraged by River and Joaquin, who had witnessed local fishermen's methods of killing their catch.
The family eventually made the trip back to the United States by stowing away on a cargo ship. Upon their return, they moved in with Phoenix's maternal grandparents in Florida. On December 10, 1978, Summer Joy Bottom was born in Winter Park, Florida. On April 2, 1979, the family officially changed their name to Phoenix, after the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, symbolizing a new beginning.
In 1980, Phoenix began to fully pursue his work as an actor, making his first appearance on a TV show called Fantasy singing with his sister Rain.
It would be almost a year after Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ended in 1983 that River would find a new role in the 1984 made-for-TV movie Celebrity, where he played the part of young Jeffie Crawford. Although he was only on screen for about ten minutes, his character was a central role. Less than a month after Celebrity came the after school show Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia. River starred as a young boy who discovers he has dyslexia. Joaquin starred in a small role alongside his brother.
In September, the pilot episode of the short-lived TV series It's Your Move aired. River was cast as Brian and only has one line of dialogue. He also starred as Robert Kennedy's son, Robert Kennedy, Jr. in the TV movie Robert Kennedy and His Times.
When River's role in Dyslexia was critically acclaimed, he was almost immediately cast as a major role in his next made-for-TV movie, Surviving: A Family in Crisis. River starred as Philip Brogan alongside Molly Ringwald and the late Heather O'Rourke. This would be his last TV performance before he began starring in films. It would be halfway during the filming of Surviving that Iris Burton would contact him about a possible role in the film Explorers.
In October 1984, River was informed that he had been cast as the geeky boy-scientist Wolfgang Müller in Joe Dante's large-budget science-fiction film Explorers and production began soon after. This was River's first major motion picture role.
He had significant juvenile roles in Rob Reiner's coming of age picture Stand By Me (1986) which first brought Phoenix to public prominence; Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast (1986), where Phoenix played the son of Harrison Ford's character; A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988); and Little Nikita (1988) alongside Sidney Poitier.
During this time, the Phoenix family would continue to move on a regular basis and would notch up over forty moves by the time Phoenix was 18. After completing his sixth feature film, Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty (1988) the family made their last move to Micanopy, near Gainesville, Florida in 1987.
In early 1989, Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (as well as for a Golden Globe) and received the Best Supporting Actor honor from the National Board of Review for his role in Running on Empty. That year he also portrayed a young Indiana Jones in the box-office hit Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Phoenix met actor Keanu Reeves while Reeves was filming Parenthood with Phoenix's brother, Joaquin. The two would star together for the first time (along with Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman and Joan Plowright) in 1990's I Love You to Death and again in Gus Van Sant's avant-garde film My Own Private Idaho. In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen praised Phoenix's performance: "The campfire scene in which Mike awkwardly declares his unrequited love for Scott is a marvel of delicacy. In this, and every scene, Phoenix immerses himself so deeply inside his character you almost forget you've seen him before: it's a stunningly sensitive performance, poignant and comic at once". For his role in My Own Private Idaho, Phoenix won Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, the National Society of Film Critics and the Independent Spirit Awards. The film and its success solidified Phoenix's image as an actor with edgy, leading man potential. Just prior to My Own Private Idaho, he filmed an acclaimed independent picture called Dogfight co-starring Lili Taylor and directed by Nancy Savoca, in which Phoenix portrayed a young U.S. Marine on the night prior to his being shipped off to Vietnam in November 1963.
Phoenix teamed up with Redford and again with Sidney Poitier for the conspiracy/espionage thriller Sneakers (1992). A month later he would begin production on Sam Shepard's art-house, ghost western Silent Tongue (which would be released in 1994). He then appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's country music-themed film, The Thing Called Love (1993), the last completed picture before his death.
Regarded by critics at the time as one of the most promising young actors on the cusp of the '80s and '90s, River and younger brother Joaquin would later go on to become the first brothers in Hollywood history to be nominated for an Oscar in the acting categories.
Whilst working on A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon in 1986, Phoenix had written and recorded a song, "Heart to Get," specifically for the end credits of the movie. 20th Century Fox cut it from the completed film, but director William Richert put it back into place for his director's cut some years later. It was during filming that Phoenix met Chris Blackwell of Island Records, this meeting would later secure Phoenix a two-year development deal with the label. Phoenix disliked the idea of being a solo artist and relished collaboration and so focused on putting together a band. Aleka's Attic were formed in 1987 and the line up included his sister Rain. Phoenix was committed to gaining credibility by his own merit and so he maintained that the band would not use his name when securing performances that were not benefits for charitable organizations. Phoenix's first release was 'Across the Way,' co-written with band mate Josh McKay, which was released in 1989 on a benefit album for PETA titled "Tame Yourself." In 1991 River wrote and recorded a spoken word piece called "Curi Curi" for Milton Nascimento's album TXAI. Also in 1991 the Aleka's Attic track "Too Many Colors" was lent to the soundtrack of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho a film which included Phoenix in a starring role. In 1996 the Aleka's Attic track Note To A Friend was released on the 1996 benefit album In Defense Of Animals; Volume II and featured Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers on bass.
Phoenix had collaborated with friend John Frusciante after his first departure from Red Hot Chili Peppers and the songs "Height Down" and "Well I've Been" were released on Frusciantes second solo album Smile From The Streets You Hold in 1997. The title track may also be an ode to Phoenix.
Phoenix was an investor in the original House of Blues (founded by his good friend and Sneakers co-star Dan Aykroyd) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which opened its doors to the public after serving a group of homeless people on Thanksgiving Day 1992.
As well as giving speeches at rallies for various groups, he and his band often played environmental benefits for well known charities and also that of local ones around Gainesville, Florida.
on Sunset Strip]] On the evening of October 30, 1993, Phoenix was to perform with his close friend Michael "Flea" Balzary from the Red Hot Chili Peppers onstage at the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partly owned at the time by actor Johnny Depp. Phoenix had returned to Los Angeles early that week from Utah to complete the three weeks of interior shots left on his last (and, uncompleted) project Dark Blood. His younger sister Rain and brother Joaquin had flown out to join him at his hotel. Phoenix's girlfriend Samantha Mathis had also come to meet him, and all would be present at the scene of Phoenix's death.
At some point in the evening, Phoenix went to the bathroom to take drugs with various friends and dealers. It is frequently reported that an acquaintance or dealer offered him Persian Brown (a powerful form of heroin mixed with methamphetamine, which is commonly snorted); his autopsy report revealed lethal doses of cocaine, morphine (heroin metabolizes to morphine and shows up as such in the blood), as well as diazepam, ephedrine and marijuana. Soon after consuming a combination of heroin and cocaine he became ill, and somebody reportedly gave him diazepam, as it is commonly used to counter-act the effects of a stimulant overdose. However, because he had consumed heroin the treatment is thought to have been counter productive, as diazepam further enhances the effects of heroin. When the news filtered through the club, Flea left the stage and rushed outside. Paramedics had arrived on the scene and found Phoenix in a flatline state, and they administered drugs in an attempt to restart his heart. He was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, accompanied by Flea, via an ambulance. Further attempts to resuscitate Phoenix (including the insertion of a pacemaker) were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m. PST on the morning of October 31, 1993.
The following day the club became a makeshift shrine with fans and mourners leaving flowers, pictures and candles on the sidewalk and graffiti messages on the walls of the venue. A sign was placed in the window that read, "With much respect and love to River and his family, The Viper Room is temporarily closed. Our heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. He will be missed". The club remained closed for a week. Depp continued to close the club every year on October 31 until selling his share in 2004.
Category:1970 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Actors from Florida Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Actors from Oregon Category:American buskers Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American vegans Category:Cocaine-related deaths in California Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in California Category:Deaths from heart failure Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:People from Gainesville, Florida Category:People from Jefferson County, Oregon Category:People raised as children in the Children of God
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| Coordinates | 55°45′06″N37°37′04″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Mark Lester |
| Caption | Lester in 1977 |
| Birthname | Mark A. Letzer |
| Birth date | |
| Birth place | Oxford, Oxfordshire |
| Yearsactive | 1964—1977;2009—present |
These two child actors later reunited for Melody (1971), which depicted British schoolchildren in love. Tracy Hyde played the role of Melody in the film, which used music from the Bee Gees and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
In 1969, Lester received critical acclaim for his portrayal of a dysfunctional and withdrawn only child in Run Wild, Run Free, starring opposite John Mills, and then as a disturbed child in the first regular episode of Then Came Bronson. Lester's acting roles peaked as he starred in Eyewitness (1970), with Susan George, Night Hair Child (1971) with Britt Ekland, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971), with Shelley Winters, Melody and Black Beauty. After this period, his acting roles in the UK would begin to wane as he found good roles harder to come by. He extended his range with roles in a series of films in Italy including Redneck (1972) with Telly Savalas and the Western Scalawag (1973) with Kirk Douglas. The final film of his Italian-based career was in the costume drama La Prima volta sull'erba (Love Under the Elms, 1974), which was nominated for the Golden Bear prize at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival. Lester wrapped up his British film career with the lead role in the all-star film Crossed Swords aka The Prince and Pauper (1977), starring Raquel Welch, Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, George C. Scott, and Oliver Reed, who had played Bill Sikes in Oliver.
He married in January 1993 and with his wife had 4 children, but divorced in 2005. He remarried, to a psychiatric nurse named Lisa in 2006.
He is an honorary patron of The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.
Lester was a close friend of Michael Jackson from 1982 until Jackson's death in 2009, and Jackson chose him to be godfather to the children. In August 2009, Lester gave an interview to the British tabloid newspaper News of the World, claiming that he could be the biological father of Paris Katherine Jackson, the late singer's daughter. Lester claimed to have been a sperm donor for Jackson in 1996, and announced that he was willing to take a paternity test to determine whether he was the father.
He stated in a video interview for the newspaper that his motivation, as godfather of the children, was that he had not been allowed contact with them since Jackson's death: "It's very, very upsetting not being able to see all those children; they're my godchildren, and I love them dearly." Brian Oxman, former lawyer for the Jackson family, rejected the claim in a television interview, stating, “The thing I always heard from Michael was that Michael was the father of these children, and I believe Michael."
Category:1958 births Category:English child actors Category:English film actors Category:Living people Category:Osteopaths
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