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Monday, January 18, 2021

Tributes 2019-2020

During the year 2019, I made only 2 tribute sketches for the people who had passed. I don’t recall that I had made a decision to to fewer tribute sketches, nor was could I have been soured to doing them by any particular event.
Into 2020, I returned to making regular tribute sketch Instagram posts. 

  Performers 

Cameron Boyce
1900 - 2019
American actor
The actor did a marvelous job in the comedic role as Cruella De Vil’s son in Disney’s Descendants.
 
Ellis Marsalis, Jr.

1934 - 2020
American jazz pianist and educator
In my very small collection of music, I certainly was aware of the family of the Marsalis family of jazz musicians.

Terry Jones
1942 - 2020
Welsh actor, writer, comedian
In my mind the members of the Monty Python troupe will ever be inseparable. If my favorite Pythons film is Monty Python and the Holy Grail then it’s my favorite of Jones’ work.

Kirk Douglas
1916 - 2020
American actor, producer, director
He brought such deep intensity to his roles, none the more so than his portrayal of Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

Orson Bean
1928 - 2020
American actor, comedian, writer
Bean voiced Bilbo Baggins in the Rankin/Bass animated version of The Hobbit (1977). An indelible portrayal to me even against Martin Freeman’s take in Peter Jackson’s splashier three-part version.

Robert Conrad
1935 - 2020
American actor, singer, stuntman
Conrad’s James West in The Wild, Wild West television series (1965-69), was at the top alongside James T. Kirk as the epitome of the action hero.

Lyle Waggoner
1935 - 2020
American actor, presenter, model
Perhaps best well-known for playing Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series (1975-79), his star shown a bit brighter as good-looking, funny guy on The Carol Burnett Show (1967-74).

Kenny Rogers
1938 - 2020
American singer, songwriter, actor
“You’ve got to know when to Hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, (and) know when to run.” – words to live by.

Honor Blackman
1925 - 2020
English actress
In the role of Bond-girl, Pussy Galore (Goldfinger, 1964), her character’s name made young boys reflexively giggle, but by no mistake she was a formidable personality for Bond to spar.

Little Richard
1932 - 2020
American musician, singer, and songwriter
You know what? I don’t know what “Tutti Frutti” is, But it bounces and his performance is too spectacular for me to care about it.

Jerry Stiller
1927 - 2020
American actor, comedian and author
On Seinfeld (1989-98) as George Costanza’s father Frank introduced widely to the world “Festivus,” and alternative toe the commercialization of Christmas. I’m unsure whether that introduction was a gift for Stiller or the world.

Olivia de Havilland
1916 - 2020
British-American actress
She seemed to excel most at imbuing her film roles with the winning, essential quality of kindness - see Maid Marion The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939).

 Regis Philbin

1931 - 2020
American television presenter, talk show host, actor
He always seemed to me to be such a nice guy, which I don’t think the SNL caricatured impressions captured at the sake of a comedic bit.
 
Wilford Brimley

1934 - 2020
American actor and singer
When Wilford Brimley tells me to eat oatmeal, I sit up and listen.

Naya Rivera

1987 - 2020
American actress, singer and model
Favorite performance as Santana on Glee (2009-15): “ If I Die Young” cover of the song by The Band Perry.

Chadwick Boseman

1976 - 2020
American actor and playwright
Sometimes you’ve got to see actors in multiple roles before you get it. For me finding Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther a rather stiff, I had to watch his transformation into James Brown in Get on Up (2014). 

Sean Connery
1930 - 2020
Scottish actor
Sean Connery is James Bond. Roger Moore was also James Bond, but that doesn’t make the first statement less true.

Eddie Van Halen
1955 - 2020
American musician and songwriter
The world is better when Eddie Van Halen posses so much mastery of his guitar and yet brings as much joy to it - no effort.

David Prowse
1935 - 2020
English bodybuilder, character actor
Star Wars’ Darth Vader is THE iconic character, brought to life in no small part to the man in the suit.

Dawn Wells
1938 - 2020
American actress
The mix of the seven different characters that comprise the cast-aways of Gilligan’s Island (1964-67) of different backgrounds, personalities and social castes, is, from a writing aspect, obvious fodder for conflict and story opportunities. Well’s Mary Ann easily becomes the glamorous Ginger’s ally and girl-team confidant and then when the script requires, she’s Ginger’s rival. Mary Ann provides the secret ingredient that softens other cast-aways’ more extreme personality aspects, because when Mary Ann is disappointed with Gilligan, then the audience knows that he’s REALLY messed thing up.




  Entertainment & Sports  
 
Kobe Bryant
1978 - 2020
American professional basketball player
Not following much in sports myself, I at least know that Bryant was a star in his field.

Grant Imahara
1970 - 2020
American electrical engineer, roboticist, television host
Imahara had one of the dream jobs as part of the Mythbusters’ build team for nine of 14 seasons: problem solve, build something (usually a robot) and blow things up.




  Artists & Writers   
 
Richard Williams
1938 - 2020
Canadian Director and animator
Masterfully put together the animation on the once-in-a-life time liveaction/animation Disney x Looney Tunes spectacular that is Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Albert Uderzo
1927 - 2020
French comic book artist and scriptwriter
From 1959, Uderzo was the co-creator and illustrator of the long running Astérix comic until he sold the rights in 2009. I’ve great respect for that kind of longevity and the high level of artistic quality.

Mort Drucker
1929 - 2020
American caricaturist and comics artist
As a kid, I didn’t expend brain cells on distinguishing the different creators of MAD magazine, satisfied with funny drawings and words. I should have. There good stuff in there.

Gene Deitch
1924 - 2020
American-Czech illustrator, animator, comics artist
Deitch’s batch of 13 Tom and Jerry cartoons (1961-62) fall between Hanna-Barbera’s original MGM cartoon shorts (1940-58) and Chuck Jones’ short run (1963-67) and for apparent budgetary reasons, doesn’t match the production polish of either. Still, they’ve classic Tom and Jerry antics to enjoy.

Dennis O’Neil
1939 - 2020
American comic book writer and editor
In O’Neil’s legendary collaboration with artist Neal Adams on the DC Comics runs of Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow, I was drawn in by the top-notch art and stayed for the deep intricate storytelling.

Joe Sinnott
1926 - 2020
American comic book artist
Joe Sinnott may have been the first comic book inker that I became aware of by name, after first starting to track names like Jack Kirby and John Buscema. All because, the inker as collaborative artist DOES matter, and in Sinnott’s hands you knew that your were seeing something as close as possible to what the pencil artist had intended.



  Politics, Science  
 
John Lewis
1940 - 2020
American politician, statesman, civil rights activist
Unfortunately, you learn too late about people who had real impact on the world and one’s own life. Such as it was with John Lewis and my sparse knowledge of the civil rights movement.

Chuck Yeager
1923 - 2020
United States Air Force officer, flying ace and record-setting test pilot
Known as the first human to officially break the sound barrier when flying the experimental Bell X-1 in 1947. That’s an achievement to capture a young mind who understands higher, faster and farther if not the efforts and dangers to achieve them.

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