In Memory: Esther Williams, Swimming Champion Who Became a Movie Star, Dies at 91.

Esther Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013), was an competitive swimmer and MGM movie actress. Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team.

Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of  World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade. It was at the Aquacade that Williams caught the attention of MGM scouts. Williams made films in the 1940's and early 1950's known as "aqua-musicals".

In 1952, Williams performing in her only biographical role, as Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman in "Million Dollar Mermaid", which would go on to become her nickname.

Following her retirement from film in the 1960's, Williams became a businesswoman, and lent her name to a line of swimming pools and swimwear, instructional swimming videos for children and serving as a commentator for synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

She is survived by Mr. Bell, a son, Benjamin Gage, a daughter, Susan Beardslee, three stepsons, the actor Lorenzo Lamas, Tima Alexander Bell and Anthony Bell, three grandchildren and eight step-grandchildren. 

Asked once who her favorite leading man was, Ms. Williams said... “The water.”

In the water she was graceful and as an actress she could hold her own with actors: Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Betty Garrett. Her films were always fun to watch and could brighten anyone's day..

Video: Newsreel..




Video: Esther's movie clips.

In Memory: Ray Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013).

Ray Harryhausen died May 7, 2013 at the age of 92 in London. We are incredibly sad to hear about his passing. Mr. Harryhausen was a pioneer of visual effects and stop motion. His contributions to classic films like "Clash of the Titans", "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts" brought to life, years before computers could, creatures that only existed in our minds. So long, Mr. Harryhausen. You may be gone from our world, but you'll live on in our imaginations. Author of this post is my son Jeff..

In Memory: Deanna Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 2013).

Deanna Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 2013). Died at the age of 91. The actress' son, Peter H. David, was quoted in a Deanna Durbin Society newsletter saying his mother had died several days ago. He did not provide additional details and thanked her fans for respecting her privacy.

The blue-eyed, brown-haired Durbin had been discovered in junior high school in Los Angeles and cast in a series of warm musical comedies. By age 17, she was one of Hollywood's hottest stars and made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday (1936). Her success as the ideal teenage daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls (1936). In 1938, at the age of 17, Durbin was awarded the Academy Juvenile Award.

Later, as she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her, and attempted to portray a more womanly and sophisticated style. The film noir Christmas Holiday (1944) and Lady on a Train (1945) were, not as well received as her musical-comedies and romances had been.

Durbin retired from acting and singing in 1949. She married film producer-director Charles Henri David in 1950, and the couple moved to a farmhouse in the outskirts of Paris. I do not think she will ever be forgotten...

In Memory: Annette Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013).

Annette Funicello, was one of the best-known members of the 1950's "Mickey Mouse Club" and a star of the 1960's "beach party" films, died Monday at a California hospital. Funicello, who was 70, "died peacefully from complications due to multiple sclerosis, a disease she battled for over 25 years.

Funicello, was 13 when she was selected by Walt Disney himself to be one of the original Mouseketeers of the "Mickey Mouse Club," the 1950's television show

She remained with Disney after leaving the "Mickey Mouse Club," appearing in TV shows: "Zorro" (1957), "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca" (1958) and starring in the Disney feature films "The Shaggy Dog" (1959), "Babes in Toyland" (1961), "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" (1964) and "The Monkey's Uncle" (1965).

Some of my favorite Funicello's performances was when she co-starred with teen idol Frankie Avalon in beach party movies in the 1960's. These included "Beach Party" (1963), "Muscle Beach Party" (1964), "Bikini Beach" (1964), "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965), and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" (1965).

Funicello had Top-40 hits including: "Tall Paul," "First Name Initial," "How Will I Know My Love," and "Pineapple Princess." Along with the singles, she recorded several successful albums, including "Hawaiiannette" (1960), "Italiannette" (1960) and "Dance Annette" (1961).

Funicello reunited with Avalon in 1987 to star in, "Back to the Beach," in which the two former teen idols played as parents of a pair of troublesome teenagers.

Avalon and Funicello followed the movie with a concert tour in 1989 and 1990, singing their hits from the 1960's.

She will always be remembered as one of  Walt Disney's brightest stars...

In Memory: Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013).

Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American journalist, film critic and screenwriter . He was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, as well as the first to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Ebert was known for his film review column (appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times beginning in 1967, and later online) and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The Movies, which they co-hosted for 23 years.

After Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert teamed with Richard Roeper for the television series Ebert and Roeper and the Movies, which began airing in 2000. Although his name remained in the title, Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006, when he suffered post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer, leaving him unable to speak.

Ebert ended his association with the show in July 2008, but in February 2009 he stated that he and Roeper would continue their work on a new show. Ebert's final show, Ebert Presents: At the Movies, premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert contributing a review voiced by someone else in a brief segment called "Roger's Office".

Ebert wrote more than 15 books, including his annual movie yearbook which is predominantly a collection of his reviews of that year.

As of 2010, Ebert's movie reviews appeared in syndicated in more than 200 newspapers in the United States and worldwide by Universal Press Syndicate.

Ebert died on April 4, 2013 at the age of 70 after battling cancer for many years.

It seems weird to me that... Roger Ebert, passed away on the day I shared his and Siskel's movie review on my Thelma and Louise post. I always looked forward to his movie reviews. He will be missed..