Henry Corden, the second voice of Fred Flintstone, Howard Morris, the voice of Atom Ant who also appeared as Ernest T. Bass on the “Andy Griffith Show”, and Thurl Ravenscroft, who lent his talents to cereal commercial cartoon Tony the Tiger and the Dr. Seuss Christmas special “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” all passed away recently. Baby boomers like myself have only fond memories.

Corden, the voice of the cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone, with his "Yabba dabba doo!," for more than two decades, died of emphysema May 19 in Los Angeles at age 85. He took over as Bedrock’s most lovable loudmouth when the original voice, Alan Reed, died in 1977. Reed had the role since The Flintstones first aired in 1960.

Born in Montreal, Corden moved to New York as a child and arrived in Hollywood in the 1940's. His first acting role was in the 1947 film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Known for playing villains, he found small parts in movies like "The Black Castle" (1952) and "The Ten Commandments" (1956).

Corden moved into voice acting in the 1960's, taking on bit parts in Hanna-Barbera shows like "Jonny Quest," "Josie and the Pussycats" and "The New Tom & Jerry Show."

Since "The Flintstones" echoed "The Honeymooners," Mr. Corden tweaked his delivery to approximate that of Jackie Gleason's character, Ralph Kramden.

Corden was working until about three months ago. He can most recently be heard on cereal commercials yelling "Barney, my Pebbles!"

Howard Morris did everything from cartoon voices to television comedy to musicals and Shakespeare. He died May 21 at age 85.

Viewers of TV's Golden Age remember his work with Sid Caesar on "Your Show of Shows," and as hick Ernest T. Bass on "The Andy Griffith Show."

On stage, in the 1960 City Center revival of Finian's Rainbow he played the randy leprechaun named Og; his performance is preserved on a cast album of the revival.

Morris appeared in a Broadway production of Hamlet and in the original run of the musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

In addition to his work as an actor, which includes a long resume of cartoon voicing for Hanna-Barbera and other studios, Morris directed commercials, TV shows (the pilot of "Get Smart") and the feature films "With Six You Get Eggroll," "Who's Minding the Mint?" and "Don't Drink the Water."

According to the L.A. Times, his memorable voice work included playing the voice of the Qantas Airlines koala, Gerald McBoing-Boing in Columbia cartoons, Atom Ant in "The Atom Ant Show," Beetle Bailey and General Halftrack in "Beetle Bailey and His Friends," and Jughead Jones and Big Moose Mason in "The Archie Show."

The actor's on-screen acting resume includes the comedies "Boys' Night Out," "The Nutty Professor" and Mel Brooks' films "High Anxiety," "Life Stinks" and "History of the World: Part I."

Thurl Ravenscroft was the booming voice of Tony the Tiger, whose catchphrase, "They're g-r-r-r-e-a-t!" was used to sell cereal, died May 22 at age 91.

The voice that could remind generations of their Kellogg's Frosted Flakes also made baby boomers nostalgic for other pop culture landmarks of their childhoods.

Many remember his evil rendition of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in the television special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" which has aired annually since 1966.

For more than half a century, he has been linked with Disney.

At Disneyland, Ravenscroft's voice can still be heard "yo-ho-ho-ing" in Pirates of the Caribbean, and his likeness can be seen singing — he's the bust broken off the base — in the Haunted Mansion.

He was a singing mouse in the Disney film "Cinderella" (1950) and a crooning dog in 1955's "Lady & the Tramp." He sang and voiced roles in about two dozen Disney movies starting in 1941.

Before he gave voice to Fritz, the German parrot in Disneyland's Tiki Room, Ravenscroft gave enthusiastic life to Tony the Tiger in 1952.

His Mellomen quartet was already singing jingles for other Kellogg cereals when he created the stretched-out growl, enhanced with reverberation, that pronounced Frosted Flakes great.

"I often say that I've made a career out of one word," Ravenscroft said with a chuckle in a Times interview in 1983.

Ravenscroft's last Tony the Tiger commercial was taped last fall.

Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was born Feb. 6, 1914, in Norfolk, Neb., and moved to Los Angeles in 1933 to attend the Otis College of Art and Design and pursue a career in advertising.

After an actor told him he had "a flair for show business," he auditioned at Paramount, became a studio singer and dropped out of school.

In 1937, he formed a singing group called the Sportsmen Quartet, performing backup vocals for such stars as Jack Benny, Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee on the radio. They also could be heard on Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros.

During World War II, he became a navigator for the Air Transport Command, flying 150 Atlantic crossings. In 1947, he returned to Hollywood and formed another quartet, called the Mellomen, which performed with Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Elvis Presley.

They were featured on the Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy radio show and did work for Walt Disney Studios. A religious man, Ravenscroft recorded the Book of Psalms for the blind, and in 1981 he began narrating annual presentations of "The Glory of Christmas" at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove.

Those who worked with him often called him "unpretentious." When people asked how he made a living, he would say, "Well, today I sang like a mouse, I was a horse out in the barn, I was the voice of a coyote."

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of American democracy?

In the 1930s, democracy disappeared in a polarized Germany, bitterly divided between Communists and Nazis. People in Germany came to believe that political differences were too fundamental for compromise. In that atmosphere, where all political differences were considered matters of ultimate morality, each side grabbed as much power as it could until the rule of law, individual liberty and ultimately even elections were abolished.

Today in the United States, political contests are becoming this same sort of ultimate struggle, in which partisans on both sides label their opponents evil and untrustworthy. Political compromise is becoming more difficult as more Americans view their political commitments as ultimate truth and the views of others, ultimate wrong.

In this atmosphere, restraint vanishes and bad faith is presumed. One such restraint is the filibuster in the Senate that allows legislative action to be delayed or blocked. The Republican majority threatens to restrict the filibuster because, they say, the Democratic minority is violating the Constitution by preventing votes on some of President Bush's judicial nominees. Bad faith is attributed to the federal judges who failed to reattach the feeding tube in the Terri Schiavo case. Some Americans believe that these judges purposely disobeyed the law. There is talk of judicial impeachment.

Both the controversy over the filibuster and that of the Schiavo case are founded on misunderstandings that threaten American democracy. The filibuster exists because Senate rules permit extended debate unless debate is cut off by 60 votes. The filibuster allows a minority of senators to prevent legislative action. Currently the Republican majority is short of the 60 votes it needs to curtail debate over judicial nominees. The filibuster allowed Senate Democrats in the last session of Congress to block action on 10 out of 215 judicial nominees.

The Republican leadership has been threatening to change the Senate rules to prohibit the use of the filibuster over a judicial nominee. That might sound innocuous -- just tinkering with another set of internal rules. But it would represent such an earth-shattering change in the way the Senate functions that this tactic has been dubbed "the nuclear option" -- it would essentially blow up the Senate.

The Republicans argue that preventing votes on judicial nominees violates the constitutional obligation of the Senate to provide advice and consent to the president's judicial nominees.

This constitutional theory is a stretch. In 1968, Abe Fortas' nomination for chief justice was blocked by filibuster, yet no one suggested that the move was unconstitutional and no senator or nominee has thought to challenge a filibuster in court since that time. The Constitution no more requires a vote on judges than it does on other nominees, or treaties or legislation, all of which can be blocked by Senate rules.

The filibuster is one of the many ways in which the American political system protects political minorities. The structure of the Senate itself, representing states rather than population, is another minority-protecting mechanism. Americans are usually sensitive to the rights of political minorities. The filibuster was not challenged even when it was used to delay historic civil rights legislation by a Southern bloc.

The difference today is the strong desire to overturn Roe v. Wade. There will be Supreme Court vacancies soon. Under the current rules, Democrats would be likely to prevent a vote on any nominee who openly opposes Roe. Once the filibuster is removed, the Republicans will be able to select a clearly anti-Roe nominee.

But this is precisely the point of compromise in a democracy. Previous Senate majorities have accepted the hindrance of the filibuster as healthy. They would have been satisfied with a nominee likely to vote against Roe, but perceived as a reasonable person. Such a candidate could be made more or less filibuster proof.

The current Republican majority does not wish to accept such restrictions. They view their opponents as fundamentally immoral -- "against people of faith," as Majority Leader Bill Frist puts it in the Family Research Council program, "Justice Sunday," which will be simulcast in churches nationwide tonight.

The Republicans would do well to remember that today's majority is tomorrow's minority. Democracy loses when limits on majority rule are abolished in a mistaken quest for an immediate political goal.

The Schiavo case was an even more dramatic example of demonizing opponents. The religious right believed strongly that Terri Schiavo was not in a permanent vegetative state, had not consented to termination of hydration and nutrition and was not fairly represented by her husband. When a Florida judge ruled the other way on these three issues, Congress granted to her parents the right to bring their claims to federal court. These claims were to be considered "de novo," notwithstanding any prior state court decision. But when the claims were presented in federal court, Judge James Whittemore rather summarily dismissed them, and both the 11th Circuit and the Supreme Court refused to intervene.

The Schiavo case further infuriated the religious right and probably is helping fuel the filibuster repeal effort. "Willful judges" were blamed for Terri Schiavo's death. Without the filibuster, it is felt, judges more attuned to popular opinion will be confirmed.

But federal judges had little choice in the Schiavo case. The issues that the parents wanted to have addressed -- Terri Schiavo's actual condition, her intention and the good faith of her husband as guardian -- were all matters of Florida law. The congressional statute limited the federal courts to considering issues of federal law, which were all pretty weak. To put it bluntly, it does not violate a patient's federal rights to remove a feeding tube when the patient is in a vegetative state, has expressed her will that this be done and her guardian authorizes it. The problem was not legal but factual: Were these assertions about Terri Schiavo true? If true, there were no federal violations. And they were found to be true -- correctly or incorrectly -- under Florida law.

Congress could have granted the federal courts authority in the Schiavo statute to decide issues of Florida law, but Congress decided not to. Based on the federal issues before the courts, the federal judiciary did nothing wrong.

It is a sign of the breakdown of reasoned political discourse that this explanation of the Schiavo result has not been disseminated. We would rather believe that evil judges are frustrating the will of the majority. We would rather believe that radical action must be taken.

We are at the point where a small but determined majority is so convinced of its rightness that it is willing to change the rules to further its short-term goals.

And that is how democracy fails.

Bruce Ledewitz is a professor at the Duquesne University School of Law. (ledewitz@duq.edu)

Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., the masterful attorney who gained prominence as an early advocate for victims of police abuse, then achieved worldwide fame for successfully defending football star O.J. Simpson on murder charges, died this afternoon. He was 67.

Cochran died at his home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles of an inoperable brain tumor, according to his brother-in-law Bill Baker. His wife and his two sisters were with him at the time of his death.

Cochran, his family and colleagues were secretive about his illness to protect the attorney's privacy as well as the network of Cochran law offices that largely draw their cache from his presence. But Cochran confirmed in a Sept. 2004 interview with The Times that he was being treated by the eminent neurosurgeon Keith Black at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Long before his defense of Simpson, Cochran was challenging the Los Angeles Police Department's misconduct.

From the 1960s on, when he represented the widow of Leonard Deadwyler, a black motorist killed during a police stop in Los Angeles, Cochran took police abuse to court. He won historic financial settlements and helped bring about lasting changes in police procedure.

His clients weren't always black — he unsuccessfully represented Reginald Denny, the white trucker beaten by a mob during the 1991 riots that followed the verdicts of not guilty in the trial of police officers charged with assaulting Rodney King. Instead of arguing, as he often did, that police had been brutal on the job, Cochran contended that the trucker's civil rights had been violated because police didn't do their jobs when they withdrew from a South Los Angeles intersection of Florence and Normandie, where rioting was fierce and Denny was beaten.

By the time Simpson was accused of murder in 1994, Cochran was "larger than life" in the city's black community, said Kerman Maddox, a political consultant and longtime Los Angeles resident. After Simpson, that profile would expand, earning him new admirers as well as new detractors who considered him a racially polarizing force.

His successful defense of Simpson against charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Lyle Goldman, a waiter and friend of Nicole's, vaulted him to the rank of celebrity, beseeched by autograph-seekers and parodied on "Saturday Night Live" and "Seinfeld."

His name was invoked by movie characters, one of whom boasted in the 1997 film "Jackie Brown" that his lawyer was so good, "he's my own personal Johnnie Cochran." Ever aware of his public image, he delighted in the attention and even played along, showing up in the occasional movie or TV show in a cameo role as himself.

Resplendently tailored and silky-voiced, clever and genteel, Cochran came to epitomize the formidable litigator, sought after by the famous and wealthy, the obscure and struggling, all believing they were victims of the system in one way or another.

He could figure out how to connect with any jury, and in his most famous case, the Simpson trial, he delivered to the jurors an eloquent, even lilting closing argument. He famously cast doubt on the prosecution's theory of the case saying, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." The line referred to Cochran's overall assessment of the prosecution's evidence, but it most evoked the moment during the trial when Simpson appeared to struggle to put on what were presumed to be the murderer's bloody gloves — one of which was found at the murder scene, the other outside Simpson's house.

As a result, the line is often quoted as "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit"-an adaptation that even Cochran made in his 2002 book, "A Lawyer's Life."

"He has a real gift for communicating with people," Erwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University law professor who offered analysis of the Simpson trial, said in late 2004. "Obviously you saw that in the O.J. case.… I think you could have given that case to a lot of talented lawyers and O.J. would have been convicted."

Cochran inspired law students and attained a level of stardom rare for a lawyer and even rarer for a black lawyer. One of his most important legacies was the transforming effect of a black man attaining that level of success.

"Clients of all races are now no longer hesitant to retain black lawyers to represent them in significant cases," said Winston Kevin McKesson, a black criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles. "That was not the case 25 or 30 years ago. We couldn't even get African Americans in our community to trust us. He's a historic figure."

However, the Simpson criminal trial defined Cochran's career for better and for worse. While it made him a household name and offered him access to virtually every high-profile criminal case, it also changed his life "drastically and forever," he wrote in "A Lawyer's Life." "It obscured everything I had done previously."

More galling and perplexing to him was the criticism that rained down after the Simpson verdicts. Though many legal experts marveled at Cochran's skill, a parade of critics — TV pundits and newspaper columnists, California's then governor, the Republican Pete Wilson, and even his own co-counsel, Robert Shapiro — decried a legal strategy that put the competence and character of the Los Angeles Police Department on trial.

"Not only did we play the race card, we dealt it from the bottom of the deck," Shapiro said in a national TV interview after Simpson was acquitted by a jury of nine African Americans, two whites and one Latino. (All but two were women.)

During the trial, Cochran and the rest of the defense team excoriated criminalists for sloppy work that compromised blood evidence and claimed that police officers prejudged Simpson. Cochran and his "Dream Team", as the defense attorneys were known, revealed that police Detective Mark Fuhrman, who collected key evidence in the case, had a history of making racist remarks.

Everything about the Simpson case came to personify the excess of Los Angeles. A combustible combination of murder, sex and race, the extravagantly lengthy trial was carried live on television, making it arguably the first high-profile reality TV show.

When it was finally over, the jury acquitted Simpson, but many in the public did not. A Times poll indicated that half the American public disagreed with the verdict. And the majority believed the defense used the issue of race inappropriately to help free a defendant whose controversial saga began unfolding when he fled police in a nationally televised slow-speed freeway chase.

Chemerinsky said Cochran did nothing more than discharge his duty as a zealous advocate in defending Simpson. "I think Johnnie Cochran did a superb job," Chemerinsky said. "He ultimately put the LAPD and the racism of the LAPD on trial, and that worked with that jury."

Cochran spent two post-trial memoirs trying to dispel the criticism.

"The charge that I could convince black jurors to vote to acquit a man they believed to be guilty of two murders because he is black is an insult to all African Americans," he wrote in "A Lawyer's Life."

It wasn't, Cochran contended, that he believed the police had conspired to frame Simpson. It was more that their racism led them to a "rush to judgment" and a willingness to "adjust the physical evidence slightly," he wrote.

"He got an awful rap in the white community after the Simpson trial," said Stuart Hanlon, a white attorney who was a longtime criminal defense collaborator with Cochran. "All he did was do a great job as a lawyer — which is what we're supposed to do — and beat some inept prosecutor. For him to get vilified for it just shows the racism in our community. I really think if OJ's lawyer had been white, that wouldn't have happened.… If I had done that trial and won, no one would hate me."

Ironically, up to that time, Cochran had spent most of his life not as a racial polarizing force but as the integrator, the black man gliding easily through white conference rooms, dinner parties, and neighborhoods.

In a September 2004 phone interview with the Times, Cochran said, he still would have taken the case knowing it would change his life. "I thought it was the right thing to do," he said.

Cochran continued to support Simpson's version of his activities the night his former wife and Goldman were found knifed to death outside her Brentwood townhouse.

"I still believe he's innocent of those charges," Cochran said in the September 2004 interview. "Even after all this time."

I OFTEN WONDER how many people ask themselves, "Do we really need a Black History Month?" Although it seems inconceivable in this day and age, a great number of people still exist who do not believe there should be an entire month devoted to African-American culture.

By questioning the relevance of Black History Month, people are questioning the value of African-Americans' contributions to society and their accomplishments throughout the years.

Although America has come a long way, I do not think it is a stretch to believe that many people believe African-Americans have not contributed enough to justify their own month.

Making matters more complicated is the reality that our African-American youths do not recognize the importance of their history. We lack sufficient teaching of the rich contributions African-Americans have made to our country's growth, prosperity, and evolution.

Black History Month is an effective catalyst, an invitation to examine and reflect upon the achievements of African-Americans. The time set aside for this reflection is brief, but its value lies in its ability to capture people's attention and offer insights that can last a lifetime.

My parents taught me many lessons when I was growing up. One of the most important was about respect. Respect comes from enlightenment, and enlightenment springs from education. We cannot expect the world to fully accept black history until people are properly educated on its importance to the world.

Despite the fact that Black Heritage Month began in 1926 (as Negro History Week) our schools have fundamentally ignored the contributions African-Americans have made to world civilization. It was not until Black History Month became a monthlong school-focused event in 1976 that it started receiving its proper recognition.

Myths and stereotypes of blacks were perpetuated in our educational institutions. I remember in fifth grade, during our required daily hour of reading, a teacher recommended a book that left a lasting impression on me. The theme of the book suggested that slaves were better off being slaves in the South than they were being free in Africa. Even as a 10-year-old, I was stunned that such a falsehood would be foisted upon children in a classroom.

Although this episode occurred more than 60 years ago and strides have been made in updating curriculums to reflect reality, much needs to be done to fully educate our youth on black history. African-American education is something that should not be limited to just teaching about heroes and holidays. Even the civil rights movement has been reduced to an emotional eruption of saintly African-Americans led by a dozen inspired leaders rather than taught as an extraordinarily complex, persistent, intellectually driven social movement.

I believe in Black History Month as a year-round commitment to understanding and open-mindedness that can be applied to all aspects of life. I applaud the teachers who are doing a heroic job in educating our youth about accepting the differences of people as a pathway to see the strengths and power of inclusion.

It is important that we realize that education is an ongoing process, and we can never learn enough. Enlightenment needs to occur outside the classroom as well, and we are getting there thanks to a growing number of business leaders with the resources, commitment, and inspiration to make a difference.

I have been working with the Boston Celtics and Amtrak to help further their efforts in reaching out to our youth and passing on our knowledge and experiences.

On a grander scale, we all need to ask ourselves, "What can I do to make a difference today?" If more people took the initiative to try to change the world, even if it is a small contribution, it would have an amazing impact on society.

In the end, Black History Month, like any other celebration of learning, should be embraced as a reflective time when our drive for more knowledge needs to influence our actions.

There is an old African saying that I remember hearing when I first went to Liberia in 1959: "Know your history and you'll always be wise." I ask you all to take advantage of this month and enrich your mind with the history of African-Americans.

Bill Russell was the first African-American head coach in professional sports. He contributed to 11 of the Boston Celtics' 16 world championships (nine as a player and two as a player-coach). He serves as a consultant for the Celtics.

As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men [in the ghettos] I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked – and rightly so – what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

... Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over.

... Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. ... I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. ... A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.

Alternet provides other King commentaries that are still relevant today.

Ann Miller One of a long line of MGM triple threats, she acted, sang and tap danced her way through some of the great Hollywood musicals of the post- war years - “Easter Parade,” “On the Town” and “Kiss Me, Kate” among them.

Bob Keeshan As the walrus-mustached, bowl-haircut “Captain Kangeroo,” he was one of the inventors of early children’s television, and the reason many of us late baby boomer kids got up in the morning. The show ran on CBS from 1955 to 1985, and then moved to public television for six more years and won six Emmys and three Peabody Awards.

Jack Paar Host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” pre-Johnny Carson, he popularized the late night talk show format, then told his viewers farewell when still in his prime. Leno, Letterman, Conan and all the others owe a debt of gratitude to him.

Mercedes McCambridge Powerful and commanding actress with a very distinctive voice, she won an Academy Award for her 1949 film debut in "All the King's Men," and also was the volatile nemesis of Joan Crawford in the western "Johnny Guitar" (1954).

Paul Winfield Strong character actor who in 1972 became the third African-American to be nominated for an Oscar. It was for his role as Nathan Morgan in the critically acclaimed Sounder. His partner of many years, Charles Gillian Jr, predeceased him.

Robert Pastorelli He played housepainter Eldin on "Murphy Brown." He was heading for a career as a truck driver or a boxer when a serious car accident on his 19th birthday made him re-think his goals and enter acting. He was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose.

Sir Peter Ustinov Distinguished British actor on stage, screen and television, he appeared in such films as “Quo Vadis” and “Spartacus.” Also enjoyed a successful career as journalist, actor, playwright and author.

Alistair Cooke Esteemed writer and BBC broadcaster famed for his program “Letter From America,” he was best known to American audiences as host of the PBS series “Masterpiece Theatre.”

Alan King Brooklyn-born standup comedian, actor, writer and producer, he often opened for Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, and Judy Garland, with whom he had a record-breaking run at New York's Palace Theatre. When marriage took him from Manhattan to a house in Queens, his humor focused on being a displaced Jew in suburbia.

Tony Randall His portrayal of Felix Unger on “The Odd Couple” endeared him to television audiences. Before that he had a long movie career often playing the fussy foil in many Rock Hudson and Doris Day films. Later in life, he founded and ran the National Actors Theatre in New York, devoted to classic plays.

President Ronald Reagan 40th President of the United States. Former Governor of Californa, and before that an actor and GE spokesman. His administration made widespread cuts in federal aid to poor people, ignored the growing AIDS epidemic, and grew the largest federal deficit in history (since surpassed by both Presidents Bush). Good riddance.

Ray Charles Innovative singer and musician who combined blues and gospel music to form a unique blend of soul music. “Hit the Road Jack,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Busted" were some of my personal favorites.

Marlon Brando Stage and screen legend, he was arguably one of the greatest actors of our time. His 1947 Broadway performance as Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire” made him a star. Movie roles in “Streetcar,” “On the Waterfront” and “The Wild One” made him an icon of the 1950’s. His portrayal of mafia don Vito Corleone in “The Godfather” won him renewed acclaim.

Isabel Sanford As Louise “Weezy” Jefferson on the long-running sitcom “The Jeffersons” she traded sharp-tongued wisecracks with husband George (Sherman Hemsley). Her biggest movie role was in Stanley Kramer's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) where she stole every scene she was in. She played the maid, Tillie, who disapproved of the interracial love match between Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton.

Rick James His1981 funk hit “Super Freak” might well have been used to describe James himself. He worked hard and partied even harder, often enjoying drugs and sex to excess, resulting in stints in jail. He had a comeback of sorts just before his death, thanks to a parody done by comedian Dave Chappelle.

Julia Child An early television superstar and bestselling cookbook author, she helped a generation of Americans to master the art of French cooking.

Elmer Bernstein The consummate Hollywood film composer, he was classically trained and capable of doing a wide variety of assignments. His scores for the movies “The Man with the Golden Arm,” “The Magnificent Seven,” and “To Kill A Mockingbird” are considered some of his finest work.

Fred Ebb Lyricist who, with partner John Kander, penned some of Broadway's most memorable scores, including “Cabaret,” “Woman of the Year,” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” all of which earned the pair Tony Awards.

Geoffrey Beene New York designer whose fashions ranged from suits and coats as sleek as modern sculpture to evening dresses as colorful and frothy as wedding cakes. Beene was among the first designers of his level to use fine-quality rayon and other synthetic fabrics for his collections, partly because they resisted wrinkles.

Richard Avedon One of the most influential fashion photographers of the post-war era, Avedon created an extraordinary portfolio which documented the gamut of American public life, from Ike Eisenhower to Andy Warhol and from Marilyn Monroe to Nastassja Kinski.

Janet Leigh Her Oscar-nominated role as the victim of a shower stabbing in Alfred Hitchcock's ”Psycho” became iconic in the film world. Also starred in “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Touch of Evil” and along with ex-husband Tony Curtis, gave birth to actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

Gordon Cooper One of the “Original Seven” astronauts, he flew the sixth and final Mercury space mission in 1963 and later commanded Gemini 5. To a generation of young boys like myself who dreamed of exciting space adventures, he was a hero.

Rodney Dangerfield A comedian who always made me laugh, he used self-deprecating humor as his schtick. His line “I don’t get no respect” was his trademark. Regular appearances with Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show” led to success in movies and his own NYC comedy club Dangerfield’s.

Christopher Reeve Strapping six-foot-four actor who would rise to fame in the 1978 movie “Superman,” he would devote his life to a search for a cure for paralysis following a 1995 horse riding accident that left him in a wheelchair.

Pierre Salinger A witty, debonair bon vivant, he rose from a newspaper reporter in San Francisco to a top position at the White House before he was 40. Press secretary to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and later chief European foreign correspondent for ABC News.

Howard Keel Stage and screen actor with a powerful baritone voice, he starred in such musicals and “Showboat,” “Kiss Me Kate” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” His career was rejuvenated when he took on the role of Clayton Farlow on tv’s “Dallas.”

Yasser Arafat Since the late 1960s, the living symbol of the Palestinian cause. Arafat was Chairman of al-Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization and elected President of the Palestinian Authority. Known for his trademark black-and-white checkered kuffiyah draped carefully over his shoulder so as to assume the proportions and shape of the map of Palestine.

Susan Sontag Novelist, essayist and critic whose impassioned advocacy of the avant-garde and equally impassioned political pronouncements made her one of the most lionized presences - and one of the most polarizing - in 20th-century letters. She wrote four novels, dozens of essays and a volume of short stories and was also an occasional filmmaker, playwright and theater director.

Reggie White A two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and ordained minister who was known as the "Minister of Defense," White played a total of 15 years with Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina. He retired after the 2000 season as the NFL's all-time leader in sacks with 198. The mark has since been passed by Bruce Smith.

Jerry Orbach Known to tv audiences as Lennie Briscoe on “Law & Order,” he was a veteran actor of both the stage and the big screen. Orbach won a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical for "Promises, Promises" in 1969 and was nominated for Tonys for his performances in "Guys and Dolls" in 1965 and "Chicago" in 1976. Orbach starred in other hit Broadway musicals, including "Carnival" and "42nd Street." He played Baby Houseman's father in 1987's cult classic, "Dirty Dancing." He also appeared on film in "Prince of the City" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Artie Shaw A clarinetist and bandleader who recorded the Big Band hit "Begin the Beguine," "Dancing in the Dark," "Accent-tchu-ate the Positive," "Moonglow" and "Stardust." Performers who worked with Shaw include drummer Buddy Rich, singers Mel Tormé and Billie Holiday. Shaw also married four times, to among others Lana Turner and Ava Gardner.

Aaron Hawkins One of the first Black bloggers, at Uppity-Negro.com, he wrote with great wit, intellect, insight and sarcasm to comment on politics, race, gender and other issues. His presence in the blogosphere will be greatly missed. Where ever you are Aaron, I hope you are at peace.

This article from The Body not only takes a comprehensive look it but explains why it still may not be enough to help all of those in need.

From his first piano lessons taught by his mother, to playing in vaudeville and movie houses in New York, to perfecting his style of stride piano playing through stops in Kansas City and Chicago, the man the world would come to know as “Count” would devote 50 years of his life leading a big band characterized by a light, swinging rhythm section, which he led from the piano, lively ensemble work, and generous soloing by some of the finest musicians ever assembled.

Count Basie and his orchestra performed, recorded and toured from the mid-1930’s and the radio age, through World War II, the post-war decline of the big bands and the beginnings of rock and roll, into the golden age of television, and the coming of the Beatles. Basie himself performed until his death in 1984, and the band continues to tour even to this day, under the direction of Grover Mitchell.

Following his time in Harlem, where he was heavily influenced by pianist Fats Waller, Basie traveled to Kansas City. Finding himself stranded there in 1927, he joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in July 1928, where he met vocalist Jimmy Rushing. After a brief stay with Bennie Moten’s band and Moten’s untimely death in 1935, Basie would soon after form his own group with some of the former members, among them Walter Page (bass), Freddie Green (guitar), Jo Jones (drums), Lester Young (tenor saxophone) and Rushing.

The group settled into the Reno Club in Kansas City where they began broadcasting on radio. That was also where he acquired his nickname and came to the attention of record producer John Hammond, who would bring them to Chicago and help him get his first recording contract with Decca Records in 1937. Basie’s recording of “One O’Clock Jump” would be their first chart topper and also the band’s signature song throughout his career.

A return to New York and a stay at the Famous Door nightclub in 1938, helped to establish the band. "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush," with Rushing on vocals, became a Top Ten hit in the fall of that year.

Radio and touring would continue, and a contract with Columbia Records came in the late 30’s. The early 1940’s took Basie to the West Coast, but when World War II placed restrictions on travel, he stayed to work clubs and appear in five films, all released within a matter of months in 1943: Hit Parade of 1943, Reveille with Beverly, Stage Door Canteen, Top Man, and Crazy House. He also scored a series of Top Ten hits on the pop and R&B charts, including "I Didn't Know About You" (pop, winter 1945); "Red Bank Blues" (R&B, winter 1945); "Rusty Dusty Blues" (R&B, spring 1945); "Jimmy's Blues" (pop and R&B, summer/fall 1945); and "Blue Skies" (pop, summer 1946).

The post-war years were not kind to Basie nor many other big band leaders, and he broke up his orchestra in favor of smaller combos.

But by 1952 he was able to reform his band and take advantage of increased opportunities for touring. In 1954, he went overseas for the first time to play in Scandinavia and thereafter international touring played a large part in his schedule. An important addition to the band in late 1954 was vocalist Joe Williams. The orchestra was re-established commercially by the 1955 album Count Basie Swings - Joe Williams Sings and the hit single "Every Day (I Have the Blues)," which reached the Top Five of the R&B charts and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Williams remained with Basie until 1960, and even after his departure, the band continued to prosper.

The 60’s would see some of the greatest pairings in jazz history. In 1961, First Time: The Count Meets the Duke, brought Basie’s orchestra together in the studio with Duke Ellington and his orchestra. In 1962, Basie’s switched recording companies and joined Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records. They would record three memorable albums together, Sinatra and Basie, It Might As Well Be Swing, and Live at the Sands.

A list of the vocalists who have performed or recorded with Basie reads like a who’s who of jazz greats: in addition to Rushing, Williams and Sinatra, there was Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstein, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, and Sammy Davis Jr.
Some of the musicians who’ve played in his band are equally legendary: Illinois Jacquet, Buck Clayton, Thad Jones, Marshall Royal, Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Sonny Payne, Joe Newman, Benny Powell, Roy Eldridge, and the aforementioned Freddie Green who was his sideman on guitar throughout the history of the Count Basie Orchestra.

Ernie Wilkins, Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones and Frank Foster are just four whose arrangements helped to define the style of Basie’s bands throughout the years.

I always say I “inherited” my love for Count Basie from my father, who was a fan from the beginning. Growing up in Dallas, he was close enough to hear those early radio broadcasts from Kansas City, and later as a young man, frequented the clubs where the band played. My childhood was spent listening to dad’s extensive collection of Basie albums.

By the time I personally had a chance to see the Count and his orchestra live and in concert--in 1980 in a free concert at Grant’s Tomb in NYC--Basie was suffering physically and required a motorized cart to get around. But his way of filling in the space with minimal plinks and plunks on the piano while the band swung at full throttle behind him was no less in evidence.

Radio marks the Count Basie centennial, on NPR and WBGO.

Count Basie’s autobiography with Albert Murray.

A Basie discography.

The Worth Street Theater Company is reviving VOICES OF PEACE & DISSENT at The East 13th Street Theater, 136 East 13th Street, for three Mondays -- August 16, 23 and 30 -- to coincide with the imminent invasion of the Republican National Convention on New York City.

Tickets are $20, with a portion of the proceeds going to MoveOn.org, and are available through www.SmartTix.com or by calling 212-868-4444.

VOICES OF PEACE AND DISSENT features a rotating cast of actors, activists and celebrities performing excerpts from plays, literature, letters, comedy and up-to-the-minute news relevant to current affairs surrounding the upcoming Presidential election. Performers who are scheduled to appear as of this announcement include MARIO CANTONE (Assassins, Love! Valor! Compassion!), MICHAEL CERVERIS (2004 Tony Award for Assassins), David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Golden Child, FOB), Brian Murray (Much Ado About Nothing, Beckett/Albee), and from this season's hit "The Moonlight Room," LAURA BRECKENRIDGE (The Crucible), KATHRYN LAYNG (M. Butterfly, "Doogie Howser, M.D."), MARK ROSENTHAL (Marvin's Room, This is our Youth), BRENDAN SEXTON III ("Boys Don't Cry"), among others. More stars are signing up each day! Please check www.SmartTix.com for the current schedule and talent line-up for each date.

VOICES OF PEACE AND DISSENT began in April 7, 2003 and ran for nine Mondays at The Tribeca Playhouse through June 16, 2003. It started as a response to President Bush’s preemptive declaration of war in Iraq. It featured such actors as Kathleen Chalfant, Clare Higgins, T. R. Knight, Andrea Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Denis O’Hare, Brenda Wehle, among many others. These three shows will bring “VOICES” up to date and focus on the issues of importance in the current election, including the current state of affairs in Iraq.

Tickets will also be available for $20 cash at the door on each Monday at The East 13th Street Theater, 136 East 13th Street, or in advance through www.SmartTix.com or by calling 212-868-4444.

Raise your voices and be heard during this important election year!

This space will be updated periodically.

July 31

Latinos for America, Democracy for America, and Democracy for NYC announce a Campaign Organizer Training in New York City, on Saturday, July 31, 2004. This one day seminar is an opportunity to learn how to manage a local campaign, increase your skills as a volunteer leader, connect with candidates who need your help, and develop action plans for the 2004 campaign and beyond.

Click here to register for this training, or others around the country through September.

Campaign professionals will lead sessions on key topics in organizer training, media production and management, data mining, constituency outreach and fundraising. These presentations are supported by small group sessions for in-depth work in each of the featured areas.

Thanks to the thousands of donations from national DFA supporters and the hard work of the local host committees, Democracy for America is able to reduce the regular price of these trainings from $150 to $45.

August 1

Other Countries presents “Fire in the Temple”, Sunday, August 1, 2004, a Pre-Pride Erotic Reading and Open Mic at Langston’s Bar and Lounge, 1073 Atlanta Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

Featured readers include: Adodi Muse: A Gay Negro Ensemble; Samiya Bashir; Blackkat; T’ai Freedom Ford; Steven Fullwood; G. Winston James and Cheryl Boyce Taylor.

Sign-up for Open Mic begins promptly at 3:45 pm. Performances begin at 4:00 pm. There is a $5.00 suggested donation, but no one will be turned away.

August 1

Mr. New Jersey Leather 2004, along with Dragonslair Productions, present “Ain’t Got Sense Enuf to be Shamed” by Adodi Muse: A Gay Negro Ensemble. The event takes place at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011. Doors open at 6:30 pm; show starts at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $15.00.

Aug. 3rd

On the Cusp Management announces that Jade Elektra’s Talent show, is moving to the Stonewall Bar & Club, 53 Christopher Street, New York City (in the West Village) starting Tuesday, August 3, 2004. The talent show is open to all performers (drag, singers, dancers, etc). There is a $100 cash prize to winner. Sign up at 10:30 pm; showtime at 11 PM. CD’s only. Note: If you win, you can’t enter the contest for a month. This is to give others a chance.

The latest figure to be honored with a commemorative postage stamp is the late author, poet and playwright James Baldwin, who will be officially honored on July 23 during a ceremony at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in his native Harlem, New York. The stamp is the 20th in the Postal Services' Literary Arts series. The event is free and open to the public.

During his adolescence, Baldwin (1924-1987) planned a career as a minister and was active for a time as a young preacher. However, by the time he graduated from high school, he had published articles, plays, fiction and poetry in his school literary magazine, and he knew he wanted to be a writer. He counted Dickens, Dostoevsky and Harriet Beecher Stowe among the authors who influenced his desire to write. Traces of the preacher remain in the biblical rhythms and allusions in Baldwin's prose.

Baldwin's first novel, "Go Tell It on the Mountain," published in 1953, was partly autobiographical. This account of a young boy's struggle with personal and spiritual issues elicited praise for Baldwin's exceptional talent. His first essay collection, "Notes of a Native Son," published in 1955, enhanced his reputation as a master of American prose.

Baldwin's work eloquently articulated the complexities of race relations during the years when the civil rights movement was at its height. "The Fire Next Time," published in 1963, solidified Baldwin's status; that same year, his success landed him on the cover of Time magazine.

Baldwin's novels include "Giovanni's Room" (1956); "Another Country" (1962); "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone" (1968); "If Beale Street Could Talk" (1974); and "Just Above My Head" (1979). His plays are "Blues for Mister Charlie" (1964) and "The Amen Corner" (1968). A collection of short stories, "Going to Meet the Man," was published in 1965. Other works include "Jimmy's Blues," a poetry collection published in 1985, and essays and nonfiction including "Nobody Knows My Name" (1961); "No Name in the Street" (1972); "The Devil Finds Work" (1976); "Evidence of Things Not Seen" (1985); a screenplay, "One Day When I Was Lost" (1972); and "The Price of the Ticket," a collection of essays printed in 1985.

James Baldwin received many awards during his lifetime, including France's highest civilian award, commander of the Legion of Honor, presented by President François Mitterrand in 1986. He died at his home in France on November 30, 1987, at the age of 63.

Stamp artist Thomas Blackshear II based his portrait of Baldwin on a black-and-white photograph taken around 1960, probably in New York. The stamp background is evocative of Baldwin's novel "Go Tell It on the Mountain," set in Harlem, and is based on a photograph by Berenice Abbot taken in Harlem in 1938.

HOW TO ORDER THE FIRST-DAY-OF-ISSUE POSTMARK
Customers have 30 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, and at the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

JAMES BALDWIN COMMEMORATIVE STAMP
POSTMASTER
821 8TH AVE RM 2029B
NEW YORK NY 10199-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by
August 21, 2004.

Alvin Ailey, a dance luminary of the 20th Century and founder of the company which bears his name, was honored officially May 5 with the release of a new commemorative 37 cent postage stamp from the United States Postal Service.

The Ailey stamp is part of the American Choreographers stamp series, which also includes icons Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille and George Balanchine. The stamps were unveiled at ceremonies at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 4.

A native of Rogers, Texas, Ailey drew upon his “blood memories” of life there, the blues, spirituals and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work, Revelations.

The U.S. Postal Service has recognized other prominent African Americans in recent memory, including Paul Robeson in January 2004, and Zora Neale Hurston and Thurgood Marshall in January 2003.

One hundred years ago, it was called Long Acre Square, the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Then as now it was a busy commercial district, but it was also one of the city’s fancier neighborhoods and home to more than a few brothels.

In 1903, the Times decided to build its headquarters there and on April 8, 1904 convinced the city to change the area’s name to Times Square. In December of that year the building officially opened and played host to the first New Year’s Eve celebration, a tradition that continues to this day.

The official Times Square area stretches from West 40th Street to West 53rd Street, just west of Sixth Avenue to both sides of 8th Avenue and all the way to Ninth Avenue on West 46th Street. Inside its borders are the largest concentration of live theaters--40, including all 22 landmark Broadway theaters--50 supersigns, including a large NBC tv screen, stock and news tickers and the Coca-Cola sign at Two Times Square.

The New York Times actually moved its offices to W. 43rd Street, but the designation remains.

Over the years, its bright lights have always held a certain sex appeal, and sex has been one of its major trades. Prostitution has always found a home there since the beginning, along with burlesque houses, porno shops and peep shows. That image of the edgy, drug and hooker-infested Times Square, particularly during New York’s financial troubles in the 1970’s, became a symbol of all that was wrong with big cities.

I can remember as a kid, when my parents would bring us into the city to see the circus or a play or a ball game, if we passed through the area, our eyes would widen at the sight of all those X-rated movie marquees. Even today, with a cleaner, safer, more tourist-friendly Times Square, the popular perception of the neighborhood as a place to find action remains.

Personally, I avoid the place whenever possible now. Especially on the weekends. I think most New Yorkers do. There are just too many tourists, all walking with their mouths open and their heads up gawking at the bright lights, to make navigating the streets easy.

But despite my feelings, Times Square is a true symbol of what makes this city special. It is the crossroads of the country. Even in the worst of times, you can easily go there and get a lift just people watching, taking the pulse of the crowd and admiring all the lights.

Happy anniversary Times Square!

Got a favorite memory or story to tell about Times Square? Leave a comment.

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My favorite radio station, the greatest jazz radio station in the country, WBGO 88.3 FM celebrates its 25th anniversary on Friday, April 9. It is one of a small handful of full-time jazz stations left, and without them I couldn’t get up in the morning.

Reviewers and other media types raised an eyebrow. Beyond his role in the movie Monster’s Ball, for which he received polite notices, few knew he could act at all. He’s not the first rapper-turned actor, and won’t be the last, and most are hired for their name recognition moreso than their abilities. People just assumed the play’s producers were engaging in stunt casting.

Meanwhile the Black acting community was highly insulted. Roles for Black actors in stage, television and film are scarce under any conditions, but parts in straight dramatic plays on Broadway are as rare as hen’s teeth. The email traffic was ferocious, as were the comments contained in them. It’s one thing for Hollywood to hire a non-actor, but THE THEATRE! Too many people felt they had paid their dues and Puffy hadn’t and that his casting was a slap in the face.

Stage veterans were added to the cast--Audra McDonald will play Ruth, his wife and Phylicia Rashad will play Mama Lena Younger. Kenny Leon is directing, and speculation was that by bolstering the cast with experienced theatre people it might offset any deficiencies in Combs’ acting.

Now comes word certain to fuel more rumors and send fear in the hearts of the show’s producers. With the play set to begin previews at the Royale Theatre in late March, published reports say P Diddy has maintained his usual busy schedule of running his music and fashion empire and found little time to even read the script. Those same reports claim producers have taken special care in the casting of his understudy as a precaution. Producers publicly deny any cause for concern.

Just weeks ago actor Omar Epps openly criticized the show business trend of hiring celebrities instead of trained actors, and singled out this play in particular. He has been joined in that sentiment by other name Black performers like Samuel L. Jackson and Charles Dutton.

When you consider that unemployment figures for all actors in all media consistently run at about 85 percent, and that for Black actors it’s around 90-95 percent, you can understand the concern. Producers, interested only in making lots of money, will hire anybody who can get fans into the seats, whether they can act or not, while Black actors desperately fight for any opportunity to show their talents.

Theatre is not movie making and bad acting stands out glaringly. You can’t ask for retakes. If the scene calls for real emotion, you have to find it inside and bring it out, because the audience is close enough to smell a fake. And, it’s eight shows a week--Tuesday through Saturday evenings, matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s a grind that even veteran film actors have a tough time handling, let alone beginners.

Only time will tell if Puff Daddy can be the Mac Daddy of the Great White Way, but if it comes to pass, it will only come after lots of rehearsal.