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Obits

By Drew Grant 4/04 4:59pm

Obits

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (YouTube)

In Memoriam: A Look Back at Siskel and Ebert and the Movies (Video)

Several years ago, I was going through a bunch of YouTube reels from At the Movies, and noticed a funny thing: Roger Ebert’s relationship with his co-host, Gene Siskel, was way less amicable than I remember it being as a kid. Or maybe the Internet just had a fascination with the way that Mr. Ebert–the more cynical, cerebral of the pair–loved to take the piss out of his partner.

I quickly made a mashup of this phenomena, titled it “The Darker Side of Siskel and Ebert,” and sent it off into the ether of the Internet (at the time, an AOL-owned site called Urlesque.com), not really thinking much of it.

The next day, Mr. Ebert tweeted the video to his hundreds of thousands of followers, a move that showed one of the critic’s greatest qualities: the ability not to take anything, especially himself, too seriously.

Now that Mr. Ebert and Mr. Siskel have both passed away, I’m reposting this video as a tribute for two of the greatest voices in cinema history. Enjoy. Read More

By Steve Huff 9/29/12 11:01am

Obits

The New York Times

Former New York Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger, Sr. Dies

Former New York Times publisher and chairman Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger, Sr., who ran the paper from 1963 to 1992, has died. The Times reports Mr. Sulzberger passed away at his Southampton  home on Saturday. The senior Sulzberger piloted the paper through the rough seas of the late 1960s and early 1970s and was primarily responsible for pulling the trigger on one of the biggest exposés of the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers: Read More

By Steve Huff 5:36pm

Obits

Chuck Colson (ChuckColson.org)

Watergate Figure Chuck Colson Dead at 80

Charles “Chuck” Colson, evangelist, author and former hatchet man for President Richard M. Nixon, died today, two weeks after surgery on a blood clot in his brain. Mr. Colson was 80 years old.

As President Nixon’s special counsel, Mr. Colson played a major role in the Watergate scandal. While serving on the committee to re-elect the president he took part in the plan for White House “plumbers” like G. Gordon Liddy to steal background information from Democratic foes. Read More

By Drew Grant 2/01/12 1:50pm

Obits

Don Cornelius hosting 'Soul Train' in style

R.I.P. Don Cornelius: Soul Train Creator Dead at 75

Legendary creator and host of the R&B dance/variety show Soul Train Don Cornelius was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound earlier this morning in his Muholland Drive home, reports The New York Times.

Mr. Cornelius was widely credited with bringing African-American performers like Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Michael Jackson to the public’s consciousness during Soul Train’s almost 35 year syndicated run: one of the longest in history. Read More

By Steve Huff 1/22/12 10:39am

Obits

Joe Paterno/ Getty Images

Legendary Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Dead at 85

The AP reports that Joe Paterno, one of the most successful coaches in the history of college football, has died. Paterno’s condition deteriorated rapidly over the last few days from complications from chemotherapy he was receiving for lung cancer. He was 85 years old. Paterno was the all-time record holder for Division I college football, winning 409 games before he was fired in November 2011 over his handling of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. Read More

By Nate Freeman 4/01/11 10:25pm

Obits

Don Hill, the Best Guy at the Bar, Passes Away

Don Hill, the man responsible for the legendary Spring Street spot that carries his name, passed away yesterday. He was 66 years old.

Like many others, we knew him. “I don’t talk too much,” Mr. Hill said to The Observer, moments after we had met. It was a September afternoon, and in the empty hallway Read More