Obituary
Stephen Sondheim, Master of Musical Theater, Dies at 91
Stephen Sondheim, the sublime and sophisticated composer and lyricist who revolutionized American musical theater with such achievements as Company, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods, has died, according to The New York Times. He was 91. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Sondheim, who was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II and Leonard Bernstein en route to collecting nine Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar and eight Grammys during his incomparable career, died early Friday (Nov. 26) at his home in Roxbury, Conn, according to his lawyer and friend, F. Richard Pappas, as cited by the Times. A rep for Sondheim could not be immediately reached for more information. In the late 1950s, Sondheim put words to Bernstein’s music for the original production o...
R.I.P. Stephen Sondheim, Iconic Broadway Composer Dead at 91
Stephen Sondheim, the American composer and lyricist known for hit Broadway musicals such as West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has died. He was 91. Richard Pappas, Sondheim’s lawyer and friend, announced the death on Friday (November 26th) via the New York Times. Sondheim died at his Roxbury, Connecticut home early Friday, with Pappas noting that the death was “sudden.” The evening prior, Sondheim had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends. Advertisement Related Video Sondheim was born on March 22nd, 1930 in New York City, and grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, following his parents’ divorce. He has said his interest in theatre began when he saw the Broadway musi...
R.I.P. Stephen Sondheim, Iconic Broadway Composer Dead at 91
Stephen Sondheim, the American composer and lyricist known for hit Broadway musicals such as West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has died. He was 91. Richard Pappas, Sondheim’s lawyer and friend, announced the death on Friday (November 26th) via the New York Times. Sondheim died at his Roxbury, Connecticut home early Friday, with Pappas noting that the death was “sudden.” The evening prior, Sondheim had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends. Advertisement Related Video Sondheim was born on March 22nd, 1930 in New York City, and grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, following his parents’ divorce. He has said his interest in theatre began when he saw the Broadway musi...
R.I.P. Dominic Orlando, Playwright and Mindhunter Writer Dead at 57
Dominic Orlando, the prolific writer known first for his Off Broadway and regional theater productions and later for his work in television, died on November 17th due to complications from cancer at the age of 57. His family announced his death today along with talent agency CAA. Orlando began his career in the Brooklyn theater scene in the 1990s before relocating to Minneapolis, where he worked under the Jerome and McKnight Fellowships at the Playwrights’ Center. At the same time, he co-founded the theater company the Workhaus Collective, where he wrote and directed the plays A Short Play About Globalization (2007), The Sense of What Should Be (2009), and A Short Play About 9/11 (2011). In the last decade, Orlando pivoted from theater to television, writing for series like Them, The ...
R.I.P. Lou Cutell, Seinfeld’s “Assman” Dead at 91
Lou Cutell, the veteran character actor known for playing “Assman” on Seinfeld and “Amazing Larry” in the 1985 film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, has died at the age of 91. After getting his start on Broadway, Cutell segued to television with guest roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Wild Wild West, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Starsky & Hutch, The Love Boat, The Bob Newhart Show, and Kojak. But Cutell will most be remembered for his 1995 appearance on Seinfeld, where he played a proctologist whose custom vanity “ASSMAN” license plate is wrongly given to Kramer. Cutell also made a brief but memorable appearance in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, playing “Amazing Larry.” Advertisement Related Video More recently, Cutell played Leo Funkhouser, the uncle of Marty Funkhouser, on Curb Your Enthusiasm, a...
Hank Von Hell, Former Lead Singer for Norwegian ‘Deathpunk’ Band Turbonegro, Dies at 49
Hank von Hell, the former lead singer of self-described Norwegian “deathpunk” band Turbonegro, died on Friday (Nov. 19) at age 49, his former bandmates have confirmed. The cause of death is not known at this time. “It is with immense sadness we received the tragic news that Hans-Erik ‘Hertis’ Dyvik Husby has passed away,” read a message posted to Turbonegro’s Instagram account on Friday. “We are thankful for the times, the moments and the magic we shared with Hans-Erik in Turbonegro during the years 1993-2009.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The band continued by describing von Hell as “a charismatic frontman who equally channeled humor and vulnerability” and “a warm and big hearted human, a spiritually and intellectually seeking person who lo...
R.I.P. Peter Aykroyd, SNL Cast Member and Dan Aykroyd’s Brother Dead at 66
Peter Aykroyd, an Emmy-nominated writer and actor who worked on Saturday Night Live in its fifth season, has died at the age of 66. SNL confirmed the news with a tribute during the November 20th show hosted by Simu Liu. The cause of death has not been revealed. Born November 19th, 1955, Aykroyd followed in his older brother Dan Aykroyd‘s comedic footsteps, first joining the Toronto Second City troupe and then landing on SNL during the 1979-80 season. Along with the rest of the writer’s room, he shared an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program. Peter Aykroyd collaborated with Dan several times throughout his career. Peter is credited with the story for Dan’s screenplay for the 1991 movie Nothing But Trouble, which s...
Jay Jacobs, Former Longtime William Morris Music Agent, Dies
Jay Jacobs, a retired music agent who worked with the William Morris Agency for three decades, has died. “Today we mourn the loss of Jay Jacobs, whose lengthy career as a talent agent was part of a rich and colorful life,” the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) wrote on Twitter on Friday (Nov. 19). “We were recently honored to talk to Jay here at MPTF and share his journey, and may he rest in peace,” said MPTF’s tweet, which linked to a profile about Jacobs, who over the years received assistance from the organization. Billboard has reached out to MPTF for further comment. Jacobs resided at Hersholt Place at the Motion Picture Home after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in early 2021. “He’s charming and generous, with a distinct self-deprecating sense of humor and stories t...
R.I.P. Art LaFleur, Actor Who Played Babe Ruth in The Sandlot Dead at 78
Art LaFleur, the veteran character actor best known for playing Babe Ruth in The Sandlot, has died at the age of 78. According to TMZ, LaFleur passed away on Wednesday (November 17th) following a 10-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. In The Sandlot, after the boys lose an autographed Babe Ruth baseball over a fence and into the yard of the Beast, LaFleur’s character appears in the dreams of Benny and encourages him to use his speed to retrieve the ball. “Remember, kid. There’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong,” LaFleur’s Babe Roth famously tells him. Advertisement Related Video Aside from The Sandlot, LaFleur’s filmography included roles in Field of Dreams (as Black Sox player Chick Gandil), ...
R.I.P. Philip Margo, Singer of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” Dead at 79
Philip Margo, longtime member of The Tokens — the doo-wop vocal group most famous for “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” — has died. He was 79. According to his family, Margo passed away in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a stroke. Margo was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 1st, 1942 to parents Leon and Ruth Margules, five years before his brother and future bandmate Mitch Margo. Advertisement Related Video He and his younger brother were both recruited to join The Tokens five years after the group’s 1955 formation at Abraham Lincoln High School. Originally called The Linc-Tones, the group’s name was officially changed once the Margo brothers joined the line-up and helped establish its enduring sound. By early 1961, The Tokens had released their single “Tonight I Fell In Love,” which land...
Graeme Edge, Moody Blues Drummer, Dies at 80
“When Graeme told me he was retiring I knew that without him it couldn’t be the Moody Blues anymore,” Hayward said. “And that’s what happened. It’s true to say that he kept the group together throughout all the years, because he loved it.” In 1964, Edge co-founded the group in Birmingham, England. His drumming expertise was a key ingredient for the band’s massive prog-rock hits between the 1960s-70s including “Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” and “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).” “In the late 1960s we became the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a poet as well as a drummer,” said Hayward, who joined The Moody Blues in 1966 with bassist John Lodge after Denny Laine’s departure from the band. “He delivered that beautifully and bri...
Rick Jarrard, Producer for Jose Feliciano, Jefferson Airplane and More, Had Died
It was Jarrard who, during a recording session for a holiday album in 1970, encouraged Feliciano to “write a new Christmas song,” according to reps. Jarrard also floated the idea of this Christmas song performed in Spanish. With a touch of inspiration, “Feliz Navidad” — one of the most enduring Christmas songs of all time — came together at pace. “It just came to me; there’s no rhyme or reason,” Feliciano told Billboard in 2020, ahead of the song’s 50th anniversary. “The first lyric came to me, then I put the English lyric into it, not realizing I had made it the only bilingual Christmas song ever in the world. I created a monster.” It’s a monster that keeps growing. “Feliz Navidad” last year lifted to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 — its first top ...
