Category Archives: Obituary

The Queen of Voice Acting, June Foray, Has Passed Away

Leaving behind a massive filmography, June Foray has died just weeks short of her 100th birthday. Foray is best known for her work as Granny and Witch Hazel on “Looney Tunes” and as Rocky and Natasha on “Rocky & Bullwinkle.” Her spanned decades and genres and included:

  • Various Characters (and the voice of Betty in the pilot) on The Flintstones
  • Lucifer in Walt Disney’s Cinderella
  • Magica De Spell on DuckTales
  • Granny Gummi on Gummi Bears
  • Grandmother Fa on Mulan
  • Talky Tina on The Twilight Zone (The Living Doll)
  • Jokey Smurf on The Smurfs
  • Aunt May on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends

A tireless advocate for animation, she helped establish the Annie Awards as well as getting the Academy Awards to add the Full-Length Animated Feature award in 2007. Her autobiography, “Did You Grow Up with Me?” was published 2009.

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This week we lost Adam West, the actor best-known for his deliberately wooden, comic turn as Batman in the 1960s. While many bat-fans find the series an embarrassment, its runaway success helped revitalize the superhero comic, and demonstrated that superheroes could work in mainstream media. Only Superman, really, had achieved that status beforehand, on radio and television.1

The Harry Potter Festival organized for Goderich, Ontario, has had to move to nearby Blyth. Those who booked accommodations in scenic Goderich will receive shuttlebus service. The festival will see the small town transformed into some Harry Potter-verse equivalent over the three-day festival, which has attracted ticket-buyers from around the world.

Japan’s Softbank is buying Boston Dynamics, Google’s robot company:

SpaceX update and a couple of Cons, below:

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RIP Richard Hatch, BSG’s Original Apollo

Richard Hatch, the man who originated the role of Apollo on the 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica, has passed away at age 71. He joined the cast of the 2003 reboot as terrorist/political leader Tom Zarek.

He was no stranger to genre film (particularly the B-grade variety) and had appeared in the legally questionable Prelude to Axnar (and was set to appear in the full version, had that gone through).

In addition to acting, Hatch wrote a number of novels set in BSG universe. In 1999 he attempted his own reboot of the show that made him famous, producing a trailer for Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming.

He is survived by his son, Paul.

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Firefly’s Shepard, Ron Glass, Heads Out Into The Black

Because 2016 hasn’t sucked enough, we lose the man the represented the soul of the Serenity. No details yet, but Ron Glass, famous for a variety of TV roles, including seven years on Barney Miller, has passed away at the age of 71.

As Shepard Book, a wandering preacher, Glass brought dignity to an undignified crew. He would reprise the role in the film sequel, where he uttered one of the most poignant lines of the series, “I don’t care what you believe. Just believe it.”

Joss Whedon took to Twitter with this:

RIP, Mr. Glass.