Remembering Vilmos Zsigmond, Robert Stigwood, Jason Wingreen

Vilmos Zsigmond fled Hungary in 1956 during the Soviet invasion and became one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed film cinematographers. He shot footage of the invasion and then escaped and sold the footage to CBS. He won an Academy Award in 1977 for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and was nominated several other times. Robert Stigwood was the impresario responsible for Saturday Night Fever (1977). He teamed with the Bee Gees to make the movie and soundtrack ubiquitous in the mid-1970’s. Jason Wingreen was a veteran character actor best known for being the voice of Boba Fett in the Star Wars serial, and a chilling turn in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone.

Remembering David Bowie

For nearly 50 years David Bowie was a trendsetter in rock, fashion, and show business. He created many different characters while acting, recording, and writing, and he managed to bridge high and low culture. Although his many personas were well known internationally, he preferred to characterize himself as a writer writing about loneliness, a spiritual search, and communicating with other people. Few singer/performers were able to manage the limelight as long as he did.

Remembering Ellsworth Kelly, Haskell Wexler, George Clayton Johnson, Snuff Garrett

Ellsworth Kelly was the American artist who eschewed abstract expressionism, preferring to work on the relationship between shape, form and color. Haskell Wexler was the film cinematographer who won two Academy Awards, one for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (1966) and the other for “Bound For Glory” (1976). George Clayton Johnson was a writer for film and television. He wrote the first episode of Star Trek and several memorable episodes of Twilight Zone, as well as for the films “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960) and “Logan’s Run” (1976). Snuff Garrett was the record producer who produced the memorable 1965 hit “This Diamond Ring” for Gary Lewis and the Playboys.

Remembering Alfred Gilman Jr., Joe Jamail

Alfred G. Gilman Jr. won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology along with Martin Rodbell for his work in the discovery of the G protein. The G protein is involved in transduction, the process where a chemical signal is converted from the outside of a cell to various functions performed inside the cell. Dr. Gilman was the son of one of the 20th Century’s most famous pharmacologists. Joe Jamail was one of the country’s top trial lawyers, best known for winning a multibillion dollar judgment over Texaco in a takeover case in the mid-1980’s. He was one of the top donors to the University of Texas.

Remembering Kurt Masur, Dickie Moore, Marjorie Lord, Bonnie Lou

Kurt Masur was the respected German composer who took over at a troubled time for the New York Philharmonic and brought it back to prominence. Before that he was the director of the prestigious Leipzig Gewandhaus for 25 years. Dickie Moore was a member of the great Montreal Canadien teams of the 1950’s, the third member of the line with the Richard brothers, Maurice and Henri. Marjorie Lord was Danny Thomas’s television wife in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, and the mother of actress Anne Archer. Bonnie Lou was the first female rockabilly singer, who broke new ground in the 1950’s.

Meadowlark

As the face of the Harlem Globetrotters, Meadowlark Lemon was an ambassador for basketball and America for over half a century. But his antics on the court, including non-stop patter and an unbelievable hook shot, belied an intelligent, sensitive person off the court. Moreover, his basketball skills were often overlooked; he could have easily transferred his abilities to the NBA. But had he done so, he never would have had the influence he did have on the world. Perhaps Michael Jordan is the most influential basketball player ever to come out of Wilmington, North Carolina. Or perhaps it was Meadowlark Lemon.

Remembering Bloody Sunday and Sir Robert Ford, David Canary, Don Robertson

On January 30, 1972, a group of British soldiers led by Sir Robert Ford fired on Catholic civil rights protestors in Derry, Northern Ireland. Fourteen people were killed and another fourteen were injured and the incident, known as Bloody Sunday, became one of the most notorious episodes of the long-time fighting between the Irish Resistance and the British Government. David Canary was an actor who was featured in the Bonanza and television soap operas, as well as movies including The St. Valentines Day Massacre (1967) and Hombre (1967). Don Robertson wrote classic country music hits for Eddy Arnold, Hank Locklin and Lorne Greene.

Remembering New York Times Co. v. Sullivan and M.Roland Nachman, Scott Weiland, Robert Loggia, Dolph Schayes

In 1964 the US Supreme Court decided the case of New York Times v. Sullivan, a landmark First Amendment case. The lawyer who lost the case, M.Roland Nachman was an Alabama attorney who realized it was a case that would change the law and the press in the United States. Scott Weiland was the frontman for the 1990’s band, Stone Temple Pilots. Robert Loggia was the well-known actor who starred in movies including Scarface (1983), Prizzi’s Honor (1985), and Big (1988). Dolph Schayes was the imposing forward for the Syracuse Nationals who was voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history.

Remembering Pvt. George Sakato

After the Pearl Harbor attack in 1942, George Sakato and his family were faced with being placed in a California internment camp. He wound up enlisting in the military in the legendary 442nd “Go For Broke” Regiment. His company was sent to Italy in the European Theater and ultimately to Northeastern France, where they were assigned to rescue the Lost Battalion, a group of Texas soldiers stranded behind enemy lines. Pvt. Sakato earned high distinction for singlehandedly saving his men and fighting off a German attack during the battle. But it wasn’t until 55 years later in 2001, that he was ultimately awarded the Medal of Honor.

Remembering Cpl. Tibor Rubin

Tibor Rubin was a Jew born in Hungary and in World War II he and his family were destined to be killed when the Nazis sent them to Auschwitz. His parents and sisters died there but he was liberated by the Americans from Mauthausen in 1945. Three years later he immigrated to America, and in 1950 he enlisted in the Army and was sent to Korea. He distinguished himself by saving many soldiers at the Pusan perimeter, but was captured during the first Chinese counteroffensive. While in North Korean captivity, he refused transfer to Hungary and helped nurse other of his POWs back to health. His fellow soldiers testified to his bravery and, despite confronting Anti-Semitism within the military, he was finally awarded the Medal of Honor 55 years later in 2005.