I was in a Barnes & Noble today and flipped through a toy collector magazine because there aren't any trading card magazines on the rack anymore. I read that toy designer, Roger Sweet, passed away April 28 at the age of 91. He is credited with creating/co-creating He-Man and the Masters of the Universe for Mattel.

Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, who sang the hits "Palisades Park" (1962) and "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (1959) has died at 89.

Actress Kaylee Hottle who starred in the 2021 and 2024 GODZILLA vs. KONG films, has died in a car accident, at age 18.

I was just about to post on the passing of Kaylee Hottle. I didn't know her name, but I certainly knew who she was having seen both Godzilla vs Kong films. She played Jia, Kong's sign language translator. She was a deaf person herself and growing up to be a very nice-looking woman. I'm sure she would have had a good career in films in the fashion of a young Marlee Matlin. Really sorry to hear of this horrible accident. My condolences to her family.

Sad news for TV comedy fans here in the UK. Bill Oddie has passed away at the age of 85. I remember him best as being part of The Goodies, though he has done lots of other things since that series ended. I will have to dig out my copies of 'The Goodies File' and 'The Goodies Book of Criminal Records' to cheer myself up. I had the former signed by all three of the Goodies at a book signing when it was originally released. Great to meet them all even only briefly.

A couple of episodes from the TV series could also be pencilled in for tonight as I have all of them in a DVD box set
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nnkylr0llo

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kevin F,

Ben Jones, Cooter of "Dukes of Hazzard" fame, has passed at age 84.

This one's a shocker. News just broke that Hayden Panettiere has passed away at the age of 36. There is no cause given as yet. She was a breakout star when "Heroes" first started and then she went on to "Nashville". I don't know how active she has been recently or what she may have been doing professionally.

She has several certified autograph cards on the market from Heroes and by Leaf. They will undoubtably be going up immediately.

I'm really sorry to hear it. She was too young for this, RIP.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
This one's a shocker. News just broke that Hayden Panettiere has passed away at the age of 36. There is no cause given as yet. She was a breakout star when "Heroes" first started and then she went on to "Nashville". I don't know how active she has been recently or what she may have been doing professionally.

She has several certified autograph cards on the market from Heroes and by Leaf. They will undoubtably be going up immediately.

I'm really sorry to hear it. She was too young for this, RIP.

I heard this on the news this afternoon and was genuinely shocked. How very sad at just 36, and only days away from her 37th birthday.

I never got her Heroes auto but I have a beautiful Sean Pence sketch that I love.

My kids recently had to watch the Denzel Washington film REMEMBER THE TITANS, from back in 2000. She was the coach's 10 year old daughter in that high school football film.

Yesterday, I heard that ZZ Top's drummer, Frank Beard, passed away August 17 at the age of 77. We're down to just one original member of the band, guitarist/singer, Billy Gibbons.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Yesterday, I heard that ZZ Top's drummer, Frank Beard, passed away August 17 at the age of 77. We're down to just one original member of the band, guitarist/singer, Billy Gibbons.

That stinks, what a killer band, especially the 70s. Jesus Left Chicago is a great tune.

A major loss for Vintage Non-sports fans: Len Brown (Topps creator of Mars Attacks and other great issues, including Civil War News) passed away on August 11th. His cardboard contributions continue to entertain and delight the kid in us all!

Wiki Entry below:

Leonard Albert Brown (October 7, 1941 – August 11, 2026) was an American writer, editor, radio personality and comic book scripter, best known as the co-creator of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Mars Attacks.[1][2][3]

Born in Brooklyn, Brown began working in the Product Development Department of Topps Chewing Gum shortly after he graduated from high school. As a creative editor, working with department head Woody Gelman, Brown developed ideas for both sports and non-sports cards, a position which put him in contact with leading comic book artists, who illustrated Topps humor cards. During his 41 years at Topps, Brown contributed to such series as Civil War News, Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages.

Mars Attacks
In 1962, inspired by Wally Wood's cover for EC Comics' Weird Science #16, Brown pitched the idea of Mars Attacks to Gelman. Gelman and Brown devised the storyline of a Martian invasion. They recruited Wood to visualize situations in rough sketches and hired Bob Powell to pencil the project. Norman Saunders painted (most of) the 55-card set, later adapted into the 1996 (Tim Burton) feature film.

Seems like we are getting batches of bad news on our older stars. Valerie Perrine has passed away at 82. She has been in ill health for quite a while with Parkinson's and then dementia.

She played a lot of girlfriends to a lot of male stars in the 70s and 80s. Her breakout role was in "Lenny", but she may be best remembered here for her turns in "Superman" and "Superman II". As another weird twist, she had been invited to the dinner party at Sharon Tates' house the night she was killed by Manson but had declined. A similar connection to Joanna Pettite who also recently passed away.

So at least Valerie Perrine cheated death once to live her life. I hope she is at peace now. As far as I can remember no one got her to officially sign for any card product, but I could be wrong about that.

Len Brown also contributed many signed cards to Topps "Mars Attacks Invasion" and "Mars Attacks Revenge", which were the sequel sets made in 2017 and after.

Valerie Perrine died in March, and I'm sure there is at least one of her Superman The Movie cards in the Non-Sports Obituary thread from back then.

I hadn't heard that Len Brown, surely one of the last remaining luminaries of vintage non-sports cards, had passed. I have his autograph card from the Revenge set and will post it in the other thread.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Valerie Perrine died in March, and I'm sure there is at least one of her Superman The Movie cards in the Non-Sports Obituary thread from back then.

You are correct, at least I didn't leave a comment, so I guess I just missed it. Something about her death came up in a headline window this morning and I didn't clink the story. Saw the headline and thought it just happened.

She did appear on Superman cards, but I can't find any mention of her doing a certified autograph card in anything so far. Not even signing for Pop Century.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Len Brown also contributed many signed cards to Topps "Mars Attacks Invasion" and "Mars Attacks Revenge", which were the sequel sets made in 2017 and after.

Didn't he also have autos in Heritage? I think they were on the reprint cards, and unfortunately were signed with a really weak silver Sharpie.

Dolly Parton has passed away at the age of 80

I just heard the news about Dolly Parton. She had to stop performing last year and it was obvious that something bad was going on, but she never said what and always seemed very positive in any updating posts.

I'm really sorry, not just because I liked her music either. I only really listened to a few hit songs. My taste doesn't run to true country music, so I only have a couple of her records. What I liked about Parton was that she was friendly to everyone and was big on giving to charity and public causes, like improving literacy. For many years she just gave away free books. Yet she never took a political stance or tried to use her platform to push an agenda. She knew it would offend some people no matter what, and she kept that part of her life private. Just like she kept her health news private.

No one is going to have a bad word to say about Dolly and it's really going to be the truth this time.