Neil Armstrong, First Man on moon Dead at 82 … One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind … Rest in Peace

An American hero has died … Armstrong captured the imagination of a generation and inspired many to follow their dreams and reach for the stars.

“While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves,” his family said.

Neil Armstrong, (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) – Rest in Peace

Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon has passed away at the age of 82 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  His family Announced the death at 2:45 pm ET. A statement said he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. Armstrong underwent a heart-bypass surgery earlier this month  to relieve blocked coronary arteries. Armstrong, the private hero, kept to himself and was a very private individual.

As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the dusty surface, Armstrong said: “?That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Those words endure as one of the best known quotes in the English language.

Neil Alden Armstrong was 38 years old at the time and even though he had fulfilled one of mankind’s quests that had loomed for centuries and placed him at the pinnacle of human achievement, he did not revel in his accomplishment. He even seemed frustrated by the acclaim it brought.

“One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind”

Much, much more, on the life and times of Neil Armstrong:

Armstrong grew up in Ohio with a strong interest in flight and earned his pilot’s license while still a boy.
After flying combat missions during the Korean War, he became a test pilot and joined NASA’s astronaut program in 1962.
Armstrong’s pulse was measured at 150 beats per minute as he guided the lunar lander to the moon’s surface, NASA said.
Asked about his experience on the moon, he told CBS: “It’s an interesting place to be. I recommend it.”

To a true American hero, Rest in Peace.

Legendary Comedian Phyllis Diller Dies at Age 95, Heaven Just Got a Little More Funny … Rest in Peace

Comedian Phyllis Diller, who paved the way for today’s female comics, died this morning in her sleep at her LA home at the age of 95 surrounded by her family.Her career bean in the 1950′s, but Diller’s fame grew when she co-starred with Bob Hope in 23 television specials and three films in the 1960s. Phyllis Diller was a trend setter and pioneer in the industry; however, she was best known for her off the wall whit and self-deprecating humor was a thing of humerus beauty. Watch the video below and tell me she does not sound like a female Rodney Dangerfield. She was an original and funny as hell. Phyllis Diller – Rest in Peace.

Phyllis Diller on The Ed Sullivan Show

DILLER, VIA “THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW” CIRCA 1969: “Would you believe that I once entered a beauty contest? I must have been out of my mind. I not only came last, but I got 361 get well cards.” (Newsy)

She was a self-described “cartoon,” a zany housewife-turned-comedian with an electrified hairdo who broke into the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy in the 1950s with an outlandish wardrobe and a barrage of self-deprecating jokes punctuated by her trademark guffaw.

“I spent seven hours today at the beauty parlor; hell, that was just for the estimate,” Phyllis Diller would say on stage, firing off one joke after another. “I’m in the 14th year of a 10-day beauty plan.”

Diller, whose stand-up career spanned nearly 50 years, died in her sleep Monday at her longtime home in Brentwood, said her agent, Fred Wostbrock. She was 95.

Sherman Hemsley, Actor Who Played George Jefferson on ‘The Jeffersons’ Dead at Age 74 … Rest in Peace

Sherman Hemsley, the actor best known for his role as George Jefferson of the 1970′s sitcom ‘The Jefferson’s” has passed away at the age of 74.  Of course Sherman Hemsley got his TV start as the next door neighbor of Archie Bunker on “All in the Family” before finally “moving on up to the East side and getting his own starting role in the Jefferson’s. Oh, how I loved the Jeffersons and the sparring that Archie Bunker and George Jefferson got into. Both were comedic icons.

Sherman Hemsley, Rest in Peace

That was thanks to the deft comic touch of Broadway and TV veteran Sherman Hemsley, who died Tuesday at age 74 at his home in El Paso, his agent, Todd Frank, said the El Paso Sheriff’s Department confirmed .

Born in 1938, the South Philadelphia native served in the Air Force and paid his way through drama school by working at the post office. He kept that day job even after moving to New York to pursue acting roles.

Hemsley was starring in the early ’70s musical Purlie when All in the Family producer Norman Lear handpicked him to play the Bunkers’ next-door neighbor in working-class Queens, N.Y. You could say George Jefferson’s reputation preceded him — he was mentioned as early as 1971 but Family fans never saw him, the explanation being that he wouldn’t even step foot in his racist neighbor’s house until Hemsley finished his theatrical run and formally joined the cast in 1973.

After much bickering and name-calling — George loved to call Archie a “honky” — the two men began to change each other’s attitudes about race, and viewers got to see life from the point of view of George, an entrepreneur with his own dry-cleaning shops, and his wife, “Weezy” (Isabel Sanford).

More from the New York Times.

High-strung and irrepressible, George Jefferson quickly became one of America’s most popular television characters, a high-energy, combative black man who backed down to no one — something that had rarely been seen on television. At the same time, however, he was vain, snobbish and bigoted (“honky” was one of his favorite epithets directed at whites), and flaunted his self-regard like a badge. Each week, his wife or their irreverent maid, Florence (played by Marla Gibbs), would step up to scuttle his wrongheaded schemes or deflate his delusions of grandeur.

Oscar Winning Actor Ernest Borgnine dead at 95 … Rest in Peace

How sad, one of my favorite actors of all times has passed away … Rest in Peace Ernest Borgnine.

Oscar winning actor Ernest Borgnine has died at the age of 95.  Another one of Hollywood’s true icons has passed away. Borgnine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from renal failure with his wife and children at his side according to Harry Flynn, his longtime spokesman.

Ernest Borgnine: 1917 – 2012, Rest in Peace

 Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut and his carrier spanned 60 years. The film and TV star was such an accomplished actor who starred in such movies as From Here to Eternity, ‘The Poseidon Adventure, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, Ice Station Zebra Escape from New York and one of my personal sleeper favorites, ‘The Neptune Factor’.  He also stared in TV shows like McHale’s Navy, Airwolf and

Born in Connecticut to Italian immigrants, Borgnine — originally Ermes Effron Borgnino — began taking theater classes after serving in the Navy during World War II. He had joined the service after graduating from high school during the Great Depression and had been discharged in 1941, but re-enlisted after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor launched the United States into World War II.

He made the move to films and then television in 1951, racking up more than 200 credits in projects ranging from the era of live television drama to the children’s cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Ernest Borgnine Wiki.

More at the NY Times.

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, July 4th, 2012 – Actor Andy Griffith Dies at Age 86

• Actor Andy Griffith, best known as Sheriff Andy Taylor passed away yesterday at age 86. RIP Andy.

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, July 4th, 2012 Download