Obituaries of the Day

 Some recent obits of note:

Noted magician and skeptic James Randi, 92, has reportedly died.  He was probably better known for his debunking of various things rather than his magician skills.

He famously went after the so-called psychic Uri Geller, who'd made a name for himself in the 1970s performing "psychokinetic" tricks on TV such as bending metal forks and such. There's an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (where Randi was a frequent guest), where Geller comes on to show his "powers." What Geller didn't know was that Randi had hopped on the phone with the show's props person, and told him how to prepare the props to fumble Geller's tricks. Randi told the story in a 2014 documentary about his life titled, An Honest Liar. What followed was a painfully awkward segment (obviously, stoked a bit by Carson), that ended with Geller giving up, saying he simply didn't "feel strong" that night.

A video:

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Rock band leader Spencer Davis, leader of the band of the same name noted for the hit "Gimme Some Lovin'" and highlighting future star Steve Winwood, died at the age of 81:

Davis died Monday while being treated for pneumonia, according to his tour manager and friend, Bob Birk, who worked with the musician for decades.

In a statement to NPR, Birk called him a "highly ethical, very talented, good-hearted, extremely intelligent, generous man."

Davis was born in Swansea, Wales, where he started singing in a boys' choir. By the time he was in college, he was invested in jazz and rhythm and blues. One day he ran into a young Winwood and his older brother, Muff, playing some country-blues songs at a bar, and Davis was so blown away that he asked the two to join his band immediately. (Davis told the Phonograph Record in 1971 that the elder Winwood had to join the band simply because Steve wasn't old enough to drive yet.)

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Famed actor, choreographer, and dancer Marge Champion, only 101, has died.  She was also long married to famed dancer and choreographer Gower Champion.  He died in 1980 at the age of 61.

NYT: 

Marjorie Celeste Belcher was born on Sept. 2, 1919, in Los Angeles, to Ernest and Gladys (Basquette) Belcher. Her father was a celebrated dance coach whose pupils included Shirley Temple, Betty Grable, Cyd Charisse — and Gower Champion. 

Marjorie, who began dance lessons at 3, attended Bancroft Junior High in Los Angeles and Hollywood High School. She knew Gower from Bancroft and from her father’s studio. In 1937 she married Arthur Babbitt, a Walt Disney animator who created the character Goofy and worked with her in drawing Snow White and later characters for “Fantasia.” They were divorced in 1940. 

Calling herself Marjorie Bell, she made her movie debut in 1939 with a small part in “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle,” starring Astaire and Rogers as the legendary dance team of the World War I era. It was the last Astaire-Rogers musical of the 1930s.