Country singer Toby Keith, only 62, has reportedly died. He had been battling stomach cancer. Toby died peacefully yesterday.
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The musician was born Toby Keith Covel on July 8, 1961 in Oklahoma and raised on a farm outside of Oklahoma City, according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Before focusing solely on pursuing music professionally, the lifelong country music fan worked as a rodeo hand in high school and oil fields after he graduated, all the while performing in bars at night.
During that time in which he played with a band called Easy Money, he met his wife of nearly 40 years, Tricia Lucus, and they were married in 1984 after three years of dating. After they were wed, Keith adopted Lucus’ daughter who was born in 1980, Shelley Covel Rowland, and the two welcomed two more children, daughter Krystal in 1985 and son Stelen in 1997.
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Actor Don Murray, who I had thought died years ago but wasn't dead, did finally die. He was best known for his breakout role in the 1956 movie Bus Stop. I was a one-year-old when that movie was released, so that gives the reader an indication of just how long this man lived. He was 94, having been born in 1929. Marilyn Monroe was 30 at the time she made that film, so if she were alive today, she would be 98 in June! Unbelievable.
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In 1957, Murray landed a best supporting actor nomination at the 29th annual Academy Awards but lost to Anthony Quinn, who played the painter Paul Gauguin in "Lust for Life."
In the late '60s, he landed a leading role in ABC's one-season Western drama "The Outcasts," which had him performing alongside Otis Young. A decade later, he starred in a leading role in the CBS soap opera "Knots Landing" — a "Dallas" spinoff that premiered in 1979 — and went on to play Sid Fairgate until the character died in Season 3.
In other words, he had a long and fruitful career in films and on television. I didn't follow his career that closely.
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Former NFL linebacker, later actor and director Carl Weathers, 76, died a few days ago. For many people, he is remembered for his role of Apollo Creed, the intimidating opponent to Sylvester's Rocky in the movie series of the same name. It had won the Academy Award for best picture. It was one of those feel-good type movies, with the underdog refusing to stay an underdog. He died on February 1.
Weathers also had a great build, almost on the level with the late boxer Ken Norton.
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Weathers was born in New Orleans, the eldest son of a labourer father. He won a sports scholarship to St Augustine high school, then attended Long Beach Poly high school and Long Beach City College. He made it to San Diego State University on a football scholarship and graduated with a degree in theatre.
His professional football career began in 1970 with a single season with the Oakland Raiders. After being dismissed for being “too sensitive”, he played for two years with the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League. “How good was I? I was good enough to make it … But I was never dedicated enough. I was never in love with football.” Acting, he said, was “a lot more fun, and I ache a lot less.”
He retired from football in 1974 and won supporting roles in television series such as The Six Million Dollar Man (1975) and Starsky and Hutch (1976), and with Pam Grier in the blaxploitation thrillers Bucktown and Friday Foster (both 1975).
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