Dolly Parton's Passing Leaves Behind a History of Celebrities Who Actually Cooked (Rather Than Being "Celebrity Chefs")

Dolly Parton, a woman who initially made a name for herself as a country singer, but then moved into crossover country-pop singles, followed by acting (having starred in several top movies), died of cancer at age 80 on August 25, 2026. The Variety obituary can be accessed at https://variety.com/2026/music/news/dolly-parton-dead-dies-country-music-1236842727/.

A Young Dolly Parton Performs 

She also became known for a number of other successful business ventures, including opening a theme park located near her humble Locust Ridge, Tennessee hometown which she named Dollywood (technically, Dollywood was/is a joint-venture partnership; the park itself is 75% owned by a company known as Herschend Family Entertainment, while Dolly Parton herself owned the remaining 25% although the park's development was her idea, and the exclusive rights to her name and persona which are core to the park's appeal, were licensed by her).

While much has been or will be written about Dolly Parton's widespread cultural appeal not just domestically but globally, she also had a quieter domestic side which received somewhat less attention. At home, Dolly Parton routinely cooked meals for her husband Carl Dean and other family members. When her husband of 59 years passed away on March 3, 2025 at the age 82, Dolly herself admitted that she had been somewhat preoccupied with caring for her ailing husband, and she said that caused her to overlook issues related to her own health. Dolly Parton died at age 80 not long after receiving a formal diagnosis with cancer on herself.

Dolly Parton herself was an author (or co-author) of two cookbooks during her lifetime, including her first which was entitled "Dolly's Dixie Fixin's". Her last cookbook, which she co-authored with her youngest sister Rachel Parton George was titled "Good Lookin' Cookin': A Year of Meals–A Lifetime of Family, Friends, and Food" is perhaps the final example of her [and her sister's] demonstrating her culinary talents. Her two cookbooks will remain accessible for years to come.

While she was known for her Southern-style cooking, another distinguishing feature was that her recipes remain fairly easy to prepare, and yet also tasty without being too complicated. Those qualities make for a good celebrity recipe, and fortunately, the late Dolly Parton left us with quite a few of those recipes over the years which are scattered all over the internet at the moment following her death.

The fact that Dolly Parton authored [or co-authored] two cookbooks indicates that her talent in the kitchen may linger beyond her temporary, posthumous return to the top of the Billboard bestselling singles, and the fact that her recipes are now widely shared on social media channels immediately after her passing. 

But there was once a time when celebrity recipes (whether legitimate, or merely a way for a press agent to get a celebrity featured in women's magazines back in the 1950s and 1960s) were once far more common than they are 2026. My followers may recall a post I did back in 2014 about "Cooking With Dead Celebrities" which was more about two cookbooks composed of celebrity recipes from the sixties and seventies assembled by Frank DeCaro. Mr. DeCaro told the press when the first of his two cookbooks was released that he found the celebrity recipes in old newspaper and magazine articles, and even in the owner's manual for a microwave oven. My point is that celebrity recipes were once fairly common, but today, they are more rarities.

However, preceding the "Queen of Country" Dolly Parton on that front, another singer, actress, and TV host who also came from Tennessee best known from the 1950s to the 1970s, was the late Dinah Shore, who was also acknowledged to also be fairly talented as a cook, and Dinah Shore, like Dolly Parton, even published a cookbook of her own (the original "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah" by Dinah Shore may be long out-of-print, but can potentially still be borrowed from public libraries).

Ultimately, however, Dolly Parton's legacy is defined not only by her chart-topping country and cross-over pop music, memorable acting roles, or successful business ventures like the Dollywood theme park she developed, but also by the warmth she brought to her own kitchen. In an era where celebrity recipes are far less common than they once were, Dolly's culinary style, much like the late Dinah Shore's in decades past, remained deeply personal, grounded in accessible Southern flavors and family connections. 

Through her final cookbook, co-authored with her sister Rachel, Dolly leaves behind an enduring culinary testament that goes beyond her posthumous return to the Billboard charts. It is a final, comforting reminder that a great recipe doesn't need to be complicated to bring people together. In fact, about two years ago, Dolly Parton signed a licensing agreement and new product line with Duncan Hines and its parent company Conagra Brands. With a majority of new food and beverage products failing during their first year, a connection to Dolly Parton was seen as a valuable asset for Conagra to reduce the odds of a similar fate. But with Dolly Parton no longer around, whether that branding deal continues remains to be seen.

While Dolly Parton still leaves a number of intriguing recipes behind following her death, and one I would like to share is the sort of simplicity in preparation which made Ms. Parton's passing a loss felt across the country and political spectrum. That recipe is for Dolly's Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole, which follows.

As one blogger described it: "There's a reason Dolly’s Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole recipe keeps showing up at family tables. First, it's quick to put together with simple pantry staples like cream soups, noodles, and cheese. You don't need fancy steps to create a dish that feels warm and homemade."

The recipe follows:

Dolly Parton's Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

This casserole takes just 45 minutes from start to finish. Cook the noodles, mix everything in one bowl, add a cheesy topping with buttery crumbs, and bake until golden. It’s straightforward, making it perfect for beginners or anyone short on time.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
• 8 oz wide egg noodles, cooked and drained
• 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
• 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots (optional)
• 1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers or buttered breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• Chopped parsley, for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prep the oven: Preheat to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
2. Mix the base: In a large bowl, combine chicken, noodles, both soups, sour cream, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, and half the cheddar. Stir well.
3. Add extras: Fold in peas and carrots, if using. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Assemble: Pour mixture into the dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar on top.
5. Top it off: Mix crushed crackers with melted butter. Spread over the casserole.
6. Bake: Cook for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned. You may also cover with foil if the topping starts to brown too much before it is finished.
7. Serve: Rest for a few minutes, then garnish with parsley and enjoy.

Top tips for perfecting Dolly's Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole recipe:

• Use rotisserie chicken: It saves time and adds flavor without extra work.
• Don't overcook the egg noodles: Slightly undercook them before baking so they stay firm.
• Balance the seasoning: Taste the mixture before baking. Soups already contain salt, so add seasonings gradually.
• Cheese variety matters: Cheddar is classic, but blending in mozzarella or Colby-Jack makes it even creamier.
• Crunchy topping is key: Mix the cracker crumbs and butter right before baking for the best golden crunch topping.

URL for this recipe:
https://www.pinchoftasterecipes.com/dollys-creamy-chicken-noodle-casserole-recipe/ 

Celebrities Out Richard Simmons Posthumously

On July 14, 2024, there was news that celebrity fitness guru Richard Simmons had died at age 76 (just a day or so after his birthday). I previously addressed his retirement at https://hgm.sstrumello.com/2015/12/richard-simmons-former-fitness-guru_18.html. Richard Simmons' obituary published in the Los Angeles Times can be viewed.

The Associated Press reported:

"Simmons died at his home in Los Angeles, his publicist Tom Estey said in an email to The Associated Press. He gave no further details.

Los Angeles police and fire departments say they responded to a house — whose address the AP has matched with Simmons through public records — where a man was declared dead from natural causes."

  

 

We learned more in a statement from a spokesperson for Richard Simmons' family, Tom Estey, provided a statement to ABC News confirming the death was "accidental."

Subsequently, we learned "This morning, Richard Simmons' brother Lenny, received a call from the LA Coroner's office," began the statement. "The Coroner informed Lenny that Richard's death was accidental due to complications from recent falls and heart disease as a contributing factor," the statement continued. The statement also said, "The toxicology report was negative," besides the medication that was prescribed to Richard Simmons.

Officially, the official cause of death was classified as an accident according to a report issued by Los Angeles' Medical Examiner. The report listed his cause of death as "sequelae of blunt traumatic injuries" that were caused by a "ground level fall," and added that "arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease" was a "contributing condition."

Richard Simmons was born as Milton Teagle Richard Simmons, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Richard Simmons described himself as a former 268-pound teen. In an interview, he told NPR "I was 200 pounds in the eighth grade. And when I graduated high school I was almost 300 pounds." He used to joke that he grew up in the French Quarter of New Orleans, where, his biography noted, "lard was a food group and dessert mandatory."

In 1974, upon relocating to Los Angeles, Simmons opened his own fitness studio in Beverly Hills that catered to people who wanted to lose weight and get into shape. Once his name had become a household name for fitness, he renamed the studio as SLIMMONS. It even featured one of the first salad bars in the area, called humorously enough "Ruffage." Simmons continued to be a presence there until 2013. Below is a 1982 digitized episode of the "Richard Simmons Show" (or you can visit https://archive.org/details/the-richard-simmons-show-with-louis-perry to see it):

During his career, Richard Simmons became a master of many media forms, sharing his hard-won weight-loss tips as host of the Emmy-winning syndicated daytime television show known as the "Richard Simmons Show" which earned two Daytime Emmys for best direction and best talk show. Simmons was beloved for his upbeat and goofy personality and for connecting with regular people who wanted to get fit using his unintimidating workout routines. 

Richard Simmons also became an author of several best-selling books, and later selling a successful direct-to-consumer diet plan known as Deal-A-Meal. He starred in many exercise videos which he sold on videocassette formats, including the wildly successful "Sweatin' to the Oldies" line of videos featuring music from the fifties and sixties which sold over 22 million copies and had become a cultural phenomenon. At that time, he had met and bonded with Jane Fonda who had her own workout and fitness line of videos, hence the two had "talked shop" and became fairly close friends.

He told People magazine:

Richard Simmons: "Jane Fonda's studio was about three miles away from me, and I've always been a fan — so I dressed up one day with a brown wig, a mustache, and glasses and a gray sweatshirt and heather-gray pants — and I went to her class. And she never knew it was me. And she was an excellent teacher."

However, as he entered his sixties, and dealt with knee replacement surgery, eventually Richard Simmons grew tired of being the center of a media empire which he had created, and he decided to close his famous Beverly Hills fitness studio SLIMMONS. Because he had become such a fixture in the media for so many years, it led to speculation about the underlying reason for his withdrawal from public life, and even whether he was a hostage to his long-term housekeeper. Indeed, a successful podcast known as "Missing Richard Simmons" was dedicated to that very topic. Those closest to Richard Simmons say that one reason for his recent seclusion was that he had just had knee surgery and he needed time to recover.

In his last interview with People magazine (read the interview at https://people.com/richard-simmons-final-interview-2-days-before-his-death-exclusive-8678205 for more), the magazine asked him:

People magazine: "People say you disappeared, but you really have not. You've still been quietly helping people over the last years."

Richard Simmons: "Well, when I decided to retire, it was because my body told me I needed to retire. I have spent time just reflecting on my life. All of the books I wrote, the videos. I never was like, "Oh look what I've done." My thing was, "Oh, look how many people I helped."

People magazine: "Where did this ethos come from, this need to help others?"

Richard Simmons: "My parents instilled that in me. They did not have a lot of money in New Orleans. They weren't Catholic but I went to Catholic school because it was three blocks away. And I fell in love with nuns. I'd never met a nun in my life. One of the nuns decided to leave the order. And she had nowhere to go. She had a small suitcase with maybe two outfits in it. And where did she go? She went to my house. My mother gave her clothes. My father gave her money for a Greyhound bus ticket to go back home. I was always embroidered with caring for people."

However, recognizing that he had something of an obligation to the loyal, national fanbase he had developed over the years, Richard Simmons eventually went back on television to inform everyone that he had not been kidnapped, and that he was working on some projects such as a biopic about his life and a Broadway show (it's unclear without Simmons if the Broadway show will proceed).

Simmons grew up during a very homophobic era (during the latter part of the infamous Lavender Scare years), plus he also dealt with weight issues, hence he believed he had been dealt a double-negative hand in life, even if he was later able to make lemonade (low-calorie and sugar-free, of course) out of the lemons life had dealt him initially. In Los Angeles, being gay is certainly no big deal as it might have been in religiously and culturally more conservative New Orleans. But only Simmons had the right to out himself - and only when he was ready. Simmons had gone on the record as saying he was not gay, perhaps in fear that it might damage his fitness businesses among many of the loyal buyers.

However, Richard Simmons was known for, putting it diplomatically, his "flamboyant" personality. In fact, many gay men who grew up watching "The Richard Simmons Show" believed that Richard Simmons was one of their own (their "gay-dar" detection systems suggested that to be true), even if he was not out publicly. The gay and lesbian community have long believed that the only person who is entitled to "out" someone is the person being outed. Otherwise, everyone has the prerogative to come out on their own terms - if they choose to come out at all. Not everyone respects that, but within the LGBT community, it is practically sacrosanct.

That said, since Richard Simmons' passing, a number of celebrities including Denise Austin, Ricki Lake, Shaun T., and perhaps most notably, Jane Fonda, who claimed to have spotted him last with a new (male) lover on Instagram (see https://www.instagram.com/p/C9adC5ptced/ for details), took to social media to pay their respects to the late TV fitness personality. 

Jane Fonda, who famously portrayed a senior woman on the series "Grace & Frankie" whose husband on the series (played by Martin Sheen) left her ... for a man. 

On Instagram, Jane Fonda posthumously wrote about Richard Simmons:

"I saw him last when I took him and a boyfriend of his to lunch at the Polo Lounge. The relationship was new and he was proud. I never saw or heard from him again and, like many thousands of others, I've mourned his absence from my life."

But for those who knew Richard Simmons, it appears many now feel at liberty to out him posthumously. Maybe Richard was planning to tell people that in his planned Broadway show. Richard Simmons, in spite of his very public persona, was a very private person. It is unclear how far his Broadway show was in terms of production. Now, it is unclear whether he will be afforded the opportunity to come out to his legions of fans in the Broadway show, a biopic or even whether those projects will ever be completed. But at least a few of his acquaintances have outed him posthumously nevertheless.

David Cassidy: Alcoholism Results in a Tragic End for a Seventies Teen Idol

One irony of this blog is that the background is essentially a copy of the pattern of the school bus turned family/band tour bus of the fictitious musical family known as "The Partridge Family". And yet, in spite of the design similarity, I had just a single post (see it at https://hgm.sstrumello.com/2012/06/cast-reunions-partridge-family.html for details) about that iconic TV show, and it was mostly about my design choice, with little about the show itself or the characters on the show (although I subsequently added a "P.S." to that post). This post is about the second member of his family's passing a number of  years ago. I never published this blog post, but felt the time might be right to do so now. 

Actor and singer David Cassidy passed away from multiple organ failure (specifically, liver and kidney; see his obituary HERE) on November 21, 2017. At the time of his death, he was age 67. However, David's passing seemed ominously more like history repeating itself rather than a complete surprise of a former teen idol's passing. David's own father Jack Cassidy, himself a famous Tony-winning stage and TV actor, had died almost exactly 41 years earlier in a house fire which was caused when his lit cigarette ignited the sofa he had passed out on due to intoxication. David Cassidy's own life, and his eventual death, looked eerily similar to his own father's. 

"The Partridge Family" was an American musical sitcom which ran ABC based very loosely on the real-life musical family known as The Cowsills. An Amazon Prime movie about The Cowsills called "Family Band: The Cowsills Story" is worth seeing if you're interested in the topic. At the very least, some of their famous songs might be familiar. 

David Cassidy's claim to fame was as a teenaged star of "The Partridge Family", which co-starred his step-mother, Academy-Award winner Shirley Jones, who rose to fame starring in film versions of several Broadway musicals including "Oklahoma!", "Carousel", and "The Music Man". On the show, David Cassidy played her fictitious son Keith Patridge (several other actors/actresses also co-starred in the show as siblings, including actress Susan Dey as sister Laurie, Danny Bonaduce who played brother Danny, while Suzanne Crough played sister Tracy and Brian Forster played brother Chris and actor Dave Madden starred as the band's manager Reuben Kincaid). At the time, there was really no such thing as "omnimedia", and Academy Award-winning performers like Shirley Jones generally did not cross-over to the humble medium of broadcast television until they had reached the end of their careers. However, Shirley Jones broke with that tradition, saying she thought that was ridiculous.  She had already won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute in "Elmer Gantry" in 1960. But by the early 1970's, she viewed television as a useful, respectable way to earn a living acting while raising a family. 

In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Jones said: "The problem with Partridge—though it was great for me and gave me an opportunity to stay home and raise my kids—when my agents came to me and presented it to me, they said if you do a series and it becomes a hit show, you will be that character for the rest of your life and your film career will go into the toilet, which is what happened. But I have no regrets." 

As a result of the show, her step-son David Cassidy became a teen idol by playing the role of Keith Partridge, the son of character Shirley Partridge (played by Shirley Jones), in the hit TV show "The Partridge Family" which ran on ABC from 1970 to 1974, although reruns of the show continued running in syndication for years after the show's original run. 

Famous Father, With Family a History of Alcohol Abuse 

Actor Jack Cassidy

David Cassidy was the son of the late actor and singer Jack Cassidy, who was himself a musical performer on Broadway, winning a Tony Award in 1964 for Best Performance by a Featured Actor for his role as Steven Kodaly in the play "She Loves Me". On television, during the 1950's and 1960's, Jack Cassidy became a very frequent guest star on TV, appearing in a wide variety of TV shows, including on "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", in "Gunsmoke", "Bewitched", "Get Smart", "That Girl", "Hawaii Five-O", "Cannon", "McCloud" and also as a guest star on various TV game shows of the day, including the "Match Game". 

David Cassidy was a son from Jack Cassidy's first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward. However, Jack Cassidy was known to have problems with alcoholism (in addition to suffering from bipolar disorder), which contributed to the failure of his multiple marriages, and ultimately, his untimely death. Jack Cassidy married Shirley Jones on August 5, 1956. Together, they had three sons, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan. As noted, David Cassidy was actually Jack's son from his first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward, hence Shirley Jones became his stepmother. Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones split-up in 1974 following Jack Cassidy's 1973 diagnosis as manic depressive and bipolar disorder. David Cassidy's birth mother Evelyn Ward died in 2012.

Jack Cassidy died rather tragically at just age 49 in an apartment fire in 1976. The forensics showed that the fire was caused by a cigarette which he was smoking at the time which ignited a naugahyde (synthetic leather) sofa he'd passed out on due to his intoxication. He was already divorced from his second wife Shirley Jones at the time, but it's believed that he came home drunk after going out to a gay bar in West Hollywood, where he was seen by many witnesses the evening before. 

Before his own death, son David Cassidy also went on the record acknowledging his own father as bisexual, citing personal accounts and reports, both anecdotal and published, of his father's known same-sex affairs, something that neither he nor his siblings knew about until after the father's death. But in her 2013 memoir, Shirley Jones also wrote that Jack Cassidy had several same-sex affairs during her marriage to him, including a notable one with famous composer and songwriter Cole Porter. 

However, Shirley Jones went on record in her biography about how her ex-husband Jack Cassidy tried to push the limits of her sexuality and she said that, combined with his alcohol abuse, depression and bipolar disorder ultimately led to her filing for divorce. 

(see https://www.huffpost.com/entry/shirley-jones_0_n_3647862 for more)

Anyway, David Cassidy then was able to take the fame he'd gained from his TV career (he starred in nearly 100 episodes of "The Partridge Family") and turn it into fame as a pop singer in the seventies. But as time passes, aging teen idols aren't guaranteed ongoing success once the spotlight is no longer following them. David Cassidy later said that he found his sitcom role to be very stifling, and that he had issues with the tabloid fame that "surrounded" his every move.

In May 1972, perhaps in an effort to alter his public persona which was so connected to the TV character Keith Partridge, David Cassidy appeared completely nude on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in a cropped Annie Leibovitz photo; among other things, although the accompanying Rolling Stone article also mentioned that Cassidy was riding around New York in the back of a car "stoned and drunk".

His gamble paid off initially; as he did get invited on the TV talk show circuit, and even landed a few guest roles on TV. There was also brief renewed interest in his vocal talent. But his underlying drinking problem never really disappeared, even with a risky gamble to shed his puritanical public persona by posing nude in a national magazine. For the record, the image and the article from that can be viewed online at: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/rs-28432-22563_lg.jpg

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/david-cassidy-naked-lunch-box-178864/

Failed Marriages and Alcoholism Reminiscent of His Father's 

David's own first two marriages — first to actress Kay Lenz and subsequently to horse trainer Meryl Tanz — ended in divorce after only a few years each. David Cassidy had a daughter, Katie, back in 1986 with fashion model Sherry Williams, but he acknowledged "I've never had a relationship with her. I was her biological father but I didn't raise her." David Cassidy also had a son named Beau, in 1991. However, his wife divorced him shortly before his death and took sole custody of Beau, due in no small part to his alcohol abuse. 

Jack Cassidy: More Gay than Bisexual, But Was Forced Into Failed Marriages to Women During the Era of "The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name"

David's failed marriages were also eerily reminiscent of his own father Jack Cassidy's own failed marriages. However, it was important to note that David did not confront a necessity to try and behave as a heterosexual as his father did when he was coming of age and working as an actor. His son David simply inherited his problems with alcohol abuse.

In the years preceding his death, David Cassidy was relying very heavily on things like performing in low-paying dinner theaters and concert tours around the country for income. That's a tough way to earn a living, and it didn't pay very well. But more concerning was that like his father, David was definitely showing signs he was suffering from alcoholism, while his public denials proved he was not truly addressing the problem. 

For example, like many alcoholics, David Cassidy repeatedly assured family members that he was attending AA and going to rehab, and that he was no longer drinking. But there were clear clues he was lying. For example, in one notable concert performance, David Cassidy could not even remember the lyrics of a song he'd been performing for nearly 50 years, and he also fell off the stage. Not long after, he was also arrested in Florida for DUI. Those are clear signs of a drinking problem. 

Then, David Cassidy publicly announced that he was living with dementia and was retiring from all further performing (his desire to stop performing could have been to avoid another humiliating incident where he forgot lyrics during a performance, then falling off stage). He said that his mother and grandfather had also suffered from dementia at the end of their lives, and that "I was in denial, but a part of me always knew this was coming." 

But that was also completely false. He was definitely not suffering from dementia, rather he was suffering from chronic alcoholism and denial, plus his memory lapses while performing were due to his drinking, not due to dementia. 

Eventually, it finally looked as if he was finally facing his demons. In a surprisingly candid interview with an A&E producer (see the interview at https://www.aetv.com/specials/david-cassidy-the-last-session for details), David Cassidy stated that he'd just met with his doctor, and he confirmed that he had liver disease, meaning his life had "changed dramatically." Cassidy added that he had been unconscious and near death for the first few days after the incident, he said since then, he claimed his memory had returned. Cassidy also acknowledged that there was "no sign of [dementia] at this stage of [his] life," adding that "[it] was complete alcohol poisoning – and the fact is, I lied about my drinking." Cassidy said, "You know, I did it to myself, man. I did it to myself to cover up the sadness and the emptiness."

Sadly, the A&E interview would be his last. David Cassidy passed away at the age of 67, on November 21, 2017. At the time, he was awaiting a liver transplant; as his own liver was so damaged from cirrhosis, but his doctors were unable to find a suitable, eligible liver from a deceased donor before he died. 

Impressively, as I write this, David's step-mother Shirley Jones is 88 years old as of 2022, and she shows no apparent sign of illness beyond simply her age. Since 2015, however, she has been a widow. For 38 years, she was married to Marty Ingels, himself the star of dozens of TV sitcoms in the 1960's, and he was also known as a bit of a comedian, until Marty died of a heart attack. Her three other sons with David Cassidy are still alive. Their marriage seemed to work, even though they drove one another crazy from time to time.

In 2020, Shirley Jones finally opened up to the celebrity magazine Closer (see https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/shirley-jones-is-grateful-to-have-known-stepson-david-cassidy/ for detail) about David Cassidy and his passing: 

"The idea that the little boy I came to know and love as my stepson would've turned 70 [in 2020] is astonishing to me," Shirley Jones told Closer. "And I am grateful for all the wonderful times we shared together." 

While he was alive, David was equally fond of Shirley (who married his father, actor Jack Cassidy, and played his mother on "The Partridge Family"). He was quoted as saying that Shirley "taught me so much about how to deal with fame and success," he said. "She's one of the best human beings I've ever known." He also became very close with her sons with Jack (who were David's half-brothers): Shaun, Patrick and Ryan.

Roger Moore, Who Played James Bond 007 Times, Dies

Let me start by acknowledging that I borrowed the headline for today's post from the New York Times obituary, because it was so appropriate.  One of the actors to have played the iconic role of James Bond (secret agent 007) in the iconic British spy series popularized by author Ian Fleming back in the 1950's has passed away from cancer, specifically Roger Moore, according to his family (see below, or by visiting HERE);

With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today. We are all devastated. pic.twitter.com/6dhiA6dnVg

— Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) May 23, 2017

At the time of his passing, Roger Moore was age 89 and living in Switzerland, evidently as a way to escape taxes in his native country (as a tax exile).  Mr. Moore had homes in Switzerland and Monaco.  NPR had a clip about his passing which can be listened to below, or by visiting https://n.pr/2jcLWVf:

Roger Moore is the first actor who played James Bond to have passed away.  That's likely because Roger Moore was also the oldest actor to have played James Bond – he was already age 45 in "Live and Let Die" (1973) which co-starred a young Jane Seymour as the Bond girl and Hervé Villechaize as one of the enemies, and he was age 58 when he announced his retirement in 1985 following his being featured in "A View to a Kill".  The trailer to Roger Moore's first Bond film ("Live and Let Die") can be seen below, or by visiting https://youtu.be/KTzsm9-XWQo:


Mr. Moore was the third actor to play that role (he followed Sean Connery who originated the role, and Australian actor George Lazenby who starred in one Bond film, specifically "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1969), and Roger Moore played in a total of seven Bond films during the 1970's and 1980's.  Mr. Moore played the role of 007 in more Bond movies than any other actor (so far).  As noted, Roger Moore was also the oldest actor to have played James Bond – he was age 45 in "Live and Let Die" (1973) which saw Bond fight with voodoo priests and heroin smugglers, and co-starred a young Jane Seymour as the Bond girl and Hervé Villechaize as one of the enemies.  Moore was age 58 when he announced his retirement in 1985 following his being featured in "A View to a Kill".  During his Bond tenure, he also appeared in the 1981 movie "The Cannonball Run", the car-race comedy with Burt Reynolds.

Roger Moore as James Bond, agent 007

After surrendering the role of James Bond to actor Timothy Dalton (who would star in "The Living Daylights" in 1987 and "Licence to Kill" in 1989), Roger Moore appeared in a half-dozen largely unexceptional movies (in the words of the New York Times), made a few television appearances and did voice work in animated films.  Mostly, however, he turned his attention elsewhere, becoming a UNICEF good-will ambassador in 1991. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1999 and he was knighted in 2003.

Roger Moore's portrayal of James Bond was very popular, although it was not without its critics, mostly from people who felt any actor to assume the role originated by Sean Connery were doomed to fail.  While many moviegoers enjoyed Roger Moore's portrayal of Bond as more of a light-hearted playboy who was always in control, the selection of Timothy Dalton to succeed him (at least for two Bond films) brought a different portrayal of the the character.

For example, Steven Jay Rubin wrote in The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopaedia (1995):

"Unlike Moore, who always seems to be in command, Dalton's Bond sometimes looks like a candidate for the psychiatrist's couch – a burned-out killer who may have just enough energy left for one final mission. That was Fleming's Bond – a man who drank to diminish the poison in his system, the poison of a violent world with impossible demands.... [H]is is the suffering Bond."

For the record, actor Timothy Dalton was succeeded for the role of James Bond by Irish actor Pierce Brosnan in four films: "GoldenEye", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "The World Is Not Enough", and "Die Another Day", followed by actor Daniel Craig in all [thus far] the subsequent Bond movies.

That said, in addition to having starred in more James Bond films than any other actor, after surrendering the role of James Bond to Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore appeared in a half-dozen largely unexceptional movies (in the words of the New York Times).  His post-Bond films included such efforts as "The Quest" with Jean-Claude Van Damme and "Spice World" with the Spice Girls.  He also made a few TV appearances and did voice work in animated films.  Mostly, however, he turned his attention elsewhere, becoming a UNICEF good-will ambassador in 1991.  One of his neighbors in Swtizerland, the actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, got him involved with UNICEF, the United Nations agency focused on children’s health and safety.  He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1999 and he was knighted in 2003.

He was forthcoming about his run as 007.  In a 2014, in an interview with NPR (see https://n.pr/1yF8U5n for detail), he said he thought his version of the spy who never met a foe he couldn't conquer or a woman he couldn't seduce, was the most humorous.

"I look like a comedic lover, and Sean [Connery] in particular, and Daniel Craig now, they are killers," Moore said. "They look like killers. I wouldn't like to meet Daniel Craig on a dark night if I'd said anything bad about him."

Although Roger Moore was knighted in his home country of the United Kingdom, his decision to relocate to Switzerland in order to avoid taxes was not unlike many celebrities, among them American soul and pop singer Tina Turner who also calls Switzerland home these days.

Roger Moore's net worth is estimated to be around £84 million.  The actor previously spoke about his love of luxury and said that he enjoyed spending money more than looking after it.  Speaking to the Telegraph in 2012 (see HERE for details), he said:

"I love cash. When I came out of the Army I went into reparatory theatre in Palmers Green and I think I got £9 or £10 a week and they were all in crispy £1 notes. The sheer luxury of them."

Roger Moore was divorced three times, from skater Doorn Van Steyn in 1953, English singer Dorothy Squires in 1969 and Italian actress Luisa Mattioli, the mother of his children, Deborah, Geoffrey and Christian, in 2000.  He married a fourth time, in 2002, to Swedish socialite Kristina Tholstrup, who survives him.  The family is planning a private funeral in Monaco for Roger Moore in accordance with his wishes.

Bye Bye, Darling. Death of Zsa Zsa Gabor.

On December 18, 2016, we lost celebrity Zsa Zsa Gabor (see her obituary at http://lat.ms/2hJBnpL, note that she changed her name from Sari to Zsa Zsa), a Hungarian-American celebrity, who began her celebrity existence with a title of Miss Hungary in 1936.  In  1941, shortly before the Russians installed a puppet government in Hungary in 1943, her family fled the country and ultimately ended up in the U.S.  Her parents were both of Jewish ancestry (although they were reportedly not adherent to their faith), necessitating their immigration from Europe in World War II.  She was the last of the three famous Gabor sisters to die: her sisters were Magda and Eva, each of whom became celebrities in their own right.  Zsa Zsa was considered the epitome of twentieth-century glamour and celebrity, but it's the twenty-first century now, and Zsa Zsa's later years were not especially kind to her.  Her famous catch-phrase was to call everyone "darling" in her distinctive Hungarian accent (which came out "dah-link"), usually because she had forgotten or never bothered to learn their names (often because of alcohol-induced intoxication).

1953 Zsa Zsa ad for weight loss supplement "Ayds"

A 1958 movie ad for one of the films that featured Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa's older sister was Magda Gabor, and she was perhaps the least famous of the three Gabor sisters (she passed away in 1997), and her younger sister was Eva Gabor (and considered to be the nicest and perhaps most talented of the Gabor sisters, perhaps best known for her TV role as Lisa Douglas on the late 1960's TV sitcom Green Acres and vocal talents as Miss Bianca in Walt Disney's 1977 animated movie The Rescuers, and she also operated a very successful wig business; but she passed away in 1995).


What was the Gabor's appeal?

A photo of a younger Zsa Zsa Gabor

First of all, as movies and photos from the 1950's era attest, the Gabor sisters were attractive (and they all worked very hard at being beautiful — one of her many ex's [Mr. Hilton's] chief complaints about Zsa Zsa Gabor was that it could take her several hours to get ready just to go out someplace).  But the Gabor sisters were perhaps the first generation of people who were more famous for being famous, rather than because of any innate talent or skill.  (see an A&E movie at https://youtu.be/_ItYkQ0Cfmg)

Zsa Zsa was even more famous for her off-screen antics than for her entertainment talents.  She was married  nine times, and her only child Francesca resulted from her marriage to the late hotel magnate Conrad Hilton (Francesca died at the age of 67 in January 2015).  In Zsa Zsa Gabor's 1991 memoir "One Lifetime Is Not Enough", she claimed the baby had been conceived after she was allegedly raped by the hotel tycoon.  But her marriage to Mr. Hilton was also reported to be one of her only marriages that was not for love, but for money, so we may never really know.

In 1989, Zsa Zsa (in)famously slapped a Beverly Hills police officer in the face and yelled vulgar obscenities at him from her Rolls Royce, and she even spent some time in prison for that incident.  The judge stated that she already had a prior criminal record, adding that Ms. Gabor had been convicted in Britain of hitting another police officer with her purse, and was fined $5,000 for that incident.

Zsa Zsa & then-husband Conrad Hilton sometime in the 1950's

In 1991, Zsa Zsa Gabor appeared on daytime talk-show The Phil Donahue Show to promote her then-new autobiography, which we know was ghost-written on her behalf.  But by that time, it was really a tell-all about her many lovers and marriages.  She denied sleeping with them all, and often joked about never sleeping with a man unless he agreed to marry her first. 

In 1994, she and TV talk-show host David Letterman drove around Los Angeles stopping at different fast food joints (see a clip at https://youtu.be/fEn8QdI8-24 for more), which kind of epitomized her self-mocking celebrity humor, especially in her later days.

Zsa Zsa Gabor did have some legitimate 'acting' credits (although mostly cameo appearances) to her name, having appeared in some 40+ films, including both American and European films, starring as herself in the movie A Very Brady Sequel in 1993, as well as a number television movies and TV shows (including an appearance on the sitcom Gilligan's Island in 1965, on Batman in 1968, as a cast-member on the soap opera As the World Turns in 1981 and on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1991 to name a few, see more by visiting http://bit.ly/2hSVVMr).  Perhaps her most famous acting credit was for the original 1952 film production of Moulin Rouge.  But she was never considered true, Oscar-worthy acting talent, and to her credit, she often parodied herself in some movie and TV appearances.  According to her longtime publicist, the official cause of her death was heart failure, but TMZ reported that she had a heart attack.

An older, frailer Zsa Zsa Gabor in more recent years

At the time of her death, Zsa Zsa Gabor herself was reportedly age 99 (we now know her actual date of birth was February 6, 1917), although throughout her life, she routinely lied about her true age, so the public was always left to speculate about her real age.  But we know that prior to her death, she had been in a steadily declining state of health.  She suffered head and other injuries which left her in a wheelchair, and then suffered a stroke in 2005.  In 2010, she underwent hip-replacement surgery, but in 2011, her right leg was amputated above the knee in order to save her life from an antibiotic-resistant infection.

Whether Zsa Zsa Gabor will be remembered for much outside of her narcissistic, gold-digging behavior will only be seen over time.  But while she was alive, she certainly made a name for herself, and lived her life to the fullest.

Author P.S., July 14, 2021: People magazine and a number of UK tabloids reported (see HERE for more) reported that nearly five years after her death, some of Zsa Zsa Gabor's ashes were buried in Budapest this week. It is unclear if those were her wishes because the socialite suffered from severe health problems, including dementia in her final years. Gabor's last husband Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt (her ninth husband) traveled to London, then Germany, then Hungary with three-quarters of Gabor's remains (ashes) in order to bury them in Budapest, according to Reuters. The rest remain in Los Angeles.