She was so incredibly pretty… and then either used by others or by herself to go into full smouldering sex-kitten mode.

I can appreciate her initial move into protecting animals.

May she rest in peace as the world remembers her.

Too young… such a brilliant voice for Wagner in particular…

Margaret Jane Wray has passed away, aged 62. Cause of death isn’t stated, but given that she faced two cancer battles, it seems obvious what took her.

If you have a spare few minutes, you may want to hear just a bit from one of her concerts. I’ve timestamped the link to skip the orchestral introductory section. You can hear the warmth and power and beauty of her voice… and perhaps feel a sad fury that cancer still remains such a killer while also celebrating that great talent can still resonate for the living through recordings.

https://youtu.be/Vz_bBN7RfcM?t=1m50s

Ted Egan - musician, author, former NT administrator dies aged 93 

Maybe not as well known outside of the Northern Territory, but a much loved Territory identity.  He certainly had a full and eventful life.

Actress Pauline Collins of Shirley Valentine fame dies aged 85 

I remember her in The Liver Birds and Upstairs Downstairs as well as Shirley Valentine.

Former lead guitarist of rock band Dragon, Robert Taylor dies aged 74 

This one is quite a sad story. I remember all the hype way back then.  It sounds like there was not a lot of joy in his life😕

Bjorn Andresen dies aged 70 

I’m sorry to hear of Prunella Scales’ death. She was a superb actress (especially in character roles/comedy), and seemed like a lovely person.

One of the world’s truly great conductors - Bernhard Klee - has passed away.

https://slippedisc.com/2025/10/death-of-a-golden-age-german-conductor-89/

He was 89.

Ace Frehley, founding member of rock group KISS, dies at 74 

That's sad - it seems to have been a fairly sudden illness

Oh sad, I hadn't seen that. 

I was a huge fan of her earlier books - pure escapist fun (and a leetle bit naughty).

The wonderful Patricia Routledge has died peacefully in her sleep.

She was 96, one of those people of whom it can truly be said that age shall not wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.

How could any of us forget her outrageous socially overconscious pest of a woman, Hyacinth Bucket? I also loved her as Ruth in Pirates of Penzance, and of course Talking Heads. Her Hetty Wainthropp is also worth watching.

May she bring laughter in heaven. I can’t quite believe she’s gone…

R.I.P Jane Goodall. What a loss.😥

https://youtu.be/ClOMa_GufsA?si=oO3mfKCSkNkvQ6xI

Dame Jane Goodall - passed away yesterday at the age of 91

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-02/primatologist-jane-goodall-obituary/102197696 

She was such a classic beauty who put in the hard work to become an excellent actress. She always seemed essentially vulnerable in spite of her beauty.

R.I.P Claudia Cardinale

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c237elg3rr3o

He overcame so much… 

I hope he’ll catch up with Paul Newman to share an afterlife beer and some cheesy jokes.

RIP Robert Redford

Aged 89 - died in his sleep at his home in Utah

Tuesday 16 September 2025 

Australian musician Col Joye dies aged 89 

One of my favourite conductors died a few days ago. I wasn’t going to post about it, but I’ve changed my mind.

❝Sir Roger Norrington, the trail-blazing pioneer of the early music movement, died last week aged 91.

❝He had one of the biggest impacts on classical music of any conductor of his generation.

❝With ensembles these days regularly getting standing ovations for concerts on original instruments, it's easy to forget how far the music world has evolved in terms of audience acceptance, even reverence for historically informed performance thanks to radical innovators like Norrington.❞

He came close to dying in 1991 with a malignant brain tumour, but after unorthodox treatment he recovered against all the odds.

For a taste of his conducting the Handel aria Ombra mai fu, sung by countertenor David Daniels, here’s the link: https://youtu.be/mealEouIGLg?si=VYL7mlk5B7hLwpHd

I try to listen to some of their best musical performances by great performers / conductors / composers after they have died, as a tribute and as a reminder of what glories they have left for us.

Unexpected… even though he had those health issues and such a bizarre history of bad choices and drug use.

Such a powerful performer in his field… May he find peace in what lies behind the mystery.

Loretta Swit has passed away.........

MASH actor Loretta Swit dies aged 87 

"Loretta Swit's portrayal of Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan was groundbreaking — bringing heart, humour, and strength to one of television comedy's most enduring roles. 

It was Loretta who was responsible for creating a deeper character, as feminism rose in the ’70s. But the moniker of Hot Lips would stay with her forever.

Swit appeared in all but 11 episodes of the series, nearly four times longer than the Korean War itself, exploring issues like PTSD, sexism and racism. 

Rest in peace, Loretta.

The great tenor Luigi Alva has died.

He was 98.

https://operawire.com/obituary-legendary-tenor-luigi-dies-at-98/

Here’s a YouTube clip of him singing as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

He was a superb tenor. He sang with the greatest sopranos and mezzos of the day - there’s a recording of Barber of Seville with Callas, another of the same opera with Victoria de los Angeles, and of Don Giovanni with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf … of Handel’s Alcina with Sutherland … and so on.

I hope he is swelling the chorus of angels now.

https://apple.news/AeVdBc8AzTOm1apJB-Brfrw

Gerard Kennedy, RIP

Jean March, Upstairs Downstairs star and co-creator dies aged 90 

70 seems far too young in this day and age when medical science has advanced so much.

I read the Phryne Fisher novels, although I wasn’t a huge fan… but her description of Melbourne Baths in the 1920s was fascinating.

Kerry Greenwood, may you write in eternity.

Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher series of books, TV series and movie died last month following an illness.   

Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher series dies aged 70 

Greenwood published the first Phryne Fisher novel, Cocaine Blues, in 1989 and went on to write 22 novels featuring the glamorous 1920s detective.  Her latest novel, Murder in the Cathedral — number 23 in the Phryne Fisher series — is due out late in 2025.

An ABC TV adaptation of the series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2012), starred Essie Davis in the lead role and ran for three seasons.

A spin-off set in the 1960s, Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries, and a 2020 feature film, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, followed.

What sad news. As a little girl, I had such a romantic crush on Val Kilmer as the roguish hero in Willow; I could watch that film again any time.

I didn’t realise that Val Kilmer had throat cancer requiring two tracheotomies.

May his spirit sing.

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton's husband of nearly 60 years, has died at the age of 82.

Dolly Parton's husband has died 

Oh no.

Another of my favourite sopranos has died.

Edith Mathis, Swiss lyric soprano, was literally 2 days short of her 87th birthday when she passed away on 9th February.

Her voice was gorgeous - a fine light (but never too light) lyric of great purity. Her Mozart singing was sublime; she remains the best Ilia (in Mozart’s opera Idomeneo) that I’ve ever heard. (Here’s a link to one of the arias from that role: https://youtu.be/Uta3AxjXUoo?si=FR8lKtAoOxTUqngj)

There’s an entire generation of very great singers that we are losing. At least, though, people can listen to the recordings to experience the beauty of their voices - something lost for ever when it comes to singers and performers of the 1800s and earlier.

Oh no… I didn’t see this earlier.

Tony Slattery, the British comedian with such a wickedly wacky wit and degree of naughtiness has died.

Cause of death: heart attack.

He had some bad episodes in his life - alcoholism and drug addiction - and a breakdown in his mid-thirties interrupted his professional life very detrimentally. Later on he was diagnosed as being bipolar.

His work colleagues described him as gentle and sweet and very quick-witted and quirky; to me, he had an almost childlike love of absurdity and sheer brilliance in improvisation. He was one of the most beloved performers on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Here’s a link to one of the episodes where he outmoustaches a melodramatic fortune-teller,  witnesses a brutal murder while all goggled up and stating that he’s a royal personage… and more.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93lqxgznnwo.amp

Farewell, Tony - peace often eluded you on earth, but the laughter you gave will not be forgotten.

Peter Yarrow

Peter Yarrow was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's best known hits, "Puff, the Magic Dragon".