Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics History Roundtable The Departed - 2020

Hi again,
This is The Departed 2020, a History Roundtable column commemorating the departure of notable figures who left this life in 2020.
As always, please tailor the discussions to the obituary and aspects of the person's life.
And as always, acknowledgment to Golem, who started the original thread many years ago here at The Rant.

I see that shock jock and known racist Don Imus is dead...

Back around the late 1960's or early 70's I remember occasionally hearing the Imus in the Morning show on Top Forty radio, but that's because, aside from my favorite progressive rock FM station in Bethesda, MD, the only other choices were even worse.

And then suddenly some upstart weirdo arrived at WWDC-FM...aka "DC101"...a guy by the last name of Stern.

My favorite prog-rock FM station, WHFS...abruptly went off the air about a year later, about a year before I moved away from Washington forever.

Sue Lyon, the actress that played Lolita in the Nabokov/Kubrick production of the same name has died at age 73, after a long bout of ill health. Unfortunately, due to motion picture standards of the time, Kubrick acknowledged that he couldn't portray her erotic relationship to Humbert to match the book. Also she was 14 and looked like 18, versus the book's 12 year old nymphet.

I read the book before I ever saw the movie, and from the film you wouldn't think Humbert was a pedophile at all, which pretty much destroyed the plot. Especially with Elvis going for 14 year old Priscilla and Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 12 year old cousin.

Buck Henry died Wednesday of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital, according to reports. He was 89. Among his many screenwriting, movie and TV acting credits:

screenwriting “The Graduate” (1967)
screenwriting “The Owl and the Pussycat” (1970)
screenwriting “What’s Up Doc?” (1972)
co-directing “Heaven Can Wait” (1978)
screenwriting the original “Get Smart”
the straight-man to Belushi’s samurai in several early SNL skits

Rest in peace Neil Peart of the band Rush.

Terry Jones, Life of Brian director and Monty Python founder, dies aged 77

Jim Lehrer, longtime host of the PBS "MacNeil-Lehrer Report, has passed away

Wikipedia: Jim Lehrer

Kobe Bryant
August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020)





An American professional basketball player.[3] He played his entire 20-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team, and the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time

John Andretti, scion of the powerful Andretti racing family, taken by colon cancer at age 56.

Famed race car driver John Andretti dies from cancer at age 56