Quote:John Edward Szeles, the standup comic and magician who delighted in shocking audiences for decades as “The Amazing Johnathan,” died Tuesday after a long battle with heart disease. The self-described “Freddy Krueger of comedy” was 63.

The Bally’s casino star attraction and Comedy Central staple — who reportedly earned $3 million a year at his peak — was diagnosed in March 2007 with “a serious heart condition,” the Las Vegas Journal review reported at the time.

“I was told I have a year to live,” he announced during a public appearance in 2014. The audience, assuming the dark declaration was another of his pranks, started to laugh — but he stopped them: “Not a joke,” he confirmed, his voice cracking.

His official website later identified the illness as cardiomyopathy and announced that, thanks to a combination of weight loss and blood thinners, his health was improving.

(02-24-2022 11:48 PM)usmbacker Wrote:  R.I.P. Hot Lips....

Quote:Alan Ladd Jr, the veteran film producer who won a Best Picture Oscar for Braveheart, commissioned George Lucas to write Star Wars and was an influential executive for Fox and MGM/United Artists, died today, his family said. He was 84.

Along with Star Wars and Braveheart, Ladd was responsible for such Hollywood classics as a producer and studio boss, including Alien, Blade Runner, The Omen, The Right Stuff, All That Jazz, Chariots of Fire, The Towering Inferno, Night Shift, Young Frankenstein and others. Night Shift featured Howard’s Happy Days co-star alongside a young TV actor named Michael Keaton — launching the latter’s feature career. A pre-Cheers Shelley Long also starred.