RIP James Gandolfini Aka Tony Soprano

I'm genuinely upset about this one, Gandolfini was a brilliant actor.
RIP

Sopranos star James Gandolfini dead
Date
June 20, 2013 - 12:07PM


James Gandolfini, the Emmy-award-winning actor who played Tony Soprano on the hit television show The Sopranos, has died in Italy.

The 51-year-old is believed to have suffered a heart attack.

HBO confirmed that Gandolfini was holidaying in Rome at the time of his death.


James Gandolfini: dead at 51. Photo: Supplied
The Hollywood icon was in Italy to attend the 59th Taormina Film Festival when he died, according to TMZ.

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He was scheduled to participate on Saturday in a festival event with Italian director Gabriele Muccino.

Gandolfini's managers, Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders, released a statement confirming his death.


James Gandolfini holds up his Emmy award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series in 2008. Photo: Reuters
"It is with immense sorrow that we report our client James Gandolfini passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy," they said.

"Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply. He and his family were part of our family for many years and we are all grieving."

In a statement, HBO said: “We’re all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family.


Hit show: James Gandolfini, centre, with some of the cast of The Sopranos. Photo: SUpplied
"He was a special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect.

"He touched so many of us over the years with his humor, his warmth and his humility. Our hearts go out to his wife and children during this terrible time. He will be deeply missed by all of us.’’

HBO spokeswoman Mara Mikialian told Reuters that Gandolfini died of a possible heart attack.

Click for more photos
James Gandolfini
Tony (James Gandolfini) Soprano in a scene from the first episode of the final season of The Sopranos.
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Gandolfini rose to fame playing a hitman in the 1993 film True Romance, written by Quentin Tarantino, but his big break came in 1999 when he was cast as a violent yet vulnerable mafia boss, Tony Soprano, in the critically acclaimed series about the New Jersey mob.

He won three Emmys, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the bulky mobster who was a therapy patient, family man and mob killer.

The Sopranos was recently named as the best-written TV series ever screened in the US in a list compiled by the Writers Guild of America.

The Sopranos creator David Chase said Gandolfini was ‘‘a genius".

‘‘Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that,’’ he said.

‘‘He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes."

Joseph R. Gannascoli, who played Vito on The Sopranos, told TMZ that Gandolfini was a great man and he forever would be indebted to him.

‘‘James is one guy who never turned his back on me. He was the most humble and gifted actor and person I have ever worked with," Gannascoli said.

Gandolfini, a New Jersey native, has appeared in several supporting roles since the last season of The Sopranos aired in 2007, including in Zero Dark Thirty and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

In 2009, he appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning comedy God of Carnage.

“I seek out good stories, basically — that’s it,” he told The Star-Ledger last year.

“The older I get, the funnier-looking I get, the more comedies I’m offered. I’m starting to look like a toad, so I’ll probably be getting even more soon.”

At the time of his death, Gandolfini had been working on an upcoming new HBO series called Criminal Justice.

He is survived by his wife Deborah Lin, a teenage son and a baby daughter.

Tributes poured in from fellow actors, including Russell Crowe, who received a Taormina Arte award on Saturday at the festival Gandolfini was due to attend.

‘‘Sad to hear about James Gandolfini,’’ Crowe tweeted.

‘‘First met Jimmy back in ’94.He was roommates in NY with Lenny Loftin. Lovely man. RIP Jimmy’’

Susan Sarandon tweeted: ‘‘So sad to lose James Gandolfini. One of the sweetest, funniest, most generous actors I’ve ever worked with. Sending prayers to his family.’’

Jonah Hill wrote: ‘‘I’m truly heartbroken to hear that James Gandolfini has passed away. He is one of my all time favourite actors. Tragic loss."

Steve Carrell said it was ‘‘unbelievably sad news", while actress Mia Farrow tweeted: ’‘‘Awful awful news. James Gandolfini will be missed. He was a great actor. Just great."

- Megan Levy with agencies



Editor's note: A technical problem means all comments below are appearing twice. We are aware of the problem and are working to rectify it.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/sopranos-star-james-gandolfini-dead-20130620-2ok4c.html#ixzz2WiduXhj7

Edited by Joffa: 20/6/2013 12:36:30 PM

One of my favourite characters of all time, sopranos is a classic. RIP

Sad news. Great actor... If anyone saw him in 'Killing them softly', he played a great roll but you could tell he looked terribly unhealthy, but he was in character I suppose.

RIP

Yeah I loved his role in Killing Them Softly, he and Ben Mendehlson really stole the show when they were on.

What was the movie where he was a gay hitman?

The Mexican is the movie

RIP man, you will be sorely missed.

RIP James Gandolfini. Actor that changed the way that TV dramas are made. 51 is way too young.

RIP. Sempre il Capo.

My brother has a signed sopranos picture which I agreed to buy for 50 a month or so a go, they've now shot up to over 200 on eBay so I was quite frustrated but he's just said he was saving it for my birthday:).

RIP Allan Simonsen - 24hr Le Mans driver who was killed earlier this evening after crashing out of this years 24 hour race.

RIP the 40th Australian Solider to be KIA in combat in Afghanistan overnight.

Lest we forget.

Enter The Dragon actor Jim Kelly dies aged 67
1 Jul 2013 08:03
Kelly played a cocky American martial artist in the cult film, which starred Bruce Lee

RIP: Jim Kelly
Allstar/Warner Bros
Enter The Dragon actor Jim Kelly has died aged 67.

Kelly played a cocky American martial artist in the cult film, which starred Bruce Lee.

Kelly died from cancer at his California home on Saturday.

His other film credits included Three The Hard Way, Black Belt Jones and Black Samurai.

Speaking to Salon.com in 2010, Kelly said working on Enter The Dragon had been "one of the best experiences in my life".

He added: "Bruce was just incredible, absolutely fantastic.

"I learned so much from working with him. I probably enjoyed working with Bruce more than anyone else I'd ever worked with in movies because we were both martial artists.

"And he was a great, great martial artist. It was very good."


Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/enter-dragon-actor-jim-kelly-2014834#ixzz2XnbFEUIQ

Mick Aston Time Team Died: June 24, 2013

Twister inventor dies aged 82

guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 July 2013 16.26 AEST

Twister called itself "the game that ties you up in knots". Its detractors called it "sex in a box". Charles "Chuck" Foley – the father of nine who invented the game that became a naughty sensation in living rooms across the world because of the way it put men and women in compromising positions – has died. He was 82.

Foley died on 1 July. His son, Mark Foley, said on Thursday that his father had Alzheimer's disease.

Foley and a collaborator, Neil Rabens, were hired in the mid-1960s by a manufacturing firm that wanted to expand into games and toys. They came up with a game to be played on a mat on the floor, using a spinner to direct players to place their hands and feet on different coloured circles.

"Dad wanted to make a game that could light up a party," Mark Foley said. "They originally called it Pretzel. But they sold it to Milton Bradley, which came up with the Twister name."

The game became a sensation after Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor played it on the Tonight Show in 1966.

The game got plenty of innocent play, becoming popular in schools and at children's parties, but its popularity among teens and young adults also owed much to it being a body contact sport.

Players would become tangled up, and various body parts male and female would inevitably come into close and embarrassing proximity. Players would often lose their balance and fall on top of each other in a heap.

Hasbro, which now manufactures the game, said it continued to be a top seller. "What makes the Twister game timeless is the fact that it's always been about showing off your free spirit and just having some laugh-out-loud, out-of-your-seat fun," Hasbro said in a statement noting Foley's death.

Mark Foley said his father made little money from Twister but that never seemed to bother him much. The game was not his first invention and far from his last.

Foley was just eight when he made his first invention: a locking system for the cattle pen at his grandfather's farm. As a young man he worked as a salesman but his interest in games and toys led him to apply for a job at a toy company.

Over the years Foley invented dozens of other toys and games.

"He never stopped having fun," Mark Foley said. "He tried to think like young people thought. He never wanted to grow up and he always maintained his enthusiasm for seeing things through the eyes of a child."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/12/twister-inventor-dies-aged-82?

Right foot...coffin.

RIP Ryan Davis from Giant Bomb.

Died less than a week after his wedding at the age of 34.

I fucking hate Glee but i never pictured the lead guy as a drug abuser.

Mel Smith dies at 60: Tributes flow for comedian

July 21, 2013 - 1:59AM

Tributes have been paid to comedian Mel Smith after his death at the age of 60, with his sidekick Griff Rhys Jones describing him as someone who "inspired love and utter loyalty".

The star of Alas Smith and Jones and Not the Nine O'Clock News had a heart attack at his home in northwest London on Friday.

To everybody who ever met him, Mel was a force for life. He had a relish for it that seemed utterly inexhaustible.

Jones, who had been friends with Smith for 35 years, said: "I still can't believe this has happened. To everybody who ever met him, Mel was a force for life. He had a relish for it that seemed utterly inexhaustible.

"He inspired love and utter loyalty and he gave it in return. I will look back on the days working with him as some of the funniest times that I have ever spent.

"We probably enjoyed ourselves far too much, but we had a rollercoaster of a ride along the way. Terrific business. Fantastic fun, making shows. Huge parties and crazy times. And Mel was always ready to be supportive. Nobody could have been easier to work with.

"He was a gentleman and a scholar, a gambler and a wit. And he was a brilliant actor. But he never took himself or the business too seriously. We are all in a state of shock. We have lost a very, very dear friend."

Smith attended Oxford University while Jones was at Cambridge and the pair became known to each other while performing at the Edinburgh fringe.

They became friends working on Not the Nine O'Clock News and then went on to make Alas Smith and Jones, which lasted for 10 series over 16 years.

BBC director general Tony Hall said: "Mel Smith's contribution to British comedy cannot be overstated. On screen he helped to define a new style of comedy from the late 1970s that continues to influence people to this day.

"And his pioneering TV production work with Griff Rhys Jones through their company Talkback has created many of the defining comedy shows of recent decades."

Comedian and broadcaster Stephen Fry wrote on Twitter: "Terrible news about my old friend Mel Smith, dead today from a heart attack. Mel lived a full life, but was kind, funny & wonderful to know."

Rowan Atkinson, who worked with Smith on both Not the Nine O'Clock News and Bean, the first Mr Bean film, said he was "truly sad" to hear about his death.

In a statement, he said: "Mel Smith - a lovely man of whom I saw too little in his later years. I loved the sketches that we did together on Not the Nine O'Clock News.

"He was the cast member with whom I felt the most natural performing empathy.

"He had a wonderfully generous and sympathetic presence both on and off screen.

"He was also an excellent theatre and movie director, doing a wonderful job on the first Mr Bean movie.

"I feel truly sad at his parting."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/mel-smith-dies-at-60-tributes-flow-for-comedian-20130721-2qbvw.html#ixzz2Ze2NtOC3

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-23/former-policeman-turned-actor-dennis-farina-dies/4836680





:(

Ecuador striker Christian Benitez dies from heart attack at 27
Date
July 30, 2013 - 5:22AM

Ecuador international striker Christian Benitez died in Qatar on Monday of heart failure at the age of 27, the Ecuadorean Football Federation (FEF) said.

Benitez, who played 58 times for Ecuador, was the son of Ermen Benitez, one of his country's all-time leading goalscorers.

His Qatari club El Jaish, who signed Benitez only three weeks ago, had earlier reported his death on their website (www.eljaish.com).

"Benitez... felt strong stomach pains, so he was taken in an emergency to a hospital where after a few hours he suffered cardiorespiratory failure which ended his life," the FEF said in a statement on their website (www.ecuafutbol.org).

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"The Ecuadorean Football Federation extends its deepest condolences to the relatives, parents, wife, children and friends of our goalscorer Christian Benitez."

El Jaish said: "The club would like to offer its sincere condolences to the family of the player.

"The player participated for the first time with the team during Monday's match against Qatar Sports Club in the Sheikh Jassem Cup without complaining of any health problems.

"His sudden departure is a big shock for each member of the technical and administrative staff. He was a player that over the short period he was here was regarded for his high moral character."

Benitez joined El Jaish from Mexico's America with whom he won the Mexican Clausura championship in May as their leading scorer with a tally of 30 in the 2012/13 season.

"America Football Club profoundly regrets the passing of one of the team's most recent idols and joins in the grief felt by the whole Benitez Betancourt family and Mexican, Ecuadorean and world football," the club said in a statement.

Benitez, nicknamed 'Chucho', came to prominence during the 2006 World Cup in Germany and was helping Ecuador in their bid to qualify for next year's finals in Brazil, making his last appearance against Peru in Lima in June.

Opponents in the qualifiers such as Argentina's Pablo Zabaleta and Radamel Falcao of Colombia sent Twitter messages expressing their sadness with Falcao writing "We'll miss you Chucho".

Benitez spent the 2009-10 season on loan at Birmingham City in the English Premier League and the club said they would mark the player's death ahead of Saturday's Championship match against Watford at St Andrew's.

His former Birmingham team mate Craig Gardner, now at Sunderland, tweeted: "Cannot believe Christian Benitez has died. I had the pleasure to play with him. He was a top bloke. My thoughts go out to his family."

Benitez scored four goals in 36 appearances during his time in England.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/ecuador-striker-christian-benitez-dies-from-heart-attack-at-27-20130730-2qvg2.html#ixzz2aTP6rlez

Was good on Unsolved Mysteries. RIP. :(

R.I.P - Mariner's onfield success now that they have Pasfield and possibly Reddy as their keepers :lol:

-PB

John Billingham, man behind Nasa's search for extra terrestrials, dies

August 11, 2013 - 2:35PM
William Yardley

Dr John Billingham, who as a Nasa official in the 1970s helped persuade the ?United States government to use radio telescopes to scour the universe for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, even as critics mocked the idea,? has died. He was 83.

Billingham, an Englishman who earned a medical degree at Oxford and helped design spacesuits for astronauts in the 1960s, never found the evidence he was looking for. But he did help establish the validity of the quest.

"We sail into the future, just as Columbus did on this day 500 years ago," Billingham said on October 12, 1992, when after two decades of planning and manoeuvering Nasa formally began its search for extraterrestrial intelligence, known by the acronym Seti. "We accept the challenge of searching for a new world."

The effort, which Billingham led as chief of the life sciences division at Nasa's Ames Research Centre in California, involved using huge radio telescopes to search for radio signals - either deliberate intergalactic flares or incidental noise - emitted by other technologically advanced civilisations that might be billions of years old and billions of light-years away.

"The whole picture is that we are the newcomers on the block, that they're out there, other civilisations that are much older than we are," Frank Drake, a radio astronomer who in 1960 started seeking signals from beyond the solar system, said in an interview. "Anybody we find would probably be way ahead of us in longevity and probably in sophistication."

Yet a year after Nasa began the project, Seti lost its federal financing amid congressional assertions that it was a waste of taxpayer money - "a great Martian chase" in the words of one critic.

Billingham retired not long after, but neither he nor Seti was finished. Operating as the nonprofit Seti Institute, based in Mountain View, California, Billingham and a team of scientists cobbled together financing from universities and high-tech billionaires to keep the effort going. The Allen Telescopic Array, jointly owned by the institute and the University of California, Berkeley, is named for Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, who gave US$25 million to the cause.

Although the federal government no longer pays Seti scientists to search for intergalactic radio signals, federal grants have helped pay for some of the Seti equipment used in recent years. Government emphasis has shifted toward another endeavour Billingham supported, which is also pursued by scientists at the institute: the rapidly expanding field of astrobiology, which includes searching for extraterrestrial life at the most microbial level, not just forms that might transmit radio signals.

Billingham first learned of astrobiology, then called exobiology, in 1968, through the work of the astronomer and author Carl Sagan and others.

"It changed my whole life," he once wrote.

Three years later, he recruited Barney Oliver, the research chief of Hewlett-Packard, to host a symposium at which they and others sketched out a plan for using a $10 billion array of giant radio telescopes to search for extraterrestrials. They called it Project Cyclops.

"We are almost certainly not the first intelligent species to undertake the search," they wrote in a proposal that spanned more than 200 pages. "The first races to do so undoubtedly followed their listening phase with long transmission epochs, and so have later races to enter the search. Their perseverance will be our greatest asset in our beginning listening phase."

?One of Billingham's concerns was how to respond to a radio signal from space. To answer the question, he helped draft the "Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence." The document allowed that a proper response would depend on the signal received. Only so much advance planning is possible.

"A lot of people think this is silly, but we need to give a lot of thought to a reply," Billingham said in 1992. "It is not a question just for scientists and engineers. Already we agree on one rule: Don't reply unless you have undertaken extensive international consultation."

New York Times

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/john-billingham-man-behind-nasas-search-for-extra-terrestrials-dies-20130811-2rptb.html#ixzz2bdNw2cYW

That '70s Show actress Lisa Robin Kelly dies in rehab
NEWS LIMITED NETWORK AUGUST 16, 2013 6:50AM

THAT 70S SHOW STAR LISA ROBIN KELLY DEAD AT 43

That 70s Show star Lisa Robin Kelly dead at 43Lisa Robin Kelly, who rose to fame as Laurie Forman on "That '70s Show" died in a rehab facility with her cause of death is still unknown

LISA Robin Kelly, who starred in That '70s Show, has died while in rehab.

TMZ reports that the actress, 43, passed away in her sleep at a California clinic from cardiac arrest.

Kelly had checked herself into rehab last week for treatment for an alcohol problem.

She played Laurie Forman, Eric Forman's (Topher Grace) sister, on That '70s Show.

"Unfortunately Lisa Robin Kelly passed away last evening. Lisa had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility early this week where she was battling the addiction problems that have plagued her these past few years," her manager Craig Wycoff said.

"I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night she lost the battle."

The actress had been arrested at least four times in the last three years, for DUI, spousal abuse and assault.


Lisa Robin Kelly, who played Laurie Forman in That 70s Show, died in her sleep August 14, 2013 in California.
Her 2012 arrest and mugshot, when she was accused of assaulting her ex-boyfriend John Michas, showed just how far the star had fallen.

In an interview with US ABC News she denied speculation that she was suffering from drug abuse.

"Absolutely not," she said.

"There is nothing I was on or abusing at the time."

"My poor mother has to see that picture," she said of her now infamous mugshot.

"That’s not what I look like. That’s not me."

While That '70s Show launched the careers of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Kelly left the hit sitcom in 2003 at the height of its popularity.

"I had lost a baby," she said.

"As a result of that I lost it. I lost everything and I was abusing alcohol."

She was brought back on by producers for a few episodes at the end of the fifth season but was replaced by Christina Moore another actress at the beginning of the sixth.

Her IMDB page shows only two short film credits since she finished up on That '70s Show.

She filed for divorce from her husband of just nine months, Robert Gilliam, earlier this year after their relationship turned violent.


Lisa Robin Kelly in her infamous 2012 mugshot after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting her ex boyfriend.
He was convicted of domestic battery last month and sentenced to 3 years probation. He served 35 days in jail for the beating.

She reportedly had a new boyfriend who dropped her off at rehab on Monday.

She hadn't posted on her Facebook or Twitter pages in more than a month.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/that-70s-show-actress-lisa-robin-kelly-dies-in-rehab/story-fni0b8dv-1226698139850

David Frost dies aged 74
Journalist and broadcaster famed for interviewing US president Richard Nixon in the 1970s dies after suffering heart attack

Peter Walker
theguardian.com, Sunday 1 September 2013 20.42 AEST

Sir David Frost, the journalist and broadcaster whose lengthy career covered everything from cutting-edge 60s satire to heavyweight interviews and celebrity gameshows, has died of a heart attack on a cruise ship, his family said.

The 74-year-old, whose programmes included That Was The Week That Was and The Frost Report, was to have given a speech on board the Queen Elizabeth, which had set sail from Southampton on a cruise to Lisbon.

Frost, who was knighted in 1993, helped establish London Weekend Television and TV-am. He was famed for his political interviews, most notably with Richard Nixon in 1977, in which the US president conceded some fault over Watergate for the first time.

A family statement said: "Sir David Frost died of a heart attack last night aboard the Queen Elizabeth where he was giving a speech.

"His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time. A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course."


David Frost and Richard Nixon in April 1977. Photograph: John Bryson/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image
David Cameron, who sent a tweet of condolence, released a statement expressing his sympathies to Frost's widow, Carina, and his wider family.

He said: "Sir David was an extraordinary man – with charm, wit, talent, intelligence and warmth in equal measure. He made a huge impact on television and politics. The Nixon interviews were among the great broadcast moments, but there were many other brilliant interviews. He could be, and certainly was with me, both a friend and a fearsome interviewer."

Lloyd Grossman, who worked with Frost on TV-am and then on the long-running ITV gameshow Through the Keyhole, called him irreplaceable.

Grossman told Sky News: "He was almost the most variously talented journalist in British broadcasting history. His loss will be immense to all of us. He was also an incredibly generous broadcaster to work with."


David Frost in 1964. Photograph: George Konig/Rex Features
Other instant tributes stressed the same point, that Frost's sometimes mocked and seemingly cosy interviewing style was in fact one of his strongest attributes.

Tony Blair's former communications chief, Alastair Campbell, said in a tweet that the former PM "singled out David Frost as one of best interviewers because his sheer niceness could lull you into saying things you didn't intend".

Blair himself echoed the point: "He had an extraordinary ability to draw out the interviewee, knew exactly where the real story lay and how to get at it, and was also a thoroughly kind and good-natured man. Being interviewed by him was always a pleasure, but also you knew that there would be multiple stories the next day arising from it."

In a Guardian interview in 2008, Frost discussed his style: "I think there's a danger when you adopt an immediately hostile position without having the goods, without having the smoking gun. I think that's a real mistake. You shut people up instead of opening them up. You can ask just as tough a question in a softly spoken way."

Blair was among an unbroken line of British prime ministers from Wilson to Cameron interviewed by Frost. He interviewed every US president from Nixon to George W Bush.


Sir David Frost in 1966 on The Frost Programme. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features
After going from a grammar school to Cambridge University, Frost was active in student journalism and the Footlights theatrical revue. From there he became a trainee at independent television before finding fame as the host of That Was The Week That Was, the pioneering TV political satire show.

The programme ran on the BBC during 1962 and 1963, before being cancelled over worries it could unduly influence an upcoming general election. Frost then hosted a US version.

From then on, Frost was a regular TV figure on both sides of the Atlantic, with shows including The Frost Report and Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life. Frost's distinctive delivery of his catchphrase, "Hello, good evening and welcome," became instantly recognisable and much mocked.

In later years, Frost hosted the Frost on Sunday talkshow on ITV, before returning to the BBC in 1993 for the first time since the early 1960s for Breakfast with Frost, which ran until 2005.

For many years he also hosted Through the Keyhole, which by coincidence returned to ITV on Saturday night in a revamped format.

After Breakfast with Frost ended, the broadcaster made a surprise move to al-Jazeera, where he interviewed political figures.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/01/david-frost-dies-74-heart-attack

Edited by Joffa: 1/9/2013 10:39:41 PM

RIP David Frost.

He will be missed by a lot of people that is for sure.

Farewell Keith Dunstan, a great Victorian

by: Peter Coster, Andy Burns
From:
Herald Sun
September 11, 2013 8:05PM

KEITH Dunstan was gently amusing, but there was a sharp tip to the pen if someone needed a prod.

No Brains At All, the title of his autobiography was the remark of a school master who didn't realise that behind that disarming smile was a very sharp brain.

We were at opposite ends of the newsroom when he wrote A Place in the Sun for the Sun News Pictorial in morning and I wrote In Black and White for the Herald in the evening.

Our eyes sometimes met across the distance of a huge newsroom in what we might not have realised at the time were the glory days of print journalism.

Leave your tribute to Keith Dunstan

Dunstan, who has died, became the American West Coast correspondent in Angeles and after some years I followed.

My family and I arrived in Los Angeles on a sunny day to be picked up by Keith at LAX. We drove from the airport to Beverley Hills, high-rise buildings baking in the sun and people wandering about in shorts and sunglasses.

What did I think of it, he asked me and I replied that it rather reminded me of Surfer's Paradise.

That was perhaps the cruellest thing anyone had ever said of the place since Woody Allen had remarked that he would never live in Beverley Hills because he "might turn into a Mercedes".

Dunstan drove an unusually small and very ugly but economical Chevrolet.

He was concerned even in the freewheeling '80s of saving the plant from noxious fumes.

When he picked me up from the hotel where we were staying, he got in the right-hand side.

I said I didn't think I was ready to drive on the opposite side of the road and he gave that gentle smile and said he must have been thinking he was back in Australia.

Keith lived out in the desert at a place called Calabasas. This didn't stop him from writing about Los Angeles and the strange people who seemed to live there.

He preferred to live in the desert because he rode his bike across its empty roads each day with a cycling group.

Without realising it, Keith Dunstan was perfectly suited to life in California. He managed to live life at his pace.

Back in melbourne writing APITS, A Place in the Sun was known by the more than a million people who read it, he gave the impression that daily deadlines were easily achieved.

He was never stressed and unfailingly polite, which is not always a quality found in reporters. His reportage was his alone. His style was as relaxed as his smile.

The tip of the pen was sharpened but with a humour that never gave offence.

When he created the Anti-Football League it mocked football-mad Melbourne, but the most hysterical of football followers read it with delight.

His writing style gave the impression of unhurried leisure. That must have been why so many people read it.

It relaxed them like some massage of the mind each day before they went to work.

It made people feel good about themselves for reading it. Those column and books like The Paddock That Grew about the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the quartet of Wowsers followed by Knockers, then Sports and later Ratbags showed a very many brains indeed.

Admirers praised Dunstan's quick wit, gentle but searing rebuffs and the unique voice he contributed to Melbourne journalism and beyond.

Former Sun editor Colin Duck said Dunstan would be sadly missed.

"I grew up in country Victoria reading Keith Dunstan's column every day in The Sun. It was one of the first things I read in the paper and when I became a journalist myself I just wished I could write like Keith. Most journalists did.

"He had a warm, wry sense of humour, which shone through his words. He and the superb cartoonist Geoff "Jeff" Hook often teamed up and their combination of words and illustrations was a delightful feast for the readers. Australia has been blessed with many fine newspaper columnists but none outshone Keith Dunstan," Duck said.

Former Sun Editor Rob Donnelly also remarked on Dunstan's self effacing humour.

"Keith Dunstan was one of the greatest journalists Australia has ever produced I believe," Donnelly said.

"He was able, with a lot of humour, to tease Australian's about their self importance, but apart from his light writing which endeared him to the people, there were great strengths in him, he stood up for his son's opposition to the Vietnam War for example, certainly he was a man of principle."

Former HWT editor Leigh Stevens said Dunstan was 'a master of phraseology'.

"He was a legend at the Sun in his day, respected by everybody in Victoria who read his column and a great asset to the Herald and Weekly Times," Stevens said.

News Limited Victorian managing director - editoral Peter Blunden said: "Keith possessed a rare touch and an affinity with Melbourne, which made him one of the most admired, respected and well-read journalists and authors of his generation".

Social media lit up with tributes to Dunstan, Randall Gillespie wrote: "A great personality of Melbourne", while Mike Shuttleworth said "Sorry to read of the passing of Keith Dunstan. He made Melbourne a greater place".

Comedian Wendy Harmer said: "Loved Keith to forever. Awarded me the Anti-football medal once. We put a Sherrin through the press at the MCG and made wine"

Columnist Laurence Money described him as "A wordsmith who left a giant footprint," and journalist Mark Colvin said Dunstan was the purveyor of "a fine tradition of warm, humorous Australian column writing,".

The Melbourne Cricket Ground tweeted an RIP to Dunstan who once wrote a tome about the hallowed turf called The Paddock That Grew and was a media hall of fame inductee.

Read more: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/national-news/victoria/farewell-keith-dunstan-a-great-victorian/story-fnii5sms-1226717181583#ixzz2eZxJ0vI8