The Final Taxi - Podcast and Blog

The Final Taxi- There is only one desination in the Final Taxi

This weeks Final Taxi:

Bad Week For Musicians - 5 dead this week as Paul Davis, Al Wilson, Danny Fenderici and other took their Final Taxi: Listen to Mp3

Charlton Heston, who won an Oscar for his leading role in Ben-Hur, has taken His Final Taxi at 84. On screen, Heston was best known as the star of religious and historic epics—he played Moses in The Ten Commandments and John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told also Sci-Fi movies like Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man Listen to Mp3

Brunkert, Dixon and Gynax- 3 Who have taken that Final Taxi- as the Final Taxi resumes podcasting this week. Listen to Mp3

The Blog Stoplight:

Cult Film Stars Hazel Court and Julie Ege
The last of the Hammer Film Scream Queens- Click Here

Soft Rock Superstar- Paul Davis

Soul Singer Al Wilson

Ron visits Hollywood Graves
Read: The Final Taxi Visits A Graveyard Of The Stars
~ Part 1
~ Part 2
~ Part 3

New in the Archive section:
Ron's tribute to musician Frank Tovey

Other Final Taxi riders:

George Carlin - landmark comic who appeared in numerous films and TV shows. He had over a dozen "HBO Specials." Mr. Carlin was the first guest host of the landmark comedy series "Saturday Night Live." George Carlin wirked with director Kevin Smith on several projects including "Jersey Girl," "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and "Dogma." He leant his distinctive voice to a number of animated film and TV projects as well as his live acting credits. Mr. Carlin's many credits include "Cars," "Scary Movie 3," "The Simpsons," "Shining Time Station," "The Prince of Tides," "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," "Americathon," "Welcome Back, Kotter," "With Six You Get Eggroll," "That Girl," "The Aristocrats," "The Daily Show," "Dennis Miller Live," "Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," "The Carol Burnett Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show."
Dody Goodman- Comedic actress known for the TV series "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." Was in " Grease", "Splash" "Boston Common," "Splash, Too," "Diff'rent Strokes," "St. Elsewhere," "Max Dugan Returns," "Grease 2," "Fantasy Island," "Grease," "Search for Tomorrow" and "The Defenders.
Tim Russert- TV newsman and host of the long-running news program "Meet the Press."
Jim McKay - Emmy-winning sports-caste, host of "ABC's Wide World of Sports" for more than four decades!
Stan Winston- Oscar-winning visual effects and makeup master for IronMan, Edward Scissorhands," "Batman Returns" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day,The Island of Dr. Moreau Terminator 3," "Constantine," "AI: Artificial Intelligence" "Pearl Harbor" "Jurassic Park III," "Galaxy Quest," "End of Days," "Lake Placid," "Small Soldiers," "The Relic," "Congo," "Leviathan," "The Monster Squad," "Invaders from Mars," "Mousehunt," "The Ghost and the Darkness," "Starman" and the original "The Terminator."
Robert J. Anderson - Actor best remembered for playing George Bailey as a child in Frank Capra's classic "It's a Wonderful Life." His other acting credits include "A Place in the Sun," "Samson and Delilah," "The Bishop's Wife," "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "The Officer and the Lady" and Shirley Temple's "Young People." :: MORE
Ted Manson played Will Ferrell's father-in-law in "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby" and appeared in such films and TV shows as "Sweet Home Alabama," "Matlock," "In the Heat of the Night," "Fried Green Tomatoes," "Runaway Jury," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," "Gordy," "Elizabethtown," "Foxworthy's Big Night Out," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Good Intentions," "Love Hurts," "Deja Vu," "Major League: Back to the Minors" and "Boxing Helena."
Thomas Merdis credits include "A Time to Kill," the TV series "In the Heat of the Night," "Super Mario Bros," and "My Cousin Vinny."

Kay Linaker, 94. Actress/ writer appeared in nearly 50 films during the 1930s and 40s- co-wrote the script for the 1958 monster movie "The Blob." She appeared in five "Charlie Chan" mysteries & "Young Mr. Lincoln," "Green Hell," "Drums Along the Mohawk," "Kitty Foyle," "Orchestra Wives" and "Laura."
Stanley Kamel, 65, actor in over 110 films and TV shows recently playing the psychiatrist Charles Kroger in the current hit TV series "Monk." TV and film roles include "Melrose Place," "Beverly Hills, 90210" "Murder One." "The West Wing," "General Hospital," as Death in HBO's "Six Feet Under," "NYPD Blue," "7th Heaven," "ER," "Murder She Wrote," "Diagnosis Murder," "Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders," "MacGyver," "L.A. Law," "Cagney & Lacey," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Hill Street Blues," "Star 80," "Barney Miller," "Making Love," "The Incredible Hulk," "Corvette Summer," "Kojak," "Get Christie Love!," "The Rookies," "Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible."
Richard Widmark, 93, one of Hollywood's finest actors. Remember for such films as Death of a Gunslinger Murder on the Orient Express, Rollercoaster, Who Dares Win, Against All Odds, Blackout & Hanky Panky .
Tony Church 77, British actor in "Krull," "The Plague Dogs," Roman Polanski's "Tess" and much more.
Arthur C. Clarke, 90, Oscar nominated screenwriter and award-winning author - Known for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Anthony Minghella, 54, Oscar and BAFTA winning director. Works includes Cold Mountain, The English Patient, and The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Ivan Dixon,76, Emmy-nominated actor, producer and director. Best known for his role as Sgt. Kinchloe on the hit TV series "Hogan's Heroes. :: MORE
Dave Stevens,52, Comic book and pin-up artist. Stevens created the character "The Rocketeer." :: MORE
Gary Gygax,69, Co-creator of the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons :: MORE
Robert DoQui, 74, prolific character actor in over 110 films and TV shows during his lengthy career. Action movie fans will remember him best as the no-nonsense police Sgt. Reed in the "Robo Cop" films. Robert Altman cast him in three of his best films. ::MORE
William F. Buckley, 82, Conservative author
David Groh. 68, actor best known for his role as Valerie Harper's boyfriend Joe on the hit TV series "Rhoda." Mr. Groh appeared in over 75 films and TV shows including "Two-Minute Warning," "Victory at Entebbe," "Police Story," "Fantasy Island," "L.A. Law," "Get Shorty," "The X Files" and "Baywatch.
Paul Cole, 96, the man on the Beatles Abby Road LP ::MORE
Buddy Miles, 60.Legendary R&B drummer,played with Jimi Hendrix's "Band of Gypsies," Mike Bloomfield's "Electric Flag" and Carlos Santana. He also wrote a few songs for Cheech & Chong. :: MORE
Steve Gerber, 60, one of my favorite comic writers. Gerber spent perhaps the most important part of his career at Marvel Comics, where he wrote and sometimes edited books such as The Defenders, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Morbius the Living Vampire, Kiss (yeah, the rock group ) and probably his most famous work, Howard the Duck.
Gerber also worked in TV, most notably on the cartoon series "Plastic Man" and "Thundarr the Barbarian." ::MORE
Suzanne Pleshette , 70, multi-Emmy nominated actress staring in "Nevada Smith" Hitchcock's "The Birds, It It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," "The Geisha Boy," "Fate is the Hunter," "A Rage to Live," "The Power," "Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?," "Support Your Local Gunfighter," "The Shaggy DA" and "Oh God, Book 2." Known by millions on the Bob Newhart Show. -- Listen to Mp3

What is the Final Taxi ?

The name The Final Taxi comes from the last car that you ever have to pay someone to drive you. Some call it a funeral coach, a coffin car, funeral vehicle, or a hearse but it is the most popular way for a body in a casket to be taken from a church or funeral home to a cemetery, a similar burial site, or a crematorium. I prefer the term Final Taxi.

Maybe reading about death of someone who I admired sound morbid to you but I like knowing a little more about that person and what they did in their lifetime. Everyone has a piece of this puzzle called life.

Think of the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." Everyone has an affect on other people's life. Even their deaths have the effect. There are so many people who have touch my life and some I will never know.

I once had a job as a floral delivery boy. I had to go to a different town to deliver to a funeral. There I saw that the local theatre had a film I wanted to see. I came back and was friendly with a concession girl. We later dated and she became my wife of over 25 years with 3 kids. If that person had not died, I never would have met my wife and had my family.

Mainly what I hope to cover is people who were celebrities in a minor or forgotten role of life. I 'll let the major media handle the Lady Di, the Anna Nicloe Smith and Ronald Reagan stories.
I hope that you may read or hear a story of someone whose life touched yours.