Entertainment

Obituary: Sean Connery

Sir Sean Connery has died at the age of 90, his family has said.

The Scottish actor was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to the big screen and appearing in seven of the spy thrillers.

Sir Sean died peacefully in his sleep in the Bahamas, having been unwell for some time, his son said.

His acting career spanned five decades and he won an Oscar in 1988 for his role in The Untouchables.

Sir Sean’s other films included The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Rock — via BBC News

Entertainment

Obituary: Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen, considered one of rock music’s greatest guitar players and a founding member of the hugely successful rock band named after him and his drummer brother, has died of cancer at the age of 65.

Born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1955, Van Halen’s family emigrated to the United States in 1962.

His father was a big band clarinettist who rarely found work after coming to the US, and his mother was a maid who had dreams of her sons being classical pianists.

Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex joined with vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony to form Van Halen in 1974, in Pasadena, California.

He was a relentless experimenter who would solder different parts from different guitar-makers, including Gibson and Fender.

He created his own graphic design for his guitars by adding tape to the instruments and then spray-painting them. He said his influences were Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

Eddie Van Halen was something of a musical contradiction. He taught himself to play almost any instrument, but he could not read music.

He was a classically trained pianist who also created some of the most distinctive guitar riffs in rock history.

Eddie Van Halen also played guitar on one of the biggest singles of the 1980s — Michael Jackson’s Beat It — via ABC News

Entertainment

Obituary: Diana Rigg

British actress Diana Rigg, who came to fame in the cult 1960s TV show The Avengers and enjoyed a distinguished and varied acting career from James Bond to Game of Thrones, has died aged 82.

Rigg won numerous Emmy, Tony and Bafta awards during her long and prestigious career, often switching between traditional theatre roles and ones for popular television.

She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1994 for services to drama.

But it was her role as the karate-kicking, leather-clad secret agent Emma Peel in The Avengers that brought her to wide attention and made her a style icon of the 1960s.

She went on to star in the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in which her character marries the British spy.

Rigg’s character in the film was the only woman to marry James Bond.

In the 21st century, she was best known for playing scheming matriarch Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones — via ABC News

Entertainment

Obituary: Ennio Morricone

Italian composer Ennio Morricone, whose haunting scores to spaghetti westerns like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly helped define a cinematic era, has died at the age of 91.

Born in Rome in 1928, Morricone wrote scores for some 400 films, but his name was most closely linked with the director Sergio Leone, who he worked with on classic spaghetti westerns as well as Once Upon a Time in America.

Morricone worked in almost all film genres, from horror to comedy, and some of his melodies are perhaps more famous than the films he wrote them for — via ABC News

Entertainment

Hair Love / Matthew Cherry

Hair Love, an animated short film from Matthew A Cherry, tells the heartfelt story of an African American father learning to do his daughter’s hair for the first time — via Youtube

Entertainment

21 Levels of Skateboarding / Tony Hawk

Pro skater Tony Hawk explains ground and vert skateboarding in 21 levels of difficulty. From the ollie to the 900 and the heelflip 720, watch how Tony demonstrates and breaks down everything that goes into these tricks — via Youtube

Entertainment

Time Waits For No One / Freddie Mercury

For the first time ever, after four decades buried deep in the vaults, a previously unreleased version of Time, recorded in 1986 by Freddie Mercury for the concept album of the hit musical of the same name, has finally emerged after two years of work by the globally successful musician, songwriter and producer Dave Clark, a long-time friend of Freddie’s, using the song’s full title, Time Waits For No One. The song shows Freddie Mercury at his most compelling; a completely stripped-down performance, accompanied by just a piano, showcasing one of music’s most beloved and show-stopping voices — via Youtube