I am happy to see the back of 2008 - my annus horibilus - but certainly not to see the back of some of those who will be mentioned in the Gone But Not Forgotten montages. I have blogged about Suzanne Pleshette, Paul Scofield, Julie Ege, Cyd Charisse, Geoffrey Perkins, Norman Whitfield and Levi Stubbs but there are some others I would like to tip the hat to:

Eva Dahlbeck starred in two of my favorite Ingmar Bergman films, A LESSON IN LOVE and, in particular, as 'Desiree' in "SMILES OF A SUMMER'S NIGHT" which was the source material for Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Estelle Getty who memorably played 'Sophia' in "The Golden Girls and Elizabeth Spriggs who, among others, played 'Nan' in "Shine On Harvey Moon" and 'Mrs. Jennings' in Ang Lee's "Sense & Sensibility".

Leading actors Paul Newman, Heath Ledger and Roy Scheider all took their last bows as well as "Porridge" supporting actor Brian Wilde and freewheeling theatrical comic legend Ken Campbell. The fine director, producer and sometime actor Sydney Pollack also yelled 'cut' for the last time.

Two great record producers went to the great booth in the sky - Joe Gibbs who produced Dennis Brown's MONEY IN MY POCKET and Culture's acclaimed TWO SEVENS CLASH among hundreds of others and Atlantic Records legend Jerry Wexler.

And at the end of the year, two artists showed their innate sense of timing: playwright/director/political activist Harold Pinter and singer/dancer/actress/legend Eartha Kitt.

It is only with the passing of a genuine diva that one realises how devalued that word is now. When any caterwauling melismatic mare with an addiction to Junior Disprin is accredited as a diva, maybe one should credit Eartha Kitt - Eartha Keith's own special creation - as Orson Welles did "the most exciting woman in the world".

Born on a cotton plantation, raised by a woman she thought was her mother but was actually her aunt, sent to NY at the woman's death to live with her real life mother, auditioning as a dare for the Katherine Dunham company - the first black modern dance company - she was accepted which led to Paris which, like so many black female entertainers before her, allowed her to hone her stage persona as the man-hungry exotic chanteuse.. the original Material Girl.

But beneath that seductive slinkiness was pure grit and steel - exemplified in 1968 by her using a White House luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson to confront the First Lady over the Vietnam war which led to an unofficial blacklist in the USA although Europe as always, opened it's arms to her.
I was lucky to see her in 1988 when she replaced Dolores Gray as 'Carlotta' in FOLLIES at the Shaftesbury Theatre. She prowled through the plot, nabbing her chances for a laugh when she could then seizing her moment with "I'm Still Here". Sparkling in a beaded dress in the spotlights, singing Sondheim's anthem for the showbiz female survivor she turned it on and turned it out. She was unique, dangerously near parody at times, of her period but also timeless. A real star.