Falling Stars - 2013 Annette Funicello dies at 70 The Disney Mouseketeer turned actor and singer was among the favorites of the child stars to come out of Disney. Jonathan Winters dies at 87 Amazingly zany comedian and egg-born son of Mork from the planet, Ork on TV's Mork and Mindy. Roger Ebert, legendary Chicago-Sun Times movie critic and occassional screenwriter dies at 70 from a recurrence of his cancer. Robert Ebert's passing was not unexpected considering his long battle with cancer but it's still been a big blow. Ebert and fellow critic, Gene Siskel came along with their TV movie review show Sneak Rreviews on PBS and their "two thumbs up" rating system when I was just discovering the Hollywood Summer block-busters as a young pre-teen and I never missed their show since the first viewing. After Siskel died, Ebert transistioned well with Richard Roeper, another Chicago-Sun Times film critic and with his online column. After his illness escalated, he extended his reach into social media where I followed him on twitter. Rest in peace, Mr. Ebert. Actor James Gandolfini from HBO's The Sopranos fame died in Italy at age 51. This guy brought Tony Soprano to life in techni-color and I was a huge fan ever since. I had a chance encounter with Gandolfini in NYC in 2002 for Dream Halloween (see previous post from 2008) and my bother worked as a videographer on the set of the Soprano's once. Gandolfini will be so missed.