Notable Showbiz Deaths of 2016

Guy Woolfenden was born on 12 July 1937 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK. He was a composer and actor, known for Secrets (1983), Work Is a Four Letter Word (1968) and Theatre Night (1985). He was married to Jane Aldrick. He died on 15 April 2016 in the UK.

Rod Daniel was born on 4 August 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He was a director and producer, known for WKRP in Cincinnati (1978), K-9 (1989) and Teen Wolf (1985). He was married to Martha (Marti) C. Mueller. He died on 16 April 2016 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Kit West was born on 2 June 1936 in Wandsworth, London, England, UK. He was an actor and cinematographer, known for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) and DragonHeart (1996). He died on 16 April 2016 in London, England.

Doris Roberts was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Ann (Meltzer) and Larry Green. She was raised in New York, and took her stepfather's surname. Roberts was a 20-year veteran of the Broadway stage before she began appearing steadily in character roles in film and on television during the 1970s. A versatile player with an inescapably "mom-like" presence, she was adept at playing sympathetic roles but made her most memorable mark as hard-boiled dames, gossips, and nags who were often too savvy of the ways of the world to be fooled by anyone. Roberts built up some face recognition with regular appearances in the sitcoms Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) (syndicated) and Angie (1979) (ABC), but truly came into her own as a widely known comedienne when she was cast as the meddling, strong-willed family matriarch on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996) (CBS). The show became of the best-loved sitcoms in history, and Roberts earned seven Emmy nominations and four wins for her colorful characterization. Well past the common age of retirement and well past the show's celebrated end, Roberts maintained a reputation as one of the big and small screen's most iconic mothers, and she continued to be a welcome sight as a television guest star and film player.

Risto Salmi was born on 7 July 1941 in Metsämaa, Finland. He was an actor, known for Rare Exports (2010), Big Game (2014) and Raid (2000). He was married to Sirkka-Liisa Huikari and Riitta Vauhkonen. He died on 27 April 2016 in Turku, Finland.

Brian Asawa was born on 1 October 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Operalia (1994), Le Grand Macabre (2012) and Rucklarens väg (1995). He died on 18 April 2016 in Mission Hills, California, USA.

Eva was born in New York, USA, with a Norwegian father and a Swedish mother, Ragni. They divorced when Eva was 6 years old and Ragni remarried the actor Uno Henning.

Eva was accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theater's acting school in 1938. She had some minor roles both on the stage and in a few movies before she got a major breakthrough with Elvira Madigan (1943). When she met Hasse Ekman in 1944 it was the start of a reciprocally useful relationship, both artistically and personally. She was slim and beautiful but he gave her roles that demanded more than just a pretty face, perhaps most of all in Banketten (1948), where she is a subjugated wife of a sadistic husband who is in complete control of her. She had other memorable roles, notably the young actress Pia in Wandering with the Moon (1945) or as Dagmar Brink in Girl with Hyacinths (1950).

After their divorce in 1953 she married the Norwegian actor Toralv Maurstad and did a lot of work at theaters in Norway.

Scott Nimerfro was born on 12 July 1961 in Richfield, Minnesota, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Pushing Daisies (2007), X-Men (2000) and Hannibal (2013). He died on 17 April 2016 in Woodbury, Minnesota, USA.

Born in Beershaba in 1964, Ronit was an awkward child who felt she was different from others, but when she became an actress (more or less by chance at the age of 26) with a star role in Daniel Wachsmann's 'Hameyu'ad' ['The Appointed (1990)'], this complex became an asset. This beautiful brunette realized she could relate to the rest of the world by expressing her inner emotions. Since then she has made few films, but many of major importance such as Late Marriage (2001) (by Dover Koshashvili), Alila (2003) (by Amos Gitai and Or (My Treasure) (2004) (by Keren Yedaya), in which she embodies wives, prostitutes or dope fiends marked by life. She has even co-scripted and co-directed the excellent 'Ve'lakahta Lekha Isha' ['To Take a Wife (2004)'] with her brother Schlomi. Both are preparing the second part due to be filmed in 2008, 'Seven Days' [Shiva (2008)]. She was wonderful in the recent The Band's Visit (2007) ('The Band's Visit') as a kind-hearted lonely heart refusing to wilt in her desert town.

Chyna had been called "The First Lady of Sports Entertainment". Her accomplishments went far beyond the wrestling ring and anyone's guess. Before exchanging body slams, modeling for top magazines and guest-starring on hundreds of shows,

Chyna was a shy girl who was born Joan Marie Laurer in Rochester, New York, to Janet Carol (Wahl) and Joseph "Joe" Von Laurer, Jr. She spent most of her childhood in a home filled with alcoholism and domestic problems. She found her escape through working out, and began doing aerobics and lifting weights at a gym near her home. This is where she found her true niche: the world of fitness.

As the only female in the gym, Chyna always stood out but developed bonds and friendships with the gym members, who gave her the encouragement to keep going. She broke all gender barriers everywhere she went, and continued her love of fitness throughout her college days. Chyna graduated from the University of Tampa with a 3.9 GPA, and a double major in Spanish Literature, in under two years. She also studied foreign languages, and could speak English, Spanish, German and French. Chyna was a true humanitarian, and served in the U.S. Army ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) and the Peace Corps, helping to teach illiterate third-world children to read. She was a strong supporter of the National Animal Rescue charity, which helps domesticated animals find good, loving homes.

Throughout her life, Chyna dreamed of being an entertainer. She began that career in the early 1990s, as a belly dancer, and soon moved on to fitness competitions, but the star found her real calling in the entertainment world: professional wrestling. She began training to be a professional under the guidance of the wrestling legend Walter 'Killer' Kowalski, in a professional wrestling school in which all other students were men. She soon took the world of women's wrestling by storm and began competing in the PGWA, where she was given the 1996 Rookie of the Year award for the Women's Championship.

After dominating the world of women's wrestling, Chyna was discovered by Paul Levesque (aka "Triple H") and Shawn Michaels (HBK), two WWF (World Wrestling Federation) superstars who helped Chyna break into the big-time. She made her worldwide television debut in February 1997 as a bodyguard for Triple H, but soon went on to break all gender stereotypes by competing with some of the toughest men in the WWF, under the name "Chyna". Years later, she was the only woman to qualify for the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring tournaments, and became the only female Intercontinental Champion and the only undefeated Women's Champion in WWF history.

Five years after she debuted as a professional wrestler in the WWF, Chyna parted ways with the company. She then toured Japan, taking the country by storm and battling in the ring with the likes of such champions as Keiji Mutô, The Great Kabuki, and most notably, Masahiro Chôno. Her 2002 Tokyo Dome match against Chono earned her the title of Nikkian Sport's 2002 Women's Wrestler of the Year.

Meanwhile, back in the US, Chyna appeared in several films, hosted a variety of shows, and showed that women can combine strength and beauty in two top-selling issues of "Playboy" magazine, which proved to the world that women can be beautiful without having the anorexic "Twiggy" look. She also appeared in the first-ever Playboy documentary, which conducted in-depth interviews with Chyna, her former manager Rich Minzer, her friend Joe Gold, and Hugh Hefner himself.

Her strong will to the best and "survival of the fittest" attitude made her one of the top wrestlers in history. She served as a role model to millions of men and women by proving anything is possible, through hard work and determination. In her best-selling autobiography "If They Only Knew", she discussed what it took to make it to the top, and showed the world what she had to overcome to make her one of the most well-known pop culture icons in the world. Shortly after her first appearance in "Playboy", she released her own fitness video, Chyna Fitness: More Than Meets the Eye (2000), which won awards from fitness and lifestyle magazines. The video is still popular with both Chyna's fans and fitness fans alike.

Unlike most former pro wrestlers, Chyna had success on her own two feet. She was on nearly every talk show, and was featured on hundreds of magazine covers, from "Playboy" and "Newsweek" to "TV Guide" and "People". She was featured on Reggie Benjamin's CD "2X-Centrix", performing drums and back up vocals. She was on the top of the "dance music" billboard charts for five weeks with the CD single "Ride", and also sang with her own rock band, "The Chynna Dolls", for a short time, playing venues like The Roxy, Elrey Theater, Hollywood Athletic Center, and two performances on Howard Stern (1994). She starred in the comedies Cougar Club (2007) and Illegal Aliens (2007), and also hosted a variety of shows, from Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors (2001) to FYE and AMC's "Tough Guys series. She had many guest-starring roles on TV series, such as Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998), 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996), Pacific Blue (1996), The Nick Cannon Show (2002), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Mad TV (1995), MTV's "Diary" and many others. She was also featured on season four of The Surreal Life (2003) and VH1's spin off, The Surreal Life: Fame Games (2007), as well as in films, including Alien Tracker (2003), Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion (2000), Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002), Hunter: Back in Force (2003). In 2008, she appeared on VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (2008) TV series to conquer personal demons and depression caused from an abusive relationship and childhood trauma.

In 2009, she released a fashion book, "Paper Doll", which became a best-seller. In May 2011, she returned to the world of wrestling with TNA, debuting on the May 12 edition of TNA iMPACT! Wrestling (2004), and followed it up with one last match at the TNA TNA: Sacrifice (2011) Pay-per-view, where she and Kurt Angle took on Jeff Jarrett and Karen Jarrett. The episode was one of the highest-rated for the company in many years. Although her match with TNA was a one-time-only deal, Chyna showed the world she had turned her life around - she had overcome depression, emotional trauma and was finally where she wanted to be in life.

In June 2011, Chyna released her first adult video with Vivid Entertainment, Backdoor to Chyna (2011), which sold over a million copies. She said the movie allowed her to regain control of her life, gave her a newfound confidence and got her back on her feet. She embarked on a huge media tour, appearing all over the US. She began feature dancing at high-end nightclubs, appeared on dozens of radio shows, including Howard Stern on Demand (2005) and ABC radio, and in November 2011 won a Fleshbot Award for her "Backdoor to Chyna" video. In 2012, she appeared in A Night at the Silent Movie Theater (2012) and appeared in the music video "Gonna Make You Love Me" for the band Lovechild. She also appeared in a tell-all interview with KayFabe Commentaries, in which she discussed everything from her childhood to drugs, porn and everything in between.

Chyna died on April 20, 2016, in Redondo Beach, California. She was 46.

Richard Lyons was born on 19 April 1959 in Castro Valley, California, USA. He died on 19 April 2016 in the USA.

Karl-Heinz von Hassel was born on 8 February 1939 in Hamburg, Germany. He was an actor, known for Tatort (1970), Faust (1960) and Wie eine Träne im Ozean (1970). He was married to Karin von Hassel. He died on 19 April 2016 in Hamburg, Germany.

Typically British stiff-upper-lip war dramas and action adventure laced with moments of sophisticated comedy were Guy Hamilton's trademark. The son of a British diplomat, he spent most of his youth with his family in France, seemingly destined to be groomed for a career in the diplomatic service. Growing up, he became enthralled with French cinema (and, particularly, with the films of Jean Renoir). This instilled in him a burning ambition to become a director himself. In 1939 Hamilton got his first job as a clapper boy with Victorine Studios in Nice (now known as Studios Riviera). He worked his way up the hard way via the accounting department and as a producer's assistant. At the outbreak of World War II, British personnel were evacuated from France and Hamilton found work in the cutting room of British Paramount News which provided him with an excellent background in editing (albeit briefly--his career was soon interrupted by wartime duties in the Royal Navy with the 15th Motor Gunboat Flotilla).

After the war, Hamilton got back into the movie business as a third assistant director (an experience he later described as amounting -- more or less -- to be a "gofer" and tea boy for the first assistant director). His big break eventually arrived courtesy of Carol Reed who took him under his wing as first assistant director for The Fallen Idol (1948). Reed became his mentor and a kind of father figure and exerted a profound influence on the budding filmmaker. Hamilton went on to work with Reed on The Third Man (1949) and Outcast of the Islands (1951)). For John Huston, he then served in the same capacity on The African Queen (1951) (one of his duties included building a pontoon made up of four or five pirogues to provide room for the cameras, as the "Queen" was too cramped to film on).

Hamilton's first film as director in his own right was The Ringer (1952), a minor thriller based on an Edgar Wallace story. He established himself properly with The Colditz Story (1955), a prisoner-of-war drama enlivened by deft humor and a pointedly "British" style. In the 1960s, his acquaintance with Albert R. Broccoli led to his directing four entries in the James Bond franchise (though he had turned down previous offers to helm the opener, Dr. No (1962)): Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). In a later interview, Hamilton recalled that he (and writer Tom Mankiewicz) particularly enjoyed putting Bond into the "snake-pit" in situations of mortal peril, then working out a way to extricate him within 50 seconds. Hamilton's "intellectual" interpretation of Bond, the witty, at times facetious humor --usually in the midst of hair-raising situations-- contributed greatly to the popular and commercial success of these films. While these films established his reputation, much of his later work (Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) proved less endearing.

In the mid-1980s, Hamilton retired to the island of Majorca with his second wife, actress Kerima (who had co-starred in "Outcast of the Islands"). He died there on 20 April 2016 at the age of 93.

Yannis Voglis was born in 1937, in Athens, Greece. He studied acting at the Pellos Katselis' Drama School and made his stage debut in 1961 in Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" directed by Karolos Koun. Among others, his prolific work includes significant Greek stage plays, Maxim Gorky's "Enemies" and the title roles in Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt", William Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" and Sophocles's "Philoctetes" together with memorable performances in his international screen work such as in Vasilis Georgiadis' Blood on the Land (1965) and Koritsia ston ilio (1968), Jules Dassin's Kravgi gynaikon (1978) and Peter and Paul (1981).

From the mid-1980s right up until her premature death in April 2016, Victoria Wood's appearances on stage and television were always eagerly anticipated, whether it was laugh-a-minute stand-up, a beautifully judged dramatic performance in the TV film Housewife, 49 (2005) or the canteen sitcom dinnerladies (1998). The incredible care and craft she lavished on each look and line of dialogue was as meticulous as it was matchless.

A shy, isolated child, Victoria Wood was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in May 1953, the youngest of four siblings. Her insurance salesman father Stanley Wood was a frustrated writer who made up songs for his office parties and eventually went on to write scripts for Coronation Street (1960). Largely ignored by her parents ("Our house looked like an explosion in an Oxfam shop"), Wood stayed in her bedroom and sought attention as a performer, joining a youth theatre group in Rochdale and teaching herself to play the piano. She also learnt to play the trumpet.

Having been considered exceptionally bright at her primary school, Wood lost her way at Bury Grammar School, intimidated by the competition and envious of the more outgoing girls who appeared to be "having a wonderful time".

While studying drama at Birmingham University she auditioned for the ITV talent show New Faces (1973), performing a song about a woman contemplating marriage to a man who washes his Cortina more than his neck. Though eliminated in the second round, she was talent-spotted by poet Roger McGough for a revue he took up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1976.

Her first big break was the TV show That's Life! (1986), writing and performing satirical songs loosely inspired by topical events. Her lifelong friendship and collaboration with Julie Walters began in the 1970s when they both appeared in a revue, 'In at the Death', at London's tiny Bush Theatre, for which Wood wrote a sketch. Its success led to the commissioning of Talent, Wood's first full-length play, by the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Talent was later filmed by Granada TV, starring Julie Walters as a disillusioned talent-show contestant. The stage version won her the Evening Standard's most promising new playwright award.

Granada commissioned two more plays from Wood, and urged her to write a sketch show for herself and Julie Walters, which became Wood and Walters (1981) and also featured Roger Brierley with who she would go on to work with again in her later productions in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the mid-1980s she was poached by the BBC for her own series, Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985), for which she assembled her own mini-repertory company consisting of Julie Walters, Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston. It was for this show that she also launched the much-loved Acorn Antiques, a low-budget TV soap of such ineptitude it made Crossroads (1986) look slick.

The spoof was held in such affection that Wood, along with the original cast, was able to sell out the Theatre Royal Haymarket 20 years later with Acorn Antiques: The Musical (2006), for which she wrote the score. Despite generally favourable reviews and Olivier nominations for best new musical, best actress in a musical, Julie Walters and best performance in a supporting role in a musical Celia Imrie, Wood later claimed that the show was a bad idea because she felt it had undermined her credibility as a playwright. Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985) ran for two series and also featured Patricia Routledge, Sue Wallace, Deborah Grant, Peter Lorenzelli, Jim Broadbent, Peter Martin, Jim Broadbent and Susie Blake.

Victoria Wood and Julie Walters worked together again with Celia Imrie, Anne Reid, Susie Blake and Lill Roughley in 1989 in a series of six playlets for the series named simply Victoria Wood (1989) which included an appearance from Joan Sims as well as appearances from Jim Broadbent, Peter Martin, Patricia Hodge, Philip Lowrie, William Osborne and Maureen Lipman.

Then again on television in 1992, Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast (1992) starred Celia Imrie, Julie Walters, Susie Blake, Anne Reid and also featured Duncan Preston, William Osborne and Philip Lowrie.

And yet again in 1994 in Wood's TV film Pat and Margaret (1994) which also starred Julie Walters, Duncan Preston, Anne Reid, Deborah Grant, Peter Lorenzelli, Sue Wallace, Roger Brierley, Philip Lowrie and Angela Curran as well as a special appearance from Dame Thora Hird, about the strained reunion of two estranged sisters, one the star of an American TV soap, the other a waitress in a motorway service station in northern England. Wood cast herself as the dowdy Margaret, while acknowledging in an interview that she probably had more in common with Pat, a woman "so determined to get on there's no room for anything else".

While developing as a dramatist, she continued to do stand-up, nailing the hypocrisies and absurdities of everyday life with stinging wit and whiplash delivery. Her targets were often "people who think a lot of themselves" in whatever field of endeavour. With her cropped hair and androgynous dress sense, Wood cleverly bypassed any gender preference - an unthreatening, even comforting stage presence to the majority.

Fellow comedian Simon Fanshawe wrote of her: "The point about Wood is that she makes you feel comfortable and then slips spiky material in under your guard."

The commentator Judith Woods wrote in 2007: "Quite simply, Victoria Wood is a performer for grown-ups. She has an everywoman appeal to female viewers, but none of the stridency that traditionally puts off male audiences. She isn't preoccupied with pastiche and celebrity. Real life is her forte, in all its peculiarities."

An assiduous student of vintage comedy, Wood was keenly aware of her predecessors, both male and female. She saw what she did in a historical context, citing the likes of Vesta Victoria, Gracie Fields, Max Miller, Hetty King and Ken Dodd, the greats of music hall and variety, as her inspiration.

She had no interest in reflecting the often racist, sexist stand-up style of the 1980s. Her more enlightened and sophisticated take on the changes taking place in society prevailed while the unreconstructed male chauvinists withered on the vine. In a Guardian interview in 1984, she said: "I just assume that everyone believes the sexes are equal. When I go out there and make them laugh, I'm saying, 'This is my personality, I hope you like it.'"

In 1998 came the sitcom dinnerladies (1998), again collaborating with 'Anne Reid', Duncan Preston and Celia Imrie with Julie Walters also making appearances, with Angela Curran, Graham Seed, Thora Hird (then aged 87 and in a wheelchair), Richenda Carey, Lill Roughley, Andrew Livingston (2 uncredited appearances in the first series), Dora Bryan, Henry Kelly, Peter Martin, Peter Lorenzelli, Sue Wallace, Kay Adshead and Bernard Wrigley (all of whom she had worked with previously) all making appearances in one or more episodes. The series also featured three actresses who appeared in every single episode, namely Thelma Barlow, Shobna Gulati and essentially launching the career of the actress Maxine Peake. Other regular cast members would also go on to star in Coronation Street (1960) such as Sue Cleaver and Andrew Dunn. The award-winning sitcom ran for two series and consisted of a total of sixteen episodes including Christmas and millennium specials.

December 2000 saw the Christmas sketch show special Victoria Wood: With All the Trimmings (2000), featuring her regular troupe of actors including Celia Imrie, Julie Walters and Anne Reid, with further appearances from Richenda Carey, Maxine Peake and Shobna Gulati as well as a string of special guest stars such as Angela Rippon, Bob Monkhouse and Roger Moore.

Such a prodigious talent always comes at a cost, and for Wood it was her 20-year marriage to the magician Geoffrey Durham, with whom she had two children. After the breakdown of their marriage in 2002, divorcing in 2003, she withdrew from the limelight for a couple of years and went into therapy, saying it was too painful to appear in public while her private life was in turmoil.

She continued nevertheless to produce one-off specials including Victoria Wood's Sketch Show Story (2002) and Victoria Wood's Big Fat Documentary (2004). During this period Wood tended to move away from comedy to focus on drama,notably in her award-winning 2006 TV film Housewife, 49 (2005), an adaptation of the real-life wartime diaries of a Lancashire woman, Nella Last, whose life is unexpectedly turned around by the knock-on effects of war. Her beautifully judged script - and performance in the lead - deservedly won her a best actress BAFTA, as well as a best single drama award. On this occasion Wood chose to mainly work with a different set of actors and actresses including for example Stephanie Cole, Sylvestra Le Touzel and Wendy Nottingham, though Sue Wallace with whom she had worked with on at least three separate occasions previously also featured.

In 2007 Wood appeared in a three-part BBC travel documentary Victoria's Empire (2007), in which she travelled around the world in search of the history, cultural impact and customs the British Empire placed on the parts of the world it ruled. She departed Victoria Station, London, for Calcutta, Hong Kong and Borneo in the first programme. In programme two she visited Ghana, Jamaica and Newfoundland and in the final programme, New Zealand, Australia and Zambia, finishing at the Victoria Falls.

On Boxing Day 2007 she appeared as "Nana" in the Granada dramatisation of Noel Streatfeild's novel Ballet Shoes (2007).

2009 saw Wood reunite with Julie Walters to produce a Christmas special for the BBC Mid Life Christmas (2009). She again selected actors and actresses with who she had already worked with to fill complementary roles, on this occasion working with Sylvestra Le Touzel, Wendy Nottingham, Jason Watkins, Lorraine Ashbourne and Marcia Warren, who had all featured in Housewife, 49 (2005) a few years previous.

On New Year's Day 2011 Wood appeared in a BBC drama Eric & Ernie (2011) as Eric Morecambe's mother, Sadie Bartholomew.

In 2011, Wood's last major stage work, 'That Day We Sang', again based on a true story, garnered rave reviews at the Manchester International Festival, and was revived three years later at the Royal Exchange. The Stage called it "an entirely original and authentically British musical that's the best of its kind about childhood aspiration since Billy Elliot". Lyn Gardner, writing in The Guardian, said: "Music runs through the show like an unstoppable river of emotion, and Wood's script is both tart as a plum, and unashamedly sentimental."

On 23 December 2012 BBC One screened Loving Miss Hatto (2012), a drama written by Wood about the life of concert pianist Joyce Hatto, the centre of a scandal over the authenticity of her recordings and her role in the hoax.

On 26 December 2014, a television adaptation of That Day We Sang (2014), starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, was shown on BBC TV.

In early 2015, Wood took part in a celebrity version of The Great Comic Relief Bake Off (2013) and was crowned Star Baker in her episode.

She co-starred with Timothy Spall in Sky television's three-part television adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman (2015), which was first broadcast over three days in December 2015, The miniseries was filmed in the summer of 2015. This was to be her last acting project and her final role and she was notably absent from the screening of the series in late autumn that year.

Sadly in fact in the autumn of 2015 Wood fell ill with terminal cancer and withdrew from public life entirely, she was later hospitalized but she was subsequently released to be allowed to die at home with her two children at her bedside.

Victoria Wood died on 20 April 2016 at her home in Highgate, North London.

She had been appointed OBE in 1997 and had subsequently advanced to CBE in 2008.

The writer and critic Clive James said Wood "changed the field for women and indeed for everybody, because very few of the men were trying hard enough as writers before she came on the scene and showed them what penetrating social humour should actually sound like."

She was survived by her daughter Grace Durham who is an accomplished concert singer and recitalist and her son Henry Durham.

A Los Angeles native, Dick Darley graduated from Los Angeles High School before enlisting in the US Navy during WW II. Afterwards he attended the University of Southern California, majoring in radio production, and later worked for an experimental TV station before joining ABC Television in Hollywood. From 1950 to 1955 he directed the live early sci-fi TV series Space Patrol (1950), from its start as a 15-minute local show to its expansion to a half-hour nationally televised series (he was credited as "Dik Darley" on the show, mainly because a TV critic misspelled his first name in a review, and Darley was advised that "Dik" was a name people would remember more than "Dick", so he kept it). He also worked on other TV shows while directing "Space Patrol", notably The Plymouth Playhouse (1953), for which he directed a two-part production of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities".

When "Space Patrol" ended in 1955 he was hired by Walt Disney Studios to direct their new show, The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). Having worked with child actors before, he got along well with the cast members on the show, and was able to get them to give the performances he wanted without resorting to shouting and bullying, as other directors had done with them. He liked to use film techniques while directing the show, such as crane shots, close-ups and wide-angle views, things that had seldom been done on television up to that time, and certainly not on variety shows. He also helped pioneer the use of the three-camera setup, which shot the same scene from three different angles and eliminated the need for stopping and re-starting scenes for re-shoots, which was a necessity with single-camera setups, and gave the scene a much more fluid look after final editing.

Darley was replaced after the first year, however, when Walt Disney thought the show needed a revamping, despite its tremendous success and very high ratings. In hindsight it seems to have been one of the few mistakes Disney ever made, as the new changes were not popular with the show's audience and the ratings steadily declined in the second season.

Darley left Disney and directed a variety of TV shows in a variety of genres, from comedies to variety shows to dramas. He created his own sci-fi animated series, Space Angel (1962) in 1962. When that show went off the air he returned to episodic TV series, and also branched out into directing TV commercials. In the 1970s he directed several series for Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft. His son Chris Darley is also a television director.

Lonnie Mack was born on 18 July 1941 in Harrison, Indiana, USA. He is known for 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), Only You (1992) and Forever Lulu (2000). He died on 21 April 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Mattie Shaw, a jazz singer and social worker, and John L. Nelson, a lyricist and pianist. His father's stage name was "Prince Rogers". His parents were both from African-American families from Louisiana. They separated during his youth, which lead him to move back and forth. Prince had a troubled relationship with his step-father which lead him to run away from home. Prince was adopted by a family called the Andersons. Prince soon after became friends with the Anderson's son, Andre Anderson (Cymone) together along with Charles Smith they joined a band called Grand Central. The band later renamed themselves Champagne and were a fairly successful live band, however soon diminished.

Prince at the age of eighteen started working on high-quality demo tracks with Chris Moon. With these demo tracks Prince eventually ended up signing a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records and was the youngest producer associated with the label. Prince made his debut on the record label with his 1978 album, For You. It wasn't a strong successful album, however it was fair for a beginning artist and ranked 163 on the U.S. Pop Charts. Prince's next releases would tend to do much better on the charts with his singles, "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and I Wanna Be Your Lover in 1979. This would start to introduce Prince as a person who presented sexually explicit material into the music industry. However Prince didn't begin to attract mainstream artists until he release his single, 1999. This single began to be noticed by M.T.V. viewers and this would make him a part of the main-stream music media. Prince released two more singles called Little Red Corvette and Delirious. The album featured Prince's new band, The Revolution. In 1984 Prince would release what would be seen as an admired and profound masterpiece the feature film/sound-track album, Purple Rain in 1984. Prince's father contributed to this album, by cowriting the chord sequence for a couple of his songs. Prince continued to give cowriting credit to his father on several other albums, as his famous chord sequence would be used in several of Prince's singles and albums.

A lot of Prince's songs did not agree with listeners and one of his songs, Darling Nikki prompted a group of people to start a censorship organization called, Parents Music Resource Center (P.M.R.C.) as the track implemented grinding ludicrous acts such as masturbating, which stunned listeners. Prince however continued to release various other singles with the same platform his memorable releases being, Around The World In A Day, Parade, Love Sexy, and Batman.

Prince released a sequel to Purple Rain in 1990 called Graffiti Bridge, a soundtrack album accompanied this movie entitled, Graffiti Bridge. The film did terrible in box-office and was nominated for several Razzie awards. Many people saw the sound-track album, as the high point of the film.

In 1991, Prince assembled a new band called, The New Power Generation with this band he would release singles such as Diamond And Pearls, Cream, and Gett Off. Prince eventually changed his stage name from Prince to a symbol, which lead people to call him, "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince". Prince soon took back his old stage name.

In the 1990s, Prince continued to release singles such as Came, The Gold Experience, Chaos And Disorder, and Emancipation. With the rise of the new millennium, Prince released material such as a religious album called The Rainbow Children,One Nite Alone,The Chocolate Invasion,The Slaughter House, and had a collaboration with Stevie Wonder on Stevie's single called, What The Fuss in 2005.

Prince died on April 21, 2016 in Chanhassen, Minnesota, at his Paisley Park recording studio complex. He was 57.

Prince will be remembered as a musician and artist who inspired millions through his music, and set an inspirational platform which others still abide by.

D.B. Nihalsinghe was born on 27 May 1939 in Sri Lanka. D.B. was a director and cinematographer, known for Welikathara (1971), Maldeniye Simion (1987) and Keli Madala (1991). D.B. died on 21 April 2016 in Sri Lanka.

Richard C. Bennett was born on 24 April 1923 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was a director and assistant director, known for Hang 'Em High (1968), A State of Emergency (1986) and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966). He was married to Charleen Frances Hawkes and Gayne Anne (Harvey) Pinto. He died on 22 April 2016.

Michael Spencer began his career as a cameraman in 1941 with the National Film Board of Canada, becoming a producer in 1945. He was appointed Executive Director of the Canadian Film Development Corporation (precursor of Telefilm Canada), occupying the post from 1968 to 1978. He oversaw the production of such films as Orderers (1974) (directed by Michel Brault), and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) (directed by Ted Kotcheff).

Halina Dobrowolska was born on 18 August 1929 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. She was a production designer and art director, known for The Double Life of Véronique (1991), A Short Film About Love (1988) and Three Colors: White (1994). She died on 23 April 2016 in Gliwice, Slaskie, Poland.

Miguel Picazo was born on 27 March 1927 in Cazorla, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Aunt Tula (1964), Oscuros sueños de agosto (1968) and Beyond the Walls (1985). He died on 23 April 2016 in Guarromán, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain.

Bill Sevesi was born on 28 July 1923 in Nuku'alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga. He was a composer, known for Fresh Meat (2012), Song of the South Seas (1992) and Artsville (2005). He died on 23 April 2016 in New Zealand.

Madeleine Sherwood was born on 13 November 1922 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was an actress, known for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Changeling (1980) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). She was married to Robert Sherwood. She died on 23 April 2016 in Lac Cornu, Quebec, Canada.