Deaths So Far (and it's just July)

[IceWizard]

NOVEMBER




Donna Jean Godchaux
of the Grateful Dead

Donna Godchaux, the first and only female vocalist for rock band the
Grateful Dead, died on Nov. 2. She was 78. Born Donna Jean Thatcher
in Alabama on Aug. 22, 1947, she began her career as a backup singer.
She soon became an in-demand session singer in Muscle Shoals, Ala.,
where she contributed to hits like Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman"
and Elvis Presley’s "Suspicious Minds." She also added her voice to songs
by Duane Allman, Cher, Neil Diamond, and Boz Scaggs. She joined the
Grateful Dead in 1972 after marrying band member and keyboardist
Keith Godchaux. As the group's first and only female singer, Godchaux is
considered pivotal in shaping the band's sound with her harmonies and
artistic expression. She eventually departed the group alongside her husband,
a few months after the release of 1978’s Shakedown Street. The couple
formed a new group, the Heart of Gold Band, but Keith was killed in a
car accident a few days after their first gig. Godchaux is survived by
their son, Zion "Rock" Godchaux.






Diane Ladd
in 2015 in New York City

Diane Ladd, the thrice Oscar-nominated star of generation-defining films
like Chinatown, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Wild at Heart, and
who was the mother of actress Laura Dern, died at the age of 89 on Nov. 3.
Ladd first broke out as a theater star, and even remarked in 2015 that
she thought she would only know a life on the stage. But Hollywood had
other plans: Uncredited parts in the sensational 1961 Carroll Baker thriller
Something Wild and Norman Jewison's nightclub comedy 40 Pounds of
Trouble a year later, led to major roles in some of the landmark films of
the latter half of the century, also including The Reivers (1969),
The Rebel Rousers (1970), The Steagle (1971), and White Lightning (1973).
Her resume also included All Night Long (1981),
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Black Widow (1987),
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), A Kiss Before Dying (1991),
The Cemetery Club (1993), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Primary Colors (1998),
28 Days (2000), Charlie’s War (2003), and Joy (2015). On the TV side,
credits included The Detectives, Naked City, 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason,
Hazel, The Fugitive, Grace Under Fire, Touched by an Angel, and Dr. Quinn,
Medicine Woman — the latter three of which landed her Emmy nominations.
Ladd worked steadily through her sixth decade in show business, appearing
within the last five years on The Big Bang Theory spinoff series Young Sheldon
and in the coming-of-age drama Gigi & Nate.