Actress Kathleen Turner

Back from my hiatus, and picking up where I left off. . .

I feature today Kathleen Turner, one of the most legendary actresses of the past thirty years.



Ms. Turner caused a sensation in 1980 in the thriller Body Heat, co-starring William Hurt. Subsequent eighties films included the adventure film Romancing The Stone, the Mafia drama Prizzi's Honor, Peggy Sue Got Married, and The War of the Roses.

An illness slowed her down in the nineties, but she has recovered enough since then to find a second career on the Broadway stage.

The Naomi Sims Online Memorial

Naomi Sims's Web site, from which she marketed her business online, has now been turned into a memorial blog, bearing pictures, reminiscences, and biographical data. The sad irony is that more information about her life is available online now than I could ever find when she was alive.

But I'd rather not go on about that. Anyone who ever admired or appreciated this incredible woman, as I did, is encouraged to look at this blog and leave a message of condolences while it remains up.

Meanwhile, new additions to this blog have been suspended for at least one week in honor of Ms. Sims's memory. I'll return to where I left off with a new pictorial post on Tuesday.

Naomi Sims: 1948-2009

It is with great sadness that I report, for the first time since I started this blog, the death of a woman I have featured here.

Naomi Sims, the first major black fashion model in history and a successful businesswoman in the fashion and beauty industry, died of cancer this past Saturday. I didn't even know she was ill, but she had apparently been fighting cancer for awhile. Having made it through a tough childhood and having successfully battled racism in modeling and sexism in business, this disease proved to be the one thing Naomi Sims could not overcome.

I am shocked, and very saddened. She was great lady, and a wonderful role model for all people, not just those of her race and her gender.

Long ago I stated as a ground role that deceased women are not considered for inclusion on my blog. The pictures of Naomi Sims I've already posted on this blog will remain, as I posted them when she was very much alive. I will not, however, post any more pictures of her going forward.

The world is a little less beautiful with this loss. RIP. :-(

(Back with more pictures later.)

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross

Tracee Ellis Ross is one of the most ubiquitous television stars of the past decade.



The daughter of R&B legend Diana Ross and music manager Robert Silberstein, Tracee Ellis Ross clearly got her good looks from her mother. She's established herself as an actress in her own right, and she's best known for playing lawyer Joan Clayton in the TV sitcom "Girlfriends."