Shorts

Short narrated videos on the lives behind the obituaries — the story behind the headline, told over photos. Tap a video to play; the full story is one link away.

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All shorts (20)

  1. Story #020 — November 8, 2026 — 1:15

    Tinto Brass

    Tinto Brass Disowned “Caligula” and Asked for His Name to Be Taken Off It — When He Died at 93, the Headlines Still Called Him the “Caligula” Director
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  2. Story #019 — November 7, 2026 — 1:35

    Martin Erlichman

    Marty Erlichman Went to the Bon Soir in 1961 to See a Comedian and Handed the 19-Year-Old Opening Act His Card — He Managed Barbra Streisand for Most of the Next 65 Years Without a Contract
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  3. Story #018 — November 4, 2026 — 1:17

    Juan Atkins

    Juan Atkins Gave Techno Its Name and Its First Blueprint in a Fading Auto City — Then Died Before a Set in Mexico City
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  4. Story #017 — November 6, 2026 — 1:12

    Jerry Koosman

    Jerry Koosman Won Two Games and Got the Final Out of the 1969 World Series — Four Years After the Mets Nearly Released Him
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  5. Story #016 — November 5, 2026 — 1:22

    Bill Clifton

    Bill Clifton, Born William Marburg, Staged the 1961 Luray Concert That Bluegrass Festivals Grew From — Then Spent Fifteen Years Taking the Music to Europe
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  6. Story #015 — November 4, 2026 — 1:19

    Steve Ellis

    Steve Ellis Cut “Everlasting Love” at 17 Between Building-Site Shifts — and the Rest of His Band Never Played a Note on the No. 1 Hit
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  7. Story #014 — November 3, 2026 — 1:22

    Cyril Hilsum

    Cyril Hilsum’s Radar Lab Needed a Thin Screen — the Liquid Crystals It Commissioned Made LCDs Practical, and He Was Still Patenting at 97
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  8. Story #013 — November 2, 2026 — 1:12

    Bob Mackie

    Bob Mackie Sketched Marilyn Monroe’s Famous Gown, Made 17,000 Outfits for Carol Burnett, and Dressed Cher for Decades — Everyone Knew His Work, Almost Nobody Knew His Name
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  9. Story #012 — November 2, 2026 — 1:04

    Marvin Shanken

    Marvin Shanken Borrowed $5,000 From His Sister for a Newsletter With 200 Subscribers — and Built the Magazines That Told America What to Drink and What to Smoke
    Read the full story »
  10. Story #011 — November 1, 2026 — 1:24

    Mike Beigel

    Mike Beigel Built the Filter Behind “Higher Ground” — Millions Know the Sound, Almost Nobody Knew His Name
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  11. Story #010 — October 31, 2026 — 1:14

    Joe Redner

    Joe Redner Ran Tampa’s Most Famous Strip Club, Counted More Than 150 Arrests, and Spent Half a Century Suing City Hall Over the First Amendment — “Strip Club King” Was Never the Whole Story
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  12. Story #009 — October 30, 2026 — 1:12

    June Jones

    June Jones Carried the Run-and-Shoot From a Dead Spring League to the NFL to Hawaii — and Turned a Winless Team Into the Best Era in School History
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  13. Story #008 — October 29, 2026 — 1:13

    Patrick Stewart

    Patrick Stewart Spent Six Decades as the Calmest Man in Two Universes — the Enterprise’s Captain Picard, the X-Men’s Professor X — and Said He Built That Composure as a Boy in a House Where His Father Beat His Mother
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  14. Story #007 — October 28, 2026 — 1:16

    Tom Skerritt

    Tom Skerritt Spent Sixty Years Playing the Military’s Most Trusted Men — an Army Surgeon, a Doomed Starship’s Captain, Top Gun’s Legendary Instructor — and His Own Service Never Left Texas
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  15. Story #005 — October 27, 2026 — 1:14

    Susan Saint James

    Susan Saint James Was TV’s Breeziest Wife on “McMillan & Wife” and Its Most Reliable Best Friend on “Kate & Allie” — Then Lost Her 14-Year-Old Son in a Plane Crash, and Answered It by Writing a Note to Everyone Left Behind
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  16. Story #006 — October 26, 2026 — 1:23

    Barbara Barrie

    Barbara Barrie Won Cannes in 1964 for Playing a Marriage That Was Still Illegal in Much of America — Sixty-Two Years Later, She Died at 95 Under a New York Law She Had Publicly Championed
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  17. Story #004 — October 25, 2026 — 1:02

    Elke Sommer

    The Maid Inspector Clouseau Refused to Believe Was Guilty Died Three Months After Her Husband — and Eight Days Before Her 86th Birthday
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  18. Story #003 — October 24, 2026 — 1:02

    Chris Sorensen

    The Firehouse Subs Co-Founder Was an Actual Firefighter Who Also Played Guitar With Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner — Chris Sorensen Died at 65, and Most of the Country Didn’t Hear About It for Two Weeks
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  19. Story #002 — October 23, 2026 — 1:08

    Dale Brown

    The LSU Coach Who Mistook a 13-Year-Old Shaquille O'Neal for a Soldier Died Two Days After Shaq Thanked Him on Camera One Last Time
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  20. Story #001 — October 22, 2026 — 1:03

    John Anderson

    John Anderson Died Three Days After Going Back to the Hall of Fame That Already Had His Name In It — And I Actually Got to Hear Him Sing
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