Weekend Economists Watch the Stars Falling June 12-14, 2015 [View all]

[Demeter]

This is a year of losses great and small. I suppose all years are years of loss, but these are especially poignant losses for a lot of people.

First, there is our personal loss in this little band of economic newshounds:
Our popular, star member Xchrom has been located at last.

Hotler writes: "It is with great sadness that I report that Xchrom has passed.

The card that I sent was forwarded to his cousin in California and she called me. He passed on May 1st, and was buried in California where he is from. He has a few cousins in Cali and some in Iowa. His mom is still alive and is 105 yrs. young. She said he had tons of character and lots of friends in Durham North Carolina where he lived till he passed. He was 61."

Rest in peace, dear friend.



There have been some losses on the big screen:

Oliver! actor Ron Moody dies aged 91

Actor Ron Moody, who played Fagin in the hit film version of Oliver!, has died aged 91, his family says. The British character actor was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance in the 1968 Charles Dickens adaptation.

He appeared in EastEnders as Edwin Caldecott, an old nemesis of Jim Branning, and played wizard Merlin in Disney's A Kid in King Arthur's Court...Moody was born Ronald Moodnick in Tottenham, north London, on 8 January 1924, the son of Jewish immigrants. His father anglicised the family name to Moody several years later. He had originally planned to be an economist and did not take up acting seriously until his late 20s. His big break came in the 1960s when he was given the part of Fagin, the leader of a band of juvenile rogues and pickpockets, in Oliver!, the musical version of Dickens's Oliver Twist.

"Fate destined me to play Fagin. It was the part of a lifetime," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33094914

And then, there was Sir Christopher Lee, the thinking man's monster:

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--MsVU_aTV--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/1294248958104691373.jpg

If Sir Christopher Lee had just been a movie star, he would still have been an icon. But the late actor, who passed away last week, had an amazing life even beyond his incredible body of work. Whether you’re still lamenting his passing or unsure why his death is such a loss, here’s 22 reasons why Christopher Lee will always be a legend.

1) He was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2007 for most screen credits, having appeared in 244 film and TV movies by that point in his career— at which point he made 14 more movies, with a 15th due later this year (titled Angels in Notting Hill). He also holds the record for the tallest leading actor — he stood 6’ 5” — but also for starring in the “most films with a sword fight” with 17.

2) He mother was an Italian contessa, and through her Lee descended from the Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire and was related to Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general.

3) He met Prince Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the assassins of the Russian monk Rasputin. He didn’t do this as research for his later film role as Rasputin (in the 1966 Hammer film Rasputin the Mad Monk), but just as a child in the 1920s....MORE

And I expect we are still grieving the loss of this man, who played the ultimate outsider: