How to talk about suicide
A young student who went into hospital with pain in her right side died of a blood clot three days after surgery, the High Court has heard. The mother and family of 23-year-old Paige Crotty. Lester Ralph Jones was convicted Tuesday, in his second murder trial, of killing Paige Birgfeld — a Colorado mother of three who authorities say ran an escort service before she went missing in. The exact cause of her death is not yet known but a statement on behalf of her agency blamed a mix of prescription drugs, recreational substances and alcohol for her declining mental state.
Olivia Lua was found dead last week. Picture: InstagramSource:Instagram
THE porn industry is in crisis following the deaths of five young women in 12 weeks, with sex workers revealing just how badly they are bullied.
LA sex actress Olivia Lua, 23, was found dead in a California rehab facility last week, a day after posting a sombre Tweet saying “I feel it everywhere, nothing scares me anymore.”
Olivia Lua was found dead last week. Picture: InstagramSource:Instagram
The exact cause of her death is not yet known but a statement on behalf of her agency blamed a mix of prescription drugs, recreational substances and alcohol for her declining mental state.
The young woman’s death is the fifth of several adult actresses in just over two months, with fellow porn star Olivia Nova, 20, found dead earlier this month in Las Vegas.
She reportedly lay dead for 12 hours before her body was discovered, her death happening after her boyfriend ended his own life.
Olivia Nova was found dead in her Las Vegas apartment earlier this month. Picture: InstagramSource:Instagram
Investigators also found that she was suffering from an infection, and had bruised legs.
A friend of the adult actress told the Mirror Online she wanted to improve her life and “get sober” before her death.
August Ames, a Canadian porn star who appeared in over 270 films, died by suicide in December after copping abuse for refusing to shoot a sex scene with a bisexual actor.
Her husband Kevin Moore said she became a victim of incessant cyber-bullying, making a powerful statement on her website augustames.com saying she wouldn’t have taken her own life if it weren’t for the harassment.
August Ames took her own life because of bullying online. Picture: augustames.comSource:Supplied
“Bullying took her life. If the harassment had not occurred, she would be alive today,” he wrote.
“She ended her life the day after the bullying began. To think they are unrelated is delusional.”
Yurizan Beltran, known as Yuri Love by her fans, died of an apparent overdose at the age of 31 in December.
She was found in her apartment in California by the owner of the residence, who reportedly found pills near the bed.
Yurizan Beltran died of an apparent overdose. Picture: InstagramSource:Instagram
Canadian porn star Shyla Stylez, 35, was found unresponsive in her bed at her mum’s home in November.
She reportedly died in her sleep at the property in British Columbia.
Shyla Stylez died in November. Picture: InstagramSource:Instagram
Following the string of tragedies, Arizona sex worker Ginger Banks has told US media just how poorly people in the sex industry are treated.
“The way society looks at and treats porn stars makes us more depressed, it is hard to feel like we don’t belong or that we are second-class citizens,” Ms Banks told HollywoodLife.
“I have suffered depression because of the way people view my job.
“That is the worst part of this job, the way people treat me because of what I do for a living.”
Pornstar Ginger Banks is taking a stand against the poor treatment of sex workers following the deaths of fellow actors. Picture: TwitterSource:Twitter
Fellow adult actress Raven Hart told the publication mental health issues needed to be addressed within the porn community.
“If you get into this business really young, and you are already predisposed to your own personal issues of depression or whatever else, working in porn may intensify your issues, “ she said.
“As someone who is already predisposed to a drug problem or depression, or another mental health issue, working in porn will only makes things worse or more difficult, your issues will be intensified.
“I think it is a bit of coincidence that so many people in the industry have been dying, it is unfortunate. I know in the case of August Ames, there was a lot of issues, there was cyber-bullying and stuff like that, so that is it more of a newer phenomenon and maybe social media could have had an impact on that.”
For help with emotional difficulties, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au
LaWanda Page | |
---|---|
Birth name | Alberta Peal[1] |
Born | October 19, 1920[2][3] Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.[2] |
Died | September 14, 2002 (aged 81)[4][5] Hollywood, California, U.S. |
Medium | |
Nationality | American |
Years active | 1935–1996 |
Genres | |
Subject(s) | |
Notable works and roles | Esther (Aunt Esther) Anderson – Sanford and Son, Sanford Arms and Sanford |
LaWanda Page (born Alberta Peal; October 19, 1920[2] – September 14, 2002)[4][5] was an American actress and comedian best known for her role as 'Aunt' Esther Anderson in the popular television sitcom Sanford and Son, which originally aired from 1972 until 1977.[3] Page later reprised this role in the short-lived television shows Sanford Arms (1976–1977) and Sanford (1980–1981). She also co-starred in the 1979 short-lived series Detective School.[6]
Biography[edit]
Early life and career[edit]
Page was born Alberta Peal[1] on October 19, 1920, in Cleveland, Ohio[2] and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Page attended Banneker Elementary School.[1] Page began her show business career dancing at age 15. Page later worked in small nightclubs billed as 'The Bronze Goddess of Fire,' an act which included Page eating fire and lighting cigarettes with her fingertips.[3]
After working on the club circuit where she shared stages with noted comedians such as Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor, Page moved to Los Angeles, California in the early 1960s where she became a member of the comedy group Skillet, Leroy & Co. Skillet was Ernest 'Skillet' Mayhand (1916–2007) and Leroy was Wilbert LeRoy Daniel (1928–1993). In Los Angeles, Page started honing the feisty approach to comedy that would make her famous.[6] LaWanda Page and Redd Foxx (who portrayed Fred Sanford) were very close friends from the time they were pre-teens, having attended school and grown up together in St. Louis. Eventually, both entered the field of comedy separately and performed their own stage acts. During her tenure as a stand-up comic, a career she continued into the 1990s, Page often was billed as 'The Queen of Comedy' or 'The Black Queen of Comedy'.
Page recorded several live comedy albums for the Laff Records label in the late 1960s and early 1970s under her LaWanda Page stage name. Other than the relatively clean Sane Advice album, released two years after the run of Sanford and Son, Page's albums and stand-up material were raunchy blue comedy in nature. She was one of the few women who performed extended spoken word pieces in the black signifying or toasting tradition. One release, a gold-selling album called Watch It, Sucker!, was titled after one of her Aunt Esther character's catchphrases in order to capitalize on her newfound television fame.
Sanford and Son (1973-1977)[edit]
On Sanford and Son, Esther Anderson ('Aunt Esther') was the sister of Fred Sanford's late wife Elizabeth. Page had been performing her comedy routine in nightclubs in St. Louis and then Los Angeles for several years, but had planned to leave show business to move back to St. Louis to take care of her ailing mother. When Redd Foxx was offered a sitcom in Los Angeles, he brought his childhood friend Page to the attention of one of the show's producers, who was already familiar with Page and her act. Foxx subsequently asked Page to read for the role of Aunt Esther. She was offered the role after she auditioned. However, prior to taping, producers became concerned when Page, whose experience was limited primarily to nightclub stages, seemed to have difficulty working in a sitcom format. Eventually, one of Sanford and Son's producers told Foxx that Page would need to be fired and that another actor would need to be cast before the show could begin taping. Foxx responded by insisting that Page keep the part, even threatening to walk away from the show if Page were fired. The producers relented, and Page's Aunt Esther went on to become one of the most popular TV sitcom characters of the 1970s.[7]
Paige Young Murder
Page's Aunt Esther was a combination of devout churchgoer and tough-as-nails realist, unafraid to state whatever was on her mind. While her relationship with Foxx's character, Fred Sanford, was usually confrontational, she portrayed a tender side when it came to her nephew Lamont. Common issues between brother-in-law and sister-in-law were Sanford's lack of business success and lukewarm religious faith. Sometimes, primarily because of their shared love for Lamont and the late Elizabeth, the two adversaries managed to find common ground. Although Sanford and Son was clearly Foxx's vehicle, Page's Aunt Esther could hold her own against the show's star. The church-going act of Esther was a great contrast to the raunchy, expletive-filled material of Page's live act and records.
Paige Young Obituary
Other film and television appearances[edit]
In 1977, Page appeared in an episode of The Love Boat titled 'A Tasteful Affair; Oh, Dale!; The Main Event' alongside Sherman Hemsley. Page also appeared on several episodes of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, and over the next two decades occasionally guest-starred in episodes of other popular television shows, including Amen, Martin, 227, Family Matters and Diff'rent Strokes. She appeared on Circus of the Stars as a fire eater. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she appeared in a series of comical Church's Chicken television commercials featuring the catchphrase 'Gotta love it!'.[8]
She appeared on several tracks of the debut album by RuPaul titled Supermodel of the World released in 1993, most notably the hit song 'Supermodel (You Better Work)'. She also appeared in several music videos from the album.
Among her movie credits are appearances in Zapped! (1982), Good-bye, Cruel World (1983), Mausoleum (1983), the Steve Martin film My Blue Heaven (1990), as an extremely foul-mouthed clown in Bobcat Goldthwait's 1991 comedy Shakes the Clown, CB4 (1993), a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie Friday, stealing the opening scene with a one-liner, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996), and a recurring role as Ms. Porter during the first season of the 1990s television sitcom, Martin.
Personal life and death[edit]
Page was married three times, the first being at the age of 14.[9] Page died of complications from diabetes on September 14, 2002, at age 81.[5][6] She is interred in an outdoor crypt at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. Page's daughter, the evangelist Clara Estella Roberta Johnson, died on June 4, 2006, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 69.
Page was the older sister of Lynn Hamilton; however, this is not the Lynn Hamilton who co-starred with Page on Sanford and Son. This caused a rumor that the two actresses were sisters. Series lead Demond Wilson confirmed the rumor to be false in 2016.[10]
Discography[edit]
- Mutha Is Half a Word (1971)
- Back Door Daddy (1972; featuring Skillet & Leroy)
- Preach On Sister, Preach On! (1973)
- Pipe Layin' Dan (1973)
- Watch It, Sucker! (1977)
- Sane Advice (1979)
References[edit]
- ^ abc'Black and Blue: The Redd Foxx Story'. books.google.com.
- ^ abcd'Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh - LaWanda Page'. books.google.com.
- ^ abc'Comediennes: Laugh Be a Lady - LaWanda Page'. books.google.com.
- ^ ab'Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2002: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre - LaWanda Page'. books.google.com.
- ^ abc'JET Magazine - LaWanda Page, 81, Of 'Sanford And Son' Fame Succumbs In Los Angeles - October 7, 2002'. books.google.com.
- ^ abcWatkins, Mel (September 18, 2002). 'LaWanda Page, 81, the Aunt On TV's 'Sanford and Son''. The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
- ^TV Guide, March 17–23, 1973.
- ^'LaWanda Page - Church's Commercial'. YouTube.com. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
- ^Scott, Vernon (24 May 1976). 'LaWanda Page lives in Beverly Watts'. Ontario Daily Report. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^[1]
External links[edit]
- LaWanda Page on IMDb
- LaWanda Page at Find a Grave
Paige Young The Voice
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