Before there were men like Wesley Snipes and Michael Jai White kicking unaccountable amounts of ass on the big screen, Jim Kelly was the first black martial arts action hero in cinema. On Saturday he died of cancer at his home in San Diego. He was 67 years old.

Born in Paris, Kentucky on May 5, 1946, Kelly was a star athlete in high school. He played football and basketball and participated in track and field events. Though he went to the University of Louisville to play football he left the school during his freshman year to begin studying Shorin-ryu and Okinawa-te karate. He earned his black belt in 1969. Kelly eventually rose to become a world class karate champion and would soon open his own dojo. After training actor Calvin Lockhart to fight for the 1972 film Melinda and playing the small role of a martial arts instructor in that movie Kelly decided to take a shot at Hollywood stardom.

Richard Matheson, celebrated novelist and scriptwriter, passed away earlier this week at the age of 87 in Los Angeles. At this time, no confirmed information is available as to how or why he died. He is survived by his wife and four children (three of whom are authors, as well). He was scheduled to receive the Visionary Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films this Wednesday. The 39th annual Saturn Awards ceremony will be dedicated to him and he will receive the award posthumously.

Best known as an author, Matheson wrote stories that inspired artists from all walks of life. His best known novel, I Am Legend, has been adapted for film three credited times and has been an obvious influence for quite a few others. And while that is always the first book that leaps to mind, there are many others that have also been given life on the silver screen. His book What Dreams May Come is a favorite of mine, both in prose form and the film adaptation from 1998. Other adapted works include A Stir Of Echoes, Hell House and The Shrinking Man. Probably the most interesting adaptation was Duel, directed by a young Steven Spielberg, that was produced by Universal Studios as a made for TV movie.

Jean Stapleton, best remembered for her portrayal of the long suffering, yet always sympathetic and scatterbrained wife of TV’s Archie Bunker on the seminal 1970s sitcom All in the Family, has died of natural causes in New York City, according to the LA Times. She as 90.

Stapleton, who was an actress first weaned on dramatic roles in her career, found a place in television lore as the character of Edith Bunker on the CBS sitcom, which ran from 1971-1979 and was the number one television show for five years during that run early on. She portrayed the character with a heart of gold and a running, ditzy mouth and attitude which sometimes became rather grating, especially on her husband Archie, the rotund, blowhard bigot who had opinions for everyone and everything in his difficult life, except himself of course. Played by the late Carroll O’Connor, he and Stapleton exhibited a chemistry which was able to successfully parlay such guises as hilarity, drama, pathos, candor, silliness, and intensity. The two of them, along with Sally Struthers (who played their daughter Gloria) and Rob Reiner (who played Gloria’s husband Mike), were one of television’s finest ensembles, and they all went through a road with their characters life which spoke about themes such as impotence, political unrest and uneasiness, pollution, abortion, homosexuality, inflation; in fact, no subject was taboo, and the show pushed the envelope of what was once forbidden to discuss on television, let alone a situation comedy right to the forefront of the American fabric, no doubt aided and abetted by the skillful acting by the foursome.

Ray Harryhausen, a master of the arts of stop-motion and visual effects in film, has passed away at the age of 92.

Born in 1920, it was when Harryhausen’s parents took him to see the original King Kong in 1933 that he was inspired to become the man that would go on to inspire some of the best this world has ever seen. After the movie he went home and started experimenting with puppets and marionettes to begin honing his skills.

Jeff Hanneman, original guitarist and songwriter for the band Slayer, died today of liver failure in a southern California hospital, according to a posting on Slayer’s official Facebook page. He was 49 years old.

Born in 1964, Hanneman helped found the popular thrash metal band Slayer in 1981 along with fellow guitarist Kerry King. The band has been putting out albums consistently since its 1983 debut, Show No Mercy, and Hanneman has played rhythm and lead guitar on each of them, including their most recent effort, 2009’s World Painted Blood.

Hanneman had been on medical leave from Slayer since early 2011 after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a rare, quick-spreading flesh-eating disease. His bandmates had been optimistic during his recovery and rehabilitation and were hopeful that their he would eventually rejoin them for a new album and tour.