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"Jim was not only a magnificent bass player, but also inextricably bound to the story of The Zombies," cousin and bandmate Rod Argent writes
Jim Rodford, a founding member of Argent and bassist for the Kinks and the Zombies, died Saturday at the age of 76.
Rodford's cousin and longtime band mate Rod Argent confirmed Rodford's death on the Zombies' Facebook page, with Argent adding that Rodford died Saturday following "a fall on the stairs."

"Jim was not only a magnificent bass player, but also from the first inextricably bound to the story of The Zombies. An enormous enabler for us," Argent wrote in his long tribute to Rodford. "To the end, Jim's life was dedicated to music. He was unfailingly committed to local music - an ever present member of the local scene in St.Albans, where he had spent his whole life."

The Kinks, who recruited Rodford following bassist John Dalton's permanent exit from the band in 1978, also paid tribute to Rodford on Twitter. "It is with deep sadness that we have learned that Jim Rodford passed away - he toured and recorded with the Kinks for many years and will be greatly missed. He was much loved by all of us," the band wrote.

Rodford spent 18 years as the Kinks' bassist, performing on every album from 1979's Low Budgetto 1993's Phobia, the band's final LP before their breakup three years later.

As Argent wrote in his tribute to his cousin, Rodford was the first musician Argent attempted to add to his then-fledgling Zombies, but the bassist ultimately turned down the job since he was already a member of the popular British band the Bluetones. However, Rodford was instrumental in the development of the Zombies, lending the group the Bluetones' equipment, orchestrating the Zombies' early shows and "passing judgment" on their breakout 1964 single "She's Not There," penned by Argent.

Rodford also served as bassist in the Mike Cotton Sound before the Zombies' initial breakup in 1967; two years later, Argent would finally unite with his cousin to co-found Argent alongside drummer Bob Henrit and singer/guitarist Russ Ballard. Rodford would appear on all seven Argent albums – including the band's best-known song "Hold Your Head Up" – before that band dissolved in 1976.

Two years later, Rodford embarked on his nearly two-decade-long tenure with the Kinks. Dave Davies tweeted of Rodford Saturday, "I'm devastated Jim's sudden loss I'm too broken up to put words together it's such a shock I always thought Jim would live forever in true rock and roll fashion - strange - great friend great musician great man - he was an integral part of the Kinks later years."

Rodford also played bass in the Kast Off Kinks, a group made up of Kinks expats like Mick Avory and Ian Gibbons, beginning in the late 2000s.

Over 40 years after he was first asked, Rodford finally joined the Zombies when Argent and singer Colin Blunstone revived the band in 2004; Rodford and his son, drummer Steve Rodford, remained members of the Zombies' touring unit until the bassist's death. Rodford also appeared on the group's 2015 comeback LP Still Got That Hunger.

Argent continued in his tribute to Rodford, "Jim was a wonderful person, loved by everybody. When Colin [Blunstone] and I, shocked and hardly able to talk, shared the news this morning, Colin said 'I've never heard anyone say a bad word about him...' He will be unbelievably missed. Goodnight and God Bless dear friend."
From Facebook:
It is with deep sadness that I learned this morning that my dear cousin and lifelong friend, Jim Rodford, died this morning after a fall on the stairs.. More details are not yet known about the exact cause of death.

Jim was not only a magnificent bass player, but also from the first inextricably bound to the story of The Zombies. An enormous enabler for us. He was actually the first person ever to be asked to join the band, way back in 1961. Because he was in the top St.Albans band of the time (The Bluetones), he turned us down at first, but from day one helped us chart our course. He loaned us The Bluestones' state of the art gear for our very first rehearsal, arranged the rehearsal space, and even showed Hugh the first kick and snare drum pattern our original drummer ever learned. He was responsible for the first song I ever wrote (for The Bluetones - which they recorded); the person who organised most of our early gigs, and the very first person outside the group ever to hear - and pass judgement on - our first record, "She's Not There"(he loved it). Years later, he became founder member, with me, of Argent; and then, for eighteen years, throughout a hugely successful American period for them, was bass player for The Kinks.
Jim, always a hugely sought after musician, had also had long stints as bass player with both The Mike Cotton Sound and the Lonnie Donegan band.

When Colin and I put together our second incarnation in late 1999, our first phone call was to Jim. He gave us absolutely unflagging commitment, loyalty and unbelievable energy for eighteen years, and our gratitude is beyond measure.

To the end, Jim's life was dedicated to music. He was unfailingly committed to local music - an ever present member of the local scene in St.Albans, where he had spent his whole life. Often, Colin and I would compare notes a couple of days immediately after a U.S. tour and discuss how long it would take us to recover from an intense, fantastic but exhausting couple of months - only to find out and marvel that Jim had already been out playing with local bands (often, but not always, with "The Rodford Files", made up of talented family members) or giving charity shows or lectures on the St.Albans music scene.
His dedication was rewarded with Doctorate Of Music, granted to him last year by the University Of Hertfordshire.
Jim was a wonderful person, loved by everybody. When Colin and I, shocked and hardly able to talk, shared the news this morning, Colin said " I've never heard anyone say a bad word about him..."
He will be unbelievably missed. Goodnight and God Bless dear friend. - Rod x

Kinks: the kinks- you really got me

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the kinks- you really got me

the kinks- you really got me
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The Zombies: The Zombies feat. Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent - She's Not There

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The Zombies feat. Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent - She's Not There

In January 2011 The Zombies performed a superb set to 120 enraptured guests packed into Metropolis Studios in We...
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She won her Academy Award for 'Written on the Wind' and had memorable roles in 'The Big Sleep,' 'Man of a Thousand Faces' and 'Too Much, Too Soon.'

Dorothy Malone, the matriarch of TV's Peyton Place who received an Oscar for playing the sex-crazed sister of playboy Robert Stack in the 1956 melodrama Written on the Wind, has died. She was 92.

The big-eyed, dark-haired beauty, who flourished in Hollywood soon after she went platinum blonde in the mid-1950s, died Friday morning in Dallas, her manager, Burt Shapiro, told The Hollywood Reporter. She had been ill for the past few years.

Malone also starred in the biopic Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), playing opposite James Cagney as Lon Chaney's emotionally charred first wife, and was the moody and tempestuous Diana Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon (1958), with Errol Flynn as her father, acting legend John Barrymore.

She was lots of fun as Dean Martin's love interest in the Lewis & Martin musical comedy Artists and Models(1955). And for her final credit, she had a brief but memorable cameo in Basic Instinct (1992) as a released murderess befriended by Sharon Stone.

Earlier, Malone stirred the film noir faithful with a brief scene in The Big Sleep (1946), when, as a bookstore proprietress, she closed up her shop, seductively removed her glasses and shared a bit of whiskey with Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) on a rainy night.

For millions of Americans, however, the Dallas-reared Malone was best known for playing overprotective single mother Constance MacKenzie on ABC's Peyton Place, the first primetime serialized drama on U.S. television.

The half-hour show, which ran for five seasons on ABC from 1964-69 — and three times a week at its peak — was based on the sensational 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious and preceded by a 1957 movie that starred Lana Turner as Constance. The TV version was one of the first to deal frankly with sex and as such didn't air until 9:30 p.m., when the kids were presumable asleep.

Malone, whose daughter on Peyton Place was played by Frank Sinatra's soon-to-be wife Mia Farrow, suffered a pulmonary embolism while working on the series in 1965, and she underwent seven hours of life-saving surgery after more than 30 blood clots were found in her lungs. Lola Albright temporarily replaced her on the show.

After complaining her character was being slighted in storylines, Malone was written out of the series in 1968. She sued 20th Century Fox for $1.6 million, and the case was settled. She returned to the franchise in the 1977 NBC telefilm Murder in Peyton Place.

In Douglas Sirk's steamy Technicolor masterwork Written on the Wind (1956), Malone lit up the big screen as Marylee Hadley, the sexy but spiteful sister of off-the-wagon oil heir Stack who lusts after Rock Hudson's character — but he's in love with Stack's pregnant wife (her Big Sleep co-star Lauren Bacall). Jack Lemmon presented her with her supporting actress Oscar at the Pantages.

She was back with Sirk, Hudson and Stack in The Tarnished Angels (1957); co-starred with Robert Taylor in Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957); played opposite Fred MacMurray in Quantez (1957); and starred in Robert Aldrich's The Last Sunset (1961) as a cattleman's wife engaged in messy romantic entanglements with Hudson, Kirk Douglas and Joseph Cotton.

Dorothy Eloise Maloney was born in Chicago on Jan. 30, 1925. As a child, her family moved to Dallas, and she modeled and signed a contract with RKO Radio Pictures at age 18 while attending Southern Methodist University and planning to become a nurse.

After that deal lapsed, Warner Bros. noticed her, shortened her name from Maloney to Malone and placed her in Howard Hawks' noir detective thriller The Big Sleep.

After she lowers the shade on the front door of the Acme Book Shop and removes a clip from her hair, she tells Bogart, "Looks like we're closed for the rest of the afternoon," as the scene fades to black.

Hawks said later that he put the scene in the movie "just because the girl was so damn pretty."

Malone also stood out in Battle Cry (1955), a World War II story in which she played a lonely, seductive wife who falls in love with a young Marine (Tab Hunter), and became a sought-after leading lady.

Her film credits also include Janie Gets Married (1946), Night and Day (1946), Two Guys From Texas (1948), One Sunday Afternoon (1948), Colorado Territory (1949), South of St. Louis (1949), The Killer That Stalked New York(1950), Young at Heart (1954), Loophole (1954), Pushover (1954), Sincerely Yours (1955), Fast and the Furious(1955), Pillars of the Sky (1956), Warlock (1959), Beach Party (1963) and Winter Kills (1979).

She performed on live TV during the 1950s when she was between motion pictures. She did installments of Omnibus (with Jack Benny), Four Star Playhouse and Fireside Theatre and guested on The Rosemary Clooney Show. She later appeared on such series as The Untouchables, Ironside, Rich Man, Poor Man and Matt Houston.

In 1959, Malone married French actor Jacques Bergerac (the former husband of Ginger Rogers and fourth of her five) while she was in Hong Kong filming The Last Voyage (1960). That marriage ended in a contested and very public divorce.

She married businessman Robert Tomarkin in April 1969, but that union was annulled within weeks after she claimed he was out to swindle her. (Years later, he pleaded guilty to grand larceny and served time in jail.) A final marriage, to Dallas motel executive Charles Huston Bell, lasted from 1971-74..

Survivors include her two daughters with Bergerac, Mimi and Diane. Her younger brother Will died at age 16 in 1955 when he was struck by lightning on a Dallas golf course.

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