OBITUARY

Alex Hassilev

JULY 11, 1932 – APRIL 21, 2024

Alex Hassilev, age 91, of North Hollywood, California passed away on Sunday, April 21, 2024.BornJuly 11, 1932
Paris, FranceDiedApril 21, 2024 (aged 91)
Alex Hassilev (July 11, 1932 – April 21, 2024) was an American folk musician who was one of the founding members of the group The Limeliters. Educated at Harvard and the University of Chicago, he was also an actor with a number of film and television appearances to his credit. As a musician he played the guitar and the banjo and was fluent in several languages. After retiring from the Limeliters, Hassilev remained active in the field of record production. He died on April 21, 2024, at the age of 91.[

Of Russian heritage, Hassilev was born in France, but educated at the University of Chicago and Harvard. He spoke fluent French, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian and "could sing in over a dozen languages".[2] After a tour of duty in the U.S. Army, Hassilev did some acting and was credited with a role as singer-guitarist in the 1959 movie A Bucket of Blood.[3] 

Spouse

Ginger Diane StagnerJanuary 22, 1960 - November 1, 1963 (divorced, 1 child)
His wife is Ginger Diane Stagner (22 January 1960 - 1 November 1963) ( divorced) ( 1 child)


Between 1961 and 1963, the Limeliters made many appearances on television, recorded several albums and toured exhaustively.[6] Early in the career of the Limeliters, Hassilev said that the group didn't perform "just any old folk songs ... [but the kind] ... that might be looked on as a form of group therapy for unashamed eggheads." In the same article, however, he did confirm that the Limeliters were "collectors of authentic folk music ... [maintaining] ... that the real function of the folk song is a social function; serving as a comment, as a kind of group reflection on events".[7]

The original group did get back together temporarily to record an album, Time to Gather Seeds in 1966.





In the late 1950s, Hassilev joined Glenn Yarbrough as a lessee of a club in Aspen, Colorado, called the Limelite, and later the two performed regularly.


The original Limeliters (Lou Gottlieb, Alex Hassilev and Glenn Yarbrough) had numerous reunion tours throughout the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Alex and Lou wanted to keep the Limeliters together on a more full-time basis. They brought on tenor Red Grammer, who stayed with the Limeliters for the next 10 years.

1963

When the Limeliters first broke up at the height of their fame in 1963, Alex Hassilev turned to acting and operating a recording studio in his home, producing records for a variety of other artists as well as the Limeliters. He appeared in the 1966 movie The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming as Hrushevsky, a Soviet sailor. For over thirty years he has been a successful record producer and songwriter, and today he continues to produce many of the Limeliters recordings.

Harvested from IMDB - April 27, 2024.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

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