Rudy Ray Moore, 81, of diabetes complications:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/21/obit.moore.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
My first SF roommate had a friend, Dee Dee Russell, with a public-access TV show. She devoted part of an episode to a celebration of Rudy Ray as Dolemite; I believe Mark saw it at some gathering at my place in '96 or '97. Classic.
I have friends who can quote long bits from Dolemite routines. We used to play Rudy Ray on camping trips, sitting around the camp fire. Good time. RIP.
I've never seen
Dolemite, but I'm fascinated by its influence -- this is a movie that truly existed on the fringe of "blaxploitation"; most white people in the '70s had heard of
Sweet Sweetback, for example (despite its limited release), but
Dolemite barely played in *any* theaters, yet black people of a certain age have all seen it. I did not become aware of
Dolemite until many years later -- and I was a film junkie. It became a white-hipster fave on video.