Late Legends
This is a list of those film and TV legends removed from the Living Legends list since the latter's creation on Aug. 14, 2013. This list also includes those legends who *should* have been on that list but I failed to add them prior to their respective deaths.
First here are some of those deceased showbiz personalities who made their film or television debuts less than 50 years prior to their deaths but otherwise would have been on the "Living Legends" list:
R.I.P. producer Saul Zaentz (1921 – 2014); actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967 – 2014); writer/director/actor Harold Ramis (1944 – 2014); comedian David Brenner (1936 – 2014); actor Bob Hoskins (1942 – 2014); actor/comedian Robin Williams (1951 – 2014); composer/conductor James Horner (1953 – 2015); producer Jerry Weintraub (1937 – 2015); writer/director/producer Wes Craven (1939 – 2015); actor/director Alan Rickman (1946 – 2016); producer Michael White (1936 – 2016); actor Ken Howard (1944 – 2016); comedian/actor/writer Garry Shandling (1949 – 2016); singer/songwriter/musician/actor Prince (1958 – 2016); director/screenwriter/producer Michael Cimino (1939 – 2016); filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (1940 – 2016); writer/director/producer Héctor Babenco (1946 – 2016); director/writer/producer Curtis Hanson (1945 – 2016); actress/writer Carrie Fisher (1956 – 2016); actor/director Bill Paxton (1955 – 2017); director/producer Jonathan Demme (1944 – 2017); actor Powers Boothe (1948 – 2017); actor John Heard (1946 – 2017); playwright/screenwriter/actor Sam Shepard (1943 – 2017); actor Bernie Casey (1939 – 2017); writer/director/producer Hugh Wilson (1943 – 2018); actress Sridevi (1963 – 2018); actor David Ogden Stiers (1942 – 2018); director Claude Lanzmann (1925 – 2018); actor Ezzatolah Entezami (1924 – 2018); producer Raymond Chow (1927 – 2018); actor/writer Kader Khan (1937 – 2018); producer Andrew G. Vajna (1944 – 2019); actress Georgia Engel (1948 – 2019); director/writer/producer John Singleton (1968 – 2019); actor Peter Mayhew (1944 – 2019); voice actress Russi Taylor (1944 – 2019); actor/comedian John Witherspoon (1942 – 2019); actor Brian Dennehy (1938 – 2020); actor Irrfan Khan (1967 – 2020); director Joel Schumacher (1939 – 2020); filmmaker Alan Parker (1944 – 2020); actor Chadwick Boseman (1976 – 2020); sound editor Alan Robert Murray (1954 – 2021); comedian/writer/actor Paul Mooney (1941 – 2021); comedian/writer/actor Norm Macdonald (1959 – 2021); comedian/actor/director/TV host Bob Saget (1956 – 2022); singer/actor Meat Loaf (1947 – 2022); comedian/actor Louie Anderson (1953 – 2022); actor William Hurt (1950 – 2022); comedian/actor Gilbert Gottfried (1955 – 2022); actor Fred Ward (1942 – 2022); actor Ray Liotta (1954 – 2022); actor Kevin Conroy (1955 – 2022); comedian Gallagher (1946 – 2022); composer Angelo Badalamenti (1937 – 2022); actor Treat Williams (1951 – 2023); actor/comedian/writer/producer Paul Reubens (1952 – 2023); actor Tom Wilkinson (1948 – 2023)
And now here is the main "Late Legends" list...
First here are some of those deceased showbiz personalities who made their film or television debuts less than 50 years prior to their deaths but otherwise would have been on the "Living Legends" list:
R.I.P. producer Saul Zaentz (1921 – 2014); actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967 – 2014); writer/director/actor Harold Ramis (1944 – 2014); comedian David Brenner (1936 – 2014); actor Bob Hoskins (1942 – 2014); actor/comedian Robin Williams (1951 – 2014); composer/conductor James Horner (1953 – 2015); producer Jerry Weintraub (1937 – 2015); writer/director/producer Wes Craven (1939 – 2015); actor/director Alan Rickman (1946 – 2016); producer Michael White (1936 – 2016); actor Ken Howard (1944 – 2016); comedian/actor/writer Garry Shandling (1949 – 2016); singer/songwriter/musician/actor Prince (1958 – 2016); director/screenwriter/producer Michael Cimino (1939 – 2016); filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (1940 – 2016); writer/director/producer Héctor Babenco (1946 – 2016); director/writer/producer Curtis Hanson (1945 – 2016); actress/writer Carrie Fisher (1956 – 2016); actor/director Bill Paxton (1955 – 2017); director/producer Jonathan Demme (1944 – 2017); actor Powers Boothe (1948 – 2017); actor John Heard (1946 – 2017); playwright/screenwriter/actor Sam Shepard (1943 – 2017); actor Bernie Casey (1939 – 2017); writer/director/producer Hugh Wilson (1943 – 2018); actress Sridevi (1963 – 2018); actor David Ogden Stiers (1942 – 2018); director Claude Lanzmann (1925 – 2018); actor Ezzatolah Entezami (1924 – 2018); producer Raymond Chow (1927 – 2018); actor/writer Kader Khan (1937 – 2018); producer Andrew G. Vajna (1944 – 2019); actress Georgia Engel (1948 – 2019); director/writer/producer John Singleton (1968 – 2019); actor Peter Mayhew (1944 – 2019); voice actress Russi Taylor (1944 – 2019); actor/comedian John Witherspoon (1942 – 2019); actor Brian Dennehy (1938 – 2020); actor Irrfan Khan (1967 – 2020); director Joel Schumacher (1939 – 2020); filmmaker Alan Parker (1944 – 2020); actor Chadwick Boseman (1976 – 2020); sound editor Alan Robert Murray (1954 – 2021); comedian/writer/actor Paul Mooney (1941 – 2021); comedian/writer/actor Norm Macdonald (1959 – 2021); comedian/actor/director/TV host Bob Saget (1956 – 2022); singer/actor Meat Loaf (1947 – 2022); comedian/actor Louie Anderson (1953 – 2022); actor William Hurt (1950 – 2022); comedian/actor Gilbert Gottfried (1955 – 2022); actor Fred Ward (1942 – 2022); actor Ray Liotta (1954 – 2022); actor Kevin Conroy (1955 – 2022); comedian Gallagher (1946 – 2022); composer Angelo Badalamenti (1937 – 2022); actor Treat Williams (1951 – 2023); actor/comedian/writer/producer Paul Reubens (1952 – 2023); actor Tom Wilkinson (1948 – 2023)
And now here is the main "Late Legends" list...
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- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Mark Damon was born on 22 April 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for House of Usher (1960), Monster (2003) and 11:14 (2003). He was married to Margaret Markov and Barbara Frey. He died on 12 May 2024 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Actor / Producer; d. May 12, 2024- Producer
- Director
- Actor
Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University, but, while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a total of three days as an engineer at US Electrical Motors, which cemented his growing realization that engineering wasn't for him. He quit and took a job as a messenger for 20th Century Fox, eventually rising to the position of story analyst.
After a term spent studying modern English literature at England's Oxford University and a year spent bopping around Europe, Corman returned to the US, intent on becoming a screenwriter/producer. He sold his first script in 1953, "The House in the Sea," which was eventually filmed and released as Highway Dragnet (1954).
Horrified by the disconnect between his vision for the project and the film that eventually emerged, Corman took his salary from the picture, scraped together a little capital and set himself up as a producer, turning out Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). Corman used his next picture, The Fast and the Furious (1954), to finagle a multi-picture deal with a fledgling company called American Releasing Corp. (ARC). It would soon change its name to American-International Pictures (AIP) and with Corman as its major talent behind the camera, would become one of the most successful independent studios in cinema history.
With no formal training, Corman first took to the director's chair with Five Guns West (1955) and over the next 15 years directed 53 films, mostly for AIP. He proved himself a master of quick, inexpensive productions, turning out several movies as director and/or producer in each of those years--nine movies in 1957, and nine again in 1958. His personal speed record was set with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), which he shot in two days and a night.
In the early 1960s, he began to take on more ambitious projects, gaining a great deal of critical praise (and commercial success) from a series of adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories, most of them starring Vincent Price. His film The Intruder (1962) was a serious look at racial integration in the South, starring a very young William Shatner. Critically praised and winning a prize at the Venice Film Festival, the movie became Corman's first--and, for many years, only--commercial flop. He called its failure "the greatest disappointment in my career." As a consequence of the experience, Corman opted to avoid such direct "message" films in the future and resolved to express his social and political concerns beneath the surface of overt entertainments.
Those messages became more radical as the 1960s wound to a close and after AIP began re-editing his films without his knowledge or consent, he left the company, retiring from directing to concentrate on production and distribution through his own newly formed company, New World Pictures. In addition to low-budget exploitation flicks, New World also distributed distinguished art cinema from around the world, becoming the American distributor for the films of Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, François Truffaut and others. Selling off New World in the 1980s, Corman has continued his work through various companies in the years since--Concorde Pictures, New Horizons, Millenium Pictures, New Concorde. In 1990, after the publication of his biography "How I Made A Hundred Movies in Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime"--one of the all-time great books on filmmaking--he returned to directing but only for a single film, Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
With hundreds of movies to his credit, Roger Corman is one of the most prolific producers in the history of the film medium and one of the most successful--in his nearly six decades in the business, only about a dozen of his films have failed to turn a profit. Corman has been dubbed, among other things, "The King of the Cult Film" and "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and his filmography is packed with hundreds of remarkably entertaining films in addition to dozens of genuine cult classics. Corman has displayed an unrivaled eye for talent over the years--it could almost be said that it would be easier to name the top directors, actors, writers and creators in Hollywood who DIDN'T get their start with him than those who did. Among those he mentored are Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante and Sandra Bullock. His influence on modern American cinema is almost incalculable. In 2009, he was honored with an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.Director / Producer / Actor; d. May 9, 2024- Stunts
- Actress
Jeannie Epper was born on 27 January 1941 in Glendale, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Romancing the Stone (1984), Quarantine (2008) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). She was married to Tim Kimack. She died on 5 May 2024 in Simi Valley, California, USA.Stuntwoman / Actress; d. May 5, 2024- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Terry Carter, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City. He attended Hunter College, Boston University - School of Communications, U.C.L.A. - School of Theater, Film, and Television, and St. John's University School of Law. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Northeastern University (1983).
Carter studied acting with Howard DaSilva, Bret Warren, Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, and Stella Adler. He studied playwriting with Arnold Perl. He studied directing with Alan Schneider.Actor; d. April 23, 2024- Music Department
- Sound Department
- Soundtrack
Dan Wallin was born on 13 March 1927 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is known for Super 8 (2011), Star Trek (2009) and Howard the Duck (1986). He died on 10 April 2024 in Hawaii, USA.Sound Engineer; d. April 10, 2024- Orenthal James Simpson, was an American former football running back, broadcaster, actor, advertising spokesman.
Simpson attended the University of Southern California, where he played football for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He played professionally as a running back in the NFL for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977. He also played for the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He holds the record for the single season yards-per-game average, which stands at 143.1. He was the only player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in the 14-game regular season NFL format.
Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. After retiring from football, he began new careers in acting and football broadcasting.Football Player / Actor; d. April 10, 2024 - The epitome of poise, charm, style and grace, beautiful brunette Barbara Rush was born in Denver, Colorado in 1927 and enrolled at the University of California before working with the University Players and taking acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse. It didn't take long for talent scouts to spot her and, following a play performance, Paramount quickly signed her up in 1950, making her debut with The Goldbergs (1950).
Just prior to this, she had met fellow actor Jeffrey Hunter, a handsome newcomer who would later become a "beefcake" bobbysoxer idol over at Fox. The two fell in love and married in December 1950. Soon, they were on their way to becoming one of Hollywood's most beautiful and photogenic young couples. Their son Christopher was born in 1952.
While at Paramount, she was decorative in such assembly-line fare as When Worlds Collide (1951), Quebec (1951) and Flaming Feather (1952). She later co-starred opposite some of Hollywood's top leading males: James Mason, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, Dean Martin, Paul Newman, Richard Burton and Kirk Douglas. In most cases, she played brittle wives, conniving "other women" or socialite girlfriend types.
Despite the "A" list movies Barbara was piling up, the one single role that could put her over the top never showed its face. By the early 1960s, her film career started to decline. She married publicist Warren Cowan in 1959 and bore a second child, Claudia Cowan, in 1964. TV became a viable source of income for her, appearing in scores of guest parts on the more popular shows of the time while co-starring in standard mini-movie dramas.
She even had a bit of fun playing a "guest villainess" on the Batman (1966) series as temptress "Nora Clavicle". The stage also became a strong focus for Barbara, earning the Sarah Siddons Award for her starring role in "Forty Carats". She made her Broadway debut in the one-woman showcase "A Woman of Independent Means", which also subsequently earned her the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award during its tour. Other showcases included "Private Lives", "Same Time, Next Year", "The Night of the Iguana" and "Steel Magnolias". Rush continued to occasionally appear onscreen, most recently in a recurring role on TV's 7th Heaven (1996). She died on March 31, 2024, aged 97.Actress; d. March 31, 2024 - Actor
- Producer
- Director
Louis Gossett Jr. was one of the most respected and beloved actors on stage, screen and television and was also an accomplished writer, producer and director. Off-screen, he was a social activist, educator, and author dedicated to enriching the lives of others. He was the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his unforgettable performance as drill Sergeant Emil Foley in "An Officer and a Gentleman".
Among his other awards were an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of Fiddler in the groundbreaking ABC series "Roots", a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for "The Josephine Baker Story" and a Golden Globe for "An Officer and a Gentleman". He was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, one Academy Award, five Images Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards and in 1992 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He received numerous other honors throughout his illustrious career.
His film debut was in the 1961 classic movie "A Raisin in the Sun" with Sidney Poitier. Other film credits include "The Deep," "Blue Chips," "Daddy's Little Girls," Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too?," "Firewalker," "Jaws-3D," "Enemy Mine" and "Iron Eagle" 1-4, among many others. Television credits include "Extant," "Madam Secretary," "Boardwalk Empire," "Family Guy", and "ER", among dozens of others.
Gossett authored the bestselling autobiography "An Actor and a Gentleman", recounting the challenges and triumphs of his 50+ year career. Gossett was recognized as much for his humanitarian efforts as for his accomplishments as an actor. In 2006, he founded The Eracism Foundation which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating racism. The foundation provides young adults with tools to live a racially diverse and culturally inclusive life. Programs focus on fostering cultural diversity, historical enrichment, education and anti-violence initiatives.
Gossett was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and made his stage debut when he was 17 years old in "Take a Giant Step", which was selected as one of the 10 best Broadway shows of 1953 by the New York Times. He had two sons and resided in Malibu until his death in Santa Monica, California, in 2024, aged 87.Actor; d. March 29, 2024- Actor
- Producer
- Stunts
Wonderfully talented, heavyset character actor (from New York, but regularly playing Southerners) M. Emmet Walsh has made a solid career of playing corrupt cops, deadly crooks, and zany comedic roles since the early 1970s.
Michael Emmet Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, to Agnes Katharine (Sullivan) and Harry Maurice Walsh, a customs agent. He is of Irish descent. Walsh first appeared in a few fairly forgettable roles both on TV and onscreen before cropping up in several well remembered films, including a courtroom police officer in What's Up, Doc? (1972), as the weird Dickie Dunn in Slap Shot (1977), and as a loony sniper hunting Steve Martin in The Jerk (1979). On-screen demand heated up for him in the early 1980s with attention-grabbing work in key hits, including Brubaker (1980), Reds (1981), and as Harrison Ford's police chief in the futuristic thriller Blade Runner (1982). Walsh then turned in a stellar performance as the sleazy, double-crossing private detective in the Joel Coen and Ethan Coen film noir Blood Simple (1984), and showed up again for the Coens as a loud-mouthed sheet-metal worker bugging Nicolas Cage in the hilarious Raising Arizona (1987). As Walsh moved into his fifties and beyond, Hollywood continued to offer him plenty of work, and he has appeared in over 50 movies since passing the half-century mark. His consistent ability to turn out highly entertaining portrayals led film critic Roger Ebert to coin the "Stanton-Walsh Rule," which states that any film starring Walsh or Harry Dean Stanton has to have some merit. And the "M" stands for Michael!Actor; d. March 19, 2024- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
Singer, composer, actor and author, educated at Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson High School and a student of saxophone and piano. Between 1958 and 1960 he served in the US Army and was a vocalist with the US Army Band and Orchestra based in Fort Myers, Virginia. After he was discharged, he commenced his singing career on television, night clubs and recordings, both as a single performer and with his wife Eydie Gormé. He appeared in the mid-1960s Broadway musical "What Makes Sammy Run?". Joining ASCAP in 1957, his popular-song compositions include "After Midnight Waltz"; "All Of My Life"; "At a Time Like This"; "Can't Get Over the Bossa Nova"; "The Chase"; "Damila"; "Hi-Ho, Steve-O"; "Hurry Home for Christmas"; "I Gotta Run": "I'll Follow You"; "I'll Never Be Alone"; "It's Easier Said than Done"; "Just For Now"; "Laugh My Face"; "Let Me Be the First"; " A Little Bit Bluer"; "Oh, How You Lied"; "Only You"; "Pity, Pity"; "The Second Time Around"; "The Shortest Love Song"; "Sittin' on the Fence of Life"; "Tall People"; "Tell Me"; "Time to Say Goodnight"; "Two on the Aisle"; "What's the Use of Talking"; "When You're in Love"; "While There's Still Time"; "The World of You"; "You Better Run"; and "Your Kisses Kill Me".Singer / Actor; d. March 7, 2024- Writer
- Director
Edward Bond was born on 18 July 1934 in London, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for Blow-Up (1966), Walkabout (1971) and Laughter in the Dark (1969). He was married to Elisabeth Pablé. He died on 3 March 2024 in Cambridge, England, UK.Writer; d. March 3, 2024- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paolo Taviani studied liberal arts at the University of Pisa, becoming interested in the cinema after seeing Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). After writing and directing short films and plays with his brother Vittorio, he made his first feature in 1962. The brothers have continued to work together ever since, with each directing alternate scenes with the other watching but never interfering.Director / Screenwriter; d. February 29, 2024- Charles Dierkop was born on 11 September 1936 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for The Sting (1973), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). He was married to Joan Florence Addis. He died on 25 February 2024 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Actor; d. February 25, 2024
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Elegant, dark-haired Parisian Micheline Presle (billed in the U.S. as Micheline Prelle) was the daughter of a businessman whose surname was Chassagne. Taking acting classes as a teen, she was discovered by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and cast in Jeunes filles en détresse (1939) (portraying Jacqueline Presle, whose last name she chose as her own marquee name). Very early into her film career, she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as the "most promising young actress" in French cinema.
While Micheline proceeded to make movies during the Occupation with such offerings as Four Flights to Love (1939) (dual role), La comédie du bonheur (1940), Foolish Husbands (1941), La nuit fantastique (1942), Twilight (1944), and Paris Frills (1945), she was regarded as an important young French star in the post-war years when she appeared in the classic films Angel and Sinner (1945) and, in particular, Devil in the Flesh (1947), both gaining her world-wide notice.
After a brief post-war marriage to Michel Lefort, Micheline's second marriage to US actor-turned-producer William Marshall in 1949 led her to attempt Hollywood pictures. Receiving a 20th Century-Fox contract, none of the those pictures, which included Under My Skin (1950), American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950) and Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951), the last one produced and directed by husband Marshall, captured the hearts of American audiences despite co-starring opposite Hollywood's top male superstars stars at the time -- John Garfield, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn.
Divorced in 1954, Micheline never truly adjusted to the Hollywood way of life and returned quite willingly to Paris with her daughter, the future actress/director Tonie Marshall. She would, however, return briefly to the US in the early 1960s to appear in the Dee/Darin comedy fluff If a Man Answers (1962) and the spy drama The Prize (1963).
The supremely talented Micheline continued to reign supreme back in Europe and appeared frequently on the stage as well. Some of her post-Hollywood films (mid-1950's on) included House of Ricordi (1954), Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954) (as Madame de Pompadour), Her Bridal Night (1956), Demoniac (1957), Mistress of the World (1960), Imperial Venus (1962) (as Napoleon's Josephine), Dark Purpose (1964), The Nun (1966), King of Hearts (1966), Donkey Skin (1970), The Legend of Frenchie King (1971), A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973), A Young Emmanuelle (1976), Démons de midi (1979), Thieves After Dark (1983), Good Weather, But Stormy Late This Afternoon (1986), High Finance Woman (1990), Fanfan (1993), Les Misérables (1995) and Diary of a Seducer (1996).
Into the millennium, Micheline graced a large number of French films such as Le coeur à l'ouvrage (2000), Charmant garçon (2001), Le diable dans la boîte (1977), Transfixed (2001), France Boutique (2003) (directed by daughter Tonie), Grabuge! (2005), Plein sud (2009), Just Like Brothers (2012) and her last, an unbilled part in Sex, Love & Therapy (2014).
Nominated for a supporting actress Cesar Award for her role as in the Venice Film Festival winner I Want to Go Home (1989), Micheline received an honorary César Award in 2004.Actress; d. February 21, 2024- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
Born in New York City. Made many award-winning documentaries including The Eskimo: Fight for Life (1970) and a documentary about the civil war in Angola. In 1978 he won the Camera d'Or at Cannes and Best Feature at San Sebastian for Alambrista! (1977).Filmmaker; d. February 6, 2024- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
Mickey Gilbert was born on 17 April 1936 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an assistant director and actor, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Waterworld (1995) and The Blues Brothers (1980). He was married to Yvonne Yrigoyen. He died on 5 February 2024 in Camarillo, California, USA.Stuntman / Stunt Coordinator / Second Unit Director; d. February 5, 2024- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Don Murray is an American actor. He is best known for playing Governor Breck, the authoritarian ruler in the science fiction film "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" (1972).
Murray was born in 1929 to Dennis Aloisius Murray and his wife Ethel Cook. Dennis worked as a dance director and stage manager, while Ethel was a singer. Ethel Cook served as a performer for the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931), an elaborate theatrical revue production in Broadway.
Murray attended the East Rockaway High School in East Rockaway, a village of Nassau County, New York. During his high school years, Murray served as a member of the school's football team, its track team, and its glee club. He graduated in 1947, at the age of 18. He later attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, New York. He graduated in 1951.
Murray made his Broadway debut in 1951, when cast as Jack Hunter in a stage version of the play "The Rose Tattoo" (1951) by Tennessee Williams (1911-1983). In the play, Hunter is a sailor and the boyfriend of Rosa Delle Rose, the daughter of the play's female protagonist.
Murray's stage career was interrupted when he was drafted into the United States military. He registered as a conscientious objector during the Korean War (1950-1953), as he was a member of the Brethren Church. The Brethren Church is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, which strictly adheres to pacifism and non-violence. Murray was assigned to alternative service in Europe. He was honorably discharged from the military in 1954, and resumed his acting career.
In 1956, Murray made his film debut in the romantic drama film "Bus Stop". The film was an adaptation of a 1955 theatrical play by William Inge (1913-1973). Murray was cast in the role of Beauregard "Beau" Decker, a naive, overly enthusiastic, and socially inept cowboy from Montana. The film depicts Beau's infatuation with young singer Cherie (played by Marylin Monroe), which causes him to first kidnap her and then coerce her into marrying him. He is tragically unaware that Cherie barely knows him, and that his love is unrequited. The film was a box office success, and Murray was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1956, however the Oscar for that year was won by rival actor Anthony Quinn (1915-2001) for his role in Lust for LIfe.
Murray's successful debut helped him receive offers for more film roles. He was cast as Charlie Samson in the drama film "The Bachelor Party" (1957). Samson is the film's main character, a hard-working bookkeeper who struggles with the temptation to cheat on his wife. He was then cast as morphine-addict Johnny Pope in "A Hatful of Rain" (1957), a film about the then-innovative topic of drug addiction.
In 1958, Murray played in his first Western film, "From Hell to Texas". In the film, he was cast as Tod Lohman, an impoverished ranch hand who is suspected of murdering the son of a powerful cattle baron. The film deals with Lohman being hunted by the cattle baron's other son and his mercenaries, who seek revenge.
Murray's second Western film was "These Thousand Hills" (1959). The film depicts the rags-to-riches story of Albert Gallatin "Lat" Evans (played by Murray). But as Lat grows richer, he becomes a colder and harsher man. Leading him to betray his own lover, to alienate his only friend, and to marry a banker's daughter for her money.
Murray was also cast in a lead role in the war film "Shake Hands with the Devil" (1959), which depicts the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). During the 1960s, Murray continued to appear regularly in films, often cast in period dramas. He played Wild Bill Hickok in the The Plainsman (1966), and ambitious ruler Justinian in "The Viking Queen" (1967).
In 1968, Murray gained a co-starring role in the Western television series "The Outcasts" (1968-1969). He played the character Earl Corey, an American Civil War veteran and formerly wealthy slave owner. In the series, Corey was cheated out of his wealth by a treasonous brother, and started making a living as a bounty hunter. He teams up with fellow bounty hunter Jemal David (played by Otis Young), an African-American freedman. The two men are not friends, but they are both social outcasts and need each other's skills to gain a profit. The series was considered groundbreaking for featuring an interracial team of characters, but was criticized for being overly violent. The series lasted only 26 episodes.
In 1972, Murray played the major role of Governor Breck in"Conquest of the Planet of the Apes". Breck is the authoritarian ruler of a human civilization using apes as a slave force, and he is the owner of the film's heroic protagonist Caesar. He eventually fails to defeat a slave revolt, and gets captured alive by his own slave. The film earned 9.7 million dollars in theatrical rentals at the North American box office.
Murray was offered the role of Breck in the film's immediate sequel, "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" (1973), but he refused to return. He reportedly felt that there was no fun in playing the tyrant twice. A character called Governor Kolp (played by Severn Darden) was introduced in the film as Breck's replacement.
In 1975, Murray starred in the thriller film "Deadly Hero", as the villainous protagonist Officer Lacy. In the film, Lacy is a veteran police officer of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) who has been demoted for violent tendencies and being overly trigger-happy. While on duty, Lacy kills the common mugger "Rabbit" (played by James Earl Jones) and briefly gains a heroic reputation. But a female witness to the death has seen that Lacy is a cold-blooded murderer, and that Rabbit was killed after disarming himself and surrendering to Lacy. Lacy decides to kill the witness in order to protect his reputation. The film was a box-office flop as film critics blamed its overly pessimistic attitude toward law enforcement. Among the few critics who actually liked the film was Gene Siskel (1946-1999), writing for the newspaper "Chicago Tribune".
In the late 1970s, Murray was reduced to mostly appearing in television films. In 1979, Murray had a career comeback when cast in the major role of Sid Fairgate in the soap opera "Knots Landing" (1979-1993). Fairgate was depicted as the owner of used car dealership Knots Landing Motors, and pater familias to a large family. Murray played this role until 1981, when he left the series due to a salary dispute. His character was written out as having died during a surgery.
During the 1980s, Murray had few appearances in theatrical films. They included the romantic drama "Endless Love" (1981), the mystery film "I Am the Cheese" (1983), the post-apocalyptic science fiction film "Radioactive Dreams" (1985), the time-travel film "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), the spy film "Scorpion" (1986), the reincarnation-themed fantasy film "Made in Heaven" (1987), and the ghost film "Ghosts Can't Do It" (1989).
In 1989, Murray gained a new co-starring role in the comedy-drama television series "Brand New Life" (1989-1990), playing the character of wealthy lawyer Roger Gibbons. In the series Gibbons marries novice court reporter Barbara McCray (played by Barbara Eden). Each of them has three children from previous marriages, and they now struggle to raise 6 kids. The series' creator and show-runner was young screenwriter Chris Carter (1956-), and its themes were mostly based on the old sitcom "The Brady Bunch" (1969-1974). The series was not successful, and only a pilot and 5 regular episodes were ever broadcast.
Murray next had a recurring role in the short-lived comedy-drama television series "Sons and Daughters" (1991), concerning the struggles of a single mother who tries to maintain the peace between the members of a large extended family. The series only lasted for 13 episodes, but 6 of them remained unaired at the time of its cancellation.
For the rest of the 1990s, Murray had guest star roles in various television series, and appeared in a hand full of television films. During the early 2000s, he had roles in three theatrical films: the romantic comedy "Internet Love" (2000), the stalker-themed thriller "Island Pray" (2001), and the comedy film "Elvis is Alive" (2001). In 2001, the 72-year-old Murray went into retirement.
Murray returned to acting in 2017, when offered the recurring role of insurance-company executive Bushnell Mullins in the third season of the mystery series "Twin Peaks" (1990-1991, 2017). Mullins was the boss of insurance agent Douglas "Dougie" Jones, one of several doppelgangers to FBI agent Dale Cooper (the series' main protagonist). The season was critically praised but there were no plans for a fourth season.
In 2019, Murray reached his 90th year and was still appearing in some films and on television into 2021.Actor; d. February 2, 2024- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Carl Weathers was born on January 14, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana. A famous and successful football star at San Diego State, he played with the Oakland Raiders and retired from the sport in 1974, in order to give full attention to his goal: to be a real actor.
Weathers first played small parts in two blaxploitation flicks, Friday Foster (1975) (in which he played "Yarbro") and Bucktown (1975) (playing "Hambone"), both made in 1975 and directed by Arthur Marks. However, his big break came the following year when producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff chose him to play "Apollo Creed" in the blockbuster "sleeper" Rocky (1976) (real-life boxing legend Ken Norton was originally signed for the part, but it eventually went to Weathers). He went on to play "Creed" in three other "Rocky" movies, and the characters' adversarial relationship eventually evolved into a warm friendship. After Creed's death in Rocky IV (1985), Weathers met with producer Joel Silver and agreed to play an important supporting role in Predator (1987), an action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The following year, Silver produced Action Jackson (1988), a first starring role for Weathers, but it performed poorly at the box office and was panned by the critics.
During the 1990s, Weathers starred in four In the Heat of the Night (1988) two-hour TV specials that were much better received by critics and viewers alike. In 1996, he played the part of "Chubbs Peterson" in the blockbuster Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore (1996). He returned to his "action roots" in two TV-movies with Hulk Hogan: Assault on Devil's Island (1997) and Assault on Death Mountain (1999).
In addition to his acting career, Weathers is also a member of the Big Brothers Association and the U.S. Olympic Committee, handling the career of athletes of various sports such as gymnastics, wrestling, swimming and judo.Actor / Director; d. February 1, 2024- Actress
- Soundtrack
An accomplished and versatile actress/singer/dancer, Chita Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and received eight additional Tony nominations for an exceptional 10 Tony nominations. She recently starred in The Visit, the final John Kander/Fred Ebb/Terrence McNally musical directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Graciela Daniele on Broadway (2015), following the acclaimed production at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the summer of 2014. She starred in the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the Broadway and touring productions of The Dancer's Life, a dazzling new musical celebrating her spectacular career, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Graciela Daniele and the revival of the Broadway musical Nine with Antonio Banderas. She trained as a ballerina (from age 11) before receiving a scholarship to the School of American Ballet from legendary George Balanchine. Chita's first appearance (age 17) was as a principal dancer in Call Me Madam. Her electric performance as Anita in the original Broadway premiere of West Side Story brought her stardom, which she repeated in London. Her career is highlighted by starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, The Rink (Tony Award), Chicago, Jerry's Girls, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tony Award), and the original Broadway casts of Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Seventh Heaven and Mr. Wonderful. On tour: Born Yesterday, The Rose Tattoo, Call Me Madam, Threepenny Opera, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me Kate, Zorba, Can-Can with The Rockettes. Chita was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009. She received the coveted Kennedy Center Honor in 2002 and is the first Hispanic woman ever chosen to receive this award. On November 6, 2015, Great Performances aired their special Chita Rivera: A Lot of Livin' To Do, a retrospective on her extraordinary life and career nationally on PBS. Chita's current solo CD is entitled And Now I Swing. Her most treasured production is her daughter, singer/dancer/choreographer Lisa Mordente.Actress / Singer / Dancer; d. January 30, 2024- Actress
- Additional Crew
During the 1950s and 1960s bosomy, scintillating, dark-haired Tunisian leading lady Sandra Milo played bored patricians, manipulative mistresses and other enticing ladies of questionable morals with typical sensuous flare in scores of Italian and French productions.
Born Elena Liliana Greco in Tunis on March 11, 1933, Sandra made her film debut at age 20 co-starring tauntingly alongside Alberto Sordi in Lo scapolo (1955) and renamed herself. For the next full decade, she unleashed her fiery figure on a number of tempted male players in scores of saucy comedies, feisty costumers and steamy melodramas. Such films included Nero's Mistress (1956), The Adventures of Arsène Lupin (1957), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1958) [The Mirror Has Two Faces], Toto in the Moon (1958) [Toto in the Moon], General Della Rovere (1959) [General della Rovere], and the period comedy romp The Green Mare (1959) starring the great French actor Bourvil, which served as the inspiration to the bawdy classic "Tom Jones."
Ms. Milo appeared to fine advantage in two of Fellini's greatest masterpieces - 8½ (1963) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965). She personified the aloof Italian temptress opposite Europe's most virile, passionate leading men -- Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Sorel, etc.
Leaving films in 1968, Sandra was little seen on camera and did not return to the big screen until over a decade later, now sporadically appearing as severe-looking blondes. Primarily filming in Italy well into her octogenarian years, such movies have included the comedy Riavanti... Marsch! (1979), the dramedy Grog (1982), the musical fantasy Cindy - Cinderella '80 (1984), the comedy Camerieri (1995), the romantic dramedy Incantato (2003), the comedies Sleepless (2009), Happy Family (2010), Una notte agli studios (2013), There's No Place Like Home (2018) and Free - Liberi (2020).Actress; d. January 29, 2024- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known works include the pre-glasnost political satire The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, the original The Thomas Crown Affair, the groundbreaking civil rights-era drama In the Heat of the Night (winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture), the first rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, the futuristic cult hit Rollerball, hit musical comedy-drama Fiddler on the Roof, the romantic comedy Moonstruck, the courtroom drama ...And Justice For All, the military drama A Soldier's Story, the labor movement picture F.I.S.T., the war dramas The Statement and In Country, and the masterfully told story of Reuben 'Hurricane' Carter, The Hurricane, among many others.
Jewison was personally nominated for four Oscars and received three Emmy Awards; his films received 46 nominations and won 12 Academy Awards. In 1999, Jewison received the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards.
In Canada, his life's work has been recognized with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, and he was named a Member of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Ontario and a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. In 2010, Jewison was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America.
Jewison was committed to advancing the art of storytelling and filmmaking, both through his groundbreaking films, and through his creation of the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) in 1986, which opened its doors in Toronto in 1988. The CFC is a charitable cultural organization which drives the future of Canadian storytelling.Director / Producer; d. January 20, 2024- Music Department
- Composer
- Producer
Prolific British composer who has written scores for over four hundred film and television series. Very much of the old school of film composers, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and his scores reflect this classical training in their complexity. The trademark Johnson sound is the unusual use of strings with interesting chord combinations in frequent use. Perhaps the most famous themes that Laurie Johnson is best known for is The Professionals (1977) (1977-83) and The Avengers (1961) and The New Avengers (1976) soundtracks. These works combined classical orchestration with the "funky" sound of the time, often using wah-wah guitar and "walking" funk bass lines with a full orchestra playing along. Since 1974, Laurie Johnson has also jointly-owned the production companies that produced these programmes, the most famous being "Avengers Mark One Productions Ltd", who produced the shows mentioned earlier. Still working hard into his Seventies, Laurie Johnson lives in Stanmore, Middlesex, England, UK.Composer / Bandleader / Arranger; d. January 16, 2023- Lovely, sweet-natured Joyce Randolph will forever be etched in the minds of "Golden Age" television viewers as the Bowery-like fourth party of the classic husband/wife quartet on the enduring TV family comedy The Honeymooners (1955) starring Jackie Gleason as the irrepressible hothead bus driver Ralph Kramden. As Thelma ("Trixie") Norton, the dressed-down, beleaguered wife of sewer worker Ed Norton (played by the adorably goofy Art Carney) and best friend to equally stern realist Alice Kramden (played by equally lovely Audrey Meadows), Joyce participated in nearly 100 episodes of the beloved show before it left the air in 1957.
Randolph's real last name was Sirola, being of Finnish descent. As a teenager, her interest in acting grew and she eventually found her way to become a part of the Wayne University Workshop. After high school graduation, Joyce found employment in retail at a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Detroit. Auditioning for a Workshop tour of the play "Stage Door" in Detroit, she won the part and traveled with the company. She followed that tour with another tour, a revival of "Abie's Irish Rose" that ran for a year.
At age 18, Joyce moved to New York City during war-time (1943) to try her luck. She made her Broadway debut in 1945 in the short-lived comedy "A Goose for the Gander" starring Gloria Swanson and Conrad Nagel at the Playhouse Theatre. She returned to Broadway with "Ladies Night at a Turkish Bath" in 1950. She also appeared in summer stock and once performed in the musical "No, No, Nanette" with Ms. Meadows.
She began on TV as early as 1946 at General Electric's experimental laboratory in Schenectady, NY. Having now changed her stage name from her christened name to the more inviting "Joyce Randolph," the actress began appearing on TV in 1950, finding parts on such regular programs as "The Colgate Comedy Hour," "Rocky King, Detective," "Buck Rogers," "The Clock," "I Cover Times Square" and "Famous Jury Trials." By sheer luck, Joyce was spotted in a Clorets chewing gum commercial by Gleason himself the following year and was asked to appear in a skit on the "Cavalcade of Stars," Gleason's variety show on the DuMont Network. He liked her, he cast her then as Trixie, and the rest is TV history.
Taking over the role played originally, and only once, by Elaine Stritch, when the part of Trixie was thought of as a burlesque girl, the skit format was changed to series form with The Honeymooners (1955). Caught in a terrible typecasting, Joyce would find it extremely hard obtaining other roles after the demise of the show. Interestingly, when "The Honeymooners" sketches were revived on a revamped Gleason variety show in the 1960s, the roles of Alice and Trixie were taken over by Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean. Only Carney remained. Joyce would later say she did not revive her Trixie role due to "personal and geographic reasons." Gleason had moved his company to Miami, Florida.
Joyce maintained her career for awhile on the musical stage, in commercials, and with a few solo appearances on such shows as "The Jack Benny Show," and "The Doctors and the Nurses," but eventually retired from acting altogether. She married Richard Lincoln Charles, a wealthy entrepreneur and marketing executive, on October 2, 1955, the day after The Honeymooners premiered. He died at age 74 in 1997. Their son, Randolph Richard Charles, born in 1960, followed in his father's, not his mother's, footsteps after attending Yale University. He became a marketing executive before taking over his father's business. Joyce is also the grand aunt of former Major League Baseball pitcher Tim Redding.Actress; d. January 13, 2024 - Actor
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Throughout the 1970s and a good part of the 1980s, Bill Hayes and his second wife, Emmy-winning Susan Seaforth Hayes, reigned as the Lunt and Fontanne of daytime soaps. Prior to this he had become a noted singer/actor on the Broadway stage and in night clubs. Born William Foster Hayes III in Harvey, Illinois, on June 5, 1925, and raised in the Midwest, his father was a bookseller (for 41 years). He got his talent from his dad who enjoyed singing and local community theater performing on the sly. Bill entered WWII as a naval airman, then studied at De Pauw University, where he met and married first wife Mary. They went on to have five children. He later received his master's degree at Northwestern. Blessed with a sturdy tenor, his interest in a professional career was piqued after happening upon a tour of "Carousel" in 1947. From singing telegrams to barbershop quartets to choir directing to jazz group vocals, Bill persevered musically until earning his first big break on TV. A lead singing/stooge role in Olsen & Johnson's zany burlesque revue "Funzapoppin'" in 1949 led to him joining the pair on their short-lived TV show and, ultimately, his resident crooning on Your Show of Shows (1950) starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. In the meantime he also performed in vaudeville and broke into films with a supporting role in Stop, You're Killing Me (1952). Despite a wife and family to support, he left the show on his own volition for the chance to star in a new Broadway musical. "Me and Juliet" opened with moderate success in 1953 and lasted over a year, touring with the show in its aftermath. Bill also happened to record "The Ballad of Davey Crockett," which became a surprise #1 Billboard hit and sold over three million copies. A nightclub and TV-variety fixture in the late 1950s, he later managed to flex his vocal chords in such musicals as "Bye Bye Birdie" (national tour), "Brigadoon," "The Pajama Game" and "George M!" The 1960s were a slow, difficult time for Bill professionally and personally, which culminated in the breakup of his marriage. Luck and talent played a part when he was hired to join the cast of Days of Our Lives (1965) playing the role of Doug Williams. The character was originally a louse and con artist, but grew more reputable after his character fell in love with feisty troublemaker Julie Olson, played by Susan Seaforth. Their seesaw romantic relationship became one of daytime's top story lines of the 1970s. Off-screen the couple also ignited sparks and, despite their major age difference (she is 18 years his junior), they married on October 12, 1974. In 1984, after 14 years and two daytime Emmy nominations, he and Susan left the show due to their dwindling status. While Susan went on to join the cast of The Young and the Restless (1973) the following year, Bill refocused on his singing by performing on the cabaret circuit and recording a few albums. The couple returned on and off to their soap opera alma mater over the years, but in 1999 they became part of the regular cast again with a stronger story line. Bill is still performing on stage, more recently playing Beauregard in "Mame" and with his wife in productions of "A Christmas Carol," "Love Letters" and "Same Time, Another Year," which is a sequel to "Same Time, Next Year."Actor / Singer; d. January 12, 2024- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actor
Conrad began his film career in 1970 as a stuntman. Since 1980, he has become one of the most sought after Second-Unit Directors, with scores of top films to his credit. Known to his friends and co-workers as Connie, he has endeavored to give back to the industry by serving as the President of the Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures for four terms, serving on the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild. During his five-year term was instrumental in forming the National Stunt and Safety Committee, which he chaired for several years. He was also among the first stunt coordinators invited into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. Additionally, Conrad serves on the Blue Ribbon Committee of the World Stunt Awards.Stuntman / Director; d. January 10, 2024- Actress
- Soundtrack
Glynis Johns was the daughter of actor Mervyn Johns. Best known for her light comedy roles and often playful flirtation, Glynis was born in South Africa while her parents were on tour there (her mother was a concert pianist) but was always proud of her Welsh roots and took delight in playing the female lead (opposite Richard Burton) in the classic Under Milk Wood (1971). She was probably best known for her role as the suffragette mother in Mary Poppins (1964) although she is probably best loved for her fishy roles in Miranda (1948) and Mad About Men (1954). She had earlier showed she could take on the serious roles as well as in Frieda (1947). Most recently seen (at the time of writing) in Superstar (1999). Johns died in 2024, aged 100, having never received the damehood she had richly deserved for decades. Predeceased by her only son, she was survived by a grandson,Thomas Forwood, and three great-grandchildren.Actress / Singer; d. January 4, 2024- Sound Department
Peter Berkos was born on 15 August 1922 in Cicero, Illinois, USA. He is known for Slap Shot (1977), Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Into the Night (1985). He was married to Sally Ann Berkos. He died on 2 January 2024 in Rancho Bernardo, California, USA.Sound Editor; d. January 2, 2024- Actor
- Additional Crew
On March 24th, 2020, Shecky Greene was inducted into the National Comedy Hall of Fame . He was voted in by 100 Hollywood luminaries in various areas of entertainment along with many members of the esteemed Friar's Club for his induction. His induction ceremony took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Greene received an engraved plaque and his profile may now be seen at the National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum located in Holiday, Florida.Comedian; d. December 31, 2023- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Tom Smothers was born on 2 February 1937 in Governors Island, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967), Speed Zone (1989) and The Informant! (2009). He was married to Marcy Carriker, Rochelle Ruth Robley and Stephanie R. Shorr. He died on 26 December 2023 in Santa Rosa, California, USA.Comedian / Musician / Actor; d. December 26, 2023- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Sound Department
Tom Priestley was born on 22 April 1932 in London, England, UK. He was an editor, known for Deliverance (1972), Repulsion (1965) and 1984 (1984). He died on 25 December 2023.Film Editor; d. December 25, 2023- Mike Nussbaum was born on 29 December 1923 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Men in Black (1997), Fatal Attraction (1987) and House of Games (1987). He was married to Julie Brudlos and Annette Tobey Brenner. He died on 23 December 2023 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.Actor; d. December 23, 2023
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Shirley Anne Field was one of Britain's most highly respected actresses. She starred opposite Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Steve McQueen, Michael Caine, Daniel Day-Lewis and Ned Beatty in such classic films as The Entertainer, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The War Lover, Alfie, My Beautiful Laundrette and Hear My Song.
As a teenager, she returned to London, her birthplace. She worked as a photographic model to pay her way through acting school, and had small parts in films. Her break came when she was cast as Tina the Beauty Queen opposite Sir Laurence Oliver in The Entertainer. She credited Tony Richardson, the director, with starting her (proper) career.
Her role as "Doreen" in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning soon followed. Only 22 years old, Shirley Anne was a major film star. Her next movie, Man in the Moon, was featured in a Royal Command Performance. This resulted in her name being above the title in all the major cinemas around Leicester Square. Apparently this is a record to this day.
A friend of Richardson told Shirley how Tony and he had gone to Leicester Square to see her name in lights. She worked with Albert Finney at the Royal Court in Lindsay Anderson production of The Lily White Boys. They later worked together again, on Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, written by Alan Sillitoe.
Hollywood was paying attention. Shirley Anne was cast as the female lead in The War Lover opposite Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner. Then she starred in a Hollywood blockbuster, Kings of the Sun, with Yul Brynner and George Chakiris, filmed in Mexico.
She interspersed her film career with theatre and TV performances in Britain and around the world. She played the lead in Wait until Dark in South Africa. She played the part of "Pamela" in the U.S. television drama Santa Barbara.
In the 1980s, she met up again with Stephen Frears, with whom she had worked when they were both beginners at the Royal Court. He cast her in My Beautiful Laundrette which was a big success and a breakthrough movie Her next big film was Hear My Song, as Cathleen Doyle, was made in the 1990s.
In recent years, she toured in theatre productions such as The Cemetery Club and Five Blue Hair Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench. Late in her career, she appeared alongside Flora Spencer Longhurst in Beautiful Relics, a short film directed by Adrian Hedgecock.Actress; d. December 10, 2023- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal was an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place. It was an instant hit and boosted O'Neal's career. He later found success in films, most notably Love Story (1970), for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Actor, Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973), Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975), Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977), and Walter Hill's The Driver (1978). From 2005 to 2017, he had a recurring role in the Fox television series Bones as Max, the father of the show's protagonist.Actor; d. December 8, 2023- Actress
- Soundtrack
Maria Luisa Pierangeli and her twin sister Anna Maria were born in Sardinia, Italy. They were fraternal twins with different personalities as well. Anna Maria was dreamy and innocent; Maria Luisa was independent and studious. They moved to Rome in the late 1940s. In 1948 their lives changed when director Vittorio De Sica cast Anna in Tomorrow Is Too Late (1950). In 1950 the family moved to Hollywood, where Anna Maria changed her name to Pier Angeli.
Marisa was not interested in acting, but was cast by John Ford in What Price Glory (1952) starring James Cagney. She changed her last name to Pavan, the name of a Jewish officer her family had hidden from the Nazis during World War 2. Marisa signed a contract with Fox, but was relieved when it was broken. She wanted a wider choice of roles than her sister. Pavan's performance in The Rose Tattoo (1955) supporting Italian icon Anna Magnani, earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
She lost interest in Hollywood while filming Solomon and Sheba (1959). She remembered it as a bad experience, and not just because costar Tyrone Power died during the filming. Pavan turned her attention to television in the 1960s. She and husband Jean-Pierre Aumont toured America and Europe in plays and musicals, including "Gigi". Later in France, she returned to film.
As of 2018, Pavan lives in the South of France. Marisa is the founder and director of URMA (Unis pour la Recherche sur la Maladie d'Alzheimer), an organization she created to support research working to find treatments for Alzheimer's.Actress; d. December 6, 2023- Actor
- Casting Department
- Casting Director
Jack Hogan was born and raised in North Carolina and studied architecture at the University of North Carolina. In 1948, bored by college life, he left U.N.C. and spent the next four years in the navy. During this time, he decided to become an actor and once discharged, he enrolled at the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse. In 1955, Jack headed to New York to study at the American Theatre Wing. A year later, he returned to Hollywood where a string of acting jobs, both in films and on TV, followed. In 1962, he signed to play the quick-tempered, troublesome, womanizer Pvt. Kirby, in ABC's hit series, Combat! (1962). After Combat! (1962) left the air in 1967, Jack's TV career included on-going appearances on Adam-12 (1968) and Sierra (1974). In the early 1980s, he moved to Hawaii where he supervised the operation of his building business. During his 10-year stay, he garnered a recurring role Jake and the Fatman (1987) and served as the casting director for Magnum, P.I. (1980). Recently, Jack, twice divorced and the father of two, returned to take up residence in Chapel Hill. Jack's favourite pursuits include painting, fishing, reading and poetry.Actor; d. December 6, 2023- Producer
- Writer
- Production Manager
Norman Lear enjoyed a long career in television and film, political and social activism, and philanthropy.
Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear flew 52 combat missions over Europe in World War II before beginning his television career. His classic shows of the 1970s and '80s - All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, among others - collectively reached as many as 120 million viewers per week and are said to have transformed the American cultural landscape, bringing the social and political issues of the day into American living rooms for the first time. With the rise of the radical religious right, Lear put his career on hold in 1980 to found People For the American Way, the nonprofit organization that remains a relevant and effective force defending all aspects of the First Amendment.
Lear was among the first seven television pioneers inducted in 1984 into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. In 1999, President Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Arts, noting that "Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it." His memoir, Even This I Get to Experience, was published in 2014, and the 2016 documentary Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You received an Emmy nomination as the representative program for the PBS American Masters series. In 2017, Lear received a Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award and was a Kennedy Center Honoree.
He was the father of six, the grandfather of four, and the husband of Lyn Davis Lear.Writer / Producer; d. December 5, 2023- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Raised in Washington, D.C., the great-granddaughter (on her father's side) of German immigrants, Frances Hussey Sternhagen taught acting, singing and dancing to young schoolchildren before first performing herself with the Arena Stage Group.
Since then, she was seen in numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.
She was nominated seven times for a Tony Award (winning 2 times, once for her performance in "The Good Doctor" and once for "The Heiress"). Other shows in which she appeared include "Equus", "On Golden Pond", "Angel", and "You Can't Take it with You".
Among many other appearances Off-Broadway, including the original production of "On Golden Pond", Sternhagen delighted Off-Broadway audiences for over two years with her feisty portrayal of the title character in "Driving Miss Daisy".
Her film debut was in Up the Down Staircase (1967). Since then her credits have included Fedora (1978), Starting Over (1979), Outland (1981) and Communion (1989).
She appeared on the very popular long-running television series Cheers (1982) as Esther Clavin, mother of John Ratzenberger's character, the pedagogical know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin.
She played wealthy philanthropist and society matron Millicent Carter, the grandmother of John Carter (Noah Wyle) on ER (1994). She also appeared in episodes of Sex and the City (1998) and Becker (1998).Actress; d. November 27, 2023- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Victor J. Kemper was born on 14 April 1927 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The Final Countdown (1980), Clue (1985) and Vacation (1983). He was married to Claire. He died on 27 November 2023 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.Cinematographer; d. November 27, 2023- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Marty Krofft was born on 9 April 1937 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a producer and writer, known for Land of the Lost (2009), Pryor's Place (1984) and Land of the Lost (1974). He was married to Christa Rogalski (Christa Speck). He died on 25 November 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Writer / Producer; d. November 25, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joss Ackland, the distinguished English actor who has appeared in over 100 movies, scores of plays and a plethora of television programs in his six-decade career, was born Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland on February 29, 1928, in North Kensington, London. After attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama, the 17-year-old Ackland made his professional stage debut in "The Hasty Heart" in 1945.
Although he first appeared on film in John Boulting's and Roy Boulting's Oscar-winning thriller Seven Days to Noon (1950) in an uncredited bit role, he made his credited debut in a supporting role in Vernon Sewell's Ghost Ship (1952). He would not again grace the big screen until the end of the decade. Instead, Ackland spent the latter half of the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s honing his craft in regional theatrical companies.
In 1955 he left the English stage behind and moved to Africa to manage a tea plantation, an experience that likely informed his heralded performance 20 years later in White Mischief (1987). In his two years in Africa he wrote plays and did service as a radio disc jockey. Upon his return to England in 1957, he joined the Old Vic company.
From 1962-64 he served as associate director of the Mermaid Theatre. Subsequently, his stage acting career primarily was in London's commercial West End theater, where he made a name for himself in musicals. He was distinguished as Captain Hook in the musical version of "Peter Pan" and as Juan Peron in "Evita". In the straight theater he was a memorable Falstaff in William Shakespeare's "Henry IV Parts 1 & 2" and as Captain Shotover in George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House". In the 1960s Ackland began appearing more regularly in films, and his career as a movie character actor picked up rapidly in the 1970s and began to flourish in the 1980s. It has shown little sign of abating in the 21st century, even though he's well into his 70s.
In addition to his performance in "White Mischief", among his more notable turns as an actor before the camera came in the BBC-TV production of Shadowlands (1986), in which he played 'C.S. Lewis', and in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) as the ruthless South African heavy, Arjen Rudd.
He is the father of seven children, whom he listed as his "hobby" in a 1981 interview. On December 31, 2000, Joss Ackland was named a Commander of the British Empire on the New Year's Honours List for his 50 years of service to the English stage, cinema and television.Actor; d. November 19, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Richard Roundtree shot to fame as the ultra-hip, flamboyantly-dressed -- not to mention charismatic-- private eye John Shaft. The film Shaft (1971) spawned a genre, two sequels and a series. It made Roundtree a household name, and, for a while, one of the hottest box-office stars in Hollywood. As New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby put it: "Shaft is the sort of man who can drink five fingers of scotch without gagging or his eyes watering. He moves through Whitey's world with perfect ease and aplomb, but never loses his independence, or his awareness of where his life is really at." Rather aptly, Roundtree has been described as blaxploitation's James Bond.
Fame and success did not come at once. The son of Kathryn (a nurse and/or maid), and John Roundtree (employed variously as a garbage collector and caterer), Richard was born in New Rochelle, New York. During high school, he excelled at football and duly won an athletic scholarship at Southern Illinois University. However, he dropped out in 1963 and worked a succession of different jobs, including as janitor and salesman. He became a fashion model after being signed by Eunice Johnson of Ebony Magazine, later posing as an advertising model for a brand of hair grease and for Salem cigarettes. Deciding to give acting a go, Roundtree returned to New York to take drama lessons. In 1967, he joined the acclaimed Negro Ensemble Company, working alongside people like Robert Hooks, Rosalind Cash and Moses Gunn. He was soon cast in several off-Broadway productions and had a first headlining role as boxing legend Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope.
In 1971, Roundtree, then a virtual unknown in show biz, ignited the screen as the macho sleuth Shaft. Slickly directed by Gordon Parks and filmed on location in Harlem, Greenwich Village and Times Square, the picture was a tangible box-office hit, which satisfied both black and white audiences alike and likely saved a struggling MGM from impending bankruptcy. Shaft can also be said to have spawned the blaxploitation action genre of the 70s. Roundtree went on to star in two less successful sequels (Shaft's Big Score! (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973)) and a series. He reprised his character for a 2000 motion picture which starred Samuel L. Jackson as John Shaft's nephew.
Down the line, Roundtree portrayed a few other robust characters: a Union army deserter teaming up with a crippled Indian to escape a sadistic bounty hunter in Charley-One-Eye (1973), a professional jewel thief in Diamonds (1975) (alternatively titled 'Diamond Shaft'-- a curious coincidence), a treasure hunter in Day of the Assassin (1979) and a Zimbabwean guerrilla in Game for Vultures (1979). By the mid-80s, however, the actor found himself increasingly relegated to the supporting cast as conventional establishment figures, often police or army officers.Television afforded him several good roles, notably in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries Roots (1977) and as former slave-turned gunslinger Isaiah "Ice" McAdams in Outlaws (1986). He subsequently had recurring roles in the cast of the soap Generations (1989) (as a doctor), the drama Being Mary Jane (2013) (as the titular talk show host's dad) and (as a grandfather) in the sitcom Family Reunion (2019).
Roundtree's accolades have included an MTV Lifetime Achievement Award for Shaft in 1994, a Peabody Award in 2002 and a Black Theater Alliance Award Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.
Though diagnosed with male breast cancer in 1993 and having undergone both chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, Roundtree bravely soldiered on in his chosen profession and continued to act on screen right up to his death from pancreatic cancer on October 24 2023, at the age of 81.Actor; d. October 24, 2023- Actress
- Soundtrack
Joan Katherine Eunson was the daughter of playwright/screenwriter Dale Eunson and movie press agent, journalist and writer Katherine Albert. They were friends with Joan Crawford who became her godmother. With such connections in show business, it was always on the cards that teenaged Joan would divide her time "between the Broadway theatrical world and the swimming pools of Hollywood".
Brought up in an adult world, she attended the Birch Wathen Lenox School in Manhattan, but dropped out before her sophomore year when she was signed at 14 years of age by Samuel Goldwyn. At that time, she had no formal dramatic training and only limited stage experience. However, a New York theatre critic had seen her perform as a child in the play Guest in the House and recommended her to Goldwyn who had been casting for a teenage lead in his next film.
Thus, Joan (now billed as 'Joan Evans') made her film debut opposite Farley Granger in the title role of Roseanna McCoy (1949). The wafer-thin romance was set against the background of the infamous hillbilly feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families which began in 1863 and lasted 28 years. Since the age of consent was 16, her parents lied about their daughter's date of birth prior to the picture's release, adding two years to her age. She appeared with Granger in two more RKO productions (Our Very Own (1950) and Edge of Doom (1950)) before headlining as a teenager driven to the brink of suicide by uncaring and irresponsible parents (played by Melvyn Douglas and Lynn Bari) in On the Loose (1951). The melodramatic screenplay was written by Evans' parents.
Next, she was loaned to MGM to appear in the Esther Williams musical Skirts Ahoy! (1952) (for the musical numbers her voice was dubbed by another Joan: vocalist Joan Elms), then to Universal to play Irene Dunne's daughter in It Grows on Trees (1952). Ironically, Skirts Ahoy was produced by Joe Pasternak, whose screen test Evans had failed years earlier. On that occasion, Pasternak had expressed the opinion that she would never make it in pictures.
Evans made a few more films, including a couple of westerns opposite Audie Murphy (Column South (1953) and No Name on the Bullet (1959)), the circus drama The Flying Fontaines (1959) and the noirish crime thriller The Walking Target (1960). She had several TV guest roles before retiring from acting in 1961, her last outing being an episode of Laramie (1959) .
In 1952, she married a car dealer named Gerald Kirby Weatherly (over the objections of her parents who thought her too young for wedlock) who asked her godmother, Joan Crawford, to try to talk her out of it. Instead, a secret wedding ceremony was performed in Crawford's home and Evans' parents were not informed. This ended the friendship between Evans' parents and Crawford but the marriage, against all odds, was a success and lasted until Evans' death in 2023. The Weatherlys had two children.
Post-retirement, Joan Weatherly devoted herself to family life. She worked for some time as an editor for the Hollywood Studio Magazine before becoming director of the Carden Academy in Van Nuys during the 1970s, teaching the largely classical-based "Carden Method".Actress; d. October 21, 2023- Set Decorator
- Production Designer
- Art Department
Osvaldo Desideri was born on 16 February 1939 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a set decorator and production designer, known for The Last Emperor (1987), The Conformist (1970) and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). He died on 18 October 2023 in Italy.Set Decorator / Production Designer; d. October 18, 2023- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Piper Laurie was a three-time Oscar nominee, nominated by BAFTA as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best performance by an actress in 'The Hustler' with Paul Newman.
Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, to Charlotte Sadie (Alperin) and Alfred Jacobs, a furniture dealer. She had an elder sister. Her family was of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent.
Young Rosetta had been studying acting with Benno and Betomi Schnider for three years when she auditioned for Universal Studios, who signed her to a long term contract and was renamed Piper Laurie. She made more than twenty films, appearing opposite such actors as Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Tyrone Power.
Disgusted with the lack of serious roles, Laurie finally broke her lucrative Hollywood contract, moved to New York, lived on a budget, worked on live television and theater, and within two years changed her life and her career.
She stopped working for fifteen years after 'The Hustler' to devote her energies to the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, feeling acting was less important. When she accepted work again she was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for 'Carrie' with Sissy Spacek, and again as Best Supporting Actress in 'Children of a Lesser God' with Marlee Matlin. She won the Golden Globe for her role in the David Lynch cult favorite 'Twin Peaks' and was nominated for an Emmy for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in 'Twin Peaks'.
She was nominated a total of twelve times for the Emmy, including one for the original and celebrated live broadcast of 'The Days of Wine and Roses' with Cliff Robertson, directed by John Frankenheimer, as well as for her comedic performance in 'Frasier'. She won an Emmy for her performance in 'Promise' opposite James Woods and James Garner. She was Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, and she also received an SFECA award for her performance as Dolly in the film 'The Grass Harp'.
In 2010, she played an elderly grandma who learns to smoke a bong in the feature film 'Hesher', with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Natalie Portman. Most recently she appeared as Grandma Hershe in White Boy Rick, starring Matthew McConaughey, and as Rose Muller in 'Snapshots', directed by Melanie Mayron. In 2013, she made her musical stage debut in 'A Little Night Music' as Madame Armfeldt.
Laurie performed on Broadway in the Tony-nominated Lincoln Center production of 'Mornings at Seven' directed by Dan Sullivan at the Lyceum Theatre. She also appeared on Broadway in the 20th Anniversary production of 'The Glass Menagerie', in which she played Laura Wingfield, with Maureen Stapleton (only 7 years older) as her mother, Amanda, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
Off-Broadway, she appeared in Molly Kazan's 'Rosemary and the Alligators' and in Larry Kramer's 'The Destiny of Me'. She toured in a one-person play about Zelda Fitzgerald, written by Bill Luce. In 2010 she directed Jim Brochu in his one-man show 'Zero Hour', for which he received the Drama Desk Award for best solo performance on or off Broadway, playing Zero Mostel.
Laurie was divorced from Wall Street Journal's movie critic, Pulitzer Prize-winner Joe Morgenstern. They had a daughter. Laurie's autobiography, Learning to Live Out Loud, was published by Crown in 2011 to rave reviews and is now available as an audio book on audible.com.Actress; d. October 14, 2023- Actress
- Additional Crew
Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, Phyllis Coates moved to Hollywood as a teenager with intentions of enrolling at UCLA. A chance encounter with Ken Murray in a Hollywood & Vine restaurant landed her in the comedian's vaudeville show. She started out as a chorus girl and worked her way up to doing skits before moving on to work for veteran showman Earl Carroll and later touring with the USO. Coates got some of her first motion picture experience in comedy short subjects at Warner Brothers and then graduated to roles in early '50s films. After a one-season stint with the Man of Steel (George Reeves on Adventures of Superman (1952)), she began to divide her time among TV, B-movie assignments and serials at Republic.Actress; d. October 11, 2023- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Born Charles Harvey Goddard, Mark Goddard was best known for his role as the feisty, combative Major Don West in the cult TV series Lost in Space (1965). The youngest of five siblings, he was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, but grew up in Scituate, raised as a Catholic. Though excelling in sports, Goddard gave up early ambitions of a professional basketball career. Following advice from the head of the dramatic society of the College of the Holy Cross, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan.
Two years later, he relocated to Los Angeles and, before long, received offers to act in television. His first recurring role on the small screen was as the lead character's deputy in the western series Johnny Ringo (1959). He replaced Lee Farr as one of The Detectives (1959), portraying police officer Chris Ballard in 64 episodes.
Goddard made guest appearances in The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), The Virginian (1962), Gunsmoke (1955) and Perry Mason (1957) and co-starred alongside John McGiver in the short-lived sitcom Many Happy Returns (1964), before signing on as one of the crew in Irwin Allen 's Lost in Space. From season two, his character projected increasing antagonism towards the nefarious Dr. Zachary Smith. After that series had run its course, Goddard remained a frequent guest TV star on popular shows like Mod Squad (1968) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972). He had recurring stints on the soaps One Life to Live (1968) and General Hospital (1963) and made occasional forays into film acting, most notably in the off-beat horror flick Blue Sunshine (1977) (as a drug dealer turned politician).
The following year, he made his sole Broadway appearance in the musical The Act, opposite Liza Minnelli and Barry Nelson. Well-received, it ran for 233 performances between October 1977 and July 1978. Goddard retired from acting in 2015.
In between acting, Goddard often sidelined working with children, including at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Having graduated with a Master's Degree in education from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, he eventually pursued a new vocation from 1991 as a special education teacher.
Goddard published his memoirs, "To Space and Back", in 2009. He was married three times. His second wife (divorced) was the actress Susan Anspach. His daughter is the producer Melissa Goddard .
Mark Goddard died of pulmonary fibrosis on October 10, 2023 at the age of 87.Actor; d. October 10, 2023- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Burly, talented character actor who remained consistently busy playing "rough edged" or scary characters, often on the wrong side of the law. Young was born on April 30, 1940, in New York City, the son of a high school shop teacher. He is of Italian descent. Young received his dramatic arts training under acting coach Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
Young first gathered notice playing tough thugs in such films as The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), Across 110th Street (1972), Chinatown (1974) and The Gambler (1974). Director Sam Peckinpah cast Young as the getaway driver/assassin, "Mac", in The Killer Elite (1975), and Young came to the attention of newcomer Sylvester Stallone, who cast him as future brother-in-law "Paulie" in the 1976 sleeper hit Rocky (1976).
Young was nominated for an Oscar, and has gone on to reprise the role in all five "Rocky" sequels to date! Peckinpah re-hired him to play renegade trucker "Pigpen" in the moderately successful Convoy (1978) (watch for "Pigpen's" Mack truck where the writing on the door states "Paulie Hauling"!).
Young also appeared in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Mickey Blue Eyes (1999) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002).Actor; d. October 8, 2023- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Sir Michael Gambon was born in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland, to Mary (Hoare), a seamstress, and Edward Gambon, an engineer. After joining the National Theatre, under the Artistic Directorship of Sir Laurence Olivier, Gambon went on to appear in a number of leading roles in plays written by Alan Ayckbourn. His career was catapulted in 1980 when he took the lead role in John Dexter's production of "Galileo". Since then, Gambon has regularly appeared at the Royal National Theatre and the RSC. Roles include, King Lear, Othello, Mark Anthony and Volpone. He was described by the late Sir Ralph Richardson as being "The Great Gambon" and he is now considered to be one of the British theatre's leading lights. He was made a CBE in 1992.Actor; d. September 27, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Since David McCallum's father, David McCallum Sr., was first violinist for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother, Dorothy Dorman, was a cellist, it's not surprising that David was originally headed for a career in music, playing oboe. He studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Music. He left that, however, for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and joined Actor's Equity in 1946, his first acting work being for BBC Radio. He made nearly a dozen movies in the United Kingdom before his critically acclaimed work as Lt. Wyatt in Billy Budd (1962).
To the older generation, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin in the hit TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). To younger audience, he is best known for his superlative portrayal of Dr. Donald "Duckie" Mallard on NCIS (2003).
McCallum was first married to actress Jill Ireland, whom he met while filming Hell Drivers (1957). In 1962 he introduced Ireland to Charles Bronson when both were filming The Great Escape (1963). She eventually left McCallum and married Bronson in 1968. McCallum and Ireland had three sons: Paul, Jason (an adopted son who died from an accidental drug overdose in 1989), and Val (short for Valentine).
He met fashion model Katherine Carpenter during a photo shoot for Glamour in 1965 and married her two years later. The couple had a son, Peter, and a daughter, Sophie. They were together for 58 years and were active with charitable organizations that support the The United States Marine Corps: Katherine's father was a Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and her brother lost his life in the Vietnam War. McCallum had eight grandchildren.
David McCallum died on September 25 2023 in New York City from natural causes at the age of 90.Actor; d. September 25, 2023- Actress
- Soundtrack
Beautiful, auburn-haired Virginia Gayle Hunnicutt was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of Sam Lloyd Hunnicutt, an army colonel, and his wife Mary (née Dickerson). Already in her teens, Gayle was determined to become a serious actress. She attended Texas Christian University in her home town and then won a scholarship to study theatre arts at the University of California. One of her visiting lecturers was the noted French film director Jean Renoir who further encouraged her acting ambitions. Gayle made her first appearances on the stage in college productions and at the Cahuenga Playhouse while supporting her studies financially, working at an advertising agency. Also at the same time, she began to shed her Texan drawl by attending a speech clinic.
Having been 'discovered' by a Warner Brothers talent scout, Gayle was offered a small part in an episode of the TV navy comedy Mister Roberts (1965) and then had a minor role in the Roger Corman-produced and directed outlaw biker counterculture classic The Wild Angels (1966). After that, she attracted attention as a featured guest star on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) (as a con artist) and in Get Smart (1965) (as Octavia, an alluring KAOS agent). The actor George Peppard was sufficiently impressed by her to persuade director John Guillermin to co-star her as the femme fatale in his private eye thriller P.J. (1967). Another glamour part was to follow as leading lady to James Garner in the neo film noir Marlowe (1969), in which Gayle played a TV star involved with a mob boss.
In 1968, she married the English actor and producer David Hemmings after a whirlwind romance. They appeared together in Fragment of Fear (1970) and he subsequently directed her in Running Scared (1972). Her turbulent union with Hemmings ended in divorce after seven years. Gayle, nonetheless, remained based in London. Having lost all trace of her Texas accent, she could effectively pass for being British. She appeared on the stage in several noted productions, including in the title role of Hedda Gabler at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury and as Peter Pan at the Shaftesbury. On the big screen, she co-starred as the wife of a physicist (Roddy McDowall) investigating The Legend of Hell House (1973). Her most significant impact, however, was to be on British television with her strongest showing as Charlotte Stant in The Golden Bowl (1972) (adapted from the 1904 novel by Henry James) and as the Tsarina Alexandra in the excellent miniseries Fall of Eagles (1974). In the French miniseries Fantômas (1980), she featured as the exotic mistress of the eponymous master criminal (portrayed in this version by Austrian actor Helmut Berger). In similar vein, she essayed Irene Adler -- nemesis of the great detective -- in the premier episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and took on the mantle of femme fatale once more opposite Powers Boothe in an episode of Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983).
Gayle's second husband (from 1978) was the author, political journalist and BBC broadcaster Simon Jenkins. This union, like her first, produced one son. She divorced Jenkins in 2009. By then, Gayle had already been retired from screen acting for ten years. In 2004, she published a selection of letters her father wrote to her mother while stationed with the 112th Cavalry in the South Pacific, entitled 'Dearest Virginia'. Gayle Hunnicutt passed away on 31 August 2023, aged 80.Actress; d. August 31, 2023- Producer
- Actor
For 35 years, Bob Barker had been the host of The Price is Right (1972) game show. Not only is it the highest-rated daytime program, it is also the longest-running game show in TV history, surpassing the prime-time hit What's My Line? (1950), which ran for 18 years. He also served as the executive producer of the program, since 1988, until his retirement in 2007. Named the most popular game show host of all time in a national poll, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Television in 1999. Although he has graced our television screens for more than four decades, his career continued at full circle, until he left the show, in 2007, only to be replaced by comedian Drew Carey.
In 1996, he made his motion picture debut in Universal Pictures' Happy Gilmore (1996), in which he played himself with Adam Sandler. His real acting debut, however, came when he was asked to play Mel Harris' father in NBC's Something So Right (1996). Another honor came when one of the most historic sites in the history of television, Stage 33 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, was re-dedicated as the Bob Barker Studio in ceremonies following the taping of the 5,000th episode of "The Price is Right", on March 11, 1998. Barker was the first performer to whom CBS has ever dedicated a stage.
Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where his mother was a schoolteacher. His family eventually moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he attended high school and Drury College on a basketball scholarship. World War II interrupted his studies and he joined the US Navy, becoming a fighter pilot, but the war ended before he was assigned to a seagoing squadron.
Following his discharge, Barker returned to Drury and took a job at a local radio station to help finance his studies. It was there he discovered what he did best being to host audience participation shows. After graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics, he went to work for a radio station in Palm Beach, Florida. A year later he moved to Los Angeles, and within a week he was the host of his own radio program, "The Bob Barker Show". He made his debut, at the end of 1956 on national television as the host of the popular The All New Truth or Consequences (1950). Ralph Edwards, the show's originator, had sold the show to NBC as a daytime strip, but he had not chosen a host. He auditioned other hosts in Hollywood and New York for weeks, but when he heard "The Bob Barker Show" on his car radio, he knew he had found the man for the job. Proving that Edwards had chosen him wisely, Barker hosted "Truth or Consequences" for an unbelievable 18 years, until the show ended in 1975, and he and Edwards remained close friends, until Edwards's death in 2005. They drank a toast at lunch every December 21st to celebrate the day in 1956, when Edwards notified him he was going to become the host of "Truth or Consequences".
Barker had been twice named in the Guinness Book of World Records as Television's "Most Durable Performer," at 3,524 shows, and "Most Generous Host in Television history" for awarding $55 million in prizes on his various shows. During the ensuing years, the $55-million figure had increased to more than $200 million. He had won 11 Emmys as a Game Show Host, more than any other performer, and 2 more as Executive Producer of "The Price is Right". He also was given the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, for a total of 14, and won 2 additional awards, for a total of 16 Emmys. He had also received the coveted Carbon Mike Award of the Pioneer of Broadcasters.
In 1978, he developed "The Bob Barker Fun & Games Show", a series of personal appearances that attracted record-breaking audiences throughout the US and Canada. He also established the DJ&T Foundation in Beverly Hills, California, the purpose of which is to help control the dog and cat population. He was funding the foundation through his own resources to support low-cost or free spay/neuter clinics. This foundation is named in memory of his late wife, Dorothy Jo, and his mother, Matilda (Tilly) Valandra, both of whom loved animals. Barker's work on behalf of animals has garnered him a long list of awards from prestigious humane organizations across the country. In fact, a columnist wrote Bob had become a part-time television host and a full-time animal rights activist. However, he assured his audiences there was room in his busy life for both television and animals.
After his retirement, Barker had made 3 more appearances, on "The Price is Right", the first being to promote his autobiography, " Priceless Memories :, then, on his 90th birthday, in 2013 he briefly replaced Drew Carey, at the show's intro, for an April Fools' Day joke, which was his last appearance. In 2010, The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced it had purchased and outfitted a ship to interdict with Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean using $5 million dollars, provided by him, the same year, he donated $2.5 million, toward the purchase of office space for the organization in Los Angeles. The "Bob Barker Building" opened in 2012.
Bob Barker passed away on August 26, 2023, in Hollywood Hills, California, after a long battle against Alzheimer's disease. He was 99.Game Show Host; d. August 26, 2023- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Friedkin's mother was an operating room nurse. His father was a merchant seaman, semi-pro softball player and ultimately sold clothes in a men's discount chain. Ultimately, his father never earned more than $50/week in his whole life and died indigent. Eventually young Will became infatuated with Orson Welles after seeing Citizen Kane (1941). He went to work for WGN TV immediately after graduating from high school where he started making documentaries, one of which won the Golden Gate Award at the 1962 San Francisco film festival. In 1965, he moved to Hollywood and immediately started directing TV shows, including an episode of the The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962); Hitchcock infamously chastised him for not wearing a tie.Director / Writer / Producer; d. August 7, 2023- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Producer
Arthur Robert "Artie" Schmidt began in films as assistant editor to Dede Allen and Jim Clark. His father, Arthur P. Schmidt, had also been a distinguished veteran in the field of film editing, acclaimed for his collaborations with Billy Wilder on masterpieces like Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He was somehow disparaging about his son following in his footsteps. Schmidt Jr. instead attended Santa Clara University, graduated with a Bachelor in English and later went on to teach English in Spain. However, following his father's sudden death from a heart attack in 1965, he was recruited by Paramount as an apprentice, and, in 1970, began his professional career as assistant editor. Five years later, he was tasked to cut the running sequences in John Schlesinger's stylish thriller Marathon Man (1976) in the capacity of associate editor under the auspices of his mentor Jim Clark. From there, he progressed to fully-fledged editor in 1977.
Schmidt varied his editing methodology according to each individual project. His motto was "I always try to let the film and story tell me where to go next." Arguably his best work was for the director Robert Zemeckis. This included both films for which he won Best Editing Oscars, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Forrest Gump (1994), as well as the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy and the black comedy Death Becomes Her (1992). Who Framed Roger Rabbit may well have constituted his toughest career challenge as it required a flawless blending of hand-drawn animation with live action scenes. Schmidt said about his successful collaboration with Zemeckis in a 2014 interview "He's wonderful directing actors and great in the editing room. We always seemed to be in sync."
Schmidt's other contributions of note have included Ruthless People (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). In 2009, he was awarded the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award, fittingly presented to him by Robert Zemeckis.Film Editor; d. August 5, 2023- Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
There are but a few select screenwriters who are spoken of with the kind of reverence usually reserved for film directors - Robert Towne, Alvin Sargent and Bo Goldman. Goldman is a screenwriter's screenwriter, and one of the most honored in motion picture history. The recipient of two Academy Awards, a New York Film Critics Award, two Writers Guild Awards, three Golden Globes, additional Academy Award and Writers Guild nominations and, ultimately, the Guild's life achievement Award - The Laurel.
Born in New York City, Goldman was educated at Exeter and Princeton where he wrote, produced, composed the lyrics and was president of the famed Triangle show, a proving ground for James Stewart and director Joshua Logan. On graduation, he went directly to Broadway as the lyricist for "First Impressions", based on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", produced by composer Jule Styne and directed by Abe Burrows, starring Hermione Gingold, Polly Bergen and Farley Granger.
Moving into television, Goldman was mentored by the redoubtable Fred Coe (the "D.W. Griffith of dramatic television") and became part of the twilight of The Golden Age, associate producing and script editing Coe's prestigious Playhouse 90 (1956)'s, "The Days of Wine and Roses", "A Plot to Kill Stalin" and Horton Foote's "Old Man". Goldman went on to himself produce and write for Public Television on the award-winning NET Playhouse. During this period, Goldman first tried his hand at screen-writing, resulting in an early version of Shoot the Moon (1982) which stirred the interest of Hollywood and became his calling card.
After reading Shoot the Moon (1982), Milos Forman asked Goldman to write the screenplay for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Goldman's first produced film won all five top Academy Awards including Best Screenplay for Goldman. "Cuckoo's Nest" was the first film to win the top five awards since Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934). Goldman also received the Writers Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for his work on the film.
He next wrote The Rose (1979), which was nominated for four Academy Awards, followed by his original screenplay, Melvin and Howard (1980), which garnered Goldman his second Oscar, second Writers Guild Award and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Screenplay of the Year.
Goldman's first screenplay, Shoot the Moon (1982), that started it all, was then filmed by Alan Parker, starring Diane Keaton and Albert Finney, the film received international acclaim and was embraced by America's most respected film critics including Pauline Kael and Richard Schickel. For Shoot the Moon (1982), Goldman earned his third Writers Guild nomination.
Over the next few years, he contributed uncredited work to countless scripts, including Milos Forman's Ragtime (1981), starring James Cagney and Donald O'Connor, The Flamingo Kid (1984), starring Matt Dillon, and Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy (1990).
Goldman tried his hand at directing an adaptation of Susan Minot's novel "Monkeys", and a re-imagining of Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957) as a vehicle for Gregory Peck, but for budgetary and scheduling reasons, both movies lost their start dates. Goldman returned solely to screen-writing with Scent of a Woman (1992), starring Al Pacino. Goldman was honored with his third Academy Award nomination and his third Golden Globe Award. He followed this with Harold Becker's City Hall (1996), starring Al Pacino and John Cusack, and then co-wrote Meet Joe Black (1998), starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.
More recently, Goldman did a page one uncredited rewrite of The Perfect Storm (2000). It was Goldman's script that green lit the movie at Warner Bros. and convinced George Clooney to star in the film, which went on to earn $327,000,000.
In 2005, he helped prepare the shooting script for Milos Forman's Goya's Ghosts (2006), produced by Saul Zaentz and starring Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem.
He wrote a script for a remake of Jules Dassin's Rififi (1955), for director Harold Becker, starring Al Pacino.
Goldman is married to Mab Ashforth, and is the father of six children, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. He resides in Rockville, Maine.Screenwriter; d. July 25, 2023- Actress
- Soundtrack
An accomplished and seasoned actress of stage and screen, Inga Swenson became best known for her portrayals of formidable, often acidulous women on TV. Arguably her most popular role was that of snarky Gretchen Wilomena Kraus, the German-born head housekeeper and later administrative assistant in Benson (1979). Inga was so convincing in her role (which earned her three Emmy Award nominations as Best Supporting Actress) that audiences assumed her to be German in real life, whereas she was actually of Scandinavian ancestry, the daughter of an attorney (Axel Carl Richard Swenson) and his wife (Geneva Pauline Swenson, née Seeger). After graduating from high school in Omaha, she attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study drama.
Inga made her screen debut in 1957. In her first feature films, the political drama Advise & Consent (1962) and in the biopic The Miracle Worker (1962), she played, respectively, a senator's wife and the mother of young Helen Keller. Thereafter, she divided her career between theatre and television. In the latter medium, she was mostly cast as supporting characters until a strong performance (as the evil housekeeper Ingrid Svenson) in the sitcom Soap (1977) led to her becoming a mainstay on the spin-off series Benson. A later role of note was that of Maude, matriarch of the Hazzard family in the sprawling North & South sagas, based on the novels by John Jakes.
On stage from 1949, Inga's first starring turn was ten years later in the historical play The First Gentleman, set during the Regency Period. Her diversity as a powerful lyric soprano subsequently came to the fore in the musical 110 in the Shade (1963), in which Inga headlined as Lizzie Currie, a role made famous by Katharine Hepburn in the dramatised film version The Rainmaker (1956). This, and her role as Irene Adler in Baker Street (1965), both won her Tony Award nominations. Other stage roles included Magnolia in Show Boat, Desdemona in Othello and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Inga retired from acting in 1998. From 1953, until her passing on July 23 2023 at the age of 90, she was married to Emmy Award-winning sound engineer Lowell Harris.Actress; d. July 23, 2023- Music Artist
- Actor
- Writer
Tony Bennett, one of the legends of jazz and popular music who served during the Second World War and then developed a career spanning over half a century, is now giving another concert tour across the United States and Europe.
He was born Anthony (Antonio) Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Astoria, Queens, in New York City. His father, Giovanni "John" Benedetto, was a grocer, his mother, Anna Maria (Suraci), was a seamstress, and his uncle was a tap dancer. His parents were both from poor farming families in Calabria, Italy. Young Tony gave a singing performance at the opening of the Triborough Bridge at the age of 10. He studied music and painting at the New York High School of Industrial Arts but dropped out at the age of 16. He had to support his family and he performed as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants.
During the Second World War Tony Bennett was drafted into the US Army. He served on the front lines until April 1945 and was involved in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp at Landsberg, Germany. After the WWII he sang with the Army military band under the stage name "Joe Bari" until his discharge and return to the US in 1946. He studied the Bel Canto singing discipline at the American Theater Wing on the GI Bill and continued singing while waiting on tables at New York restaurants.
At the beginning of his career he drew from such influences as Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby among others and eventually created his own style of singing. He also integrated jazz-style phrasing into his singing by imitating the instrumental solos with his own voice.
In 1949, Bennett was invited on a concert tour by Bob Hope, who suggested him to use the name Tony Bennett. In 1950, he was signed to Columbia Records and made his first big hit 'Because of You', produced by Mitch Miller with orchestration by Percy Faith. It sold over a million copies, reaching #1 in 1951 pop charts. His other #1 hits were 'Blue Velvet', 'Rags to Riches', and "Stranger in Paradise" in 1952-54. Bennett was able to do five to seven shows a day in New York to crowds of screaming teenagers.
In 1956, he hosted The Tony Bennett Show (1956), which replaced Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948). He continued making recordings with the top jazz musicians of the day and his collaboration with Count Basie brought two albums, with 'Chicago' and 'Jeepers Creepers' becoming popular songs. His landmark concert at the Carnegie Hall in June of 1962 featured 44 songs and was accompanied by an all-star band. The same year he released 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco', which remained on the charts for a year and has become his signature song. The eponymous album became a gold record.
Bennett had a change of fortune after 1964, with strong competition from The Beatles and the British Invasion. In 1965, he separated from his first wife, artist Patricia Beech, with whom he had two sons. The marriage did not work under the pressures of being too much on the road and eventually ended in divorce. At the same time, his first acting role in the film The Oscar (1966) was not a success; he received poor reviews, and the film was lambasted by critics, ignored by audiences and became one of the biggest flops of the year. His singing career took a downturn when his bosses at Columbia Records, worried about competition from The Beatles, forced him to change his image and style, which pleased no one. He left Columbia in 1972. A brief contract with MGM Records yielded no hits, and Bennett was left without a recording job.
He married again. He started his own record company and made two highly praised albums with Bill Evans. He moved to England for a while, where he once performed for the Queen. Back in the US, Bennett found only one regular gig in Las Vegas, but no recording deals or concert tours. His debts grew to the point of bankruptcy, and the IRS was trying to seize his house in L.A. By the late 1970s, his second marriage to actress Sandra Grant, with whom he had two daughters, was failing. He also suffered from a drug addiction, and after an overdose in 1979, he called for help from his son Danny Bennett. Danny signed on as his father's manager, and it turned out to be a smart move.
Tony Bennett rejuvenated his career by bringing back his original style, tuxedo and the Great American Songbook. He staged a strong comeback during the 1980s and 1990s, signed with Columbia again, and made two gold albums in 1992 and 1993, and developed a surprising and loyal following among audiences in their 20s and 30s. He also received a Grammy Award, the first since 1962. He again performed and recorded with Frank Sinatra, and extended musical collaboration to gigs with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elvis Costello, and k.d. lang among others. Bennet also appeared as himself on MTV's documentary series Unplugged (1989) in 1994 and 2000.
His resilience and successful comeback became a sensation in the modern day entertainment industry. Bennett appeared as himself in the films Analyze This (1999), The Scout (1994), and Bruce Almighty (2003). He has sold over 50 million records worldwide, was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), published an autobiography "The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett" (1998), received a lifetime achievement award from ASCAP (2002), and was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in December of 2005. Honored by the United Nations with its Citizen of the World award, he is widely considered an International treasure.
On his 80th anniversary, Tony Bennett enjoyed congratulations from millions of fans from all over the world. In November 2006, Bennett hosted a Gala-party in his honor at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. There he enjoyed live performances by numerous celebrities. The party came to culmination when Mr. Bennett entertained his guests by singing his best known hits: 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and 'What A Good Life.'Singer; d. July 21, 2023- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Jane Birkin was born on 14 December 1946 in London, England, UK. She was an actress and director, known for Evil Under the Sun (1982), Blow-Up (1966) and Death on the Nile (1978). She was married to John Barry. She died on 16 July 2023 in Paris, France.Singer / Actress; d. July 16, 2023- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Lawrence Turman was born on 28 November 1926 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a producer and director, known for The Graduate (1967), The Thing (1982) and The River Wild (1994). He was married to Margaret Buckley, Suzanne Rita Trieb and Lorie Berger. He died on 1 July 2023 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.Producer; d. July 1, 2023- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alan Arkin was an Academy Award-winning American actor who was also an acclaimed director, producer, author, singer and composer.
He was born Alan Wolf Arkin on March 26, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. His family were Jewish emigrants from Russia and Germany. In 1946, the Arkins moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, California. His father, David I. Arkin, was an artist and writer, who worked as a teacher, and lost his job for merely refusing to answer questions about his political affiliation during the 1950s Red Scare. His father challenged the politically biased dismissal and eventually prevailed, but unfortunately it was after his death. His mother, Beatrice (Wortis) Arkin, a teacher, shared his father's views. Young Arkin was fond of music and acting, he was taking various acting classes from the age of 10. He attended Franklin High School, in Los Angeles, then Los Angeles City College from 1951 - 1953, and Bennington College in Vermont from 1953 - 1954. He sang in a college folk-band, and was involved in a drama class. He dropped out of college to form the folk music group The Tarriers, in which Arkin was the lead singer and played guitar. He co-wrote the 1956 hit "The Banana Boat Song" - a Jamaican calypso folk song, which became better known as Harry Belafonte's popular version, and reached #4 on the Billboard chart. At that time Arkin was a struggling young actor who played bit parts on television and on stage, and made a living as a delivery boy, repairman, pot washer and baby sitter. From 1958 - 1968 he performed and recorded with the children's folk group, The Babysitters. He has also recorded an entire album for the Elektra label titled "Folksongs - Once Over Lightly."
In 1957 Arkin made his first big screen appearance as a lead singer with The Tarriers in Calypso Heat Wave (1957). Then he made his Off-Broadway debut as a singer in "Heloise" (1958). Next year he joined the Compass Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. There he caught the eye of stage director Bob Sills and became the original member of the "Second City" troupe in Chicago. In 1961 Arkin made his Broadway debut in musical "From the Second City", for which he wrote lyrics and sketches, then starred as David Kolowitz in the Broadway comedy "Enter Laughing" (1963), for which he won a Tony Award. He starred in a Broadway musical "From the Second City production, then returned to Broadway as Harry Berlin in "Luv" (1964). Arkin made his directorial debut with an Off-Broadway hit called "Eh?" (1966), which introduced the young actor, named Dustin Hoffman. He won a Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Off-Broadway production of "Little Murders" (1969), and another Drama Desk Award for "The White House Murder Case" (1970). He also directed the original version of Neil Simon's hilarious smash, "The Sunshine Boys" (1972), which ran over 500 performances.
Arkin earned his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for his feature acting debut in a comedy The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), by director Norman Jewison, co-starring as Lt. Rozanov, a Soviet submariner who is mistaken for a spy after his boat accidentally wrecks aground in New England. Arkin demonstrated his dramatic range as the psychopathic killer Roat in suspense film Wait Until Dark (1967), opposite Audrey Hepburn. He reinvented himself as the sensitive deaf-mute in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), for which he received his second Academy Award Nomination as Best Actor in the Leading role. He followed with what remained his best known role as Captain Yossarian in Catch-22 (1970), directed by Mike Nichols and based on the eponymous anti-war novel by Joseph Heller. In it Arkin arguably gave his strongest performance, however, his career suffered because the film initially did not live up to expectations. After a few years of directorial work on television, Arkin made a comeback with an impressive portrayal of doctor Sigmund Freud in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976). In the early 1980s he acted in three movies that were family affairs, written by his wife, Barbara Dana, and co-starring his son, Adam Arkin.
During the 1990s he turned out several notable performances, such as a bitter former baseball player in TNT's Cooperstown (1993), and as a hilarious psychiatrist opposite John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). He won raves for his portrayal of a divorced father who struggles to keep his kids enrolled in the Beverly Hills school system in Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Arkin gave a brilliant performance opposite Robin Williams in Jakob the Liar (1999), a film about the Nazi occupation of Poland. He also returned to the New York stage co-starring with his son, Tony Arkin and Elaine May in "Power Plays", which he also co-authored. His most recent comeback as a heroin-snorting, sex-crazed, foul-mouthed grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), earned him his third Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and his first Academy Award.
Alan Arkin had been a modern Renaissance man. In addition to his achievements as an actor, director, and producer, he made his mark as a singer-songwriter with his popular-song compositions "Banana Boat Song", "Cuddle Bug," "That's Me," and "Best Time of the Year." Arkin also authored several books, including science-fiction and some children's stories, such as "The Clearing", "The Lemming Condition" and "Cassie Loves Beethoven" among his other publications. He was a father of three sons, Adam Arkin, Matthew Arkin, and Anthony Arkin, and a grandfather of Molly Arkin.
Alan Arkin was a strong supporter of an organic way of living and also a proponent for preservation of the environment and natural habitat. He avoided the show-biz-milieu and was known as an actor who does not really care about prestigious awards, but values having a good job and being acknowledged by his peers. In Arkin's own words he wanted to "Stay home for three months. Living as quietly as humanly possible." Arkin was given an Indian name, Grey Wolf, by his Native American friends in New Mexico.
Alan Arkin died in California on June 29, 2023 at the age of 89. He is survived by his three sons - Adam, Matthew, and Anthony Dana Arkin, and with Dana, Alan Arkin is survived by third wife, Suzanne Newlander Arkin, whom he married in 1999.Actor / Director; d. June 29, 2023- Stunts
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Dean Smith was raised in Eliasville, Texas, and later lived in Breckenridge, Texas, where he raised horses and longhorn cattle. He attended the University of Texas at Austin where he competed in track and football. He won an Olympic gold medal for the 400-meter relay in the 1952 Helsinki games and finished fourth in the 100-dash in the closest race in Olympic history. He was the lead-off man on the University of Texas world record relay team, 1954-55, and AAU national champion in the 100-meter dash. He played with the Los Angeles Rams during exhibition season and was traded to the Pittsburg Steelers at which time he decided to enter the movie business. He also won amateur rodeo championships for bareback bronco riding and calf roping.
He was an honorary member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame (2006), the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (1985), Stuntman's Hall of Fame (1980), and the University of Texas Hall of Fame (1980). He was awarded the American Culture Award for Western Movies and Television (2000), the Golden Boot Award in 1998, the Ben Johnson Award in 1993, the All American Cowboy Award in 1997, and the Head of the Class Alvin Davis Award in 2002.
In 2002, he organized the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefiting the Cowboy Cancer Crusade tribute to Ben Johnson, the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Institute honoring John Wayne and, in 2006, the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Institute honoring The Singing Cowboys in Abilene, Texas, the third weekend in October. On April 8, 2006, the John Wayne Cancer Institute honored him with the "Duke Award" for his contributions to cancer research.
In 2023, Dean Smith died of cancer, aged 91, in Breckenridge, Texas.Actor / Stuntman / Athlete; d. June 24, 2023- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Stunning, dark-haired '40s and '50s leading lady Margia Dean was the daughter of a Greek lawyer. Her parents moved from Athens to the US in 1913, a number of years before her birth on April 7, 1922, in Chicago, Illinois. The youngest of three girls, she was christened Marguerite Louise Skliris. Her family moved to San Francisco when she was 4 years old and by age 7 she was a working actress whose stage credits included Little Eva in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Mytyl in "The Blue Bird" and Becky Thatcher in "Tom Sawyer."
As a juvenile performer she won talent scholarships for both the Reginald Travers Repertory Company and the Henry Duffy Players companies, and at age 15 won a national Shakespearean performance contest. Margia grew up to become a dazzling beauty and began appearing in a number of pageants that would eventually attract the attention of Hollywood. She won the titles of "Miss San Francisco" and "Miss California," which led to a first-prize talent in the "Miss America" contest.
In 1944 the 22-year-old hopeful made her film debut at Republic Pictures but was not signed to a contract. She went on to freelance in other parts for both major (Columbia, MGM, Fox) and minor (Monogram, PRC) studios, where strong focus remained on her shapely figure. She made little impression until winning her first leading role in Shep Comes Home (1948) co-starring Robert Lowery for Screen Guild. Finally earning co-star billing, albeit on a second-string level, she became much more visible in her films, which included Red Desert (1949), The Lonesome Trail (1955), Villa!! (1958) and the cult classics The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), 7 Women from Hell (1961) and (her last) Moro Witch Doctor (1964). At the same time she appeared in myriad TV and theater productions, and engaged in an enviable jet-setting social life with escorts that included Prince Aly Khan.
Frustrations set in, however, as the obviously talented actress found herself almost exclusively bonded in the "B" film ranks where she could still attract audiences as a temptress or villainess. While she occasionally graced an "A" picture--including Living in a Big Way (1947) starring Gene Kelly, Take Care of My Little Girl (1951) with Jeanne Crain and Mitzi Gaynor and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956) starring Jane Russell--her roles were usually smaller in size. Although she admittedly took on a number of roles that were beneath her talent in order to pay the bills, some of her better acting appearances actually came later in her career, notably The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960) with Peter Falk and The Big Show (1961) starring Esther Williams and Cliff Robertson.
In subsequent years Margia expanded her interests to include producing at a time when few women could break into such a male-dominated field. She was the executive producer of the western The Long Rope (1961) starring Hugh Marlowe. She was also associate producer on a couple of minor '60s films made in England and produced a TV pilot. In 1965 she married second husband Felipe Alvarez, an architect by trade, whose own creative outlets included painting, writing, photography, guitar and voice, and eventually left the business.
Margia went on to become the vice-president of a major real estate firm, a Beverly Hills restaurateur and a Brentwood dress shop owner. Happily married to Alvarez for 40+ years, the couple has retired blissfully to the Southern California area. The still-vivacious octogenarian is glimpsed from time to time at film festivals and nostalgia conventions. Had a few more lucky breaks and some better career decisions come her way, there is no telling what kind of "A"-level heights lovely Margia Dean might have attained. Still, she remains a viable and entertaining footnote in Hollywood's past.Actress; d. June 23, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Frederic Forrest, the Oscar-nominated character actor, was born two days before Christmas Day in 1936 in Waxahachie, Texas, the same home town as director Robert Benton. Forrest had long wanted to be an actor, but he was so nervous that he ran out of auditions for school plays. Later, at Texas Christian University, he took a minor in theater arts while majoring in radio and television studies. His parents opposed his aspirations as a thespian as it was a precarious existence, but he moved on to New York and studied with renowned acting teacher Sanford Meisner. He eventually became an observer at the Actors Studio, where he was tutored by Lee Strasberg. During this time, he supported himself as a page at the NBC Studios in Rockefeller Plaza.
His theatrical debut was in the Off-Broadway production of "Viet-Rock", an anti-war play featuring music. He became part of avant-garde director Tom O'Horgan's stock company at La Mama, appearing in the infamous "Futz", among other productions. After starring in the off-Broadway play "Silhouettes", Forrest moved with the production to Los Angeles, intent on breaking into movies. While the production ran for three months and was visited by agents bird-dogging new talent, Forrest got no offers and had to support himself as a pizza-baker after the show closed. Eventually, he began auditing classes at Actors Studio West, and director Stuart Millar saw him in a student showcase production of Clifford Odets' "Watiting for Lefty" and cast him in When the Legends Die (1972). He copped a 1973 Golden Globe nomination as "Most Promising Newcomer - Male" for the role.
Forrest landed a small but very important part in "Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974). He and Cindy Williams are the two people having that titular conversation (recorded by Gene Hackman: so Forrest's voice is heard throughout the film). And Coppola wasn't done with him! Playing "Chef" in Apocalypse Now (1979) garnered Forrest the best notices of his career, and he parlayed that into Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor for The Rose (1979), his second hit that year. He was named Best Supporting Actor by the National Society of Film Critics for both films. Then he was cast as the star in Coppola's "One From The Heart". In Apocalypse Now (1979), his character ("Chef") is yelling for the Playboy Playmates from the crowd, one of whom is played by Colleen Camp, who, four years later, would play his hippie wife in the film Valley Girl (1983).Actor; d. June 23, 2023- Born in Hawthorne, California (Los Angeles area) on November 26, 1929, the former Betty Jean Striegler was part of the Meglin Kiddies troupe as a child and entered pictures in her adolescent years. Betta made her film debut at age 10 with an unbilled role of a little girl who sings Marlene Dietrich's song "Little Joe" in the classic western Destry Rides Again (1939) starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart. She went on to also appear in an Our Gang short and had unbilled orphan roles in both Jane Eyre (1943) and Lydia (1941). She was also a one-time model.
The musical team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein took sharp notice of this young, attractive singing/dancing teen talent and gave her a small role in Broadway's "Carousel" in 1945. Four years later, when they were ready to cast the exotic role of "Liat" for their upcoming musical "South Pacific" starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, they had to look no further than darkly beautiful Betta St. John. The Broadway show was a blockbuster hit come opening night. While performing in the show's London tour at the Theatre Royale Drury Lane Theatre early in 1952, she met and worked with British opera singer and cast member Peter Grant (he played Lt. Cable). They married on November 27th of that year and remained so until his death in 1992.
The musical splash Betta made on Broadway suddenly reopened the door for some decorative film work. She made her adult debut in the second femme lead (behind Deborah Kerr) in Dream Wife (1953). In this she plays Tarji, a princess, who is courted by bachelor tycoon Cary Grant. This led to other "B"-level co-star/featured parts in a number of exotic eastern and western adventures throughout the 1950's including Miriam in the biblical epic The Robe (1953); Lady Iolanthe opposite Ricardo Montalban in The Saracen Blade (1954); Princess Johanna in The Student Prince (1954); outlaw Billy the Kid's (played by Scott Brady) love interest in The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954); a British belle in the mystery drama Alias John Preston (1955) which had a small featured role for husband Peter Grant; an alternative to "Jane" in Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957) starring Gordon Scott; and a Canadian islander (she is top-billed) in the British-made High Tide at Noon (1957).
After numerous guest appearances on TV here and in England, Betta co-starred with Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in the British-made horror Corridors of Blood (1958) and Lee again in the horror The City of the Dead (1960), and made one more movie excursion into the jungle with Gordon Scott's Tarzan in Tarzan the Magnificent (1960) before abandoning the limelight altogether.Actress; d. June 23, 2023 - Paxton Whitehead was born on 17 October, 1937 in Kent, England, UK. He trained at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts starting at the age of 17. After attending the academy for two years he went to work in stock companies starting with the "weekly rep", small touring companies that rehearsed and performed a new play each week. He made his professional debut in 1956, and within two years was signed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Whitehead produced with Doric Wilson, directed and starred in "And He Made A Her" (1961), a production at the off-off-Broadway venue Caffe Cino. He made his Broadway debut in "The Affair" (1962) after appearing in Canadian stage and TV productions. Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Paxton Whitehead provided vocals on the track "Some Thoughts From Aboard" from the comedy album "Beyond The Fringe '64". He went on to appear with the American Shakespeare Company to direct in regional repertory.
Whitehead was the Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, the second-largest repertory theatre in North America. The Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake began as an amateur summer happening. It developed into a professional, international event, particularly under Paxton Whitehead, its dedicated artistic director from 1966 to 1977. Notable appearances there included Magnus in "The Apple Cart", Cusins in "Major Barbara", "The Philanderer", Sergius in "Arms and the Man", Lord Summerhays in "Misalliance", Fancourt Babberly in "Charley's Aunt", Tempest in the North American premiere of Alan Bennett's "Forty Years On" and Hector in "Heartbreak House" with Jessica Tandy and Tony Van Bridge, a role he repeated at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London with Rex Harrison and Diana Rigg. Whitehead was also the Artistic Director for The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company from 1971 to 1973.
Whitehead appeared opposite Carol Channing in "The Bed Before Yesterday" (1976) at the Robert Morris University, Colonial Theatre, Pennsylvania. He received an honourary degree in arts from Trent University in 1978. At the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Main Stage July 11 - July 15, 1978, Whitehead played Leo in "Design for Living". Suzanne Grossman and Paxton Whitehead translated and adapted the plays by Georges Feydeau "The Chemmy Circle" in 1979 and "A Flea in her Ear" in 1982.
Whitehead earned a Tony Award nomination for his appearance in "Camelot" during 1980. He has appeared in numerous Broadway productions including "My Fair Lady", opposite Richard Chamberlain, "The Harlequin Studies" with Bill Irwin, Noël Coward's "Suite in Two Keys", "A Little Hotel on the Side", "Lettice and Lovage" (playing an emotionally shut-down police investigator), "Artist Descending A Staircase", "Run For Your Wife", "The Crucifer of Blood", "Habeas Corpus", "Candida", "Beyond the Fringe" (1964), "The Affair" and "London Suite" (a comedy by Neil Simon). Whitehead appeared in "Noises Off" (September 22 - November 27, 1983) with Linda Thorson, his Marblehead Manor (1987) co-star.
He moved to California in 1980 to rear his children and has been a resident of Irvine, California for many years. The Shaw Festival of Canada debuted at the Annenberg Centre with "Charley's Aunt" starring Paxton Whitehead. Whitehead has also appeared in the Los Angeles productions of "Woman in Mind" with Helen Mirren, "The Rocky Horror Show", "Pirates of Penzance", "How the Other Half Loves" and "Beyond The Fringe", as well as duplicating some of his Broadway roles. Paxton Whitehead directed the Seattle Repertory Theatre production of "The Real Thing" in 1986. He was nominated for Best Lead Performance at the 1988-1989 20th Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for "How the Other Half Loves".
Whitehead appeared in the June 1992 Tiffany Theatre production of "Woman in Mind". In 1996 Whitehead appeared in the Studio Arena Theatre production of "Springtime for Henry". From January 7 to February 15, 1997, Paxton Whitehead starred in Hugh Leonard's play "The Mask of Moriarty" at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Whitehead was the narrator for the February 1999 Tiffany Theater production of "The Rocky Horror Show".
In April 2000, Hayley Mills appeared with Whitehead in "Suite in 2 Keys", "Shadows of the Evening" and "A Song at Twilight". Whitehead played the celebrated British poet and Latin Professor A.E. Housman in "The Invention of Love" at Court Theatre, Chicago, Illinois (September 6 - October 21, 2000). On October 10, 2001, The UCLA Centre for the Performing Arts for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies sponsored "Lady Windermere's Fan" by Oscar Wilde, a staged reading by John Lithgow and friends with Lord Augustus Lorton played by Paxton Whitehead. In the Signature Theatre Company production of "The Harlequin Studies" (October 2003) featured Whitehead as Harlequin's master, Pantalone. Performances of Whitehead's are available on audio CDs of "The Doctor's Dilemma" (January 11, 2003), "Thank You, Jeeves" and "The Foreigner" (May 17, 2003) from L.A. Theatre Works.
Whitehead is an Associate Artist of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. His appearances there include "The Miser", "Richard III", "Sir Peter Teazle", "Sir Anthony Absolute" and "Benedick". In Costa Mesa he has been seen in "Heartbreak House", "How the Other Half Loves" and "The Circle". He has appeared as Lear in Manitoba and several Ray Cooney farces. He has recent regional credits that include "The Voysey Inheritance" (December 13, 2003), W. Somerset Maugham's "The Circle", A.E.H. in the Chicago production of Tom Stoppard's "The Invention of Love" and "Where's Charley?" (Williamstown Theatre Festival, June 19-30, 2002). Whitehead played Clive Champion-Cheney in "The Circle" by W. Somerset Maugham at South Coast Repertory. During the rehearsal of "The Circle" he played Malvolio in The Globe's "Twelfth Night". He appeared with John Lithgow, Melissa Errico, Roger Daltrey and Rosemary Harris and played Col. Pickering in a semi-staged production of Alan Jay Lerner and Enrique Loewe's Classic Musical "My Fair Lady" at the Hollywood Bowl on August 3, 2003. Paxton Whitehead headed the cast of The Huntington Theatre Company presentation of "What the Butler Saw" as Dr. Rance at the Boston University Theatre, March 5-April 4, 2004 for which he received the Norton Awards for Outstanding Actor, Large Company. He is co-author on the books "The Doctor's Dilemma" and "The Voysey Inheritance" published by L.A. Theatre Works. Whitehead appeared in "Don Juan in Hell" at 92nd Street Y on January 28, 2005.Actor; d. June 16, 2023 - Actress
- Soundtrack
Few in modern British history have come as far or achieved as much from humble beginnings as Glenda Jackson did. From acclaimed actress to respected MP (Member of Parliament), she was known for her high intelligence and meticulous approach to her work. She was born to a working-class household in Birkenhead, where her father was a bricklayer and her mother was a cleaning lady. When she was very young, her father was recruited into the Navy, where he worked aboard a minesweeper. She graduated from school at 16 and worked for a while in a pharmacy. However, she found this boring and dead-end and wanted better for herself. Her life changed forever when she was accepted into the prestigious Royal Acadamy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the age of 18. Her work impressed all who observed it. At age 22, she married Roy Hodges.
Her first work came on the stage, where she won a role in an adaptation of "Separate Tables", and made a positive impression on critics and audiences alike. This led to film roles, modest at first, but she approached them with great determination. She first came to the public's notice when she won a supporting role in the controversial film Marat/Sade (1967), and is acknowledged to have stolen the show. She quickly became a member of Britain's A-List. Her first starring role came in the offbeat drama Negatives (1968), in which she out-shone the oddball material. The following year, controversial director Ken Russell gave her a starring role in his adaptation of the 1920s romance Women in Love (1969), in which she co-starred with Oliver Reed. The film was a major success, and Jackson's performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. In the process, she became an international celebrity, known world-wide, yet she didn't place as much value on the status and fame as most do. She did, however, become a major admirer of Russell (who had great admiration for her in return) and acted in more of his films. She starred in the controversial The Music Lovers (1971), although it required her to do a nude scene, something that made her very uncomfortable. The film was not a success, but she agreed to do a cameo appearance in his next film, The Boy Friend (1971). Although her role as an obnoxious actress was very small, she once again performed with great aplomb.
1971 turned out to be a key year for her. She took a risk by appearing in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), as a divorced businesswoman in a dead-end affair with a shallow bisexual artist, but the film turned out to be another major success. She accepted the starring role in the British Broadcasting Corporation's much anticipated biography of Queen Elizabeth I, and her performance in the finished film, Elizabeth R (1971), was praised not only by critics and fans, but is cited by historians as the most accurate portrayal of the beloved former queen ever seen. The same year, she successfully played the role of Queen Elizabeth I again in the historical drama Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). That same year, she appeared in the popular comedy series The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968) in a skit as Queen Cleopatra, which is considered on of the funniest TV skits in British television, and also proof that she could do comedy just as well as costume melodrama. One who saw and raved about her performance was director Melvin Frank, who proceeded to cast her in the romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973), co-starring George Segal. The two stars had a chemistry which brought out the best in each other, and the film was not only a major hit in both the United States and Great Britain, but won her a second Academy Award. She continued to impress by refusing obvious commercial roles and seeking out serious artistic work. She gave strong performances in The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) and The Incredible Sarah (1976), in which she portrayed the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt. However, some of her films didn't register with the public, like The Triple Echo (1972), The Maids (1975), and Nasty Habits (1977). In addition, her marriage fell apart in 1976. But her career remained at the top and in 1978 she was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire. That year, she made a comeback in the comedy House Calls (1978), co-starring Walter Matthau. The success of this film which led to a popular television spin-off in the United States the following year. In 1979, she and Segal re-teamed in Lost and Found (1979), but they were unable to overcome the routine script. She again co-starred with Oliver Reed in The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), but the film was another disappointment.
During the 1980s, she appeared in Hopscotch (1980) also co-starring Walter Matthau, and HealtH (1980) with Lauren Bacall, with disappointing results, although Jackson herself was never blamed. Her performance in the TV biography Sakharov (1984), in which she played Yelena Bonner, devoted wife of imprisoned Russian nuclear scientist Andrei Sakharov opposite Jason Robards, won rave reviews. However, the next film Turtle Diary (1985), was only a modest success, and the ensemble comedy Beyond Therapy (1987) was a critical and box office disaster and Jackson herself got some of the worst reviews of her career.
As the 1980s ended, Jackson continued to act, but became more focused on public affairs. She grew up in a household that was staunchly supportive of the Labour Party. She had disliked the policies of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, even though she admired some of her personal attributes, and strongly disapproved of Thatcher's successor, John Major. She was unhappy with the direction of British government policies, and in 1992 ran for Parliament. Although running in an area (Hampstead and Highgate) which was not heavily supportive of her party, she won by a slim margin and immediately became its most famous newly elective member. However, those who expected that she would rest on her laurels and fame were mistaken. She immediately took an interest in transportation issues, and in 1997 was appointed Junior Transportation Minister by Prime Minister Tony Blair. However, she was critical of some of Blair's policies and is considered an inter-party opponent of Blair's moderate faction. She was considered a traditional Labour Party activist, but is not affiliated with the faction known as The Looney Left. In 2000, she ran for Mayor of London, but lost the Labour nomination to fellow MP Frank Dobson, an ally of Blair, who then lost the election to an independent candidate, Ken Livingstone.
In 2005, she ran again and won the nomination, but lost to Livingstone, winning 38% of the vote. When Blair announced he would not seek reelection as Prime Minister in 2006, Jackson's name was mentioned as a possible successor, although she didn't encourage this speculation. In 2010, she sought reelection to parliament and was almost defeated, winning by only 42 votes.
In 2013, she responded to the death of Margaret Thatcher by strongly denouncing her policies, which was condemned by many as graceless. In 2015, elections for parliament were called again but she didn't seek reelection. She was succeeded in Parliament by Christopher Philp, a Conservative Party member who had been Jackson's opponent in 2010.Actress; d. June 15, 2023- Pat Cooper (born Pasquale Caputo in New York City) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his appearances in The Howard Stern Show, Imus in the Morning and Opie and Anthony.
He was married twice. He had two biological children with his first wife (Michael and Louise). He had an adopted daughter (Patti Jo)with his second wife.
His son Michael wrote a book, published in 2009, "Dear Pat Cooper: What Happened to My Father Pasquale Caputo?"Comedian / Actor; d. June 6, 2023 - Actress
- Additional Crew
Margit Carstensen was born on 29 February 1940 in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. She was an actress, known for The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Possession (1981) and Martha (1974). She died on 1 June 2023 in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.Actress; d. June 1, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tall, dark and handsome, not to mention a charismatic rebel of 1960s Hollywood, actor George Maharis (surname originally Maharias) was born in 1928 in Astoria, New York, one of seven siblings. His immigrant father was a restaurateur. Maharis expressed an early interest in singing and initially pursued it as a career, but extensive overuse of his voice and improper vocal lessons stripped his vocal cords, and he subsequently veered towards an acting career.
Trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner and the Actor's Studio with Lee Strasberg, the "Method" actor found roles on television, including several episodes of Naked City (1958), and secured an early name for himself on the late 1950s off-Broadway scene, especially with his performances in Jean Genet's "Deathwatch" and Edward Albee's "Zoo Story". Producer/director Otto Preminger "discovered" Maharis for film, offering him a choice of five small roles in the upcoming film Exodus (1960), in which the actor eventually played an underground freedom fighter.
One of the episodes Maharis did of the police drama Naked City (1958), entitled "Four Sweet Corners", wound up being a roundabout pilot for the buddy adventure series that would earn him household fame. With the arrival of the series Route 66 (1960), the actor earned intense TV stardom and a major cult following as a Brando-esque, streetwise drifter named Buzz Murdock. Partnered with the fair-skinned, clean-scrubbed, college-educated Tod Stiles (Martin Milner, later star of Adam-12 (1968)), the duo traveled throughout the U.S. in a hotshot convertible Corvette and had a huge female audience getting their kicks off with the show. At the show's peak, Maharis parlayed his TV fame into a recording career with Epic Records, producing six albums in the process and peaking with the single "Teach Me Tonight".
During the middle of the series' third season peak, Maharis abruptly left the series with a number of reasons cited. Often quoted is that the virile, seductive image of a fast-rising star apparently got to him, and that he proved increasingly troublesome as he grew in stature. Tabloids reported that the actor purposefully instigated ongoing clashes with both producers and co-star Milner in order to leave the series and seek film stardom while the irons were hot. Maharis denied this, insisting that his working relationships on the set were solid and that any complaints were vastly overblown. He cited health reasons as the reason for his leaving, claiming that a long-term bout (and relapse) of infectious hepatitis, caught during a 1962 shoot of the series, forced him to abandon the show under doctor's orders. For whatever reason, Maharis left. His replacement, ruggedly handsome Glenn Corbett, failed to click with audiences and the series was canceled after the next season.
Back to working on films, the brash and confident actor, with his health scare over, aggressively pursued stardom with a number of leads, but the duds he found himself in -- Quick, Before It Melts (1964), Sylvia (1965), A Covenant with Death (1967), The Happening (1967), and The Desperados (1969) prime among his list of disasters -- hampered his chances. The best of the lot was the suspense drama The Satan Bug (1965), but it lacked box-office appeal and disappeared quickly. Moreover, a 1967 sex scandal (and subsequent one in 1974) could not have helped. In the 1970s Maharis returned to series TV in the short-lived The Most Deadly Game (1970), co-starring fellow criminologists Ralph Bellamy and Yvette Mimieux (who replaced the late Inger Stevens who committed suicide shortly before shooting was about to start). The decade also included a spate of TV movies, including the more notable The Monk (1969) and Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In between these he appeared in Las Vegas nightclubs and summer stock, and was one of the first celebrities to pose for a nude centerfold in Playgirl (July 1973).
His last working years brought about the occasional film, most notably as the resurrected warlock in The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) and an appearance in the horror thriller Doppelganger (1993). With his "bad boy" glory days behind him, Maharis' TV career ended rather routinely with guest parts on such popular but unchallenging shows such as "Fantasy Island" and "Murder, She Wrote". Later years were spent focusing on impressionistic painting. He has been fully retired since the early 1990s.Actor; d. May 24, 2023- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status.
Born to a share-cropping family in the segregated South, Anna Mae Bullock and her elder sister were abandoned by their sparring parents early on. After her grandmother's death, she eventually moved to St. Louis, Missouri to reunite with her mother. This opened up a whole new world of R&B nightclubs to the precocious 16-year-old. Called up to sing onstage with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm in 1956, she displayed a natural talent for performing which the bandleader was keen to develop. Soon, Anna Mae's aspirations of a nursing career were forgotten and she began to hang around with the group. When the singer booked to record "A Fool in Love" failed to turn up for the session, Ike drafted Anna Mae to provide the vocal with the intention of removing it later. However, once he heard her spine-tingling performance of the song, he soon changed his plans. He changed her name to Tina Turner, and when the record became a hit, Tina became a permanent fixture in Ike's band and his quest for international stardom. One thing led to another: they were married in Mexico after the births of Tina's two sons - the first a result of an earlier relationship with a musician, the second with Ike.
Before too long, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was tearing up large and small R&B and soul venues throughout the early and mid-1960s. The hits were relatively few, but the unsurpassed energy and excitement generated by the live stage show, primarily Tina, made the Revue a solid touring act, along with the likes of James Brown and Ray Charles. Their greatest attempt to "cross over" came in 1966 with the historic recording of the Phil Spector production, "River Deep, Mountain High". While it was a commercial flop in the United States, it was a monster hit in Europe - and the start of Tina's European superstar status, which never faded during her long stint of relative obscurity in America in the late 1970s. The Revue entered that decade as a top touring and recording act, with Tina becoming more and more recognized as the star power behind the group's international success. Ike, while having been justly described as an excellent musician, a shrewd businessman and the initial "brains" behind the Revue, was also described (by Tina and others) as a violent, drug-addicted wife-beater who was not above frequently knocking Tina (and other women) around both publicly and privately. Despite hits such as "Proud Mary" and Tina's self-penned "Nutbush City Limits", further mainstream success eluded the group and Ike blamed Tina. After years of misery and a failed suicide attempt, Tina finally had enough in July 1976, when she fled the marriage (and the Revue) with the now-famous 36 cents and a Mobil gasoline credit card.
Tina, nearing 40, endured a long and, at times, humiliating trek back to superstardom through working many substandard gigs and performing a repertoire of current Top 40 hits and old Ike & Tina tunes in hotel ballrooms and supper clubs. She later admitted she was having the time of her life at this point, simply putting together her own show and performing. She refused to wrangle for a settlement from the divorce, despite being in huge debt to all the tour promoters she had let down by fleeing the Revue. After an appearance on Olivia Newton-John: Hollywood Nights (1980), Tina - in a wise business move - persuaded Newton-John's management team to take her on. With Roger Davies at her side, Tina's profile began to rise, and performances alongside the likes of Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones introduced her to the rock market she so wanted to pursue.
The European release of her cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" in 1983 was a major turning point in Tina's career. The record hit #6 on the British chart, and Capitol Records were soon demanding a full album. "Private Dancer" was hurriedly produced in England in two weeks flat. The rest is rock and roll history. The next single - "What's Love Got to Do with It?" - became Tina's first #1 single the following year, and the album hung around the Top 10 for months, spawning two further hits. At the 1985 Grammy Awards, her astonishing comeback was recognized with nominations in the rock, R&B and pop categories and rewarded with four trophies. After that time, the successes just kept coming: a starring role in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985); duets with Bryan Adams, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger amongst others; several sell-out world tours; a string of hit albums and awards; a bestselling autobiography, "I, Tina"; and the blockbuster biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) chronicling her life.
After her "Twenty Four Seven Millenium Tour" in 2000, Tina announced she would retire from the concert stage, but continue to record and play live on a smaller scale. Four years later, at age 65, she released a career retrospective entitled "All the Best" featuring new recordings, and reached #2 in the American album chart, her highest ever placing for an album there. She ended 2005 as one of five recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, the highest form of recognition of excellence in the arts in America. Despite changing the direction of her working life, she will always be remembered as a dynamic live performer and recording artist, able to thrill audiences like no other woman in music history. Tina Turner is the undisputed Queen of Rock and Roll.Singer / Dancer / Actress; d. May 24, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born Malden, Massachusetts on July 9, 1927 (real name Urick), Ed, Vic Ames, Gene Ames and Joe Ames were sons of Ukrainian Jewish parents and four of nine children. They were very poor but Ed attended Boston Public Latin School along with brother Joe. The singing group, The Ames Brothers, was formed in 1947 in Boston and later appeared at the "Roxy Theatre" in New York City. During their early years, they won many amateur contests and made their professional debut at the "Foxes and Hounds", a posh Boston nightclub. They went on to play at the "Chez Paree" in Chicago and "Ciro's" in Hollywood. "The Riviera", just across New York City west of the George Washington bridge, was another nightclub where they appeared regularly. Ed is still best known to audiences for his television role as "Mingo" on the Daniel Boone (1964) series on NBC. Ed also appeared on Broadway in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Crucible". He also appeared in the off-Broadway production of "The Fantasticks" at the Sullivan Street Theatre in Greenwich Village which ran until 2002.Singer / Actor; d. May 21, 2023- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Often mentioned as the greatest player in NFL history, this ruggedly handsome African American fullback for the Cleveland Browns first appeared on movie screens in the western Rio Conchos (1964), followed by a strong supporting role as convict commando "Jefferson" in the terrific WWII action film The Dirty Dozen (1967). He was kept busy with additional on screen appearances in other fast paced films including Ice Station Zebra (1968), 100 Rifles (1969) and El Condor (1970).
Brown's popularity grew during the boom of "blaxploitation" cinema in the early 1970s portraying tough "no nonsense" characters in Slaughter (1972), Black Gunn (1972) and Three the Hard Way (1974). His on-screen work in the latter part of the 1970s and 1980s was primarily centered around guest spots on popular TV shows such as CHiPs (1977) and Knight Rider (1982). However, Brown then resurfaced in better quality films beginning with his role as a fiery assassin in The Running Man (1987), he parodied the blaxploitation genre along with many other African-American actors in the comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), played an ex-heavyweight boxer in the sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks! (1996) and ironically played an ex-football legend in the Oliver Stone directed sports film Any Given Sunday (1999).
Additionally, Jim Brown was a ringside commentator for the first six events of the Ultimate Fighting Championships from 1993 through to 1996. A bona fide legend in American sports and a successful actor, he continues to remain busy in front of the camera with recent appearances in various sports shows & TV productions.Athlete / Actor; d. May 19, 2023- Actor
- Soundtrack
Helmut Berger - Austrian born film actor, mostly known for starring in Luchino Visconti's films, which are now considered modern classics. Born Helmut Steinberger in Salzburg in 1944, he turned down a prospect of running a family hotel business and went to London where he worked as waiter to pay his way through drama school. Later he attended the University of Perugia in Italy and spent some time in France. His acting career began with French and Italian commercials and showed no signs of progress until he was picked up by Luchino Visconti out of pool of "extras" during the shooting of Sandra (1965) in 1964. Berger's relationships with Visconti, whose partner he remained for 12 years, brought him to the attention of press and allowed him to act in some Visconti's films such as The Damned (1969), Ludwig (1973) and Conversation Piece (1974). Visconti is said to view Berger as the very image of his idea of a "demonic, insane and sexually perverted" man. As a matter of fact Berger often portrayed anguished souls and sinister villains. His acting career continued throughout the 1970s but was temporarily broken up in the early 80s when he battled alcohol problem. He appeared in numerous French, Italian, German films and spent one season on American soap Dynasty (1981) but few directors used his gifts with the same skill as Visconti. His autobiography "Ich" (Me), in which he famously referred to his relationships with Visconti as "marriage" and claimed to be the director's widow, appeared in 1998. Berger is still very active appearing in TV series regularly. He also very modestly attributed his acting achievements to Visconti's directing.Actor; d. May 18, 2023- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sharon Farrell was born on 24 December 1940 in Sioux City, Iowa, USA. She was an actress, known for Can't Buy Me Love (1987), Night of the Comet (1984) and Lone Wolf McQuade (1983). She was married to Dale Trevillion, Steve Salkin, John Boyer, Ron De Blasio and Andrew Prine. She died on 15 May 2023 in Orange County, California, USA.Actress; d. May 15, 2023- Barry Foster Newman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Sarah and Carl Newman. After graduating from Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the country, he graduated from Brandeis University with a B.A. in Anthropology. While at Brandeis he met Lee Strasberg, who was teaching a course in theater, which inspired Barry to become an actor.
After graduating from Brandeis he was drafted into the Army and served his time in the army band, playing saxophone and clarinet. Once discharged from the army, he went to New York to study with Strasberg to pursue his acting career. Shortly after he made his debut in Herman Wouk's first comedy, Nature's Way, in which he played a jazz musician.
He then appeared in several Broadway shows, including "What Makes Sammy Run" (a musical), Mel Tolkin's "Maybe Tuesday", and starred in the New York production of the world's longest running play, Agatha Christie's "The Mouse Trap".
His career flourished and he began starring in feature films, such as Sidney J. Furie's "The Lawyer", and as the iconic Kowalski in Vanishing Point (1971). In 1974, he was offered the title role of what became the hit television series Petrocelli (1974), for which he received an Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
After Petrocelli (1974) ended, Newman went back to star in feature films and miniseries, including the critically acclaimed miniseries Fatal Vision (1984), with Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint and Gary Cole. He starred in more than 20 television movies of the week, like "King Crab," for which he won the ABC Theater Award, and "Fantasies" with Suzanne Pleshette (with whom he had starred in the early 1990s series "Nightingales"). He continued co-starring in feature films, such as Sylvester Stallone's "Daylight", Steve Martin's "Bowfinger," and Stephen Soderbergh's "The Limey", with Peter Fonda. He continues to delight in the profession he chose, a successful career that has spanned five decades.
Rolling Stone senior film editor, David Fear, recently tweeted about Barry: "Rewatching Barry Newman films (Vanishing Point, Fear Is the Key), it's like producers fused Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen into one actor."Actor; d. May 11, 2023 - Director
- Writer
- Editor
Kenneth Anger grew up in Hollywood and started out as a child actor, but his interest in filmmaking was evident at an early age: he made his first film, Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat (1941) , at age 14.
Anger developed into one of the pioneers of the American underground film movement. His gritty, violent, often homosexual-themed films were too strong for American audiences of the time, and many of his productions were filmed in Europe, mainly France.
However, Anger is best known for authoring the landmark "Hollywood Babylon" book series, which detailed a far seamier side of the Hollywood film industry than most people were aware.Filmmaker; d. May 11, 2023- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Harold George Belafonte was born on March 1, 1927 in New York City. He was educated at the New York Dramatic Workshop. He grew up in Jamaica, British West Indies, and did folk-singing in nightclubs and theaters, and on television and records. His debut was at the Village Vanguard in New York. Also, he appeared in the Broadway revues "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" and "Three for Tonight". He owns his own music publishing firm and film production company. He won a Tony Award in 1953, a Donaldson Award in 1953-1954, a Show Business Award in 1954, a Diners' Club Award in 1955-1956, and an Emmy Award for "Tonight with Belafonte". He has made many records. Joining the ASCAP in 1960, his popular-music compositions include "Turn Around", "Shake That Little Foot" and "Glory Manger".Singer / Actor / Activist; d. April 25, 2023- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
His father was a well-to-do builder. Barry was a highly intelligent boy who attended Melbourne University. There, he began acting in revues and doing impersonations. He moved to London in 1959 and began his professional performing career on the West End and Broadway stages as Mr Sowerby in Oliver!, and in Peter Cook's Establishment nightclub. He has created numerous characters including Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.Comedian / Actor; d. April 22, 2023- Elizabeth Hubbard was born on 22 December 1933 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for As the World Turns (1956), The Doctors (1963) and First Ladies Diaries: Edith Wilson (1976). She was married to David Bennett . She died on 8 April 2023 in Roxbury, Connecticut, USA.Actress; d. April 8, 2023
- Michael Lerner was an American actor from New York City, the older brother of actor Ken Lerner. He was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the domineering studio head Jack Lipnick in "Barton Fink" (1991). Other well-known roles include crime boss Arnold Rothstein (1882-1928) in "Eight Men Out" (1988), Mayor Ebert in "Godzilla" (1998), and Senator Brickman in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014).
In 1941, Lerner was born to a family of Romanian-Jewish descent. His father was George Lerner, a fisherman and antiques dealer. Lerner was primarily raised in Solon, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), and in the port area of Red Hook, Brooklyn. Red Hook was the site of a shack city for the homeless during the 1930s, and had a reputed connection to organized crime for most of the 20th century.
Lerner started his acting career as a theatrical actor. During the 1960s, he performed with the American Conservatory Theater (ACT), a nonprofit theater company based in San Francisco, California. He made his film debut in the comedy-drama "Alex in Wonderland" (1970). The film concerns a film director who has had only one box-office hit in his career, and is uncertain about his options in life.
Over the following years, Lerner mostly played supporting roles in various films. He enjoyed some success in horror films, portraying the Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department in "Maniac Cop 2" (1990), and a private detective in "Omen IV: The Awakening" (1991). The most acclaimed role in his career was portraying Jack Lipnick in "Barton Fink" (1991). His character was the head of a film studio who constantly switched between flattering and threatening his employees, but maintained complete control over them. Lerner was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but the award went to veteran actor Jack Palance. Lerner did, however, win the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Lerner found steady work in films throughout the 1990s. He portrayed bank president Edward H. Biderman in the comedy "Blank Check" (1994), where the bank is used for money laundering. He portrayed a short-tempered police lieutenant in the comedy thriller "Radioland Murders" (1994), with his character ultimately unable to prevent the serial killer of the film from pursuing his agenda. He portrayed Professor Marcus in "Tale of the Mummy" (1998), a respected scholar who is manipulated into killing someone.
Lerner was still active in the 2000s. He portrayed a doctor in "Mockingbird Don't Sing" (2001), a fictionalized depiction of the life of the feral child Genie (1957-). He portrayed domineering CEO Fulton Greenway in the Christmas comedy "Elf" (2003). He portrayed father figure Harvey Wiener in the comedy-drama "Life During Wartime" (2009).
Lerner had relatively few new roles in the 2010s, but some were still memorable. He portrayed ruthless politician Wesley Mouch in the science fiction film "Atlas Shrugged: Part I" (2011), based on Ayn Rand's iconic novel.
Lerner portrayed the Baron in the fantasy comedy "Mirror Mirror" (2012), an elite courtier who has won the favor of the wicked queen played by Julia Roberts. He portrayed Senator Brickman in the superhero film "X-Men: Days of Future Past", a politician who votes to sever funding for the Sentinel program. Lerner portrayed real-life producer/MGM studio executive Louis B. Mayer in "First Oscar" (2022).Actor; d. April 8, 2023 - Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Bill Butler was born on 7 April 1921 in Cripple Creek, Colorado, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Grease (1978) and Jaws (1975). He was married to Iris Butler and Alma Hortense Smith. He died on 5 April 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Cinematographer; d. April 5, 2023- Production Designer
- Art Director
- Art Department
Oscar-winning British art director and production designer, most famous for being the creative genius behind the look of the original Star Wars trilogy. Reynolds also worked on many other blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Superman (1978), Empire of the Sun (1987) and Bicentennial Man (1999). While brilliantly inventive in his chosen field, he remained consistently self-effacing in private life. Many a famous prop had a modest beginning. The golden idol used in the opening scene of 'Raiders', for example, began life as a 'fertility figure', originally purchased by Reynolds at a Mexican airport as a "tacky tourist souvenir". His creations for Star Wars have included Yoda's swamp planet of Dagobah, Han Solo's carbon freezing chamber, Jabba the Hutt's sail barge and the Ewok village (respectively, for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)). The look of most subsequent entries in the Star Wars franchise continues to remain greatly influenced by the earlier conceptual work of Reynolds.
Reynolds began his career in advertising, among other things creating illuminated signs. During a trip to Shepperton Studios in the early 60s, he was able visit multiple sets, including one for the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope classic The Road to Hong Kong (1962). From that moment on, Reynolds was hooked on the film industry and determined to become a part of it. He began his career by serving a two year long apprenticeship in production design at the old Elstree studios in Borehamwood, near London, plying his trade on episodes of The Saint (1962). He was to later revisit this location to create such iconic sets as Jabba's Palace for Star Wars, or set pieces like the opening scene of the rolling boulder for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Norman Reynolds died on April 6 2023 at the age of 89.Art Director / Production Designer; d. April 2, 2023- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
American actor who began as a child in Our Gang comedies and reappeared as a powerful adult performer of leading and character roles. Born in New Jersey, the young Mickey Gubitosi won a role in MGM's Our Gang series at the age of 5. As one of the more prominent children in the Gang, he gained attention for his cute good looks and his lovable, if somewhat melancholy, personality.
In 1940 he took on the stage name Bobby Blake (though he continued to use the name Mickey Gubitosi in the Our Gang series for another three years) and began playing child roles in a wide range of films. He gained a good deal of fame as the Indian sidekick Little Beaver in the Red Ryder series of Westerns. Though roles were sporadic as he grew to manhood, he was never long off the screen (except for a period of military service, 1954-56). But despite some fine work in films like Pork Chop Hill (1959) and Town Without Pity (1961), his career did not take off until his stunning portrayal of killer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood (1967). A number of telling performances in films of the next decade, stardom in a popular television series (Baretta (1975), and several ruefully comic appearances as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) made him a popular figure even as his personal difficulties increased.
Consumed with anger over his treatment by his family and the studio as a child, he denigrated his early work, suffered bouts of difficulty with drugs, and became known as a difficult, perfectionist person to work with. He quit his successful TV series Hell Town (1985) when his personal demons became overwhelming. After a self-imposed exile of nearly eight years, during which he struggled to right his life, he successfully returned to films and television work, appearing renewed and more confident in himself and his work.
In 2001, though, the murder of his wife, Bonnie Bakley, thrust Blake into the limelight in a different way. Admittedly having married Bakley through the coercion of her pregnancy, a routine Bakley had apparently tried with various other celebrities, Blake made no denial of his distaste for the woman, but was by all accounts thrilled with the daughter born to them. Blake was arrested for his wife's murder, but the presumption of innocence trumped when jurors didn't believe what they thought was flimsy evidence, and Blake was acquitted in a trial that made worldwide headlines. Reportedly broke from legal costs, Blake indicated hopefulness that he might be allowed to return to acting work.Actor; d. March 9, 2023- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Topol was born on 9 September 1935 in Tel Aviv, Palestine [now Israel]. He was an actor and producer, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Flash Gordon (1980) and For Your Eyes Only (1981). He was married to Galia Topol. He died on 8 March 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel.Actor / Singer; d. March 8, 2023- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Bert I. Gordon, affectionately nicknamed "Mr. B.I.G." by Forrest J. Ackerman, produced, directed, and wrote more than twenty-five Sci/Fi and Horror features, such as The Magic Sword (1962), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Village of the Giants (1965), The Cyclops (1957), in addition to comedies such as How to Succeed with Sex (1970). His film, The Food of the Gods (1976), was awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International Du Paris Fantastique 1977.Filmmaker; d. March 8, 2023- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Gordon Edward Pinsent was born on July 12, 1930 in Grand Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to Florence (Cooper) and Stephen Arthur Pinsent. Gordon was known as "Porky" as a child, and dreamed of performing as early as he can remember. He served with the Royal Canadian Regiment from 1948-51. Gordon received an L.L.D. from the University P.E.I. in 1975, an Honorary doctorate from Queen's University in 1988, as well as from the Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Prince Edward Island.
Gordon left Newfoundland at the age of 17 and began his career on stage. His first theatrical experiences were in Winnipeg, Manitoba. While there, he was involved in the first live radio drama out of Winnipeg. He eventually moved east, working in Toronto and Stratford, Ontario. He has since won numerous credits and awards, and is one of Canada's most well-respected artists.
In addition to acting, he directs and produces, and has written a number of novels and screenplays, as well as plays for the stage, including 'Corner Green' for the Newfoundland amateur drama festival. The play was staged in St. John's, Newfoundland in April of 1997, and was was based upon life his hometown of Grand Falls, Newfoundland.
He is a member of the Honorary Advisory Board for the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra, and is very active in various charities. His humorous and poignant autobiography, "By the Way", was published.
His wife until her death was actress Charmion King, whom he met during his early theater days. He has a daughter, actress Leah Pinsent, from that union, as well as a son and daughter from an earlier marriage (Barry and Beverly Kennedy). He has two brothers, Harry and Haig, and three sisters: Nita, Hazel, and Lil, who passed away in 1998.Actor / Writer / Director; d. February 25, 2023- Walter Mirisch and brothers Marvin Mirisch and Harold Mirisch were one of the most successful producing teams in Hollywood history. Their Mirisch Company produced such diverse hits as Some Like It Hot (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), West Side Story (1961), The Great Escape (1963), The Pink Panther (1963) and many others. Most of their films were financed and released by United Artists, and through a stock swap in 1963 the brothers acquired the company. They stayed on with UA and their production relationships with producer/directors like Billy Wilder, Blake Edwards and John Sturges became the model by which Hollywood makes movies today.
Starting out as a producer on such low-budget "B" fare at Monogram Pictures as Bomba: The Jungle Boy (1949), Mirisch rose to become one of Hollywood's leading industry statesman. He was a visionary who, in the declining years of the Hollywood studio system, could see that the future lay with the independent producers. Operating out of rented office space at the old Samuel Goldwyn lot in Hollywood, the Mirisches kept their overhead low by such tactics as renting studio stages and facilities only when needed. Whereas the major studios were still burdened by high overhead and salaries, the brothers were in a position to attract top talent and offer high fees and flexible control to up-and-coming directors like Norman Jewison, who responded with three hits in a row for them - The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).Producer; d. February 24, 2023 - Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Composer, author and oboist, educated at Juilliard (BS). He was first oboist for the Dallas Symphony and the New York Little Orchestra between 1948 and 1956. Then he joined Revue Studios in California, lasting until 1960, thereafter working freelance. Joining ASCAP in 1956, his chief musical collaborators included Johnny Mercer and Jack Brooks.Composer / Conductor; d. February 17, 2023- Actress
- Director
- Producer
The early film career of Stella Stevens could be said to mirror that of Marilyn Monroe. She began by playing a succession of sensuous, blond glamour girls, from naïve virgins and funny coquettes to precocious or briny-tongued floozies. Her early maturity on screen may have reflected her own turbulent private life: she was married at 15, had a child (Andrew Stevens) at 16 and was divorced a year later. At 21, having a child to support and no money, she posed for a celebrated Playboy centerfold. She was Playmate of the Month for January 1960 which did her subsequent movie career no harm whatever. She was voted by Playboy as one of the 100 Sexiest Women of the 20th century and became one of the most photographed stars of the 1960s.
The voluptuous, blue-eyed Stella was born Estelle Caro Eggleston to one of the oldest families in Yazoo City, Mississippi. A myth which had her hailing from the quaintly named area of Hot Coffee was purely an invention by Hollywood publicists. Her father, Thomas Ellet Eggleston, was an insurance salesman, her mother, Estelle (nee Caro), a nurse. The family moved to Memphis when she was four.
During her early childhood, Stella was nicknamed "Bootsie". Precocious and impatient to grow up, she took to watching movies at every opportunity. It became her main passion. Graduating from high school in 1955, she spent two years attending Memphis State University where she was 'discovered' during a production of Bus Stop in the role of aspiring nightclub singer Chérie (famously played by Marilyn in the film version). Borrowing some money, Stella made her way to the bright lights of Los Angeles and was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1959. She made only three films for the studio during a six months spell before her contract was dropped, her debut being a bit part in Frank Tashlin's saccharine comedy-drama Say One for Me (1959).
Her role won her a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer. That same year, she was picked up by Paramount and made her first breakthrough on the screen as the vampish Apassionata von Climax in the film version of the hit Broadway musical Li'l Abner (1959), based on Al Capp's comic strip.
She alternated motion pictures with television appearances, displaying a perhaps unexpectedly wide range as an actress in both dramatic and comedic roles. She stood out in films like Too Late Blues (1961) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), both under greatly contrasting directorial styles.
Above all, she saw herself not as a sex icon but as a comedienne. She once said "I want to be remembered for whatever made people laugh the most." Unafraid to do physical comedy in the manner of Lucille Ball she was also often lauded for her comic timing in films like The Silencers (1966) (a James Bond-style spoof, co-starring a sleepy-eyed Dean Martin) and Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968). In the 1970s, her best role was as a warmhearted prostitute in Sam Peckinpah's seminal western The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970). Writer and critic Roger Ebert wrote of her performance "There are few enough actresses who can be funny and feminine at the same time, but she is certainly one of them." Conversely, in the classic disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure (1972), she played a former hooker with a heart closer to tin.
Like many film careers, hers too experienced a fair share of hiccups along the way, often due to typecasting: duds like Slaughter (1972), Stand Up and Be Counted (1972), Las Vegas Lady (1975), The Manitou (1978), and others. However, Stella proved resourceful enough to diversify and go behind the camera, both as producer and director of a feature-length documentary, The American Heroine (1979). She co-authored a novel entitled 'Razzle, Dazzle' (published in 1999), about the rise and fall of a glamorous rock star. She unveiled her own range of women's and men's fragrances, called 'Sexy'.
During the 1980s and 1990s, she concentrated primarily on television and enjoyed lengthy tenures on the glossy soaps Flamingo Road (1980) and Santa Barbara (1984), in addition to many guest appearances in shows as diverse as Police Story (1973), Hotel (1983), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). In 1976, she briefly forsook the glamour of Beverly Hills and set up home on a 27-acre ranch on the edge of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State and then proceeded to operate an art gallery and bakery in a nearby town.
By 1983, she had returned to her Beverly Hills home where she lived with her partner (rock guitarist Bob Kulick), until the home was sold in 2016. Afflicted by Alzheimer's disease, Stella Stevens spent her remaining years in an assisted living home in California and passed away in Los Angeles on February 17 2023 at the age of 84.Actress; d. February 17, 2023- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
A new reigning 1960s international sex symbol took to the cinematic throne as soon as Raquel Welch emerged from the sea in her purposely depleted, furry prehistoric bikini. Tantalizingly wet with her garb clinging to all the right amazonian places, One Million Years B.C. (1966), if nothing else, captured the hearts and libidos of modern men (not to mention their teenage sons) while producing THE most definitive and best-selling pin-up poster of that time.
She was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois, the first of three children of Bolivian-born Armando Carlos Tejada, an aerospace engineer, and his wife, Josephine Sarah (Hall). The family moved to San Diego, California (her father was transferred) when Raquel was only two. Taking dance lessons as a youngster, she grew up to be quite a knockout and nailed a number of teen beauty titles ("Miss Photogenic," "Miss La Jolla," "Miss Contour," "Miss Fairest of the Fair" and "Miss San Diego").
With her sights set on theater arts, she studied at San Diego State College on a scholarship starting in 1958 and married her first husband, high school sweetheart James Welch, the following year. They had two children: Damon Welch (born 1959), who later became an actor/production assistant, and actress Tahnee Welch (born 1961). Tahnee went on to take advantage of her own stunning looks as an actress, most notably with her prime role in Cocoon (1985).
Off campus, she became a local TV weather girl in San Diego and eventually quit college. Following the end of her marriage in 1962 (although Raquel and James Welch didn't divorce until 1964), she packed up her two children and moved to Dallas, Texas, where she modeled for Neiman-Marcus and worked as a barmaid for a time.
Regrouping, she returned to California and made the rounds of film/TV auditions. She found work providing minor but sexy set decoration on the small screen (Bewitched (1964), McHale's Navy (1962) and The Virginian (1962)) as well as the large screen (Elvis Presley's Roustabout (1964) and Doris Day's Do Not Disturb (1965)). Caught in the midst of the "beach party" craze, it's not surprising to find out that her first major film role was A Swingin' Summer (1965), which concentrated more on musical guests The Righteous Brothers and Gary Lewis & The Playboys than on Welch's outstanding assets. But 20th Century-Fox certainly took notice and signed her up.
With her very first film under contract (actually, she was on loan out to Britain's Hammer Studios at the time), she took on One Million Years B.C. (1966) (the remake of One Million B.C. (1940), in the role originated by Carole Landis), and the rest is history. Welch remained an international celebrity in her first few years of stardom. In England, she was quite revealing as the deadly sin representing "lust" for the comedy team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their vehicle Bedazzled (1967), and as the title secret agent in the spy spoof Fathom (1967). In Italy, she gained some exposure in primarily mediocre vehicles opposite such heartthrobs as Marcello Mastroianni.
Back in the U.S., however, she caused quite a stir in her groundbreaking sex scenes with black athlete Jim Brown in the "spaghetti western" 100 Rifles (1969), and as the transgender title role in the unfathomable Myra Breckinridge (1970). Adapted from Gore Vidal's novel, she created some unwelcome notoriety by locking horns with septuagenarian diva Mae West on the set. The instant cult movie certainly didn't help Welch's attempt at being taking seriously as an actress.
Box office bombs abounded. Try as she might in such films as Kansas City Bomber (1972) and The Wild Party (1975), which drew some good reviews for her, her sexy typecast gave her little room to breathe. With determination, however, she partly offset this with modest supporting roles in larger ensemble pieces. She showed definite spark and won a Golden Globe for the swashbuckler The Three Musketeers (1973), and appeared in the mystery thriller The Last of Sheila (1973). She planned on making a comeback in Cannery Row (1982), even agreeing to appear topless (which she had never done before), but was suddenly fired during production without notice. She sued MGM for breach of contract and ultimately won a $15 million settlement, but it didn't help her film career and only helped to label her as trouble on a set.
TV movies became a positive milieu for Welch as she developed sound vehicles for herself such as The Legend of Walks Far Woman (1980) and Right to Die (1987), earning a Golden Globe nomination for the latter project. She also found a lucrative avenue pitching beauty products in infomercials and developing exercise videos (such as Jane Fonda).
Welch took advantage of her modest singing and dancing abilities by performing in splashy Las Vegas showroom acts and starring in such plausible stage vehicles as "Woman of the Year" and "Victor/Victoria". She spoofed her own image on occasion, most memorably on Seinfeld (1989). Into the millennium, she co-starred in the Hispanic-oriented TV series American Family (2002) and the short-lived comedies Welcome to the Captain (2008) and Date My Dad (2017), along with the movies Tortilla Soup (2001), Legally Blonde (2001), Forget About It (2006) and How to Be a Latin Lover (2017).
Her three subsequent marriages were to producer/agent Patrick Curtis (who produced her TV special, Raquel (1970)), director André Weinfeld (who directed her in several fitness videos), and pizza parlor owner Richie Palmer, who was 14 years her junior. All these unions ended in divorce.
She died at 2:25 a.m. on February 15, 2023, aged 82, at her Los Angeles home after suffering a cardiac arrest. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.Actress; d. February 15, 2023- Director
- Actor
Vadim Abdrashitov, one of Russian cinema's most independent directors who was influenced by liberation of cultural life during the Khrushchev's "Thaw", is now an internationally renown filmmaker with awards from the Berlin and Venice Film Festivals.
He was born Vadim Yusupovich Abdrashitov on January 19, 1945, in Kharkov, Ukraine, USSR (now Kharkov, Ukraine). His father, Yusup Abdrashitov, an ethnic Tatar, was an officer in the Soviet Army and for that reason his family was moving many times to places like Vladivostok, Alma-Ata, Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Leningrad. Young Abdrashitov was so impressed with the space flight of the first Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, that he left his parents in Kazakhstan, and moved to Moscow. There he studied nuclear physics at the famous 'FisTech' where the Nobel Prize Laureats Landau, Tamm, and Semyonov were among professors.
At that time Abdrashitov became involved in amateur film-making. Then he transferred to the Mendeleev Institute of Technology, because it was equipped with the film studio for students. His cultural and artistic interests developed during the "Thaw", that was initiated by Nikita Khrushchev. Abdrashitov was influenced by the books of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vasiliy Aksyonov, and by the songs of Vladimir Vysotskiy, Yuri Vizbor, Bulat Okudzhava, and Aleksandr Galich. After graduation as an engineer, he worked as a manager at the Moscow Electric-Vacuum Industry, which was making color TV tubes.
From 1970-1974 Abdrashitov studied film directing under Mikhail Romm at the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). After the death of Romm, he continued his film studies under Lev Kulidzhanov and graduated as a film director. His directorial debut was Ostanovite Potapova! (1973), a satirical comedy based on the screenplay by Grigori Gorin. In 1975 Abdrashitov met with the unknown writer Aleksandr Mindadze. That was the beginning of their fruitful collaboration in their next 12 films, which they made together in 30 years. Their films were awarded at many international film festivals as well as at the Soviet and Russian film forums. Abdrashitov became Laureat of the Russian State Prize for his film The Train Has Stopped (1982). In Parade of the Planets (1984), an existential film, starring Oleg Borisov, Sergey Shakurov, and Sergey Nikonenko with others, seven men are trying to find their way back home after a military training in which they were "killed" by an enemy's missile, and seized to exist. In search for their way home they go through mystical experiences in the battlefield, then in a "city of women", in a retirement home, and finally they witness a Parade of the Planets, a rare cosmic event that happens once in a thousand years.
Abdrashitov and Mindadze has been enjoying continuous and fruitful collaboration which had resulted in many critically acclaimed works. Their Plumbum, or Dangerous Game (1987) was awarded the Gold Medal at the 44-th Venice International film Festival. Abdrashitov was made Laureat of the USSR State Prize for his film Sluga (1989), which was also awarded the Alfred Bower Prize from the Ecumenic Jury at the Berlin Film Festival (1991). Their haunting film Vremya tantsora (1998), with remarkable acting by Sergey Garmash and Chulpan Khamatova, received several awards and nominations. Their latest Magnitnye buri (2003) (aka.. Magnetic Storms) is an apocalyptic, anti-Utopian, almost "pavlovian" analysis of provincial life in Russia, where people are programmed to become zombies, trapped in a vicious cycle of work for survival and the only events that bring variety to their monotonous life are occasional sparks of bloody fist-fights - albeit powerless to change the general doom.
Vadim Abdrashitov is a Member of the Russian Film Academy and a Member of the Russian Union of Cinematographers. He received numerous awards and nominations at Russian and International film festivals and was designated People's Artist of Russia in 1992. Vadim Abdrashitov has been enjoying a happy family life with his wife, Natella Toidze, and their two children, son Oleg (born in 1973) and daughter Naina (born in 1980). Abdrashitov is currently residing and working in Moscow.Director; d. February 12, 2023- Director
- Producer
- Writer
The old Etonian, after National Service in the British Army, wanted to get into films but found the doors were closed to him, so he worked on commercials for about 20 years. David Putnam gave him a chance to direct Chariots of Fire which was a hit, and he never looked back.
He met his second wife, actress Maryam d'Abo, when she came to see him about wanting to play the leading role of Jane in his film Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). They reconnected 15 years later at a dinner party. They wed four years later in 2003.Director; d. February 10, 2023- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Spanish director, writer, producer (2 films) and actor (2 films). His interest in cinema started when he was very young. His mother, who was a pianist, instilled in him the liking for music, and his brother, Antonio, who was a painter, the passion for art. When he was an teenager he started to practice photography, and in 1950 he made his first illustrated feature films with a 16 mm camera. Carlos Saura is an excellent photographer, an activity that he shares in a sporadic way with the making of films.
He then moved to Madrid to continue his Industrial Engineering career, but his vocation for photography, cinema and journalism made him leave his studies and matriculate at the Instituto de Investigaciones y Estudios Cinematográficos (Cinematographic Study and Research Institute). Sporadically, he combined his cinematographic studies with the courses at the Escuela de Periodismo (Journalism School). In 1957 he finished studying and got the director diploma. At the same time, he finished his end-of-career short film La tarde del domingo (1957). He continued as a professor until 1963. In that year he was removed from the school for strictly political reasons (Franco's censorship).
In 1959 he filmed The Delinquents (1960). In this film he tried to create a sort of Spanish Neo-Realism by tackling the juvenile delinquency in the Madrid's poor quarters from a sociological point of view. In his first stage as director he tried to take a position in favour of outcast people, and he got to make a both lyric and documentary-style cinema.
Saura is a well accepted director both nationally and internationally, and in proof of it he won many awards among which there are the following ones: Silver Bear in the Berlin Festival for The Hunt (1966), in 1965, and for Peppermint Frappé (1967), in 1967. Special Jury Awards in Cannes for Cousin Angelica (1974), in 1973, and for Cría Cuervos (1976), in 1975. Also, the film Mama Turns 100 (1979) got an Oscar nomination in 1979 as the best foreign film, and it also won the Special Jury Award at the San Sebastian Festival. In 1990, he won two Goya awards as best adapted screenplay writer and best director.Director / Screenwriter; d. February 10, 2023- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Burt Bacharach was a well known and multi award winning singer and song writer.
Over 1,000 different artists have recorded Bacharach's songs. From 1961 to 1972, most of Bacharach and David's hits were written specifically for and performed by Dionne Warwick, but earlier associations (from 1957 to 1963) saw the composing duo work with Marty Robbins, Perry Como, Gene McDaniels, and Jerry Butler. Following the initial success of these collaborations, Bacharach wrote hits for singers such as Gene Pitney, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, and B.J. Thomas. Bacharach wrote 73 U.S. and 52 UK Top 40 hits. He worked on many sound tracks including the smash hit, "Beware of the Blob" for the version of The Blob (1958) starring Steve McQueen.
He was married four times, lastly to Jane Hansen from 1993 until his death. They had two children. He also had two other children.Songwriter / Composer; d. February 8, 2023- Branka Veselinovic was born on 16 September 1918 in Becej, Austria-Hungary [now Serbia]. She was an actress, known for Muzej vostanih figura (1962), Pop Cira i pop Spira (1957) and Velika turneja (1961). She was married to Mladen 'Mladja' Veselinovic. She died on 8 February 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia.Actress; d. February 8, 2023
- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Arnold Schulman was born on 11 August 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Goodbye, Columbus (1969), Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) and And the Band Played On (1993). He was married to Diana Solomon. He died on 4 February 2023 in Santa Monica, California, USA.Writer; d. February 4, 2023- Stunts
- Actor
- Special Effects
George P. Wilbur was born on 6 March 1941 in Kent, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for The Perfect Storm (2000), Escape from New York (1981) and Die Hard (1988). He died on 1 February 2023 in the USA.Stuntman / Actor; d. February 1, 2023- Actress
- Soundtrack
London-born Sylvia May Laura Syms hit major film appeal at a relatively young age. Born on January 6, 1934, she was educated at convent schools before receiving dramatic training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her stage debut in a production of "The Apple Cart" in 1954.
A repertory player by the time she was discovered for films by the British star Anna Neagle and her director/husband Herbert Wilcox, the lovely demure blonde started out auspiciously enough in the delinquent film Teenage Bad Girl (1956) in which she played Neagle's troubled daughter. This was followed by a second Neagle/Wilcox collaboration with No Time for Tears (1957).
Excelling whether cast in stark melodrama, spirited adventure or harmless comedy fluff, Syms' film list grew impressive in the late 1950s and early 1960s working alongside the likes of John Mills and Anthony Quayle in Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Curd Jürgens and Orson Welles in Ferry to Hong Kong (1959), Lilli Palmer and Yvonne Mitchell in Conspiracy of Hearts (1960), Laurence Harvey in Expresso Bongo (1959), William Holden in The World of Suzie Wong (1960), and Dirk Bogarde in the landmark gay-themed Victim (1961), playing the unsuspecting wife of Bogarde's closeted male. After nearly a decade's absence, Sylvia returned briefly to the London theatre lights in 1964 to play the title role in "Peter Pan."
Ably portraying innocent love interests throughout the years, she graced a number of pictures without ever nabbing that one role that would truly put her over the top. She was nominated, however, three times for British Film Academy Awards--twice for best actress in Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) and No Trees in the Street (1959) and once for supporting actress in The Tamarind Seed (1974) that starred Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif.
The 1970s saw quite a bit of TV series work and she played British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at one point on both stage and TV. She grew plumper with middle age and found herself immersed in character roles, offering support in such films as Absolute Beginners (1986), Shirley Valentine (1989) and Shining Through (1992).
The stage once again beckoned in the mid-to-late 1980's with touring performances, among many others, in "The Heiress," "The Beaux Stratagem," "The Ideal Husband," "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "The Vortex," "Hamlet," "Anthony and Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She portrayed the Queen and Margaret Thatcher in a production of "Ugly Rumours" and was among the cast in a musical presentation of "On the Town" in 2005.
Into the millennium, Sylvia has continued to have remarkable agility. American audiences have recently seen her as the dog-doting "Princess Charlotte" in the light teen comedy What a Girl Wants (2003) with Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth, and treading water as the Shelley Winters character in the TV-remake of The Poseidon Adventure (2005). Other movies have included the role of the Queen Mum in The Queen (2006) starring Oscar-winning Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, as well as featured roles in Is Anybody There? (2008) starring Michael Caine and Booked Out (2012). She also co-starred opposite Peter Bowles in the heart-warming senior character study Together (2018).
Married once and divorced in the 1980s from Alvin Edney, daughter Beatie Edney (aka Beatrice) is a highly prolific actress in her own right, and her son, Benjamin Edney, was briefly an actor while young and appeared with his mother as her son in the western The Desperados (1969). Ms. Syms is sometimes confused with Brooklyn-born jazz/cabaret performer and recording artist Sylvia Syms (1917-1992) (née Sylvia Blagman).Actress; d. January 27, 2023- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Cindy Williams was born Cynthia Jane Williams in Van Nuys, California on August 22, 1947. The Leo was 5'4" and, during her first years on Laverne & Shirley (1976), weighed a dainty 105 lbs. The brown haired, blue-eyed female was born the daughter of Francesca Bellini and Beachard Williams. Her father was an electronic technician, and Cindy grew up in reduced circumstances. She had one sister, Carol Ann Williams, and an older half-brother, Jim from her mother's first marriage.
As a child, she dreamed of being an actress. She used to create and perform her own plays and, as she grew, she wished that one day, Debbie Reynolds would see her in one of those amateur shows and whisk her away and put her in a film. Another thing that brought show business into her life was her alcoholic father's imitations of comics like Jackie Gleason and Milton Berle. She worked as a waitress, while she auditioned for commercials, television guest spots, and feature films. Her first step to fame was a movie in which she tap danced with Gene Kelly. She stepped on Kelly's foot, leaving her "really embarrassed". She landed important film roles early in her career.
Famed director George Cukor cast her in Travels with My Aunt (1972). Her next big role was for George Lucas in American Graffiti (1973), as Ron Howard's girlfriend, for which she earned a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actress. That led to Francis Ford Coppola casting her in The Conversation (1974). The three instant-classic films should have propelled her into movie stardom, but her career inexplicably hit a lull. She couldn't go back to working as a waitress, because she was too well-known.
She was set up in a writing team with Penny Marshall and the girls were called by Penny's brother, Garry Marshall, to do a stint as two fast girls on Happy Days (1974). The public received them so warmly that Cindy and Penny soon got their own show and was referred to everywhere as "Shirley Feeney".
She earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in 1978. She left the show in 1982, pregnant with daughter Emily. She was married to Bill Hudson, who had previously been married to actress Goldie Hawn. Williams later gave birth to a son, Zachary, in 1986. She went on to make a few movies and co-produced "The Father Of The Bride" movies with Hudson. They divorced in 2000.
She did Jenny Craig commercials and acted on guest spots on the TV show For Your Love (1998) and reunited with Penny Marshall several times on television. In 2015, her memoir, Shirley, I Jest! (co-written with Dave Smitherman), was published.
Cindy Williams died, aged 75, following a brief, undisclosed illness, in 2023.Actress; d. January 25, 2023- Music Department
- Editor
- Editorial Department
Donn Cambern was born on 9 October 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an editor, known for Romancing the Stone (1984), The Bodyguard (1992) and Ghostbusters II (1989). He was married to Patricia Lee Cambern. He died on 18 January 2023 in the USA.Film Editor; d. January 18, 2023- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Gina Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, Italy. Destined to be called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", Gina possibly had St. Brigid as part of her surname. She was the daughter of a furniture manufacturer, and grew up in the pictorial mountain village. The young Gina did some modeling and, from there, went on to participate successfully in several beauty contests. In 1947, she entered a beauty competition for Miss Italy, but came in third. The winner was Lucia Bosè (born 1931), who would go on to appear in over 50 movies, and the first runner-up was Gianna Maria Canale (born 1927), who would appear in almost 50 films. After appearing in a half-dozen films in Italy, it was rumored that, in 1947, film tycoon Howard Hughes had her flown to Hollywood; however, this did not result in her staying in America, and she returned to Italy (her Hollywood breakout movie would not come until six years later in the John Huston film Beat the Devil (1953)).
Back in Italy, in 1949, Gina married Milko Skofic, a Slovenian (at the time, "Yugoslavian") doctor, by whom she had a son, Milko Skofic Jr. They would be married for 22 years, until their divorce in 1971. As her film roles and national popularity increased, Gina was tagged "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", after her signature movie Beautiful But Dangerous (1955). Gina was nicknamed "La Lollo", as she embodied the prototype of Italian beauty. Her earthy looks and short "tossed salad" hairdo were especially influential and, in fact, there's a type of curly lettuce named "Lollo" in honor of her cute hairdo. Her film Come September (1961), co-starring Rock Hudson, won the Golden Globe Award as the World's Film Favorite. In the 1970s, Gina was seen in only a few films, as she took a break from acting and concentrated on another career: photography. Among her subjects were Paul Newman, Salvador Dalí and the German national soccer team.
A skilled photographer, Gina had a collection of her work "Italia Mia", published in 1973. Immersed in her other passions (sculpting and photography), it would be 1984 before Gina would grace American television on Falcon Crest (1981). Although Gina was always active, she only appeared in a few films in the 1990s. She retired from acting in 1997 after 50 years in the motion picture industry. In June 1999, she turned to politics and ran, unsuccessfully, for one of Italy's 87 European Parliament seats, from her hometown of Subiaco. Gina was also a corporate executive for fashion and cosmetics companies. As she told Parade magazine in April 2000: "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake". (We're glad she made that mistake). Gina went on to say: "I've had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I've had too many admirers."Actress; d. January 16, 2023