2023 In Memoriam
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- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi and grew up living beside the the Gulf of Mexico. After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi he worked his way to success in the music industry. His hits in the 1970s including "Margaritaville" and "Come Monday". He struck a chord and helped to build a huge fan-base of all ages over the decades. Now married with three kids, Buffett loves fishing, flying and world travel. Buffett is also the author of numerous books including the bestselling "A Pirate Looks At Fifty" and has added movies to his repertoire as co-producer and co-star of an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's novel Hoot (2006).- 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.- 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.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ron Cephas Jones was born on 8 January 1957 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for This Is Us (2016), Luke Cage (2016) and Half Nelson (2006). He died on 19 August 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Composer
- Producer
Suzanne Somers was the third of four children born to Frank and Marion Mahoney. Her father worked loading beer onto boxcars, and her mother was a medical secretary. She grew up living in constant fear of being hurt or even killed at the hands of her verbally and physically abusive, alcoholic father. She was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was young, and was a poor student. She excelled, however, in the arts and was active in her school's theater program. She won a music scholarship to college, but became pregnant after six months. She married the baby's father, Bruce Somers, and her only child, Bruce Somers, was born in November 1965. She was unhappy in her marriage and began an affair with her former drama teacher. Her husband found out about it and the marriage ended after just two years, in 1967. A single mom, she turned to modeling in San Francisco to support herself and her son. She also distanced herself from her family because her older brother and sister by then were also alcoholics.
In 1968, she won a job as a prize model on a game show hosted by her future husband, Alan Hamel, who was married at the time. The two began dating, and she became pregnant while Hamel was still married. They came to the conclusion that Suzanne should have an abortion, from which she suffered severe complications for several days.
In 1971, her son Bruce was severely injured when he was hit by a car, and the therapist counseling him only charged the financially struggling Somers $1 per week. She underwent therapy herself to overcome the problems of her dysfunctional childhood. In the early 1970s, she landed minor roles in film and TV, and finally won a role on the series Three's Company (1976). She married Hamel in 1977. She was fired from the series after she asked for a raise at the beginning of the fifth season.
She then headed to Las Vegas, where she performed extensively in the mid-1980s. In 1986, she began writing her autobiography, "Keeping Secrets", which was later made into a TV movie. In 1991, she landed the role of "Carol Foster", opposite Patrick Duffy, on the TV series Step by Step (1991). After the end of that show, she began co-hosting Candid Camera (1992).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Richard Treat Williams was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to Marian (Andrew), who dealt in antiques, and Richard Norman Williams, a corporate executive. At the age of three, his family moved to Rowayton, Connecticut. Educated at prep-school, he first made a serious commitment to his craft during his days at Pennsylvania's Franklin and Marshall College. Working summers with the nearby Fulton Repertory Theatre at Lancaster in the heart of Amish country, Williams performed the classics as well as contemporary dramas and musicals. After graduating, Williams--whose first name, incidentally, is a family surname on his mother's side--headed for Manhattan where he understudied the Danny Zuko role in "Grease." After working in the The Andrews Sisters musical "Over Here," he made his film debut as a cop in Deadly Hero (1975), then returned to "Grease," this time in the starring role. While he took leaves for two small film roles, in The Ritz (1976) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976), it was his stage work in "Grease" that led to his cinematic breakthrough in Hair (1979). Spotted by director Milos Forman, Williams was asked to read for the role of Berger, the hippie. It took 13 auditions to land the part, but the film's release catapulted Williams into stardom. He then portrayed a GI on the make in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979) and starred in the romantic comedy Why Would I Lie? (1980) before tackling the role of Danny Ciello, the disillusioned New York City cop who blew the whistle on his corrupt colleagues in Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City (1981). He followed that with The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (1981), in which he played the legendary plane hijacker who successfully eluded capture (by Robert Duvall); Flashpoint (1984), in which he and Kris Kristofferson starred as a pair of maverick border patrolmen who come upon a large cache of stolen money; Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), in which he played a Jimmy Hoffa-like labor organizer; and Smooth Talk (1985), a screen adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' short story, "Where Are You Going?" Television viewers have seen Williams in a prestigious pair of dramas, Dempsey (1983), a three-hour story of the hard-living heavyweight champ, and John Erman's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' classic "A Streetcar Named Desire," which pitted Williams' Stanley Kowalski against Ann-Margret's Blanche Dubois. Williams has also returned to Broadway sporadically -- first to appear in "Once in a Lifetime" while filming "Hair," and in 1981 to play the role of the pirate king in "The Pirates of Penzance."- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
John Beasley was born on 26 June 1943 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for The Purge: Anarchy (2014), The Sum of All Fears (2002) and The General's Daughter (1999). He was married to Judy Beasley. He died on 30 May 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.- Jackie began training for the classic ballet at age 5. She was accepted into the New Jersey Dance Company at age 15, and accepted a scholarship from New York University at age 15 to pursue a major in dance. The dark-haired beauty decided to try acting, and has become a staple of daytime drama (aka soap operas).
- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Ace cinematographer Owen Roizman was born September 22, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York. His father Sol was a cinematographer for Fox Movietone News and his uncle Morrie Roizman was a film editor. Owen studied math and physics at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He began his career shooting TV commercials, and made his feature debut as a director of photography with the obscure and little seen 1970 movie Stop! (1970). Owen brought a strong and compelling sense of raw, gritty, documentary-style realism to William Friedkin's harsh and hard-hitting police action thriller classic The French Connection (1971). Roizman received a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for his outstanding visual contributions to this picture; he went on to garner four additional Oscar nominations, for The Exorcist (1973), Tootsie (1982), Network (1976) and Wyatt Earp (1994). Owen gave a similar rough and grainy look to the edgy urban thrillers The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Straight Time (1978). His other films encompass an impressively diverse array of different genres which include horror ("The Exorcist"), science fiction (The Stepford Wives (1975)), comedy (The Heartbreak Kid (1972) "Tootsie"), musicals (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)), drama (True Confessions (1981), Absence of Malice (1981)) and even Westerns (The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), "Wyatt Earp"). His last feature to date was French Kiss (1995). In the early 1980s Owen took a hiatus from shooting films and formed the commercial production company Roizman and Associates. He has directed and/or photographed hundreds of TV commercials. In 1997 he was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.- 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
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Mike Batayeh is a native of Detroit, though he later moved to Los Angeles. As an actor he guest-starred and recurred on several television shows including notable appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond, The Shield, Sleeper Cell, Touch and Breaking Bad. He co-starred in films including American Dreams, Gas, American East, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, and his leading role in Detroit Unleaded. As a comic, Mike performed and headlined all over the USA at reputable comedy clubs such as Gotham in NYC, Los Angeles clubs such as Laugh Factory (regular), Comedy Store, Improv and Icehouse. He was part of the first wave of western comics to perform for local audiences in the Middle East in such places as Dubai, where he filmed a comedy special for Showtime Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, where he was invited 2 years in a row by the royal family for the Amman international Comedy Festival and Nazareth.- 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.- 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.- Actor
- Writer
A classically-trained actor, director and playwright, Keith Baxter (born Keith Stanley Baxter-Wright) was a commanding theatrical presence. The son of a captain in the Merchant Navy, he was schooled in his Welsh home town of Newport, Monmouthshire, became interested in theatre arts and then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1953. Initially on stage with repertory companies in Oxford and Worthing, he made his professional acting bow three years later in a small part in Noël Coward 's play South Sea Bubble at the Lyric Theatre in London. Orson Welles then famously cast him as Hal, Prince of Wales, in his celebrated play Chimes at Midnight which opened at the Grand Opera House in Belfast to good reviews on February 13, 1960. Baxter recreated this role five years later for the filmed version opposite Welles, John Gielgud and French star Jeanne Moreau.
In 1962, Baxter won a Theatre World Award for his debut Broadway performance as King Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons. His subsequent classic roles included both Octavius and Marc Antony in different productions of Antony and Cleopatra. In 1971, he was awarded a Drama Desk Award for his tour-de-force turn as Milo Tindle in Anthony Shaffer's brilliant play Sleuth opposite Anthony Quayle as crime novelist Andrew Wyke. Off-Broadway, Baxter essayed seven different parts for the gothic thriller The Woman in Black. He also began directing for the stage by the mid-70s and was latterly associated with the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C.. His works as an author have included the 1987 play 'Barnaby and the Old Boys' and a memoir published in 1999, titled 'My Sentiments Exactly', recalling collaborations and friendships with luminaries like Coward, Gielgud, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Baxter's screen career has been somewhat desultory, apparently subordinated to his theatrical work. His first credited appearance on the celluloid medium was as Charles Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) (which also starred Gielgud). He was then primarily active on television in anthology drama (ITV Play of the Week (1955)) and - infrequently -- as guest star in series ranging from The Avengers (1961) to Hawaii Five-O (1968). Baxter's final screen role was a small part as Sir Hector in the miniseries Merlin (1998) which starred Sam Neill in the title role and Gielgud as King Constant.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Arleen Sorkin was born on 14 October 1955 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000). She was married to Christopher Lloyd. She died on 24 August 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- 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.- Actress
- Casting Director
- Casting Department
Joanna Merlin is an actress and casting director who was born in Chicago, Illinois. She made her motion-picture debut in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956). In 1961 she made her Broadway debut as a replacement performer in "A Far Country," a play about Sigmund Freud. Next on Broadway she created the role of Tzeitel in the original production of "Fiddler on the Roof," produced by Harold Prince. Beginning with the original production of "Company," Merlin served as casting director for a now-legendary string of Broadway musical plays on which Prince collaborated with composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, including "Follies," "A Little Night Music," "Pacific Overtures," "Sweeney Todd," and "Merrily We Roll Along." Merlin's other Broadway casting credits include the Prince-directed "On the Twentieth Century," "Evita," "A Doll's Life," "Play Memory," and "End of the World." Since 1975, she has worked regularly as an actress in feature films, counting among her credits such notable motion pictures as Hester Street (1975); All That Jazz (1979); Fame (1980); The Killing Fields (1984); and Mystic Pizza (1988). Merlin appeared in several episodes of Law & Order (1990), and for the past four and one-half years she has appeared in the recurring role of Judge Lena Petrovsky on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).- Angus Cloud was born on 10 July 1998 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Abigail (2024), Your Lucky Day (2023) and Euphoria (2019). He died on 31 July 2023 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Actor
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- Director
Paul Reubens was born Paul Rubenfeld on August 27, 1952 in Peekskill, New York, to Judy (Rosen), a teacher, and Milton Rubenfeld, a car salesman who had flown for the air forces of the U.S., U.K., and Israel, becoming one of the latter country's pioneering pilots. Paul grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents owned a lamp store. During winters, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus called Sarasota home, and young Paul counted such big-top families as the Wallendas and the Zacchinis among his neighbors. When he was 11-years-old, he joined the local Asolo Theater, and during the next six years, he appeared in a variety of plays. After graduating from Sarasota High School in 1970, he attended Boston University for one year before deciding to seek his fortune as Paul Reubens in Hollywood, where he enrolled as an acting major at the California Institute of the Arts and accepted a string of pay-the-rent jobs ranging from pizza chef to Fuller Brush salesman.
In the mid 1970s, his acting career grew slowly and steadily with small roles in theater productions, gigs at local comedy clubs and four guest appearances on The Gong Show (1976). During this time of education/employment, he joined an improvisational comedy troupe called The Groundlings. The popular gang of yuksters, whose roster has included Conan O'Brien, Lisa Kudrow, the late Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, and Julia Sweeney, wrung laughs from audiences with skits starring scads of imaginative, self-created characters. Among Reubens's contributions to this comedic community were a philandering husband named Moses Feldman, an Indian chief named Jay Longtoe, and, the character he became best known for, Pee-Wee Herman, who debuted in 1978.
Pee-Wee was a funny man-child of indeterminate age and sexuality who created a sarcastic enthusiasm for the popular culture of the '50s and '60s. The geeky character's wardrobe consisted of a gray suit, a white short-sleeved shirt accessorized with a red clip-on bow tie, and white patent-leather loafers. He wore his jet-black hair military short with a defiant tuft in front, and he accentuated his lily-white complexion with pink cheeks and red lipstick. Reubens drew inspiration for Pee-Wee's geeky behavior from a youth he had attended summer camp with, and derived his creation's boyish voice from a character he played as a child actor. Pee-Wee appeared for only 10 minutes of The Groundlings show, but he nonetheless built up a considerable following and turned out to be a star of the '80s and early '90s. The Pee-Wee Herman Show (1981), ran for five sellout months at the Los Angeles's Roxy nightclub, and HBO taped the performance and aired it as a special.
Now a genuine comedy-circuit star, he became a frequent guest of David Letterman and a favorite at Caroline's in New York. In 1984, he sold out Carnegie Hall. He later auditioned for the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975), but when that didn't turn out as planned, he started writing a feature-length screenplay for Pee-Wee to star in, and asked friend Tim Burton to direct. Released to wildly divergent reviews, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), followed its star cross-country in a madcap search for his beloved, stolen bike. The $7 million picture ended up grossing $45 million. That following year, CBS which had been losing children's audiences to cable programming, was interested in finding something to shore up its Saturday Morning lineup. The network company signed him to act/produce and to direct its live-action children's program called Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986). They doled out an eye-popping budget of $325,000 per episode - the same price as a prime- time sitcom. Reubens received complete creative control, albeit with three minor exceptions. During its five-year-run on CBS, he never appeared in general as himself. He even granted printed interviews in full Pee-Wee regalia.
The image of Pee-Wee was broken on July 26, 1991. On his summer vacation, Reubens was visiting his parents in Sarasota and sought escape from boredom by catching a showing of the X-rated film, Nurse Nancy. He fell victim to a police sting operation and was arrested for sex charges when detectives allegedly saw him playing with his private parts. He was released on $219 bail and nobody realized what had happened until somebody recognized him beneath his long hair and goatee. The media went berserk: 'Kids show star arrested for indecent exposure'. Because of his behavior, CBS dropped the Playhouse and related merchandise was released from its shelves. He agreed to pay a $50 fine plus $85 in court costs to Sarasota County, and he produced a 30 second public service message for the Partnership For Drug-Free America commercial. As part of the deal, the county sealed all legal papers relating to the actor's arrest and didn't leave Reubens with a criminal record. The scandal marked the near death of Pee-Wee Herman. Reubens appeared as his favorite character for the last time at that Autumn's MTV Music Video Awards. The enthusiastic reception was not surprising, as he had received 15 thousand supportive letters during his arrest. Regardless, he had recently made a promise not to play Pee-Wee anymore and used his arrest as an chance to portray other roles. A new feature length film by Netflix available beginning March 18, 2016 allowed Reubens to show Pee-Wee fans his character again in Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016).
Reubens has landed a series of offbeat character roles. One year after he was taken into custody, he appeared in Burton's Batman Returns (1992) as the Penguin's unloving father, and as a vampire henchman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Subsequent jobs have included a voice over for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a healthy stint as Andrew J. Lansing III on Murphy Brown (1988), and roles in the feature films, Dunston Checks In (1996), Matilda (1996), Buddy (1997) and Mystery Men (1999). He also signed to emcee a new game show based on the popular 'You Don't Know Jack' CD-ROM version.- Mark Margolis was an American actor who is well-known for his collaborations with film director Darren Aronofsky, particularly Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Noah (2014), Black Swan (2010), and The Fountain (2006). Margolis also gained notoriety for his portrayal of "Tio" Hector Salamanca in the highly successful crossover series Breaking Bad (2008) and Better Call Saul (2015). He also acted in the hit films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) and Scarface (1983). He has been married to Jacqueline Margolis since 1962 and has one child with her.
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Incisive, intense, multi-talented American actor Lance Solomon Reddick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the younger of two sons, to Solomon Reddick and public schoolteacher Dorothy Gee. Having opted initially for a career in music, he attended first the Peabody Preparatory Institute and the Walden School before studying classical composition at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, qualifying with a Bachelor's Degree. By the early '90s, however, Reddick was forced to re-evaluate his career plans because of a severe back injury suffered while pulling a double shift waiting on tables and delivering newspapers. A pressing need to make ends meet made him enroll at the Yale School of Drama, from where he went on to graduate in 1994 with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. He derived much inspiration from his classmate Paul Giamatti and came to regard Daniel Day-Lewis as his quintessential acting role model.
Possessed of an athletic build and a deep, resonant voice, Reddick also had a self-declared affinity for accents. Preparing himself for his roles, he immersed himself fully into his characters as a "transformational performer", often rehearsing his lines in front of a mirror. He made his television debut in an episode of New York Undercover (1994). Though he played a couple of drug addicts early on, he soon found himself much in demand-- and ultimately typecast -- as powerful authority figures, from police detectives (Johnny Basil in Oz (1997)) to FBI agents (Law & Order (1990)) to senior police officer (Cedric Daniels in The Wire (2002)). One of his best known roles on the big screen was as the mysterious Mr. Charon, concierge at the Continental Hotel, scene of much of the action in the John Wick (2014) franchise.
Arguably, his most memorable character was that of Phillip Broyles, special agent-in-charge with the Department of Homeland Security, heading a team of experts investigating paranormal events in the outstanding science fiction drama series Fringe (2008). Broyles was a no-nonsense tough guy, who, nevertheless, remained steadfastly loyal in defense of his team against insidious forces from within and without. Unlike Broyles, Reddick's other important recurring TV character, Chief Irving in Bosch (2014), was a morally ambiguous man motivated chiefly by political ambition. Both were flawless performances.
Prior to his sad and untimely passing in March 2023 at the age of 60, Reddick was much sought-after as a voice actor for animations and video games. He also never lost his lifelong passion for music, and, in 2007, released an album of his compositions entitled "Contemplations & Remembrances". In private life, the twice-married Reddick was said to have been very much devoted to his three dogs.- Editor
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Mike Hill was born in 1949 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He was an editor and producer, known for Rush (2013), Frost/Nixon (2008) and Apollo 13 (1995). He was married to LeAnne Hill. He died on 5 January 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.- Cinematographer
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British cinematographer Brian Tufano began his career at the BBC, working with such directors as Stephen Frears and Alan Parker. In 1992 he was assigned to the series Mr. Wroe's Virgins (1993) and worked with director Danny Boyle. Boyle took him along on his feature debut, Shallow Grave (1994), and continued to work with Tufano on such films as Trainspotting (1996) and A Life Less Ordinary (1997). In 2001 Tufano won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television.- Editor
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John Refoua was born on 20 August 1960 in Tehran, Iran. He was an editor and producer, known for Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Geostorm (2017). He was married to Serena Bell Refoua. He died on 14 May 2023.- This talented actress was born Anne Marie Wersching and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. She opted early on for a life in the entertainment industry, performing in community theatre and later as a dancer for some fourteen years with a troupe called the St. Louis Celtic Stepdancers. After moving to Chicago, she acted in several touring plays and at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. In 1999, Wersching graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre from the Millikin University School of Theater and Dance in Decatur, Illinois. Moving to Los Angeles, two years later, she appeared in a revival of the Stephen Sondheim-Richard Rodgers-Arthur Laurents musical "Do I Hear a Waltz?" at the Pasadena Playhouse, as well as making her screen debut in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001).
Testament to her acting skill have been lengthy stints on popular prime time series like 24 (2001) (as the valiant but ill-fated FBI Special Agent Renee Walker), The Vampire Diaries (2009) (Lily Salvatore), Timeless (2016) (as time traveler Emma Whitmore) and Marvel's Runaways (2017) (as charismatic villain turned ally Leslie Dean). She also gave a thoroughly convincing performance as extrovert rookie police officer Julia Brasher, involved with (Harry) Bosch (2014) at LAPD's Hollywood Division on both a professional and a personal level. Their relationship eventually soured in season two, although Brasher returned briefly for two episodes in season 7. Wersching became the third actress to play the dreaded Borg Queen (following in the footsteps of Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson) and did so to chilling effect in season two of Star Trek: Picard (2020). Her steady volume of television work has included guest appearances on Charmed (1998), Supernatural (2005), NCIS (2003), Hawaii Five-0 (2010) and Castle (2009).
Very much at the peak of her career, Annie Wersching was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2020, but kept her illness private and continued to work afterwards. She passed away at her home in Los Angeles, California on January 29, 2023, at age 45. - Actress
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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.- 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. - Music Artist
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Lisa Marie Presley was born on 1 February 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for Lisa Marie Presley: Idiot (2005), Michael Jackson: You Are Not Alone (1995) and Lisa Marie Presley: Dirty Laundry (2005). She was married to Michael Lockwood, Nicolas Cage, Michael Jackson and Danny Keough. She died on 12 January 2023 in West Hills, California, USA.- Actor
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Steve Harwell was born on January 9, 1967 in Santa Clara, California, USA as Steven Scott Harwell. In 1994 Steve Harwell formed a rock band callled Smash Mouth and they released their first album Fush Yu Mang with the song "Walkin' on the Sun" which became a big hit along with the remake song "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by the group "War". Later on he released an album in 1999 called Astro Lounge with their song "All Star" and "Then the Morning Comes" which became a hit on the Billboards chart. In 2001 Steve Harwell appeared in the 2001 American Comedy film "Rat Race" as a cameo guest. Later that year, an album called "Smash Mouth" was released with the remake song "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees but was delayed due to the death of Steve Harwell's son Presley Scott Harwell who died that year. He also released the song "Getting Better" for "The Cat in the Hat" 2003 film. He also released the credit song I wanna be like you" for the 2003 Disney movie "The Jungle Book 2". He also composed 2 songs "Beside Myself" and "Everything Just Crazy" for the 2013 South Korean cartoon film "Pororo, the Racing Adventure". In 2016 during his live concert tour on Stage, Steve Harwell collapsed on stage and was rushed to the hospital. He later recovered and continues his rock music tours up until 2023. One of his last concerts on stage was at the Orem Utah Scera Shell concert on May 27, 2023. On September 4, he died in Bosie Idaho from liver failure.- Actor
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An imposing figure (standing at 6'3") with intense, penetrating eyes and possessed of a larger-than-life personality, the actor George Raymond Stevenson began life as one of three sons, born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to a British pilot in the Royal Air Force. Raised near Newcastle in England after the family relocated, he initially studied art and worked for some time as an interior designer. However, after seeing a play with John Malkovich at the West End, Stevenson became inspired to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. By the time of his graduation in 1993, he had already made his debut on the stage at the Barbican Theatre in London in the plays Temptation and Revenger's Tragedy.
He made his first recurring screen appearances in the TV crime drama Band of Gold (1995) (acting alongside his future wife Ruth Gemmell) and as DI Tony Baynham in the BBC procedural police series City Central (1998), which was briefly touted as a rival to The Bill (1984). Though Stevenson first attracted international attention as a dependable Knight of the Round Table in the motion picture King Arthur (2004), it was his charismatic performance as the rascally, hedonistic soldier Titus Pullo in HBO's historical series Rome (2005) which truly put him on the map.
More vigorous or pugnacious warrior roles soon came his way, beginning with a starring turn as the titular anti-hero vigilante Frank Castle in the ultra-violent Punisher: War Zone (2008), for which Stevenson put himself through strenuous martial arts and weapons training under the direction of U.S. Force Reconnaissance (FORECON) Marines. Among his subsequent gallery of colourful characters were the powerful Asgardian warrior Volstagg in Marvel's Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017); the relentless enforcer Redridge in The Book of Eli (2010); an Irish mobster challenging the Cleveland Mafia for control of the city's criminal underworld in Kill the Irishman (2011); Porthos, one of the The Three Musketeers (2011); the much feared Blackbeard in Starz's excellent swashbuckling Black Sails (2014), and the enigmatic Anglo-Saxon missionary and explorer Othere in Vikings (2013).
Stevenson reserved one of the most compelling performances for the strangely sympathetic Russian gangster Isaak Sirko, chief antagonist in season seven of Dexter (2006), overshadowing even that of the star Michael C. Hall (definitely no mean feat!). Add to that another acting standout as the obsessed, revenge-driven Commander Jack Swinburne in the German-produced World War II drama series Das Boot (2018).
Having first joined the Star Wars universe as a voice actor (the Mandalorian Gar Saxon in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)), Stevenson was later cast in the villainous role of dark Force user Baylan Skoll doing battle with the indomitable Ahsoka (2023) Tano (Rosario Dawson), complete with orange/red lightsaber. Stevenson said in a 2020 interview that he had drawn much of his inspiration from veteran tough guys like Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman: "Never a bad performance, and brave and fearless within that caliber. It was never the young, hot leading man; it was men who I could identify with."
Tragically, this supremely accomplished and charismatic actor died in Italy on 21 May 2023 while filming Cassino in Ischia, in which he was cast as a fading movie action hero attempting to revive his career. At the time of his passing he was just 58.- Actress
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Gangsta Boo was born on 7 August 1979 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress and composer, known for Zola (2020), Gangsta Boo: Meet The Devil (2015) and Latto Feat. GloRilla & Gangsta Boo: FTCU (2022). She died on 1 January 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.- Actor
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D.J. Casper was born on 31 May 1965 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Turning Red (2022), Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania (2022) and Red Road (2006). He was married to Kim Bradshaw and Kim. He died on 7 August 2023 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.- Richard J. Butkus, "Dick", was born in Chicago, Illinois, December 9, 1942. He graduated from the University of Illinois where he was a two time All- American line backer. A first round draft pick of the Chicago Bears, Dick played for them from 1965-1973, and was named All-Pro linebacker seven times. Mr. Butkus was elected into the NFL "Football Hall of Fame" at Canton, Ohio. Many football gurus consider Dick Butkus the finest linebacker in the history of football.
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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.- Actor
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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.- 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.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Cynthia Weil was born on 18 October 1940 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. She was a composer and writer, known for An American Tail (1986), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and Troy (2004). She was married to Barry Mann. She died on 1 June 2023 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- 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 Blvd. (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.- 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.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Oliver Wood was born on 21 February 1942 in London, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Other Guys (2010) and Morbius (2022). He was married to Jane Forth and Sabine Groh. He died on 13 February 2023 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Producer
Shawna Trpcic was a three-time Emmy nominee and winner of the Costume Designers Guild Award in 2022. She began her career after being encouraged by a teacher to pursue art (rather than becoming a truck driver which had been her first choice) and proceeded to study fashion at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. During her senior year, she worked with the acclaimed costumier and fashion designer Bob Mackie (who had himself once been mentored by the legendary Edith Head).
Trpcic began in films in 1990, first as an illustrator, then as wardrobe supervisor and assistant costume designer. Having found her métier in science fiction, she declared "I love working in sci-fi and fantasy because there are no rules as far as adhering to an already established style of a certain time period, but I truly love designing a character, no matter the setting." As a costume designer in her own right she was billed under her birth name (Leavell) until 1993. Her best early work was in conjunction with Joss Whedon, notably on the TV shows Firefly (2002), Angel (1999) and Dollhouse (2009). Latterly, Trpcic enjoyed an equally successful collaboration with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni on the Lucasfilm productions The Mandalorian (2019), The Book of Boba Fett (2021) and Ahsoka (2023). According to Filoni, Trpcic had a "deep love and appreciation for Star Wars". She was reputed to have been fastidious in her research of techniques used in the making of earlier Star Wars films to create as authentic a look as possible, for instance "trying to find fabrics that were familiar in the 'Star Wars' universe, but use them in a more modern tech-looking way."
Shawna Trpcic died unexpectedly on October 4 2023, aged just 56.- 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.- Writer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Julian Barry was born on 24 December 1930 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Lenny (1974), Mission: Impossible (1966) and Rhinoceros (1974). He was married to Laura Ziskin, Sheila Ann Shulman and Patricia Foley. He died on 25 July 2023 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Laird Koenig was born on 24 September 1927 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He was a writer, known for The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Inchon (1981) and Bloodline (1979). He died on 30 June 2023 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- 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.- Actor
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christo Jivkov was born on 18 February 1975 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He was an actor and producer, known for The Passion of the Christ (2004), Otchuzhdenie (2013) and The Final Inquiry (2006). He died on 31 March 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Ivano Marescotti was born on 4 February 1946 in Villanova di Bagnacavallo, Italy. He was an actor, known for King Arthur (2004), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Hannibal (2001). He was married to Erika Leonelli, ??? and Iphigenia Kanarà. He died on 26 March 2023 in Lugo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
- 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".- 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
- Soundtrack
Veteran character actor Earl Boen is probably best known for his role as criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in the Terminator series. Other films which he appeared include Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), The Man with Two Brains (1983), Alien Nation (1988), Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000). Boen retired from screen acting in 2003, but continues his work as a voice actor in radio, animated series and video games.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
A social misfit, Belzer was kicked out of every school he ever attended, due to his uncontrollable wit. His mother (Frances) died of breast cancer when Richard was 18. Four years later, his father (Charles) committed suicide. A dedication is written to Charles Belzer in Richard Belzer's "UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Believe" (Ballantine Books, 1999).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Barbara Bosson, who earned an Emmy Award nomination for her performance on Murder One (1995), was raised in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, a small coal-mining town about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. When she was a teenager, she and her family moved to Florida, where she attended Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport. After graduation, she was accepted into the Drama Department of Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh (now Carnegie Mellon). When Bosson learned the tuition would be too great a burden on her parents, she instead moved to New York. She supported herself in a variety of jobs -- secretary, television production assistant, Playboy Bunny, etc. -- while studying acting with Milton Katselas and Herbert Berghof, and musical comedy with Word Baker. Six years later, Bosson reevaluated her prospects while working as a secretary for ACT (the American Conservatory Theater). She spoke frequently with various drama department heads, including Earl Gister, head of Carnegie Tech's Drama Department. Deciding it wasn't too late to pursue her dream, she asked Gister for an audition. He agreed. Bosson can't remember her audition, but it convinced Gister to place her in the school and to assist her in finding scholarship money. So, at 26, she became Carnegie Tech's oldest freshman. While attending Carnegie Tech, Bosson met her future husband, Steven Bochco (whom she would not marry until years later), and fellow Hill Street Blues (1981) stars Bruce Weitz and Charles Haid. On a summer break from Carnegie Tech, she landed a job in San Francisco with the improvisational group, "The Committee". With Gister's blessing, she stayed with the group and performed with them for three years. Bosson is a five-time Emmy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series for her portrayal of "Fay Furillo" in the Emmy Award-winning series, Hill Street Blues (1981). An innovative cook, Bosson raises her own herbs and vegetables. She enjoys skiing, doing crossword puzzles and dancing. Bosson also hates dieting, which she has done unsuccessfully for 25 years. Bosson and Steven Bochco have two children and reside in Los Angeles.- Director
- Actor
- Producer
Director/writer/producer Jeff Burr was born in 1961 in Aurora, Ohio. He grew up in Dalton, Georgia. Burr avidly watched low-budget independent movies at the local drive-in theater and made Super-8 pictures as a kid. Burr attended the University of Southern California for three years, where he met fellow student and aspiring filmmaker Kevin Meyer. The two of them dropped out of USC to complete Divided We Fall (1982), an acclaimed Civil War drama that wound up winning a plethora of awards at various film festivals all over the world. Burr made his first fright feature in 1987 with the superbly creepy and disturbing horror anthology winner From a Whisper to a Scream (1987). Burr then directed a handful of above average horror sequels: Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1989) (Make Room for Daddy), Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1993), and the fourth and fifth "Puppetmaster" movies (Puppet Master 4 (1993) and Puppet Master 5 (1994)). Burr's more current spate of films have been a decidedly mixed bag. They range from mediocre (1999's Phantom Town (1999)) to awful (2006's "The Devil's Den"), with the strong, gritty and harrowing World War II action drama Straight Into Darkness (2004) rating as a definite recent career highlight. In addition to directing, Jeff Burr has also played small roles in such movies as The Mangler Reborn (2005), Dark Asylum (2001), High Tomb (1995), and Fear of a Black Hat (1993).- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Anthony (Tony), started as a club promoter in London in the early eighties and financed his first short 'rock-a-bye baby' by holding an event at Le'quipe Anglaise, where all the door money went to finance the film. In fact, when it was finished it was the clubs owner Shariffi who showed it to producer Micheal White (Rocky horror show) who was so impressed, he gave Tony a one way ticket to L.A.saying don't come back until you have made it. Tony didn't return for eight years.
in L.A. Tony famously met the producer of 'Waxwork', Staffan Ahrenberg, when he crashed into the back of his car in the motel they were both staying at on Fairfax. Tony, broke at the time, talked Staffan into letting him pay for the damage by writing him a script for $3000 only. Staffan agreed, but wouldn't pay a penny until it was delivered. Tony wrote it in three days. Waxwork.
The script then did the rounds getting turned down by every studio, until an independent, Vestron was the only one left. They turned it down two days before Christmas. it was over the vacation that their friend, producer Mark Burg (Saw), said he couldn't believe that Dan Ireland (the head of the studio) wouldn't have loved it. It turns out he hadn't read it, it never made it past the readers.
The first day after the vacation, Mark sent 'Waxwork' to Dan himself, the rest, as they say, is horror movie history.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Miller was born on 28 November 1943 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was a director and producer, known for The Man from Snowy River (1982), Matlock Police (1971) and The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990). He died on 17 February 2023 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.- 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
- 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
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Actress Carole Cook showed a knack for comic timing from early on, so much so that the legendary Lucille Ball took her on as a protégée. Cook would make many appearances on Ball's TV shows The Lucy Show (1962) and Here's Lucy (1968), as well as other shows like Magnum, P.I. (1980), Dynasty (1981), and Grey's Anatomy (2005). She would also appear in several movies, like Sixteen Candles (1984) and Home on the Range (2004), while maintaining an active stage career and supporting many AIDS charities.- Actress
- Editorial Department
- Producer
Carlin Elizabeth Glynn was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Mirabeau B. Lamar High School in Houston, Texas. A life member of The Actors Studio, she debuted with amazing success as the Texas madam Mona Stangley in the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, for which she won the 1979 Tony Award as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. It had originally opened in New York Off-Broadway.
Glynn died on Thursday, July 13, 2023, aged 83. Her daughter, Mary Stuart Masterson posted the only notice of Glynn's passing:
"... my mother, Carlin Glynn Masterson, passed away. I was with her. I will always be grateful for those last moments, no matter how hard. Death is like birth in the oddest way. From my first breath to her last. This thread is as fragile as it is strong. She was the most graceful clumsy person you would ever meet. Strong, smart, silly, intuitive, kind, generous, passionate and a deep listener. She was devoted to my father and to the enormous circle of students and collaborators who were considered her chosen family. The stanza is from Seamus Heaney's poem, Clearances. The last photo is from her 80th birthday party, before the worst of dementia and cancer took their toll. She never lost her sense of joy or wonder. The last photo is from her 80th birthday party, before the worst of dementia and cancer took their toll. She never lost her sense of joy or wonder. The silly guy pictured with her is my dear brother @seppisigh. Rest in peace, mommy."- 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?" - Actress
- Soundtrack
Melinda Dillon came to prominence with the role of Jillian Guiler, a mother whose child is abducted by aliens in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Dillon's performance in the film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A few years later, Dillon received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a devout Catholic woman in Absence of Malice (1981). The performance won the actress a KCFCC Award.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Carl Davis was born on 28 October 1936 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for The General (1926), City Lights (1931) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). He was married to Jean Boht. He died on 3 August 2023 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Paul Eckstein has been writing, producing and acting for over 40 years. He grew up in Brooklyn then graduated from Brown University with degrees in International Relations and Creative Writing. He went on to immerse himself in New York City Theatre where he was a founding member of the Naked Angels Theatre Co., acted on Broadway, Shakespeare in the Park and Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre. He spent a decade cutting his chops originating, collaborating, writing, directing, and developing dozens of plays, films and TV shows. Paul completed production of season two of the acclaimed hit Godfather of Harlem (2019) which he co-created, starring Forest Whitaker and Giancarlo Esposito on EPIX. Prior to that, Paul lead the writer's room on the first year of the Netflix hit drama Narcos (2015). Paul also wrote and produced the Disney/ABC biblical epic Of Kings and Prophets (2016) on location in South Africa. His other writing credits include: Street Time (2002) (Showtime), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) (NBC), The Dead Zone (2002) (USA). As a movie producer, Paul co-produced the MGM/UA film Hoodlum (1997) starring Laurence Fishburne and Andy Garcia. These are some of a long list of projects Paul has worked on over the years that emphasize history, high stakes, excellence in execution with a focus on stories and culture from people of color.- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Music Department
Glenn Farr was born in March 1946. He was an editor, known for The Right Stuff (1983), Commando (1985) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988). He died on 25 May 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).- 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.- Writer
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Burny Mattinson's helmed the Academy Award-nominated 1983 animated featurette "Mickey's Christmas Carol." In 1986, wrote, produced and directed "The Great Mouse Detective." Mattinson's worked on"Sleeping Beauty," "101 Dalmatians," "The Sword in the Stone," "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocats" and "The Rescuers." He was a key story team member on Disney's contemporary classics: "Aladdin," "Beauty & the Beast," "The Lion King, "Pocahontas," "Mulan," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Tarzan." Mattinson joined Disney in 1953 at age 18 without formal art training, and started work as an in-betweener for "Lady and the Tramp" less than 6 months later.- Visual Effects
- Special Effects
- Producer
Randy Fullmer was born on 27 April 1950 in Richland, Washington, USA. He was a producer, known for Chicken Little (2005), Lifeforce (1985) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). He was married to Diana Kuriyama. He died on 10 July 2023 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Daniel Goldberg was born on 7 March 1949 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was a producer and writer, known for Meatballs (1979), Space Jam (1996) and Stripes (1981). He was married to Ilona Herzberg. He died on 12 July 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- 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.- 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). - Byun Hee-bong, a veteran South Korean actor who appeared in several films by Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho was born in Jangseon, South Jeolla Province, and started work in live theater before becoming a voice performer for state TV network MBC in 1966.
TV work in the 1980s and 1990s included series including: 1981's "The First Republic"; 1985's "The Joseon Dynasty 500 Years: Seouljungmae"; and 1999's "The Legendary Doctor Hur Jun."
His first reliably recorded feature film work was in Bong's breakout 2000 film "Barking Dogs Never Bite." Byun appeared in significant roles in three other films by Bong: "Memories of Murder," in 2003; 2006 Cannes presentation "The Host" and "Okja" the creature feature which marked Netflix's film production debut in Korea and which also appeared Cannes.
In 2020, Byun was awarded the Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit, the second-highest ranking South Korean cultural decoration, in recognition of his contribution to the development of the nation's pop culture. - Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Gregory Allen Howard was born on 28 January 1952 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Harriet (2019), Remember the Titans (2000) and Ali (2001). He died on 27 January 2023 in Miami, Florida, USA.- 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.
- 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.- 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.- 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.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Evan Jones was born on 29 December 1927 in Hector's River, Portland, Jamaica. He was a writer, known for Victory (1981), Modesty Blaise (1966) and Wake in Fright (1971). He was married to Joanna Vogel. He died on 18 April 2023 in London, England, UK.- Lance Kerwin was born on 6 November 1960 in Newport Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Outbreak (1995), Enemy Mine (1985) and Salem's Lot (1979). He was married to Yvonne Kerwin and Kristen Lansdale. He died on 24 January 2023 in San Clemente, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Kimbrough was born on 23 May 1936 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Murphy Brown (1988) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002). He was married to Beth Howland and Mary Jane Wilson. He died on 11 January 2023 in Culver City, California, USA.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Robert Klane was born on 17 October 1941 in Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Weekend at Bernie's (1989), Tracey Takes On... (1996) and National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985). He was married to J.C. Scott, Anjanette Comer and Linda L Tesh. He died on 29 August 2023 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Bill Lee was born on 23 July 1928 in Snow Hill, Alabama, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991) and She's Gotta Have It (1986). He was married to Susan Kaplan and Jacquelyn Shelton. He died on 24 May 2023 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.- 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
- Additional Crew
Johan Leysen was born on 19 February 1950 in Hasselt, Limburg, Belgium. He was an actor, known for The American (2010), A Hidden Life (2019) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001). He was married to Rita Horst. He died on 30 March 2023 in France.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Writer
Lisa Loring was an American actress and former child model. She is primarily known for having played Wednesday Addams in the comedy-horror sitcom "The Addams Family" (1964-1966). The sitcom was the first screen adaptation of the comic strip "The Addams Family" (1938-1988) by Charles Addams, which featured a wealthy aristocratic clan who took delight in the macabre. Wednesday was the perpetually gloomy daughter of the family in the comic strip. Loring's version of the character was sweet-natured, but eccentric. This version of Wednesday owned a collection of decapitated dolls, and named her favorite doll after Marie Antoinette, the executed Queen of France. Wednesday raised spiders as a hobby.
In 1958, Loring was born on the Kwajalein Atoll, the southernmost of the Marshall Islands. The island is located about 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 kilometers; 2,400 miles) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It has hosted an American naval base since World War II. Her parents were both personnel of the United States Navy. Loring's parents separated shortly after her birth, and Judith Loring (Loring's mother) received custody of Loring. Lisa Loring was initially raised in Hawaii, before moving with her mother to Los Angeles.
In 1961, Loring started working as a child model. She eventually took a few acting roles, and reportedly guest starred in a 1964 episode of the medical drama "Dr. Kildare". When cast to play Wednesday in "The Addams Family", Loring was only 6-years-old. It was her first regular role in television. The series lasted for 2 seasons and 64 episodes, ending in 1966.
Loring was cast in the role of Susan "Suzy" Pruitt in the short-lived sitcom "The Pruitts of Southampton" (1966-1967). The sitcom was the brainchild of David Levy, who had previously produced "The Addams Family". The series used much of the former cast of "The Addams Family". The premise of this sitcom was that the Pruitts were a formerly wealthy family who still lived in an aristocratic mansion in the Hamptons. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had found out about their loss of wealth, but instructed them to maintain their pretensions of great wealth in order to avoid a potential loss of confidence in the financial system. Episodes revolved about the family's efforts to raise money while maintaining secrecy.
In 1973, aged 15, Loring married her boyfriend Farrell Foumberg. She gave birth to her daughter Vanessa that year. The couple divorced in 1974. Judith Loring died in 1974 from alcoholism. Lisa Loring had to provide for herself. She appeared infrequently in television films during the late 1970s. Loring was cast as Wednesday Sr. in the television film "Halloween with the New Addams Family" (1977). Wednesday was depicted in the film as having a look-alike younger sister, known as Wednesday junior (played by Jennifer Surprenant). In 1980, Loring joined the cast of the soap opera "As the World Turns". She portrayed Cricket Montgomery, a half-sister of the regular character Margo Montgomery Hughes. Loring continued appearing in the series until 1984.
In 1981, Loring married the soap opera actor Doug Stevenson. They had daughter Marianne early in their marriage, but received a divorce in 1983. Loring's acting career was in hiatus until she agreed to play in the slasher film "Blood Frenzy" (1987). Its premise was that a killer stalked the patients of psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Shelley (played by Wendy MacDonald) during their trip through a desert. The film's plot reportedly combined plot elements from the earlier films "Ten Little Indians" (1974) and "Friday the 13th" (1980). The film was an early attempt by pornographic film producer Hal Freeman to create his own horror films.
Loring was an uncredited co-writer in the pornographic film "Traci's Big Trick" (1987). She was introduced to porn actor Jerry Butler (born Paul David Siederman; 1959-2018), and they started dating. They were married within 1987, but their relationship was tumultuous. They divorced each other in 1992, following failed a number of failed attempts in reconciliation.
In 1988, Loring co-starred in the slasher film "Iced". Its premise was that a group of old friends has received invitations to a new ski resort. They reunite there, but are stalked by a killer who has mysterious ties to their past. Loring's performance and humorous dialogue were reportedly among the highlight of the film. But the film has a relatively poor reputation among horror fans, due to soap opera-like plot elements and an inconclusive ending to its mystery. It was her last notable role for several years.
By the early 1990s, Loring was feeling depressed due to the decline of her career and her poor relationship with her husband. She tried to self-medicate her condition, leading to a drug addiction. In 1991, Loring was the first person to discover the corpse of her friend Kelly Van Dyke, who had committed suicide by hanging. Loring was in a fragile state of mind. She made a suicide attempt not long after. In 1992, she went to rehab and beat her addiction. She gave a few interviews in the mid-1990s, but semi-retired from acting. She resumed her acting career in the mid-2010s, with appearances in two different horror films. In 2023, Lisa Loring died, aged 64.- 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
- Soundtrack
Murray Melvin was born on 10 August 1932 in St. Pancras, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Phantom of the Opera (2004), A Taste of Honey (1961) and Barry Lyndon (1975). He died on 14 April 2023 in Westminster, London, England, UK.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Zinaid Memisevic was born on 26 April 1950 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for 2012 (2009), I Spy (2002) and Miracle (2004). He died on 7 January 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.- Hersha Parady was born on 25 May 1945, and raised in Ohio, USA. She later became an actress, appearing on television and in the theatre.
Years later, living in California, Hersha often looked after a free-spirited dog she called Lightning, who roamed the streets of Hollywood. That led to Hersha's befriending actress Katherine "Scottie" MacGregor, who looked out for the same dog. MacGregor starred as Harriet Oleson in the television series Little House on the Prairie.
When Hersha starred in a play as Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, MacGregor and her Little House co-star Richard Bull came to see it. They were thoroughly impressed with Hersha's performance, and recommended her to the Little House casting director, as a possible new cast member.
This recommendation led to Hersha being cast as a guest star (playing Michael Landon's sister-in-law) in one episode during the third season, before being cast as a regular player in the role of Merlin Olsen's wife, Alice Garvey, for Seasons 4 - 6.
Ironically, Hersha's own personal favourite Little House episode is "May We Make Them Proud" - the one in which Alice Garvey and her friends' infant son burn to death in the school for the blind. Hersha relished acting in scenes involving real, controlled fire under the supervision of the Los Angeles Fire Department. On her unforgettable death scene, Hersha remarked: "At least I went out with a bang and not a whimper."
Formerly married to Oscar-winning producer John Peverall, with whom she had a son named Jonathan, Hersha moved to Florida and died in 2023. - Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actor
Robbie Robertson was born on 5 July 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a music artist and actor, known for Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Ladder 49 (2004). He was married to Janet Zuccarini and Dominique Robertson. He died on 9 August 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
Tall, gaunt, and particularly effective in horror and drama films, British actor Julian Sands was born in Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, to Brenda and William Sands. He came to the attention of NBC when the network cast him in the TV miniseries The Sun Also Rises (1984) and then with Anthony Hopkins in the television film A Married Man (1983). Sands also got noticed for his very small roles in Privates on Parade (1983) and The Killing Fields (1984). It wasn't until his funny and romantic role opposite Denholm Elliott in A Room with a View (1985) and then his unusual role in Gothic (1986) that he garnered audience acclaim.
He continued work on screen in Vibes (1988), Impromptu (1991) and Steven Spielberg's Arachnophobia (1990), until his most remembered role as Warlock (1989), directed by Steve Miner. The film was a major success and he returned for the sequel, Warlock: The Armageddon (1993). Other credits include Naked Lunch (1991), Tale of a Vampire (1992) and the title role in Dario Argento's The Phantom of the Opera (1998). Sands has more recently been in Stephen King's Rose Red (2002) and was occasionally seen on the English stage.
Sands disappeared on January 13, 2023 after going for a hike near the Mount Baldy area of California's San Bernardino Mountains. Local authorities and search and rescue teams conducted over six weeks of multiple ground and aerial searches, which were unsuccessful. On June 24, 2023, hikers near Mount Baldy discovered human remains. On June 27, 2023, local authorities confirmed the remains to be those of Sands. He was 65 years old.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Ryuichi Sakamoto was born on 17 January 1952 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a composer and actor, known for The Last Emperor (1987), The Revenant (2015) and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983). He was married to Akiko Yano. He died on 28 March 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Tom Sizemore rose in prominence throughout the 1990s, establishing himself as a memorable tough-guy actor, sought by the most respected directors in the business.
Thomas Edward Sizemore, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Judith (Schannault), an ombudsman staff member, and Thomas Edward Sizemore, Sr., a lawyer and professor. Sizemore grew up idolizing the tough-guy characters of the movies he watched. After attending Wayne State University, he got his master's degree in theatre from Temple University in 1986.
Like many, he moved to New York City and struggled, waiting tables and performing in plays. His first break came when Oliver Stone cast him in a bit part in Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Bigger roles soon followed throughout the early 1990s, such as Guilty by Suspicion (1991), True Romance (1993), and Striking Distance (1993). 1994 proved to be an even bigger year for Sizemore, as he won the role of "Bat Masterson" in Kevin Costner's star-studded biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), as well as one of his first truly memorable roles as "Detective Jack Scagnetti" in Oliver Stone's controversial Natural Born Killers (1994). In 1995 he appeared in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Strange Days (1995), as well as the acclaimed crime epic Heat (1995), directed by Michael Mann. Sizemore's first big leading role is in The Relic (1997), the big-budget effects thriller directed by Peter Hyams.
According to a 2001 interview in The Calgary Sun, Sizemore entered a drug rehabilitation program in 1998 after his mother and his friend Robert De Niro appeared on his door-step during the filming of Witness to the Mob (1998). Telling him they were there to drive him to jail or to rehabilitation, Sizemore chose the latter. After completing rehabilitation, he counseled adolescents involved in substance abuse.
Offered roles in W.W.II films directed by both Terrence Malick and Steven Spielberg, Sizemore chose the role of "Sergeant Horvath" in Saving Private Ryan (1998). The role and film received wide acclaim and introduced Sizemore's talents to a much broader audience in a more human and well-rounded role than he had previously been given. Sizemore also credits this shoot and Steven Spielberg for helping him with his recovery from addiction, with Steven Spielberg threatening to re-shoot the entire film if Sizemore failed a drug test even once.
After a flamboyant and uncredited mobster role in Enemy of the State (1998), Sizemore then portrayed a psychotic paramedic in Bringing Out the Dead (1999) directed by Martin Scorsese. Seemingly taking it easy, he then turned in fine but stereotypical performances in Play It to the Bone (1999), Red Planet (2000), and Pearl Harbor (2001). Sizemore then received another leading role in the high-profile military drama Black Hawk Down (2001) directed by yet another legendary director, Ridley Scott.
Specializing in the sort of ultimate tough-guy/manly man roles that hearken back to a different era in film, Sizemore continued to be a favorite of Hollywood's greatest directors. Never afraid to speak his mind about anyone and anything, his sense of blunt honesty and lack of pretension was refreshing. A commanding voice and presence on film, Sizemore looked to continue as one of Hollywood's greatest actors, until his untimely death from a brain aneurysm on March 3, 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.- Producer
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Norman Steinberg was born on 6 June 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Blazing Saddles (1974), Doctor Doctor (1989) and Raising Dad (2001). He died on 15 March 2023 in Hudson, New York, USA.- 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).- Editor
- Editorial Department
John Wright was an editor, known for Speed (1994), The Hunt for Red October (1990) and X-Men (2000). He was married to Jane. He died on 20 April 2023 in Calabasas, California, USA.- 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).- 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.- Vincent Patrick was born on 19 January 1935 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for The Devil's Own (1997), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) and Family Business (1989). He was married to Carole Unger. He died on 6 October 2023 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.