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#126 Post by **Matt** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:59 pm

Mako, the "Japanese guy" in every '60s sitcom and '70s and '80s detective show has died.

#127 Post by **Matt** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:44 pm

Sigh. Mike Douglas is dead. His film career, admittedly, was not much to speak of (though he was the singing voice of Prince Charming in Disney's Cinderella, but his talk show was nothing but pure class.

flyonthewall2983 · #128 Post by **flyonthewall2983** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:32 pm

Bruno Kirby, a veteran character actor who costarred in When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers and many other films, has died at age 57, his wife said Tuesday.

Kirby died Monday in Los Angeles from complications related to leukemia, according to a statement from his wife, Lynn Sellers. He had recently been diagnosed with the disease.

"We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Bruno's fans and colleagues who have admired and respected his work over the past 30 years," his wife said. "Bruno's spirit will continue to live on not only in his rich body of film and television work but also through the lives of individuals he has touched throughout his life."

Kirby was perhaps best known for his roles opposite Billy Crystal in 1989's When Harry Met Sally and 1991's City Slickers.

Other film credits included Good Morning, Vietnam, The Godfather: Part II and Donnie Brasco. More recently, he played Phil Rubenstein on the HBO series Entourage.

Fletch F. Fletch · #129 Post by **Fletch F. Fletch** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:11 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Kirby was perhaps best known for his roles opposite Billy Crystal in 1989's "When Harry Met Sally" and 1991's "City Slickers."

Wow, this is a shocker. I had no idea. Man, he was so funny in When Harry Met Sally, Good Morning, Vietnam and The Freshman... great comic timing and a real knack for saying a line in such a way that was so hilarious ("Baby fish mouth!").

tavernier · #130 Post by **tavernier** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:14 pm

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:Wow, this is a shocker. I had no idea. Man, he was so funny in When Harry Met Sally, Good Morning, Vietnam and The Freshman... great comic timing and a real knack for saying a line in such a way that was so hilarious ("Baby fish mouth!").

Not to mention his great turn as Albert Brooks' sidekick in Modern Romance. "Fuck her." - "Thank you."

#131 Post by **cdnchris** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:41 am

Actor Glenn Ford dies at age 90

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) -- Actor Glenn Ford, who played strong, thoughtful protagonists in films such as "The Blackboard Jungle," "Gilda" and "The Big Heat," died Wednesday, police said. He was 90. Paramedics called to Ford's home just before 4 p.m. found Ford dead, police Sgt. Terry Nutall said, reading a prepared statement. "They do not suspect foul play," he said. Ford suffered a series of strokes in the 1990s.

Failing health forced him to skip a 90th-birthday tribute on May 1 at Hollywood's historic Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. But he did send greetings via videotape, adding, "I wish I were up and around, but I'm doing the best that I can.... There's so much I have to be grateful for." At the event, Shirley Jones, who co-starred with him in the comedy "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," in which he played the father of a young Ron Howard, called Ford "one of the cornerstones of our industry, and there aren't many left."

Ford appeared in scores of films during his 53-year Hollywood career. The Film Encyclopedia, a reference book, lists 85 films from 1939 to 1991. He was usually cast as the handsome tough, but his acting talents ranged from romance to comedy. His more famous credits include "Superman," "Gilda," "The Sheepman," "The Gazebo," "Pocketful of Miracles" and "Don't Go Near the Water."

An avid horseman and former polo player, Ford appeared in a number of Westerns, "3:10 to Yuma," "Cowboy," "The Rounders," "Texas," "The Fastest Gun Alive" and the remake of "Cimarron" among them. His talents included lighter parts, with roles in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" and "It Started With a Kiss."

On television, he appeared in "Cade's County," "The Family Holvak," "Once an Eagle" and "When Havoc Struck." A tireless worker, Ford often made several films a year, Ford continued working well into his 70s. In 1992, though, he was hospitalized for more than two months for blood clots and other ailments, and at one point was in critical condition. "Noel Coward once told me, `You will know you're old when you cease to be amazed.' Well, I can still be amazed," Ford said in a 1981 interview with The Associated Press.

After getting his start in theater in the 1930s, he got a break when he was signed by Columbia Pictures mogul Harry Cohn. In 1940, he appeared in five films, including "Blondie Plays Cupid" and "Babies for Sale." After serving with the Marines during World War II, Ford starred in 1946 as a small-time gambler in "Gilda," opposite Rita Hayworth.

The film about frustrated romance and corruption in postwar Argentina became a film noir classic. Hayworth plays Ford's former love, a sometime nightclub singer married to a casino operator, and she sizzles onscreen performing "Put the Blame on Mame." Ford speaks the memorable voiceover in the opening scene: "To me a dollar was a dollar in any language. It was my first night in the Argentine and I didn't know much about the local citizens. But I knew about American sailors, and I knew I'd better get out of there." Two years later he made "The Loves of Carmen," also with Hayworth. "It was one of the greatest mistakes I ever made, embarrassing," Ford said of the latter film. "But it was worth it, just to work with her again." Among his competitors for leading roles was William Holden. Both actors, Ford said, would stuff paper in their shoes to appear taller than the other. "Finally, neither of us could walk, so we said the hell with it." Ford also played against Bette Davis in "A Stolen Life."

One of his best-known roles was in 1955's "The Blackboard Jungle," where he portrayed a young, soft-spoken teacher in a slum school who inspires a class full of juvenile delinquents to care about life. In "The Big Heat," 1953, a gritty crime story, he played a police detective.

"Acting is just being truthful," he once said. "I have to play myself. I'm not an actor who can take on another character, like Laurence Olivier. The worst thing I could do would be to play Shakespeare."

He was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford on May 1, 1916, in Quebec, Canada, the son of a railroad executive. The first name reflected his family's Welsh roots. When Ford joined Columbia, Cohn asked him to change his name to John Gower; Ford refused but switched his first name to Glenn, after his father's birthplace of Glenford.

He moved to Southern California at age 8 and promptly fell in love with show business, even sneaking onto a Culver City studio lot at night. He took to the stage at Santa Monica High School. His first professional job was as a searchlight operator in front of a movie house.

He started his career in theater, as an actor with West Coast stage companies and as Tallulah Bankhead's stage manager in New York. In 1939, he made his first Hollywood film opposite Jean Rogers in the romance "Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence." His director, Ricardo Cortez, told Ford he would never amount to anything and the actor returned to New York. He didn't stay away from Hollywood long, though, signing a 14-year contract with Columbia Pictures.

He married actress-dancer Eleanor Powell in 1943; the two divorced in 1959. They had a son, Peter. A 1965 marriage to actress Kathryn Hays ended quickly. In 1977, he married model Cynthia Hayward, 32 years his junior. They were divorced in 1984.

Dylan · #132 Post by **Dylan** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:54 am

Joseph Stefano; Key Writer for 'Psycho'

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 30, 2006; Page B06

Joseph Stefano, 84, a scriptwriter who influenced Alfred Hitchcock's revolutionary plot twist in "Psycho" and wrote for the science fiction television series "The Outer Limits," died Aug. 25 at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., after a heart attack.

Mr. Stefano began his career as a minor Greenwich Village showman and
songwriter for the Las Vegas showman Donn Arden. However, his reputation was enhanced in the late 1950s after writing an award-winning drama about a soldier's racial prejudice that aired on the television anthology series "Playhouse 90." He also wrote a romantic drama called "The Black Orchid," for which Sophia Loren won a best actress prize from the Venice Film Festival.

When his agent asked what was next, Mr. Stefano turned in a list of 10 top directors, including Hitchcock and William Wyler, and said jokingly not to pester him unless one of them had a job waiting. To his surprise, Hitchcock responded, and Mr. Stefano was excited about working on a glamorous suspense film like "To Catch a Thief" or "North By Northwest." Instead, he was handed Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho," about a mother-obsessed serial killer and hotelier named Norman Bates.

The film was a modestly budgeted production that many studio executives did not want made because it was deemed too tawdry for the prestigious Hitchcock. The director, who reportedly liked Bloch's "workaday characters and dingy locales," sought out Mr. Stefano after an early script draft by another television writer did not suit him.

Mr. Stefano told the Los Angeles Times: "Bloch's novel started with Marion Crane arriving at the motel and immediately being killed. My feeling was that, since I did not know anything about this girl, I wasn't going to care about her when she was killed. So we backed the story up a bit and learned something about her so that when she was killed, it would have more impact." Mr. Stefano had her stealing $40,000 from her boss and stopping at the Bates Motel while on the run. Though she has a change of conscience about the money, Crane is knifed to death by Bates in a memorable shower sequence.

"Killing the leading lady in the first 20 minutes had never been done before," Mr. Stefano told a horror film fan magazine in 1990. Hitchcock suggested hiring Janet Leigh, then a major star, for the role of Marion because he thought it would add more of a shock. Mr. Stefano also said he wanted to remake Bates from a drunk reprobate who peeks at girls to a more likeable young man. This led Hitchcock to suggest Anthony Perkins, a gangly juvenile star, for Bates.

The film earned Mr. Stefano a top award from the Mystery Writers of America and years of attention for having scripted one of the defining suspense classics of all time. Mr. Stefano was scornful of two "Psycho" sequels that he said turned Bates into a "laughable figure" but later scripted "Psycho IV" (1990), a Showtime cable network film that highlighted the Freudian origins of Bates's inner torment.

He also advised director Gus Van Sant on the 1998 remake of "Psycho," with Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche in the leading roles. Most critics found the remake pointless, and Mr. Stefano also said he wished Van Sant had done more than copy his script and Hitchcock's camera angles.

Joseph William Stefano was born May 5, 1922, in south Philadelphia. His father was a tailor and made silk flowers, and this work influenced the plot of "The Black Orchid." He was entranced by movies as a child and set up makeshift theaters in his parents' basement. Set on a performing career, he left for New York weeks shy of his high school graduation and took the name Jerry Stevens.

Leslie Stevens, an old Greenwich Village friend, created "The Outer Limits" for ABC in 1963 and recruited Mr. Stefano as a supervisory writer and producer. During the next two seasons, Mr. Stefano helped set the eerie tone of the series, which mirrored "The Twilight Zone." Perhaps Mr. Stefano's most famous episode was "A Feasibility Study," about aliens who take a neighborhood block and transport it to another planet for observation. When the humans realize they are being watched for their slave potential, they decide to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the human race.

Mr. Stefano worked on many small-screen suspense dramas but periodically was lured back into film work. This resulted in a feline-based horror film called "Eye of the Cat" (1969) and a social drama about a man-woman-pig triangle, "Futz!" (1969), concocted by the off-Broadway experimental director Tom O'Horgan, best known for bringing "Hair" to Broadway.

Mr. Stefano tended to play down his role in the latter. However, he was particularly proud of "Two Bits" (1995), about an ailing grandfather and his 12-year-old grandson on a summer day in Depression-era Philadelphia. Al Pacino starred as the grandfather. "At once solemn and dreamy, the film is a carefully assembled collection of vignettes remembered from afar in which even the more threatening characters have a golden aura," film critic Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times.

Mr. Stefano had an enormous sheet-music collection and once spent five hours challenging pianist Michael Feinstein about who could name increasingly obscure Tin Pan Alley songs.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Marilyn Epstein Stefano of Agoura Hills, Calif.; and a son.

My favorite work of Stefano's, aside from "Psycho," is definitely the "Outer Limits" episode "The Forms of Things Unknown," in my opinion the best thing ever filmed for television.

Cinesimilitude · #133 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:03 am

A sad day for you Aussies... Steve 'Crikey' Irwin, dead at 44.

Solaris · #134 Post by **Solaris** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:34 am

It is indeed a very sad day for Aussies. Steve Irwin was a great Australian man who will be forever remembered.

solent · #135 Post by **solent** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:51 pm

I wonder how the Brits [and others] are reacting to Germaine Greer's "the animal kingdom has had its revenge" comment.

The Fanciful Norwegian · #136 Post by **The Fanciful Norwegian** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:52 pm

Eye-rolling, probably.

colinr0380 · #137 Post by **colinr0380** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:56 pm

I did admire his zoo work, but at the same time it did seem like he provoked animals, or was at least reckless around animals he wasn't familiar with. I'm waiting for the Werner Hezog documentary about him to come out.

dx23 · #138 Post by **dx23** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:34 pm

"Man Bites Dog" director dies

By Charles Masters

DEAUVILLE, France (Hollywood Reporter) - Belgian filmmaker Remy Belvaux, whose sole feature "Man Bites Dog" became a cult hit, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 38. A statement said he died Monday night in Orry-la-Ville, north of Paris, but no cause of death was given.

Shot on a micro budget, "Man Bites Dog" purported to be a fly-on-the-wall TV documentary about the life of a cynically jovial serial killer. The 1992 movie walks a dangerous line between black humor and abject horror as the TV crew gradually becomes more implicated in the killer's gruesome crimes.

Belvaux also starred in "Man Bites Dog" with Andre Bonzel and Benoit Poelvoorde, who has gone on to be a major star in France. The trio also produced the movie, which won a string of awards after debuting at the Cannes Film Festival.

Despite the movie's impact, Belvaux never shot another feature, instead turning to directing commercials for which he won several industry awards. "He leaves us one masterpiece and tons of regrets," his family said in their statement.

Belvaux was the brother of Lucas Belvaux, whose "The Right of the Weakest" screened in competition at Cannes this year.

Rufus T. Firefly · #139 Post by **Rufus T. Firefly** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:20 pm

Renate Brausewetter died on 19 August at age 100. She appeared in numerous German silent films including two Pabsts: The Joyless Street and Secrets of a Soul. Sorry, I don't have a link to a news item in English.

colinr0380 · #140 Post by **colinr0380** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:39 pm

Here's the tribute to Remy Belvaux and Father Francis J. Murphy from the Criterion site:

RÃ©my Belvaux, 1966-2006
RÃ©my Belvaux, co-director of the acclaimed media satire and cult hit Man Bites Dog, died on September 5, in Orry-la-Ville, north of Paris. Though Man Bites Dog was an international sensation, winning an award at Cannes, Belvaux never made another feature film. The cause of Belvaux's death remains undisclosed. He was forty years old.

Father Francis J. Murphy
Father Francis J. Murphy, who recently retired after teaching for more than thirty years at Boston College, died on August 28. A specialist in the history of modern France as well as the chaplain for the Sisters of Charity in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Murphy published several articles and two books, including PÃ¨re Jacques: Resplendent in Victory. In 2006, Murphy wrote about Louis Malle's Au revoir les enfants for the Criterion Collection.

Rufus T. Firefly · #141 Post by **Rufus T. Firefly** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 4:14 am

Gerard Brach (1927-2006)

French screenwriter Gerard Brach, who frequently worked with directors Roman Polanski and Jean-Jacques Annaud, has died, a spokeswoman for his latest movie said. He was 79.

Brach died Saturday after a long illness, said a spokeswoman for his latest collaboration with Annaud, the movie "Minor," which is being shot in Spain.

The Paris-based screenwriter worked on scripts for Polanski films including "Tess," "Frantic" and "Repulsion." For Annaud, he helped adapt the novels "The Name of the Rose" and "The Lover," among others.

Annaud praised Brach as a poet. "His tender and outlandish universe, fueled by surrealism and ancient history, made him one of the most inspired screenwriters of cinema's first century," Annaud said.

Brach also tried his hand at directing, with the 1970 film "The House" and "The Boat on the Grass" the following year.

colinr0380 · #142 Post by **colinr0380** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:23 am

Rank films' 'gong man' Ken Richmond has died at 80.

Richmond's self-effacing manner about the role, for which he was paid only a one-off fee of Ã‚Â£100, was typical of the man, say his friends...

Richmond's countless roles as an extra included one he cherished, as the wrestler, Nikolas, in Jules Dassin's film noir classic Night and the City in 1950. The Roman soldier was another favourite walk-on role of his and the greatest recognition of his contribution to Rank came when Michael Caine interviewed him for a film on the history of the film company. A copy of this was to be found at his home, alongside pictures of him with James Cagney, a particular hero, and other celebrities.

ola t · #143 Post by **ola t** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:21 pm

Swedish media are reporting that the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist died today, 83 years old.

#144 Post by **kinjitsu** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:35 pm

Sven Nykvist

#145 Post by **Matt** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:03 pm

Had he been ill? I see he hadn't shot a film since 1999.

Dylan · #146 Post by **Dylan** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:58 pm

What a terrible loss.

All I know is that he hadn't been working since 1999 due to an eye condition. His final film was "Curtain Call," which I haven't seen. Around two years after he quit film, his son, Carl-Gustav, made a documentary on him, "Light Keeps Me Company."

Sven was arguably the greatest in his profession, and I think most of us here would agree.

dadaistnun · #147 Post by **dadaistnun** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:01 pm

Had he been ill?

The AP story says he was being treated for aphasia.

Cinesimilitude · #148 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:21 pm

Aphasia is quite the debilitating disease, and It's probably a good thing that he now has peace. he will be missed.

zone_resident · #149 Post by **zone_resident** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:21 pm

Shooting With Ingmar Bergman: A Conversation with Sven Nykvist gives interesting perspectives on his art.

Kirkinson · #150 Post by **Kirkinson** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:40 pm

Sir Malcolm Arnold

BBC News wrote:British composer Sir Malcolm Arnold has died in hospital after a brief illness at the age of 84.

Sir Malcolm, who won an Oscar for the musical score to the Bridge on the River Kwai film in 1958, was suffering from a chest infection.

He is most famous for his film scores, composing 132 including Whistle Down the Wind and Hobson's Choice.

As well as film scores, Sir Malcolm also composed seven ballets, nine symphonies and two operas.

Sir Malcolm, one of the most famous composers of the 20th century, leaves behind two sons and one daughter.

Anthony Day, his companion and carer for the last 23 years, praised Sir Malcolm as "the most wonderful man".

"People didn't see the man that I knew because he had frontal lobe dementia over the last few years which slowly developed but, being with him, he was a happy, lovely man who enjoyed his music and enjoyed his life," he told BBC News.

Mr Day also paid tribute to Sir Malcolm's achievement in winning an Oscar for Bridge on the River Kwai.

"They couldn't find anybody else to do the music in time because they wanted to release it to the Oscars," Mr Day said.

"They gave him 10 days and he managed to write the complete score in 10 days."

Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber described Sir Malcolm as a "genius" who was never entirely appreciated.

He said: "I think he was a very, very great composer but uneven in his output.

"Because he had humour in his music he was never fully appreciated by the classical establishment."

Lord Richard Attenborough, the director and actor, said Sir Malcolm was a "totally outstanding composer".

Sir Malcolm's music continues to be performed and recorded extensively by leading orchestras both nationally and internationally.

He was awarded the CBE in 1970.

Saturday night was the premier of his version of the Three Musketeers at the Alhambra in Bradford.

The performance, which was dedicated to him, went ahead as planned.

Obituary here