Passages

[Jeff]

Marvin Hamlisch

That's too bad. I loved his score for The Informant!.

Yeah, he managed a swan song of quality few ever do.

Hamlisch apparently completed a score for Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra before he died.

[Kirkinson]

Hamlisch apparently completed a score for Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra before he died.

Well, at least that's something to look forward to in the midst of this sad news. I had no idea he was working on that, but it actually seems like a perfect project for him (and his score for The Informant! was quite superb indeed).

[britcom68]

Mel Stuart. Director of original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

[mfunk9786]

Oh no One of the best (for my money, the best) children's films ever made.

[lacritfan]

Mel Stuart. Director of original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

Obit

[Matt]

David Rakoff

In addition to his magnificently witty and grouchy essays, he was on the fringes of the film world as well, quite memorably appearing in Alison Maclean's short film Intolerable.

[MichaelB]

Carlo Rambaldi.

[lacritfan]

David Rakoff

In addition to his magnificently witty and grouchy essays, he was on the fringes of the film world as well, quite memorably appearing in Alison Maclean's short film Intolerable.

Appreciation from Ira Glass/This American Life, inlcuding link to "Who's Canadian?"

[Perkins Cobb]

Al Freeman, Jr.

[flyonthewall2983]

Oh no One of the best (for my money, the best) children's films ever made.

Absolutely no argument there.

[Polybius]

Al Freeman, Jr.

A couple of things I didn't know in that obit, namely that he had played Malcolm X in Roots: The Next Generation or that he'd been on One Life To Live.

I know him mainly from his portrayal of the ethically questionable Deputy Commissioner James Harris on Homicide: Life on the Street and his short but memorable role as Elijah Muhammad in Malcolm X.

If you've never seen his electrifying work in Dutchman, put it on your list.

[manicsounds]

A week late, but Keiko Tsushima at 86, probably most famous for her role as Shino in "Seven Samurai"

[j99]

Sid Waddell the oche will never be quite the same again.

[flyonthewall2983]

Gregory Powell, the killer James Woods would later play in The Onion Field.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

This happened a couple weeks ago, but it's news to me, and I love his work with Olivia Tremor Control: Bill Doss. Way too young...

[lacritfan]

Ron Palillo (Arnold Horshack from Welcome Back, Kotter)

[Perkins Cobb]

Phyllis Thaxter. There are news reports but so far they're all headlined "Superman actress dies," so I refuse to link to them.

[Cold Bishop]

I can't say I know much about her, but I do know she holds her own against John Garfield in Michael Curtiz's fantastic The Breaking Point.

[GaryC]

SF writer and editor Harry Harrison.

His novel Make Room! Make Room! was filmed as Soylent Green. However, the film's twist as to what the foodstuff of the title is made from was not in the original, and Harrison regarded this as a perversion of his work.

[MichaelB]

Phyllis Thaxter. There are news reports but so far they're all headlined "Superman actress dies," so I refuse to link to them.

The Sun noted John Gielgud's death under the headline DUDLEY MOORE'S BUTLER DIES.

Though in that case there's at least a passing possibility that they were deliberately taking the piss.

And a quick Google to make sure I'd got the headline right turned up this lament by Philip Hensher about "a curse of the actor's life - fame and fortune can be guaranteed to arrive with a fatuous part".

[j99]

I wonder what The Sun had to say about The Marathon Man's Laurence Olivier?

[knives]

To be fair that's his second best role.

[Polybius]

I wonder what The Sun had to say about The Marathon Man's Laurence Olivier?

"Horny patriarch from The Betsy is taken to Jesus."

[j99]

"Horny patriarch from The Betsy is taken to Jesus."

Ha ha. Excellent!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

William Windom