Passages

[Professor Wagstaff]

Ron Leibman

[Feego]

Robert Walker Jr.

[eerik]

Zaza Urushadze, director of Oscar-nominated Tangerines.

[Never Cursed]

Soundcloud rapper Juice Wrld, dead at 21 of a massive seizure

[flyonthewall2983]

Ron Leibman

I really liked him in Lumet's Night Falls On Manhattan. He chews it up big time, but it feels within the boundaries of the story.

[CSM126]

Carroll Spinney, aka Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch

[Big Ben]

René Auberjonois

[L.A.]

Marie Fredriksson of Roxette.

[captveg]

Robert Walker Jr.

Dorothy "D.C." Fontana

René Auberjonois

Tough year re: passages of Star Trek alum. (Aron Eisenberg also passed in September).

[ando]

Ron Leibman

R.I.P. Wish I'd seen his Roy Cohn.

[hearthesilence]

Ron Leibman

R.I.P. Wish I'd seen his Roy Cohn.

Someone uploaded this press reel this past weekend. You can get a glimpse of him as Cohn here.

[ando]

Ron Leibman

R.I.P. Wish I'd seen his Roy Cohn.

Someone uploaded this press reel this past weekend. You can get a glimpse of him as Cohn here.

Thank You! Nice clips.

[Roscoe]

Ron Leibman

R.I.P. Wish I'd seen his Roy Cohn.

I saw his Roy Cohn in MILLENNIUM APPROACHES, from fifth row center on the Wednesday matinee after their triumphant Tuesday opening night -- basically, I woke up with the hottest ticket in town. Liebman was on fire that day, it was one of the most electrifying and exhilarating performances I've ever seen. And not just as Roy Cohn -- his high-camp fop Prior Walter was glorious. I'm very grateful to whoever posted that clip compilation.

[Swift]

David Bellamy

[Reverend Drewcifer]

Danny Aiello

[FrauBlucher]

Oh shit.... RIP

[bearcuborg]

Of course he was great in so many things, but I’m really glad Hudson Hawk is getting some love on Twitter. His sequence in Radio Days is one of my favorite in any Woody Allen picture.

[hearthesilence]

Oh shit.... RIP

Spike Lee has been Instagramming a lot of tributes to him.

Here's an interview he did in 1989 where he talks about the freedom Lee gave him to shape his character.

An excerpt:

"I told Spike I didn't think the character was fulfilling enough. I didn't say I wouldn't do it, but I said I would like to have some input - by me - into that character. Would that be all right? He said, 'Anything you wanna do. Whatever you wanna do, you do. Whatever.' You know, it's a great compliment to him to lack ego in that area...

''There was no indication in the script when I read it as to why Sal was in that neighborhood,'' Aiello said. ''The scene with John Turturro, sitting in the window - I wrote that 10 minutes before we were going to shoot it."

I forgot he was the father in the video for Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach," and I had no idea he made an answer record (and yes, it's very corny).

[colinr0380]

Danny Aiello also had a couple of great starring roles in early 90s films with his part as the film director going through a crisis in Paul Mazursky's film The Pickle, which I would bracket in as a kind of New York response to The Player! And he was also Jack Ruby in Ruby from John Mackenzie, the director of The Long Good Friday.

He's also in Eddie Murphy's only film as a director, 1989's Harlem Nights. I would quite like to revisit that some time.

Also his role as the corrupt Police Chief in Once Upon A Time In America who gets his newborn baby swapped in the maternity unit as payback for getting involved with a strike was a very vividly upsetting moment in that film. Here's a quote from David Thomson's Biographical Dictionary of Film entry on the actor:

In Once Upon A Time In America, Danny Aiello plays a bullying police chief liked and trusted by no one. He has just had a baby son, but the gangsters play a trick on him by removing identifying tags and putting the baby in a room full of look-alike infants. Primogeniture gone with the wind, and all the puff and bulk of Aiello the actor seething and weeping. The name of the chief is Aiello. Draw your own conclusion.

Some students have marveled that Aiello, credited with over seventy movies in the years from 1973 till now, did nothing until the ripe old age of thirty-seven. In fact, he was for years an official in the Teamsters Union who talked his way into acting jobs. He is a natural comic, a rather good singer, and a big soft show-off who likes to be the heavy. When well cast he is a treat - but trusted with too much he can inspire that practical jokester in all film units.

...He had his great chance being cast - beautifully - as Ruby. He was very good, but nobody wanted to know. He had another lead in Me and the Kid (93, Dan Curtis). But then he tripped up completely, being cast in the lead of the sour The Pickle. Nothing has been quite the same since that...

[FrauBlucher]

TCM Remembers Always haunting, always depressing and always brilliant

[Feego]

TCM Remembers Always haunting, always depressing and always brilliant

It appears the video has been removed from Twitter and Youtube. The clip they used for Joan Staley was of the wrong actress (it was of the still-living Barrie Chase), so they're probably fixing it. Using a clip of the wrong person has become nearly an annual occurrence for TCM.

[flyonthewall2983]

RE: Aiello, he's also the guy in Godfather II who says "Michael Corleone says hello"

[FrauBlucher]

TCM Remembers Always haunting, always depressing and always brilliant

[dadaistnun]

Learned from Karina's Facebook page that Marie Laforêt passed on November 2.

[mfunk9786]

Discussion of Anna Karina's passing moved here