Robert Hardy and Ty Hardin in Berserk! (1967, with Joan Crawford). Hardy and Hardin died on the same day: August 3, 2017.
Just read this, an absolute legend in the UK, where he entertained for over 75 years. Nice to see you, to see you ... nice! Up to a few years ago, he was still presenting, Strictly Come Dancing, and who can forget his, "didn't he do well", from The Generation Game. RIP, Bruce, but remember, keeeeeep dancing!
Sonny Landham passed away two days ago of heart failure.. Known for his roles in predator and 48 hrs.. He was 76.
Brian Aldiss, science-fiction writer, dies aged 92 - BBC News British science-fiction author Brian Aldiss has died at his home in Oxford, having only just turned 92. His death was announced by his literary agents Curtis Brown, who called him an "author of science fiction classics" as well as "an entertaining memoirist". Aldiss's short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" was the basis for the 2001 film AI Artificial Intelligence. Developed by Stanley Kubrick, the tale of a boy-like robot was eventually directed by Steven Spielberg. --- Alongside JG Ballard, Aldiss pioneered a new wave of science-fiction writing in the 1960s that took the genre into uncharted territory. "I don't agree with those people who think science fiction as some kind of prediction of the future," he said on Desert Island Discs in 2007. "I think it's a metaphor for the human condition." Born in Norfolk in 1925, Aldiss was greatly influenced by HG Wells and corresponded with both CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.
Tobe Hooper, ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and ‘Poltergeist’ Director, Dies at 74 Tobe Hooper, the horror director best known for helming “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Poltergeist,” died Saturday in Sherman Oaks, Calif., according to the Los Angeles County Coroner. He was 74. The circumstances of his death were not known. The 1974 “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” became one of the most influential horror films of all time for its realistic approach and deranged vision. Shot for less than $300,000, it tells the story of a group of unfortunate friends who encounter a group of cannibals on their way to visit an old homestead. Though it was banned in several countries for violence, it was one of the most profitable independent films of the 1970s in the U.S. The character of Leatherface was loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein. Hooper also directed the 1986 sequel “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,” which took a more comedic approach, as part of his Cannon Films deal. The 1982 “Poltergeist,” written and produced by Steven Spielberg, also became a classic of the genre. The story of a family coping with a house haunted by unruly ghosts starred JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson. The film was a box office success for MGM and became the eighth-highest grossing film of the year. After “Poltergeist,” Hooper directed two movies for Cannon Films, “Lifeforce” and “Invaders from Mars,” a remake of the 1953 alien movie. His 1979 CBS miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel “Salem’s Lot” is considered by many fans to be a high-water mark in televisual horror. Combining the intrigue of a nighttime soap opera with the gothic atmosphere of a classic horror film, the two-part program was eventually reedited and released theatrically throughout Europe. He continued working in television and film throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but none of the films had the impact of his early works. His last film, the 2013 “Djinn,” was set in the United Arab Emirates and produced by Image Nation. His other more recent works included “Toolbox Murders,” “Mortuary” and two episodes of “Masters of Horror.” Among his other works was the music video for Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” In 2011 he co-authored a post-modern horror novel titled “Midnight Movie” in which he himself appeared as the main character. Willard Tobe Hooper was born in Austin, Texas and taught college before starting out in documentaries. He is survived by two sons.
What a morbid thread! But it has introduced me to artists I might not otherwise have known. Longtime Hollywood cinematographer, James Wong Howe, for example, who passed a couple of days ago, would have bee 118 years old yesterday! Google did a tribute to him. I didn't even notice. Here he is standing behind Paul Newman (Patricia Neal on the step) who tries to take over on the set of Hud (1963, Martin Ritt). Now I'll have to have a little retrospective of his movies - a list that's pretty extensive.
Errr, correction: Howe died July 12, 1976. Google decided to do a birthday celebration yesterday in his honor.
Richard Anderson, Actor on 'The Six Million Dollar Man,' Dies at 91 Richard Anderson, who portrayed Oscar Goldman, the head of a secret scientific government organization, on the 1970s series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff, The Bionic Woman, died Thursday. He was 91. Anderson, who was mentored by nice guy Cary Grant and received a huge career boost when he was cast in Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war classic Paths of Glory (1957), died at his home in Beverly Hills, publicist Jonathan Taylor announced. A frequent authority figure onscreen, Anderson also portrayed a colonel in another notable war film, the Rod Serling-scripted Seven Days in May (1964), and he operated on Rock Hudson, the second time much to Hudson’s dismay, in another John Frankenheimer film, the sci-fi thriller Seconds (1966). As an MGM contract player who started out in the mailroom, Anderson appeared early in his career in such films for the studio as The Magnificent Yankee (1950), Scaramouche (1952), Escape From Fort Bravo (1953) and Forbidden Planet (1956). He then moved to Fox and played Joanne Woodward’s mama’s-boy boyfriend in The Long, Hot Summer (1958). In the highly rated, two-part episode that brought a thrilling end to the 1960s ABC series The Fugitive, Anderson portrayed the brother-in-law of Richard Kimble (David Janssen). He also was Police Lt. Steve Drumm on the final season of CBS’ Perry Mason and Santa Luisa Police Chief George Untermeyer on ABC’s Dan August, starring Burt Reynolds. After three popular Six Million Dollar Man telefilms in 1973, the Universal TV property was given steady life as an ABC series in January 1974. On the show, Anderson played the chief of the fictional Office of Scientific Intelligence and the boss of Steve Austin (Lee Majors), a NASA astronaut who is injured in a crash and “rebuilt” (at a cost of about $29 million in today’s dollars), becoming a secret agent. Anderson also is heard in the show’s action-packed introduction: “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man.” --- Born on Aug. 8, 1926, in Long Branch, N.J., Anderson and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 10. After graduating from University High School and serving a 17-month stint in the Army during World War II, he studied at the Actors Laboratory in L.A. Anderson was working on an NBC show called Lights, Camera, Action in 1949 when, out of the blue, he received a phone call from Grant. “My wife [Betsy Drake] and I saw you on television. We think you’re pretty good, particularly in comedy. Why don’t you come to the studio for lunch?” he said of the invitation in the 1991 book, Evenings With Cary Grant. “I met him on the set of Crisis. I’ll never forget it. He said, ‘I’d like to help you. You’re a very good actor.’” That led to a screen test and a contract at MGM, where Anderson stayed for six years and made nearly 30 films. He then appeared on a loan-out to United Artists for Paths of Glory, playing Major Saint-Auban, the heartless prosecuting attorney who wants three soldiers court-martialed for cowardice, in the acclaimed World War I drama. “That film changed my whole career,” he said.
Sir Peter Hall, RSC founder and former National Theatre director, dies aged 86 Sir Peter Hall, the former director of the National Theatre and founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has died aged 86, the theatre said. He died on Monday at University College hospital in London, with his family at his bedside. During a career that spanned more than half a century he staged the English-language premiere of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and the world premiere of Harold Pinter’s Homecoming. In a statement, the National Theatre said it was deeply saddened to announce the death of “one of the great names in British theatre”. “Peter Hall was an internationally celebrated stage director and theatre impresario, whose influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled,” it said. He founded the RSC in 1960, aged 29, leading it until 1968. “The RSC realised his pioneering vision of a resident ensemble of actors, directors and designers producing both classic and modern texts with a clear house style in both Stratford and London,” the National Theatre said. After being appointed director of the National Theatre in 1973, Hall was responsible for the move from the Old Vic to the purpose-built complex on the South Bank. Sir Peter Hall: 'Politicians don't grasp the case for the arts' “He successfully established the company in its new home in spite of union unrest and widespread scepticism,” the theatre added. After leaving the NT in 1988, he formed the Peter Hall Company, and in 2003 became the founding director of the Rose Theatre Kingston.
Bernie Casey, ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ Actor and Former NFL Player, Dies at 78 Bernie Casey, the former NFL star known for his work in the films “Boxcar Bertha” and “Revenge of the Nerds,” died on Tuesday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, Variety has confirmed. He was 78. Casey made his film debut in the 1969 sequel “Guns of the Magnificent Seven.” He then acted alongside fellow former NFL star Jim Brown in the crime dramas “…tick…tick…tick…” and “Black Gunn.” He played the title role in the 1972 science fiction TV film “Gargoyles,” and then portrayed Tamara Dobson’s love interest in 1973’s “Cleopatra Jones.” --- In Martin Scorsese’s “Boxcar Bertha,” he played a heroic former slave and train robber, and then a recurring character in Bond films, CIA agent Felix Leiter. In 1981, he portrayed a detective opposite another former NFL player-turned-actor, Burt Reynolds, in “Sharky’s Machine,” which was directed by Reynolds. The two worked together a few years later on “Rent-a-Cop.” His prolific acting career also included films such as “Revenge of the Nerds,” “Black Chariot,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “In the Mouth of Madness,” “The Glass Shield,” “Mr. Hyde,” “Once Upon a Time … When We Were Colored,” and “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.” On television, he was in “Roots: The Next Generations,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and “Bay City Blues.” Casey was born in Wyco, W.Va., and raised in Columbus, Ohio, before attending Bowling Green State University on a football scholarship. There, in addition to his football successes, he was a record-breaking track and field athlete, and competed in the 1960 U.S. Olympic trials. He was picked ninth overall in the NFL draft, and spent six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before going to the Rams for two years. He retired at age 30 and finished his professional career with 359 catches for 5,444 yards and 40 touchdowns.
