Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian Singer-Songwriter-Actor, Dies at 94 French-Armenian singer-songwriter-actor Charles Aznavour, best known for songs such as “She,” “Yesterday When I Was Young” and “For Mama,” has died. Aznavour, who was 94, died in his sleep from a cardiac arrest in his home in Mouries, France, according to his agent. Aznavour sold more than 180 million records and appeared in more than 60 films. Bob Dylan considered Aznavour, sometimes referred to as a Gallic Frank Sinatra, to be “one of the greatest live performers” he’d ever seen. CNN named him Entertainer of the Century in 1998, and he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year. --- As well as being a singer and songwriter, Aznavour acted in more than 90 films and TV dramas, including Francois Truffaut’s seminal “Shoot the Piano Player,” Volker Schlondorff’s foreign-language Oscar-winning film “The Tin Drum” and Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat.” Even the legendary French poet-artist-filmmaker Jean Cocteau was a fan, casting him in his 1959 film “Testament of Orpheus.” Speaking to Variety last year, Frederic Boyer, artistic director of the Tribeca Film Festival, praised Aznavour’s skill as an actor, lamenting that he didn’t have more leading roles in films of the caliber of Truffaut’s movie. “He was a super-talented actor,” Boyer said. France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques was of the same mind, and in 1997 feted Aznavour with an honorary Cesar. In Shoot The Piano Player With Truffaut
Scott Wilson, Actor in 'The Walking Dead' and 'In Cold Blood,' Dies at 76 Scott Wilson, the Georgia-born actor admired for the intensity he demonstrated in such dark, disturbing projects as In Cold Blood, The Walking Dead and The Ninth Configuration, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 76. Details were not immediately available, but the official Twitter account for The Walking Dead comic book, on which the popular AMC show of the same name is based, confirmed the news Saturday. "We are deeply saddened to report that Scott Wilson, the incredible actor who played Hershel on #TheWalkingDead, has passed away at the age of 76," the statement read. "Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Rest in paradise, Scott. We love you." --- After portraying the murder suspect Harvey Oberst in his first feature, the Oscar best picture winner In the Heat of the Night (1967), Wilson was cast as real-life murderer Dick Hickock for In Cold Blood (1967). The chilling documentary-like drama was directed by Richard Brooks, who also adapted Truman Capote's sensational 1965 best-selling novel for the screenplay. --- "Every actor in the English-speaking world wanted those two roles, including [Paul] Newman and [Steve] McQueen," Wilson recalled in a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Brooks hired two 'unknowns,' and he wanted to keep it that way. We were treated like two killers he had somehow run across." Brooks set up a private screening for Wilson and Blake after the movie was finished, and "after seeing the film, I went to the restroom and threw up," he told Elvis Mitchell in a 2017 interview. "I realized what I had just seen. I was part of something that would stand up for a period of time, a classic."
My daughter and I met Wilson at PensaCon a couple of years ago. He was such a sweet man and took the time to get to know us a little. When I mentioned THE NINTH CONFIGURATION he stepped back, looked at me and smiled. It was a nice moment.
Ray Galton, writer of classic British sitcoms, dies at 88 Screenwriter Ray Galton, who co-wrote the landmark British comedy series “Hancock’s Half Hour” and “Steptoe and Son,” has died at 88. Galton’s family said Saturday that he died Friday evening after a “long and heart-breaking battle with dementia.” Galton and (Alan) Simpson wrote “Hancock’s Half Hour” for popular post-war comedian Tony Hancock. Their biggest hit was “Steptoe and Son,” a sitcom about father-and-son junk dealers, which ran between 1962 and 1974. Producer Norman Lear adapted it into the U.S. sitcom “Sanford and Son.” Manager Tessa Le Bars called them “the fathers and creators of British sitcom.” Simpson died last year at 87. Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
I always liked Scott Wilson, he was great as Harvey in ITHOTN, I wish he had had more screentime. He also shot Robert Redford in "The Great Gatsby". RIP.
Denis Norden obituary Norden and Muir wrote three of the greatest Peter Sellers sketches: "Balham-Gateway To The South", "Common Entrance" and "So Little Time"
Celeste Yarnall, Alluring Actress of the 1960s, Dies at 74 Celeste Yarnall, who appeared opposite Elvis Presley in Live a Little, Love a Little, had a memorable turn on Star Trek and donned a loincloth to play "the original flower child" in the jungle-set cult classic Eve, has died. She was 74. Yarnall, a "scream queen" who was terrorized by a headless monster in Beast of Blood (1971), died Sunday at her home in Westlake Village, California, her husband, British artist Nazim Nazim, told The Hollywood Reporter. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2014 and turned to a crowdsourcing site to help pay her medical expenses. "She was magnificent in everything she did," Nazim said. "She was my beloved queen." They were together for nine years. Yarnall is known to Star Trek fans for her portrayal of Yeoman Martha Landon on the October 1967 episode "The Apple," in which Chekov (Walter Koenig) can't help but fall for her. (She appeared as herself — one of 42 Trek alums — in the 2018 sci-fi comedy Unbelievable!!!!! and was a regular on the convention circuit for years.) While attending the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Yarnall was spotted by producer Harry Alan Towers, who was in search of a girl to star as the jungle goddess in his 1968 film. According to the actress, he yelled and pointed, 'Stop that girl! That's my Eve!'" She took the role as the scantily clad Eve, who is the long-lost granddaughter of Christopher Lee's character, but later called the film “one of the worst movies of all time.” In Live a Little, Love a Little, also released in 1968, Yarnall played Ellen, a girl at a party who reasons she and Presley can't hook up because he's a Sagittarius. Undeterred, he tries to woo her by singing "A Little Less Conversation." The National Association of Theatre Owners liked what they saw and named her the “Most Promising New Star” of 1968. A native of Long Beach, California, Yarnall was discovered by Rick and Ozzie Nelson while she walked past their studio offices on the way to an audition. She appeared on an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet in 1962 and then played college kids in Jerry Lewis' The Nutty Professor and Jack Lemmon's Under the Yum Yum Tree, both released in 1963. In 1964, Yarnall became the 25th and last woman elected Miss Rheingold. She moved from Los Angeles to New York and made personal appearances for the brewer while modeling and doing commercials. Yarnall played a vampire seductress in The Velvet Vampire (1971), produced by Roger Corman, and appeared in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), The Mechanic (1972) and Scorpio (1973) before concentrating on commercial real estate for years. She also earned a Ph.D. in nutrition. She reappeared in Fatal Beauty (1987), Driving Me Crazy (1991), Midnight Kiss (1993) and Born Yesterday (1993). Yarnall's TV résumé also included Bonanza, Hogan’s Heroes, It Takes a Thief, Captain Nice, Mannix, Bewitched, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the 1971 pilot for Columbo.
Great actor but apparently an even greater friend (to everyone). Leonard Maltin: Remembering My Friend Jimmy Karen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Swofford Prolific TV character actor Ken Swofford has died at age 85. I'll always remember him as the nosy RVer in the classic Rockford episode "The Queen of Peru", and the invariably out-scooped reporter in the '70s Ellery Queen.
Thanks Mikaela. Should this maybe be in it's own thread? I didn't realise this but William Goldman was a major talent who shaped film stories in the 70s.
Here's the Variety obit: William Goldman, Oscar-Winning Writer of ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ Dies at 87 Anybody even remotely interested in how movies are made should read his classic book, Adventures In The Screen Trade.
