Too many films to recount, too many great pieces of acting to list. “On the Waterfront,” “Baby Doll,” “Cheyenne Autumn,” an impressive TV streak in “Streets of San Francisco.” I’ll always remember “Streetcar.” He was 97. Now that’s a life.
Tag: obits
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R.I.P. Michael Jackson
Two of these in one day is always difficult. But the passing of pop icon Michael Jackson is huge. Earth-shattering. I don’t know what to say, how to say it, or how to deflect the inevitable sniping at Jackson’s tabloid-filling escapades that will blur the fact that this is, truly, a tragic event.TMZ.com first reported the news of Jackson’s being rushed to the hospital earlier this afternoon due to cardiac arrest. The staff is now reporting that the singer has, in fact, passed away. NBC News, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times all confirm. He was 50 years old.
What do you say to this? This is my childhood. This is one of the biggest, most legendary entertainers to grace a stage, a screen, anything. This hits hard.
Like any number of people, I haven’t given Jackson a second thought in a number of years. His celebrity morphed into farce and yet I was still excited to hear about his recently planned London concert series. He was working on a film project in Culver City earlier this month, a “Thriller” tribute or remake, from what little I’ve heard. But mostly, it’s the memories. It’s the Jackson Five. It’s “Thriller.” It’s “Bad.” It’s “Black or White.” It’s the hits, man. And they were considerable.
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R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett
An AP news brief flashed across my cell phone via text message a little: actress Farrah Fawcett has died in Los Angeles. She was 62. What an awful truth to stagger out of bed and face first thing in the morning.The sad news follows the recent, heart-warming announcement that actor Ryan O’Neal was set to re-marry Fawcett, sticking with her through the painful final stages of cancer that ultimately spread to her liver and claimed her life. It also folllows a troubling time in the tabloids for Fawcett, when it seemed her very privacy wasn’t valuable enough to vultures eyeing her end of days. I hope the jackals circling Patrick Swayze take note.
Such a sad moment. My heart goes out to Mr. O’Neal and Fawcett’s family and friends.
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R.I.P. Ed McMahon
On one hand, I’d be lying if I didn’t say one of the first things that crossed my mind with the sad news of Ed McMahon’s passing was, “He was still alive?” Indeed, McMahon, a fixture of my childhood, hadn’t exactly planted a flag of relevance on my life for a number of years, but nevertheless, it’s kind of a punch to the gut to wake up to this kind of thing.He was Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” sidekick, holding down the couch night after night throughout my youth. He was the “Star Search” guy, a benevolent figure to a number of today’s entertainers as they got their first big break. He was the guy you hoped to open the door to with a giant Publisher’s Clearing House envelope in tow. And, of course, he had his hand in the movie business.
He was all these things, yes. He was an American staple. He wasn’t an artist whose genius will never spark again, but something perhaps a little more. He was a figment of the entertainment business whose likeness is gone forever and whose passing marks, poetically in league with the recent programming particulars at NBC, the end of an era.
Here’s a clip for nostalgia. You don’t get this brand of classic comedy on late night anymore. Maybe on Letterman from time to time:
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R.I.P. David Carradine
Big, cold bucket of water to the face this morning. Here’s the “just the facts” story from the AP, in part:Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series “Kung Fu” who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok. A news report said he was found hanged in his hotel room and was believed to have committed suicide.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He said the embassy was informed by Thai authorities that Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.
The Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room.
It said Carradine was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and had been staying at the hotel since Tuesday.
The newspaper said Carradine could not be contacted after he failed to appear for a meal with the rest of the film crew on Wednesday, and that his body was found by a hotel maid at 10 a.m. Thursday morning. The name of the movie was not immediately available.
It said a preliminary police investigation found that he had hanged himself with a cord used with the room’s curtains. It cited police as saying he had been dead at least 12 hours and there was no sign that he had been assaulted.
I can’t say I grew up with “Kung Fu” but Carradine was one of those actors that had me in awe just at how damn busy he stayed. And now he’s gone at 72. Many of today’s generation will of course remember him as Quentin Tarantino’s diabolical Bill from the “Kill Bill” movies, but for most, he’ll always be Kwai Chang Caine:
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‘Murder in the First’ director Marc Rocco found dead
It saddens me to report that filmmaker Marc Rocco, perhaps best known for directing the 1995 film “Murder in the First,” was found dead in his Northridge home over the weekend.I was informed of the news earlier today by a mutual friend, so I called the Devonshire division of the Los Angeles Police Department in Northridge to get the details. It seems Rocco was found by a friend on Friday, May 1 after he had not been seen for nearly a week. Police say there was no foul play involved and they are still awaiting autopsy results. It appears to be a natural death, I’m told. Five days later, nothing at Variety, nothing at The Hollywood Reporter, nothing at the L.A. Times — nothing anywhere. According to police, no one has even called asking questions yet. Bizarre.
I never saw Rocco’s earliest work, 1987’s “Scenes from a Goldmine,” the Corey Feldman/Corey Haim starrer “Dream a Little Dream” and 1992’s “Where the Day Takes You.” “Goldmine” and “Dream” both featured Rocco’s father Alex, who starred as Moe Greene in “The Godfather.” But I always loved “Murder in the First,” which featured first-rate performances from both Christian Slater and Kevin Bacon.
It was one of those films that sort of came and went in the early weeks of 1995. Fortunately the Screen Actors Guild and Broadcast Film Critics Association remembered Bacon’s work come year’s end, the former nominating his career-best leading performance, the latter awarding him for it. Nowadays it seems most people forget the film until it pops up on TNT or the like, but it was a confident showcase that proved Rocco had some real directorial chops.
I always wondered what happened to the director after that. He seemed to have a few projects on the horizon, according to his IMDb page, but the last two films he worked on were 2005’s “The Jacket” (story and producer credits) and 2007’s “Take” (executive producer). He popped up two years ago to direct the music video for Eddie Vedder’s “Guaranteed” from the “Into the Wild” soundtrack, however. Variety reported in January of 2007 that Rocco was set to adapt Jim Thompson’s “The Killer Inside Me” and that he was “mobilizing to direct” his original script “The Winter Hill Gang,” which had been set up at Paramount several years ago with Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner producing.
Sad news. Rocco was 43. He is survived by his wife, sister and younger brother.
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R.I.P. Dom DeLuise
The AP reports of the unfortunate passing of a comedy legend. Most will remember him for “Canonball Run,” but I’ll always have a place in my heart for his work with Mel Brooks. Here he is in “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”:
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R.I.P. Jack Cardiff
Sad to see one of the greats leave us. Perhaps it’s a grand occasion to pick up the “Black Narcissus” Blu-ray, which I hear makes Cardiff’s cinematography pop and is said to be one of the most beautiful high-def discs out there.
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R.I.P. Maurice Jarre
It’s taken a full day for me to get around to posting an appreciation of the late Maurice Jarre, who died yesterday at the age of 84. Most will note his exemplary work on classics such as “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “A Passage to India” and “Witness.” Indeed they should.
The esteemed composer landed nine Oscar nominations and three wins in a career that spanned five decades. His last scores of note may have been the one-two Bruce Rubin punch of “Ghost” and “Jacob’s Ladder” in 1990, or perhaps István Szabó’s “Sunshine” a decade ago. There is an embarrassment of riches in the man’s portfolio, but as a child of the 80s, I must go against the expected grain and give you 1985’s “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”:
I don’t expect it to get any love elsewhere, do you? And I live to fill in the gaps. But in all seriousness, farewell to a legend.
Additionally, Jon Burlingame, who generally covers the film music world for Variety among other outlets, has written up an appreciation in the Los Angeles Times. French president Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, has paid tribute to his fellow countryman.
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R.I.P. Natasha Richardson
After two days of conflicting reports, Time Out New York falling over itself to proclaim the actress dead, then brain dead, neither case properly verified, and general anxiety over her condition, Natasha Richardson has finally succumbed to the injuries she sustained during a tragic ski accident in Montreal Monday. She was 45 years old.From the AP:
Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson’s husband Liam Neeson, confirmed her death in a written statement.
“Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” the statement said. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”
Of course, the story behind the story continues to grow: media missteps in reporting. Patrick Goldstein, in a piece titled “Natasha Richardson’s media ghouls get their comeuppance,” let the readers of Time Out New York do the talking for him, specifically citing an comment from a reader calling himself (or herself) “Ghost of Edward Murrow,” who had the following to say:
Time Out’s credibility was declared brain dead today. The site suffered a horrific fall when rushing to get the scoop on the personal tragedy of a fine actress and her family, and according to anyone with a clue, will not recover.
Anne Thompson, meanwhile, showed considerable irritation over the LA Times’ lack of web swiftness when she couldn’t find a link to John Horn’s obituary:
A.P. knows how to handle stories like this. The LAT sent me a news alert. I followed the link which led me to the front page of the LAT and a breaking news banner: “A spokesman for Natasha Richardson’s family says she has died,” with no live links to any story, old or new. I did a search on the site for Natasha Richardson and got nothing at all on her accident. That is inexcusable. Their job is to service their readers with online breaking news.
Frustrated, I googled “Natasha Richardson dead” and got what looked like A.P.’s old story but when I clicked on it, got the updated one. They were ready to go with the new news as soon as it arrived.
She is, however, linking to the CBC story, not the AP story, but the lesson is writ large regardless: get the news in order, especially on something like this. The culture of now, now, now (which I’ve already written about in other terms this week) will certainly be the death of journalistic credibility if behavior like this continues to rule the trade.
Shocking that in all of this, TMZ seemed to have more accurate information throughout.
But the news is the news, and a gifted actress has left us and a beautiful family behind. My heart goes out to Richardson’s husband, Liam Neeson, her two young sons and her mother, Vanessa Redgrave. Awful and unspeakable.
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R.I.P. Ron Silver
This one crept up on me, even though I knew he’s been fighting cancer. But Ron Silver has left us.
David Poland just put up a touching, somewhat personal tribute. Jeff Wells chimes in here. I’ve spent the last 10 minutes searching for a good clip of Silver as Angelo Dundee in Michael Mann’s “Ali,” a totally transformative performance that’s a touch underrated, but I can’t find anything. The politics will cloud the issue but I loved the man’s work and it deserves the spotlight. And we can forgive “Timecop,” right?
Anyway, peaceful journey. He’ll be missed.
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R.I.P. Pat Hingle
I love how much Commissioner Gordon detail Hingle offers up in this clip, which I believe is from the 2005 special edition DVD release of “Batman.” Especially considering none of that background was really utilized in Tim Burton’s film. Anyway, he will be missed. It’s a shame most one-off obits have paid strict attention to his “Batman” roles, ignoring wonderful work in films like “Hang ‘Em High,” but I suppose Gordon will be the most memorable role for most.
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Michael Crichton, author of ‘Jurassic Park,’ dies at 66
I truthfully wasn’t even aware that Crichton was struggling with cancer. But apparently, the awful disease has taken him from us.I remember being charged on Crichton’s work after seeing “Jurassic Park” in 1993. Sure, he already had fans from the days of “The Andromeda Strain,” “The Great Train Robbery” and, later on, “Disclosure,” but the dinosaurs that caught the film-going world’s imagination first drew me to the author’s work.
I picked up “Sphere” (which blew my mind), “Congo” and “The Lost World” immediately. It was painful to see his works ravaged by the film industry, but he made his mark on the small screen with “ER” (one of the most successul shows of all time) and the original treatment that became “Twister” (part of a mid-90s glden age for action movies).
The last time I was really entranced by a Crichton novel was “Airframe” in the late-90s, a project that has failed to make the move to the big screen to date, despite attracting talent like Richard Donner and Sigourney Weaver over the years. I never picked up “Timeline” (though I saw Donner’s awful film) or “Prey” (though it proved to be a constant airport temptation). Perhaps his work on an old script, “Westworld,” will still make it to the screen with the help of “Shattered Glass” scribe and helmer Billy Ray.
The last Crichton novel published was 2006’s “Next,” a genetic research thriller that, like so much of his work, didn’t seem satisfied merely telling a story. Crichton was always more interested in the cautionary aspects of his yarns and how they might be better capture the zeitgeist.
For me, a one-time fan and perhaps likely to dive back in with this sad news, Crichton will be missed.
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“Nobody gets out of life alive.”
I’m a younger man. The first time I felt a considerable blow when a star met his end was in April of 1994. Three and a half years later, it happened again. So I started to get used to it. As you get older, heroes fade, legends die and it all becomes a part of the bitter reality that this, too, shall pass.In my years as a film enthusiast, I’ve been blindsided here, felt the long wait of death’s touch there. You get to a point where you understand a person’s passing as cause to celebrate what they afforded in better days. But the further one marches into life, the more the hits seem to keep coming, to steal an over-utilized sentiment. Less becomes more as doors begin to close at a rapid pace on the elements you cherished from afar.
This year has been a considerably heartbreaking one. No one could have seen the deaths of Heath Ledger and Anthony Minghella coming, even if we were all patiently dreading the exit of Sydney Pollack. But a deficiency of expectation is never the cold bucket of water to the face that it might be and preparation can’t mask the deflation one feels when curtains such as these drop. In either case, the ultimate sadness is a lingering sort of ache.
And so it is that actor, director, producer, writer and entrepreneur Paul Newman has left us.
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R.I.P. Isaac Hayes
I’ve been out and about all day. Really sad news to come home to. Keep on soothin’ — wherever you are.
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Bernie Mac is dead
Holy…this is sudden to say the least.CNN is reporting that actor Bernie Mac died early this morning of complications of pneumonia. The guy was only 50 years old.
What a cold bucket of water to the face. We could go at any time, any place, anywhere. We’re not in charge of punching our ticket.
Rest in peace, friend. You gave us some laughs in your time. That goes a long way in the end.