Obituaries

For me it is the Avengers, I never really watched The Professionals but I don't mind it too much. I lament his passing and cast an eye at British television. Few exceptions, precious few.

On top of Leonard Nimoy, Cliff Bole and Maurice Hurley, it seems that Harve Bennett joins the list of Star Trek's fallen.

http://deadline.com/2015/03/harve-bennett-dies-star-trek-movie-producer-1201387026/

But for him and Meyer, Trek would've likely died in 1979.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/07/movies/albert-maysles-pioneering-documentarian-dies-at-88.html

Albert Maysles has passed away, too, at the age of 88.

Cinematographer for PRIMARY (1960) and co-director of some of the greatest American documentaries of all time (SALESMAN, GIMME SHELTER, GREY GARDENS).

Sad loss, but he made quite an impact on documentary cinema.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/cinematographer-andrew-lesnie-has-died-from-a-heart-attack/story-e6frfmvr-1227324892475

Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings, passed at age 59 from a heart attack.

RIP Omar Sharif

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33483877

Was just thinking yesterday that I was keen on giving Doctor Zhivago a rewatch.

Perhaps an actor not well known but one who was always great to see on screen and a long, well-lived life

Theodore Bikel, 1924-2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11760846/Theodore-Bikel-actor-obituary.html

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RIP.

Never was big into wrestling (actually not at all) but I do love the work of John Carpenter, thus also "They Live".

His fight with Keith David in that alley was an action-movie instant-classic.

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I'm not familiar with him in anything else, but I did watch THEY LIVE for the first time a few months ago and really dug it. He was an odd choice for a star in that, but Carpenter used him very well and he had great chemistry with Keith David.

Maybe not a household name but Coleen Gray who was in the Film Noir classics Kansas City Confidential, The Killing, and Kiss of Death has died.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/coleen-gray-dead-kiss-death-812916

Wes Craven has died after a battle with brain cancer.

https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/638157613960663041

Towering Inferno director John Guillerman has passed aged 89

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-guillermin-dead-towering-inferno-828396

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Hilly KCMG wrote:

John Guillerman has passed aged 89

Loved his The Blue Max. If I hadn't seen it as such an impressionable age I might have treated women better.

Sadly I've not seen it. Tend to forget he did King Kong though.

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Chantal Akerman has passed away at 65. Sadly, her death is being reported as a suicide.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/06/chantal-akerman-pioneering-belgium-film-director-and-theorist-dies-aged-65

My favorite film by her is "Hotel Monterey", but I haven't seen her last film, "No Home Movie".

Sad loss.

The Uk lost a beloved TV and Radio Host over the Weekend in the form of the wonderful Terry Wogan, but perhaps more relevant to film fans here, we also lost the great Frank Finlay.

It makes for a sad weekend that leaves the entertainment field much the poorer for their absence.

RIP

Yes, very sad day yesterday with Sir Terry going and Frank Finlay. For me Finaly's forever associated with the Three Musketeers. Certainly saw him in other things but as a kid it was the Musketeers.

Both missed. RIP.

January 2016 just wouldn't leave without delivering one last bloody kick in the teeth ... it will not be a month fondly remembered, I'll wager.

As someone with warm memories of Blankety Blank, his chat show and his second stint on the Radio 2 breakfast show Sir Terry's passing gave me pause. By all accounts, a lovely bloke.

R.I.P. indeed.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

January 2016 just wouldn't leave without delivering one last bloody kick in the teeth ... it will not be a month fondly remembered, I'll wager.

As someone with warm memories of Blankety Blank, his chat show and his second stint on the Radio 2 breakfast show Sir Terry's passing gave me pause. By all accounts, a lovely bloke.

R.I.P. indeed.  

Growing up watching Eurovision with my parents was made by Sir Terry (and his later comments of "The current Lady Wogan..."). Seem to remember, back when the songs were introduced by somebody from that country the French entry saying "Bonjour..." and as he waffled Wogan quips: "Bonjour yourself you French bastard!"

I might've dreamt that. Still, I read in the Times' letter pages this nurse from the hospital on Great Portland Street dispatched to get flowers for a patient from an elderly chap's stall by the tube station. Apparently the man being served in front of her turns and sees her uniform, steps aside saying: "You serve this lady first, her job is much more important than the likes of me."

And that was of course, Sir Terry.

When I went to an interview at my old uni' for a postgrad Broadcast Journalism course (that moneywise I was torpedoed for) years ago, the woman tutor asked why I wanted to do this and I cited some examples, she was surprised by my citing of Sir Terry. But yes, as everyone says, it's a cliche but it's the loss of a friend almost. You suspected when he failed to host CIN last year something serious was up but you don't know. Sadly we'll be left with Misses Daly, Winkleman and Cotton.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

John Hillerman, Higgins on 'Magnum, P.I.,' Dies at 84

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-hillerman-dead-magnum-pi-actor-was-84-1056800

R.I.P.

I feel like Magnum has now become an underrated show. It must have been one of the first TV shows (though obviously not movies) to make post-Vietnam PTSD one of its recurring themes.

Oh my GOD, Magnum!

R.I.P.

The TV channel Spike reruns The A-Team in the late afternoon ... granted it's mostly a bit of daft action fluff but an episode I saw a bit of recently involved them having to return to Vietnam, which triggered flashbacks including an (albeit gore-free) piece of ground covered in the bodies of dead soldiers.

Also, I could swear blind that the character that catapulted the Hoff to fame (Michael Knight in Knight Rider) was a Vietnam vet.

R.I.P.

Only ever saw a handful of episodes of Moustache P.I. but always liked his character.