Independent obituary

Although he'd faded from public view, in the 1960s & 70s he was once a famous face on BBC TV and wrote the - often quirky - Radio Times film reviews at that time. He wasn't a great critic, but who else in 1981 could have persuaded each of the three UK TV channels then to make a programme on the silent film legacy of Lupino Lane? Thirty years later, he's still the most neglected of the great comedians. (Lane's acrobatic skills surpassed even Keaton's, and in one of the programmes Jenkinson mentions both Ken Russell and Kubrick owning prints of his two-reel comedies.)

The Britmovie forum discussion mentions that Jenkinson acquired many of his 16mm films when Warner Brothers offered him their entire UK-housed stockpile of prints after their TV license deal expired rather than pay to ship them back to Burbank. That's surprising in an era when collectors like Bob Monkhouse had many of their films confiscated due to alleged copyright infringement, even for private home viewing. Also ironic that Jenkinson's high camp 1987 TV series The Great Trailer Show was cancelled after 4 episodes (which I still have) after he was threatened with a massive law suit. The show only consisted of trailers - presented by Jenkinson - which even now seem to be regarded as PD.

He was also a big influence on some of the Czech New Wave directors, notably Jiří Menzel - who namechecks him in at least one film (Cutting It Short) and very possibly others.

Of course. Got muddled up there.

Friday night I was watching him cavort with Eric Idle on the "Film Night" MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL episode included on the new Blu-ray...not yet hearing the news of his passing. That kind of thing seems to happen often!

Here's the Jenkinson interview with John Ford, and the Morecambe and Wise dance routine in which he appeared!

I remember the interview with John Ford. It's a classic for all the wrong reasons! Didn't know he had passed. Sad to hear it.

Witold Lesiewicz, probably best known for his collaborations with Andrzej Munk, which included completing Passenger after Munk's untimely death mid-production.

Earl Scruggs. End of an era..."Is the grass any bluer on the other side?"

Warren Stevens.

Nancy L. Earp, the woman who took the infamous 911 call from the Zodiac killer

Jamaa Fanaka, according to American Grindhouse's Facebook page (among others).

Confirmed. I was told this by Ally Field last night, that he died Monday. I just showed a couple of his short films at Filmforum, which he was supportive of, but when Ben Caldwell and I tried to reach him to conform he was attending the show (on March 11), he never replied. He was in fine shape a few months ago during the L.A. Rebellion series at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and really seemed to enjoy the recognition and the rediscovery of his films. It's good that he was able to experience that series.

Stay classy with these images on your website, BlowItOutaHere.com.

Claude Miller.

La petite voleuse or The Accompanist are perhaps his better known works, but I really love Class Trip (which I wrote about in the horror list project thread), and the Les enfants de Lumière documentary from 1995 which he was one of the co-directors on was a really wonderful love letter/tribute to a century of French cinema, and beautifully thematically edited together (even if many of the clips from the films montaged together were not identified until the end credit scroll!)

Luke Askew. No links yet, but per Tim Lucas on Facebook. Brutal day.

Damn. A guy who lent credibility to any and every role he ever played.

"Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade.

Surely going someplace dark for his crimes against art.

Oh please. Could you be anymore Donald Brown?

Notes by Tim Lucas on Natalie Perrey, a frequent actress in Jean Rollin's films.