Passages

[Peacock]

Wow..... very sad news, such a major figure in underground/camp cinema - big inspiration to John Waters and many others. Although from what I've seen of his latest work it's not the same as the stuff he made with his brother earlier on...

Hopefully BFI will consider releasing some of his films again now as they are sorely missed!

[rockysds]

Jordan Belson

[Robert de la Cheyniest]

Belson and Kuchar in the same day? Jeez.

[zedz]

Oh no. At least Belson has some of his films available on DVD. Maybe the silver lining of this cloud will be some long-overdue digital attention for Kuchar.

[Matt]

George Kuchar didn't see the need to make his older work more available. Depending on who executes his estate, that might change. Mike was more amenable to revisiting past work.

[zedz]

I'd heard that rumoured, and I hope it wasn't any reflection on his personal assessment of his earlier work. It's possibly the least appropriate body of work to be suppressed because of self-consciousness, since the films themselves are glorious splurges against that whole idea.

The curious do at least have access to the not-entirely-typical but pretty spectacular all the same I, an Actress on the Treasures Avant-Garde set.

[Matt]

I get the feeling that making films was, for George, something like cooking dinner. It was something he needed to do and something he enjoyed and excelled at doing, but not something that necessitated revisiting and celebrating past successes. Of course, sometimes you cook great dinners for other people and they like to remember them and want that recipe.

[Perkins Cobb]

Cliff Robertson.

[mfunk9786]

Jeez. Very sad news. He elevated recent films like Spider-Man to another level, and of course he was astoundingly good in Charly.

[Perkins Cobb]

Some of his best work in television (The Twilight Zone; the pilot for The Outer Limits). And The Best Man; even apart from the Kennedy connection via PT-109, Robertson was one of those actors born to play politicians.

Like Robert Culp (or now Edward Norton), he was known to be exacting and overbearing, and tried to insert himself as a shadow director whenever possible; his career probably suffered as a result.

[Cold Bishop]

And such a mean son of a bitch in Underworld U.S.A.!

And speaking of Culp and "shadow directing", anyone seen J.W. Coop? If it's anywhere near as good as Hickey & Boggs, I want.

[domino harvey]

One of the few remaining greats from the classic era (even if he did come in on the tail-end). What a shame

[Perkins Cobb]

J.W. Coop is pretty good -- bleak in that wonderful, New Hollywood/Watergate-era way -- but not up to anything Peckinpah wasn't already doing. Worth watching though.

[Feego]

I unfortunately have not seen much of Robertson's work, but I liked him in a very understated performance in De Palma's Obsession. And "The Dummy" is one of my absolute favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone. That closing shot is unforgettable.

[tarpilot]

In addition to what's already been mentioned, I love him with Aldo Ray in The Naked and the Dead (even if the film is one of my least favourite Walshes). Maybe I'll finally get around to seeing Man on a Swing.

[Cold Bishop]

As far as war films go, Too Late the Hero is my personal favorite of Robertson's.

[ellipsis7]

Alastair Reid, distinctive director of landmark television drama TRAFFIK, TALES OF THE CITY etc...

[colinr0380]

Robertson was one of those actors born to play politicians.

That's funny, I was going to mention that Robertson was one of the best things about the otherwise undistinguished sequel Escape From L.A. The entire film is kind of audacious, yet problematic, in the way that it simply repeats many of the same story beats from Escape From New York but with very minor L.A.-centric tweaks (the roaming gang of plastic surgeons for example) but I particularly liked the way that Donald Pleasance's cowardly President from the original is swapped for Robertson's extreme right wing, god-fearing, execution-loving, leftie daughter sacrificing man of the people. In that one area it is as if that film prefigured Bush Jnr a couple of years before he came to power!

He's also excellent as a seemingly friendly turned obstructive boss figure trying to keep hold of the rights to exploit the experience recording machine in Douglas Trumbull's Brainstorm! (aka the film that prefigures Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days)

[dx23]

Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus in "Spartacus: Blood and Sand".

[Professor Wagstaff]

That's a tragic one. I've no interest in ever watching "Spartacus: Blood and Sand", but the fact that this came right as he was breaking out as an actor is a real shame.

[dad1153]

"All My Children's" Mary Fickett.

[lacritfan]

John Calley

[dad1153]

Richard Hamilton.

[bamwc2]

While he's not dead, Salon has an interesting article by Roger Ebert on his own mortality.

[flyonthewall2983]

John Calley

All those old-school (in my case, 60's and 70's) studio guys are always interesting to listen to, and he was no exception. Especially in the Kubrick documentary and A Decade Under The Influence. James L. Brooks had a nice remembrance of him on Twitter, talking about working on Jerry Maguire with him during his tenure at Sony.