Passages

[HelenLawson]

James Garner

[domino harvey]

An actor with almost no presence or ability and yet, I've always kinda liked him. I recently watched the interminable Move Over, Darling, a Doris Day/Garner remake of My Favorite Wife, which is in strong contention for being one of the most annoying films ever made, and you could almost feel Garner becoming a TV star as it progressed. And he was, like a lot of people who crossed over from movies to TV (Including Chuck Connors, also of Move Over, Darling), better suited for the small screen and its demands anyways.

[colinr0380]

In a strange coincidence the BBC are showing Grand Prix for the first time in years today.

I do kind of agree with domino - even Garner's famous theatrical roles in Marlowe or Support Your Local Sherrif/Gunfighter somehow felt as if they anticipated or played off of TV tropes more than cinematic ones. Perhaps that was a by product of the industry in flux at the time, maybe trying to emulate some of the qualities of the new medium on the big screen?

[knives]

He is great fun in Victor/ Victoria though.

[Sloper]

I don't know that much of his work, but he was superb in Hour of the Gun and Marlowe (odd films, but I like them a lot), occupying those two iconic roles with exactly the right balance of melancholy, good humour and charm. There have been several great Wyatt Earps and Philip Marlowes, but I think Garner might have been my favourite. I swear I'm not just saying that to be provocative... He wasn't charismatic or mesmerising or anything like that - just a pure, unadulterated, easy-going pleasure to watch. Great foil for Jason Robards' Doc Holliday as well.

[warren oates]

I agree about Hour of the Gun. I'll remember him best for that role and his smaller one in another John Sturges film, as the fixer in The Great Escape.

[rohmerin]

Alex Angulo, trafic accident in Rioja (the good wine region).
Seen in several Alex de la Iglesia's movies. He was the priest in Day of Beast.

[bamwc2]

Skye McCole Bartusiak I didn't recognize her name, but the story at the link is just awful.

[bamwc2]

As for Garner, I too will miss his presence. As far as essential viewing, I would direct interested parties to a pair of films that were released back-to-back in 1964-1965: The Americanization of Emily and 36 Hours. Although both films are about the planning of the D-Day invasion, they're worlds apart. The former is a comedy, while the latter is one of the best wartime thrillers ever made.

[colinr0380]

Alex Angulo, trafic accident in Rioja (the good wine region).
Seen in several Alex de la Iglesia's movies. He was the priest in Day of Beast.

That's a real shame. I haven't had a chance to see much of his work in recent years but did catch his roles in the horror film Backwoods and Pan's Labyrinth. I mostly know him from Álex de la Iglesia's work - my favourite role there was the one rohmerin metions as the hapless priest trying to commit as much sin as possible in order to raise the Devil in The Day of the Beast, although I also love his role in the disabled sci-fi film Acción mutante in which he plays one of a pair of conjoined twins in a militant terrorist group who, after they get betrayed and left for dead by their boss, ends up having to drag his dead twin around with him through a series of amusing gags! (Acción mutante is pretty silly and gory with not particularly progressive gender politics! But if you've ever watched the decadent opera scenes from The Fifth Element and thought the film might be improved if a bunch of terrorists invaded it with Verhoven-esque scenes of ultraviolent carnage, then this might be the film for you!)

[YnEoS]

Panna Rittikrai, liver disease.

While he's best known now as the fight choreographer of Tony Jaa films, but I'm more partial to the low budget 1980s action films he directed with some really terrifying stunt work.

[mfunk9786]

Skye McCole Bartusiak, best known for playing the taunting child in Don't Say a Word and Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in The Patriot, at the age of 21.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Thomas Berger

[bamwc2]

Skye McCole Bartusiak, best known for playing the taunting child in Don't Say a Word and Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in The Patriot, at the age of 21.

Mentioned on the previous page. It's a terrible thing to die so young.

[JamesF]

John Fasano, screenwriter (Another 48 Hours, Tombstone) as well as director of MST3K favourite Zombie Nightmare and the 80s hair-metal horror "classics" Black Roses and Rock N' Roll Nightmare (aka The Edge Of Hell). The latter of which boasts the distinction of featuring a) the most gratuitously extended sex scene involving a writer/producer/composer/lead actor ever, and b) the greatest third-act plot twist ever (spoilers, obviously).

[MichaelB]

Dora Bryan.

[colinr0380]

Dora Bryan.

Criterion-wise, one of her earliest roles is in Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol. On the other end of the spectrum, she was great in one of her later roles paired up with Liz Smith as a pair of dotty co-habiting sisters who are part of supporting cast of nosy neighbours to Colin Firth in the thriller Apartment Zero.

[Jeff]

Noel Black apparently died nearly three weeks ago with no media coverage, or even updates to IMDb and Wikipedia.

I always wanted Criterion to work with him on a definitive release of Pretty Poison with Skaterdater as a supplement. They could still do a pretty great set using Second Sight's commentary track.

[domino harvey]

Noel Black was responsible for both the wonderful Pretty Poison and the utterly rotten Mischief, which is some range!

[colinr0380]

I've got a very old copy of the Noel Black directed TV movie The Other Victim from when Channel 4 showed it in the UK back in 1995. I'm afraid that not too much has stuck with me about the film itself, about a husband coming to terms with the rape of his wife, but it is an interesting curio from a horror fan perspective given that it features not only Jennifer O'Neill in the cast but also one of Scott H. Reiniger's only acting roles outside of George Romero's Knightriders and Dawn of the Dead!

[Perkins Cobb]

Yeah, the Noel Black obit was written by me. These days so much of this info, even when it involves a fairly major figure, trickles out via social media or when somebody notices the name in the Social Security Death Index months later. In this case a friend of Black's posted an "RIP" Tweet, a blogger (the same guy who broke the news of James Rebhorn's death, which was initially dismissed as a hoax because it came from such an unorthodox source) noticed that reposted that in a few places seeking confirmation ... and then silence for about a week, at which point I tracked down Black's son and reported it, since nobody else seemed to be doing so.

Such is the state of modern journalism ... The Variety obit for S. Lee Pogostin is basically my press release, written at the request of his son, who knew I'd interviewed Lee a few times. The L.A. Times ran its own obit, but that was also triggered by the press release. If the son hadn't thought to contact me, we probably still wouldn't know Pogostin had died.

[domino harvey]

Peter Marquardt of El Mariachi

[Feego]

James Shigeta, star of The Crimson Kimono, Flower Drum Song, and Die Hard

[MichaelB]

Italian composer and musician Giorgio Gaslini - notable for, amongst other things, his score for Dario Argento's Deep Red.

[Gregory]

Also La Notte.

Really great musician, who did many interesting compositions and recordings, some of which bridged the worlds of jazz and classical in unique ways, such as a recording of jazz versions of Schumann music, while other of his works were as straight-forward as an extremely solid album of Thelonious Monk tunes.