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Makoto Fujita dies at 76.

There's also a rumour doing the rounds that Kathryn Grayson has died, but there has been no confirmation/denial as yet.

Confirmation on Kathryn Grayson.

That's a shame, she was quite a beauty in her day and starred in many a musical favorite

EDIT: Wait, does "longtime companion" mean what I think it means? Cue "I Hate Men!" here

Way sad...I remember watching her in Kiss Me Kate many times with my then toddler daughter back in the 80s.

domino harvey wrote:That's a shame, she was quite a beauty in her day and starred in many a musical favorite

I'm sure it's the character more than the actress, but I always found her grating in Kiss Me Kate. I adore her (and Mario Lanza) in That Midnight Kiss, though.

She certainly isn't grating in SHOW BOAT.
But as I just commented to a friend after scanning her filmography on IMDb after hearing of her passing, she seems to have specialized in MGM musicals I haven't the slightest urge to see.

domino harvey wrote:[...] she was quite a beauty in her day [...]

The short tribute piece that TCM is running for her shows that off very well.

The wrong one of those two will get the lion's share of attention and respect.

Sad that is, he was still doing stuff and made for a great Joker.

Séverin Blanchet, documentarian and star of Iosseliani's Gardens in Autumn, killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul, where he had been teaching filmmaking classes.

Wendy Toye - for a long time Britain's most prolific female feature film director.

Screenonline has more info about her film career.

You mentioned her name a couple of weeks ago, it's obvious you jinxed her!!!

Musician/Sparklehorse frontman/David Lynch collaborator Mark Linkous.

Whoa

Does this mean no more horrible fake Criterion covers from Sparklehorses?

Nah, he will just change his name

Martin Benson. Played Mr Solo in Goldfinger, the character who ended up in the scrap metal compactor.

Not a passage per se, but salon.com has a column in praise of Oscar's In Memoriam tribute. I must confess, it leaves me weepy every year.

Zumpano wrote:Musician/Sparklehorse frontman/David Lynch collaborator Mark Linkous.

gunshot in the heart outside a friend's house

Charles B. Pierce, director of The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Legend of Boggy Creek.

That's a shame - the fourth volume of the 42nd Street Forever trailer compilations featured Pierce's films heavily and they all looked very interesting. There was also a mention in the commentary that The Town That Dreaded Sundown seemed to be an unacknowledged influence on the sack headed Jason from Friday The 13th Part II.