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Frederik Pohl, aged 93 - a very important figure in the SF genre, as a writer, editor, agent and fan. IMDB entry due to adaptations of his stories for TV (Out of the Unknown, Tales of the Darkside) and the 1969 feature Tunnel Under the World.

José Ramón Larraz. No linkable obits yet, but Tim Lucas has just broken the news via Facebook.

This Eurotika episode is probably the best introduction to the director, although it understandably focuses more on his key horror films such as Vampyres, The Coming of Sin (aka The Violation of The Bitch) and Black Candles than his six part miniseries about the life of Goya!

Composer, cellist, and educator Fred Katz died a few days ago at the age of 94. He composed music for Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Wasp Woman. A long and unique career that defied expectations, but an underappreciated and underrecorded one.

Otto Sander, the sidekick angel from Wings of Desire and sequel.

Richard C. Sarafian.

Mandingo!

Minkin wrote:Jerry Bishop (The Original Svengoolie and radio DJ/host)

Got a few WCFL flashbacks from this one... (helped along by the web)

Former heavyweight champion Ken Norton

Ken Norton was a helluva fighter during the 70's, one of the golden ages of heavyweights. Norton famously broke Ali's jaw and defeated him in their first fight. Then fought two closely contested rematches which Ali won. The 2nd fight was a split decision while the 3rd fight in Yankee Stadium was a big event.
Norton possessed a devastating overhand right



Norton also was an actor in a few films, playing the title character in Mandingo (1975) starring James Mason, and a follow-up of sorts in Drum (1976), another blaxploitation slavery thang, featuring Warren Oates. Has anybody seen these films (besides Quentin Tarantino)? I remember hearing that Norton wasn't much of an actor, though hopefully a good presence with his chiseled physique...

This gives me another op to tout the terrific 2009 doc Facing Ali, in which Norton is one of 10 ex-pugilists who discuss their life and career. You don't need to be a boxing fan to take appreciate these men looking back on how their lives turned out. I should dig up that doc and re-watch the Norton parts. I've seen it three times, but for Norton, mostly recall him talking about his horrific mid-80's car crash and his rehabilitation from that.

I imagine, beyond myself and Tarantino, a lot of people have seen the former title (real good) if just due to the controversy not to mention its release to DVD and increased discussion caused by Django Unchained. His role didn't really require much in the way of acting, but he does the job he needed to do well and doesn't drag the boat at all.

antnield wrote:Richard C. Sarafian.

Whoa. Just watched Vanishing Point for the first time earlier this week.

I feel like this isn't the first time this has happened either, where I've watched a film by a filmmaker new to me, only to have them die shortly afterward. Maybe I should only watch films by filmmakers who are already dead.

Michel Brault.

antnield wrote:Michel Brault.

Very sad. A true giant -- both as cinematographer and director.

Another important Quebecois documentary director, Arthur Lamothe, died just a few days earlier:

http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/ar ... othe.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, best known for his collaborations with Sergio Leone.

Peter Worden, the Blackburn-based optician who earned his cinematic immortality when he played the most important role in rescuing hundreds of reels of films shot by the Mitchell & Kenyon company in the first decade of the 20th century from potential destruction, eventually handing them over to the British Film Institute to preserve for the nation.

The obituary link also claims (I think reasonably) that in many ways it was the unveiling of the Mitchell & Kenyon collection to the public in 2004 (not least via a BBC2 documentary series that exceeded all ratings expectations) that kickstarted a vast appetite in the UK for archive documentary film that turned the BFI's Non-Fiction Curatorial Department from a dusty backwater into one of the liveliest and most simulating DVD and Blu-ray production teams in the country.

Teresa Szmigielówna, a hugely prolific Polish actress who made her biggest international splash in the late 1950s and early 1960s, courtesy of the likes of Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Night Train (as the second female lead: the lawyer's bored, gossip-hungry wife) and Andrzej Wajda's Innocent Sorcerers (as the protagonist's colleague).

A.C. Lyles, the longest serving employee in Paramount's history.

Anthony Hinds.

Giuliano Gemma.