criterionforum.org

And of course, Simon was actually captured by Iraqis and held for about a month during the first Gulf War. I can't help but think that Simon's untimely passing, right on the heels of the Brian Williams scandal, is the cosmos making an ironic commentary on the state of news in the 21st century.

Steve Strange.

All the more shocking that he died right after moderating a live webcast on Citizenfour with Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden. He must have collapsed less than an hour after the live talk ended - they found him in the newsroom shortly before 9 p.m. and got him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

I must confess the only thing I'm aware of him from is as a talking head in the Lew Wasserman documentary The Last Mogul, an interesting enough piece if you're interested in the history of the business side of movies.

He features prominently in Page One: Inside the New York Times, including this (poor quality) clip where he rips Vice News a new one.

Rune Ericson 1924-2015. Swedish cinematographer and inventor of Super16. http://www.sfi.se/sv/Nyheter/Nyheter-om ... 1924-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in swedish.

Admittedly, while technically Swamp Thing was my introduction to him but I unfortunately don't remember much of him in the film but I felt he was actually one of the only thing elements that made Octopussy worth watching actually. He oozed charm, he was a hoot to watch. And I did see some scenes of Year of the Comet but I feel like I should watch his older work like Gigi.

So it's sad to see him pass away. There was a bit of wishful thinking from me that he'd come out of retirement for one more film to be honest.

He was Hollywood's go-to young French thing in the 50s and 60s, blandly charming without being sexually threatening or imposing in the Boyer mode or goofy in the Chevalier mode-- a perfect example of what Hollywood offered to audiences in the last gasps of the studio system

Movie-Brat wrote:. And I did see some scenes of Year of the Comet but I feel like I should watch his older work like Gigi.

My advice would be to skip Gigi and watch Max Ophuls' Letter From An Unknown Woman. It isn't exaggeration to call it one of the greatest films ever made, and Jourdan is superb in it.

kingofthejungle wrote:

Movie-Brat wrote:. And I did see some scenes of Year of the Comet but I feel like I should watch his older work like Gigi.

My advice would be to skip Gigi and watch Max Ophuls' Letter From An Unknown Woman. It isn't exaggeration to call it one of the greatest films ever made, and Jourdan is superb in it.

I would recommend watching both 'Letters from an unknown woman' & 'Gigi'.
'Gigi' is one of the greatest movie musicals ever made, and deserves to be watched

Damn. I know ultimately little of her work, but there's no question "You Don't Own Me" is one of the great pop singles

I never knew much about her beyond one or two big hits I heard on oldies stations until I saw her in The TAMI Show. In that film there is so much joy in her performance, in a manner somehow very unlike most pop stars. It made a fan of me. She was a fine singer, the aforementioned "You Don't Own Me" undoubtedly her peak and an important moment in the development of a feminist voice within pop music... and it was nice to learn later on that she was a vocal advocate for LGBT and pro-choice causes as well.

Pamela Cundell, aged 95 - character actress most often seen on British TV. She was one of the last three surviving regular castmembers of Dad's Army: thirteen episodes as Mrs Fox, who ended up marrying Corporal Jones in the final episode.

This one stopped me cold. I've really only gotten into CBB during the last year, and it's been only in the last few weeks working through his appearances and 30 years old for fuck's sake...

His episode of You Made it Weird from around 3 months ago is chilling to listen to now. Addiction is rough stuff.

Kirkinson wrote:Alan Howard

The article mentions that he did more stage work but he was certainly memorable as the intellectual lover getting the appropriately brutal death by book in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (dare I say that he was even pretty dishy at the end! 8-[ ). Here's an early scene with Helen Mirren. And I suppose being the "voice of the Ring" in the first and third Lord of the Rings films is a form of cinematic immortality too! He's also in the Basil Dearden/Dirk Bogarde film Victim, The VIPs, The Americanisation of Emily and The Guns of Navarone from the early to mid 60s.

He's also apparently in the strange Rob Lowe boat race film, Oxford Blues and plays Oliver Cromwell in Richard Lester's last feature film The Return of the Musketeers.

In terms of his BBC work, he has a role in A Perfect Spy, the mini-series follow up to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I'm especially looking forward to seeing him in the title role of Coriolanus that comes near to the end of the BBC Shakespeare series. And his last role was as the father to Benedict Cumberbatch's Christopher Tietjens in the BBC adaptation of Parade's End.

colinr0380 wrote:I'm especially looking forward to seeing him in the title role of Coriolanus that comes near to the end of the BBC Shakespeare series.

It's a very strange performance, but a very brilliant one - it took me a couple of viewings to appreciate it. He had played the role on stage to great acclaim, but in Moshinsky's film he seems to adapt himself to the medium, often conveying the character's intense rage in a near-whisper (there's some bold use of voice-over at certain points). His scenes with Mike Gwilym (who plays Aufidius) are particularly good.

It's certainly one of the standout performances in the whole BBC Television Shakespeare cycle, helped by the fact that it was a bit of a signature role for him. And Moshinsky was one of the cycle's most consistently inventive directors - in general, if it's him, Jonathan Miller or Jane Howell calling the shots, you can reasonably guarantee that it will be one of the better productions.