In November, the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen and the small screen. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, and in particular the world of film and television. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories . . . . Eddie Hassell, Carol Arthur, John Sessions, Elsa Raven, Joy Westmore, Geoffrey Palmer, John Fraser, Norm Crosby, Alex Trebek, Israel Horovitz, Des O'Connor, Art Wolff, David Hemblen, Kay Morley, Kirby Morrow, Malcolm Marmorstein, Dena Dietrich, Abby Dalton, Chuck Bail, David Prowse, Peg Murray and Betty Bobbitt.
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Eddie Hassell - born 16th July 1990, died 1st November 2020, aged 30. Hassell was an American Actor of film and television who accumulated twenty-two screen acting credits during his career which began with a role on
'Jimmy Kimmel' in 2003 and was followed up over the years that followed with big screen appearances on
'2012' in 2009,
'The Kids Are All Right' in 2010,
'The Family Tree' in 2011,
'Jobs', 'House of Dust' and
'Family Weekend' all in 2013,
'Warrior Road' in 2016 and
'Bomb City' and
'Oh Lucy!' both in 2017 which were to be his final screen roles. In the meantime, there were ten episodes of
'Surface', then
'Bones', on five episodes of
'Devious Maids' and on a single episode of
'Longmire'. He was nominated four times around the awards circuit - three times for Best Acting Ensemble for
'The Kids Are All Right' and once for
'Surface' with a Young Artist Award nod.
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Carol Arthur - born Carol Arata on 4th August 1935 and died on 1st November 2020, aged 85. Arthur was an American film and television Actress who notched up thirty-six screen acting credits during her career which launched in 1971 with a role on a single episode of the TV series
'Arnie'. This was followed up that same year with her big screen debut in
'Making It' and subsequently over the years she had roles in Mel Brooks
'Blazing Saddles' in 1974,
'The Sunshine Boys' in 1975,
'Silent Movie' in 1976 for Mel Brooks again,
'The World's Greatest Lover' in 1977,
'Hot Stuff' in 1979,
'Driving Me Crazy' in 1991,
'Robin Hood : Men in Tights' in 1993 for Mel Brooks once again,
'Dracula : Dead and Loving It' in 1995 for Mel Brooks once more,
'The Godson' in 1998,
'Intrepid' in 2000,
'It's All About You' in 2002 with
'Between the Sheets' in 2003 being her final big screen role. In the intervening years there were appearances on TV series including
'Emergency!', 'Rhoda', 'St. Elsewhere', 'Amazing Stories', 'True Colours' and
'7th Heaven' being her final small screen role in 2004. Arthur was married to the American Actor, Producer, Director and author Dom DeLuise from 1965 up until the time of his death in 2009 and with whom she shared many screen credits especially in Mel Brooks films over the years.
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John Sessions - born John Gibb Marshall on 11th January 1953 and died 2nd November 2020, aged 67. Sessions was a Scottish Actor and Comedian who accumulated 139 TV and film screen acting credits to his name in a career that launched in 1982 and took him right up until the present day. His first big screen role came with a small part in 1982's horror Sci-Fi drama
'The Sender' with his subsequent roles coming in the likes of
'The Bounty' in 1984 with Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson and Laurence Olivier followed by
'Sky Bandits', 'Whoops Apocalypse' and
'Castaway' all in 1986, then
'Henry V' for Director Kenneth Branagh,
'Princess Caraboo' in 1994 with Jim Broadbent, Phoebe Cates and John Lithgow,
'The Adventures of Pinocchio' in 1996 with Martin Landau,
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in 1999 with Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci and Christian Bale,
'One of the Hollywood Ten' in 2000 with Jeff Goldblum,
'Gangs of New York' in 2002 for Martin Scorsese,
'The Merchant of Venice' in 2004 with Al Pacino,
'The Good Shepherd' in 2006 for Director and star Robert De Niro,
'The Last Station' in 2009 with Helen Mirren and James McAvoy,
'Made in Dagenham' in 2010 with Sally Hawkins and Andrea Riseborough,
'The Iron Lady' in 2011 with Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent,
'The Domino Effect' in 2012 with James D'Arcy,
'Filth' in 2013 with James McAvoy,
'The Silent Storm' in 2014 with Damian Lewis and Andrea Riseborough,
'Mr. Holmes' in 2015 with Ian McKellen,
'Legend' in 2015 with Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy,
'Florence Foster Jenkins' in 2016 with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant and
'Denial' that same year with Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall,
'Finding Your Feet' in 2017 with Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton and Timothy Spall with
'Intrigo : Dear Agnes' being his final film role in 2019 with Gemma Chan. In the meantime he had roles in TV mini-series
'Porterhouse Blue', 'Menace Unseen', 'The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling', 'Gormenghast', 'Doctor Who : Death Comes to Time', 'Oliver Twist', 'The Loch', and
'Victoria' last year. He also hosted his own TV series in the early '90's
'John Sessions' Tall Tales' and
'John Sessions' Likely Stories' and was a regular guest on
'Who's Line is it Anyway' and
'QI'. His final TV appearance came this year in a single episode of
'The Great'.
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Elsa Raven - born Elsa Robinowitz on 21st September 1929 and died on 3rd November 2020, aged 91. Raven was an American Actress of film and television whose career launched in 1963 in a single episode of TV series
'Combat!' and she went on to accumulate a total seventy-seven screen acting credits over the next six decades with her final appearances coming in 2011 in the twelve minute short comedy film
'They're With Me'. In the intervening years her big screen outings took in the likes of
'The Honeymoon Killers' in 1970,
'The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight' and
'South of Hell Mountain' both in 1971,
'Firepower' in 1979 with James Coburn and Sophia Loren,
'The Amityville Horror' that same year with James Brolin and Margot Kidder,
'Fatso' in 1980,
'The Postman Always Rings Twice' in 1981 with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange,
'Back to the Future' in 1985 with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and
'Creator' also that year with Peter O'Toole,
'Another You' in 1991 with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder,
'Indecent Proposal' in 1993 with Robert Redford and Demi Moore,
'In the Line of Fire' also in 1993 with Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich and
'Fearless' that year too with Jeff Bridges,
'Titanic' in 1997 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet,
'The 4th Tenor' in 2002 with Rodney Dangerfield,
'The Cutter' in 2005 with Chuck Norris and
'Answers to Nothing' in 2011 being her final big screen role. There were numerous TV series appearances in between time including
'Quincy M.E.', 'The A-Team', on seventeen episodes of
'Amen', on ten episodes of
'Wiseguy', on thirty-nine episodes of
'Days of Our Lives', 'Chicago Hope', 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and
'ER'.
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Joy Westmore - born sometime in 1932 and died 5th November 2020 aged 88. Westmore was an Australian Actress of film, television and radio whose career commenced in 1950 on radio reading commercials, most notably well known at that time for her performances opposite Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries). She notched up twenty-four screen acting credits throughout her career which began in the TV short thirty minute film
'Press Gang' in 1959. Her first big screen role came in 1976 in
'The Sentimental Bloke' and this was followed up by
'Summerfield' in 1977,
'The Odd Angry Shot' in 1979,
'Nightmares' in 1980,
'The More Things Change . . . ' in 1986, with
'Les Patterson Saves the World' in 1987 being her final feature film role. In the meantime there were appearances on 255 episodes of
'Prisoner' as Joyce Pringle the role she is probably most renowned for, then three episodes on
'Neighbours', five on
'Fergus McPhail' and three on
'Blue Heelers' with an appearance on
'It's a Date' in 2013 being her final acting appearance.
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Geoffrey Palmer - born 4th June 1927, died 5th November 2020, aged 93. Palmer was an English Actor of radio, theatre, television and cinema who was perhaps best known for his work on the British television sitcoms playing Jimmy Anderson in
'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' opposite Leonard Rossiter, Ben Parkinson in
'Butterflies' opposite Wendy Craig and Lionel Hardcastle in
'As Time Goes By' opposite Judi Dench. Throughout his career he amassed 192 screen acting credits beginning in 1955 on a single episode of TV series
'St. Ives' which he followed up with big screen roles including his debut in 1963 in
'Incident at Midnight', then an uncredited role in 1966's
'Cast a Giant Shadow' with Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Yul Brynner, then
'The Outsider' in 1979,
'A Zed & Two Noughts' in 1985,
'Clockwise' in 1985 with John Cleese,
'A Fish Called Wanda' in 1988 with John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis,
'The Madness of King George' in 1994 with Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren,
'Mrs. Brown' in 1997 with Judi Dench and Billy Connolly,
'Tomorrow Never Dies' with Pierce Brosnan as James Bond,
'Anna and the King' in 1999 with Jodi Foster and Yun-Fat Chow,
'Rat' in 2000 with Pete Postlethwaite,
'Peter Pan' in 2003 with Jason Isaacs and Jeremy Sumpter,
'Piccadilly Jim' in 2004 with Sam Rockwell and Frances O'Connor,
'The Pink Panther 2' in 2009 with Steve Martin,
'Lost Christmas' in 2011 with Eddie Izzard,
'Paddington' in 2014 with Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins, and
'An Unquiet Life' in 2020 and currently in post-production for a future release. His small screen credits are numerous but the highlights would include the already mentioned plus twenty episodes on
'The Army Game', eighteen on
'Family Solicitor', twenty of
'Garry Halliday', thirteen on
'Bootsie and Snudge', six on
'Doctor Who', 'Fawlty Towers', 'The Goodies', thirteen on
'The Last Song', thirteen on
'Fairly Secret Army', seven on
'Executive Stress', seven on
'Hot Metal', 'Blackadder Goes Forth', on six episodes of
'The Savages' and on seven of
'The Legacy of Reginald Perrin'. Palmer was honoured by HRH The Queen in the 2004 New Years Honours List with an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to drama.
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John Fraser - born 18th March 1931, died 7th November 2020, aged 89. Fraser was a Scottish Actor who amassed seventy-six screen acting credits during his career which launched in 1952 on six episodes of TV series
'Kidnapped'. He followed this up a year later with uncredited roles on
'Titanic' and
'The Desert Rats' with his first credited screen role also coming later that year on
'Valley of Song' with his top billing on
'The Good Beginning' also in 1953. Further big screen roles followed taking in the likes of
'The Dam Busters' in 1955 with Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave,
'The Good Companions' in 1957,
'The Wind Cannot Read' in 1958 with Dirk Bogarde,
'The Trials of Oscar Wilde' in 1960 with Peter Finch and James Mason,
'Tunes of Glory' also in 1960 with Alec Guinness and John Mills,
'El Cid' in 1961 with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren,
'Waltz of the Toreadors' in 1962 with Peter Sellers,
'Operation Crossbow' in 1965 with Sophia Loren and George Peppard,
'Repulsion' in 1965 for Director Roman Polanski,
'Doctor in Clover' in 1966,
'Isadora' in 1968 with Vanessa Redgrave with
'Schizo' in 1976 being his final feature film outing with Lynne Frederick. In the meantime there were ample TV series appearances taking in the likes of
'Danger Man', 'Dr. Finlay's Casebook', 'Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)', 'Columbo', on thirteen episodes of
'Thundercloud', 'Doctor Who', on all six episodes of
'Young Sherlock : The Mystery of the Manor House', on forty-seven episodes of
'The Practice', 'The Bill' and his final screen role coming in 1996 on a single episode of anthology series of made for TV movies
'Screen One'. Fraser was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Actor for
'The Trials of Oscar Wilde'.
* Norm Crosby - born 15th September 1957, died 7th November 2020 aged 93. Crosby was an American comedian and Actor who accumulated twenty-two screen credits throughout his career. He first appeared on
'The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson' in December 1964. In late-1968, he co-starred on
'The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show', an NBC twelve-week series. In 1974, he co-hosted a Canadian variety television series,
'Everything Goes'. From 1978 until 1981, he hosted a nationally syndicated series,
'The Comedy Shop' and from the latter end of the '70's through to the mid-'80's he appeared as a celebrity guest on a number of game shows, including
'Celebrity Bowling', 'Liar's Club', 'Tattletales', and
'Hollywood Squares'. His other acting gigs took in
'The Great Balloon Race' in 1977,
'Amore!' in 1993,
'The Misery Brothers' in 1995,
'Eight Crazy Nights' in 2002,
'Farce of the Penguins' in 2006,
'Cougar Club' in 2007 and
'Grown Ups 2' in 2013 being his final screen appearance. Meanwhile there were also appearances on TV series including
'That's Life', 'Adam-12', 'The Boys', 'Roseanne', 'Alright Already' and
'Arli$$'.
* Alex Trebek - born George Alexander Trebek on 22nd July 1940 and died on 8th November 2020, aged 80. Trebek was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He was the host of the syndicated game show
'Jeopardy!' for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020. He also hosted a number of other game shows, including
'The Wizard of Odds', 'Double Dare', 'High Rollers', 'Battlestars', 'Classic Concentration', and
'To Tell the Truth'. Trebek also made appearances in numerous television series and films, in which he usually played himself hosting a game show, mostly
'Jeopardy!'. These included such film appearances as himself on
'Rain Man', 'Predator 2', 'White Men Can't Jump', 'Short Cuts', 'Groundhog Day', 'Jury Duty', 'Mafia!', 'Finding Forrester', 'Charlie's Angels', 'The Bucket List' and
'Free Guy' still awaiting a release date. Since June 2014, Trebek had held a Guinness World Record for 'the most gameshow episodes hosted by the same presenter (same program)' for having hosted 6,829 episodes of
'Jeopardy!'. He was awarded seven Outstanding Game Show Host Emmy Awards (1989, 1990, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2019, and 2020) and was nominated a further twenty-five times. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. In November 2010, Trebek received the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's gold medal for his contribution to geographic education and the popular study of geography. In May 2016, he was given the Key to the City by the City of Ottawa, and in June 2017, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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Israel Horovitz - born 31st March 1939, died 9th November 2020, aged 81. Horovitz was an American Writer, Actor and occasional Producer and Director who amassed twenty-two writing credits, nine as an Actor, three as Producer and two as Director during his career which began with a writing credit on
'Machine Gun McCain' in 1969 with John Cassavetes and which he followed up with his first feature film acting and writing credit on
'The Strawberry Statement' in 1970 and then further scribing credits on
'Believe in Me' in 1971 with Michael Sarrazin and Jacqueline Bisset,
'Author! Author!' in 1992 with Al Pacino,
'Sunshine' in 1999 which he also acted in with Ralph Fiennes,
'3 Weeks After Paradise' in 2002 which he also Directed, Produced and stars in, and
'My Old Lady' in 2014 which again he also Directed and Executive Produced and which stars Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas. Horowitz won four awards and one nomination during his career.
* Des O'Connor - born 12th January 1932, died 14th November 2020, aged 88. O'Connor was an English comedian, singer and television host and personality. His first long standing hosting job was on twenty-six episodes of TV game show
'For Love or Money' from 1960 until 1961, then on seventeen episodes of
'The Des O'Connor Show' from 1963 through to 1968 and on a further fifteen episodes from 1970 through 1971, on sixteen episodes of
'Des' in 1972, on eight episodes of
'The Golden Shot' from 1968 to 1974, on seventeen episodes of
'Des O'Connor Entertains' from 1974 to 1976, on eighty-eight episodes of
'Des O'Connor Tonight' from 1977 to 1999, on seventy-four episodes of
'Take Your Pick' from 1992 to 1999, on sixty-five episodes of
'Today with Des and Mel' from 2002 to 2006, and on 470 episodes of
'Countdown' from 2007 until 2008. O'Connor recorded thirty-six albums, five of which reached the UK Top 40, and he had four top-ten UK singles, including a number-one hit with
'I Pretend', with total global sales of more than sixteen million records. He worked with many pop stars, including Adam Faith, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, and Cilla Black. He toured with Buddy Holly (during Holly's 1958 stay in Britain) and Jason Donovan. He also appeared at the Glasgow Empire, the Las Vegas MGM Grand, the Sydney Opera House, the Toronto O'Keefe Centre and made more than one thousand solo appearances at the London Palladium. As recently as 2017 he toured theatres around the UK with his one-man show. In 2008 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in HRH The Queen's Birthday Honours.
* Art Wolff - born sometime in 1938, died 16th November 2020, aged 82. Wolff was an American television Director and acting coach who amassed twenty-seven TV Directing credits, including more notably episodes of
'Pursuit of Happiness',
'The Tracey Ullman Show', 'It's Garry Shandling's Show', 'Grand', 'The Powers That Be','Dream On', and most notably the original
'Seinfeld' pilot episode
'The Seinfeld Chronicles'. As an acting coach, Wolff ran an acting studio in Hollywood and worked with Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sean Penn, Matthew Perry, Harry Shearer, Julie Hagerty, Steve Martin and numerous others.
* David Hemblen - born 16th September 1941 and died 16th November 2020 aged 79. Hemblen was an English born Actor who often worked in Canadian film, television and theatre and who grew up in Toronto. He amassed a total 112 screen acting credits throughout his career which launched in 1975 on ten episodes of
'The Adventures of Timothy Pilgrim'. From here he gained regular work right up until his final screen role in 2007 in the twelve minute animated short film
'Come Again in Spring'. In between time there were feature films including his debut
'Family Viewing' in 1987 for Director Atom Egoyan, and then
'Short Circuit 2', 'Speaking Parts' in 1989 for Atom Egoyan again,
'The Adjuster' in 1991 for Egoyan once more,
'M. Butterfly' in 1993 for David Cronenberg,
'Brainscan' in 1994,
'Exotica' in 1994 for Atom Egoyan once again,
'Mesmer' that same year for Roger Spottiswoode,
'Replikator' in 1994 too,
'Tommy Boy', 'Pocahontas : The Legend' and
'Iron Eagle IV' all in 1995,
'Hollow Point', 'Fly Away Home' and
'Maximum Risk' all in 1996,
'The Sweet Hereafter' in 1997 for Atom Egoyan again,
'Rollerball' in 2002 and
'Where the Truth Lies' in 2005 for Atom Egoyan once more which was to be his final big screen outing. There were also turns on twenty-two episodes of
'Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future', on twenty-six episodes of
'T and T', on nine episodes of
'La Femme Nikita', on sixty-eight episodes of
'Earth : Final Conflict' and in between time he lent his voice talents to '
Tales for the Cryptkeeper', 'Wild C.A.T.S : Covert Action Teams', 'The NeverEnding Story', 'X-Men', 'Silver Surfer', 'Redwall' and
'Yin! Yang! Yo!'.
* Kay Morley - born Leona Elaine Winona DaVinna on 17th April 1920 and died 17th November 2020, aged 100. Morley was an American film and television Actress who worked in Hollywood throughout the 1940's and first half go the '50's in mostly B-grade movies. She accumulated just twenty-two screen acting credits in a career spanning just ten years from 1944 through to 1954. Her first credited big screen role came in 1944 with
'Youth Aflame' followed by
'Betty Co-Ed' in 1946,
'Six-Gun Serenade' and
'Code of the Saddle' both in 1947,
'Campus Honeymoon' and
'Outlaw Brand' both in 1948,
'Trails End' in 1949 and then she branched into television series with appearances on episodes of
'The Lone Ranger' in 1949,
'The Cisco Kid' in 1951,
'Superman' in 1954 amongst a handful of others.
* Kirby Morrow - born 28th August 1973, died 18th November 2020, aged 47. Morrow as a Canadian Actor, voice Actor and Comedian, who accumulated 198 acting credits throughout his career probably most widely lauded for his outstanding catalogue of voice work for the likes of Miroku from
'InuYasha', Van Fanel from
'Escaflowne', Cyclops from
'X-Men Evolution', Jay from
'Class of the Titans', Teru Mikami from
'Death Note', Trowa Barton from
'Mobile Suit Gundam Wing', Ryo Takatsuki from
'Project ARMS', Hot Shot from
'Transformers : Cybertron' and his main role as Cole from
'LEGO Ninjago : Masters of Spinjitzu' amongst many others. He gained his live action break in the TV film
'Stand Against Fear' in 1996, and from there starred in numerous TV series including
'The Outer Limits', 'Stargate SG-1', 'Total Recall 2070', 'Jeremiah', on eight episodes of
'Stargate Atlantis', 'Stargate Universe', 'Supernatural', 'Fringe', 'Arrow', 'The Flash', 'Van Helsing', 'Legion', 'The Good Doctor' and on three episodes of
'Supergirl' most recently in 2018. His feature film credits were more sporadic taking in
'MVP: Most Valuable Primate' in 2000,
'Bones' in 2001 with Snoop Dog,
'Maximum Conviction' in 2012 with Steven Seagal and Steve Austin,
'12 Rounds 3 : Lockdown' with Dean Ambrose in 2015 and
'Drone' in 2017 with Sean Bean. Kirby successfully elevated himself in both on camera and animation voice overs, and became a highly sought after guest at animation, science fiction and Comicon conventions the world over. He died just eight days following the death of his father.
* Malcolm Marmorstein - born 9th August 1928, died 21st November 2020, aged 92. Marmorstein was an American Screenwriter and two time Director probably best known for penning eighty episodes of
'Dark Shadows', fifteen episodes of
'Peyton Place' and the feature films
'S*P*Y*S' in 1974 with Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould,
'Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary' in 1975,
'Whiffs' that same year with Elliott Gould and Eddie Albert,
'Pete's Dragon' in 1977 with Helen Reddy, Jim Dale, Mickey Rooney, Shelley Winters and Sean Marshall and
'Return from Witch Mountain' in 1978 with Bette Davis and Christopher Lee. He returned to feature films in 1990 as Writer and Director on
'Dead Men Don't Die' with Elliott Gould, and again in the same capacities on
'Love Bites' in 1993 with Adam Ant which was to be his final film outing.
* Dena Dietrich - born Deanne Dietrich on 4th December 1928, died 21st November 2020, aged 91. Dietrich was an American Actress who notched up sixty-nine screen acting roles throughout her career which launched in earnest in 1973 on on a single episode of
'The Mod Squad' and which she followed up later that year with thirteen episodes on
'Adam's Rib'. Her debut feature film came in 1974 in
'The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder', with
'The Wild Party' in 1975,
'The North Avenue Irregulars' in 1979,
'On the Air Live with Captain Midnight' that same year,
'History of the World : Part 1' in 1981 for Mel Brooks,
'Disorganised Crime' in 1989,
'The Sky is Falling' in 1999 and
'Sister's Keeper' in 2007 which was to be her final screen role. In the meantime there were single and multiple appearances on TV shows taking in twenty-seven episodes of
'The Practice', 'Welcome Back, Kotter', 'The Love Boat', on ten episodes of
'Santa Barbara', 'The Golden Girls', 'Harry and the Hendersons', 'All My Children', 'NYPD Blue', 'Murphy Brown', and on twelve episodes of
'Philly'. Dietrich was perhaps best known for her portrayal of Mother Nature in the 30-second
'Chiffon Margarine' television commercials from 1971 through to 1979.
* Abby Dalton - born Gladys Marlene Wasden on 15th August 1932 and died 23rd November 2020, aged 88. Dalton was an American Actress of film and television who amassed forty-eight screen acting credits throughout her career which kicked off in 1957 in the feature film
'Rock All Night' with subsequent films throughout the decades that followed including
'Cole Younger, Gunfighter', 'Girls on the Loose', 'Stakeout on Dope Street', 'The Plainsman', 'A Whale of a Tale', 'Roller Blade Warriors : Taken by Force', 'Cyber Tracker', 'Buck and the Magic Bracelet' and
'Prank' her final big screen outing in 2008. Over the years in between there were single and multiple turns on TV series taking in
'The Rifleman', 'Have Gun - Will Travel', 'Maverick', 'Rawhide', on ninety-five episodes of
'Hennesey', on ninety episodes of
'The Joey Bishop Show', 'The Young and the Restless', 'Police Story', 'Barney Miller', 'The Waltons', 'The Love Boat', on ninety-eight episodes of
'Falcon Crest' and
'Hotel'.
* Chuck Bail - born Charles Bail sometime in August 1935 and died 25th November 2020, aged 85. Bail was an American Actor, Director, Stuntman with thirty-six, eleven and twenty-nine screen credits respectively and twice as Writer and Producer whose career launched on a single episode of TV Western series
'The Rough Riders'. His first big screen outing came a year later in
'The Jayhawkers!' which was followed up by 1968's
'The Savage Seven', and then
'The Last Movie' in 1971 for Dennis Hopper,
'The House of Seven Corpses' in 1974,
'Freebie and the Bean' also in 1974 and
'The Stuntman' in 1980. In between time there were appearances on TV shows including
'The Texan', 'Wanted : Dead or Alive', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Big Valley', 'The Virginian', 'Daniel Boone', 'The High Chaparral', 'Bonanza', and
'Dragnet' in 1990 being his final screen role. In the intervening years he also Directed a number of films including
'Black Samson' his debut in 1974,
'Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold' in 1975,
'The Gumball Rally' in 1976 which he also Produced and wrote,
'Choke Canyon' in 1986 and
'Street Corner Justice' in 1996 which he also Produced and wrote. He also Directed multiple episodes of
'CHiPs', 'Knight Rider', 'Dragnet', 'The New Adam-12', and
'Baywatch Nights'.
* David Prowse - born 1st July 1935 died 28th November 2020, aged 85. Prowse was an English weightlifter and bodybuilder, and character Actor of film and television. He accumulated seventy-four screen acting credits in a career spanning seven decades and which launched on an episode of
'The Edge of Night' in 1956. His next role came with an uncredited turn on the James Bond spoof
'Casino Royale' with David Niven in 1967 followed up by
'Hammerhead' in 1968,
'Crossplot' in 1969,
'The Horror of Frankenstein' in 1970,
'Up Pompeii', 'Carry on Henry' and
'A Clockwork Orange' all in 1971,
'Up the Chastity Belt' and
'Vampire Circus' both in 1972,
'Black Snake' and
'White Cargo' both in 1973,
'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' in 1974,
'Jabberwocky' in 1977, and then perhaps his most famed roles as Darth Vader (although voiced by James Earl Jones) in
'Star Wars : Episode IV - A New Hope' in 1977,
'Star Wars : Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back' in 1980 and
'Star Wars : Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi' in 1983. His final film role came in 2011 in
'The Kindness of Strangers'. In the meantime there were appearances on TV series including
'The Beverly Hillbillies', 'The Champions', 'The Saint', 'Department S', 'Doctor Who', 'The Tomorrow People', 'Callan', 'Little House on the Prairie', 'Space : 1999', 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', 'Southern Troopers' and
'Mission Backup Earth' as recently as 2016. Prior to his role as Darth Vader, Prowse had established himself as a prominent figure in the UK as the first 'Green Cross Code' man, a character used in road safety public information aimed at children. He won the British heavyweight weightlifting championship in 1962 and 1963 and 1964, became fitness consultant to the Knightsbridge department store Harrods, and opened a series of gyms.
* Peg Murray - born Margaret Murray on 14th February 1924 and died on 29th November 2020, aged 96. Murray was an American Actress of stage, film and television who accumulated just nineteen screen acting credits throughout her career in film and TV spanning from her debut in a single episode of
'Omnibus' in 1955 and taking in five episodes on
'The Nurses' from 1962 until 1964, nineteen episodes on
'Me & Mrs. C.', and fifteen episodes on
'All My Children' which was to be her final role lasting from 1983 though to 1996. In the meantime there were made for TV movies and feature films including
'Some of My Best Friends Are . . . ' in 1971,
'W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings' with Burt Reynolds in 1975,
'Bright Lights, Big City' in 1988 with Michael J. Fox, with two TV movies in between time -
'Big Blonde' in 1980 and
'Act of Vengeance' in 1986.
* Betty Bobbitt - born 7th February 1939 and died 30th November 2020, aged 81. Bobbitt was an American Actress, Singer and Playwright based in Australia whose career spanned sixty years in film, television and theatre. She gained her first screen credit in the TV film
'Flight into Danger' in 1966, followed up by several episodes on the likes of
'Matlock Police', 'Homicide', 'Cop Shop' and then perhaps her most famed role as Judy Bryant on 429 episodes of
'Prisoner' from 1980 thorough 1985. Her first feature film role came with
'The Clinic' in 1982 and then
'Crocodile Dundee II' in 1988 with Paul Hogan,
'Doing Time for Patsy Cline' in 1997,
'Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles' in 2001 with Paul Hogan again,
'Torn' in 2010 and then
'The Very Excellent Mr. Crocodile Dundee' released earlier this year. Following
'Prisoner' Bobbitt also appeared on
'A Country Practice', 'The Flying Doctors', 'All Saints', 'Blue Heelers' and an episode of
'Neighbours' in 2019. Over the years she also appeared in many theatre productions for the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Twenty-two deaths reported this month from the film and television community at large, and that community is just a little bit poorer as a result. As some governments the world over are easing up on their COVID-19 restrictions, others are enforcing further stages of lockdowns because of a second wave in cases, remember the basic principles still being advocated - maintain a safe distance, hand hygiene and wear a mask if you are unable to maintain a safe distance especially - together we can all beat this thing. Stay safe, remain healthy and wherever you are in the world, if you're in lock down - watch a movie on your favoured streaming service from the comfort of your own home.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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