In January, 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 . . . . Mark Eden, Barbara Shelley, Tanya Roberts, James Greene, John Richardson, Gerald Hiken, Marion Ramsey, Michael Apted, Diana Millay, Steve Carver, Jerry Douglas, Stacy Title, Mona Malm, Peter Mark Richman, Dale Baer, David Richardson, Andy Gray, Remy Julienne, Ron Campbell, Larry King, Alberto Grimaldi, Bruce Kirby, Peter Vere-Jones, Cloris Leachman, Cicely Tyson, Allan Burns and Marc Wilmore.
* Mark Eden - born Douglas John Malin on 14th February 1928 and died 1st January 2021, aged 92. Eden was an English Actor of film, television and stage who amassed 103 screen acting credits during his career which spanned eight decades kicking off with a bit-part in the TV mini-series
'Quatermass and the Pit'. His first big screen outing came in 1961 in Michael Winner's
'Out of the Shadow' with
'Operation Snatch' coming a year later with Terry Thomas and Lionel Jeffries.
'The Password is Courage' with Dirk Bogarde and
'The L-Shaped Room' both in 1962, then
'Heavens Above' in 1963 with Peter Sellers,
'Seance on a Wet Afternoon' in 1964 with Richard Attenborough, then David Lean's
'Doctor Zhivago' in 1965 with an all star cast and
'I Will Never Forget What's'isname' in 1967 for Michael Winner again and featuring Oliver Reed and Orson Welles all followed.
'Attack on the Iron Coast' came next in 1968 with Lloyd Bridges together with
'Curse of the Crimson Alter' later that year with Boris Karloff and Christoper Lee. After a number of lesser film titles
'Richard's Things' came around in 1980 with Liv Ullmann with an uncredited role in the docudrama made for British Military Intelligence
'Captured' in 2003 was to be his final film role. In the meantime, there were appearances on numerous TV shows including
'The Avengers', 'The Saint', 'Doctor Who' in 1964, on twenty-seven episodes of
'The Newcomers' in 1967, on twelve episodes of
'The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs' in 1974,
'Jesus of Nazareth', 'The Professionals', on 226 episodes as Alan Bradley on
'Coronation Street' between 1981 and 1989, then
'Cluedo', 'Agatha Christie's Poirot', 'Doctors', 'Casualty' and the TV movie
'An Adventure in Space and Time' being his final screen appearance in 2013. His autobiography
'Who's Going to Look at You?' was published in 2010.
* Barbara Shelley - born 13th February 1932 and died 4th January 2021, aged 88. Shelley was an English Actress of film, television and theatre who notched up 104 screen acting credits to her name in a career lasting five decades. She gained her first role in the film
'Mantrap' in 1953. That same year, she went to Rome on holiday and had planned to stay a month but lived in Rome for the following four years and appeared in nine Italian films, speaking Italian. Shelley returned to England in 1957, and in 1958 made her first significant appearance in a film for Hammer,
'The Camp on Blood Island'. She followed this up with the likes of
'Blood of the Vampire' that same year and then
'Bobbikins' in 1959 with Max Bygraves and Billie Whitelaw,
'Village of the Damned' in 1960 with George Sanders,
'A Story of David' in 1960,
'The Shadow of the Cat' in 1961,
'Death Trap' in 1962,
'The Gorgon' in 1964 with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing,
'The Secret of Blood Island' in 1965,
'Dracula : Prince of Darkness' and
'Rasputin : The Mad Monk' both in 1966 and both with Christopher Lee,
'Quartermass and the Pit' in 1967, with
'Ghost Story' in 1974 being her last feature film role. In the intervening years she also appeared in television series taking in the likes of
'Danger Man', 'The Saint', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', 'The Avengers', 'Z Cars', 'Dixon of Dock Green', on twelve episodes of
'Oil Strike North', on nine episodes of
'People Like Us', in the mini-series
'The Borgias', 'Doctor Who' in 1984,
'Eastenders', the mini-series
'The Dark Angel' in 1989 and her final screen role came in 1992 in the 43 minute video short film
'The Stranger : More Than a Messiah'. Shelley also acted in the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1975 to 1977.
* Tanya Roberts - born Victoria Leigh Blum on 15th October 1955 and died 4th January 2021, aged 65. Roberts was an American Actress of cinema and television and model. She began her career as a model in TV ads for 'Excedrin', 'Ultra Brite', 'Clairol', and 'Cool Ray' sunglasses, and she played serious roles in the off-Broadway productions
'Picnic' and
'Antigone'. Her big screen debut came with
'Forced Entry' in 1976 followed by
'The Yum Yum Girls' that same year, then
'The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover',
'Fingers' in 1978 with Harvey Keitel,
'Tourist Trap', 'California Dreaming' and
'Racquet' all in 1979, then
'The Beastmaster' in 1982 with Marc Singer and Rip Torn,
'Sheena : Queen of the Jungle' in 1984, then Bond movie
'A View to a Kill' with Roger Moore as James Bond with Christopher Walken and Grace Jones,
'Purgatory' in 1988,
'Inner Sanctum' in 1991,
'Sins of Desire' in 1993 with 1994's
'Deep Down' with George Segal being her final film role. In the meantime there were roles on the likes of TV series taking in
'Vega$', the final season of
'Charlie's Angels' in 1981,
'The Love Boat', 'Fantasy Island', on twelve episodes of
'Hot Line', on eighty-one episodes of
'That '70's Show' between 1998 and 2004 as Midge Pinciotti and two episodes on
'Barbershop' in 2005 being her final screen appearance. Her death was prematurely announced on 3rd January 2021, exactly one day before her actual passing. This created a lot of confusion in the news-media especially when she eventually died the following day.
* James Greene - born 19th May 1931 and died 5th January 2021, aged 89. Greene was a Northern Irish Actor of film and television who accumulated 156 screen acting credits to his name since his career launched on two episodes of
'Tales from the Lazy Acre' in 1972. From this he never looked back securing roles in numerous television series up until 1987 when he took a role in Steven Spielberg's
'Empire of the Sun' with a very young Christian Bale. He followed this up with further feature film roles in the likes of
'The Fool' in 1990,
'Tom & Viv' in 1994 with Willem Dafoe,
'From Hell' in 2001 with Johnny Depp,
'What a Girl Wants' in 2003 with Colin Firth,
'Johnny English' in 2003 with Rowan Atkinson and
'The Sin Eater' that same year with Heath Ledger,
'Breakfast on Pluto' in 2005 for Director Neil Jordan,
'RocknRolla' in 2008 for Director Guy Ritchie,
'Sherlock Holmes' in 2009 for Guy Ritchie again,
'Albert Nobbs' in 2011 with Glenn Close,
'Whole Lotta Sole' also in 2011 with Brendan Fraser,
'Les Miserables' in 2012 with Hugh Jackman with
'Loving Vincent' in 2017 to which he lent his voice being his final film role. Over the years in between he also appeared in many TV series including
'Colditz', 'People Like Us', 'Secret Army', 'Rumpole of the Bailey', 'Inspector Morse', 'Howards' Way', 'Agatha Christie's Poirot', 'Casualty', 'Heartbeat', 'Band of Brothers', on seventeen episodes of
'William and Mary', 'Little Britain', 'Spooks', 'The Bill', 'Holby City', 'Wolf Hall', 'Downton Abbey', 'Call the Midwife', 'The Crown', 'Doctors' and the seven minute short film
'Bad Drawings' in 2017 being his final screen appearance.
* John Richardson - born 19th January 1934 and died 5th January 2021, aged 86. Richardson was an English Actor who amassed forty-one screen acting credits throughout his career which spanned from the late 1950's to the mid 1990's, launching with his first big screen role in an uncredited appearance in
'A Night to Remember' with Kenneth More. His first credited screen role came with
'Bachelor of Hearts' that same year with Hardy Kruger which was subsequently followed up over the next two years with a series of uncredited roles on films including
'Operation Amsterdam', 'The 39 Steps', and
'The League of Gentlemen'. From here Richardson began to score more prominent roles in the likes of
'Pirates of Tortuga', 'She' with Ursula Andress in 1965,
'One Million Years B.C.' with Raquel Welch in 1966,
'On a Clear Day You Can See Forever' in 1970 with Barbra Streisand,
'Happy Birthday Harry' in 1980 and
'Milner' in 1994 with John Hannah and Mel Smith being his final film role in this made for TV movie. Richardson worked extensively in Italy for a good period of his career gaining the lead in a number of spaghetti westerns including
'John the Bastard' in 1967 and
'Execution' in 1968. From 1973 he returned to Italy following his divorce from English Actress and model Martine Beswick and starred in a number of mystery fiction films including
'Torso', 'Eyeball', 'Reflections in Black', 'Nine Guests for a Crime', and
'Murder Obsession'. He died from complications arising from COVID-19.
* Gerald Hiken - born 27th May 1927, died 6th January 2021, aged 93. Hiken was an American Actor of theatre, film and television who accumulated ninety-one screen acting credits to his name in a career lasting from 1957 through until 1989. His acting career launched with the TV movie
'There Shall Be No Night' in 1957 and that same year he scored his first major feature film role in
'Uncle Vanya' and he followed this up a year later with
'The Goddess' with Kim Stanley and Lloyd Bridges. 1964 saw
'Invitation to a Gunfighter' with Yul Brynner and George Segal and in 1972 there was
'The Candidate' with Robert Redford and
'Fuzz' with Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch.
'Reds' was another notable entry in Hiken's portfolio Directed, Written and starring Warren Beatty in 1981 and
'The Wall' in 1982 with Tom Conti with
'Fat Man and Little Boy' with Paul Newman, John Cusack and Laura Dern in 1989 being his final film role. In the meantime there were single and multiple episodes on TV shows including seven episodes on
'Car 54, Where Are You?', 'Mission : Impossible', 'McMillan & Wife', 'McCloud', 'Bonanza', 'The Partridge Family', 'S.W.A.T', 'The Streets of San Francisco', 'Ellery Queen', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Hart to Hart', 'Simon & Simon', 'Remington Steele', 'St. Elsewhere', 'Cheers' and
'Christine Cromwell' being his final TV role in 1989. Hiken was nominated for the Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1980 for his Broadway performance in
'Strider'.
* Marion Ramsey - born 10th May 1947, died 7th January 2021, aged 73. Ramsey was American film and television Actress and singer perhaps best noted for her recurring role as Laverne Hooks in the popular 1980's
'Police Academy' franchise starring in
'Police Academy' in 1984 and then its follow ups
'Police Academy 2 : Their First Assignment', 'Police Academy 3 : Back in Training', 'Police Academy 4 : Citizens on Patrol', 'Police Academy 5 : Assignment : Miami Beach' and
'Police Academy 6 : City Under Siege' being the final offering in 1989. All up Ramsey notched up thirty screen acting credits during her career with her next feature film outing coming in 2001 in
'Maniacts', then
'The Stolen Moments of September' in 2007,
'Who Killed Soul Glow?' in 2012,
'Return to Babylon' in 2013,
'Wal-Bob's' in 2014 with
'When I Sing' in 2018 being her final acting role. In the intervening years she also had roles on TV shows taking in
'MacGyver', 'Beverly Hills, 90210', on twenty-one episodes lending her voice talents to the animated series of
'The Addams Family', 'The Nanny', 'Robot Chicken', and
'3rd Eye' in 2018.
* Michael Apted - born 10th February 1941, died 7th January 2021 aged 79. Apted was an British Director, Producer, Writer and Actor who amassed seventy-eight credits as Director and twenty-six as Producer and two as a Writer with one acting credit in the 1985 film
'Spies Like Us'. His Directorial career launchd in 1963 on a single episode of TV documentary series
'World In Action' which would become the very first instalment in the long running longitudinal documentary study known as the
'Up' film series. From there he helmed eight early episodes of
'Coronation Street' between 1966 and 1967. Apted would go on to Direct all the following seven year separated instalments of the
'Up' series from 1970 onward with
'7 plus Seven' then
'21 Up' in 1977,
'28 Up' in 1984,
'35 Up' in 1991,
'42 Up' in 1998,
'49 Up' in 2005,
'56 Up' in 2012' and
'63 Up' in 2019. Apted is reported to have said,
"I hope to do '84 Up' when I'll be 99", but unfortunately he'll now never make that milestone. In the meantime, Apted Directed many other notable British and American films including his first feature film
'The Triple Echo' in 1972 with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson, then
'Stardust' in 1974 with David Essex,
'Agatha' in 1979 with Dustin Hoffman,
'Coal Miners Daughter' in 1980 with Sissy Spacek,
'Gorky Park' in 1983 with William Hurt and Lee Marvin,
'Gorillas in the Mist' with Sigourney Weaver in 1988,
'Class Action' in 1991 with Gene Hackman,
'Blink' in 1993 with Madeleine Stowe,
'Nell' in 1994 with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson,
'Extreme Measures' in 1996 with Hugh Grant and Gene Hackman, the Bond outing
'The World Is Not Enough' with Pierce Brosnan playing James Bond in 1999,
'Enigma' in 2001 with Kate Winslet,
'Amazing Grace' in 2006 with Ioan Gruffudd,
'The Chronicles of Narnia : The Voyage of the Dawn Trader' in 2010 and
'Unlocked' in 2017 with Noomi Rapace, Toni Collette and Orlando Bloom. More recently Apted also Directed an episode of
'Reckless', two of
'Ray Donovan', nine of
'Masters of Sex' and one of
'Bloodline'. All up Apted won twenty-three awards and another nineteen nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit including three BAFTA wins and three nods. In mid-2003, he was elected president of the Directors' Guild of America, a position he served until 2009, and served as the Secretary/Treasurer from 2011 up until his passing. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2008 HRH the Queen Birthday Honours List.
* Diana Millay - born 7th June 1935, and died 8th January 2021, aged 85. Millay was an American Actress of a small number of feature films, television and limited theatre appearances who amassed forty-seven screen acting credits to her name in a career which launched in 1955 on a single episode of
'Star Tonight', followed by her debut big screen appearance in
'Street of Sinners' in 1957. Her only two other feature film roles were
'Tarzan and the Great River' in 1967 and
'Night of Dark Shadows' in 1971 which was to be her final screen role. In between time there were appearances on multiple TV series including
'The Westerner', 'The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp', 'Stagecoach West', 'Maverick', 'Bonanza', 'Gunsmoke', 'Route 66', 'Laramie', 'Wagon Train', 'Tales of Wells Fargo', 'Rawhide', 'Perry Mason', '77 Sunset Strip', 'The Virginian', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', and finally perhaps her most famed role on sixty-two episodes of
'Dark Shadows' from 1966 to 1969. Following her final screen role in 1971, her acting career ended somewhat inconspicuously. In later years, she moved back to New York where she reinvented herself as an author of several books, including
'The Power of Halloween', 'How to Create Good Luck' and
'I'd Rather Eat Than Act'.
* Steve Carver - born 5th April 1945 and died 8th January 2021, aged 75. Carver was an American Director and two time Producer who made his first short film in 1971
'The Tell-Tale Heart' and from there he went on to Direct
'The Arena' with Pam Grier in 1974 and then
'Big Bad Mama' that same year with Angie Dickinson and William Shatner. Of his sixteen in total Director credits those more noteworthy were
'Capone' in 1975 with Ben Gazzara, Sylvester Stallone and John Cassavetes,
'Drum' in 1976 with Warren Oates, Yaphet Kotto and Pam Grier,
'An Eye for an Eye' in 1981 with Chuck Norris and Christoper Lee,
'Lone Wolf McQuade' in 1983 with Chuck Norris and David Carradine,
'Bulletproof' in 1987 with Gary Busey and
'The Wolves' in 1996 being his final film. After exiting the movie making business, Carver moved into photography, opening a photo lab in Los Angeles in 1995. He died from COVID-19.
* John Reilly - born 11th November 1934, died 9th January 2021, aged 86. Reilly was an American Actor of television and film who amassed eighty-eight screen acting credits under this belt in a career which launched in 1974 in a single episode of
'As the World Turns'. His first feature film role came a year later in 1975 with
'The Great Waldo Pepper' with Robert Redford, followed by
'The Main Event' in 1979 with Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand, and then
'Gorp' in 1980,
'Deal of the Century' in 1983 with Chevy Chase and Sigourney Weaver,
'Doin' Time' in 1985,
'Touch and Go' in 1986 with Michael Keaton,
'Cityscrapes : Los Angeles' and
'Spilt Milk' both in 1996 and
'Fall Out' in 1999 with Daniel Baldwin being his last film appearance. In the intervening years there were appearances on the likes of
'Gunsmoke', 'Kojak', 'Lou Grant', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'The Bionic Woman', 'Wonder Woman', 'The Incredible Hulk', 'The Love Boat', 'Hart to Hart', on six episodes of
'Dallas',
'Simon & Simon', 'Cagney & Lacey', 'Dynasty', on eight episodes of
'Beverly Hills, 90210', on twenty-two episodes of
'Sunset Beach', on nine of
'Arli$$', on 107 of
'Passions', and on seventy-six episodes of
'General Hospital' with his final TV appearance in that show coming in 2013.
* Jerry Douglas - born 15th November 1935, died 9th January 2021, aged 84. Douglas was an American Director and Writer, notably of gay pornographic films, as well as a novelist, playwright, and theatre Director. He Directed seventeen films and wrote eighteen beginning his career in film making in 1973 in
'The Back Row', which he followed up in 1975 with
'Both Ways'. Douglas then left the industry to focus on his career as a free-lance journalist and Editor for such publications as
'The Advocate', 'Update', 'FirstHand', and
'Stallion'. He did not make another film until 1989, when he was urged out of his self-imposed retirement and between then and 2007 he went on to make one film a year on average, six of which were named Best Picture by industry organisations such as the Adult Video New Awards, Gay Video Guide Awards, and the Grabby Awards, those being
'More of a Man' in 1991,
'Kiss-Off' in 1992,
'Honorable Discharge' in 1993,
'Flesh and Blood' in 1996,
'Dream Team' in 1999, and
'BuckleRoos' in 2004. His final two films were
'Beyond Perfect' in 2005 and
'Brotherhood' in 2007, and he would Direct the play
'The Deep Throat Sex Scandal' in 2010 which was to be his final Directorial outing. His collection of short stories,
'Mantalk', was published in 1991, with his first novel,
'The Legend of the Ditto Twins' published in 2012. In 2019, his 1973 play,
'Tubstrip' was published.
* Stacy Title - born 21st February 1964, died 11th January 2021, aged 56. Title was an American Director, Producer and Writer who notched up seven credits as Director, five as Producer and four as Writer during her career which kicked off in 1993 with the 27 minute short film
'Down on the Waterfront' with Jason Alexander and Edward Asner which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1994 for Best Live Action Short Film. From here she went on to Direct
'The Last Supper' in 1995 with Cameron Diaz, Bill Paxton, Ron Perlman and Courtney B. Vance,
'Let the Devil Wear Black' in 1999 with Norman Reedus and Jacqueline Bisset,
'Hood of Horror' in 2006 with Snoop Dogg and Danny Trejo, then the TV movie
'The Greatest Show Ever' in 2007 with Traci Lords and Mickey Rooney,
'The Bye Bye Man' in 2017 with Carrie Anne Moss, Doug Jones, Faye Dunaway and Leigh Whannel and on an episode of
'Freakish' also in 2017 which was to be her last Directing gig. She also Wrote and Produced the made for TV movie
'The Lone Ranger' in 2003 and
'King Kong Skull Island' in 2019.
* Mona Malm - born 24th January 1935 and died 12th January 2021, aged 85. Malm was a Swedish Actress of film and television who accumulated 103 screen acting credits to her name in a career spanning eight decades and kick starting in 1945 in the Swedish feature film
'Der var en gang . . . '. Her next film role came the following year in 1946 in
'The Country Priest' and from here there was no looking back - starring in a number of Ingmar Bergman films initially in uncredited roles in
'Smiles of a Summer Night' in 1955 and
'The Seventh Seal' in 1957 with Max von Sydow and then credited roles in
'Storm Weather' in 1960,
'All These Women' in 1964 and
'Fanny and Alexander' in 1982. In the years since there have also been roles in
'The Best Intentions' in 1992,
'The Tattooed Widow' in 1998,
'Bang Bang Orangutang' in 2005 with Michael Nyqvist and Lena Olin,
'After the Wedding' in 2006 with Mads Mikkelsen and Sidse Babett Knudsen with
'The Stonecutter' in 2009 being her last feature film role. Between 2010 and 2013 she also appeared in eleven episodes of the Swedish comedy drama series
'Solsidan', with this being her final acting role.
* Peter Mark Richman - born
Marvin Jack Richman on 16th April 1927 and died 14th January 2021, aged 93. Richman was an American Actor of television, cinema and theatre who amassed 159 screen acting credits in a career that launched in 1953 on a single episode of TV series
'Suspense'. His first feature film role came in 1956 in William Wyler's
'Friendly Persuasion' with Gary Cooper, and then
'The Strange One' in 1957 with Ben Gazzara,
'The Black Orchid' in 1958 with Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn,
'Dark Intruder' in 1965 with Leslie Nielsen, as the voice of God in the documentary drama
'In Search of Historic Jesus' in 1979,
'Friday the 13th Part VIII : Jason Takes Manhattan' in 1989,
'The Naked Gun 2½ : The Smell of Fear' with Leslie Nielsen in 1991,
'4 Faces' in 1999,
'Poolhall Junkies' in 2002 with Chazz Palminteri,
'Mysteria' in 2011 with Danny Glover, Michael Rooker, Martin Landau and Billy Zane being his final feature film with the short ten minute film
'The Final Show' in 2016 being his final screen appearance. In the years in between there were numerous TV series appearances on the likes of thirty episodes of
'Caine's Hundred', 'The Fugitive', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Invaders', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'Land of the Giants', 'The Virginian', on twenty-one episodes of
'Longstreet', 'Mission : Impossible', on eight episodes of
'The F.B.I.', 'The Bionic Woman', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', 'Dallas', 'Wonder Woman', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Vega$', 'Hart to Hart', 'The Fall Guy', 'Fantasy Island', on twenty-eight episodes of
'Santa Barbara' and twenty-nine on
'Dynasty', 'The Love Boat', 'Knight Rider', lending his voice to The Phantom on thirty-one episodes of
'Defenders of the Earth', 'Bonanza : The Next Generation', 'Star Trek : The Next Generation', 'Beverly Hills, 90210' and again voice work on
'Batman : The Animated Series', 'Spider-Man', 'Superman' and
'Batman of the Future'.
* Dale Baer - born 15th June 1950, died 15th January 2021, aged 70. Baer was an American character animator for Walt Disney Animation Studios and The Baer Animation Company - the latter of which specialised in both traditional and digital animation used in feature films and commercials. His first career break came in the 1971 Disney production of
'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' although his role as animator went uncredited. He followed this up with forty-six other screen animation credits including the likes of
'Journey Back to Oz', 'Robin Hood', 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh', 'The Rescuers', and
'Pete's Dragon' with the latter four films for Disney. Next up was the animated feature
'The Lord of the Rings' in 1978, then four TV short films and one feature film centring around the Peanuts character of
'Charlie Brown' between 1979 and 1981, and then a return to Disney for
'The Black Cauldron' and
'Basil, the Great Mouse Detective' before
'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' in 1988. The likes of
'Rover Dangerfield', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Last Action Hero', 'The Lion King', 'Tarzan', 'The Emperor's New Groove', 'Treasure Planet', 'Home on the Range', 'Chicken Little', 'Meet the Robinsons', 'The Princess and the Frog', 'Winnie the Pooh' all followed the majority of which were once again Disney productions. Baer's final gig as animator came with
'Bob's Burgers : The Movie' currently in post-production and due for a release sometime in the first half of this year.
* David Richardson - born 24th December 1955, died 18th January 2021, aged 65. Richardson was an American television Writer and Producer who accumulated fifteen Producer credits and eighteen as Writer. His writing career began in 1985 for an episode of
'Safe at Home' followed by
'Zoobilee Zoo', 'Grand' and
'Star Street'. His production career then kicked off in 1991on fifty episodes of
'Empty Nest' of which he wrote seven, and he followed this up with eleven episodes of
'The Simpsons', twenty-two of
'Phenom', twenty-two on
'Soul Man', twelve on
'Malcolm in the Middle', twenty-one on
'What About Joan', 'Ed', 'My Big Fat Greek Life', on the made for TV movie
'Peep Show', on sixty-three episodes of
'Two and a Half Men' and finally on twenty-seven episodes of
'F is for Family' the bulk of which he also wrote several episodes for.
* Andy Gray - born 13th September 1959, died 18th January 2021, aged 61. Gray was a Scottish Actor of film, television and theatre, and one time Writer, Director and Producer, who amassed thirty-two screen acting credits to his name in a career which took off in in 1983 in the feature film
'Every Picture Tells a Story'. From here he went on to have roles in other films including
'Small Faces' in 1995,
'This Year's Love' and
'The Match' both in 1999,
'Complicity' in 2000 with Jonny Lee Miller and Brian Cox,
'Time Teens : The Beginning' in 2015,
'Tommy's Honour' in 2016 and lending his voice to the 45 minute animated film
'When Stars Align' in 2020. In the meantime, there were also appearances on six episodes of
'Naked Video', on thirty-nine episodes of
'City Lights', on nine of
'Two Thousand Acres of Sky', and on fifteen of
'River City' most recently. His only Director and Producer credit was for the 2015 short film
'The Wrong Guy'. Gray died from complications arising from COVID-19.
* Remy Julienne - born 17th April 1930, died 21st January 2021, aged 90. Julienne was a French driving stunt performer and co-ordinator, occasional Assistant Director and occasional Actor. During his six decade spanning career he amassed 222 screen stunt credits, thirteen as Actor and seven as Assistant or Second Unit Director. His first screen credit came with the 1964 feature film
'Fantomas', and he soon rose to prominence for his more far reaching and dangerous stunts which led him to 1969's
'Italian Job' with Michael Caine. Following this his more notable stunt work included 1971's
'The Burglars' with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Omar Sharif,
'S*P*Y*S' with Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland in 1974,
'Animal' in 1977 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Raquel Welch,
'Love and Bullets' in 1979 with Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland and then the first of six Bond outings in 1981's
'For Your Eyes Only' with Roger Moore, then in 1983 on
'Octupussy', 'A View To A Kill' in 1985, with
'The Living Daylights' in 1987 and
'License to Kill' in 1989 with Timothy Dalton taking over the reins from Roger Moore, and
'GoldenEye' in 1995 with Pierce Brosnan playing Bond this time around. There was also
'Hold-Up' in 1985 with Jean-Paul Belmondo again and Kim Cattrall,
'Target' that same year with Matt Dillon and Gene Hackman,
'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' with Daniel Day-Lewis and
'Frantic' with Harrison Ford both in 1988,
'Once a Thief' in 1991 for Director John Woo,
'Pret-a-Porter' in 1994 for Director Robert Altman,
'RPM' in 1998 with David Arquette,
'The Body' in 2001 with Antonio Banderas,
'The Da Vinci Code' in 2006 with Tom Hanks, and
'Getaway' in 2013 with Ethan Hawke being his final feature film work. Julienne began a school in France to provide drivers and mechanics with the specialised skills needed for stunt work. He died from complications arising from COVID-19.
* Ron Campbell - born 26th December 1939, died 22nd January 2021, aged 81. Campbell was an Australian animator who amassed eighty art and animation credits to his name and three as Director in a career spanning five decades and which launched with his first animator credit on seven episodes of
'Krazy Kat' in 1963. Between 1965 and 1966 he Directed nine episodes of the animated series
'The Beatles' and in 1968 was an animator on the Beatles film
'Yellow Submarine' although uncredited. Over the years that followed he also worked extensively on the likes of
'Rugrats', 'The Dukes', 'The Jetsons', 'Paw Paws', 'Ghostbusters', 'Bionic Six', 'Smurfs', 'Police Academy : The Series', 'James Bond Jnr.', 'Rocket Power' and
'Stuart Little' with
'Ed, Edd n Eddy' being his final credit in 2002 to 2009. In 1971, Campbell founded his own animation studio, Ron Campbell Films, Inc., with the 1990's saw Campbell move to Disney Animation, where he worked on several cartoons, and in addition to this, he also worked for Nickelodeon. In retirement, Campbell lived in the Phoenix, Arizona area and created original pop art paintings, based upon the films and TV series he was involved with over the years.
* Larry King - born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on 19th November 1933 and died on 23rd January 2021, aged 87. King was an American radio and television host who throughout the 1950's and 60's worked as a radio interviewer in the Miami area and then rose to prominence in 1978 as host of the
'Larry King Show' an all night nationwide call-in radio programme. From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the nightly interview television program
'Larry King Live' on CNN. King hosted
'Larry King Now' from 2012 to 2020, and
'Politicking with Larry King', a weekly political talk show, from 2013 to 2020. During his time he hosted over fifty thousand interviews. King also appeared in television series and films, usually playing himself. These included sixty-five acting credits taking in the likes of
'Ghostbusters', 'Crazy People', 'The Exorcist III', 'Dave', 'Open Season', 'The Long Kiss Goodnight', 'Contact', 'The Jackal', 'Primary Colors', 'Bullworth', 'Enemy of the State', 'John Q', 'The Stepford Wives', 'Shrek 2', 'Shrek the Third', 'Shrek Forever After', and
'The Remake' most recently in 2016. His TV series credits included
'The Simpsons', 'Murphy Brown', 'Spin City', 'The Practice', 'Boston Legal', 'Shark', 'Ugly Betty', and
'American Crime Story' amongst others. King was married eight times to seven different women. In late February 1987, King had a major heart attack before a successful quintuple-bypass surgery and during an annual X-ray examination to monitor his heart condition in 2017, doctors discovered a cancerous tumour in his lung which was then successfully removed with surgery. Then in late April 2019, King underwent a scheduled angioplasty and also had stents inserted. On 2nd January of this year it was revealed that King had been hospitalised ten days earlier in a Los Angeles hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, which although he had recovered from the infection led to sepsis from which he was unable to recover. King won ten awards and was nominated another fourteen times for his TV work.
* Alberto Grimaldi - born 28th March 1925 and died 23rd January 2021, aged 95. Grimaldi was an Italian film Producer who generated fifty film production credits throughout his career which began in 1962 shortly after he founded his own Production Company P.E.A. (Produzioni Europee Associati) to make international Co-Productions. That film was
'The Shadow of Zorro' and this was followed up by its first Spaghetti Western
'Texas Ranger' in 1964. He went onto produce the likes of
'For a Few Dollars More' in 1965 and
'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' both helmed by Sergio Leone,
'A Quiet Place in the Country' with Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave in 1968 and
'The Mercenary' that same year with Franco Nero also,
'Sabata' in 1969 with Lee Van Cleef,
'Adios, Sabata' with Yul Brynner this time in the title role in 1970 and then
'The Return of Sabata' in 1971 with Van Cleef reprising the role. Then came
'The Last Tango in Paris' in 1972 with Marlon Brando,
'Man of La Mancha' that same year with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren,
'Fellini's Casanova' in 1976 with Donald Sutherland, and
'1900' in 1976 too with Robert De Niro,
'Lovers and Liars' in 1979 with Goldie Hawn,
'Ginger & Fred' in 1986 with
'Gangs of New York' in 2002 with Director Martin Scorsese and an all star cast being his final feature film credit. During his career he was the recipient of four award wins and another nine nominations including an Oscar and a BAFTA nod for 2002's
'Gangs of New York'.
* Bruce Kirby - born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu on 28th April 1925 and died 24th January 2021, aged 95. Kirby was an American character Actor of film and television who notched up 144 screen credits throughout his career which kicked off with a bit part on the TV series
'Goodyear Television Playhouse' in an episode titled
'Visit to a Small Planet' in 1955. Between 1961 and 1963 he appeared in nine episodes of
'Car 54, Where Are You?' before scoring his debut feature film role in 1970's
'Catch-22'. After a string of B-grade features he took roles in the likes of
'The Muppet Movie' in 1979,
'Stand by Me' and
'Armed and Dangerous' both in 1986,
'Throw Momma from the Train' in 1987,
'Mr. Wonderful' in 1993,
'Crash' in 2004, and
'2:22' in 2008 being his final feature film role, before bowing out in 2009 with the thirty minute short film
'Bottom Feeders'. In the years in between time, there were single and multiple episodes of TV series including
'Mission : Impossible', 'Hogan's Heroes', 'Bonanza', 'M*A*S*H', 'Kojak', on thirteen episodes of
'Holmes and Yoyo', 'The Rockford Files', 'Vega$', 'Lou Grant', on thirteen episodes of
'L.A. Law', on nine of
'Columbo',
'Murder, She Wrote', on eight of
'Days of Our Lives', 'The West Wing', 'The Sopranos', 'Numb3rs' and
'Scrubs'.
* Peter Vere-Jones - born 21st October 1939, died 26th January 2021, aged 81. Vere-Jones was a New Zealand Actor of film and television who was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Director Peter Jackson, appearing in four of his films over the years -
'Bad Taste', 'Meet the Feebles', 'Braindead' and
'The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug'. Throughout his career he notched up thirty-six screen acting roles which launched in 1969 on a single episode of the TV series
'The Alpha Plan' with the TV movie
'The Killing of Kane' up next in 1971. He followed this up with nine episodes on
'Pukemanu' and then other feature films including
'Rangi's Catch' in 1973,
'Pictures' and
'Bad Blood' both in 1981, and
'Savage Islands' in 1983. In the meantime he also appeared on thirteen episodes of
'Children of Fire Mountain', 'Shortland Street', 'Xena : Warrior Princess', 'Hercules : The Legendary Journeys', 'The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson, 'The Legend of William Tell' with
'Legend of the Seeker' in 2010 being his last TV outing. In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, Vere-Jones was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to writing and acting.
* Cloris Leachman - born 30th April 1926, died 27th January 2021, aged 94. Leachman was an American Actress of theatre, cinema and television who amassed 287 screen acting credits throughout her career which spanned seven decades and which took off in 1947 with an uncredited role in the feature film
'Carnegie Hall'. From here there was no looking back with six episodes on '
Actors Studio' between 1948 and 1949, then fifty-seven on
'Charlie Wild : Private Detective' before her first feature film role in
'Kiss Me Deadly' in 1955.
'The Rack' came next in 1957 with Paul Newman, then the likes of
'The Chapman Report' in 1962 with Jane Fonda,
'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in 1969,
'Lovers and Other Strangers' in 1970 with Diane Keaton,
'WUSA' that same year with Paul Newman again,
'The Last Picture Show' in 1971 with Jeff Bridges,
'Dillinger' in 1973 with Warren Oates,
'Young Frankenstein' for Mel Brooks in 1974,
'High Anxiety' for Mel Brooks in 1977,
'The Muppet Movie' in 1979,
'History of the World : Part 1' in 1981 for Mel Brooks again,
'Texasville' in 1990 with Jeff Bridges,
'Bad Santa' in 2003 with Billy Bob Thornton,
'Spanglish' in 2004 with Adam Sandler,
'The Longest Yard' in 2005 with Adam Sandler also,
'Scary Movie 4' in 2006,
'The Women' in 2008 with an all star female cast,
'Gambit' in 2012 with Colin Firth,
'The Wedding Ringer' in 2015 with Kevin Hart with
'High Holiday' recently completed filming and
'Not to Forget' currently in post-production. Among her TV appearances the more notable of which were the likes of twenty-eight episodes of
'Lassie', 'Rawhide', 'Wanted : Dead or Alive', 'Outlaws', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Untouchables', 'Laramie', 'Wagon Train', '77 Sunset Strip', 'Dr. Kildare', 'The Virginian', 'Wonder Woman', on forty-eight episodes of
'Phyllis', 'The Love Boat', on forty-eight episodes of
'The Facts of Life', on thirteen of
'Walter & Emily', on eighteen of
'The Ellen Show', on eleven of
'Malcolm in the Middle', on eighty-three of
'Raising Hope', on ten of
'Mad About You' and she also lent her voice talents to numerous animated TV series and movies including on
'Elena of Avalor' and
'The Croods : A New Age' most recently. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from twenty-two nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded actress in Emmy history. She won an Academy Award, and a British Academy Film Award both for her supporting turn in 1971's
'The Last Picture Show', a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award among her total haul of twenty-five award wins and another forty-two nominations. Leachman's autobiography,
'Cloris: My Autobiography', was published in March 2009.
* Cicely Tyson - born 19th December 1924 and died 28th January 2021, aged 96. Tyson was an American Actress of stage, cinema and television and model, who amassed ninety-four screen acting roles during her career which spanned seven decades. She got her first break in 1951 on an episode of
'Frontiers of Faith' with her next role coming in 1957's feature film
'Carib Gold'. Here subsequent big screen roles came with the likes of
'A Man Called Adam' with Sammy Davis Jnr. and Louis Armstrong, then
'The Comedians' in 1967 with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. She gained top billing in the 1972 film
'Sounder' for which she scored an Academy Award nod for Best Actress in a Leading Role, followed by
'The Blue Bird' with Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda in 1976,
'A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich' in 1978,
'The Concorde . . . Airport '79' with Robert Wagner and George Kennedy,
'Fried Green Tomatoes' in 1991 with Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy,
'Hoodlum' in 1997 with Laurence Fishburn and Tim Roth,
'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' in 2005 with Tyler Perry,
'Madea's Family Reunion' in 2006 for and with Tyler Perry again,
'Who Did I Get Married To?' for and with Tyler Perry once more in 2010 and then 2011's critically accalimed and multi-award winning
'The Help' with Emma Stone, Octaivia Spencer and Viola Davis.
'Alex Cross' came next in 2012 with Tyler Perry once more,
'Last Flag Flying' in 2017 with Laurence Fishburn, Steve Carell and Bryan Cranston with
'A Fall from Grace' in 2020 for Tyler Perry again being her last feature film crdit. In then intervening years there were numerous single and multiple appearances on TV shows including on twenty-five episodes of
'East Side/West Side', 'The F.B.I.', 'Mission : Impossible', 'Gunsmoke', 'Alex Haley's Roots', on twenty-three episodes of
'Sweet Justice', 'House of Cards', 'Madam Secretary', on seven episodes of
'Cherish the Day', and on ten episodes of
'How to Get Away with Murder' as recently as last year. Tyson also performed in a number of Broadway and off-Broadway theatre productions for which she also won multiple awards in addition to her forty-nine award wins and a further fifty-two nominations for her screen work. In 2019 she was bestowed with the Honourary Academy Award. In 1988, Tyson received a Candace Award for Distinguished Service from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. In 1997, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2005, Tyson was honoured at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball. She was also honoured by the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, and the National Council of Negro Women. She was awarded the United States' highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Barack Obama in November 2016. Tyson's memoir,
'Just As I Am', was published on 26th January 2021, and she was promoting the book during her final weeks.
* Allan Burns - born 18th May 1935 and died 30th January 2021, aged 85. Burns was an American Scriptwriter and Producer who had thirty-six writing credits and eleven as Producer to his name, in a career spanning six decades, from his first writing gig penning one episode of
'Father of the Bride' in 1962 to scribing eighty-five episodes of
'Rocky and his Friends' between 1961 and 1963. He was also the creator of TV series
'My Mother the Car', 'Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers', 'Phyllis' 'Mary Tyler Moore', 'Rhoda', 'Lou Grant', 'The Duck Factory', 'Eisenhower & Lutz', 'FM' and
'Cutters' for which he also wrote several episodes of many of these shows. He also wrote extensively for
'He & She', 'Get Smart', 'Room 222', 'The Munsters' and
'The Munsters Today' as well a feature film scripts taking in
'A Little Romance' in 1979 with Laurence Olivier and Diane Lane,
'Butch and Sundance : The Early Days' with William Katt and Tom Berenger also in 1979,
'Second Time Lucky' in 1984,
'Just the Way You Are' also that same year,
'Just Between Friends' in 1986 with Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Danson with
'Mockingbird Lane' in 2012 being his final screenwriting credit. He also either Produced or Executive Produced many of the TV series already highlighted. All up Burns secured nine award wins and a further seventeen nominations including an Oscar nod for
'A Little Romance', won six Primetime Emmy's and won three Writers Guild of America awards.
* Marc Wilmore - born 4th May 1963, died 30th January 2021, aged 57. Wilmore was an American television Writer, Producer, Actor, Voice Actor and Comedian who notched up three Producer credits, six as Writer and five as Actor during a career which launched in 1990 with him appearing in thirty episodes of 'In Living Colour'. He went on to lend his voice talents to forty-one episodes of 'The PJs', two of 'The Simpsons' and five for 'F is for Family' most recently. He also wrote seventy-four episodes of 'In Living Colour', 106 episodes of 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno', two of 'The PJs', twelve of 'The Simpsons' and three for 'F is for Family'. In addition he also Produced in various capacities 307 episodes of 'The Simpsons' and Executive Produced thirteen episodes of 'F is for Family'. He won two awards with another twelve nominations, including a Primetime Emmy award for 'The Simpsons' and nine other Primetime Emmy nods. Wilmore died while battling COVID-19 and other conditions.
Twenty-seven deaths reported this month from the film and television community at large, and that community is just a little bit poorer as a result, with six of those resulting from the Coronavirus. 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 or in some cases a third wave in cases. Remember the basic principles that continue to be 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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